CHAPTER 19: Storming the Hall of Doom
"How long are we gonna wait?" asked Cyborg.
The entire Justice League sat in that same assembly room where Ben talked about Eon, everyone seated at a very long table.
"Flash is still doing recon at Slaughter Swamp," replied Batman, "We need to be sure there aren't any more surprises before we make our move."
Suddenly, the door opened and Flash sped around the room and into his seat.
"Hey, guys," he said, "Hope I didn't keep you waiting too long."
"Not too long," said Supergirl, "But what matters is that you're here now."
"Indeed," said Superman, "What've you got for us?"
"Well, finding this info definitely wasn't easy," said Flash, "Looks like the Legion's upped their game, 'cause they have dozens of motion-sensors, life-signal scanners, heat signature scanners, the works. I had to move faster than I usually do to avoid getting detected, and I'm talking fast enough to go beyond time traveling! Anyway . . ."
Flash ran to the front of the table, inserted a computer chip, then turned on a holographic screen which materialized out of the table, which created the Hall of Doom and the surrounding area.
"I did my best to keep track of where all those scanners are," Flash marked the map with various red dots, "Anyway, I scanned the building and it looks like it has multiple layers of reinforced steel, plus a high-energy forcefield that I couldn't get through. Plus, there's no telling what else there might be if any of those sensors were tripped."
"So, what's wrong? You sound like there's something else to this," said Superman.
"That's because the weirdest thing about this is that all of these security measures are disabled!"
"What?" asked Wonder Woman.
"I mean, except for the scanners I mentioned, everything deactivated as soon as I finished my recon. The forcefield, the weapons, everything. Plus, I detected a massive outburst of energy inside the building!"
"Could that be from Ben's omnitrix?" asked Superman.
Kara immediately tensed upon hearing his name, leaning closer to learn more.
"Possibly," said Batman, "As of right now, the Legion shouldn't have anything that can produce that kind of power, which means we may be too late. They have probably used his device for something, but we have no idea what."
"Which means we're back to square one with our plan," sighed Hal.
"Not necessarily," said Batman.
"Whoa, hold up! You mean to tell me we're sticking with the original plan?"
"I can't believe I'm saying this, and I'm even gonna hate myself for saying this," said Flash, "But Hal's right. With that massive outburst, the Legion could have used it for a weapon or something, but we don't know what it is, so we'd be going in blind. Plus, with all those security protocols turned off, we'd be walking into a trap!"
"I know," replied the Dark Knight, "But we no longer have a choice. If the Legion and Eon have used Ben's omnitrix for their goals, then we cannot afford to wait and give them a chance to use that power. The plan stays the same."
Kara stood up. "I don't care if it's the same, I don't care if it's a trap. I'll do anything to save Ben! So, where do we start?"
Back at the Hall of Doom . . .
"Eon!" said Ben, yanking against his restraints, "You didn't! Tell me you didn't!"
Suddenly, heavy thumping could be heard echoing up the stairs, followed by a hulking shadow.
"See for yourself," replied Eon, gesturing toward the stairs.
The thumps grew closer, and closer, until a large, muscular silhouette appeared in the entryway. The figure walked slowly out of the shadows, and Ben's jaw dropped to the floor!
Ben could see it was Solomon Grundy, except he was much paler than usual. Black lines ran across his body, black chains and cuffs dangled from his wrists and neck, large, pointed teeth came from his mouth, and he had one yellow eye on his face.
"That's right, Tennyson," said Eon, "Our friend, Grundy, here, has now been transformed into Ghostfreak. And thanks to you, all of the Legion has been turned into the aliens residing in your watch!" As Ben continued gaping while he processed this sudden development, Eon said, "Still dumbstruck? Well, maybe this will get a response: Well, let's just say your friends have quite the surprise waiting for them!"
"What?!" Ben further tugged against the restraints, "You mean to tell me that you're luring my friends into a hideout filled with omni-fied villains?!"
"And you're powerless to save them," he said with satisfaction. Then he turned to Grundy and said, "What is it?"
"Luthor wants to see you," replied Grundy.
Eon turned to Ben and said, "You must excuse me, Tennyson. Business calls." As Eon started leaving, he said, "Grundy, watch him. If he makes any trouble, teach him a lesson."
As Grundy chuckled and cracked his knuckles, Ben desperately yanked at the restraints, tears starting to creep out of his eyes.
Eon strolled into the main control room of the Hall, where Lex was standing in front of a large computer in his human form.
"Well?" asked the bald madman.
"It worked," replied Eon, "I was able to siphon the energy from Tennyson's omnitrix and use it to transform your 'Legion' into an unstoppable hoard comprised of Tennyson's aliens."
"Excellent."
"Aren't you upset that you didn't get to join in on the fun?"
"After all the work we're putting into our own omnitrix, why should I be? Compared to the power I am about to obtain, why would I settle for anything less? But, what I am confused about is why you don't use the device yourself?"
"Oh, I'm plenty happy with what I've got," said Eon, "Besides, I've never really been a fan of transforming even in my universe. You can keep the watch, I just want to see Tennyson humbled before I reduce him to dust."
Lex smirked. "I like the way you think."
Suddenly, a small alarm beeped on the console. Lex turned around to check, then turned back to face Eon.
"Proximity alert."
"The League," said Eon grimly.
"They've arrived earlier than expected."
"Then it looks like we'll have to get started."
"You had better hope that the Legion, even with their new powers, can hold them off!"
"And you had better hope that the League won't find us here amidst the chaos!"
"Relax!" Lex pushed a button and several sets of automatic doors shut. "The entire building is sealed with lead, and the room is coated with a stasis field so the Martian can't find us. Plus, those doors are several feet thick, no one will be getting in so easily."
"Alright, let's get to work."
"I still don't like this plan."
Flash followed behind Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and Hal Jordan as they all walked toward the massive building that held the greatest assembly of villains on Earth (for DC anyway).
"They already know we're coming," said Batman, "And besides, even if you did use your super-speed to deactivate the cameras or if we used some other method to sneak inside, they would still be ready for us. This way, we can snap the trap and make the villains come to us."
As they approached the Hall of Doom, there was a hissing noise as a pair of automatic doors high above the ground opened. The heroes got in fighting positions, but relaxed when a ramp was lowered.
"Okay, definitely a trap," said Flash.
"Glad ya finally figured that out!" said Hal.
"And now I'm regretting backing you up at the Tower."
"Guys, knock it off!" said Wonder Woman, who drew out her sword, "Let's go. If it's war they want, they got it!"
As Wonder Woman walked ahead of them, Superman whispered to Batman, "Remind me not to get on her bad side."
"Agreed."
The other four heroes soon trailed after their Amazon comrade.
After they reached the top, they jumped in, expecting a bunch of trigger-happy supervillains to strike as soon as they were visible. However, the room was completely empty.
Batman stepped forward and looked around, then he signaled the others to follow slowly.
The group advanced, looking around for any sign of the Legion, jumping at the smallest of sounds.
"I don't like this," said Superman softly.
"Neither do I," replied Batman.
"I gotta admit, it is strange," said Hal, shining light from his ring at an area he thought he heard something, "I mean, even with a place as big as this, how can you just hide an army of supervillains?"
Suddenly, Batman looked behind him, then he yelled, "GET DOWN!" and tackled Wonder Woman to the floor, dodging a blast of purple electricity!
The heroes resumed their fighting stances and faced the direction of the lightning bolt.
They could hear an echoed chuckling, and they could see a pair of glowing, purple eyes. Soon the eyes got closer, until Brainstorm emerged.
However, this particular Brainstorm looked mostly green, except he wore a band that bore a deeper shade of green, and it had a large, purple question mark on its head.
"Riddle me this, riddle me that," grinned the Brainstorm, "What is finally powerful enough to take down the Bat?"
Riddler opened his new exoskeleton plates and sent out a bolt of purple electricity. The League tried to dodge, but he soon spread out the beam into multiple smaller ones, which trailed after them and shocked them.
"Riddler, what happened to you?" asked Batman, groaning as he got up.
"I suppose you could say we went through a major . . . upgrade."
Suddenly, an orange and black blur zoomed past Batman and knocked him to the ground before knocking Wonder Woman down as well. The blur was about to go after Superman, but that proved to be a mistake as he grabbed the blur by its head and tossed it aside. Upon clearer glance, they could tell it was XLR8 except with an orange and black mask with tough armor, which held many weapons from swords to guns to bullets.
"Deathstroke?" asked Batman.
"Like the new look, Batman?" he chuckled, "Now I can truly reach my full potential! We all can!"
As Deathstroke spread out his arms, multiple villains jumped out of hiding and filled the room!
Reverse-Flash was now taller thanks to his Tetramand build, Silver Banshee was now Echo Echo but still kept her full height, Toy Man was taller, skinnier, and more scary-looking because of his new Whampire form. And still, many others possessed new forms: Deadshot as Feedback, Livewire as Chromastone, Bizarro as Humungousaur, Sinestro as Swampfire, Black Manta as NRG, Shade as Shocksquatch, Metallo as Lodestar, Captain Cold as Bigchill, Heatwave as Heatblast, Mirror Master as ChamAlien, Weather Wizard as Upgrade, Giganta as Waybig (but she still stayed human-sized for the moment, ready to grow on command), Gorilla Grodd as Gravattack, Cheetah as Wildmutt, Cyborg-Superman as Diamondhead, Parasite as Eatle, Icicle as Water Hazard, and Black Adam as Rath.
"Great Hera!" said Wonder Woman.
"'Guess we now know what that huge energy surge was," said Flash.
"You just love stating the obvious, don't you?" asked Hal.
As Cheetah growled and roared at the group, Grodd said, "Give it up, Justice League! You're outnumbered and outmatched!"
"Maybe so," said Batman, "But you all forgot one thing."
"Oh yeah?" chuckled Cold, "And what's that?"
Immediately, more members of the League flew, jumped, or ran through the entrance and barreled into the villains or shot them with their powers! The heroes that showed up were: Cyborg, John Stewart, Stargirl, S.T.R.I.P.E., Captain Atom, Mr. Terrific, Dr. Light, Blue Devil, Zatanna, Dr. Fate, Plastic Man, Guy Gardner, Shazam, and Hawkgirl.
"Don't just stand there! Get them!" shouted Grodd as he recovered from Captain Atom's attack.
The battle was on! Heroes engaged in brutal clashes with their omni-fied foes, exchanging blow for blow or blast for blast, or even a mix of both!
Everyone was so engaged that no one even noticed a red blur zoom past them.
"Hang on, Ben! I'm coming!" whispered Kara to herself as she flew through the building.