Gotham City
Ryuko Orsono had faced criminals, assassins, and even a demon without flinching, but he dreaded what was to come now. The foreigner was currently staring up at Gotham Academy. Out of all his options for schooling, which he was told he had to attend, this seemed acceptable.
Given the fact that he had to wear a unform, he wasn't so certain of his choice. At least it wasn't all bad since he had been informed that two of his teammates also attended this academy. He just wished to know where they were.
"Hey Ryuko." Fortune seemed to smile upon him as Gwen walked on over wearing the female uniform. "Lucky for you, I was able to talk to school into making me your student liaison."
"That is quite lucky." Ryuko sighed relieved. "I'm not sure what I would have done had you nor Dick been able to get the role."
Speaking of Dick, the boy wonder squeezed in between the pair with a camera. "Smile you two as we welcome a friend to Gotham Academy."
He took a picture which Ryuko wasn't prepared for. When his vision cleared, the boy wonder was gone.
"Don't mind him." Gwen sighed. "He did the exact same thing to me when on his first day of middle school. Of course, I had no idea who he really was at the time." She started walking. "Anyways, follow me."
"Of course." Ryuko declared as he followed.
Mount Justice: Evening…
Most people within the cave were at least fine being in their civilian wear around Cameron. Sure, there were exceptions, like Wonder Girl, but things seemed to be mellowing out. That's not to say people trusted Cameron, but they seemed to at least be accepting that he was here to stay.
The collar around his neck did help. As a side effect of all this tension floating about, M'gann seemed to have really missed Ben. He did have to pull damage control. Anyways, he didn't know how else to explain his girlfriend suddenly appearing before and kissing him.
You know, the Omnitrix wielder was not about to complain. M'gann leaned in deeper and moaned softly into his mouth. Ben wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer still. Truth be told, he had missed M'gann over these past few days to.
"You were not kidding Conner." Cameron stated stunned as they entered the hanger causing the two to stop. "No doubt about it. The Martian is taken."
"I wouldn't lie to you." Conner commented.
"C-Conner!" M'gann stuttered as she blushed a deep scarlet. "How long have you two there?"
"Long enough." Conner smirked as he and Cameron walked up to his car. "Next time, you two should really get a room."
"Fair point." Ben wasn't about to rat on his girlfriend jumping him here. "We'll keep that in mind moving forward."
That wouldn't stop Ben from putting an arm around M'gann. After all, what would be the point in splitting up now when they finally had some time together.
"Heh, so this is your ride Conner." Cameron grinned with a nod. "Not bad. Not bad at all."
"Thanks." Conner popped the hood. "I do my best to keep her in working order."
Just then, Wally, munching on a sandwich, rushed into the room. Out of everyone, save Conner and Ben, he seemed like the only one to truly get back to things as normal.
"Hey guys." Wally greeted. "What's going on?"
"I'm just helping Conner with his car." Cameron replied as he passed a wrench to the clone.
"M'gann and I are spending some time together." Ben replied.
"Sounds neat." Wally finished off his sandwich. "Think I'll hang around for a bit to."
Wonder Girl, still in costume, was speaking to Red Tornado about a potential mole. After speaking with Ryuko, he let slip that he overheard Sportsmaster mention their missions to Ben. While the Japanese teammate wasn't certain Ben took note, it meant something to her.
Of course, she was logical in that Cameron couldn't have been this mole before, but she was suspicious of him being the new mole. Someone sent in to throw their scent off whoever the old mole could be. If Ben wouldn't bring up his worries, or didn't have them, she would.
"You believe there has been a mole on the team, Cameron is a new mole, and your leader may not have figured any of this out." Red Tornado summarized.
"I can't be certain of much, but I don't trust that criminal." Wonder Girl stated firmly.
"The Batman does expect the team to handle their own problems; however, keep in mind that Icicle Jr. does fall under the league's watchful eye." Red Tornado warned. "Without proof, you will not be able to do anything to him."
Wonder Girl nodded. "I'll keep that in mind."
"Now, I must go." Red Tornado walked towards the tube. "I agreed to cover for Green Arrow because, in his words, he has a hot date with Black Canary tonight."
Wonder Girl walked out into the hanger and saw everyone else hanging around Conner's car. Of course, Cameron just had to be there to. Even though she'd be looking for proof, she wasn't going to let him ruin this team for her.
"Hey guys." Wonder Girl joined them. "I have been meaning to ask; have there been any problems with you juggling school with your responsibilities here? I don't want any of you to be running yourselves ragged."
"Not really." Ben replied. "Schools been pretty easy to manage actually."
"Juggling's just one of my many talents." Wally bragged.
"Nope." Conner replied from underneath the hood of his car.
"Daily cheerleading practice has presented a challenge." M'gann replied. "Though, my first loyalty is always to this team over the Bumblebees."
Kyle approached the group with a towel over his shoulders indicating he'd just come from a workout. "Hearing you guys talk about school has me wondering. Ryuko started school with Dick and Gwen today. Do you think they will have troubles?"
"You kidding?" Ben grinned. "Gwen's never had any issue with school while Dick is the boy wonder. Something tells me they'll be fine."
"Ryuko didn't seem too fond of going to an actual school." Wally stated. "Though, he seems like the dedicated sort, so I think he'll…"
He was interrupted by a huge explosion that sent the entire team tumbling. An entire section of the cave wall had been blown open and a part of the natural cavern had collapsed. Conner recovered quickly and leapt forward to intercept a massive rock that looked to crush his car.
Water from the pond burst up and washed towards the team. Ben grabbed M'gann and pulled her out of the way. Wally ran past them, diving against the wall, as a flood of water washed beside them. He knew exactly what was going on and had to make it look good.
"What the heck is going on!?" Wally asked.
"We're under attack!" Ben shouted.
He was kind of wishing Cameron had his collar off because ice powers could come in handy with an opponent like this. Even if that were an option, the former criminal had been unable to defend himself and had been sent straight into the wall with enough for to knock him out.
What looked like an Orishan hybrid in familiar, black armor could be seen before more water rushed into the cave. Ben and M'gann dashed up the stairs to the launch pad, but a blast of fire made them skid to a halt as a young looking Pyronite hybrid flew up to them.
"I would have wagered this was an attack by aliens if they weren't wearing the same armor as Kevin." Ben jumped at Megan taking them both down as a fire ball flew over their heads. "Wonder Girl, group up with Superboy. Kid Flash, get Cameron.
Ion, take care of Ms. Martian because the Pyronite is aiming to kill." He quickly shuffled through his list of aliens before settling on his Crystalsapien and slamming the face plate down. "Chromastone!"
Chromastone got up and began tanking fire from the Pyronite hybrid while Ion flew on up to help the Martian. Wally ran in and managed to scoop up the unconscious ice user while Superboy and Wonder Girl managed to group together.
The Pyronite hybrid cloaked himself in fire, but it did little good against Chromastone who slammed the hybrid off the second floor. Something hit him from behind catching Chromastone off guard and sending him crashing to the ground below as well.
Chromastone landed back down and managed to catch sight of a Tetramand hybrid in the same black armor as the Orishan hybrid. If he had to hedge a guess, he'd say the Pyronite hybrid had a human form with the same armor. This wasn't even the worst of it.
Chromastone caught sight a Kineceleran hybrid which had just slammed into the back of Ion's head knocking the Green Lantern to the ground. The Pyronite hybrid surround him and Ms. Martian with fire forcing them to surrender.
Kid Flash had only just managed to scoop up Cameron before the Orishan nailed him with compressed water slamming the speedster into a wall. Worst of all, A Vaxasaurian, one without an Omnitrix symbol, meaning it had to be Kevin, had Wonder Girl and Superboy laid out cold.
"They've all been beaten." Chromastone got back to his feet and observed as his teammates were being collected. "I need to get to the Zeta Tubes."
Chromastone slammed his dial becoming XLR8 before taking note of the opposition and running. Besides Kevin, he counted 5 hybrids. Pyronite, Kineceleran, Tetramand, Orishan, and the last was a guy who looked like a cross between a human and porcupine.
Unfortunately, Kevin saw him and ended up transforming into his own Kineceleran form. "Stay here and contain them as discussed."
Gotham City
After school, Robin invited Lucky Girl and Bushido to patrol with him for a few hours before heading to the Cave. The pair had accepted. It was a relatively peaceful evening, which was rare for Gotham, but neither teen complained.
Aside from a few muggings they easily stopped, the trio ended up spending their time talking about school and the Team. Eventually, they ended up deciding to head on over to the Cave for a bit. Bushido did live there while the others just wanted to visit.
Mount Justice
XLR8 made it to the Zeta Tubes just as they activated, and Robin walked in. "XLR8? What the…"
XLR8's eyes opened wide before he grabbed Robin and pulled him to the ground as a stream of fire swept by overhead. Kevin, now as a Methanosian, stopped the fire before walking forward.
The Zeta Tubes activated again, and Lucky Girl stepped in. "Is that Kevin?"
Bushido came next before staring at the scene. "What's going on?"
XLR8 pushed Robin into Lucky Girl and Bushido.
He then shoved them towards the hallway. "Go! I'll join you in a second!"
Kevin threw his seeds causing plants to spring up and lash out at the gathered heroes. Robin, Bushido, and Lucky Girl moved down the hall while XLR8 sped the other way before stopping and slamming the Omnitrix to become Big Chill.
"You're better than when we last fought Tennyson, but you still can't beat me." Kevin declared.
"I beg to differ, but it's not about beating you right now." Big Chill declared.
He spewed his ice causing Kevin to open fire. The difference is that Agent 11 aimed for Big Chill while he aimed at the ground up erecting a barrier. Big Chill was slammed into the wall as his ice began to melt. The Necrofriggian was already phasing through the plants and out of there.
Kevin eventually got through only to see that his target was gone. "That's fine." He fired on the tubes causing an explosion. "After all, we got most of Tennyson's team. With me guarding them, I can send the others to draw Tennyson out."
Big Chill caught up with the others and changed back to normal before they heard the explosion.
This prompted Lucky Girl to speak up. "Ben, did Kevin take out the entire team?"
"It wasn't just Kevin." Ben replied. "He's got a team of five. Most of them were wearing matching uniforms and seem to be humans spliced with aliens. They took out the hangers on their way in, and I think that was the Tubes just now."
"We're going to take them on, right?" Bushido questioned. "We can't just let them keep our teammates hostage."
"I was originally going to get out and go for help." Ben replied. "Even with you guys here, I think we need to try getting a message out."
"No good from within here." Robin had his holo-computer up. "Looks like Kevin and his team jammed up communications. At this point, we'd need to get outside to get a message off."
"Then, that's what we got to try for." Ben stated. "We got to head for the back door."
The others could agree to that, but the moment they turned a corner, a wave of water was coming right at them. The water swept them away while tossing and turning their bodies in its currents. Lucy Girl conjured a bubble of air around them.
After a few seconds, they were slammed against the cave wall while the water continued leaving the four heroes to crash into the ground. A hail of fireballs rained down on them prompting the group to run since they couldn't locate the Pyronite.
They quickly ran into the gym with Lucky Girl and Robin slamming the doors shut. Ben and Bushido then moved a cabinet in place. Just as they got it in place, the door blew open as the Tetramand entered.
"Should have figured." Ben stated.
"I would say I take no pleasure in this, but that would be a lie." The hybrid cracked all his knuckles. "Come on Ben Tennyson. Show me a good fight before we got to put you down."
"Any chance you'd consider letting my team go for a fight with me?" Ben asked.
"Not happening." The hybrid replied.
"Worth a shot." Ben shrugged. "Robin and Lucky Girl, now!"
Robin threw some smoke bombs down in front of the Tetramand before Gwen encased him in a sphere to contain the gas. He was already starting to punch to sphere cracking it.
"Run!" Ben shouted as he darted by followed by Robin and Bushido. "Lucky Girl, teleport after us!"
The three guys were past him while Lucy Girl conjured a golden ankh behind herself. She released the sphere and jumped back as the Tetramand ran out of the smoke only to see the heroes were gone. The ankh appeared behind the guys with Lucky Girl jumping out to follow.
"Right now, we need to get lost!" Robin shouted as they entered the kitchen.
"The air vent!" Ben shouted, and Bushido ran over yanking the cover off. "Robin, download the cave blueprints! Let's move people!"
On command, Bushido jumped into the vent followed by Ben and Lucky Girl with Robin bringing up the rear.
Robin began giving direction. "First left!" Bushido followed them with the others behind him. "Now, a right!" Bushido managed to just stop them in time as pillar of fire blew up through the vent. "Okay, quick left and book it! I'll hack the motions sensors to throw them off."
The sensors seemed to be this group's main way of tracking them because the heroes suddenly got a lot of breathing room as they crawled well away from where the enemy should be.
Hanger
Cameron groaned as a deep, burning throb at the back of his skull roused him from his subconscious. He opened his eyes to see flames crackling above him. He blinked slowly as the fire was in the sadly familiar shape of prison bars.
That shape caused adrenaline to rush through his veins as he sat up finding himself trapped. Then, memories began to assault him rapidly all at once. The sudden attack followed by massive amounts of water and darkness.
"Good, you're awake." Kyle stated.
Cameron whipped around to see the Green Lantern was without his ring and holding M'gann in his lap.
"What happened to you?" Cameron asked. "Where's your ring?"
"They forced me to give it up and looked it away in that box over there. No matter what I try, I can't call it back to me." Kyle sighed. "If I didn't give up the ring, they'd have hurt Miss Martian more than this."
"Okay, where's Superboy, Kid Flash, and Wonder Girl?" Cameron asked. "What about Chimera?"
He tried looking for them while pointedly ignoring the sweat beginning to build around his neck and forehead.
"The first three are down below." Kyle replied. "Our intruders ended up welding some metal to hold them in place." He shook his head. "I don't know where Chimera is, but I can only assume he's met up with Lucky Girl, Robin, and Bushido by now."
Cameron stiffened. "Where are our intruders?"
He nervously touched his inhibitor collar wishing desperately he could take it off.
"They're likely out searching for Ben." Kyle shook his head. "These guys got some serious tech because this fire was started by the Pyronite, but a machine is keeping it up." He sighed. "Now, I am not sure how long M'gann can last. Martians are extremely susceptible to heat."
Cameron looked down at Chimera's girl. The Martian's green skin look like a pale lime.
Suddenly, Cameron got an idea and held out his hands. "Give her to me."
"What?" Kyle asked while subconsciously tightening his grip on M'gann.
"My skin." Cameron pressed his hands against the Green Lantern's. "Even with this collar on, my core body temperature is lower than yours. She'll have a better chance to keep cool with me than you."
"That could work…" Kyle looked at him. "What about you? I doubt this heat will be treating you much better for long."
"Maybe, but you were able to feel my skin." Cameron reasoned. "I can hold out better than the Martian and supply her with some cold to offset the heat."
"Alright." Kyle stated while carefully passing her over.
Cameron awkwardly tried to settle her across his lap and keep her cool without totally invading her space. As her hot skin met his naturally cool skin, she gave a quiet sigh of relief in her sleep. Cameron shared a look of relief with Kyle.
Suddenly, Kevin's voice came over the speakers. "Listen up Ben Tennyson, you and your comrades have exactly 10 minutes to surrender, or the lives of your teammates will be extinguished. Additionally, your base is sealed meaning you can't leave."
"They're going to kill us!?" Cameron yelped fearfully.
They could hear Kid Flash, Superboy, and Wonder Girl struggling nearby.
The Pyronite hybrid stepped out from behind his pillar. "Sorry you three, but we got to do this to stop the Coming Storm. Him and every other threat to Humanity's evolution."
The flame cage was stoked and raised to a harsher level. Kyle grimaced while Cameron ducked his head trying to shield M'gann from the now overwhelming heat. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the Orishan hybrid filling the pit nearby with water.
"Nine minutes and forty-five seconds."
With Ben's Group
The group had exited the vents and came out in the library nearest to the back entrance. For a few seconds, the four heroes sat in silence.
"I was banking on some back up, but it looks like we have no choice now." Ben stated. "I need you three to stay here. Gwen, prepare your spells to rescue our comrades while I buy a little time. Then, I'll Kevin while the rest of you take down his team."
"From the records I've seen, Kevin can transform into any of your aliens and quicker than you can." Bushido stated genuinely concerned. "Are you sure you can take him?"
"That won't matter." Ben replied firmly. "Superman's taken on people with his powers before and still come out on top. I'm confident I can do the same."
"Alright, leave his group to us." Robin stated.
"Remember, we'll have to keep them in our sights." Lucky Girl spoke up. "If a portal to the Null Void opens, pull them back quick."
Hanger
"8 Minutes." Kevin declared over the speakers.
"How're you holdin' up?" Cameron asked Kyle while wiping sweat from his forehead.
"Not very well." Kyle admitted as he was sweating bullets under the oppressive flames. "I don't know how much longer I can withstand this…"
Cameron frowned and looked down at M'gann who was now relaxed under his cold touch. He looked back at Kyle before reaching out a chilled hand and placing it on the guy's shoulder.
"Come on lantern boy, don't give up just yet." Cameron stated.
Kyle nodded listlessly as he leaned heavily into the cold hand.
Suddenly, he looked over at Cameron. "Perhaps we should try sitting back-to-back…"
Cameron frowned. He was already starting to feel hot and letting M'gann leech off his normally cold body temp didn't help much. His throat was parched and aching for water.
"A second leech isn't..." Cameron shook off the selfish thought. "No, they need it more than I do. I'll be fine."
The ice user nodded, and Kyle carefully shifted to be behind him. It wasn't easy in the small, confined cage, but he managed to carefully avoid the flames before leaning into the former criminal's back. The Green Lantern let out a deep sigh of relief.
"Alright, who else needs a human ice pack?" Cameron said humorlessly to the air.
Kyle chuckled. "Believe me, I really appreciate this."
As for the three heroes trapped below, they continued trying to struggle against the metal, but not even Superboy could break free. As for Kid Flash, this was the first time he was doubtful in the Rooter's plans. He knew Kevin, and the guy sounded rather serious.
"None of these guys are on the list." Kid Flash thought. "Then, why can I tell Kevin's serious. Is this just a ploy to get Ben out? This seems a little too far considering Sevantis assured me this wouldn't be the Coming Storm's death. All they wanted was information."
"So, I hear from Kevin you are all rather interested in ending me!" Ben's voice called out.
The Rooters all looked around expecting to see the source.
Kevin even revealed himself, back in normal form, looking around for him. "Tennyson, you and your remaining friends need to come out now. If you don't, I'm nixing the countdown."
"Don't worry Kevin. I'm coming out; however, you and your men should have kept a better eye on your captives." Ben replied contently.
The Rooters looked to their captives only to see golden ankh's passing over them as well as the case they were keeping the green ring in.
"There goes your leverage." Ben called out.
"You still can't get out without going through us." Kevin declared. "Our jammer is more sophisticated than anything your boy wonder can handle."
"You're right Kevin." XLR8's voice called out. "Whether we want to use the hole your group made, or get access back in our hands, we got to fight you. This time, you've lost the element of surprise."
A blue blur rushed into the room with only the Kineceleran hybrid and Kevin being able to see that it was XLR8. By the time they realized it, he had already slammed into Kevin taking him out of the hole their group made and moving their fight outside.
The Kineceleran moved to chase after them first, but Kid Flash ran in with an armbar knocking the alien hybrid back. "Sorry, but that's not happening."
Robin, Bushido, and Superboy dropped into the room from an ankh above the remaining Rooters drawing their attention to them. The clone lunged at the Tetramand smashing him away before jumping after him.
"Manny!" The porcupine hybrid shouted.
He tried to give chase to add the guy, but Bushido stood in his way while drawing his blade. "You know, I didn't think I'd become so attached to this team, but what you've done to them cinched it. You were prepared to end my team, and that's made me rather angry.
"I don't have time to deal with you." The human grew one of his spikes and drew it. "Get out of my way."
"There's only a handful of people I take orders from, and you aren't any of them." Bushido retorted.
The Orishan was about to aid Manny when an ankh opened before him letting Ion out. He now had his ring back which meant he was at full power.
"You should have stayed where you were Green Lantern." The Orishan declared. "Your ring can easily be removed."
"You seem to forget that a Green Lantern only loses their ring when their concentration wans from it." Ion declared. "Right now, I'm focused on getting a little payback for what you put my teammates through. Just try it while I introduce you to a Green Lantern's might!"
He created a boot behind the Orishan just as he took aim. The constructed boot then slammed into the Orishan's butt sending him towards Ion who created a robot arm and used it to punch him back. Ion then flew after him slamming a punch into his opponent knocking him out.
The Pyronite didn't know what to do. He contemplated who needed him which bought plenty of time for Robin to nail him with a couple of foam baterangs, modeled after the Arrows' arrows, snuffing out his fire. He was defeated before ever really getting a chance.
Superboy smashed his fist into the Tetramand enough times to knock him out as he capitalized on their surprise attack to take him out. Kid Flash was far more experienced than the Kineceleran in combat, and with an even speed, it didn't take long to knock her out.
Bushido was clashing with his opponent, and while he was good, the swordsman simply outmatched him in armed combat. Eventually, he got a solid strike with his sword slamming his opponent into the wall hard enough to knock him out.
Outside
Kevin shifted into his Ectonurite form before phasing out of XLR8's grasp. The Kineceleran stooped in his tracks and turned to see Kevin change into his Tetramand form. Frankenstrike might have been his go to here, but he had picked up a new alien.
XLR8 slapped his symbol to become Rath who roared. "Let me tell you something Kevin Levin, Rath is angry because you attacked Rath's team. Now, I'm going to kick your butt!"
"Bring it on Tennyson." Kevin challenged. "I was hoping to get a one on one with you anyways."
The two of them charged at one another with Rath sliding under the Tetramand's legs shocking him. The Appoplexian then stopped on a dime and lept onto the Tetramand's back before wrapping his legs around him.
"Rath is smarter than to clash head long into you on the first attempt." He began pummeling his fist into Kevin's head. "Rath wants to beat his stupid rival into the ground!"
Kevin shifted into an Ectonurite and phase through the Appoplexian confusing him. "Hey, Rath was not done fighting you, stupid Kevin Levin. Get back out here and fight Rath!"
Kevin became visible and shifted into a Vaxasaurian behind him. Rath noticed the growing shadow under the moonlight and turned to face the villain. He was almost immediately back handed into the side of the mountain near the hole.
"Let me tell you something Kevin Levin, Rath is sick and tired with how fast you can change forms compared to Rath." Rath declared as he pried himself from the wall.
"What are you going to do kitty cat?" Kevin mocked as he approached. "You don't have an alien I can't become, and you just said that I can change quicker than you. Couple that with the fact that you're some dumb kid, and I really am better than you."
Rath smashed the Omnitrix symbol and transformed back into Ben. "I'd say that's debatable since I think there's an alien that can beat you where it wouldn't beat me. The best part is that Azmuth unlocked him for me years ago."
"Really? You figured out my big weakness?" Kevin shifted back feeling rather confident. "Alright, I'll take your bait." He crossed his arms. "What's my weakness?"
Ben was banking on Kevin feeling overconfident, so he walked on up while dialing in an alien. "All it took was remembering our first, second, and the power plant meeting. Then, it all became clear." He slammed the faceplate down on his Conductoid. "Feedback!"
Before Kevin could react, Feedback attached to him and absorbed what energy he had left in him to power the transformations. If Kevin hadn't already used a fair share during the attack, this might have taken longer. As it stands, he didn't have enough, and Agent 11 collapsed.
"That's your weakness." Feedback declared. "My Omnitrix is the conduit for transformation, but you are the Omnitrix. If there's one thing I know, it's that the Omnitrix can lose energy and require a recharge."
"Damn you, Tennyson." Kevin stated as the Null Void started to open beneath him. "I'll crush you one day."
"You can tell it to Belle Reve." Feedback snatched Kevin back with his plugs and lept back. "This time, you're going away. You escape back to the Null Void this time, and I can guarantee you'll have the Justice League on top of you. They can handle coming after you in there."
He then continued to hold Kevin as he walked back into the mountains; however, The Rooters weren't alone this night. A certain Galvan genius, trapped in a genetically damaged body, tailed Feedback inside as Negative Ghostfreak
Later…
Kevin and his group had been rounded up, the mountain was opened, and calls were made to the Justice League that they had a group ready for transport to Belle Reve. Now, the team milled about the hanger keeping an eye on the captured Rooters.
Chimera, after talking to everyone about what they experienced, decided to approach Cameron. "I'm glad you're alright."
Cameron did have to admit that his body was starting to feel cold once again. "Yeah, I'm fine." He chuckled and spoke jokingly. "No thanks to the leeches though."
Ion and Ms. Martian joined them.
The Green Lantern let out a soft chuckle. "Believe me, I don't think M'gann would have survived if it weren't for your idea."
Cameron turned to look at him in surprise. No one had ever credited him for his ideas before. Lord knew how many of his ideas his father had taken for his own or disregarded altogether. Cameron nodded numbly.
"Honestly, I got to thank you for that." Ben smiled. "Without you, I'm not sure M'gann would still be here. What you did for her, and Kyle goes a long way in letting me know my trust isn't misplaced."
"Yeah, thanks for helping me, Cameron." Ms. Martian nodded. "I think all of us were too quick to judge you. If you continue to be the person we've seen, then I think you'd make an excellent teammate."
This really was a shocking day. People were crediting his ideas and showing genuine gratitude. Then, he suddenly began swaying on his feet.
"Hey man, are you okay?" Kyle asked.
"I think letting you two leech off me might've done something." Cameron stated.
He didn't quite get it though. His normally chilly temperature was returning; however, things were getting too blurry and dizzy for his comfort.
"The Justice League received your call." Red Tornado declared as he flew into the room. "They sent me ahead while Batman and Superman prepared a group for the captured villains."
"Where have you been?" Superboy asked while watching him walk past.
"Monitor duty at the Watch Tower." The android responded easily. "Before receiving your call, I attempted to investigate the moment it became clear Cave communications were down." He approached intruders." Unfortunately, your Zeta Tubes were also non-functional."
Negative Ghostfreak became tangible behind Red Tornado and immediately reverted to Albedo for all to see before managing to slap his hand under Red Tornado's cape hitting his body.
"Albedo, what are you doing?" Ben asked as the rest of the team got ready to fight. "Why are you here?"
"Oh, I just came around." Albedo smirked. "Then, all of this kicked off, so I thought I'd keep tabs, enjoy a show, and see about claiming your Omnitrix." Red Tornado whipped around. "I think the golden opportunity just presented itself."
Suddenly, Red Tornado lifted into the air, and rapidly began to spin his arms around in a rapid tornado. Everyone could feel the air suddenly being ripped from their lungs. Ben, being the closest, was the first to collapse followed by many others.
Gwen knew Albedo would take her cousin to remove the Omnitrix, so she used her last minutes of consciousness to wipe an ankh over Ben transporting him somewhere safe. She got the satisfaction of seeing Albedo growl angrily before collapsing with the team.
In canon, the team were surprised attacked leading to their capture, and the same could be said here especially with a larger team. While not robots, I think the years they've spent training under Savantis, especially with someone like this Kevin, roughly equals out into a similar result here with the exception of Ben being a stronger character. At the same time, fighting six people, one of which with powers comparable to you, is too tall an order to ask of Ben.
As for my explanation in story, it made sense to me. For Ben, his Omnitrix is the medium that allows his transformation while Kevin would have to be his own medium. Essentially, he acts as a living Omnitrix, and if there's one thing any Ben Ten fan knows, the Omnitrix has to recharge. Especially if too much power is drained. Feedback excels at this. I don't think this would be a similar weakness for Ben as he does have the medium of the Omnitrix.
As for the Orishan(Water Hazard alien), this was not an OC. If you'll remember Phil Billings, he got turned into the alien he did through interaction with the Nemitrix. In this universe, he hasn't had that experience freeing him up to be merged with a different set of DNA. Since they had Alan as the fire guy, a water guy made some modicum of sense here. As for Ben recognizing them as hybrids, he did have Hal Jordan as a mentor and five extra years with his Omnitrix. It made sense to me.
Ibrenneke: Eh, close enough
Guest: This chapter probably doesn't count, but they will come.
TFG: According to my research, Catlin Snow is Killer Frost who later becomes just Frost. Unless you were suggesting to this arc with her, but I don't think it fits this version of Killer Frost that we see.
Aztec 13: Icicle Jr. isn't part of the team just yet. He's a potential recruit at the moment.
Guest: I'll keep that in mind.
Guest: Trust me, I'm planning on shaking up the Injustice League of this universe a bit, and a Ben Ten Vilain or two are in mind
Guest: I'll keep it in mind.
Guest: I'll keep them in mind.
Afan: You do bring up a really good point. Maybe I should just do what they've done with Killer Frost in the comics. She changed her name to just Frost upon reforming and becoming a hero. Perhaps Icicle Jr. could just become Ice or something similar sounding as not to deviate to far from his name.
Guest: Kevin's absorption powers work on matter, energy, and so on. Kevin only gained Ben's aliens by way of interacting with the Omnitrix. So, while it is limited, it's not out of the question he could obtain more powers through that way.
Guest: Kevin will have his arc
Guest: I don't want to overinflate the team to much. I'm think there's only really two more spots for Season One, but I'll keep your suggestions in mind.