Okay, "Ultimatum" is a go! I've been excited for this chapter mainly because I have a really big plan for the Ultimen, one that I've been hoping to implement since I started writing this story.
Hey, so on my account I have a poll about my X-Men story regarding when to post the overhauled chapters—whether in two parts or all at once. And so far, I've got one vote for each. I'd really appreciate it if you could take a few seconds out of your day to vote, that'd be great.
What's that? Two stories updated on the same day!? *Le gasp*! But yeah, I thought I'd give you one more chapter before university starts back up. And with university starting on Monday, updates might slow down, sorry, but I really wanna do good, you know? And also to explain the slow updates: you see, I like to pre-write the chapters, that way I don't feel like I'm racing against time, even though this story doesn't have a schedule. I mean, at this point I have four more chapters to write before the end of season one, but for you, there's eight chapters left. Hope you understand.
Now, to reply to some reviews!
Guest: If I'm being completely honest, I never did like the fusion forms, Skurd even less. I don't know why, was never my thing, really.
Iuizd5433: The Vitruvian Man starts in 2010, and I plan for it to stop at 2019. And I've got two sequels planned for that universe. So, yeah, it's gonna go far.
God of the Challenge: I watched it, and man, it really is interesting. Thanks for showing me the video, I appreciate it!
Raidentensho: Thanks for that. And yeah, Eric will meet Static, and Static will be on the Teen Titans, so in a sense he will be his mentor figure. But that'll be more Cyborg's job if anything.
J.c.R.c: Thank you for the kind words, they really give me that boost of energy that helps me write this story out, and hey, update now! Now, as I wrote earlier, this story doesn't have a schedule, sorry. Part of it is for an experiment, my other two stories are on schedules, and this one isn't, and I just want to see how that affects my ability to write. I'm sorry about any stress I put on you, but know that soon some chapters will have scheduled updates, you'll see what I mean.
And yes, I have a few sequels planned. The first is an Esmeralda focused spin-off/sequel. The next will be a Justice League Dark story, and then, of course, the Young Justice sequel.
Collinsjr: Thanks for the words of encouragement, they really help. As you can see in the response above, yes, I have plans to expand this universe, and don't worry, this story won't be deleted. This story won't be rated M, but the Justice League Dark sequel might, like how the two animated JLD movies were rated R while the others were PG-13, you know?
Thank you, all of you who reviewed, favorited, and followed this story, I wouldn't be here without you.
Ben 10 Fun Fact 6: Four Arms' transformation sequence was the very first one to be designed.
Well, that's all from me up here, on with the story!
Ultimatum
"The new Bermuda platform is under attack; if it collapses, we're gonna have the worst oil spill in history on our hands," Aquaman says over the comms before sighing. "I've told those idiots to stay out of my ocean."
"ETA is three minutes, Aquaman," Superman says as he and Wonder Woman fly on either side of Silver Bolt in his jet form.
Me and Batman are inside of Silver Bolt as he flies over to the oil rig.
In his ship formhe's a high-tech jet with smooth angles. The main body is silver, with four black wings, two sweeping back and two sweeping forward. There are black designs along the main body and silver designs along the wings.
The interior is mainly black, with orange technological lines running through it, it looks reminiscent to a Galvanic Mechamorph.
"We're right behind you, Superman," I reply.
Silver Bolt flies towards the oil rig. He turns around and opens the bay doors, letting me and Batman out. The two of us leap out to see Aquaman fighting a multitude of humanoid lava monsters.
Aquaman's a man in his mid-thirties with long, blond hair, a beard and ocean blue eyes. He wears green pants with fins on the back of the shins that are open toed. He has a golden bracer over his right arm, and a hook for a left hand, a golden bracer on that one as well. He has a golden belt with his A symbol as the buckle.
"These "geniuses" dug right into the Earth's magma," Aquaman explains. "It never occurred to them that there might be anything living down there."
"What does live down there?" I ask as I dodge an attack from one of the monsters and punch it away into a kick from Wonder Woman.
"Monsters you never even want to hear about," Aquaman vaguely answers.
Batman leaps over and stands with me and Aquaman as the three of us stand with our backs to each other and punch or kick any lava monster close to us away.
I hit the one in front of me with a barrage of punches to the chest before hitting it with an uppercut that sends it flying into laser fire from Silver Bolt's chain guns. "Nice one, SB!" I compliment. I wince as the heat from the barrage of punches makes itself known. "Ah! Hot!"
Aquaman's hook runs through the leg of another and he whips his arm out, sending it flying away. He then looks at me as I kick another one away. "Can't you transform into aliens?"
"Yeah," I nod.
"Then why not do that?" He asks.
"I don't fight monsters in my normal form a lot, it's fun," I answer as I jump up and punch another one in the top of the head. I wince and shake my hand. "Though maybe lava monsters aren't the best to fight normal. Good thing this breeze helps."
Batman's head perks up. "This breeze picked up a little too quick, didn't it?"
Wonder Woman and Superman join us as the five of us now stand in a circle.
I dial through the Omnitrix. "May as well use this to my- incoming," I suddenly announce.
A powerful gust of wind throws many of the creatures into the air.
"Not to worry fellow heroes!" We look up to see a young Asian man, probably around my age, fly down, four others with him.
The Asian guy wears mainly white and red armor, with black and green designs here and there. The African American next to him wears lack, blue, and yellow armor with some massive sunglasses over his eyes. The Native American has long black hair and wears a sleeveless orange, yellow, and brown suit with some tan and blue designs. The last two are twins, both pale white with white hair and red eyes and have elf-like ears. They wear purple and black armor.
"Not them again," Aquaman groans.
"Oh, great, it's the real-life New Warriors. Let's hope they don't mess it all up," I dryly mutter.
The pause in combat ends when the lava monsters resume their attack. So, we fight back.
As we fight, I notice Superman get trapped by a lava monster puking molten rock on him, it quickly cools and traps him in place.
"Now, is that nice?" Wind Dragon says arrogantly, bringing the attention of some of the monsters to him and Juice. The electrokinetic puts his hand on the wall, electrocuting the monsters and taking them out.
"You know, Juice, Superman was my hero when I was a lad; it's not his fault he's getting old," Wind Dragon laughs.
Superman grits his teeth and I swear I see a vein bulge as he flexes his muscles and destroys the rock around him easily. "Old!?"
"Old but spry, sir, old but spry," Wind Dragon apologizes.
As we fight the lava monsters, the Ultimen split off and we each find one of them fighting with us.
Superman has Wind Dragon, Wonder Woman fights with Long Shadow, Batman's stuck with Juice. Aquaman and I are the only ones without partners, as Downpour and Shifter watch from the railing.
Wonder Woman flies forward and knocks a small group of the monsters off the platform as Long Shadow wrestles two to the edge.
"It's…agh…it's a real honor to be working with you, Wonder Woman," Long Shadow manages to say. He totally has a crush.
"Shall we lend them a hand, sister?" I hear Downpour ask as I kick one of the monsters into two others.
"Of course, brother," Shifter replies. "Would you help Wonder Woman and our teammate, while I help Triumph?"
Downpour rolls his eyes. "You so have a crush on him," he then leaps off the railing. "River!" He shouts. His body then shifts into a massive body of water and washes away a dozen of the lava monsters.
Shifter grumbles something before leaping down next to me and standing with me as I punch another monster away. "Hi!" She greets cheerfully.
I duck under a punch and grab the monster by the arm and toss it aside. "Yo."
Shifter weaves through attacks and gets in hits as I continue to punch, kick, or headbutt the monsters away using my enhanced strength.
Eventually, Shifter breaks the silence. "Sooo…why don't you transform?"
"Don't need to," I jump over a creature and kick it in the back of the head, sending it flying off the platform. "Besides, I don't fight enough in my normal form, something I wanna rectify."
"Right, right," Shifter nods.
The creatures temporarily stop attacking us, all so they can surround us with large numbers. Shifter leans to me and holds her hand over her mouth in a stage whisper. "So, shapeshift now?"
I sigh and dial through the Omnitrix. "Shapeshift now," I eventually find my target form and slam the dial down, becoming my Glacian form, Shivos.
Like my other humanoid forms, I look a lot like I normally do, though my skin's a pale blue, my hair is white, and my ears become elf-like. I wear black pants with open-toed boots and a black jacket with orange shoulders and sides and white trim around the sleeves. The jacket stops just below my knees, and the trim is white as well. The Omnitrix crest is on my left pectoral.
"What can this guy do?" Shifter asks.
"Watch and find out," I reply.
The monsters charge us. I lift up and arm and snap my fingers, birds made out of ice appear around me and fly at the lava monsters. The collision hardens the lava for much of the monsters, taking them out of the fight.
"Triceratops!" Shifter shouts.
She becomes the dinosaur and runs into the lava monsters, shattering them. She then skids to a stop and turns around. "Tiger!" She then becomes the big cat and swipes at another.
As she does that, I hold my hands together, like I'm holding a sword, and then an ice blade appears in my hands. I then swing it and cut a few monsters in half with a wide arc.
The albino tiger bounds next to me and shifts back to normal. "This is fun! We should do something like this again! You busy Saturday?"
Did she just ask me out? While we're surrounded by lava monsters? Huh, I'll give her props for that. "Yeah, me and my girlfriend are going to a party. Well, she's dragging me along, but Saturday's kinda packed for me."
Shifter looks disappointed. "…Oh, okay. Well, if you ever wanna fight some goons together, you know how to reach me!"
"I actually don't," I say as I stomp on the ground, an ice battering ram appears from the ground and knocks more lava monsters overboard. "How many of these things are there?" Wait, is that…? "Hey, do you hear water?"
Shifter looks behind us and she facepalms. "Dammit."
I turn around to see her brother had transformed into a tidal wave. And the water's rushing to us. Lovely.
I create an ice pillar below me that takes me above the water as Shifter becomes an eagle and flies up next to me.
"He does know there's a time and place to become tidal waves, right?" I ask.
"He's just trying to help," she defends.
"Which is cool and all, but as a shapeshifter you should know what forms to use for the right time," I say. I then hum as the water begins to die down. "Hey, what happens if you separate him when he's water and he shifts back?"
Shifter's eyes shine in amusement. "Mini-Downpours. It's fun to mess with them."
I let out a quick laugh before looking around. "All right, enough break time, let's get back on it."
"Right," Shifter swoops down and assists, Juice, Long Shadow, and Wonder Woman.
"Silver Bolt! I need a ride!" I shout.
My android-turned-jet flies down next to me. "Ride given."
I hop on him and he flies out, giving me a vantage point on the oil rig. I notice Batman and Aquaman talking, the two slowly being surrounded. "SB, Batman and Aquaman," Silver Bolt flies over to the two and his guns whir to life before shooting at the lava creatures.
I clap my hands together before spreading them out, ice arrows rain down on the lava monsters and get them in legs, arms, chest, anywhere on their bodies, really.
Though, the lava monsters grow in numbers, so Silver Bolt moves in slowly to pick the two up, but before he can, Wind Dragon flies in.
"Don't despair old chums!" He shouts. Wind Dragon then hits the oil rig with an incredibly powerful gust of wind, one that forces Silver Bolt to fly back as he fights to keep control. As I cover my face with my arms, I notice the others fight to stay sturdy, Long Shadow helps by growing in size and protecting Wonder Woman and Shifter.
Then things get weird.
Instead of being blown away, the lava monsters all freeze over. Eventually their all frozen solid, ending the conflict.
The winds eventually die down, and the Ultimen gather around their leader.
"I didn't know you could do that," Long Shadow says.
"Neither did I," Wind Dragon whispers.
A few different news crews arrive, and the Ultimen take center stage, which we're all more than happy to give them. Though I (and the others, from the looks on their faces) begin to regret it as Wind Dragon has a pompous speech about preserving the planet. Which we're all for, but the way he's saying it annoys us. If anything, he sounds more like a commercial then being serious about it.
"He's certainly…earnest," Aquaman says.
"I think the word is "corny"," Superman mutters.
"How about a pain in the ass?" I suggest. "Ow!"
Wonder Woman elbows me in the side before walking over to the Ultimen. "Our paths keep crossing and our goals are very much the same; isn't it time you accepted our offer?" God, no, please.
For some reason, the League's offered membership to the Ultimen countless times, but each one's rejected. Hell, Green Arrow accepted after the fifth request, but that was after the whole Chong-Mai deal.
"All right!" Long Shadow shouts in excitement. He seems to be the only excited one.
Wind Dragon holds up a hand to stop him. "We're truly flattered, Wonder Woman; but we're simply not ready."
"I think they aren't ready for you!"
Of all the places to run into this jerkoff.
One of the news crews belongs to Harangue Nation, and for some reason Will Harangue himself is here. He's a man in his late forties with brown hair that's graying at the temples. He wears glasses and a dark blue suit with a red tie and a white dress shirt.
"(Universe why…)" I whimper.
"Who's this guy?" Aquaman whispers to me.
"Will Harangue. He runs a news station hell bent on slandering my name. Racist to aliens too," I answer.
Superman folds his arms and glares at him. "I don't like him. He's talked about my son a few times. No good words were said."
Wind Dragon steps forward and stops anything from escalating, which I'm silently thankful for. "I appreciate the compliment, but why don't you ask when we feel we've earned it? After all, we must earn things ourselves first."
The Ultimen and the news crews then go to leave, but not before Harangue glares at me. I just flip him off in response.
Long Shadow tries to talk to Wonder Woman but keeps stuttering, so Juice pulls him away. As we head towards Silver Bolt, I notice Shifter wave at me, so I wave back. I notice her face turn pink before Downpour whispers something in her ear, her face becomes pinker and she punches her brother in the arm.
Oh, Zatanna's gonna have a field day about this.
Watchtower
I groan in annoyance as Maxwell Lord insults the League on television with Will Harangue on Harangue Nation. Though it makes me wonder, how the hell did Harangue get there so fast?
"I can't listen to any more of this," Superman says as he turns off the TV. "Those two drip more oil than that platform ever could."
"Humans aren't capable of creating oil necessary for power, are they?" Silver Bolt asks as he sits on the table cross-legged next to me.
"No, it's a saying, SB," I say with a smirk.
"Understood," Silver Bolt's eyes flicker orange, which tells me he's adding this to his logs.
"He has the gall to take cheap shots at us," Aquaman grumbles.
"I know Maxwell Lord," Batman announces. "And all he cares about is money."
"Well, it takes money to do what we do. After all, not all of us are independently wealthy," Wonder Woman argues.
Batman isn't convinced though. "Lord's a walking ego who will do anything for a buck and some free publicity. If he's involved, is isn't about helping people."
"At least the Ultimen aren't as bad," I say as I rest my head in my palm. Everything goes silent. I look around to see the others, even Silver Bolt giving me a weird look. "Okay, Long Shadow and Shifter aren't so bad, the other three are though."
Wonder Woman smiles and nods. "They do seem to be a nice bunch of kids."
Ultimen HQ
The Ultimen sit around in their expensive, penthouse headquarters, surrounded by money and their merchandise. Juice is currently watching TV, Wind Dragon's on the phone with his girlfriend of the week, the twins are playing an intense game of poker, and Long Shadow leans on a wall, brooding.
"So last night," Downpour says. "Inside Celebrity did a whole segment on Wind Dragon and Mr. Swelled Head here doesn't even mention the rest of us!"
Shifter looks at her cards and smiles before showing four aces, winning the game, she then drags the enormous pile of cash to her side of the table.
Downpour scowls at her before looking at Wind Dragon. "When do I get to be team leader?"
"When your teeth sparkle like mine," Wind Dragon says as he hangs up. He then flashes a grin, and Downpour swears he sees a literal sparkle in Wind Dragon's teeth.
"What I want to know is why I can't get a conversation with Triumph!" Shifter shouts.
"Oh, yeah, "a conversation", suuure," Juice smirks.
Shifter blushes before glaring at him. "Yes! A conversation!"
"Why are you so hung up on him anyways? For all we know he could be butt-ugly, he's always wearing that mask of his," Downpour suggests with a frown.
"Come on, bro, someone with that body can't be ugly," Shifter's eyes widen as she blushes furiously and slams her face on the table.
Juice and Wind Dragon laugh at her expense while Downpour grumbles under his breath.
"Well, you all sound like you're having fun," the Ultimen look to see Maxwell Lord entering the room. "But come on, why would you wanna be associated with those has-beens? Your faces are on the walls of every twelve-year-old in America!"
"Well, I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm sick of being a teen idol; there's more to me than just a pretty face!" Downpour says, he then glares at his snickering sister. "Bet I'm better looking than Triumph."
Shifter gasps before reaching out and slapping his shoulder. "You take that back!"
"Oh, did I forget to give you the royalty check for the new water-spouting Downpour action figure?" Lord hands over the check. Downpour's eyes widen at the number of zeros. "And that's just domestic."
Long Shadow finally stops brooding and gets up from the wall. "What I want to know is-"
"Why can't we join the Justice League," the Ultimen finish.
"Hey, it's all right, I used to think like that," Wind Dragon says.
"Used to? What changed?" Long Shadow asks.
Wind Dragon shrugs. "I don't know. Guess I just started wanting stuff."
A ringing is then heard. The Ultimen look to see that it's coming from Lord's phone. He looks at the caller ID before marching out of the room. The heroes look at each other and shrug, nothing out of the ordinary regarding his phone calls.
In the next room over, Lord argues with the person at the other end of the phone. "Yes, but… Just because Wind Dragon has a new power, we… Yes, I know, but…but…" he sighs. "I'll check it out ma'am; I'll have them all checked out."
"A break would be nice. Just a day, hell, I'd be fine with an afternoon off. Is that too much to ask?" I groan as Giganta's foot stomps down on me.
I sigh as she lifts her foot up, which lets me return to my Thep Khufan form, Tutankhufos.
My body's mainly made out of what looks like worn-out cloth, I have black and orange bracers and greaves with silver trim on them and a black shendyt with silver trim. I have a black and orange headdress with gaps for my orange eyes and a silver crown-like spikes around my eyes. I have a large, black, and orange cover around my chest that's connected to two shoulder pads with orange eye-like designs on them. I have an orange and white belt, the Omnitrix crest in the center of the belt.
"Come on, Giganta," Wonder Woman says. "How long are you gonna be Grodd's errand-girl?"
"As long as he needs me," Giganta replies.
Right now, she's a massive, redhaired, blue-eyed woman wearing an orange dress that stops at her thighs with one strap over her left shoulder and some golden jewelry.
Currently, she's trying to break out Gorilla Grodd, her boyfriend who happens to be a super-intelligent gorilla. And she's a metahuman. Villains get into some freaky stuff, I guess.
"I took you apart before," Wonder Woman warns. "Why go through it again?"
"There's a joke there, but I think you'd literally knock my head off if I said it," I whisper.
"Doesn't matter," Giganta smiles. "This time, I've got help."
A red and blue blur slams into Wonder Woman and flies to the ground. "Bizarro here to save the day!" Bizarro sings.
He looks like Clark, though he has chalk-white skin and cracks along it, his hair's wild yet he still has the curl. His suit also looks like Clark's, but the colors are muted, and the House of El crest is backwards.
I quickly open up my chest as a laser bolt flies through it.
"Well, that's not fair," Fistrick complains.
I turn around to face a Hispanic man wearing orange pants, black leg braces and boots with metallic tips and black spikes sticking out of them. He wears a black, sleeveless shirt with a white skull with a red surrounding in the center and has arm braces and wristbands, his hands are covered in bandages. He has black and white paint that reminds me of a luchador mask on his face, the white is in the design of a skull, he has purple tattoos all over his body and an orange mohawk.
"Seriously? Fistrick? Not exactly going for quality, are you, Giganta?" I bring my fists up. "Come on, let's fight."
Fistrick smirks and powers up his gun. Out of the corner of my eye, I notice Wonder Woman holding off Giganta and Bizarro, but I'm not sure if she'll last long, so I've gotta be quick about this.
As I run to Fistrick, I unravel my body and shoot at him as a collection of bandages. He manages to shoot parts of me, but it doesn't matter, I still wrap around his arms and legs and toss him back into a nearby light pole, the gun skids away.
I reform and stand over him. "Why are you here, Fistrick?"
"Hey, when a babe wants my help, I provide. You understand, right? I mean, why else would you be here with Wonder Woman? Come on, bro, tell me your secret!" He says excitedly.
I sigh and facepalm. "We're just friends."
Fistrick smirks, unconvinced. "Uh-huh. "frieeends"," he wiggles his eyebrows.
I just give him a deadpanned stare. "I'm gonna knock you out now."
Fistrick quickly jumps up and kicks my chest with both feet, a bolt of lightning shoots through me and sends me flying back, my chest smoking as there's a new hole there. He's more athletic compared to last time.
I see him come flying down, both feet ready to stomp as I see lightning arc across the soles of his boots. I quickly unravel and wrap around his legs before spinning around and slamming him into the ground, knocking him out.
"One down, two to go," I comment before running back to assist Wonder Woman.
I come back to see Wonder Woman and Bizarro still fighting, Giganta uses that to head towards Grodd's cell. The giant woman stops as someone stands in her way, I look to see it's Long Shadow, and then the memories hit me.
Oh, man, these guys aren't gonna have a good few days.
"Out of the way, tiny," Giganta sneers.
Instead of replying, Long Shadow grows in size, eventually towering over Giganta. Hm, wonder how tall he is compared to Tyrantosaur.
"Oh, poop," Giganta says just before Long Shadow punches her in the face.
She falls over and I quickly unravel to move out of the way as her head ends up where I just was. Once she falls, I slap the Omnitrix crest and become my Loboan form, Fenris.
I'm a large werewolf with pitch-black fur and a navy-blue mane and tail with four claws and two front toes and a back toe. I wear a suit; the bottom half is orange shorts with a white trim and the top half is a sleeveless orange shirt with black designs going down my left and right and white straps. I have orange wrist bands and an orange collar. The Omnitrix crest is in the center of the collar.
I run over next to Giganta's ear and my maw splits open into four parts, revealing the orange interior of my mouth. I take a deep breath before releasing my sonic howl pointblank in her ear. She cries out in pain before getting knocked unconscious, slowly shrinking back to her normal size, which happens to be really tall for a lady.
Wait, wasn't she originally a gorilla that was transformed into a human?
I'll ask Diana about that later.
Long Shadow, also in his normal size, walks up next to me as we both look down at Giganta. "That was awesome."
"Thanks," I then look up to see Wonder Woman flying around Bizarro, giving the mirror Kryptonian a hard time. "Let's help WW."
Long Shadow looks at me with an arched brow. "Does she need it?"
"No. But it's fun knocking bad guys around, especially ones as resilient as Bizarro," I smirk before running on all fours.
Long Shadow runs with me and grows the entire way there.
As we near, we can hear Wonder Woman's conversation with Bizarro. "Can't you see that Giganta is just using you?" She asks.
Bizarro slams her into the side of one of the buildings and walks up to her as she regains her bearings. "Me do anything for woman I love!" He declares as he raises his fists. "Even break her boyfriend out of jail!"
"Man, villains are into some weird stuff," Long Shadow comments.
"I thought the same thing," I reply.
"What's going to happen to you then?" Wonder Woman asks.
Bizarro hesitates as he thinks it through. To add to that, I shout, "Fistrick thought the same thing! And now he's knocked out and about to go to jail!"
Bizarro turns to look at me and Long Shadow, which lets Wonder Woman hit him with an uppercut. Long Shadow then follows by punching Bizarro down to the ground. I then run to the crater and hit him with a sonic howl, knocking the mirror Kryptonian out.
The three of us look down at Bizarro as the guards come out and begin to restore order. Wonder Woman smiles as she puts her hands on either of our shoulders. "Good job, you two," she compliments. Long Shadow blushes a little and smiles in thanks while I give her a thumbs up.
After helping restore order to the prison and getting Giganta, Bizarro, and Fistrick arrested, the three of us stand on a hill overlooking the prison, I'm still in my Fenris form. As we hang out, Long Shadow tells us his origin story. Or the one implanted in his head.
"Believe it or not, when I was born, I was small and sickly. Luckily, my parents were scientists; they were experimenting with growth hormones. I guess the experiments were a success," he laughs.
"Where are your parents now?" Wonder Woman asks.
Long Shadow's smile turns into a frown as he looks down to the ground. "Mom…passed away. Dad's retired. Do you two really think I could make it in the League?" He changes the subject.
"You, no problem. Shifter, maybe. The others, I don't think so," I answer. Wonder Woman elbows my side. "Ow! Hey! I'm telling the truth! Isn't that your whole thing?"
"Ignore Triumph, sometimes he doesn't know when to keep his mouth shut," Wonder Woman says.
"Yeah, I'd say Giganta and Bizarro know about that," Long Shadow and Wonder Woman share a laugh at the joke.
"But yes, I do think you're ready," Wonder Woman says after she stops laughing.
Even with our answers, Long Shadow still looks uncertain. "But I guess… I guess I owe it to the Ultimen to-" His phone interrupts him. "Sorry," he picks up the phone. "Hello?... Okay, right away. I've got to go."
We nod as Long Shadow walks back to the Ultimen HQ, which has to be really close now that I think about it.
As we watch him walk away, Wonder Woman turns to me with a smirk. "I thought you were tougher than that. I mean, "Ow!" Come on, what happened to your superhuman durability?"
I glare at her. "You're stronger than me, Di, what do you expect?"
"Definitely didn't expect you to whine."
My eyes widen at that. "I'm not whining!"
"Uh-huh, sure," Wonder Woman laughs and shakes her head. "Watchtower, Fenris and I are ready for teleport."
I grumble as we're teleported up to the Watchtower.
I'm not whining.
After Long Shadow arrived at the headquarters, he and the other Ultimen were taken to a nearby building and taken to the medical ward. No one knew why they were there or where they are exactly, so the young heroes are currently bored out of their minds.
"How long are they gonna keep us here?" Shifter asks.
"What's the hurry, sis? Gotta get home to wax your moustache for Triumph?" Downpour snarks. Juice laughs while Shifter fumes.
"Well, I for one, have a date," Wind Dragon says. None of them are surprised, Wind Dragon seems to have a date every other day. Deep down, Downpour's kind of jealous, though he won't admit that to anyone.
Unbeknownst to them, Professor Hamilton and Maxwell Lord are observing the team.
"It's worse than we thought," Hamilton says as he leads Lord to a nearby computer. It shows scans of the Ultimen's bodies, which flies over Lord's head. "The Ultimen's genetic code is breaking down. Wind Dragon in particular is showing rapid signs of degradation, but they're all in early stages of failure."
"How long?" Lord whispers.
"A few months or a few days," Hamilton answers in a somber tone. "And the process will be painful. We should do everything we can to help them."
"That's not our priority," the two look to see a stout, African American woman with a very serious air about her walks into the room. She wears a blue suit with a matching blue skirt and a light blue shirt under her blazer. Her hair is cut short and her eyes seem to pin the two down in place.
"But Mrs. Waller," Lord argues. "I really think that we-"
"Since when did your opinion count, Lord?" Amanda Waller interrupts, which makes the man seem to shrink. She then turns to Hamilton. "How fast can you get the second team up and running?"
As the Ultimen continue to bicker, Long Shadow focuses his hearing. Like Wind Dragon, Long Shadow gained another power, the ability of superhuman senses, they aren't on par with Kryptonians, but he's still able to hear through most walls. Unlike Wind Dragon, he's kept this power a secret, which works for him now.
Maxwell Lord enters the room with a false jovial air. "Great news, troops, Dragon's new power is nothing to be concerned about. But just to be safe, Professor Hamilton wants to keep you overnight for observation."
The Ultimen groan and begin to protest, but Long Shadow raises a hand and cuts them off. "No problem, Max; we'll be happy to stay."
The other Ultimen were going to argue, but a look from Long Shadow stops them.
A few hours later, the Ultimen find themselves in an assigned room, a movie plays on the TV, but none of them are paying attention, they're all waiting for Long Shadow's signal. He then nods at Juice, which leads to the electrokinetic shorting out the surveillance system. Without any form of observation on them, Shifter transforms into a gorilla and breaks down the door.
As the Ultimen run down the hallway, two guards try to stop them, but they're literally swept away by Wind Dragon, which lets the Ultimen continue unhindered.
"What exactly are we looking for?" Shifter asks as they run.
"We'll know when we find it," Long Shadow replies.
After searching through many rooms, the Ultimen enter what looks to be a lab filled with cages. Shifter stands close to one before leaping back when her head is almost bitten off by a giant, mutant dog.
"What the hell!?" She shouts.
Something catches Wind Dragon's attention. "Over there."
The Ultimen head to the back of the room to find five large tubes, inside of them are another set of Ultimen. A feeling of shock, anger, and despair shoots through all five of them as they look at their clones. Shifter weeps into Downpour's chest as her brother holds her tight.
A few hours later, Hamilton and Lord examine the clones for any sign of tampering after learning of the Ultimen's escape.
"The clones are unharmed," Hamilton announces as Waller enters the room.
"Security can't find a trace of our Ultimen," she says as she walks up to Lord. "But I want you to find them, Mr. Lord, and bring them back."
Lord shakes his head. "They're not going to trust me, or anyone else. Not after…"
"Bring them back," Waller snaps. "Or I'm calling in the squad to put them down," she turns to Hamilton. "I want this laboratory dismantled and relocated; no loose ends," she then storms out of the room.
Maxwell Lord walks to his car, thoroughly disgusted with himself; he hated what his grief had gotten him into. It doesn't sit right with him to bring in people he genuinely likes to be executed.
As he mulls over his problem, Lord fails to notice the breeze increasing until the papers in his hand are knocked out of his hands by a powerful gust of wind. He is lifted by a small tornado and dropped on the roof of a nearby building. He shakes his head and looks up to see the Ultimen now surrounding him. None of them happy.
"You lied to us, Max," Wind Dragon says with an eerily calm voice.
"I was only trying to protect you from people who don't have your best interest at heart, and I won't rest until-" Lord's gotten so good at lying over the decades he doesn't even actively do it anymore.
"Spare us the performance!" Wind Dragon shouts before nodding to the twins.
"Water!" Downpour shouts.
"Lion!" Shifter yells.
Downpour envelops Lord in a bubble of water, and while the millionaire holds his breath, the pale white lion circles him like a predator watching prey.
"What's it going to be, Max?" She asks. "Drowning on a rooftop, or eaten by a lion?"
Lord makes a surrendering gesture, which has Downpour let him go. Lord takes a deep breath before speaking. "You're…artificial life-forms; grown in a test tube. You were designed to be the ultimate superheroes."
"That's a lie!" Long Shadow shouts. "I remember my parents, how much they loved me! I was with my mother when she died, I-"
"Implanted memories," Long Shadow interrupts with a soft voice. Lord nods in confirmation.
"But I went to the park with my father last week," Long Shadow says.
"Actors?" Wind Dragon asks. Lord nods again. "How long have we…?"
Lord sighs. "You're…just a little over a year old," the Ultimen recoil in shock as he continues. "One of the purposes of the Cadmus Project was to create a popular group of superheroes who were completely loyal to the government; unlike those loose cannons in the Justice League."
"And the clones?" Downpour demands.
"Replacements for when you…wear out," Lord admits. "Once they're complete, the clones will think they're you; they'll be you, and no one will be the wiser."
"How could you do this to us!?" An outraged Juice shouts.
Lord laughs bitterly. "Me? This is so big, even my superiors are small fish," he pales when the Ultimen move closer. "But I was just-"
"Following orders?" Wind Dragon finishes.
Juice then surrounds Lord in a cage of electricity and has it move in to kill, but Long Shadow stops him.
"No," he says. "He's nothing; we want the big fish."
Wind Dragon nods before spreading his arms out, a massive tornado then lifts the Ultimen away, leaving Lord to struggle with his guilt.
The Ultimen return to the lab where the clones are, smashing their way through walls and whatever is in their path. They enter the lab to find it now empty, not only are the clones gone, but everything. Long Shadow has trouble finding even dust.
"They're gone! Dammit!" Wind Dragon curses.
"And we're dead," Downpour dejectedly adds.
"They're here somewhere; they've got to be. Take this place apart!" Wind Dragon orders.
None of them seemed to question their leader as they resume smashing the walls and everything in sight. That is, save for Long Shadow.
"Wait! There are other offices in this building; innocent people could get hurt!" He shouts in vain.
The other Ultimen are already gone.
Watchtower
I dodge a right hook from Zatanna and step into her defense and push her back with my shoulder.
She grunts as she skids back before leaping forward and attempts a dropkick to my head. I dodge out of the way of that and trip her. But instead of falling, Zatanna catches herself on her hands and kicks me in the face.
Immediately, she holds a hand up for a time-out and sits down and rubs her bare foot. "Y'know, it really isn't fun when your sparring partner feels like a brick wall every time you hit him," she complains.
"That's the point of training, get you strong enough that brick walls tremble at your presence," I quip. "That and everyone's got a weak spot, even Superman."
"Oh, and what's his? I bet if I kicked him between the legs, I'd be the one hurting," Zatanna snarks. "Ooh, maybe I could use magic, that is one of his weaknesses," she frowns at my look. "Come on, I can't punch my way through every problem."
I shrug. "You'd be surprised," I back up and get in a fighting stance. "Come on, we aren't done yet."
Zatanna groans before getting back into her fighting stance.
Right now, we're both in one of the private training rooms of the Watchtower, using this time to practice her physical training. Zee's wearing tight black pants that stop at her shins and a blue and white sports bra as her hair's in a high ponytail. I'm wearing black shorts with a sleeveless black and purple shirt.
Zatanna runs forward and goes for a left jab to my side, I quickly hop away and kick her in the side. "You need to stop televising your attacks," I chide.
She then goes for a kick to my side that I just tank, which has Zatanna curse and hop on her uninjured foot for a moment. "Well, I can't help it if I'm a showoff. It's what I was raised to be."
"You got that right," I then go for a quick jab. Now, I fully televised this, so I expected her to dodge it perfectly. Instead, I hit Zatanna square in the nose. Her head whips back as she stumbles a bit, I think I hear her nose break.
I gasp loudly before running over and grabbing her by the shoulders. "¡Dios mio! Zee! I'm sorry!"
Before I know it, she grabs me by the shirt and right wrist, and flips me over. It takes a minute, but by the time I realize I'm on the ground, Zatanna's sitting on my chest and looking down at me with a smirk, blood droplets land on me from her nose.
"Got you," she says, her voice a little nasally. "What wath your firtht rule again? "Anything goeth"?"
I smirk at that. "Yeah, anything goeth. Can you get off me? Your blood's ruining my shirt."
Zatanna gets off and sits down next to me, I then sit up next to her and carefully hold her face with one hand and turn her head, studying her nose the entire time. "Damn, it's broken. I'm so sorry."
"Ah, don't worry about it, honey. Nothing a little magic can't fixth," she waves off. "Htxif ym ehton," there's the familiar sickening crunch of magic fixing her body, after a moment, her nose is perfect again. "See? All good."
"Yeah…all good," I whisper.
Zatanna smiles and puts a hand on my cheek. "Baby, it was a training exercise, besides, broken noses aren't that big of a deal. I still love you regardless."
"Right. Sorry," I apologize again.
Zatanna sighs in mock annoyance and rolls her eyes. "Guess even words can't get through your thick skull," she then sniffs her armpit and winces. "Great, now I'm all sweaty and stinky."
I smirk as we get up. "Wouldn't know what that's like, enhanced stamina, baby."
She looks at me with hooded eyes, I feel my body respond to her look alone. "Oh, I know… What say you help me shower? Reach the places I normally can't on my own?"
I smirk. "I'm here to help, Ms. Zatara," as we get our bags, I notice my earpiece beeping. I put it in my ear and activate it. "Triumph here."
"Eric, we've got a problem," Diana begins. "Apparently the Ultimen are attacking a building with civilians inside. Aquaman, Batman, Superman, Silver Bolt, and I are in the hangar bay waiting for you."
"Right, on my way," I sigh and activate my armor before turning to Zee, my mask still off. "Problem on Earth. Looks like I won't be able to help."
"Oh, well, better luck next time," Zatanna gives me a quick kiss. "Good luck, Er."
I kiss her back. "Thanks, Zee," before I go, she grabs my arm.
"Wait, want some mana?" She offers her right hand.
"Could be useful," my left hand is held by her right, and her hand becomes white with a blue outline as mine becomes pitch black with a purple outline. "Thanks, babe."
"Kick ass, Triumph!" I hear her shout as I run to the hangar bay.
It doesn't take long, eventually I see Silver Bolt waiting in jet mode with the doors open. I walk inside to see the others waiting, Batman in the co-pilot's seat. I quickly sit down, and the door closes before Silver Bolt takes off to Earth.
"You said something about the Ultimen?" I ask.
In response, Silver Bolt pulls up security footage of the team attacking an office building indiscriminately. Man, I knew they'd react violently to their true origins, but this is insane.
As I watch the footage, I notice something. "Wait… Long Shadow isn't anywhere to be seen."
"And he'd be hard to miss," Batman adds.
"So, what? He's good?" Superman asks.
"He's one of them, I highly doubt it," Aquaman says with folded arms.
"I vouch for him," Wonder Woman says, we all turn to look at her, even Silver Bolt's Galvanic Mechamorph face morphs out of the console in front of me. "Long Shadow's a good kid, a true hero through and through."
"Only one way to find out," I whisper. "Silver Bolt, increase speed, we need to be their yesterday."
"I am incapable of time travel, Eric," Silver Bolt says.
I sigh as Aquaman, Superman, and Wonder Woman chuckle. "No, SB, it's a saying that means we have to be there as soon as possible."
His orange eye flickers a little. "Understood. Being there yesterday…now."
Silver Bolt's speed increases exponentially. We all watch as space quickly becomes the night sky and we fly towards the Ultimen. As we near the city, Silver Bolt doesn't show any signs of stopping.
"Okay! Silver Bolt!" He doesn't respond. "SILVER BOLT!" I shout hysterically.
He suddenly stops right in front of a skyscraper. It's a good thing I have precautions for sudden stops, any outside actions such as intense speeds, sudden stops, or barrel rolls don't affect the cockpit. Never tested it until now, but it worked out great if I say so myself.
"Approaching destination within the next minute. I hope you enjoyed your time on Air Silver Bolt. Please, come again!" Silver Bolt says with an added intercom effect.
Aquaman sighs and sinks into his seat. "I never want to be in here again," he whispers.
As we near the destination, we see Long Shadow, now giant, helping people out of the building currently attacked by the rest of his team. Silver Bolt turns around and opens the hangar doors, the seatbelts then come off as we all stand near the opening and watch him help the civilians.
I notice Wonder Woman elbow Aquaman's side with a smirk. He just grumbles and looks away.
"Long Shadow!" I shout. "We're here to help!"
Silver Bolt flies in closer and Long Shadow helps the civilians into him. We get a lot of the people onboard, thankfully, the rest had escaped before the elevators and stairs were destroyed, though there still might be some stragglers.
"Silver Bolt, get these people to safety then focus on rescuing anyone still here," I order.
"Understood," he replies. Many of the people jump in shock and look around for the source of the voice.
Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Long Shadow, and I hop inside of the building and look around.
"What's the situation?" Batman asks.
Long Shadow sighs. "It's a long story. Abridged: none of us are real, we're going to die soon," he says, surprising the others, I make sure to act surprised as well. "There are clones of us somewhere, the others want to…I don't know, kill them? Preserve them and move their minds into those bodies? All I know is, my friends aren't thinking straight, you have to understand that."
"They put people in harm's way," Aquaman states.
"Yeah, but to be fair, there weren't any permanent injuries," Superman argues. "Just some cuts and bruises, nothing life threatening."
Wonder Woman places a comforting hand on Long Shadow's shoulder. "We'll help them. We'll help you, okay?"
"I found them," Superman announces. "A floor below us."
Aquaman walks forward, raises a foot high, and stomps it down, breaking a large part of the floor and then jumps down. We follow down and see a door in front of us, Superman then walks forward, the rest of us follow closely.
On the other side of the door, I get a good look at the rest of the Ultimen, and man, they look out of it. Juice has the occasional lighting arcing along his body, Shifter's hair is a little wild, Downpour sweats profusely, and Wind Dragon can't stand still.
"Don't give up hope yet, Downpour," Long Shadow says. He motions to us. "We've got friends in high places."
Shifter shakes her head derisively. "You idiot; do you really think they can help us?"
Wonder Woman steps forward. "Whatever's going on, we'll do everything in our power to-"
"Yes, power, that's what it always comes down to, doesn't it?" Wind Dragon interrupts as he walks up to her. "That's the only way we'll be remembered," we all brace ourselves as wind whips around him. He turns to the other Ultimen. "If we're the ones who take down the Justice League, the world will never forget us!"
Well, he's not wrong, but he really can't expect it to be that easy.
The other Ultimen smile and take fighting stances.
"Listen to yourself, you're not making sense!" Batman shouts. "You're getting worse by the minute!"
"Translation: they're afraid to face us," Wind Dragon smirks.
"Oh, you absolute pendejo (dumbass)!" I shout in annoyance. "You really think it'll be that easy to fight the Justice League? Besides, take us down, hundreds more will come after you! Think this through!"
Long Shadow stands between both teams. "No! Stop this!"
Wind Dragon shakes his head. "As a man said, you're either with us, or against us."
Long Shadow looks at us, his face rife with emotions. Before he can make a choice, Juice hits him with an electric blast, the Native American hero shouts in pain before slumping over.
Downpour becomes water and tackles Aquaman, Juice goes after Batman, Wind Dragon and Superman fly through several offices, and Shifter, who's become a bull, charges into me and runs into an empty room.
Juice pursues Batman into the boiler room, but due to the shadows and build of the room, the metahuman can't find the Dark Knight. Every time he thinks he has a shot, Batman would dodge the attack, which does nothing to help Juice's growing unease and anger.
"Where did he go?" Juice whispers to himself.
Batman jumps from above and knocks Juice down to the ground. He then throws Juice against some pipes with enough force to break them. Water then covers Juice's body, then shorts him out. Instantly and painfully knocking him out.
Batman narrows his eyes at the unconscious metahuman. "Lights out, old chum."
I groan as I slowly get up. Man, bulls really hurt. Almost like that time I was in Spain during the Running of the Bulls. That hurt.
I look to see Shifter now back in her humanoid form. "I'll prove I'm the best shapeshifter! No matter what it takes!"
I groan and get some magic ready. "Dammit, Shifter, I don't want to fight."
Shifter narrows her eyes. "I can't believe I ever found you attractive."
I shrug. "You aren't the first," hoping to take her out immediately, I aim my left palm at her. "Lightning!" A bolt of black and purple lightning shoots forward and hits her. Surprisingly, she transforms into multiple animal forms before becoming herself.
"Huh, that's weird," I comment as the lightning ceases.
"I won't quit," she pants heavily. "I WON'T BE FORGOTTEN!" She transforms into a T-Rex and roars before charging at me.
I dodge the snapping of her jaws and leap back, a palm aimed at her. "FIRE!" Instead, a blast of ice hits her lower back, freezing a little bit of her tail as well.
She whips around and roars before going for another attack, I hold both hands out as she charges at me, full speed. "Barrier!" A purple barrier appears in front of me, and Shifter slams headfirst into it, knocking her out as she shifts back to her humanoid form.
I sigh as I look down at her. "You should've just listened."
I pick her up and head into the next room where I find Aquaman getting thrown around by Downpour. "You need help?" I ask as I gently lower her.
"Nah, I'm good," he replies. "Just getting a feel for the kid's power; nothing I can't handle."
Downpour looks at Shifter and glares at me. "No one does that to my sister! Do you hear me? Nobody!" He shoots a high-powered stream of water at me. I don't move out of the way, as I understand where he's coming from, if I saw someone hurt Esmeralda, I'd go ballistic. Kinda like with Hex back in Ireland.
Instead, Aquaman jumps in front of me and takes the attack head on. Downpour smirks but then it drops when he stops his attack and sees Aquaman standing in place.
"King of the Seas, remember?" Aquaman says with a raised brow.
Downpour yells and punches Aquaman across the face, but he winces and holds his fist in pain as Aquaman doesn't even flinch. The Atlantean king then follows up with a punch to Downpour's face, knocking the young man out in one hit. He then lifts him over his shoulder.
"Come on," he says to me. "Let's find the others."
We meet up with Batman, dragging Juice, and return to the office room to find Wonder Woman, who had stayed to look after Long Shadow, who's now awake. We then look outside to see Superman and Wind Dragon fighting. Well, fight's a generous term, more like Superman taking Wind Dragon's attacks without problem.
I look down at the Omnitrix to see most of it is still mostly purple, with a little bit of the orange returning. Looks like there's eight minutes left until it's fully functional again.
"You don't have to do this!" Superman tries to reason with him.
"It's all I know!" Wind Dragon shouts desperately. "It's what I was created for!"
Superman continues to try reasoning. "You're confused, Dragon; the genetic degeneration-"
"No more words!" Wind Dragon shouts. "No more!" He summons a tornado powerful enough to knock Superman onto his back. Before he can do more, Long Shadow jumps in the way.
"Look at what you're doing! Look!" He tries to reason.
Wind Dragon looks around, finally seeing the devastation he had ordered.
"Is this what you want to be remembered for?" Long Shadow continues. "He was your hero."
Tears leak from Wind Dragon's eyes as he falls to his knees. "He was my hero," he sobs. "And a hero is all I ever wanted to be."
The defeated Ultimen are now being watched by us as we wait for the authorities to arrive. As we wait, many ideas of how to save them comes to mind.
"Maybe Dr. Fate or the Atom could find a cure," Superman offers.
I look at the Omnitrix. It's been long enough, it works now. Maybe I can do something about their DNA, Ben was able to do that with the Highbreed, why can't I do that with the Ultimen?
"I have an idea," I announce. "Long Shadow, come here."
He does so and looks at me with his head tilted. "Yeah?"
"Omnitrix, scan Long Shadow," I order.
The dial pops up and a yellow light sweeps over him. The dial becomes orange again and returns to the watch. "Scan complete. Life-form designated as "Long Shadow" is suffering from genetic degradation. Do you wish to restore?"
Everyone's eyes widen in surprise.
"Do it," I order.
The dial pops up again and scans over Long Shadow. "Complete. Life-form restored; genetic degradation removed."
Long Shadow looks at his hands. "I-I y-y-you…"
"The Omnitrix scanned your DNA and fixed you. You're welcome," I reply. "All right, the rest of you come on over."
The other four quickly stand in front of me, the Omnitrix then repeats the process.
As they look themselves over, Wind Dragon creates little tornadoes, these ones seem stronger than before. "What happened? I feel like more happened then you just fixing us."
I look at the watch. "Omnitrix?"
"To repair the Ultimen, DNA samples of transformations were needed," it replies.
Well shit.
"What does that mean?" Downpour asks.
"Omnitrix, what happened to Downpour?" I ask.
"Downpour's damaged DNA was repaired with Orishan DNA. Improving his hydrokinetic abilities," the Omnitrix replies.
"Whoa. What about the others?" Downpour asks.
"Long Shadow's DNA was repaired with Vaxasaurian DNA, increasing his strength and durability. As well as adding to his size alteration," the watch answers.
Long Shadow grows a little bit, along his arms, orange scales grow, and spikes grow out of his elbows and knuckles. "Oh, this is so cool," he whispers.
"Juice was infused with Nosedeenian DNA, increasing his electrokinetic abilities, and allowing for him to create clones with enough power," the Omnitrix continues.
Juice's head perks up as he creates some lightning in the palm of his hand. "Metal."
"Geochelone Aerio DNA was added to Wind Dragon, improving his aerokinesis and giving him mana immunity," the watch says.
"I'm immune to magic…?" He whispers.
"And what about me?" Shifter asks. She doesn't look at me, and she rubs her left arm nervously as she shifts on her feet.
Yeah, there isn't an exact alien to improve her powers, so how would that work?
"Subject Shifter was infused with DNA of multiple species," the Omnitrix says, surprising all of us. "Though the improvements are not as exponential as Long Shadow's or Wind Dragon's, all of her forms have been enhanced."
Her eyes widen as she finally looks at me. "Oh… Uh, thank you," she says with a blush.
"But we aren't going to die?" Wind Dragon asks.
I shake my head. "No, you aren't."
Wonder Woman smiles and puts a hand on Long Shadow's and Juice's shoulders. "Told you we can help."
Later, as the other four are being escorted away by the police, Long Shadow tells me, Superman, and Wonder Woman everything he knows.
"Project Cadmus?" Superman asks. "That's all you know?"
"Everything else is an implanted memory," Long Shadow says sadly.
"At least now you can make real ones," Wonder Woman smiles.
I hear another convoy coming in. "Company," I announce.
Several army trucks roll up, dozens of soldiers with heavy weapons hop out. Everyone, us, the Ultimen, the police, the press, and civilians watching look at them confused.
"We'll take it from here," Amanda Waller announces as she gets out of the truck, followed closely by Maxwell Lord. "The Ultimen belong to us."
""Belong"?" Wonder Woman echoes with a furious face.
"A poor choice of words," Lord reasons. "We'll see to it that their last days are comfortable," he turns to the Ultimen. "We will take cate of you; you have my word, for whatever it's worth."
The four look at each other, realizing that, yes, while they'll live now, there's nowhere else for them to go.
Wind Dragon nods and they head over to the truck with the assistance of the soldiers. "All right, Max," Waller smirks.
A few soldiers move to get Long Shadow, but Wonder Woman stands between them.
"No," she says.
"You need to step back," Waller says as she walks forward. Batman stands in front of her.
"Not going to happen," he says darkly. "Long Shadow's with us."
"All of them," I add.
Waller glances at me before turning her attention back to Batman. "Safeties off."
A dozen soldiers aim their weapons at Wonder Woman and Long Shadow. In response, Superman and Aquaman stand in front of the guns. I move behind one of the soldiers and grab his gun by the barrel.
"Mine are bigger than yours," Batman says with a hard-to-find smirk.
The two glare at each other for a moment. "…Stand down," Waller orders. The soldiers listen to her order. She steps back and has an evil smile on her face. "He's free to go with you, for however long he's got. But the others stay with us."
And I've already got a plan to break them out.
"Who are you people?" Batman demands.
"That's a natural security matter, and if I were you, I wouldn't probe the situation too closely…" she leans in close. "Rich boy."
I notice Batman's body stiffen momentarily. Waller then gets back into her car and the convoy drives off.
"I already feel the headaches coming," I comment as we stand together.
"Sorry to say, Triumph, but I'm afraid it's going to get worse," Superman replies.
Watchtower
We're teleported up to the Watchtower, Silver Bolt had joined us shortly after Waller left and Long Shadow's with us. He looks around in awe at all the tech and heroes in the satellite.
"Welcome to the Justice League," Wonder Woman says with a smile.
Long Shadow smiles back, but then it drops as he looks down. "Thanks. I just wish the others were here."
"I wouldn't worry about that," I reply. I raise a hand to silence him. "Three…two…one."
A magenta light flashes in the middle of the room, once it fades out, we see Abuela Morrigan and Zatanna have teleported in with the rest of the Ultimen with them.
Like Long Shadow, they all look around in awe. "Whoa. This is awesome," Downpour says. Juice just nods silently.
"Well, we got your friends here, Er," Zatanna says with a smile. She then walks up to me, deactivates my face mask, and kisses me on the cheek. "Look at you, making friends. I'm proud."
I notice Downpour and Juice snicker as Shifter pouts and looks away.
I roll my still covered eyes. "Yeah, yeah."
"Debrief in meeting room 1H," Batman says, already walking towards it.
"Right, I should go," I reply. I then turn to the Ultimen. "Zatanna here's the second-in-command to Wonder Woman, she'll give you the tour."
I smirk as I hear Zatanna stutter some reason for her not to.
Later, Wonder Woman, Superman, Batman, Aquaman, and I are in the designated meeting room. The topic being about Cadmus.
A lot of it was speculations, with nothing much to go on other than Long Shadow's story, and there isn't much from that.
I groan and lean back in my chair. "Wait, Diana, Cadmus, isn't that a dragon in Greek myth? It's teeth created skeleton warriors, right?"
"Cadmus fought the dragon," she corrects. "But yes, the dragon's teeth created warriors after they were sewn into the soil."
Batman hums. "That could be useful… Meeting dismissed."
We all get up and exit the meeting room. We then head off to our own directions.
The entire time, I think about Cadmus, and how badly this fight with them could get.
We need to be ready.
So, the Ultimen, pretty interesting, huh? Like I said, when writing this story, that was one of the first things I thought of, and then I remembered the Highbreed invasion in Alien Force, and how that worked. The only way to fix them was to use the DNA samples in the Omnitrix, so I decided to add that, which is why the Ultimen are now improved.
Speaking of, improved, we got to see Eric's magic in action! Granted there wasn't much of a test for him, but it was still great to see it in action, and to see how unreliable it can be at times.
Next chapter is gonna be "Dark Heart" followed by a flashback chapter and a very important original chapter. Then we'll get to the two time travel episodes, which happens to be the end of the first season of JLU, and Triumphant as well!
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!
