I don't own Ben 10 or Young Justice
The Mole
Hall of Justice; 11:05AM; December, 30th, 2013.
In front of the Hall of Justice gathered a crowd of people, adults and kids alike to induct the newest members of the Justice League. Superman stepped up to the podium in front of said crowd with the existing Justice League on his left side and the six new inductees to his right; the new members included Dr. Fate, Plastic Man, The Atom, Red Arrow, Icon, and Ben Ten. The latter of which was being honored for his bravery and sacrifice after the defeat of Vilgax, speaking of which; Vilgax was sentenced to life in Belle Reve Penitentiary, his inhibitor collar and Neutron Star shackles chained him to the ground, powerless and non-threatening. He was placed in the deepest most secure wing of the meta-human prison created to hold the likes of Black Adam, Bizzaro and even Superman; without his powers and intergalactic connection as he had in his own Universe, the chances of him ever escaping were slim to none.
Superman cleared his throat as a hush blew over the crowd, "The Justice League was created for two reasons, first to acknowledge that no single individual, no matter how powerful, can solve all the world's problems alone. Second, to uphold truth, justice and peace and no single individual has done as impressive of a job as our youngest joining member, Ben Ten. The Justice League's majority was in space assisting the Green Lantern Core in a diplomatic peace treaty for two distant Galaxies, in this time a villain unlike anything this universe has ever seen appeared and posed a threat even I myself could not stand against," Superman smiled as waved Ben to step up next to him, "Even though I had fallen that day, Ben stood. He fought with everything he had and brought an inter-dimensional serial killer to justice. It is in honor of this that we grant Ben Ten league membership a full three monthes prior to his eighteenth birthday." The crowd applauded and cheered as Ben stepped up to the podium adjusting the microphone awkwardly.
"Uh, I'm not really sure what else there is to say. I did what I had to do to keep the world safe and had any one of you been in my position I'm sure you would have taken the same risk," Ben smiled as the crowd applauded once again as he returned to the end of the line of heroes being inducted. He waved at them all with his only arm as he smiled as if it wasn't any different to be without an arm.
Ben wasn't listening to the rest of the induction; he was more focused on what came next. He wasn't sure how he could worry about Vilgax escaping and his future in this world when he couldn't even figure out if a white and green hoodie was appropriate for becoming an official super-hero.
Ben was shocked from his thoughts as Batman stepped in front of him and handed him an I.D card with his name, picture, and Justice League symbol emblazed on it, "I'd say I'm proud but, there's no need to state the obvious."
"Awh, the dark knight of Gotham has a soft spot for orphan successes…"
"Cute," Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman led the new members through the courtyard and into the building.
"Your I.D. cards allow you unrestricted access to the Hall of Justice as well as zeta-tube authorization to the Watchtower; the satellite cannot be reached without one," Wonder Woman explained as they all filed into the library and realized, instead of a group of teenagers waiting for them, they were greeted by an empty room.
Icon stepped forwards and sighed, "I knew Rocket was a bit tedious that I got inducted into the Justice League but, I thought she'd at least stick around to enjoy the festivities."
Ben looked around and pushed a hand through his hair as he inspected the empty room, "oh boy, déjà vu."
…
Robin, Kid Flash, Artemis, M'gaan, Aqualad, Superboy and the newest addition Rocket all piled into the Bio-ship as it quickly ascended and rocketed into the atmosphere.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Rocket asked, an African American girl with a pixie-cut hairstyle, a tight blue jacket with silver lining and small head-protector covering her forehead spoke up as Robin fiddled with his Holo-computer.
"Boy Wonder is the one that got the alert, ask him," Kid jabbed his thumb at Robin who continued to play with his device.
"Albedo was spotted at a bar in New Orleans just twenty-minutes ago," Robin pulled up an image of Albedo in a trench coat that covered his red and black outfit underneath. Robin pulled the image up so everyone could see from their individual seats. "If we bring in Albedo before the League does…"
"Poetic justice," Aqualad smiled, repeating the same phrase he used the day they formed the team almost a half a year ago.
Rocket purred as she stared at Aqualad, "You know I always did like the poetic type."
M'gaan gulped once as she still piloted the ship going at least Mach 5, "Shouldn't we at least tell Ben? It is his evil-twin."
Superboy scoffed, "He's on the League now, as cool as Ben is, we have to consider him part of the League and as such…"
Kid smiled and interrupted, "We defy said League to prove ourselves once again worthy of their utmost respect."
Artemis nearly cracked up, "Who knew 'The Wal-man' had an extensive vocabulary."
"Who knew the sarcastic-teenage girl had a sense of humor," Wally retorted as he folded his arms across his chest.
"Why isn't the League all over this? I mean they went after him before, right?" M'gaan asked as Robin displayed the alert he had received.
"I hacked the League data-base and arranged to get the alert an hour ahead of them; gives us some time to do our job."
Rocket leaned over to Aqualad and whispered, "Is it always like this?"
"Quite often," Aqualad smiled and looked forwards once again as they approached New Orleans.
…
New Orleans; 11:31AM; 12/30/13.
Albedo swirled the liquor in his drink as the ice bounced off the sides of the glass making a 'clink' sound as it did so. The bartender was an old-man with long overalls and a handlebar mustache with more silver than a wire-brush. Albedo chugged the last of his drink down as he felt the buzz starting to hit him, "Another."
The old-man poured him another glass of Whiskey on the rocks and slid it down the counter to him, Albedo simply grabbed the glass and began sipping at it once again, "Ya know, life aint all bad. Drinking away your problems won't always be an option young-fella."
"I'm not drinking because I'm sad; I'm drinking because I don't know how to be happy." Albedo quickly slurped down the last of the beverage and slammed the glass back down on the counter, "Another." He caressed the silver-chrome suitcase hand-cuffed to his wrist as he sipped his new drink with the other.
Suddenly a young man, about sixteen with short-black hair, walked into the bar and took a seat, "What are ya haven?"
"Just a soda… I'm sixteen."
The bar-tender quickly grabbed a can of soda from under the counter and poured it into a glass with ice in it, "Here ya go."
The boy took a sip before eyeing Albedo at the corner of his eye as Albedo noticed this, "Is Ben with you?"
The boy's eyes widened as Conner immediately stood from the bar-seat and backed away but, Albedo didn't move at all, he continued to sip his drink, "Not sure how you always keep finding me but, I'm afraid I can't let you take this case."
Superboy noticed the case for the first time, it felt like Albedo was pointing the case out needlessly but, He let the thought pass quickly and took a fighting stance. A bright red-glow quickly revealed a creature with red skin, four arms and, two eyes with a silver pony-tail hanging down from the base of his skull. The Negative Fourarms chugged the last of his drink as the bartender nearly fell back onto the liquor cabinet, he immediately ran to the back room for safety as Superboy jumped and attempted a right-hook but, was surprised to see that he received one instead sending him through the wall of the bar and into the street, slamming into and knocking over a tall light-post. Superboy quickly caught his composure and pressed a finger to his ear, "He knows we're here. Move in!"
M'gaan de-cameoed herself appearing above Fourarms as the two tables surrounding him levitated upwards and slammed against him causing little damage; a barrel from the back of the room came hurtling at Fourarms who turned at the last moment and sent a fist straight through the container, destroying it instantly.
Fourarms turned and backhanded Kid Flash into the liquor cabinet at speeds even the speedster didn't see coming; liquor poured all over the speedster-prodigy as the smell alone nearly over powered Wally's bowels, "Gross, I'm gonna smell like single malt-scotch for a week."
Fourarms clapped with his super-strength causing a shockwave to form around him, knocking tables and more importantly, heroes out of his way. He grabbed the brief-case and bolted for the door only to be stopped by an arrow and shuriken flying into his chest and exploding simultaneously, "It's pretty rude to skip out on a bill, dude." Robin announced as he was now surrounded by M'gaan and Rocket in the air, Artemis and Robin covering the entrance, Superboy outside waiting, Kid covering the wall leading to the backroom and, Kaldur in the Bio-ship scanning the area.
"You guys think you're so clever," Albedo was engulfed by a bright red glow and when it disappeared he was gone but, he left the brief-case behind in his place as he had transformed into Nano-Mech and slipped through the floor boards.
Robin quickly ran in and grabbed the case, looking around for Albedo, "Why would he leave this behind? There are at least a dozen transformations he could've used to escape with the case in tow, so why leave it?"
Rocket landed on the ground next to him and chuckled, "Who cares? The guy was drunk anyways! He probably forgot about it on the way out."
Aqualad came in the door followed by Superboy, "He didn't escape through the entrance or exit; Bio-ship's hard scan didn't catch anything."
"Maybe a teleporting alien that Ben hasn't used yet, maybe he found another way out? Either-way? We have to get this case to the League."
…
Mount Justice; 12:46PM; 12/30/13.
Rocket, Kaldur, Robin, Artemis, Wally, Conner and M'gaan were all lined up in Mount Justice with Ben, Icon, Black Canary and Batman standing before them with grim looks on their faces.
"Tell me if this sounds familiar," Batman started as he reviewed their actions, "You hacked League systems, disobeyed protocol and endangered your lives."
Ben threw his hands in the air, "Without me! What is it with people going after Albedo without me!?"
Batman ignored Ben's outburst casually and continued, "And your initiative resulted in the tracking of a wanted-sociopathic criminal and the confiscation of enemy technology… great work." Batman flashed them a smile as they all returned the favor by grinning in their success, even Ben smiled at the sight spite his jealousy.
"As for this," Batman referred to the now open-case which had small red chips lined up inside of it, "Biological technology integrated with some sort of nano-circuitry."
Icon stepped in and analyzed the chip, "Although I am unfamiliar with the species, the bio-component is clearly not of Earth."
Ben took a chip from the case and looked at it, "This is Galvan, from my Universe, some of it looks altered strangely but the bio-component thingy is definitely Galvan."
Batman grabbed the chips from Icon and Ben and placed them back into the case, "I'll do more research tonight, and figure out what they were made for."
Ben smiled and slung his arm around Batman's shoulder, "You'd better not work through the inauguration party. I've got a speech planned and everything!"
Batman shrugged Ben off and sighed, "Yippee," He mumbled unenthusiastically.
After the heroes had left, the team looked onto each other, "You know we were set up right?" Robin announced as the others nodded.
Kaldur commented, "Albedo seemed both fond and distant with the case, caring for it at first and then suddenly leaving it behind."
M'gaan also pointed out, "Not to mention it was way too easy to corner him; as if he wasn't even trying."
"And the fact that Albedo had more than optimal chances to escape with the case but left it behind almost as if it was on purpose."
They looked each other up and down, "As if he knew we'd be coming," Conner squinted at the rest of the team as he said this.
Kid sighed obnoxiously and dragged his hands across his face, "Ughhh not the mole thing again."
Rocket put a finger up, "Uh, mole thing? Again?"
"We have some semi-reliable sources that say someone on the team has been leaking information to the bad-guys," M'gaan explained floating next to Rocket as she did.
"So the question is, how are they getting this information and who is it that is consistently betraying our trust," Kaldur asked.
…
Red Arrow had the same blank look in his eyes as before as he looked on at the camera feed from Mount Justice on his Holo-computer, the feed was being directly transmitted to an unknown location but once his job was done, Arrow turned the holo-screen off and his conscious look returned to his eyes continuing on with his day.
…
Watchtower; 6:42PM; 12/30/13.
Ben arrived on the watch tower wearing his green and white hoodie he had worn earlier and a pair of slacks to go with it. The induction party was to include every single member of the league and the new inductee's that had just joined as well, when Ben arrived there was a slight cheering for his arrival but, it died down quick enough.
Ben mingled with heroes and heroines alike as more and more famous icons arrived one after the other; Ben was telling a story to a few of the heroes including Red Tornado, Black Canary and Green Arrow.
"Then I just tossed Vilgax into space, although; he was way weaker back then," Ben chuckled as the others did too, all of them sipping away at red plastic cups like in cliché party-movies.
Everything seem to go off without a hitch until, Ben felt someone pressing something up into his neck and then he felt a jolt of pain.
"Foreign DNA detected; Repairing genetic damage," The Ultimatrix's voice was identical to Ben's as he stood stunned while the device sent a wave of energy throughout his body. When the energy dissipated, a small, fried, chip-like device fell to the ground next to him.
Ben slowly held his head and reached down to pick it up and analyze it but, he stopped when he witnessed thirty or forty plastic cups drop to the ground simultaneously, some filled some empty.
Ben quickly looked around as the entire group of heroes looked mindlessly forwards, including androids and aliens. Ben waved his hand in front of Canary's face and even tried pushing her but she just recoiled and stood passively. Soon, they all moved in synch, standing in rows, single files.
"What the fu-" Ben was interrupted by Red Arrow coming from the main hall with Batman walking wordlessly behind him.
"Roy? What's going on? Is this part of the party because it's starting to freak me out?" Roy walked right passed Ben without acknowledging him in the slightest; he just stood by as Batman began typing into the main computer.
"Recognized: Savage, Vandal; Access Code: Batman A01," Suddenly the teleporters fired up and Ben immediately stumbled backwards in shock.
Vandal Savage stepped aboard the Watchtower with his hands neatly behind his back and a polite smile splayed across his face.
Red Arrow immediately looked dazed, he gasped and looked around at the sight of the entire League bowing to Vandal behind him, "What? I-I was the mole?"
"Yes, you were," Vandal passed Roy as he approached the line of heroes with Ben standing out like a sore-thumb. Roy immediately sprinted for the teleporters, escaping the station in an instant.
"It looks like my suspicions were well placed, the Starro-Tech doesn't affect you," Vandal sighed as the entire League stood and faced Ben with mindless looks still on their faces.
Superman, Captain Marvel, Martian Manhunter, and Flash all immediately surrounded the lone-hero, circling around him like vultures. Ben eyed them from his peripheral, squinting at them as they passed his view of Vandal.
"Incapacitate him," Vandal practically whispered as, in that same instant, the surrounding four Leaguers jumped in his direction, ignoring the green flash of light that emerged.
Superman and Marvel pushed Armadrillo by his shoulder into the far metallic-wall creating a rather large dent in it as well, "Damn it!" Armadrillo slammed his only jackhammer elbow into the wall, shaking that entire section of the station putting the heroes off balance. The alien slammed his fist, enhanced by armor, into Superman's solar plexus causing him to keel over. His next attack, a head-butt, went straight for Marvel's forehead and knocked him onto his back as another green flash appeared revealing a massive tiger-like creature, "RATH!"
Rath back handed Flash as he came into a close-quarter combat distance but, wasn't in full control of his powers obviously. Manhunter wrapped his limbs around Rath's attempting to constrict him but, still receiving resistance.
Superman came from above and slammed Rath onto his stomach, grabbing his right-stub where his arm once was and began firing red-hot heat vision into the semi-healed wound. Rath screamed like a dying cat, literally, as Superman reopened the wound painfully and almost guaranteed infection. A red flash of light signified Ben's forced transformation back into a human, "Good, now let's get Albedo in here."
The teleporters fired up behind him and Vandal smiled, "That was quick." The teleporters revealed a flash of light and from it came a red arrow whizzing through the room and piercing the floor in front of the bleeding Ben and controlled heroes. The arrow opened up revealing a high frequency sonic blast that caused everyone, even Superman and the likes of Black Canary to cover their ears and close their eyes in pain. Red Arrow sped in as Vandal creaked an eye open feeling the pain of the sound-device, he watched as Roy scooped Ben into his arms and made a mad-dash for the teleporters once again.
Vandal uncovered his ears as a small trickle of blood dripped down his earlobe, he reached his hand out slowly attempting to ignore the pain and grab the two but; another arrow pierced his knee and emitted the same sonic blast causing him to fall over in pain.
As Red Arrow carried Ben out of the Watchtower and somewhere to the surface of Earth, Superman ignited his heat vision destroying both sonic devices.
Vandal looked around for them but, they were gone, "Damn it all! Find them! Search every crevice!"
…
Washington DC; 9:17PM; 12/30/13.
Red Arrow ran through the dimly lit subway, almost tripping on the tracks below him as he huffed and tried as hard as he could to keep himself from falling at that single moment. He stopped and leaned against a pillar for cover as he supported Ben with his knee and wiped the blood from his face and hands; footsteps echoed through the station as Roy hushed himself and Ben for the sake of their health.
There was silence, over powering silence that was practically deafening until an arrow flew by and cut Roy's cheek as it passed him. They had spotted him.
Roy flew from his cover with his cross bow aimed to eye level he was about to fire when he received a super-fast downward cross to his face that sent him flying onto his back. The silhouettes said nothing as they surrounded him threateningly, he stood and slammed his actual-bow onto the man in the middle but, it shattered on his Atlantean armor. A green flash flooded their vision as their eyes adjusted; a red-hot fame filled the tunnel covering Roy and Ben's escape.
"Why can't you just turn into that planet-guy and heal your wounds? It would be great if you had both arms to work with," Roy sent an arrow behind him from his cross-bow that flooded the tunnel with smoke that further covered their trail.
Heatblast sighed heavily as he ran, "It doesn't work like that; these injuries can't just be healed by another alien if I was an alien when I got them! I learned that the hard way five years ago when I became a hero again."
Roy sighed as they found a manhole and slipped out of it and onto a sidewalk of some alleyway, "Looks like we're just south of where we need to-" Roy was interrupted by Heatblast disappearing in a red flash as Ben collapsed to the ground.
"Damn it, I can't save us with you in this condition," Roy reached down and grabbed Ben pulling him up and carrying him in his arms.
"I just need somewhere I can call for help," Ben mumbled as he tried to ignore the coming infection.
"No way, Justice League satellites will intercept any message you send."
"Not this one."
…
Star City; 10:59PM; 12/30/13.
Roy kicked the old wooden door to an apartment open with a single stroke, practically dragging Ben in and placing him on a small white cot in the corner of the room. He closed the door and locked it swiftly; he moved to the floorboards and ripped one up revealing a black duffle bag lying underneath with a layer of dust covering it.
"Why did you help me?" Ben mumbled as Roy pulled the bag from under the floor boards and placed near the cot, opening it and revealing a cache of weapons, guns, trick-arrows, spare bow-string, and even grenades. Roy sighed loudly, "Not sure why I even betrayed you, I must've been hypnotized or brainwashed or something."
Ben chuckled through the seething pain, "And I'm supposed to trust that? You let Vandal take over the League."
"But I didn't let him kill you; that means something, right? All I know is we need to disappear," Roy pulled his new bow out and began stringing it properly.
"Not until I get some help with this," Ben sighed and took a deep breath in before shouting at the top of his lungs, "AZMUTH!"
Roy immediately jumped to cover his mouth but, Ben struggled and attempted to bite him, "Ouch! Would you quit it! You're going to draw attention to us!"
"It's necessary, AZMUTH I NEED YOU!"
Suddenly, in front of Ben's cot came a flash of white light revealing a tiny creature about the size of a brand-new pencil, "What do you want?! The microphone is in the Ultimatrix, you don't need to shout."
The tiny Galvan hopped onto Ben's cot and observed the situation, "Oh come on! What did you go and do to yourself this time?"
Roy rubbed the sleep from his eyes and blinked multiple times, "Right when you think you've seen it all."
"Sorry, Azmuth, Vilgax kinda-"
Azmuth interrupted as he observed Ben's wound closely, "I know what happened, I have multi-dimensional viewing technology. I've been using it to keep track of you as of late," Azmuth jumped onto Ben's chest and pointed into his face, "What I'm wondering is how you managed to reach a stage two infection since then."
"Long story… heh…" Ben cringed at the pain in his arm as Azmuth spotted Roy staring.
"Take a picture, it'll last longer," He jumped onto Roy's shoulder and held his tiny hand out, "My name is Azmuth, first thinker and smartest person in my Universe, I also created the original Omnitrix."
Roy reached his hand out and used two fingers to shake his hand, "Hi, uh, Red Arrow, I uh shoot arrows."
"Fascinating, now," Azmuth turned his attention to Ben and smiled, "Hold out your left arm, Ben."
Ben did so and Azmuth immediately tapped the Ultimatrix dial causing a bright green flash, when it dissipated, the Ultimatrix was gone. Ben was shocked to see his bare wrist again, "I-I don't understand."
"Of course you don't, You're a human," Azmuth reached to his belt and pressed a small blue dial that caused a cube the size of an apple to appear floating above Azmuth's hand, "Lucky for you I brought my Quantum Cube."
From the cube materialized a metallic syringe with green liquid in it, "This may sting a bit," He quickly plunged the needle into Ben's infected stub. The liquid coursed through his body in seconds as Ben grunted in pain both Roy and Azmuth cringed at his apparent agony watching his arm regenerate in a matter of moments, "You're just lucky a regeneration serum is the equivalent to Advil on Galvan Prime."
Ben stood and stretched his arm out, "Wow, the infections gone too!"
"Of course it is, now, I have something else for you that you may enjoy," Azmuth summoned his Quantum Cube and from it spawned two black and green gauntlets with the hour glass symbol on either one, both identical down to the circuitry. Ben leaned in closer quickly forgetting about his new arm.
"What... what are they?"
Azmuth cleared his throat, "I call it my Biomnitrix; witnessing your recent ventures and the new creative heights you've used my devices thus far, I decided to whip up something better suited to a hero of heroes..." The Galvan turned and allowed the devices to float towards Ben latching on to each wrist sounding the fully charged Omnitrix tone simultaneously, "With this device you have access to all one-million nine-hundred and twelve transformations but, the evolutionary function just seems far too messy."
Roy folded his arms feeling irrelevant to the conversation, he focused on re-packing his quiver, "Awe, what? I cant go Ultimate anymore?"
"Dont be a child, you dont need the evolutionary function from some second-best Galvan hack! You've got the greatest mind in the Universe here! My Biomnitrix allows you to mentally chose two different alien species and combine them into one new hybrid transformation! Far more advanced than that pathetic Ultimatrix rip-off," Azmuth turned away with his arms folded.
"Seriously? Fusion Aliens?" Ben stared at his wrists, analyzing his new found power, "That is the coolest thing ever..."
"Now, if you'll excuse me, i was making ground breaking discoveries with quark-matter and negative pulses and i must return," He turned and winked at Ben for a moment, "Don't disappoint me, Ben Tennyson," he flashed a coy smile before teleporting away through dimensions.
Roy sat down on a blanket in the corner and tossed a protein bar which Ben felt happy to catch in his newly regenerated right arm, "Get some rest and eat what you can; tomorrow we go on the offensive."
…
Thanks for reading! Stay Awesome!