I don't get why I write so many chapters for this damn story! I have two other fics that are on hiatus right now and they're both on scheduled updates, yet this story—without a schedule—gets so many chapters written. Example, I started writing this chapter the day after finishing Initiation, on June 9, 2020. I've already started the sixth chapter of this story before even finishing the second chapter of the next arc for The Vitruvian Man. Ah, thus is the way of the writer.

Ben 10 Fun Fact 1: Cannonbolt was supposed to be one of the original ten, but Diamondhead ended up replacing him.

Now to reply to some reviews!

BulletstormX: No, Static would be closer to Esmeralda's age.

DrWhoFan13: Thanks for the review! I hope you continue to enjoy the story!

Beast Mode92: He doesn't have master control yet. You'll see the answer to how long his Omnitrix works in this chapter, actually.

DragonMack: Hope you continue to enjoy the story. And yeah, things'll get better for her.

That's all from me up here, on with the story!


A Day in the Life of Triumph

"I mean there was no preamble, he just said it," Zatanna tells me once she finishes crying.

"You did say you had a bad fight before, so maybe that's why," I try comforting her.

"Except the fight was days ago," Zatanna replies. "Why would he stew on it for days, Eric?"

I take a deep breath through my mouth, having lowered my mask once she started to talk. "No idea. I'd say ask him but that won't work," I then look at her with a small smile. "If I'm being completely honest with you, I always thought he was an ass."

Zatanna chuckles weakly. "He is an ass."

A silence follows as the two of us watch the sky slowly become more and more dark, the stars begin to come out.

I turn to see Zatanna resting her head on my shoulder. "What did you see in him, anyway?"

Zatanna lifts her head and looks down at the cars driving by, their streaking lights joining in with the city's. "He was…dangerous, you know? You of all people know how overprotective my Dad can get."

"That's an understatement," I say dryly as the memory of the two arguing after Zatanna helped me fight crime for her first time comes to mind.

Zatanna lets out a quick laugh. "With John I got to see a new side of the world of magic. It was something all right."

"And Necro?"

She scowls. "A lot like John, but he was a teacher, also. Taught me some more of the dark side of magic, you know. Can't believe I ignored that red flag."

"Oh, so you're like a Gray Jedi then," I point out, trying to improve her mood.

Zatanna lets out a laugh that goes on for some time. "God, I forgot how much of a closet nerd you are."

I roll my eyes and chuckle in amusement. Zatanna then looks down, humming a song to herself. I study her face, getting lost in all of her features again, just like I did all those years ago. Perfect nose, soft cheeks, amazing lips, enchanting dark hair, ice blue eyes. I could go on, really.

Zatanna notices my staring and looks at me, she then blushes in embarrassment and whispers a spell, the makeup coming off. "What?" She whispers.

"…and me?"

Her eyes widen in surprise. She looks down and stares in silence, she then looks me in the eyes, completely serious. "You…enraptured me," she admits, surprising me greatly.

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"You got that special ticket, the one that let you see things backstage after the show. First thing you did was ask my Dad to teach you how to fight magic," Zatanna says, bringing me back to simpler times. "At first, we weren't sure what to make of you, we thought you were playing some prank on us…"

"…And then I transformed in front of you, all to prove that I was more than meets the eye," I finish.

"Yeah, and from that moment on I found you interesting. Not only were you dangerous as well, but you dealt with sci-fi stuff, time machines, aliens, clones. You don't see a lot of that in my world," Zatanna says.

"No, you do not," I say as the two of us look up at the night sky. "And now?"

She puts her hand on top of mine, the two of us looking deeply into each other's eyes. "You still enrapture me. But I need some time, please."

I look down at our hands and then up into her eyes, a smile on my face. "Time granted."

In the distance we hear an explosion. We both get up, I put on my mask and goggles and Zatanna transforms into her suit, but she doesn't have the navy blue and black suit jacket on, which really emphasizes her strapless white top that doesn't leave much to the imagination.

"Oh, I need this," she says excitedly.

Zatanna then flies towards the explosion, I jump from building to building. I mean, I could fly, but sometimes leaping around like a Ninja Turtle just feels way more fun. And thanks to my enhanced agility and strength massive gaps between buildings usually aren't problematic. Like tonight.

After a few minutes, the two of us arrive at the scene to see two forms, one in orange, black, and gray armor, and another that looks like a man-sized snake, escaping the area. Zatanna taps my shoulder and nods at the building. "Your sister's got this."

Sure enough, Victorious is flying down to the building, once she lands, she looks up and gives the two of us a thumbs up before going to help people injured in the explosion. "She does," I say with a proud smile. "Come on, Overlord and Ssserpent are getting away!"

As we pursue them, I notice Zatanna looking at me with a smile and an arched brow. "What?"

"You really said his name with all the S's?" Zatanna asks.

"Ugh, yes," I reply, a small smile still on my face.

"Okay. We'll get to them faster if you fly though," Zatanna advises.

I leap over some air conditioning units on a rooftop and leap over to the next building, keeping my momentum up. "I like flippin-WHOA!"

Zatanna rolls her eyes and lifts me up, the two of us flying towards Overlord and Ssserpent. Well, Zatanna flies, I'm just dragged along.

The two of us land in front of the duo, they both skid to a stop, bags of money in Overlord's hands. "Oh, great, it's Triumph, and uh…" his eyes go up and down Zatanna's body, stopping on her chest. "Hello there~ and who might you be?"

I grit my teeth and stand in front of her, shurikens in my hands. "Back off, Carl."

Zatanna puts a hand on my shoulder and stands next to me. "What should I expect from Copperhead's cousin?"

"We aren't related!" Ssserpent shouts.

"You'd do better against Overlord. Ssserpent has some weird mana immunity," I advise.

"You want me to fight the perv?" Zatanna asks.

"Sorry," I say with a shrug.

She shakes her head. "Llaberif!" a ball of fire shoots past my head and collides with Overlord, sending him flying into a streetlamp, the bags of money tearing open. Dollar bills float from the bags and catch on fire due to Zatanna's attack, adding a sort of aesthetic to the fight.

The night sky, streetlamps along the street, and burning dollar bills floating in the wind. Sort of romantic, in a sense.

Overlord quickly recovers and takes to the skies, Zatanna follows after him, shooting more balls of fire.

Ssserpent lunges at me, his mouth opened wide, I just throw the shurikens in my hand into his mouth, breaking one of his fangs, one stabs into his tongue, and another cuts his uvula. Oooh, that looked like it hurt.

He lurches back and shouts in pain, blood dripping from his mouth. "You bassstard!"

"Nope," I crack my knuckles. "My parents were married when they had me."

I step on his tail and punch his chest twice. His snake hands then try to grab me, but I dodge them and grab them both, I then tie them together in a tight knot. But then his tail wraps around my legs and swings me into a nearby taxi, the side of it caving in due to the impact.

I groan in pain as I slump down on the floor, my back flares up in pain for a moment before it goes away. Oh crap! I barely dodge out of the way of some acid he spits; it then connects with the taxi and melts the doors away.

"You will pay for what you've done! Ssso sssaysss The Sssnake That Walksss Like A Man!"

"Man, you are full of yourself, aren't you?" I dodge a swipe from his tail. "Besides, you don't walk, you ssslither!" And I'm doing it now, great.

"Sssame difference!"

"Not really," I leap off of his head, but while I'm in the air his tail wraps around my legs, slamming me into the floor before wrapping tightly around my knees, constricting them. I grit my teeth as pressure builds.

Ssserpent then manages to finally get his arms untied and looms over me, his mouth dripping acid. "You're dead."

"And you need a breath mint," I strain. From my belt I bring out a kunai and stab it into Ssserpent'sss tail, causing him to roar in pain and reflexively let me go.

I did the S thing again, didn't I?

I get up but wobble a little. My knees are a little shaky. Once I find my footing, I raise my fissstsss up, he does the same.

Goddammit I keep doing it!

"Let'sss go," he says.

"Yes. Let'sss," I reply.

Overlord's injured form crashes into Ssserpent, the two slamming into the road in a giant cloud of dust.

Once it clears, I see the two of them groaning in pain as they lay tangled on the floor, Overlord's armor being damaged in many places. Hm, looks like he's gonna get a black eye pretty soon. Totally deserves it.

Zatanna lands next to me and kicks him in the ribs, causing the ex-superhero to grunt in pain. "Jerkass."

I look at her with a smirk. "Let me guess, he said something perverted."

"Got it in one," Zatanna replies.

I look down at Overlord and kick him in the same spot as Zatanna, causing him to grunt again. "Jerkass."

Overlord then shoots up from a thruster in his palm, but due to the damage to his armor he's off-balance. He glares at Zatanna. "You're gonna regret that!"

Zatanna rolls her eyes. "I highly doubt it."

I run forward and dropkick him, my top foot hitting Overlord in the face and my bottom foot hitting his throat, causing him to careen back. When he gets on his knees to breath a fist made of burning money punches him, slamming him into a car.

Overlord recovers quickly and fires some energy bolts at us. Zatanna quickly puts up a shield in front of herself as I raise my arms to protect me, the bolts connecting with my armor and leaving scorch marks. The exposed parts of my forearms also have some burns on them.

"Ylf!" Zatanna shouts.

Overlord flies into the air, some more of his armor slowly breaking apart and dropping down to the street. I grab some electric shurikens and throw them at him, getting his armored shoulder, right knee, and the center of his armor. The shurikens then activate, locking up his muscles and causing him to shout in pain.

"Pord!" Zatanna shouts.

This time, Overlord falls down headfirst, colliding with a recovering Ssserpent. The collision knocks the two out. I look at Zatanna and give her a thumbs up, she does the same.

"Yo!" The two of us look to see Victorious flying down towards us, Luna on her shoulders. "How's my favorite couple doing?"

Zatanna and I blush and look away from each other as my sister floats down. "Gotta say, pretty romantic setting you guys got, what with the night sky, light breeze, and burning dollar bills floating around you."

Jeez, how long until these burning bills go out?

I turn to Victorious. "It isn't like that."

"Oh, then why else are the two of you together? Luna saw a lot of things back at the Space Needle," Victorious says with a cheeky smile on her face.

"Victorious…" Zatanna and I say with gritted teeth.

"Oh! I just remembered I have class tomorrow! See you guys later!" And she flies away.

I sigh and shake my head before activating the Omnitrix, but Zatanna puts her hand over it. "I've got this," she assures. "Xif gnihtyreve," the damaged streetlamp straightens itself, and the taxi from before regains its doors and straightens out, my forearms are healed, and two bags of money reappear on the street.

I walk over and pick them up, the two of us walking towards the bank. On the way I notice a news van driving down the street, it speeds past us, but then stops and reverses, stopping next to us. I look at the door and groan in annoyance. "Oh, great."

On the side of the van reads "Harangue Nation", a news station on Channel 10 all about running my name into the dirt. If there's one thing I hate about having the Omnitrix, it's that Harangue is here as well.

"Elbisivni," Zatanna says, causing some blue trails to float around us for a moment before they disappear. "Let's go."

I smirk and lower my mask and remove my goggles, the two of us walking through the growing crowd on the sidewalk. But as the crowd grows it becomes harder to move, so I head towards an alley, Zatanna following. "Hop on my back, we can go on the rooftops."

"Or I could float us there," Zatanna counters.

"We did your way last time, let me do mine," I argue.

Zatanna shakes her head before hopping on my back, her legs around my waist and arms around my neck. "Don't go too fa-AAH!"

Instead of letting her finish I hop up the building, using the fire escapes as footholds to jump up. After three jumps I make it to the top of the building, smiling in victory.

Zatanna kicks me in the side and punches my head, but it doesn't hurt. "Eric! You moron!"

I just chuckle. "C'mon, the bank should only be about twenty buildings from here."

Zatanna jumps off and drops the invisibility spell, replacing it with a spell that makes the both of us float. "Nuh-uh, no way. We're flying there and I don't care what you say."

"Yeah, okay," I lean back, the money bags still in my hands as we float towards the bank, my mask and goggles reappearing. In a few minutes we arrive to see it's already been rebuilt, but the cops and paramedics are still there. I go over to one of the employees and give him the bags. "Uh, here you go."

He nods and mutters a quick thanks before going inside.

Zatanna walks up to me and taps my shoulder. "Ssserpent and Overlord are in custody."

I look at her with a smile. For a moment Zatanna's confused, but she then looks at me with a frown and a faint blush of embarrassment. "It's because of you! That's why I'm doing the S thing!"

I fold my arms. "Yeah, sure. What now?"

"Ot s'hpmuirT emoh," Zatanna says. One blink later we're in my living room. Zatanna then transforms back into her clothes from earlier and I deactivate my armor, wearing black jeans and a black and yellow Nirvana shirt. "Matching," she says, pointing at our shirts.

"Kind of," I reply. I then walk over to the kitchen, pulling out two water bottles and handing one to her. "So, what's next for you?"

Zatanna stops a burp, her cheeks puffing out for a moment before replying. "I'll do what everyone does after a breakup, focus on myself. I'll still do some Justice League missions, and my Dad's helping me with getting my own shows started."

"Oh? Where's your first show gonna be?" I ask.

"Gotham. But it'll take some time, getting shows setup takes some time. Especially first-time tours across the freaking country," Zatanna answers. "I'll be sure to get you and your family tickets."

"Aren't I still banned from coming to your shows?" I ask. After the breakup I tried talking to her at one of their shows. I didn't get far.

"Dad made sure to tell everyone we're cool again," Zatanna says. Our phones then vibrate. "Speaking of Dad…" Zatanna answers the phone and talks to Zatara.

I pull mine out to see a text in the group chat for the guys.

Mr. Roboto: Eric, it's raid time.

Me (Disco King): Got it.

I put my phone away, but then something clicks. I pull it back out to see my nickname.

Me (Disco King): WHO THE HELL!?

Blue Bird: :D hey.

Me (Disco King): DICK! YOU RICHARD!

Fastest Man Alive (heh): Eric. Raid. Hop on.

I put my phone away just to see Zatanna doing the same. "I gotta go home, my Dad's pretty worried about me."

I nod. "Yeah, it's fine. The guys and I are gonna raid in FFXIV, anyways."

Zatanna's eyes widen in surprise. "You guys still play that? I honestly thought you'd all get bored of it. Especially Wally."

"Final Fantasy's a timeless series, Zee, I thought you knew that," I reply with a smirk.

She rolls her eyes before walking forward and pulling me into a tight hug, her head resting on my chest. "Thank you for tonight. I appreciate it."

I wrap my arms around her, a smile on my face as I rest my head on hers. "I'm here for you, always."

Zatanna backs up with a smile. "I'll hold you to that. Emoh," she then disappears in a flash of blue light.

With a smile, I quickly run over to the living room and turn on my PS4, almost immediately getting the party invite from Wally. After getting on my headset I start the game. "RAAAAID!" The others shout.

I let out a quick laugh. "Raid."


I die again, the party being wiped.

We all groan as we return to the start of the raid. "One more time?" Wally says.

"More!?" I shout incredulously. "Wally, it's," I look at the Omnitrix. "3:47 in the morning here! I mean, we have a meeting tomorrow, remember?"

"I know, I know, but we can't just end on that note! C'mon, one more time," Wally says.

"I'm with Wally on this one," Victor agrees. "I won't sleep right if we leave on a note like this."

"Besides, Eric. We're all more than capable of staying up all night," Dick reasons. "What with Victor not needing to really sleep anymore, Wally's powers, and our training. One night without sleep wouldn't hurt."

I sigh. They make good points and ending on a loss really doesn't sit right with me. I pick up my controller and look at my TV, determination alight in my eyes.

"One more time."


I die again, the party being wiped.

"GAAAAHHH-!" Wally shouts, it's then cut off by him tearing off his headset.

"(How the hell are you supposed to beat this!?)" I shout in Spanish.

"We're probably the wrong jobs," Dick replies.

"We've swapped to every job in the game," Wally points out. "Victor, can't you make us win?"

"I could, but where's the fun in that?" Our cybernetic friend replies.

Wally sighs. "One more time?"

"Wait," Dick says. "Mari? What're you doing up, sweetie? Shouldn't you be asleep?" He's silent for a moment. "Uh, guys, look outside."

I turn around and open the curtains just to have the sun bear down on me, blinding me for a moment. Once my vision clears, I see my elderly neighbor from across the street mowing his lawn, a woman walking her dog, and some kids playing hopscotch.

Oh man, how long have we been raiding?

I put my headset back on and look at the Omnitrix. "8:29!" I shout.

"Oh no…" Victor trails off.

"One more time!" Wally shouts.

"Sorry, I promised Mari that we'd hangout today," Dick logs off the game. "See you later," he then leaves the party.

Victor hops off the game as well. "I've got a League mission, maybe I'll see you guys in a bit," he hops off next.

"Eric?" Wally asks hopefully.

"No," I hop off the PS4 and run towards the bathroom. Gotta get ready.


At the moment I finish getting ready I get a text from Diana wondering if I'm ready. I go to the mirror in my downstairs bathroom and mess with my hair a little bit. Alright, looking good, I breath into my hand, and my breath is good as well. I reply to Diana's text, and almost immediately I'm teleported to the Watchtower, Diana in her Wonder Woman armor next to me.

"Come on, the others are waiting already," she says as the two of us walk to a private meeting room.

"All of them?" I ask with an arched brow.

She laughs. "Wally isn't here yet."

"Of course," I mumble.

"How was your first official League mission?" She asks as we walk past Aztek and Orion.

"It was okay. Not too difficult, but just challenging enough to test us in the right ways. Wouldn't mind easier missions every now and again, though," I answer. "I'd hate for Captain Atom to explode on every mission."

"I think he would too," Wonder Woman agrees.

The two of us then stop at the door that leads to the private meeting room for the Founding Six. No one's allowed in here without proper authorization from the Six, and even then, they can't be alone in the room. The technological defenses for the room are insane as well, even Victor—with his cybernetics—can't see into the room. Wonder Woman puts her hand on a scanner and has her eye scanned before the door opens, I remove my mask and goggles as the door closes behind us.

The door opens to reveal Martian Manhunter, Green Lantern (who's now out of his hoverchair but still needs crutches to walk), Superman, and Batman talking. They stop their conversation once they notice us and Superman walks up and the two of us shake hands. "Glad you could be here, Eric."

I smile back at Clark. "John and Bruce made it sound pretty important, so it'd be wrong if I didn't come."

"They tend to do that," Clark agrees. He then motions an empty seat next to J'onn on the round table. "Sit, we're just waiting on Wally now."

As I go, I notice the symbols on the back of each seat, a green lantern, a lightning bolt, two W's, a bat, the crest of the House of El, and a red X. The seventh seat doesn't have a symbol, not anymore. I also notice John's the only one to avoid looking at the seat. So, this used to be Shayera's seat.

"You did good work last night," Bruce says as soon as I sit down.

I wave it off. "Ssserpent? He's not too much to deal with. Overlord on the other hand can be a pain with his suit. Thankfully Zatanna was there to take him down."

Diana rests her head on her hand and looks at me with a smirk. "Hm, you and Zatanna have a history, do you not?"

"Oh, for crying out loud," I whisper. "Are we really gonna gossip about this?"

John shrugs. "Gotta pass the time somehow."

"But, like, my love life? Why not…Bruce's?" I say, trying to throw attention off of me.

Clark snorts. "What love life?"

John and Clark both chuckle but stop immediately once Bruce batlgares at them. "The Watchtower isn't a place for personal matters. You should know this, it's-"

"-in the rules," Clark, Diana, and John finish.

I turn to J'onn sitting on my left. He has a small smile on his face and is eating a Choco. "I do enjoy Chocos," he explains once he notices me looking at him.

"Can I have one?" I ask.

"No," he goes back to eating his Chocos and watching his friends banter with each other.

The door then opens and Wally speeds into the room, his cowl down and hair all over the place. "Sorry I'm late! Grodd was causing problems back home."

I look at him with a knowing smirk. "Really now?"

"Eric, shut up!" Wally whisper shouts.

"All right, let's begin," Bruce interrupts. A holographic screen appears on the table, showing the reports of the Thanagarian Invasion, the mission in Chong-Mai, and some of my past battles.

"It doesn't need to be said, but your actions in the past have more than spoken for you, Eric," Clark begins. "That's why today's meeting is about your position in the Justice League."

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"We realize that the six of us may need assistance in better leading the heroes and heroines in the Justice League. There are over a hundred of us, after all, and that number will no doubt grow as more heroes meet our criteria," J'onn says. "So, we would like to give you a promotion."

"Well, I did in particular," Clark says.

Diana notices my confused face. "Think of it as a second-in-command. With your new position you'll have more say then the others on the team, and you'll regularly be invited to meetings with us."

"And on missions with one of the Founding Six you'll be our right hand," John says.

I nod as I take in all the info. They're really giving me a lot of power, so I gotta take this seriously. "What else should I expect?"

"Should one of us fall-"

"Which won't happen," I say with complete seriousness.

Clark smiles. "Which won't. But on the off chance it does happen, you'll take our place. If we're unavailable for a meeting, then you'll be there as well. And on missions without any of us, you'll be the leader," Clark raises a hand at my furrowed brow. "You may not like the leadership position, but Wally's mentioned how you're more than capable of keeping a cool head in dangerous situations. That's a trait of a leader. So, do you accept?"

"Yes," I say without any hesitation. "But I do have one question."

"Ask away," Clark says.

"Will I be the only one given a position like this?"

"No," Bruce answers. "As time goes on and more Leaguers prove themselves, they'll also be given the chance to join ranks with you. But you'll still be the leader should you go on a mission with them."

"Right, makes sense," I look at Clark. "What did you mean "I did in particular"?" I ask.

"The plan is to have a second-in-command for each of us. And I made the recommendation to have you as mine," he answers. "Like Bruce said, as more Leaguers prove themselves, they'll be nominated for this position."

"And there will be private meetings for the twelve of us as well, once the others are chosen," John says.

"I see. So you'll each get a second-in-command then," I say.

"I was hoping you could be mine, but Clark kinda swooped in," Wally admits. "Oh well, maybe I can ask Victor."

"Nope," John bluntly says.

"Dammit," Wally whines, slumping in his seat.

I shake my head in amusement and look at Clark. "All right, so, how do I finalize this?"

A palm scanner comes up from the table in front of me, a laser to scan my eye right next to it. "Just scan your hand and eye and then say your codename and League number," Wally answers.

I stand up and put my hand on the scanner as it glows blue, I then lower my eye to the pupil scanner. "Codename and League number, please," the computer says.

"Triumph, 008."

A few seconds later there's a confirmation beep and the palm and pupil scanner return to the table.

Clark walks over with a smile and claps my back. "Congratulations on your new position, Eric!"

"Right, thanks. Wait, what about my whole universe thing?" I ask.

The others turn to Bruce as he pulls up a holographic screen. "We haven't found anything regarding your presence here, but there is something else we think you should see."

The screen changes to show a destroyed space station floating, pieces orbiting around it. But what's most interesting is the burnt, magenta Omnitrix symbol on it. "What the hell?" I whisper as I study the image.

"So you don't know about this?" Bruce asks.

"No," I study it closer. "But I might know who did it."

"Who?" Wally asks.

"My paternal grandmother, maybe. One day I was bored and had the Omnitrix scan my DNA, turns out I'm a fourth alien from my Dad's side, and since his mom left when he was a kid it makes sense, right?" I theorize.

"Your sister's energy is the same color," Wally agrees.

"Okay, but how does she know about the Omnitrix? And why did she leave it on this space station?" Clark asks.

"Who owned the station?" I ask.

"It was from Warworld," John answers.

"Well, 'least she knows who to attack," Wally quips. "But that still doesn't answer why she destroyed that particular station."

"Because she wants us to see," I answer. "I don't know how, but she knows I'm going to see this at some point. Do we know if she's in the area?"

"The image is a few days old," Bruce answers, then multiple other images pop up, showing more space stations and some of Vilgax's ships. "And her signature's seen all over the place."

I sigh in annoyance. "This might take some time. Thanks for telling me."

Bruce nods and excuses himself, bringing the meeting to a close.

I rub my chin as I study the images further. "Cool. So, what now?"

Wally's stomach grumbles loudly. "We can eat at the cafeteria?"

"Is there any good food there?" I ask.

"We made sure to get some top of the line chefs," Clark answers. "You guys gonna join us?"

Diana shakes her head. "I have a mission starting soon."

"And I must return to monitoring the missions. I've been gone for far too long," J'onn says, the two of them walking separate from the four of us.

"Guess it's just the four of us," John comments.

It's not too long, the four of us end up in the cafeteria and grab our food, me and Wally putting our masks on. Well, I have the sides of my masks and goggles on, the part of the mask that covers my mouth is still down, it'd be pretty hard to eat with that up. We then sit at a table in one of the corners, giving us relative privacy when in a cafeteria full of civilian staff and other superheroes.

"So, I'm like a lieutenant, huh?" I comment as we eat. "Can't wait to tell Dad."

"Speaking of," John says. "Do you know a Daniel Mercer?"

Me and Wally look at each other in surprise before looking back at John. "Yeah, that's my Dad. How do you know him?"

John smiles and pulls out his phone, going through his gallery, once he finds the designated photo, he puts his phone on the table. The three of us lean forward and look to see a unit of marines, a picture I've seen before. In the center I see Dad, other marines around him, and next to him is a younger John.

"Whoa…" I say in awe.

"Yeah. I knew you looked familiar somehow," John says as he takes his phone back. "You look a lot like him, except for the hair and skin tone, that is. He was the commander of my unit, saved my ass countless times, too."

"I think I remember him talking about you a few times when he'd be home on leave," I mention.

"He's talked about you and your sister a lot when we were out touring. Honestly don't think I'd be here if it weren't for him," John says.

"What do you mean?" Clark asks.

"When I was leaving the military, he gave me the idea of being an architect," John answers. "I chose to pursue that career and one thing led to another and that's how I got here. How is he, anyway?"

I finish my drink and wipe my mouth with a napkin. "He's great. He's been travelling with my Mom ever since I made us rich," I notice their confused looks. "I may have sold a Diamondhead and Chromastone crystal to the right people years ago. And then used Grey Matter's smarts to make the stock market work in my favor."

John and Clark look at me, nodding as they seem to be impressed with my actions. "Couldn't you have started a company?" The latter asks.

"I thought about it, but it seemed like too much work. I've gotta applaud Batman for juggling this line of work and his public one," I answer.

"Wait," Wally says. "Don't your Diamondhead and Chromastone crystals break down into nothing when you stop being them?"

"Not if I focus hard enough," I say with a cheeky smirk. "But yeah, those crystals have to be gone by now, it's almost been a decade since I made them."

"Which forms are Diamondhead and Chromastone?" John asks.

"Diamondhead was that green crystal form back in the Batcave. Whereas Chromastone's the indigo and magenta one from back on the Thanagarian ship," I answer. "Hey, John, do you know a Kyle Rayner?"

John smiles and nods. "I know the kid. He's extremely skilled and artistic. He'll go far. How do you know him?"

"We were friends when we were kids," I answer. "After my family moved from Arizona to Seattle, we kept in contact through social media mainly. There was this one time when he came to my place after he got his Power Ring, that was one hell of a night. That's when I revealed I was Triumph to him."

"He's talked about you a few times. Definitely have to bring this up the next time I see him," John replies.

"So, Clark," Wally says with a smirk as he leans towards the Kryptonian. "Do you happen to know someone I also knew way in the past?"

Clark hums and thinks it over before shrugging. "Uh, no?"

Wally lets out a strong breath through his nose as John and I laugh at his failed joke.

For the next few minutes, the four of us talk about random topics before we have to go our separate ways. Wally on a League mission, Clark goes to work at the Daily Planet, and John goes to oversee training for some of the younger members of the League.

Seeing no other reason to stay, I teleport back home.


Seattle, Washington

Once home, I sit down on the Space Needle and take a deep breath. While there wasn't a fight of any kind, today was pretty eventful. My rank in the Justice League rising, finding out my paternal grandmother could be out there somewhere, and learning about John and Dad's history.

All in all, a pretty good day for Eric Mercer.

"All units be advised, there is a hostage situation going on at Tim's Tavern over on 105th Street," the police dispatch says.

I stand up and stretch. All right let's do this.

I transform into XLR8 and quickly arrive to see a man holding another man hostage with a gun to his head, two cop cars across from him. "I want outta here! Now!" The man with the gun shouts. "I want a car! And-"

I run over, disarm him, and put him in one of the cop cars. "-fifty grand in cash!" He then realizes where he is and looks out the window, glaring at me. "You!"

I wave at him before running away to a nearby park, sitting on a bench and breathing in the air, some of the people jump in surprise at my sudden appearance.

Man, today is a good day.

I feel a ball hit my helmet, it bounces away and pulls me out of my thoughts. A group of kids walk up to me, one has an apologetic look on his face. He's most likely the one that kicked the ball. "Sorry, Mr. XLR8. I didn't mean to hit you with the soccer ball."

I speed over and grab the ball, offering it to the kid. "Eh, it's no problem. Wait, show me how you kicked it."

He puts the ball down and kicks it with the top of his foot, the ball flying away and getting stuck in a tree. I grab it again and transform back to normal once I'm in front of them. I put the ball down and tell one of the kids to go a distance away, once he's there, I begin the little lesson. "The best way to pass the ball is to kick with the side of your foot. Like this."

"Oooh…" A few of them say.

"Do you want to play with us?" The kid asks.

I go for a reply, but the smell of smoke catches my attention. "Sorry kids, but there's a fire I need to attend to. Have fun with your game."

I then run forward at my max speed, jumping around with the use of the trees, and then jumping on a passing firetruck, using it to get to the scene.

Once there I find some firefighters spraying water at the burning apartment complex, I see the inhabitants standing outside. I then jump down next to them. "Is there anyone inside?"

A woman holding one of her children shakes her head. "No, everyone got out."

I nod and face the flames, dialing my Omnitrix. "Good," I then slam it down and become my Orishan form, Water Hazard.

I become an orange mollusk-like alien with orange eyes and a gray mouth that doesn't move, an orange hood-like structure over my head. My upper torso, forearms, and lower half are orange with some black spots, while my claws, lower torso, and neck are gray. I also have three gray spikes jutting from the back of my legs and forearms, two on my lower torso and potholes on my hands. My abdomen and arms are black. The Omnitrix crest is on my chest.

I raise my arms up and shoot powerful streams of water at the building, helping the firefighters. After a few intense minutes, the flames are then doused, leaving a scorched building in front of us.

"Great, now we have to live with my brother while they rebuild," the woman's husband complains. "I don't wanna live with that jerk."

I raise a finger. "Don't worry," I slap the Omnitrix crest and become Chronos. "I have zis covered," I fire time beams at the scorched remains it then reverts the building to its prior state, much to the relief of the inhabitants. "…Done," I breath.

The people cheer and thank me and the firefighters before returning to their homes, but a few of the firefighters go in to see what caused the fire. Turns out someone left the stove on. Whoops.

I then transform into Jetray and fly up to rest on top of a nearby building, transforming back to normal to let the Omnitrix recharge. I normally have an hour and a half as an alien, but with each transformation that time is shortened. And if I were to hit the limit, it'd take five minutes for the Omnitrix to recharge, but if I transform back to normal before then it usually takes about two.

My stomach rumbles. I look to see that a few hours have passed since my meeting with the Founding Six, it's now afternoon.

My stomach rumbles again, my body reminding me it needs energy. While I can go sometime without food, the Omnitrix sort of cancels that out, it does take a lot of energy to transform, after all.

I get up and look around, using my goggles to see even further. Bingo. I pull out a grappling gun and fire it at the building across from me, swinging off of it and heading towards a sandwich shop a few streets down.

I did try to make little hidden blade like grappling hooks on each of my forearms, but it didn't work out. What with the blades being sharp enough to scratch up my exposed forearms every time I shoot them out. When Mom saw those scratches, she nearly had a heart attack. Man, that was a bitch to explain. Then again, I did make those things in my human form, maybe if I transformed into my smarter forms I could do it. New project. But the Silver Bolt Project is still top priority.

I eventually arrive at the sandwich shop and wait in line as a few people freak out and ask to take pictures with me. I oblige, of course. Eventually I get my sandwich and leave the store, hopping on top of another building and lowering the center of my mask to eat it. During that time, I get a text message

Zatanna: What's the name of your evil clone and why that name? Was it Albedo?

I snort at that.

Me: His name's Pyrrhic, after a pyrrhic victory. He chose it 'cause he wants to beat me, no matter what it takes.

Zatanna: Thanks!

And the messages stop. Wonder what that was about.

That's another thing, too. Most of my enemies have the same names as their counterparts in the Ben 10 series, but for some reason Albedo's known as Pyrrhic. Also, his Omnitrix is blue, the opposite to orange on the color wheel.

Kind of funny, actually. When he first came along, I was wrongfully arrested for his actions by the military. Reminded me of Sonic Adventure 2, actually. Why did Zatanna need that information anyway? I pull out my phone.

Me: Why?

I finish the second half of my sandwich by the time she replies.

Zatanna: It's a pretty slow day today, so some of us are playing a trivia game on the Watchtower about superheroes and supervillains. I may have cheated. ;)

Me: How evil of you. I'll leave you to your game.

I get up and look around. It's pretty slow down here as well. Maybe I can go home, get some rest, and check up on my gear.

"Excuse me! Mr. Triumph, sir!"

Or not.

I jump down and land in front of two people, a man and a woman both wearing business attire. "Yeah, what's up?"

The woman is the first to recover and shakily offers her hand. "Uh, hi. My name's Hailey Summers, this is my associate, Matthew North," I shake hands with him.

Wait a minute, I went to high school with these two! Huh, small world.

"How can I help you?" I ask.

"We work with Seattle Public Schools," Hailey answers. "And our boss was wondering if you could make a quick video with us."

I tilt my head. "What kind of video?"

"Something to help the students of our schools," Matthew answers. "If you come with us, we can take you to get it recorded."

"What the hell, I got nothing else to do. Lead the way," I follow the two to a car and the three of us drive off. But I keep my guard up; never know when people you went to high school with join some weird cult that wants to drain your blood to summon their god.

It's happened once. Wasn't fun.


An hour later and I'm in a studio, and so far no one's trying to sacrifice me. That's good. I'm given a script and in front of me I see a green screen in front of a lone chair. I look down and memorize the script.

Why does it seem so familiar?

"Okay people!" The director shouts. "Let's get in our places!"

I walk over, standing just beyond the view of the camera focusing on the green screen. "Lights, camera…action!"

A few seconds later I walk over and grab the chair, turning it around and sitting down, my arms resting on the edge of it. "So, you've got detention-"

Oh, dear God. I'm doing the Captain America thing from Homecoming. With a mental sigh I continue.


It's two hours later when we finally finish. And it isn't one video, instead it was multiple videos, all about random topics that let teachers avoid talking to their students about things like patience and why you shouldn't bully people.

Does Superman do this stuff? I can't him, he'd probably find out about this, and I really don't want everyone on the League finding out about this. Especially Wally, Victor, and Dick. I'd never hear the end of it from them. God, if Zatanna found out she'd constantly make fun of me. Yeah, no one's going to know.

I get a check from the director and head towards the bank, hoping to deposit it to a charity. Once there I wait at the end of the surprisingly long line. I mentally groan and pull out my phone. May as well play Dokkan Battle or something.

After a few minutes, the person in front of me walks over to the bank teller, and from the corner of my eyes I notice a gun in the back of his pants. Really? He's gonna rob a bank with me right here?

He pulls out the gun and aims it at the bored teller. "Give me all the money!"

The teller just blinks and points behind him.

He turns around to see me standing right behind him. "Hey."

Catching even me by surprise, the wannabe robber shoots the gun at my chest. The bullet collides with my armor and falls down. I lash out and grab the arm with the gun, I then grab his other arm and twist them behind him. "Someone call the cops, please," I drawl.

"Already on their way," the teller replies. He then smiles. "Another charity?"

With one hand I pull out the check and give it to him. "Another charity."

After bank things are done, I walk outside with the wannabe robber, the two of us find cops waiting for him. After he's arrested, they drive away, leaving me in the parking lot. Man, today's a slow day, isn't it?

I dial through the Omnitrix and slam it down, transforming into Jetray. I then take flight above Seattle, finding nothing that needs my attention. I look over at the sun to find it setting. Hm, if I've got nothing else to do, I may as well see if Zatara's home, maybe we can talk about the Charms of Bezel.


Shadowcrest, Gotham

A few minutes of flying later and I'm at Shadowcrest. I land and take a few steps forward, but then I stop as I remember something important.

Don't they have spells for people arriving unannounced?

And now I'm in Antarctica.

I just blinked and *POOF* I'm in the south pole. Should've seen it coming.

I take flight and land just outside of Shadowcrest a few minutes later. I then transform back to normal, dissipating my armor to wear black slip-on vans, black jeans, and a black and orange jacket with a Triumph symbol on the back over a blue shirt with the PlayStation buttons on it. I then wait at the gates.

I don't wait long; I find a smirking Zatara walking towards me. He's wearing a flannel shirt and pajama pants. "You forgot about the wards, didn't you?"

I nod. "I forgot about the wards. Can I come in?"

"Sey," Zatara says.

The air changes in a way that feels safer. To the average person they wouldn't notice the difference, but thanks to my time with them and ability to sense magic I am fully aware of the ward temporarily dropping.

Zatara and I then walk together to the doors of Shadowcrest. He throws an arm over my shoulder. "To what do I owe this visit?"

"I was wondering if you had anything on the Charm of Resurrection or the Keystone," I answer.

Zatara sighs and shakes his head. "The Keystone hasn't been seen yet, even with Batman's assistance. But I was able to find the Charm of Resurrection in the Alps yesterday on my mission."

I lean forward in excitement, but then his words sink in. "But you weren't able to get it."

He shakes his head. "There was an avalanche, the Charm was taken with the snow."

"Dammit," I sigh as Zatara leads me to a living room. He then goes to make some tea for the both of us.

I look at the fire burning in the fireplace, getting lost in the flicker of flames and the crackling of the wood.

Hex hasn't been seen in what, two years now? Necro's out there with four of the Charms of Bezel and the Books of Magic, working with the Cult of the Cold Flame, possibly the Forever Knights as well. And I still have no idea how I got here. Maybe Professor Paradox brought me here. Agh, I know if I try to call for him I won't get an answer, it's already happened before. Will I ever meet him? Or have I already? Time travel's confusing.

"Here, some tea to calm you down," Zatara says as he places a cup of tea down on the table in front of me. He then sits on the other end and the two of us sit in silence as we drink some tea. "Esmeralda's doing well in her training."

I smile proudly. "Of course she is, us Mercers don't half-ass anything."

"No you do not," Zatara agrees. "I think she's ready to learn some more Advanced spells soon."

"How's she doing with the ones you've already taught her?" I ask.

"She's doing well," he answers. "Though, even with her near limitless pool of energy they do seem to sap her strength. Which leads to another problem: she uses too much energy."

I lean forward and put my cup down. "What do you mean?"

"Advanced spells are advanced for a reason, the power needed to use them are astronomical, second only to Master spells. But she uses far too much energy. It's dangerous," Zatara tells me.

"Is there a way to fix this?" I ask.

"Yes, but I'm not sure if I can. Her form of magic is slightly different from mine and Zatanna's, I don't entirely understand it," he admits.

I sigh and rest my arms on my knees, my hands folded together. Now we really need to find my grandmother, wherever she is.

"Daddy! I'm home!" Zatanna shouts.

Zatanna walks over to the living room and looks at me in surprise before smiling. "Eric, hey!"

"Hey," I reply with a wave. "How was the game?"

"My team ended up losing," Zatanna admits with a huff after she kisses her dad on the cheek and lies down on the couch between us.

I look at her with a smirk. "Really? Even after you used me to cheat?"

"Eric, shut up," Zatanna says with a playful glare.

"What did I say about cheating, Zatanna?" Zatara says with an exasperated groan.

"Make sure you're never caught," Zatanna says with a cheeky smirk. "So, what're you two talking about?"

Zatara and I become more serious. "The Charms of Bezel," I answer.

Zatanna's carefree look becomes a snarl as she glares at the flames, her eyes momentarily flickering a whitish-blue. "I'm gonna go to my garden," she gets up and leaves.

Once Zatanna leaves, Zatara gets up and grabs our cups, heading to the kitchen to clean them himself. Years ago, I asked him why he didn't use magic to clean up, but he had answered that using magic for everything's a sign of laziness.

"She's been angry, lately. Well, angrier," he corrects. "Why?"

"Well, Constantine did break up with her yesterday," I answer.

"Truly? Keep this between us, but that does my heart good," Zatara admits.

"Yeah, same here," I agree.

"Have you talked to her about it?" He asks.

"Yeah, we talked about it after I came back from the League mission. We fought Overlord and Ssserpent after. She needed the stress relief," I answer. I then notice his smirk. I don't like it. "What?"

"You could be there for her," he says.

My thoughts go to our conversation last night. She said she needed time. It could be for a second chance, but I can't be too certain. Best not to get your hopes up, Eric, won't be disappointed if nothing comes out of it.

I look at Zatara and shake my head. "I am, but not like that. Besides, I'm not a rebound," my phone vibrates; I pull it out to see Esmeralda calling me. "Yeah?"

"Eric! I may have found something about the Keystone of Bezel! Hurry over to Mom and Dad's house!" Esmeralda quickly says before ending the call.

I look at my phone before slowly putting it away. "Esmeralda?" Zatara wonders.

"Esmeralda," I echo with a nod. "I'm gonna go. Thanks for having me over."

"Of course, but remember to say bye to Zatanna," he advises.

I nod and head out through the backdoor to find Zatanna watering a plant in her garden. Surprisingly enough, it's the plant I gave her as Wildvine, the Swampfire plant next to it, recently watered. Like Diamondhead and Chromastone, if I were to transform from Wildvine or Swampfire the plants would usually degrade into nothing, but if I put in enough effort, they stay alive, and if they're given care they can last longer.

Zatanna turns around once she hears me coming. "Eric, hey."

I crouch down next to her. "Hey," the two of us silently watch as she continues to water the plants. "Esmeralda called; said she might have something on the Keystone of Bezel. I just wanted to say bye."

"Okay," Zatanna whispers as we both stand up. "Tell me what you find, all right?"

"Of course," I then pull her into a quick hug. "Actually, could you teleport me to my parents' place?"

Zatanna playfully rolls her eyes. "cirE ot sih 'stnerap emoh."


I open my eyes to find myself at Mom and Dad's house, in the living room, to be exact. "Eric, hey," Mom greets tiredly.

"Hey. Where's Esmeralda? She called for something important," I ask.

Dad points upstairs. "She's in her room."

I nod and head upstairs towards her room. On the way I pause at the door that used to be my room. I open it to see it looks rather spartan now, looks like they turned it into a guest room. Man, I have a lot of memories with this room.

Esmeralda pokes her head out of her room. "Eric! Come see this!" She grabs my arm and pulls me into her room.

"Okay, so, the Charms of Bezel, right?" She begins, opening her book on magic items and another on spells. "All have their own special energy signature. All the same, but slightly different, to differentiate them, you know?"

I immediately catch on. "So we need to find the Charm of Resurrection and you could track the Keystone?"

Esmeralda smiles and nods. "Exactly."

"Good idea, one problem: how do we know the Cult of the Cold Flame hasn't thought of the same thing," I point out.

"It's entirely possible they have," she admits. "But they don't have the Charm of Resurrection, otherwise we'd know, wouldn't we?" She points at the Keystone. "And considering how powerful this thing is, I'm pretty sure we'd feel if it were found."

I study the pages as Esmeralda's plan goes through my head.

It's a really solid plan. We just need to find the Charm of Resurrection and we'll be good. Problem is, Necro and the Cult have most of the Charms, and if things continue going the way they already are they'll more than likely get the Charm of Resurrection. But I do love messing with the natural order of things. Hm, idea.

"Can you use this to track people?" I ask.

Esmeralda nods. "If I'm gonna use a spell like this I'd need something that belongs to them, otherwise I can't find them. Who do you want me to track?"

"Someone hunting down the Charms as well as the Books of Magic," I answer. "I'll see if I can't get something of his and bring it to you," I then look at the time to see it's getting rather late. "You should go to bed, you got school tomorrow."

Esmeralda yawns before pulling me into a hug. "See you."

"See you," I reply. "Thanks for the plan."

I walk back downstairs to find Dad sitting on the couch, Mom falling asleep next to him. "What was that about?" He asks.

I sit down on the other couch, resting my feet on the coffee table. "There're these things called the Charms of Bezel; we're looking for them before some other less than savory people do. Esmeralda has a plan to find the most powerful of them."

"Feet off the table…" Mom mumbles as she shifts on the couch.

I smile and comply. "Sorry, Mom," I then look at Dad. "Hey, you know John Stewart, right?"

Dad looks at me surprised. "John? Of course I do! How do you know him?"

"Green Lantern," I simply answer.

Dad looks at the table for a moment before nodding. "Makes sense. How is he?"

"He's good, was injured on a mission recently though," I answer. "If you want I can setup a meeting for the two of you."

Dad nods and stands up, picking up Mom as well. "That'd be great. It's been way to long since I've seen any of my old unit," he then yawns. "I'm going to sleep. Good night, son."

"Good night, Dad. Good night, Mom," I reply as I open the door. Mom mumbles a reply as I exit the home and turn around and lock the door.

I look up at the moon in the sky. It is getting pretty late; I should head home.

I pull out some earbuds from the pouch connected to my lanyard and listen to some music, enjoying the early fall air of Seattle. The walk from my parents' house to mine is about thirty minutes, and I decide to enjoy the walk. Never know when I'll get the chance.

While waiting at a crosswalk my phone vibrates, I pull it out to see Diana calling me. "Hello?" I answer.

"Eric, hello!" Diana greets. "Question: are you doing anything on Sunday?"

I arch a brow as I turn a corner, the fading smell of the morning bread from a family owned bakery still in the air. "Uh, are you asking me out on a date?"

Diana laughs. "No," ouch, that was really blunt. "Clark's birthday is on Sunday, and since you're his new right hand I was wondering if you'd want to come with. Everyone else is gonna be busy."

There's that familiar feeling in the back of my mind. Something important's gonna happen that day, but what? Only one way to find out. "Yeah, I got nothing planned that day."

"All right! I'll be sure to tell Bruce. See you Sunday!" Diana says excitedly. "Oh, and make sure the box for the present is lead-lined."

"Okay. Good night, Diana," I reply.

"Good night, Eric," she then ends the call.

I resume my music and continue the walk home, the familiar feeling of my memories slowly unlocking in the back of my mind. I hate it. My attention's always split between what I'm doing, what I need to look out for, and the memories trying to break out.

But like I said, there's only one way to find out.

I got a birthday party to attend to.


We all know what's coming next, a perfectly normal birthday party where nothing bad happens! Totally. Nothing bad. At all. Perfectly fun birthday party!

After that we'll hit Kid Stuff, a chapter I'm actually pretty excited to write, surprisingly enough. And for the "Hawk and Dove" episode we'll get an original chapter that moves the Necro and Hex plot forward.

Well, that's all from me. If you have any questions or want to leave a constructive review you know where to leave 'em! Remember to stay awesome and see you next time you beautiful people!