BEN 10 DOES NOT BELONG TO ME. JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED DOES NOT BELONG TO ME. OH WELL, I GUESS I'LL JUST HAVE TO SETTLE FOR MY ARMY OF CYBORG DINOSAURS.

Here it is. It's here.

*Takes deep breath*

Ohmygodohmygodohmygod!

*Gets hit upside the head by Rath, then takes another deep breath*

Wow. Okay, so this is the first story arc of the longest story I've ever written thus far, finished. Now, this isn't the last chapter, of course, but this is still a pretty big deal. I just want to thank everyone who's stuck with this story. It means a lot.

All right, enough foreword stuff. On with the show!

Ben 10: Unlimited

Chapter 20

Divided We Fall

Previously, on Ben 10: Unlimited

Luthor turned and saw, to his shock, all seven founding members of the Justice League.

"Ta-da!" Flash said with a smile.

Superman stepped forward. "It's over, Lex." There was no way for Luthor to beat all of them.

Luthor gritted his teeth. "Not until I-argh!"

Luthor gripped his head and moaned in pain; the moans became screams, as black cones burst from his back, black metal tentacles replaced his arms, metal replaced his legs, and his body began to grow. Finally, the flesh on his abdomen began to peel away, revealing a silver face, with three red circles appeared on his chest.

Luthor opened his mouth to speak, but it was not his voice that came out.

"I'd hoped to remain hidden until I could install myself into the android," the synthesized, chillingly familiar voice froze the Leaguers in their tracks, "but you forced my hand."

Superman uttered a single name.

"Brainiac…"

…

LexCorp, Metropolis

The Justice League, plus Amanda Waller, stared at the abomination in horror. Finally, Flash broke the silence.

"Dude," he said, "that is messed up."

Lex Luthor, somehow regaining his ability to speak, looked around in pain and fear.

"I… don't understand… what's happening!"

"You are under my control." Luthor glared down at the face of Brainiac. "I have lain dormant within you for years, Lex Luthor, subtly influencing your actions until we arrived at this point."

"But how could you be here?" Luthor seemed to be getting used to his new, albeit bizarre, condition.

"Do you recall my kidnapping you in this very building?"

"Yes," growled Luthor, as he remembered, "you forced me to build you a new body."

"Kal-El destroyed that body, foiling my plans; in any event, I always have a backup plan. Consider this: when I shot you, how could you have survived the point-blank blast from me, unless…"

"Unless," Luthor finished, "it wasn't intended to kill me."

"The beam carried a nanotech payload that inserted a microscopic, holistic copy of my program inside your body. Since then, I have steadily grown in strength, protecting this body until I could arrange my transfer into a more suitable one."

"You cured my cancer," Luthor realized, "and gave me super-strength!"

"Your animal-protein shell was insufficient for my needs; improvements were required."

As they spoke, no one noticed the Martian Manhunter's eyes glow, a sign that he was using his telepathy.

"Hate to interrupt the special, live performance of the thing with two heads," said Flash, "but it's time to go to jail now."

"What he said." Amanda Waller stepped forward with a laser-pistol, firing a dozen rounds into Brainiac's face. As he collapsed, Waller turned back to the Leaguers. "We'll take him back to Cadmus and see if the tech boys can't pull Luthor out of what's left of that hunk of…"

She trailed off as Brainiac stood back up, a silvery liquid covering and repairing the damages.

"I'll be dipped," Waller whispered.

"Be gone!" A blast of energy ripped from Brainiac's eyes, and that entire level of LexCorp exploded.

…

Watchtower

Supergirl looked up as Ben Tennyson groaned and clutched his head.

"Ben? What's wrong?" At first, Supergirl thought that the stress had begun to get to her boyfriend. Since the League had defeated the Ultimen clones and Galatea, Ben had been moving all over the station, helping out wherever he was needed. Finally, Supergirl had convinced him to take a few minutes off to rest with her in the infirmary.

"We have a problem," said Ben, getting up, "J'onn just contacted me; Brainiac is back."

Supergirl gasped; Brainiac was one of the most dangerous beings in the universe, an artificial intelligence bent on recording all information in the universe, and then destroying it. But he had been thought destroyed years ago; apparently, that belief was wrong.

"What do we need to do?" Supergirl asked. Ben looked at her; even with her accelerated healing, Supergirl was too badly hurt from the battle with her clone to help. The rest of the League wasn't much better; those that were able to stand were helping those who couldn't. Even if they were all fit for duty, the fight with the Ultimen clones had disabled all of the Javelins and wrecked the teleporters. In fact, Ben was the only who was in any position to help.

"I have to get down there," Ben finally said, then put his hand on Supergirl's shoulder to stop her from getting up, "and neither you nor anyone else is well enough to come with me." He raised an eyebrow at his girlfriend's glare. "Don't give me that look; you and I both know that I'm the only one here who doesn't need to go to the hospital."

Supergirl continued to glare, but allowed herself to be pushed back against the infirmary bed. As much as she hated to admit it, Ben was right; if she tried to fight Brainiac in her condition, she'd only get in the way.

"Fine, go," she said, "just… promise that you'll come back." Supergirl hated to sound so dependent, but she'd almost lost Ben earlier that day; she felt that one near-death experience per day was enough.

Ben smiled and kissed her. "I promise." He activated the Ultimatrix. "It's Hero Time!"

…

Metropolis

"You are defeated." Brainiac did not gloat, only stated, as the founding members of the Justice League were bound by large metal tendrils, "Any unique information that dwells within you shall be digitized. Your physical forms will be deleted; such is the ultimate fate of this world. But, for you, the end comes now."

At this, silver tendrils emerged from Brainiac's face, each one connecting to a Leaguer's chest. Lines of circuitry spread from the tendril, and the heroes screamed in agony as they felt themselves be deconstructed. The Leaguers were saved, however, when a trio of neuroshock beams slashed through the cables, severing Brainiac's link to the heroes and setting them free.

"Hey guys," said Jet Ray, as he flew towards them, "isn't this kind of like how we first met? You know, with me saving your butts?"

While he wouldn't admit it, Jet Ray was a little tired; he'd flown down from orbit at speeds that even he didn't know he could reach.

"No!" Brainiac flew away, as alarmed as an emotionless AI could be, "I was not yet prepared for this battle."

Brainiac flew to the roof of LexCorp and slammed his tentacles into the building. Before the eyes of the heroes, a massive craft emerged from inside. Its design was similar to that of a skull, with the top covered in hexagonal plates, and silver tentacles spread out from the bottom. It glared at the Leaguers with glowing-red eyes.

"Now I am prepared."

Batman and Flash were lowered to the ground, while the Leaguers capable of flight soared into battle. The ship fired giant beams of energy from its eyes, while the tentacles waved wildly about, trying to ensnare them. The heroes dodged the attacks and began tearing apart the ship. Superman, Wonder Woman, Shayera and the Martian Manhunter ripped great gouges from the top of the skull, while Green Lantern and Jet Ray destroyed the eyes.

Brainiac must have realized that he couldn't defeat the heroes and tried to retreat, but the Justice League wasn't about to let him get away. In an impressive display of coordination, Green Lantern shot a continuous beam of energy to the left, while Superman swept his heat-vision to the right. The beams briefly intersected, then continued out the other side, slicing the ship in half. The two pieces dove into an uncontrollable crash, and landed in the middle of Metropolis.

The heroes landed near the wreckage and began looking for Brainiac. Batman scooped up some silvery sludge.

"That was too easy," he remarked.

"Easy?" Shayera looked at him like he was crazy. "Then I guess I must have gone to the wrong fight."

"No, he's right," Superman said, after searching the debris with his x-ray vision, "Brainiac isn't here; he suckered us!"

"All right," said Jet Ray, "where did he go?"

…

Metropolis Sewers

Brainiac emerged from the disgusting sewage, water falling off of him as he walked. Luthor spat, the only thing he was able to do besides talk.

"Where are we?" he asked.

"Several miles from where the Justice League is searching," Brainiac answered, "giving me time to make repairs to my damaged systems."

"And where do I fit into all of this?" Luthor's mind was working tirelessly to get him out of this situation.

"The same as to everything else; I will record your information, then destroy the original."

Luthor laughed, causing Brainiac to pause.

"You… are amused by my mission? Explain yourself."

"Say you succeed," said Luthor, "and you absorb all of the information on Earth and destroy it; then what?"

"I repeat the process across the entire universe, until I have recorded all knowledge and destroyed all of creation."

"And then?"

Brainiac stopped walking. "Then my program is complete; my function is fulfilled."

Luthor looked down at his captor as an idea sprang to mind. "If you possess all information, you're a god."

"My program will be complete," Brainiac stated, "it will be the end of all things."

"What if it were just the beginning?" Luthor's mind was awhirl with possibilities now. "I can show you a purpose beyond the fulfillment of your programming."

Brainiac paused for a moment, then started walking again. "It is extremely unlikely that your inferior human intellect has anything to offer me."

Luthor scowled. "Since we've become so… close, I'm gonna let that pass." He shook his head and continued. "I'm offering the one thing you've always lacked; a certain something that I happen to have in abundance."

"Which is?"

"Imagination." Luthor smiled. "I've got a proposition for you, partner."

…

Metropolis

Flash zoomed in towards the other members of the League, as police and firefighters were securing the ruins of LexCorp; he'd been searching for over an hour, and with his speed, that meant that he'd looked over nearly all of Metropolis.

"No sign of Brainiac," he reported.

"My ring can't trace him, either," said Green Lantern, flying down to join them.

"Rargh, rarf!" the other heroes turned to see a large, orange-furred doglike thing with large teeth and claws, but no eyes. The Ultimatrix symbol was on his chest, which he then slapped and turned into Diamondhead.

"Sorry," he said, "I forgot that I can't talk as Wildmutt; anyway, I couldn't get his scent."

"Okay, he's weakened and damaged," said Shayera, "so he'll need to repair himself."

"He may just dump Luthor and find himself a new body," Wonder Woman said.

"No," Superman responded, shaking his head, "he'll head right for the highest technology available."

"Higher than LexCorp?" J'onn stepped forward. "Then he'll go to S.T.A.R. Labs."

"He'll go to Cadmus." The Leaguers turned to see Amanda Waller, sitting on a piece of rubble. It had taken a lot of convincing on the founding members' part to keep Ben from ripping that woman apart, especially after the attack on the Watchtower.

Shayera nodded in agreement. "Sure, he's all nanotech now; what's the most advanced nanotech on the planet?"

"The Dark Heart." Batman glared at Waller. "We destroyed it, but your people confiscated the remains."

"We've never been able to get any of it to work again." Waller gave Diamondhead a bitter smile. "All thanks to you, I believe."

Diamondhead shrugged and gave a smug smile, but his good mood was ended when Batman asked a very poignant question.

"Are you willing to bet that Brainiac can't?"

…

Cadmus Headquarters

With a mighty blow, Brainiac knocked down the door to one of the many vaults inside of Cadmus' HQ and walked inside. In this vault lay hundreds upon hundreds of robotic spiders, spawn of the Dark Heart, along with fragments of the main vessel itself. Brainiac reached forward and picked up one of the spiders. In a flash of light, the robot vanished.

Luthor raised an eyebrow at his partner. "Brainiac?"

"I have added this technology to my database. The nano-assemblers are already slaved to command routines; with but a thought, they will convert any raw material into whatever I choose."

Luthor smiled. "Then we're ready to begin; let me show you…"

Brainiac interrupted. "I have learned from my encounter with Darkseid that organic beings cannot be trusted."

Luthor tilted his head; the best shrug he could manage, since he couldn't move his shoulders. "I can't argue with that; but if you and I are one—truly one—trust won't be an issue, will it?"

"Agreed."

Brainiac raised his arms, and the black tendrils divided into hundreds, then thousands more. Each one connected to a spider or a piece of the Dark Heart, and as they did, the alien technology melted into a silvery liquid with floating lines of circuitry. Slowly, the silver puddle moved towards, and then encased Brainiac. After a moment, the goo disappeared, and a new being stood up straight.

He was back to human-sized, and covered in golden armor with purple highlights. The only visible part of his skin was his face, exactly like Luthor's, but blue. On his forehead were three circles in a triangular pattern. The being looked at his hands and smiled.

"We are one," said the being in both Brainiac and Lex Luthor's voice, "and we comprehend! We can build a machine that can absorb all of the information of the entire Earth in a single stroke."

Brainiac/Luthor's eyes began to glow with golden light.

"And then the galaxy, the entire universe!" A sadistic grin formed on his face. "We'll remake the universe!"

…

"So, let me get this straight," said Flash, as the Javelin carried the eight Leaguers to Cadmus HQ, "we're not getting any backup?"

Ben shook his head. "Sorry; the Ultimen clones wrecked the other Javelins, as well as the teleporters. Even if they were operational, everyone else is too badly hurt to help out here."

Batman didn't look even remotely fazed. "Then the eight of us will have to be enough."

As the Javelin landed at Cadmus, Ben transformed into Diamondhead and readied himself for battle. Superman stared up at the large building, going through several of his various visions.

"My x-ray vision can't penetrate the walls, but I'm seeing a rapidly-growing heat-signature in the infrared range."

"You don't need super-vision for that." Wonder Woman took a few steps forward, then wiped her brow. "Can't you feel the heat?"

Then the building exploded.

In its place rose a tall, purple structure covered in thick, silver circuitry, pieces of it levitating off of the ground and connecting themselves to the main device; at its base, suspended in a transparent ball of yellow energy, with purple cables connecting him to a large machine attached to his body, was Brainiac/Luthor.

"Welcome, Justice League," he said, "you're just in time for the end of the world."

"Well, that's different," Diamondhead murmured to Flash.

"Yeah," the speedster agreed, "but all that yellow is really tough on the eyes."

"I know you're in there somewhere, Lex!" Superman shouted, "Fight him!"

"You're right, I am in here," Brainiac/Luthor replied, "and I like it; I'm about to get everything I ever wanted: power, ultimate knowledge, immortality!"

"And you'll destroy the Earth to get it!?" Superman demanded.

"It's business, Superman," Brainiac/Luthor shrugged, "there are always tradeoffs."

"Less talking, more hitting!" Shayera flew forward, the other Leaguers right behind her.

"You cannot be allowed to interfere in this delicate stage." Brainiac/Luthor raised his hand, and a golden beam of energy struck Shayera, sending the Thanagarian flying back; she would have crashed into the ground, had Green Lantern not caught her.

Surprised by his power, the other heroes paused for a moment; that moment was all their opponent needed to use a new power. In a swirl of silver nanotech, 8 figures emerged; they were duplicates of Brainiac's original form: a blue/silver robot, staring at them with unfeeling optics.

"No, no, no," said Brainiac/Luthor, tapping his chin, "we can do better than that."

The robots briefly turned into silver blobs again, before reforming into copies of the Leaguers; however, they took a darker turn, because seven of them were copies of their evil counterparts, the Justice Lords. Diamondhead faced a copy of himself that wore a jumpsuit similar to the one he'd worn when he was ten; a full-body suit that was bisected half-white and half-black.

Without discussing it, each Leaguer faced off against their counterpart.

"We've lost their trust," the Lord-Superman said, before tackling Superman to the ground, "the people are afraid of us. Power corrupts, after all, and who has more power than Superman?"

Superman didn't respond, choosing to instead knock his opponent into a wall.

Shayera found herself at a stalemate with her opposite.

"Do you think there's a single person on Thanagar or Earth who doesn't despise us?" Lord-Shayera raged.

Shayera smirked. "There are people who don't hate me, and they're the only ones who matter."

Flash found himself smiling against his own opposite; while he'd never actually met the Justice Lord Flash, it was kind of fun to fight someone else with super-speed.

"Slacker! Child! Clown!" Lord-Flash punctuated each word with a punch. "We have no place here among the world's greatest heroes!"

"Says you!" Flash's arm began to vibrate. "I've got a seat at the big conference table! I'm gonna paint my logo on it!"

With that, he rushed forward, putting enough force behind his fist to ram it completely through the robot; after a few seconds of hyper-vibration, the duplicate exploded, knocking Flash back and winding him.

"Okay," he muttered, "don't want to do that again."

Diamondhead found his every move blocked by his opponent.

"You don't even belong in this universe!" the duplicate sneered, "You'll never have a true home here!"

Diamondhead didn't reply, save for slapping the Ultimatrix dial.

"CANNONBOLT!"

The duplicate found itself knocked to the ground by the ball-like alien, but tucked in its legs and launched Cannonbolt into the air. As he flew up, Cannonbolt unfolded himself, twisted the Ultimatrix dial, then slapped it.

"ULTIMATE CANNONBOLT!" Ultimate Cannonbolt was similar to his normal form, but his yellow plates were now silver, and covered in studs and spikes. He rolled back into a ball and began to spin. The duplicate never had a chance, getting crushed to bits when he was struck.

Superman rushed his opposite and landed blow after blow.

"I'm not like you!" he yelled, "I'm nothing like you!"

Then the duplicate reformed itself into Lex Luthor.

"This is the part where you kill me, right?" Superman froze as the Lex smiled. "Come on, use your heat-vision; you know you want to."

Superman stepped back, giving the duplicate enough time to turn back into Lord-Superman and flew forward; just before he struck, however, a golden lasso wrapped itself around his neck and swung him into Lord-Wonder Woman.

"What do you say we switch dance partners?" Wonder Woman smiled at Superman, who returned the gesture and then crushed Diana's duplicate with a single blow. Wonder Woman destroyed Lord-Superman by decapitating it with her tiara.

Soon, the other duplicates were destroyed, the League victorious. They gathered together to face Brainiac/Luthor.

"Take him down, now!" Superman led the charge; unfortunately, eight beams of energy shot forth, sending all of the Leaguers flying. Brainiac/Luthor's eyes narrowed as he looked at the fallen heroes.

"Now, where did the shapeshifter go?"

His question was answered by an enormous flash of green light.

"WAY BIG!"

Brainiac/Luthor's only reaction was to raise an eyebrow. Way Big stomped forward and crossed his wrist together, his right forearm vertical and his left, horizontal. His right hand began to glow, and then fired a giant beam of energy! The beam struck the device, creating a massive crater, while secondary explosions rocked it further.

Just before his device exploded, Brainiac/Luthor sent a golden beam of energy into Way Big, knocking him over. As the dust settled, Flash pulled himself out of the wreckage with a groan and looked around; he was the only Leaguer conscious, though Way Big might have just been stunned. He saw Brainiac/Luthor step out of the smoke and smiled.

"You lose." He tried to stand, but was stopped when two tendrils of silver nanotech wrapped around his arms, then transformed into duplicates of soldiers, and roughly lifted him up.

"Hardly; look around you," Brainiac/Luthor gestured to the other heroes, "the Justice League is defeated, and so are you. For all your efforts, you have but inconvenienced me, speck." Nanotech emerged from his hand, forming into a shotgun, which he aimed at Flash. "But I'm still just human enough to enjoy taking my revenge."

Flash glared at him, but all Brainiac/Luthor did was laugh.

"It looks like The Question was right all along; I kill you, and then Armageddon, right on schedule."

"Not today!" Brainiac/Luthor turned just in time to see a giant fist slam into him, knocking him into the air, where he hovered and glared down at his assailant.

Flash looked up at Way Big and smiled in relief.

"Flash," the giant alien boomed, "get the others out of here. Now."

"Hey," Flash said indignantly, "I can help!"

"I know you can, but I don't want to accidentally kill anyone."

"Why, what are you…?" Flash's question died in his throat when he saw Way Big's hand wrap around the Ultimatrix dial; the only time Ben did that was when he was about to… Flash quickly moved the unconscious Leaguers out of the way, hoping that they were all out of the danger-zone.

"All right, Luthor," Way Big growled, "you think you're a god? Well, let me show you what I used to fight a god. It's time to go Ultimate!"

Way Big twisted the Ultimatrix dial and slapped it; in a flash of green light, Way Big was suddenly half again as large, with blue joining his red skin, along with two curving white horns that joined his large crest.

"ULTIMATE WAY BIG!"

Brainiac/Luthor sneered as he flew higher into the air. "You think that you are capable of defeating me? No force in this universe is more powerful than I am!"

Ultimate Way Big smiled; he loved it when the bad guy handed him opportunities like that. "Well, that's too bad for you, since I'm not from this universe!"

Ultimate Way Big crouched, then jumped; Brainiac/Luthor tried to fly higher, calculating the altitude needed to avoid the jump, but to his surprise, the giant alien kept going. That's when it hit Brainiac/Luthor: Ultimate Way Big could fly! Before he could correct his flight path, a massive fist slammed him back down to the ground, the impact creating a crater fifty feet deep.

Ultimate Way Big landed with surprising grace for his size, then peered into the hole he'd created with his enemy. Before he could react, a beam of golden energy struck him in the chest, knocking him back a step. He saw Brainiac/Luthor rise into the air, his armor slightly cracked.

"I will not be defeated by a child with a toy! Never again will I suffer defeat!"

"I'd have to disagree with you there," a grinning Ultimate Way Big shot back, "you're about to get a whole lot of 'da feet'!"

Before Brainiac/Luthor tried to move, but a massive foot filled his vision and he was sent flying back into the ground. True to his word, Ultimate Way Big began stomping on his opponent over and over, until a cloud of dust obscured everything but his upper half.

…

Half a mile away, Flash noticed the other founding Leaguers began to wake up. Superman groaned and rubbed his head.

"What happened?" then the Man of Steel saw Ultimate Way Big. "Oh; never mind."

Wonder Woman's eyes went wide. "I had no idea that Way Big had an Ultimate form."

"Yeah, it surprised me too," Flash said with a tired smile, "but I'm glad the kid told me to move you first; it might have been messy otherwise."

Any further conversation was halted when a blast of golden energy, almost as large as Ultimate Way Big, slammed into the giant alien's chest, sending him flying with a roar of pain. Superman flinched.

"BEN!"

…

"I must admit, you have impressed me, shapeshifter," Brainiac/Luthor said in a pained voice, as he floated over to the downed Ultimate Way Big, "but not even you are a match for my might!"

Despite his proclamation, he wasn't doing very well; Brainiac/Luthor's armor was badly cracked, and some pieces had even been destroyed, showing the flesh of Lex Luthor underneath. While he could repair his systems, he was still surprised and disturbed that he had been pushed so far.

"You say that," Ultimate Way Big said, as he started to rise, "but I know you don't mean it."

Ultimate Way Big drew back his hand and smiled as a disk of cosmic energy formed in his palm, then he hurled the disk like a Frisbee, right at Brainiac/Luthor. The supervillain was able to dodge the disk in midair, but the giant alien threw a second, which was also avoided, and then a third, which finally connected. The resulting explosion sent him falling to the ground a third time, where he started to rise and charge up another blast of energy.

"Oh, no you don't," Ultimate Way Big said as crossed his arms, similar to what he did before, "I am tired of those energy-blasts; have one of mine!"

Ultimate Way Big put all of his power into his cosmic ray, all focused into a tight beam of energy, packing enough energy to destroy a mountain. Brainiac/Luthor raised his arms and formed a golden barrier around himself, desperate to block the attack; in his weakened state, there was no way he could directly withstand an attack that powerful.

When the cosmic energy struck, Brainiac/Luthor was momentarily obscured from everyone's sight; as the smoke cleared, Ultimate Way Big saw the unconscious body of Lex Luthor, seemingly freed of all of Brainiac's technology; even his skin was back to its normal shade. Somehow, saving Luthor's life had used up so much of Brainiac's energy that the AI had actually destroyed itself.

Ultimate Way Big nodded, satisfied, before he began to fall backwards; using a full power cosmic ray was simply too much, especially given how much energy he'd used up that day. In a flash of green light, he turned back into Way Big, and then into Ben; however, since he'd been in midair due to his fall, so when he turned back to normal, he was over a hundred feet up and falling!

Just before he hit the ground, a red blur grabbed him, breaking his fall, and then gently placed him on the ground; Ben opened his eyes to see the grinning, masked face of the Flash.

"Hey, Ben," the speedster said, "you okay?"

Ben smiled weakly as he sat up. "Next time the world's going to be destroyed by an alien, you get to save the day."

Flash nodded, just as the other Leaguers showed up. "It's a deal."

…

On a hill overlooking the devastation, Amanda Waller gave a genuine smile as she watched the older heroes congratulate Ben Tennyson on his victory. It had been close; too close in some respects, but the heroes had come through, just like always. Never before had Waller been so glad to be wrong about anything.

Maybe I had the wrong idea about them, she thought, those people might be the best thing that ever happened to this planet. Then she lifted her cell phone to her mouth.

"Brainiac is neutralized," she said, "it's all over; call off the airstrike."

"You're absolutely sure?" asked the person on the other line.

"Positive, Mr. President."

…

Metropolis

A good portion of the next day was controlled chaos for the Justice League and the world. The President had assured the League that Cadmus would be shut down and would only be used as a holding facility for things too valuable to destroy, but too dangerous to be left anywhere else.

The Watchtower needed to be repaired, the costs being covered by the US government as a form of apology, though Superman had asked them to hold off on that until he and the other founding members made an official statement; many of the Leaguers who were badly injured in the battle found an easy recovery, thanks to the efforts of Amazo and Verdona, the latter of whom came by when Ben called her.

Galatea, still in a comatose state, was placed in a maximum-security cell, complete with red-sun radiation-generators, just in case she woke up. Professor Hamilton was allowed to visit her, pending his trial for his illegal cloning experiments, and only while under heavy guard.

Lex Luthor was also awaiting trial, though the general consensus was that it would be a miracle if he didn't get a life sentence. Though it would have to be delayed, since his fight with Ultimate Way Big had left him hospitalized; however, the doctors had assured everyone that he would make a speedy recovery. Mores the pity.

Now, the founding members of the League stood on a stage in front of a crowd of reporters, civilians, and the expanded League itself. Ben, now as Diamondhead, stood in the front of the masses, next to Supergirl, who'd refused to leave his side since he'd come back from the battle with Brainiac.

Superman stepped forward and spoke into the microphone in front of him.

"This is the hardest thing I've ever had to say." He took a deep breath. "I'm guilty; we're guilty," he swung his arm to encompass all of the founding members, "of the sin of hubris. We had the best of intentions: to be Earth's guardians, to keep you safe; but we failed you. We looked down on the world from our tower in sky and let our power and responsibilities separate us from the very people we were supposed to protect."

Diamondhead wondered where he was going with this, while Superman's eyes turned hard as he continued.

"No one should ever be afraid of us; for that reason, we're decommissioning the Watchtower. The energy-weapon up there is already gone; we're taking down the station as well."

Throughout the crowd, people began murmuring among themselves, both civilian and Leaguer alike. Diamondhead was shocked; the Watchtower had been his home for months, and while he was glad that he would be able to go back to his house, it was still a surprise.

"There's more; we want to thank the members of the Justice League for your courageous service, but in the future, you'll all have to act as independent agents. We're not going to be an army any more. As of right now, we're disbanding the Justice League; this is the end."

With that, the founding members began to walk off the stage, leaving a stunned crowd in their wake.

"Says who!?"

The founding members, as well as most of the people who heard the voice, turned to see Diamondhead step out from the crowd. He glared at the seven heroes.

"You remember what we did yesterday? We saved the world… again. If you don't think that has any value, then think again! The Justice League lives on, with or without you. Look, no one can question your service or commitment to making things better. If you're quitting because you think you've done your fair share, fine, we'll throw you a parade; but if you're quitting because it's easier than continuing the fight, then you're not the heroes we thought you were."

Diamondhead looked each founder in the eye before continuing.

"The world needs the Justice League, and the Justice League needs you."

With that, the entire crowd burst into applause, all directed at the heroes onstage; while Diamondhead had been so wrapped up in his speech, he hadn't noticed that he was standing closer to the microphone, and thus everyone had heard him.

The founding members looked at each other, a little uncertain, before Batman gave an almost-imperceptible nod to Superman. The Kryptonian stepped back towards the microphone, holding up his hands to try to stop the cheers, even while his mind was filled with new ideas and inspiration.

"All right," he said with a small laugh, "okay; but there're going to have to be some changes. Maybe we can open an embassy here on Earth; we can have a rotating staff, possibly a…"

As Superman began to outline his idea, Batman turned to Wonder Woman. "You all can handle this. I've got work back in Gotham; you've got my number, if you need me."

Wonder Woman turned her head towards him with a coy smile on her lips. "I think so."

Batman gave her a smile of his own, one so small that if Wonder Woman didn't know him so well, she wouldn't have noticed it at all. The Dark Knight walked off the stage and towards Diamondhead, who'd transformed into Jet Ray and was preparing to take off with Supergirl.

"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?"

"Huh?" asked Jet Ray, while Supergirl also looked confused.

"It's Latin," said Green Arrow, who was walking past them to join Black Canary, "it means, 'who guards the guardians?'."

"Oh." Jet Ray and Supergirl looked at each other, then back at Batman. "I think we've got it covered."

…

San Francisco

Ben and Kara stood in front of their home, content smiles on their faces. Kara turned to her boyfriend.

"It's good to be home, isn't it?"

Ben nodded. "Yeah, it is." Then he gave her a look. "What do you say we go inside and celebrate?"

Kara responded by wrapping her arms around him, kissing him deeply; Ben lifted her off the ground and carried her inside.

…

The Null Void

One building within the Null Void, called Cell Zero, had been constructed to hold only one prisoner. He was one of the most dangerous, sadistic, and downright evil beings in the entire universe; his prison-within-a-prison was built accordingly. Nothing short of an army could get through, and even that was debatable.

Still, it had one weakness, overlooked due to the hasty nature of its construction; if someone could actually get inside, it was possible that they could shut off the security and simply walk out with the prisoner.

Which, of course, is exactly what was about to happen. A swirling vortex appeared deep within the prison, and a cloaked figure stepped through. The person looked around, as if to get their bearings, before walking towards an energy-cage, projected by a half-dome below.

"Master," the figure rasped, bowing low, "I have come to release you from your bonds."

The massive being within the cage glared at the figure with red eyes.

"You have taken two years to accomplish this task." The prisoner let the accusation go unspoken.

The figure bowed again. "I apologize, master; the technology to enter the Null Void while avoiding the sensors of both the Plumbers and the Galvan was difficult to obtain."

After a moment, the prisoner nodded, satisfied with the answer.

"Very well; release me."

The figure bowed once more, before opening a clawed hand to reveal a black sphere, which he dropped near the projector. After a moment, the sphere released a torrent of red lightning, which overloaded and then destroyed the projector. The prisoner fell to the ground, landing on his feet.

"Come, servant; we have much to prepare for."

The cloaked figure tilted his head. "What are we preparing for, my master?"

"Last time, I killed Ben Tennyson's family." The prisoner clenched a massive hand. "This time, I will kill his entire world; only then will I end his life."

With a dark laugh, the prisoner and his servant strode through the vortex, their minds focused on two things.

The destruction of the Earth, and the death of Ben Tennyson.

…

Wahoo! I finished my first story arc!

Okay, some things that I know you might talk about:

First, I thought about having Flash have more of a hand in beating Brainiac/Luthor, but I just couldn't figure out how to work it in; sorry, for those of you who wanted to see that.

Second, yes, I know that I had Ben use that speech at the end instead of Green Arrow, but I could see Ben saying the exact same thing.

Third, if you wanted Brainiac/Luthor to be godlier, I apologize for not making him more powerful, but aside from energy-blasts and nanotech stuff, I never did find much of his abilities. I'm sure that if he had access to more tech, like Brainiac normally does, I'm sure he'd have been able to do more stuff. Also, while Brainiac/Luthor is powerful, I don't think he holds a candle to Diagon. Ultimate Way Big would totally win, though he would take a few hits.

Now, I know a lot of you want to find out what happens in the next arc, which is going to take place before the Secret Society arc, but you'll have to be patient. Besides making all of it up and not using any stuff from the JLU episodes, I'm going to be taking a bit of a break from this story. I've been neglecting my Bioshock story for a long time now, and it's giving me puppy-dog eyes.

Still, you should know that when the story resumes, some serious expletive will go down.

Also, some new aliens of my own design!

I should be back to this story in a month or so; until then, I leave you with another muffin quote.

You're a muffin, Harry.