Omniverse Earth-38

by choejhulkp9

The multiverse is a big, wide open space of possibilities. Think of them like snowflakes: they look similar but they're different enough. This earth is no different. A citizen of earth finds himself wielding the most powerful weapon in the universe. It stuck itself upon his wrist with secrets that it hid. Now he's got superpowers, he's no ordinary kid. He's...well, you get it.

6. A new Wonderous Superfriend

Here is Chapter 6 of Omniverse Earth-38. His team up with Batman, while great and did give the Dark Knight some newfound respect for Will's skill, also had some consequences aside from being put in the gunsights of Amanda Waller. An enemy from J'onn's home planet comes to earth so Will deals with it to keep J'onn's secret. After that the DEO then tracks down a Fort Rozz escapee who has a thing for plants and has taken refuge in a summer camp. Puts Jason Vorhees to shame. And to top it off, a plan to stop the Forever Knights from moving alien technology from Europe ends with Will crash landing on a magical hidden island and meeting a woman many would call Wonderous. Enjoy!

Omniverse Earth-38: A new Wondrous Super Friend.

Late June 2008: Blackgate Penitentiary, Gotham City

Blackgate Penitentiary was the prison in Gotham City where most of the thugs, goons, and non-diagnosed psychotic criminals were locked up. After the attempted breakout and riot where the criminals were left in charge, it was given a total overhaul curtesy of the Mayor's office with some financial support from Wayne Enterprises. It had some new residents as a result of the attempted breakout at Arkham Asylum which included Floyd Lawton, Digger Harkness, and Eric Needham. The three non-powered members of Task Force X were sent to Blackgate after they suddenly appeared at the GCPD. They were being held there until there transfer back to Belle Reve prison. Killer Frost, King Shark, and Harley Quinn were sent to Arkham Asylum since that facility had the means to keep them locked up.

Floyd Lawton was lying down on the cot in his cell, staring up at the ceiling while playing catch with a rubber ball. He was expecting him and the others to be sent back to Belle Reve prison soon enough. He was just glad that a prisoner hadn't attempted to kill him in the shower since the bombs in their heads were disabled by that new hero. Lawton owed him a favor so if he ever got a contract to kill him then he pay that favor and not take the case. Unless the money was too good to pass up.

"Lawton." Deadshot picked his head up to see a pair of guards at his cell door. "You have a visitor."

Deadshot got up from his cot and held his hands out so the guards could cuff him. He was escorted out of his cell where more guards were waiting before he was taken down the hall. He eventually made his way to the visiting area and brought to the plate glass windows with phones that let prisoners talk to their visitors. That's when Deadshot saw his 9-year old daughter Zoe wearing a lovely little dress and sweater. She was holding a new stuffed bear and next to her was a woman in a business suit with an older woman accompanying her. Deadshot sat down and took the phone as Zoe sat up and smiled at her daddy.

"Hey, sweat heart." He said and she smiled.

"Hi, daddy. How are you? I miss you." She said and he smiled back at her.

"I miss you too. I like your new bear." He told her.

"Thank you. His name is Mr. Wiggles. Nanna Vera gave him to me. She's really nice and so is Mrs. Thompkins." Zoe told him. "He wanted to meet you so we came to visit."

"That's nice, Zoe. Mr. Wiggles looks like a fun bear. Can I speak with the ladies now?" He asked and she nodded before handing the phone to them. Zoe got off the chair and sat down at a nearby table where she could play with her bear while the two woman sat down to speak with Deadshot. "Who are you people? Did Amanda Waller send you?"

"No, Mr. Lawton. I don't work with ARGUS. My name is Dr. Lee Thompkins and I'm a doctor at Gotham Central Hospital but I also work part-time at social services. Your daughter's file crossed my desk and considering your situation I thought that coming to see you about her settlement would be a good idea." Dr. Thompkins told him. (1)

"Her settlement?" He asked.

"With all due respect, Mr. Lawton, you are in jail for multiple accounts of murder. I'm not privy to the information that led you here to Blackgate when you were supposed to be in Belle Reve but that's beside the point. I was reading over your daughter's file and I believe I've found someone who is willing to look after her in the meantime." Dr. Thompkins handed the phone to the older woman with them.

"Hello, Mr. Lawton. I'm Vera Detmer." She introduced herself. "I've met your daughter. Zoe is a lovely young girl."

Dr. Thompkins took the phone back. "Mrs. Detmer is willing to look after Zoe while you are incarcerated. The paperwork is already being filed which will take some time but if you sign off on everything then this can go a lot easier."

"You're asking me to sign over custody of my daughter to someone I've never met." Deadshot pointed out.

"With all due respect, Mr. Lawton we're just trying to do what's best for Zoe. Considering your long list of charges, you'll be lucky to see your daughter when she turns 60. She needs to be look after and I know firsthand just how bogged down the foster care system is. Vera is willing to take care of Zoe and she's a good person. Plenty of excellent recommendations and she can give Zoe a good life." Dr. Thompkins told him. They continued talking about Zoe's new foster situation and Deadshot wasn't exactly happy with the arrangement. Sure, he was going to be in prison and wanted her taken care of but this would have Zoe move all the way to Arizona to stay with a retiree. And he couldn't be sure that this wasn't some elaborate plan thought up by Waller.

Eventually visiting time was over so Dr. Thompkins, Zoe, and Vera were asked to leave. Lawton was taken from the visiting area into another visiting room for low-risk inmates. The kind of meeting room with tables where the inmates could speak with their loved ones face to face. The guards walked out of the room, leaving Deadshot alone so he thought maybe this was where he would be taken back to ARGUS. The lights cut out for a moment but then came back on so he could see he wasn't alone. The armored figured who worked with Batman to stop them and then disarmed the bombs in their necks appeared in the room.

"Oh, it's you." Deadshot muttered. "I was expecting the Bat, not you Skullmaster."

"That's not my name."

"Well, the world thinks it is so I'd get used to it unless you plan to make a declaration and change it." Deadshot pointed out. "So, is this where you warn me to stay on the straight and narrow or else you'll see me again?"

"I could try but I doubt you'd listen. No, this is me wanting to know how your little visit with your daughter went."

Deadshot looked at him and started to connect the pieces. "You set that up, didn't you? Social services is never that quick."

"Right on target, Deadshot. Call it my act of mercy for your kid. She doesn't deserve to bounce around foster care. The woman Dr. Thompkins set her up with is just a regular old woman who's happy to help. And this way she's no longer a pawn Amanda Waller can use against you. ARGUS has its own problems to deal with and I can make sure she stays safe."

"Why? First you kept her from blowing my head off and now you're helping my daughter. What? Do you want something from me?" Deadshot asked.

"No. Call me old fashion but I don't have a taste for government agents threatening children. And as for the bomb in your neck, you may be a bad guy but no one deserves that. Plus, it's another way to stick it to Waller. She's gonna get what's coming to her soon enough."

Deadshot wasn't sure how to take that but whoever this guy was prevented his head from getting blown off and offered to keep his daughter safe. "Thanks, I guess. I owe you one. If I ever get a contract to kill you, I'll do you the curtesy and not take it. Can't say the same for the others though. Boomerang has been ranting on how he wants to kill you himself and Waller isn't someone you should mess with. She's gonna come after you."

"Let her try."

The lights then cut out and turned back on to show the armored vigilante was gone. "He's good." Deadshot muttered as the guards came back in and took him back to his cell.

Will was flying through the air in his armor making his way from Blackgate prison and landed on the rooftop of a building. His wings retracted into his armor as he walked over to the edge to watch a car park nearby. Dr. Thompkins got out with Vera and Zoe and the two went into a Big Belly Burger for dinner. Will watched everything as the HUD in his helmet enhanced the view to give him a better look. Zoe seemed happy and his grandma really liked her. He was just glad that his dad was able to talk to her and get her to help. Zoe's dad may be an assassin but she was just a kid. If things went well then Zoe would go live with Vera in Arizona and Max would have some nearby DEO agents look after her every now and then.

Will was brought out his train of thought when he heard the flutter of a cape behind him. He turned to see Batman land on the roof. "I was wondering when you would know I was here." Will said, deactivating his voice modulator since Batman already knew who he was.

"I've known you were in Gotham for a while. You didn't think Dr. Thompkins took Zoe Lawton's case pro-bono, did you?" Batman pointed out. (2)

"I knew something was up but she was clean and wasn't ARGUS. Guess being Batman it must pay to have a doctor on call. You trust her?" Will wondered.

"I trust her enough. You think it was a smart idea getting your grandmother mixed up with this?" Batman asked him.

"All she knows is she's helping a young girl live a normal life. My dad was discreet and she'll have some DEO agents checking up on her. Zoe's just a kid and doesn't deserve to be threatened by Waller just so she can keep her Suicide Squad up and running." Will stated. He wasn't able to read Batman's facial expressions but given that he did get Doctor Thompkins to help with her case then he must have felt the same way. "Guess we're just a bunch of softies underneath these masks, aren't we?"

"You should be careful in picking your fights. I don't like what Waller's doing either but messing with her isn't a smart idea." Batman warned her.

"Well, I've never been one to back down from a fight. And if Waller wants to mess with me then let her try. I've got enough saved up to bury her." He stated when they heard the sound of gunfire in the distance. "Looks like something's going on. You need any—"

Will turned only to see Batman was gone. That's when he heard the roar of an engine and saw the Batmobile drive down the street to the source of whatever was going on. "He's not one for finishing conversations, is he?" He activated his voice modulator and flight wings before taking off after him.

The source of gunfire in the distance was actually a firefight taking place by the docks at the Kirby Imports and Exports warehouse which was a front for Black Mask's criminal organization. He controlled part of the goods being shipped and smuggled into Gotham and had it protected with a dozen of his subordinates and hired muscle. Attacking said warehouse was a new gang that had started to rise up in Gotham led by someone named Scarface. No one really knew who he was. Only that he had managed to round up some men to work for him and now they were making a play for one of Black Mask's warehouses. Whoever Scarface was he was either incredibly cocky, brave, or stupid to mess with Black Mask.

The guards out front of the warehouse were quickly dealt with by a surprise attack and the rest retreated inside for cover. Four sedans drove up to the warehouse and 20 of Scarface's goons got out armed with assault rifles, shotguns, or pistols. A Cadillac drove up to the warehouse belonging to Scarface himself which meant the boss was here.

"Hey, boss. You sure you want to be here for this? We can handle this." One of the goons said as the door opened out to show a rather unassuming and meek 35-year old man with partial baldness. He had on brown shoes, slacks, a white button-up shirt, a brown sweater vest, a plaid business jacket on top, a bowtie, and a pair of glasses to complete the look. This was Arnold Wesker and he wasn't exactly someone you'd think was the leader of a gang. (3)

"Yeah, I want to be here." They heard someone say in a Chicago-style, Italian-American accent as Arnold closed the door to reveal he was holding a ventriloquist dummy in his hands. The dummy itself was dressed up like a Prohibition-era gangster complete with the fedora and everything but with an Uzi-submachine gun in one of its hand. The other distinguishing feature about the dummy besides its already creepy design was the long scar that ran down the right side of his face. This was Scarface and the leader of the gang. Arnold Wesker was just the Ventriloquist. (4) "It's time for Black Mask to get the hint and move out of Gotham. Once he's done with then we can move on to the rest of those mooks. Blast those doors open."

"You got it, boss."

Black Mask's men inside the warehouse were taking up defensive positions with whatever they had on hand. Lucky for them the warehouse had some heavy weapons for them to use including some RPGs so they were ready for whatever was coming. The large double doors of the warehouse were blown open by C4 charges and in walked Scarface and his gang.

"Knock-knock, you mooks! This warehouse doesn't belong to Black Mask anymore. Now, it belongs to Scarface!" The dummy declared. Black Mask's men inside the warehouse looked on in confusion as they saw they were being attacked by a gang led by a Ventriloquist puppet. "Now, if you do the smart thing and surrender, maybe I'll let you all live and work for me! If not, then you're swimming with the fishes!"

"Eat shit, puppet!" One of Blask Mask's men shouted and a firefight began. Scarface fired a barrage from his Uzi as Arnold Wesker rushed behind a crate for cover. Scarface's men quickly spread out and began exchanging gunfire with Black Mask's men all over the warehouse, riddling crates with bullets and ruining a lot of expensive merchandise.

"I want these idiots dead!" Scarface shouted, shooting more bullets with his Uzi from behind a crate when his ammo clip ran empty so he pushed it into Arnold's face. "Reload this, you dummy!"

"Yes, sir." Arnold quickly reloaded the Uzi as fast as he could but the bullets whizzing all around him wasn't helping.

One of Scarface's men reloaded his AK-47 assault rifle and peaked his head out from the crate he was hiding behind before quickly moving to his left to hide behind a forklift. That's when he noticed a shadow move over him from above so he looked up only for a fist to knock him out and drag him away. A goon with a shotgun saw his friend suddenly vanish but was then hit in the back of the head by a metal bird-shaped boomerang which dazed him before a metal wire snagged him by the belt and yanked him into the air.

Black Mask's lieutenant in charge of the warehouse peaked his head out of the second floor office and saw one of the guys get pulled into the air and knew who was responsible. "Shit, Batman's here! Get the merchandise out through the back! Take the boat!" He shouted so four guys grabbed two large cases from the giant safe and proceeded to head to the back when something exploded in front of them and produced a large plume of smoke. They pulled out their guns and fired blindly into the sky only for a round metal shield to fly at them. It hit each of them in the face before ricocheting off and embedding itself in the door of the office. "What the hell's that?"

"Since when does the Bat use a shield?" The lieutenant asked only for an armored figure to crash through the window of the office and knock him to the ground. It wasn't Batman but Will in his armor.

"Who said I was Batman?" He asked as the lieutenant pulled out a pistol and fired a few shots that bounced off his armor. Will charged forward and push kicked the guy in the stomach before landing an uppercut that knocked him onto the desk. He then knocked him out with a headbutt and grabbed his shield off the door before taking on the rest of Black Mask's men who were trying to escape.

Batman dropped down from the ceiling, landing on one of Scarface's goons and knocked him out before rushing forward and vaulting over a crate to kick another goon in the face. When he vaulted over the crate he attached a small box to the side that locked into place before it shot out a harpoon that hooked into a pillar. The motors in the box then pulled on the cable so the box flew to the harpoon and ended up smashing into four gunman, knocking out two of them and disorientating the other two. Batman leapt forward to punch the first gunmen in the face and disarmed him before using the assault rifle as a bat and smacked the second gunmen across the jaw. The first gunmen grabbed Batman from behind only to get his arm broken, an elbow to the jaw, his right leg kicked out and then thrown to the ground where he was knocked out by an elbow to the back of the neck. The second gunmen pulled out a pistol only for a bird-shaped boomerang to knock it out of his hand, allowing Batman to isolate and break his right arm before punching his head into the ground.

Some of Scarface's remaining men grouped up and fired at Batman only for him to roll to the side and throw a batarang before he kept running. The batarang flew through the air and then exploded in a bright flash of light and ear-ringing sound. That allowed him to close the distance and disarm two of the gunmen incredibly quickly before kicking one back and elbowing another in the face. He grabbed one guy by the arm and pulled him close for a rising elbow strike to the face before landing a palm strike to his throat and rolling to the ground while grabbing the man's leg before breaking it. Batman then spun around and cape whipped another goon in the face before landing several quick punches, jabs, and strikes to his face and body before landing a jumping back kick that sent him flying.

Batman proceeded to beat up some of the other goons, unaware that one off to the side was lining up a shot with his rifle when a harpoon cable wrapped around his gun and hands before yanking him up into the air. As the thug was lifted into the air, a caped figure dropped from the ceiling carrying a grapple gun and landed in a crouch. The new assailant was wearing a pair of heavy duty black combat pants and boots, armored leg greaves, a yellow utility belt and forearm bracers, a red and black combat suit made up of a special Kevlar carbon fiber material with a stylized R symbol over the heart, a domino mask over the eyes, and a black cape and hood that was covering his head. It was Robin, the boy wonder. (4)

"Shit, it's Robin!" One of the goons shouted as Robin pulled out a small pipe that extended out into a metal bo staff. He punched and kicked two of the goons while using his bo staff to add in his attacks. He spun it around his back and brought it across his body in a low sweep, knocking two guys down before using it as a pole and flipped forward onto their stomachs. He then smacked them both across the face before pressing a button on his staff causing several metal plates to extend and create a small ballistic shield that protected him from a barrage of bullets.

"Eat shit and die, Bird Boy!" The thug shouted when his Uzi ran out of bullets. Robin rolled to the side and threw a small metal sphere at the thug. It stuck to his chest and exploded in a bright flash of light and stunned him, allowing Robin to close the distance. He slid in between the thug's leg and tripped him onto his face before landing a knee strike to the side of his head that knocked him out. Batman disarmed the last thug before throwing a tornado kick feint into a push kick that knocked him further back when Robin came in from the side with a flying drop kick to the face. The impact sent him crashing into a crate. That's when they heard glass breaking and saw two of Black Mask's men get thrown out of the office windows on the second floor and land on some storage crates. Will jumped off the second floor railing and landed in a roll before throwing his shield. A thug had gotten back up and aimed a shotgun at the dynamic duo only for a shield to hit him square in the face and knock him out, ricocheting through the air before Batman caught it.

"Nice catch." Will told him as he walked over when they heard a click and turned to see Arnold Wesker walk over to them. He was holding onto Scarface who had a grenade launcher aimed at them.

"Drop the shield, bat." Scarface ordered so Batman did as he was told and dropped it to the ground. "I let you take out all these idiots to get you right where I wanted you."

"You two see the dummy, right?" Will asked them. Scarface heard that and he wasn't exactly pleased with that remark.

"Excuse me?! Do I look like a dummy to you? Do I look stupid to you?! Am I a moron?!" Scarface shouted in anger as Arnold's finger closed in on the trigger of the grenade launcher. Batman looked over at Will who subtly gestured down to his shield. "Just for that remark I'm gonna use your stupid Halloween mask as an ash tray! Am I A DUMMY NOW?!"

"Yeah, with your ventriloquist's hand up your ass." He remarked as Batman kicked the shield up into the air. That allowed Will to grab and then throw it at Scarface. Arnold quickly ducked so the shield went over his head.

"Ha, you missed moron!" Scarface taunted only for the shield to ricochet off a beam and bounce back where it struck Arnold in the back of the head. The impact knocked him unconscious and when he fell to the ground he dropped the grenade launcher and Scarface. The shield ricocheted off the wall and flew back into Will's hand who put it on his arm and retracted it into his armor.

Robin walked over and placed some handcuffs on Wesker as Batman and Will walked over to the Scarface puppet. "I don't miss." Will said when he realized what he just did. "I just tough talked a puppet. This is so weird."

"You get used to it." Robin assured him, giving Will's armor a glance. "So, you're Skullmaster?"

"Despite what Cat Grant and Catco media say, that's not my name." Will declared.

"Well too bad for you because I'm pretty sure it's stuck now. As someone who goes by Robin, trust me you get used to it." Robin said before looking over at Batman. "Although I have been thinking about changing it to Red Robin. What do you think, Batman?"

Batman just gave him a look before directing his gaze to Will. "Black Mask's men?"

"Knocked out and tied up. They were trying to move two crates of gold bars to the back." He answered.

"GCPD has long thought that Black Mask has been using other means to pay for the heavy weapons and gear he gets smuggled into the city. That gold could be the thing to shut this down. Good work." Batman told him.

"How about that? You've earned praise from him. I didn't think that was possible." Robin pointed out. "So, what's with the surprise team up? You moving to Gotham or something?"

"Just checking up on something—" Will stopped when his HUD alerted him of a weird energy signature nearby. He had his HUD tap into a nearby DEO satellite to lock onto the signal and it was coming from Gotham but the signature wasn't anything human. He locked onto the signal and it was heading to the Gotham Natural History Museum.

"Um, is he ok?" Robin wondered.

"I've got to go." Will extended his flight wings and flew away as fast as he could.

"What was that?" Robin asked Batman.

"Nothing good." Batman replied.

At the Gotham Natural History Museum many of Gotham's elite, influential and powerful were there in celebration for a new donation to their ancient history's exhibit. It was the usual pomp and circumstance for the city. Of course, there were other people in attendance like the mayor, city councilors, other business leaders and such but the entire affair was just a slog. Among the attending was Gotham City Police Commissioner Jim Gordon and his teenage daughter Barbara Gordon. (6)

Honestly Barbara was just bored and she was only dressed since her dad was here as police commissioner. She half-heartedly clapped along with everyone when the Mayor finished his speech before glancing to the side and could have sworn she saw a large white creature in the corner with glowing pale eyes. A waiter walked past her, obscuring her view for a bit but when the waiter was gone the creature was nowhere to be found.

"Barb…" She turned and saw her dad looking at her. "You ok?"

"I just…I thought I saw something." She said when all of a sudden one of the mayor's bodyguards was thrown to the air and crashed through a table. A second was yanked up like something grabbed him and a white, monstrous figure shimmered into view before letting out a ferocious roar. Everyone screamed in horror and ran for their lives as the white creature threw the bodyguard he was holding into one of the museum displays. It began moving around at super speed, knocking around other security guards and police officers.

"Barbara!" Commissioner Gordon pulled out his spare service revolver and grabbed his daughter before leading her outside when the white monster suddenly appeared in front of them. Gordon raised his revolver and fired a few bullets at the monster only for it to knock them away. It raised its arm to hit them when Will crashed down through the ceiling and tackled it. He pushed its face into the floor as he pushed it away before rolling forward and throwing it into a wall. The creature got back to its feet and growled in anger. Will instantly recognized what it was and it wasn't a monster but an alien. It was a White Martian and the reason he recognized it was because of a memory he saw when he and J'onn did the Martian mind-meld.

The White Martian charged at him but Will activated his shield and slid forward, ducking under its swing and hit it in the side before climbing onto its back and bashing it on the head. The White Martian managed to grab him by the arm and threw him into the catering table that had a giant ice sculpture and Flambé station. The ice sculpture landed on Will but his crash into the table caused a propane leak that sparked, causing a spew of fire to come out. That caused the White Martian to back away in fear. Will pushed the ice sculpture off him and saw the White Martian recoil at the fire so he grabbed the gas line and held it forward like a flame thrower. The White Martian roared in anger before it ran to the exit.

"Dammit!" Will kicked his shield up into his hand and ran after the White Martian. He heard a loud crash and more screaming which was because the White Martian ended up smashing through the doors to get outside. He rushed out of the museum and saw the terrified looks of bystanders and museum guests along with the paparazzi. He looked around and his HUD scanned the entire area to try and get a lock on the White Martian but it was gone. His scan gave him nothing which meant it had left the area. "Shit…"

He activated his flight wings and flew away to try and track it down. GCPD backup soon arrived to secure the area and talk with the people who witnessed the events. Vicky Vale and the other Gotham City news reporters were quick to report on the appearance and attack of a mysterious monster at the Museum fundraiser. There were miraculously no fatalities but several injuries and some damage in the museum. Commissioner Gordon finished speaking with some of his detectives before he walked over to check up on his daughter.

"Barbara, you ok?" he asked and she nodded.

"Yeah, I'm fine. What was that thing, dad?" Barbara wondered.

"I don't know, sweetie. I've seen a lot of things but never that." He admitted before giving her a kiss on the cheek. She got into a squad car and one of Gordon's men gave her a ride home since he'd be staying awhile. He walked back inside the museum to see the CSU team going through evidence. "Bullock, status update?"

"No deaths. Two of the mayor's security guards were hurt pretty bad with a few broken bones but they're all right at Gotham General. Mayor's safe too and under police protection. Everything else is just minor or superficial wounds." Detective Bullock answered. "I got no idea what that thing is but if it was here to kill someone then it didn't do a good job. Still got now clue on what that thing was or who it was after. And we've also got that shield using guy, uh…Skullmaster. You think the Bat's got a new sidekick?"

"He's not with me." They heard and turned around to see Batman. "But he knew something was going on."

"Any idea on what that is? That thing attacked this event and I'm inclined to think it was after the Mayor since it attacked his bodyguards but after that it just started attacking people in the crowd." Gordon told him.

"You're right. It's pattern doesn't suggest a clear target." Batman said as some lenses came down over the eyes in his cowl and activated his detective vision allowing him a better view of the area and all evidence.

"Nothing was reported stolen from the museum although some stuff was broken and destroyed." Gordon informed him.

"Anything else?" Batman asked him.

"Yeah. When your armored friend arrived, he scared it off with some fire. Whatever that thing was, once it saw that it started to freak out and ran off." Gordon informed him and Batman nodded.

"Don't worry, Jim. I'll handle this." Batman assured him before leaving.

Line Break xxxxx

Gotham City

Will searched the entire city for the White Martian but it clearly learned how to hide itself and considering that it could shapeshift, it had likely disguised itself as a human to hide in plain sight. He stopped on the roof of a building after a few hours of searching to video call Director Henshaw and let him know. He above anyone else deserved to know what was going on.

"Are you positive about what you saw?" J'onn asked him, having moved to one of the training rooms so he and Will could talk in private.

"Yeah, I'm sure J'onn. I remember what it looked like from your memories. It was a White Martian, I'm sure of it. And it was as angry and ugly as your memories made it seem. The scanner in my suit picked up something odd and I followed it to the museum where it began attacking people. No one was killed but after I cornered it with fire it ran away. I've tried looking for it but it's hiding. I've got no idea where it is now." He told J'onn and could see how haunted he was to know that a White Martian was here on earth. "J'onn, you ok?"

"No but knowing what it is will give us a chance to stop it. This will be a very difficult fight. This thing is devoted solely to the purpose of killing me and my kind. It'll be back." J'onn knew he was right.

"But it attacked a fundraiser?" Will pointed out.

"Make no mistake, Will. It's here for me. As Martians, we not only share our abilities to shapeshift but we share a link. If I assume my true form or reach out to it with my mind it knows. It must have sensed me when I used my powers to train you and attacked those people to draw me out." J'onn stated but something didn't track. If it was here for J'onn then it would have attacked National City and not a fundraiser in Gotham on the other side of the country. That's when Will realized what it was doing in Gotham.

"J'onn, it's not here for you…it's here for me." Will corrected him.

"What do you mean?" J'onn asked when he realized what he meant. "You turned into your Martian form, didn't you?"

"I had to. I needed to use Manhunter's telepathy to figure out what Riddler knew and erase his memory. It must have picked me up when I used my telepathy which is why it came to Gotham. It if picked you up it would have gone to National city." He said and let out a sigh of frustration in himself. "That thing attacked the fundraiser to try and draw me out."

"Most likely. We need to find this thing before it hurts anyone else. I'm coming with a containment team to Gotham." J'onn informed him.

"J'onn, no you can't come. If you do then it might be able to sense you and who knows what could happen." Will warned him as he saw how all of this was bringing up bad memories. "I get how badly you want this thing to pay for what it did to your people, believe me I get it better than anyone. I felt what you did during the mind meld but if you come and get exposed then Hank Henshaw is done. I brought this thing here so let me make it right."

"Will, I can't ask you to do that. This thing is here for me." J'onn reminded him.

"Actually, it's here because of me and my dad also taught me to clean up my messes. This one is mine. Just send a DEO containment team with those ion-blocker headsets to keep their minds safe as well as a spare one to negate the Martian's telepathy. Tell them I found a rogue Alien in Gotham and need a containment crew. I promise I'll bring this thing in, J'onn." He swore and J'onn nodded before they ended the communication line.

He heard the flutter of a cape nearby and the zip of a grapple line. He turned to see Batman and Robin swing down and land on the roof. "What was that thing that attacked the museum?" Batman questioned him.

"Nothing good." Will replied, activating his voice modulator. "But it wasn't there for the mayor or anyone on the city council. It's not even here for anyone in Gotham. It's here for me."

"We've never seen that thing before today. How did it get here? Better yet, where did it come from?" Robin asked him.

"It's a bit complicated. Look, Batman, I'm sorry for bringing it here but I'll take care of it. It's probably better if you don't get involved." Will said only for Batman to walk up to him.

"What do you mean it was here for you?" Batman asked him in a deeper and more serious tone.

"Good luck trying to get Batman to back down. It'd probably be easier to fly to the moon." Robin pointed out and Will was inclined to agree. Despite their limited time together he got the feeling that Batman wasn't someone to let things go and allow someone else to handle things, especially in his own city. He was the Batman after all. This probably broke some kind of DEO code but considering Batman knew who he was and what he did, he figured he would eventually piece this thing together or track him down when he went to fight the White Martian. No sense in lying to him.

"It wasn't intentional." He assured Batman. "After we settled things with ARGUS, I snuck into Arkham Asylum and paid Riddler a visit to see what he knew about Waller and erase part of his memory."

"You used one of your aliens and it sensed you. What kind of alien is this thing?" Batman asked him.

"A White Martian and it's appearance can basically tell you all you need to know about it." Will took out the Proto-box and projected a holographic image of the White Martian taken from the footage his HUD recorded. "It's ferocious, angry, and every bit the monster it looks like with an attitude to match and probably a low opinion on species it views as inferior. It sensed me when I had to use my Green Martian form on Riddler and came to draw me out."

"Strengths and weaknesses?" Batman questioned.

"Superhuman strength, speed, durability, intangibility, invisibility, shapeshifting, telepathy, and telekinesis. It's powerful but it does have one weakness and that's fire. When I approached it with fire it ran away in fear. That's how we stop this thing." He answered.

"Whoa, hold on a second. A White Martian as in like Mar's Martian?" Robin asked.

"Yes. There used to the Green Martians on Mars." Will pressed a button on his Proto-box to show them the DEO file image of his Martian form, Manhunter. "The Green Martians were a peaceful race and lived in harmony when the White Martians came up from deep in the planet and nearly wiped out the entire species. When I first unlocked my Martian form I was able to sense what they had done…and it's beyond words to describe. They're ruthless, cruel, and view themselves as superior which means they have no problem killing anything they view as lesser."

"Geez. And this thing is in Gotham?" Robin didn't want to think about how bad things would be if they didn't stop it soon.

"I assume the DEO is already on its way." Batman said to Will.

"They're on their way with a containment team so I just need to find this thing before they get here or it hurts someone. It attacked the fundraiser to try and draw me out because it think's there's a Green Martian here." He answered.

"That gives us the advantage. If this thing is here for you then we can use that to trap him before it attacks again." Batman planned out.

"We just need someplace isolated where no one can get hurt and it can't run away. Got anyplace like that in the city?" Will wondered.

"It's Gotham. I think we can find one." Robin assured him.

Half an hour later…

The light from the moon and nearby neon signs or street lamps illuminated a caped figure with a pointy-ear bat cowl jumping from rooftop to rooftop. It wasn't Batman as the figure was too short but it moved with some grace and agility. Said figure pulled out a grappling gun and used it to swing across a wide intersection before landing on a rooftop. A nearby lit billboard shined a light on the figure to reveal it was Batgirl, another one of Gotham City's vigilantes. She was wearing a black combat suit with yellow thigh-high combat boots/heels, a yellow utility belt, yellow forearm gauntlets and spikes, a yellow Bat-symbol on the chest, a black and yellow cape, and a pointy-ear cowl. (7)

Beneath the cowl of the Batgirl suit was actually Barbara Gordon, Commissioner Gordon's daughter. Batman inspired her when she met him on Christmas years ago. He was stopping the Joker and his eight assassins when he was masquerading as Black Mask. That was back when most of the city still considered the Batman to be an urban legend. She actually met him that night when he broke into the GCPD to track down Joker and a few years later took up the Batgirl mantle to try and help the city. Granted, Batman didn't exactly like her out in the city when she started but after attending a ball at Wayne Manor with her dad and managing to hack into his internet system and finding the Batcave, she earned his respect. He then took her on as a partner and she frequently worked with him and Robin. That gave her better training and access to a better suit and gadgets.

She was out in the city to try and find the monster that attacked the museum fundraiser. She took out her remote hacking tool and connected to museum's security system to watch the security cameras and see if she could find a clue. After easily hijacking into the museum's security system she began playing the footage back to see everything that happened. The creature or whatever it was shimmered into view after attacking the mayor's bodyguards and then fought with the armored vigilante from National City. She rewound the footage to several minutes before the attack because she saw something out of the corner of her eye before the attack started and it looked like the creature that appeared. She applied a spectrum filter of the footage to pick up anything out of the ordinary and when she played the footage again she saw a pair of glowing pale eyes move around the crowd of people. She was pulled out of her little investigation when she heard a loud crash in the distance so she put her remote hacking tool away and used her grapple gun to swing away.

She glided down to the street near an alley with signs of destruction like something tore through the place with plenty of injured people on the ground and sidewalk. She walked over and saw an injured man in a business suit on the ground. "Help…"

Batgirl rushed over and turned him over to check for any kind of injury but didn't see anything wrong with him. "Sir, what did this to you? Did it look anything like this?" She showed him an image of the monster from the museum when she saw some bystanders nearby. That's when she saw the same man in the same business suit in the crowd of bystanders with his wife and daughter. She looked down at the injured man who quickly dropped the face of pain and replaced it with a menacing smirk complete with glowing pale eyes.

"Help." It said before grabbing her by the throat and throwing her into a light pole. She hit the ground and held her side in pain as she saw the injured man get back to his feet and morph his body into the monstrous white creature from the museum. Everyone nearby ran away in terror as it let out a roar before grabbing Batgirl by the throat and holding her up. "Where is the Green Martian?! Save yourself the pain and tell me where it is!"

"Go to hell!" Batgirl told it off.

"The Green Martian is the last surviving insect my people wiped out centuries ago but you…" The White Martian sniffed her face in disgust. "Humans…are not even insects. You're dirt. But will make fine bait."

"You don't want her. You want me." The White Martian heard via a telepathic message that it picked up. It's pale eyes began glowing and it dropped Batgirl to the ground. "I know you can hear this telepathic message."

"There you are. I was beginning to wonder what extremes it would take for me to get you to show yourself. You didn't make tracking you easy but then again where should I have expected insects to flee? Right to the garbage." The White Martian messaged back.

"This ends tonight. Leave the human alone and you can have me. North of the city. Dixon Docks by the water. You'll find me there." The Green Martian said.

The White Martian looked at Batgirl and smirked. "Guess you're no longer bait."

A few moments later…

Manhunter was standing in the abandoned Dixon Dockyards by the water in the northwestern part of the city. He paced around for a bit until a loud whoosh of air was heard and the White Martian landed nearby with Batgirl in its grasps. "I told you to leave the human alone." The Green Martian said in its native language.

"Insurance incase you thought of trying to trick me." The White Martian said back before dropping Batgirl on the ground. It tried to read his mind but wasn't able to. "Your mind is blocked to me. It matters not. This human is but one in a city of millions. Surrender or they all die."

That's when a series of flood lights turned on and momentarily blinded the White Martian. Manhunter then flew forward and tackled the White Martian away from Batgirl and slammed it into an old ship docked nearby. "You won't harm anyone ever again!"

He punched it in the face three times before the White Martian punched him back and flew straight up. Manhunter flew after it and the two engaged in an aerial battle while Batman and Robin grappled down and helped Batgirl. "What are those things?" She asked them.

"Long story." Robin answered as they watched Manhunter fight with the White Martian in the air. It kicked him away but Manhunter flew back at full force and punched it in the chest before landing a powerful uppercut that sent it skyward. He stretched out one of his arms and grabbed it before pulling it back and punching it down to the water. Manhunter flew down and fought the White Martian in the waters of Gotham bay before he was sent flying out of the water and landed back on the docks. He groaned in pain as the White Martian leapt out of the water and landed near him. It's face was bleeding and it has several large bruises all over its body but Manhunter was looking just as bad. The White Martian wiped its face of its purple blood before it stalked over and grabbed Manhunter by the throat and hoisted him up.

"And so, ends the life of the last Green Martian. All alone and hiding on a planet of maggots." The White Martian taunted as Manhunter grabbed the arm that was holding him up.

"Humans are much more craftier then you think." Manhunter said in English before punching both sides of his wrist which made him let go before quickly moving around the White Martian and kicking the back of both legs so it fell to its knees and then putting it in a rear-naked choke. "NOW!"

Several batarangs were thrown and landed around them. They were beeping and had blinking lights in the center that stopped before exploding. At first it seemed like Batman missed but the explosions caused by the batarangs ignited trails of fuel that turned into trails of fire. It wasn't gasoline or oil since there wasn't a smell but actually a special kind of solvent that burned twice as hot as regular accelerants. The trails of fire spread and quickly surrounded Manhunter and the White Martian, trapping them both in a ring of burning fire 8ft high. Both Martians began to feel the ill effects of the intense heat. Their skin started to burn and it felt like their insides were boiling alive as the fire affected them both physically and psychologically, rendering them incapable of using their abilities. Will had felt some burns in the past like when he accidently touched the handle of a hot pan but this kind of pain was indescribable. It felt like his insides were at war with one another while someone took a red hot poker to his brain. He managed to punch the White Martian in the back of the head before they both fell to the ground.

"My death…is m-meaningless…but yours? T-the…last…Gree-Green Martian…dies…tonight." The White Martian declared as Manhunter managed to roll to his side and move his hand up to the Omnitrix emblem on his shoulder guard. He didn't have the strength to push it so he instead rolled his body forward so that his shoulder touched his hand. He transformed in a flash of green light and in place of Manhunter was now Heatblast. The White Martian looked in stunned awe and confusion as he saw the Pyronite suddenly appear. Heatblast got up onto his feet and raised his hands which caught on fire.

"I'm not the last Green Martian." He put his hands together and formed a giant fireball before throwing it. It hit the White Martian and send it skidding across the ground like a ragdoll as it let out a guttural roar of pain. It slumped to the ground in a weakened state as Heatblast walked over to it. He clenched his fists as a part of him was tempted to let it die via the flame exposure. Batman was nearby and saw Will walk up to the White Martian. Hr slowly reached for a batarang thinking that he might kill it but stopped when he saw Heatblast raised his arms and absorb the fire around them. The flames were absorbed into Heatblast's hands, making him stronger and feel better with all that was left were burn trails. The White Martian picked its head up and glared at the Pyronite in anger only for Heatblast to punch it across the face and knock it out. "And no one dies tonight."

Batman, Robin, and Batgirl swung down next to him as the Omnitrix on Heatblast's chest began blinking red before he vanished in a bright flash of red and was back to normal. "Is it dead?" Robin asked as Will gave it a small nudge with his foot.

"No, just knocked out. The DEO team should be here soon to bring this thing to a containment cell." Will answered. "Sorry you got dragged into this."

"I'm still not sure with what I just saw." Batgirl said.

"It's a long story." Will replied before he looked at Batman. "Thanks again for the help."

"I owed you one." Batman told him.

"Well, now I owe you. If you ever need any help or there's another alien in Gotham then don't hesitate to call." Will promised and Batman nodded before walking away. "Wait, I didn't tell you how to contact me."

"I'll figure it out." Batman took out his grapple gun and fired a line before being pulled away.

"I think that's his way of saying goodbye." Robin pointed out as he and Batgirl fired their grapple guns to leave just as the DEO helicopters flew into the city. They followed the tracking beacon in Will's suit and saw him standing there by the docks with an unconscious White Martian.

DEO Desert Base, National City

The White Martian was placed in an isolated room with a cell specially designed so that's its telepathy and telekinesis wouldn't let it escape. Once the White Martian awoke and saw it was captured it began trying to physically break its way out but the cell was too strong for it. Will walked into the room to see the White Martian banging on the cell walls. "Enjoying your new accommodations?" Will asked and all he got was an angry roar in response. "Well, I'd get used to them from now on. You're not going anywhere."

"My kind will come for me and when they do you will all die!" The White Martian shouted in anger. "They will come and this planet will know fear and destruction!"

"There are more of you?" Will questioned it.

"Thousands. Millions." It said in pride.

"Good cause when they come they'll get the same welcome you did. It's no less you deserve for what you did to the Green Martians." Will said in disgust before walking to the exit.

"So, there is a Green Martian on this planet." It said, getting Will to stop. "You've signed your death siding with that inferior piece of garbage. I will get out of here and I will kill the last Green Martian along with every single worthless human that calls this insignificant piece of dirt a planet! And those deaths will be on you!"

Will grit his teeth in anger and walked up to the cell to look it right in its ugly face. "No, that's not gonna happen. You know, why? Because we won't let it. You came here thinking that humans were beneath you when it was a human that took you down. And if any other White Martians come to earth then they're gonna learn the same painful lesson you did. That I can promise. You think you're so superior to other species well now you can enjoy your new home knowing you lost which makes you inferior. Let me know if you want a magazine or something." He walked to the exit with a smirk on his face as the White Martian just roared in anger and tried to get out.

He walked out of the special containment room to see his dad and Director Henshaw waiting for him. "I bet that felt good." Max said.

"It had its moments, I'll admit." Will replied, pressing a button to lock the room.

"Still can't believe what you told me. That thing wiped out an entire species on Mars." Max remarked as Will looked at Director Henshaw.

"Well, if this job has taught me anything its that the only difference between humans and aliens is the planet we call home. When it comes to it we're not so different and that unfortunately includes all the bad stuff as well." He stated.

"Unfortunately, so. Still, well done Will. I guess with everything that happened we can call off training for the day." Henshaw told him.

"In that case, I'm thinking steaks for dinner." Will said to his dad.

"I guess you earned it." Max relented and the idea of steaks for dinner did sound good.

"Can I have a word with Will before you two leave?" Henshaw asked Max.

"Sure thing. I'll get the car ready." Max said so Will tossed him the car keys leaving the two a moment to speak in private.

"I really am sorry, J'onn. I brought this thing to earth and almost led it to you. This is my fault." Will told him.

"But you did what you said you would do. You handled it…like a true Green Martian would." J'onn said to him and Will smiled.

"You know, there was a part of me that would have been fine with leaving it to die. Just leave it in that ring of fire and walk away." Will admitted to him.

"So, why didn't you?" J'onn wondered.

"Because it's not what you trained me to do…and if anyone deserved to end that thing it's you, J'onn." He answered and J'onn smiled. "If any more of them come to earth then we'll stop them, J'onn. And I promise we will avenge what they did to your people."

J'onn gave Will a sincere smile. "On Mars I had two daughters named K'hym and Tanya. I never had one but any man would be proud to call you his son." He told him. Will smiled and the two shared a quick hug. "All right, that's enough of that."

"Right, sorry." Will pulled away from the hug to appear professional.

"Now, go enjoy dinner with your father. I'll see you tomorrow morning for training." J'onn said before walking away. Will felt a great sense of pride and was honored with what J'onn said to him. It meant a lot.

Line Break xxxxx

July 2008: National City

It was the 4th of July which meant barbeques, beer, pools, beaches, and fireworks. All of Will's friends were over at Yolanda's house for a 4th of July barbeque they were hosting. Their was plenty of food, alcohol for the adults, and since Yolanda's house had the pool it was a nice place to relax with cool water instead of heading to the beach and being stuck with a literal sea of people. The girls were all in bikinis while the boys were in shorts or bathing suits and hanging out. Pat was helping Yolanda's dad at the grill with the burgers, hotdogs, and non-meat options while drinks and snacks were prepared. Ed, being Ed, skated on the pavement in the backyard before jumping off his board into the pool where he splashed Yolanda, Karen, and Courtney who were tanning.

"Dammit, Ed!" Courtney dried herself off as he resurfaced and slicked his hair back.

"Sorry, Courtney." Ed apologized before leaning back so he floated on the water. "Ah, this is the life. So makes this summer of being stuck at the reception desk of Lord Tech for my internship worth it."

"You know there are many people who would love to have a paid internship like you." Beth pointed out as she passed by on a pool floaty. "I love working at the hospital with my parents."

"Keyword being love, Beth. You like doing it. I don't but my dad said I needed to do something over the summer instead of skateboard and since Will couldn't get me an internship at his dad's avionics firm then I was stuck at my dad's company. Pay is good but it sucks." Ed groaned when a shadow partially obscured the sun in his face. He looked up to see it was Vic standing at the edge of the pool with a smirk on his face. "Oh, crap."

"Yup. And things are about to suck even more. Dogpile!" Vic shouted before jumping into the pool and landing right on Ed, making a big splash that the girls protected themselves with via towels.

"And you chose to date him." Yolanda said to Karen.

"I know." Karen replied before looking at Courtney. "Where's Will?"

"He said he and his Dad have something to take care of but he'll be here in an hour." Courtney replied and they nodded.

DEO Desert Base

The thing Will and his dad were taking care of was just another excuse that he had to make up to explain why he wasn't there with his friends. The real reason was that he had more training to do at the DEO. Even on a holiday he had to train which made him worried about Christmas and New Year's. He and his dad woke up early to get to the DEO facility where his morning was spent with usual lectures and studies and then after lunch moved to more combat training.

Max and Director Henshaw watched as Will trained with a DEO agent in knife work. He showed Will the proper way to hold the knife and along with some movements and strikes from Krav Maga. They had worked Will on his grappling and striking earlier so now they were moving onto some weapon combat. Max still didn't want Will to mess with guns until he was in college so they decided to get him to work on a knife since it was something he created with his armor and was a basic self-defense tactic. Will held the knife ready and did a lunge only for the agent to isolate his wrist, disarm the knife from his hand and then throw him over his shoulder where he hit the ground and put him in an arm bar.

Will managed to move the leg from his head and roll over so he got free before putting the agent in a rear-naked choke. That ended badly as the agent just grabbed his arms and threw him over his body and back onto the mat with a loud thud that made everyone wince.

"Oh…that sounded like it hurt." Max remarked.

"Yeah, it did. Sucks to fight without the armor." Will groaned in pain as the agent helped him back up. "Are we almost done for the day?"

"You have somewhere you need to be?" Director Henshaw questioned.

"Yeah. It's 4th of July. I was invited to a barbeque and party at my friends house where they are all waiting for me along with my girlfriend but I had to tell them that my dad and I had something to take care of and I'd meet them up later." Will rubbed his shoulder to ease the tension. "Not that I don't love training and taking down bad aliens but I do have a regular life outside of these walls. At least for the next few years."

"All right. You're done for the day. We'll see you tomorrow." Director Henshaw told him.

"You're a slave driver." Will grabbed his bottle and towel before rushing out to get changed and head back to the city.

"He's in a hurry." Henshaw remarked.

"I imagine he would be. The barbeque we're going to is at his friends house…with a pool." Max joked before he left to go with Will back to the city.

Later that night…

Will and his friends along with their parents were all together at a park that overlooked the bay in National City where the fireworks were set to go off. They'd be starting any second now and the park drew a lot of spectators to watch along with down by the water and everywhere else that could get a good view. They had chairs set up or were sitting on blankets. Courtney was sitting down on a blanket with Will right behind her, holding her from behind so she could lean on him. She turned and gave him a quick peck on the lips before leaning into his embrace. Will looked over and saw his dad talking with Courtney's parents. Mike was sitting on a stump playing some game on his PSP when the Dugan family bulldog came over and sat down next to them.

"Do you have any plans for the weekend?" Courtney asked him.

"I do, actually. I was thinking of maybe having a day with you out on the beach. Sun, sand, and another chance to see you in that bikini." He joked and she just slapped him on the arm. Will and his dad arrived at Yolanda's late while everyone had been hanging out and celebrating but he was still able to relax, eat some food, and swim in the pool. One plus was that he got to see Courtney in her light blue bikini and she looked good.

"I don't know. I was thinking of switching it up next time. Blue is definitely my color but how about yellow or black?" She suggested and he just held her close and kissed her cheek.

"Whichever one is gonna look gorgeous on you. This Saturday. You and me at the beach together." He promised and she smiled before the two kissed. Their kiss was interrupted when the fireworks started. There were collectives oohs and ahhhs as everyone watched the fireworks go off. Compared to television, video games, and all the entertainment of the 21st century, fireworks still had a way of catching your attention and imagination. Will looked up at the fireworks before pulling Courtney close with the two enjoying their holiday.

One week later…

The fun day of 4th of July passed and with it things went back to normal for Will which meant his usual training at the DEO. Only thing that changed was that with it being July it meant that being in the desert sucked more than normal. However, there was a change to the monotony of training at the DEO as Director Henshaw had everyone gathered for a mission briefing.

"All right, listen up. Today's mission is gonna be an important one. We've got a lead on the whereabouts of one of the Fort Rozz escapees." Director Henshaw announced as images appeared on the main monitors showing a Fort Rozz file of a female human looking alien. "This is our target. A Chlorapathro. Sent to Fort Rozz for ecological terrorism and mass murder. This species is strong, agile, with control over plant life and this particular inmate has the ability to take on a human disguise so everyone be on alert. We managed to track her signature down to somewhere within the Pisgah National Forest in North Carolina. Over 500,000 acres of land which means she'll have the home field advantage. I want the field team geared up and ready to leave in 30 minutes."

All the agents began to head to the armory to get geared up except for Will who stood there sipping some coffee with his dad next to him. "Think I should bring a jug of weed killer?" He joked only for Max to groan and take his coffee.

"That wasn't even funny." Max told him and left.

"Everyone's a critic." Will muttered.

The flight from National City to North Carolina would take about an hour with the four DEO VTOLs carrying the group of 24 agents including Director Henshaw and Will. Will was sitting in his seat on the plane and using the Proto-box to check out the area and anything out of the ordinary when an alert came up.

"Director Henshaw, listen to this." Will said into the headphones he was wearing so everyone could listen. "Local police reported a murder near the area. It might be our Fort Rozz escapee."

"What makes you think that?" An agent asked him.

"The female victim was found impaled on a tree branch over 25 feet into the air. Reports say it looks like she was attacked by an animal but I don't think a bear would do something like that." He pointed out. "The body was found about a quarter mile northwest of the southern Ranger Station."

"Could be our fugitive. Anything else?" Director Henshaw questioned.

"Reports indicate that she wasn't alone. The rangers and police found the campsite where she and her boyfriend were staying at and it was like something attacked them. Police think it was the boyfriend but what if they stumbled onto the alien?" Will suggested.

"She kills the girlfriend and takes the boyfriend for god knows what. Good find, Will. Once we land we head there and start a search grid. Adams, Jones, get our drones up to aid in the search." Henshaw ordered.

"Roger that." The agents replied.

Pisgah National Forest, North Carolina

The DEO agents arrived near the forest and managed to find someplace to land their VTOLs. A team of four was heading to the hospital to take a look at the female victim while the rest would head into the forest. They gathered their gear and drove into the forest area on their jeeps and Humvees which was unfortunately made difficult by the fact that it had started to rain but they eventually arrived at the campsite and crime scene of the female victim. Will put on a DEO rain jacket and got out of the vehicle with the others.

"Summer rains. Can't ever predict them." He muttered as he pulled up the hoodie to cover his head and used the Proto-box to begin scanning the area.

"FBI, we'll take it from here." Director Henshaw flashed his fake badge at the local police and Forest Rangers so his men could begin taking over the scene. "Thank you for your assistance but we'll handle it from here. Have your men begin heading out."

"Right. Not sure why the Feds are interested in this." The local police officer told him when he noticed Will walk by. "He's a little young to be an FBI agent, isn't he?"

"CSI trainee. Get some experience in the field." Henshaw answered as some men began going over the campsite to find any clues.

Will led a team northwest from the campsite and crime scene as his Proto-box was picking up unusual biological readings in the area. They had made it about 500 hundred yards and whatever energy his Proto-box picked up was getting stronger.

"Anything?" One of agents asked him.

"The Proto-box is definitely picking up something but I'm not sure what it is. Time to see if Wildmutt can smell something we're missing." Will put the Proto-box away and activated the Omnitrix before slamming the dial down. After a flash of green light, he had transformed into Wildmutt. The Vulpamancer began sniffing around the area to try and pick something up. You'd think that with it raining that Wildmutt wouldn't be able to smell anything but his senses were that good that he was still able to see clearly despite the weather. Wildmutt climbed up a tree and began swinging from branches when he stopped at a large tree. His sense of smell picked up something so he dropped to the ground and got closer to a large pile of pine branches before moving some. That's when his sense of smell picked up a human and saw it was the boyfriend trapped in a cocoon of vines so he roared for the others to come before grabbing onto the vines with his claws. He ripped them apart and touched the Omnitrix to turn back to normal as the others joined him. Will looked at the male victim when he saw his eyes suddenly open. "He's still alive."

An hour later…

Will went with Director Henshaw and the team that were transporting the boyfriend to the hospital while the other agents would just secure the campsite and crime scenes but that's it. Until they knew exactly what was going on Director Henshaw didn't want to risk anyone. The doctors there managed to treat his injuries but he was put in a medically induced coma. They did their best but there was something seriously wrong with the victim which is what the DEO were trying to figure out.

Director Henshaw, Will, and the agents were in an empty room they commandeered so they could look over the patients files and do some on-site analysis. One of the weirdest things they saw was that when the doctors did some x-rays there were seed pods found in his stomach. "How did they get into this guy's stomach?" An agent wondered.

"Probably by whatever killed his girlfriend and kidnapped him. Best guess is the Fort Rozz escapee. Do we have any more information on her powers or her planet?" Director Henshaw asked and they checked their data pads.

"Nothing that would explain this, sir." An agent responded.

"What I want to know is if this is the first time she attacked and if so, what for?" Will suggested as they looked at him. "If Fort Rozz has been on Earth for a while and a lot of those refugees have been in hiding what made her attack this couple?"

"Maybe they encroached on her territory?" Director Henshaw suggested.

"Yeah, but only this one couple because they were a quarter mile into the National Forest? There have to have been other campers and such that stumbled further in yet this incident was the only one I've found in years. Not so much as a missing person otherwise. Something has to have happened that would make her start attacking people." Will theorized, channeling his inner detective with deduction and theorizing. It's fair to say that after his team up with Batman he's spent some time trying to improve his critical thinking skills. An alert from his Proto-box brought him out of his Sherlock Holmes moment as it had finished the scans run on the vines that trapped male victim. "Ok, so no shocker that the vine is alien. No match to any kind of species on the planet so it's something new. But here's something. The chemical makeup of the vine is incompatible with Earth soil."

"If it's incompatible with our soil then how were those vines made?" Director Henshaw asked but before Will could answer he was cut off by a sudden shriek. They stepped out of the room to see two nurses run out of the male victim's room.

"Find the doctor. I'm issuing a code red!" She said before they left. The Agents walked over to the room and what they saw was horrifying. The EKG flatlined indicating the boyfriend was dead but the reason for his death was a literal jungle of vines sprouted from his stomach and entombed the room.

"Oh my god…" Director Henshaw muttered in astonishment mixed with horror. "Secure this scene."

Some of the agents closed the area off and kept everyone back while the others retreated back to the room they commandeered. Will took a seat and a moment to himself as seeing all of that was a lot to process.

"You were saying, Will?" Henshaw asked him and he took a deep breath.

"It's not compatible with earth soil but apparently human biology is a perfect potting mix." Will said, answering Director Henshaw's question from before. "That's why she put the seeds in the victim's stomach. To fertilize and grow into…whatever the hell that was."

"Can they be killed like regular plants?" An agent asked as Will took a moment to calm himself down. He handed the Proto-box to Director Henshaw so he could answer.

"Cellular makeup isn't that dissimilar from earth plants so yes. Fire seems to be a viable possibility but scans show that electricity would be the best method to handle this. The electricity denatures the enzymes in the plant." Director Henshaw told them. "Our plasma rifles should be enough to handle this thing."

"If this thing uses human to reproduce why not the girlfriend?" An agent asked as Will took a deep breath and cracked his neck before standing up.

"The plant has a sex and its female. It needed a male to reproduce. Botany 101." He answered.

"It's why she was killed. All right. We know more about this thing and we know we can stop it. Adams, O'Neill, stay here with the others and secure the area. Keep everyone back and get rid of those vines before they spread. The rest of us will head back out, track this thing down and stop it before it hurts anyone else." Director Henshaw ordered and everyone including Will nodded.

Line Break xxxxx

Director Henshaw, Will and the DEO team were heading back to the rendezvous with the teams at the crime scene in the National Forest so they could group up and track this Fort Rozz escapee down together. After seeing what it has done they now knew enough to hunt it and had to gear to do it. Director Henshaw was driving one of the SUVs and Will was sitting next to him in the passenger seat but was staring out the window. It was still raining and the sun had gone down so it was getting dark.

"You ok?" Director Henshaw asked him.

"Yeah, just…that was lot to handle." He answered.

"Understandable and I apologize you had to see that. You've done great work here at the DEO both in and out of your suit, with and without the Omnitrix that sometimes I forget you're still not an agent. You're not even out of high school." Director Henshaw pointed out.

"Gifted youth. And I knew what I was signing up for when I told you and my dad that I wanted to do this. Still kind of shocking. I won't be eating my vegetables for a while." Will replied and Henshaw nodded. That's when Will's gaze caught something in the road. "LOOK OUT!"

Director Henshaw quickly slammed on the brake and turned the wheel so he didn't hit what was in the middle of the road. The SUV behind them did the same when they saw Director Henshaw's car swerve and both car's managed to avoid hitting the obstacle in the road. Will and Director Henshaw got out of the car to see the thing they nearly hit was a kid, about ten years old. He had a panicked look on his face and was holding his arm like he was hurt. "Help!" The kid begged. "They're here! All around us!"

"Who's here?" Will asked as he rushed over when the kid fell to the ground. He checked for a pulse and found one so the kid probably passed out. He picked him up and carried him over to the car before putting him in the back. The kid was wearing sneakers, shorts and a Camp Opinicon Shirt with a nametag that read Gilbert.

"How is he?" Director Henshaw asked.

"Fine. Looks like he passed out." Will answered when he saw the weird rash on the kid's left arm. That's when the Proto-box on his belt beeped so he checked it and it was detecting an unusual energy signature from the fungus. He did an in-depth scan to figure out more.

"What's going on?" An agent wondered.

"Just a kid in the middle of the road. A camper." Director Henshaw answered. "There was a sign for a camp on the road back there. We'll drop him off before meeting up with the others."

"Actually, Director. You might want to have the team meet us at the camp." Will suggested.

"Why?" Henshaw questioned as he walked over and saw Will pointing to the rash the kid had on his arm. "His rash?"

"The Proto-box picked up some weird energy readings and whatever caused that rash on his arm isn't the usual kind of fungus found in the wild. Best the Proto-box can tell, it was some kind of mutating strain or something not from this planet." He explained before bringing up a map. "And I checked a map of the National Forest, Camp Opinicon is only a mile from the campsite where the couple was attacked. She might be doing something to the local flora that caused this. It could also explain why he was running like something was chasing him."

Director Henshaw gave it some thought before making his decision. There wasn't a lot to go on but if the Proto-box was right then the camp could provide a possible lead. If not, they could at least drop off the kid before moving on. "All right, we'll check out the camp and go from there. Saddle up!" Director Henshaw ordered and they got back in their cars and drove to Camp Opinicon.

Camp Opinicon

Luckily the rain had stopped which made driving on the dirt roads easier. The DEO cars pulled up to the entrance to the camp where the sign for Camp Opinicon was carved out of wood like you would see at a sleep away summer camp. The cars kept moving into the camp down the road where they saw some cabins, a basketball court, a soccer field, an archery range, what looked like an obstacle course and a mess hall with the lights on. They stopped their cars outside the mess hall and Will stepped out but stopped the others when he saw they were coming. "Let me go in first. It'd be kind of hard to explain all the guns." He pointed out and they agreed.

He looked around and being at the camp at night after a rainfall was creepy enough but it was eerily quiet. He walked into the mess hall to see no one. There were chairs and tables with food but the place was kind of a mess.

"Hello? Anyone here?! I found one of your campers!" Will shouted but heard no one answer. He walked over to a nearby table and saw a glass of soda with ice that hadn't melted completely and a plate of spaghetti that was still warm. He walked to the door and signaled the others to come in so they could see the odd sight.

"Where is everyone?" Director Henshaw asked, seeing the place was empty.

"There was no one here but the food is still warm." He answered.

"Looks like the campers left in a hurry." An agent said, smelling the food which smelt pretty good considering it was camp food. That plus the fact that it was still warm meant that it was recently served. "There were no buses or cars when we drove in. They must have just left."

"But what causes a bunch of campers and counselors to leave camp so suddenly along with forgetting one of their own?" Another agent asked, taking a bite of garlic bread which was pretty good. His crunching made everyone turn to look at him. "Sorry."

"My guess would be on our Fort Rozz escapee. Something isn't right about this camp and it's not a hockey mask wearing zombie called Jason Vorhees or his mother Pamela." Will stated only to get weird looks from everyone. "If they were here then I'd be more scared and we'd be screwed."

"Adams, go to the others in the second vehicle. Do a small perimeter sweep of the immediate area and see what you find." Henshaw ordered and the Agent nodded, heading back out to tell the agents waiting in the other vehicle and start searching.

Will and the others continued looking around when the lights began to flicker before they cut out entirely so everyone took out their flashlights. "This isn't a good sign, isn't it?" An agent asked and Director Henshaw shook his head no when they heard a clatter of pans and pots coming from the kitchen.

"I swear if Jason Vorhees is back there then I'm running away screaming and I'd advise you all to do the same as well." Will promised as he walked to the kitchen with his flashlight lighting the way. He walked into the kitchen to see it was as much of a mess as the mess hall. Pots and pans all over the place, piles of dishes in the sink and there were even some burners on. One of the agents turned them off when they heard the creak so everyone turned their flashlights to the pantry door. Will walked over and shined his flashlight in to see that it was just a boy and a girl wearing the same kind of camp shirt Gilbert was wearing. They were the same age as Gilbert and looked alike so they were probably twins.

"Is it safe to come out?" They asked.

"Hey, it's ok. You two all right?" Will wondered as they slowly walked out of the pantry.

"What happened? You two ok?" Director Henshaw asked them.

"For…"

"Now."

"What happened? Where did everyone go?" Henshaw questioned and they shrugged.

"We heard something outside but…"

"We were too scared to come out."

"I'm Andy."

"And I'm Mandy."

"We're twin!" They smiled when a crash of thunder scared them and they quickly hid behind Will.

"Where's the Camp nurse and the counselors?" Will asked them.

"Gone."

"With all the others."

"All right. Let's get these two and Gilbert out of here." Director Henshaw said and they headed out of the mess hall back to the cars at the same time as Adams and the perimeter team. "Adams, did you find anything?"

"No one else is here, sir. Camp is empty but our scanners are definitely picked up weird energy signatures. Something isn't right here." Adams responded as Will put Mandy and Andy in the car with Gilbert when he noticed something sprouting out of the tailpipe. He knelt down to see it was some kind of grey moss/mushroom plant substance.

"What the hell is this crap?" He took out the Proto-box to try and identify it which didn't really help since it was alien. But the readings were similar to the fungus rash on Gilbert's arm meaning they likely came from the same source. The Proto-box picked up additional readings so he followed the scans to the front of the car and popped open the trunk to see the entire engine clogged and coated with more of the fungus. "Uh, Director Henshaw. We've got a bit of a problem."

He walked over and saw the weird fungus all over the engine. One of the agents went to the other car and checked to see that the engine was covered as well. "Same here, Director. What is it?"

"Some kind of alien fungus. I picked up similar readings to the rash on Gilbert's arm. Whatever this thing is that made everyone leave, it started here." Will said before walking over to Andy and Mandy. "Andy, Mandy, I have a question for both of you. Have either of you noticed anything strange going on at camp recently?"

"Not really."

"I didn't notice anything."

"Ok, how about people hanging around camp that you don't recognize? Non-counselors and such?" He wondered.

"There was that park ranger lady." Andy said.

"Yeah. She came around the camp two days ago." Mandy added.

"Do you know what she was here for?" He hoped but they shook their heads no. "Ok, do you know where she went after she came to the camp?"

The twins pointed north giving Will a large canvass to search but something was better than nothing and with Wildmutt, he would be able to track down the alien escapee. "All right, thank you both. Just wait here. We're gonna get someone to take you guys out of here. I promise."

They nodded as Will went to speak with Director Henshaw. "The team at the crime scene should be here soon. Once they get here they can take the kids into town." Henshaw told him.

"Good because I think I know where we can start looking. The kids said a Forest ranger came through here two days ago and then headed north. It's a stretch but considering it was two days ago there could be something. The ranger finding the Fort Rozz escapee could have caused all this." Will suggested.

"That's still a lot of ground to cover. You think you can lead us through all that?" Director Henshaw asked and Will nodded.

"Wildmutt can." Will said with determination.

The other agents soon arrived in their SUVs so Gilbert, Andy, and Mandy could be taken to town and hopefully find the rest of the campers and counselors. Some agents would watch over them while the rest of the team along with Director Henshaw and Will would head into the forest to track down the Fort Rozz escapee. With the cars taken out of commission due to the fungus in the engines and the only car being used to take the kids to town, it meant that the team had to move through the forest on foot. They had their plasma rifles ready and Director Henshaw was using the Proto-box to scan the area. Will had transformed into Wildmutt and was their scout. Wildmutt's sense of smell would allow him to navigate the area with ease and track down the fungus to its source.

They had been walking for about twenty minutes and began seeing some fungus and mushrooms sprout up on the trees around them so they were getting close. Wildmutt had his face to the ground and was sniffing around when it picked up a concentration of the smell coming from a clearing up ahead so he rushed over. "Looks like we got something. Let's move!" Henshaw ordered and the agents quickly followed.

Wildmutt stopped at the clearing to see a large alien mushroom hive with other alien-like plants all over the area. Wildmutt's sense of smell could definitely pick up that these weren't native earth plants or fungus so it was definitely something alien and they all seemed to sprout up out of a large hole dug in the ground. Henshaw and the others joined him but before an agent could take a step further, Wildmutt held his arm out to stop them and let out some growls and garbled sounds before rushing forward. They weren't sure what he said until the Proto-box beeped with a translation. "He's going to check out the area first." Henshaw told them.

Wildmutt ran through the area, unaware that some of the plants began to sprout eyes and noticed his arrival. He looked around and moved over to the hole in the ground when a dozen glowing blue vines came out of nowhere and grabbed him. "What the hell kind of plant made these things?!" Will thought as Wildmutt when he felt the vines try to pull him into the hole. He dug his front claws and back legs into the dirt as the vines kept pulling at him. Despite Wildmutt's incredible strength, the vines began dragging him through the dirt so he moved his mouth over to the vines on his front right claw and chomped through them. That freed his arm to slash apart the vines on the rest of his body and free himself before letting out a savage roar.

More vines shot out of the hole towards him only for Wildmutt to take a massive leap back and avoid them. The vines course corrected towards him only to be incinerated or vaporized by bolts of plasma. Director Henshaw and the other DEO agents marched into the fungus hive in formation and blasted the vines with precision. The vines quickly retreated back down the hole but it wasn't over as the mutated alien mushrooms around the area began to sprout legs and arms before moving to surround them. They had green eyes with black slit pupils and two mouths filled with sharp teeth.

"Take them down!" Henshaw ordered and the agents quickly circled together before firing at the mutated mushroom aliens. The bolts their plasma rifles fired had enough heat that they blasted straight through the mushroom aliens in one shot with a hole about 12 inches in diameter so the walking fungus minions were quickly taken care of. Wildmutt roared before leaping through the air and pouncing onto a mushroom alien and tearing it in half with his claws. He then threw the mushroom alien away when everyone felt a rumble in the ground. Part of the ground near the hole broke apart and out sprouted a tall white spore pod tower at least 12 feet high. The pod itself had to have thousands if not millions of spores inside. Then one by one more spore pod towers began to sprout out of the ground all over the area. Director Henshaw ejected the spent power cell in his plasma rifle before loading a new one when the Proto-box let out an emergency alert. He checked it while the other agents and Wildmutt took down more of the mushroom aliens.

[Ferocious Roar!] Wildmutt clawed through three more mushroom aliens before grabbing two and throwing them into the hole.

"Will!" Director Henshaw shouted to get his attention. "Those pods contain thousands of alien spores! If they sprout open and release then they could infect the entire country! We can't let that happen!"

Wildmutt nodded before he touched the Omnitrix dial on his shoulder and turned into Heatblast. His appearance caused the mushroom aliens to back away in fear as he created a giant ball of fire in his hands and threw it. It vaporized four mushroom aliens when hit them and he began throwing fireball after fireball all over the area, catching the spore pod towers on fire before firing out twin streams of fire from his hands all over the area. The fire burned away the mushroom aliens and local fungus but more and more towers began to sprout despite the little wildfire he was creating.

"It's not working!" Heatblast shouted when he saw some of the spores start to shake. That's when he remembered something from school and got an idea. "I hope this works!"

He fired a fire blast at the ground to hover in the air before hitting the Omnitrix and transforming into Ultraman. He inhaled and took a deep breath before letting out a pursed breath of air from his mouth like a hurricane force gale only the air was freezing cold. He wasn't using super breath but freeze breath. He finally got a handle on the ability after enough training at the DEO. His freeze breath instantly washed over the area like a freeze ray and coated the ground and every single spore pod tower in a thick layer of sub-zero ice. He turned around in the air, freezing the entire infected area in his immediate vicinity and it worked. Any surviving mushroom aliens were frozen solid and no spore pod towers had opened.

The Omnitrix on Ultraman blinked red so he flew to the ground just as he transformed back to normal. "What did you do?" An agent asked him.

"Middle school botany. Plants don't tend to do well in freezing cold temperatures." Will answered. "I'm not sure if it killed them but at the very least it kept the spores from spreading and gave us some time to find the source of whatever's causing this and destroy it."

"All right, make sure you rifles are loaded and your gear is secure. We're heading down there." Henshaw ordered. Everyone made sure their plasma rifles were fully loaded before securing anchor points for their ropes to rappel down. Will pressed his belt buckle to activate his armor before jumping down first to scout the area. He slid down the tunnel until it curved out to flat ground and skid to a stop. His HUD began scanning the area like the Proto-box and the source of the fungus was another mile down the tunnel. While he had frozen the ground and spore pods up above it wouldn't be much longer before whatever this was came after him again. Some blue glowing vines came down from the ceiling towards him but he turned and fired a barrage of explosive disks from his forearm launcher. The vines were blasted to pieces but then some came from the ground so he grabbed the handle from his back and activated his sword before slicing them to pieces.

"Keep your roots to yourself." He quipped as Director Henshaw and the others joined him. "We've got another mile to go before we find our Fort Rozz escapee."

"If this is even because of her." Director Henshaw pointed out.

"What do you mean?" Will was confused.

"The analysis you ran on the vines back at the hospital. It's incompatible with earth soil and needs a human host yet we just dealt with an army of mutated mushroom aliens and those spore pods." Director Henshaw listed off and he was right. The analysis the Proto-box ran said that the alien vine and seeds that killed the boyfriend at the hospital were incompatible with earth soil yet this mushroom area was a full fledged alien ecosystem.

"There's something else down here." Will said and Director Henshaw nodded.

"Something that would explain all this." Director Henshaw took out something from his belt and attached it to one of the ropes they used to rappel down. It was a locator beacon so that everyone could find their way back incase they got lost. "All right, let's move."

Will took the lead down the tunnel with Director Henshaw and the other agents following him. They had their guns at the ready for any signs of alien plant activity. Some blue vines sprouted from the ceiling and lunged towards a group of agents but Will activated his shield and threw it behind him. The shield sliced through the vines before ricocheting back into his arm. They kept moving when they arrived at a fork in the road with two paths.

"Let's split up." Director Henshaw suggested.

"Uh, sorry Director Henshaw but that's a horrible plan. Splitting up always leads to disaster." Will said only to get weird looks from everyone. "Am I the only one who's ever seen a horror movie? You never split up."

"We don't have a choice. Those frozen spores won't stay frozen for very long so time is of the essence. Will, head down the tunnel on the right. I'll lead my men down the tunnel on the left. You have your armor and the Omnitrix, we have the advantage of force." Director Henshaw suggested before activating another locator beacon. "I have a locator beacon on in case we run into trouble and we'll stay in radio contact."

"Just for the record, I'm the one who said this was a terrible idea." Will stated before walking down the right tunnel while Director Henshaw and the others went down the one on the left.

Will continued the tunnel but other then the glowing alien vines and roots all over there wasn't anything around. He looked down at the Omnitrix and saw it was red which meant it wasn't recharged yet. Being Wildmutt and then using Heatblast and Ultraman must have zapped the power so it was taking extra long to recharge. That's when his HUD picked up movement behind him so he turned and aimed his forearm launcher only to see a woman. She was beautiful with flowing brown hair and was wearing a forest ranger's outfit but his HUD scans detected that she wasn't human so she was likely the Fort Rozz escapee they were looking for.

"Don't move." Will warned her, activating his voice modulator. "What are you?

"I'm just a girl who loves nature but you can call me Gloria." Gloria introduced herself with a charming smile.

"Nice try but that disguise your wearing doesn't fool me. You're not even from this solar system, aren't you?"

"No but I think I'm gonna like it here." Gloria smiling walking over and touching her hand to the side of the tunnel. "You know this place is much like my world. It was lush and green and full of life. But towers of steels replaced the forest, upsetting the balance of nature so I tried to correct it."

"By killing people? I saw what you did to the woman and her boyfriend. They were innocent people and you murdered them. From what I can see you belonged on Fort Rozz." Will told her, glancing down at the Omnitrix which was still red.

Gloria just shook her head in annoyance. "They didn't understand me either and the Kryptonians were just as bad. A desolate wasteland of a planet. But I have a new home and met someone else who shares in my vision."

That last part was intriguing as it could explain where this alien fungus was coming from. "Who? What are you talking about?!" Will shouted and she just smirked at him.

"Don't worry. You and your friends will meet him soon enough." Gloria promised when Will was suddenly grabbed from behind and pulled into the wall. Blue glowing vines along with regular looking vines sprouted and wrapped around his legs, arms, body, neck, and head. "I can't change my nature and no one else will ever try to stop me again."

She left as the vines continued wrapping around his body and soon the dirt wall of the tunnel crumbled away to reveal the maw of a mutated fungus Venus flytrap. Will made a quick modification to his armor and his shield appeared on his right arm with serrated blades along the edge which sliced through the vines holding it in place. He sliced the vines on his legs and then body when he was pulled into the Venus Flytrap to be eaten. He saw his Omnitrix turn green so he reached to activate it just as the maws of the plant clamped shut. A flash of green light could be seen from the slits of the Venus Flytrap as Will transformed. His arm began to change shape as green vines and plant-like biology replaced it. Soon enough his entire body turned green, his hands sharpened into claws, his two legs split apart into five vine-like legs, a flytrap-shaped flap covered his head as black pods sprouted on his back and the Omnitrix symbol appeared on his chest. The flaps on his head opened up to reveal green skin, a humanoid head but with sharp teeth and one large eye in the center.

The fungus flytrap started to shrink back into the wall when a pair of claws ripped open its maw and out jumped Will in his new alien form. The fungus flytrap lunged at him but Will jumped to the side and slashed the flytrap off its stock so it dropped to the ground dead. After the sudden adrenaline surge of almost being eaten, Will looked at his hands and saw he was in a new alien form. "New alien and plant-like." He looked at his arms and soon enough they sprouted sharp thorns. Some more blue vines came out of the wall towards him but he just slashed them to pieces. "Oh, this could work."

Remembering that Gloria said he and his friends would meet whoever was working with her, he needed to make sure that they were ok so he touched the Omnitrix and turned into XLR8 before heading through the tunnel to meet up with Director Henshaw and the others. Director Henshaw and his men stayed in formation with their rifles at the ready, flashlights illuminating areas that the glowing roots didn't light up and their scanners on so they weren't caught unaware.

Suddenly vines and roots shot out of the ground and walls to grab a few agents. They were pulled into the walls or ground while the other agents blasted the roots that came after them. That's when a speeding blur raced by and sliced off the roots holding an agent in place. After a flash of green light, Will's new alien-plant form leapt forward and sliced through the vines holding the agents with his sharp claws. "New alien?" Henshaw asked him.

"Yeah, guy came in handy pretty quickly. I ran into the Fort Rozz escapee. She's working with someone else down here. They're likely responsible for all these mutant mushrooms and vines. You should get the others out of here." Will told him.

"None of you are going anywhere…"

Will turned his head to see who said that. "Did you guys hear that?"

"Hear what?" Henshaw asked when the ground beneath them started shaking. It then crumbled away, sending them all falling down a large chasm. That's when they were grabbed by more vines and brought in front of large purple glowing fungus hive-mind embryo that was the source of everything.

"I communicate with all plant-life on a telepathic level. Even one as unique as you."

"Let me guess. You're the brains of this operation." Will said to it and saw a large mouth open up on the embryo with rows of sharp teeth.

"I prefer Mycelium."

"Will, who are you talking to?" Henshaw asked him.

"Mr. Mushroom head. It's like we're connected or something." Will said as the Mycelium brought it closer to its mouth. "You're a plant, right? Why can't you be a vegan?"

"It's useless to struggle." Will and the others heard as Gloria came down from the ceiling carried by her own vines.

"You. Let me guess, this is your special friend?" Will asked as Gloria lowered herself down and touched the Mycelium with her hand.

"I was alone for so long. Being stuck on this planet I ventured to nature. That's when I felt his pull so I searched and searched. I saw nothing but humans and their disregard for this beautiful place so I dug deep. Deeper and deeper I went until I found him trapped in rock. He called me and I to him." Gloria looked at the humans with a look of pure love on her face. "Do you know what I feels like to truly be one with someone? To want the same thing."

"I'd think that's the sweetest thing if it didn't involve you two taking over the planet and killing the people who call it home." Will pointed out, trying to get free.

"Humanity has had its chance. Struggle as you may but you cannot stop me. Soon, I will consume every living creature on this planet."

"And with your destruction, a new paradise will be born." Gloria stated.

"Not today!" Will concentrated and a dozen sharp thorns sprouted from his body, shredding the vines that were holding him. He fell down but extended one of his arms like a vine and his claws dug into the ceiling. The sudden stop caused one of the seeds on his back to fall off and it landed on the Mycelium which exploded. "Explosive seeds, nice."

"Surely as a plant, you must understand the wisdom of sharing a single intelligence?" The Mycelium asked Will as he swung over and sliced the vines off the other agents and lowering them onto one of the large roots dug into the ground.

"I prefer to keep my own opinion thank you very much. It means I can do this!" Will grabbed the pods from his back before jumping into the air and spinning. The pods were thrown and exploded all over the large Mycelium with one pod landing near Gloria and knocked her away.

"Open fire!" Henshaw shouted and all the DEO agents blasted the Mycelium. Their plasma bolts sizzled and burnt through the Mycelium's organic cell walls like they did the mushroom aliens and the organic fungus vines but the sheer size of the alien plant brain made it so that their attacks were like using a .22 caliber snub nose pistol against an elephant. It hurt but that alone wouldn't be able to take it down and all it did was just piss it off.

The DEO kept firing at the Mycelium while Will jumped around the large cavern and threw more seed pods while using his sharp claws to slice through the roots it had burrowed into the ground. He sliced through another root when he was grabbed from behind and tossed down the cavern to the rocky bottom below. He got up only for Gloria to grab him from behind and slam him into the ground.

"Can't you see the beauty of this?! Pure nature! Peace! Ecological balance!" Gloria picked him up and threw him into the wall before leaping into him and digging her hands into his side. "I don't know what kind of alien you are but you made a mistake turning into a plant. A male one at that. Once my seeds are in your system then you will be mine!"

"Ugh…sorry, but…" Will reached one of his claws up and touched the Omnitrix dial. After a flash of green light he transformed into Heatblast. "I already have a girlfriend. And she's much hotter than you! RAHH!"

A huge plume of intense fire and heat exploded from Heatblast's body, quickly exceeding 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit before going up to 5,000 degrees and even hotter. Gloria was right in front of Heatblast and took the full brunt of the heat and fire that it incinerated her. Heatblast then flew straight up and channeled enough intense heat into his hands that he flew straight through the bottom of the Mycelium. Director Henshaw and the others stopped firing as they saw the Mycelium shake in horrendous pain as an orange liquid began to pour of its mouth. That's when they saw a glowing red light appear in the center and get brighter and brighter. Soon enough the Mycelium began shaking and sizzling from the inside before it exploded and an intense wave of heat and bright light washed over the area.

When they looked up they saw that the Mycelium was gone and all that remained were the roots still stuck in the cavern walls, the orange goo all around them and the charred remains at the bottom of the cavern. They saw a flash of red light from the pile of goo and then something stand up.

"Will, you ok?!" Henshaw shouted and Will managed to shake off some of the goo and give him a thumbs up. "Adams, call in some backup to help us secure the area."

"Yes, sir."

And thus ended another successful if not messy mission. Another Alien threat was taken care of and the planet was safe.

Line Break xxxxx

National City, DEO Base

The DEO handled the cleanup with the alien fungus with some help from the R&D lab which was able to synthesize an agent that could kill the remnants without causing any ecological harm. The Mycelium was dead as was Gloria which meant that the DEO could cross another person off the Fort Rozz list. Things were good but now they had a new problem that pertained to Will's favorite punching bags, the Forever Knights. Director Henshaw called for an emergency meeting regarding some intel they got on the group.

"According to intel, the Forever Knights have a new partner overseas. One that will be able to give them weapons and arms to make them a much more dangerous threat." Director Henshaw told them as the info was shown on the screen. One of importance was a high-ranking member of the Forever Knights meeting with arms dealers and traders in Kasnia. "I'm sure I don't have to explain the complicated history of Kasnia to everyone here. After the Cold War, it's been embroiled in one civil war after another among varying ethnic, national, political, and religious factions. Its King retains some not-so friendly ties with the rest of the world due to their isolationist policies and exuberant military spending and R&D, making it a haven for criminal organization and mercenaries groups who exploit the nation's neutrality for their own benefit. The Forever Knights are now the latest group to join those hallowed ranks."

"So, what's going on?" Will wondered, interested in the briefing. The Forever Knights were kind of his arch-nemeses or whatever so he wanted to know what they were planning.

"The Forever Knights are getting a shipment of high-tech weapons from the Kasnians and if US intelligence sources are right, it includes alien artifacts and weapons they have held onto for years. The Knights paid them a small fortune to have them and they'll be flown from Kasnia to the US." Henshaw explained. "Problem is that it's not the Forever Knights who will do the transporting but the Kasnians tomorrow morning."

"I'm guessing that's a bad thing for us, right?" Will pointed out.

"It's complicated." Max told him.

"Officially, the freighter plane the Kasnians are using to transport the weapons is under Kasnian protection. Which means that we have no legal precedent or authority to intercept that convoy and confiscate the weapons they're transporting which are officially labeled as humanitarian aid." Henshaw stated. "I've spoken with the president but he cannot do anything. We can't act on this without causing an international incident and relations with the Kasnians are already tense."

Will didn't like the idea of the Forever Knights getting new weapons and tech that could let them ramp up their plans but Director Henshaw also made a good point. He wasn't that well-versed in geopolitics but one wrong move could start a conflict that could escalate into a war and no one wanted that. The DEO couldn't intercept them but then again the DEO likely wasn't going to be the ones to stop them.

"But we are going to do something, right?" Will wondered and could tell from Director Henshaw's smirk that they were.

"We are but due to the circumstances it'll be one team on one of our stealth jets. Our cloaking and stealth system will make us invisible to the Kasnians and everyone else monitoring the plane's movements." Henshaw said and the plan made sense. With the upgrades Grey Matter made to the DEO tech, they could fly through restricted airspace and appear like they were never there whether its on radar or by line of sight.

"Sir, I'd like to volunteer to help." Will stated earning looks from everyone. "Oh, what? Is anyone surprised that I'm offering to help? It's par for the course around here and intercepting a weapon's shipment is probably the most pedestrian thing I've done since I've been here."

"Will, are you sure about this?" Max asked him and got a reassuring nod in response.

"Dad, I've dealt with way worse. I think I can handle hijacking a plane." He assured him before looking at Director Henshaw. "I can do this, Director. And since I'm still an unknown in my armor then the Kasnian's won't know I'm working with the DEO."

"Are you sure?" Henshaw asked and Will gave him a final nod so he looked at Max. "Max, you're our most skilled pilot so you'll be flying the jet."

"Yes, sir." Max replied.

"All right. Triple check the jet and make sure everyone has what they need for tomorrow." Henshaw told them.

The next day…

Will, Max and the small group of support DEO agents were onboard one of the DEO VTOL Jets with its stealth and cloaking system engaged. They had flown across the country and over the Atlantic ocean early in the morning for an intercept course. Given the liabilities of what could happen, the DEO figured that the best shot for intercept would be sooner rather then later. If they intercepted the plane over the Atlantic then the Kasnians might think that the Americans got involved so the best part would be when the Kasnians were leaving their airspace and over the Mediterranean sea between Europe and North Africa. It was a small window but the best chance for them to pull this off without risking serious international repercussions implicating the US. There were plenty of mercenary groups and countries the Kasnians had bad history within the area for them to think it was someone else.

Max was piloting the jet at about 50,000 feet. Normally that might be a bit risky for a VTOL jet but the DEO variant was modified to handle it complete with pressurization. And this way, the Kasnians wouldn't see them coming as they were cruising at about 30,000 feet. Will was in his armor with his mask and hood down as the agents on board gave him a final briefing.

"Ok, Will. The Kasnian plane is leaving Kasnian and Russian airspace in a few minutes. After that, it'll be passing by Greek and Turkish airspace before it passes through Mediterranean waters and then over North Africa. That is our prime spot for intercept. They're down at about 30,000 feet so you'll have to make it quick and make sure you're not seen." The agent told him.

"Right. Suit is set and stealth system is ready. As long as they don't see me then I'm not there. Plus, I've got the new drone addition ready to deploy." Will replied.

"We can't officially be seen operating here so we have to hang back until you say it's all clear." The agent said and Will nodded.

"Will, you sure you're not worried? I've seen grown men balk at HALO jumps this high." Max told him.

"What can I say? I guess flying is in my blood." He cracked his neck and saw they were getting close. "Masks on. I'm opening the cargo ramp."

The agents put on their oxygen masks as Will walked over and hit the cargo ramp button. The cargo ramp opened as the helmet deployed on Will's armor, giving him oxygen and his HUD with the location of the jet. "Will, remember. This has to be subtle!" The agent radioed to him.

"Subtle. Got it." Will gave them a mock salute before holding his arms out and falling out of the plane. The rush of free falling through the air from that high height was incredible. He then turned around and activated his flight wings. The engine on his jetpack activated and he flew down towards the Kasnian transport plane. After all the times he has used his armor to fly, he was really enjoying himself.

The DEO agents on the plane shut the ramp and monitored everything there on their monitors. "Will, come in. Do you read us?"

"Loud and clear. How are we looking?" He wondered as they checked their scanners and got a clear signal of his tracker along with the location of the Kasnian plane. And good news is that they were monitoring all air traffic in the area and none of them had picked up him or their DEO jet.

"Skies are clear and no one knows we're here." The agent replied, relaying the information of their mission to DEO headquarters. "All right, airspace is clear. Will, move in."

"Roger that." The flight wings on Will's suit curved down as the jetpack engine powered up so he could fly faster with less drag. He adjusted his course and saw the airplane below him. It was an Antonov AN-22 Military transport plane moving at about 400 mph with its four turboprop engines cruising at 30,000 feet. "I got eyes on the plane."

Will flew alongside the plane and moved to the rear over the right wing. "All right, you're still in the clear." The agent reported.

"Roger that." Will's HUD switched to backscatter giving him an X-ray view of the plane. He saw 4 Kasnian soldiers and the pilot along with three large pallets of gear including weapons, ammunition, explosives, and alien technology. The alien tech was in the third pallet and he picked up a high energy reading. "Guys, I'm picking up a thermal spike on the third pallet. Whatever they're transporting is active."

"Dangerous?" The agent asked as his HUD ran through some quick diagnostics before giving him his answer.

"If it keeps rising at this rate it will be. It won't even matter if we let them go because based on these readings it'll explode halfway across the Atlantic." Will told them.

"All right, then we need to secure it. Will, move in." The agent told him as Will shifted his course and flew alongside the left side of the plane.

"Ok. Deploying drone." Part of Will's jetpack disassembled and ejected a small angular-shaped drone, shaped similar to a fighter jet only much, much smaller. It had a small engine and since it was made of the same nanites as Will's suit, it had a variety of usual armaments for various situations. (8)

The drone flew over to the side of the plane and deployed the laser on the underside to begin cutting away at the emergency door in the cargo area. Once it had finished cutting the door away, it flew back to Will and reinserted itself on the place it was ejected from. The door was ripped off the side of the plane due to the force and Will flew in, retracting his wings and push kicking one Kasnian into the side of the plane. He vaulted over a crate and landed a tornado kick across another soldier's face. A second came at him with a gun which he knocked aside, disarmed him, and pushed him into the side of the plane so he could land a hook kick on the third guy. He swept up the second soldier and punched him to the ground before kicking the fourth guy out of the plane. He fell through the air before his parachute deployed. The third soldier shot at Will using his assault rifle only for Will's wings to deploy and protect him. The soldier kept firing only for the bullets to ricochet off with two bouncing off and killing the pilot. That caused the plane to go into a nose dive and the third soldier was rocked forward into Will who kneed him in the stomach, punched him in the nose before grabbing him by the vest. The engine on his back activated and he slid across the ground, slamming the soldier's face into the second pallet of guns, knocking him out. The ships autopilot reactivated so the plane leveled out and Will stood up when he saw the first soldier he attacked get up and charge at him. He jumped off the side of the plane and threw out a jumping kick that Will ducked. He then ducked and blocked his swings and before knocking his arms aside and ducking under a hook kick before push kicking him back. The soldier charged forward only for Will to knock him back with a jump spinning back kick. (9)

The soldier was knocked over the third pallet containing the alien cargo and hit the ground. He pulled out his pistol and shot at Will who vaulted over the pallet and kicked him in the face, knocking him out but a wayward shot hit something which began glowing.

"Oh, that's not good." Will cut the ropes off the pallet and moved a container to see what was shot and it was a container of alien weapons. He saw what looked like gravity disk launchers, electro-pulse generators, and a lot of stuff that wasn't found on earth. More importantly, it was the cause of the heat spike his helmet detected and a bullet breached a core in one of the weapons. "Ok, we've got a problem. One of the Kasnians bullets breached the energy core of a crate full of weapons and it's gonna explode."

"How much time do we have?" The agent asked as the damaged weapon let out a violent shock of red electricity that infected the other weapons in the crate and caused them to go overload. Now what was once one weapon was now an entire crate with enough cascading energy to make a big boom.

"Not long. If these things build up then we're talking an explosion powerful enough to wipe out 10 city blocks." Will told him before grabbing the Kasnians he had knocked out and quickly attached parachutes to them before pulling the cords and tossing them out one by one. They were still knocked out but they would live and probably wake up once they hit the water. Will got into the cockpit and did the same thing with the pilot. That's when he saw the crate of weapons glow with a blinding light and spark with violent electrical sparks. "That's not good."

Will jumped out of the airplane and activated his flight wings just as the weapons exploded. The plane exploded in a bright red ball of fire that could likely be seen in the distance. Not only was the force of the explosion powerful but the red energy from the alien weapons and tech radiated out from the point of origin with Will being in the unfortunate path. Whatever radiation used to power the weapons infected his suit and the Omnitrix. The Omnitrix temporarily shut off and the energy caused his suit to shut down, automatically making it retract back into his belt.

"Oh, shit this isn't good!" Will held out his arms to even himself out as he was freefalling without a parachute. The last time he did this his armor saved him but it had retracted back into his buckle. He pulled his left arm in and tried activating the Omnitrix but the usual green symbol was greyed out. "Oh, come on!"

He pressed the buttons on the side to make the dial come out and slammed it down only for nothing to happen. "Come on, come on, come on, COME ON!" He tried it again and again but the watch was still shut down. It looked like for a moment that this was the end when Will saw a large crescent shaped island suddenly shimmered into view. "Where the hell did that come from?"

Will didn't look a gift horse in the mouth as he neared the island when the Omnitrix beeped and turned green again. "Thank god!" He activated the dial and changed it to Ultraman and fly away but when he transformed he turned into Diamondhead. He reached up and touched the Omnitrix to change into Ultraman but then ended up changing into Four Arms. He did it again and transformed into Wildmutt so he tried one more time and turned into Cannonbolt as he was nearing the mountains on the island. "Better than nothing!"

He curled into a ball and began rolling as he bounced off a mountain into another mountain and ping-ponged back and forth making extremely loud impacts and likely shaking the ground since he was coming in at terminal velocity before he slid down the side of a mountain and shot up into the air before he landed in a river making a huge splash. Cannonbolt then broke the water surface and clumsily swam to the shore where he slumped onto the mud. "That…hurt…"

The Omnitrix on his forehead blinked and flashed red before he transformed back into Will. He groaned in discomfort and pushed himself out of the mud before looking at the watch to see it was back in recharge mode. He turned the dial and activated the AI. "Omnitrix, what just happened? Why did you shut off?"

"Error. Apokoliptian energy feedback temporarily shut off power core resulting in momentary shutdown and error in transformation selection. Damage assessment, minimal. Solution, extensive recharge of power core."

"Fair enough." He turned the dial and turned the AI off and let it stay in recharge mode. If it needed to recharge longer to fix itself then fine. It saved him when he needed it and that's what counts. With that taken care of, he finally got a chance to look around and see where he was and it wasn't a hallucination. He was in fact on an island. An island with the cleanest smelling air, incredible looking trees, vast jungles, and a crystal clear blue river leading to some waterfalls in the distance. He walked over and washed his hands of the mud and scooped some water into his mouth, relishing in the taste. It was delicious and while he was glad he landed here so he wasn't stuck in the middle of the ocean he didn't remember seeing an island on the map. He reached behind his back and grabbed the Proto-box to call his dad and the others but it was fritzing and he could hear the garbled radio speech. He gave it a few taps and the signal eventually cleared up.

"Will, Will! Are you there? Come in!" His dad shouted.

"Dad, I'm here." Will radioed in and heard the sighs of relief from his dad and the others.

"Oh, thank god, Will. We lost contact with you and your locator signal for a while and were worried. Are you all right?" Max asked.

"I'm fine. Whatever energy used in those weapons shorted out my armor and the watch. I'm fine now but the Omnitrix needs to recharge so I could use a pick up. I don't suppose you see me on the island, do you?" He wondered.

"What island?" Max asked, checking the signal the Proto-box was coming from. "Will, we've picked up the Proto-box and it says you're in the middle of the ocean."

"What? I'm literally standing on dirt next to a river on an island. Are you sure there aren't any uncharted islands in the area?" He questioned.

"No, nothing. Hang on. I'm doing a flyby of your location." Max told him, piloting the jet down to the ocean where the Proto-box was broadcasting from. He increased the jet's speed and flew down low as another agent got into the cockpit to help look around but they didn't see anything or anyone. No sign of an island at all, just water. They even opened up the cargo ramp to get a good look until they were right on top of Will's signal but nothing. "Will, we're not seeing anything. Wherever you are, it's definitely not where we can see."

Will looked up and didn't see anything in the sky. "Yeah, I'm starting to get the feeling that there's more to this island then meets the eye. Especially since I saw it suddenly come into view when I landed."

Max moved the plane around when their scanners picked up incoming jet aircraft. Reconnaissance aircraft to see what happened with the explosion that was likely picked up by all nearby scanners. "Max, we've got incoming." An agent told him.

"Dad, pull back for now. I'll keep my locator beacon on so you know I'm ok. Once I figure out what's going on, I'll meet up with you. I promise." Will told him.

"Will, I'm not leaving you behind." Max told him.

"You're not. You're just waiting for me to come to you. There's nothing more than you can do on your end until I figure out where I am. Once I do that, I'll get back to you. I promise." He swore.

"All right but the second you are clear then we're coming to get you." Max promised.

"Got it. Besides, I was hoping you could stop by Greece and pick me up some lunch. Flying kind of making me hungry. Maybe they have a Big Belly Burger there?" Will told him and he could hear his dad chuckle a bit which was a good sign. He needed to keep things light.

"I'm gonna pretend I didn't hear that. Be safe, Will." Max told him before flying the jet out of the area.

Will looked around and saw the Omnitrix was still recharging so he tried activating his armor. He pressed the buckle but all he got was a beep sound and that's when his Proto-box alerted him that his armor was badly damaged. That energy wave that shorted out the Omnitrix affected the operating system of his armor and to fix it he would need to completely reboot and reprogram it which he couldn't do in the field. He'd have to wait until he returned to the DEO base to fix it. He began walking to find out anything about the island he landed on. He stayed by trees close to the river and followed it from the waterfalls since the river likely led to the ocean. That might be able to get him out of here.

He took notice of the terrain and it wasn't like the forests he had seen in the US and more like a jungle. All that was missing was a man in a loin cloth screaming at the top of his lungs. He really hoped he didn't see that and he didn't but he heard some voices of people nearby. He followed the sounds to another series of waterfalls which poured into a small pool and found the secret wet dream of every pervert and lothario. There were about half a dozen women lounging around in towels, bathing in the water or underneath the waterfalls. It was like a scene in an old 1970s porno and Will was a bit distracted when he realized what he was doing.

"I thought I outgrew this phase when I turned 13." He muttered when a spear plunged into the tree in front of him about six inches from his face. "And this just turned into a nightmare."

He heard running and looked to his right to see four women in weird clothing charging at him with spears. The one in front had long red hair and threw another spear at him while the woman to her left began shooting arrows so he ran away as fast as he could. His armor wasn't working and he checked to see the Omnitrix was still recharging. "Oh, this is a really bad time to be without my armor!" Will shouted, running into the jungle. He had no idea where he was going but anything was better than getting killed.

Unfortunately, when he ran out of the jungle and into a clearing he wasn't watching where he was running and ended up tripping on vine which sent him off a cliff. He didn't hit any rocks but some tree branches and vines slowed his fall into the river. "GAH!" Will broke through the surface and swam to shore where he took a few deep breath when he heard hooves in the dirt and a horse reared on his back legs in front of him. The sun partially obscured the view of the rider for a bit until he saw her. She looked to be in her mid-20s, was likely about 5ft10, fair-skinned with straight waist-length black hair, blue eyes, and broad shoulders. She was beautiful with a slender, well-toned yet athletic and musculature build. She appeared to be wearing a blue and white tunic gown like something seen out of movies set in ancient Rome or Greece. (10) "Whoa…where did you come from?"

"Surrender. You cannot escape." She told him.

"Look, I think there's been a bit of a misunderstanding. I don't want any trouble." Will swore as the woman got off her horse.

"You chose the wrong island to invade, man." She warned him.

"Please, if we could just talk this out then I think we can avoid mistakes. I crash landed here by accident. I just want to get home." Will pleaded and the woman seemed to lower her guard a bit. Something from the way he spoke indicated he was telling the truth. "I'm Will. And you are?"

"Diana." She introduced herself.

"Diana. Look, I don't what's going on or where I am but I swear I'm not here to hurt anyone." He pleaded when a spear flew past his arm. "Dammit!"

He held his arm in pain as the spear tip grazed his right arm, slicing through his jacket and cutting him. That's when Will and Diana saw more women with spears arrive on foot and some on horseback. The woman with the red hair grabbed another spear and threw it at him. Will ducked as the spear split the first one she threw. "You made a grave mistake coming here." She told him.

"Yeah, I'm starting to get that." Will muttered.

"Artemis, wait!" Diana stopped her and the others from attacking him.

"Out of the way, Princess." Artemis ordered.

"Princess?" Will didn't know he was talking to royalty but hoped she might take pity on him.

"Silence, man! You will speak when spoken to!" Artemis told him and he shut up.

"Artemis, I don't believe he came here as an invader. He said he came here by accident." Diana told her.

"No man comes here by accident. Where is the vessel you arrived on?" Artemis pointed another spear at his face.

"There is no vessel." He told her. "It's a long story."

"Very well. A story you will tell to the Queen. Take him away." Artemis ordered so Will's hands were bound and a bag was placed on his head before he was taken to wherever they were leading him. He had no idea what he just got himself into but he was really hoping that the Omnitrix rebooted soon.

Line Break xxxxx

Unknown Island

Will wasn't sure where he was taken since he had the bag over his head but he heard the talking and muttering of women and based on their tones and choice of words they weren't exactly pleased with his arrival. He was taken up a lot of steps before being placed into a chair where his hands and legs were bound. The bag was then removed from his head and he had to adjust his eyes a bit due to the sudden brightness but saw he was in some kind of old room with stone pillars, fire pits near the walls for light and more women in the room dressed in similar garb to Diana and Artemis. One element of consistency was that none of the women were pleased to see him.

Artemis then walked up to him and punched him across the face. "Ow! What was that for?"

"To remind you of your place in front of the Queen." She told him.

"That's enough, Artemis." He heard as a woman walked forward. She was older than the other woman in the room but by maybe twenty years at the most and shared a resemblance to Diana. She wore a long purple gown, was carrying a gold rope, and had a gold crown on her head. (11) "I am Queen Hippolyta. Welcome to Themyscira. We are the Amazons. We live simple lives and we wish to keep it that way. There are a few questions we'd like to ask you."

"Of course, your majesty. I'm sure this is all very confusing." Will promised when what she said fully set in. "Wait? You don't mean the Amazons as in the Greek Amazons, do you? The tribe of warrior women?"

"You are familiar with our people?" Hippolyta asked in concern and that only further confused Will but then he got another punch to the face by Artemis. "Artemis, enough!"

"OW!" Will shouted. "Why the punching?"

"What do you know of our people?" Artemis demanded to know what he knew.

"Not much of anything except the things told in stories." He answered. "They were a tribe of nomadic warrior women told in stories of the Iliad, Jason and the Argonauts and the 12 Labours of Hercules."

"They weren't labors so much as a man trying to take what didn't belong to them." Artemis spat out.

"You're talking like you were actually there." Will said in confusion.

"Because many of us once were and whatever stories you were told were far from the truth and only told from the man's perspective." Hippolyta explained. "Where did you hear these tales about our people?"

"In school. The Amazons are a part of Greek mythology." He answered.

"School? How old are you?" Hippolyta wondered.

"I'm 17." Will told them and the woman were not expecting the man in front of them to be younger than they expected. That's when it began to set for Will exactly who these women were. "This is all real. You really are the Amazons of Greek Mythology but that's impossible."

"And why is that?" Artemis asked.

"Because that would make you all uh…" Will did some quick mental math in his head. "Twenty-one, Twenty-two…hundred years old."

"And?" Hippolyta questioned and he saw all the angry looked he was getting from them.

"Nothing. Uh…you all look very beautiful for that age." He stammered to avoid getting another punch to the face. It was rather amusing to them to watch the man trip over his words. Hippolyta decided to get some more answers so she wrapped the rope around him. "Uh, sorry your majesty but is this really necessary?"

"Identify yourself." She ordered and the rope around him began glowing.

"William Benjamin Detmer, son of Maxwell Tennyson Detmer and Maria Moira Detmer. Resident of National City and agent in training of the Department of Extranormal Operations." Will replied in a sort of monotone, robotic manner like he was forced to reply. "Why did I just say all that?"

"This lasso of truth was designed to bypass the untrustworthy nature of man. You cannot resist its powers." She told him and Will realized he was kind of screwed. So much for lying. "What interest does your government have in our island?"

"My government is completely unaware of the existence of your island. I'm only here because my armor was damaged on a mission above your island and I crash landed here." He answered. "Geez, that is unnerving."

"Agent in training? A spy in our midst. I knew it. Can I kill him now, your majesty?" Artemis asked her.

"Whoa, wait, I'm not that kind of agent. Like I told you I'm still in school and I won't be made an official agent until I turn 21. And even then the DEO isn't that kind of group." He swore.

"What kind of group is this DEO?" Hippolyta wondered.

"The Department of Extranormal Operations is charged with monitoring and protecting earth from extraterrestrial presence and/or invasion." He answered but his answer just confused them so he decided to elaborate with some detail. "You've been here for so long but a lot has changed in the outside world including the kind of bad guys that are out there. The DEO protects the planet from rogue or evil aliens who would harm the planet along with stopping rogue groups or criminals using technology they shouldn't be using. That's the reason I crash landed here. There was a cargo plane of alien technology being transported into the hands of the Forever Knights. They're a group of extremists who use alien technology to further their own goals of taking over the world. I was part of a group intercepting the cargo only something went wrong and an explosion knocked me here. I was trying to find a way off this island and get back home when Artemis and the others found me but they let their weapons do the talking. Your daughter was the only one who gave me a chance to explain myself."

Hippolyta and the others weren't sure what to make of Will's explanation. They had been on the island since the times of ancient Greece and knew a lot had to change in the outside world but didn't keep in touch with said changes. Still, the fact that he said all of that while the lasso was glowing meant he was telling the truth. "Can I kill him now, my queen?" Artemis asked her and Will swallowed a nervous gulp.

Hippolyta looked at him and saw just a child, one that wasn't a threat so she removed the lasso. "This boy poses no threat to our people. Therefore, it is our duty to see him safely returned to the outside world." She decreed and he breathed a sigh of relief.

"I want to be the one to take him back, Mother." Diana volunteered.

"I'm ok with that." Will put his vote in but the glare he got from Artemis and Hippolyta gave him his answer. "I'll shut up now."

"You do not have the experience necessary to lead such an expedition. As in ancient times, a contest will determine our emissary to the outside world. Artemis, make the arrangements." Hippolyta ordered and she nodded before they left the room one by one. The ropes around Will's arms and legs were undone and two of the Amazons escorted him away to tend to the injury on his arm.

Diana went after her mother to speak to her. "This is not fair, mother. I will always lack necessary experience unless given the opportunity."

"Diana, you may resent my decisions, but there are evils in this world that I, as a mother, am compelled to protect you against." Hippolyta told her.

"I am a woman now. I no longer need your protection." Diana stated when Persephone walked over.

"If the princess will not be participating in the contest perhaps she can join me on guard duty." Persephone wondered.

"It appears you are going to be busy." Hippolyta told her before leaving. Diana just looked at Persephone in anger only to get a shrug in response before she left.

Will was taken to a small room with a small bed, table, a chair, and one window. Two Amazons watched over him while a third brought in some medicine. They had Will remove his jacket and shirt before she placed a paste of special herbs on the wound before wrapping it in gauze.

"Thank you." He told her and she gave him a nod before getting up and leaving. Once she left, the two Amazons watching him walked outside and stood guard at the door. They really didn't like men. He put his shirt back on and went to the window to see what looked like a city. Something out of ancient Greece which made sense now but it was amazing. An entire island of warrior women cut off from the outside world for centuries and living in peace. They've missed so much but he wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. He was brought out of his thought train when he heard someone walk in and it was Diana. "Diana."

"Hello." She greeted him. "I trust you are all right."

"I'm fine. Other then the frosty welcome I got but I get it. If someone else mysteriously showed up on my home then I'd probably do the same thing." He admitted. "Thank you again for giving me the benefit of the doubt. I know it couldn't have been easy considering how everyone else's first instinct was to kill me."

"Your welcome but it was only right. You are still a boy so killing you would do them nothing." She told him. He wasn't sure whether he should be insulted or glad that was the reason. "What is that?"

He looked down and saw she was referring to the Omnitrix which was still in recharge mode. "Oh, uh…it's a watch."

"A watch?" Diana was confused.

"Yeah, a watch. It tells time. It's something of a present but it's gotten me through some tough times and it still works. Part of the time." He admitted, glad that her mother never asked questions about the Omnitrix. "How come you and the others speak English so well?"

"We speak hundreds of languages. The Amazons were created to be a greater understanding between all men." Diana told him and he nodded.

"Ok. Then what happened?" He wondered. "Why have you all been on this island since the times of ancient Greece and all history knows about you is just stories?

"A war. Not the first but a bloody, devastating war a long time ago. As the stories go, my mother led the Amazons in a fierce war against the army of Ares who sought to plunge the whole world into conflict." She explained.

"Wait, Ares? Ares, as in the Greek God of War?" He asked, hoping she would say no.

"The very same. Ares was fueled by the psychic energy of violence and death and it made him nearly unstoppable until my mother defeated him. But Zeus stopped her from killing him and Hera bound his powers so he could no longer use them. Ever since he has been held prisoner here on this island with us watching over him. Here on Themyscira we are not subjected to the ravages of time and are isolated from the world of men to keep Ares prisoner until the end of time." Diana told him and Will had a hard time believing all of it. The Greek Gods were real, ancient wars, and the God of War himself was on the island. Then again he crash landed on an island of warrior women and had an alien watch that let him transform so what else was new.

"Stories? You weren't there?" He wondered.

"No. I was not born until after the war." She answered. "My mother sculpted me from clay and I was brought to life by Zeus."

There was a moment of pause as Will just let that sink in. "Well, that's neat." He cleared his throat and let the awkward moment of silence pass. "So, your mother is really gonna let me go, right? I'm not going to be taken out to seat and dumped into the ocean for the sharks to eat me, am I?"

"No, of course not. My mother is a woman of her word. Artemis might try to sabotage your boat though and let the Megalodons eat you." Diana pointed out and she saw the look of horror on his face. "That was a joke."

"Right, funny." He chuckled but inside he was terrified. "I can't help but notice that you are probably the only Amazon here who is nice to me. Is there a reason for that?"

"Curiosity. A part of me is curious to meet a man for the first time and know what changes have been made in the outside world. You are a boy but one out of two isn't bad." Diana told him.

"Funny. Ha-ha." Will remarked before putting his jacket back on. "So, what do you want to know? Just so you know, babies are made differently in the rest of the world."

"If you're referring to reproductive biology then yes, I know. I know all about that." Diana assured him and he nodded.

"I was referring to that among other things." He pointed out.

"The pleasures of the flesh." She said in a completely stoned faced expression. Guess social norms were different back then.

"Do you know about that?" He wondered with a part of him curious as to the sexual exploits of an island of warrior women but quickly banished that thought from his mind forever to not be a perv.

"I've read all 12 volumes of Clio's Treatises on Bodily Pleasure but I don't think you would not enjoy them. They came to the conclusion that men are essential for procreation, but when it comes to pleasure…unnecessary." Diana told him.

"Uh-huh." Will wasn't sure what to say after that.

A few hours later…

Will was escorted to the stadium on Themyscira where a contest would be held to decide who would be the one to take him back home which he guessed as leaving the island. The stands were filled with Amazons who were there to watch the contest and all the participants were garbed in boots, a white tunic, red leather armor and bronze Hoplite helmets. Since Will was the person they were fighting to escort home he sat atop the podium with Artemis keeping watch over him and Queen Hippolyta who stood up to address everyone.

"This contest will determine the most capable among you to be our emissary to the outside world. Fight with honor!" She raised her staff and some fanfare was played as the games begun. Spear throwing was the first contest with those managing to throw the furthest getting the most points. Then came archery, chariot racing, and combat with a sword and shield. It was like watching the Olympics which made sense given the history. Just the original version.

During the competition there seemed to be one Amazon with exceptional skill, talent, and training that made her stand out amongst the others. So much so that she ended up in the final round with another. The two Amazons in the final round wore a pair of metal cuffs on the wrists made up of Eight metal and forged by the God Hephaestus. Indestructible and used to symbolize the years when Amazons were subjected under the rule of Ares and man and now worn to remind them of what they have overcome.

"We have a tie which must be broken. She is who is left standing after this final event will be the victor." Artemis stated.

"Left standing?" Will was confused when he saw two Amazon archers draw arrows and fire them at the contestants. Both Amazons raised their bracelets which blocked and shattered the arrows. "Whoa…"

Two more archers joined them and four arrows were fired but again, both contestants remained standing. Six archers then fired arrows and that did it as only one Amazon blocked all the arrows. Queen Hippolyta stood as the Amazon champion walked up the steps to meet her where two attendants were waiting with her armor.

"You fought with honor and intelligence. The gods go with you with the gifts I am about to bestow. The finest Amazonian battle armor for our finest warrior. And with this armor comes with it the Bracelets of Victory, formed from shards of Zeus' shield by Hephaestus himself. Finally, the Lasso of Truth, bequeathed to us by the goddess Hestia, sent here by Eros from Mount Olympus. Now reveal yourself, Warrior so that we may fully honor you." Hippolyta said and the Amazon removed her helmet to show it was Diana. She stood up and there was a moment of pause before Hippolyta removed her tiara. "I have no doubt you will serve us well, my daughter."

She then placed the tiara on her head and Diana couldn't be happier only the good times weren't to be had as a guard rushed over and told the Queen that Alexa was dead. They rushed to the prison and found Alexa's dead body, Persephone missing with Ares gone. Diana rushed over and held Alexa's body in her arms.

"Ares has escaped. My sister has failed in her duties to the Amazons." Artemis said in regret as Hippolyta gave her a reassuring look.

"It is Persephone who has failed us. It seems, daughter, your journey will have a second purpose." Hippolyta told her.

The Queen and the Amazons stood at the shores of their island with Will. A small boat was prepared for them when Diana finally arrived after changing into her armor. Her armor consisted of a red leather bodice, topped by a golden eagle, connected to a blue leather skirt, seemingly held together by a golden belt that resembles a W with the golden lasso looped onto the side. In addition, she had a set of matching boots with adjustable greaves as well as a matching armband in the same shape as her belt. (12)

"Before you go, a final gift to aid you in your fight against Ares." Hippolyta gestured for two attendant to come forward. One was holding a bronze shield and the other a Greek-style sword. "The Sword of Exoristos and Shield of Alcippe. Weapons that belonged to two of the first Amazons who protected our people centuries ago. These weapons have seen battle and will aid you in your mission."

Diana took the sword and shield and put them on her back. "I am ready, mother."

"Then go now. Follow the path of misery, of death, and destruction and you will find Ares. May Gaea be with you, Diana. All of Themyscira, all of the world depends on you." Hippolyta told her.

Diana and Will got onto the small boat and rowed out to sea. It took a bit but soon they vanished from sight. "We should not have let her go." Artemis stated.

"I don't see how we could've stopped her." Hippolyta replied.

"I could have shot her in the leg. Not near an artery, of course." Artemis suggested.

"You are the soul of thoughtfulness, Artemis." Hippolyta remarked.

Diana and Will kept rowing through the sea when they passed through the magical barrier that shielded Themyscira and kept it from the rest of the world. Will noticed the island was gone and they were in the middle of the Aegean sea. "Keep rowing, Will. We have much work to do to get to shore." Diana told him.

"How about I cut that time in half?" He offered before taking the Proto-box and calling his dad. "Dad, you there?"

"Will, finally. I was getting worried again. It's been hours. Director Henshaw was about ready to scramble a team to come find you." Max told him.

"I'm fine, dad. I'm off the island but you are not gonna believe what happened. We could use a pick up. I'm in the middle of the Aegean now so lock in on my locator signal."

"We? Will, who's with you?" Max wondered.

"You have to see it to believe it. I'll see you in a few." He ended the call and made sure his locator signal was broadcasting nice and clear. "My dad will be here in a few minutes to pick us up. It'll make getting out of here much easier."

"If your father is coming to pick you up then this is where we part ways. I must begin my search for Ares." Diana told him.

"You don't just plan to walk around until you find him, do you?" He wondered but saw how dead serious she was. "Oh, you do. Diana, if you try to track him down that way then it'll take forever and Ares will be long gone. Maybe I can help? My dad works for the DEO as well and we have access to satellite networks and surveillance technology that could make your searching a lot easier. Think of this as me helping you the same way you helped me."

Diana gave it some thought before nodded. "Very well. We shall see what your technology has to offer."

"Good. The second my dad gets here we'll head to the DEO base and start a search along with getting you some new clothes." He told her.

"What is wrong with my clothes?" Diana asked him accusingly.

"Nothing, nothing but it's not exactly the norm anymore. Wearing armor hasn't been a thing for centuries. I've got some friends who can help you." Will said when he heard the roar of an engine and saw the DEO jet hover down with its cloaking system shut off. "Speak of the devil. Our ride is here."

"Impressive." Diana admitted as the jet touched down on the water. Will and Diana rowed the boat closer before they jumped in via the cargo ramp. The agents were glad to see Will alive but also saw a strange woman in armor with a sword so they raised their guns.

"Whoa, whoa, stop!" Will got in front of Diana and held his hands up. "Stop, she's with me! She's a friendly!"

The Agents lowered their guns as Max turned on the autopilot and got out of the cockpit to see Will. He rushed over and hugged him and Will hugged back. "Oh, Will. I'm glad you're ok."

"I'm ok, dad. I'm ok." He assured him with the two having a moment. Diana watched with intrigue until the two separated and Max got a good look at the mystery woman and she was beautiful.

"Wow." He muttered.

"I know. I said the same thing but she's a friend. She helped me so I'm helping her. Dad, Gonzalez, Donnelly, Brooks, meet Diana. Diana, meet my dad, Gonzalez, Donnelly, and Brooks." Will introduced the two parties.

"Greeting, DEO agents. I am Princess Diana of Themyscira." Diana introduced herself.

"Uh, hi." Brooks said to her.

"Will, what happened to you after the plane blew up?" Max asked him.

"A lot, dad. A lot." He admitted when he heard a beep and saw the Omnitrix turn from red to green. "Oh, now your done recharging?"

Line Beak xxxxx

National City, DEO Base

Will and the others returned to National City with Diana. When they arrived, Director Henshaw and the others were indeed surprised with their new guest and even more so with Will's story. Diana was waiting in an interrogation room as Will promised to help her with her search after he explained everything to his Director.

"…And after winning the tournament, Diana was chosen to be the one to escort me back. We rowed out from the island which is when I contacted my dad to pick us up and bring us here." Will finished his story to Director Henshaw, his dad, and the senior agents. They were in the observation room next to the interrogation room Diana was in and let the story sink in for a moment before one of the agents chuckled.

"That's quite a story there, kid. A little Penthouse Forum for my taste but interesting."

"Will, you didn't hit your head did you?" Max wondered.

"No, I didn't. I know it sounds crazy but I'm telling you the truth and the proof is literally standing in the next room." Will gestured to the two-way window and to Diana walking around the room with a curious expression. "We've dealt with ancient Mayan magic before so ancient Greek magic shouldn't be much of a leap."

"So, there's a secret island of warrior women hiding in the middle of the Aegean Sea and have been hidden away for centuries completely alone?" Henshaw asked for clarification and Will nodded. "Well, considering the aliens we deal with it's actually the most sane thing I've heard in years but how?"

"Magic bestowed on them by the Greek Gods, or at least that's what Diana told me and I'm inclined to agree. The scanners on the jet couldn't pick up the island like it wasn't there and I was in the middle of the ocean. Other then the magic, the place is literally a living time capsule of an ancient era." Will added.

"Are they dangerous?" Henshaw wondered.

"In general, yes. They're warriors trained since birth to fight. Granted, all their weapons are bronze-age swords, spears, and armor but they can still kill you." Will showed them the hole cut in his jacket sleeve. "If you mean to the rest of the world, then I don't think so. The Queen just wants her people to live in peace and have nothing to do with the outside world. And they're good people because she could have easily killed me but instead had someone escort me home. They just want to be left alone and I'm inclined to leave them that way. They hate men for a good reason and I'm not sure how if seeing how history has played out will do them any good."

"Then what about the beautiful woman with the sword?" Max questioned.

"Beautiful?" Will was not expecting his dad to go gaga over Diana.

"Will?" Henshaw wanted him to answer the question.

"She here's because she was the one to escort me back home but she's got another mission and it's to find the escaped God of War they were holding prisoner." He answered.

"You don't think we're talking the actual God of War, do you?" An agent asked him and Will shrugged.

"I don't know but Diana's got her mission to find him and bring him back. And from what she told me, having him out in the real world could be a serious problem so I offered to help." He explained, glancing at Diana who was staring at two-way window. "She saved me from getting killed so I owe her. It doesn't have to be official DEO business but I'm happy to help her on my own time."

Director Henshaw thought it over. Will's story was kind of hard to believe but there was proof of it in the interrogation room. If the escaped God of War part was real then they had a potential problem on their hands. "All right Will. I trust your judgement on this but she's your responsibility." Henshaw told him and Will nodded. "Help her how you can but make sure you keep an eye on her. The last thing we need is headlines of a female Amazon causing chaos. I'm praying that this God of War thing isn't real but if it is then do what you do best."

"Yes, sir." Will replied, leaving to go speak to Diana.

"Max…" Henshaw got Max's attention. "Look after her and your son."

"Yes, sir." Max replied. Guess he was thier babysitter now.

Diana was starting to get annoyed at being left in the room when the door opened and she saw Will. "Sorry, for the wait. I had quite the story to tell but my Director is fine with us helping you find Ares." He told her.

"Good because finding Ares is most important before he does untold damage to your world." Diana said when Max joined them.

"What kind of damage are we talking about?" Max wondered.

"I would wager to guess that Ares would seek to restart what he attempted years ago. A war to end all wars. Plunge all of mankind into an endless war and become unstoppable." Diana explained.

"But I thought you said he couldn't draw on the powers like he used to?" Will pointed out.

"He can't. Hera bound him to keep him from absorbing energy from conflicts but my mother always said Ares was crafty as he was diabolical. No doubt he is trying to find a way to restore his old powers." Diana told them.

"Then we should find him first." Max said before clearing his throat and looking at her. "Allow me to make a proper introduction. I'm Maxwell Tennyson but you can call me Max. I'm Will's father. Thank you for looking after my son."

She shook his hand with a firm grip. "It was nothing, Max. I am Princess Diana of Themyscira and I thank you for your assistance in aiding me in my mission."

"Well, we can get started on that. The computers this way." Max led them through the base to the main computers. As they walked through the base, Diana noticed the strange looks she was getting.

"Don't worry. I used to get those looks all the time. They're just not used to seeing an Amazon walking around." Will told her and she nodded when she saw several women walking around.

"You have women in your ranks at the DEO?" Diana asked, surprised to see the men working with the women.

"You sound surprised?" Will pointed out.

"The DEO is an all inclusive organization. To Director Henshaw, it doesn't matter where you come from or who you are so long as you have the skills and fortitude for this job." Max told him as they arrived at the monitoring station where Agent Amanda Vasquez was sitting at the computer station. "For example, meet Agent Amanda Vasquez. One of our best agents."

"Uh, hi." Vasquez wasn't expecting to see the armored woman walk up to her.

"It is a pleasure to meet a fellow warrior sister." Diana shook her hand with enthusiasm.

"Uh, what's going on?" Vasquez asked Max and Will.

"Vasquez, this is Princess Diana of the Amazons. She's gonna be here so we're gonna help her track down her target, Ares the God of War." Will explained.

"Right…ok." Vasquez replied, still confused about the whole thing.

"We're hoping we might be able to track him down. Diana, what exactly are we dealing with in terms of Ares?" Max wondered.

"Imagine a god whose sole mission is to propagate terror, to incite eternal war and fan the flames of hate. A god who won't stop until the Earth's populous, Amazon and outside alike, lies murdered in a battlefield grave." Diana explained only for Will, Max, and Vasquez looked at her in confusion. That's when she noticed the looks she was getting. "What?"

"Nothing. Guess things are kind of dreary back home for you." Max joked.

"Oh, it was actually quite nice except for the part where if you're a man then the Amazons first instinct is to kill you." Will pointed out.

"Again, I apologize for the acts of my sisters. Our bad history with men is something that many of them still have issues with." Diana told him.

"Yeah, the several punches to the face from Artemis made that very clear." Will told her, rubbing his jaw which still stung.

Vasquez wasn't sure what to search for so she just did a search for any odd instances of violence around the planet and that's when some things started to show up. "I think I have something." Vasquez told her so they gathered around the monitor as she brought up incident reports in the Mediterranean area. "A few hours ago, the number of violent incidents in the Mediterranean area skyrocketed. A car bomb in Turkey, a workplace shooting in Greece, a farmer kills his family in Crete and dozens of others all over the area."

"That's too many incidents to be just a coincidence." Max stated.

"You're right. Proximity to Ares literally inspires acts of rage in the hearts of those gripped by fear and anger." Diana told him.

"Then that could be the thing we could use to find him. Eventually, all these incidents will give us a pattern and direction he's moving in we can use to track his location." Vasquez told her. "But it's gonna take some time."

"Still, once we get his location then we can go and stop him. This world's got enough to deal with and it doesn't need an old Greek God trying to start a war." Will remarked.

"Very well, then. For now, we wait." Diana agreed when they heard a ringing coming from Will. He checked and saw it was his phone.

"Sorry, one second." He stepped away to answer. "Hey, Courtney."

"Hey, Will. Just wanted to make sure we're still on for heading to the festival with the others?"

"Festival?" He asked her.

"The arts and food festival down by the docks? Remember we all said we would be going together a month ago?"

Will went wide-eyed as he completely forgot that was today but remembered making that promise. "Right, of course. No, the festival. I remember."

"You forgot, didn't you?"

"No, I didn't forget. I remembered." He said, glancing over at his dad and Diana before getting an idea. "I was just busy with my dad and his new girlfriend. Diana."

"Oh, really? How's that going?"

"Pretty good, I think. I'll be there in an hour like we planned. My dad and Diana will be coming as well. I'll meet you there." He hung up and walked over to his dad who saw the look on his face.

"Will, what do you have planned?" Max asked him before Will cleared his throat and put on his most charming smile to both his dad and Diana.

"Diana, how would you feel about going on a date with my dad?" Will wondered.

"What is a date?" Diana was confused.

"Will, what did you do?" Max asked him.

"Ok, full honesty I completely forgot about the date I had with Courtney and the others at the Art and Food Festival by the docks. So, I told her that I was busy with my dad and his new girlfriend, Diana, who will be coming to the festival as well." He admitted.

"Girlfriend? I am an Amazon warrior and I will not be wedded off like a horse or sheep." Diana told him.

"You don't actually have to date my dad. I just need you two to come with me to the festival so I can save face or else Courtney will kill me." He told her.

"Will, lying to Courtney like this isn't a good thing." Max reminded him.

"I know but I can't exactly tell her the truth about what I do and what happened today so this is the best option." He pointed out, quickly thinking up of another reason to get Diana to go. "And this way Diana can see more of the outside world. It'll still be a while before we can track down Ares and this could be your only chance to experience what has changed since the times of Ancient Greece before going back. When are you ever gonna get another chance to see what's changed in the past two millenia?"

"He's laying it on a bit thick, isn't he?" Vasquez said to Max.

"A bit." He replied.

"You don't have to think of it as a date. Just a chance for you to see what's changed and to eat some good food. A lot of culinary advancements have been made since Ancient Greece. My dad will just be going to help show you around." Will said before getting on his knees and taking Diana's hand. "Please, please."

It was an odd sight to see Will begging on his knees in front of Diana but it was rather amusing. "Very well. Only if for the food and the chance to see what has become of man's world." Diana told him.

"Thank you. Ok, I need to put my armor back in the fabricator to repair it. Dad, Vasquez, find something Diana can wear that will help her blend in. We leave in half an hour!" Will announced before running to the engineering room with the others watching in amusement

"Your son is rather odd." Diana told Max.

"That he is." Max replied. "Vasquez, think there's anything we have for Diana?"

Vasquez looked Diana up and down to get a general idea for her measurements. "I think we have a few things that might fit. Come with me." Vasquez led Diana away to get changed.

National City

Will unlocked the door to his and his dad's condo and rushed inside to take a quick shower and get changed. Max walked in followed by Diana who was now wearing a purple sleeveless business dress with a matching jacket on top and a pair of heels but kept her bracelets on. Her shield, sword, and lasso were left in the car incase of an emergency. Max told her that keeping weapons like that on her person would get her in trouble. The drive into the city was interesting. Diana was taken back by the large buildings and all the people and now she was inside the home of Max and Will.

"Give Will a second. He needs to get cleaned up." Max told her, closing the door and walking in to the kitchen to get a glass of water. "Can I get you anything? Water? Soda?"

"I'm fine, thank you." Diana walked around the condo and took everything in. It was nice and much different compared to homes back on Themyscira complete with technology she was unfamiliar with. "So, this is the place you and Will call home?"

"Yeah for the better part of a year. We moved here from Midvale so Will could be closer to train with the DEO. Midvale's a lot less cramped then National City. More forests and open space then here." Max told her when he saw Diana stop at a wall of photos. They were of him and Will growing up but some of them had a woman in the picture as well. Diana picked up a photo of Will when he was about 3 years old. He was cute, chubby, 3-year old and with him was Max and a woman. She was beautiful with shoulder length brown hair and a very welcoming, heartwarming smile. (13) "That was before his first day of pre-school. He was so excited that day. When we picked him up he told us non-stop about everything he did. He's definitely calmed down a bit since then."

"This is his mother? She is very beautiful. Where is she? I would like to meet her." Diana told him as Max took the photo and placed it back on the wall.

"She's not here. She passed away a few years ago from cancer." Max replied and Diana quickly adopted a look of sorrow.

"Forgive me, Max. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring up painful memories." Diana apologized.

"It's all right, Diana. You didn't know." He assured her. "It was a tough time for the both of us and there are still days we miss her. But with time and some help we managed to get through it. She was my better half and Will got all his best traits from her. His kindness, compassion, and passion are definitely traits she instilled in him."

Hearing all of that and how lovingly he spoke about his deceased wife made Diana smile. For so long she was taught and told stories by the Amazons on the horrible things men had done to their sisters and the world. It affected their view of mankind and they had a justified reason for their distaste of men but Diana had met two that proved maybe there were some good men out there.

"You never remarried?" Diana wondered and Max shook his head no.

"No. I had my hands full with Will at the time and working at the DEO. And it was hard to find someone else like her." He admitted.

"Well, perhaps you will one day." Diana told him.

"Maybe." He shrugged. "I hope that your views of man and the outside world so far haven't been that bad."

"It has been an interesting introduction. For so long I've wanted to go out beyond Themyscira and my home." She said and Max could detect the small hints of reluctance in her voice.

"But now that it's here it's not all that it's cracked up to be?" He asked and she nodded. "That happens to a lot of people."

"Me in particular." They heard as Will walked out wearing some nice shoes, clean jeans, and a blue button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled up. "The realities rarely meet our expectations but maybe that's a good thing. It means we have to find things worth working for in front of us instead of in our heads."

"Wise words, Will." Diana told him.

"That he definitely gets from his mother." Max remarked.

"All right. It's time to show Diana how much the outside world has changed." Will led them out to a night of fun and food.

Line Break xxxxx

Food and Arts festival, National City Waterway

The food and arts festival of National City was a nice three day event where local restaurants, vendors, and companies celebrated food and fun by hosting small events in conjunction with various art departments, schools, church groups and such. There were games, performances, some carnival rides, and plenty of good food. Will was hanging out with Courtney and the others as they walked around the festival. They were waiting in line at the funnel cake stand when Will looked over to see his dad and Diana talking at a table cluttered with all the food the festival had to offer.

He felt a small pat on his arm from Courtney. "Your dad's girlfriend seems really nice." Courtney told him.

"Yeah, she's pretty cool." He told her, seeing that Diana and his dad seemed to be doing ok.

"I'm still impressed your dad found someone like her." He heard Ed say. "She is hot."

That earned him a smack on the head curtsy of Beth. "Ed, your drooling."

"Seriously, dude. Your dad must have some serious dating skills." Vic said, really impressed with the pairing.

"Hold on. Why are we assuming he hit on her. Maybe it was the other way around?" Karen suggested. "Was it?"

"Uh…it was more of a blind date kind of thing. For both of them." Will answered.

"Are they getting serious?" Yolanda wondered.

"Um…I don't think so." He said, quickly thinking up of an excuse. "Her work might take her out of National City soon so they're not sure."

"Oh, that's too bad but who knows. Maybe things will work out." Courtney said and Will chuckled before kissing her on the head and holding her close.

While Will was hanging out with his friends, Max escorted Diana around to show her the festival and the wonders of modern food. And not just the typical fast food with hamburgers and hotdogs as there were some great restaurant and vendors who had booths set up including Diego's authentic taqueria which had the best tacos in the city, Alonso's pizzeria with the best brick-oven pizza, and Saigon Palace which had the best Banh Mi's ever. And there was a local brewery so there was beer to people 21 and over. Max got them a lot of food and they used that time to talk as well. Diana had a lot of interesting stories to tell.

"Wait, so your mother and Ares were really a thing? The God of War mantle didn't raise any kind of red flags or alarms for her?" Max wondered and she shrugged. "I guess the bad boy thing worked back then too."

"You think that's bad? Zeus seduced one of my mom's friends by turning into a swan. A swan. True story." Diana told him as she sipped a beer.

"So, the Greek Gods are all real? I mean, you told us about the God of War but the rest are just what? Hanging out on Olympus?" Max asked her.

"Essentially. As my mother told me the gods began to slowly pull back on their involvement in man's affairs. It's what prompted Ares to start his war." She told him.

"I still can't believe it. There are a thousand University professors who would love a chance to talk with you and learn more about Ancient Greece. Was Hercules a real person?" Max wondered.

"He was but I can tell you he wasn't as amazing or godlike as the stories depict him as. As Artemis says, he was just a man who felt he was better than most because of his father." Diana explained.

"That actually could apply to a lot of people today as well. Guess some things never change." Max remarked.

After the food, they took a walk through the festival where Diana saw a group of boys playing with stick swords. "Children. Max, I've never seen children before. I'm—" Diana stopped when she saw a little girl by herself crying so she walked over. "What's wrong, little one?"

"They won't let me play pirates with them."

"Why not?" Diana asked, taking a seat next to her.

"Because I'm the girl, and they need someone to save." She answered to Diana's shock. "It's ok. I don't even know how to sword fight."

"Neither do they. In battle, they'd be slaughtered instantly. Would you like me to teach you how to sword fight?" Diana offered and the little girl smiled so Diana picked up a stick and gave it to her. "They're using the horizontal cut, but in close like they are, the thrust is a better move as it is more likely to cause real injury and less likely to be blocked by your opponent. Do you understand?"

"Uh-huh." The girl nodded.

"Now go. Unleash hell." Diana told her and the girl charged. When she did, the boys ran away in terror.

"That was sweet. Teaching her to disembowel her playmates like that." Max told her when he noticed the look on Diana's face. It was one of worry. "What's wrong?"

"Since I was a little girl I've always have dreams of being the one who reunited Themyscira with the outside world. Of being that bridge. It just feels like so much depends on me right now." Diana told him. "And now that I'm here, I'm not sure what to do."

"Well, of all dreams I could think of you gave yourself one that's probably the hardest there is. But don't let that deter you. And Will and I are so fond of saying if things weren't made hard to accomplish then they wouldn't be worthwhile to finish. Or fun for that matter." Max told her. "Just take it slow and know you might make mistakes but it doesn't mean it's not worthwhile."

Diana smiled at Max's sincerity and wisdom. "If there are more men like you and your son, Max then I believe that my goal may be possible."

"Well, we're kind of special. Come on, I know a good ice cream stand nearby." Max led her to the stand and bought both of them a vanilla cone. Max paid as Diana took a look at the ice cream before taking a small bite and couldn't help but relish in the delicious taste. "Is it good?"

"It's wonderful." Diana said with the biggest smile on her face.

"Yeah, I figured." Max admitted.

"You are very gifted cook." Diana told the stand owner as the two continued walking through the festival. When they neared the area by the water, there were less people around since most of them stayed close to the stands and entertainment. That's when a guy in a hood walked up behind them and placed a knife against Max's back.

"Don't shout or draw attention." He warned them as Max stood still and Diana looked at him. "Unless you want to bleed out and die give me your wallets and your phones."

"Max, is this man robbing us?" Diana asked him.

"I think so." Max replied.

"And don't think to call for help because I've got some friends nearby." The guy said as four other guys walked over.

"Give him nothing, Max." Diana told him.

"I said, give me the wallet." The thief ordered.

"No, we're going to hold on to that. But there is something I want from you. An apology. For contributing to my disillusionment with men and ruining this evening of events." Diana told him.

"Your girlfriend's got a death wish. I'm not gonna ask again. Give me the wallet or your gonna know what it's like to bleed out." The thief warned her only for Diana to quickly grab his arm and pull him away. The thief tried to stab her but she just grabbed his hand and broke his wrist before throwing him into a garbage can. One of the thief's friends rushed over only for Diana to kick him in the face. Another tried to stab her but she grabbed his arm and threw him into the water. She picked up the thief's knife and snapped it in half like it was a twig which did scare the last two thugs but they just charged. Diana dodged their attacks and kneed one in the face before throwing him into a tree and then broke the last guy's wrist and grabbed him by the throat. She lifted him up in the air with one hand and gave him an angry glare.

"Well?" Diana asked him.

"Uh…We're sorry." He apologized.

"Apology accepted." Diana then dropped him as the guy tried to run only for the police to show up and arrest him and his friends. The little police arrest drew a crowd which included Will and his friends.

"Hey, guys. Give me a minute." Will told them before making his way through the crowd when an officer stopped him. "That's my dad." The officer let him pass as he rushed over to see his dad and Diana were fine. "Dad, you ok?"

"I'm fine. Just some muggers who tried to rob us. Diana took care of them." Max explained. "I now get the warrior woman part of your story."

"Thanks for saving my dad, Diana." Will told her.

"It was nothing but I believe that is the end of our night of activities." She told him and he nodded.

"Sorry that your first day out in man's world had to end with these idiots trying to rob you. And much as the world has changed, you can still expect idiots to do stupid things." He remarked. "But your right. As much fun as this night has been Vasquez might have something for us on Ares. Dad, why don't you and Diana head to the car. I'll join you after I say goodbye to Courtney."

"All right."

Will tossed his dad the car keys and went to say goodbye to Courtney and the others while Max and Diana went back to the car which was a bit of a walk since parking for the festival was hard. After a good ten minute walk, they arrived near the mall where Will's Camaro was parked. "Sorry that your night out had to end with a bad taste but I do hope you enjoyed yourself a little bit." Max said to Diana.

"I did. There was good food and some excellent company and conversation." Diana looked at Max with a smile and he smiled back. "Man's world has changed greatly. I wonder what my mother and the others would think on what I've seen."

"Well, you'll have quite the story to tell them when you get back. And I'm sure Will and I get make sure you go back with some souvenirs. Food of course being the biggest." Max joked when they heard a beeping sound. Diana looked around in confusion while Max checked his regular phone and DEO phone but it was neither of them. The beeping was coming from the car so Max opened it and heard it was coming from the glove compartment. He opened it and it was the Proto-box. Will must have stashed it there when they parked the car.

"What is it?" Diana asked him so Max checked and the Proto-box was picking up a weird energy signal close by. That's when they saw a thick cloud of fog suddenly appear down the street and out walked a 8ft tall grey skinned ogre-like monster. He had bulging muscles, was wearing Greek-style armor complete with a helmet and had a beard of snakes. "An agent of Ares, I presume?"

"He's definitely not from National City." Max remarked.

"I am Deimos. I was sent to kill the Amazon who returned the child. Ares will be most pleased when I bring back your remains." Deimos remarked.

"I don't think so." Diana slipped on her tiara and kicked off her heels before charging. He threw out some punches that Diana managed to dodge before trying to slam her into the ground. He missed and his fists dug into the concrete. Diana dodged his charge but got hit by his backfist and was knocked back into a building. She quickly ducked a punch to the face but was knocked into a dumpster so she picked it up and threw it at him, knocking him down the street. The fight scared any nearby pedestrians as Max quickly unlocked the trunk and took out Diana's sword, shield, and lasso.

"DAD!" Will rushed over to see him getting Diana's weapons out of the trunk. "What's going on?"

"Ares sent one of his men to kill Diana." He said when he went wide-eyed. "Look out!"

He tackled Will to the side as Diana came flying past them and crashed into the sidewalk. She pulled herself out of the ground and glared at Deimos before walking over and picking up Will's car over her head with her bare hands. "Diana, wait! NOT THE CAR!" Will pleaded.

His begging fell on deaf ears as Diana leaped forward and smashed Deimos with Will's car, creating a small explosion that consumed them both. Deimos was then sent flying away with a powerful kick into a fire hydrant before Diana picked up the broken half of Will's car in her hands and used it to smash him into the storefront boutique of the mall. "AHH! MY CAR!" Will shouted in despair.

"Will, focus!" Max shoved Diana's weapons into his hand. "Worry about your car later."

"Oh, right."

Will ran to the mall and activated the Omnitrix to select an alien. Max took out his DEO phone to call for backup. "This is agent Maxwell Detmer. We've got a situation at the National City Mall. I need a cleanup and containment crew, asap!"

Diana bashed Deimos into the wall of the boutique and backed up as he threw out several punches which she blocked. Two of the snakes on his beard lunged at her which she was able to avoid before grabbing both and slamming him into a display case. She took a broken shard of glass and cut the two snakes off. Deimos just growled in anger as Diana stabbed him with the glass shard. He grabbed her arm, taking the shard through his hand which allowed him to slam her into the ceiling and then back onto the ground before stomping on her face. Diana managed to grab his foot and kick him in the stomach to get him off.

Deimos growled in anger when he was momentarily blinded by a flash of green light. Then a fist smashed him in the face and knocked him into the mall. Diana looked up to see a large red-skinned four-armed monster with four yellow eyes and was wearing a black and blue uniform. In the creatures three other arms were her sword, shield, and lasso so she shoulder charged the monster in the gut before punching him in the face and knocking him onto his back. She grabbed her sword and held it up to his neck. "Die, agent of Ares!"

"Diana, stop! It's me, Will!" Four Arms shouted, getting Diana to momentarily stop her assault. He then shifted his body to show her the Omnitrix symbol on his shoulder. "Remember this? The watch?"

"Will? What has happened to you? Are you a shapeshifter?" Diana asked him.

"Yeah, it's a long story but maybe we can save it for after we stop Ares's henchman?" He suggested and she nodded, ripping off the dress she was wearing to reveal her armor underneath. She hooked her lasso onto her belt and picked up her shield before charging.

"HA!" She leapt in the air and brought her sword down only for Deimos to move out of the way at the last second. He picked up two beams of wood from a stand he crashed in to and knocked her into a support column. He charged forward to hit her with his arm but Four Arms got to him first and hit him with a right straight to the face that knocked him into the metal shutters of a store. Deimos rolled to the side to avoid another punch and then hit Four Arms in the gut before both large creatures locked arms for dominance.

"What kind of foul realm did you come from?" Deimos questioned only for Four Arms to punch him in the gut with his two lower arms. That knocked him back and left him open to an uppercut to the face that sent him crashing into the water fountain. Deimos got up and growled before charging and Diana met his charge but went low, landing a shield bash on his legs that knocked him down. Four Arms then picked him up and headbutted him.

"Space." He then spun Deimos around and threw him at Diana who then hit him with her shield which sent him flying out of the mall and back onto the street.

Deimos groaned in pain and got to his feet where he saw Diana charging at him so he ran at her and threw out a punch but missed. Diana slashed him in the back of the leg, landed a knee strike to his jaw and used her sword to slice off another snake from his beard when he grabbed her arm. Diana just kneed him in the groin, put him in a headlock and smashed his face into the ground before quickly wrapping the lasso around his neck and throwing him down the street. He tumbled on the ground only for Diana to pull him back and land a spinning back kick that knocked him flat on his back. She quickly wrapped more of the lasso around him as Max and Four Arms joined her. Four Arms touched the Omnitrix on his arm and turned back to Will.

They saw Deimos struggle to get free and remove the lasso from his neck. "Save your energy. You're not going to break the lasso." Diana told Deimos. "So, do you want to tell me where Ares is?"

"No, no, I will not betray my master." Deimos said in defiance.

"Trust me, dude. You don't have a choice. You might as well make it easier on yourself." Will pointed out.

"I answer only to Ares!" Deimos declared as the last remaining snake on his beard bit him on the hand. "AH!"

Soon enough light ripped through his body and turned him to ash with only the helmet remaining. "Jesus…" Max walked over to the ashes and found what looked like a buckle. "What's this?"

"The symbol of Tartarus. The Greek Underworld. That's where Ares is going. Will, we require one of your jets." Diana told him only to see him looking at the burning wreckage of his car before falling to his knees.

"My car. All those hours…all that time…gone…" He whispered in horror.

Diana was confused and looked at Max. "He spent a lot of time and effort on the car. The same car you used on Deimos like a bat."

"Oh…" Diana felt kind of bad now seeing Will like this.

"Let's just give him a minute." Max told her.

Line Break xxxxx

Attika, Greece

The buckle on Deimos's body gave Diana the clue she needed to know where Ares was going. He was going to Tartarus, the Greek Underworld. After the DEO secured the scene of Deimos's attack along with recovering the wreckage of Will's car, Will grabbed his armor which had finished its repairs and Max piloted them in a jet to Greece. Since Director Henshaw told Will that this was his mission it was just him and his dad to give Diana any backup she needed. Hopefully it would be enough.

The entrance to Tartarus was hidden in a volcano in Attika, Greece and outside the volcano cavern entrance there was a small military encampment complete with vehicles and even helicopters. Diana, Will and Max hid by the rocks near the entrance to the camp. Will was wearing his armor and Max was outfitted in his DEO agent gear. Diana took a look around the camp and at the soldiers guarding it but her gaze was drawn to the red colored bands on their arms. The symbol on it was a circle made of swords. "The Cult of Ares. They existed in ancient times and it seems they've been waiting patiently for his return." Diana whispered.

Max walked over to one of the soldiers near the fence and quickly put him in a rear-naked choke while covering his mouth and nose so he fell unconscious much quicker. Will then walked over to the fence and used his knife to slice open an entry point. Diana quickly grabbed a guard and knocked him out before dragging his body out of sight. They moved behind the mess hall and saw four soldiers standing around a Humvee but two more were walking over. Diana undid her lasso and waited until they were close before throwing it around both of them. She pulled it taught so both soldiers were knocked into one another before Max shot them with tranquilizer darts.

She looked over at the four soldiers by the Humvee and pulled out her sword when Will put his hand on her arm. "Let me take care of them." He activated his shield and stepped out. "Hey!"

"Huh?" The soldiers turned around only for Will to throw his shield at them. It bounced and ricocheted, hitting each soldier in the face and knocked them out before flying back into Will's arm.

Diana and Max walked out to see his handy work. "Not bad, right?"

"Indeed." Diana remarked before removing her tiara and throwing it while Max unsheathed his knife and did the same. Both hit two soldiers coming out of a tent. That alerted some of the other soldier to their presence. Will threw his shield to knock the guns out of their hands before jumping forward and landing a flying elbow into one of the soldier's faces. Max quickly disarmed one of the soldiers who tried to knife him and kneed him in the face before elbowing him in the back of the head. Diana jump kicked a soldier in the face before turning and punching another away. Max knocked out another soldier with a solid uppercut and then elbow to the face as Will slid forward and took a soldier to the ground before breaking his arm and elbowing him in the neck. A soldier tried to run for it only for Diana to lasso him around the legs and throw him in the Humvee.

"So, why would Ares come here?" Max asked her as she hooked her lasso to her belt.

"To seek the help of another god." Diana answered.

Inside the caverns of the volcano, more soldiers of the Cult of Ares were hanging around when in walked Ares and Persephone. When Ares walked by, his very presence incited anger. The guard dogs began fighting with one another, one soldier killed a rat that was near him and a group of soldiers killed one of their own in a fit of rage. (14)

"Soon, my love, these bands will be but a memory and you will be free again to summon the dark army that will allow us to rule over this world together. You must thank your uncle for agreeing to make this all possible." Persephone told him as they arrived at the gates of Tartarus. It was flanked by two stone pillars, two stone harpy sculptures, and in front of the gate was a sacrificial podium.

"My uncle has agreed to nothing. In fact, I'd be quite surprised if that miserable fool helps us at all." Ares admitted.

"But there is no one else to turn to. What if he does not remove the bands?" She questioned.

"I can be very persuasive when I need to be. I convinced you to turn your back on your people, didn't I?" Ares reminded her.

Diana, Will, and Max hugged the walls by the entrance to Tartarus. "Holy crap…" Max and Will said at the same time. They were literally looking at the gates of Tartarus with their own eyes.

"Diana, what's he waiting for?" Will whispered to her.

"The gates are sealed. He planned his escape to coincide with the Blood Moon, the one night of the year the gates can be opened. But to do that, a sacrifice must be made to Hades." Diana answered as they watched Ares and Persephone gather at the podium with some of the cultists.

"Now, Persephone, I must call upon your aid once again." Ares told her.

"How is it I can serve you?" Persephone asked him.

"Your dagger, please." He told her.

There was a moment of hesitation in her face before she bowed her head. "Of course, my king." She handed him her dagger and he looked over at his cultists who quickly grabbed one of their own.

"Hey, wait! Stop!" He begged as he was strapped to the sacrificial podium. "No, no, please no!"

"It is time." Ares raised the dagger up high. "Septimo Laudos—AH"

The dagger was knocked out of his hand by a tiara. Ares, Persephone, and the cultists looked over to see Diana, Will, and Max. Max aimed his assault rifle at them with Will aiming his forearm launcher. Diana caught her tiara and put it back on. "It's over, Ares. I'm taking you back to Themyscira. On the bright side, you'll have the company of a new cellmate."

"Surely, you don't think a god can be so easily defeated, do you? Vithmos Letho Harpias. Vithmos Letho Harpias." He said in Latin but nothing happened. Diana saw he was trying to summon something so she rushed forward and tackled him. "It's already done."

The two stone harpies by the gates of Tartarus began to shake before the stone on them exploded and filled the room with dust. Persephone used that moment of distraction to throw Diana off of Ares. When the dust settled, two giant harpies sprung forward with one quickly eating two of the cultists. Will and Max opened fire on the Harpies with what they had.

"Whatever happens, stop Ares from opening the gates!" Diana told them.

"Got it!" The three then split up with Diana running forward and throwing her lasso onto one of the harpies and pulling it to the ground. She then got up top and used her sword to stab it in the back of the neck, killing it.

Will rush to the gate, firing explosive disks at the other harpy flying above. The cave was massive enough that the harpies were able to fly without issue. It let out a screech and flew down to eat him but he quickly dove to the side at the last second and dodged. He then activated his shield and used it to block the bullets from two of the cultists before rushing them. He shield bashed one away before taking one to the ground with a leg sweep and doing a spinning elbow drop to his chest. Will did a kip up back to his feet and threw his shield at the other cultist and hit him in the face.

With the two harpies occupied, Max rushed to get the dagger only for Ares to block his path and punched him. Max tumbled on the ground until he hit the cave wall. Even though he was unable to draw on the psychic powers like he used to, Ares was still a god. Ares picked up the dagger but Diana threw her lasso around his hands. The two struggled for dominance when Will rushed at them and threw his shield, hitting Ares in the face. That gave Diana the chance to pull him off his feet and throw him some rocks. Persephone rushed to get the dagger but Max tackled her to the ground. Diana rushed at Ares and landed a jumping side kick to his face before getting on top of him and brought her sword down. Ares held her arms back and the two struggled so Will rushed over to help her when the other harpy flew down towards him. He quickly rolled to the side to dodge like before but the harpy knew what he was going to do and extended its right wing and hit him. Will was hit with enough force that he was sent flying into the cave wall and caused some rubble from the ceiling to drop down on top of him. The harpy flew over to Diana where it dug its talons into her back before grabbing her and flying away.

Diana was injured and the talons of the harpy were squeezing her so tightly that she passed out. Max acted on instinct and quickly ran after the harpy before grabbing onto it tail as it flew into the air. Will pushed the rubble off of his him and saw his dad holding on to the harpy's tail for dear life while Diana was not moving in its talons so he activated the Omnitrix and transformed. One flash of green light later and he transformed into a 6ft2 tall broad shoulder human but with brown feather wings. He was wearing a green and gold armor suit from his boots all the way to the golden winged helmet he had on his head. On his hands were a pair of armored gauntlets with sharp claws and on his chest was the Omnitrix symbol designed as the buckle for a harness. This was Will's Thanagarian form aptly named Warhawk. (15)

He flapped his wings and took off into the air incredibly fast, quickly getting alongside the harpy and slashed it in the leg so it let Diana go. Warhawk flew her to the ground before heading back up. The harpy let out a roar and charged him only for Warhawk to dive into a barrel roll and slip around it. He then landed on the back of the harpy and slashed it in the wings as Max climbed up and pulled the pin of a grenade. The harpy roared in pain as Warhawk grabbed it by the head and force opened its mouth allowing Max to throw the grenade in before they both jumped. Warhawk grabbed onto Max's arm and flew them to the ground just as the grenade exploded and killed the harpy. Warhawk dropped off Max and saw Ares walk over to the man strapped to the podium with the knife in his hand so he flew at him only for Persephone to jump onto his back and wrestle him to the ground.

"Septimo Laudos!" Ares shouted before he stabbed the man in the heart.

"NO!" Warhawk quickly flapped his wings to stun Persephone before grabbing her arm and throwing her off. She tumbled on the floor and Warhawk flew towards Ares. He flexed his right claw and swiped only for Ares to grab his hand and hold him back. Warhawk slashed him in the face with his other claw, landing a hook kick to his face and then a punch to the gut before Ares kicked him back.

"You're too late." Ares told him as they saw the blood from the podium drip down into the grooves on the floor and the circular lock on the gates began to glow.

"RAH!" Warhawk slashed with both his claws but Ares grabbed his hands and headbutted him before throwing him away. He tumbled on the ground and looked up to see Persephone join Ares as the gate opened.

"You are an interesting one, shapeshifter. When I return, our next encounter won't be as one sided." Ares told him before he and Persephone walked into Tartarus. Warhawk flew at them as fast as he could in a last ditch effort to stop them but the gates slammed shut just as he got there. That resulted in him crashing into the gates but he quickly got back to his feet and tried to pry open the gates with his hands.

"Dammit!" Warhawk touched the Omnitrix and turned into Four Arms to force open the gates but even his strength wasn't enough so he changed into Ghostfreak thinking he could phase through but all he phased through was rock.

"That's not good." Ghostfreak touched the Omnitrix and turned back into Will.

"Will, Diana needs help." Max told him.

"Right, let's get out of here." He helped his dad carry Diana out of the cave. They got back to the jet and went to the nearest hospital.

Several hours later…

A continuous beeping sound was the first thing Diana heard when she awoke. The beeping was from an EKG and she was in the hospital. She woke up and saw Will and Max sitting in chairs.

"Wha—what happened?" Diana groaned in pain as Max walked over and sat down next to her.

"Easy, Diana. You took some serious hits. Doctors said you'd be fine with some rest." Max told her.

"Did you—did you stop Ares?" She asked and Will let out a sorrowful sigh before shaking his head no.

"I didn't. I didn't make it in time." Will answered.

"What? Why not?" Diana asked him.

"You needed help. Will almost stopped Ares but it wasn't in time. He went in to Tartarus with Persephone." Max told her only for Diana to slap him. "OW!"

"I didn't need you to save me, Max. I need you to stop Ares." Diana told him.

"We tried. And if Will and I didn't help you back there then you would be dead." Max reminded her.

"I'm an Amazon, Max. We're prepared from birth to give our lives in battle. I knew what the consequences were going in to this mission. Here I was thinking that perhaps you were different then the men my mother told me about but you're not. I bet you would have acted differently if I were a man." Diana remarked and that drew on Max's last nerve.

"Ok, that's it! I've kept my mouth shut about your Amazon views on how terrible men are but not anymore." Max stated.

"Does the truth hurt, Max?" Diana questioned.

"Just so you know, Diana, the Amazons aren't so perfect as you make them out to be. You say that you're an society of warrior women here to help the world to a greater understanding but cutting yourselves off from said world was cowardly. Not to mention stupid! Like less communication between men and women is the what the world needed." Max told her.

"How dare you?"

"No! I'm not done. You met your first man about 24 hours ago and you think you have us all figured out after that? Well sorry to disappoint you and your sisters Diana but not everything a man does is to further some misogynistic agenda. We don't hold doors open or pull out chairs for women because we're trying to keep you down. A lot has changed. It's not perfect by any means but the good people out there are just trying to be nice. And I didn't save you because I thought you were some damsel in distress! I saved you because…because I care about you, Diana." Max admitted, sitting down on the bed next to her. "And I'm not someone who's gonna abandon a friend in need, man or woman."

There was a moment of silence as Max's rant at Diana and his words hit home to her. Will just felt like uncomfortable in the scenario. Sort of like when a child is the unfortunate witness to mom and dad fighting.

"You should have saved the world instead of saving me." Diana told him.

"Well, maybe that's a cost I'm not willing to pay." Max answered.

There was another moment of silence before Will cleared his throat to get their attention. "Um…sorry to interrupt but there's still work to be done." He reminded them.

"Right." Diana got up and went behind a curtain to change.

Max stood up and looked at Will to see how uncomfortable he was. "I realize now I should have stepped out sooner." He admitted.

After donning on her armor again, Max, Will and Diana got on the jet and were heading back to America. Will sat in the back seat while Diana took the copilot's chair next to Max. There was just awkward silence the entire time that was finally broken by Diana. "Sorry I reacted the way I did at the hospital."

"I'm sorry, too. I'm not sure why I went off on you like that." Max replied. "Actually, I do. It's because I care about you Diana. After Maria passed away, I don't think I've ever felt this strongly about a woman before. I've been on blind dates and friends have set me up but none of them have been you. And I'm not ashamed to admit that this has been the best day of my life in a long time and I don't want it to end. Wait, why did I just say that?"

Max looked down and saw Diana's lasso had been wrapped around his foot. He looked back at Will who was nonchalantly whistling. "What?" He just shrugged as Max gave him the stink eye. That's when the Proto-box beeped with a communication line from the DEO. "Yes, Director Henshaw?"

"Will, we've got a situation in the capital." Henshaw then showed him satellite images of the DC. It was Ares and his army marching through the nation's capital and laying waste to police and army. "It's safe to say that your Amazon's problem has gotten bigger. I'm assembling strike teams now to assist."

"We're already on our way and will be there before you do, Director." Will replied. "Looks like Ares just made himself known to the world. Dad, get us to DC."

"On it!" Max maxed the accelerator to get them to DC as fast as possible. That still led to the problem of it being an army against just Diana and Will so he got creative and decided to call in some backup. And as fortune would have it, he had made some pretty powerful friends.

Line Break xxxxx

Washington DC

Ares was restored to his full strength after visiting Tartarus and getting help from his uncle Hades, ruler of the Underworld. He went to Hades because he figured that Hades would be the only one to actually remove the bands put on him by Hera. Only a god could remove them and no other god of Olympus would do it. Ares promised that his war waged on humanity would give Hades plenty of new servants to boss around and he obliged but admitted that Zeus begged him not to help the God of War. After a little taunting and messing with Ares using his son Thrax, Hades did as promised and freed him from the binds. Ares quickly returned to full strength and started his grand war against humanity in Washington DC. He wore his battle armor, had Persephone at his side and summoned his army of monsters, demons, and corrupted men from his dark dimmension.

"You've waited patiently, my friends, but the time has come once again to spread my gospel of death. Now, let the natural state of mistrust and betrayal run through the soul of every man until I may walk across the earth on the backs of 7 Billion corpses." He announced while standing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to the applause and roar of his army. The National Guard and army had mobilized in DC against Ares army but were quickly being slaughtered. There were winged harpies and gargoyles in the sky while the monsters, demons, and corrupted men of Ares army cut through any troops on the ground.

Max quickly piloted the jet down on a smooth patch of grass allowing Will and Diana to get out. A winged manticore saw them and charged but Diana jumped and knocked the rider off his saddle before plunging her sword into the beast's brain, killing it. Max used his gun and shot the rider and he instantly turned to dust like Deimos did. They heard something crash behind them and looked to see four of Ares men had cut off the Lincoln Memorial's head and rolled it down the steps. "They're missing with Lincoln." Max reloaded his assault rifle in anger. "Nobody messes with Lincoln!"

He fired a barrage from his rifle and killed them all before gunning down more of Ares's men. "Dad, hang back by the jet incase something happens." Will told him and Max nodded, quickly reloading his rifle.

Will parried a sword slash from a dark soldier and headbutted him in the face before putting him in a clinch and kneeing him in the stomach four times. He then picked him up and threw him into a tree. Two more dark soldiers charges at him only for Will to drop kick both in the face and flip through the air. He activated his flight wings mid-flip and hit two soldiers with his wings before tucking into a spin which sent them flying. Diana punched another soldier into the air before spin kicking a Minotaur into a tree and then stabbing him in the heart. Three dark soldiers tried to rush her only for a shield to fly by and hit them all before bouncing back to Will's arm. She nodded and the two charged into battle.

Diana's tiara flew through the air towards Ares but Persephone got in the way and knocked it back. Diana jumped through the air and caught it before landing in the middle of the dark army. She put it back on and readied her sword and shield. "Shall we? Mother tells me you're a terrific dancer." Diana said to Ares before engaging the soldiers that tried to stop her.

"Darn. Apparently someone wants to cut in." Ares remarked as Diana stabbed, slashed, and cut through soldiers and beasts with ease.

"You'll never conquer man, Ares. The Amazons will never let you." Diana stated, blocking a sword and stabbing her attacker in the gut before turning and beheaded another soldier causing him to turn into dust.

"Now, who said I was trying to conquer man?" Ares wondered as Persephone got into the fight. Diana continued fighting against Ares's soldiers when she and Persephone locked blades. Persephone kicked her back before throwing some dirt into her face to obscure her vision allowing her to use her hammer to knock Diana's sword and shield out of her hands and kick her into the grasp of a cyclops. "War is only the vehicle that allows my soul to feed on the psychic energy of fear, discord, and hate. And already this modern world has given me the kind of power I've never known. Power that will allow me to conquer not man but the very gods of Olympus. Did your mother really think one lone Amazon could stop me?"

"I'm not alone, Ares." Diana said with a smirk when several small disks landed on Ares's chest plate and exploded, knocking him back. A flash of green light appeared in the sky before a spinning yellow and black sphere dropped to the ground.

"Incoming!"

Persephone leapt back in time to avoid getting squashed but the Cyclops holding Diana wasn't so lucky. She grabbed her sword and shield as Cannonbolt rolled around the area either crashing or running over Ares's minions before another flash of green light and a speeding blue blur raced around, taking out over a hundred of Ares men in quick succession. XLR8 stopped momentarily and disarmed several of Ares men before touching the Omnitrix and in another flash of green light Ultraman appeared. He used his super breath and sent hundreds of men and monsters flying away.

"She's not." Ultraman hovered down next to Diana as she readied her sword. Many of the weaker men in Ares army hesitated to attack as the God of War himself was both intrigued and amused at the new opponent. "And FYI, you give gods a bad name. So, surrender before this gets even worse for you."

"A single shapeshifter won't win you this war, Diana. Not when his blood will soon stain my boot—GAHH!" Twin beams of heat vision cut Ares off from his rant as he was blasted away and crashed through the Lincoln Memorial.

"Tuck and roll!" Ultraman grabbed Diana's hand and threw her into the air towards Ares before keeping his army occupied. Diana rolled through the air and landed on Ares shield first, knocking him in the ground before trying to stab him with her sword but he grabbed her arm and punched her off. Ultraman uppercut a cyclops into the air and kicked a minotaur away like a bowling ball before grabbing two men and throwing them at other soldiers like baseballs. That's when Ultraman saw a green boxing glove construct appear in the sky and punch several manticores away before a giant green mech construct landed on the ground and began firing missiles and lasers at the army. Ultraman flew up next to the mech and fired bursts of heat vision to help. "Hey, GL. Glad you could make it."

"Well call me intrigued when I saw all the electronic billboards in Coast City ring up with a message to head to DC." Green Lantern stated. His mech construct punched a giant harpy into the ground before blasting some gargoyles out of the sky with a shoulder rocket barrage.

"I didn't have your number. Needed to get your attention somehow!" Ultraman told him when something snagged his cape and pulled him into the air. It was a Manticore which also bashed into Lantern's mech and proceeded to drag Ultraman in to the sky. He was starting to wish that the Kryptonian form didn't have a cape. Luckily, his saving grace made herself known with a fierce battle cry.

"HA!" Hawkwoman bashed the rider off the manticore before smashing the creature's head in with her Nth metal mace. Ultraman pulled himself free and punched a harpy out of the sky.

"Hey, Hawkwoman. Thanks for the coming." He said to her as she turned and bashed a harpy across the face. "Glad you got my message."

"Well, hard to miss when you hijacked every single billboard in Manhattan with the message come to DC right away, help." She pointed out. "What's going on?"

[Sonic Boom in the distance]

"Hold that thought." Ultraman and Hawkwoman looked to see a speeding blur come over the horizon and proceeded to knock out the winged monsters and creatures out of the sky one by one. Superman arrived and proceeded to punch the monsters out of the sky before using his heat vision to assist. A harpy tried to sneak attack him from behind but Ultraman flew by and punched it in the face. "Hey, Superman."

"Sorry, I'm late. Earthquake in the south Pacific." Superman told him.

"Don't worry about it. You're here now and not a moment too soon." Ultraman said as the Omnitrix began blinking red before he transformed back into Will. Will activated his flight wings and jetpack to keep himself in the air. "Follow me."

Green Lantern continued blasted monster after monster but more kept coming. That's when two beams of heat vision came from the side and helped him curtesy of Superman. A harpy flew down at them only for Hawkwoman to bash it in the head and knock it away. Several brave dark soldiers charged but several explosives disks hit them and turned them into dust. Will landed on the ground and retracted his wings.

"All right. What's going on? Who are all these guys?" Green Lantern asked.

"Short story…" Will stopped when there was a crash and saw Diana jump out of a crater as Ares jump down and the two kept fighting. "The guy over there is Ares, Greek God of War. Escaped prison to kill all mankind and wage war on Olympus with his evil army of monsters and such. The woman is Diana, Princess of the Amazon, charged with stopping him. She's good, he's bad, take out everyone else and help her."

"I'm convinced." Hawkwoman remarked as Will unsheathed his sword and turned around, quickly decapitating a soldier who turned to dust.

"And don't worry about the humans here. They're all corrupted dark soldiers Ares kept in hibernation for this moment. They're just monsters so don't pull your punches." Will told them before activating his shield and charging into battle.

"This job is getting so weird." Green Lantern remarked, dispelling the Mech construct.

"I'm getting used to it. Let's go!" Superman and GL took off into the sky to take on the aerial threats.

Will slashed, cut, stabbed, and bashed anyone that tried to stop him. He turned to see a soldier drop dead in front of him with multiple arrows in his back before turning to dust. He heard a battle horn and saw multiple ancient Greek ships sail through the Potomac river. The Amazons had arrived with their armada and even more were riding Pegasus to help fight against the army of Ares. The archers on the ships fired a volley of flaming arrows that took out some of Ares men before the ships made shore and charged, drawing some of the attention of the army.

"Backup's here." Will chuckled before kicking a ghoul back and cutting it in half.

Artemis and Hippolyta were on the deck of their ship, seeing the work of Ares and his army against mankind but also saw some of Man's champions fighting against them. "I must confess, my queen. It feels like the first day of school." Artemis told her.

"And yet you could not find a bigger sword, Artemis?" Hippolyta wondered.

"Sword?" Artemis hefted up the massive broadsword she had. "This is but my dagger."

The Amazons fought like the brave warriors they were against the army of Ares but unlike last time they had more help. Hawkwoman flew above the Amazons marching on the ground and bashed monster after monster with her mace. She quickly folded into their ranks and led a charge. Artemis stabbed and slashed through monster after monster when a shield came out of nowhere and knocked out four soldiers in a row before flying back into the hands of an armored figure. Will landed in a roll and jumped into the air, shield bashing a cyclops in the face before stabbing it in the neck. He flipped off and slashed two soldiers across the stomachs when five soldiers charged at him so he fired a barrage of explosive disks from his forearm launcher. He ejected the spent ammo clip in his launcher and loaded in a new one.

Will retracted the covering over his face and glanced over at Artemis. "Try and keep up." He told her before his face was recovered and he charged again. Artemis just glared and continued fighting. By now, the DEO had arrived in their attack choppers and VTOL jets and began shooting down the aerial combatants while agents were dropped onto the ground and established a firing line against Ares army. "Glad to see the backup finally arrived."

"Took a bit but we're here. What's the situation?" Henshaw asked, leading his men on the ground as they shot at and killed anyone from Ares army that tried to rush them.

"The women in armor are on our side. Diana's engaging Ares right now. Just keep the army occupied." Will told him before ducking under an axe and sliding underneath a minotaur's legs to stab it in the back.

The DEO pilots were engaging the winged monsters and creatures. Their missiles weren't that helpful considering the range but their miniguns and machine guns proved very effective. Two harpies tore apart one of the VTOL's wings and caused the plane to fall to the ground only for Superman to fly down and save the pilot and gunner. A manticore clawed at the cockpit of an attack chopper only for Green Lantern to blast it off with his ring. He gave the pilot a salute before getting back into the fight.

Deep in the underground Presidential bunker, the President of the United States was watching everything that was happening topside. The Secretary of State walked in to inform him of the new developments. "Mr. President, we still don't know what those things on our front lawn are. Every government we have strained relations with has called to assure us they aren't behind this." She informed him.

"Well, someone has to pay for this." He declared in anger. Ares magic was already affecting him.

They brought up satellite images of a mysterious island that suddenly appeared on their radar. "Sir, we have intelligence that an island has appeared out of nowhere in the Aegean Sea. If we're dealing with mystical forces, this could be where they're originated from. Our military advisors are suggested we strike and strike hard before they have a chance to unleash who knows what else on us." The Secretary of state informed him.

"Do it." The President ordered.

Back up top, Diana blocked Ares's sword strike with her shield and then ducked before landing a jumping knee to his jaw and then a jumping roundhouse kick to his face which knocked him back. She threw the lasso around his leg and pulled, smashing him into the side of a building before throwing him into the ground. She then charged and hit him with a powerful uppercut that sent him flying through the air where he then crash landed ont he capital building. Diana jumped high into the air and landed on the roof of the building as Ares pulled himself out of the crater.

"How do you expect to defeat Zeus if you can't even beat a girl?" Diana questioned but Ares still had the same smirk on his face despite the beating he just endured.

"You're being optimistic if you think I've reached the height of my powers." He stood up straight, seemingly suffering no damage from the beating he just took. "You see, since I've been gone, man has created a weapon of such awesome destructive force that their use of only one of these weapons feeds me with the psychic energy of a thousand wars!"

Will and the others saw a nuclear missile fly up in the sky and head west. "That's not good." He punched a ghoul away before contacting his dad. "Dad, you have to stop that missile!"

"I'm on it!" Max bashed a soldier with his assault rifle before getting into the jet and flying after it. Superman and Green Lantern gave him some aerial cover from the demons and monsters that tried to stop him.

Persephone continued fighting against her sisters when she finally engaged Hippolyta. "Have you not brought enough death and misery upon us?" She asked her.

"I'm sorry, my queen. I never meant to fall in love." Persephone said before charging. The two engaged in a fierce sword battle.

"Love? The Amazons are warriors. You turned your back on your sisters!" Hippolyta cursed as they locked blades.

"No, it is you who did that when you turned your back on mankind." Persephone said as she pushed her back and attacked. Hippolyta defended herself and managed to strike the killing blow with a sword thrust to the stomach.

"You were given a life of peace and beauty." Hippolyta reminded her.

"And denied one of families and children." Persephone groaned in pain as she spit up blood. "Cursed to live on that island for millennia while you were given the one thing the rest of us wanted. A daughter. Yes, Hippolyta, the Amazons are warriors but…we are women too."

Persephone fell back and her body hit the ground, her words giving Hippolyta pause which was a bad thing in a battlefield as a minotaur charged her with a massive axe. "LOOK OUT!" Will flew down at full speed and tackled the Minotaur to the ground before stabbing his wings into the monster's chest, killing it. "Be careful, your highness!" That got Hippolyta out of her momentary pause and she reengaged in the battle with Will flying overhead to cover her. She cut through soldier after soldier while Will kept any kind of flying monster from attacking her.

Ares let out a demonic roar as a red fiery aura covered him, granting him more power than ever. He grew larger, stronger, and even demonic with a new mask complete with horns. He leapt into the air and brought his fists down on Diana. "Oh, crap." She muttered, taking the hit which knocked her down several floors of the capital building.

Ares punched Diana up into the air and then grabbed her leg before slamming her onto the roof. "How will you defeat me now that my powers rival that of any god?!" Ares questioned only for Diana to lunge at him. "I am as strong as Hercules!"

He uppercut her all way to the White House before speeding away and meeting her there. "As fast as Hermes!"

He smashed her through the building and into the ground. He stood up on the roof of the building with a raging fire behind him, evoking the iconography of a demon. Will rushed over and helped Diana to her feet as Hawkwoman, Superman, and Green Lantern joined them. "And now, like Hades, I wield dominion over the dead which allows me to unleash my own worst curse upon your people. Amazon dead, I command you to come to your lord!"

Ares raised his arms and a huge torrent of fire sprung from the ground, bringing with it skeletons of deceased Amazons. He had reanimated their fallen sisters and would now force them to fight against their own. "That is beyond messed up." Will stated.

"Slaughter your sisters." Hades ordered and dead Amazon zombies did as they were told.

Diana ran to Ares, punching and knocking aside her undead sisters in the way to stop him. The Amazons tried their best to fight against their undead sisters but since they were undead it wasn't a fair fight. And any Amazons that were struck down were soon reanimated as Ares's undead slaves. "Superman, Hawkwoman, see if you can help Diana. GL, we need to keep these things back!" Will said, activating the Omnitrix and turning into Diamondhead.

Superman and Hawkwoman flew over to help Diana fight Ares while Lantern created a giant shield wall construct to push the Amazon zombies back. Diamondhead created crystal barriers to capture the Amazon zombies before making a giant crystal wall to separate them. Diana blocked and dodged Ares's attacks but he was too strong and fast. He kneed her in the gut and slammed her into the ground before picking her up by the hair. He reared his fist back only to get hit in the chest by a blast of heat vision. He let her go and raised his arms to protect himself only for Hawkwoman to fly forward and bash him in the jaw with her mace and send him flying.

Diana picked herself up when Superman hovered down to her and offered her a helping hand. "Diana, nice to meet you. I'm Superman." He introduced himself. "I'm a friend of the guy in the armor."

"Ah, a friend of Will. I had no idea his friends were unique like him." She admitted, taking his hand to get back to her feet.

"Takes one to know one." Hawkwoman said, hovering down next to them when they heard a loud crash and saw Ares jump into the air at them. Then a train whistle could be heard before a train construct slammed into Ares and ran him into the ground curtesy of Green Lantern.

"Guess he just attracts awesome people like us." Lantern remarked.

Ares got out of the ground only for his legs to be trapped by crystals. Diamondhead then charged and punched him in the face several times. Ares blocked and threw out his own punches but Diamondhead blocked or dodged them before putting him in a clinch and kneed him in the gut several times. He then punched Ares into the air and Superman began punching him in the face and stomach. That's when Ares grabbed Superman by the neck, headbutted him and kicked him to the ground. Lantern came at him from the side and blasted him with his ring only for the God of War to power through the energy blast and punch him all the way to the capital building. Hawkwoman and Diana charged at him but he quickly grabbed Diana's kick and used her to bash Hawkwoman away.

Diamondhead hit the Omnitrix and transformed as Ares picked up Diana and slammed her into the ground before rearing his fist back but then froze. "Time to end this war now!" Ghostfreak said, having possessed Ares and made him drop Diana to the ground. Unfortunately, Ghostfreak's possession of Ares wasn't permanent as the God of War was strong enough to fight off his influence faster than he expected.

"You dare sully a god's body?!" Ares forced Ghostfreak out who quickly went intangible to avoid Ares's attack before touching the Omnitrix and turning into Four Arms. He threw punch after punch after punch to Ares's face and pushed him back before punching him in the gut. He brought his fists down for a hammer strike but Ares block them with one arm and kneed him in the gut before headbutting him. He then punched Four Arms in the face and grabbed him by the arms before spinning and hitting Superman who tried to blindside him. He then beat Superman with Four Arm's body like a bat and bashed the Kryptonian in the ground before tossing the Tetramand aside where he quickly transformed back into Will. "No more tricks, shapeshifter. You fought bravely but your time is at an end."

Ares grabbed a metal rod and raised it up only for a spear to his hands. He turned and saw his undead army charging with the Amazons so he pulled the spear out of his hands with his teeth and undid the spell. Diana attacked Ares, punching him in the face multiple times and breaking his mask before Ares punched her in the gut and then uppercut her onto the roof. Hawkwoman attacked him from behind by kicking out one of his legs, kneeing him in the jaw and then bashing him in the face with her mace. The Nth metal mace dazed him as Superman charged and punched him in the side before grabbing him and slamming him into ground. Hawkwoman then swung her mace again but he caught it and punched her through the building. He and Superman traded blows before the god of war grabbed his fists and forced him to his knees. Superman fired a blast of heat vision only to get a knee to the face. Ares then grabbed Superman by the cape and slammed him in the ground before he began mercilessly beating his face with his fists. Despite Superman's incredible strength, Ares was magic and that made him strong enough to beat him to the ground. After the tenth punch, Will jumped onto Ares's shoulders and activated his sword before attempting to drive it into his head. Ares just hit him with the back of his head, grabbed his arm and threw him outside of the capital building where he crashed through multiple trees.

Diana got back to her feet and looked at the war going on around her when Ares jumped up to the roof and joined her. "Your army dwindles, Ares." She informed him.

"As does yours but the difference is I no longer need an army." Ares raised his hands and storm clouds began to form in the sky followed by cracks of thunder and flashes of lightning. He brought his hands down and a bolt of lightning came down at Diana. She managed to raise her arms up in time so the bracelets took the energy but the force still knocked her through the capital building.

Ares summoned another bolt of lightning that knocked Diana into the reflecting pool by the Lincoln Memorial before beating her down. "Did your mother not tell you this is how it would turn out? That you would suffer at the wicked, cruel, hands of man?" Ares asked her before slamming her face into the ground.

Will held his side and managed to get up after the beating he took from Ares. He noticed Diana's lasso and sword on the ground so he picked them both up and rushed over to help. Diana groaned in pain before she managed to push herself up to her feet. "You're no man. Not the kind I've come to know." She told him.

"Then you've learned nothing, have you?" Ares picked her up and punched her. She went skidding across the reflecting pool but managed to find the strength to get up and wipe the blood from her face.

"Well, I have learned one thing. It's not polite to hit a lady." She told him as Ares raised his hands into the air to summon another bolt of lightning.

"DIANA!" Will shouted and showed her he was holding her sword and lasso before throwing them. Diana caught both and quickly threw the lasso around Ares before pulling him into her spot. She jumped off of Ares to clear the area as the lightning bolt came down and struck him. Ares was bound with the lasso of truth and his own magical lightning bolt was weakening him. Diana gripped her sword and once the lightning bolt was gone she jumped at him with a mighty battle roar.

"Zeus! ZEUS!" Ares begged his father for help but it never came. Diana sliced Ares' head clean off his shoulders and both dropped down into the water of the reflecting pool. The Amazons let out a victorious cheer while Ares army turned around and vanished into the dark, returning to the dark realm they called home. The DEO Jets hovered to the ground and everyone relished in the victory.

Will walked over and helped Superman out of the hole Ares beat him into. His face was bleeding a bit but he was already healing. "You ok?"

"I'll be fine after some time in the sun." Superman assured him as Will helped him to the ground. That's when Hawkwoman and Green Lantern walked over, both injured but alive. "Is it over?"

"It's over." Will told him.

"Where'd that army go?" Green Lantern wondered.

"My guess, where they came from but good thing is with their master dead we won't be seeing them anymore."

"Guess the Greek Gods have one less now." Hawkwoman remarked, spitting some blood out of her mouth.

"You don't think the other Gods will seek retribution for this, do you?" Superman wondered.

"After what Ares tried to pull? Marching on Olympus? If anything, they'd want to thank us for stopping them." Will assumed.

"I wouldn't mind my reward being a chance to ask out one of those beautiful ladies." Green Lantern looked at the army of Amazons with a smile on his face.

"Trust me, GL. That's not gonna happen and for the better. They don't exactly like men to begin with." Will let him know from personal experience.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that." Superman pointed to the pool where they saw a DEO VTOL jet touch down and out walked Max. He successfully destroyed the nuke before it destroyed Themyscira. He rushed over into the pool and smiled at Diana who smiled back before he took the initiative and pulled her in close for a kiss with her quickly kissing back. The Amazons cheered as did the other heroes except for one.

"Aghh…I didn't need to see that." Will said, walking away from the sight that was now engrained in his memory forever.

Down in the Presidential bunker, the President was released from Ares control to find his mind free of anger, fear, and darkness like it was a bad dream. "Mr. President, the threat has been neutralized." The Secretary of State told him.

"How?"

"It seems by Superman, Green Lantern, Hawkwoman, the armored vigilante from National City…and a group of armored supermodels." She explained.

The Underworld

Deep in the bowels of Tartarus, Hades sipped his wine and thought back on the events that just played out.

"A tragedy. A terrible, terrible tragedy. How it weighs on my heart to see you like this." Hades said, seeing the body of his recently deceased nephew walk in front of him but instead of the proud God of War he now stood an emaciated servant. "When my brother asked me not to remove your bands he said I was only dooming you. That he could not save you from yourself yet again. Perhaps I should have listened."

He chuckled before looking at a small mirror that showed the events of the surface and at the group of gathered heroes. There was one in particular that caught Hades interest and it was the one with the watch that allowed him to shapeshift.

"Mortals have become very interesting, haven't they?" He said with a malicious smirk on his face. What did the God of the Underworld have planned?

A week later…

Themyscira

Things returned to normal for the Amazons. Their duty of watching over Ares ended with his death so now they just knew peace. Artemis was using that time and attempted to make her way through a collection of books.

"Are you reading, dear sister?" Hippolyta asked her.

"I'm trying, my queen, but it is fiercely boring." Artemis complained.

"So much has changed in recent days." Hippolyta said, looking over at Diana who sat alone on a bench. She didn't need to see her face to know she was sad.

"She misses the outside world." Artemis assumed correctly. "Her task was completed. She had to return."

Hippolyta knew that but everything that happened, including what Persephone has said to her had changed her mind. So, she decided to do something about it and give the Amazons a new mission. She walked over and placed Diana's armor next to her. "What is this?" her daughter asked.

"It is your mission. It is why Hera delivered you to us in the first place. It is time again to open the lines of communication between man and women. Something I should have done a long time ago. And you, my daughter will serve as our ambassador." Hippolyta declared and Diana smiled. "But there is one condition."

"Yes?"

"You must visit home often." Hippolyta said and Diana hugged her in joy.

National City

Will walked out of the training room from his morning lecture and cracked his neck. Sitting and learning for hours was just torture. He walked down the halls and past the other agents into another training room where he heard the sounds of fighting. He walked in and saw two DEO agents hit the wall and slide to the ground before a third was thrown to the ground next to them. He looked up and saw Diana disarm the fourth agent and toss him aside, remaining the victor in the sparring match.

"I see you're using your time here at the DEO to your advantage." Will quipped.

"She's not here officially." Max corrected him as he handed Diana a water bottle. "She's just doing a little Amazon cultural exchange and demonstrating some combat techniques."

"With hands-on lessons its seems." Will pointed out as the agents picked themselves up. Some minor bruises both physical and ego-related but it was a lesson worth remembering.

"Nothing improves one battle skills better then hands-on training. Your next, Will. You showed great skill in the armor but let us see how well you do without it." Diana told him.

"Are you sure you and my dad don't have anything better to do right now?" He wondered.

"No, we don't have to leave for DC until later tonight. Have fun." Max pat him on the shoulder.

"Come Will, show me what you can do." Diana told him.

"Dad, I hate your new girlfriend." Will told him before stepping onto the mat and preparing himself for probably the most painful training session he would ever had.

End of Chapter 6

1). Dr. Lee Thompkins from Gotham, played by Morena Baccarin.

2). Batman's Arkham Asylum look and outfit. Played by Anson Mount. I think he'd be a pretty good Batman and he was good in the Injustice Movie. The movie itself had issues but I liked him.

3). Arnold Wesker AKA the Ventriloquist as played by Andrew Sellon who played him in Gotham. He was Arthur Penn but the original Ventriloquist is Arnold Wesker.

4). Scarface the gangster dummy. Think of the same puppet used in Gotham.

5). Robin AKA Tim Drake with his Arkham City costume. Played by Jay Lycurgo from Titans but more beefed up and physically fit.

6). Commissioner Gordon played by JK Simmons and Barbara Gordon AKA Batgirl played by Leslie Grace, both of whom are playing these characters in the new Batgirl movie.

7). Imagine Batgirl's suit from the Batman Arkham Series, like the one in the Batgirl DLC A Matter of Family.

8). For the drone, imagine Falcon's Redwing but just colored black and blue.

9). Think the plane sequence from the first episode of the Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

10.) Diana of Themyscira aka Wonder Woman. Played by Bridget Regan.

11). Hippolyta. Played by Connie Nielsen who played her in the live-action Wonder Woman but with dark hair.

12). Wonder Woman's armor from the DCEU.

13). Maria Moira Detmer as played by Susanna Thompson

14). Imagine Ares and Persephone the same as the Wonder Woman 2009 animated movie.

15). For Warhawk, look up Phil Cho's commission art for Hawkman (Earth-27). That's what Warhawk looks like but without the axe and the same skin tone as Robbie Amell.

And that ends Chapter 6. A lot happened this chapter but I hope you guys liked it. We dealt with a White Martian, Wildvine is here and so if Wonder Woman. Were any of you expecting Max to be a player? I know I wasn't. The world is getting bigger and bigger and there's still more to learn. Like who's the partner working with the Forever Knights in Kasnia and what do they want? Until next time.

Next time, Will's summer is almost over but he's still got some time. Unfortunately for him it means dealing with a magical foe called Hex who becomes one of his nemeses. He also digs deeper into the Forever Knights to see what they have planned before he finds his own issue at home. Looks like someone's dealing patches that are super addictive but it's not coke or heroin. It's Venom. How the hell did Venom come all the way to National City? Until Next time. Stay safe everyone.

For Will's mother, I figured making it Susanna Thompson, the actress who played Moira Queen and Oliver's mother made sense since Will is going to be Oliver's doppelganger. He looks like Robbie Amell now for his teenage years but after growing up he'll be Stephen Amell. I have some story ideas for the two of them as doppelgangers in the future.

Updates for April: Sorry again for the delay with Perfect One but my computer crashed. It'll be up either on Sunday or Monday. After that for April we have another chapter for Multiverse and the Blue Wolf. Until then, everyone stay safe.

William Benjamin Detmer Age 17 Highschool junior: Birthday, September 8th, 1990

Appearance: Robbie Amell for Teenage Will.

Personality: Kind, caring, quick-witted and smart. Able to adapt to situations very easily. Prone to quips to distract or enrage his enemies. A pragmatist and realist. When triggered, can be aggressive and unhinged to a point. Ready to face reality and do the hard thing to protect the innocent. A superhero/supervillain fanboy.

Skills: Training in various human hand-to-hand martial arts including boxing, MMA, Krav Maga, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Escrima, Muay Thai and Marine Corp CQC. Understanding in alien culture, technology, and biology. Quick thinking.

Casual outfit: Sneakers or boots, blue or black jeans, blue T-shirt with his father's dark blue air force jacket with Ten insignia. Hour-glass belt buckle holding Proto-Tech Armor.

Proto-box: Grey Matter and Upgrade designed tablet/phone capable of analyzing and scanning all environment with sub-sonic frequencies. And decrypting or hacking any computer system on the planet with holographic display.

Proto-Tech Armor and helmet: Colored black, blue, silver, and green. Form fitting and comprised of a highly adaptive nanites made up of Promethium and Nth Metal. Nth metal properties amplify Promethium metal's durability to provide a near invulnerable metal while providing a semi-symbiotic bond to the wearer including increasing healing regeneration, providing magic negation, and survivability in harsh conditions. The armor is self-repairing and capable of protecting the user from major explosive and physical damage. Controlled via mental command and housed in belt buckle, the armor responds to his thoughts/commands and able to shift and adjust its structure to the wearer's need including offensive and defensive measures. Built-in safety features designed to protect wearer from any physical or mental harm including attempted removal. DNA lock provides security against theft. Synaptic muscle control enhances user's natural talents by a factor of ten. Resembles full body armor suit with skull mask, protective chrome lenses, and hood for concealment. Belt contains ammo boxes for suit's projectiles. (Disguised voice sounds like Prometheus from Arrow during first 9 episodes)

Notable armaments:Round Promethium/Nth metal shield, grapple cable, jet boots, flight wings with jet pack, retractable four-blade boomerang throwing star, forearm launcher able to fire bullets, darts, and disks of varying lethality, knife, sword, remote drone.

Omnitrix: Watch-like device that allows the wielder to alter their DNA at will and transform into different alien species. Able to scan and analyze new alien species, able to repair genetic damage and protect user from negative effects, with built-in defense systems. Built-in AI, GPS, map, communicator, and universal translator.

Unlocked aliens: Diamondhead, Four Arms, Ghostfreak, Grey Matter, Heatblast, Ripjaws, Stinkfly, Upgrade, Wildmutt, XLR8, Manhunter, Buzzshock, Cannonbolt, Ultraman, Ajak, Warhawk, Wildvine.

Disclaimer: I don't own Ben 10, Supergirl or any above mentioned properties. All rights belong to their respective owners.

Face claims for extras:

Maxwell Tennyson Detmer: Stephen Lang

Maria Moira Detmer: Susanna Thompson

Courtney Whitmore: Brec Bassinger

Yolanda Montez: Yvette Monreal

Beth Chapel: Anjelika Washington

Victor Stone: Khary Payton

Eduardo Dorado Jr.: Christian Lee Navarro

Karen Beecher: Keke Palmer

Pat Dugan: Luke Wilson

Batman: Anson Mount

Robin: Jay Lycurgo

Batgirl: Leslie Grace

Commissioner Gordon: J.K. Simmons

Alfred: Michael Caine

Wonder Woman: Bridget Regan

Hawkwoman: Stana Katic

Superman: Tyler Hoechlin

Green Lantern: Chris Pine