Omni Force: JUSTICE

by NegaiFreak

Things have started to change ever since the World Government attacked Omnitrix City two years ago. Now with new villains and looming threats to deal with, the Omni Force faces a great challenge. And will Ben be able to do what's right with everything ahead of him? Even if it means going against the Justice League? PLEASE READ, REVIEW & ENJOY!

10. CONFRONTATION

Hello, everyone! We've finally made it to the halfway point of this story! By the time you've read this, I'll be working at my new internship! Remotely, too! It's definitely an interesting ordeal, especially with the environment we're in today. But I'm adjusting just fine!

In the meantime though, we should get ourselves back into this monster of a story. Where the last chapter was a little shorter than the others, this one's going to feature a climactic battle. And no, it's not against the Way Bads. It's something far worse, and far more devastating between the two teams of heroes in this story.

With all that said, let's dive back in and complete this arc!

OMNI FORCE: JUSTICE

7:31 P.M. – METROPOLIS

Rook was absolutely terrified as he was standing alone just outside of the city. One Null Void portal was bad enough. But now there were eight. And mutated To'kustars were raining down onto a very populated area, not in a harbor like the last time.

"By god…" he uttered out in disbelief. By some miracle though, none of them seemed to be doing a thing. They just stood, towering over the many buildings in Metropolis. On the streets below, several people were already being escorted to evacuate the area by police and firefighters.

"We've got eight of these things around the city!" one officer yelled into his radio's receiver, "We're requesting immediate evac from Easton to Carlson Way!" he added loudly. From above, Rook could hear the screams of panic. He wondered if Ben had made the right call. Was keeping the Justice League in the dark about this information really a wise decision? He quickly pulled out his Plumber badge.

"This is Magister Rook Blonko reporting to HQ!" he communicated quickly, "There are eight Null Void portals present over Metropolis!" he noted, "I need all available Plumbers at my location as soon as possible!" he insisted as sweat trickled down his face. This wasn't like the Incursean War. Many more lives were at stake.

"Copy that, Magister Blonko," Rex's voice replied through the communication line, catching his attention, "We'll be on our way shortly!" he promised before the call ended.

"Huh…" Rook exhaled, somewhat relieved. But only for a moment. He saw more To'kustars drop out from the portals and land beside their brethren. It seemed like only they were the ones appearing. And then one reeled his left arm back, swinging it forward to slam it through a tall building it was beside. The Revonnahgander gasped with horror at the sight, especially as the building collapsed. So many innocent people were likely inside at the time… and they had just perished…

"RRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" the mutant To'kustars roared simultaneously as they stomped about, beginning their rampage. Rook watched and clenched his teeth. Even if the Plumbers were to arrive as quickly as possible, they wouldn't be enough to quell the destruction, especially if the Legion of Doom was able to put in countermeasures. They needed a more immediate response. The Revonnahgander reached into one of his pouches and pulled out his MPG, activating it by placing his right thumb on its center.

"This is Rook," he communicated with a shaky breath, "We require immediate assistance in this universe, now…" he pleaded, stunned by what he was witnessing.

OPENING

Insert "Period" by Chemistry

Opens with the sun rising over Omnitrix City as Ben, Sunset, Law, Erza, Gaara and Ruby walking out onto the balcony of Omni Force Tower. Ben looks up into the sky, narrowing his eyes. From above in the Watchtower, Superman glares back with a hardened expression.

The Omni Force logo appears with a red streak shining underneath into, forming the word 'JUSTICE'.

We cut to the new Legion of Doom meeting in a base at the depths of the Atlantic Ocean, joining up with Gorilla Grodd. As they converse, Vandal glares angrily at Luthor for taking charge of what was supposed to be his revived Legion of Doom. Watching from afar is a figure lurking in the shadows. We don't see who he may be, but he lets off a familiar and ominous grin.

At the White House, Amanda Waller walks through the halls with Christopher Smith. It transitions to her walking down the halls of Belle Reve Penitentiary to gather together members for Task Force X. The rogue gallery of villains she selects are Deadshot, Captain Boomerang, Harley Quinn, King Shark, Killer Frost, and Star Sapphire. And leading them is Peacemaker.

We see Captain Rex with Rook and Kevin Levin joining the Omni Force squadron leaders as they head up the ramp into the Rust Bucket III. Before they depart, Sunset looks back worriedly at Ben, who forces a grin in reassurance. Inwardly, he's concerned for the safety of his comrades.

The scene changes to the Omni Force in battle with the Legion of Doom. Cheetah furiously slashes at Erza with her claws, Bane's fists rain down on Gaara, Law gets overwhelmed by the multitude of constructs formed by Sinestro, and Ruby is pinned down by Black Manta. Meanwhile, Sunset gets cornered by Lex, Grodd, and Vandal. Before she can do anything else though, the doors blast open to reveal the Suicide Squad. Harley winks at her, causing her to blush and sigh.

We cut over to Apokolips, where Darkseid oversees the training of the Female Furies under Blackfire. Meanwhile, Steppenwolf overlooks the production of the Parademons alongside Kalibak and Granny Goodness. They're also there to witness the revival of a certain monster from a metal pod… Steam hisses from it as it opens, revealing a pair of ominous red eyes…

Back on Earth, we see multiple Null Void portals open up all over the sky of Metropolis, with several Way Bads and other creatures falling out from them. Watching the news of this coming from his television, Ben immediately takes action, transforming into Kryptoknight and flying off into the distance. From the balcony, Rainbow watches worriedly with Raya in her arms.

The Justice League is in battle against the Way Bads as Kryptoknight arrives, knocking one of them down with Superman as they slam their fists into the mutated To'kustar's face. After the Way Bad topples over, Ben and Clark share a brief look of disdain with each other.

We cut to Lex Luthor in his war suit, flying away from Sunset and Cyborg as they're in pursuit of him. Meanwhile, Ruby duels with Cheetah, clashing Crescent Rose fiercely against her claws. Green Lantern and Star Sapphire combine their powers to fight back Sinestro, and Black Manta is being taken on by King Shark and Law.

All of these events start to pick away at Ben as he inwardly wonders if he's prepared to actually go against the Justice League in trying to stop the Legion of Doom. We cut to shots of Smoker being comforted by Erza as they're sitting on a bench together, with her patting his back, and a shot of Ahsoka and Kara Danvers together in Omni Force Tower.

We're with Ben looking over to the Omni Force squadron leaders atop Mount Rushmore, smiling as the sun sets in the background. As he ventures over to them though, members of the Justice League look on with concern, thinking this may not be the right choice for him. We end on both groups staring each other down with stone-faced expressions.

END OPENING

CONFRONTATION

7:34 P.M. – THE DAILY PLANET

"Oh my god…" Lois uttered out in disbelief, seeing the reports across the various television screens in the office space. Everyone was just as shocked by what they were seeing.

"There are now thirteen of those giant beasts roaming about Metropolis!" a reporter aboard a news copter exclaimed as the aircraft was hovering over the mutant To'kustars, "Though unlike the incident in Gotham, these seem to be the only creatures departing from those red rifts in the sky!" she pointed out, "For now, the authorities have ordered an immediate evacuation of the city until—! LOOK OUT!" she suddenly screamed, interjecting herself before it sounded like something exploded as the feed cut out into static. Everyone murmured worriedly with horror.

"Lois, we should get outta here…" Jimmy advised to the female reporter, getting her attention.

"Yeah…" she agreed quietly, hurriedly heading off with him. She looked back towards the static-induced screen, hoping that her Kryptonian boyfriend would be there to help save the day. And hopefully with his teammates, too.

7:35 P.M. – LEXCORP

"Man, what a show so far!" Joker exclaimed excitedly as the mind control device was firmly upon his head, "If not for Tennyson's freak-out, this whole shindig might've never happened!" he pointed out, cackling again.

"Huh…" Grodd exhaled out of annoyance, "If not for my injuries, I would be in control of those beasts," he noted firmly.

"Right, and you'd rule a pack of monkeys…" Joker muttered, rolling his eyes, "Come on, think of the fun with this!" he implored of the intelligent gorilla, "These giants could take over the whole damn planet if we wanted 'em to!" he concluded, "Why settle for Lexie's plan to 'win over the people'?" he wondered aloud, "I say to hell with 'em!" he yelled as he shot up to his feet, "If they can't share a good laugh, then there's point in keepin' them around…" he noted with a devious grin.

"Wait…" Grodd said as he trotted over to his side, noticing something in the security footage as he narrowed his eyes. He saw that it was Victor, leading the group of Christopher, Ahsoka, Gaara, Kevin, and Ruby.

"Oh, that might be a problem…" Joker admitted, putting his right hand onto his cheek out of annoyance. The intelligent gorilla huffed as he walked off.

"Do whatever you'd like, clown," he remarked in farewell, "I'll go and slow down our guests," he promised before leaving the room.

"Thanks for the hand, Groddsy!" Joker cried out, "Just don't go too bananas out there!" he insisted jokingly, laughing like a madman afterwards. He then sat back down in his chair as he watched the mutant To'kustars rage about at his metal command. "I do wonder what Lexie was planning to get out of all this…" he admitted quietly to himself, using his left hand to feel around the bottom of the control panel to see if the Lexcorp CEO had been hiding something. And lo and behold, he ended up opening a secret compartment to reveal a Mother Box. "Hello…" he greeted, grinning a little as he picked the object up, "I don't know what you are… but I bet you're worth keeping around…" he noted, tucking the Mother Box into his jacket.

"Huh… huhh…" Ben breathed out shakily from back in the charred room as Sunset knelt beside him with Harley and Floyd looking on.

"Ben, come on…" the Equestrian Magic user pleaded to her best friend, who still trembled with fear.

"What the hell happened?" Harley asked in concern.

"I think he saw an illusion… of your old boss…" her ex-girlfriend responded after a moment. The former psychiatrist winced, sucking in air through her teeth as she glanced away ashamedly. Another rumble occurred.

"We gotta move," Floyd insisted, "Those giants are probably tearing through the city by now…" he pointed out. Hearing that made Sunset all the more anxious about hurrying.

"Ben, come on!" she begged, shaking him by his shoulder. He stopped breathing rapidly, appearing to calm down. But tears dripped out from his eyes.

"I… couldn't save him…" he whimpered out, breaking into a sobbing fit. Sunset knew he was going through a lot. Too much for one person to deal with in just a few minutes.

"Huh," Floyd scoffed in frustration, "Quinn, take your ex and find that damn clown," he advised to the pigtailed supervillain beside him.

"Wait, what?" she and Sunset uttered simultaneously.

"I'll stick around and get this guy back on his feet," the mercenary sharpshooter assured, letting his metallic helmet retract as he approached him, "Now go," he insisted.

"No, I'm not just gonna—!" Sunset's shout was interjected as Harley suddenly put her hand onto her shoulder, getting her attention.

"Sunset… we gotta stop him," she firmly stated, much to her ex's surprise with how serious she sounded.

"…Okay," she finally replied, standing up. She gave one last worried look to her frightened best friend before jogging off alongside Harley.

"Huh…" Ben breathed out shakily as Floyd knelt down in front of him.

"Hoo…" he exhaled, "Listen…" he began, "I don't know what the hell that damn clown showed you," he pointed out, "But I know it fucked you up," he realized, causing Ben to finally lift his head up and look at him dead in the eye.

"I… screwed up everything…" he realized, shaking his head with frustration, "You guys should've been able to stop the portals by now…" he pointed out, balling his hands into fists, "I… I'm no hero!" he yelled out.

"Huh…" Floyd sighed, standing up, "Save the bullshit for later and get over yourself," he advised firmly, "Don't focus on how you screwed up," he mentioned, "Just do your thing and help us finish those bastards off," he insisted as he reloaded his rifle, dropping the empty cartridge and inserting a new one rather quickly, "You got a kid too, right?" he guessed, causing the Biomnitrix bearer to perk up in surprise.

"Yeah…?" he responded, unsure of where the mercenary sharpshooter was going with the question.

"I lived everyday with this suit on thinking about going back to my daughter in the end," he pointed out to him, "Same goes for you with your kid, right?" he inquired. Ben glanced down in thought, thinking of his wife and their child. Raya was like a light in his life. Something that sparked a new sense of purpose for him. And he was going to fulfill that purpose, come hell or high water.

He needed just a moment as he took a deep breath through his nose. Joker's laughter was still echoing in his head. But instead of inducing fear, it brought about another emotion: anger. He finally got onto his feet.

"Let's get that fucking clown…" he remarked with venom in his tone, which caused Floyd to be taken aback as he blinked.

"Then after you…" he insisted, gesturing for him to take the lead. The Omni Force leader did so, jogging off with the mercenary sharpshooter to follow.

X

7:42 P.M. – METROPOLIS

"Right this way, everyone!" Hal directed through a megaphone construct he created from his power ring, leading many frightened citizens across a bridge hurriedly as he floated overhead.

"Hal!" a familiar voice called out, causing the Green Lantern to wince as his eyes widened, looking back to see his girlfriend flying over.

"Carol, secret identity, remember?!" he shouted quietly to her in response. She rolled her eyes.

"Two of those giants are heading here right now," she noted to him, putting her hands onto her hips. Hal grimaced, looking down to see the traffic of people trying to get across to general safety.

"The League should be getting here soon…" he noted, though he seemed unsure of how soon that would be.

"Hal, let's just focus on protecting these people before-"

"AAAAAHHHH!" a woman's voice suddenly screamed, interrupting the Star Sapphire. She and the Green Lantern looked out and gasped to see a ferry flying through the air towards the bridge.

"Shit!" Hal cursed, quickly flying up with Carol out in front of the bridge. He quickly projected a giant green bowl construct from his power ring to catch the ferry, but it was breaking through it. The Star Sapphire flew overhead, unleashing beams of pink light out of her hands that formed into several tendrils that wrapped around the ferry.

"Ergh…!" she grunted, trying desperately to pull it back. The crowd of people still on the bridge watched on nervously at the scene, hoping the two Lanterns would succeed. Suddenly, the ferry moved back away from the bowl construct.

"Huh?" Hal uttered in surprise, letting his construct disappear. Carol had her tendrils vanish as well, blinking in confusion. The ferry was practically floating in the air…

"Look!" one little boy in the crowd cried out, pointing towards the vessel. Everyone looked and gasped happily to see that it was Clark holding it from underneath, with his cape blowing in the wind. He gently set the ferry down onto the water, eliciting cheers from the crowd.

"Glad you could make it…" Hal noted as he flew down to his teammate, getting his attention.

"Where's Cyborg?" he asked while glancing around.

"At Lexcorp," the Green Lantern answered, "Apparently, the Omni Force already got the drop on the Legion before we did," he pointed out.

"Huh…" Clark sighed deeply. He then looked over to see Carol floating overhead with a nervous grimace on her face. "Get her to Bruce and have that explosive disarmed," he advised, "After that, you can help us stop these giants from tearing up the rest of the city," he told him.

"Copy that, Superman," Hal replied, flying up to his girlfriend, "Let's go," he insisted to her. She nodded in response, heading off with him. In the meantime, the Kryptonian turned to the cheering crowd.

"You all need to cross the bridge and get yourselves to safety!" he quickly advised, "The Justice League will hold those giants here before we're able to contain them," he assured. The Metropolis citizens adhered to his words, moving across the bridge at a quick and less panicked pace. Clark turned back towards the city, seeing two more mutant To'kustars drop out from the portals and land down.

"RRRRROOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHRRRR!" they bellowed mightily into the air. The Kryptonian narrowed his eyes before placing his right pointer finger onto the earpiece in his ear.

"Flash?" he said.

"We've evacuated most of the city, but there's bound to be a few stragglers," Barry's voice answered over the line, "Diana and J'onn are gonna try to slow down those Way Bads, but…" he tried to continue.

"Yeah…" Clark responded, understanding what the Scarlet Speedster was trying to say, "We need to get those portals closed off first," he firmly insisted.

"That'll be easier said than done…" Diana's voice chimed in as she and J'onn were flying about the skyline in search of the projectors while also keeping track of the mutant To'kustars in the immediate area, "I don't see any sign of a projector…" she pointed out.

"And I am counting about seventeen To'kustars now in the city…" the Martian floating beside her added… right before one Way Bad dropped down right behind them.

"RRRRRRR…" she growled, narrowing her red eyes onto the two Leaguers in front of her.

"Make that eighteen…" Diana remarked as she drew her lasso, while J'onn readied his fists. Seeing everything that was happening thanks to his super-vision, Clark grew all the more frustrated. He knew this was something he and the Justice League would've been able to stop… if they'd been alerted beforehand. In an instant, he flew off towards the rampaging alien giants.

7:52 P.M. – LEXCORP

Christopher was leading the charge as he and the others hurried through the halls to try and find the control room. But the entire floor was basically a labyrinth of paths one after another. And all of the doors they tried opening were locked.

"We're running around in circles!" Ruby pointed out tiredly as sweated dripped down her face.

"Ahsoka, could you maybe sense a location?" Gaara inquired of the Togruta, who blinked in surprise.

"That's… not how the Force works!" she yelled in response.

"Well, how does it work?!" Kevin asked back out of frustration.

"Guys!" Victor shouted, enticing the Omni Force members to silence themselves, "I think there's another job we need to do," he pointed out, morphing his right arm into its sonic cannon form. He fired a powerful blast of sonic energy onto the door, blasting it open to allow him and the others to enter.

"Whoa…" Ruby uttered out upon seeing that it was a server room, aligned with several servers that were processing and managing data.

"I don't see how getting in here helps us…" Christopher noted in concern.

"Well…" Victor began, pulling out a connection cord from the back of his head and plugging it into one of the ports upon a server, "I got a sinking feeling the Legion wanted to make sure the projectors weren't so easy to turn off or destroy this time," he pointed out to the group, "So first, we find out where they are," he stated, typing a few commands onto the holographic keyboard projecting from his left arm before pulling up a map of Metropolis. It had eight red markings scattered about the city. "Bingo," he said with a smirk.

"Wow, fast work," Ahsoka complimented, putting her hands onto her hips.

"So… should we try to hit those projectors one by one?" Ruby guessed, chiming into the conversation.

"Like I said, they're probably a lot more durable than the one you destroyed in Gotham," the half-man, half-robot pointed out in response, "But the good thing is, I think I can shut 'em down automatically from here," he told them.

"Sweet!" Ruby exclaimed excitedly, pumping her fists. Everyone else seemed relieved by the news… until Ahsoka let out a gasp.

"Watch out!" she yelled, whipping around and sticking her hands out. The others turned too late to see a flurry of bullets zooming towards them, shot from a minigun in the hands of none other than Grodd. Most of them were stopped thanks to the Togruta's Force, but a few managed to fly past her, striking the servers as sparks flew out from them.

"AH!" Cyborg yelped as he quickly unplugged himself to avoid the sparks that came out from the server.

"Damn ape!" Kevin yelled, quickly pressing his hand against a server adjacent to him in order to coat himself in its metal. He shot to his feet and charged forward. The intelligent gorilla took notice, about to fire on him, only for mounds of sand to suddenly plug up the openings of the minigun.

"Ah!" he gasped, looking to see Gaara with his right hand extended out. Before Grodd could do anything, Kevin struck him fiercely with a right hook to his face and a straight punch to his chest with his left fist, knocking him down onto the floor. "Agh…" he groaned out, losing consciousness as he lied on his back

"Huh…" Ahsoka sighed, letting the bullets she caught in her Force drop harmlessly to the ground, "Is everyone alright?" she asked of those around her.

"I think so…" Ruby replied as she stood up.

"Servers are fucked though…" Victor muttered, looking back at the bullet holes in a few of them.

"Does that mean that you can't shut down the portals from here now?" Gaara guessed.

"Yeah…" the half-man, half-robot responded in frustration.

"Agh…" Christopher suddenly groaned, catching their attentions as they looked over and gasped. Drops of blood were falling to the floor from the bullet wounds at his abdomen. He suddenly slumped to his knees as he started falling forwards.

"Whoa!" Kevin yelped as he and Gaara caught the former Austrian soldier, setting him down gently onto the floor upon his back.

"Oh no…" Ruby uttered out worriedly, seeing Christopher grimace with agony as he bled out.

"Is there anyone who can stop the bleeding?" Gaara asked of those in the group. A cough from the Suicide Squad leader caught their attentions, seeing that his breathing was slowing.

"Don't… worry about me…" he insisted as his chest heaved up and down with each ragged breath, "You got… the locations of those projectors, right?" he inquired, glancing over to Victor, "Then… go find and take 'em out," he requested as he winced in agony.

"Wait, what about—?!"

"Bring the other squaddies with you…" Christopher advised, interrupting Ruby, "As a soldier… I already know it's my time…" he concluded with another deep and shaky breath. Everyone widened their eyes in shock. One last breath was released from the soldier's lips before his body went limp and lifeless. He was dead.

"Shit…" Kevin cursed in frustration. Even if Christopher was a villain, he shouldn't have had to lose his life in such a way. That's what he and many of the others thought.

"Come on," Cyborg beckoned, walking past the Omni Force members towards the doorway, "Let's get the other baddies together and find those projectors," he insisted before jogging off. The four teammates gave off worried glances towards each other, but they steeled themselves, deciding to press forward and put a stop to the villainous plot.

X

The toothy, yellow grin hadn't left Joker's face ever since the chaos had started at his mental command. There were now over 20 mutant To'kustars roaming about Metropolis and rampaging upon his word. And with the portals still active, more were coming.

"Twenty-one… twenty-two… twenty-three… twenty-four…" he counted, "Goodness, this a lot, even for me…" he admitted, letting off a chuckle, "Oh well…" he sighed, "I'm sure little old Lexie won't mind me going off the wall with all this," he noted to himself as he rubbed his gloved hands together. Just then, there was loud bang at the door behind him. "Oh, company…" he uttered in realization. In a blast of golden light, the door shattered open. Harley somersaulted out from the resulting smoke, holding her bat like a rifle as she pretended to aim it around in search of anyone in the room.

"Harley, knock it off," Sunset insisted as she walked in, still in her ponied-up state.

"Sorry…" she sheepishly apologized, standing up.

"Harley!" Joker greeted, catching their attentions as they looked to see the Clown Prince of Crime get onto his feet from his chair and turn to face them, "You know, I never expected you of all people to show up tonight…" he admitted, "The worlds works in mysterious ways, it seems…" he pointed out as he rolled his eyes.

"Can it, Puddin'," his former minion retorted, "We're here to put a stop to both you and those big bads outside," she declared, aiming the head of baseball bat towards him as if it were a sword.

"Oh, I'm sure you will…" Joker remarked, holding his hands together behind his back, "Although, I did just call for a few of them to come over for a little more fun…" he admitted with a devious chuckle.

"Call 'em off," Sunset demanded in a firm tone.

"Or what?" the Clown Prince of Crime questioned back, "You'll turn me in?" he guessed, "Even if you do, that won't stop those bigwigs outside…" he pointed out. Sunset grimaced. From what she remembered about the Way Bads eight years ago, just disabling the beacon and the portals would be the least favorable decision. If the beacon were to be lost, then the mutant To'kustars would be left to rampage in their feral, uncontrolled states. That meant she and Harley would have to safely retrieve the device upon Joker's head. And that would be easier said than done…

"Sorry 'bout this, Puddin'…" Harley apologized in advance before she lunged forward.

"Harley, wait!" Sunset cried out. But the pigtailed Cupid of Crime yelled as she reeled her bat back. Her former boss smirked.

"Oh, this is just too good…" he remarked, pulling out a knife from his left sleeve. The Equestrian Magic user noticed, lighting up her right hand in a reddish, sparkling aura. The same light shrouded her foe's hand, making him gasp in surprise as he noticed his immobile appendage. It gave Harley the opportunity she needed as she slammed her bat hard against his stomach, making him let out a yelp.

"Thanks for the assist, Sunbuns!" the former psychiatrist called out to her ex, who blushed a little.

"Just keep your guard up!" she advised in response.

"Sunbuns, hm?" Joker repeated, drawing a cane in his left hand and swinging it at his former minion, who quickly blocked with her bat held up in both hands like a sword, "So you found yourself a new girl, Harley?" he guessed, still giving off a rather creepy smile, "Honestly, I never knew that about you…" he admitted as he chuckled, "You do have my full support…" he remarked with a smirk.

"I don't care what I get from you, Mistah J!" the pigtailed supervillain shouted as she hopped back and drew a barreled pistol from her belt, "Sunset's one of the only women in the world that gives more of a damn about me than ya ever did!" she pointed out emphatically. The Equestrian Magic user blinked in surprise upon hearing that revelation.

"Oh, female friendships are such a pain…" Joker grumbled as he rolled his eyes. Growling, Harley fired her pistol. However, Joker ducked from the bullet as it pierced through one of the security camera screens, sneering excitedly as he lunged forward. The former psychiatrist readied herself to take an attack from him… only for him to go right through like a ghost.

"Huh?!" she gasped in surprise. Sunset was also shocked, blinking as she noticed the Clown Prince of Crime suddenly lunging out at Harley from the shadows.

"Harley, watch out!" she screamed. Unfortunately, her warning came too late as the former psychiatrist was whacked upside the head by Joker's cane, falling onto the floor with blood spilling from the new gash on her head. "Grrr…!" Sunset growled, closing her hands into fists before firing off beams of golden light from them. But her target ducked from those as well, chuckling sinisterly as he snuck back into the shadows again, disappearing.

"You ladies sure want to have a fun time…" he remarked as his voice echoed throughout the dark room.

"Ugh…" Harley groaned, rubbing her head as she got back onto her feet, "Sorry 'bout all this, Sunbuns…" she apologized while standing back-to-back with her ex, "Forgot how much of a prick he was…" she grumbled, taking a tight hold on her bat.

"It's okay, Harley…" Sunset assured in response, "But has he ever used illusions like that?" she inquired curiously.

"You mean suddenly turnin' into a ghost?" her ex-girlfriend guessed in response, causing her to roll her eyes and groan.

"Yes, Harley…" she muttered out.

"Oh," the former psychiatrist said, "Then no," she answered with a shake of her head.

"Heeheehee…" Joker's chuckle echoed eerily. Both women kept themselves in ready positions.

"Boy, I forgot how much I started hating that laugh…" Harley admitted in annoyance.

"I already hate it…" Sunset remarked.

"Peekaboo!" Joker exclaimed, seemingly about to come down on her with his cane at the ready. She quickly stuck out her right hand to fire off a beam of golden light, only for it to go right through him as it struck the ceiling. At the same time though, his attack went through her.

"Damn it…" she cursed in frustration, glancing around carefully. Every attack that the Clown Prince of Crime was performing had become just a series of fake-outs. Was it all meant to be an illusion?

"Sunbuns, please tell me you got a plan…" Harley pleaded to her ex, who balled her fists.

"Close your eyes," she insisted suddenly in a quiet tone.

"Huh?" the former psychiatrist uttered in confusion as she blinked twice.

"Just do it!" Sunset demanded, causing her to immediately adhere to the order as she clenched her eyes shut. It allowed for the Equestrian Magic user to build up a large amount of golden light upon her hands before releasing it in a massive flash, revealing a plethora of clones of the Clown Prince of Crime. However, they all instantaneously faded as the light washed over them. Suddenly, Sunset heard the click of a gun. She whipped around…

"Don't move another muscle," Joker advised, much to her frustration as she clenched her teeth together.

"Huh?" Harley uttered out, opening her eyes upon feeling something pressed against the back of her head. It was the gun of the Clown Prince of Crime. She gasped upon realizing.

"Be a good girl and stay still for a minute, Harley…" Joker insisted, "Wouldn't want you to lose your head too soon, would we?" he inquired with another chuckle.

"S-Sunbuns?" the Cupid of Crime stuttered out in fright, hoping her ex would have a plan in order to help her. Unfortunately, she didn't. She already knew what Joker would do if she even tried to make a move now.

"Where the hell did you get that illusion tech you've been using?" she asked suddenly.

"Oh, fell off a truck, so finders keepers…" the villainous clown muttered in response with a shrug, maintaining his hold on Harley as she nervously glanced back and forth at him and Sunset.

"…You stole it from Mirror Master…" the Equestrian Magic user realized, balling her hands into fists.

"Stole, borrowed, inherited…" Joker listed off as a retort, "Let's not get too technical over the matter…" he advised while steadying his trigger finger, "You know, I honestly thought that schmuck would die in a thousand pieces!" he admitted with a loud cackle, "Oh, if only el Luchador had a sense of humor like mine…" he pointed out as he shook his head in disappointment.

"You're sick…" Sunset said with venom in her tone.

"Aren't we all?" her foe inquired while grinning, "But I like you, Sunbuns…" he noted, "You've got a spunk in you that even the Bat would be impressed by," he complimented, "It's no wonder Harley wants to scissor around with you," he mentioned with a chuckle. The Cupid of Crime blushed a mad red for once.

"TMI, Mistah J…" she muttered in embarrassment, while Sunset growled.

"Here's how this'll go now…" Joker began, "Once those Way Bads arrive here, I'll be taking my stuff and scootin' on over to Gotham to continue the fun," he told her, "Go ahead and turn off the portals and beacon all you want," he offered, "It'll make no difference to the fear I've stoked…" he remarked, laughing a little before breaking into a fit of cackling. Sunset knew exactly what Ben despised about clowns, especially him. "Come on, Harl," he beckoned, "Time to make do on our new honeymoon!" he exclaimed.

"I'd rather be dead than go on a killin' spree with you!" Harley spat back in defiance, much to his surprise. But he started grinning after a moment.

"That can be arranged…" he assured, readying the trigger. The former psychiatrist had tears welling up in her eyes. But she looked over to her shocked ex with a smile.

"Sorry, Sunbuns…" she apologized, "Guess I'll see ya in another life…" she said in farewell.

"HARLEY!" Sunset screamed. Joker chuckled maniacally again… But suddenly, he felt no opposing force from pulling the trigger.

"Hm?" he uttered in confusion, opening the revolver to find no bullets inside, "Could've sworn I loaded this damn thing…" he grumbled as the two women gave off perplexed looks. All of a sudden, they heard pieces of metal clattering onto the floor, glancing over to see half a dozen bullets rolling on the surface. "What the hell…?" the Clown Prince of Crime said, narrowing his eyes onto the sight.

"You wanna see something really scary?" an eerie, ghastly voice echoed, causing him to blink in surprise as he stepped back. Appearing out of the thin air and floating was a ghost-like creature with a gaseous appearance and claw-like hands, having green chains all over his front side, which led to his neck, waist, and chest, giving him the appearance of being contained in a straitjacket, but with his arms out freely. He had spikes on his elbows, his skin was a greenish-white shading, and he had two cuffs on each of his arms. The Omnitrix symbol was located at the center of his chains, while a lone green eye was upon his face.

"Ben…" Sunset uttered out, relieved that he had returned. Joker grinned.

"So old Benny-boy's back in the saddle!" he exclaimed in realization as he outstretched his arms to their respective sides, "Gotta say, that was a quick turnaround…" he pointed out, "even for you…" he added with a smirk. Ghostfreak narrowed his lone eye, growling. "Did you really get over that whole fear of me?" his foe wondered while tilting his head to the side. All of a sudden, the Ectonurite disappeared again. "Well, I guess that answers that…" Joker concluded, letting off another laugh. With him being distracted, Harley quickly went over to Sunset.

"I'm gettin' the chills from your ghost friend…" she admitted, peeking out from behind her ex.

"Yeah, me too…" she responded as sweat trickled down her face. Ben's tone had changed to ominous rather instantaneously. And for once, she was actually scared for what could happen to Joker. All of a sudden, his left arm was swung back with a loud crack to follow.

"GAH!" he yelled in agony, followed by falling to his knees as his head slammed against the floor. He tried to pick himself up, but something invisible grabbed him by his hair and smacked him against the floor over and over.

"WHO'S SCARED NOW, YOU FUCKING CLOWN?!" Ghostfreak bellowed as he reappeared, holding the Clown Prince of Crime by his hair as he lifted him up to look him dead in the eye. He was bleeding profusely from his broken nose and his mouth. But he still managed to smile, letting out a little laugh that turned into a maniacal fit of cackling. "Rrrrr…!" the Ectonurite growled, having a quartet of white and black-striped tentacles shoot out from his chest, wrapping around the arms and legs of his opponent.

He then swung him around ferociously, slamming him against wall after wall without restraint. Sunset and Harley looked on in shock. This level of violence… was coming from someone known as a hero?

"RRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!" Ghostfreak roared, slamming Joker against the floor hard, breaking the mind control device off of his head as it stopped glowing. He then pinned him down and drew his claws. Even in pain, the Clown Prince of Crime was still managing to smile.

"Finally decided to shed that skin of being a hero, ey Benny-boy?!" he inquired loudly with a chuckle, coughing up some blood, "I love it!" he exclaimed, "You followed the path laid before you and started taking your own!" he pointed out, "It's the greatest of jokes! It's the greatest of life!" he listed off as he cackled. The Ectonurite had heard enough. He phased his right hand through Joker's chest.

"Let's see you smile after this…" he threatened.

"Ben, don't!" Sunset yelled, but it didn't seem like Ghostfreak was going to listen. Anger was consuming his mind. Every voice in his head was drowned out by the laughter of the villain lying underneath him. With but a simple move, he could easily crush his heart from the inside.

"Go ahead, Benny-boy…" the Clown Prince of Crime offered, "You know you want to…" he noted eerily, grinning like a madman. The Ectonurite was ready to land the killing blow…

"BEN!" Sunset screamed, snapping Ghostfreak to his senses as he phased his hand out of Joker's chest. A frown came across his face.

"Aw… that's disappointing…" he complained.

"Huh… huh…" the Ectonurite breathed out. He looked over to see the fear in Sunset's eyes, along with Harley's. "Sorry…" he apologized, enveloping himself within a bright flash of light as he turned back into Ben, landing upon the floor.

"Well, that sure was a show…" Joker remarked, managing to sit up with a pained grunt. All of a sudden, there was the click of a gun.

"I'd keep your head down, clown," Floyd's voice advised as he aimed his gun at the villain upon walking in.

"Cowboy!" Harley yelped in surprise.

"Huh…" Joker sighed, putting his hands up in defeat, "Well Benny-boy, you and your pals really did it this time…" he pointed out with a chuckle. Before Sunset could ask what he was even talking about, she noticed the broken mind control device.

"Oh no…" she uttered in realization.

"Does that mean those Way Bads are way badder?" Harley inquired in concern.

"No, it just means they'll all come to the beacon," Joker replied, catching her attention, "Groddsy mentioned that'd be a failsafe in case that tiara I had broke," he mentioned with another chuckle.

"And how do we stop them?" Ben asked, balling his fists as he approached the villain.

"Oh, I wish I knew, really…" he admitted in response, eliciting a growl from the Biomnitrix bearer, "All I know is that they're gonna be heading straight for the beacon now," he told those around him as they blinked in surprise, "And I bet they're going through anything to get here…" he added ominously. Ben gritted his teeth. It was a grim reminder of just how destructive the To'kustars were…

X

7:59 P.M.

"Bloody hell…" George uttered out in disbelief as he and Nanaue looked out at the destruction of Metropolis being caused by the Way Bads rampaging towards Lexcorp Tower. They were charging through every building in sight, rampaging ferociously. Even as members of the Justice League were doing what they could to slow them down, it didn't stop others from continuing their charge.

"RRRROOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" they bellowed out loudly.

"King shark is a shark…" Nanaue noted as he stepped back nervously.

"Yeah, you said it…" George concurred. Both of them wanted to just hightail it out of there. But there seemed to be nowhere to run to.

"Guys!" a familiar voice called out, catching their attentions as they turned to see Ruby running up to them with Ahsoka, Gaara, Kevin and Victor to follow.

"Hey kid," Nanaue greeted, smiling upon seeing her, "You doin' alright?" he asked out of concern.

"For the most part…" she responded with a shrug, making him chuckle. George let out a groan of annoyance, wondering why the mutated shark was willing to actually talk with the student huntress rather than anyone else.

"Any of you blokes figure out how we can stop these things?" he asked of the other Omni Force members and the half-man, half-robot.

"We were about to shut down the portals, but the servers were destroyed," the latter of the group replied as he stepped forward, "So we gotta take the projectors out ourselves," he told the Australian man, who blinked twice.

"Uh… ya lost me," he remarked in response.

"There're eight projectors scattered through Metropolis that are responsible for those portals in the sky," Ahsoka chimed in, "And we unless we shut them down, we're only going to have more of those giants to deal with…" she pointed out grimly. One To'kustar slammed through a whole building as it collapsed.

"Um… how come they're all coming here?!" Ruby asked frantically.

"Could be the beacon the Legion was using…" Kevin inferred, "Maybe it's got a frequency that only To'kustars can pick up…" he suggested as he crossed his arms.

"And it would make sense for them to come here if the beacon's connected to that mind control device they have…" Gaara added.

"Whatever the case, we have to hurry," Ahsoka insisted, "How many of those To'kustars are out there right now?" she asked of Victor, who pulled up a holographic screen that projected upon his right arm. It showed a map of Metropolis with red icons moving along the screen, converging with each other.

"Twenty-five… and counting," he answered simply, putting his arm down afterwards as he let the screen disappear, "We need to go," he insisted.

"RRRRROOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" one of the mutant To'kustars roared as his right arm smashed through the top of a building, sending it hurdling towards the group in front of Lexcorp.

"…Bollocks," George uttered out upon noticing. Gaara stuck his hands out, attempting to catch the piece with a wave of sand. But suddenly a certain figure lunged up towards it, letting his right hand become encased in a sparking blue light.

"CHIDORI!" he exclaimed, striking the building piece and shattering it into pieces with a crack of lightning to follow. Everyone looked on with widened eyes at the sight, seeing the figure land down. It was none other than Sasuke Uchiha.

"Sasuke?" Kevin uttered, getting his attention as he turned to the group, "The hell are you doing here?" he asked while arching an eyebrow.

"Rook called," the shinobi replied, unsheathing his sword as more mutant To'kustars were approaching, "Said this was really bad for you guys," he pointed out.

"You're telling us…" Ruby remarked with a sigh.

"How many of you are here?" Gaara asked curiously. Letting his blade spark with electricity, Sasuke readied his Sharingan and Rinnegan eyes.

"Enough," he answered before leaping up towards the giant aliens charging towards the tower. A purple aura began to overtake his body before he became enveloped in his Susanoo, which grew to an immense size. It became a humanoid-like creature that had a helmet with a long tengu nose, two spikes over each eye, a slit stretching across its mouth, three gaps on each of its cheeks and one additional gap on its chin. It sprouted huge, almost paper-like wings and gained a saber, holding it in its right hand. With a yell, he had the construct swing its weapon out at one of the female Way Bads, knocking her back as she stumbled.

"Whoa!" Ruby yelped in surprise.

"Thank god he's on our side…" George admitted.

"King Shark is a shark…" Nanaue agreed as he nodded simply.

"If they're keepin' those Way Bads busy, that gives us time to take out those projectors," Victor pointed out.

"Yeah, us," Ahsoka corrected, causing him to blink in confusion.

"You should go back inside and find where that beacon is," Kevin advised, "I think you're the only guy here who could probably do something with it," he mentioned confidently.

"But-"

"We have each projector's location," Gaara interjected, "Once we've destroyed them, we'll move on to holding off the To'kustars until the Plumbers arrive with their own projector to return them to the Null Void," he explained to the group.

"As long as we get those big bastards back where they came from, I'm all for it," George chimed in.

"King Shark is a shark!" Nanaue bellowed, punching his left hand. Seeing that they were adamant about doing this, Victor let out a sigh.

"Fine," he said, having his map show only the icons indicating the locations of the eight projectors, "Choose two of the places and head there as quickly as you can," he advised.

"Will do!" Ruby responded before zipping off in a burst of rose petals.

"Hopefully, we can get this done soon…" Ahsoka said.

"Yeah…" Kevin agreed, looking back at the destruction of Metropolis happening thanks to the mutant To'kustars, "Let's go!" he called out. His teammates nodded, along with the two villains before they all split off in different directions, leaving Victor behind. He turned back towards Lexcorp Tower, balling his fists.

"Gonna be one hell of a night…" he muttered out with a shake of his head before running inside. Meanwhile, a large figure was rocketing towards one of the Way Bads, being none other than Monkey D. Luffy. His body was much larger in size, with his arms, upper torso, and legs all coated in a dark red form of Armament Haki. He had shading around the inner and outer edges of his eyes, while his hair stuck up. He was also physically taller, being about four meters in height as steam emitted from his flying form. He compressed his feet into the skin of his legs before shooting them out to rocket himself towards his target.

"Now Gum-Gum…!" he started to bellow, compressing his right fist into his arm as the mutated To'kustar took notice of him. He attempted to swipe at the pirate king with his left arm, but he missed as he rocketed right up to his face. "KONG GUN!" he roared, thrusting his fist out to strike his target square in the face, knocking him over as he crashed into the river behind him back first.

Elsewhere, Mera was manipulating waves of water to form tendrils that wrapped around the legs of three Way Bads that were wading through the river in route to their destination. She was definitely strained, gritting her teeth as she tried to hold the beasts back. Thankfully, she wouldn't have to for much longer as three figures suddenly lunged out towards the mutated To'kustars. They were Genos, Kagura Mikazuchi, and Roronoa Zoro. The latter of the trio prepared his three swords, holding two of them in his hands at an angle against each other and rotated them rapidly while flying towards his target, while the third one had its hilt in his mouth.

"Three-Swords Style Secret Technique…" he started to below, "BILLION-FOLD WORLD TRICHILIOCOSM!" he roared out, slashing massively at the behemoth.

"RRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH…!" he cried out in agony as he started falling over. Meanwhile, a female To'kustar was swiping at Kagura with her hands, only for her to evade them with ease as she readied her sheathed blade.

"Archenemy…" she started to bellow, "FLYING FORM!" she exclaimed, slicing ahead mightily as she struck her foe's right eye, causing her to yell out in agony before faltering backwards. In the meantime, Genos flew right up into the face of a Way Bad that had a metal helmet over his head.

"Lightning Eye!" he shouted, producing a bright flash from his eyes that blinded the behemoth as he flinched. It gave the cyborg the opportunity he needed as his body revved with heat. "MACHINE GUN… BLOWS!" he roared, punching fiercely and rapidly at the Way Bad's head. His metal helmet shattered as he fell and splashed into the river. Mera quickly waved her arms to make the water diverge, preventing it from accidentally crashing onto her. She looked up at the three Omni Force members with wonder in her eyes.

"Metahumans?" she guessed. Elsewhere in Metropolis, Diana and J'onn watched as two of the Way Bads were now faced with the form of a giant, nine-tailed fox that glowed a translucent gold, having black lines all across its body. Within its head was Naruto Uzumaki, who glared at the mutant To'kustars.

"Kurama, let's keep 'em from taking out anything else!" he advised seriously.

"Gonna be easier said than done, but whatever!" the beast he was within replied, letting off a smirk. One of the Way Bads lunged out at him, only for him to duck and land a fierce right uppercut to his chin. As he stumbled back, his fellow To'kustar tried to land a left cross with his fist aimed for the Tailed Beast's right cheek. He quickly reacted, catching it in his hand and holding it in place. The behemoth then attempted a right cross, but that was caught as well. He and his enemy glared and growled at each other, with neither able to move in their locked states.

However, the other mutant To'kustar got back onto his feet, prepared to attack as he crossed his arms in order to gather energy. All of a sudden though, a lightning bolt streaked in and struck him upside the head, making him falter forward slightly. He growled, turning towards where the sudden attack had come from. It originated from Pikachu, whose cheeks sparked with electricity as he stood alongside Ash Ketchum and Greninja.

"Well… we got his attention…" the Pokémon trainer noted nervously with sweat dripping down his head, "Greninja, let's go!" he called out to the Ninja Pokémon next to him.

"Jah!" he croaked in response, enveloping himself within a torrent of water. His skin turned a lighter shade of blue, while his face gained red stripes, and his cheeks and side fins turned black, changing shape to resemble his trainer's hair. The water broke apart around him, coming together on the center of his back to form a giant shuriken.

"Now Water Shuriken!" Ash commanded as he swung his left arm out from behind his back. Mimicking the same motion, Greninja grabbed an end of the weapon upon his back and flung it out towards the mutant To'kustar. It struck him square in the face, causing him to cry out in pain.

"Nice hit, Ash!" Naruto complimented with a grin, "Now let's take ours out!" he insisted.

"Heh!" the Tailed Beast laughed, "Don't have to tell me twice!" he responded, opening his mouth as bubbles of red and blue chakra gathered together in front of it to form a large sphere of energy. He then launched it into his foe's chest in a massive explosion, causing him to cry out in agony. With a firmer hold on the mutant To'kustar's fists, Kurama lifted him off of the ground, swinging him around before flinging him mightily into the nearby river in a massive splash. The wave of water that resulted ended up putting out some nearby fires.

"I take it they're with Benjamin…" J'onn realized, looking over to Diana, who had worry plastered all over her face.

"We need to find him and soon," she insisted. The Martian floating beside her nodded in agreement before they flew off towards Lexcorp Tower.

"OW!" Carol yelped as she felt the shock of the taser tingle against her neck, making her clench her teeth as she lurched forward a little.

"It's okay, Carol," Hal assured, standing alongside her and holding her hand. They had gotten to Bruce, standing in a far-off section of the city away from the destruction. "Did you disarm it?" the Green Lantern asked of the Dark Knight, who put the taser back onto his belt.

"Yes," he answered simply, "We'll have to surgically remove it later," he mentioned.

"Huh…" Carol exhaled, rubbing her hurting neck, "That's fine by me," she told Bruce, turning to him as she put her hands onto her hips, "So what about the others?" she asked. The Dark Knight and Hal shared a glance.

"We'll have to wait and see if we can get to them in time," the latter responded while crossing his arms. His girlfriend gave off a somber look, but that was instantly replaced with one of surprise upon feeling a loud rumble in the ground. She and the others looked back to see one of the mutant To'kustars firing off a powerful red beam of light from the intersection point of his crossed arms, letting it raze through the ground as explosion after explosion resulted. However, he was struck hard afterwards by a fierce right hook from Clark to his head, causing him to stumble back a few steps.

"He's going to need help," Carol realized.

"We're all gonna need help if we don't find a way to shut down these portals," Hal pointed out in response, "Batman, can you pin down their locations?" he asked of the Dark Knight.

"Already taken care of," a familiar voice communicated into the ears of the Justice League members, catching their attentions.

"Cyborg?" Bruce said, pressing his pointer and middle fingers of his right hand against his ear.

"Yeah, it's me," the half-man, half-robot replied through the communication line, "We tried disabling the projectors earlier by using the servers, but they got fried," he told his teammates, "So we got Ben's team and some of the Suicide Squad goin' over to take 'em out one by one," he explained.

"All right, we got some good news," Hal pointed out with a grin.

"No," Bruce chimed in, catching his and Carol's attention, "It's obvious that the Legion would plan for the projectors to be more heavily protected this time around," he explained, "Not to mention that they're made with Atlantean technology instead," he pointed out.

"Last time it was that redhead's laser sword that took it out…" Hal remembered.

"So it's safe to assume the same and anything weaker won't do jack to them now…" Carol inferred, crossing her arms over her chest.

"There might be another way," Bruce noted, narrowing his eyes underneath his cowl before he blinked, "Cyborg, where's Ben?" he asked of his comrade over the line.

"Deeper down in Lexcorp," he quickly answered, "Why?" he questioned back.

"Because we're going to need him to help take these portals down," the Dark Knight answered, seeing a few more mutant To'kustars drop down onto the city, letting out fearsome roars. The situation had gone beyond just dire… It was now life or death to shut down the rifts in the sky…

X

8:01 P.M. – LEXCORP

"Talk about a grand finale!" Joker remarked as he cackled excitedly, "All the Way Bads in the world destroying the very city people call the symbol of a nation!" he exclaimed, "Well, better than DC anyway…" he corrected with a roll of his eyes.

"Shut up before I shove my rifle up your you-know-what," Floyd demanded. There was another rumble.

"Whoa!" Harley yelped as she stumbled back, only to be caught from behind by Sunset, "Thanks, Sunbuns," she said in gratitude to her ex, who sighed and rolled her eyes.

"We need to get out of here," she insisted firmly to those in the room.

"Don't have to tell me twice," Floyd concurred as he set his rifle onto his back, "Any second now, this whole place is gonna come down on us…" he pointed out.

"Ben, let's go," Sunset said to her best friend, who was still reeling mentally from his actions against Joker, "Ben!" she shouted more firmly, causing him to blink in surprise.

"S-Sorry…" he stuttered in apology, letting out a tired exhale to regain himself, "We need to figure out a way to stop the portals and get the beacon under our control," he told the group.

"Oh, that's not gonna be easy…" the Clown Prince of Crime chimed in, catching their attentions.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Floyd asked as he narrowed his eyes.

"Old Lexie told me everything!" Joker answered with a chuckle, "The beacon, the projectors… they're all made from the sleek tech that's under the sea!" he pointed out with outstretched arms.

"Under the sea…?" Sunset repeated in confusion.

"The Little Mermaid?" Harley guessed, much to her ex's annoyance as she groaned.

"He means Atlantis…" Ben realized as he narrowed his eyes, "Is that right?" he inquired.

"Correctamundo," the Clown Prince of Crime replied, "The fishmen sure know how to make a light show, don't they?" he inquired with another chuckle.

"So trying to break them the same way Erza did isn't gonna work…" Sunset noted in realization, "And she did it with a lightsaber…" she mentioned.

"Uh…" Harley uttered, trying to guess what she was talking about.

"A laser sword," her ex said, making it simpler for her to understand.

"Oh!" the former psychiatrist yelped in realization, "Then that's bad…" she pointed out bluntly.

"Which is why we need to get control of that beacon to stop the rampage," a familiar voice chimed in, catching their attentions as they turned to see Victor enter the room.

"Cy…" Ben uttered in surprise. The half-man, half-robot looked in shock to see Joker there giving off a bloody smile.

"So even the tin can's a part of this little shin-dig…" he noted as he chuckled once again. Victor looked over to see the shaken expression in the Omni Force leader's eyes. It was abundantly clear that he and the Clown Prince of Crime had confronted. And Cyborg knew about the coulrophobia his friend had.

"Ben…" he said, getting the Biomnitrix bearer's attention, "You gonna be okay?" he asked out of concern. Taking a deep breath through his nose, Ben calmed himself down a little.

"Yeah, I'll be fine…" he assured confidently. Seeing that made Joker roll his eyes with disappointment. "Sunset, get yourself and Harley out of here," he advised to his best friend.

"But the League—!"

"I'll fill them in on the situation," Victor promised, interjecting her, "Besides, I'd rather not have Harley lose her head…" he remarked.

"Literally…" the former psychiatrist added jokingly with a chuckle.

"You keep an eye on the clown," Ben advised to Floyd, who nodded, "Cy?" he inquired of his friend.

"Follow me," he beckoned before jogging off with him down into the dark hall.

"Looks like we're going up…" Sunset realized, taking Harley by her left hand, "Come on," she said, running off with her as she yelped. With them departing, that left Floyd alone in the control room with the Clown Prince of Crime.

"So what's the big endgame for you, pasty?" he inquired, arching an eyebrow.

"Oh, that's original…" Joker grumbled out, rolling his eyes, "You know…" he started to say as he sat upright, "numbers-wise, we've really got the heroes beat, don't we?" he guessed. The mercenary sharpshooter merely narrowed his eyes. "Oh, come on, think about it!" his smiling enemy implored, "It's always been a society of crime that heroes just manage to stop all the time…" he muttered, all while grinning with blood dripping from his mouth and nose.

"What's your point?" Floyd asked.

"My point is, what if it was opposite day?" Joker inquired back, "The heroes in droves, while the bad guys aren't as plentiful!" he suggested, "Isn't that dull?!" he guessed with a loud cackle, followed by spitting out some blood, "Although… it could get interesting," he admitted with an ominous grin, "If bad guys aren't enough to give the heroes a run for their money, then who else can they have a good show with?" he wondered rhetorically, "Themselves, of course," he said ominously. At that, Floyd blinked in surprise.

Elsewhere in the building, another door was blasted open thanks to Victor's sonic cannon, allowing him and Ben to enter into a large room. Both of them blinked in surprise at what lied ahead, being a much larger version of the beacon as it glowed a bright red.

"Guess we know how they're able to keep control of all those Way Bads outside…" the Omni Force leader remarked, "So what do we do?" he asked of his friend, who glanced around the room before spotting a nearby console.

"There," he said, jogging over to it.

"Okay…" Ben uttered upon approaching it with him, "So you're just gonna hack it or something?" he guessed.

"That's the idea…" Victor replied as he looked up at the console, "But knowing Luthor, he's gonna make it a lot harder for both of us…" he pointed out.

"Come on, it can't be that hard…" the Biomnitrix bearer complained, enveloping himself in a green flash of light. When it subsided, it revealed that he had transformed into Upgrade.

"All I gotta do is just merge with the console and- DAH!" he yelped in pain, having experienced an electrical shock from the console upon just touching it, "What the hell?!" he yelled.

"Figured…" Victor muttered, scanning the console with his red, robotic eye, "Whole thing's covered in Luthor's fingerprints," he pointed out, "Guessing that means he's the only one that can access this thing," he realized.

"So what do we do now?" the Galvanic Mechamorph asked, "Go back up and get him?" he guessed.

"Actually, I had another idea…" the half-man, half-robot answered after a moment, "Or at least Batman did…" he corrected in admittance, "You merge with me and we hack the console," he suggested. If Upgrade could've blinked in that moment, he would've.

"Y…You're kidding, right?" he stuttered in question, "I'm no expert on biomechanical tech like you, but I don't think I can merge with you," he told him, very concerned.

"Yeah, it's probably gonna hurt…" Victor admitted as a response, "But a little pain's nothin' compared to what's happening above us," he pointed out. The Galvanic Mechamorph knew his friend was right. Heroes had to take risks.

"You really sure about this, Vic?" he asked his friend, who chuckled.

"Hey, you're the one who wanted to try it when we were teens," he noted in reply.

"…Fair enough," Upgrade responded, walking over and placing his right hand onto Victor's chest, merging with him. He grimaced slightly as the Galvanic Mechamorph oozed over the metal parts of his body, turning them black with green lines of circuity. His red left eye turned green, while the Biomnitrix symbol rested at his chest. "Not gonna lie, this is a little nostalgic…" Upgrade admitted.

"How do you figure?" Cyborg asked as he looked himself over. The Galvanic Mechamorph poked his head out from his friend's shoulder to his surprise as he yelped.

"Used to do the same thing with a pal of mine named Rex," he pointed out in response.

"Oh yeah, you mentioned that…" Victor remembered as he blinked, "How was he different from me though?" he wondered curiously.

"Honestly… you and he were pretty much the same case," Upgrade replied, "Only difference is that he's not a cyborg; he had these little things inside his body called nanites and-"

"They were biomechanical, right?" Cyborg guessed, interjecting the Galvanic Mechamorph's explanation, "Well whatever the case, we better focus on this…" he insisted, looking back at the console.

"Yeah…" Upgrade agreed. He quickly made an extension cord come out from the back of the Victor's head, plugging into the port upon the console. But in doing so caused another surge of electricity to zap them both. "DAH!" he yelped again, while the half-man, half-robot he merged with clenched his teeth together.

"Gotta hang in there, Ben…" he advised, putting his hands onto the keyboard as he started typing, "Once we get this thing under control, we can stop the Way Bads and get those portals down," he pointed out.

"R-Right…" the Galvanic Mechamorph stuttered in response, sounding strained. It felt like he was taking the brunt of the shock from the console. Nevertheless, he couldn't back down. If he did, more lives would be in jeopardy.

"So you're saying there'll be like a civil war between heroes?" Floyd inquired to Joker back in the control room. The Clown Prince of Crime spat out more blood before grinning again.

"Quite the joke, huh?" he guessed as he chuckled, "Pretty sad when you really think about it though," he admitted, "Benny-boy's not gonna trust anyone if this keeps up…" he pointed out, "And that'll make more enemies than friends…" he mentioned ominously. The mercenary sharpshooter narrowed his eyes.

"I doubt he'd actually fall for that…" he noted confidently.

"If he were in the right state of mind, maybe…" Joker retorted, "But you saw him, right Deadhead?" he inquired, arching an eyebrow, "That kid's not cut to handle all the stress and anxiety of being a bigshot…" he mentioned, chuckling again, "One last blow'll push him over the edge…" he kept going, grinning widely, "And I'm gonna give it to him…" he declared. All of a sudden, the entire room went dark.

"Hey!" Floyd yelled, firing aimlessly from his wrist-mounted guns towards where he'd seen the Clown Prince of Crime last before the sudden blackout. Unfortunately, it didn't sound like any of the bullets struck anything but the floor. The lights then flashed back on, revealing that the psychopathic villain was gone. "Shit…!" the mercenary sharpshooter cursed, hearing the ominous laughter echoing through the room. He quickly ran off, hoping he would be able to get to his allies before Joker could…

X

8:21 P.M. – METROPOLIS

Walls consisting of pavement and sidewalks were being formed thanks to the bending skills of Korra Sato and Kuvira Salazar, who both waved their arms around to build up a sturdy barrier. Once they finished, they turned to a crowd of people behind them.

"Okay, that should do it," the Avatar said, "You all need to get to safety quickly," she advised to the crowd.

"Y-Yes, thank you…" one man stuttered in reply before he and the others hurried off. Korra and Kuvira looked back towards the battles raging about around the city.

"It's almost as bad as what happened in Omnitrix City…" the former noted grimly, evidently shocked by how much devastation the mutant To'kustars had already caused.

"As long as we can get the citizens to safety, it won't be as bad," Kuvira assured, catching her attention.

"Easier said than done," another voice chimed in from above, catching their attentions as they looked to see Rex Salazar floating down upon his Sky Slyder.

"Rex!" his wife cried out, jogging over with Korra to greet him as he reformed his legs, landing upon the pavement on his feet.

"The big problem's those portals," the EVO pointed out as he removed his goggles from his eyes and put them onto his forehead, "At some point, there'll be hundreds of those Way Bads here," he told the two women, "And even the Plumbers aren't gonna be able to deal with 'em all before the damage gets done…" he mentioned in concern.

"Well, we don't even know where they're being projected from…" Korra retorted, putting her right hand onto her hip. Suddenly, the three of them each felt a buzz in their pockets. They quickly reached in and pulled out their MPGs.

"Guys, this is Sunset!" the voice of the Equestrian Magic user communicated, causing them to blink in surprise. She was just outside of Lexcorp, standing alongside Harley as she was holding up her device to her ear as if it was a phone. "Ben and Cyborg are trying to find a way to get the Way Bads to calm down using the tech the bad guys made," she explained, "In the meantime, we need to find those projectors to shut down the portals!" she advised seriously.

"Uh… we might have a problem with that…" Ruby's voice chimed in over the communication line.

"Wait… Ruby?" Sunset uttered out in surprise, "What's wrong?" she asked. Within the sewers of Metropolis, the student huntress was staring out at one of the projectors in the middle of the river of sludge.

"Well… I think there's like a force field protecting the projector…" she responded to the red and yellow-haired woman.

"Same on my end," Ahsoka communicated.

"Ditto," Kevin added through the line.

"Guh…" Sunset huffed in frustration, "Sounds like the Legion really did plan for this…" she realized, putting her MPG away. A chuckle then caught her and Harley's attention. It originated from Lex, who had regained consciousness.

"Of course we did," he remarked to them, "Obviously with how the test resulted, we needed something… sturdier…" he pointed out.

"Your head's gonna need somethin' sturdier after I bash it in…" Harley threatened as she reeled her baseball bat back.

"Wait!" Sunset advised, stepping out in front of her to make her stop. She then crouched down and touched Lex's head with her left hand, having her eyes flash a bright white. As they went back to normal just a moment later, she let out a deep sigh.

"What's wrong?" her ex-girlfriend asked in concern.

"Those force fields can't be taken down…" she answered to her surprise, "At least not by anything that wouldn't nuke the city…" she corrected, crossing her arms as she tried to think.

"Hmm…" Harley hummed curiously before gasping, "Oh, touch me again!" she insisted to the Equestrian Magic user.

"Harley, if your suggestion is to actually nuke Metropolis, I am gonna—!"

"Just touch my head!" her ex insisted, interrupting her again as she let out a deep sigh.

"Fine…" she grumbled, placing her right hand onto the Cupid of Crime's head. Her eyes flashed bright white again before turning back to normal, with her gasping lightly in surprise as she pulled her hand back. "Whoa…" she uttered out, "Harley… that's brilliant!" she exclaimed.

"See, I told ya!" the former psychiatrist pointed out, proudly putting her hands onto her hips, "And the best part is, I got the idea from a movie we used to watch!" she mentioned giddily.

"Wait… what are you talking about…?" Lex asked upon overhearing them, getting their attentions.

"Nothin' you need to know, Lexie…" Harley remarked in response as she leaned her left elbow onto her ex-girlfriend's shoulder, "Now we're gonna go ahead and help save the world," she declared, "Toodles!" she exclaimed before skipping off while humming a tune. Meanwhile, Sunset pulled out her MPG and touched its center icon.

"Ben, you there?" she asked. Back inside the lower floors of Lexcorp, Victor was still typing on the console keyboard in the attempt to hack the beacon. But both he and Upgrade looked strained, even merged together.

"Hanging in there, Vic?" the latter of the two asked, poking his head out from his friend's left shoulder.

"Heh…" he chuckled, "Yeah…" he assured, "Just need a few more minutes to get this set…" he pointed out with page after page popping up as he typed, "If this works, the beacon's going to transmit a frequency to calm the To'kustars," he explained, "After that, we just have to figure out how to take down the portals to stop more from coming," he mentioned. All of a sudden, they heard the click of a gun behind them. Upgrade turned his head and gasped to see Joker there with a bloody smile on his face.

"That old Mirror Master sure helped with the illusions!" he noted as he laughed, "Now let's break up this bonding moment and have some real fun…" he suggested eerily, readying his trigger finger.

"I don't think so!" Upgrade yelled, firing off a green laser beam from the circle at his head towards the villain. He hopped aside to evade it with ease, chuckling all the while.

"Ergh…!" Victor suddenly grunted in pain, "Ben… I need you to stay on me!" he insisted firmly, "If we don't stop this thing now, we'll be right back to square one!" he pointed out desperately.

"Ooh, tension!" Joker chimed in, catching their attentions, "Makes me wonder if you'll hang in there long enough…" he admitted with another chuckle, firing off a few bullets their way. Upgrade stretched his head out to catch them before they could hit the console, causing another electric shock to surge through Victor as he grimaced.

"Ben…!" he growled out.

"Working on it!" the Galvanic Mechamorph responded, trying to keep himself merged with the half-man, half-robot.

"Oh yes, you two work out the kinks…" Joker insisted as he re-aimed his gun, "And I'll deliver the punchline…" he remarked in addition, about to pull the trigger. But suddenly, a bullet flew by and knocked the weapon out of his hand as he yelped in surprise. He growled, turning to see Floyd there with his rifle in hand.

"Lawton!" Upgrade exclaimed in surprise.

"Finish working on that thing!" the mercenary sharpshooter advised quickly, "The clown's mine…" he vowed, readying his trigger finger. Suddenly though, a knife flew in and pierced into the barrel of his rifle just as he pulled the trigger. It caused it to backfire, exploding in Floyd's hands. "AH!" he yelped in pain from the burning sensation, clenching his teeth together. He turned and growled at Joker, who drew another knife into his left hand as he spun it.

"You're not the only one with good aim, Deadhead…" he remarked, charging towards him. Ignoring the agony in his hands, Floyd fired from his wrist-mounted guns rapidly. A few bullets managed to nick the Clown Prince of Crime at his arms and legs, but he continued on his path before fiercely stabbing his foe in the stomach.

"GAH…!" he yelled in pain.

"Lawton!" Upgrade cried out.

"Ben, stay focused!" Victor insisted, "He'll be fine," he assured confidently. A progress bar had appeared upon the large screen, indicating that the hacking was nearly complete at 62%. Meanwhile, Joker looked Floyd dead in the eye and grinned.

"So what's it gonna be, Deadhead?" he asked of him, "You gonna let the heroes kill each other?" he wondered curiously with a tilt of his head, "Or are you gonna grow a pair and let the fun happen?" he guessed, pulling his knife out of his enemy's stomach as he winced. However, he glared back at the Clown Prince of Crime firmly.

"How about neither?!" he suggested before slamming his head against his enemy's chin, making him stumble back a few steps as he shook his head. Floyd then tried to fire from his wrist-mounted guns again, but Joker quickly struck one of them with his knife, followed by disabling the other one by squirting a greenish liquid from the flower on his costume onto it. "AGH!" he yelped in agony from the burning sensation, realizing that it was an acid that had hit him.

Heheheheh…" the Clown Prince of Crime chuckled, seeing his foe remove his weapons as he clenched his teeth in pain, "Good to know where your priorities lie…" he noted to him, grabbing his other knife from the floor and spinning it in his hand, "But now you're gonna just die with 'em…" he remarked, lunging forward. Floyd pivoted around his knife as he thrusted it forward, followed by grabbing his wrist and twisting it. "AH!" he yelped, dropping his weapon. The mercenary sharpshooter was about to grab him by the back of his neck, but he quickly elbowed him in the face to make him stumble back, followed by turning around and landing several straight punches to his foe's face.

"Cyborg…!" Upgrade pleaded to his half-man, half-robot friend he was merged with.

"Almost there…" he assured. The progress bar was at 88% complete.

"Gah…" Floyd groaned, feeling the blood dripping out from his torso. He looked ahead to see his clown-like enemy draw two more knives from the sleeves of his purple coat.

"You know, for someone who isn't Batman…" he began to admit, "you've been a real pain in my ass…" he admitted, chuckling deviously as he charged forward again. Floyd glanced down to see a stray knife at his feet. He stomped on it with his right foot to flip it up into his right hand, using it to clash against those of Joker. They exchanged cuts across their bodies, making blood splatter about along the metal floor.

"Gaggh…" Floyd groaned out, gritting his teeth.

"Alright, outta the way, Deadhead…" Joker insisted, now growing annoyed, "I've got some mayhem to make and I don't wanna miss supper…" he remarked with a chuckle, lunging forward once more and stabbing the mercenary sharpshooter again, this time not letting up as his blades pierced into his chest.

"GAHHHH…!" he gasped as his eyes bugged out.

"Lawton!" Upgrade screamed upon noticing. The progress bar had hit 96% completion. Blood was dripping out of Floyd's mouth as he grimaced in agony. Joker leaned up and stared him dead in the eye again.

"So Deadhead…" he began, "got any last minute tricks up your sleeve?" he wondered curiously.

"Huh… huh…" the mercenary sharpshooter breathed out raggedly in exhaustion… But he smiled. "You know…" he began, grabbing Joker's right wrist to hold him in place, "I've been on this damn Suicide Squad for year after year now…" he pointed out, "And I always thought one day I'd get the axe…" he mentioned in admittance, reaching into one of the pouches on his belt and pulling out a trigger. The Clown Prince of Crime widened his eyes.

"You mad dog…" he remarked with a grin, "You really wanna go out that way?" he inquired curiously.

"Better this than a dream that's too far gone…" Floyd answered as he smirked back. He then glanced over at the merged form of Upgrade and Victor. The progress bar had finally reached 100% completion, flashing a bright green. The beacon's buzz slowly died out as its glow changed from red to green.

"We did it!" Upgrade exclaimed delightedly.

"Hey, Tennyson!" Floyd called out, catching the Galvanic Mechamorph's attention as he poked his head out on Victor's shoulder. They both turned to see the mercenary sharpshooter readying his trigger. "Don't go falling for this guy's crap!" he advised loudly.

"Lawton, what are you doing?!" Upgrade yelled in question.

"Playing my part," Floyd responded, "Keep your kid safe," he insisted before pressing the button. Something from his neck glowed a bright gold before there was a powerful, fiery blast that seemed to engulf both him and Joker. Victor braced himself from the resulting smoke by crossing his arms over his face. In the meantime, Upgrade quickly unplugged the extension from the port, allowing them to move in. The smoke was slow to clear, but they could tell what happened as Victor's foot touched something wet.

"Shit…" he cursed. Upgrade oozed himself off of his friend and transformed back into Ben in a green flash of light. His eyes looked on in horror at the sight before him. There was a puddle of blood where Floyd's head would've been, along with the rest of his burnt, dismembered body.

"God…" the Omni Force leader uttered out.

"He bought us time…" Victor noted, "Even held out without his arsenal…" he pointed out as he narrowed his lone eye. Ben balled his trembling fists, which his friend noticed. "Hey, calm down," he advised, "It's over," he assured. But at that moment.

"Hehehehee…" a familiar voice quietly chuckled, causing both of them to widen their eyes in shock.

"You've gotta be kidding me…" the Biomnitrix bearer muttered out angrily as he stomped through the remainder of the smoke that had yet to clear.

"Ben, wait!" Victor called out. The Omni Force leader looked down as the smoke cleared to reveal the Joker with blood splattered all over his face, lying on the floor with burns on his chest and arms. And he was still laughing. Ben breathed angrily. He was about ready to snap and kill the Clown Prince of Crime at a moment's notice.

"Guys!" a familiar voice called out, catching their attentions as they looked over see Sunset and Harley. They came to an immediate halt upon seeing what lied before them.

"Puddin'…" the pigtailed woman uttered out, wincing at the sight of his burns.

"Hey, Harley!" he greeted with a chuckle, "Don't mind me…" he remarked, "I'm just a little cooked…" he quipped, laughing afterwards.

"Shut up!" Ben yelled with clenched teeth. Meanwhile, Sunset took notice of the headless, bleeding body on the floor.

"Is that…?" she started to guess. Her best friend inhaled a deep, frustrated breath through his nose.

"Yeah…" he responded with a nod. The Equestrian Magic user gave him a sympathetic look before wrapping her arms around him for a hug.

"What are you two even doing down here?" Victor asked, chiming into the conversation as he got their attentions.

"Sunny and I figured out a way we can shut down those portals long enough to take apart the projectors," Harley explained as an answer.

"How do you figure?" the half-man, half-robot asked curiously, raising an eyebrow.

"By using an EMP," Sunset replied as she let go of Ben, "It'll be temporary, but it'll knock out the portals long enough for us to dismantle the Null Void projectors so that they can't automatically reactivate," she told him thoroughly, "You guys think you can do it?" she asked of the Omni Force leader and his old friend. They looked over to each other.

"…Yeah, no problem," Ben finally responded, balling his fists.

X

9:03 P.M.

Any mutant To'kustar that had dropped out from the portals was immediately quelled due to whatever signal frequency was being broadcast to them. Their eyes had changed from an angered red to a relaxed green, standing still throughout the city. There were over 30 of them now. Omni Force and Justice League members alike were eyeing the behemoths carefully, waiting to see if they would make a move. Out in the outskirts of Metropolis, Lois had a microphone in her hands as Jimmy aimed his camera at her.

"This is Lois Lane of the Daily Planet reporting live on the astonishing scene in downtown Metropolis," she introduced, moving aside slightly for any viewers to see the multitude of Way Bads in the city, "Over an hour ago, eight rifts as you see above, opened and rained down the giant beasts that almost terrorized Gotham one week prior," she explained, "Metropolis has suffered a great deal of destruction through this hour-long endeavor," she continued, "And at this time, we are unaware of any casualties that-"

"Hey, they're gone!" one person yelled, catching her attention as she blinked in surprise. Jimmy tilted the camera upwards and was shocked to see the red rifts shrinking into thin air. All of them were disappearing. The crowd cheered with delight at the sight, thankful that the nightmare was seemingly over. Back in the city itself, Clark looked on at the sky with a perplexed look.

"Bruce, what happened?" he asked as he pressed his right pointer finger against the earpiece in his ear. He didn't get a response. "Bruce?" he said, wondering what was wrong. He then noticed how various lights in many different buildings that still stood were going out one after another. A blackout should've been expected… if the battle still raged on. He narrowed his eyes and looked further ahead to see an exhausted-looking Ben and Victor exiting Lexcorp Tower with Sunset and Harley behind them. He also saw that they had apprehended Joker, who was in handcuffs and being led by the Equestrian Magic user.

"Does anyone read me?" she communicated through her MPG.

"So the MPGs aren't electrically-powered?" Cyborg inquired quietly over to Ben, getting his attention.

"Yeah," he replied, "Azmuth wanted to make sure they didn't die out on us at the worst possible times like back when-"

"Sunset!" Ruby's voice suddenly exclaimed over the communication line of the Equestrian Magic user's MPG, interrupting him as they stopped to listen, "I just took out the projector on my end!" the student huntress yelled excitedly.

"Same here," Kevin's voice chimed in.

"Great job, guys," Sunset complimented, "All the portals are gone, too," she mentioned with relief in her tone.

"Woohoo!" Harley exclaimed as she pumped her fists up, "And it's all thanks to Sunbuns and her crazy ex-girlfriend!" she added excitedly, hugging the Equestrian Magic user tightly from behind. She sighed with a smile, shaking her head. Meanwhile, Victor just blinked in astonishment.

"Were they seriously a thing?" he quietly asked Ben.

"I'm still trying to process it…" he admitted in response. Just then, they felt an unease in the air around them. Joker looked up.

"Well, wouldja look at that…" he remarked as his bloody grin returned, "The big boy in blue's arrived…" he noted as Clark slowly descended towards the group, letting his cape flap in the wind. On impulse, Harley attempted to hide herself behind Sunset, who sweated a little. The last time the Kryptonian had spoken with Ben was in the aftermath of what happened at Gotham Harbor. And now… not only had things gone substantially worse than they did, but there were likely casualties this time. The second Clark's feet touched the ground, he looked out at those before him.

"Cyborg, are you all right?" he asked of the half-man, half-robot.

"Fine," he answered swiftly, "In case you're wondering why comms are down," he continued as he stepped forward, "Ben and I just used an EMP to knock out the energy fields around the Null Void projectors," he told him.

"And we had people there to take the projectors themselves out," the Omni Force leader chimed in. The Man of Steel narrowed his eyes slightly.

"So I saw," he remarked in response. Harley audibly gulped.

"AHAHAHAHAHA!" Joker laughed loudly, catching their attentions, "Oh, this is exactly the kind of entertainment I'm looking for!" he exclaimed, "So many wonderful surprises… I might as well make this day my birthday!" he added excitedly as he chuckled. Suddenly though, Bruce landed down nearby. He narrowed his eyes underneath his cowl upon seeing his archenemy. "And Batsy to top it all off?!" he yelled with wide eyes, "Forget the birthday, this is like Christmas!" he quipped, cackling all the while. The Dark Knight looked over to Ben.

"Are you alright?" he asked him, causing him to blink in surprise.

"Hanging in there, honestly…" he responded after a moment. Sunset gave off a worried expression. It didn't take long for police to arrive with the rest of the League and the Omni Force in order to apprehend the villains, including those on the Suicide Squad. George and Nanaue were handcuffed, being escorted towards an armored prisoner transport. Ruby looked on with a hint of sadness upon seeing the mutated shark get arrested, now muzzled to keep from trying to bite anyone. Even though it was to be expected with him being a villain, he had helped save the day.

"Hey, kid," he said, catching her attention as she blinked in surprise, "Make sure you keep smiling," he advised, giving her a toothy grin. She smiled back, thankful for his help.

"So are ya gonna start talkin' normal with the rest of us?" George guessed as he and Nanaue were seated on opposite benches. The response he got was…

"King Shark is a shark," the mutated being said, grinning teasingly. The Australian man rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, figured…" he muttered before the doors were closed. The Legion of Doom members were also being separately loaded onto transports, completely restrained as necessary thanks to their abilities. Clark watched as Lex was walked by him. He turned his head and smirked at the Kryptonian.

"Congratulations, Superman," he complimented, "It seems you're no longer the most dangerous one on this planet," he pointed out, glancing over towards Ben, who was seated on a bench. The Man of Steel eyed the Lexcorp CEO as he was loaded onto one of the trucks.

"Phoo…" the Biomnitrix bearer exhaled.

"So Joker had access to Mirror Master's technology…" Bruce realized after hearing an explanation.

"Makes sense given that he's not exactly a 'final boss' kind of guy…" Victor pointed out, "But…" he continued, looking over at the Omni Force leader, "he definitely got Ben…" he noted, crossing his arms over his chest. As the last of the villains were being loaded up, everyone around looked to the sky to see the Proto-TRUK soaring overhead. On its underside was a Null Void projector, which shot out beams of red light onto each of the Way Bads. They were immediately sucked in by the luminosity, with all of them being gathered in just mere minutes.

"And that ends that," Harley remarked with her hands at her hips.

"Yep," Sunset agreed as she nodded. The two of them looked at each other, sharing a giggle.

"Quinn," Bruce chimed in as he walked up to her, getting her attention, "I think you know what I'm about to tell you," he said, pulling out a pair of handcuffs from his belt.

"Huh…" the former psychiatrist sighed in realization, "Back to the slammer…" she muttered out sadly. Sunset looked on sympathetically at her. But as much as she wanted to vouch for Harley to stay back on the streets, she knew that she was still a criminal who'd been forced to do the dirty work of the government.

"Harley…" she uttered out, seeing her get cuffed.

"It's okay, Sunset," her ex-girlfriend assured to her surprise, "Life's a give-and-take, ya know?" she implored, "I'm just glad I gave you guys another day without a big block o' mayhem on the streets…" she confessed, giving off a chuckle. Hearing that made the Equestrian Magic user give off a small smile. She stepped forward and planted a soft, sweet kiss onto Harley's cheek, causing her to widen her eyes in surprise. She turned to look her square in the eyes after she pulled away.

"Just a little something to remember me by," she remarked, giving off a grin. Harley giggled.

"Oh, I can think of some better ones…" she noted with a sly smirk. Meanwhile, Bruce looked on curiously with contempt at the two. "Hey, do you mind?" the pigtailed woman grumbled, "Two girls tryin' to rekindle their old relationship here…" she pointed out as she glared back at the Dark Knight. Sunset chuckled.

"I'll miss you, Harley," she admitted.

"And I'll miss you too, Sugarboo…" the Cupid of Crime replied before she was led off by Batman towards one of the armored trucks in the area.

"So the bombs are disabled?" Hal inquired as he and Carol were talking to Victor.

"Looks like it," the half-man, half-robot replied as he was looking at a holographic screen being projected from his right arm, showing scans of Harley, George, and Nanaue, "The EMP knocked each of 'em out, so now they just need to be removed," he told them.

"Still, it's unfortunate that there wasn't any other way you could've taken down the portals…" the Star Sapphire pointed out.

"It is what it is, I guess," her boyfriend chimed in, having Sinestro's power ring in his hand, "I'm gonna take the gremlin here back to Oa," he said as he floated upwards in a greenish light, constructing a makeshift ball that surrounded the Yellow Lantern as he was picked up, "Cy, can you make sure she gets home safe?" he requested of his teammate.

"Uh, I think she's gonna be fine…" he responded with a chuckle, while she playfully rolled her eyes. He gave off a smirk before flying off high into the sky. Meanwhile, Ben still stared down at the ground with an unfocused look in his eyes. He was left in a very odd state after the events of tonight. A state in which he wouldn't recover from so easily. He heard two figures approach, enticing him to lift his head up. Standing before him were Clark and J'onn.

"I take it you know what we're about to say," the Kryptonian inferred as his arms were crossed.

"Huh…" Ben sighed, standing up, "Superman, I…"

"This isn't Ben's fault!" Sunset suddenly shouted, interrupting him as he and the others looked over to see her jog over, "I was the one who decided we should try and stop the Legion on our own and…" she admitted, glancing off to the side in shame, "well, got us here…" she finished. Watching on from afar, Victor and Diana shared worried looks.

"True as that may be," J'onn chimed in, "Ben also harbors some of the blame," he pointed out, making her blink in surprise.

"You worked alongside supervillains, failed to notify us until it was too late, and endangered more lives than in Gotham," Clark listed off to the Biomnitrix bearer sternly, "I don't see how today is any day to celebrate for you or anyone else on your team," he mentioned, sounding somewhat harsh. Sunset was astonished. Even though she was willing to take the blame, it was still falling onto Ben's shoulders.

"…All I can say is that I'm sorry," he replied simply in apology.

"Ben…" Sunset uttered out worriedly.

"Huh…" the Man of Steel sighed deeply, "We'll talk more about this tomorrow," he stated as he uncrossed his arms, "For now, let's make sure we clean up and look for survivors," he advised.

"All right," the Omni Force leader replied with a nod. His best friend looked on at him with concern and sympathy in her eyes. He wasn't trying to argue his way out of this one. Nor was he defying orders. He seemed obedient. And that wasn't like him…

"Falling back in line already, Benny-boy?" Joker's voice questioned, causing him to perk up as he looked over to see the villain being led away by a pair of police officers, holding him by his arms, "It's so disappointing…" he admitted with a shake of his head, "I thought you actually grew a pair for once…" he grumbled out. Hearing that made the Biomnitrix bearer ball his fists with anger.

"Officers," he started to say, catching the attention of the policemen, "we'll take the clown from here," he stated as he walked over. Everyone gave off surprised reactions to his words.

"What?" Bruce uttered out. The officers shared a glance with each other before complying, allowing for Captain Rex and Gregor to take the hold of the Joker and lead him away.

"What do you think you're doing?" Clark asked as he approached. Ben suddenly whipped around to face him with a fierce glare in his eyes, much to his shock.

"You've let this maniac break loose of every confinement you put him in…" he snarled, "So when I lock him up and throw away the key, I can guarantee that he won't be coming back…" he affirmed with shaking fists. Listening in, Joker grinned again.

"Ben, this is idiotic," the Kryptonian remarked.

"No," the Omni Force leader retorted to his surprise, "Idiotic is trying to tie me down when you know you can't," he stated, "I've got one of the most, if not the most powerful weapon in the entire galaxy," he pointed out, "I can turn into some of the most feared aliens in existence," he added on, "So let me be crystal clear…" he continued, "I'm never joining the Justice League," he finished firmly. There was a stunned silence amongst those around the two. As Joker was being loaded into the Proto-TRUK, he couldn't help but smile wider. He had gotten more than what he wanted out of tonight…

"Huh… Huh…" Louise breathed out, clutching her right arm as she trudged through the woods of the Metropolis outskirts. She had looked back several times to see what was happening in the city, with the portals appearing, the Way Bads wreaking havoc, the Justice League and Omni Force arriving, and the chaos finally dying down. And through all of that, she not only survived, but escaped. "Heh," she laughed, "Might've cost me a hand, but that's the price you pay for freedom, I—" A sudden buzz in her left ear cut her off. "OW!" she yelped in pain, grabbing at it. She knew it was where her communicator was. "Waller, what the hell do you-?"

"Hello, Frost," a raspy voice greeted through the line. Louise blinked twice, unable to recognize for a moment before she finally widened her eyes. A horrified look of realization came across her face.

"Mask?" she guessed.

9:23 P.M. – BELLE REVE PENETENTIARY

"Yeah, it's me," the mobster answered, dressed in an orange jumpsuit inside of his cell, with Amanda present as she eyed him carefully. He was speaking to a smartphone in its speaker mode placed upon the table in front of his bed. "Sounds like you got yourself in quite the tiff," he pointed out.

"You're telling me…" Louise responded from the phone, "So what the hell are you doing on this line?" she asked, still in the forest as she leaned against a tree.

"Your friend in the pantsuit came by and wanted me to do her a favor," Roman answered from his cell.

"A favor?" Louise's voice repeated through the phone, "What the hell would Waller want from-?"

"You remember that kid, Corvo?" Black Mask asked, interrupting her, "The guy I told you to keep alive?" he questioned on. From the woods, Louise started to panic. Now she knew what was going on.

"L-Listen…" she stuttered out pleadingly, "The kid stabbed me in the leg, so-"

"I don't wanna fuckin' hear it," Roman interjected, much to her fright, "I told you to keep him alive, and ya didn't," he pointed out, "So the way I see it, you're on thin ice," he remarked from the cell.

"Okay, okay…" Louise repeated, sounding as if she was begging for her life, "I screwed up, I get it…" she confessed, "I promise, I won't do anything like that again…" she vowed. From the Belle Reve cell, Black Mask took a deep breath… and exhaled through his nose.

"Yeah… you won't," he assured, reaching his pointer finger down and tapping the icon that had the ice villainess' face upon it.

"M-Mask?" she stuttered from back in the forest, unsure of what was going on… at least until she started hearing the beeps coming from her neck, "No… no, no, no, NO!" she screamed repeatedly, "The Legion's done for! The giants are gone!" she pointed out as the beeps sounded off quicker, "I DID MY FUCKING JOB, YOU BITCH!" she proclaimed. From within the cell, Roman and Amanda listened to her plead for her life and curse them… followed by the sound of an explosion, and then static.

"You're welcome," the mobster remarked to the secretary of state, who picked up the phone.

"She was the only one who didn't have her bomb disabled during the event…" she noted curiously, "so it must've been the easiest decision of your life," she concluded before exiting the cell. Black Mask lied down on his bed once she left.

"Just hope that kid rests easy now…" he muttered out, folding his arms behind his head and closing his eyes.

X

10:04 P.M. – OMNI FORCE TOWER

The hot shower water rolled down Ben's form as he stared blankly at the tiled walls. Needless to say, he didn't want to talk much upon coming home. Even Max couldn't get so much as a word out of him. He just wanted to wash up and go right to bed. His work was done. At least that's how he felt.

Joker's laughter and smile had been ingrained into his head. So much so that he decided to have him imprisoned at Plumber Headquarters. Obviously, the Justice League was against the idea. But he had adamantly denied them the chance to take the Clown Prince of Crime themselves. Strange as it seemed, even his own teammates were shocked by the decision. Sunset especially.

She didn't think her best friend would stand up to the Justice League like that. It almost seemed like less of a warning… and more of a threat. The Equestrian Magic user felt like she was waiting for Ben for quite a while, even if it only was a half hour since they returned to the tower.

"Sunset, you should go home for the night," Rainbow suddenly advised, getting her attention, "Ben's obviously not ready to talk just yet," she pointed out. They were sitting on the couch in the living room of the home.

"Well, should I not be worried?" her red-and-yellow-haired friend inquired sarcastically, "I…I don't think Ben's in a good place right now…" she noted in concern, "He's my best friend, so…" she continued, trailing off as she sighed.

"Huh…" Rainbow exhaled, standing up from the couch, "Look, he'll be fine," she assured, "After a nice long sleep, he'll be at it again the second he wakes up," she promised. Sunset didn't seem that convinced. She saw the Omni Force leader's memories. The horrors he went through were likely traumatizing. She finally stood up.

"Just… make sure he gets all the sleep he needs," she insisted, "please," she pleaded in addition, much to Rainbow's surprise as she saw her fellow Equestrian Magic user leave, heading down the elevator. In the meantime, Ben had finally gotten out of the shower, now in just a grey shirt and green boxers. His hair was damp, but was easily dried as he rubbed his towel against for a few moments. He stared at his reflection in the mirror as he placed his hands onto the counter.

Thinking back on it, he never knew exactly when Joker had become his greatest fear. It may have been a live newscast or even a report where he heard that laughter as a child. Something about the cackle he had was… memorable… and haunting… Simply put, it scarred him so much that his coulrophobia developed not long after. And it was only exacerbated by the likes of villains such as Zombozo in his early days of being a hero.

"Babe?" his wife's voiced echoed, snapping him away from his train of thought as he heard a knock on the bathroom door, "You okay in there?" she asked. Ben looked back at the mirror for a moment. He wasn't sure if he made the right decision. And right now, he didn't care. He just wanted rest.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he assured, even though he was lying. He had been through too much in the past few hours to even consider himself fine. A few minutes went by before he lied down on his bed, letting out a deep breath.

"You need me to get you anything?" Rainbow offered as she stood at the doorway.

"No," he replied, managing to give her a grin, "Is Raya tucked in?" he asked of her.

"Yep," she replied with a simple nod, "I'm gonna just get myself a snack before bed," she told him, walking off. Her husband sighed, smiling as he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep. Ten minutes passed as Rainbow rummaged through the fridge for her snack: mint chocolate chip ice cream. "You're really making me go for the good stuff, huh kiddo?" she inquired to the baby growing in her belly. As she managed to laugh at her little joke, she didn't notice a figure flying up to the windows. When she turned around, she immediately frowned upon seeing who arrived. It was Diana.

"Hello, Rainbow," she greeted upon entering, "It's been a long time," she pointed out with a smile.

"Hmph," the Equestrian Magic user scoffed, putting the ice cream back in the fridge to keep it cooled, "What do you want, Diana?" she asked of the Amazon princess. Surprisingly, she actually seemed nervous to say anything. Her expression screamed regret.

"To speak with Ben," she answered after a moment, "I… think I understand what he's going through…" she told the rainbow-haired woman.

"Oh really?" she inquired back, arching an eyebrow as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Rainbow, please…" Diana pleaded, "I've known Ben for a while," she said, "Obviously, events like these haven't been good on him," she mentioned in a worried tone, "And we just want to help him on the right path…" she added assuredly.

"The right path?" Rainbow growled out in repetition. She uncrossed her arms and balled her hands into fists. Diana noticed.

"Rainbow, calm down…" she advised.

"You expect me to calm down?!" the rainbow-haired woman shouted back angrily in question, "After all the shit you and the Justice League put my husband and his friends through, you expect us to just listen?!" she continued, pointing an accusatory finger at the Amazon princess.

"That's enough, please!" she pleaded, raising her hands in a placating manner, "I just want to make sure that Ben is okay…" she claimed.

"No you don't," Rainbow argued with a shake of her head, "You're just here to tell him to give you guys the Joker," she noted, narrowing her eyes with contempt. Diana blinked in surprise at how quickly she deduced that.

"Yes… that's what Batman and Superman wanted," she told her as a reply, "But I also want to talk Ben down," she added, placing her hand over her chest, "I know he's going to do something he'll regret if-"

"If what?" the rainbow-haired woman snarled, interrupting her as she blinked in surprise.

"Just let me talk to Ben and-" Diana was interjected again, only this time by Rainbow's left fist striking her square in the face. "Rainbow?!" she gasped out, quickly crossing her arms to block a right hook, followed by parrying away another punch from her foe's left fist, "Stop it!" she insisted. But instead, the rainbow-haired woman ponied up in a flash of light, gaining light cerulean skin with pony ears, a long ponytail, and wings.

"Now get the hell out of here!" she demanded angrily, dashing out and flipping over to slam her feet against the Amazon princess' crossed arms, blowing her back as she crashed against the counter.

"Ergh…" she grunted out, standing up and taking hold of her lasso, "Rainbow, please don't make me do this…" she pleaded desperately. But to her dismay, the rainbow-haired woman lunged out at her again. This time, she reacted quickly and caught her by her left leg, throwing her aside as she crashed into the living room couch, toppling over with it.

"You and the Justice League started all this!" Rainbow angrily exclaimed as she shot back up with her flapping wings, "Everything was going fine for Ben until you asked him to join!" she pointed out.

"And how is that our fault?!" Diana argued, "If Ben chose to join us, maybe things would've turned out differently!" she noted with confidence.

"Bullshit!" Rainbow cursed, dashing down and slamming the Amazon princess fiercely against the floor. She gritted her teeth, realizing that there was no calming the rainbow-haired woman. Readying her feet, she kicked her chest to knock her back, followed by flying up and slamming her against the ceiling.

"Don't say I didn't warn you, Rainbow," she remarked as was prepared to restrain her with her lasso, "Since you're carrying a child, I'll try not to hurt you too much…" she mentioned. However, just as she was about to toss the lasso, her foe grasped it in her left hand.

"The feeling's mutual… bitch," she retorted, kicking her in the stomach hard to blow her back before taking the lasso and wrapping it around her, restraining her arms to her torso. She then landed a fierce axe kick, sending her crashing onto the floor hard.

"Gah…" she groaned, managing to push herself up to her knees. Rainbow came down and grabbed the free end of the lasso, pulling on it hard as her opponent grimaced.

"Now why don't you start telling the truth?" she insisted. However, the lasso didn't glow, much to her confusion.

"That's not how it works," the Amazon princess responded as a retort, arching herself back swiftly to headbutt Rainbow in the face, giving her a bleeding nose as she stumbled backwards and lost hold of the lasso. As the rope around Diana slightly loosened, she spun around counterclockwise to undo it. She then grabbed the lasso and threw it out to wrap around the rainbow-haired woman's wrists, binding them together.

"Sh—!" Her shout was interrupted as the Amazon princess yanked her over, kneeing her in the face with her right leg before pushing her down onto her knees. She wrapped the rest of the lasso around her, tightening her hold as she pulled on it.

"Now tell me where Ben is!" she demanded firmly, making the lasso glow a bright golden yellow. Rainbow winced, sucking in air through her teeth as she tried to resist the lasso's coercion into speaking a single word. She wanted to make sure her husband wouldn't have to worry about anything else for the rest of the night… But to her dismay…

"Mama…!" a voice suddenly whimpered out, catching her and Diana's attention. They both turned to see Raya standing there with outstretched, little arms and tears welling in her eyes.

"Raya…?" her mother uttered out in shock. She had spoken her first word… and it was at the worst moment possible. Meanwhile, the Amazon princess' eyes shook.

"That's… your daughter…" she realized. The moment of clarity made her aware of what the infant girl had just seen. Her mother had been hurt and restrained by the Amazon princess, who never wanted to harm her in the first place. And now… she was responsible for the young girl seeing such a traumatizing display. Her hold on the lasso loosened.

"HUH!" Rainbow gasped out, breathing rapidly as she had held her breath for all while Diana had her wrapped in the lasso. She lurched forward, coughing a little as she slowed her breathing.

"Rainbow…" Diana uttered out, getting her attention as she slowly turned her head to look at the apologetic expression on her face, "I—"

"WHITE BLOW!" another voice suddenly exclaimed before a blackened fist suddenly rocketed in and struck her square in the face, sending her flying before she crashed through the window, making the shattered pieces break apart along the floor.

"Agh…" she groaned out, shaking her head to regain herself while floating as she looked to see who had attacked her. It was none other than Smoker, who helped undo the lasso around Rainbow as he crouched down and pulled it off.

"Get the kid and yourself outta here," he advised, "I'll deal with her," he promised, pulling his jitte off of his back. Rainbow shakily got to her feet and picked up Raya gently into her arms.

"Be careful…" she warned, running off as quickly as she could. The former marine stepped out through the broken window, glaring out at Diana.

"If this your way of sending a message, you're doing a damn bad job of doing it," he remarked bluntly as smoke wafted off of his form. Reaching behind her back, Diana pulled out a sword, aiming it towards him.

"I don't want this night to end in bloodshed," she said to him.

"Feeling's mutual," he responded, "But what you did says otherwise…" he remarked as he glared on at her. The two of them stared each other down for what felt like a whole minute. It wouldn't be long before their conflict would mark the beginning of another…

ENDING

Insert "Mayonaka No Orchestra" by Aqua Timez

Opens with Ben looking through old pictures, coming across one taken from when he was with the Teen Titans. He smiles, fondly reflecting on those memories.

We see him sighing deeply after Robin and Cyborg have their falling out over letting Cinderblock get away as he stands with Starfire, Beast Boy, and Raven. The scene shifts to him being suspicious of Blackfire when she first arrives on Earth, followed by mistakenly turning into Starfury for the first time as he had no idea how to use her, getting beaten by Mammoth.

We then cut to him as Arctiguana, seriously going after Robin as he's taken on the role of being Slade's apprentice. He then joins him in confronting Slade at his hideout, transforming into Starfury to help him in the effort to save their friends.

The scene changes back to the present day, where Nightwing stands atop the Titans Tower with Starfire, Beast Boy, and Raven. They look out at the ocean with smiles on their faces. From the Watchtower, Cyborg looks down at the Earth and grins as well.

The Titans reflect on the memories of fighting Slade, Ternion, Brother Blood, Trigon, and the Brain. The last fight they fought together as a team was when Albedo invaded Jump City. Now we cut back to the present day, where Ben stands atop Mount Rushmore, staring down Cyborg with a stone-faced expression. He stares back the same way.

Both members of their respective teams join them, facing each other as the tension mounts between them…

We end on the image of the framed photograph of the Titans, where they all seem very happy…

END ENDING

And we have yet another cliffhanger ending! Okay, to be fair, the next chapter was going to be a lot shorter. So I figured starting off the next arc with the action you've all been waiting for would be more than worth it.

To top it off, I'm titling the next arc as the "Justice Arc", so you can look forward to that!

I'm sure you have lots of questions about the things I retconned here, so feel free to ask in reviews or in PMs. Remember, I'm now going on a biweekly schedule for chapter releases because of my new job, so things aren't going to be the same for the time being… unless something comes up.

I hope you enjoyed the story thus far, because we're only halfway through! Expect a brand new trailer for the next arc in the next chapter of "The Challenge of a Lifetime"!