I hope everyone is having a great day.
This chapter will cover some more on the Teen Titans and unfold a bit on Ben's changed character. He will also have a chance to show some of his power, so you won't have to wait too long to see how he's gotten stronger.
Also, I will be delving into some of the Ben 10 Canon storylines. However, things are different in significant instances, and I will not be going over every single episode. Nor will every event in Alien Force, Ultimate Alien, and Omniverse even come to happen. If I don't go over a single event and I don't explain it, then it didn't happen. Keep that in mind. This will also cover the start of the team in which Ben will be building.
For the harem, I don't know everyone who will be in it, but I do know Gwen (Ben 10) will be in it. Same thing with Charmcaster, Raven, and Starfire. I'm also considering Power Girl, Supergirl, Wonder Woman, Kai Green, Julie Yamamoto, Black Canary, Barbara Gordon, and Talia al Ghul. You all can leave suggestions as you like, but please, leave why you think they should be in the harem, and don't say because they're beautiful cause your suggestion will get ignored.
Also, I don't know if I added this before, but keep in mind Ben will be an absolute badass. He'll be very powerful and will get stronger as well. However, in DC, there are beings that Ben can't beat. Like Cosmic Armor Superman and such. However, Ben will get to a point where some of his transformations will get to a level of strength where he'll be up in the higher tiers of power.
I also got a PM from someone asking if Ben was going to fight Superman, and my answer will have to be… maybe.
Truly, I don't know. They'll have squabbles due to Ben's ideals about justice, but an all-out fight between the two is something I cannot confirm at the moment.
That's all I have to say, and I hope you all enjoy Chapter 2!
A lone figure stood impassively on the large red bridge as he watched a group of teenagers fighting against trained operatives, though one was missing.
While Robin was MIA, the rest of his team was grieving over his supposed death. Then they were ambushed by the same people who defeated them not even a couple of hours earlier.
He shook his head disappointingly. How arrogant had they become? Those three were trained killers, and yet after getting away with your lives, you go straight back to your HQ, which is a large two-hundred-foot tall, 'T' shaped building that was almost made entirely out of glass. Foolish. Absolutely foolish and arrogant.
It had been four months since he'd fought against the fleet of Gordanians and saved Jump City with little to no casualties. Though, he had been keeping up with Titans since then. They were famous all out through California, mainly for stopping local thugs and even some low city-level threats.
They weren't bad as a team. But their individual powers were close to laughable. Robin had apparently taken team exercises and drills way too seriously and had everyone doing that to make their team work better. But they weren't balancing it out at all. And they were too dependent on each other's powers and skills, and due to that, they weren't building their own.
Ben's piercing green eyes watched how he broke into Titan's tower before he decided to make his move. With a low flash of green, his was off in a sonic boom.
After flying for only a few seconds, he landed and de-transformed back into his human self.
The Titans were not having a good day.
First, their tower was a mess, Cyborg and Beast Boy had been looking for a tv remote for hours, and they had just lost their leader.
Everyone was distraught, and when they opened the door, when their hopes raised once more, they got ambushed again.But this time, it was on their own turf, and they were without their leader and master tactician.
They were in a pickle, and everyone knew it. Then, just as their attackers were charging at them, they were interrupted by a vaguely familiar tone, one of calmness.
"You know, I was having a good day. Now I have to discipline a couple of children whose mothers never told them no before. So, before I bend you all over my knee, does anyone want to leave?" Ben's voice aired through everyone's ears.
Everyone's head snapped over to Ben in complete shock and to the Titans in relief.
"Ben!" The Titans all yelled in surprise at once.
"Oh, Oh, lookie here, another loser!" The short kid was Gizmo. He was on top of four spider-like metal legs.
"Really? You call me loser? What are two feet tall? And who does that girl's hair? Speaking of her, she'll probably enjoy me spanking her. I've heard goth girls getting spanked. The big guy is the only one who looks semi-normal, and that's putting things mildly."
"How dare you!? I'm the smartest being on this planet! How dare you disrespect me!?"
"Jeez, I guess kids really do believe everything their mother says nowadays," Ben said offhandedly. That was the last straw for Gizmo before he ran at them, or at least the artificial metal spider legs did.
He lifted one up and spearheaded one straight down. Ben yawned before a green light blinded everyone in the vicinity.
Once the light died down, a small humanoid battery was in Ben's place. He had a large white lightning-like line from where his neck started to where his legs began. He had a hole in his head that could release electricity. He also had a positive (+) symbol and a negative (-) symbol on his back. The white, silver, and back Omnitrix symbol was located on his chest.
Everyone looked at the alien in bewilderment, that thing didn't look tough at all. Even the Titans thought so. Every member of the H.I.V.E Five was breaking down laughing.
Buzzshock shared a small mischievous giggle before his entire body evaporated into an electricity stream, but not without sending a thunderbolt straight down at the three villains, electrocuting them. They all yelled in pain before the lightning bolt stopped, and they got up on shaky legs, and their clothes were lightly singed as well.
"Well… Well… Well, you guys are even weaker than I thought you guys were, and I had pretty low expectations to begin with." Buzzshock giggled from seemingly everywhere.
The H.I.V.E members all back up in fright before they collided with each other, back to back.
One Buzzshock jumped down in front of every single member and blew them raspberries, causing them to growl *before they ran off to chase the now retreating Buzzshock's.
Just as they separated, a giant green lightning bolt crashed down straight down in the middle of the room, completely shocking the three villains.
After a few seconds of continuous lightning, they all slumped forward in a smoking, unconscious heap.
The Titans watched with clear shock as Ben dispatched their attackers with practical ease, and he didn't use that large, four-armed form once or the mummy-man they saw last time.
Another bright flash of green erupted in the area, and Ben was shown back in his human form with his armor still on completely, not showing an inch of skin. He walked over to the gob-smacked Titans, who had relieved looks on their faces.
"So, how are things?" Ben asked, in a complete calm down and his face completely emotionless. His question broke the atmosphere and most of them grinned tiredly and gratefully.
Cyborg walked up with a small grin on his face before he stuck out his large hand, "We appreciate the save. But, if you're looking for Robin, he went missing shortly after our first encounter with these guys." He spoke as he gestured to the unconscious baddies.
"Yea, for real, man, if you weren't there, we'd probably be dead!" Beast Boy said enthusiastically.
"Hmph, if you guys actually listened to my warning a few months ago when we first met, then you wouldn't be in this situation." He said in a slightly harsh tone, causing them to dip their heads in shame. "But, for your first time going against a group of trained killers, then I guess you did okay." He muttered, causing them to perk their heads up.
Ben's ears lightly twitched as he heard light footsteps coming from outside their HQ. He turned and narrowed his eyes; the others noticed that and curiously traced his gaze and waited with curious eyes.
Slowly, Robin's form became visible, and Ben smirked slightly. The rest of the Titans grinned excitedly except Raven, who just gave a small sigh of relief.
"So, Wonder Boy returns." Ben drawled, causing Robin's eyebrow to twitch in irritation, but he ignored the comment.
"Thank you for helping them." Robin thanked him with a firm nod. Ben just waved it off uninterestingly.
Ben turned over to the girls and smiled slightly, "I can see you two are both as beautiful as ever." He said, causing Starfire to blush and Raven to blush a bit less.
"Well… now that's taken care of, I'll hit the high road. Good luck with kicking bad guy ass, and I'll see you guys some other time." Ben turned around, ready to leave once again.
"Wait!" A sudden shout caused him to turn around with a slightly raised eyebrow. He saw Beast Boy walk up to him. "Why don't you join us? We'll always welcome a new member." He said, causing others to look at Ben with a curious yet semi-hopeful gaze.
"No… I have no business being in a group of 'heroes.' Being a hero is a past job or hobby. I only help when I'm needed." He told them in an uncaring manner as he started walking away.
"Why do you think that you don't belong?" Surprisingly, it was Raven who said it, causing Ben to stop once more. "I mean, you've saved the city once before, and now you've saved us, what twice. If that doesn't make you a hero, then I don't know what will." She finished getting a look from her teammates.
"You may be right," he replied unflinchingly. "But I've done so many things that if any hero knew, they would classify me as a villain. It's as simple as that."
"I-We don't care about that, you moron!" Raven shouted, once again getting a surprised look from her teammates. Ben once again stopped, but this time he turned partially around and stared at her with cold, dark green eyes. "We care about who you are! We don't care about your past. I mean, you said it yourself, 'things aren't always what they seem.'"
He chuckled a small bit before he nodded, "Using my words against me… well, I've gone and done fucked myself once again," he muttered the last part to himself, but they clearly heard him anyway.
"I'm sorry, but I'm not joining. That much is a fact. It doesn't matter if you all view me as a villain, a hero, or anything in between." He started before walking away, his suit completely covering his entire body. Face and all.
"Goodbye. I have some business I need to go take care of." And with that, he walked away, retreating from view without even listening to what they had to say afterward.
"Now that everyone's here, I have some important and very unexpected news. I figured I should relay it all to you and your all-round opinions." A muscled man with short, jet-black hair. He wore a very dark blue skin-tight bodysuit with a weird S-like symbol on his chest.
"What is it?" A man said with an impassive tone. He had a black, bat-like cowl that covered the top half of his face and some of his chin. He was also pretty muscular but not nearly on the level of Superman. He also wore a skin-tight grey bodysuit and a utility belt tied around his waist.
Superman said nothing. Instead, he raised a remote and pressed a button, causing a screen to appear in front of their faces. It was more than big enough for them all to see. Then, a picture loaded up and revealed a bird's eye view of a mummy-like creature beating a bunch of aliens alongside some teenagers.
"That's a Thep Khufan, a powerful alien race that comes from a planet named Anur Khufos." A green-skinned man with a mildly muscular build explained. He wore a bright blue, high-skinned open chest jacket. He also had two red straps going across his chest in an 'X' formation. He also had on a pair of bright blue underwear-like bottoms and a pair of blue calf-high boots.
"Yeah, I heard the Guardians mentioning that they were at a near-extinct race of aliens." Hal Jordan, one of Earth's Green Lantern's stated. He wore a green and black suit with a green and white lantern symbol on his chest and a green mask that covered his eyes and a portion of his face.
"Let's watch what the drones caught," Batman suggested, but everyone understood that it was the furthest thing from a request. Batman only made orders. Superman nodded, as did the rest of the members.
He pressed play and started the video, and they all watched in silence.
By the end of the video, the mummy-like figure stood over the fallen form of the warlord before he was encased in a bright green flash. Shockingly enough, a human was in the mummy's place. His dark, metallic suit then shot out pressurized steam, and the helmet portion of the suit opened up, revealing his angular, handsome face.
Batman saw Robin, his late apprentice, but said nothing.
"I am Ben Tennyson…"
"Wait, he's a criminal?" The Flash asked as he heard what Trogaar said about Ben being sent to the Null Void.
Nobody said anything. They just kept watching, leaving an irritated Flash.
Batman, however, narrowed his eyes at the mention of the Omnitrix and Trogaar, saying it was the most powerful weapon in the Universe. So far, alarm bells were ringing in his head, and he had to restrain himself from going down to find the child. Be it that he was good or not, a weapon that powerful should not be used by a child.
"I was sent there on accident a decade ago while I was fighting an intergalactic criminal. My cousin was with me. The portal back home, it—" he foraged his fingers through his beard, shifting anxiously. "It was closing. There was only room for one of us. She made it through. Ever since then, I've been trapped in the Null Void. Imagine my shock to see this prick."
Now that got Batman surprised, very surprised. But he didn't show it. He had to admit, it was a tragic story, and now he knew that he was innocent. But he stood by his decision that a weapon that powerful should not be used by a child.
"Do you know what this 'Omnitrix' is?" Batman asked seriously, wanting to get every bit of information that they could get.
"Unfortunately not." Was all the green-skinned telepath said, causing Batman to mentally sigh in disappointment.
"What do we do now?" It was the Green Lantern that spoke that time.
Both leaders quieted down for a few seconds before Batman spoke. "I say we watch what he does for the next few months. If he shows any signs of being evil, then we apprehend him," Batman spoke, earning a few nods.
"Your idea does have merit. I agree." Superman nodded, although he looked hesitant.
Just then, sirens rang through the room, and not even a few seconds later, rapid scurrying filled the room, and the Titans pooled into the response room.
Robin expectedly stepped up and stared at the now active screen with narrowed eyes.
"It looks like Zombozo, Acid Breath, Fright Wig, and Thumbskull decided to come to California… what do we do?" Robin asked his team, who looked thoughtful.
"I don't know, man; the Justice League normally takes care of them." Beast Boy replied, and Robin clenched his fists at the mention of the 'Justice League.
"Yeah, I agree. They might be too much for us, but I say we go." Cyborg said determinedly, gaining Raven and Starfire's support as well.
"Let go," Robin ordered seriously as they left.
The Titans neared the bank, which was where Zombozo and his lackeys were attacking.
Starfire and Raven were flying. Robin was running at fast speeds along with Cyborg, and Beast Boy was transformed into a cheetah racing ahead of his leader.
They neared the bank, and they had to admit; the place was trashed. There were some cars lodged into buildings. There were multiple unconscious and dead bodies lying on the floor, causing the Titans to momentarily fault before they focused.
Zombozo was standing there with a large smirk on his face as he held onto someone's throat as the clown absorbed his life energy, feeding their strength to his own.
"Yes, YES!" He cackled before he discarded his newest victim like trash.
Seeing this, the Titans all narrowed their eyes.
"Oh… what are you children doing here?" Zombozo asked in a falsely innocent tone, acting like he didn't just kill someone.
"We're here to stop you, Zombozo! Titans, GO!" Robin shouted as they ran forward, with Robin leading.
Robin leaped forward with his fist cocked back. Right as he got in range, he led forward and punched Zombozo right across the face, but the blow was blocked by the clown's enormous hands.
Zombozo then twisted his body and used his momentum to throw Robin across the street, but the teenager skidded across the ground just in time before he smacked into a building.
Starfire, seeing her teammate being thrown away, flew higher into the air and coated her hands with bright green energy, which she immediately sent straight at Zombozo, who just dodged by disappearing in a flurry of rainbow-colored confetti. He then reappeared in the air, ten feet across from the airborne Starfire. He then snapped his arms forward and stretched his hands outwards, surprising Starfire. His hands wrapped around her throat, causing her to choke, then he threw her right into a stop sign which was torn down upon contact; and she didn't stop there before she crashed into a car, denting it. She slumped forward with her eyes closed before she groaned.
Beast Boy transformed into a large T-rex while running forward with a mighty roar. Zombozo looked surprised at seeing the boy's power before he grinned maliciously. He held out his arms before he clapped his hands together.
Beast Boy blinked confusedly as the color drained from his sight, and everything seemed black and white. Slowly, black shadows seeped down from underneath his long legs, wrapping around them. He roared once more as he struggled, his eyes widening in surprise, yet a small helping of fear.
'What, is this!? I can't… move!' He thought as he struggled even harder. Suddenly, the black shadows creeping around his form turned red. He pulled harder before his body started shrinking downwards.
Zombozo watched in self-satisfaction as he absorbed the boy's energy before he laughed uproariously with a cruel smirk drawing onto his painted face. 'This GREAT! I"VE NEVER FELT SO FULL BEFORE… Not since I absorbed the Tennyson girl's energy.' He thought with crazed glee.
Robin watched with angry eyes before reaching into his utility and pulled out a couple of shuriken and hurled them with expert precision. Zombozo grunted as he dodged the projectiles, but as he was caught by surprise, he couldn't dodge them all, and one pierced him in the shoulder.
"You brat." He growled as he pulled out shuriken with a slight wince before he dropped it on the ground, resulting in a clang of metal.
"Raven! Formation Three!" Robin ordered, getting a serious nod from the airborne girl. She flew forward with her eyes glowing paper white; she raised her hands upwards. The ground then formed a good-sized ramp, which Robin then ran up it jumped upwards.
He then grabbed even more shuriken out of his utility belt and threw them forward, prompting Zombozo to dodge, which he did so successfully. However, the shuriken all beeped, getting a wide-eyed look from Zombozo before all the shuriken's exploded in a shower of black smoke, clouding his vision.
Raven flew overhead and raised her hands as her eyes glowed white once more. Her hand glowed an ominous black before she chanted.
"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" Raven intoned before she sent a large wave of black energy toward the blinded Zombozo. Just as the attack was about to hit, a flying car intercepted the blast, shielding the black energy blast and getting a fiery explosion.
Robin glared as he stared right where the car came from, and there was Thumbskull with his arms outstretched.
Thumbskull was a tall, seven-foot, green-skinned buff giant with a green sickly-looking toenail stapled on his skull. He wore a short-sleeved grey shirt and a pair of black skintight black pants with white stripes spiraling around his calf's.
Next to him was a woman with pale skin, a curvaceous figure with round C-cup breasts, a round, heart-shaped butt, and long muscular legs. She had long orange tendril-like hair and black ball beads at the of each tendril. She was Frightwig.
Finally, there was an averagely tall man with pale green wrinkly skin. He had red eyes with different-sized pupils and a little bit of straight black hair poking out of the top of his head. Most of his teeth were missing, and his gums were green. This was Acid Breath.
"You aight', boss?" Frightwig questioned with noticeable slang in her tone as she crossed her arms underneath her chest, propping her breasts up.
"Yes, I'm quite alright." Zombozo nodded as he rubbed his head before he glared at the three still-conscious titans. "Now, what do you say we get this over, boys?" Zombozo asked rhetorically, getting a tick mark from Frightwig.
"I'm a woman." She pointed out with a half glare. Her boss just waved unconcernedly.
"Yea, yea."
She sighed tiredly before he threw her head forward, unleashing her tendril-like hair at Robin, who had no time to dodge as the orange tendrils wrapped around him, trapping his arms.
Thumbskull then rushed then impressive speed for his size with quaking steps. He jumped up and spiked Robin downwards, smashing him into the concrete ground, nearly knocking him unconscious.
"Robin!" Cyborg shouted before he aimed his cybernetic arm toward Thumbskull. His arm morphed into a blue blaster and outshouted a blue ray of energy from his arm/cannon, which slammed into Thumbskull, sending him skidding back slightly with a smoking chest.
Shockingly enough, he was unharmed.
The three circus freaks rushed forward, with Thumbskull leading the charge. Frightwig leaped onto the giant's back and whipped her long tendrils of hair across the street, wrapping around a nearby trash can and launching it across, forcing Cyborg to dodge before he aimed his cannon right at the human tank and fired. But, once again, the attack did zero damage.
Thumbskull then bitch smacked Cyborg across the street, sending him crashing into a building and knocking him out.
"I think that would be enough… Circus Freaks." A voice rang through the streets, causing them to open their eyes in surprise when they heard the nickname.
"Who are you, and where are you!?" Acid Breath yelled as he continued to look around frantically.
"Oh, I'm right here. As for who I am, well, that's my secret." The voice said from behind him, prompting the Circus Freaks to turn around, and surprisingly, they saw Ben in his usual armor with his retractable back helmet that was a part of his suit on.
"How do you know that name!?" Acid Breath yelled again as he stomped forward, trying to look intimidating. Ben, however, paid no mind, walked over to Robin, picked him up by his suit, and set him right next to Raven, who looked surprised upon seeing him.
"Ben… you got to run, they-," She said but was interrupted.
"Don't worry. I'll take of this. I've got experience fighting these clowns… especially the fat one." He reassured her before he walked over to Starfire and picked her up, gaining a small pang of jealousy from Raven.
He set her down next to Robin and walked over to Cyborg, who stirred awake.
"B-Ben?" He asked drowsily, getting a small nod from the green eyes Omnitrix bearer.
"You can walk, correct?" Ben asked, getting a nod from Cyborg. "Then get Beast Boy and rest where everyone else is. I'll take care of your guy's little problem," he ordered, getting an uncertain nod from the metal man.
"Just be careful, alright?"
Ben didn't answer; he simply walked over to the four fiends and smirked under his mask.
"It seems you guys have gotten stronger since we last met." Ben assumed, getting a frown from Zombozo.
"Who are you?!" Zombozo asked loudly, getting really close to losing his cool.
Ben merely stared at him with bored green eyes that were half-idled and chuckled. "What? You morons don't recognize me?" Ben asked, getting headshakes from everyone except Zombozo, whose eyes lit up in fear.
"Y-your that Tennyson kid!" He screamed, getting shocked gasps from his subordinates at the mention of Tennyson.
"It's so nice to see you remember… Zony." Ben quipped, giving Zombozo a nickname that he already hated.
Losing his fear, he growled and clenched his fists tightly. "Don't just stand there, you buffoons! Get 'EM!" Zombozo loudly ordered, getting nods from the Trio of morons.
He transformed, and in his place was a large, hovering insect with four large insect-like flat legs with two arms, whose hands were human-style ones with a black coloration, and he had three clawed fingers. He has four pedunculated eyes that are large, almost two feet in length, orangeish in color, and black slit pupils. His eyes were linked directly to the sides of his huge black head. On his head, directly in the center, was a silver, white, and grey Omnitrix symbol. His limbs were a brown-greenish color, and his wings were light green. His stinger was pretty large and had overall white in color.
Stinkfly flew upwards before he opened his mouth and shot out a basketball-sized, green slime ball, which came at Thumbskull at an alarming speed. Due to his large, cumbersome body, he wasn't fast enough to dodge, and the slime ball smacked right onto his face, covering his eyes and nose, blinding him, and covering his sense of smell effectively.
He then flew upwards and shot out more slime, except that one was not a ball. It was a miniature wall of slime that wrapped around Thumbskull's body, trapping his arms and legs.
Just then, Stinkfly saw a barrage of orange tendrils sailing through the air, coming directly at him. Reacting accordingly, he did a few aerial maneuvers before he used his steel-cutting stinger sliced off one of the tendrils.
However, that was just a distraction, something Stinkfly picked up on as a large, dark green acid cloud came zooming right in from behind him. Growling mentally, he mentally transformed once more, resulting in a bright green flash.
In Stinkfly's place was a tall, six-foot-tall figure in the same armor as Ben wore while in his human form. However, he was much taller and bulkier.
The acid breath loomed over to his body and encased him, but shockingly enough, the attack did zero damage.
"I'm done playing around," Diamondhead stated in a chilling voice as he landed on the street, creating spiderweb cracks underneath him from the impact. He walked forward slowly.
Just as Thumbskull regained his sense of sight, he was punched directly in the face, sending him stepping back. Diamondhead wasn't done. He punched him across the face once more, but with a bit more force, sending his face snapping back. Diamondhead then stomped his foot into the ground. Suddenly, the ground rumbled underneath the brute, and out came diamond tendrils that wrapped around the hulking figure, restraining him.
They then reached out and caught Frightwig's tendril hair with a bored look. He then yanked it, sending Frightwig flying at him. With her momentum, he placed his palm outwards, mentally ordering it to grow larger, getting a large clang as her form crashed into his large crystal hand. His hands then grew outwards and wrapped around her entire body, encapsulating her within the crystal.
Zombozo growled, baring his ever-so-yellow teeth as spit flew from his mouth as he wildly snarled like a rabid animal. "Tennyson! I'll rip you shreds!"
With that, he raised his arms and pointed his fingers at Diamondhead, shooting black, thin, shadowy projectiles right at his diamond body. However, Diamondhead just stared forward and began walking along slowly, not even feeling the shadowy projectiles as they hit his body. He just kept walking, trucking through the attacks as if they were nothing. And to him, they were nothing, just as Zombozo was nothing to him. Barely even an ant in his eyes.
As he was in range, Diamondhead punched him across his face, causing the pale clown to stumble back in shock from the sheer force of the blow, and a shockwave was heard throughout as his fist connected with his face. Suddenly, he felt himself getting smashed into a random building four hundred meters away.
Zombozo tore through the building as if it was wet paper, and the last thing he saw before he blacked out was a black, armored-gloved fist nearing the center of his clown nose before he was punched straight into the ground, creating a crater that was easily fifteen feet wide and ten meters deep.
Slight smoke rose from it, and Diamondhead fell from the sky and landed in a kneeling position with his fist touching the ground.
He stood up slowly and turned around as he felt some updraft of air. As he turned around, he saw multiple figures descend from the sky.
From inside his suit, he followed the small, ant-like figures due to how high up in the sky they were, and within ten seconds, they all touched down, and there stood Superman, Green Lantern, and Wonder Woman.
"Who are you?" Superman, who had touched down first, walked forward. The Man of Steel had a hunch on who it was, but he wanted to make sure without using his vision.
Diamondhead kept staring before his metallic voice was heard through his suit, "You don't need to know that." He said before he pointed over at the downed, unconscious, and heavily bleeding Zombozo, who was still in the smoking crater. "You have to put absorption gloves or gauntlets on him before you can even think about putting him in any prison. You also need to make sure he isn't within two hundred yards of anyone. Zombozo can absorb energy to help supplement his already weak life force. The fool's over two hundred years old. It's the only way he lives, and the life force he absorbs is like a drug to him."
However, Superman once again spoke. "Hey, why are you in California?"
Diamondhead turned back around and pointed at Wonder Woman, who was tying Zombozo's unconscious body up with her lasso.
"He was causing trouble at a bank, and I decided to stop him. Nothing nefarious, I assure you. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll be taking my leave." He said before turning around. However, Green Lantern frowned at the fact that he wasn't completely answering their questions and decided to make him talk. So, raised his hand and aimed his ring at him.
Green Lantern was surprised when Superman just shook his head, clearly knowing what he was going to do, and silently ordered him not to.
"Come on. He saved us some trouble. The least we can do is leave him alone for the time being. After all, he's done nothing wrong as of now."
Green Lantern nodded slowly before he cloaked himself in a thin green aura, and Superman and Wonder Woman soundlessly floated upwards and watched down at Diamondhead, wondering how he was going to leave.
They were surprised however when he pulled out a folded-up, green hoverboard and dropped it. Surprisingly, it never hit the ground and stopped around three inches from the ground and hovered there. With that, Diamondhead jumped on the board and flew off at a surprisingly fast speed, breaking the sound barrier instantly.
The three Justice League members watched him go, all following his movements easily as they could all travel at that speed with laughable ease. But it was a surprise to see a mere hoverboard able to go that fast.
After flying for nearly fifteen minutes, he head neared the place at which he had been staying, which was a two-story high warehouse. He leaped down from his board and continued flying downwards, and he caught it with his left hand, and it shrunk in his grasp before he placed it back in his utility belt.
Ben walked forward and placed his hand on a seemingly random spot on the large, metal, rusty doors, and suddenly, the entire place glowed a bright green before it changed appearance for a second. Ben then walked forward, seemingly walking through a wall, and the next second, the appearance of the building shifted back to a rundown warehouse.
In front of him laid a large 'U' table that was filled with working computer screens that were all doing something.
Ben walked over to the center of the table and started typing something on the keyboard in front of him at a fast pace. Within a couple of seconds, he pulled up a picture of a large castle in front of him, followed by another picture of characters that were in silver knight armor. Within a couple more moments, he also pulled up something that startled him.
He placed his hand forward, making a blue, perfectly square, see-through screen, and threw his hand to the side.
Immediately, a large monitor appeared to his right, and a photo of cut-out crop circles and, in the very center, stood a hundred-meter-tall, metallic, multi-ringed tower. Snow fell from the sky there, but nowhere else around it and further for at least fifty meters in all directions. After getting to the location where that photo was taken and when it was taken, Ben turned his heel and walked out of his temporary base.
He had to check that out. It looked worrying enough to warrant his attention.
As he flew on his hoverboard at the fastest speed, he and his device could manage and speed through the air at a high altitude. As he neared some of the country fields of the north part of Texas, he was able to see the cutouts of the crop field, and in the beginning, when he saw the cutouts from the monitor screen, he thought it was some sort of crop circle.
However, now that he had some time to study it, he immediately noticed it wasn't a crop circle but rather a part of alien technology.
A bright flash of dull golden light alerted him, which was followed by a small spec of fire, and he quickly sped down to go and check it out, thinking that maybe he could get an early led on what was causing the cutouts in the crops.
However, as he got overhead, he saw what he never thought he would see.
There stood five figures behind a thin, purple/pink shield.
The first was the only female in the group.
The female was extremely beautiful with the long orange hair that was tied back in a ponytail that nearly reached her large, round, yet still firm ass. The orange-haired woman had an hourglass figure and also had green eyes along with wide hips and long, slender legs with large, perky breasts that strained beautifully against the fabric of her outfit, and due to that, she showed some cleavage. She wore a blue and black spandex suit that had five, circular, brown pieces of what looked like rocks on her arm and into her suit. She also had a belt with a cat on it. (1).
The second figure Ben easily recognized. He was tall, easily six feet tall, and had long, straight black hair that held a small blue tint in it. Perhaps his most distinguishing figure was the brown 'X' shaped scar on his chin. He was pretty skinny, but he had lots of compact muscle and wore a skintight black body suit with slight shoulder pads with white horizontal lines going through them.
The third was a being that Ben easily was able to identify as a Pyronite and held all the distinguishing features of one. Although, Ben was able to tell, due to the potency of the flames, that it was young and powerful. But, its control of its flames was horrible at best.
The last two were regular Earth sheriffs with no distinguishing features about them.
'Levin,' Ben thought both distastefully as well a small tint of relief.
Acting quickly, Ben swooped straight in and hopped off his hoverboard, which slammed into one of the figures in radioactive protective gear, and he or she slammed through the corn fields roughly.
Ben landed while in his Diamondhead transformation, but he was still concealed by his suit. He did a quick backflip before landing as he punched the ground with force that shook the entire ground that everyone was standing on.
The female with orange hair watched in shock as the ground rumbled powerfully, and pure, pale green crystals shot up from the ground and made a thirty-meter-long and fifty-meter-tall wall of pure crystal within a flat second.
After Ben did that, he stood up and stared down at the Pyronite with the green Plumber's Badge on his chest before looking at the female. With all his training, he was only able to barely withhold a gasp in surprise when he found himself looking down on his cousin.
… The same cousin he sacrificed everything for. Gwen—
"Tennyson…" The man with long black hair hissed as he stared at the armored figure.
Now, Gwen, the second she saw the hoverboard and the green crystals, immediately thought Tetrax had come and saved her once more. However, once she heard Kevin speak, and the second she heard that single word come out of his mouth, her breath hitched, and she stared at the impossibly tall figure in front of him.
'Ben?!'
Shaking off his surprise, he turned his attention over to Kevin and marched right over to him, ever so calm and collected.
"What are you doing here, Levin? Are you responsible for the crop circles?" Ben demanded, his deep, metallic, and crystalline voice coming out as a demand.
Kevin looked quite afraid before he chuckled and shook his head, "No. I'm not. In fact, if you don't believe me, ask your bombshell of a cousin. She's right there after all."
'So… I was right.' Both cousins thought simultaneously.
"We'll sort this out later," he started, earning a slow nod from Gwen as she gave a pointed glare at Kevin before she looked hopeful at Ben. "Later, Gwen."
Now, she was sure of it. That was Ben. Without a doubt, he knew her name without anyone mentioning it.
Ben turned to the side and pointed his suited hand outwards before he clenched his hand into a fist, causing the crystals to shatter into billions of pieces.
Gwen raised her hands and aimed them at the suited individuals, causing her palms to grow bright pink. However, she was surprised to Ben lazily point a figure to the sky, and she watched in astonishment when all of the shards of crystals stopped midair and twirled around until they were completely aimed at the armed figures that had been shooting blue waves of some sort of liquid.
She then watched in shock as all of the crystals suddenly shot forward and bulleted through each and every one of them, killing them all. She looked outraged at the fact her cousin had just killed someone. However, she watched as Ben walked over and roughly unmasked one of them. Imagine her and Kevin's surprise when they found out the creatures behind the masks were DNAliens.
"Those are DNAliens!" Gwen shouted in alarm, and Levin was shocked as well, as he never expected those freaks to be under the clothes.
Ben roughly and uncaringly lifted the dead alien corpse up and showed them. "You know them?" Ben 'asked' getting straight to the point.
Gwen nodded slowly, "They're a species of alien that Grandpa Max was trying to infiltrate, and he went missing soon after. We've been looking for him ever since." Gwen briefly explained, earning narrowed eyed look that Gwen and Levin couldn't quite see. However, they both knew it was there.
"Grandpa Max? He went missing?" He asked, getting nods. "Okay, I'll sort that out later. But first…" he led off as he roughly grabbed Kevin's hand. "Back to the Null Void."
Levin snarled openly as he roughly snatched his hand from Ben's grasp. "I'm not goin' back there. I've served enough time in that hell hole with Vilgax. I want to have my own life. I got one, and I want nothing to do with that place ever again."
Ben narrowed his eyes, "Is that so, Levin?" He growled, and Kevin growled as well.
"Yeah… I don't want to go back to that place. And I'm not goin' back."
Ben stared him down long and hard before nodding. "You're right. You've served enough time. As long as you aren't involved with Vilgax, you're fine. Just keep yourself out of major trouble, Levin. You got that?" He asked seriously, actually taking Kevin by surprise.
"W-Wait! You aren't taking me back?!" He asked, startled at the fact that Ben was giving him mercy and letting him go.
Ben nodded, "Sure. As I said, you served enough time. And realistically, we both shouldn't have even been there. We were kids."
Kevin nodded, eyes downcast. "That place changes you. More than anyone can possibly imagine. You know that more than anyone else."
"You don't have to tell me that," Ben stated, agreeing with Kevin entirely.
Even if they had just been mortal enemies for over six years, they both had some sort of mutual respect for each other, and they both grew tired of fighting each other in that hellish place. Truthfully, Ben had no hate for Kevin. He just knew that the man was dangerous and was partially unstable due to his Osmosian powers. However, it seemed like he had found some sort of middle ground in his life.
"So, these DNAliens… what are their plans?" Ben asked, still in Diamondhead form.
"We don't know. All we know is that they're in league or are dealing with Forever Knights," Gwen stated, earning his attention.
"Yeah, I was in a deal with both of them, and they were both dealing with each other," Levin stated before he paled.
"No illegal activity, right, Levin?" Ben's voice carried effortlessly and Kevin nodded his head rapidly.
Gwen giggled slightly. Never in her day did she think that she would one day see Kevin's macho look get totally erased with pure, unceasing fear.
"Do you have his plumber badge?" Ben asked.
Kevin nodded at his question and pulled out of his pocket, and handed it over to Ben, who instantly took it.
Ben looked at it before took out a tool from his utility belt, and a small, thin silver wire came from the device. The wire soon attached to the plumber device, and the green light blinked brightly before a hologram popped up, showing random letters formed into a random order, showing just random words.
fjZQp37lZcatVicMjEPCNwkJIONOjqXhF-u8LzWPkagpPCGfwE02HTy9AjcMMTgQk6g_KP9EmtJFmKRk8Cp8ftA9FroxDP8UQZg5QLJg5VydJfOPU2KKc6xDsUbCDA4DbCspVWej0e6FT_Bq52mpzzLpzX8H2HADcvpY3_MyhN6i7zHX5VUJT3Rw-GrFwx69oYQ7y7XnT05hxQ5bCp6SyMwLFX3yCZaKdhwlZEvttLcJJgxjUcyXdRyMiYpdqkzCun34XamR3C9pJrvMOZOU6V70BmV69LF6LnjGlxLY1_hhAqa_t3BmrNkeGGqNJZvc3XAjlyVsawhU3DdxxPPBL0zk_Rd5wpUxer94Vu2PEqtaBVAAleHbyn98yh2lqNG6RTl9bio67j8OpeZEMuCX1ZGwLGkvw1pXpfkZv1NzQ2iTwvlwKOfSUAg-Z4NDx6mvREEw6FR6G3pzAz_f_Q2w7Q
"It's an encrypted message." Gwen realized. "That's going to take weeks to decode!"
However, she was surprised when she saw Ben shake his head.
"Not necessarily," he responded before he pressed a button on the device, and the words started rapidly rearranging, forming eligible sentences within a flash.
It now read,
Ben, if you are somehow reading this, I want you to know how proud I am to see that you've escaped, and I want you to know how disappointed I am in myself for allowing it to happen.
But, besides that, I want you to build a team. There's a threat looming over the horizon that I want you to prepare for it.
Sincerely, Max Tennyson
Gwen's eyes widened in shock once she read that and looked up at Ben, who she still couldn't even see due to that stupid suit he was wearing. "Ben…" she led off, not knowing what to say.
Ben sighed before he tossed the badge like a mere frisbee over to Kevin, who caught it off-handedly. "Grandpa Max knows what he's talking about. He may not know just how strong I've gotten over the years, but I don't deal with maybes and unknowns. We're up against an unknown force, and having a team and allies will be most beneficial." He listed off as if he was talking to himself and turned over to Kevin.
"You want your normal life?" Ben asked, getting a slow nod from Kevin. "Then you help me with this threat, and I'll do everything in my power to grant it," he continued before he held out his hand. A curved, green crystal blade formed above his wrist and elongated until the sharp tip loomed over Kevin's heart. "But you backstab me, I will finish the job. Got that?"
Kevin glared, staring at the triangle in the center of the 'mask' that was Ben's suit before his face broke into a smirk. "Why the hell not? Formally enemies turned allies. Has a nice ring, doesn't it?"
Ben held the blade there at his heart before it shrunk back into his arm with a slight grating sound. "Don't backstab me, Levin. That's your one and only warning," He said, ignoring his words entirely before turning to Gwen, who looked concerned for both of their sakes.
"Its... nice to see you again… Gwen." Ben started, feeling somewhat awkward at seeing his formally bratty and admittedly beautiful cousin again for the first time in over seven years.
Gwen frowned, "I don't see you anywhere."
Ben raised an eyebrow before a bright green flash exploded off Ben's body.
Gwen waited in suspense, only to find a beyond six-foot-tall, still-suited figure. She placed her hands on her hips and tapped her foot, hiding just how excited and nervous she was… to finally come face to face with her cousin, the very same one who sacrificed his life to save hers.
Steam rose from the collarbone section of the armor, and the helmet retracted back his suit, causing Gwen to wait on a bated breath. However, once she saw his face, she smiled.
'Wow…' she thought, completely flabbergasted. "You've changed, Ben."
Ben nodded, his green eyes glinting with happiness at seeing the same person for who he had selflessly and thoughtlessly given his freedom. "It's nice to see you, Gwen." He led off, her admittedly foreign name coming off weirdly on his tongue.
"Yeah," she led off softly, smiling and internally happy to see her cousin again.
They stood across from each other, both feeling awkward. At least, that was until Levin just shouted from behind.
"Either hug or kiss, and for the love of god, please be the former." He shouted, and Gwen blushed even hotter at the implications of her kissing Ben. However, the raven-haired teen merely blinked in surprise.
Never thought I'd hear that out of your mouth, Levin, Ben thought seriously, but one could detect a slight, pleasant surprise in his mental tone.
"It's nice to see you again, Ben, " she stated softly as she hugged him. And even if the armor got in the way of most things, it was still nice to have her cousin back.
Ben looked down and noticed that she only came up to his neck, 'You've changed a lot, Gwen. There's no doubt about that.'
After their weird 'hug,' they separated and looked at the giant tower as snow still rained above them.
"Hey, crazy thought." Kevin started as he looked at Gwen. "But, do you remember how cold it was on one of their ships?" He asked, and she nodded. "I think they needed the cold to survive. Or at least be at their full potential."
"So they build these towers so they could be supplied with the cold weather." Ben finished with a nod. It made sense, at least from what he knew. "Then, if that is even remotely true, then we need to take that thing down and out. And possibly anymore we come across."
Kevin and Gwen nodded in agreement. "I know that you and I can do that… but I don't really feel like it," Kevin stated somewhat awkwardly.
Ben knew exactly what he was talking about, and Gwen didn't. "You're still having problems with control after absorbing his power?" He asked, stressing that word. Kevin nodded slightly.
"The bloodlust is still way too much to handle. I don't want to go on some mindless rampage. If and when I go on one, I at least want to be in control," he grunted.
Ben spared him a glance, "You will never control the bloodlust, Kevin." He shook his head, getting a narrowed yet downcast look. "The entire thing is getting used to it and integrating that bloodlust and energy into something else rather than mindlessly destroying things." Kevin looked down before he sighed.
"I can't call you a liar because you've been dealing with it for longer than I have. So, I'll have to take your word for it, Tennyson." Kevin grumbled, not all that happy with Ben's blunt yet honest answer.
"What are you guys talking about?" Gwen inquired quizzically with a little bit of irritation at being out of the loop.
Kevin looked ready to speak, but a sharp glare from Ben told him otherwise. "Don't. Not yet."
Kevin opened his mouth, and when he saw Ben shake his head, he sighed. "Fine. Whatever."
Just as Gwen was a speak, Ben spoke up once more. "Let's go. We can continue this conversation later. But we need to finish here so I can do more research about these DNAliens." He ordered before he fully turned over to the tower.
"How are you going to take it down?" Gwen asked curiously. "I mean, I have some powerful spells that might let me, but they're exhausting to use."
Ben and Kevin shared a discrete glance before the latter nodded.
"I'll do it," Ben spoke up as he walked forward and cracked his neck.
"No offense, Ben… but are you sure you can?" She asked with some uncertainty. Kevin looked at her before chuckling.
"Gwen, you have no idea what we're capable of." At his bold proclamation, a bright green flash of light blossomed from the Omnitrix.
Standing a hair under six feet tall, he had lime green lines running down his arms, back, and head that resembled circuitry. His torso, backside of his arms, and the front side of his legs were completely white. He had long arms that could easily touch the ground when standing at full height. However, underneath green lines was black skin that ran down his face, back, and sides of his hands.
"Upgrade?" Gwen mumbled before her eyes lit up. "Of course, you're planning to merge with the machine to completely shut it down and destroy it from the inside out!"
Upgrade chuckled a small bit, "You could say that."
With that, Upgrade's body completely shrank to the floor and melded with it before he raced forward in a completely liquid form.
Gwen watched him leave and was astounded by how fast he was going. Hell, even in her current state, she could barely track him!
Kevin had no problem tracking Ben, as while he was in his base form, he was still strong and capable of tracking one of Ben's non-combatant alien forms.
Upgrade reached the tower within a couple of seconds, and he leaped onto the base of it, and the machine started turning utterly black with green circuitry spreading through the black substance.
The DNAliens seemed to understand what was happening, not as they tried shooting the weapons they were equipped with, firing blue lasers straight at Upgrade.
However, Upgrade's head rose from the machine and fired a green laser from the green circle on his face, creating a small-sized explosion of power. Upgrade then shot a few more quick bursts of green energy, knocking four DNAliens off the platform. The other remaining ones tried shooting at Upgrade, but he merely shrunk back into the tower, something they were very hesitant to shoot. Half a second later, Upgrade rose from the ground behind them and slammed one of his fists into the back of one of their heads, knocking the DNAlien straight out.
Rapidly turning around, the DNAlien beside shot a large, unstable beam of blue energy. However, he was knocked was soon knocked out by Upgrade rising from behind him, and he slammed an elbow right into his neck, causing the alien to fall limp onto the ground, unconscious or dead.
His head twisting around like an owl, he scanned the platform to ensure there were no more DNAliens, and he nodded as he saw none before fully merging with the weather tower.
Immediately, Kevin and Gwen could see large, orange sparks appearing all around the tower before it started smoking heavily. Then, a few seconds later, the entire weather tower blew straight to hell, making an enormous mushroom cloud appear.
Gwen looked worried about Ben, but she soon remembered that Upgrade had incredible regenerative powers, and she had seen Upgrade survive worse than an explosion of that size.
Ben soon returned, walking over to them, unharmed and back in human form with his suit on. However, his face was still visible. "That's down and I think it's safer if we destroy this entire plot of land," Ben explained, getting looks of confusion all around.
"Hey… how'd you do that?" The Pyronite spoke up for the first time. Earning looks of surprise as they honestly forgot that he was even there.
Ben stared at him and noticed the plumber badge on his chest, "So, are you a plumber? Or a plumber's kid?"
The Pyronite spoke soon after, giving his answer. "I'm a plumber's kid."
Ben nodded, "So, you're a hybrid, isn't that right?"
"My dad was a Pyronite and my mother was human," He explained before extending his hand. "My name's Alan Albright. It's nice to meet you, Ben." He introduced himself.
Ben nodded as he extended his hand, unbothered by the heat radiating off his hand as they met. "It's a pleasure."
"So, are we going to help them?" Alan asked as he pointed to the sheriffs that had been frozen with the beams that the DNAliens had shot from their weapons.
"You'd best wait," he stated. "We still need to finish up here and I don't want them seeing more than they already have."
Alan nodded in agreement, finding that to be the smart idea. "So, how did you transform into two different aliens? Are you a hybrid of three races?" He inquired quizzically, really interested in such a prospect. Ben shook his head and held out his left arm.
The suit surrounding his left arm receded into his skin, getting surprised looks. "Nano-Machines," he stated without even sparing them a glance.
The Omnitrix glowed an ominous green as Alan stared at the watch/gauntlet in awe. "This is the Omnitrix, the most powerful weapon in all the universe and the source of my powers."
"H-how many can you turn into?" Alan asked shakily. He was having trouble wrapping his head around all this.
Gwen and Kevin listened in on that, both wanting to know the answer, same as Alan.
Ben paused before speaking. "The last time I checked, I think I had used somewhere around 180,000… but there are around another million genetic samples I haven't even used yet," He listed.
"W-what?!" Gwen nearly shrieked in surprise and disbelief.
Kevin's widened as he stared at the Omnitrix with shock.
Alan just looked positively awed. "Wow, can you imagine what you could do with that?"
"Actually, I can," he said cryptically before his suit rose from his arm and covered it. Thoughts of Vilgax's speech came to mind.
"You hold the key to a power struggle so ancient, so vast, it is beyond your feeble comprehension. Picture an entire army, each in command of an Omnitrix and all under my command."
"I believe it would be best to destroy this entire field," Ben stated, causing everyone to snap out of their stages of shock and disbelief. "When I was in the weather tower, I saw others being built. It's better to destroy them before they can be activated later."
Everyone nodded in agreement, agreeing that they should nip the bud before the problem could grow.
"And how are you going to do that?" Alan asked, almost afraid to ask.
Surprisingly, Ben smirked. "Allow me to show you the pinnacle of a Pyronite's abilities."
Before Alan could even respond or think to respond, a bright green light flashed once more and a six-foot-tall, magma-humanoid appeared within a flash of green. He had a muscular frame and his entire body was composed of bright yellow inner magma covered by dark red rocks. His head looked like a volcano, sprouting large, orange-red flames and on his shoulders were two miniature volcanos that sprouted miniature flames. On his arms, right above his wrists, were two blades that jutted symmetrically from his arm, and on the very tip, that curved sprouted a tiny ember.
"Whoa…" Alan muttered and Gwen just mutely gaped.
Ben's human form wasn't the only one who had changed massively since they had last seen each other.
Heatblast looked at them before looking over to Alan. "Follow me."
Alan nodded slowly as they began floating upwards, albeit shakily. Heatblast noticed he was struggling and decided to help him out. "Manipulate the rock underneath your feet and propulse off of that."
Alan nodded, and he instinctually manipulated rocks. They started rapidly gathering underneath his feet, and soon enough, a large rock formed, and he was now standing on it while floating perfectly still.
"Use that to fly until you've gotten a better grip of your powers." Heatblast instructed and Alan nodded and smiled gratefully. "Now, follow me. I want to show what the Pyronite species are truly capable of." With that, Heatblast quickly flew through the air as Alan somewhat awkwardly flew behind him, trying to master flight while surfing through the air while using his Terrakinesis.
As they flew around two hundred feet into the air, Heatblast stopped, prompting Alan to do so as well, and Heatblast floated backward. He looked around at all the inactive weather machines still adhered to the ground.
"Watch and learn. And remember, this isn't even a fraction of what this species is capable of." Heatblast instructed before turning his hands over and pointing his palms to the sky. Once he did that, he closed his fiery eyes and slowly began moving his hands upwards, centimeter by centimeter.
Gwen watched in shock as the ground started angrily rumbling before Kevin gripped her by the hip, and two bug-like wings sprouted from his back before he leaped over into the sky, sixty feet upwards. She continued to watch as the entire cornfield was lifted, and soon, it was nothing more than a floating continent. Dirt fell from the sky as the floating cornfield lifted higher into the atmosphere. She then looked over to Heatblast, and she could barely even believe that he wasn't even straining himself.
Heatblast slowly brought his hands together before clamping them into a large ball. The floating piece of earth started forcefully merging, becoming nothing more than a large sphere of rock and dirt.
Heatblast let his hands to depart from each other, and he raised them higher into the air before throwing them upwards. Upon doing that, the giant ball of heavily compressed rock was shot straight into the sky like a reverse meteor being sent into outer space.
Alan stared at Heatblast with owl-like eyes, "H-How?"
Heatblast turned around and smirked, "Once you learn how to control your powers and uncover the mysteries of your form, you'll learn that there is much more you can do beyond the basic abilities."
Alan nodded slowly, a nervous and excited smile on his face at the mere prospect of being able to do that in the future. "Stop by, and I'll give you some lessons."
"Ah- sure." Alan smiled as he awkwardly scratched his arm as they flew back to the ground, and his Pyronite form evaporated. Ben noticed he seemed to have a decent grip of his abilities, but he lacked the experience using them.
Ben knew that he probably had a good bit of instinct helping him learn how to utilize his form, but he needed to understand precisely how to use that instinct and mold it into something useful. Unfortunately, it was probably confusing him and causing him more trouble than it was worth, as his human instinct was most likely holding him back from trusting the alien instinctual mannerisms.
With a small flash of green, Ben had transformed back into his human form while fully suited up, his entire head completely covered up once more. He looked over and saw Gwen and Kevin jog over to them.
"I'm assuming by your show that the weather machines are taken care of?" Kevin asked seriously as they squared off against each other again. Ben looked at him and gave the slightest of nods. "What of any other DNAlien?"
"There weren't any left. All of them that were stationed here must've been solely working on the one Upgrade destroyed," Ben explained.
Gwen narrowed her gaze at his briefness before she spoke. "So, what now?"
A sigh came from him, and a few minutes later, he responded. "Truly? We could just dump this entire situation onto the Justice League, and it will save us a whole lot of trouble."
Gwen's lip curled slightly at that, as she didn't want to leave her problems to the Justice League; people she didn't know or even met. So, neither did she trust them, but it wasn't in her character to be so irresponsible.
Kevin just shook his head, his reasons for disagreeing with that path almost the same as Gwen's.
Seeing the expressions and muted responses, Ben tilted his head and gave another sigh. "Okay, I guess we go with option two; we form a team."
"Yeah?" Kevin questioned as he placed his hands in his pockets. "In case you don't remember Tennyson, but we aren't exactly on the closest of terms, you and cousin haven't seen each other in over a decade. Don't even get me started on the hybrid Pyronite."
Gwen gave him a slight sneer at Kevin's pessimistic words and views. Alan looked down, feeling as if they neither trusted him or they all thought he was unreliable. However, he couldn't really blame them, to be honest. But it still stung, nonetheless.
Ben felt like banging his head against the wall.
"Look Levin, I don't care if we aren't on the best of terms," he stated. "Frankly, I can't be bothered to care. This—whatever this is is more important than our past.
Kevin stared at the masked form of Ben before he sighed and nodded as he gripped the back of his neck. "Fine. I'll join this… team."
Gwen looked between the two, and it was obvious that the two had developed more than a history while being in the Null Void, and while she wanted to ask questions, she figured it wasn't the best of times for her to try such a thing. So, she merely nodded as well. "Count me in."
Alan looked at them, and once he saw Ben turn his head towards him, he froze in his place, but he smiled uneasily when Ben nodded slightly. Slowly, he nodded and spoke. "I-I'm in as well."
Everyone looked at each other before Ben nodded. "If we're going to make this work, we will need a HQ."
"Yeah?" Kevin tilted his head. "How are you going to do that?"
Ben actually smirked.
"You let me worry about that."
ZZZ
Before I get on with talking about the chapter, I want to make something known.
Ben isn't a hero like Superman. Nor is he a villain like the Joker or Luthor. No, he's more on the lines of Red Hood, as he has what it takes to do what needs to be done. My Ben isn't like the idealistic Superman. No, he's like an anti-hero, who has what it takes to pull the trigger. Gwendolyn will not be grey like Ben is, but she will be more on the lines of, 'I know that some people are irredeemable, but I will not pull the trigger.' She is not like Ben. No, but nor is she like Superman, Batman, or even her canon self.
For everyone that is upset about Ben killing the DNAliens, I want to say one thing first.
He doesn't know about them being formerly humans. All he knows is that they're aliens. And plus, if you're still mad about him killing aliens, you should be mad about Superman and pretty much the entire Justice League as well, as the whole 'No Killing' rule that they so 'abide' by gets thrown away completely when dealing with nameless aliens.
Gwen and Kevin don't know either, so that's why they seemed uncaring if they died; they were enemies and not humans. It's like that in the comics and in the tv shows.
(1): Gwen's appearance is that of OS2's (from the Ken 10 episode) Gwendolyn's appearance. She looks like her, but with the description that I gave her.
Pyronite's can control rock, and that is what Terrakinesis is; the ability to manipulate materials such as rock, dirt, and sand. And according to the Ben 10 Wiki page, Pyronites have an affinity for limited Terrakinesis. However, I don't see why it has to stay limited. Ben had trained to further his ability to control his Terrakinesis while in the Null Void, and that is what caused him to be able to control hundreds of tons of rock, soil, and dirt with ease. Plus, Pyronites are made out of rock just as they are made out of fire and magma. So, why should he only be able to have limited control over Terrakinesis, when he has perfect control and immunity to Pyrokinesis?
Also, Kevin will be powerful as well, as he has been fighting against Ben and Vilgax for ten years. It would be stupid for me to have him not grow in power. Also, he won't be able to use complete forms of Ben's aliens as he could in the beginning of the OS. No, he can form parts like forming Stink Fly's wings or Heatblast's Pyrokinesis. However, it isn't nearly on Ben's level. Kevin will be powerful, but it won't be anything compared to how powerful Gwen is going to be.
This chapter was revised and edited—12/10/22