I don't own Ben 10 or Young Justice
Revelation
Mount Justice; 9:34AM; October 1st.
Kaldur and Dick were in the center of the hollow ring, duking it out in hand to hand combat; Kaldur was wearing his training jumpsuit and Dick was in a plain old black t-shirt and pants. Each time one missed the other, the computer calculated points for the attacker or defender; Kaldur threw a right-straight and Dick back flipped out of the way earning him points, however, Kaldur dipped down and swiped the boy-wonders feet out from under him, "Fail: Robin."
Kaldur helped Dick up with a smile just as M'gaan and Ben entered the room from the hall to their left, they were talking casually with the Martian innocently putting her hands behind her back, "You know they're a couple, right?" Dick whispered as he grabbed his jacket and swung it over his shoulder.
Robin leaned over to Aqualad as the holo-ring deactivated below them. "You know they're a couple right?"
Aqualad turned his attention to M'gaan as she walked slightly closer to Ben than one might call normal; she had her hands behind her back and was listening intently to something Ben was telling her with a smile on his face.
Kaldur smiled, "I believe I knew before they did."
Just then from the opposing corridor came Conner, Artemis, and Wally strolling and talking casually, or well, Wally talking while the Kryptonian and archer just listened to his babbling.
"Should we tell them?" Dick inquired as he looked back to Aqualad.
"It is not our place."
Wally looked over to Zatara and Captain Marvel as they talked and over-saw the training. "So, if Zatara is our baby sitter of the week, why is he still here?" He chided as he then took notice that Marvel was eating a candy bar vigorously, "And why is he eating my snacks!"
M'gaan and Ben stopped walking and stood just outside the holo-ring, still deep in conversation, "So you destroyed the entire Washington Monument? In one shot?"
"Yea..." He trailed off trying not to remember the ear-full Grandpa Max gave him afterwards; "In my defense, I stopped an entire Ben 10 hit-squad and a dangerous villain from obtaining unlimited power."
"Sounds like you used that excuse a lot?"
Ben sighed, "Yea, well, some people can't admire the hard work I do..." His girlfriend giggled in response, closing her eyes and shoving his shoulder lightly. The light mood was interrupted when they heard the teleporters firing up behind them.
"Recognized: Batman A02," the computer interrupted Wally's complaining allowing entrance to the greatest detective on Earth. The dark knight walked into the room ignoring everyone with a stoic expression and walking directly into the holo-ring, "Computer, display national news."
The computer complied and opened up a large holographic screen projecting the news where Cat Grant began narrating the events from earlier that day, "The initial attack was short lived but, Metropolis was only granted a short reprieve," the video displayed a massive plant creature coiling itself around a building and crushing it into rubble with its tight constriction. "Even with the intervention of Superman and the Justice League there seems to be no end in sight," the video displayed Green Lantern cutting through vines, Hawk-girl being tossed into a building, and Superman rescuing two people from a collapsing structure.
Dick stepped forwards, "Should we get out there?"
Batman was quick to respond, "No." He firmly ordered, "The League will soon have the situation under control, that's not why I'm here." Batman turned and opened up virtual records of their previous mission reports, "According to your intel Sportsmaster supplied Cadmus' Blockbuster formula to Kobra."
Wally stepped forwards, "Who combined it with Bane's venom to create Kobra Venom!"
Ben continued, "Which the Brain used to create his animal army," Things were starting to come together even from missions that felt like they meant nothing at all; a simple rescue mission turned into a battle with the villain known as the Brain with insane intellect mutating animals into his super-human slaves. Ben didn't even believe the mission was worth his time but, as it turns out, it was more intricate than he first thought.
Superboy stepped up petting his Wolf creature that sat passively by his side, "And upgrade Wolf," the abnormally large creature with sharp fangs and a close relationship with Superboy was one of the animals enhanced by the Brain but, once free'd by Conner, he turned on his former master.
"The Brain also used inhibitor collars like the ones at Belle-Reve Penitentiary to control the poor animals," M'gaan added
Artemis raised a brow and looked around, "Batman, is it possible that these plant thingies are on Kobra Venom too?"
Batman nodded in agreement as he pulled yet another virtual screen up displaying chemical test results, "I had Green Lantern run a spot analysis; divine cellulose does contain trace amounts of a Kobra Venom variant."
"These cannot be coincidences," Kaldur stated firmly stepping forwards next to Dick and the others, "Unrelated criminals are cooperating with each other worldwide."
"Exactly," Batman confirmed, "It is now clear that our enemies have formed some kind of secret society of super villains; the attack on Metropolis and Central City are only the beginning."
Robin began typing away at a holo-screen, "You got that right," he typed away on his gauntlet and brought up multiple holo-screens behind Batman showing multiple cities from around the world being attacked by plant creatures. "Plants have sprouted in Taipei, Gotham City, Star City, Paris…" each screen turned to static suddenly and simultaneously.
Wally spoke up, "Uh, dude?" he asked wondering why Robin had lost connection.
"It's not me; someone is cutting the satellite signal, all satellite signals!" Just as he said this, all five screens displayed the same live video feed of a man with a purple suit and pale white skin breathing on the glass and whipping it for good measure.
"Ladies and gentleman!" the Joker shouted wildly as he cackled, "We interrupt your regularly scheduled mayhem to bring you… this important announcement," he panned the camera over towards a group of men in colorful costumes, "From the Injustice League."
"We are responsible for the attacks on your cities," he spoke in English but his accent was clearly Japanese, "If you wish to save them a ransom of ten-billion American dollars is required; delivery instructions have been sent to the United Nations, there is no time-limit, however; the longer you wait…"
Joker took out a switch-blade and gently dragged it across the camera-lens, "The more we get to have our jollies…" his laughter kicked up again, even louder than before when suddenly the feed switched back to static.
Ben was frozen in shock at he who he saw standing with the group of villains on screen, he couldn't believe that two of his worst enemies were gunning for him at relatively the same time; this was the absolute worst situation he could have imagined.
Robin fiddled with the holo-screen, replaying the video footage and pausing it for everyone to see, " "Black Adam, Wo-Tan, Atomic Skull, Poison Ivy, The Joker, and..." he paused and zoomed in on the image of the teenager standing with them, "Who's the guy with the white-hair?"
"He looks a lot like..." Artemis trailed off as they all looked back to Ben who stared up at the frozen image with a passive look, it scared them to see their leaders face amongst the enemy.
Ben cleared his throat, "His name is Albedo and he's a Galvan from my Universe; He built his own Omnitrix but, my DNA was the default and when it bonded with him, he transformed into an exact copy of me," he stepped forwards beyond the team to where he could see the image clearly, "And now he hates me for it."
Batman was as stoic as ever but, he had questions obviously, "If he got here does that mean Vilgax can do the same?"
Ben shook his head, "Vilgax betrayed Albedo a few years back; he's the second smartest Galvan in my Universe, that's the only way i could think that he got here but, he'd never help Vilgax do anything," he narrowed his eyes at Albedo's identical face, "He's here for his own reasons."
"Counting Albedo? That's six heavy hitters..."
"There's your secret society," Wally announced as the image zoomed out at the group of super-powered villains facing the camera.
"Not so secret anymore," Artemis added as she folded her arms across her chest.
Kaldur raised his hands to shoulder level, "Perhaps, after India, they figured we would deduce the truth and found no reason to hide any longer."
"Yea? That was their mistake, I think it's time we kicked some plant-creature butt!" Wally said pumping his fist in the air as the others only looked slightly annoyed at him not getting the full picture.
Batman stepped forwards, "The Justice League will handle the plants; I have a different job for this team, a more important job."
"Awe man," Wally groaned in disappointment as Artemis punched him in the arm
"With so many plants, attacking so many different locations at once, there must be a control center; your job is to neutralize it," Batman outlined their mission briefly as Zatara and Captain Marvel glanced at him.
Zatara stepped forwards with a concerned expression, "You do realize what you're really asking them to do?"
"They're ready," he assured without hesitating.
"Ready for what?" Wally asked receiving another punch to the arm from Artemis, this time a much harder one as he stomped his foot in aggregation.
"Would you quit that?!" He shouted as she gave him a coy smirk.
"Hello Wally, if the Justice League are fighting the plants; who do you think we'll be fighting?" She waved her hand in the air trying to get him to figure it out himself.
"I don't know I guess…" Ben pointed up to the screen of villains causing Wally look up at the image and loosen his jaw, "Oh."
"Well, Batman, I hope you're right," Captain Marvel finished putting his hands on his hips.
"And I hope you can locate the enemy, Zatara?"
"If Wo-Tan is involved? There should be some significant dark-magic looming around the central-command; from their i can pin-point their exact location," Batman nodded and summoned a holo-key board, typing a few commands before a large holographic globe appeared before them.
Batman turned and looked over to Zatara, "Do it."
"Erehpsimeh eht ni cigam krad tsom eht kcart," his eyes turned bright yellow and the holo-globe spun quickly before freezing with a single dot landing on a large swamp in New Orleans, across the country but, not out of reach.
...
Joker's gloved fingers danced above several holographic screens, each displaying a different chemically-enhanced plant scenario which the demented clown seemed to control, "Kobra Venom's got nothing on good ol' Joker Venom," Joker cackled maniacally as he continued to manipulate the vines worldwide destroying buildings and attacking people with no end in sight.
"Both work well in concert," Count Vertigo added as Joker continued his rampage; Poison Ivy leaned down and wrapped her arms around the base of a giant stem that extended towards the ceiling and out of the abandoned observatory they used as a lair.
"Yes, but we are putting considerable strain on my baby," Ivy tightened her grip on the plant causing part of it to turn a bright shade of green in response to her pheromones.
Albedo approached the stem of the plant with a hand-held device pressing several buttons as the stem began to surge with energy, growing across the entire root, "There's always a cost to victory."
Wo-tan floated above him and chanted a mystical spell that caused his fists to be enveloped in an orange glow, the energy flowed out and over the plant strengthening it as well as healing some of the dried out or over used patches on the massive plant's stem.
"We will keep her safe and healthy, Ivy," Vertigo assured her before turning to buff man on a piece of equipment above him with a skull engulfed by emerald-flames, he stood next to an outlet like pedestal waiting for orders, "But she requires more power!" Atomic Skull said nothing as his entire head exploded with a radiating energy which then extended into his hands on the pedestal and funneled through the roots, into the stem of the plant causing it to grow several large healthy green-leaves and thicken considerably.
Albedo grew a sinister grin, "Stunning what a little teamwork can accomplish."
Suddenly, a red light filled the building as a loud alarm began sounding throughout the headquarters, "Perimeter breach!" Vertigo announced as Albedo looked at his handheld device that produced green radar-like beeping.
"Finally..."
…
Louisiana Bayou; 10:06AM; October 1st
The flight to New Orleans was undoubtedly quite as Ben sat in the seat juxaposed to the pilot's and M'gaan steered the ship at mach four, the team was silent as a thick palpable-tension flowed through the air, "So, what's with all of these villains coming out of the woodwork to get you?" Wally asked innocently munching on a banana for protein.
"No clue, I guess they hated me more than I thought they did," Ben said as softly as possible.
"What're you gonna do when you find him?" Robin commented as they all looked over to Ben wanting to hear his response, he noticed this and shrugged.
"Destroy his knock-off Omnitrix, for starters," Ben sighed and looked off, "And send him packing before Vilgax gets here, last time they teamed up they made a real mess. Last thing we would want is for them to bury the hatchet."
"You mean 'if' he gets here, right?" Superboy corrected "Veronica said it herself; Vilgax doesn't have a way of getting here," Ben looked over at him and rolled his eyes.
"And if Veronica was here she'd tell you all the times Vilgax did something impossible just to get to me; he's motivated and resourceful, he'll find a way to get here no matter what we do," his voice was solemn and depressing but, he quickly cleared his throat as they were soon approaching the coordinates.
M'gaan put hand to her head in distress, she leaned back and used both hands to clutch her temples this time, grunting slightly, "What's wrong?" Ben asked.
"She's dizzy," She said trying not to lose focus on steering the ship as it slowed down significantly.
"Who? Artemis?" Wally asked looking over to the archer who shook her head in protest.
"I feel fine," Artemis noted as Ben quickly realized what M'gaan was talking about.
"Not her, the Bioship," Ben looked over to the window as they noticed the ship swerving uncontrollably.
"Can't keep the camouflage, barely keeping altitude," M'gaan focused her thoughts on keeping the ship in the air but, it caused her to lose the camouflage and any hopes of evasive-maneuvers.
Vertigo stood on a patch of grass at the edge of a swamp sending his disorienting-waves into the air in the direction of the intruder which their radar detected, hoping to get him or her to reveal themselves and his wish was granted as the crimson Bioship melded into view; Vertigo pointed up at it and shouted out, "There it is, Black Adam, go!"
A tall, buff man in a black skin-tight suit with gold-trim and a white cape leaped into the air at super-sonic speeds striking the under-belly of the Bioship and knocking it from its flight-course and sending it twirling into the swamp-lands below. Adam planted his heavy boot onto the roof of the ship and ripped open a hole in the organic-hull, just big enough for him to see the team, this caused M'gaan to grip her head in agonizing psychic pain.
"He's hurting her!" She shouted as Ben became quickly infuriated; his fist became engulfed in flaming blue-mana as he jumped and right hooked Black Adam off of the ship and into the air, reeling back from the punch that did very little damage.
Thick swampy vines reached up and wrapped around the ship dragging it underneath the murky-waters; Artemis watched as the water begun pouring into the ship at incredible rates, "No way im almost drowning three nights in a row," She grabbed a miniature re-breather from her belt and pressed it to her lips, she took a quick inhale from it before handing it to Wally and grabbing her own.
"Thanks?" he suspiciously took a deep breath and dived underwater as Ben dialed up a hologram and slapped the Ultimatrix dial emerging as Swampfire.
"Miss Martian open a hatch!"
"Duh," She said still recovering from the mental-stress, she slapped herself in the forehead and morphed gills into her neck before diving under the water and psychicly melding an opening in the hull allowing everyone to swim out and to safety.
They climbed onto a small patch of ground and watched the vines forcibly drag the bioship further under the water; M'gaan brushed the hair from her eyes and glanced over to Swampfire, "She's just in shock; she'll need some time to recover," Just as she finished her thought they were all brought to their knees by a mental-attack in the form of a disorientating headache.
"Vertigo!" Kid Flash shouted as he forced himself to turn and face the foreign-villain with his receding hair-line and headset-like device sending waves of nausea at them.
"That's Count Vertigo, to you, peasant."
Swampfire forced himself to his feet and flung an orb of orange flames at Vertigo's abdomen, knocking him backwards for a moment. Superboy took this opportunity to jump at the Count but, was sent into the dirt by a jaw-cracking right-hook delivered by Black Adam at the last second.
"Miss Martian and Robin disappear and achieve the mission objective; we'll hold the rest of them off," Swampfire used the mental link to give his instructions as he pulled seeds from his palm and tossed them at the ground by Adam's feet causing massive vines and roots to sprout up trapping the evil mystic.
The two nodded as M'gaan immediately floated up in camouflage mode while Robin back flipped into the trees and leapt out of sight; Swampfire slapped the Ultimatrix dial on his chest and transformed into Feedback before helping Superboy to his feet.
"Is this guy new?" He asked as he dusted himself off.
Feedback shrugged as his antennae whipped behind him, "Sorta..."
Black Adam surged with mystical lightning as he extended a palm at Superboy and fired a bolt of golden electricity, however; Feedback stepped in the way and used his open finger-sockets to absorb the energy as his body was rushed with blue sparks across his skin. He gave a wide-smile as Adam backed away in confusion, "Sorry, here's your energy back, with interest!" he fired a wave of blue electricity into the mystic-warrior's chest sending him through a tree-trunk and into the swamp.
Feedback approached the fallen Adam and used his antenna to plug into the buff-man's chest absorbing golden electricity which, half way through his antenna, changed into a blue shade as it powered up the Conductoid. He used this energy to fire a bolt into Vertigo sending him back to his knees; suddenly though, he felt the electricity draining from his body and separating from his control.
Feedback took a look around with his single emerald-eye and found the blue electricity turning crimson as it collected onto the grass forming an eight-inch battery with eyes, a mouth, and a Negative Omnitrix symbol on its back, "Miss me, Tennyson?" the battery asked in a high-pitched tone.
"Shockingly, no," Feedback slapped the Ultimatrix symbol strapped to his belt transforming with a green-light into his human form; he formed fiery-blue mana fists and slipped into a fighting stance.
Buzzshock cackled and slapped his crimson hour-glass symbol reverting into an identical clone of Ben Tennyson save for silver hair, crimson eyes and a blood-red jacket; Ben raised a brow at his wrist considering his new watch, "You like it?" He asked as he pulled his sleeve back and revealed a white wrist-watch with crimson trim and a black face-plate with a single red hourglass symbol, "It's based on Azmuth's latest design..."
"Actually, I was wondering why you're still wearing the old jacket? I've been wearing this shirt for like weeks, I thought your body was like a copy of mine?" He chuckled and folded his arms, he did enjoy messing with the Galvan and he always fell for it.
"If you must know, the energy that the Codon Stream used to fuse your Ultimatrix with you absorbed your appearance from that specific day; I've tried changing but, this Omnitrix keeps changing me back..." He looked himself over, disgusted with his appearance.
"You're just jealous 'cause those devilish good-looks are stolen just likes the specs for that Omnitrix; can't you do anything without Azmuth?"
Albedo frowned and lifted his wrist, "I'm going to ignore that and simply wipe you off the face of this planet," He used two fingers to swipe the face-plate of his Omnitrix which summoned a circular-hologram with the faces of all his alien-transformations, using the face-plate like a touch-screen he swiped through options before selecting a To'kustar. Once selected, the plate flipped out revealing the Omnitrix-core which popped up for him, "Now you'll feel my vengeance!" He slapped the core down as a massive crimson light blinded Ben and the others; when it dissipated, a massive white-humanoid took his place with crimson cosmic-armor, glowing red eyes, and a massive armored spike protruding upwards from his forehead.
"And before you ask, yes, this Omnitrix can transform me into evolved aliens, as well!"
"Perfect..." Ben dialed up his To'kustar hologram and slapped the face-plate as his trademarked emerald light engulfed the entire swamp with Ben emerging as the same creature as Albedo, the only difference being the color-scheme of his eyes and Ultimatrix symbol which were both green.
"Way Big!" the alien bellowed as he was now faced his twin at eye level, birds flew from their perch atop the tall trees as they sensed a great battle ensuing; Way Big threw the first punch being blocked by Negative Way Big who countered by grabbing hold of his wrist and pulling him in for a devastating right-hook that knocked him into the water which caused a tremor from the sheer force of the attack to shake the surrounding area, not to mention the enormous alien landing in one of the largest swamp's on Earth as if playing in a rain-puddle.
"You're good, better than I remember..." Way Big shook his head before standing up once again; he leapt forwards at super-speeds with a fist aimed at the center of Negative Way Big's head, this proved useless as it was countered when he redirected Way Big's attack with an open palm making his way into the To'kustar's close-quarters landing a fist into his solar-plexus.
Way Big reached out and gripped his doppleganger's shoulder and sent a rib-crushing knee into his abdomen ejecting large amounts of spit from his opponents mouth; he followed this up by cupping his hands together and bringing them down on his back sending Negative Way Big face-first into the swamp. Causing another tremor to shake the ground around them for miles, Superboy, Aqualad, Artemis, and Kid Flash were all stunned by the power of these two identical titans fighting thousands of feet above them. Count Vertigo and Black Adam were just as stunned until Vertigo realized this was a perfect opportunity to take them off guard as Atomic Skull and Poison Ivy arrived and evened the playing field.
Superboy was staring up at the incredible battle when he was struck in the back by a beam of radiating energy shredding the back of his black-tee and sending him face first into the mud, Atomic Skull continued the blasts energy to keep him pinned while Count Vertigo sent waves of nauseating psychic attacks to keep them all off balance.
Artemis caught her second-wind first and pulled an arrow back on her bow aimed at Atomic Skull who paid no attention to her; she fired it but, it never made contact as the projectile was intercepted by Black Adam who caught it inches from Skull allowing it to explode in his face which he didn't even flinch at. Adam dashed over at the speed of sound and grabbed Artemis by the neck lifting her up above his head squeezing ever so slightly which slowly cut off her air supply; Poison Ivy allowed roots to dig them selves to the surface at Kaldur and Wally's feet releasing a toxic neuron-gas which would paralyze them, only Wally had seen this before and immediately held his breath running at super-speeds in circles around the clouds of gas, sending it up into the atmosphere. He ended his sprint by sending a left-hook into Ivy's chin which knocked her over tumbling into the dirt, he looked around and noticed Artemis in trouble, "Get her, i've got Artemis," Wally pointed at Ivy as Kaldur noddd.
He used his top speed to dash over towards Black Adamn, running at nearly mach fourteen, he reeled his fist back and punched with all his strength and when his fist connected with Adam's abdomen an sickening crack filled everyone's ears. Wally fell to his knees holding his wrist and shouting in pain as Black Adam keeled over in pain, he'd had the wind knocked out of him so, he dropped Artemis promptly who immediately made her way to the speedster's side. He clutched his arm and shouted in agony as Way Big caught notice of this; the To'kustar right-hooked Negative Way Big in the face and knelt down towards the scene.
Black Adam quickly recovered and whipped the spit from his lip with his wrist; he stepped forwards and cracked his knuckles preparing to finish them both off until a massive shadow cast over him and the others. He turned and looked up to find Way Big frowning down on him, "Hey..."
Black Adam backed away in fear as Way Big gently leaned his fist outward towards him and flicked Adam out of the area and into the wall of their observatory-headquarters, nearly a quarter mile away, "Out of the park!"
"Thanks!" She shouted up at him with hands cupped around her lips to project her voice, "Uh, you should-" she pointed as Negative Way Big tackled him away from the scene; the force of the attack was so strong that a gust of wind pulled Artemis, Wally, Vertigo, Atomic Skull and Superboy off the ground and several feet away each one landing with a thud.
"Albedo, you fool! Watch where you are going!" Vertigo screamed as the doppelganger pinned Way Big to the ground with his left hand and knee while using his free right hand to pummel him into the water; each strike shaking the ground and sending shock-waves across the swamp making it even more difficult to battle their individual opponents.
Superboy stood up and saw Atomic Skull shaking his head still disoriented and trying to get his balance back; He used this to his advantage and super-sped towards the stumbling villain before uppercutting him in the chin sending him into the air and through a mound of toppled trees, pinning him beneath the weight.
Superboy looked over to Artemis who had Wally's head in her lap and tried to ease the pain as best she could at the moment; she shook her head at him and pointed over to Count Vertigo who had Aqualad pinned to his hands and knees on the ground with a barrage of mental attacks. Conner leaped into the air and drop kicked Vertigo into a tree, cracking the bark and knocking him unconscious; he followed up by walking over casually and ripping the mental head-set device from his ears and crushing it in the palm of his hands.
"Is that it?" Superboy glanced around noticing Poisson Ivy, Atomic Skull, and now Count Vertigo unconscious; he knew Black Adam couldn't be getting up any time soon after being hit by Ben the way he was.
Aqualad stood to his feet, "I believe that only leaves one," they all shared a look before looking up to the overwhelming giants who duked it out even now.
Way Big and Negative Way Big were deadlocked with their fingers intertwined with the others, trying desperately to gain any sort of momentum against their opponent; their heels dug through the ground until finally, Way Big lifted his foot and placed it against Negative Way Big's chest, launching his duplicate onto his back several thousand feet away. He slid against the ground before rolling to his feet causing intense tremors to spread for miles around them.
Multiple times the team was thrown off balance from the giants battle taking place only less than a mile away but, as Wally tripped over a rock due to his injury and the tremors, Artemis caught him by the shoulders, "Thanks."
She smiled and blushed at him, "No problem..."
"It's time to end this," Negative Way Big spat his words like venom before crossing his arms with his left vertical and the right horizontal.
"You took the words right out of my mouth!" Way Big followed his duplicate's example and crossed his arms in the same way; suddenly, a crimson electrical current sparked across their forearms. They were gathering cosmic-energy as a crimson-sphere formed at the intersecting point of Negative Way Big's arms whilst an emerald one constituted for Way Big; emerald and crimson sparks flew out around them striking the landscape below, carving trenches and destroying wildlife.
After several moments of utter silence, Negative Way Big and Way Big unleashed enormous waves of cosmic-energy at each other; the two blasts met in the center and once connected caused a force to rip through the jungle area. The combined energies of both titans shot waves of pressurized air through the entire swamp, each one easily capable of destroying entire mountain-ranges and, had it not been condensed, heroes and villains alike would have been vaporized. The amount of energy being released by either To'kustar put the entire planet's nuclear arsenal to shame with its raw, intense, power.
Way Big struggled to keep his ground as he was pushed back on his feet, grinding his teeth to stay at full power consistently; neither was letting up and the battle was a stalemate until one overpowered the other.
...
M'gaan and Robin ducked through the branches of the jungle as they approached the observatory and heard Ben and Albedo's booming voices as they were now both Way Big's.
"That should give us all the distraction we need," Robin stopped as they entered a clearing and pointed up to Way Big attempting a right-hook in the distance against Negative Way Big, "Remind me not to get on his bad-side."
M'gaan smiled up at Ben fighting his nemesis, "He sure is something, isin't he?"
Robin smirked and walked ahead of her, "So," he announced with a coy-tone, "You and Ben, huh?"
M'gaan looked over and immediately blushed bright red, "W-What? What're you talking about?"
The boy-wonder chuckled, "You don't have to lie; I won't tell anyone till your ready..."
"I... But..." She spun in the air for a moment checking a three-sixty degree area before turning back to him, "How did you find out? We've only been dating for three weeks?"
Robin pulled out a pair of binoculars and analyzed the observatory as they came within five-hundred feet of the entrance, "You two are always making faces at each-other, even before the incident with Tornado," he put them away and waved her to follow him, "Well, you were always making faces at him; he was usually pretty oblivious."
She floated forwards with a pout, "I didn't think I was that obvious..." she landed on the grass and began walking normally, "Nobody else knows, right?"
"Aqualad does but, he figured it out himself; the others? Not so sure," he put a hand out stopping her in her tracks, "Something's not right..." he looked around pulling a shuriken from his belt and keeping on guard. Suddenly, from the swampy-ground sprouted tall, plant creatures with humanoid bodies and thorn-covered stubs for hands; M'gaan backed away using her levitation to keep off the ground and her telekinesis to push the mindless soldiers away from her.
Robin slashed through them like a human weed-whacker, he kept them at a distance whilst maneuvering through their ranks and chopping heads off simultaneously, "Miss Martian! Clear a path!"
They were interrupted as Black Adam flew through the air hitting the observatory wall and sliding to the ground in an unconscious groaning heap, "Right," she shouted ignoring that development as she floated twenty-feet up and pushed a pathway clear with her mind, allowing Robin to run through with the explosives safely in his belt. She floated over them and kept her telekinesis focused on keeping them from reaching out at the boy-wonder as he passed. He leapt onto the side of the building before springing off and landing on a ledge; he looked up and saw the massive stem shooting up into the air, "That's one big brussel-sprout..."
M'gaan landed next to him and held out her hand, "Give me the explosives," he nodded and handed them to her from his belt; her eyes shun bright-green and the devices lifted from her hand floating up and surrounding the base of the massive-plant, attaching and blinking to life.
"Now we just need to get out of here," Robin noted as they looked down and noticed all of the soldiers withering away, slowly melting into the swamp, "Poison Ivy must've been knocked out," he looked into the sky watching Way Big and Negative Way Big standing far apart and posturing oddly. It was then that they nearly fell over when the intense beams were fired colliding with more than either had ever felt before.
"Jeez, I can feel that in my teeth," Robin said backing away as M'gaan quickly pointed up into the sky wear a pale man with black pointed hair wearing ancient-robes of some-sort flew away from the scene after seeing his team beaten and the Way Big's dual.
"Wo-Tan is getting away!" M'gaan flew up and after him with her levitation.
"Wait!" Robin shouted as the sorcerer peered over noticing her incoming; he held out a hand forming a black-seal in the air which fired off six bolts of dark-magic each one colliding with the Martian and electrocuting her under she fell from the air in a smoking heap.
Robin leapt from ledge to ledge before landing on his feet and sprinting toward the falling M'gaan; she hi the ground with enough force to kill a normal human but, she was no ordinary human. She sat up holding her head, "Did anyone get the number of that bus?"
Robin smiled and turned toward the plant-satellite, "Mission accomplished," he smiled and pressed down on his belt's clip which blinked red as four massive explosions engulfed the plant's girth causing it to topple over, immediately turning brown as the fire spread across it's base.
...
Way Big and Negative Way Big both turned at the sight of the explosion in the distance which they could clearly see at their size; this caused Albedo to lose his edge allowing Way Big to up the energy-output of his beam for a split second over powering the crimson-beam with emerald light. The Negative To'kustar was hit in the chest with cosmic-energy knocking him onto his back and forcing him through two-miles of swamp and trees.
"Your friends have been beaten and even you can't take us all on by yourself!"
Negative Way Big held his smoking abdomen and glanced over at the other heroes standing by waiting to help, transforming into a smaller alien wasn't smart and turning evolving would only increase the extent of their stalemate, not break it. He looked over at the burning headquarters and then back to Way Big, "Another time then?" Negative Way Big slapped the Ultimatrix symbol on his chest and vanished in a flash of red-light.
Negative Spider-Monkey watched as Way Big looked around for any sign of his opponent but, gave up, "Such a feeble mind," he swung away, hooting like a chimp, "He truly does think he's won..."
Way Big gave a long sigh before slapping the dial on his own chest, transforming into Jetray who flew down into the trees, landing in the same clearing where the others stood waiting for him, he transformed back into Ben looking around, "Good job guys, sorry I couldn't lend a hand."
Poison Ivy and Joker were tied together unconscious next to Atomic Skull whose hands were bound together by a concrete-solution arrow; Vertigo was strapped to a tree by some sort of rope as M'gaan and Robin stepped from the trees with a casual smile, "Are you kidding?" Artemis practically shouted.
Wally rubbed his arm with a chuckle, "Yea, dude, it's not like any of us could have taken that guy on."
"Well, I dont wanna toot my own horn or anything," He looked over at M'gaan who gave him a reassuring smile which distracted him for a moment, "Uh, did you see Wo-Tan anywhere? And is Black Adam still over there?"
Robin noticed his flustered expression and covered for him, "Black Adam is secured and unconscious in a clearing by the observatory; Wo-Tan escaped, M'gaan tried to pursue but he was too fast."
Ben rubbed his cheek where he could feel a bruise forming, "Man, that's gonna hurt in the morning..." he looked out into the swamp and gave a long sigh, "Do you think the bioship is still in shock?"
M'gaan stepped up next to him and lifted a hand out towards the waters, "Let me check," after a few seconds the massive ship tore through the no-longer controlled vines and floated up turning to face them, "She's all healed up and ready for take off!"
Artemis approached them with Wally's arm hung over her shoulder, "So, after all that Albedo still got away?"
Ben shrugged and gave a smile, "Five out of seven isn't bad," the bioship approached allowing them all to enter the open hatch facing them, Ben walked over and put a hand on M'gaan's shoulder who smiled back at him.
"Besides, we just dismantled his entire team; as long as we stick together there isin't much he can do to us on his own..."
…
"Impressive," Vandal Savage stepped from the shadows and looked up a multitude of holographic screens all projecting the world-wide attack of the controlled vines with the Justice League protecting the population in the background, "The plant creatures have proven their usefulness as potential weapons, more importantly, the so called heroes believe our secret society has been revealed and crushed."
Vandal walked up to Lex Luthor, Queen Bee, Klarion the Witch Boy, Ra's Al Ghul, the Brain, and Black Manta all standing side-by-side watching the same screens, "with the Injustice League standing as our proxies; we are once again free to operate with impunity," Vandal turned to face the people in front of him as a figure stepped out from behind them.
Albedo walked next to them and folded his arms, "And shadows still conceal our light."
…
Remastered 7/16/18
;)