Justice Era: Dark

by G O G E T A 9 0 0 0

Ben lost everything and everyone he loved but, with Vilgax still after him, he'll need the help of the Justice League and their proteges. Can Ben kill Vilgax once and for all? What new adventures await him in this strange new world? We're entering a much darker, more dangerous era than ever before. Can Ben face this new darkness? Season 3.

30. Before the Dawn

I don't own Ben 10 or Young Justice

Before the Dawn

El Paso; Texas; June 15th 2018; 10:52PM

"Yes, mom, I know," a slightly thinner Jamie skateboarded through the street confirming to his mother for what felt like the thousandth-time, "Yes, it is close to curfew but, I'll be home in five, I'm taking a short-cut through the Kord parking-lot," he stopped to listen to her response curling a smile across his face, "Te veo pronto," he pocketed his cell and turned the corner at decent speeds, trying not to disappoint his mother. The Ted Kord parking lot was almost completely empty but, there was a single expensive car still parked out front. One of the executives most likely, it didn't bother him, he enjoyed the space he had to ride through the empty lot.

Without warning, an explosion engulfed the Ted Kord sign and the offices within sending flaming rubble out across the parking lot; Jamie tripped off his board and tumbled across the asphalt. He stood, mentally thanking his grandfather for reminding him to wear a helmet but, quickly noticing his hoodie and tee were both on fire. He pulled them off quickly, throwing them into the street and backing away not at all noticing the insectoid-machine crawling up his leg.

He looked up in awe at the pitch-black smoke fuming from the windows, hoping that nobody had gotten hurt, wondering what happened; all of these thoughts stopped like a truck hitting a brick-wall as an intense pinching sensation shot through his entire body stemming from his upper-back. He shouted but, no one around could hear him as the armor forcibly wrapped itself around his torso, slowly encasing him in black and blue material. His adrenaline spiked as the armor crossed his skin and wrapped over his eyes, his heart beating so fast, he was terrified until…

…

Unknown; Unknown; April 2nd 2019; Unknown.

"Agh!" Jamie shouted waking from what he now realized was a dream, last he remembered he was fighting Aqualad and now, he was looking out at some sort of laboratory with tools and such scattered around. He was in a pod with a transparent casing allowing him to see through to the other pods, Bart, Garfield, Conner, and at least five different teens around his age all lined up in identical pods.

"W-What, what is all this?" He muttered trying to piece things together.

"Recall, Jamie Reyes, you allowed Aqualad to take us prisoner."

"Right, right; better armor up," he tried summoning his weapons but, to no avail.

"Negative, containment pod has shut down all offensive and defensive capabilities."

Jamie would facepalm if he could but, scaring the day-lights out of him, a female alien nurse popped her head out in front of his pod. Not looking into his eyes but, looking through him like some test subject; like an animal, she raised a brow at him until another alien approached from behind clicking in his native tongue.

"Providing translation," the Scarab announced internally.

The female approached a large screen with what he could only assume was his own body scan, "The Scarab's memory files have been completely wiped, the only recoverable data is from the last eight months, that is, since it fused with this host body. In fact, I was just reviewing the point of-"

"Spare me details, if the Scarab is off mode than perform a reboot," he emotionlessly turned to the screens analyzing the current information.

"I would like to assess the cause of the crash, Ambassador, to ensure it cannot happen again."

"No, Scientist," a figure lurking in the shadows spoke up, "Admit it, you just enjoy playing with the meat," a bigger, bulkier, more intimidating version of Blue Beetle in all black armor and yellow eyes stepped forward with a sickening grin, glancing at Jamie.

The Scientist made eye contact with the young beetle, approaching his pod, "Well… there's that too…"

Jamie backed as far against his pod as he could with terror in his eyes, he would shout if he thought it would make a difference, he'd attempt escape if he could activate his armor but, they all stared smiling at him like high-schoolers preparing to dissect a frog. All he could truly ask himself was, where was Veronica?

…

Gotham City; Warehouse District; April 2nd 2019; 1:00PM

Ken sat in his small room, it had posters, books, and a desk with a computer on it, the bed was pretty big and the tv was alright but, he didn't watch much of it. He had spent the last four days in this dull facility, waiting for anything to happen since the hospital but, other than his language and articulation skills kicking in and allowing him to learn English in less than a week, it had been quite the boring stay. He stared out the window watching the sun set over the ocean, his room had the perfect view from a warehouse in Gotham City, just overlooking the harbor, he could almost see the Metropolis skyline but, he wouldn't really know. He had to confess one thing, he had no idea what he was doing; this Ken person, he doesn't know who that is, it doesn't sound like a bad name but, he certainly doesn't remember ever being called that before the hospital. Then again, he doesn't remember much of anything from before the hospital, well, maybe he wasn't being completely honest in that regard either.

"Remember, just press the dial, select the Tetramand, and press the dial back down, simple enough?" a voice echoed from behind a one-way glass which hid the faces of his instructors well.

Ken nodded, he activated his Omnitrix and selected his choice and transformed; the green light illuminated the rooms but, when the energy cleared, a mucus-green insectoid creature with strange eyes appeared instead.

"That's a Lepidopterra, I asked you for Fourarms not Stinkfly!" Suddenly, a shock erupted from the collar around his neck which looked exactly like those used by Aqualad. The shocking made Ken scream, almost crying from the pain; "When you time out," the shocking ceased, "We're going to try again, until you get it right!"

Ken looked down to his watch, the green illumination from the center symbol humming with a full charge, he sighed, he didn't know what to say or do, he didn't know who he was. Ben Tennyson was technically his father but, he hasn't been able to answer any valuable questions.

He pulled from his back-pocket Lex Luthor's business card, he read the number from the card over; everyone he's met since he woke up in the hospital says Luthor is a horrible person but, Ken has never even met Luthor aside from the one time where he granted Roy mercy and a new arm and the fact that without Luthor he wouldn't even exist? His thoughts were interrupted by the turning of the door-knob that allowed Ben and M'gaan entrance to his new room.

"Hey," M'gaan asked, "How are you feeling?"

Ken didn't respond, he simply turned back to the window and looked back at out at the ocean, "We hate to say it but, your room in Mount Justice isn't going to be an option anymore," M'gaan referred to it having been nuked less than a week ago.

"Hate," Ken muttered looking up at his biological mother, "You have so much hate, I'm guessing for whoever destroyed the mountain."

M'gaan was taken aback, "You have empathic abilities, Roy-"

"He wants to be called Arsenal, now," Ken snapped before turning to Ben, "Can I go outside? I want to see the water…" he cracked a smile just barely as his father rubbed the back of his neck.

"I…" looking toward a defeated M'gaan, "Don't see why not?"

Ken smiled and gripped Ben's hand pulling him toward the door, "How about you put your shoes on and meet me in the warehouse garage, I need to talk to your mother for a sec, kay?"

Ken's smile faded ever-so-slightly, looking up at his mother with dismay, "Okay."

After the door shut behind him, M'gaan sat down on Ken's bed, "He doesn't seem to like me very much…"

Ben shoved his hands in his pockets, "He's like fourteen and he's mentally six, at best; look, give him some time, I'm sure he'll warm up to you," he placed a hand on her shoulder which caused her to smile, placing her hand atop his own.

"Now, I'm going to try and teach him how to use the Omnitrix as best he can; we aren't going to be able to be full-time parents the way he needs so the best thing for him-"

"No! No way!" she shouted as quietly as possible standing up and throwing his hand off her shoulder, "You are not putting him on that suicide-squad that Dick is running!"

"You're on that team!"

"We got in young, when things were different," she looked down remembering all the fun missions and activities they had done together, "Do you remember anyone dying in year-one, Ben? Or year-two?"

He knew answering would lead to defeat in the argument so, he took a turn down a different route, "We can't protect him from the Light like this, we're too… far apart. He's going to need the team, he's going to need people like Dick, Tim, Veronica, Ja-"

M'gaan's brow furrowed, "Jamie? Bart? Or maybe Garfield?!"

"Look, I didn't know what else to do; I have money but, I'm no Bruce Wayne… we cant afford to keep him here forever," after recalling her only half-brother being abducted by a former friend the tears she tried holding back fell down her green-cheeks and she collapsed into Ben's arms, "Dick will take care of him, one way or another."

…

Unknown; Unknown; April 2nd 2019; 6:15PM.

"Your ship is very impressive, Ambassador, as are your people," Aqualad commented as he rounded the corner side-by-side with the Light's new partner.

The tall alien creature referred to as 'Ambassador' gave a confident grin, "We call ourselves the Reach and these," he opened his arms toward the vast corridor of different rooms on either side, "Are our laboratories; most dedicated to researching the human meta-gene."

Aqualad raised a brow, "Meta-gene?"

The Ambassador closed his eyes and raised a finger, "A genetic marker indicating the potential of an individual human to survive catastrophic physical trauma by adapting new abilities."

"In other words, Ambassador," Aqualad smiled as he confirmed his theory as they approached a specific lab allowing the large metallic shutter doors to slide open, "The meta-gene allows certain humans to develop and cultivate super-human powers."

Ambassador nodded dutifully, "Kaldur'Ahm," they approached the female Reach worker studying the large screens before them, "This is the Scientist in charge of all meta-gene research."

"I understand you are responsible for retrieving several of our test subjects, gratitude," she gave him a sick-grin which he begrudgingly returned, without a word, he turned toward the pods at the far corner of the room. He walked down the line of subjects including several innocent children, "I believe it would interest you to know, in this lab, we are attempting to isolate the meta-gene by stimulating potentially dormant powers in average humans."

Kaldur stopped in front of Conner's pod as he watched him be electrocuted repeatedly, "But, Superboy is part Kryptonian and was already born with powers, hardly an average human."

She stepped up next to him observing Superboy closer, "Ah, but he is still part human and the donor for his human DNA was Lex Luthor, quite physically average, wouldn't you say?"

Kaldur didn't respond, he only turned away and back toward the door with the Ambassador close behind him, approaching another room as the shutters folded open, "In this room, we study humans with active meta-genes and how they respond to several levels of… stress," she stepped beside, and practically showcased Garfield and Bart being thoroughly electrocuted like a new car on a lazy-Susan, "The goal here is to learn if the abilities can be extracted or duplicated."

"I see," Aqualad started trying not to show his discomfort with the agonizing groans of his former trapped friends, "You seek to weaponize the meta-gene."

The head Scientist grinned, a low clicking in the background of her words, "You never mentioned he was clever," she chided sarcastically at the Ambassador whom smiled in return.

Aqualad allowed them both to proceed toward the next door leading to the next tour area for the Light's representative leaving Kaldur with a moment to scowl uncontrollably at the pods containing his friends. He soon regains his composure and turned to follow them promptly, the Scientist stepped on the other side of the next door and gave the same creepy grin to Aqualad, "It was a pleasure, Kaldur'Ahm."

The shutter closed on her leaving her to privacy in the obviously more secure third laboratory and allowing the Ambassador to take the lead on his 'tour', "Blue Beetle is unaccounted for, I assume he is kept within this third lab?"

The Ambassador scowled, "That particular laboratory does not concern you or your masters the Light and, frankly, neither does Blue Beetle," he turned and walked away, "He may be human but, he is of the Reach."

Kaldur exhaled slowly, "As you say."

"And the new test subjects?"

"Soon to be on their way; my best operative over sees the shipment."

"Gratitude."

…

Gotham City; Warehouse District; April 2nd 2019; 6:30PM

"Okay, great!" Ben shouted as a black and blue blur sped across the vast lake so fast it appeared to run on water, "Now, water-spout!"

Ken, transformed into XLR8, upped his speed and curved his trajectory, until he was running in a tight-circle dragging the water up with his momentum and forming a twenty-foot lake-tornado. Sending glistening mist into the air, reflecting off of the setting sun, and forming a large rainbow.

Suddenly, a loud blaring alarm sounded from XLR8's chest plate as the Omnitrix shun crimson and exploded with red-light sending Ken falling toward the water, a collision of such momentum it would be as though he was falling on concrete.

Less than a foot from the water, he stopped mid-air as a blue mana-light surrounded him and caught him; he opened his eyes and looked around realizing his father had used his mana-projection to save him.

Ken was floated over the water slowly toward Ben as M'gaan watched from behind, "Do you think I have mana powers?" he asked as he was floated to his feet on the grass next to his parents.

"I wasn't even supposed to have them, a powerful magician helped me unlock my hidden power around when I met your mother," he grabbed a towel and threw it over his son's shoulders, "No, I think you'll have to do with your awesome alien watch and psychic empath powers."

He tossed the towel over Ken's head and gave him a noogie causing the boy to chuckle and wrestle himself away playfully, "Maybe we should get snacks to watch the sun-set?" M'gaan suggested as Ken immediately looked up to Ben.

"Can we?" he asked calmly, dreading the dull walls of his new room.

"Sure, of course we-" Ben was interrupted by the ringing of his communicator in his ear, "Hold on; What's up?"

After hearing a few words muffled through the speaker he sighed looking back at Ken, "Now?"

Another half minute passed as Ben dragged his hand through his hair, "And you think I can convince her to do that?"

"I know it would benefit him but, that's not what she-" Ben was cut off as M'gaan cleared her throat, knowing almost exactly what they were discussing.

"Alright, I'll give it a shot," Ben whispered into his comm, "See you tonight."

M'gaan folded her arms, "No."

"No, what?" Ken asked with an innocent curiosity.

"It's just a rescue mission, it won't go sideways…"

"And if it does? You think he can handle himself against someone like Aqualad? Or these new aliens the Light has partnered with?"

"He, who? He, me?" Ken begged through their arguing.

Ben threw his hands in the air, "We'll both be there, I literally just tested him! He can do this!"

"Will someone please clue me in?!" Ken shouted catching both of his parent's attention.

Ben knelt down to get on eye level with Ken, "Nightwing, the one I told you about with the hero-team, he wants you to join us tonight on a rescue mission, he thinks two watches are better than one, and I agree but, your mother has some safety concerns…"

"Mom! Please?"

"You could be killed, I've lost friends to these monsters," M'gaan closed her eyes and turned to Ben, "And we're going to have a chat about this making me the bad-guy thing."

"What are you talking about!? All I did was tell him the truth!"

"You knew how he would react!"

"Enough!" Ken shouted as both Ben and M'gaan felt a surge of emotional pressure flowing out of him, changing even Ben's mood to a more solemn tone but, M'gaan being telepathic noticed this immediately, "Mom, I'm not a regular kid, I can do this so either let me do it now or I'll just wait till you can't stop me…"

M'gaan slapped her forehead, "Oh, come on, don't look at me like that…"

Ken gave his mother the biggest, sorriest eyes he could muster, "Pleaaaase?" putting his hands together.

She sighed loudly and put a hand on Ken's head, "Okay, fine, you can join but, it's a reconnaissance mission for you, I don't want to see you fighting when you don't have to."

Ken's face lit up like a Christmas tree, quickly wrapping his arms around his mothers' hips, planting his face in her pelvic, "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"Yea… yea…" M'gaan finally felt affection from her son, she didn't like this idea even slightly but, if it made Ken happy than maybe it's worth the slight risk? Besides, this is an all-hands-on-deck mission from what she could gather, what are the odds that Ken wouldn't just stay on the ship the entire time? "Alright, just go get showered and ready, we should be leaving pretty soon."

"My first mission!" Ken ran toward the facility with his hands in the air, not knowing that this mission would be anything but, what he expected.

…

Star City Docks; April 2nd 2019; 10:29PM

The massive shipping containers that outlined the docking yard was the perfect guise for nightly illegal activity, like kidnapping and selling children to an alien race for genetic experimentation; however, it was also the perfect cover for Tim and Barbara, aka Robin and Batgirl, to infiltrate the scene and by extension the Reach's ship. Spiritus closed her eyes and allowed her mystic might to surround her, shrinking down to the size of a small action-figure, and slipping into Tim's jacket pocket.

They all watched as the children were kept by large men with automatic rifles in a single ten-by-ten caged-box; they all murmured amongst each other until one teenager brave enough to grab the metallic cage with his fingers, "Hey! Let us go!" he shouted at one of the men whom didn't even turn to him.

They parted allowing Tigress to walk toward the kid who shouted at them, a serious glare filtering through her mask, "Bring out the pods, now!" she shouted in a whisper at her men.

Most of the men left the area to retrieve the carrousel of containment pods from the other-side of the shipping yard; Tim and Barbara took this time to parkour through rows of massive containers, making their way behind the caged children.

"Alright, let's get a move on, we're on a schedule and Kaldur'Ahm does not tolerate delay," she laid it on a bit thick but, she always did want to take drama in high-school so, this wasn't so disinteresting.

Tim and Barbara narrowed their eyes before quickly ducking behind the next container, narrowly avoiding the gaze of Tigress, and proceeding toward the children. They leapt over the armed guards and landed gracefully in the center of the cage, quickly hushing the startled teens.

"Hey!"

"What- What're you-"

"Shhh," Barbara hushed, "We're here to help."

A blonde in a purple jacket backed away, "Why should we trust you?"

Tim opened his pocket up as Veronica made her way through the air and into his jacket, tucking herself away once again in full view of the captured teenagers.

"Okay… never mind," she corrected.

"Load em up, one per pod, move!" Tigress shouted from out of view.

The manta-guards unlocked the pad-lock and swung the gate open, grabbing one kid at a time and forcing them into the pods, Tim and Barbara were completely docile and allowed themselves to be podded. They were lucky, it was dark and they were in civilian clothing, Artemis had only met them once or twice in her life so, she'd never recognize them.

"Boat em and float em!" Tigress shouted once the cage was barren and the next shipment was ready to be loaded.

…

Nightwing sighed beneath the murky depths of the docks as his two youngling team-mates were successfully 'captured' by the Reach and would quickly lead him to his other actually captured team-mates.

M'gaan sat at the helm of the Bio-Ship as she followed the coordinates of the tracking devices placed on Tim and Barbara, Ben sat beside Nightwing and Ken sat behind them with Wonder Girl, "Okay, good, looks like they'll lead us right to Superboy and the others."

Ken shrugged his shoulders, "What makes you so sure?"

Some turned their heads at the random out burst but, none prosecuted Ken for it, Nightwing just chuckled for a moment, "Wishful thinking?" He tried desperately to avoid the topic since this was all information he'd gotten from Aqualad when Mount Justice went up in a ball of flames.

Wonder Girl gave Ken a quick glance before returning her attention to Nightwing, "And… the abductee shipment? How'd you know about that?"

"Aquaman came across the information while searching for Aqualad and Superboy," Nightwing responded accordingly, he was taught in the art of misdirection and deception by a master, this line of questioning would never actually push him against any walls.

…

Unknown; Unknown; April 2nd 2019; 11:00PM

Jamie woke suddenly, startled by the loud clicking of the Reach Scientist analyzing him, but before he could ask, the Scarab spoke up.

"Translating."

"This human-beetle is disappointing; how could it be the Reach's advanced operative on Earth if it refuses to operate on mode?" She announced as her fingers flew over the alien-computer hologram.

"Then, reboot," Black Beetle growled in a deep hum.

"Yes, that may be necessary after all but, of course, we would require a new host," she looked back up at Beetle with needing eyes.

"Finding another will not be difficult, while removing the Scarab will certainly kill this Jamie Reyes," Black Beetle turned toward Jamie and looked him in the eyes with a smile, "Meat is plentiful here."

…

Less than an hour later, the ship that they'd been following with Tim and Barbara on board finally docked on a massive organism-like ship; growing off the side of a cliff on the ocean-floor like fungi.

"So, this is the Light's new partner," Nightwing announced from several clicks away, camouflaged and out of sight, "That ship shares the same alien design sensibility as the bombs that destroyed Malina Island and Mount Justice."

Wonder Girl narrowed her eyes, "Kinda reminds me of Blue's armor…"

"Blue, who?" Ken raised a brow.

"Blue Beetle, one of the heroes captured by Aqualad, his armor forms weapons the same way that ship opens its docking bay," Wonder Girl turned and looked into his emerald eyes, "You're Ken, right?" she smiled quickly pointing over at his father, "Ben Ten Thousand's kid?"

"Yea, feels weird being on a mission with my parents like this but, it's better than watching TV till I pass out…"

"I hear that," she muttered, "How old are you?"

"Five," he didn't hesitate but, quickly shook his head, "I mean, thirteen."

She chuckled in response, snickering at him, "What's so funny?"

"Nothing it's just, I'm older than you but, I thought you were at least a year ahead of me."

Ken rubbed the back of his neck with a light blush crawling up his cheeks, "I mean, do I really look like I'm fifteen?"

"Yea," she smiled looking him up and down, "You kinda do…"

Ben stood after noticing the two talking teens and made his way to the control-center, "Hey, looks like he made a friend on the first day."

"They grow up so fast," She chided, "Hopefully, he'll get a good look at the action without getting too close."

Ben put a hand on her shoulder, "Don't worry, what could possibly go wrong?"

Nightwing broke their conversations with a voice of authority, "Alright, Ms. Martian, you're up."

She nodded with a serious expression, her neck formed gills as she flipped up her hood and camouflaged herself; she phased through the floor appearing in the water seconds later. Melding her feet into a mermaid's tail, the pressure of being nearly a quarter-mile below the surface compacted her body and her Martian biology allowed her to just shift densities until she was comfortable.

She swam the distance between herself and the massive alien-compound, barely being able to navigate through the pitch-black waters, placing her hand against the solid metal, she gave a look around before shifting through the hangar door, "Alpha squad, I'm entering the alien ship, are you on board?" She sent out a mental message through the ship to her team-mates who stowed away in pods.

"Affirmative," Barbara announced psychically, "We're in some sort of docking bay, I have eyes on the Light's new partner aka the Krolotaens competitor aka the Reach," they quickly placed their backs against their pods, attempting to act as natural and inconspicuous as possible, "We have other company too, Aqualad is here, if he makes us we're over."

"Stay whelmed," Nightwing spoke over the psychic link, "He won't be looking for you, just don't attract attention to yourselves."

M'gaan phased through wall after wall, remaining successfully hidden and, after a few minutes of searching, found the laboratory with Bart and Garfield trapped in pods, "I found Beast Boy and Impulse, they're unconscious but, alive," she looked around for another moment, "No sign of Superboy or Beetle."

"We got eyes on Superboy and… Shimmer? Plus four civilians and all the teens we came with," Tim gave them all the information he had as the other abductee's were loaded into the chamber with them.

Barbara put her hands against the glass of her pod as she watched the guards leave the room, "We're unsupervised now but, there's no sign of Blue and escape could trigger a response, do we wait?"

Nightwing folded his arms and looked over at Ben, giving him a short nod, "Negative, alpha, make your move, before you need rescuing too; you too, Ms. M, get our boys."

M'gaan proceeded to use her telekinesis to tear apart the pods containing Bart and Garfield, lifting them gently into the air and placing them on their backs, an odd alarm immediately started blaring through the facility stirring the unconscious teens, "Garfield?" she muttered as Beast Boy slowly stood to his feet, holding his head.

"I knew you'd come for me," he murmured before opening his eyes and realizing he was on eye level with his much bigger sister, "Did you get shorter?"

She scoffed, "Huh?" looking herself over, "Oh, sorry, it was the pressure of the water outside of the ship compacted-"

"Thanks for the rescue," the now fully recovered speedster yawned and stretched his limbs, "I'll find Blue!" he sped off immediately, phasing through any door that stood in his way.

"Bart, wait!" But it was far too late, he was long gone by the time she'd thought to shout for him; instead, she telekinetically shattered the door he phased through and followed him as best she could.

M'gaan sighed, "Which way?" looking to her brother.

He sniffed the air and closed his eyes, it was a relatively small ship with limited scents, Bart was easy to sniff out amongst the nasty Reach sweat, "This way!" he shouted in a whisper as they made their way through the ship's interior.

…

Elsewhere, Tigress noticed the alarm blaring as a manta-soldier approached her from behind, "Hold your position, trooper!" she put her arm against his chest but, was surprised when he gripped her forearm with immense strength, tossing her overhead and into the ceiling as two other soldiers approached the rogue. He ducked under the first ones right-hook sending a left into his solar-plexus ejecting the air from his lungs before round housing him into the wall. The other tried to jump him from behind but, instead he grabbed him by the helmet and tossed him feet-first into another approaching guard.

The trooper removed his helmet revealing brunette lochs and a scruffy beard, "I'm in position, docking bay secured."

"Nice timing, Ben!" Spiritus flew toward him followed by a crowd of abducted teenagers all freed from confinement by Batgirl and Robin who only had their domino-masks and utility-belts on over civilian clothes. Superboy was jogging behind them, still recovering from the physical torture he'd endured.

"Docking, now!" Nightwing announced backing the Bio-Ship into the docking bay and Ben slapped a large crimson button on the wall opening the hatch-bay-doors.

Wonder Girl and Ken approached the entrance, "Let's go!" she shouted aloud waving them all in, "Hurry!"

Superboy slowed down as he jogged up to Ben, "Thanks for springing me; how are things looking?" he quickly shook his friend's hand which he'd not done since his capture.

"So far so good; how're you feeling?" He asked the half-kryptonian, "Looking forward to some action?"

"Maybe," Conner replied with a short smile as they waved the groups of teens into the Bio-Ship, "But, I honestly wouldn't mind a quiet rescue, tonight."

Robin and Batgirl individually took down groups of armed Reach guards in crimson outfits, distinctively different than the manta-troopers, with no effort what-so-ever. In a juxtaposed hall, only a few hundred feet from the docking bay, M'gaan rounded the corner with Beast Boy close behind her. That's when she saw him walking passed them, toward the docking bay where the escape was being conducted. Kaldur looked to the side, noticing them and becoming shocked slowly; M'gaan was disgusted as a tear formed in her right eye, "YOU?!" she shouted, "MURDERER!"

Kaldur backed away hearing the echoing shout in his head, echoing louder and louder until it was unbearable, she slowly began completely shattering his mind. Tearing forcibly like she'd rarely ever done through each and every one of his memory, every sensation he'd ever felt, every dream he thought he'd forgotten. Peeling back the layers of his psyche like an onion, she saw everything she'd ever done with him, missions, vacations, defeating the Light in 2013, stopping Vilgax with Ben, loosing Aquagirl. She even saw things she wasn't there for like discovering that Black Manta was his biological father… But, this is when the tears began streaming unstoppably from her eyes.

"No…" she whispered as she saw the plan made by Nightwing, the inclusion of Wally and Artemis, faking Artemis' death on the beach in Florida, her becoming Tigress, delivering intel to Nightwing, saving Conner's life.

Kaldur toppled over drooling, hitting the ground with his back and clutching his head, Tigress rounded the corner and analyzed the scene as she crouched by Kaldur and held his head, "Kaldur!"

M'gaan wiped some of her tears and looked into Tigress' mind finding only the familiar thoughts of Artemis, her friend and former team mate. It was all true, she just used her powers in the most vicious way she could imagine, and it was all for nothing.

Garfield shook his sister, "M'gaan?" as she stared off blankly into the distance, "M'gaan?!"

Artemis looked directly into the Martian's eyes with a solemn stare, "M'gaan… what have you done?"

"You… I thought he killed you… I thought he deserved it…"

Beast Boy had enough, he shifted into a massive green-tiger roaring as he pounced on his enemies only to be knocked aback by a smoke grenade exploding in his face, "You take yours, I'll take mine, consider yourselves lucky!"

He shifted back into his half-monkey form and hopped back toward M'gaan, "Sis, wake up, you did good! You got Aqualad! But, the others still need our help!"

…

Ben met up with Robin, Batgirl, and Superboy as all the teens were loaded up and they were just about ready to go, he tried speaking to them telepathically but, to no avail; he reached out to M'gaan but, heard nothing but his own echoing thoughts, "The link is down," he shouted as he made his way toward the ship, "I'm going back in!" He sprinted through the door making his way into the docking bay until something heavy and strong back-handed him through the air, hitting the ground and tumbling to his hands and knees.

Black Beetle stepped into the room with a smile, "Sorry, meat," he put a hand out flat against the wall, activating the door with a touch, "But, no one goes anywhere," he announced ominously as the shutters closed behind him locking them in with him and out of the Bio-Ship.

Wonder Girl took the liberty of shouting first, "Listen… Black Beetle, you're totally out numbered so just give up, now!"

Ken popped the faceplate on his Omnitrix and twisted through the silhouettes until he found the one he was looking for, slapping the dial down; the emerald energy that transformed him into the hulking crimson-skinned Tetramand nearly had the Amazonian prodigy shielding her eyes, "Open those doors now and we'll go easy on ya!" Fourarms shouted from beside Wonder Girl.

Black Beetle chuckled, "You… will go easy… on me?" The clicking that echoed through his voice was menacing enough but, when he started laughing uncontrollably right afterward? Even as Fourarms, Ken shuttered.

Spiritus, whom had already reverted to her normal size, exhaled slowly, "Oh, that is not a good sign."

…

Bart flew from room to room at mach-six, phasing through door after door, looking for his friend Jamie but, more importantly, keeping Blue from the Reach and stopping the apocalypse.

After about two dozen different rooms in under a single second, he finally came across the third laboratory where they kept Jamie in his pod and used prongs to electrocute him; Bart noticed the pain he was in, even though everything appeared frozen in time due to his sheer speed, he used his momentum to shoulder-tap the Scientist across the room knocking her out.

Jamie stumbled out of his pod, landing in Bart's arms with a groan.

…

Virgil was just a kid, he'd never seen fighting before, he pulled his bandana down almost covering his eyes as he backed against the metallic walls in fear sliding down to a sitting position as he watched.

"Eradiko!" Both Ben and Spiritus shouted at the same time, sending identical blue and pink bolts of mystic electricity into Black Beetle's chest whom simply used his adaptive armor to bolt his feet to the ground to keep from loosing his balance. He formed his right arm into a sonic-cannon which fired off a blast of sound that sent both Anodites back first into the metallic shutters.

Wonder Girl leaped over him gracefully letting her mystical lasso tighten around his neck, landing in front of him, and attempting to pull him off his feet. Instead, he didn't hesitate to grab the glowing bind around his neck and pull her through the air to him in one motion; catching her by the neck and slamming her tossing her over his shoulder without looking.

Fourarms stepped to the side, narrowly avoiding being hit by her as she flew by, he sprinted forwards upper-cutting Black Beetle in the chin.

"No matter what meat you turn into," Beetle cracked his jaw, loosening it and obviously not being phased, "You're still just meat," he grabbed the Tetramand by the head and lifted his four-hundred-pound body overhead.

Ben recovered and looked over toward the fight but, only saw the back of Fourarms' bulky body before he was sent tumbling back into the wall by his son.

Superboy and Wonder Girl jumped Beetle at the same time; the Amazonian came from behind and wrapped him in a choke-hold whilst the Kryptonian sent a flurry of punches into the back of his leg trying to get him to fall, at least to one knee. He chuckled instead, reaching up and grabbing her by her shirt and slamming her head first into Superboy back.

Spiritus, Robin, and Batgirl sent a barrage of explosives into the armored foe but, it didn't seem as though it was making any progress. Ben shook his head and lifted Fourarms off of himself, "Ugh, should have picked someone quicker on their toes," Ken thought out loud as he and his father recovered.

"Not a bad idea," Ben rubbed his beard in thought for a brief second before quickly slapping his son's Omnitrix; a green explosion briefly consumed him but, when it cleared, Fourarms had transformed into a rounder creature with yellow armored plating across his back and a black stripe across his chest.

"Who's this?"

Ben chuckled, "Cannonbolt, take him for a spin," he quickly sprinted off towards the battle leaving Ken to look down at his clawed finger-tips.

Robin and Batgirl managed to keep their distance, firing their tasers into his back as he held Spiritus up by the head facing the opposite direction; what they didn't expect was his armor to adapt, summoning a large staple gun in-between their wires.

"Look out!" Tim kicked Barbara in the side, sending her out of the way of harm but, also leaving him open. Virgil covered his eyes as Tim was pinned by the leg to the wall, blood dripping down his ankle as he screamed in agony, "Agh!"

Virgil opened his eyes as Black Beetle set his focus on him, to defend himself he quickly grabbed a discarded manta-troopers rifle, aiming it up at Beetle before being knocked to the ground by a roundhouse kick from Shimmer.

The red-headed mohawk enforcer for the Light gave a quick smile to Beetle, assuring him of her assistance, he nodded respectfully in return. Batgirl wasn't having, sending a right-straight into her blocking forearm as combat commenced.

Beetle closed one eye for good measure as his sonic-cannon shifted into a plasma-weapon, ready to vaporize both fighting females. Luckily for them, Ben intervened with a bolt of flaming red energy, "Berdi Mordo Nata!" another beam of red-hot energy bounced off his armored shoulder.

Wonder Girl and Superboy recovered at relatively the same time that Beetle decided to turn his plasma-cannon on Ben; using their combined strength to catch him off guard, knocking him to the ground.

…

Mount Justice; Happy Harbor; December 13th 2059; 10:33AM

Bart tried his best, he'd been lugging a forty-pound battery across the badlands for nearly twenty-four hours and was completely exhausted; he knew the consequences of being caught resting without permission but, he couldn't help it. He blacked out for just a second, long enough for the battery to drop into the grey snow and for Bart's knees to hit the ground.

"On your feet, slave!" an energy-blade cut through the stone at his feet, sending sparks across the snow; he didn't even attempt to use his speed since it had been shut off by the control-collar for years now. He fell back on his hands and tried desperately to get up but, just didn't have the energy, "I said get up!"

Bart looked up at the bulky silhouette before him in blue and black armor; Blue Beetle aimed his sword down at Bart as a hand came in-between them two, "He apologizes," a voice announced as a scarred and deformed man stepped up, "He just needs his daily water, I'll carry his load."

The man used his one arm to reach down and pick up the battery, finding it not so hard to lift, "You're lucky this old man has a soft spot, or you'd be fried, kid! Now don't let it happen again!"

Beetle retracted his blade and walked off, analyzing the other human slaves carrying their weight in the same fashion, "Thanks, Ben."

The old man didn't respond, he only exhaled in a long sigh, "I never dreamed things would get this bad, even when the League fell…"

"My Dad still tells me stories," Bart spoke up, "Of when he used to have his powers, when Aunt Dawn was still alive; were things really that much better?"

Ben chuckled for a moment, reminiscing, "Undoubtedly."

…

"That's how it was," Bart finished his story as he helped the recovering Jamie walk-off his disorientation, "Or how things will be; somehow the Reach get's you on mode and Blue Beetle becomes the biggest baddest big-bad in history."

Jamie groaned, "N-No… I w-wouldn't!"

"Except you do," Bart responded, cementing the truth in Jamie's head, "That's the real, well main, reason I came back to the past."

Jamie looked into Bart's eyes and saw the pain, the pure torture, of growing up through what he described, he couldn't deny it any longer, "To stop you from betraying the human-race and bringing on the Reach apocalypse."

…

Beast Boy, transformed into a gorilla, pounded his fists against the shutter that kept him from the fight he could so clearly hear going down on the other-side as M'gaan floated behind him groggily.

"Can you at least get the link back up?!" Beast Boy shouted telepathically before turning away, "Oh… whats going on in there!?"

Nightwing slammed his palms into the shutters, "No idea, I'm cut off aboard the Bio-Ship!"

Spiritus spoke up out of sight and within the battle-field, "We're fighting Black Beetle and Shimmer in the cargo-bay; it's an uphill battle, Superboy, Robin, and Batgirl are already dow- BEN LOOK OUT!"

Nightwing and Beast Boy nearly lost their balance as a massive shockwave rocked the entire underwater alien base; a few seconds pass as Spiritus came back online, sounding out of breath, "Ben is down too, It's just Wonder-Girl, Ken and I now!"

Beast Boy turned around and faced his adoptive sister with a frustrated grunt, "You have to get in there!" He shouted as the stunned M'gaan barely looked him in the eye.

"H-How?"

He slapped his hairy forehead, "Uhhh, density-shifting?"

She shook her head, "R-Right, I can still do that…" she stepped forwards putting her hands on the shutter, slowly melting through to the other side. When she opened her eyes, she found Black Beetle pinning Wonder-Girl up against the door; the Beetle raised his brow for a moment before slapping his palm against the wall. The door lit up bright blue and M'gaan shouted as though she'd been electrocuted, immediately passing out and slumping over limp.

Wonder Girl grabbed his wrist as he pushed against her chest with his hand, "What did you do to her?!"

He smiled looking down at the unconscious Martian, "I shifted the density of the door, wasn't expecting that, was she?"

"Bastard!"

"Don't be jealous," he leaned down closer to her, "I can put you halfway through the door too…" he lifted her up to eye level and swung her head first into the door, shaking the entire room, "Halfway… the hard way…"

Her eyes widened as he reeled back and slammed her back against the door once again, reaching back and repeating the process. Each echoing slam could be heard by multiple heroes but, none could move, none could still fight, "Agh! Agh! Agh!"

Virgil covered his eyes once again, not wanting to watch as he slowly cracked her head open, fearing what he would once he finished her off.

Cannonbolt shook off the stars he was seeing and focused in on the battle, realizing that Spiritus had been pinned against the wall by a large black staple, he looked toward the agonizing screams of Wonder Girl as she was bashed against the wall repeatedly, blood seeped from her skull dripping down the shutters slowly but, it seemed that her durability was still holding up well.

Cannonbolt rolled into an orb and spun in place screeching against the floor like tires as he took off, bouncing from one corner to another until he had enough momentum to successfully blindside Black Beetle. Wonder Girl flew through the air as Cannonbolt landed on his stubby feet, catching her before she hit the ground.

"Pick on someone your own…" Beetle easily recovered, getting to his feet, and towering four or five feet over Cannonbolt, "Size?" the Alburian-Pelarota gulped, taking a few steps back.

"With pleasure," Cannonbolt rolled up and narrowly dodged a blast of sonic energy that tore through the mechanics of the ground sending him off the ground with no traction, he lost Wonder Girl as she tumbled across the floor and into a wall, Cannonbolt landed about twenty or so feet from his father.

"This was… entertaining…" He pointed his cannon down at Cannonbolt as his Omnitrix flashed crimson, Black Beetle had never actually seen technology as advanced as this anywhere in the Universe, so he gave Ken the precious seconds he needed to transform back into himself, backing away in fear, "I suppose you could be used for experiments, maybe Scientist can figure something out for you."

Before he could fire his energy-weapon, a loud shout from across the room caught his attention, "Beetle!" Ben roared, standing to his feet, "That's my son, Beetle!"

"I never did understand meat and their need to reproduce," he shifted his cannon back into a fist and turned around, ignoring Ken entirely and sauntering back toward his new opponent.

Ben crossed his watches as emerald electricity sparked through them both exploding in a flash of green light; two sets of DNA merged together forming an indigo colored crystalline bulky humanoid body. Large jagged shards grew from his forearms, shoulder-blades, and back with smaller shards forming on his face around his singular eye.

"Oh, new guy, lets see," The new alien creature hopped in place as he shadowboxed a few jabs, "What do you call a Diamondhead and Chromastone? I guess Diamondstone is as good a name as any."

Black Beetle narrowed his eyes forming a sonic-cannon out of his left arm, like a cowboy in a western-movie, he didn't bother to aim the shot rather he focused on speed firing before his opponent had time to dodge. His efforts were futile as the sonic-attack hit Diamondstone in the center of his chest but, instead of damaging him the attack was absorbed directly into his body sending a surge of rainbow-shrouded energy through his veins, feeding into his arms.

"That felt good," Diamondstone didn't flinch as he looked himself over, "Let me show you what I mean!" He fired off a beam of energy identical to Chromastone's bouncing off of Black's defending forearm, barely burning his armor; he pushed through the beam and dispersed it, stomping as fast as he could at the alien meat.

…

Impulse and Jamie rounded the corner in haste, hearing and feeling the shockwaves as they made their way to the docking bay, they knew they didn't have a lot of time left. They spotted the shutter doors closed, Beast Boy still transformed into an ape, and M'gaan phased halfway through the door.

"Blue!" Beast Boy shouted reverting into his normal form, "Your evil twin is in there, we have to help!"

Jamie raised a brow, "Ugh," the light was too bright, and he was too malnourished, he couldn't fight right now, he wasn't even sure he could armor up, "Evil twin?"

"Black armor instead of blue, about nine-feet tall, looks like a gym-rat?"

Jamie remembered the jock version of himself from the laboratory, the one who seemed very keen on rebooting the Scarab and killing him; "I'll phase through, see what's going-"

"No, wait," suddenly, with a single mental command, the Scarab encased him in armor as though nothing had ever happened, "I think I can…" he placed his hand flat on the wall and closed his eyes, he wasn't sure what he was doing but once he'd touched the wall he'd felt like he had just been plugged into something much greater than himself. The shutters opened up one by one slowly letting M'gaan fall to her stomach as Beast Boy rushed to comfort her; Jamie watched through his armor as Black Beetle swung his beetle-horn blades clashing with long crystal-shards.

He stuck to the walls of the room, using them for support as he walked, he looked across the room and saw Virgil leaning up against the shutters that led to, what had to be, the Bio-Ship. He focused for a moment, not sure what he was trying to do, and the hand still planted on the wall reacted, obeying his commands and opening the hatch as the teenage spectator fell backwards into the ship.

Nightwing leaped over Virgil, directly into action, not sure what to expect as he sprinted towards the battle; it wasn't long before he could see the melee between two alien creatures going on in the docking bay and could see Barbara running toward him. She looked safe but, there was a large bruise on her head that would need treating.

"Hold up! Ben 10K is keeping Black busy; Impulse, Beast Boy, and I will drag everyone else into the Bio-Ship's hold," she grabbed his hands and clutched them in her own, "Once we're done, you need to be at the helm ready to make a fast exit, got it?"

Nightwing turned away in thought for only a second, "Right, execute," he turned on his heels back toward the ship as Barbara did the same toward the battle.

…

Diamondstone swung his bladed-arm over Black Beetle's head, whom ducked beneath his attack at the last second, sending a plasma blast into his chest while he had the chance. His crystal-body absorbed the attack but, still slid back on his feet from the sheer force. Black didn't hesitate as he jumped up and came down with all of his strength, slamming both fists into a crystalline-shield which formed unconsciously on Diamondstone's forearm.

The shockwave sent Barbara off balance as she helped get the heroes out of danger; Beast Boy in his ape form held Superboy, Spiritus, and M'gaan over his shoulder, Barbara held the injured Tim in her arms, Impulse helped Blue Beetle aboard, and Ken barely managed to carry Wonder Girl in his arms as she weighed so much more than he did with all of her muscle.

Black intertwined his fingers with Diamondstone's, pushing against him with all his strength but, this particular slab of meat happened to be quite physically strong. Beetle skated back on his heels for a second before regaining his balance and summoning a hammer-like apparatus from the waistband of his armor on either side. He used them to cave Diamondstone's abdomen in, cracking his crystal-structure with every blow, "I won't let you win!" a blast of cascading rainbow energy from his chest exploded pushing Black Beetle into the ceiling of the docking bay.

Shimmer coughed, having been knocked out by Batgirl, she looked around for a moment and used the wall of the alien-base as support, placing a hand flat against it. What she didn't expect, was a heated-sensation flowing through her palms, she looked a moment too late and was hit by a powerful surge of water from outside of the ship. She somehow managed to burn a whole straight through to the ocean.

Black landed on his feet, ankle deep in salt-water, as he formed a serrated beetle-horn blade out of his right hand; Diamondstone didn't hesitate to follow his example, forming a blade of his own. They clashed, blade against blade, just pushing with every ounce of physical strength to get even a small edge against the other. Diamondstone slashed against Black's armor with his other arm, front-kicking him in the chest onto his back while he attempted to recover, "It's over!"

The hole that Shimmer created was becoming stressed, the outer-rim of the metal cracked and shattered, letting in an even more massive amount of water, leading all the way into the Bio-Ship.

"Everyone is in except for Ben!" Barbara shouted at Nightwing who was ready to take off on a moment's notice.

M'gaan nearly whimpered with Ken standing next to her, "We have to go back in!"

"On it!" Bart shouted but, was only halfway there when the second surge of water hit and knocked him out cold, putting the water level nearly up to their waist in the Bio-Ship.

"Nightwing, seal the hatch, docking bay is flooding our hold!" Batgirl shouted.

"Acknowledged!"

Ken looked back over to Nightwing, "But, Dad!?"

"We can't help him if we drown! Or get crushed by the pressure at this depth!" Batgirl argued, it may not seem right but, it was the logical thing to do. With a single gesture, Nightwing sealed off the hatch, cut off the water, and detached from the alien-base altogether.

Diamondstone clashed blow for blow with Black Beetle, parrying away even his strongest attacks and reacting with precision until, he was blindsided by a plasma-weapon forming on his chest and firing. The energy was absorbed but, the brunt still knocked him into the far wall, next to the massive waves of water that flooded the room as they fought.

Black Beetle stood to his feet, jaw tight and teeth ground, he was furious that any for of sentient-life could match his armors skill and power; what could possibly be his secret? No time to wonder, he formed two large plasma-cannons in either arm and merged them together with the one on his chest. The resulting weapon was an eight-foot energy cannon pultruding from his chest like some sort of cheap anime weapon.

Diamondstone realized this would be challenging and braced himself, collecting all of the energy he had stored within his own body, and stretching both arms out, palms open, at Black Beetle.

Both beams of energy were immense, easily several feet thick and powerful enough to mow-down mountains; purple and rainbow neon power clashed with a shockwave following suit, they were evenly matched for nearly a full minute before the collision became unstable. A second shockwave, stronger than the first, formed between both clashing super-powers; exploding outward and sending Black Beetle into the far wall with a painful grunt.

Diamondstone flew through the hole in the hull of their ship, quickly falling toward the ocean floor due to his weight; Black Beetle shook his head and slapped his hand on the wall closing down the shutters on the flooding hole. Shimmer was faced down in the water next to him but, he didn't care; he stared intently at the where his opponent had escaped, seething with rage.

…

Outside of the base, the Bio-Ship was forced to maneuver around an overwhelming volley of energy attacks released from the base itself; their only advantage was that they were invisible in the waters but, the sheer amount of individual blasts was enough for it to be difficult to stay whelmed. They circled around toward the sea-floor with Superboy hanging from the ship by a cord, he barely managed to grab Diamondstone's thick arm before being pulled in. The Bio-Ship filtered them in with a bubble of water surrounding them, it popped with a splash of water getting on the bystander abductee's whom watched the heroes barely save their lives.

An explosion of emerald light signified Ben's transformation back into his human self, "Did anyone get the number of that… alien beetle?" he coughed up a bit of water as he held his head and stood.

"Mission accomplished, everyone," Nightwing announced, "Would you like to take the controls? Ms. M?" he looked over toward the rightful owner of Bio-Ship but, M'gaan hadn't even realized she was being spoken to, all she could focus on was what she had seen inside Kaldur's head, and what she did to him on her way out.

Beast Boy cleared his throat, "I think she's… still basking in the glow of victory, you should have seen how she nailed Aqualad, it was awesome!"

Nightwing narrowed his eyes at her, still staring out the window, "Actually, it didn't look like much but, I'm sure it was wicked inside their heads!"

Wonder Girl gasped suddenly, sitting up with a cold sweat as she looked around and realized she was safe aboard the Bio-Ship; with a glance around she realized her head had been resting in the lap of the Tennyson boy.

"Ken? Did we win?" She asked frantically.

He already had a hand on her shoulder, "Not really but, we completed the mission so, that's still a win in my book," He stood, helping her to do the same, "You took a nasty blow to the head."

She rubbed her still sore skull, "I recall a few nasty blows…" they chuckled in the light-heartedness of her joke, "I also recall someone saving my life."

"It was nothing," he rubbed his neck for a second, not realizing that she'd remember that, "I don't even remember why, I just did it, like it was instinct or something."

"Well, your instincts have peeked my interest," she giggled and grabbed his hand, grabbing a pen from a nearby compartment, she wrote seven digits on his palm in blue ink and he was so lucky he'd dried himself off already.

"Is this like an access code or something?"

She giggled with a hand out in front of her mouth, "It's my phone-number… Do you not have a phone? I was too busy trying to be smooth, I didn't even ask if you-"

He interrupted her with a chuckle, "I'll call you, then."

Crimson crept up her cheeks as she turned to avoid him seeing her blush, "Okay," she practically giggled, "I'll talk to you, then."

"Wait!" He shouted in a whisper, "What's your name? I mean your real name…"

She grinned inconspicuously, turned to face him, and tucked a stray-loch of blonde behind her ear, "Cassandra."

…

Watchtower; Orbit; April 3rd 2019; 5:46AM

"By now they'll have moved their ship, plus there's still the beetle connection to figure out but, you can tell the world they're here," Nightwing briefed Captain Atom via video call on last night's mission details, "Their secret invasion is no secret anymore."

"That," Aquaman spoke from behind, "Would be an understatement," he made his point by bringing up channel fifty-two, the national news with Cat Grant.

"Repeating today's top story; a small group of extra-terrestrials, the Reach, have arrived at the United Nations office in New York City, for more on this historic event, we go live to GBS's own G. Gordan Godfrey, Gordan?"

At the scene in the UN, Godfrey had his camera set up and a good shot of the Ambassador shaking hands with the President of the United States, "Thanks, Cat, and yes folks, it seems Earth has finally met some aliens who know how to do it right!"

Ambassador stood nearly a foot taller than the President but, still spoke softly for them all, "The Reach visit Earth as friends, we come with open arms, extending our hands, our reach if you will, to help."

"Well, thumbs up to the Reach," he looked into the camera and sighed, "Oh, I know what you're thinking, old G. Gordan has gone soft on the space-men? But, don't you see? This is exactly how aliens should come to Earth! Knocking on the front door, not sneaking in through the window! Like some Leaguers we know-"

"Mute."

Nightwing continued, "So, before we warn the public, they go public…"

"It could be worse," Aquaman sighed, "At least we know exactly where they are."

"That's right, we know what we're up against."

Little did they know, underneath the ocean, deep within the Mariana Trench; lie dormant thousands of insectoid war ships each larger than any man-made craft ever to exist.

…

Three things!

I have put major effort into Remastering this story, a lot of silly plot-holes, grammatical issues, and all-around bad story telling have been fixed and updated. I can guarantee that this story is a completely different one from when you started if you haven't checked back between Chapter 1 and 18. So go check it out and support the story, gratitude!

I forgot to stick Power Girl in here but, I'm glad I didn't because I'm thinking Black Beetle doesn't stand too big a chance against her.

Also, this is not Kenneth Tennyson from Ben 10; he's not ten years old or even close, he's more like fifteen but, he doesn't even know that obviously.

Read, Review, and Follow.