Mount Justice
"Recognized: Robin B02, Wonder Girl B03, Lucky B04."
Dick Greyson, Cassandra Sandsmark, and Gwen Tennyson, respectively, teleported into the main hall of Mount Justice wearing their civilian clothes. The three teens spotted Superboy, Ben, and Miss Martian waiting for them.
"I take Speedy didn't go for it?" Ben asked.
"Nope." Gwen replied. "I'll keep it short and tell you he doesn't respect this team at all."
"Forget him." Cassandra stated. "Did you ask Red Tornado?"
"What did he say?" Robin added.
"We haven't asked him because he's arriving now." Ben replied.
"Alright, what are waiting for?" Cassandra rushed off.
Robin followed her prompting Superboy and Gwen to roll their eyes at the lack of maturity in those two. They then casually jogged after the pair. This left Ben and M'gann to stroll casually along behind them.
"So, how are you adjusting?" Ben asked.
"You mean, how am I adjusting to a new planet, species, and culture?" M'gann responded with a giggle.
"Trust me, I've seen a couple of foreign worlds." Ben mentioned. "Knowing you, you'll fit in just fine around here."
"Hard to tell so soon I guess." M'gann looked down and rubbed her arm. "I've only been on this planet for a little over a week."
Suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder drawing her attention back to Ben. "I don't know what the rest of the world will bring you, but you should know you're among friends. No one will judge you here."
Ben's attention was drawn to Red Tornado as he approached dispersing the wind-funnel that levitated him down slowly. This resulted in the Omnitrix wielder being unaware of the blush apparent on the Martian girl's green cheeks.
"Red Tornado, do you have a mission for us?" Cassandra asked.
Red Tornado shook his head. "Mission assignments are Batman's priority."
"I hope it's soon." Ben stated. "Honestly, if not for her going to school, we'd all have to deal with how stir-crazy Cassandra's been with no bad guys to fight."
"Perhaps you could take a tour of the cave." Red Tornado suggested. "It may also help build synergy between the team."
"You know, if bats doesn't give us a mission soon, we may end up sleuthing up our own like Cadmus." Ben sighed as he put his hands in his pockets. "For now, I guess we can check out the 'clubhouse'."
"Oh, don't be that way, Ben." Miss Martian smiled. "I mean, you've made it just as much your home as Superboy, Cassandra, and I have." She gasped. "I know, why don't the four of us show Gwen and Dick around?"
Superboy shrugged. "Sure, whatever."
Superman had been trying to know his clone but had yet to offer him a permanent place to stay. His reasoning being that he wanted to talk to Lois about it first, but his wife was on a long-term assignment in the Middle East.
As for Ben, he wanted to be here, and his parents were fine with it provided he continued to visit them. Casandra just wanted to be in the thick of things, and Miss Martian didn't really have anywhere else to be.
Everyone moved back into the cave where Red Tornado split away from the younger heroes. Superboy wasn't much for tour guiding, so the other three picked up the slack. Halfway through the impromptu tour, the clone sniffed the air.
"Is something burning?" Superboy asked.
Miss Martian whirled around in shock. "My cookies!"
She flew into the kitchen where smoke was starting to drift out of the oven. Rather than burning her hands, Miss Martian opened the oven with her telekinesis and floated a tray onto the counter. On the tray were what looked like two-dozen lumpy hockey pucks.
"Oh, I was trying out Granny Jones' recipe from episode seventeen of…" Miss Martian shook her head. "Never mind."
Ben picked one up and bit into it without a second thought much to everyone else's amazement.
"Ben, what are you doing?" Gwen asked.
"I figured I might as well try one, even if their burnt, since Miss Martian did make them." Ben shrugged. "Compared to what Grandpa made us that summer road trip, they're not half bad."
"I'll make more?" Miss Martian offered not know if he was serious.
"Only if you want to take another crack at them." Ben finished the cookie. "Honestly, it wasn't too bad, so I wouldn't mind; however, I don't want to force your hand."
Miss Martian smiled brightly. "Thanks, Chimera."
"Hey, we're not on duty." Ben stated. "It's just Ben outside the costume."
"I'm Gwen." Gwen stated. "Ben and I are cousins."
"I'm Cassandra!" Cassandra exclaimed happily.
"Batman won't let me tell anyone details about myself until I've known them for a year, and he's checked their backgrounds," Dick nodded. "Since he's not here, you can call me Dick."
"Well, my name isn't a secret either." Miss Martian said. "It's M'gann M'orzz, but you can call me Megan. It's an Earth name, and I'm on Earth now."
Superboy felt a brief pang of jealousy that he didn't have a name but shrugged it off. He honestly didn't care that much and started to leave when he felt something brush up against his mind.
"Don't worry, Superboy." M'gann said. "We'll find you an Earth name someday."
Superboy clutched at his head and glared at the Martian. "Get out of my head!"
"What's wrong?" M'gann asked broadcasting her thoughts to the rest of the group. "Everyone on Mars communicated telepathically."
The others began shifting uncomfortably at the intrusion into their minds. Even Gwen, who was used to this with Kent, knew it was wrong to just invade people's minds.
"M'gann, stop." Gwen said sternly which gave everyone relief. "That's not how things are done on Earth. When someone puts their thoughts into another person's mind, it's the worst kind of breach in privacy."
"Not to mention, Cadmus' G-Gnomes left a bad taste in Superboy's brain." Cassandra whispered.
"I-I'm sorry." M'gann stammered. "I didn't know…"
"Just stay out." Superboy growled while storming away.
Ben looked after him before sighing. "I'll go talk to him."
"Ben, we'll be heading to the hanger next." Cassandra stated.
Ben waved back at her.
After he left, M'gann was curious. "Why did only Ben leave?"
"Far as we can tell, Superboy really seems to trust Ben." Dick shrugged. "Must have something to do with their talk, in Cadmus, before the rest of us were woken up."
"Basically, they get along pretty well." Cassandra stated. "Supes actually listens to him."
Down the hall, Ben found the clone sitting on a couch and scowling at the floor. "You know, that was a little extreme." Superboy looked ready to object. "I understand why you don't like anyone in your head, but you must remember she wasn't there.
If she were, I could understand you yelling. Now, she knows, so a simple apology on your part will probably smooth things over." Superboy didn't reply, but he did look less angry. "So, what's say we meet up with the others?"
Superboy just nodded before following the Omnitrix wielder. As they met up with the team, M'gann looked at the clone hopefully but was ignored. The team approached the metal hangar doors and went wide eyed as the doors split slowly revealing a large crimson-red ship.
Additionally, there was a dog like Mechamorph jumping excitedly around it. "Ship!"
"Is that a Galvanic Mechamorph around my Martian Bio-Ship?" M'gann asked confused.
"Ship, come here boy!" Ben yelled.
"Ship!" The symbiote declared.
He happily ran over to Ben and rubbed up affectionately against him. "Sorry about this, but I think my mentor dropped Ship off without telling me."
"Your mentor dropped off a dog like alien in the hanger?" Dick asked.
Gwen and Cassandra looked on knowingly,
Ben smirked. "Ship, show them what you can do."
Ship moved away from them before forming into a full on battle ship to the shock of Superboy and Dick.
"That's amazing Ben." M'gann commented. "I didn't know you had something similar to my ship." She waved her hand in the air causing the Bio-Ship to become a full-on ship roughly the same size as Ship."
"Well, I'd say our team is shaping up nicely." Cassandra crossed her arms. "Last I heard, the league uses javelins which have nothing on them."
"I'll say." Dick nodded. "I'm liking our style, but which ship do we take?"
"Well, M'gann did bring us out here to see her ship while I didn't know mine was here." Ben nodded to his pet. "What do you say Ship? You okay with us taking out M'gann's ship?" Ship returned to normal and happily ran around him. "Why don't you go explore the base?"
"Ship!" Ship declared as he bounded away.
"Thank you, Ben." M'gann smiled. "For what it's worth, your little buddy is very cute. You'll have to tell me how you got him sometime."
"First, be sure to tell Ship he's cute because he loves to hear that." Ben nodded. "Secondly, I'll tell you about it when we have the time. For now, let's see what your Bio-Ship can do."
M'gann waved her hand and a hatch opened allowing the team in.
"Ben, why is your pet's name Ship?" Superboy asked curiously.
"It was the only word he says. Plus, the Mechamorph I got him from did say that was his name." Ben replied. "Besides, what would you call him?"
Superboy shrugged since he couldn't come up with anything better.
"Personally, I'd go with Sluggo?" Cassandra offered.
"Cassandra, the last time you called him that, Ship sat on you for a full hour." Ben retorted.
Everyone piled on in.
Bio-Ship
It was an empty room with windows on the interior hull. Suddenly, chairs melted up from the floor along with a control console in front of the main chair slightly larger than the others. As they sat, flesh like straps melted around their torso.
"This is what I'm talking about." Ben declared.
"Red Tornado, please open the bay doors." Miss Martian requested.
The android received her request and opened the large bay-doors revealing an ocean view, M'gann slowly accelerated forwards before taking off at nearly the speed of sound.
"Hey, how about showing us some Martian shape shifting?" Dick asked.
M'gann smiled and rose from her seat. "Sure, I haven't fully mastered it, but I can do it."
She looked over at Ben before shifting into a female version of him. Then she shifted into a female version of Dick in full on boy wonder attire.
"Impressive, but you're not going to fool anyone with those." Dick stated.
M'gann sat down flustered. "Mimicking boys is a lot harder."
"What about your clothes?" Gwen asked curiously.
"They're organic, like the ship, and respond to my mental commands." M'gann replied.
"So, what else can you do?" Cassandra asked. "Can you do that ghosting through walls thing that Manhunter does?"
"Density shifting?" M'gann shook her head. "That's way too advanced for me."
"Don't worry about it." Gwen offered trying to make her feel better. "None of us are really done learning either. Even Ben still has stuff he can learn from that watch of his."
"It's true." Ben nodded. "I got over a million sample in here, yet I haven't even unlocked a hundred of them."
That did make M'gann feel better. "Oh, here's something I can do!" Her mental command was sent via telepathic link and the entire external shell of the Bio-Ship began melting with its surroundings. "Camouflage Mode!"
"Red Tornado to Miss Martian." Red Tornado declared over the intercom. "An emergency alarm has been triggered at the Happy Harbor Power Plant. I suggest the team investigates. I'm sending coordinates."
"Received." Miss Martian stated. "I'm adjusting course."
Power Plant
Miss Martian landed the ship, and it didn't take long for them to find what seemed to have caused the alert. What they found was a red-haired guy laid out on the ground. He wore a torn-up yellow and red uniform, but it was missing the usually his gloves and boots.
"I can't believe it." Robin stated in shock.
Miss Martian and Superboy were confused, and that only grew as they saw that Ben, Cassandra, and Gwen were just left speechless.
"Mind explaining what it is we're looking at?" Superboy questioned.
"This guy is Kid Flash." Ben stated. "Dick, Gwen, Cassandra, and I knew him. He became Flash's sidekick roughly three years after I became Green Lantern's one to vanish one year after with no explanation."
"Unlike Speedy, he couldn't be found." Cassandra continued. "Not even Batman could turn up any leads."
"Okay, but what's he doing out here?" Miss Martian asked.
Kid Flash gasped and bolted awake with a look of pure terror on his face. "He's coming!" He looked at the gathered people and zeroed in on Dick as he was one of the only people there he recognized out of a suit. "Dick!" He got to his feet. "He's coming! Powers like Chimera!"
Ben narrowed his eyes since he could think of only one person with powers like his; however, that should be impossible. The person he was thinking of was stuck as an amalgam of his fire ten aliens. He looked to Gwen who was thinking along the same lines.
"Whoa, slow down Wally." Robin tried. "Where have you been, and who's coming?"
At that moment, a portal to the Null Void opened allowing a tall, muscular young man with long, choppy black hair to step out. He was wearing black Proto-Tech Armor with a pendent sporting the number 11. Ben and Gwen knew it was Kevin Levin.
"That's him!" Wally shouted fearfully. "Agent 11."
"Kevin." Ben spoke up getting everyone's attention. "Looks like you managed to fix your problem and find your way out of the Null Void."
"I fixed a problem alright, but I haven't been as trapped in the Null Void as you assume." Kevin glared at Ben. "All this time, you made me think I was the problem, but it's you. It's always been you." He nodded to the others. "Look, I'm giving the rest of you the chance to clear out.
If you side with him, your part of the problem. Plain and simple. If you don't want to believe me, that's fine. Side with The Coming Storm. I'm simply giving you the chance to stop aiding and abetting this villain."
The four heroes who had no idea who this was just looked at each other in confusion. Even Dick was confused by his words. No matter how much Batman seemed to not like Ben, he never called him a villain.
"Kevin, I don't agree with what you're saying." Gwen stated. "What's more, you don't need to do this."
"That's where you're wrong Gwen." Kevin crossed his arms. "All of you, make your choice. I'll even sweeten the deal. If just one of you leaves, you can take the speedster with you."
"Were you the one who took Wally all this time?" Dick looked back at the speedster. "What did you do to him?"
Before Kevin could respond, Wally spoke up. "He brought me to some ancient looking lab." He shook his head. "I was hooked up in some chain to him and an alien. I felt drained for a while but regained my strength before escaping. I spent months running until finding my way here."
"It was good training." Kevin nodded. "Of course, he only got back because I allowed it. Figured Tennyson would show up. Now, I'm getting tired of explaining. Ben and Gwen are going to fight me, but what about the rest of you? You don't have to be my enemy."
"From where I stand, as well as from what I've seen, Ben's the hero." Dick stated. "Heroes don't rip people away from their lives for a year."
"It's all for the greater good of stopping him." Kevin retorted.
"I'm not leaving any of them to fight you alone." Cassandra grinned. "You're exactly the type of bad guy I love to fight."
"I haven't known any of them long, but I do know your mind isn't in a good place." Miss Martian nodded. "Plus, my uncle believes in Ben, so I will to."
"I haven't known Ben long, but he's trustworthy." Superboy charged Kevin feeling tired of all this talking. "How about we fight already!"
Kevin shifted into a Tetramand before breaking through Superboy's guard, picking him up by his throat, and tossing him away from.
"Looks like he's managed to control himself better because that change was far smoother than the second time we ever met. Additionally, he still has Four Arms." Ben felt a pang of hurt at that but ignored it. "Hopefully, he hasn't managed to gain anything equivalent to my new aliens."
"Did he just do what Ben can do?" Miss Martian asked.
"We'll explain later." Gwen replied. "For now, pay attention for the Omnitrix symbol."
"Got it." Dick declared.
He drew a few birdarangs and threw them only for Kevin to transform into Petrosapien causing the birdarangs to harmlessly bounce off. "Is this the best you all got?" He scoffed. "I was expecting more."
Ben cued up his Omnitrix and chose a Crystalsapien. "Chromastone!" This drew Kevin's attention. "Why don't you try this on for size?"
He fired off a beam of energy, but Kevin simply crossed his arms to block it. "I think I'm handling it just find Tennyson."
"Gwen, do it!" Chromastone shouted.
Gwen moved behind Chromastone and fired her energy into him which allowed the Crystalsapien to increase his output greatly. Kevin was sent skidding back as the energy refracted off him. He then transformed into a Crystalsapien himself absorbing the energy.
"How is that possible?" Chromastone was so shocked he stopped firing as did Gwen. "I choose this form because Azmuth told me there were no others out there, and Kevin hasn't absorbed anything from my watch."
"Good to see you're confused Tennyson." Kevin noticed Superboy was coming back around for round two, so he simply offloaded the energy he absorbed into him pushing the clone away again. "I won't tell you how, but my roster of transformations has gone up."
"Guys, we need to work together on this." Chromastone declared. "Kid Flash, we might even need you."
Kevin transformed into a Kineceleran and ran at Chromastone before transforming back into a Tetramand. Before he could grab the Omnitrix wielder, Cassandra lunged forward punching him. At least it sent Kevin stumbling. Dick, Miss Martian, Gwen, and Wally then formed up around them.
"If that guy can match your aliens, you're at most just a match for him." Dick declared. "So, we'll push you into an advantage."
"At this point, I think I'm starting to regain a little of my confidence." Wally took a deep breath. "Being around you guys helps."
Wally ran in first going to plant his legs into the Tetramand's chest. Kevin moved to block, but Superboy unintentionally came in with the assist as he jumped into the air. The clone came down on top of him sending the alien stumbling and allowing Wally to nail him.
Dick capitalized by throwing bombs to further off setting him. Cassandra then grab one of his arms and threw him into the air. Kevin turned into a Lepidopterran midair catching himself. Gwen then began firing spheres of magic into him.
He managed to dodge the tail end and fire down slime nailing her. What he didn't immediately noticed was Miss Martian throwing a car at him with her telekinesis. Kevin was still able to shift into a Petrosapien at impact. The car exploded but Kevin stood uninjured.
Superboy was immediately there with Chromastone running in behind him. Kevin lunged forward tackling the clone into Chromastone. Gwen then began firing more of her magic which he blocked. Chromastone recovered before shaking his head.
"Guys, working in pairs isn't enough!" He smashed his Omnitrix symbol to become Frankenstrike. "We need to attack him as one!" He looked at Superboy. "You up for that?"
Superboy might be stubborn, but that Kevin guy had knocking him away far too much. "Let's take him down."
Dick threw smoke bombs which went off as Gwen teleported back leaving Kevin to be blinded. Ben fired off lighting into the smoke hitting Kevin's Petrosapien form. He didn't even bother blocking it which left an opening for Wally.
The speedster ran around outside the smoke generating a tornado which lifted Kevin into the air disorienting him. As the tornado stopped, Wonder Girl came from above while Superboy struck from below. Once they were clear, Megan used her telekinesis to nail him with cars.
Kevin crashed to the ground, and while he wasn't injured, there was a limit to his powers. A limit which had been reached. Agent 11 reverted too normal and was laid out on the ground. Gwen conjured golden chains around him just as an added precaution.
Frankenstrike reverted to Ben as he approached with the rest of the team. "Well Kevin, you gave us a lot of trouble, but you lose in the end."
"You think I lose?" Kevin smirked up at him. "Nah, I accomplished what I set out to do today. Agent 11 calling for extraction."
The null void began to open beneath him.
"Get back!" Ben shouted.
The group rushed away as Kevin was pulled back into the Null Void. The portal immediately closed behind him leaving the rest of the team looked to look at Gwen and Ben.
"So, you guys want to explain what all of that was about?" Cassandra asked. "I mean, Robin and I know who that was, but I think even we could use a little more to go on."
"Not to be a bother, but I am pooped after that. Plus, I would really like to see my family." Wally collapsed to his knees. "Could you maybe save it for later?"
"You got it." Dick smiled as he helped his friend stand and lean on him. "Honestly, I'm glad you're back."
Wally smiled. "It's good to be back."
The rest of the team, even those who didn't know Wally, smiled as well.
Null Void
Kevin may have been taken from the ground, but he ended up being thrown side ways into the Null Void before crashing back to the ground. On the bright side, the chains were gone allowing him to stand up.
He was met by a tall, Cerebrocrustacean hybrid. He has pale orange skin, a large head with a red crystal in the middle of it, spikes were on the side of his head, and he has red eyes. He was wearing black Proto-Tech Armor like Kevin's.
"You performed well Agent 11." The hybrid declared happily. "While we do have the footage of the fight, how would you size up those young heroes?"
"They're no push overs, Sevantus." Kevin smirked. "I'm confident the team and I can handle them when the time comes. The Coming Storm's time is finite, and we should be able to deal with before the other threats can move into help him."
"That's what I like to hear my boy." Sevantus grinned. "Now, let's return to the others. I want the whole team to study your fight. Then, it'll be time to train as more information is fed to us from our new source."
Mount Justice
After their run in with Kevin, the group had returned to Mount Justice. Red Tornado immediately called in Flash who was overjoyed to see his nephew once more. He took the young speedster to reunite with the rest of his family.
The team then debriefed Batman on the situation with Ben and Gwen explaining more about their history with Kevin. How they met him in New York during their summer vacation to the last time they'd seen him.
"Proto-Tech Armor is used by the Plumbers, but it's never been known to be black." Batman pondered. "We may need to question your grandfather to find out what could be going on."
"I'm sure he'd love to help you." Ben stated.
"For an impromptu mission, your team did alright." Batman admitted making the teens grin. "Now, all of you should head on home. As soon as the details come in, you'll be sent on a proper mission."
"That's what I like to hear." Cassandra smiled. "Fighting that Kevin guy was cool, but I'm ready for our team's first mission."
Gwen, Dick, and Cassandra left via the teleporters while Ben went to his room.
Before Superboy took his leave, he looked at Miss Martian. "About before… I'm sorry."
As Superboy left, M'gann smiled.
Ibrenneke: The watch has no such security function as what you outline.
Guest: Well, here's Kid Flash at least.
Maximum Rhapsody: Also, here's Kid Flash. There's a clear change here beyond just the team fighting an enemy.
whateverman53 (ch. 4): Just because Heatblast was the first doesn't mean he'll be the most impactful.
Wahid Alam: First, thank you for the review. Now, what would you have me do? The Team is a covert op unit. Calling Ben as Ben and Gwen as Gwen sort of break the established rules of a covert team. Additionally, the show tends to call the heroes by their hero name in costume and civilian name in civilian attire. As for the hero names, well what would you use?