Chapter One:

'I never thought it would end like this.'

This was the last thing that went through the mind of Ethan Bennett as he was enveloped by an explosion of light.

Ethan Bennett, also known as the former super-criminal Clayface, had done a lot of good in his life. And a lot of harm as well. Ever since he had gotten his shapeshifting powers, he had struggled with his grip on sanity. It took much time, and many chances, but he had finally redeemed himself when he helped Batman, someone he had once admired before his descent into madness, defeat Basil Karlo, a man who had mutated himself into another Clayface. The fight helped prove that Ethan Bennett was once again on the side of good, but in defeating and curing Basil, Ethan had lost his own powers for good. Or at least, that's what he thought. While both Ethan and Basil were exposed to a gas-based cure, it's effects proved to be temporary. Five months after he was placed in Arkham Asylum, Basil Karlo had fully regained his powers, and broke out of the facility. It was around this time that Ethan regained his own powers, and while he was horrified when he had first received them, he had much better control over his mental health this time around, and was able to realize that if he had his powers again, it would only be a matter of time before Basil resurfaced.

Sure enough, Gotham City's vigilante protector, The Batman, paid Ethan a visit. Both to check on his mental state, and to ask for his help in recapturing Basil and dosing him with the cure once again. Ethan was more than willing to help, he felt partialy responsible for Basil becoming another Clayface. If he hadn't lashed out, and gotten help sooner, perhaps he would've been cured before Basil could have a chance to mutate himself. Ethan, along with Batman and his wards Robin and Batgirl, discovered that Basil had teamed up with the monstrously evil Joker. The two of them had overtaken a facility that had developed an interdimensional portal generator. The mad jester had planned on infecting the multiverse with the mutagen that had turned Ethan, and subsequently Basil, into Clayface. However, Joker had mixed the mutagen with his deadly Joker Venom, a toxin that would drive it's victims insane, before killing them via suffocation as a result of laughing madly until they died. Mixed with the mutagen, they would no longer need to breath air, and would thusly be mad monsters forever. Basil agreed to this plan, when Joker promised him that the Multiverse would know his name as the man who brought about it's doom. The fame-hungry Basil was all to eager to help. Acting as a bodyguard for the Joker, he was more than ready for Batman... too bad he forgot about Ethan. The two had fought before, and it had been a standstill. This time, the stakes were too high for Ethan to hold back. Basil was defeated, but not before he smashed the controls to the portal generator, causing it to overload. The heroes knew that the resulting explosion would be devestating to everything around it, but there was no time to try evacuating the area. Ethan however, knew there was one way to reduce the damage.

Ethan grew his clay body until he was large enough to surround the machine, ensuring that only he would be affected by the explosion. As Robin and Batgirl secured Basil and the Joker, Batman tried to convince Ethan that there had to be another way to stop the machine... but it was a mere three seconds after Ethan surrounded the machine that it exploded. A flash of light blinded the Batman, and when it cleared, Ethan and the machine were gone. The Batman hung his head in sorrow. While Ethan never got to know, Batman was secretly his best friend, Bruce Wayne. There was so much he had wanted to tell Ethan, that he was Batman, that he loved him like a brother, how proud of him he was for redeeming himself. Ethan had been haunted by his past misdeeds, Batman swore that all of Gotham City would know the heroic sacrifice made by Ethan Bennett. The only thing that broke the silence was the mad laughter of The Joker.

When the light cleared, Ethan didn't recognize his surroundings. He looked around him, he was alone, in some alleyway. Pieces of the machine were scattered around him, broken beyond repair. "Where am I? Batman! Can you hear me?"

"No, he cannot."

Ethan turned around to see who had spoken, and saw a man dressed in blue, sitting in a floating chair. Ethan morphed his arms into weapons, only for the man to hold up one hand.

"Hold, Ethan Bennett, I mean you no harm."

Ethan stopped his attack, but did not let his guard down. "Who are you? And where am I?"

"I am Metron. A New God. I have been waiting for you, Mr.Bennett."

Ethan was confused. "A God? Does that mean I'm-"

"You are not dead. Listen carefully, time is short. While you believe you had sacrificed your life, you were not incinerated, but transported. From your universe, to this one."

"Wait, I'm in another universe? Can you send me back?"

Metron shook his head. "That is beyond my power."

Ethan was alarmed by this news. "Are you saying I'm stuck here? That I can never get back?"

"I am saying that sending you back is beyond my power, not that it is beyond possible. However, I have forseen that while you are here, this Earth, this universe would benefit greatly from your help."

This made Ethan pause. If people needed his help, he wanted to provide it. "You're saying this Earth needs my help, what's this Earth like?"

Metron briefly paused before responding. "Similar to the one you hail from. It has masked heroes and villains, gods and monsters, good and evil. However, It's premiere heroes, the Justice League, have been captured by an invading alien force. They would benefit greatly from your help in escaping their confinement."

This was a lot for Ethan to take in, New Gods, alternate Universes, alien invasions. But Metron said people needed his help, and if Metron couldn't send him home, maybe this 'Justice League' could help him. Once Ethan collected his thoughts, he looked up at Metron. "Okay, where is this Justice League, and how do I get to them from here?"

Metron nodded in acceptance of Ethan's choice. "They are being held on a flying prison ship not far from here. It is the only large spacecraft near this area, so there should be no confusion. As far as how to get there, I leave that to you, Ethan Bennett. Farewell." With that, Metron disappeared in a small flash of light. Now alone, Ethan shapeshifted into his normal human form, and walked out of the alleyway. The first thing he noticed was the shocking amount of winged soldiers, carrying large rifles or bladed weapons. These must be the invading aliens. Ethan acted casual and tried not to draw attention to himself, observing and listening to everything happening around him. He managed to overhear a conversation that two of the soldiers were having.

"I don't understand why we bothered taking the Justice League in alive, why not eliminate the biggest threats to our mission?"

"You heard Lieutenant Hol, if we kill the planet's heroes, the people will revolt. We need to save our strength and ammunition for the Gordanians, not waste it on Earthlings."

"If you say so. Still, I think it best if one of us take a shuttle to the prison ship, no such thing as being too careful."

"Ugh, fine. If it'll make you feel better. I'll go to the shuttle and switch places with one of the rookies."

As one of the soldiers walked away, Ethan quietly followed him. Once they were at the shuttle, Ethan shifted his body into his Clayface form, and slithered like a snake into the shuttle. He then camouflaged himself to blend in with one of the shuttle's walls. The shuttle took off, and after a short flight, it landed aboard the prison ship. Before the soldier could leave, Ethan morphed his right hand into a large mallet and smacked him over the head, rendering him unconscious.

"Sorry, but unless you have a twin, It would be best if only one guy with your face was seen walking around." Ethan changed his appearance to perfectly match the unconscious soldier.

Ethan ten left the shuttle and proceeded to search the ship for the prison cells. It's not like he could just ask someone for directions, it was clear that the man he was impersonating knew where the cells were, so if he asked for directions it could draw suspicion to him and even blow his cover. So all he could do was search on foot, and hope he found the Justice League quickly.

Meanwhile, the Justice League sat in their containment cells, each of them restrained differently in accordance with their powers and abilities. Superman was restrained by his arms and placed under a lamp that projected red sun radiation, which took away his powers. J'onn J'onzz, The Martian, was restrained in a special containment field that negated both his shapeshifting and telepathic abilities. The Flash, the fastest man alive, was placed under an artificial gravity generator that kept him pinned to the floor. Batman had both of his hands encased in steel restraints and had all his equipment seized. Diana, the Wonder Woman, was bound to a support beam by her own indestructible lasso. And Green Lantern was in simple hand cuffs. Some of them were planning escape, others simply trying to keep their strength. One of them in particular was wallowing in sadness, hurt and regret. This was John Stewart, The Green Lantern. He had been the closest to the one who betrayed them all, Hawkgirl. While the others considered Shayera Hol their friend, John thought they had something more... his assumptions were proven false with a mace to the face. Now, stripped of his power ring, he sat in his cell wondering if every moment with Shayera had been a lie, if it was all just a mission to her. The person in the cell next to him was not nearly as conflicted. Diana of Themyscera was not feeling regret or sadness, only rage. She was angry with Hawkgirl for her treachery, angry with the thanigarian forces for invading, but most of all, she was angry with herself for ever trusting Hawkgirl.

Her thoughts of anger and revenge were interupted when the forcefield to her cell was deactivated, and a Thanigarian guard entered carrying a tray of disgusting food. He threw it to the floor, and Diana saw an oppertunity. This was a chance to escape, she just had to play her cards right.

She looked at the guard. "How am I supposed to eat with my arms bound like this?"

The guard shrugged and turned away. "Not my problem."

Diana continued. "It will be when Hawkgirl finds out you disobeyed her orders to see to our care."

This gave the guard pause, he turned around and picked up the tray. He walked over to feed the prisoner, but stopped suddenly. He took notice that her legs were not restrained, he realized that if he got too close, she could attack him. The look on her face as she realized he had caught on confirmed his theory. He smirked. "Nice try, Earthling. But we Thanagarians are not so easily fooled."

THWACK!!

The guard fell forward, unconscious, Standing behind him was another Thanagarian male, what stood out however, was that his left hand was shaped like a large grey mallet.

"Maybe not, but you sure are easy to sneak up on." The Thanagarian's appearance then changed to that of a tall grey humanoid, with a muddy texture and glowing green eyes. His voice was raspy, and almost had an echo to it. "I take it you guys are the Justice League?"

Diana was certainly not expecting this strange man, however, she knew that time was short, and while she wasn't sure if he was their ally, she could tell by his actions that he was no ally to the Thanagarians. "Yes, we are."

"Good, i've been looking for you guys." His hand then grew large as he smashed the controls to Diana's cell. This lowered the beam keeping her in place, but also set off an alarm, alerting the other guards to the escape attempt.

"Sorry, I had hoped to do this quietly, but I guess that's not an option anymore."

Diana grabbed her lasso, and the axe the unconscious guard had. "Don't worry about it. You free the others. I have some aggression I need to work out."

Ethan could tell it would be best not to argue, so he went cell by cell and freed the others. But, one cell gave him pause when he saw who was inside. "Batman?"

The dark knight looked at the man who stood outside his cell. He heard Diana escape and assumed this was who freed her. What had him curious was that the man somewhat resembled Clayface, a super criminal he fought in Gotham. But this couldn't be him for a few reasons. In fact, Batman had a theory as to who the man was. "Questions later, free me so I can help the others!"

Ethan focused. "R-right, sorry." Once he freed Batman, the entire league had been released and they fought swarms of hawk soldiers. The fight couldn't last forever, eventually one of the hawks blew a hole in the ship with a bazooka, which gave Ethan and the league the perfect oppertunity to escape.