I don't own Ben 10 or Young Justice
Cornered
Mount Justice; Happy Harbor; December 23rd 2013; 2:04AM
The sound of flesh meeting fabric echoed across the gym like a metronome, fists flying through the air and colliding with a professional punching bag; sweat dripped from Ben's chin, it was his third hour in the gym and he was only becoming more and more exhausted by the minute. Every fist that pounded the bag had emotion behind it, seeing with every collision the faces of his dead loved ones. Gwen, Grandpa Max, Kevin, Julie, and even his parents; without noticing, his eyes shun bright blue and with the sounds of echoing explosions from a bloody Bellwood, he hit the bag with enough force to rip it from the ceiling.
M'gaan stepped to the side as the bag flew into the wall beside her, pouring sand out across the floor at her feet, she was in her silk pajamas and had her arms folded across her chest, "Long night?"
Ben had grown much in the last month, the fruits of his training were starting to show as his shoulders broadened and his biceps had gained some extra definition, "I couldn't sleep…" he grabbed a white towel from the ground, wiping his thin beard from sweat and slinging it over his shoulder.
"Tomorrow should be the day, have you decided what you're going to do?" She took a step or two closer to him, not wanting to push him away either.
He sat on a nearby bench and exhaled, looking out into the dimly lit gym, "I made up my decision a while ago."
"Well, I was hoping you'd come to your senses by now."
He stood suddenly, knocking the bench over, "I told you, coming to my senses is what brought me to this."
"It's not you Ben, it's not the man I fell in love with…"
Ben turned away, trying his best not to look her in the eye, "I have to do this, for my cousin, for my family; Vilgax has to die."
Silence rang through the facility, leaving them to think about what he'd said, "Look, I-" he was interrupted when a beeping came from his duffle; he pulled out a device, looking as though he'd used Grey Matter to turn a calculator into some sort of radar.
"What is it?"
Ben held it up to the light, looking over the data it was displaying, "Vilgax's ship just entered our Solar System, he'll be in our orbit in less than a day."
M'gaan's eyes widened, ever since she peered into Ben's mind and saw the psychic attack he waged on her lover, she dreaded this day. The mortal fear that Vilgax struck into her heart was unthinkable, she'd never experienced anything like it and it shook every fiber of her being, sending chills up her spine. It was the main reason that she understood and sympathized with Ben's behavior as of late, she knew he was going too far with the criminals and avoiding using his powers to relish in injuring others but, the simple fact of his situation kept her from telling him how she felt about it all.
"What do we do now?"
Ben turned and made his way to the exit, "We gather the team, we're doing this tonight."
…
Mount Justice; Happy Harbor; December 23rd 2013; 4:02AM
It took a short while to get them gathered in one place at this time of night but, once they were made aware of the reason, none contested with tonight's mission. Aqualad, Kid Flash, M'gaan, Artemis, Robin, Superboy, and Ben all gathered in the holo-ring, "Alright," Ben announced as he pulled up a huge holographic map of Vilgax's flag-ship, "I know none of you want to be here right now but, this has to happen. Think of it, if nothing else, as a good way to show the heroes what you're made of."
Spite being woken suddenly in the night, they were all focused and determined, ready to complete their mission, "The objective is really simple, we sneak aboard his ship, make our way to the center control room, that's where big, green, and ugly is going to be."
"How much ground do we have to cover?" Aqualad asked looking over the ship's schematics.
Ben pointed his index finger at a narrow passage way between the docking bay and control room, zooming in, "There's only one spot on the entire ship that's going to be open enough for us to land; once inside, it'll be about ten or fifteen blocks of walking before we make it to the objective."
"And just to recap, how do we actually plan on taking Vilgax down?" Wally fought off a yawn as he asked.
Ben narrowed his eyes and turned toward the hanger bay, "Leave that to me…"
They all gave each other worried glances as they followed behind him slowly; Artemis jogged forwards, much to M'gaan's chagrin, walking beside Ben whom didn't take his eyes off of the doors as they slid open revealing the sleeping Bio-Ship.
"Are you sure you want to go through with this?"
"More than ever," Ben noted without breaking focus, "Getting cold feet?"
She scoffed, "Look, I just want to make sure that the Ben I go on this mission with is the same one we come back with."
Ben stopped in the middle of the massive hangar, "Don't you think I know what happens to me once I do this? It's not something I can ever come back from…"
"So, you don't have to do it, we can hand him to the Green Lantern's, we can lock him in a hole and throw away the hole."
He chuckled a bit, regaining his conviction in seconds, "If I had a nickel for every time I heard someone say that, I'd be richer than Bruce Wayne." He continued his strut forwards, approaching the Martian-pod, "I'm ending this feud today, my family will finally know peace once that monster is dead."
M'gaan raised her palm towards the ship as her eyes shun lime-green, "I'll just wake her, then…" the pod lifted into the air and sprouted wings, growing to a comfortable size.
"Alright, let's see if this works, everyone in!" Ben announced as he dialed up holograms on his Ultimatrix, flipping through a half-dozen before slapping core and transforming with bright green flash. From the inside of the ship, the team watched his symbiotic black ooze stretching its way across the crimson hull; green circuitry spread through the controls and into the guidance system in front of M'gaan.
The center console formed into a circular shape where it illuminated emerald, "I think I'm in," Ben announced as his voice came from all directions, "I can feel it… she's alive, breathing and everything!"
M'gaan chuckled, "Of course she is, I told you that!"
Superboy yawned and put his feet up on a window ledge, "How long will it take us to get to Vilgax's ship?"
"Feet down," Superboys seatbelt spun across his leg yanking it away from its rested position, "And I dunno, let's see what we can do with your engines…"
"Are… are you talking to the ship?" Wally asked.
"Yea, it's so weird, I can hear her clear as day now," reaching out his technopathic control to the Martian-Bio Engines, he added a large thruster in black and green to the stern of the ship, it was several feet wide and deep and looked more advanced than anything on Earth, "Alright, we've modified her to support 'FTL' speeds; should only take us around thirty minutes to reach the target."
Wally gave them a nod and pulled a device from his belt, a small black box with a single switch, "Thanks to Robin's quick thinking, we can open the bay doors without Red Tornado ever being the wiser… right, Rob?"
"Dick?" Artemis turned over finding him asleep with his face down on the console, drooling into his arm.
"Dick!"
"Agh!" shooting up in his seat, he quickly wiped the drool from his chin, "What happened, is it go time?"
"Yea, you might have confused it with nap-time…" Artemis quipped.
Wally cleared his throat, "Anyways, I'm opening the doors, get ready to move we can't leave them open too long or the intruder alert will notify Tornado."
They waited for a moment as their leader spoke through the intercom, "Do it."
An alert popped into their feed with the Justice League's signature A.I monotone, "Hangar Bay Doors Opening."
Ben took control of the Bio-Ship and willed it into the air, hovering at first before taking off at several hundred miles-per-hour, once Wally could see the entire Mountain in his rear, he quickly shut the doors behind him leaving the League none-the-wiser.
"Hold on to your hats everyone, I'm about to accelerate to light speed, you might feel a little discomfort…"
Superboy raised his brow, "How much is a little?"
M'gaan put a finger to her chin, having some experience with light speed on her travels from Mars to Earth, "Think of it like the worst motion sickness you've ever had for about ten seconds…"
"That doesn't sound little-"
"Too late," the green circuitry across the Bio-Ship's hull shun neon as the huge thruster opened and fired off a powerful green-flame propelling them through the sky and into space in a fraction of a second. There was no sonic-boom or energy discharge, if seen by anyone else, it would be as though they blinked out of existence.
After a few minutes, they all settled into their seats, recovering from the nausea; Ben and M'gaan were the only two fortunate to have experience with the feeling.
"Well I'm not going back to sleep now," Dick muttered with his head in his hands, trying his best to keep his dinner down.
"Well, you have about twenty minutes to shake it off, the radar should be picking up the flag ship pretty soon," M'gaan noted as she placed her hand over Upgrade's glowing-circle in her center console, "You should activate camouflage…"
"I was thinking of calling this, absolute stealth!" Suddenly, the ship vanished entirely, not just blending in with its surroundings but, completely turning invisible, "There are no distortions so we can't be seen at all, and I'm hiding our heat signatures too; right now, even if they could see us, we'd just be more space debris."
Superboy sighed, "That's cool and all but, did anyone actually put any thought into how we get into Vilgax's ship?"
There was a thick silence that followed his question leaving Ben to clear his none-existent throat, "I gave it some thought but, it's going to be difficult to pull off."
"Won't his ship be moving too? Like, in the total opposite direction?" Wally pointed out.
Ben formed a node in the ceiling which projected a hologram of the same specs to Vilgax's flag-ship that he'd used earlier, gifted to him weeks ago by Veronica, "His ship is going way slower than ours, Veronica says it might have something to do with his using mana to get to this dimension, this is going to be our advantage; I'm going to use Wally's transmitter to open the ships docking bay without raising any alarms."
Artemis looked over one of her arrows, "And nobody is going to tell their boss that a weird Martian-ship just landed in their even bigger ship?"
"Vilgax doesn't employ people, he has an army of androids that do his dirty work; that's the second problem, we're going to have to go through those robots before we make it to him."
"And again, I have to ask, there's nobody who's going to tell our big bad that we're clearing through his drones?"
"I just need to be sneaky enough to get on his ship, once we're in it doesn't matter if he knows we're there… he'll be too dead to care," his cold attitude gave everyone a shutter up their spine.
…
Twenty Minutes Later
The void of space was dark and expansive, traveling at several percent the speed of light caused distant stars to streak across the viewing deck inside the control center; from a throne-like seat a massive humanoid figure sat shrouded by darkness, only his crimson eyes shinning through the shadows. He gazed upon the Universe as he traveled through it, he could never return to his home now but, he had long since known that there was nothing left for him there. This new reality brimming with life, he could start a new empire with even greater promise than the last; new opportunities to grasp, new planets to conquer, new species to enslave.
"Sir," a drone floated up to shoulder level with Vilgax so that he could deliver urgent news, "We are approaching Earth space, however; there seems to be some sort of disturbance in the docking bay."
The demon's eyes went wide, glaring down at his droid, "What kind of disturbance?"
…
The last drone in the hangar bay exploded sending shrapnel through the air after being shot by an explosive arrow; Aqualad sheathed his water-bearers and Artemis lowered her bow, "Hangar bay, clear."
A flash of green light exploded leaving Ben in his normal form, "Just like we practiced, let's go," they all approached a sliding metal door which led to the rest of the ship.
M'gaan's eyes flashed green as she ordered the Bio-Ship to camouflage itself and return to a hibernated state; Ben forced the doors apart with two crow-bars of blue flaming mana. The corridor was dark, barely lit enough to see through, "Follow my lead and stay sharp," he manifested an orb of blue mana in his palm holding it out to light their path.
"So," Wally casually sputtered as they walked through the cold metallic ship, "When we face Vilgax, what exactly is our strategy?"
"I'm going to kill him?" Ben stated almost as a question, "When it comes to Vilgax there isn't much in the realm of strategy; he's a fighting genius, a weapons expert, he's bested the greatest warriors of over ten worlds in hand to hand combat…"
"So, he is unstoppable? If so, how do you plan to execute this killing blow?" Aqualad asked.
Ben kept walking but, didn't answer immediately, his gaze went to his feet for a moment in deep thought, "I'm Ben Tennyson, I can do anything."
"Anything except die, apparently," a voice echoed through the halls, coming from the far end where they were headed; the lights ignited suddenly giving them a clear view of their surroundings. Surrounded by brown and red automated droids was a single figure, tall and lanky wearing black armor with purple trim, "Like my translator? It's new."
"SixSix? So, Vilgax broke you out of the Null Void when he escaped…
Artemis pulled an arrow back on her bow-string, Superboy and Kid Flash got in fighting positions, Robin readied shuriken from his belt, Aqualad drew his mystic-weapons forming liquid meat-hammers, and M'gaan stood directly behind Ben with flashing green pupils; they all readied themselves simultaneously as practiced, "Last time I beat you I only needed two friends, now I have six… if you walk away now I'll make sure not to send you to hell with Vilgax."
Deep cackling came from beneath the mercenary's helmet, almost hissing at the idea, "I can't walk away, sorry, open fire!"
Ten or more drones let loose a barrage of beams of blasts from their mechanical limbs; Ben immediately threw up a mana-shield which staved off the attack briefly, "I've got SixSix, you guys take the drones!"
With dutiful nods they all dispersed as a green flash stunned the drones giving them the cover they needed to counter attack; Feedback sprinted through the fray and tackled SixSix onto his back, struggling with him on the ground.
Two arrows struck a droid through the head, exploding and sending it into another of its kind, taking them both down; Aqualad stood in front of her and Robin whom launched their projectiles, giving them a shield of water to fire from behind.
M'gaan sighed, "I've had enough of this," she scowled and floated up forcing every single drone into the air, telekinetically crushing them into scrap-metal.
Feedback had finally pinned the alien assassin's arms down but, neglected two miniature-appendages below his arm-pits which reached up attaching an explosive to his chest. The detonation sent the hero up into the air hitting the ceiling and giving SixSix the time to pull a high-tech rifle from his belt, blasting Feedback through the air and into Superboy whom caught him.
With a snap of his fingers, the room filled with identical droids, "This entire ship is a factory, you aren't getting passed these drones!"
"Not all of us…" Wally noted, "We're too confined here to fight effectively, that means the only way we get to Vilgax is if we don't all get there."
They all gave Wally a surprised glance, his tactical thinking was spot-on and unexpected. Feedback narrowed his single eye at the concept but, he was right; "Aqualad, Kid Flash, Artemis, and Robin stay behind to make sure these guys don't interrupt me," he transformed again, this time into Ghostfreak, "Superboy and M'gaan are with me."
They all nodded at their orders; Artemis and Robin quickly leapt over the barricade keeping their cover, running into the crowd of drones weapons blazing. Robin used his cupped hands to support Artemis as she sprung from his hands over a droid, placing an explosive on it, and landed on another drone, crushing it with her boots. She turned and fired an arrow right in between SixSix's eyes whom caught it with little effort and tossed it aside, "GO!" She shouted as Aqualad and Kid Flash followed their lead, leaping over the barricade and attacking the bots one by one.
SixSix shouted in a filtered voice, "No! Stop them!" M'gaan had been working on her density shifting, anything that came her way passed right through her as it did for Ghostfreak. The blasters used by the drones bounced off of Superboy's chest and anything getting in his way was swatted back with super-strength.
As they passed SixSix, he swung his arms through Ghostfreak and M'gaan, frustratedly trying his best to stop them, swinging down at Superboy he was shocked when his armored fist was caught and crushed in the same movement. He fell back, hitting the wall and clutching his hand, "Sir, I can't stop Tennyson and two of his friends… should I-"
He listened to his superior and watched them approach the main control room, "Whatever you say, boss."
…
Ben, M'gaan, and Conner made their way through the halls of the massive starship, turning corners with Ben in the lead more eager than anything else to finally finish what Vilgax started two years ago.
After a few minutes of walking, they faced a closed-door spite knowing this was their destination, "Should we bust it down?" Conner asked pounding his fist into his palm.
Ben threw a hand up, motioning for them to wait, and in seconds the metallic-silver doors slid open, revealing a rather large room of controls, monitors, holograms, and a single throne in the center. It was void of drones whom should logically be at their post but, Vilgax knew he was going to have company so he cleared the deck.
With M'gaan on his right and Superboy on his left, they stopped as Ben approached the throne where they could clearly see Vilgax sitting and staring out into space, "Beautiful, isn't it?"
"Yea, that's why I have to protect it from you…"
He scoffed in return, "As my plan for revenge nears its completion, I ponder what I do after I kill you…"
Ben closed his eyes, trying to maintain some semblance of control over his emotions, "You spent so many years trying to kill me, I bet you have no clue what to do next," he took another step forwards as Vilgax tightened his grip on the arm-rests, "It ends tonight, Vilgax. I'm going to end this once and for all."
"I sense the conflict within you," Vilgax muttered as he stood up, shedding his armor, his shield, his absorption gauntlets, and his ruby clattering on the ground, "I wonder which will happen first?"
Ben wasn't intimidated as Vilgax stood and turned, wearing nothing but his armor from the waist-down, "Will you find the conviction to kill me or will I finally find a way to kill you?"
"Let's find out," Ben muttered as his eyes shun bright blue, telekinetically gripping both Conner and M'gaan; with a swipe of his hands he sent them flying back into the hall.
"Ben!?" She shouted as he snapped his fingers, sending a jolt of mana through the console that operated the door, short circuiting it and slamming it in her face.
Superboy immediately leapt forwards, hitting it with all of his strength, following that up with several more punches but, the dent hadn't even become the size of his head and his knuckles were starting to hurt.
"He locked himself in," Conner noted.
M'gaan nearly started to tear up, "He's on his own in there now."
…
"Arriving in Earth Orbit in ten-minutes."
Ben twisted the dial on his Ultimatrix, slapping it quickly and without a word emerging as Fourarms; they were both silent as they circled each other, like two wild-animals ready to pounce.
Fourarms jumped forwards first being too slow to avoid a right-cross to the chin, reversing his momentum, and sending him back first into a computer console. The Tetramand fixed his jaw and got back to his feet, turning to avoid two beams of heat from his eyes, carving into the wall. Taking this opportunity, Fourarms transformed again hitting the tyrant in the abdomen with a cascading blast of rainbow-energy, pushing him back on his heels. He made his advance into close quarters, landing a right-left cross combination before being uppercutted upwards; his head punctured the hull leaving him hanging from the ceiling.
Vilgax grabbed his ankle and yanked him down, slamming him into the ground and denting the floor with his body; Chromastone fired a beam of energy from the crystal-horn on his head but, it took only one hand to deflect it as Vilgax used the other to swing him sideways into the glass, cracking it slightly.
A flash of emerald light blinded Vilgax for the split second Ben needed to melt through his enemies grip, leaving an acidic effect on his bare hands, Goop melded between his legs and reformed behind the tyrant, whom held his hand in minor irritation.
Transforming again, Vilgax stumbled back as he was bombarded by flames, his skin resisting the temperatures but, surely still feeling the sting of Heatblast's attack. Powering through it, Vilgax allowed his right arm to become scorched in favor of getting within reach to backhand the Pyronite across the room, hitting the wall with electrical sparks flying from the damage.
Transforming into Diamondhead and forming two six-inch daggers over each knuckle, he lunged at his opponent, swinging right and left allowing Vilgax to dip back and forth easily dodging his attacks before catching his next swing and delivering a knee-strike to his chest that cracked his crystal-exterior.
Still, he stood back up, forming both arms into jagged crystal structures, firing off hundreds of rounds per minute of durable shards. Vilgax managed to keep his face protected but, his left shoulder was slit open and his burnt right forearm was cut as well. Yet, Vilgax powered through still, catching one of them before it hit his face and crushing it in his hands, tossing aside what was left.
He left-crossed Diamondhead to his hands and knees, huffing for air as the tyrant kicked him in the chest sending up into the ceiling. This time his back shattered the advanced lighting, sending sparks about, before gravity pulled him back down into a roundhouse kick that cracked his jaw as he hit the ground.
"You can't stop me! You couldn't then and you can't now! So, I'll just kill your friends like I killed your family!"
Transforming into Cannonbolt in seconds, he furthered his power by allowing a wave of emerald energy to shroud his body, giving him silver-studded armor as he spun into an orb, "SHUT UP!" after gaining enough traction, he spun himself into Vilgax pushing against him and spinning. He responded by kicking the orb away, forgetting that he'd ricochet off the wall and come back even faster.
This time the contact would send Vilgax back first into the wall, through the hull, and into space as the ship automatically sealed off the breach with a silver shutter.
The silence of space was deafening, there was so much nothing Ben almost couldn't react in time to transform, Alburian Pelerota are pretty useless in a fight without gravity. He emerged as Atomix, taking a punch to the chin that sent him floating back, he only needed a few seconds to recover. Returning with a nuclear powered right-hook which sent a shockwave out through space, vibrating the ship as it slowed nearing Earth's Moon.
Vilgax and Atomix landed on the surface of the lunar rock, staring each other down, it was a mere second before Vilgax fired his laser-vision and Atomix threw up an energy shield to block it.
…
Five Minutes Ago
"Damn it, Ben…" M'gaan could hear the thudding and shaking from inside the control-room but, she wasn't versed enough in density shifting to do it again after avoiding those drones earlier.
Kid Flash, Artemis, Aqualad and Robin all rounded the corner finding their teammates pounding on a door, missing their leader, "What happened?!" Artemis shouted.
Kaldur tightened his grip on his water-bearers, forming blades out of each, slicing away at the door, "It appears our leader has gone off mission," he stated calmly after failing to even scratch the alien-metal.
Suddenly, a shockwave hit as they all almost fell over, M'gaan was floating but, Artemis lost her balance and fell into Wally's arms, propping her up politely.
"Thanks," she blushed.
Another quake of shaking nearly toppled them into one another as the entire ship vibrated, red-lights flashing from above, "What the hell is going on in there?!"
"I don't think they're in there anymore!" Wally announced from the end of the hall, having used his speed to check in seconds, "They're over there!" he pointed.
As they all gathered around the window which allowed them to see into space and the fight taking place on the moon, they watched in awe as Ben fought the final bout.
…
Atomix ducked under a right-hook and landed an uppercut which sent the Chimera-Sui-Generis sliding back on his heels; Ben took the opportunity to swoop in striking left and right, knocking him into the ground.
He raised his fist above his head as emerald nuclear energy charged into it, glowing almost as bright as the sun at the end of the solar system, he couldn't help shouting, "NUCLEAR WINNER!" before bringing the fist down on his opponent.
The Moon was almost shattered, shaking the entire celestial-body, a massive crater formed around them as thousands of tons of space-rock was unearthed by the attack. From the ship, all the team could see was a massive green dome around the fight as he struck, shaking the ship as it stopped in Earth's orbit.
"You are not worthy of this power, Ben Tennyson," Vilgax slowly stood, Atomix's glowing fist caught in his hand, reversing roles and bringing Ben to his knees as he stood above him, "You never were."
Vilgax punctuated his sentence by crushing his hand and tearing Atomix's arm from its socket, forcibly shattering the armor tossing the limb aside.
"F-Fusion Cuisine!" He used his remaining hand to fire an orb of nuclear energy into Vilgax's chest, exploding and sending him backwards, far enough for Atomix to get to his feet.
As they both prepared themselves, they sprinted forwards at the other, Atomix striking Vilgax right across the cheek and Vilgax doing the same across Ben's left side; they stalemated eachother, the only difference being Vilgax's advantage in the number of his limbs. He used his left arm to bash Atomix in the side so hard it cracked his armor and sent him off the moon, towards Earth.
Vilgax followed suit as, while dragged down by Earth's gravitational pull, Atomix tried his best to adjust himself in preparation to fight mid-fall. Fire engulfed them both as re-entry barely even caught either of their attentions.
…
Detroit; Michigan; December 23rd 2013; 6:33AM
The sun was peaking over the horizon as the Bio-Ship uncamouflaged over a suburban street, landing as the heroes stepped out of the vehicle, "Okay, now I've officially called in the League."
"We're gonna be in so much trouble…" Wally announced looking around.
Robin read his gauntlet as he looked up, then back around at them, "M'gaan get the ship out of the street; EVERYONE MOVE!" as he was tracking their trajectory, Dick got the block cleared just in time for Atomix and Vilgax to hit the pavement with a massive quake. Shaking the entire city, a massive crater was made in the center of the street with an explosion of blue-light sending Vilgax out of the crater and into the street.
Suddenly, from the sky came Superman, Captain Marvel, Martian Manhunter, and the Flash running in on foot; Vilgax turned completely and raised an eye at these costumed characters approaching.
"Leave this planet now or face the consequences," Superman announced without room for arguing.
"I shall take my leave once I have Ben Tennyson's head on a pike!" Superman and Vilgax suddenly engaged in an intense battle of heat-vision, the energy meeting in the middle only for Superman to be over powered and blasted back.
With a roar of anger and anticipation Vilgax dashed from his position, ramming Captain Marvel in the chest and pushing him through a building, only barely missing Superboy watching from behind a dumpster.
Marvel responded by slamming his fists down on the creature's back, pushing him face first into the pavement; he followed this up by punching the ground, missing as he put a hole in the asphalt of the street. Vilgax spun his legs out and swept the Captain's legs out from under him.
Putting a boot on his chest, he reacted perfectly as Superman flew in with a right cross but, was backhanded into the side of a car, taking that car with him into an unopened appliance store. As Flash sped towards him, sending rapid fire punches into his gut, Vilgax ignored him and fired heat vision into the gas reserves for the store Superman was still trapped in causing a massive explosion.
Flash gulped, immediately dashing away at miraculous speeds circling around Vilgax at one-percent the speed of light, sending random jabs and shoves. Martian Manhunter lifted himself into the air and shifted into camouflage mode disappearing; Marvel sighed, "Guess I'm on my own then."
Vilgax took each of the Flash's attacks without flinching until in a random burst of speed, he stuck his thick, buff arm out causing the speedster to slam into it and fly through the air landing in a pile of concrete.
Captain Marvel flew in hitting Vilgax with an upper-cut that sent him off his feet and onto his back thirty feet away, "Oh," Billy said to himself, "I got him!"
Marvel smiled and looked away for the briefest moment which gave his opponent the advantage he needed, hitting the mystical-champion in the chest with beams of heat that sent him colliding with a donut-shop.
Superman pulled himself from the burning rubble, pushing a massive slab of dry-wall off of him with his rageful crimson eyes set on Vilgax, pushing off the ground with the strength of a hundred-million men, he hit the war-lord hard enough to send shockwaves across the city; shattering windows and mirrors for miles.
Batman, Green Arrow, Black Canary, Red Tornado, and others helped to keep any citizens safe as the heroes did their work, shielding them from the shockwave. Vilgax threw up his right guard to block Superman's advance but, his raw strength pushed him over and through the air. Vilgax stopped himself mid-air and flew downwards landing a powerful downward right-cross and then a cross-hook combination. Superman's feet cut through the asphalt as he was pushed through the ground by Vilgax's attacks, each one splattering his blood across the street, each one forcing him down closer to his knees.
With one final echoing strike, Vilgax knocked the man of steel unconscious in the middle of the street in front of every Leaguer and bystander. The Kryptonian's face hit the pavement, his eyes closed.
Meanwhile, J'ohn floated just over Vilgax as he prepared to strike from above, he was in his camouflage mode and was almost certain he couldn't be seen, until Vilgax's head swiveled towards him as he reached out with his uninjured hand to grab the alien by his abdomen. Martian Manhunter had no time to react to his being grabbed while density shifting due to the violet electrocution that followed.
As thundering and shockwaves erupted from above, Ben was barely able to open his eyes; he creaked them open but, something was wrong. Everything was brighter, much brighter, and he could see things like he'd never seen them; he couldn't feel his face, his right arm, or part of his torso at all but, he still felt like his body was in-tact.
Another explosion went off, shaking the street as Ben sat up in the crater he'd landed in, shaking his head, he coughed, trying to stand but, falling to his hands and knees over a shard of broken glass.
In his reflection he could see himself but, his face was torn apart like it was just a coat or a suit; revealing the glowing-blue energy being within. He reached up and touched his face, the energy tickled his fingertips and his cheek, what a strange sensation.
Captain Marvel shouted, roaring almost, as he came througha building from behind, putting Vilgax in a full-nelson and lifting him, aiming his chest for the sky.
"Shazam!" His shout echoed as a bolt of mystical lightning flew down from the heavens and struck Vilgax in the chest, smoke formed as he screamed in pain also transforming Marvel into Billy.
Vilgax huffed for a moment, letting the sting subside as Billy slipped off his opponent's shoulder, landing on his tailbone behind him. He attempted to escape but, Vilgax turned and punted him across the street like a kid kicking an aluminum can.
"Vilgax," Ben muttered as he crawled out of the crater, just barely standing as the mana forming the left-side of his face and right arm, swirling and shifting.
He turned at the sound of his name, the street had been cleared, it was just them two; on the sidewalk, Batman was doing crowd control when he stopped to watch. Black Canary and Red Tornado were prepared to step in but, the bat put his arm out stopping them.
M'gaan, Artemis, Conner, Wally, Kaldur, and Dick all watched from the other side of the street, using Superboy's dumpster as cover up until now.
"Come on…" Vilgax muttered, standing with his arms open.
Green Arrow nearly pushed Batman aside, "We need to step in, he's just a kid."
"This is his battle to finish, not ours."
Wonder Woman scoffed, folding her arms, "You recruited Robin when he was only nine-years-old, of course you don't have a problem with children fighting to the death."
Without taking his stare off the street, Bruce narrowed his eyes, "Ben needs to face his family's killer and bring the one responsible to justice."
She scoffed once again, "Why? So, he can turn out like you?"
His expression softened, "So that he doesn't…"
Vilgax left his arms wide open, "Come on!" he shouted this time.
Ben ground his teeth, he couldn't keep his composure anymore, he snapped, "AGHH!"
"AGHH!" Vilgax returned his battle cry as they both charged one another, full speed without any hesitations; Ben's mana fist collided with Vilgax's injured arm, cracking the asphalt beneath them and separating them for a brief second.
Vilgax swung wildly as Ben ducked back, landing a right hook to the squid-faced creep but, was knocked back when he returned with a headbutt, breaking what was left of Ben's nose. He strengthened his mana-arm and with one final push he struck Vilgax in the face so hard it sent him off his feet. The shockwave was felt for miles, bystanders covered their ears, heroes covered civilians from debris.
Vilgax hit the side of a building back-first, carving the imprint of his body into the wall; teleporting was second nature now as Ben appeared in front of him seconds later. His human fist was suddenly engulfed in mana as he pulled Vilgax from the wall, dropping him to his knees.
"Ha!" Right hook, "Ha!" Left straight, "Ha!" Left straight, "Ha!" Right jab-hook combo, "Ha! Ha! HA!" with every ounce of rage in his being and with tears streaming down his face he pounded on the tyrant's face, surely enough to soon kill him, until he heard a bloodcurdling scream.
"STOP IT, PLEASE!" He stopped his fist inches from Vilgax's face.
Ben didn't look because he could hear it was M'gaan's voice calling out to him, he moaned in frustration as blood dripped down over his lips from his nose.
Vilgax held his arms out and closed his eyes as Ben grabbed his neck, trying to make the movement to snap it like a twig but, the tears kept covering his eyes and the voices in his head screaming to do it tormented him, "AGHHGHHH!" He shouted not at anyone but, to the sky, almost to god himself as the heroes and civilians watched him struggle with his own ideals.
"You… you want me to kill you," Ben realized as he huffed, exhausted.
"No prison in the Universe can keep me… you know this! COME ON, KILL M-"
"NO!" Ben finally shouted in his face, with spit flying from his mouth, "God knows I want to but, you don't get to destroy who I am."
M'gaan wiped a tear from her cheek and smiled as all the heroes watched in awe at his maturity, "You will go back to prison and live the rest of your long life in a miserable cage knowing that you'll never have me!" he got down on one knee, closer to Vilgax's face without lowering his voice, "Knowing that this planet rejected you, it BEAT YOU, I BEAT YOUU!"
Rubble could be heard toppling in the silence as Ben huffed, taking a step back and wiping his lip; he had nothing left to say, it was over, it was finally over.
As he turned around, he heard Batman shout, "Ben!" he turned back to Vilgax holding a switch in his hand, like a trigger for something bigger, "I shall not be defeated, no matter how high the cost! This is a Chronosapien Time-Bomb, I've just set it to overload," his sinister grin almost made him puke.
Ben was stunned, he took a step back in fear as Vilgax held his finger over the trigger, "You wont just be killing us, you'll be eradicating existence itself!"
"So long as you join me in oblivion!"
He pressed down on the trigger and as he did the Ultimatrix acted on its own, igniting a powerful green flash of light.
…
Ben slowly creaked his eyes open as he realized he was no longer in the city, he couldn't tell where he was until he heard the echoing voices he recognized. He looked around and was greeted by only darkness splayed with bright-white stars representing distant galaxies.
"No, he's not."
Ben floated around looking up at the massive green-figures talking above him.
"Yes, he is."
"No, he's not"
"Yes, he is."
"No, he's no-" the female of the two stopped mid-sentence and floated closer to Ben, "Look! See, I told you he was alive!"
Belicus groaned and turned away as she continued.
"Belicus, it's our old friend Ben Tennyson! Have you come to visit us?" The female face named Serena greeted him with cheery and polite mannerisms but, the other face named Belicus turned around completely revealing them to be mask-like beings.
"Why would he come to visit us after all these years that he's kept us locked away," Belicus shouted as his voice echoed through the universe.
"No need to be rude, Belicus, motion to at least hear what he has to say?" She proposed.
"Motion denied!" Belicus shouted immediately, "Motion to set Ben Tennyson on fire for a thousand years at which point we put him out, heal him, and light him on fire for another thousand years!"
Ben rubbed the back of his neck nervously, "Uhm, motion denied?"
Belicus sighed, "Rats."
Serena chuckled slightly, "Motion to at least know why Ben is here?"
He scoffed and turned away, "Motion carried."
Ben smiled, "Well, you see there's this-"
"The motion was to know why you're here; I don't need you to tell us," Belicus and Serena both closed their eyes for a literal instant before opening them again, almost akin to blinking, "You want to use us to stop Vilgax? We aren't a weapon, motion denied!"
"Ah-ah Belicus, Ben hasn't made a motion, yet!" Serena smiled brightly as Belicus scoffed once again.
"Pshh, fine, what is your motion?"
"I'm not just stopping Vilgax, I'm stopping the time-bomb he set off," Ben turned back to the viewing point where he could see what Alien-X could, time-frozen and his reality primed for deletion, "It's going to destroy the entire Multiverse if we don't stop it."
"What has the Multiverse ever done for me?" Belicus chided immaturely.
"Look, it's not hard for you and you know it, motion to stop Vilgax's bomb and save all of reality?"
Serena was quick, "Motion seconded!"
Belicus mulled it over for a minute or two, "On the condition that Alien X will be used every few years, so that we may 'stretch our legs' so to speak."
"No problem!"
"Motion Carried!"
...
Alien X froze time around himself, everything stopped including the people, the animals, and the time-grenade. The celestial-god looked around and noticed how everything was only femtoseconds from utter eradication but, he didn't seem worried in the slightest. He began expanding until he was much larger than even an evolved To'kustar and, with little effort; he wrapped his hand around the explosion which was now the size of an apple to him. He closed his palm around it and unfroze time, Vilgax tripped and fell on his back when time unfroze and he was able to witness the massive cosmic entity standing above him.
"Wha… What? I…"
Alien X shrunk down with the explosion still in his palm, once he returned to his normal size, he opened his hand where a small puff of smoke slowly dissipated into the air.
"Motion Carried!"without warning, Alien X summoned massive chains across and around Vilgax's body, pinning him to the ground.
A flash of green energy returned Ben back to his human form, having regenerated most of his body by this point, his arm was the only thing still missing. Martian Manhunter, Flash, Black Canary, Wonder Woman, and the rest of the Justice League surrounded Vilgax as they contacted the Green Lantern Corps for transport.
M'gaan was the first to, literally, fly into Ben embracing him tightly; she felt his lack of an arm and it immediately worried her, "Are you okay? I'm going to kill you for that stunt up there!" she punched his arm before grabbing the collar of his shirt and pulling his lips into hers.
The rest of the team surrounded him, Kaldur, Wally, Conner, Artemis, M'gaan, Dick, and Ben were all gathered in celebration as they heard someone clearing their throat from behind.
"Ah-hem," Batman, Aquaman, and Flash were standing behind with their arms crossed, "Disobeyed orders, hacked League systems, endangered lives; sound familiar?"
Ben sighed, he didn't even look Batman in the eye, "I don't really care…" he turned and hobbled across the street sitting on the curb, "You can ground me, you can kick me off the team, I don-" he stopped to spit a glob of blood, "I don't care."
"You showed determination, bravery, integrity, and above all else," Batman held his hand out to Ben, inviting him to take it, "You didn't take a life."
Ben grabbed his hand, being pulled up onto his feet as ambulances and police arrived on the scene around them, "I'd like to personally invite you into the Justice League."
Ben raised his brows, "Woah."
…
LexCorp; Metropolis; December 23rd 2013; 9:00AM
"Well," Lex announced to Vandal whom paced in the back of the room, "This complicates things…"
Vandal didn't look at the screen, a holographic display of Ben Tennyson being announced for his nomination into the Justice League, "Red Arrow was also invited for membership," Sportsmaster added as the crimson-archer stood passively next to him, staring off into the distance.
Vandal sighed, "Yes but, we didn't account for how the Starro-Tech would effect his watch; this child being suddenly elected into the League is a wild card," he narrowed his eyes and tightened his fist, "I don't like wild cards."
"Pshh, then we kill the kid," Sportsmaster announced.
Vandal sighed, "Far too small minded, Albedo won't give us access to his watch, then we take the Ultimatrix from Ben Tennyson's rotting corpse," Vandal turned and exited the room without another word, leaving an ominous tone.
…
FINALLY, REMASTERED: 7/19/2019
Daredevil Season 3 reference in there, if you caught it, you know whats up.