CHAPTER 9: A SHADOW FROM THE PAST
PLANETARY HEADQUARTERS, GALVAN PRIME, TWO MONTHS LATER.
The security system alerted Azmuth to an intruder. He pulled up a holographic feed and quickly identified the intruder. He was a Zaroffian, wearing a distinctive black and red top, and grey pants, gloves and belt and black boots. Various bones adorned the outfit.
"No, not him..." muttered Azmuth. "Not Khyber… even Lobo would be an improvement…"
He moved to the main communications system and hurriedly sent a distress call to the Justice League.
THREE HOURS LATER.
A Galvan guard approached Azmuth. "First Thinker, your guests have arrived." The guests had followed the guard. Azmuth had been expecting Omni Knight, and the two Green Lanterns weren't much more of a surprise.
"So what's this all about?" demanded Omni Knight.
"It appears that Khyber has returned."
Omni Knight said nothing, but his mind immediately drifted to a previous encounter with the infamous mercenary and bounty hunter.
TWO YEARS AGO, ROCKY PLANET
Eighteen year old Kevin and Argit were selling some strange looking alien tech, most likely illegal, and were doing their best to try and attract customers.
"Come on over for some of the best top quality products on the market today!" Argit called. Kevin sighed and shook his head. "Argit, that is the oldest and shittiest advertising pitch ever." he told the oversized quill-haired opossum-like alien.
Suddenly, a tall figure in a cloak appeared in front of them. "Are you interested in selling your pet?"
"Hey, I ain't nobody's pet, asshole!" shouted Argit, his yellow eyes bulging in anger.
"I was asking if you wouldn't mind selling your human... or should I say Osmosian... pet."
"You should be more careful about what you say, dipshit!" Kevin bellowed, grabbing the cloaked figure by the collar. "We're selling ya something else!"
"Indeed you are." The cloaked figure replied as he stuck a weird energy band on Kevin's wrist. "You're selling me one of the greatest hunts in my life."
"What the hell?!" Kevin shouted, then threw the cloaked figure to the ground and tried to get the energy band off.
"I think it's some sort of device designed to restrain you and prevent you from absorbing anything." Argit suggested. "Or it could be a collar that doesn't go around your neck."
"This isn't time for guesses!" snapped Kevin, then spotted the cloaking figure rising to his feet. "Let's get out of here!"
The pair ran, but they didn't get far before they bumped into someone.
"Ow, what the hell?" Ben exclaimed as he saw the culprits. "Oh Kevin and Argit, running from the law again?"
"Not the time, man." Kevin assured him. "There's some douchebag in a cloak trying to get me for 'the greatest hunt of his life…!"
Kevin explained, then showed Ben the energy band. "He put this on me!"
Ben examined it for a moment, "Hm, I think that's a special ability restraining band designed to temporarily shut down a being's special abilities like flamethrowing, energy blasting…"
"And my absorbing capabilities?" Kevin questioned. Ben nodded in response and then gave a questioning noise when Kevin grumbled and gave Argit some money.
"Side bet that says whoever ends up right guessing what a piece of tech does owes the other a bit of local currency." Argit explained as he pocketed his money.
"Uh-huh?" Ben said out of slight disbelief and decided to leave it alone. "So you said a guy in a cloak was after you?"
"Yes, but we might have lost him by now." Kevin replied before Argit pointed out. "Or he's just hiding and waiting."
They scanned the street and spotted the cloaked figure just before he shot at them.
"Whoever this guy is, he definitely wants you Kevin!" Ben said as the trio took off in the opposite direction.
"Yeah? Well I don't want to go with him." Kevin replied. "So could you please transform and kick some ass already?!"
"Hey! What about me?" Argit asked while ducking under a blast.
"Shut up and let me transform!" Ben yelled, then activated the Ultimatrix. "XLR8!" Then he grabbed his two temporary allies and zoomed away, heading for the spaceport.
SPACEPORT.
"Hey Ben." said Ester from her spot at the fuel pumps, when he appeared next to their ship. "What's with the extra baggage?"
"Hilarious." Argit retorted.
"Somebody's after Kevin," replied Ben after he'd returned to human form. "Something to do with a 'hunt of a lifetime'. He put a suppressor band on Kevin, so he couldn't use his powers and he needs our help to get it off so he'll have a fighting chance."
"Shit." exclaimed Ester. "I'll keep watch while you take him to Titano."
"Sounds good," agreed Ben as he took Kevin onboard. "Watch out for an asshole in a cloak."
It didn't take long to find the space chimp. He frowned at Ben's companions, "If I find anything tampered with or missing then I'll remove your sticky fingers."
Kevin just raised his eyebrows while Argit quickly put his hands in his pockets as Titano turned towards them.
He turned back to Ben. "Why the hell did you bring them here?" Ben quickly repeated the report he'd given Ester.
The space chimp nodded, then turned back to Kevin. "Show me the band."
Kevin, reluctantly, pulled out his arm with the band on it and Titano peered at it for a moment, then gave a satisfied grunt. "Hm, Galvan tech, supremely high on sophistication, and very well made."
"Then you can't get it off?!" exclaimed Kevin, panicking a little now. Titano snorted. "Give me about 4 minutes and it'll be off."
Kevin sighed in relief, then sank into a chair so that Titano could work on the bracelet more easily.
The fuel pumps shut-off and Ester was briefly distracted from her watch, this was enough to allow something - or someone - to grab her and stuck her with a Kraaho tranquilizer and knock her out.
A few minutes later, Rook came out to check on Ester and the refueling. "Ester, how are things preceding out here?" Rook asked before noticing that Ester wasn't there. "Ester?"
Sensing something was wrong, the Revonnahgander drew his weapon and began looking around for any trace of his shipmate but partway through his search, he accidentally triggered a net trap that lifted him off the ground and made him drop his weapon. Before he could try and escape, a dart hit his leg and he passed out.
Seconds later, Zeno - who had heard Rook calling for Ester - came out to investigate.
"Rook!?" Zeno called as he looked around. When he didn't get any response from either of them, he activated his comms. "Guys, we might have a problem."
ENGINEERING.
"What's going on?" asked Ben.
"I heard Rook calling for Ester, then he cried out like he was being captured, and now I can't find either of them."
Ben, Kevin and Argit exchanged worried glances.
"Keep looking," said Ben. "But watch out for traps and we'll be there as soon as we can." Ben suggested. "There was some douchebag that wanted to apparently "hunt" Kevin, and he must've found us even though I used XLR8 to get away."
"This guy must definitely be some kind of hunter if he could follow XLR8's trail," Zeno commented. "I'll look around some more and try to... ah!"
"Zeno?" Ben tried. "Zeno?!"
There was no answer. Titano looked up from his work and glanced at Ben. "I need another minute or two to finish this, you need to activate the security protocols and try and hold him off."
Ben nodded and went to work.
"Oh man, that crazy hunter is going to get us." Argit whined as Kevin rolled his eyes, as Ben transformed into Big Chill and left the bay by phasing through the walls.
"You're waiting for an invitation?" Titano asked Argit.
"Maybe I am!"
"Then I officially invite you to help protect this ship against the threat that is here!"
"Pass..."
Titano and Kevin shared a glance and shook their heads.
Meanwhile, Big Chill's patrol was interrupted when he heard something run across a nearby corridor. "If this is an ambush, you're screwing with the wrong guy!"
For a moment, there was silence, and then someone spoke from behind Big Chill.
"Give me my prey!" The cloaked figure demanded, and then ducked before Big Chill could freeze him in place with his ice breath. "Give me my prey and I'll let them live." The figure said again, but this time he dropped his cloak and revealed armor made of bones.
"Who the hell are you supposed to be?" Big Chill asked as he readied himself for a fight.
"I am Khyber, the greatest hunter in the galaxy, and you will give me my prey, the Osmosian, or your friends will die."
"Not going to happen on both accounts." Big Chill declared, powering up to his Ultimate form and blowing his cold fire towards Khyber.
The bounty hunter dodged that attack too. "Your choice." Khyber declared before disappearing again.
ENGINEERING.
The energy band popped from Kevin's wrist.
"Ah, much better." Kevin declared as he used a proffered sample to turn into gold. "Thanks."
"Don't mention it." Titano replied, while grabbing a blaster. "Now let's take out the trash."
"All right," Kevin agreed. "I guess it's the least I can do."
"Indeed it is." Titano declared, as he and Kevin headed out the lab.
"You're not getting me out there," Argit declared, but changed his mind after Titano reminded him of his warning.
The remaining few regrouped with no luck. Ben was back in his human form.
"We're fragged," Titano declared. "I tried to scan for Ester and Rook, but he must have taken their tracking devices."
"Damn!" Ben exclaimed.
"Just surrender the Osmosian and you can have them back," declared Khyber from his hiding place.
Titano and Ben looked at Kevin and then at each other before shrugging and said. "Pass."
"You will not stop me from my greatest hunt!" he declared, then left his perch and charged down towards them.
Ben activated the Ultimatrix and transformed. "LET ME TELL YA SOMETHIN' YOU SO CALLED GREATEST HUNTER, YOU AIN'T NEVER HUNTED RATH BEFORE!" The Appoplexian declared as he charged, only to be thrown back by a snickering Khyber.
"Actually, I have hunted your species before," he declared smugly, then ducked behind a panel as Kevin and Titano began firing at him.
Kevin's blaster ran dry, he discarded it, then he glanced at Ben.
"Kevin, what are you thinking?" Argit asked with concern as Kevin crept back towards Ben.
"Doing what I need to do." Kevin declared as he touched the Ultimatrix, using his powers to absorb it. A very bright light filled the corridor for a moment, and then a roar was heard.
Titano stopped firing as he looked behind him. "Finally!" declared Khyber as he took in the result of Kevin's latest transformation.
He was a mish-mash of parts from nearly a dozen different aliens: His size and build resembled a four-armed Evolved Vaxasaurian with the chest armor of a o and the shoulderpads of a Petrosapien; on his right, his upper arm was Segmentasapien with a Petrosapian below it that contrasted with the left, which had Galilean arm above with an Evolved Methanosian one below, and his legs were that of an Evolved Kineceran; His face was mostly Aerophibian but with the lower jaw and teeth of a Piscciss Volann.
Kevin looked towards Khyber in anger.
The two aliens charged at each other. Titano stepped out of Kevin's way as Zeno came out of an air vent. The space chimp glanced at his ship-mate.
"He hid you in the vents? All of you?" Titano asked as Zeno nodded before getting out along with Rook and Ester.
"Yep," confirmed Ester as Zeno and Rook joined them.
"And he's going to pay for that!" Before Titano could comment, Ester noticed Kevin. "What the hell is that!?"
"That would be the Osmosian," Titano explained. "He used his powers to absorb the Ultimatrix itself, so now he's a mentally unstable monstrosity that is a hybrid of a bunch of notable species."
"This definitely isn't good," Rook declared. "We need to stop them before they destroy the ship."
"I've already had a few ideas," admitted Titano. "But the most promising is the Null Void Projector."
Zeno frowned, "I'd rather not do that either, but we might have to." At that moment, Ben woke. It didn't take him long to spot the fight and figure out what he was looking at. "Ah shit, Kevin."
Khyber was doing everything he could to take down Kevin, but some of the ultimate alien powers were getting to him. "This is definitely my greatest hunt ever!"
"Has anyone got a plan?" asked Ben, then paused as the others dragged out a familiar device and began setting it up.
"Is that the Null Void Projector?"
"I'm afraid it is," Zeno replied. "If we don't use it then Kevin will destroy the ship."
Ben looked towards the fight and then back at his friends and nodded agreement.
Argit just scurried around as he tried not to get caught in the action.
Soon, the Null Void Projector was activated.
"Hold on!" Titano warned as the portal started sucking and almost everyone grabbed onto something.
Kevin and Khyber were trying to grab something, but they couldn't. Khyber was sucked in first, but Kevin was able to grab the sides of the portal for a moment, and look towards Ben. "Why?"
Ben didn't say anything, and seconds later Kevin was pulled into the Null Void. Once they were gone, Titano shut down the projector and the portal closed.
"Do you think he'll be alright?" Ben asked, concerned for his sometime enemy.
"The Null Void does have some resources that they can survive on and they'll be of less danger to anyone, but it's truly hard to tell." Rook admitted, clearly unhappy himself.
"I guess we'll find out one day." Zeno suggested as the group split up to begin repairs.
"Well, the threats have been neutralized, looks like I'm outta here." announced Argit to no-one in particular, then he walked away.
THE NULL VOID.
Kevin looked up and shouted. "I'LL GET YOU FOR THIS, BEN TENNYSON!"
PLANET GALVAN PRIME, THE PRESENT.
"What did he steal?" asked John Stewart.
"The only thing he stole was the Null Void Projector."
Meanwhile, Hal Jordan was using his power ring to scan the area. "He may be one of the smartass bounty hunters in the galaxy, but he sure could leave a print."
"Khyber's very good at covering his tracks," said Omni Knight, with authority. "There's a reason why he's known as the 'smartest bounty hunter in the galaxy'."
"Kiss ass."
"Knock it off!" order John. "Why don't you act like your own age?"
"Whatever you say, Dad," replied Hal sarcastically.
John's eyes narrowed.
KHYBER'S SHIP, HYPER SPACE.
Khyber received an incoming call on his console, he activated it, and the face of Vandal Savage instantly filled the screen.
"I assume you've completed the mission?" said the immortal without preamble.
"I have located the projector and will release the target soon," replied Khyber. "I trust my payments are arranged?" Vandal Savage cut the link without replying.
EARTH ORBIT.
Once he was sure that he was in orbit, heading towards the Watchtower, Khyber turned away from his controls and activated the Null Void Projector and unleashed Monster Kevin.
Instead of thanking Khyber, Monster Kevin dashed forward and started to choke Khyber. "Who the hell are you, and why should I let you live?!"
"Because… I can… offer you… something…"
"What's that?"
"Revenge."
Then Monster Kevin releases Khyber. Khyber was touching his neck while taking a breath for a while.
"I can offer you the chance to destroy Ben Tennyson... the one who sent you back to the Null Void."
"And where can I find Tennyson?"
Khyber replied by bringing up a holographic projection.
"Tennyson is back on Earth?"
"Indeed," confirmed Khyber. "Why bother looking for him, if you can make him come to you? And as you can see, Earth has tons of superheroes that protect the Earth. If you can absorb their powers, nothing will be able to stop you, not even Tennyson."
Monster Kevin only replies with a grin on his face. Moments later, Monster Kevin turned intangible and flew out into space.
Khyber shrugged at how Kevin simply left, but kept his mind set on his mission.
"After Kevin gets their attention away, I will do my part in this plan." Khyber stated as he watched and waited from afar.
WATCHTOWER MONITOR DECK.
Titano was working on the computers with several other members - including Mr. Terrific and Batman - 'supervising'.
"Are you done yet?" asked Mr. Terrific, impatiently.
"Don't rush me, you're only a genius on Earth, humie."
"Technically you're from Earth too."
"Both of you need to grow up." growled Batman. "We're here to-"
*TICK-TICK-TICK-TICK*
"That's the long-range sensor!" exclaimed Batman, and moved towards them. "We've got something coming in fast!"
Mr. Terrific moves to the communications panel and activates the long-range channel. "Unknown spacecraft, identify yourself."
But the unidentified object didn't reply.
"Unknown spacecraft, identify yourself."
By this time, Titano had abandoned his upgrades and joined them, he frowned and moved a hand to the camera controls. "Hold up, that's not a spacecraft."
He manipulated the controls and zoomed in on the unknown contact, revealing it as Monster Kevin. Who was flying directly towards the Watchtower.
Seeing the danger, Batman quickly pressed the emergency alarm.
*BEEP-BEEP-BEEP*
"Battlestations, prepare for impact!" yelled Batman.
The alarms activated, and the other heroes on the main deck readied themselves for a fight.
Outside the Watchtower, Monster Kevin suddenly turned invisible.
Titano and Mr. Terrific hurried to access the sensors.
"Where the hell is he?" asked Mr. Terrific after a moment's search.
"Dunno," replied Titano. "Son of a bitch, is much more slippery than you think."
Seconds later, Kevin phased the floor and revealed himself. "Knock knock… Guess who's here?" he said, then attacked, sending blue flames towards the heroes.
While the others counterattacked, Titano remained on the monitor deck and activated the long-range comm system.
THE JAVELIN, HYPERSPACE, DEEP SPACE, ON A JAVELIN.
"This is Omni Knight, go ahead."
"Listen up, Tennyson. You better get your ass back to the Watchtower. Your 'psycho friend' is back!"
"What psycho friend?"
"Remember Kevin Levin? The humie that we've sent to the Null Void?"
Omni Knight wasn't sure what was more surprising... that one of his toughest rivals is back, or that he was currently attacking the Watchtower. "I thought he was supposed to stay in the Null Void?"
"Not anymore, he's-"
*BZZZZZZ*
"That's not good," commented Hal. Omni Knight agreed.
WATCHTOWER, EARTH'S ORBIT, OUTER SPACE.
Monster Kevin had already absorbed Fire, Ice, and Flash's powers, and so easily shrugged off Green Arrow's explosive arrows. He launched pressurized blasts of water through his hands and blasted most of the heroes off their feet. Before they could respond, he quickly grabbed Black Canary and Black Lightning and absorbed their powers too. A split second later an arrow struck him from behind.
*BZZZT*
Protected by Black Lightning's power, Kevin only grunted and turned around. Arrayed against him were Green Arrow, Batman, Titano, Zeno, and Mr. Terrific floated above them on his T-Spheres.
"Okay, that sucks," commented the archer, and then drew another arrow and prepared to fire.
"We need to get everyone out of here now!" declared Batman, and quickly drew a flashbang and threw it at Monster Kevin's face, briefly blinding and deafening him.
Batman ran to the still unconscious Fire and picked her up, then led the way out, followed by Green Arrow, who was carrying Black Canary, Zeno - who was carrying Black Lightning, Flash, and Ice - and Mr. Terrific and Titano supported by the T-Sphere's.
"Giddy up, horsie," Titano teased from his place on Mr. Terrific's back.
"You call me horsie again, I'm gonna kick your ass."
"That's enough, both of you!" snapped Batman. "We have to-"
"What's the hurry?" mocked Monster Kevin as his stolen super-speed allowed him to catch up.
Just as he was about to attack, the two Green Lanterns appeared and blasted him from behind, then Omni Knight in NRG form joined them. "Enough, Kevin."
"Been a while, Tennyson," Monster Kevin grinned. "Now for my payback." He flew towards NRG, but got smashed towards the wall.
*CRASH*
"Get outta here!" yelled John Stewart. The rest of the heroes hurried to board the Javelin. Before Batman joined them, he turned to warn the two Lanterns. "Keep your distance, he can..."
"Like hell, this is no time for a 'rope-a-dope'!" said Hal, charging his ring to full power. "I'm a member of the Green Lantern Corps, we eat monsters like this for breakfast!" So Hal quickly flew towards the fighting direction.
"Idiot," muttered Batman, as Hal flew off in the direction of the flight.
"What were you going to tell him?" asked John.
"The creature seems to have the ability to absorb powers just by touch."
"I better get that idiot before he does something even more stupid then," said John, and flew off after Hal.
As the fight continues, NRG fires his energy heat beams through his vent on his head.
*ZCHOOM*
Monster Kevin grunted as an energy blast from NRG's head vent hit him square in the chest, when the two Green Lanterns caught up with them. Thinking that he was distracted, they immediately blasted him, but to their surprise he spotted their attack and used his Crystalsapien powers to absorb their blasts, then gravikinetically grabbed NRG as he was about to attack again and hurled him away until he slammed into a wall.
With Omni Knight out of play for a moment, Monster Kevin turned his attention back to the two Lanterns. Calling on his Polymorph abilities, he liquified both arms and stretched them to grab both Lanterns. Before they could react, he absorbed their powers and began to glow green.
Seconds later, NRG - now free of his containment suit - attacked Monster Kevin with searing heat beams.
"I didn't realize that you're better off naked," noted Monster Kevin, a little impressed this time.
"Hilarious," groaned NRG. "You really want to finish this, you son of a bitch? Let's do this!"
"Not yet," Monster Kevin replied with a wicked smile. "Not until I feed more."
Monster Kevin calls lightning into his hand, but instead of aiming at NRG, he threw it at the now powerless Hal. As the lightning flew towards the Green Lantern, NRG rushed to intercept, blocked the blast and got knocked down.
"Your time will come, Tennyson." warned Monster Kevin, then he activated his Necrofriggian intangibility and flew out of the Watchtower.
The two Lanterns joined Ben as he returned to his Omni Knight form. "So how do you know about this monster?" John demanded. Hall nodded.
"I'll tell you later," said Omni Knight. "I've gotta go." He activated the Omnitrix again, and transformed into Big Chill and followed Monster Kevin out of the station.
HALL OF JUSTICE, WASHINGTON D.C.
1 HOUR LATER.
Ester and Plastic Man were lying on the ground unconscious. Monster Kevin and Cyborg were fighting. Monster Kevin ripped apart Cyborg's mechanical arm, then tossed him away. Seconds later, Aquaman jumps on his back and stabs the monster in the chest with his trident.
*ROAR*
Monster Kevin grabbed the Atlantean king and threw him through the nearest wall, then pulled the trident out of his threw it away. "You think you can kill me with a fork? I must say I'm not impressed."
Martian Manhunter flies towards the monster, then uses his combo punch against Kevin. But Monster Kevin knocks the Martian with a single punch and knocks him through the walls. Monster Kevin continues his rampage until Superman, and Wonder Woman arrive.
Wonder Woman pulls out her sword and shield. As Monster Kevin attacks the Amazon with his blue fire, from Ultimate Heatblast's power, Wonder Woman blocks the blue fire blasts with her shield. Then it's Superman's turn to attack, as he punches Monster Kevin away. But Monster Kevin easily recovers.
"Give it up. We don't have to make things ugly." warned Superman, who sometimes wanted to give bad guys a chance to surrender.
"Like hell." grinned Monster Kevin, as he quickly grabbed Monster Kevin. As he was absorbing Superman's powers, Wonder Woman quickly threw her shield towards Monster Kevin's head. So Kevin turns around and gets Wonder Woman's attention.
"Wait for your turn, princess." said Monster Kevin. "Now it's time for me to-"
*POW*
Superman quickly struck Monster Kevin with an uppercut, but he just grunted. Undaunted, Superman followed up with a flurry of combo punches. However, Monster Kevin was able to evade him long enough to snare the pair with gravikinesis and slam them to the ground. Surprisingly, both heroes were able to crawl to their feet and Superman unleashed his heat-vision at Monster Kevin causing him to grunt in pain and release them.
Finally, it didn't take long for Ben, now as Big Chill arrived at the Hall of Justice by flying through the ceiling by using his intangibility. "ENOUGH KEVIN!" yelled Big Chill. "This is between you and me…"
"You know what they say Tennyson," as Monster Kevin relieved to see his rival back again. "Three birds, one stone."
Big Chill quickly pressed the Ultimatrix symbol and transformed into Humungousaur.
"Not impressed." said Monster Kevin.
Humungousaur didn't reply, but quickly evolved into Ultimate Humungousaur.
"How do you like me now?!" as Ultimate Humungousaur ready for a fight.
Both monsters roar and they charge among each other. As they charge, it creates an earthquake that rumbles around the Hall of Justice.
Ultimate Humungousaur and Monster Kevin are exchanging punches. But Wonder Woman is using her lasso to hoop around Monster Kevin's neck. As Wonder Woman pulls her lasso and Monster Kevin is strangling, Ultimate Humungousaur and Superman punch Monster Kevin and punch him again; Monster Kevin gets knocked down again.
Monster Kevin has had it towards the annoying heroes, then he uses his arms to form bio-gatling guns that shoot missiles towards Ultimate Humungousaur, Superman, and Wonder Woman. The three heroes easily get knocked off.
Seeing as an opportunity, Monster Kevin quickly grabbed Superman and Wonder Woman, then absorbed their powers.
"NO!" yelled Ultimate Humungousaur, as he saw Kevin absorb Superman and Wonder Woman's powers. So he uses his arms to form bio-gatling guns that shoot missiles towards Monster Kevin, but easily dodges it by using his intangibility.
"Hehehehe." as Monster Kevin teases Ultimate Humungousaur and he went through the floor with his intangibility powers.
"COME BACK HERE YOU SON OF BITCH!" Ultimate Humungousaur was boiling with anger as he's about to fire his missile launchers from his hands, Wonder Woman halted Ultimate Humungousaur.
"Ben, enough!" halted Wonder Woman.
"Look, I know you're angry." Superman is also trying to calm Ultimate Humungousaur down. "But losing your temper like that isn't going to help."
Ultimate Humungousaur managed to calm down a little. "Sorry, I uh… Nevermind."
"Ben, that creature mentioned your name." Wonder Woman said. "Does that creature know about you?"
However, instead of explaining to Superman and Wonder Woman about Kevin, Ultimate Humungousaur just goes straight to the point. "He's an old friend who went psycho after absorbing my Ultimatrix. Is that enough info?"
Ultimate Humungousaur marches down outside the Hall of Justice. But Superman kept on following Ultimate Humungousaur, even though he had lost his powers. "Ben, I think there's something else you're not telling us."
"Sorry, not the best time." replied Ultimate Humungousaur, then he pressed the Ultimatrix dial and transformed into Jetray and flew away at full speed to search for Kevin. Neither Superman and Wonder Woman could go after Jetray because their powers were absorbed by Kevin earlier.
"Perhaps Fate may be the answer instead of violence."
Superman and Wonder Woman are a bit shocked that a deep voice was coming out of nowhere. Then a golden ankh portal was opened, revealed to be Doctor Fate, the deep voice earlier, and Zatanna, who was following behind Doctor Fate.
"Doctor Fate, good timing." said Superman.
He got out a book and it told the history of the Dominus Librium. "This book has the information needed to reverse what had happened to Benjamin's former friend. The Dominus Librium was from an alien origin."
"And this item can reverse what happened to him?" asked Wonder Woman.
"Indeed," replied Fate.
"But it won't be easy." Zatanna added.
"Why?" asked Wonder Woman.
"Ben's former friend has to be restrained," said Fate. "But also, Ben refuses anyone to interfere because he feels like this is his fault. And that it's his responsibility, however he is letting his sorrow overwhelm him."
Superman and Wonder Woman are deep in thought for a while.
"I'll go with Fate to get the Dominus Librium," said Zatanna. "You can go and make sure Ben doesn't lose his shit."
Then Doctor Fate opens a golden ankh portal as he and Zatanna walk and are almost through the portal, until Cyborg comes towards them.
"Wait!" halted Cyborg.
"I'll go too." as Cyborg volunteers to go with Doctor Fate and Zatanna, Wonder Woman stands in front of Cyborg.
"Victor, you are in no condition to go anywhere," said Wonder Woman, after looking at Cyborg who just lost an arm. "Let alone, fight."
"With the Watchtower and the Hall of Justice damaged from the fight, the teleporters can't be used until it's fixed" explained Cyborg. "So I'm their best chance for an emergency exit for opening a boom tube."
Superman pressed his comm on his ear to contact his cousin, Supergirl.
"Kara, are you there?" Superman is contacting Supergirl, known as Kara.
"I'm almost finished with my mission, Kal." replied Supergirl from Superman's comm. "What is it?"
"After you're done with your mission, I need you to do something for me." he said to her.
TITANS TOWER, SAN FRANCISCO
The rampage continues as Monster Kevin attacks the Titans and the Titans Tower. It was seen that Monster Kevin was grabbing and absorbing Superboy and Starfire's powers. Then Arsenal jumps out and attacks the monster with his grenade launcher.
"Nap time, asshole." as Arsenal firing his arrows at Monster Kevin.
The arrows release a sleeping gas, but Monster Kevin just naturally breathes in and exhales out the gas like it was nothing.
"I like that." said Monster Kevin with a grin. "It smells like... victory."
Then Elena intervenes by distracting Monster Kevin with a swarm of nanochips flying around Kevin.
The nanochips managed to bother Kevin. "Ugh! Get these things off me!" So Monster Kevin flew higher, then used his super-breath, from Superman's powers, to blow Arsenal, Elena, and her nanochips away.
*FWOOSH*
So the Titans are easily defeated. While Elena was lying on the ground, Monster Kevin was about to finish her off with his green flames, which came from Fire's power.
"Enough, Kevin!"
Monster Kevin turns around then it is revealed to be Ultimate Echo Echo, who's floating on the air.
"This is between you and me." said Ultimate Echo Echo.
ANCIENT MAYAN TEMPLE
The golden ankh portal was open, revealed to be Doctor Fate, Zatanna, and Cyborg. They all looked around the place and saw that the temple was gathering moss and floral features, and it was flanked by ugly statues who were just standing across the stone path. However, Zatanna looks worried towards Cyborg.
"Victor." Zatanna said it in her worrying tone.
"I'm fine," said Cyborg. "There's no turning back now."
"We must keep moving, in order for us to cure this… Kevin." said Doctor Fate.
As they advance on the stone path, Zatanna warns Cyborg. "Careful, Vic. There might be a chance of booby traps lying on the ground."
"Zee, I think you watch too many movies." said Cyborg, as he continued to walk along the stone path. "What makes you think-"
*KREEK*
As a sound of a stone creek down on the stone, which triggers a booby trap that brings the statues to life.
"Ahh, shit." muttered Cyborg.
"This is why you need to watch more movies." replied Zatanna while she's glaring at Cyborg.
"Note it."
Then the statues begin to attack Zatanna, Cyborg, and Doctor Fate. Cyborg fired his sonic cannon from his arm to vaporize the statues, Doctor Fate uses his ankh-like beam to fire towards the statue, and Zatanna was casting a spell to disassemble the statue.
"Driew Eutats Elbmessasid Sevlesruoy!" as she cast her spell the statues disassembled themselves.
TITANS TOWER, SAN FRANCISCO
Meanwhile, Ultimate Echo Echo is encountering Monster Kevin, while he's floating up in the air.
"Let them go, Kevin!" warned Ultimate Echo Echo. "I'm the one you want."
"Whatever." replied Monster Kevin. "I was done with them anyway."
"Now let's finish this." said Ultimate Echo Echo is his darker tone. Then he unleashes his sonic waves comic out of his hands, which allows him to push Monster Kevin away from the Titans Tower.
It pushes Monster Kevin far away then falls into the water. The Titans Tower is located in the middle of an island-like land, where it is surrounded by the sea.
Angrily, Monster Kevin rises up from the waters, and flies up in the air. "I had it with you Tennyson! Always thinks you're some "golden boy". Everything goes your way."
Then he attacks Ultimate Echo Echo with his crystal shards, from Diamondhead's powers. But Ultimate Echo Echo blocks the crystal shard attacks with his sonic force fields to block it's attacks.
ANCIENT MAYAN TEMPLE
Cyborg, Zatanna, and Doctor Fate run towards the temples but there are some statues chasing after them. But Cyborg had enough with those walking statues.
"Screw this." Cyborg increases his fire power on his sonic cannon and vaporizes the statues.
*ZCHOOM*
"Could've done that earlier?" groaned Zatanna.
"I'm trying to make things not overkill." defended Cyborg. Then the three heroes walk inside the temple.
As they walked inside the temple, they saw the Dominus Librium; the item has a golden color, with a small face of a buffalo, but with a "U" shape-like-horns, which is larger than its face.
"We must quickly get the Dominus Librium," said Doctor Fate.
"Careful." warned Zatanna. "We're just going to activate more booby traps in this temple."
"I know." said Cyborg. "But time's running out."
Carelessly, Cyborg quickly grabs the Dominus Librium, but the temple begins to rumble.
Zatanna began to panic a little bit. "Okay, now it's time to get out."
Cyborg huried went towards Zatanna and Doctor Fate's direction with his rocket boots while the rocks inside the temple are about to fall down while the temple is about to collapse.
"Now let's get the hell out of here!" said Zatanna
Cyborg opens a boom tube from his thoughts and he, Zatanna, and Doctor Fate manage to escape from the temple.
TITANS TOWER, SAN FRANCISCO
Back where Monster Kevin is attacking Ultimate Echo Echo with his crystal shards. "You've turned me into a freak!" Monster Kevin blames Ben. "Now, you've come back to Earth to be some kind of guardian angel!"
The crystal shard managed to break through Ultimate Echo Echo's sonic force field and he grunted. "Ugh!"
"I never asked to be some kind of a guardian angel!" Ultimate Echo Echo defended himself. "It was always someone else's fault when you screwed up and decided to absorb my Ultimatrix!"
"I SCREWED UP?!" Monster Kevin was boiling in anger. "LET'S SEE WHO'S SCREWED UP NOW, ASSHOLE!" He uses his magnetokinesis powers to bend Ultimate Echo Echo. The magnetokinesis powers came from Lodestar.
Ultimate Echo Echo grunted "GRAAGGHHH!" as he struggled against Monster Kevin's magnetokinesis power. Then slammed Ultimate Echo Echo to the waters as he drowned for a while.
As Ultimate Echo Echo was about to fly out of the water, Monster Kevin dived into the water as well while firing his neuroshock beams from his eyes.
*ZCHOOM*
But Ultimate Echo Echo managed to dodge and flew out of the water to the surface, and so did Monster Kevin.
Monster Kevin continues to fly and chase's Ultimate Echo Echo and finally reaches above the Titans Tower lands.
"You can't keep running away!" said Monster Kevin.
"No." corrected Ultimate Echo Echo. "I was waiting for this moment."
Ultimate Echo Echo deployed all of his disks, which flew around Monster Kevin and began replicating; soon, he was surrounded by the disks. "SONIC… DOOM!" The disks unleashed a truly impressive sonic attack that, had Monster Kevin not been so resilient, would have shattered a mountain. As it was, the monster was knocked out and crashed to the ground.
Ultimate Echo Echo have finally won. But he was filled with his guilt where he felt like it was his fault to let Monster Kevin rampage, allowing his teammates to get hurt. To let off his guilt, he finally unleashes one more flying disk towards Monster Kevin's face, while still unconscious. "One more should do it."
"BEN, DON'T!" says a female girl who's behind Ultimate Echo Echo, as he was about to finish off Kevin, he was stopped by a voice, revealed to be Supergirl, who's just arrived back to Earth after finishing her "space mission".
"He has hurt a lot of people." Ultimate Echo Echo explains.
"I know he did, but this isn't the way."
"Like how Clark managed to kill Doomsday? How did people decide to put down a mad dog?"
Last year, Superman did manage to kill Doomsday before it killed anything on it's path. Both powerful beings were fighting to the death, which resulted in both dead. However, Superman got resurrected thanks to the Kryptonian chamber that helped Superman to be resurrected.
"Doomsday was a mindless killing machine." explained Supergirl. "Kevin is-"
"Is almost as worse as Doomsday, with how he manages to steal powers just for hunger."
"He's still your friend Ben, and he's not mindless. I know things went badly between you, but that was years ago. Give enough time, and anyone can make amends."
Ultimate Echo Echo transformed back to Ben, still in his Omni Knight uniform. "You better be right."
Then a boom tube was opened, revealed to be Cyborg, Zatanna, and Doctor Fate with the Dominus Librium.
"That was close, before you do something overkill." commented Cyborg.
"It's time." Doctor Fate is ready to use his magic to activate the Dominus Librium, as he casts a spell and uses it towards Kevin. The beam from the Dominus Librium comes out and fires towards Monster Kevin.
*PWUUMM*
Monster Kevin is slowly changing back to his human form, as he's no longer a monster again. Moreover, energy inside Kevin released back to the remaining heroes, allowing them to have their powers returned.
"Now it's finished," said Dr. Fate.
Then Batman, Rook, and several Titans arrived.
"Ben, a word." Batman said in his unhappy mood.
It takes less than 15 minutes for Ben to explain about his past between him and Kevin. "So Kevin was locked up in the Null Void. It's some kind of an interdimensional prison. I wasn't sure how he got out."
"You could've shared this information sooner rather than later." Batman is still glaring at him.
"Look. What happened to Kevin was my fault. I let him absorb the Ultimatrix. I-"
"No!" Batman yelled. "What happened is that you've failed to tell us the necessary information."
"It's personal."
"When your friend decides to attack the League is no longer a problem."
Then the conversation was interrupted by comm received to Batman.
"What?" as Batman pressed his ear-comm.
"We have an emergency at the Watchtower." said a voice.
WATCHTOWER
The man who called Batman's comm was Question, the man with blue hat, blue fedora coat, and without face was investigating a crime. Where some of the Justice League's workers were murdered.
"Several of our workers are found dead." explained Question, as he looks towards a dead body.
"How?" asked Batman from Questions comm.
"Stabbed from the back. Knife wound." said Question. "And no. It's not Kevin. The killer has more stealth than Kevin."
"Why?"
"Not sure, but probably in the way." Question continue as he walks in the storage room. "The killer appears to look for something in the storage room."
"So what did the killer steal?" asked Batman.
"That's what I'm trying to find out."
LEGION OF DOOM HEADQUARTERS, SOMEWHERE IN A SWAMP.
Khyber walks inside as he meets his benefactors, Lex Luthor and Vandal Savage.
"Here." as Khyber tossed a body that looked like an android; revealed to be Brainiac, but damaged and offline.
"Excellent." smirked Luthor. "I assumed the distraction works?'
"Perfectly." replied Khyber.
"Good." said Savage, as he paid from his tablet to transfer his e-money to Khyber. "We'll call you again if you're needed. You know where the door is right?"
Khyber didn't reply as he left the building.
"My my my." said a gorilla, revealed to be Gorilla Grodd. "Is that what I think it is? Looks like things are getting better and better for us."
The trio of villains grinned.
THE END OF CHAPTER 9