I don't own Ben 10 or Young Justice.

Home Front

Gotham City; September 22nd; 6:00AM

A blaring alarm rang through the small apartment filling each room with its annoying alerting sounds but, it did its job well as Artemis swung her hand from under the covers and slapped the 'snooze' button on the top of the device. She turned over still covered by her long blonde hair and wrapped in her mounds of blankets trying to absorb its warmth but, failing; she turned over to face the empty twin bed juxtaposed to her own with an 'Alice in the Wonderland' poster hanging above it covered in dust as if it had hung there for years.

She remembered who had hung it and she remembered well.

Jade pulled the duffle out from under her bed and began shoving clothes into it furiously; an eleven-year-old Artemis wearing a pink shirt and denim overalls, "Please, don't go, don't leave me here."

"Sorry, sis," Jade announced without looking back towards her, she looked back pondering for a moment, seeming to be in deep thought until she snapped her fingers, "Toothbrush, knew I forgot something!"

Artemis watch her move towards their bathroom as she grabbed the toothbrush and explained herself, "Mom's not getting outta jail anytime soon and I refuse to live here with just Dad; I'd take you with me but, you'd just slow me down."

Artemis looked to the ground as she pondered her own inner thoughts, "He'll go looking for you… he won't be happy," she spoke ominously.

Jade grabbed the hilt of her baseball cap and swung the duffle over her shoulder, "And so, just like the Cheshire cat, I'll just disappear."

"Artemis!" a voice rang through her memory as she snapped back into reality.

"Artemis, wake up!" Her mother shouted from her chair in the hall, "I don't want you to be late on your first day at your new school!"

Artemis groaned loudly covering her face with her sheets as she dreaded moving a single inch but, life was full of things she didn't want to do.

…

Gotham Academy; 7:15AM

The school was full of life as kids of all ages mingled and spoke to one another but, the blonde archer knew not a single soul and felt alienated the moment she stepped foot on the grounds.

Artemis pulled down on her skirt trying to cover more of her legs but, failing, as her new uniform annoyed her to no end. She continued to pull whilst simultaneously holding her textbooks but, ultimately failed at that too as she spilled her books across the courtyard grounds. She knelt down attempting to pick them up when a foot stepped on the book as they passed, "Watch it!" she picked up the rest of her books and muttered, "Asshole..."

Hi Artemis!" a preppy blonde Senior announced herself with an excited attitude, "I'm Beth, the student liaison, welcome to Gotham Academy," she picked up a blue-pen and handed it to the blonde attempting to be as helpful as possible.

"Thanks," She muttered as she attempted to walk away but, the persistent girl followed next to her.

"Is there anything i can help you with? Maybe show you to your classes?"

"No thanks," She gave a cringe-worthy smile as she pulled out her schedule, "I got it."

"Well, if you have any questions just ask me and I'm sure I'll be able to help you out."

"Thanks, I'll… let you know," She smiled as Beth walked off leaving her to her own devices; he looked intently at her schedule trying to gauge which direction she should head in.

Suddenly, a boy with slicked back black hair came running up to them with his phone out and grabbed Artemis by the shoulder snapping a picture with a bright flash, "We'll laugh about this someday," by the time she turned and looked for him, he was gone.

"I hate this place."

...

Mount Justice; 4:35PM

Ben sat in his bed looking up at the ceiling casually playing with a small orb of mana he had manifested half an hour ago, he was half trying to figure out how long he could keep mana concentrated and half trying to figure out how he should deal with the mole situation.

"You're not bad, for a kid. Better than your gang did in Santa Prisca or Bialya," Sportsmaster's voice echoed through his thoughts from the battle in Taipei,

How could he have known about Bialya? Did he truly have an inside source? Ben would have seen him if he was truly there in the desert, and he knew the entire team all too well to consider them suspects but to deny facts served to him on a silver platter?

Wally was impatient, immature and stubborn but, he idolizes the Justice League even when they treat him unfairly. He's been with the Flash for nearly three years, what motive could he have to betray them or the team?

Conner was stubborn and hard-headed as well as short tempered but, he was also kind-hearted and a good person. That aside, he was still a clone and this could mean that he has programming that he doesn't know about himself.

Robin was a lot like Ben in many ways with less cocky tendencies, he's confident and mature but doesn't fail to show his age when socializing. He has the most experience next to Ben and could never be the mole, he was raised by Batman and there is no way Robin could sneak false feelings passed the caped crusader.

Ben didn't know too much about Artemis, she was sarcastic and held a bad attitude for starters. She didn't talk much but, when she did, she almost never meant what she said. She had recently become the protégé of Green Arrow and has little known background beyond that. She could very well be the mole without Ben's knowledge but, she hadn't been around that long and had no knowledge of the Santa Prisca events but, then again Sportsmaster was there for those events and could have been spying on them for that.

Kaldur had the same reputation as Robin; he was a protégé for Aquaman for nearly five years now and lived in the ocean city of Atlantis his entire life, there was no real reason to suspect him of anything nefarious.

Lastly there was M'gaan; Ben didn't even want to think about her being a traitor. There was little to nothing known about her past but, she did arrive on Earth with J'ohn and she was brought in by Batman, that has to mean something, right? Then there was the possibility of her feelings for him being faked to get close to the leader, from a villains perceptive that would be the perfect way to gather intelligence without tipping anyone off. It was hard to swallow but, not impossible; they had gone on several dates recently, a dinner here, a movie there, but, they hadn't even had their first kiss yet. She couldn't be the mole, he melded with her mind in Bialya, he knew her intentions were pure but, as for the others?

Just as he had tossed his tiny orb of mana into the air above him, a knock on his door startled him into dropping it and causing it to disperse gently on his nose, "Damn it, now I have to start again..."

Ben hoped off his bed wearing his denim jeans and slipping on a black t-shirt with a green stripe down the middle of it, he stared at his white and green hoodie sighing audibly. Another knock on the door snapped him out of his daze and he went to answer it, he pressed the open button and the metal door slid open to reveal M'gaan in her usual costume holding an arm behind her back casually.

"Oh, hey!" Ben greeted her with a smile, "Is everything alright?"

"Definitely," she grinned and blushed stepping forwards into his room, "I was thinking tonight we could go to this museum in Metropolis," she handed him the brochure as he grabbed and opened it.

"Wow," he raised his brows and smiled, "This looks great!'

She put a hand on his chest and stepped closer, "They have a new exhibit just outside where you can lay in the grass and stare up at the stars, if you wanna do that afterwards?"

Ben gulped as she was so close he could feel her breath on lips, "That sounds... amazing."

"Great!" She backed away and giggled, "So, how does eight sound?"

"Perfect, I need to talk to Tornado, have you seen him?" Ben walked passed her as she followed close behind.

"Well, he's in the holo-ring doing perimeter check; anything important?"

"Nope, I just need to ask a quick question is all," she gave him a smile and giddily gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Alright, i'm going to go see what Wally and Conner are up to, if you need me."

"Sure thing!"

...

"So, you have told no one else of this mole?" Red Tornado replied as Ben spoke to him in the far corner of the holo-ring; away from the rest of the team whom mingled amongst themselves in the main-hall.

"I'm not too sure that one exists, and if it does, I'd rather investigate without tipping them off," Ben looked to the elder android for guidance whom didn't seem to interested as he typed away on a holo-keyboard, "Maybe I should tell Batman?"

"Generally, the Batman expects the team to handle its own problems but, as the teams leader, the decision is yours. I will return after monitor duty on the watch tower," Red Tornado dispersed his keyboard and walked towards the zeta-tubes.

"I thought you were exempt from monitor duty when you agreed to be our den-mother?" Ben folded his arms in confusion as the tube opened up and begun spinning.

"Recognized Red Tornado A16."

"I agreed to cover for Green Arrow; he has an interpersonal event with Black Canary," Just as Red Tornado's body was engulfed by yellow-particles, he finished his sentence, "A hot date, I believe."

Ben looked over to the hall where he heard slight laughing and chatting, he shrugged and walked over to the open to find M'gaan, Kid Flash, and Aqualad all watching Conner as he worked dutifully on his personal motorcycle as Sphere beeped his way over to him and nudged him to pet it like a dog would. Sphere reminded Ben a lot of Ship, the small techno-organic dog-like creature that helped him many times in battle.

"What's everyone up to?" He asked as he placed a hand on Sphere and approached the rest of them.

Wally stepped up and finished off a candy-bar, "I was about to show mega-licious here how a real man handles a bike of this caliber."

Aqualad chuckled, "It was that or how a real man would set a bike of this caliber on fire."

Ben chuckled as Superboy stood holding a rag in his hand, "Touch my motorcycle and no amount of healing-factors will fix what i do to you," he smiled and tossed the rag on Wally's head getting grease in his hair.

"Duly noted," he pulled the rag off and let it drift to the ground as they all chuckled at his squeamishness.

Ben sighed and fell into his inner-thoughts, how could anyone here be a traitor? They seemed so happy and nice to one another, a dynamic akin to his own with Kevin and Gwen. To think one of them could be meeting with Sportsmaster or another villain after a conversation like this one to leak important information? It hurt just to think about; he felt a sudden warmth in his hand looking around to find M'gaan smiling next to him, "Is there something wrong?"

"No, its no-" suddenly a massive explosion erupted from the side of the mountain shaking the entire structure and stunning the team whom immeidatly looked for answers.

"What the hell was that?" Conner shouted as he grabbed a chunk of rock before it landed on his motorcycle, tossing it aside. He used his enhanced vision to locate the source of the explosion but, the massive amounts of smoke and rubble made it difficult for even him, "There!" he pointed up at the hole in the cave thirty-or-so feet up where two figures lowered themselves down into their headquarters.

Ben squeezed the dial and didn't even look at the hologram before slapping the watch and transforming into a heap of vines, he had one singular eye and four vines for legs with a venous fly-trap mouth as shoulder-blades. Wildvine reached out and grabbed M'gaan out from under a massive boulder which she didnt see falling above her, she looked up at him and smiled.

"Thanks," she said before levitating into the air, moving debris out of the way with her mind. She was interrupted when a torrent of flames from the smoke grazed her arm and sent her hurtling towards the ground in a tizzy; Wildvine sprouted up from the ground catching her as she held her head, "Those flames... they aren't normal."

Superboy knocked multiple rocks and debris away from his motorcycle until his distraction caused him to be hit by a massive torrent of water, bashing him against the wall. Aqualad attempted to catch the water with his mystic-bearers but, it proved fruitless as the water turned on him as well and pushed him through Conner's motorcycle and into the ground.

"I just had the suspension re-aligned!" Superboy shouted and leaped from his position only to be grabbed by a massive five-fingered hand made of orange flames which burned his skin with an agonizing scream before tossing him through the air and into the wall next to Aqualad.

Kid Flash cracked his knuckles ran towards them with super speed but was overpowered by a ten-foot wave of water coming from the nearby waterfall-decoration that connected to an underground system of caverns beneath the mountain. Superboy shook his head and jumped to Wally's side, pulling him to his feet as he coughed up water; the steam and smoke split as a torrent of fire and water stretched out and encased Wally and Conner both in a metallic-like substance as a result of water and fire combining at such incredible levels.

M'gaan and Wildvine couldn't see through the smog that surrounded them but, she could feel the minds of her friends knowing they were okay, "We have to find a way to even the playing field," she shouted, "Maybe an Ultimate alien?"

"I still havent a clue who i'm fighting!" Wildvine slapped the Ultimatrix dial and transformed into a walking furnace with a Russian accent, "NRG! I was hoping for Big Chill but, i suppose i can make this work," he focused on the smog and fired beams of radiation randomly as cover fire for M'gaan to float behind him.

"It's too hot in here!" She shouted collapsing to her knees before being blasted by a highly-pressurized pillar of water knocking her onto her back unconscious from the massive amounts of steam and heat.

NRG covered himself by firing off beams of radiation into the mix as he searched for the Martian to no avail, "Damn it, M'gaan! Can you hear me?" there was no response as he began to become more worried with every passing moment, a wave of water slammed into him and pushed him in front of the entrance teleporter tubes.

...

Gotham City; September 22nd; 5:23PM.

Artemis approached a disguised Zeta-Tube teleporter dressed fully in costume, she attempted to open it's code-hatch when a figure dropped from the sky and landed on the teleporter scaring the ever-living piss out of Artemis who backed away and reached for an arrow, "Relax, it's just little ol me," Robin said with his hands up still smiling.

She put the arrow back in her quiver as she stomped her feet, "Don't do that!" she huffed as Robin hopped off of the telephone booth and leaned against it.

"So, Artemis, shouldn't you be in Star City?" He coyly smiled and approached her as she cleared her throat, "With your Uncle Green Arrow?"

She rubbed the back of her neck and chuckled, "I'm actually here, uh, visiting my cousin, she was in the, uh, state spelling-bee."

Robin folded his arms, "C-O-O-L, did she, W-I-N?"

Artemis furrowed her brow, "N-O."

"D-R-A-G," He spelled proudly as if knowing exactly what the real story was which he in-fact did.

"Yea, let's just go to the cave," she said quickly as Robin bowed and slipped his hands towards the teleporter implying chivalry.

"Ladies first," he stated as the archer rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"Your town, you go first," she stepped back and crossed her arms.

"Whatever floats your boat," he stepped inside as a flash of yellow light engulfed the booth sending him away.

...

"Recognize Robin B02," He walked through the tubes casually until he noticed the massive amounts of steam covering his vision, "Guys?"

"Duck!"

Robin acrobatically back-flipped out of the way dodging a pulse of water from a figure in the steam, "What was that?" he asked as he threw a shuriken into the steam with no real aim; he couldn't see anything but, he heard their pointless explosion in the distance.

"Water! There's a fire guy too, I think!" NRG's thick Russian accent was distressed as usual as he stepped back fired off two beams of heat from either hand.

"A fire guy?"

"Recognized Artemis B07," She entered the cave to an odd damp sensation and, once she was fully teleported, she noticed steam completely covering the entire common room obstructing her view of the area.

"Get down!" NRG shouted as she backflipped through the fog dodging a pulse of water as Robin flipped into a crouch and launched three shuriken into the smoke hitting something metallic but, having no effect.

She readied an arrow on her bow pulling it back and shouting, "Who are we fighting!?"

"Don't know!" NRG yelled as he stepped in front of Artemis and absorbed the heat of a massive fire ball before firing a massive beam of radiation from the slits on his helmet.

"We're sitting ducks by these entrance tubes!" Robin announced as he launched more shuriken and ducked under a pillar of fire which exploded on contact with the wall behind them.

Artemis launched several arrows into the smog as Pain announced, "Move for the exit!"

They sprinted to the side individually dodging attacks as they did so; NRG looked through the smog but, saw nothing but silhouettes, "I need something faster!" He slapped the dial and an emerald shimmer exploded revealing a quadrupedal ice-blue lizard with a black and white suit and the Ultimatrix symbol on his chest, "Artiguana?" As he spoke, cold air rushed from his mouth with a raspy voice.

They all stopped as a massive fifteen-foot wave approached them from down the hall, engulfing the entire thing, "I got this!" Artiguana took a deep breath and fired a massive beam of ice from his mouth completely freezing the entire wave solid. They turned to face a torrent of fire heading straight for them only barely intercepted by a wave of ice which caused yet another cloud of steam to cover their vision.

"We're blind, deaf, and dumb right now; we need answers!" Robin shouted looking over his holo-gauntlet.

"Well we have two enemies," Artiguana announced as he turned and watched the frozen tsunami shatter like glass from some sort of impact, he fired a beam of ice into the steam along with explosive arrows from Artemis causing a small explosion but, through that smoke came another pillar of water narrowly missing them, "That's about all!"

They turned and cut through into the gym as the doors closed behind them, Robin began announcing, "Robin to Team; Aqualad?" Artiguana froze the door over keeping them before transforming back into Ben.

Artemis spoke through the mental link reaching out towards her friend psychically, "Hello? M'gaan, can you hear me?"

"They're probably out cold!" Ben shouted.

A tornado of flames approached them as it blasted down the doors to the gym but, the three-kept moving through the locker-room and into the showers as the doors slid shut, they began turning on the faucets for each of the shower-heads spewing water into the already steaming room, "Robin to Bat-cave; RG4-HoJ/Watchtower; Robin calling Justice League, can anyone hear me?"

"The communications are down."

"Blocked," Robin corrected as he attempted to contact the outside world, "At least the water is helping."

Artemis pulled another arrow back on her bow and aimed it for the locked door; Suddenly, the entire room begun to shake as the pipes behind the walls creaked and cracked, several tiles fell off the walls from the pressure as each shower-head exploded with water pouring down into the sealed room filling it slowly, "Or not," Robin corrected himself as they began to float in the room filling with water.

Ben swam over towards the left-hand wall where he knew a hallway laid behind, he reeled back and slammed his mana-glowing fist through the wall causing it to completely shatter opening a massive hole in the room releasing all of the water and spilling the three heroes onto the floor. They stood quickly catching their breaths and sprinting towards the kitchen where they stopped looking for any way to avoid the enemy until they could plan a counter attack, "We need to get lost!" Robin exclaimed as Artemis looked around the room quickly pointing out the large vent above the stove.

"The air vents!" she shouted.

Ben slapped dialed up a hologram and shouted, "Good, go!" Before slapping his watch and transforming once again, this time into Diamondhead which he used to punch the ground forming a massive crystalline-structure against the door. He slapped the Ultimatrix dial and reverted into a human again. Artemis and Robin pulled the grate out and jumped into the vent sprawling through it until they were sitting on horizontal grounds; they heard Diamondhead's wall being destroyed just as Ben pulled the grate up and made it seem as though they were never there.

"I think we're safe, for now," Ben whispered as Artemis leaned back and took a deep breath.

Robin looked around finding a small black box embedded in the vent, "What happened to the others?" Artemis asked.

Ben sighed and looked down the vent into the kitchen where he heard metallic footsteps, "It was an ambush; we were surprised attacked about ten minutes before you guys showed up, if you hadn't, i'd probably be toast."

Artemis scoffed, "Great, if five super-powered heroes cant get the job done, than what chance do we have?"

"We have time to think ahead..."

A pillar of flames came rushing past them upwards from the air vent as the enemy apparently discovered their hiding spot; all-the-while, Robin had been downloading information off of a hardware station installed in the vent, "Make a left!" he shouted as they all turned and began crawling like children through the maze of air conditioning vents, "Now, right!" they all followed as another explosion of flames barely missed him.

"Too close," Ben shouted as he looked towards Robin, "I'm gonna teleport us out of here!"

"Can you take us to the Watchtower? Or at least outside?" Artemis shouted as they took another right, narrowly avoiding a beam of water with enough pressure to cut through steel.

"I dont have time to prepare that kind of spell, it'll be short distance," Robin realized he had another two-hundred feet until an exits were in sight.

"Just do it!"

A pillar of flames approached them as his eyes lit up bright-blue, "Eo Recedentia!" Blue energy engulfed all three of them as space and time bent at the activation of the spell; the enemy peered down the vent noticing them all gone and no sign of ashes.

...

Ben, Artemis, and Robin were all dropped into the library as they all held their heads with mild headaches; "Never doing that, again." Artemis spat.

"Words of the wise; if I try that again, I'll pass out for sure," Ben closed his eyes for a moment and tried to ignore the spinning.

"There's a secret passage way behind one of these book-cases," Robin announced as Artemis scoffed at the comment.

"Cliché, much?"

Ben began tossing books out at random as Artemis did the same, "Wait, i think i have a spell for this..." he tried remembering as best he could, looking through his thoughts, closing his eyes and waving his hand at the shelf, "Ortis!" a single book pulled towards his hand, and as it did a shelf opened up revealing passage out of the library.

"Artemis? Ben? Robin?" Artemis immediately felt her heart skip a beat in joy as she whirled around facing not who she assumed she'd see, "Red Tornado?" His body structure and android appearance with yellow markings resembled their android but, this was not him.

Robin grabbed her and pulled her back quickly as a torrent of fire hit the shelf in front of them, "Yes on the Red; No on the Tornado!"

A female android of similar design approaching with a long full head of flames as hair dancing down to her hips approached as Ben put up a mana-shield and pushed her back into a table shattering it with her body. The male android attempted to stop him from escaping by punching a book-shelf toppling the others like dominoes but, Ben ducked under it and slid into the secret entrance after Robin and Artemis, he reached out for one last second, "Ortis Expositis," he whispered as the book that triggered the opening flew into place and shut the door behind him.

...

They made it safely into a small room leading into a long corridor but, as they waited and listened, they noticed the secret entrance hadn't opened. They weren't being followed, hopefully they'd lost them.

"What are we gonna do about this?" Artemis asked taking deep breaths from all the running she had been doing.

"The Androids seem familiar but, they're definitely not Red Tornado," Ben stated the obvious as he fiddled with his Ultimatrix dial, "Definitely faster and more advanced than Red Tornado was."

Artemis threw her hands up, "Perfect, two Androids more powerful than a Justice League power-house are after us and we can't do anything?"

"I can't; not from in here," Ben stated as he squeezed the water from his shirt, "how's about we hatch a plan while their searching for us?"

"Attention: Artemis, Ben 10, Robin; you have exactly ten minutes to surrender or the lives of your friends will be extinguished," A voice eerily similar to Red Tornado's spoke through the PA system.

"Ok, now we need to think a bit faster," Robin remarked as Artemis punched his shoulder.

"Don't joke!"

Ben sighed taking a long few-seconds to think, he rubbed his chin before snapping, "Their androids, right? And androids are machines?"

"So?"

"An EMP should do the trick perfectly!" Ben shouted.

Artemis scoffed, "Electro-Magnetic-Pulse generator; yea, how do you think we're gonna pull that off? None of us are smart enough to build one of those!" She threw her hands into the air again turning around to face them.

"We know someone who is though," Robin stated boldly.

They all looked towards him with confused glares, "Wally, even with that big-mouth, is a straight-A student who recreated Flash's science experiment."

Artemis approached Robin with a glare, "News flash: Wally was probably captured by the droids before we got here."

Ben exhaled and started walking towards the exit which led back to the main-hall where he started at, "He was, but we dont need him here, we just need him to tell us how to do this."

They followed behind as he strutted nonchalantly, "I'm going to distract them, Robin is with me; you are to wait for Robins signal to work on the EMP."

"What about you?" Robin asked as Ben smiled back at him.

"I'll be getting their attention."

"Eight-minutes and forty-two seconds remaining."

"Try not to die, please?"

"I'll be fine," he stated over-confidently walking towards the droids as Robin followed him and the team separated.

"Alright, what's the plan, big man," Robin clapped as they approached the entrance to common room.

"You've got a comminutor shuriken?"

"Well, yea, but…"

"I'm gonna fight them, make sure you get one to Wally's position; first thing you do is dive underwater, I'll keep them distracted and you make sure we can speak to Wally."

"That's it?"

"You've got the easy part," Ben stopped at the edge of the hall as the androids noticed them immediately.

"Hey!" Ben shouted as the two androids lowered themselves down to his level, Robin narrowly dodged a blast of fire leaping into the water and placing an air-breather into his mouth, "Let's dance!"

Ben dialed up an alien and slapped the face-plate transforming into a blue monkey with spider-like limbs and eyes, "Spidermonkey!" he instantly leapt from the emerald glow onto the wall dodging a massive orb of fire, he used his tail to shoot four webbing projectiles at them as the water-android lifted a pool of liquids to catch them all. A burst of fire caught Spidermonkey in the back sending him to the ground, screeching like chimpanzee all the way down, he fractured a rib with his fall but, stood anyways dodging between water-bullets and flaming orbs until yet another one caught him in the chest, sending him tumbling back with seared fur.

"Give up, you alone cannot defeat us," the liquid cape that held the hydrokinetic android up by his shoulders, lowered him down to his feet as the flaming mane of hair that kept the pyrokinetic android in the air did the same as they walked towards the fallen Archnachimp.

He slowly got to his feet, "Maybe not me, but i know someone who can!" he popped the dial of his chest-plate up before twisting it to an angle and slapping it down causing a wave of emerald energy to cross his body. A million-years of evolution enhanced Spidermonkeys DNA into a battle-friendly creature ready to kill, "Ultimate Spider-Monkey!"

Instead of the smaller chimp they faced before, they now stood before a large ape with purple skin and black fur, two extra sets of eyes, and thick gorilla-arms to match; from his waist spawned four thin spider-arms that lifted his body into the air. He pounded on his chest an ape-like howl; the androids looked to one another before aiming their hands up at him, they were caught of guard by his speed and agility as he dashed forwards and right hooked one in the face and launched a thick-sticky web from his mouth which pushed the android back and trapped its hands by its side.

Robin swam through the murky depths of the small lake in the corner of the mountain approaching the trapped teens; as the two androids dealt with Ultimate Spider-Monkey, Robin popped his head above the water directly in front of Kid Flash and Superboy whom had been trapped by some metallic substance, incapable of moving, "Hiya," he said quickly but, the two hostages said nothing as they observed Ben fight and didn't want to blow any ones cover, he pulled the com-shuriken from his belt and slapped it onto the trap right next to Wally's face, "Where are you go-" he was cut off as Robin dipped back under water and swam away back towards the entrance.

...

Artemis spoke through the communication shuriken which Wally was surprised to hear a voice coming from, "We need an EMP and we need it now; is it doable KF?"

Wally smiled as the water reached his neck, "Totally doable!"

An explosion of fire was heard in the background.

"Ya know, if we had more time…"

Artemis opened a panel as Kid directed her, "Med-lab, x-ray machine, you'll find a small vacuum called a vircator that converts high-energy pulses; reprogram the units microwave conversion from x-rays to EMP's."

All the while Artemis followed his instruction and unlatched the x-ray machine where he found exactly what Wally described, She plugged into the device and after two minutes she managed to reprogram its settings and functions. Artemis rubbed her chin, "Setting this off will be like dropping a stone in a river; a ripple effect," she noted as she pulled out the device.

Wally chided, "A stone with ten to the twelfth power wattage, yea!"

Artemis sighed in despair, "To get that kinda power we're gonna need to get access to the central-power grid…And where's that?" She asked and the answer she was given was simply the icing on the cake.

...

The hydrokinetc bot watched a figure swimming through the waters several hundred feet away, he quickly tore through the webbing with brute force and lifted his hand at the boy, From the water, an orb raised containing Robin floating unconscious, "You let him go!" Spider-Monkey shouted holding the pyrokinetic by the neck with a fist in the air.

"They will live if you drop your defense and surrender immediately," Spider-Monkey questioned his options as he looked at Dick floating in the water, he glanced up at Artemis working on the EMP.

"Fine," he stated slapping the dial on his chest reverting into Spider-Monkey before slapping it a second time for a full transformation into his human self, "Now let them go."

Meanwhile the archer fiddled with the wires in the central power grid which just so happened to be in the main hall just a few hundred-feet behind the battle with Ben and the androids, "Red wire to blue, blue to green," Artemis mumbled to herself for a moment as she rewired the EMP and looked around, "All I need is a conductor, my last arrow!" she reached behind her and grabbed it but, it was far too late.

Artemis was a bit too loud as the pyrokinetic droid turned towards her and lifted her finger at her, "Artemis has been located, you all will be taken captive and analyzed thoroughly," she was interupted by Ben shouting behind her.

"Meena Goh!" A red beam of hot-energy flew from Ben's fist blasting the female android in the back of the head sending her short-circuiting to the ground in a heap; Ben huffed as he was now completely exhausted.

"Your friend has attacked my comrade and betrayed you all; your lives will now be forfeited," he raised the water levels covering Kid and Superboy completely and grabbed Artemis by the neck with a whip of water; encasing M'gaan and Robin in water where they would soon drown without the Martian consciously shape-shifting gills.

"Just… one… shot…" She struggled and aimed her best shot as she pulled the arrow back on her draw string and released the arrow flying through the air at an accurate angle. The arrow nearly missed its mark but, it hit dead-center, exactly as it should have hitting the conductor in its place sent a pulse of energy through the entire cave. Artemis was dropped nearly twenty feet but, she didn't sustain any real damage aside from a fractured ankle as she rolled to a halt, she was feeling lucky to be alive at all.

The android using water to float in the air, fell fifty or so feet and clanked lifelessly to the ground as it short-circuited and its eyes turned a shade of grey as if deactivated.

The cage of fire holding Kaldur and M'gaan dissipated as Ben limped over towards the boulder M'gaan and Kaldur had been trapped in, "Kaldur, is she…" he asked with concern in his voice, her safety being the number one priority in his mind.

Kaldur took a long deep breath as he gasped for air and rolled over to check her pulse before announcing, "She breaths!"

Superboy struggled with all of his strength to move but, still couldn't, "Would someone please cut us out!"

Ben chuckled before stumbling back and passing out, everything went black and he fell unconscious knowing M'gaan was safe and threat had passed.

...

Mount Justice; 8:32PM; September 22nd.

M'gaan held her head in her hands trying to sooth the headache that plagued her as Ben laid next to her still unconscious, "Who the hell are these guys?" Robin asked holding his chest from the pain that having water in his lungs caused him.

Kaldur huffed as he sat on the ground beside Superboy and Kid Flash still trapped in their metal-substance, "Their abilities were far beyond the norm," he finally stated, "Fire hotter than anything I've ever encountered; water with more pressure than anything Atlantis has ever taught me…"

"Too fast and strong for even us; it's like they were expecting an army not a group of children," M'gaan announced still looking down at Ben.

They all looked at her with disapproval; angered that she even referred to them as that, she stood up and shouted obviously irritable from the situation, "That's what we are! Like it or not! These guys came busting in here as if they were…" M'gaan stopped and pondered, "Expecting the Justice League…"

They all slowly turned towards one another, exchanging looks of confusion; "This place was abandoned by them decades ago; why would they expect that?"

Artemis spoke up, "Unless they're 30 years behind on their information?" she fiddeled with a device she pulled from storage.

Superboy growled, "Would someone PLEASE just cut me out!"

Artemis scoffed, "I can't," she held a gun of some-kind which would supposedly free the two trapped heroes, "EMP's shut down all machines, remember?" she explained when, suddenly; the cave door opened through force and Ben stood holding his head in discomfort.

"Did we win?" He groggily called out.

"Correction," Tornado spoke accurately, "EMP's shut down all machines present at the time; what has occurred?" he floated down as his spiraling wind dispersed in front of them.

Robin spoke up first stepping in front of everyone and motioning to the two lifeless machines in the corner of the room laid next to one another, "We received a little visit from your extended family…"

Artemis scoffed throwing her hands up, "Your very nasty family!"

Red Tornado passed them all stoically and approached the two droids, kneeling down to examine them closer, "I was unaware I had relations," for a single second he pondered their existence as suddenly Robin asked a very good question.

"Where have you been?"

Tornado didn't even turn to look at him, "Monitor duty on the Watchtower; when it became clear that cave communications were no longer functional I attempted to investigate, only to find your Zeta-Tubes to be nonfunctional as well," he turned back to them for a moment before continuing, "I Zeta'd to Providence where I made my way here."

The ray-gun suddenly went off in Artemis' hands sending a beam through the concrete, "Finally!" Superboy announced before they all realized at once, darting their heads back towards the androids and shouting in unison.

"The EMP wore off!"

Ben finally gained his balance and looked over towards the androids in shock as Tornado reached out to grab his 'sisters' hand. He felt a spark of electricity flow through his finger, suddenly he turned with glowing red eyes and formed a tornado with his legs and arms sucking the oxygen from the room.

The first to go unconscious were Kid and Superboy whom had no time to hold their breaths, M'gaan, Artemis, and Robin collapsed quickly enough after grasping at their throats for air. Kaldur passed out and flew across the room immediately as he was the one who needed the least amount of oxygen, blunt force was clearly necessary.

Ben collapsed to his knees and grabbed his throat, he attempted to reach for his watch to summon an alien transformation that didn't require air like Amphibian or Goop but, he fell onto his side holding his throat until he too was unconscious again.

...

Mount Justice; 11:24PM; September 22nd.

"Ben?" he heard his name but, couldn't see a thing, just darkness; it reminded him of his first time in space, "Ben!"

His eyes snapped open and he shot up right as he looked around and noticed time had definitely passed; Black Canary was above him attempting to wake him whilst Green Arrow, Superman, Batman, and Captain Atom spoke to his individual teammates whom were too waking from their unconsciousness.

"Where are they? The Red's?"

Robin responded from behind without looking towards Ben, "Gone. All three of them."

…

Remastered 7/14/18

;)