CHAPTER 18: One Last Delay
"Scanners are almost online."
Terrific typed on the keyboard with Batman supervising. "Just a few more minutes," continued Terrific.
"Good," replied Batman, "If this 'Eon' is as dangerous as Ben says, then we need to find him and take him down as soon as possible."
Suddenly, the lights on the computer glowed brighter.
Superman walked into the room and said, "Sorry I'm late, I was busy on a possible lead with Luthor. What's going on?"
"You're just in time, Supes," said Terrific, "Scanners just came online."
"The ones to find this Eon guy that Ben told us about?"
"Yep."
"Well, let's get them fired up, then."
Terrific and Batman immediately set to work.
"Scanning for Eon now," said Batman. Then after a few minutes, he said, "Got him. He's in Slaughter Swamp."
Slaughter Swamp: 5 minutes earlier.
As a group of villains were guiding the jet that Eon's team used into the landing bay, a purple portal appeared in the base, with Eon and Luthor emerging from it.
Suddenly, Eon flinched and touched his head.
"What's wrong?" asked Luthor.
"I feel . . . strange, as if . . . oh no."
"What? What is it?"
"The League is tracking me! We need to up our timetable!"
"But we just got here with the new parts, and we have yet to complete the device!"
Eon stood still and stroked his chin for a moment, then he said, "I have an idea."
Rath roared as he slammed into a boulder, reducing it to rubble, and then pending that rubble until it was dust.
After flying away from Kara, Ben decided to go to the desert and clear his head by unleashing all his fury through Rath.
"LET ME TELL YA SOMETHIN', KARA KENT OR ZOR-EL, WHAT THE HECK EVER!" he screamed, his voice echoing throughout the landscape, "YOU DON'T WANNA MARRY RATH?! FINE! RATH DOESN'T WANNA MARRY YOU EITHER!"
He looked beside himself and saw another boulder, then he roared and jumped into the air, slamming into the rock with enough force to shake the area!
"ANYONE ELSE WANT SOME?!" he yelled at the other boulders. When the rocks didn't respond to the enraged tiger, he screamed, "FINE BY ME! I'LL JUST BEAT YOU UP ANYWAY!"
Ben then picked up another boulder, tore it in half, then slammed one half down to the ground while he threw the other one at another boulder before pounding it to dust. He then proceeded to smash any other boulder he could find in similar ways, until the omnitrix beeped and changed him back to his human form.
He sank to the ground on his knees, then to his arms, tears watering the barren land.
He didn't mean what he said about not wanting to marry Kara, but he was hurt, and everyone says things they regret when they're hurt, right? And yes, he understood why she said no, but he still hoped she would say yes anyway, especially after spending a year of time on their Earth. He knew it sounded selfish, but he cared for Kara more than any girl he ever met. She was the one who inspired him to change for the better, after all.
"Even when I try to commit," he sobbed, "I still lose someone!"
Ben pounded the sand once and continued to cry his eyes out.
Suddenly, his grieving was interrupted by a small sound. Anyone would dismiss that as an animal or the wind, but given the life Ben lives, he knew better.
Ben slammed onto the omnitrix and transformed into Blitzwolfer, whipping around to see . . .
Nothing.
He scratched his head, swearing he heard the faintest of a shuffle. His ears perked up and pointed toward the source of the next shuffle. He leaped to the side as a bullet zoomed its way toward him, missing his chest by just an inch as he twirled aside. Ben growled and looked toward the direction of the bullet, noticing a figure kneeling on a sand dune, who was holding a large rifle.
Thanks to his keen eyesight, Ben could tell that the man was wearing some sort of white mask with a large, red eye on the left side of his face. Ben recognized him from reading the files in the Watchtower when he grew bored one day: Deadshot, the Man Who Never Misses.
As Deadshot was reloading his weapon, Ben could hear a sound like something big was flying through the sky. He looked above and behind him, quickly running away as Solomon Grundy smashed his fists into the spot where Ben was just standing.
"Solomon Grundy born on a Monday . . ." muttered the hulk-ish zombie, then he roared and charged at Ben.
Ben charged at the giant, claws on his right hand extending to their sharpest. Grundy raised his left fist and thrust it down into Ben, but he dodged it and delivered a powerful uppercut that sent him stumbling backward. Then Ben's jaws split into four and unleashed an ultra-sonic howl that send Grundy crashing into a nearby boulder.
Ben's ears perked up again.
He dodged a bullet that came out of nowhere, then another. He looked up to see Deadshot making frustrated gestures as he reloaded his weapon.
"Listen!" snapped the Loboan, "I'm not in the mood for this crap! So, go find another hero to annoy, or else you all will spend the next 6 months eating your meals through straws!"
Ben suddenly got knocked to the ground. As he got up, he saw a red blur race past him until it stopped in front of him.
"Well, now that wasn't very nice, was it?" smirked Reverse-Flash.
"Reverse-Flash, right? Well, I don't know if you noticed, but Flash isn't here, so leave me alone!"
"Oh, I'm not here for Mr. Allen," said RF, eyes now glowing red, "And neither are they."
Grundy roared as he charged the alien werewolf once more, Ben responding with his own roar and ran toward the brute. Grundy tried to punch him twice, but Ben evaded him and tried scratching his side and then his back. However, this didn't seem to have any effect, so he was about to unleash another howl until Grundy suddenly backhanded him as he turned around, making Ben fly back a few feet.
"Nice hit, Grundy," said RF.
Grundy chuckled and said, "Grundy like hitting things!"
Ben stood back up, but then RF sped around him and kept punching and kicking him until he knelt back down.
"What's the matter, hero? Too fast for ya?"
Ben growled. I'm not gonna be able to beat him like this, he thought to himself, I need a new plan of attack! That's when the lightbulb in Ben's head went off, then he slapped the omnitrix symbol and transformed into XLR8.
"You really think that'll do you any good?" asked Thawne.
"Oh, you'd be surprised!"
XLR8 ran in circles around RF until he was flying in the air, stopping to let him fall. However, as Thawne fell, he rotated his arms to make gusts of wind under him, helping him land safely.
"Impressive, really. But if you seriously think you can defeat a master of the Speed Force just by changing into something fast, then you seriously overestimate yourself."
"Hard to overestimate if I know I'm right!"
Ben sped into Thawne to punch him, but he simply stepped aside and let out his foot, making him trip and fall to the ground.
"Wow, I can't believe that, a second ago, I actually said I was impressed."
Ben screamed in anger and sped toward Thawne, but he ran away and the two ended up in a high-speed chase throughout the desert. Whenever Ben would catch up to Thawne, he would try to punch him or otherwise knock him off his feet, but Thawne evaded every strike and managed to send him to the ground, making Ben fall further behind him as they continued the race.
Thawne looked behind him to see Ben running after him, so he touched his comm-piece and said, "Alright, Lawton, we're heading your way."
"Understood," he replied.
Then, after another minute of running, Thawne skidded to a stop and turned to face the incoming Kinecelarian. Ben screamed in anger as he prepared to knock Thawne to the ground, until a hyper-fast bullet found its way into Ben's leg! Screaming in pain this time, he collapsed to the ground and slid a few feet, Thawne simply stepping out of the way again to let him slide past.
Ben groaned and clutched his leg, and Thawne called out, "Gee, that sure doesn't look good!"
Ben growled, but suddenly saw he was engulfed in shadow. He looked up, and the last thing he saw was Solomon Grundy falling from the sky, arms readied to strike.
Hal Jordan scanned the desert area with his ring.
After Ben didn't check in with the League in 5 hours, Batman suspected something was up and had the League search for him. If he was captured, he couldn't let the most powerful device in their universe fall into the hands of their enemies.
Hal soon stopped at a certain area and looked around with his ring. He touched his comm piece and said, "Yep, Ben was here alright, but his trail ends at this spot."
Suddenly, Flash sped up to Hal and stopped. "I searched every square inch of the desert and even checked the outside areas that lead to roads and towns, but haven't seen him."
"You get all that, Batman?"
"Affirmative," his voice spoke over the comms, "Kara, are you sure he isn't back at your apartment?"
"I turned the whole place upside down," she replied, "But he's not here. I even checked the whole building but haven't found him."
"J'onn, what about you?"
"I cannot sense his mind anywhere in Central City," he replied.
"Keep looking. If he is captured, we can't give our enemies any time to crack his omnitrix's secrets and use them against us."
"Understood," said Hal, who then looked at Barry.
Barry sighed and said, "Welp, twentieth time's the charm." Then he zoomed off.
Meanwhile, back at Kara's apartment, Kara sat back down on her couch after Batman gave the order to continue searching. Superman, who was looking around the room again, noticed this and stopped to comfort her.
"Hey, it's okay, we'll find him."
She didn't respond, except for a tear that fell from her eye.
"Whoa, Kara, are you okay? What happened?"
Kara wiped her eyes and said, "I think I know why Ben is missing." As Clark blinked in confusion, she continued, "It's . . . it's . . ."
"He proposed, didn't he?" Kara whipped her head at Clark in shock, who then replied, "Ben asked for my blessing, since he saw me as your guardian and the only biological family you have left, and therefore thought he needed mine above anyone else's." At this, Kara started to tear up more, then Clark asked, "You told him, no?"
She nodded. "And now, thanks to me, he . . . he's closed himself off from the League and we don't know where he is!"
"Kara, this isn't your fault!"
"Yes it is! If it weren't for me, we wouldn't be looking for him!"
"Kara, if he were hiding from us, he would've picked up his comms and told us to leave him alone when we called him."
"It doesn't matter. I broke his heart and drove him away, and now he could be captured . . . or worse!"
"Kara, stop! I've seen Ben in action, he can take care of himself, so he'll be fine. Right now, we need to focus on finding Ben, but I'm not sure if you can do it when you're distracted by whatever went on between you two."
"Clark, we don't have time."
"Well then, let's make the time." Superman sat next to his cousin and put a hand other shoulder. "What happened, Kara? If you don't face your fear, you won't be able to help us find Ben."
"I wanted . . . more than anything . . . to say yes!" she sobbed.
"Well, why didn't you? What happened?"
"Clark, how could I possibly say yes?" Tears now flowed like rivers down her cheeks. "We both come from different worlds! Sooner or later, Ben will have to go back home and I'll have to stay here! With our jobs and how we're across dimensions, it . . . just won't work out! I won't even be able to let him go!"
Clark let her cry for a minute before responding, "I used to believe that too."
She sniffed and looked up at him. "Really?"
He gave a small chuckle and said, "Yeah, believe it or not. When I first started dating Lois, I didn't think our relationship would work either. I mean, I come from a planet where people can bend steel with their bare hands, and she's a human who I could accidentally kill if I'm not careful. However, you know what changed my mind?"
"What?"
"Lois. She knew what she was getting into with me. She knew the risks of dating a Kryptonian," he chuckled, "But she still stayed with me. That's when I realized that she loved me enough to continue being with me in the good and bad times, she was willing to make it work no matter how hard, frustrating, or weird it got. So, Kara, my point is, if you and Ben really care about each other, then you'll find a way to make your relationship work."
Kara sniffed, wiped her eyes, and smiled. "Thank you, Clark."
"Of course."
"Batman to Justice League."
"Go ahead, Batman," said Superman, touching his comm-piece.
"I can't believe I didn't realize this sooner, but Terrific activated the new scanners to find Eon five hours ago. Ben missed his check-in, which, today, was roughly 10 minutes after we used the scanners."
"So, you don't think it's a coincidence," said Superman.
"I am absolutely certain, because, according to the scanners, Eon's energy signature is still where we detected it 5 hours ago."
"Well, why hasn't he moved? Did he know we were tracking him?"
"It's possible, considering Darkseid was able to find out we were using scanners to locate him. It would also explain why Ben went missing: Eon must be using him as leverage against us because he expects us to go in to save him."
"So, what are you saying? That we just leave him in the hands of a crazy time-travel villain?" asked Kara.
"Of course not, but if we're going to save him, we need to be smart. Slaughter Swamp is where we usually found the Hall of Doom in the past."
"You mean Eon is working with The Legion of Doom?" asked Kara.
"Which most likely means Luthor is involved!" said Clark, his face twisting into anger, "I knew he was still the same! A leopard can't change its spots!"
"If Luthor really is involved," said Batman, "Then his skills, along with Eon's combined will tighten the Legion into an unstoppable force. We need to regroup at the Watchtower and come up with a proper strategy."
"Got it, we're on our way!"
Clark stood up, as did Kara. He smiled at her, and she smiled back.
"Let's go save my boyfriend!"
Meanwhile, Ben was finally coming around.
At first, he thought he was asleep in his part of the apartment, but that's when he remembered the fight in the desert.
He snapped his eyes awake and tried to move, but found that his arms and legs were inside restraints that stretched them out like an X.
Wow, real original, he thought.
Suddenly, he heard footsteps and saw Eon emerge from the shadows.
"Eon!" growled Ben, "I knew you were here!"
"Nothing ever gets past you, does it, Tennyson?" he asked, "Although, in all honesty, I didn't expect Darkseid to display footage of my attack on his weapons factory. I just thought he would make a claim and not present any proof, but it doesn't matter. I got what I wanted from that stone-faced creep."
"What? What'd you take? Tech? Money?"
"I'm no common thug!" shouted Eon, then he cleared his throat and said, "Sorry, I just hate being compared to anyone beneath me."
"Oh, whatever, Eon! What do you want? Why are you working with bad guys from another world?"
"Because my goal has been the same ever since our timelines first intertwined," Eon stepped closer, glaring at him, "To best you once and for all." He stepped away and said, "With you gone, I will finally be able to fulfill my vision for the cosmos! However, I can't do that while you're still alive, and I can't destroy you with all your Justice pals guarding you like hawks. Who would've guessed I would need to wait for some young adult drama to drive you away from your friends?"
Ben gritted his teeth, trying to fight back tears. "Well, what are you doing then? Why am I still alive?"
"I still need to finish with the final phase of my project with Luthor, but your super-friends are undoubtedly tracking me and on their way over as we speak, so I need some assistance from you."
"Ha! You really are insane if you think I'm gonna help you!"
"Oh, but Tennyson, you already have!"
Ben looked up at his omnitrix arm, and saw a large, green pipe extend from the side of the restraint and snake into the ceiling. Green electricity sparked throughout the pipe.
"Is that . . ."
"The energy from your omnitrix? Yes," Eon grinned beneath his mask.
"Why do you even need it? You have time travel powers, you don't even need anything from my watch!"
"True, I don't require your omnitrix, but I needed it for the first phase of my newly adapted plan."
Ben and Eon looked up at the ceiling, watching the green electricity make its way through the cords, and down the spiraling stairway. Soon, Ben could see flashes of green followed by screams, which soon turned into either confused or triumphant noises.
Ben's eyes widened, mouth hung open at the sudden realization.
Eon stared down into the hallway and said, "Things are going to change around here!"