Metropolis
It was a calm, summer day in Metropolis until the bridge connecting the two halves of the city began to collapse. To avoid a falling suspension cable, a school bus full of children had to sharply swerve. In doing so, it was hit by several other cars.
The bus was pushed to the point that it was falling off the bridge with a handful of other vehicles. Fortunately, Superman was there, and he flew under the sagging bridge before pushing it back up to its original position. Then, he used his heat-vision to weld the supports back together.
Superboy had headed off after his 'father'; however, since he couldn't fly, he was forced to jump great distances. This method got him to the scene shortly after the older Kryptonian, but every time he landed, it created a tremor.
Once he was on the bridge, Superboy lifted cars and placed them on a safer ground. He then moved to the bus. While he was easily strong enough to pick it up, the precarious position and lack of leverage meant that the bus was still sliding off the bridge.
Just as it began to fall, another force lifted the bus up into the air. Caught off-balance, Superboy fell backwards allowing him to see Superman flying above him with the bus held in his hands. As soon as the clone's parent placed the bus on a secure location, he turned to him.
"Nice work with the cars." Superman nodded. "Though your landing almost destabilized the bridge."
Superboy bristled. "But it didn't."
"Hey, I'm not blaming you." Superman held his hands up defensively. "I just want you to be a little more careful in the future. Especially when innocents are involved."
Superboy glanced at the children who were staring at the Man and Boy of Steel from inside the bus. "Sorry about that." He now felt guilty about that. "I just wanted to help."
"You did, but we still don't know the limits of your powers." Superman smiled as he put a hand on his shoulder. "We don't even know if there's something still hidden about your powers, but the two of us will work it out. That much I promise you." Superboy gave a small grin at that.
"Hang on, I'm getting a league alert." Superboy tensed in anticipation. "Superman here. What's the… hold on, Green Arrow. What's attacking? I see. I'm on my way." He looked back at his son. "Sorry Superboy, but I need to get there fast. I'll see you at home, okay?"
Superboy reluctantly nodded. "I understand."
Mount Justice
The Cave was more than just a base for the team. It was also a place for them to get to know each other, train, and play. With everyone in uniform, Chimera and Wonder Girl were playing holographic air hockey. Miss Martian was interested in the game and observing.
"Recognized: Superboy B05."
Superboy teleported into the Cave causing Lucky Girl to approach him. "Hello Superboy." She nodded. "How was your time in Metropolis?"
"It was alright." Superboy nodded. "I got to help Superman when a bridge started to collapse."
"That's nice." Lucky smiled. "I'm glad you're able to help him."
Suddenly, Black Canary coughed from behind the team alerted them to the fact that they weren't alone. "Ready for training, everyone?"
"Black Canary!" Miss Martian then noticed her uncle and hugged him. "Uncle J'onn!"
"How are you, M'gann?" J'onn asked his niece. "I hope you've been adjusting well."
"A few bumps along the way, but I'm learning." Miss Martian admitted.
"That's all I can ask for." J'onn stated.
Black Canary smiled at the familial exchange, but her eyes caught Superboy leaving the room. "Stick around." She called out halting the clone in his tracks. "Class is in session." As she stepped forward, the center area of the floor lit up.
"I consider it an honor to be your teacher. I'll be throwing a lot at you. Everything I learned from my own mentors…" She pulled off her jacket and hissed when it brushed up against her left arm which was bandaged. "… and my own bruises."
Miss Martian gasped. "What happened?"
"The job." Black Canary shrugged. "Now, combat is about controlling conflict and putting the battle on your terms. You should always be acting; never reacting. Now, I'll need a sparring partner."
"I'll take a swing!" Wonder Girl exclaimed excitedly.
She stepped up to fight only for Black Canary to suddenly launch forward. Her right fist was heading for Wonder Girl's head. The demigod blocked only to have her legs kicked out from under her sending the girl to the ground. A hologram of the word 'fail' appeared next to her.
"You had a good block, but can anyone tell me what she did wrong?" Black Canary asked.
"Wonder Girl ended up waiting for you to initialize the battle which meant you got to dictate the terms." Lucky Girl replied.
"Oh, please." Superboy scoffed as he crossed his arms. "Wonder Girl is strong, but with my powers, the battle's always on my terms. I'm a living weapon, and this is a waste of my time."
Black Canary smiled again. "Prove it."
Rolling his eyes, Superboy stepped into the ring. Both fighters took ready stances before the clone threw a punch. Instead of dodging, like he expected, Black Canary grabbed his arm and flung him over her shoulder. Again, the word 'fail' appeared next to him.
Robin snickered, only to get elbowed by Lucky Girl.
Superboy got up and snarled at Black Canary. "You're angry, good." She nodded. "Now, you need to channel that anger into…"
Before she could finish her sentence, Superboy charged in only for Canary to sweep his legs out from under him. She held out her hand to help him up, but he pushed it away.
"That's it." The clone growled. "I'm done."
"Training is mandatory." Black Canary stated firmly yet gently.
She placed a hand on his shoulder; however, Superboy shook it off and glared at her.
Before either of them could say anything, Batman appeared on the holographic screen. "Batman to the Cave." He waited for the team to gather. "Five hours ago, a new menace attacked Green Arrow and Black Canary."
On a smaller screen, a recording of a person with a bare torso, green pants, red eyes, and orange hair appeared. The recording showed this person beating down Superman, Red Tornado, and several other leaguers.
"The attacker was capable of studying; then duplicating the powers and abilities of its opponents. Green Arrow called in reinforcements, which nearly proved disastrous, as our foe gained more and more power with each new combatant."
"That is some serious power." Wonder Girl commented.
"Okay, that kind of sounds like me… except evil." Chimera thought.
"In the end, it took eight leaguers to defeat and dismantle this android." Batman continued.
"It was an android?" Robin asked. "Who built it? T.O. Morrow?"
"Good guess, but Red Tornado doesn't think so." Batman replied.
"This technology bears the signature of Professor Ivo." J'onn informed.
"I thought Ivo was dead." Wonder Girl stated.
"We all did… or hoped." Black Canary stated.
"To make certain this threat is permanently neutralized; we're sending two trucks, containing the android's parts, to two separate STAR Labs facilities in Boston and New York for evaluation and destruction." Batman informed.
"Every precaution is being taken. We'll have four additional decoy trucks to create confusion in case Ivo, or anyone, tries to recover the remains. You will split into undercover teams to safeguard the two real trucks."
Superboy wasn't too happy. "So, we're supposed to take out your trash?"
"You had something better to do?" Batman shot back.
A second later, Robin's glove-mounted computer beeped.
He checked it before nodding to Chimera. "Since we got the coordinates, let's move out team."
As the team moved, Superboy felt a hand on his shoulder, and he turned to see Black Canary looking at him with a friendly smile. "When you're ready, I'll be here."
Superboy didn't answer and choose to simply follow his teammates.
Litchfield County, Evening…
The team were dressed in civilian clothing over their uniforms. Their vehicles, motorcycles, were made by Batman himself. That meant they practically drove themselves and would take a lot of effort to crash. Chimera, Miss Martian, and Lucky Girl would be the first group.
Robin, Superboy, and Wonder Girl were the second. Chimera just got back from talking with Batman which saw Superman and Green Arrow overseeing the four decoy trucks and the two real ones. The Dark Knight eventually stepped forward and waved his hand at the trucks.
A moment later, the vehicles started driving in different directions. The leaguers watched as the trucks pulled away before catching the team splitting up to follow two different trucks. Satisfied that the job was done, the heroes left.
With Robin's Group
"Hey, I've been thinking of something." Robin pulled up beside Superboy and Wonder Girl. "If 'dislike' is the opposite of 'like', is 'disaster' the opposite of 'aster'? See, instead of things going wrong, they go right."
"I guess that makes sense, but isn't 'aster' something that has to do with biology?" Wonder Girl questioned.
"Eh." Robin waved it off. "Biology and English are two different things." He then turned to Superboy. "What do you think, Supey?" The clone only deepened his scowl. "Clearly you're not feeling the aster. What's wrong?"
"Canary." Superboy replied angrily. "I mean, what business does she have teaching combat skills to a guy with super-strength?"
"Taking down stronger guys is part of the job." Wonder Girl replied. "Even Superman has fought guys stronger than him. People he couldn't just outmuscle and had to use his brain on."
"Plus, the league has so much more experience than we do." Robin continued. "It's why they get to teach us how to do the same."
"Hey, hasn't Superman been teaching you how to use your strength?" Wonder Girl asked and Superboy nodded. "There you go. I don't personally know what he teaches you, but it can't be that strength is the end all be all."
"I guess not." Superboy looked away from them.
"You should really give her a chance Superboy." Robin stated. "If she weren't the right kind of trainer for any of us, our mentors could have spoken up. I mean, has Superman had anything bad to say about Black Canary?"
"No…" Superboy sighed.
His teammates decided to leave him with his thoughts for the time being since they seemed to have gotten the point across.
With Chimera's Group
"Do you think Superboy's okay?" Lucky Girl asked concerned.
"Trust me Lucky, Supes will be fine." Chimera replied. "You got to remember his upbringing. It wasn't all that great, so there are some harsh lessons he's got to learn."
"I'm sure Chimera's right." Miss Martian added. "I know we weren't in similar situations, but even I have a lot left to learn myself. In the end, maybe a quiet mission, like this, will help him learn that lesson."
"I guess you two are right." Lucky Girl stated.
"By the way Chimera, what were you talking about with Batman before we left?" Miss Martian asked curiously.
"Just a few details about the mission." Chimera replied simply.
As they drove down the road, the cornfield they passed rustled, and a swarm of green-and-black robotic monkeys, equipped with jetpacks, flew out. The robots flew past the group and attached themselves to the truck. Green beams of energy began cutting through the armored vehicle.
As the three heroes moved into stop them, Chimera used his communicator. "Robin, be vigilant on your end because our truck is under attack."
With Robin's Group
"By robotic monkeys, right?" Robin answered as several dozen mechanical simians latched onto his team's truck. "Must be the new, up and coming fall fashion."
Superboy glared at the robots. "I hate monkeys."
"Robot monkeys." Robin laughed. "Professor Ivo sure has a weirder tweak-style!"
He pressed a button on his bike causing the rear wheel and part of the bike detach. It unfolded into a drone with two rotors before firing on the monkeys with a laser cannon.
"Hey guys!" Robin called out. "Switch your rides to battle-mode!"
"Don't need it!" Superboy shouted.
He opted to instead leap off his bike and onto the armored car which knocked his bike into the air.
"Time to go!" Wonder Girl declared as she grabbed Robin.
The demigod then jumped onto the truck just as Superboy's motorcycle collided with theirs. The three heroes then punched and kicked their way through most of the monkeys. Superboy smashed apart a handful of robots and grabbed another to do the same.
Before it was crushed, it fired green beams of energy into Superboy's eyes. While Superboy was incredibly tough, the high-powered energy hit his most vulnerable part. Unbalanced and in pain, Superboy couldn't fight back when a few of the monkeys dropped him on the road.
Thankfully, Superboy had a healing factor. His sight was quick to return, but it would be blurry for a bit. Even without it, he could use his super-hearing to locate the monkeys. With two long-distance jumps, he was almost caught up.
With Chimera's Group
The rest of the team was having similar problems. Lucky Girl was blasting at the monkeys on the truck or if they came near her. As for Chimera, he shifted into XLR8 and sped after the truck while Miss Martian was distracted by several monkeys who jumped on her.
Several more cut through the top of the vehicle, overpowered the guards inside, and made off with the pieces of the android. Miss Martian opted to use her shapeshifting to sprout more limbs from her sides, back, and head.
With the extra power, she quickly got rid of her attackers and did the same to the robots that were on the front of the armored car. While the extra limbs were helpful, her changed appearance did nothing to help the already-frazzled nerves of the driver.
Eventually, all the robots were defeated resulting in XLR8 staring after the now retreating monkeys which held the box containing part of Amazo. Fortunately, Batman and he had a clear plan in place, so he didn't immediately jump to flying after them.
With Robin's Group
Wonder Girl was rather effective at dispatching the robots, but she couldn't get them all. As for Robin, he was doing well against his foes using the techniques taught to him from Batman. When Superboy arrived, Robin felt the extra power would place the advantage in their corner.
Unfortunately, the monkeys seemed to realize that the heroes were now too much for them and resorted to fighting dirty. They blew out the tires of the armored car. Despite how much Wonder Girl loved to battle, she knew lives were what mattered.
With the armored truck going to crash, she moved to rip the roof away and grab the guards inside. She jumped clear while Robin did the same for the driver. The armored car; however, was not so lucky. It crashed and flipped over several times before landing on top of Superboy.
A few seconds later, the monkeys grabbed the crate of android parts and flew off. Superboy, disoriented but unharmed, lifted the car off him. He now saw the monkeys flying away with their objective. Enraged, he jumped after them while ignoring everything else.
"Robin, Chimera here." Chimera spoke over the comms. "We lost our cargo. How are things looking on your end?"
"It's gone." Robin replied in an unhappy tone. "As is Superboy."
With Superboy
Superboy, despite his talk with Robin and Wonder Girl, was really frustrated while hopping after those stupid monkeys.
"Chimera to Superboy." Chimera spoke through their comms. "Radio your position, and we'll help you."
"Don't need any help!" Superboy shouted back. "Don't want any!"
He then destroyed the comm.
With Chimera's Group
"That about checks out." Chimera sighed.
"This is great." Wonder Girl complained through the comms. "Now, we can't track him!"
"He's out of my telepathic range." Miss Martian huffed. "This Professor Ivo, whoever he is, seems to be two steps ahead of us. Maybe we should contact the league?"
"This mission isn't a bust just yet." Chimera declared. "We can still complete the mission, as long as we stop the android."
"That's a great plan, but I have no way to track Superboy with my abilities." Lucky Girl stated. "So, where does that leave us?"
"It leaves us with these robots." Robin replied "We'd have heard by now if the decoys had been attacked, so how did these monkeys know which trucks to target? The answer is in the parts which have GPS's. It looks like both sets are converging on… Gotham City!"
"Wonder Girl, I want you to stick with Miss Martian and catch up when you can." Chimera became XLR8 once more. "Robin, you and Lucky Girl need to see meet up with us in Gotham. I'll see about finding Superboy on the way and try to help him."
After receiving affirmatives from the team, XLR8 ran off in the direction of Gotham along the relative path Superboy was taking.
Train
Superboy, now in his mission clothes after having ripped his civilian clothes off, had been following the robots and their cargo for almost an hour. Despite his rage, the part of his mind that was still rational knew that if he destroyed the monkeys, he might lose their creator.
As such, he tracked them to a moving train heading into Gotham. The clone jumped aboard before digging his hands into the roof and ripping a hole into it. He jumped inside only to be surrounded by a dozen monkeys and Ivo.
"Hello." The man said cheerfully.
"You? You're Ivo?" Superboy scoffed "I'm whelmed."
"You're one to talk." Ivo replied. "Since when does the big, blue boy scout have a brat?" Superboy merely snarled at the brat comment. "Suit yourself." Ivo shrugged. "Say, have you met my Mobile Optimal Neural Quotient Infiltrators?"
Most of the robot monkeys, MONQIs, flew forward to attack, but Superboy destroyed them in seconds.
The destroyed head of one robot bounced back to the feet of its creator. "I went through all the trouble of finding an acronym for 'monkey' to."
As Superboy finished destroying the last MONQIs, he heard a new voice from behind Ivo. "Access: Captain Atom."
Before Superboy could react, a beam of radioactive energy hit him in the chest, and he was sent hurtling through several crates.
Ivo took a step forward and smirked. "Since Professor Ivo's magnificent MONQIs don't float your boat, maybe my amazing Amazo will better suit you." He stepped back as the now assembled android stepped forward. "More accurately, slay you."
Superboy scowled and got back up. "Gimme your best shot."
The MONQIs behind Ivo laughed while he scoffed. "Please, my android has the strength of Superman. What chance do you have?"
Enraged by the jab, made worse by the fact that he knew he wasn't as strong as his father, Superboy charged forward delivering a flurry of super-fast punches. Amazo managed to block all save one which knocked the android's head completely around, but the damage reversed.
Superboy threw another punch, but that one was caught by Amazo while Ivo chuckled. "Sorry, did that strike a nerve?" He turned to his android. "Amazo, strike a few more."
The android punched Superboy knocking him back to the end of the train car. "Access: Black Canary." Its lower jaw split apart, and it unleashed a sonic scream that pummeled Superboy's extra-sensitive hearing. "Access: Flash."
Superboy looked up in time to see a metal blur heading right for him.
With XLR8
XLR8 was almost to Gotham, but he had seen no signs of Superboy. He was pulling up alongside a train when he faintly heard what sounded like fighting coming from a train car. He figured that was a sign. At this point, he'd need to time his transformations right.
"Hey Chimera, what's going on?" A familiar voice asked.
It was almost enough to make XLR8 trip until he caught himself and looked over in shock as Kid Flash was running alongside. "What are you doing here?"
"Since I've been back, I've been going on more fun runs than back in the Null Void and stopping a few crimes." Kid Flash replied. "Then, I saw you running along a train and thought I'd drop in. So, what are you doing?"
"Uh, maybe I can tell you one day." XLR8 alluded. "For now, mind doing me a favor?"
"Sure, I can do that." Kid Flash stated.
"Alright, I need you to catch and throw me on that train." XLR8 declared. "Then, I'd like you to leave the area."
Kid Flash shrugged going with the flow. "Okay."
He then sped ahead, jumped, and hit his watch to transform into his Galvan, Grey Matter. The form flew back before Kid Flash caught him. He sped up a bit throwing Grey Matter at the train. Now above it, he managed to touch the symbol and became his Necrofriggian, Big Chill. Even though he noticed a hole on the train, he still decided to phase through keeping himself invisible.
Train
Big Chill arrived just in time to see Amazo punch Superboy out the train car and into the bulldozer on the flat bed beyond. Chimera turned to Ivo and became visible.
The professor was shocked. "Ama…"
That was all he got out before Big Chill let loose with his ice breath freezing that part of the train. He then punched the center of his Omnitrix to become his Galvanic Mechamorph, Upgrade.
Amazo was still focused on Superboy. "Access: Superman."
He reached down and grabbed Superboy just as Upgrade began to merge and possess Amazo. The machine held Superboy out before the possession was complete. Now that it was, the robot was no longer under Ivo's control.
"Superboy, are you good?" Upgrade asked.
"Chimera?" Superboy asked. "What is this?"
"One of my aliens." Upgrade turned and plopped him down on the train car. "When it comes to something with the strength of Superman, I realized I needed to work with my mind rather than strength. Now, take a breather because Ivo won't be going anywhere."
Mount Justice: Later…
Upgrade had used his powers to completely disassemble the android before he and Superboy, who was strangely quiet, resealed the parts into their boxes. By the time they arrived in Gotham, to be greeted by the rest of their team, the situation was handled.
After delivering the disassembled android to the proper labs, the team made their way back to the Cave. They then changed into their civilian attires, properly, before heading out to meet with Batman, Superman, Martian Manhunter, and Black Canary.
J'onn crossed his arms. "Everything seems to have worked out; however, we understand that your mission had… complications."
Everyone's gaze fell on Superboy who looked away and huffed.
"Complications come with the job." Batman stepped forward. "Your ability to learn from said complications is what will matter moving forward." He was directing this more at Superboy. "There's no shame in asking for help."
"That's why the league exist." Superman stepped forward. "There are some problems even we can't solve individually."
Superboy looked away before sighing and approaching Black Canary with his head slightly bowed. "I'm ready to learn."
Black Canary smiled. "Good because I'm here to teach."
This mission had wrapped up quite nicely. While Ben knew he or Gwen could have wrapped it up sooner, he was glad to have had them go the route they did. They not only caught Ivo, but Superboy seemed to have learned a valuable lesson. In short, it was a win-win.
This chapter may seem fairly similar to canon, but there were details in here I wanted to hit as they would have changed due to prior changes. As you can probably tell, I am not going with Artemis joining the team. If you want to take another look, someone else did make a brief appearance, so you can probably connect some dots. That said, I will be looking for other places were more members can be added.
If you want to see a crossover where Artemis joins the team, or just a crossover where Ben is on the same team as canon Young Justice, I'd recommend Justice Era:Invasion. As for Artemis' possibly inclusion down the road, well I did find a way to bring in Kid Flash, so nothing is off the table. As for Gwen's shift from Sorceress Fate to Lucky Girl, I changed it, so no it's just always been Lucky Girl.
Ibrenneke: Ultimate Forms came from the Ultimatrix which Albedo created. It is a mode that puts the selected species through a worst case scenario that last a million years. The DNA is then simply modified to fit what might come out of that kind of even. So, at this point in time, in this version of earth, there are no Ultimate forms of any aliens. In Ben Prime's universe, after he gains this watch, he does spawn some sentient Ultimate Forms making them the only ones.
The One Beyond You: A lot is different in canon Earth-16 of Young Justice, and this is like an Earth-1016 with the inclusion of Ben. The Forever knights are pretty much known for yanking alien tech and using it for themselves. Additionally, a certain immortal of Young Justice, one who isn't old, is the Sir Geroge of this world. If anything, him becoming more involved with the Forever Knights, between Ben's summer adventures and now, does make a lot of sense in my mind with how capable they would be at this. The charms of Bezel will come.
Jay: I can understand where you're coming from, but my points above, in my mind, do lend credence to them being a tad more competant. Additionally, Ben 10 proper has confirmed they have ships, and the Forever King, now Cyrus, does wield the sword Ascalon. Given who his father is, someone who managed to fight of Starro in the past, will is certainly strong in that line.
Guest: La Luz sabe mucho sobre los héroes incluso antes de su topo, por lo que han estado observando a Ben durante su tiempo con Hal.
Maximum Rhapsody: I realized; this is theoretically an alternative universe to Ben Prime. Just as Ben 23 never faced certain threats Prime did, Justice Ben could arguably face threats Prime did a little later in life. Honestly, I think Young Justice kind of dropped the ball on Superman. I get that it's realistic someone would feel the way Superman did, but Superman isn't your average guy. He's the boy scout of the team.
Ultimately Conner is his son. He share's Superman's DNA even if he wasn't born conventionally. While Conner is an angry boy, he still is very much like Superman, and if anything, needed that guidance. As for that last line, I assume you are asking if plot lines, or characters will be used from Tean Titians 2003. They could be. Clearly, I have no qualms shaking up the story, so we'll see what happens there.
paiville: Bonding will come, but I wanted to wait until the next two members are brought in. No, he doesn't have Alien X yet.
Sakra95: I changed it all to Lucky Girl