BEN 10 DOES NOT BELONG TO ME. JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED DOES NOT BELONG TO ME. MY LAST ATTEMPT AT A HOSTILE TAKEOVER OF DC COMICS RESULTED IN MY OWN LOBOTIMIZATION, SO I DON'T ADVISE THAT YOU TRY IT.

I hate many things in the world; politics, pollution, people who use alliteration all the time. But, there is one thing that I don't hate: Justice League Unlimited. Oh, and Ben 10. Make that two things.

I should tell you all that there are several Omniverse aliens that will not be making an appearance. Walkatrout, The Worst, and that stupid fairy. Let's just say that Ben has them, but will never use them. If you are a fan of those aliens, I apologize, but to me they are just stupid. Walkatrout does two things: walk and swim. BORING. If I want a fish-person that can actually do stuff, sign me up for Ripjaws. Plus, The Worst is USELESS, only used for comedic value, and while there are some elements of Ben 10 that are funny, we don't need an excess of it.

Another thing that should be mentioned is that this isn't so much an arc, as it is a three-parter. I apologize, but I want to keep this story under 45 chapters.

That being said, on with the show!

Ben 10: Unlimited

Chapter 21

Closure, Part 1

Arrival

He'd been here before; he remembered the smoke, the blood, the bodies. He saw the horrified expressions on his friends and family; and he knew that soon he would see him again. Sure enough, he was standing on top of the ruins, but something was different. Instead of sadistic laughter, he only stared at him with hate-filled eyes. He raised a clawed finger and pointed it at him.

"Soon."

…

Ben Tennyson shot out of bed, holding his head as he shook uncontrollably. He took a deep breath, trying to figure out what the dream meant.

What was that? Ben wondered, I haven't had a dream that bad in almost two years; what did it mean?

Ben was shaken out of his thoughts by a noise from the other side of the bed.

"Ugh, Ben?" Kara Kent looked up at him sleepily. "What's going on? Are you all right?"

Ben nodded. "Yeah, Kara, just a bad dream."

Kara shook her head to clear it. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Ben lay back down next to her, where she put her head on his shoulder. "It was like the nightmares from before, but something's changed. I don't know, maybe it's nothing."

Kara frowned. "I don't think you would have woken up like that if it was nothing."

Ben sighed. "I just don't know; maybe…"

"Maybe what?"

"Ugh, I'm too tired to think about it now; how about in the morning?"

He could feel Kara nod her head against his shoulder. "Okay, Ben, in the morning. Now go back to sleep, okay?"

Ben kissed the top of Kara's head. "Okay; I love you."

"Love you, too." Kara mumbled, as she fell asleep.

Ben tried to follow suit, but it would take a long time, his mind still focused on his dream. What did it mean?

…

London, Several Hours Later

"Come on!" Wonder Woman shouted, as she herded the civilians away from the roaring fire. "It's just a little further to safety!"

The civilians tried to follow the Amazon's directions, but part of the roof began to collapse from the damage from the fire. Fortunately, they were saved when Supergirl caught the burning debris and held it up. Using her super-breath, she blew out some of the blaze that blocked the path.

"Humongosaur!" she shouted, "Hurry up, this fire is going to get worse soon!"

Humongosaur looked up; he'd been running from spot to spot, holding up crumbling walls to support the burning building.

"On it!" he slapped the Ultimatrix dial and disappeared in a flash of green light. In his place stood a man-sized, humanoid crustacean. His exoskeleton was red and gray, with a sloping hump that reached over his head. The Ultimatrix symbol was displayed on his chest.

"WATER HAZARD!" the red alien ran forward, and pointed his palms at the worst of the fire. Two powerful jets of water shot from the holes in his hands, dousing the fire and giving the civilians enough room to get away. Once everyone was safe, Water Hazard and Supergirl were able to put out the rest of the fire without fear for innocents, while Wonder Woman directed arriving paramedics to those who needed help.

Once the fire was out and the civilians safe, Wonder Woman approached Water Hazard, who was still taken aback by her appearance. After the battle against Brainiac, several Leaguers had changed their costumes, usually for a more practical purpose. Wonder Woman's outfit was mostly the same, but she'd added pants to her leotard that stretched all the way to her boots.

Supergirl had also had a radical wardrobe change. Gone was her t-shirt and skirt; instead, she wore a deep-blue bodysuit with red boots, and the symbol of the House of El on her chest. A waist-length red cape hung from her shoulders.

"Are you okay, Ben?" asked Wonder Woman, "You seemed really out of it today."

Supergirl looked at Water Hazard expectantly; she and Ben had been about to talk about Ben's nightmares, but they'd been called into action by the League early that morning, and had been working ever since.

"Sorry," Water Hazard said, "I won't let it happen again."

"Ben," Supergirl said, seeing that he was avoiding the question, "you said we'd talk about it."

"I know; how about we talk about it on the Watchtower? Assuming that some other disaster doesn't strike, of course."

Both women smiled, before they were teleported back to the station.

…

The Watchtower

In the month since the defeat of Brainiac and Luthor, the Justice League had not only repaired the Watchtower after it had been attacked, but also their relationship with the public. People trusted them again; the League might still have been seen as an army, but it was an army that existed to protect them.

There was, however, one downside to all of that; countries that were wary of the League before had opened up their doors, asking for help, and that left the League stretched thinner than anyone would like. Still, Ben, Supergirl and Wonder Woman had been working nonstop for hours. Using the excuse that the Ultimatrix needed to recharge and that the two women wanted a break, they sat down in the cafeteria.

"So, Ben," asked Wonder Woman, "what's wrong?"

Ben looked down at the table. "Do you remember that I used to have nightmares for a while after I came to this universe?" Both women nodded. "Well, I've been getting them again; it wasn't so bad at first, but they've been getting worse over the last few days. And they're different than they used to be."

"Ben," Supergirl placed her hand over Ben's, "why didn't you tell me about this sooner?"

Ben looked up and gave a weak smile. "The nightmares never went away completely, Kara; they just came less often."

Wonder Woman tapped her chin in thought. "Ben, have you ever thought about going back to your universe?"

"What?" both Ben and Supergirl asked.

"I'm not saying that you should stay," the Amazon clarified, "but think about it; you've never been to your family's grave. Maybe the reason you've had the nightmares is because you need some closure."

Ben leaned back in his chair. "Closure, huh?" he murmured.

Ben had never thought about going back to his home universe; it wasn't that the memories were too painful, at least, not anymore, the thought had just never crossed his mind. Now, though…

"I should probably talk to the other founding members, huh?" Ben grimaced. "I wonder how Batman will take the news that I'm taking a few days off."

Wonder Woman smiled. "I'm sure that I'll be able to convince him to let you go."

"Oh?" asked a smirking Supergirl, "And how exactly are you going convince him?"

Wonder Woman turned away for a moment, a slight blush on her face. "I'd rather not say."

It was well-known among most of the senior members, and those closest to them, that Diana had recently been visiting Bruce Wayne, and the visits weren't work-related. Only the threat of a Bat-glare stopped them from teasing the couple, which wasn't fair, in Ben's opinion; Diana had teased Ben plenty about his own relationship.

"Well, I don't see why they wouldn't give me a few days off," said Ben, "I'll go home and pack a few things."

"Me too," said Supergirl," after all; I'd like to see where you came from, Ben."

Ben thought about it for a moment, then shrugged. "Sure, it'll be fun."

Both Supergirl and Wonder Woman couldn't help but notice that Ben didn't sound like he meant it.

…

Several hours later, after Ben and Kara had packed a few days' worth of stuff, and Kara changed into civilian clothes, they'd gone back to the Watchtower to talk to the founding members. They found Ship, who would be going with them, but they also found Long Shadow, much to their surprise.

"Long Shadow?" Ben looked from the Leaguers and then back to the size-changer. "What're you doing here?"

Long Shadow smiled. "Well, the others heard that you were going back to your own universe, and they said it'd be a good chance for me to see the Ultimen again."

Ben felt a brief flash of guilt; he'd never actually told any of the Leaguers where the Ultimen had ended up, only that they were safe. His reason was that if Cadmus ever tried to force the information out of them, the Ultimen would be safe. The other heroes had understood, though Long Shadow had been a little upset that he didn't know how his old team was doing. After Cadmus was disbanded, Ben told them everything, including the occasional report on how they were doing, courtesy of Verdona.

"Hey, the more the merrier," Ben said.

"So, Ben," said Superman, stepping up to them, "how exactly are you getting back to your universe?"

Superman had also changed his costume a few weeks ago; his suit was now made of a Kryptonian nano-weave that was self-repairing and helped his body process yellow-sun radiation better. It was slightly bulkier than his old costume, but it looked cool in Ben's opinion.

Ben grinned. "Don't worry. While we were on the surface, I gave a call to my grandma; she'll be here any minute."

While they waited, Ben examined the changes a few of his other teammates had gone through. Batman's outfit was now made of light, yet very durable, plates of armor; even his cowl had been reinforced. The only part of his costume that wasn't changed was his cape.

Flash had gone through a rather drastic wardrobe change; his skintight suit was replaced by a lightweight armor that, according to him, actually channeled the Speed Force, the energy field that enhanced and stabilized anyone moving past a certain speed.

J'onn had also changed his appearance, though his was less impressive than the others. He'd morphed his body to look like he was wearing a black bodysuit, though the x-shaped harness and cape remained the same.

After a few minutes, a pink portal opened up in front of them, and Verdona stepped through. As the portal closed, the Anodite looked around and smiled at them.

"Hello all," she said with a wave, before turning to Ben, "Are you, Kara and Ship ready to go?"

Ben nodded. "Yeah, and Long Shadow wants to come too."

Verdona looked over at the size-changer and smiled. "Well, the more the merrier."

"I already said that," Ben grumbled. Ignoring Ben's complaint, Verdona floated over to Superman, who had just hugged Kara goodbye, and handed him a small crystal.

"It's a smaller version of the Mana-Crystal I gave to Ben," she explained, "If there's an emergency that needs Ben's attention, you can just call me, and I'll tell him; just be careful, there's only enough Mana in that crystal for one use."

"Don't worry about us, ma'am," Flash said, "I think we can handle ourselves for a few days."

"Really?" Ben gave the speedster a smirk. "If that's the case, I should have asked for a vacation a long time ago."

Flash gave a pouty look. "Shut up."

Verdona shook her head for a moment, before turning to her four passengers. "Are you all ready now?"

Three of them nodded, while Ship just wagged his back end, and Verdona snapped her fingers; a new portal opened, and the Anodite stepped through. With one last wave, Ben, Kara, Long Shadow and Ship stepped through the portal, before it vanished.

…

Bellwood

In a flash of pink light, the five travelers arrived in the town of Bellwood. Kara and Long Shadow looked around, curious, while Ben and Ship, who was sitting on Ben's shoulder, were lost in memory.

In Ben's mind, nothing had changed; sure, the damage from his last fight from a couple years ago had been fixed, but it was almost like he'd never left. He remembered all of the adventures he'd had in his own hometown over the years, not to mention the ones he'd had over the planet and beyond.

Ben was jarred from his trip down memory lane when his grandmother clapped her hands.

"Well then," she said, "you kids have fun, I have some things to take care of, and I'll pick you all up in three days!"

Ben smiled. "Thanks, Grandma."

Verdona gave both Ben and Kara a hug, gave Ship a pat on the head, and Long Shadow a smile, before snapping her fingers; in a flash of pink light, she was gone.

Long Shadow looked around again. "So, where do we go now?"

Ben shrugged. "We should probably visit Plumber HQ first; I've got some friends there that I'd like to see while we're here, and Grandma told me that was where the Ultimen would probably be."

No sooner had Ben said those words, when an explosion went off a few blocks away. The heroes turned to see several police cars rushing to the scene, sirens blaring.

"Is that normal for this town?" Kara asked, remembering all the stories that Ben had told her about his hometown.

"Kind of," Ben admitted, even as he began to run after the police, "let's go!"

The heroes reached the scene in a few minutes, arriving at a bank; the front had been demolished, courtesy of the explosion, and the police had dozens of officers surrounding the building. Since he didn't know if he was needed, and he didn't want to draw attention to the group, Ship quickly hid himself in Ben's duffel bag.

"What's going on, officer?" Ben asked the nearest cop, wary of how he'd be received; he remembered how little both the public and law-enforcement thought of him before he'd left.

"Oh, it's another one of those supervillains," the officer explained irritably; apparently, he didn't recognize Ben, "we're just here to hold Overlord here until the Plumbers show up."

Ben remembered Overlord; once, he'd been a hero that went by the name of Captain Nemesis. However, his popularity had begun to fall over the years, and was jealous of Ben, who'd been very popular during that time, and then became a supervillain and changed his name. Ben had fought him several times over the years, and knew what to expect; Overlord had a large, armored suit that was full of weapons. It wasn't anything that Ben couldn't handle, but Overlord was one of his most hated enemies because not only had he been one of Ben's personal heroes, but that he'd turned evil for such a petty reason.

"You're not going to do anything?" asked Kara, annoyed with the guy's attitude.

"What, us?" the cop looked at her like she was insane, "We don't get paid to fight supervillains; we let people who actually know what the heck they're doing handle this."

That irritated all of the heroes; in their universe, the police were almost fearless, always willing to face off against anyone who threatened the innocent. It didn't matter if it was a supervillain or not.

"It's okay, officer," said Ben, stepping forward, "I can take care of this."

"You?" the officer snorted, "Who do you think you are, Ben Tennyson or something?"

Ben cracked a grin. "Actually, I do."

Before the cop could protest, Ben pushed past him, just as Overlord emerged from the wreckage of the bank's entrance. He'd been upgrading since the last time Ben saw him; his suit was larger, and had a clear helmet protecting his face. The armor also had a pair of large cannons, one over each shoulder. As he stepped forward, he sneered at the surrounding cops.

"What is this? Are you supposed to be trying to stop me?" he threw his head back and laughed, not noticing Ben until he was in front of the officers.

"I'll give you one chance, Overlord." Ben glared at him. "Give up now, before I hurt you."

"What is he doing?" Long Shadow whispered to Kara.

"Remember, everyone knows Ben's secret identity here," Kara whispered back, "and he's got a serious reputation with his enemies."

Overlord looked at Ben with narrowed eyes. "Who are you? You look like… like…" His eyes went wide as his brain made the connection. "No! You can't be…"

"Yep," Ben said, activating the Ultimatrix, "Ben 10 has returned!"

Ben slapped down the dial, and disappeared in a flash of green light; in his place stood a humanoid pig with grey skin. His body was muscular, and his arms and slightly-hunched back were covered in sharp spines. The Ultimatrix dial was the buckle of a belt that held up a pair of jeans, which were tucked into a pair of black boots.

"PORKUSPINE!" he shouted in a southern accent, then looked down at the Ultimatrix dial. "Oh, come on, ya stupid watch, Ah wanted Lodestar!"

"Y-you think that turning into some oversized bacon w-will stop me!?" everyone present could tell that Overlord was unnerved by the apparent resurrection of his enemy.

Porkuspine gave a very porcine grunt. "Oh, Ah'll stop you; question is, are ya'll gonna try to fight back?"

Gritting his teeth, Overlord raised a hand and fired a beam of red energy, which Porkuspine rolled to avoid. Bending forward, the alien hero launched a barrage of spines from his back; the razor-sharp projectiles tore off one of Overlord's cannons, as well as the plating on the same shoulder. The sudden change in weight unbalanced the villain, causing him to collapse to the side.

Pathetic, thought Porkuspine, most of the bad guys from back home would have at least given me a challenge.

Overlord struggled to his feet, only to have the knee of his armor pierced by a few spines from Porkuspine's arm. Those spines were fired at a much slower velocity, not penetrating far enough to actually hit the man inside. Still, Overlord's suit was now nearly crippled as he fell down again; he sent a glare up at Porkuspine from his position on the ground.

"Why couldn't you have just stayed wherever you were hiding!?" Overlord's voice was half-snarl, half-whine.

Porkuspine shrugged. "Ah heard you were causin' trouble, decided ta kick yer butt fer old times' sake."

The hero raised his fist, and punched Overlord twice in the face; the first punch ripped through the thin helmet, while the second knocked him out. With a satisfied smirk, he slapped the Ultimatrix dial and turned back to normal. He turned to see the crowd of police, as well as civilians that had gathered, staring at him.

"What?"

He was surprised when everyone began cheering as loudly as they could. This was certainly a shock for Ben; shortly before he'd left this universe, public opinion of him was so bad that people would boo him even as he saved their lives. Now, people were cheering him?

The same police officer that he'd spoken to earlier walked up and shook his hand. "Thanks for that, Mr. Tennyson."

Ben raised an eyebrow, temporarily putting aside his shock. "Next time, don't wait around for someone else to do your job; Overlord isn't that tough, you could've taken him."

The officer looked sheepish. "Understood, sir; still, it's good to have you back."

Sir? Ben thought, but out loud, he said, "I won't be back for long."

"Ben!" the hero in question turned to see Kara, who'd spoken, and Long Shadow pushing their way through to him, while Ship poked his head out of the duffel bag that Kara had picked up. "Nice work!"

"Eh, Overlord's not that tough; last time I fought him, I beat him with Stinkfly!"

The others laughed; they'd seen the green, smelly insect called Stinkfly, and knew that he wasn't very powerful, yet Ben had still beaten this guy? Just how weak was Overlord? Their conversation was halted, however, when a large spaceship, shaped like a UFO, landed in front of them. The ramp opened and a dozen people, humans and aliens, clad in black and white armor marched out. One of them approached Ben.

"Ben Tennyson," the Plumber said, "It's an honor to meet you in person. We were told to expect you, but I wasn't expecting you to make such a grand entrance."

"They were expecting us?" asked Long Shadow, "How could they know we were coming?"

"I'm guessing you were told by an Anodite?" Ben guessed.

The Plumber nodded. "How did you…"

"She's his grandma." Kara explained.

"Oh." The Plumber blinked a few times, then continued. "Regardless, Plumber HQ wants to see you ASAP; we can take you there as soon as we drop Overlord off at a holding facility."

"Has HQ moved since I've been gone?" Ben asked.

"Uh, no."

Ben smiled. "Then we've got it covered; Ship, do you mind?"

"Ship, ship!" Ship jumped out of the bag and turned into his spaceship-form. "SHIP!"

"You put Overlord back in his box," Ben said to the Plumber as he, Kara and Long Shadow boarded Ship, "we'll head to Headquarters."

With that, Ship closed up and took off.

…

A few minutes later, Ship flew into a large hangar bay and deposited his passengers, before turning back into his normal form and crawling up onto Ben's shoulder again. Kara and Long Shadow followed Ben, who knew where he was going, into a large elevator that took them down into a large, circular room, its walls lined with computers manned by Plumbers. As the heroes entered, all eyes fell onto them, specifically Ben.

Ben, however, didn't notice, or if he did, he didn't care. He strode towards a door on the other side of the room.

"Ben, where are we going?" Kara asked.

"The main control room," Ben explained, "Grandma told me who's in charge of Earth's Plumber division, and they're old friends of mine."

As they reached the door, it opened, and they walked through, only to be greeted by quite a large group of people, including…

"Long Shadow!" Shifter ran forward and gave her old teammate a hug, who returned it.

"Shifter, it's great to see you again!" Long Shadow looked up to see Wind Dragon, Juice and Downpour smiling at him. "It's great to see all of you!"

"Same here, buddy," Wind Dragon said for all of them, "and I've heard that you made it into the Justice League, very nice."

While Verdona had kept Ben up-to-date on the Ultimen, Ben had asked her to give the Ultimen updates on Long Shadow. At the time, it was the best that Ben could do for the ex-teammates.

Kara had been watching Long Shadow's reunion, and thus almost missed Ben getting tackled by a blue-and-black blur.

"Ben!" cried a female version of XLR8, "I can't believe you're really back!"

"Hey, Helen," said a grinning Ben, "how've you been?"

Kara's eyes widened at the other aliens in the room; one was a Fourarms with one of his hands replaced by a prosthetic, and another was a Heatblast; next to them were two humans, though one was a teenager.

"Okay, am I the only one who has no idea who anyone here is?" Kara had a slightly annoyed tone.

Ben, who was getting a noogie from the Fourarms at this point, noticed and extricated himself, moving to Kara's side.

"Kara, these are the Plumbers Helpers; they were trained by my Grandpa Max and me. That's Manny Armstrong," he gestured to the Fourarms, who scowled.

"Hey," he said in a deep voice, "we're not Helpers anymore, we're official Plumbers now!"

Ben rolled his eyes and continued.

"This is Helen Wheels," he pointed at the XLR8, who waved.

"Alan Albright," the Heatblast nodded.

"Cooper Daniels," the tall blonde human smiled.

"And Jimmy Jones." The teenager gave a huge grin.

Ben looked at the Plumbers, "Guys, this is my girlfriend, Kara Zor-El Kent."

"So, Ben," Manny placed a large arm around Ben's shoulders, "you sure know how to make an entrance; you're back for five minutes and you're already kicking some supervillain butt!"

"It wasn't that hard," Ben replied, "Overlord is no Brainiac."

"Yeah, Verdona told us about that guy," said Jimmy, who looked like he was trying to stop himself from bouncing up and down, "I wish I could have seen you use Ultimate Way Big!"

Ben smiled. "Well, the next time a bad guy with near-godlike power attacks, I'll send you a video of me winning."

Over the next hour, the humans, metahumans and aliens hung out, regaling each other with past experiences, as well as answering a few questions, such as why people suddenly liked Ben. Jimmy had an answer for that; after Ben had disappeared, Jimmy had started a good-press campaign, showering every email around the world with clips of Ben selflessly saving people.

Unlike Will Harangue, who twisted the truth to suit his needs, Jimmy showed the examples of Ben's heroism, many of which directly contradicted what Harangue said. In addition, aliens throughout the universe, after hearing about Ben's disappearance, had flocked to Earth to offer assistance in searching for him, where they'd been outraged to find that not only was most of humanity not searching, most were celebrating his apparent demise.

This had resulted in a large coalition of aliens almost destroying the Earth in anger, only avoided by some quick thinking on the part of the Plumbers. Instead of destroying the planet, representatives from dozens of different species had come forth, sharing stories of how Ben Tennyson had saved individuals, cities, planets, even the entire universe.

After a while, humanity realized how badly they'd treated someone who'd saved their lives more times than they could count. They soon realized that Ben Tennyson was the greatest hero in the universe.

The only person who didn't share the feeling of remorse was Will Harangue, who finally went too far and called for Ben being declared a war criminal, of all things. When no one supported him, he'd tried to deface the graves of Ben's family as a form of revenge. Fortunately, he'd been stopped well before he got close, and was sentenced to life in prison in the worst facility in the universe outside of the Null Void. While Ben had become outraged at what Harangue had tried, he began to laugh at a picture of the man's face that Cooper had taken from his security camera when he found out that his precious show was cancelled.

For a while, Ben almost forgot why he came back to this universe; he was enjoying his reunion so much.

"Hey, Ben," said Cooper, "your grandma said that you were coming, but she never said why; you didn't come here just to say hello, did you?"

Ben's mood immediately sobered. "Yeah, Cooper, I did come for another reason; I came to say goodbye to my family."

The others, specifically those who knew Ben's family, also grew melancholic; Kara put her hand on Ben's and held it tight. Jimmy swallowed hard; about a year before Ben had vanished, he'd become good friends with the Tennyson family, and was devastated when they'd died.

"I understand, Ben," he said, "we'll make sure that you get all the time you need."

Ben smiled weakly. "Thanks, Jimmy."

"Come on," Jimmy said, "let's give Long Shadow and Kara a tour; Ben, you want to come?"

Ben shook his head. "Nah, you go on; I think I just need a minute."

Understanding, all but Kara left the room; she knelt down in front of Ben, who was staring at his knees.

"Ben, are you okay?" Obviously, he wasn't; his eyes, which had been full of life during the past hour, were suddenly dead. It was like when she'd seen him that first night at the Kent farm, or after the incident with Mongol.

"Kara…" Ben choked for a moment, then continued, "It just hit me; I'm about to see their graves. I'm kind of afraid to, though."

"Why?"

"Because… because if I do this, it'll mean that they're really gone. I know I was moving on, but…"

Kara gently wrapped her arms around Ben's neck. "It's okay, Ben," she whispered, "it's okay to let go."

Ben returned the hug, then took a deep breath and stood up. "Thanks, Kara, I needed that; why don't you go join the others on that tour? I'll be fine," he added, when Kara gave him a pointed look, "really, I am."

She still didn't believe him, but he was at least composed again; after giving him a quick peck on the cheek, she turned and left the room. Ben was now alone with his thoughts; or at least he was, until a Plumber rushed into the room a few minutes later.

It never fails, Ben thought, I can never get five minutes to myself these days.

The Plumber who ran in was an alien, his head white with grey stripes; unlike other Plumbers, who wore black and white armor, this one wore a different model over his lanky body that was dark blue.

"Sirs," the alien said, "I have an emergency situation that needs…" he looked around, and saw no one but Ben. "Uh, where is everyone?"

"Don't worry, dude," Ben said, walking over to the alien, who towered over him by at least a foot, "they're just giving some friends a tour. I can help, though; what's up?"

Then he noticed the alien staring at him.

"Something on my face?"

"You… you are…" the alien took a deep breath, then tried again, "You are the legendary Ben Tennyson, are you not?"

Ben smiled, remembering all the aliens that had treated him like a celebrity. "Yeah, that's me; who are you, and what's the emergency?"

The alien straightened and saluted. "Sir, Plumber Rook Blonko, sir! We received an alert from a maintenance team in the Null Void!"

Ben frowned, while ignoring the "sir" comment. "We have maintenance teams in the Null Void? I thought we had the Null Guardians for that?"

Rook shook his head. "After you disappeared, there was one part of the dimension that needed monthly maintenance, due to the prisoner it contained."

"What happened?" Ben asked, though he was starting to get a bad feeling he already knew.

"Sir," Rook said, "I regret to inform you that… that Vilgax has escaped."

Ben took a step back, then fell into a chair, staring at his hands. His worst fear was realized; Vilgax, his greatest foe, his worst enemy, the conqueror of ten systems, and the killer of his family.

And he was free.

Foreshadowing! I hate it in TV, but it works great for chapters in a story; unless it's something like this, where it's only updated once every couple of weeks or more. Sorry!

For those of you who want to know, the new costumes are based on the ones from the "good" universe in "Injustice: Gods Among Us". Supergirl's new outfit is a feminine version of the one from "Man of Steel".

Show of hands; who knew that Vilgax was going to be the one that killed Ben's family?

Okay, a few things I'd like to point out before I get to an announcement.

First, the first of my new aliens, Porkuspine! When I was looking for inspiration for my new aliens, I was watching an episode of "Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood", and saw the character Zampano. Porkuspine is pretty similar to him, save for more spines on his arms, and is physically stronger. Oh, and he has a southern accent. No, I don't know why I gave that to him.

Also, Rook! I'm not the biggest fan of most Omniverse characters, but I decided to add him in as a sort-of cameo. Hope you enjoy that.

And yeah, I know that Vilgax is called the conqueror of 10 worlds, but come on; in the grand scheme of things, which sounds more impressive? Taking over 10 planets in a system, or taking over every planet in 10 systems?

Now, for the announcement.

As some of you know, I put up a poll a short while ago to ask what story you want me to do. The results are in, and I'm going to tell you the final votes, plus my own thoughts on that verdict.

Total votes: 100

OC-centered Mass Effect Story: 3 votes

I'm actually a little surprised by this; I know how popular Mass Effect stories are, and I kind of expected more. Still, I don't mind; it'll be completely new territory for me, since I'd be writing a completely new story, unlike my current stories, which are following events that are already scripted. It'll be a good challenge when I get to it eventually.

Gears of War/Valkyria Chronicles Crossover: 3 votes

Personally, I think that the reason that this one got so few votes is that Valkyria Chronicles is a pretty unknown game, not nearly as popular as others. After all, its sequels were booted down to the PSP, and the third game didn't even get an American release! Still, I think it could work.

OC-centered Bleach Story: 6 votes

I came up with this story as a challenge to myself; it wasn't going to rely on stuff from the canon material, and I think that kind of scared people away from voting for it. I myself am not completely sure how it'll work out.

Generator Rex/Legend of Korra Crossover: 35 votes

Oh, here are all the votes! Why were you all hiding here? Personally, I think a crossover between these universes would work out very well, as long as I give a good reason for how Rex gets to the Avatarverse, and I think you voters thought so, too!

Ben 10/Fairy Tail Crossover: 53 votes

How did I know that this one was going to win? Oh, yeah, because most of you came to my profile because of my Ben 10 story, and you want to see more! Also, I think that the two universes mesh perfectly.

Since it got the most votes, the Ben 10/Fairy Tail crossover is the winner, yay! Now, just because it won the poll, doesn't mean that it'll be the only story I do; I plan on doing all five of these stories. This poll was just to see which story I should do first, so don't worry if your choice wasn't picked; I'll get to it eventually.

Next time, on Ben 10: Unlimited

Ben faces off against his greatest foe! Vilgax has a plan! Will anyone be safe from the wrath of Ben 10?

Han Solo: You've never heard of the Millennium Muffin?

Obi-Wan: Should I have?

Han Solo: It's the ship that made the Oven Run in twelve parsecs.