I don't own Ben 10 and Young Justice
Alienated
Downtown Metropolis; January 8th 2019; 12:22AM
Metropolis was a quiet and deserted place at this time of night, the cold air drifted through the empty streets with drops of snow collecting on rooftops and sidewalks. One of the only local diners still open on a small street corner sported a bright glowing neon sign that lit up the block, 'Bibbo's' it read; two teenagers by themselves, appearing to be on a date, entered the establishment ready for a well-cooked meal.
"So!" The small box-TV in the diner played loudly, "The Justice League finally provided every Government in the world with scanners to root out those filthy little aliens posing as real human beings." The reporter was Gordan Godfrey, a skeptisist that found all aliens as evil and malintent, especially after a personal loss during the destruction of time-square in 2016, "But, you have to wonder people, how where they able to whip-up this tech so fast? I mean sure, they hand it off like a gift from the gods but…" He trailed off into his usual long boring rants, nothing out of the ordinary.
The woman was a five-foot-seven twenty-two-year-old Caucasian with a purple high-light at the tips of her long-black hair, a thick blue jacket wrapped around her torso, and a tight pair of denim jeans while the man seemed younger at only around eighteen, shorter and thinner, with a seemingly Hispanic skin-tone. They walked in holding hands and smiling as they approached the only man working in the small facility; He was a burly, thick, and over-weight middle-aged man who gave a short smile at them before wiping his hands on his apron and grabbing a pair of menus.
They said nothing as he walked up and greeted, "Sit wherever you'd like, kids…" he waited a few seconds for a response but, suddenly his eyes darted between the two as they gave each other a confused look. The man tossed the menus across the room and jumped onto the counter using it as a spring-board to leap through a window between the kitchen and dinning area, knocking the register on the ground in the process. It was a feat of agility and flexibility that no real human of his size and age could perform; they immediately took off after him as he ducked through the back door leading to an ally-way.
The woman rammed the door off it's hinges as they followed him down the ally. She allowed a bright-pink light to overcast her body, enveloping herself in mana as Veronica transformed into her Anodite form; the man, however, allowed a blue-black suit to spread across his body from the center of his back as Jamie quickly activated his Blue Beetle armor. The middle-aged man leapt over a tall twelve-foot wooden fence in one bound whilst Spiritus simply phased through it with her powers, Blue Beetle whom was following her lead simply rammed through it, shattering it across the ground. It ran through the ally with little attention for any obstacles, due to its disregard of this, it didn't see the identical man step around the corner and right hook it in the face with all of his own strength plus the imposters running momentum.
"There's only one Bibbo, and don't you forget it."
From the imposter's stomach came a rumbling until the apron and, by extension it's stomach, tore open and revealed a Krolotaen screeching for freedom. It leapt onto the wall and crawled around the real Bibbo before jumping onto the sidewalk and ripping open a sewer grate. Spiritus fired a mana-beam from her hand hitting the creature dead-on in the shoulder knocking it back first into the sewer, although; it was not as effective as she though since he immediately recovered and activated a cloaked alien motorcycle of some sort. It revved the engine and fired up it's rockets which would have friend Biboo alive if she hadn't thrown up a mana shield just in time.
"Damn, that practically singed my eye-brows off…" He noted feeling his face even though he hadn't realized his brows were completely bald from the heat.
Beetle sighed, "Yea, practically," he looked over at Veronica whom had soot all over her face, "You got a little something…"
"Blue!? Scan for it!" She shouted with a bossy tone.
"Right, right," he blushed beneath his armor and activated his thermal scanning, "No good, it's gone;" he looked away as if listening to something in the distance, "No! It would not have been preferable to vaporize him back at the diner!"
Veronica and Bibbo stared at him for a moment as he awkwardly rubbed his neck in embarrassment.
The Krolotaen flew through the sewer system for miles on his alien-bike moving at speeds half that of sound; he made it out of the sewer and onto the open waters where after a minute or two he met up with a massive jet-like boat with large wings pained as black as the night-sky. It crawled in through the hatch on the hull and climbed down a ladder where he met half-a-dozen soldiers dressed in black-diving gear, and two soldiers who appeared to be in command wearing elongated helmets with large red pupils, "Welcome aboard," he announced looking back at the pilots, "Dive," the entire vehicle submerged itself and propelled itself through the murky waters.
…
STAR Labs; January 8th 2019; 9:58AM
Nightwing, Captain Atom, Wonder Woman, John Stewart and a single lab supervisor gathered around a high-tech zeta-tube used to intercept inter-galactic teleportation signals. They urgently awaited zeta-squads arrival from Raan which was due any minute now, "Sir," the scientist reported to Atom, "We have received the Raanian signal; they are arriving now."
"Recognized; Miss Martian B06, Superboy B05, Adam Strange A11, Ben 10,000 B01, Beast Boy B17."
All announced members stepped through the light of the teleportation beam and approached the superior League members, all except for Beast Boy who ran forwards holding a Krolotaen sash above his head, "Nightwing, Nightwing! Look at this dope souvenir I got!"
M'gaan walked beside him and placed a hand on his shoulder, "Business first, Gar."
"Noted."
Nightwing crossed his arms, "Zeta-squad, report."
Ben stepped up with his hands by his side, "Our mission to neutralize the Krolotaen zeta-platforms on Raan was a success."
Adam held out an alien thumb-drive from Raan which projected a hologram for everyone to see, "I also acquired specs from Raan to create a zeta-shield to prevent any more aliens from beaming to Earth from any foreign worlds."
John Stewart held a hand up in confusion, "How will that affect our own zeta-capabilities?"
Strange smiled, "It won't, the shield will activate at an altitude above the watchtowers orbit; League zeta-tubes will still function normally."
Beast Boy tugged on Ben's arm needlingly, "Tell them about Rimbor, about the sixteen-hours!"
This put all involved League members on edge immediately, they turned to Ben and awaited his explanation, "I was given the opportunity to use a spell to extract information from a Krolotaen General on Raan," his hands ignited with harmless blue-fire that projected the information he'd gathered from his victim in a visual format, "The General had paid off a member of the Raanian Science Command to allow them to land a Krolotaen base in the Raanian jungle. Once there, they stole zeta-platform blueprints from Adam Strange's friend, Zardac. They landed another ship in New Orleans and used their new zeta-platforms to beam a few hundred Krolotaens to Earth. They built more platforms and brought more Krolotaens to Earth where they began abducting and replacing humans."
"As part of an invasion strategy perhaps, although; that's still unclear," M'gaan said.
Wonder Woman grunted and walked forward next to Atom, "But why Earth? And what does any of this have to do with the sixteen-hours?"
The turquoise fire expanded into a new image for them to see, "As you know, five years ago, Vandal Savage placed the entire League under his control with the help of Albedo; Six Leaguers, Superman, Wonder Woman, Hawkman, Hawkgirl, Green Lantern, and Martian Manhunter went missing for a full sixteen-hours. It turns out, you were teleported to a planet known as Rimbor where you spent six-teen hours on a rampage, attacking everyone and everything in sight, and announcing in several alien languages that you were the Justice League from Earth and that the rest of the Galaxy should beware."
M'gaan looked down at her shoes with a solemn look, "That's why the Krolotaens came; the League itself brought Earth to their attention."
Wonder Woman and Green Lantern were flabbergasted, "I don't know what to say…" she sighed, "I have no memories of this."
Atom placed a hand on her shoulder with a comforting gaze, "Don't blame yourselves, blame Savage and Albedo.; but, John! How is it that you haven't heard about this… inter-galactic incident?"
"No clue," he shrugged, "Rimbor's not a planet in my sector but, I'll head to Oa immediately to consult with the Guardians of the Universe and the rest of the Green Lantern Core, we'll get to the bottom of this Cap!"
Captain Atom rubbed the bridge of his nose, "In the mean-time, we still have a Krolotaen invasion force to deal with," he looked towards the four heroes, "You did good work on Raan, now we need you at the Hall of Justice."
…
Washington D.C; January 8th 2019; 12:05PM
Ben and M'gaan stepped through a sliding metallic door in one of the most secure rooms of the entire repurposed base, "You didn't have to come along."
M'gaan folded her arms, "I think I did," she responded coldly after having witnessed his tactics on Raan first hand.
Ben shrugged her venomous responses off and focused on Batman who was on the opposite end of a two-way glassed window leading to a room with Martian Manhunter sitting across from a Krolotaen, "This is the same Krolotaen captured by Robin, Beetle, and I?"
Batman nodded, "Manhunter has been interrogating him for days but, simply achieving psychic-translation has been difficult. In the mean-time, the League and the team have been hunting down Krolotaens masquerading as humans but, all have escaped capture. Despite the fact that we destroyed their zeta-platforms here and on Raan, and they apparently destroyed their own ship…"
Batman trailed off as Ben took a good look at the Krolotaen which couldn't see him through the glass; he stared as his eyes turned bright blue, "Mind if I try?" he asked quickly cutting off Batman's input.
He sighed and nodded allowing Ben to step forwards and raise a hand at the glass, "Appendage-A Regoria," the Krolotaen floated up becoming strenuously paralyzed in mid-air which seemingly caused immense pain. Manhunter raised a brow and stood, stepping back from the seen as the alien was telepathically moved to face the glass.
"Exige Animas Omnibus," the spell activated as a blue mana energy seen only by Ben flew through the glass and absorbed into his own aura.
"The Krolotaens have an emergency rendezvous point and have standing orders in case of discovery to evacuate there," He stated all with a smile toward Batman who was stunned by the display, of course, he wasn't sure what to think but, he couldn't judge in the midst of an alien invasion.
The Krolotaen was dropped into the chair in a lifeless state, he was very much alive, however; without a soul. Now being more of a mindless, personality-less, vegetable drooling into a chair; "The base is located inside a Volcano on Malina Island."
Batman gave a nod before turning to talk into his communicator whilst M'gaan simply glared at Ben from behind without him giving a second thought to it.
…
Malina Island; January 8th 2019; 7:16AM
The same dark ship that carried the Krolotaen to safety in Metropolis flew down from the skies and hit the water, diving beneath the ocean surface and approaching the island walls. A secret hatch opened up on the sea-floor allowing entry to the island from the waters, the jet propelled through a quarter mile of underwater corridor before reaching a docking bay; they raised out of the water taking a good look at the massive Krolotaen base built within the volcano at the center of the island.
One massive structure in the center of the base with dozens of smaller pods working around it, building it up and finishing its construction. The main-hatch to their ship opened up releasing three or four Krolotaens into the base along with the same number of scuba-like soldiers wielding rifles.
"We have arrived with the final shipment of Krolotaens," The ships pilot spoke up to a large monitor with a man appearing on it in an identical helmet and voice.
"Congratulations, my son," Black Manta responded.
The man reached up and removed his helmet revealing his tan skin and think buzz-cut blonde hair, "Thank you, father," the armor retracted into his suit, "Initiating phase two," Kaldur-Ahm gave a sinister smile to the monitor before signing off.
…
14 Hours Later; Malina Island; 9:20PM
"Remember, this is primarily a recon-mission," Batman spoke up from the center of the Bio-Sip as it stealthily glided across the ocean-surface, "We want to learn as much about the Krolotaen invasion force as possible before we shut them down and deliver them to the Green Lantern Core," Robin, Nightwing, and Batgirl all listened intently to his pre-mission directives.
"Approaching drop-zone: Beta," Nightwing announced as the Bio-Ship opened a hatch in the center of its under-belly allowing Aquaman and Ben access to the waters below. Ben quickly crossed his watches and pencile-dived feet first into the waters with Aquaman following right behind.
A quick flash of light between the ship and the water prepped Ben for his deep-sea infiltration objective; with a red-coruscation body armor protecting his body, he could easily withstand the pressure of the ocean waters while his Incursion genetics and amphibian like respiratory system allowed him to breath and talk under-water. He sported a chiseled jaw-line and a pair of emerald shades covering his eyes as well as the ability to manipulate water; Waterfrag and Aquaman swam down to the ocean-floor where the encountered a predicted landing hatch for large submarines or aquatic-vehicles.
"Ready, Ben?" The King of Atlantes asked.
He scratched his crimson hood-like shell, "Uh, as ready as I'll get, I guess," his Boston-drawl sounded like he was raised in Massachusetts which, puzzled the king for a moment before shrugging it off completely.
They reached out at the hatch together, gripping either end with brute strength and pulling the bay-doors apart allowing them to swim through into the base.
"Drop-zone: Gamma," Nightwing announced pulling the Bio-Ship around the island and dropping the Bat-family on the shores where they snuck up on the guards working security on one of the three main entrances.
One guard looked around seeming mostly board with his three other armed comrades standing not too far; he walked towards a grassy area to admire the view of the ocean during one of the most boring shifts on the entire island. He heard a loud thud and some muffled grunting, he turned and found all of his comrades missing completely; he turned back to find the Batman scowling at him, it was the last thing he saw before being knocked into unconsciousness.
…
Inside the mountain-base, Kaldur sat within his ship that he arrived in now being connected to the security on the island via communication link. He pressed down on a secure frequency speaking to all guards at once, "All sectors, report status."
"Sector one: secure."
"Sector two: secure."
A sudden rush of static filled the line for a brief moment.
"Sector four: secure."
Kaldur furrowed his brow with agitation in his tone, "Sector three, report? Sector three?" He ended the link with frustration and grabbed his helmet off the dash exiting his cockpit and stepping on to the metallic bridge that lead to the rest of the base. In the waters below, Waterfrag and Aquaman swam a few dozen feet beneath using a small floating camera-unit to observe the on goings above water from a holo-screen from Aquaman's armor.
Suddenly, Kaldur stopped in his tracks looking out into the base in the opposite direction of the submerged heroes; From above, Nightwing, Robin, and Batgirl landed on a cat-walk several stories above Kaldur and out of his range of sight. He gave them a set of precleared hand-signs that gave them instructions to go left and right while he took center vantage.
Kaldur put his helmet on and turned around whispering to himself, "Intruders, on the upper-level… and in the waters," he turned at Waterfrag and Aquaman firing twin beams of crimson energy destroying their viewing-device and uprooting hundreds of gallons of water. He carved a line straight through the rocks and between the two underwater partners, separating them.
The soldiers noticed Robin and began firing immediately, destroying several railings as the boy-wonder expertly aim-dodged their blasts and flipped out of the way. Batman jumped from above, unseen by all, and drop-kicked one guard into the other before right hooking the last soldier in his immediate vicinity. Five others approached from the far left with his first instinct being a grappling Bat-a-rang catching the first one around his arms, knocking him to the ground tripping the next soldier behind him. The following enemy was judo-flipped by Batgirl turning the corner from their peripheral and knocking two out cold before turning and round-housing the last one onto his back.
The other soldiers on the lower-decks began open-firing into the waters where Aquaman leapt out fist first knocking one out and reverse-round housing the next into the water. Waterfrag used his superior agility to jump higher into the air and land feet first on a soldier, knocking him out with his sheer weight before unleashing a torrent of water that knocked the next two's rifles out of their hands.
The Krolotaens observing the ongoing slaughter backed away in fear of their eventual downfall; they pointed at the heroes and screeched at the top of their lungs, apparently leading the mechs currently working on a massive device in the center of the base to jump down and assist. The same mechs that Ben had faced on Raan with Superboy and M'gaan; Waterfrag gulped and cleared the area of hostiles by spinning quickly in a circle with a massive burst of pressurized water. Aquaman expertly ducked out of the way allowing his current combatant to be knocked out of bounds, as well; Waterfrag slapped his chest-plate emerging as Kickin-Eye, he squawked loudly much like a rooster might at the break of dawn before charging the three Krolotaen tanks. He merged all of the many eyes across his body into one singular eye and concentrated a sparking emerald energy into it. Everyone in the base, heroes and villains alike, froze suddenly as he fired off a ten-foot thick beam of energy completely eradicating all three tanks at once.
Kickin-Eye put his hands on his knees and gave a long exhale, before clucking multiple times, "Eye didn't know eye that in me."
The fighting quickly resumed as the heroes were easily overwhelming the enemy one by one; in the corner behind the large device being constructed in the center of the massive-base, a lone figure hidden by the shadows snuck through the chaos and planted a device into the mountain-wall, activating it and vanishing just as quickly.
Aquaman jumped above two other soldiers and right-crossed the Kaldur in the face sending him stumbling back, however; not before he fired off a beam of heat from his helmet tagging the King in the shoulder sending him spinning into the ground.
He turned back and used his helmet to send a communications, "Manta to partner, the base has been infiltrated, abort operation."
A deep and malicious voice came through, "Partner to manta, the device is already primed; you have five minutes, get your men out, the bomb will take care of the rest."
"Perfect," Kaldur backed away firing off beams in every direction attempting to cover his escape, "Attention all troopers, endgame is enabled, strategic retreat to manta-flier; you have four-point-six minutes."
Nightwing watched from above as he and his troops backed into the jet parked casually in the water, launching cover fire to keep any ordinary attack at bay, "Nightwing to Delta-squad; enemy is attempting escape, assistance required."
Four soldiers approached Aquaman from behind and were seconds from launching an assault on the unsuspecting hero when suddenly, through the cave-wall, beams of heat-vision spliced apart their weapons as the wall imploded with a teen landing in the center and tossing them all on their backs at once.
Superman, Superboy, Wonder Woman, and Wondergir flew in and landed beside Kickin-Eye and Aquaman, "Nice aim," The Atlantean complimented the Kryptonian teamwork.
"X-ray vision, I cheat," Superman stated modestly until Superboy pointed out an incoming assault.
"Superman! Triple combo over here!" The man of steel grabbed his partner by the shoulders and spun around launching him into the air where he landed on a Krolotaen tank, crushing it in the process before jumping to two others on the way down, destroying those as well with just the weight of his boot. He landed with a roll before catching his momentum and using it to uppercut another tank onto its back with his super-strength.
"Quadruple, nice!" Superman mentioned causing a grin to splay across young-man's face. The two Kryptonian's destroyed tanks left and right, one by one with literal ease as super-punch and heat-vision were utilized in perfect synchronization.
Wondergirl and Wonder Woman used their super-strength and mystic-lassos to grab hold of a tank each, swinging them around and colliding them with one another, destroying them completely. Wonder Woman continued by grabbing hold of another tank with her lasso before pulling it off the ground and into her fist which split it in two, "That was amazing!" Wondergirl announced with an over enthusiastic squeal excitement, "You-you just… woosh, a-and then you… bam!"
During her excitement she failed to see a tank putting her in their line of fire as Diana stepped out in front and used her mystic bracelets to block three shots aimed at her proteges head, "Little less fan-girl, little more Wondergirl."
"Right… sorry," She immediately flew up and flung her lasso around the tank's cockpit and ripped it clean off the rest of its body catching it in her hand before launching it back at a second tank, causing it to explode too.
Meanwhile, two Krolotaens pulled a hard-drive from a holo-computer before nodding to one another and walking down the steps and away from battle.
Kaldur looked around and frantically announced, "Three minutes to departure!" He fired a beam at a random hero before hearing the squawk of an incoming enemy; Kickin-Eye approached on a rampage knocking over other soldiers without regard for their threat. While that distracted him, Aquaman caught him off guard with a left-straight across the face knocking his helmet clean off his head, rolling onto the ground.
"I had not believed Nightwing until this moment," Aquaman announced as Kickin-Eye turned back into his human form, both of them staring Kaldur in the eye.
"You didn't want to believe!" He shouted back at his former partner.
Superboy stepped from behind as Ben was completely silent, "None of us wanted to believe this! How could you betray us?"
"You dare question me!?" He shouted with pure rage pulling his water-bearers from his armor and forming meat-hammers, "After you all let Tula die!"
Nightwing flipped down in front of them all, "Kaldur, that was a mission! Aquagirl knew the risks, none of wanted her t-"
"So!" Ben shouted stepping passed them all with blue aura flashing in his eyes, "A loved one dies and you betray everyone and everything else that you believed in, is that it?!"
They all turned as he walked passed them and approached Kaldur face to face, "You have no right to even speak her name!" Blue fire ignited across his fists while rage boiled in Kaldur's eyes, that is, until a smile formed.
"But, you do? As if your murderous tendencies across the globe in pursuit of selfish goals differs at all from what I do here, today!" Kaldur stunned his enemies for a moment but, not Ben as he quickly crossed his watches and transformed into Diamondarms; he formed four crimson blade-like appendages for each of his arms unleashing a malicious battle-cry as he swung down at his opponent's defenses, narrowly blocking with an aquatic shield.
Kaldur quickly out maneuvered the blood lusted behemoth ducking beneath his assault and bashing him in the back with both hammers, knocking Diamondarms forwards into the dirt.
"You betrayed your King for his greatest enemy!" Aquaman shouted in the third-person, attempting to adhere to Kaldur's old code of believing in the hierarchy.
"Do you mean the King who hid from me the true identity of my father?"
Arthur closed his eyes, "That was my error in judgement, Kaldur-Ahm; no one else need suffers for it."
"All will suffer if Black Manta demands it," his suit sprouted a small single projectile launcher from his shoulder-plate, "Blood is thicker than sea-water," he fired off an explosive round which was blocked by a diamond-hard structure quickly standing in its way. When the smoke cleared he was gone, leaving the heroes to their thoughts.
…
Kaldur escaped through a tunneling system leading to the seepest reaches of the base; he was joined by Nightwing quickly making his presence known, "Kaldur…" he spoke quickly getting into a fighting stance.
"Just us than, old friend?" He looked around as if hoping to find himself alone with Dick but, was disappointed with Superboy and Ben slid down similar tunnels in either direction; Ben, in his human form, lit his mana up in either hand in preparation for a fight.
"No, it's a regular reunion special!"
Kaldur dropped the water from his weapons and put his hands up, "Fine," he surrendered, "You can stop me now, or…" he motioned behind him to the device placed earlier amongst the initial battle, "You can stop this bomb... I am told the yield is quite impressive."
Superboy ran forwards recklessly attempting to blindside his old friend but, failed as Kaldur quickly palm struck his chest following it quickly with a chop to the throat. He than methodically dropped the Kryptonian on his back and grabbed him by the neck, electrocuting him with his suit's technology, "You have two minutes," he announced to the approaching Ben and Nightwing as he sprinted away, diving into a nearby pool of water obviously leading to the ocean.
The manta-cruiser soon departed from the bay it was docked in filled to the brim with soldiers, Wondergirl and Wonder Woman flew after it in hot-pursuit, "We cant let them escape!"
"That's a negative, we have a bomb down here; alien tech, I cannot disarm; everyone immediate evacuation, now!"
Ben put a hand to his shoulder and took a breath, "Everyone evacuate, now, I'll take care of it."
Nightwing stood and shrugged his hand off, "I don't think you have a transformation that can handle a bomb like this; not one that fits in this cave."
Ben rubbed his chin for a moment, "I said I'll handle it, take Superboy and go," Nightwing narrowed his eyes at Ben as he became increasingly agitated, "I said, go!"
Nightwing ran passed his old friend and grabbed Superboy by the hand, swinging an arm over his shoulder and helping him out of the cave. Batman turned to his protégés and shouted, "You heard Nightwing, move!" They turned and headed for the exit as Superman and Wonder Woman quickly zipped through the cave gathering up any unconscious soldiers they could find. Wondergirl grabbed Aquaman and Nightwing, who held onto Superboy, flying out of the cave via Superman's entrance. Speaking of whom, he handed off his load to Wonder Woman as she too fled, leaving him behind to attempt to collect Krolotaen's.
This was impossible as they fought back, tooth and nail, it was clear they had no clue the bomb was in their facility, cheering at their enemy's retreat, "You have to listen!" Superman was bombarded by energy blasts that sent him fleeing the scene through sheer number.
The Bio-Ship landed on the beach where it's hatch opened up and allowed all of their friends to board one by one, although crowded; they were more uncomfortable finding two Krolotaen's piloting, "Uh..." Wondergirl muttered.
"Hello Megan, knew I forgot something…" M'gaan and Manhunter quickly shapeshifted back into their normal appearances.
Nightwing boarded and soon they witnessed Superman flying over-head being chased out of the base by enemy fire, "Good job, alpha-squad," Nightwing announced as M'gaan took a quick look around at the roster, "Where's Ben?"
"He's right behind us, just go!"
"I can't leave without him!"
"That is an order, M'gaan!" She closed her eyes with reservations commanding the Bio-Ship to take off.
…
Ben gulped and looked closely at the bomb as it beeped quicker and quicker, "Here goes nothing," he crossed his watches and transformed only having a slight idea of what he wanted to become. His body shun white with the armor of Atomix but, his skin and energy was as deep as the void itself with distant stars sprinkled about like the cascading night-sky, "Atomic X!"
The new alien needed no time to decide his actions, he simply acted; lifting his hand at the bomb and focusing on it intently, "Somethings wrong. I can't shape it… I must be limited because I'm only half-Celestialsapeian! This isn't right!"
His voice echoed as he quickly formed a sphere of energy around himself attempting to shield from the blast as it went off in the same fragment of a second; the light from the explosion was blinding, it rocked the ocean floor and sent massive waves out around the island. The entire mass of land was no more, an intense fireball erupted into the night-sky illuminating it for miles followed by darkness and a thick mushroom cloud lifting into the atmosphere. The explosion itself spread further than island alone, reaching out across the ocean for hundreds of miles in less than a minute. The heroes watched as the destruction nearly caught up with the Bio-Ship making its escape upwards to avoid being knocked into oblivion; the bomb that had just detonated easily beat-out the strongest nuke ever tested on Earth by ten times. The heroes within the Bio-Ship were knocked about, hitting the walls and ceiling as they had no time to strap in, M'gaan struggled to get it into the atmosphere fast enough to avoid the blast-radius.
The energy finally dissipated and the smoke began its long process of settling across the waters of the ocean with no island left to speak of; within the debris and rubble, a single humanoid with tattered clothing flew through the air landing on the waters with enough force to feel like concrete. If Ben had known how to use Atomic X's powers, he could have stopped the blast or at least survived it unscathed but, this was not the circumstance as his lack of knowledge combined with the force of such a bomb at point-blank range caused a power-drain. Ben transformed back into a human only seconds after the fireball dissipated; all he could see was darkness.
He was facedown in the water and hardly conscious but, he felt like he could still see, it was just too dark; there was an infinite nothing below him, fish had long since scattered and there were no debris in sight. There was just, nothing. He felt like he was in this state for hours, or maybe minutes? He couldn't tell with the loud intolerable ringing in his ears, even underwater it was like someone had replaced his skull with the Liberty Bell. Suddenly, he saw something. Just one thing. A figure floating from below, reaching out to him, he couldn't make it out but, it was almost angelic.
"Let go, Ben."
He heard the voice as clear as day, it was as if it were whispering in his ear, "You fought so hard. It's over now, just let go," he couldn't make out where he'd heard the voice before but, it was definitely familiar. The face suddenly got closer, the angle was someone he'd known years ago before all of this ever came to be.
Julie reached out to him, and he could see her just as she was before she passed, "Just stop it, Ben," He heard, "You're tired, you're beaten, and half the people around you don't trust you anymore."
He shook his head, or at least he thought he did but, to no avail, "You fought the good fight, now it's time to let go."
M'gaan pressed hard on his chest, multiple compressions one by one, as the other heroes surrounded her on the Bio-Ship, "One One-thousand, Two one-thousand, Three one-thousand," tears streamed down her eyes as she tried her best to resuscitate the love of her life even if they weren't together she couldn't imagine a world without him, "Breath, damn it!"
Ben looked into Julie's eyes, "I cant leave yet though… My friends need me, I have things I need to finish before I can go anywhere."
She looked disappointed, her brown eyes facing the ground, "Will it ever be over?"
The question caught him off guard, he wasn't sure how to answer in the first place but, she deserved his best shot, "One day but, not today, I'm sorry."
Suddenly, they all exhaled as Ben Tennyson spat a large amount of water on his shirt and took a deep breath of oxygen into his lungs for the first time in three whole minutes. They all gave a sigh of relief, leaning back on the ship and whipping a brow of sweat, he would live. None were happier than M'gaan M'orzz as her tears of sadness and regret turned to tears of joy, as she cupped the side of his soaking wet-face.
…
After fifteen minutes of flying, the team reconvened for a short debrief aside from M'gaan who refused to leave the unconscious Ben's side, "What just happened?" Wondergirl asked rightfully.
Batman narrowed his eyes, "The Krolotaens were clearly trying to build a new ship."
Nightwing cupped his chin with understanding, "We blew their ship and their platforms, they had to build a new ship to get off Earth."
"But, was Aqualad helping them escape or luring them into a trap…?" She asked another very good question as the others pondered over it.
"The bomb was of alien origin," Nightwing mentioned, "Yet, the Krolotaens clearly knew nothing about it. So, where did it come from?"
Batman sighed, "I have a feeling that it may be up to you and your team to find out…"
…
Mount Justice; January 10th 2019; 3:15AM
"I wish I could go with…" Wondergirl protested as Wonder Woman smiled down at her.
"I doubt your mother would approve," she turned to look at the fellow departing Leaguers and Team members gathered to see them off, "And, only the six of us accused must take this odyssey; although, Batman insists he come along and Icon seems to know something of intergalactic law."
Icon hugged Rocket, and Batman stood solemnly with Batgirl, Nightwing, and Robin as they said their goodbye's.
Captain Atom shook John Stewarts hand, "Are you sure this is necessary?"
He sighed, "Guardians seem to think so but, Hal and Gai have been sent ahead to make sure this Council of Rimbor knows we come in peace, and that we receive a fair trial."
Superboy looked away, "How long will you be gone?"
"However long it takes to clear our names, Kon-El," Superman responded with a supporting hand on his youngers shoulder, "But, we will be back, little brother."
M'gaan stood in the shoulder of J'ohn with tears dried on her cheek, "I'll miss you…"
"And I, you, M'gaan," He gave her a long hug before whispering back, "I do hope you have learned today that perhaps patience is the best way keep a worthy relationship strong in your heart."
She held on to these words, finding them comforting in her time of mourning over an injured loved one, "Thank you, Uncle," she flashed him a sweet smile and gave another hug for the road.
"Oh," He remembered, "Perhaps you could water the plants in my apartment while I am gone?"
"Be careful, alright?" Nightwing instructed to Batman as he gave them a short-fleeing smile.
"I was gong to say the same to you three; I fear we've left the more dangerous task here," they looked amongst themselves with mutual smiles.
"We'll manage."
"Time to go!" John Stewart summoned them all to his side and formed a massive emerald-ship construct around himself and his fellow accused teammates. They soon took off into the night sky, after leaving the atmosphere, accelerating to millions of times faster than light. The teens and young adults watched as their mentors and betters flew off into space, leaving them with the most daunting task they'd ever faced, and now they had no crutch to rely on. It was up to them to discover the plots of the evil and thwart them together.
...
Just a tip: If you have trouble picturing any of Ben's fusions. A quick google search can give you HD ideas of what they'd look like. I gave credit to most of the ideas for fusions to the Biomnitrix Unleashed pages on DeviantArt.
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