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.

7. Patches and Hexes

Here is Chapter 7 of Omniverse Earth-38. Will tries to enjoy the last month of his summer vacation which is honestly harder than he thought it would be. At first he thought the hardest part would be getting used to his dad dating Diana but it turns out that's the least of his problems. There's a new performance enhancing drug that puts Will on the hunt after someone using it hurts his friend. It gives him a chance to stretch his detective skills and then he deals with his first magical foe in some kind with a cane calling himself Hex. And to think Aliens aren't the craziest thing he would deal with. Enjoy!

Omniverse Earth-38: Patches and Hexes

Late July 2008: Washington DC

The world wasn't the same after the Ares invasion of Washington DC, the subsequent battle against the forces of the Greek God of War, the unexpected arrival and aid of the Amazons, the team up of some of Earth's superheroes and the introduction of a new hero the media has dubbed Wonder Woman. Suffice to say that there were a lot of questions asked but there were also some answers given. An article from the Daily Planet by Clark Kent helped to explain what happened in DC but it was a lot to explain with the whole Greek God of war attempting a worldwide takeover and many didn't believe it. Then again Wonder Woman and the Amazons arrived to stop him and they lived in a world where Aliens were a thing so what was crazy anymore.

The damage from the Battle of DC, as it was being called, was cleaned up fairly quickly thanks to Superman so there wasn't much that remained. There was still a serious police and military presence with the National Guard all around but that was expected after what transpired. Will was suited up in his armor and perched up on top of a six-story government building which happened to be the secret DEO DC headquarters. Director Henshaw often traveled back to DC to make his usual reports to the DC branch along with keeping the President and Joint Chiefs informed of their missions. And pretty much every government agency in the US had a building in DC whether it was known or unknown.

Given the increased security presence with the aftermath of the Battle of DC and the usual increased surveillance of being in the capital city of the US you'd think that Will standing up on the roof of a building was a risk. Especially mid-day when someone on the street could notice him or a helicopter could fly by and see him. Luckily he didn't have to worry about that as the DEO secret headquarters came complete with stealth tech that Grey Matter helped design. The roof had a quantum stealth generator installed which was a custom design curtesy of Grey Matter. The DEO building in National City had one installed as well. A quantum stealth generator created a stealth field of energy around an area that could be adjusted and enlarged if desired. The energy masked the area from any kinds of detection whether it was visual or digital. If you were to look at the area with your eyes or with a high-tech camera then you'd see nothing and if you tried to scan the area then you'd get the same thing as the stealth field generator made it so that the area didn't exist. Will was standing on the roof in plain view and no one noticed anything and if they did look in his direction then all they'd see was an empty rooftop. The DEO used the stealth field generator to hide the several DEO VTOLs and helicopters parked on the roof.

The HUD in Will's armor picked up incoming signatures, so he partially deactivated the stealth generator to make a small gap and in flew Superman, Green Lantern, and Hawkwoman. They flew in and Will closed up the gap as they landed on the roof. "Thanks for coming. Glad you got my message." Will told them.

"Yet again, the message on the billboards was rather unique. Took a while to find this place." Green Lantern pointed out.

"By design. DEO can't go advertising what's around here." Will pointed out. "I'll make this quick so I don't take too much of your time. The DEO Director really appreciates your assistance in the Battle of DC and so do I. And Diana appreciates what you did as well."

"Don't mention it, kid. I could cross that off the bucket list." Green Lantern remarked. "Although I never did get to ask out one of those beautiful Amazons."

"Something tells me they would have killed you if you tried." Hawkwoman pointed out.

"Please, once I put on the charm they would have liked me." Lantern told her.

"No, she's right. They would have tried to kill you and don't bother trying to find their secret island because you can't and even if you did that would give them even more reason to kill you." Will informed him. "Trust me, the only reason I'm not dead is because Diana vouched for me."

"Speaking of Diana, what happened to her? Did she go back home with the Amazons?" Superman wondered.

"No, not exactly. After what happened, Queen Hippolyta decided to try and get the Amazons back into contact with the rest of the world. On a very, very limited basis." Will stressed. "They made Diana their ambassador to the outside world."

"That's gonna be one big task. It's been millennia since the Amazons have been around." Superman pointed out.

"Oh yeah. Diana had plenty of culture shock moments. She thinks ice-cream is still something monumental." Will remarked and the others chuckled a bit. "But it's a good idea and the DEO will be helping Diana as best we can. Sooner or later there will be a Themysciran embassy in DC but baby steps to begin with. And Diana told me to tell you that the Queen appreciates your help against Ares."

"Tell her your welcome. It's been a long time since I had a fight like that and it was worth it." Hawkwoman told him.

"Likewise. Tell her if they ever need any help then they just need to ask." Superman added which is when Will reached into his belt and removed three high-tech wristwatches. They looked fairly standard with leather straps but instead of a watch face with a clock it was the Omnitrix symbol.

"That's why I made these." Will handed a watch to each of them.

"What is it?" Lantern wondered.

"Communicator watches. High-frequency quantum bandwidth signal carriers capable of crystal clear communication all over the planet and outside the planet." He explained. "To an extent, of course. I haven't tested it but these things carry a clear signal and can let you communicate with someone on the moon."

"Huh, I actually made a signal watch kind of like this but this is definitely a little more advance then mine." Superman admitted.

"Helps that one of my aliens a genius. And not human genius but intergalactic genius. Anyway, given our occupational hazards it's possible that we could deal with another possible situation like with Ares so I made these. If any one of us ever need help then we have a way to reach each other." He told them.

"Nice." Hawkwoman put hers on her wrist while Green Lantern and Superman put them on their belts for now.

"Appreciate it but we're not exactly a team. I'm more of a solo act." Green Lantern reminded him.

"Yet I distinctly remember helping you when Sinestro and his Yellow Lanterns showed up and you would have been in a lot worse shape without me." Will reminded him.

"I would have been fine." Lantern stated.

"Somehow I doubt that." Hawkwoman joked.

"Anyway, it's not a bad idea for us to stay in contact in case something serious happens. Birds of a feather sort of thing." He said before he noticed the glare Hawkwoman gave him. "Sorry. Anyway, just hang on to them. I hope we don't need them but I'd be lying if I didn't think we might."

"Yeah, well let's just hope the next world ending catastrophe might include more beautiful woman." Lantern glowed green and hovered in the air. "See you later."

Green Lantern flew away followed by Hawkwoman. "Take care." She bid him farewell and left leaving just Superman.

"This was a good idea, Will but I feel like a part of me should tell you to just focus on school. You're still just a kid." Superman pointed out.

"I'm going into my senior year of high school and I've already saved the planet half a dozen times. Guess I'm just a prodigy but thanks for the concern Superman." Will told him. "I know things between you and Director Henshaw are frosty but if something ever comes up then I'm just a call away."

"Likewise, Will." Superman pat him on the shoulder before he floated up. "Stay safe."

Superman flew away back to Metropolis so Will activated the Omnitrix to turn into XLR8 and headed back to National City. The inner superhero fanboy persona of his was still in disbelief that he was familiar with Hawkwoman, Green Lantern, and Superman not to mention Batman. It was his idea to make those communicator watches incase another situation like the one in DC ever came up again. Giving each of them a way to contact the other was smart and with Grey Matter's help the design and building was easy. Maybe eventually they could form a team and have weekly meetings?

Only question was what they would call themselves.

Line Break xxxxx

August 2008: DEO Desert Base, National City

August in National City was hot as hell, especially if you were in the desert which for Will was practically every day as he was training at the DEO. At the moment Will wasn't in a training or lecture room but was in the garage bay. All anyone saw or heard was XLR8 working at super speed to build or fix something. Will got about fifteen minutes out of XLR8 before the Omnitrix timed out. After that he just grabbed some tools and got back to work. The thing he was working on was fixing and rebuilding his car after Diana used it to attack Deimos and then bashed him with both ends like they were boxing gloves. When the DEO went to secure the sight after the attack they also recovered the wreckage of his car and calling it a wreckage was accurate.

The car frame was broken in half but both halves weren't in horrible shape and the supercharger of the engine was surprisingly in one piece. Everything else was either burnt, broken, or damaged beyond repair. All that work and time into getting the parts and modifying them to his liking went down the toilet the second Diana used it like a club. So, what did Will do?

Did he sob like a baby as he looked through the wreckage? Maybe.

But after that he got to work on rebuilding his car from scratch only this time he would go further with the modifications to prevent it from getting destroyed again. Using Heatblast he was able to put the car frame back together like it was never broken apart and then he reinforced the entire chassis with a light coating of Promethium metal which improved its overall structural integrity without adding on too much weight. After that he could focus on building the rest of the car and thankfully he was already familiar with the process from when he first built it. He just added on some more modifications like bullet-proof glass and tires, titanium-alloy plating/panels, new insulation, and a brand-new security and anti-theft system. It wasn't the same restored 1969 muscle car but hopefully his modifications would make sure it wouldn't get destroyed again but he could only go so far on human technology. Even alien enhanced human technology had its limits and while he and Director Henshaw were on great terms he wouldn't like giving him military grade or alien technology for his car so he needed another way.

He was sitting at the tool bench and looking through a tablet of aliens living in the western part of National City. They were the refugees and non-aggressive species who came to earth looking for a new life. They stayed out of trouble with the DEO monitoring everything and what they did. It was a stretch but some of them might have something he could use which is when he stopped and found a file on someone named Pakmar. He was a little green alien with warts on his face, eyes on the side of his head and was wearing a small black suit with silver armor. Pakmar was a non-aggressive alien who came to earth with his wife and litter of…200 children for a new life. Jeez that's a lot of kids but Pakmar was a skilled trader, businessman, and technician who might be able to get Will some things for his car. And this way Will wouldn't have to rely on the DEO. When the Omnitrix turned green, he grabbed his jacket and turned into XLR8 before leaving.

Western Section of National City

Will walked down the street until he arrived at a non-descript two-story building by an old factory. It didn't look like anything special with the graffiti all over the place but the DEO intel said this was supposed to be where he could find the person helping the aliens in National city. There was a small neon sign above the door that read Al's Dive Bar. He knocked on the door and the peephole cover slid to the side. "What do you want?" A man asked him.

"I'm here to see a Mr. Baumann." Will told him.

"Never heard of him." The man shut the cover causing Will to sigh before he took out his wallet and knocked on the door again. The man opened the peephole cover to see Will holding up $40.

"I come in peace." Will told him before the man unlocked the door and let him in after taking the money.

"He's at the bar." The bouncer told him so Will walked over. The place was a kind of dive bar with various tables and booths set up. There were some pool tables, a juke box, and the bar. He saw a waitress walk by and take the empty glasses from a table before heading to the bar when a tail sprouted from her back and pushed a chair in. He saw man drink a glass of whiskey but his hand was scaled and clawed. A blonde woman at a booth gave Will a smirk when he saw her pupils were elongated like a cats and the eyelids closed in horizontally instead of vertically.

"An alien bar? Cool." Will walked over to the bar and saw a man cleaning a mug with a towel. "Excuse me, I'm looking for Mr. Baumann."

The man put the clean mug down and put his towel on his shoulder before turning around. He was in his late 40s to early 50s, had a nice mustache, wore glasses, a dark pink bow-tie, and a light, pink-stripped yellow shirt tucked into a pair of brown pants. He had on a dark pink apron that pushed out due to his potbelly. The nametag pinned on his apron read Baumann. (1)

"Sorry kid but unless you're 21 then you've got no business being here."

"I'm not here for a drink. I'm actually looking for some parts for a car." Will told him and Mr. Baumann chuckled.

"Kind of came to the wrong place, don't you think?" Mr. Baumann pointed out.

"No, the kind of things I need for my car aren't exactly standard earth issue. I'm looking for Pakmar. He might be able to help me find what I'm looking for." Will told him and Mr. Baumann nodded before he noticed three men enter the bar.

"Later, kid. You should get out of here." Mr. Baumann told him as the three guys walked over to the bar. "I already paid for this month."

"Well, change of plans there Mr. B. The boss figures an additional ten thousand to keep this nice play from having some trouble seemed like a good idea." One of the guys told him.

"And to make sure no one messes with your clientele. You've got to have all the friends you need, right?" Another guy pointed out.

"Something tells me idiots like you are the wrong kind of friends." Will remarked and the thugs looked at him in amusement.

"Aw, look at that. The kid's got a mouth on him." One of the thugs said, patting him on the cheek before pushing him into a table. Will crashed through and ended up breaking a chair when he fell. "Maybe we should give his jaw a break from talking."

"Wow, real original for a thug." Will remarked with a shit eating grin.

One of the thugs moved over to kill him when Mr. Baumann ran out from behind the bar and got in his way. "Hey, easy. He's just a kid. He doesn't know any better. Tell him I'll have his money on Friday. You can collect it then." Mr. Baumann told him.

"I'll make sure the boss knows." The lead thug gave him a mock salute before he and the others left but not before knocking over some tables when they did.

"God those guys are assholes." Will stated.

"They are." Mr. Baumann helped Will back to his feet. "They could have killed you. What the hell were you thinking opening your mouth like that?"

"Trust me, I've dealt with worse. And my dad raised me never to give assholes like them anything less then they deserve." He replied.

"Your dad's a brave man but that was stupid. You're lucky they left." Mr. Baumann cleaned up the mess the thugs made with some of the alien patrons helping. Will helped as well, cleaning up the chair he was tossed into. "But you are right. They're assholes and they know it but I can't exactly do anything about it."

"Who are they?" Will wondered.

"Thugs for an alien crime boss named Mandrax." Mr. Baumann told him.

"Mandrax?"

"Yeah, you know him?" Mr. Baumann wondered but Will had to play oblivious.

"Uh, no. Sounds like a cleaning product." Will remarked. "Who is he?"

"He's bad news. Some big shot alien gangster. Recently came to National City and has been slowly making the West side his home turf. One of his favorite past times is messing with local businesses and requiring protection money. He targets alien business or alien-friendly businesses." Mr. Baumann told him and Will began to put the pieces together.

"And those businesses can't exactly go to the police for help. That's not right." Will stated.

"No, it's not. Believe me kid I agree with you. Still, my priority is keeping my friends and everyone here safe." Mr. Baumann said and Will understood. Going to police wasn't exactly an option since there was a good chance Mandrax had some of them bought off and it would cause a reprisal so this needed to be handled a different way and he knew how. "Anyway, kid. Sorry you had to see that. You need to see Pakmar?"

"Yeah. Tell him I'm looking for stuff to modify my car. Engines and things like that but I'll be back. I think I have something that can help you." Will promised before walking away.

"Whoa, kid don't get yourself involved with them. You don't want that kind of trouble." Mr. Baumman warned him.

"Oh, don't worry. I won't mess with them. Cross my heart." Will said before leaving.

"Why do I have the feeling like that kid is gonna give me angina." Baumann muttered to himself before he got back to work.

DEO Desert Base

It was around 7pm at the DEO base so the evening shift personnel were slowly trickling in to relieve the morning shift. Maxwell Detmer was on his way out to the garage and sent a text to Diana that he was on his way back. Diana had a small place of hers in National city and a place in DC as the plans for the Themysciran embassy were being worked out so she split her time there. He was wearing his regular clothes and had a duffle bag on his shoulder when he passed Director Henshaw.

"Max, how's Diana?" Henshaw wondered.

"Fine. Adjusting to life here and she's gotten a handle on her cover. Plus, there's been no reports of Wonder Woman so that's a good thing." He answered and Henshaw nodded.

"Good. You and Will have a safe trip back to National City." Henshaw told him.

"I thought Will left hours ago." Max pointed out.

"No, he's over there." Henshaw pointed to a table in the corner that Will had occupied. He was sitting at the table with several notepads and files surrounding him along with two laptops connected to the Proto-box and his armor buckle. "I thought he was waiting for you."

"No, he told me he left hours ago." Max corrected him. "And usually, he'd head straight home after a day of training."

Henshaw and Max both knew something was up so they walked over to see what was going on. Will jotted some things down on his notepad before slipping his pencil on his ear and pressing a few buttons on a laptop to bring up some data. He was buried in his work which he usually would be if it was school related but it was the summer and his training at the DEO ended hours ago and never gave him homework.

"Will!" Max shouted causing his son to jump in his seat.

"Geez, don't do that." Will put his pencil down took a few deep breaths to slow his heart rate. "What?"

"What are you doing here? I thought you went home hours ago."

"I did to get some things for my car but then I stumbled onto something so I came back to do a little research." Will pushed one of the files forward to show a picture of reptilian like alien with pointy ears, sharp teeth, flared nostrils, red markings around his eyes, and three ridges running up his head.

"Mandrax." Henshaw picked up the file with intrigue. "One of the escapees from Fort Rozz that we've been after for years. Sent to Fort Rozz for running one of the most dangerous intergalactic crime syndicates in three galaxies."

"And like the other Fort Rozz escapees went underground when they crashed on earth. The DEO has had a hard time tracking him down but I got a lead that Mandrax is in National City. He's here and has inserted himself in the western part of the city, building up a criminal organization. He's already strongarming the local businesses into paying him protection money." Will explained.

"A lot of those businesses are alien run or employed which is exactly what Mandrax wants as he knows that they can't really go to the police." Henshaw deduced.

"And even if they do then he's got regular human criminals working for him and they've already bought a bunch of the police and locals there." Will turned one of the laptops around to show Henshaw and his dad the detailed communication logs and financial data in that area and the payoffs being made to the police from fake LLCs and criminal fronts. The data was extensive and even included information from federal databases. "The FBI is looking into Mandrax's organization for art thefts and such but they have no idea they're dealing with aliens."

"How did you get this data?" Henshaw wondered.

"Wasn't that hard after a little harmless hacking. Don't worry, no one knows I was in." Will assured him.

"You know how to hack?" Max looked at his son in astonishment.

"Me, no? But Jarvis, yes." Will answered only for Max and Henshaw to look at one another in confusion.

"Who's Jarvis?" They both asked.

"Jarvis, introduce yourself." Will said, turning the other laptop to them. The screen showed a series of digital prompts and lines of code all of which were green.

"Greeting, Director Henshaw, Mr. Detmer. How may I assist you?" They heard a disembodied male voice say in a distinctly British accent.

"What is that?" Max questioned.

"I am Jarvis, a Natural Language User Interface program designed to assist and aid Mr. Detmer in all avenues of his life both in and out of the DEO." Jarvis explained.

"You built an AI?" Henshaw asked him.

"No, not exactly. Jarvis isn't an AI yet but he's probably the most advance computer interface system on the planet." Will corrected.

"Thank you, Sir." Jarvis stated.

"Jarvis is a highly advanced program that'll be able to help me and the DEO going forward but he's not an AI. I've seen enough future disaster films to know better." He pointed out.

"My personal favorite is the Terminator." Jarvis said earning looks of confusion from Max and Director Henshaw. "That was a joke."

"He talks like he's human." Henshaw pointed out.

"I am a program therefore I am without form but I appreciate the compliment. Will did a miraculous job in my creation to bring me to life and to give me a personality so, as he put it, didn't feel like he was just talking to a computer." Jarvis informed him.

"Grey Matter was able to write the program to make Jarvis what he is. I've already uploaded him to my Proto-box and my armor so he'll be able to run in the background and assist in anything that comes up." Will explained. "Eventually, with some more upgrades and time Jarvis will be a full AI but even now he's more advanced then anything else on the planet."

"Why Jarvis?" Henshaw wondered.

"Does this have to do with that Iron Man movie we saw?" Max questioned.

"Possibly…yes." Will admitted. "It seemed to fit and if I could make him for real then why not. Plus, I thought it was kind of funny. Jarvis. Just A Rather Very Intelligent System."

"I think it works." Jarvis said. "And getting back to the matter at hand, my in-depth analysis on local police and federal databases as well as related financial information does support that Mandrax is somewhere within the western part of National City. Most likely operating within the string of warehouses along the old industrial sector here."

Jarvis brought up a map and highlighted a group of five warehouses along a street. "Why there?" Director Henshaw questioned.

"Those buildings have been in foreclosure for several years but DEO satellites have picked up an increase in power over the past few weeks." Jarvis informed him.

"It's likely where Mandrax has his operation housed in National City. This could be our chance to get him, Director." Will told him. Director Henshaw thought it over and it seemed like a great opportunity. Capturing another Fort Rozz escapee was priority, especially one as dangerous as Mandrax and they needed to prevent him from gaining more power on earth.

"We've gone after Fort Rozz escapees before on less." Max pointed out.

"Just to be safe, I can head there now and do a quick check just to make sure it's something while you assemble a strike team. This way, we don't waste resources on nothing." Will suggested. "And before you comment on how dangerous Mandrax is, please know that I already know and I think I can handle it. I've dealt with plenty of strong aliens before and I helped take down the Greek God of War and his army of monsters."

"He's got a point." Max remarked before he looked at his son. "Will, are you sure you can do this?"

"I am." He swore.

"All right. Head there and scout ahead while I assemble a strike team. If you have confirmation that Mandrax is there then we'll move in." Director Henshaw ordered and Will gave him a mock salute.

"Roger that." Will stood up and grabbed the Proto-box before putting his armor buckle back on his belt.

Director Henshaw left to assemble a strike team while Max walked over to Will. "Be careful."

"Always. Save me some dinner." Will told him before he activated his armor and left the base. Thinking that something could go wrong and he'd need the Omnitrix at full power, he activated his flight wings and flew to National City.

National City

The three thugs that were hassling Mr. Baumman at his alien bar were driving through the old industrial sector of the city in a nondescript black van. Unbeknownst to the occupants, a remote drone was following them to their destination and said drone belonged to Will. It was the same drone he used during the Kasnian airplane exchange that led him to Themyscira. Jarvis was now controlling it and ran a multi-spectrum overlay scan, giving Will an inside look in the van and relayed everything back to his HUD. Will was currently perched atop one of National City's skyscrapers.

"Ok, we've got three thugs, three Vokarian energy pistols, bags of money and what looks like a painting. Jarvis, can you tell what that is?" Will wondered so Jarvis isolated the bag holding the rolled up painting and managed to extrapolate a picture. "Whoa, that's a Van Gogh and recently stolen from a museum in Los Angeles. Mandrax does have a record of art theft so this is a good sign. Keep following them."

"Yes, sir." Jarvis replied, piloting the drone a good distance back as the thugs made their way through the city. Will watched the video feed from his HUD and saw the thugs continue their drive through the city until they arrived at the warehouse that Jarvis theorized they were using.

"Looks like you were right, Jarvis. It is where they're hold up." Will told him.

"My theory was based on high probability, research, and data but thank you for the compliment, sir." Jarvis replied and Will smiled to himself. It really felt like he was talking to someone and the fact that it was a real life version of the Jarvis program from the Iron Man movie with the same voice was awesome. His friends would lose their minds if they could see this, especially Vic since he loved the Iron Man Movie. The others liked it as well but Courtney, Yolanda, Karen, and Beth liked it because of Robert Downey Jr. "Sir, my sensors are picking up 12 more hostiles in the warehouse, all armed with alien weaponry."

Jarvis piloted the drone over to the warehouse by a window and scanned the interior before highlighting the 12 criminals inside with alien guns tucked into their pants or on tables nearby. There were also crates of illicit goods/money and Jarvis did a search on all the men inside and they all had sizeable criminal offenses. Assault, assault with a deadly weapon, intimidation, theft, blackmail, extortion, and a whole bunch of offenses you'd associate with men smart enough to be competent criminals and enforcers but dumb enough to not try anything against a boss.

"That's a whole lotta stupid and bad life decisions all together." Will joked before he connected to the DEO secure communications line. "Director Henshaw, can you hear me?"

"I can hear you. I've got tactical teams ready. Did you find anything?" Henshaw questioned.

"Yeah, I did. I don't have eyes on Mandrax yet but this crew definitely isn't a normal criminal gang. They've got high-tech Vokarian energy pistols that you don't get from a gun store." Will radioed in and had Jarvis sent some of the scans over.

"Vokarian energy pistols aren't even from this galaxy. They have a power cell powerful enough to make a beam of concentrated plasma capable of cutting through solid steel plates like they were made of butter. Looks like you were on to something." Henshaw told him.

"They definitely came from alien smugglers and found themselves in the hands of idiots with criminal rap sheets. And one of the things they have is a Van Gogh painting stolen from a museum in Los Angeles. Isn't stolen art Mandrax's MO?" He questioned.

"It is. Looks like you lead paid off well." Henshaw told him when Jarvis picked something up.

"Sir, I'm detecting a vehicle approaching the warehouse." Jarvis reported before piloting the drone over to the west side of the warehouse were a very nice Rolls Royce drove up. He managed to get a scan of the car when it pulled up the warehouse and was let in. It had two occupants but only one, the driver, was human. The other occupant was alien and Jarvis managed to extrapolate images of what they looked like. Jarvis then brought up the image and cross-referenced it with the one they had on Mandrax and they matched. The only difference was the fancy suit he was wearing. "Sir, Mandrax is here."

"Director, Mandrax just showed up." Will told him.

"All right, we're on our way. We'll be there in ten minutes. Will, don't let Mandrax escape." Henshaw ordered.

"Roger that." Will activated his flight wings and flew to the warehouse. Director Henshaw and the strike teams boarded DEO helicopters and would get there in about ten minutes.

Mandrax's car pulled into the warehouse and parked before Mandrax and his driver got out. "Mr. Mandrax, sir, the painting as you requested." One of the men came over and handed him the container holding the painting. Mandrax opened it and inspected the Van Gogh piece before putting it back inside the container.

"Any trouble?" Mandrax wondered.

"No, sir. Not since you gave us these?" The guy held up the Vokarian energy pistol. "These babies ensure no one gets any bright ideas."

"Remember not to use those unless it's necessary. I don't want any heat. That's the rule. The last thing I need is you idiots making trouble that brings Superman here." Mandrax warned him.

"Don't worry, Boss. We've been under the radar as promised. No one's gonna notice us." The man assured him. One of his men was moving a bag of money to Mandrax's car when something snagged his foot and he was pulled up into the ceiling.

"AHH!"

Mandrax and his men were put on high alert by seeing one of their own get pulled into the air. "Is it Superman?!" One of them shouted, pulling out his Vokarian energy pistol when he heard the distinct sound of someone running up behind him.

He turned and got a shield thrown right into his face which knocked him out and ricocheted off. Will slid forward and tripped another goon off his feet and caught his shield before throwing it at him, knocking him out before putting it back on his back. Will ran forward and push kicked a thug into a crate of stolen goods before he did a back sweep on the goon next to him. One thug aimed his pistol at him only for Will to grab his arm and take him to the ground with a shoulder throw before knocking him out with a punch to the face and then roundhouse kicked the goon he swept. By now Mandrax and his men knew he was here so they shot at him with their energy pistols, forcing Will to move to the side. Mandrax took the painting and hurried to his car when he saw the tires were deflated and before he could rush to the exit, the shutter gate slammed shut.

Will ran across the warehouse, firing taser discs from his forearm launcher which stunned and knocked out four more of Mandrax's goons. He jumped off a crate to jump onto a second floor catwalk where he threw his shield to disarm two of Mandrax's goons on overwatch. He did a dive roll forward and knocked back one goon with a punch to the collar bone before turning around and push kicking the other goon across the catwalk. He turned and the thug pulled out a knife but Will parried his thrust and took him to the ground with a wrist lock before elbowing him in the back and the neck. He took the knife and threw it into the second goon's wrist, causing him to scream in pain before he knocked him out with a roundhouse kick to the back of the head.

The remaining enforcers shot at Will with their energy pistols so he ran across the catwalk and pulled the shield off his back. He jumped off the catwalk with a one-handed reverse vault and landed back on the ground floor before shield uppercutting the thug behind him and then push kicking the one in front of him into the parked van. Two more of Mandrax's goons were close to him so he hit them with shield blows to the legs and then the heads before jumping into a butterfly twist. During the butterfly twist he managed to kick both goons in the face while also throwing his shield. It flew through the air and knocked the energy pistol out of one of the thugs hands before it ricocheted around and did the same to the remaining three. He grabbed the arm of a thug and pulled him in close for a knee to the side and then the head before throwing him to the ground and caught his shield. He blocked a low kick, parried a left cross and spun to land an elbow to the face of his attacker before doing a one arm flying takedown and throwing him to the ground. He got back up and rushed over to a thug, holding his shield up and when he was close he punched it so it hit the guy in the head and knocked him out.

"Don't move!" One of Mandrax's man managed to pick up his energy pistol and aimed it at the back of Will's head. He had him dead to rights before he was hit in the back by a taser disc and collapsed to reveal the mini-drone hovering right behind him. Said drone then hovered over and fit into the slot on the back of Will's armor. (2)

"Good work, Jarvis. Now all that's left is Mandrax." Will said, walking over to the car where he saw the container holding the painting but Mandrax was gone.

"Sir, incoming on your right." Jarvis warned him so he raised his shield just in time to block a punch from Mandrax. The shield took the impact but the force of Mandrax's hit sent him crashing through a crate and into a wall.

Will fired three taser discs from his forearm launcher, hitting Mandrax in the chest but he was able to take the pain like it was nothing. He picked up one of the discs and crushed it in between his fingers. "I usually don't deal with you humans. You break too easily." Mandrax remarked as Will got back to his feet.

"Well, this is one human who won't break as easily." Will threw his shield and hit Mandrax in the face before catching it mid-jump as he came in with a flying knee. He hit Mandrax in the chest which staggered him back a bit before landing a low kick to the back of the left leg, a shield punch to the face, a punch to the gut, a shield punch to the arm and then a shield uppercut to the jaw. Those hits staggered Mandrax a bit but didn't knock him down.

He just turned his head and spit out some blue blood. "You've got some fight in you. I like that." Mandrax then came with a fierce and fast right hook but Will ducked and push kicked him back before landing a jump spinning back kick to his face and fired an explosive disc. The explosive knocked Mandrax onto his back but he quickly got up and was pissed. "I just got this jacket."

He took it off and charged in anger and a surprise burst of speed with a push kick. Will raised his shield to block it but Mandrax's alien super strength still sent him flying through the air. When he landed he ended up crashing into a crate filled with guns.

"Sir, while your armor is highly advanced and powerful, it is likely unsuited for a confrontation with Mandrax's alien physiology. I'd recommend using one of your aliens."Jarvis suggested.

"Good idea, Jarvis." Will retracted his shield back into his armor as Mandrax walked over.

"Congratulations, you fared better than most. You can at least take that to your grave." Mandrax boasted as Will got back to his feet and activated the Omnitrix.

"Thanks, but I've got a better idea." Will turned the dial and pressed it down. Mandrax covered his eyes from the bright flash of green light before he heard the rumble of heavy footsteps and then felt blinding pain as he was punched in the face and crashed into his Rolls Royce. He fell to the ground but push himself back up to his knees when he saw a small puddle of blue blood. He touched his face and felt the blood trickle down his face along with the pain of a broken nose. He looked up and saw a red-skinned four-armed Tetramand walked over. "How about I beat you down for the trouble you've caused? And don't surrender. I could really use the practice."

Mandrax bared his teeth in anger and charged, throwing out vicious punch after punch only for Four Arms to block every single one. Four Arms punched Mandrax in the face again, landed an uppercut to his stomach and a backfist across his face before catching Mandrax's wild right cross with one of his hands. He then caught Mandrax's other hand and twisted both before he began punching Mandrax in the stomach over and over with his two free fists. He then headbutted him and landed a powerful uppercut that sent him into the air before he came back down and crashed into his destroyed Rolls Royce. Mandrax's face was bleeding and he was in a lot of pain. He was powerful and strong but nothing compared to a Tetramand. "Who…are…you?"

Mandrax's head slumped back and he passed out from the pain so Four Arms touched the Omnitrix symbol on his shoulder and turned back to normal. "Not sure yet. Haven't come up with a name." Will admitted before contacting Director Henshaw. "Director, Mandrax is subdued."

"Roger that. We're coming in now."

The DEO tactical teams came in and secured the area. All alien technology was taken as Director Henshaw walked over and saw Mandrax sprawled out on a destroyed Rolls Royce. Will picked up one of the Vokarian energy pistols and then the container holding the stolen Van Gogh painting. "I know we keep the alien technology but we are gonna return the painting right?"

Director Henshaw chuckled a bit before he had his men take Mandrax into custody. After securing all alien technology or alien-related items, Will went with a team and took Mandrax back to the DEO where he was placed in a containment cell. While they did that, Director Henshaw and a team took up the role of FBI agents and contacted the National City PD to get all the men arrested including their contacts and the people they had on their payroll. Director Henshaw also informed the real FBI about what was going on and let them handle the human criminals in Mandrax's organization.

Two days later…

Will parked his dad's truck outside of the alien bar before he walked in. The bouncer recognized him from last time and let him in without any fuss. He noticed the occupants of the bar seemed to be in a good spirits and overall, the mood in the bar was much more jovial. They must have heard the good news of Mandrax getting arrested which meant they were no longer under his thumb and didn't have to pay him protection money or live-in fear of him. He walked over to the bar to see Mr. Baumann putting drinks on a tray for his waitress to take and both had happy expressions on their faces.

"I know I need to be 21 to get a beer but I don't suppose you have Root Beer, extra ice?" Will wondered and Mr. Baumann chuckled.

"I think we do." Mr. Baumann got a mug and filled it with ice before pouring in the Root Beer.

"This place seems a lot more lively and happy then when I was here last." Will stated. "I'm guessing there's been some good news or something?"

"Really good news. Actually, has to do with those thugs who came in when you did. We don't have to worry about them or their boss. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?" Mr. Baumann questioned, handing him the Root Beer and Will handed him two bucks.

"Me? No, of course not." Will pled innocent as he drank some of the Root Beer.

"Really because I remember you smart-mouthing the thugs who came in and then you said you had something that could help before you left. Now, two days later the problem and those guys are gone and everyone here is free and clear." Mr. Baumann pointed out. "Heck of a coincidence."

"It is." Will acknowledged, putting his Root Beer down and wiping his mouth with a napkin. "But I'm glad this one had a happy ending. And I'm sure future coincidences will make sure that no one else tries to do what Mandrax did. Everyone, human or alien, shouldn't have to worry about getting taken advantage of." Will told him and Mr. Baumann smiled.

"Well, then those coincidences should know that they are appreciated and welcome here anytime. Now, come on. I'll take you to where you can get the things you need." Mr. Baumann walked out from behind the bar and Will followed.

He led Will into the back area where some more kegs and boxes of alcohol were stored before he opened up a door to a supply closet. Mr. Baumann pressed on a brick and the wall split down the middle to reveal it was a high-tech door to the basement and tunnels underneath the warehouse next to the bar. Will was greeted to the sight of a fully functioning and lively alien market. "Wow."

"Yup. Best alien market on earth because it's the only alien market on earth." Mr. Baumann told him. "Now, you don't need to worry about any bad characters around here. I only deal with and run legitimate business ventures. And don't let their appearances get to you. They're no different then you or me. They're just people looking for a fresh start."

"I get it." Will said as Mr. Baumann led him through the market where he saw some humanoid and not-so humanoid aliens doing shopping like you would see at regular open air market. Only difference was the items for sale. There were families out shopping, engaging in polite conversation and just enjoying their lives on earth. It was nice to see. Will's job with the DEO had him protect the planet from extraterrestrial presence, invasion, and other extra-normal occurrences but also monitored the peaceful aliens. He didn't need to focus on the powerful or dangerous ones to make a difference.

They eventually arrived at a stall of a shop that sold toilets. He guess that given by the human toilets he saw all over the place but then saw some weird ones. "Pakmar, you here?!" Mr. Baumann called out.

"Who is it?!"

Will jumped in shock as Pakmar popped up out of a toilet next to them. Pakmar jumped out of the toilet and walked in front of the two humans. "This is the kid I was telling you about. The one who was looking into the specialty items." Mr. Baumann told him.

"Welcome to my place. Pakmar's place. Would you also like a new toilet while you're at it?" Pakmar wondered. (3)

"These are toilets?" Will asked, walking over to one and pushed a button. This made the seat turn sideways and begin spinning around while a hose opened up to reveal an alien bidet spitting out water.

"Eh. Different aliens have different needs." Pakmar pointed out.

"Don't let the place fool you. Pakmar's got an in with all of the best traders and suppliers in several galaxies. If anyone can find something you need, it's him." Mr. Baumann assured Will.

"Fair enough but I'm ok. I'm just looking into stuff to upgrade my car; more so then human tech can do." He told him.

"Then follow me. I have just what you need." Pakmar led Will and Mr. Baumann through his store until they arrived in his back storeroom where there were more toilets both human and alien along with a desk, computer, some cleaning supplies but the thing that stood out was a pristine and powerful looking engine block.

"Whoa, she's a beauty." Will walked over to get a closer look. He then took out the Proto-box and scanned it.

"Tetramand-made Khoros-5 engine block. Best in several galaxies. Powerful, capable of being modified, compatible with human vehicles, and nearly indestructible. Some testing is still needed on the last part." Pakmar explained and the scan from Will's Proto-box showed he could modify it for his car. "You want it? It'll cost you 20 Tayden coins."

"Ugh, that's kind of steep." Mr. Baumman pointed out so Will reached into his pocket and pulled out two Taydenite crystals. Pakmar and Mr. Baumman both went wide-eyed when they saw the kid pull out that kind of money like it was nothing.

"This will cover it, right?" Will tossed Pakmar the crystals and the little alien eagerly caught them. "If you happen to come across anything else I can use for a car, let me know and I'll happily pay for it."

"Of course, happy to do business with you." Pakmar put the two Taydenite crystals in his pocket. "I'll get the cart."

Pakmar rushed back into his store to get a cart that would help move the engine block. Mr. Baumann walked over and saw Will smile as he inspected the engine. "How did you get your hands on those pure Taydenite crystals?" He wondered.

"Can't exactly say but don't worry it was legitimate and legal." Will handed him a blank business card that just had a phone number on it. "Let me know if Pakmar or anyone else has some useful alien tech or hears anything. I'm more than happy to share money for good info, Mr. B."

Mr. Baumann took the card and put it in his pocket. "You know when I first met you I had this weird feeling that you'd give me angina. Glad to know I was wrong." He admitted.

"Eh, there's still time." Will joked.

Line Break xxxxx

DEO Desert Base

The grunts of exertion, struggle, and clang of steel was all that was heard from one of the training rooms at the DEO. It could be mistaken for factory work but it was in fact sparring and rather intense sparring. Watching said sparring was some DEO agents including Max, all of whom were drinking coffee and one was holding a bowl of popcorn for them to eat.

"How long has this been going on for?" Someone asked so Max checked his watch.

"About an hour." Max answered and winced when something was slammed into the observation window with enough weight and force that it cracked a bit. "Even with the armor that's got to hurt a bit."

The thing that crashed into the observation window was in fact Will wearing his armor. He picked himself back up to his feet but wobbled a bit before he found his footing. One stiff neck crack and a good head shake managed to clear the momentary daze as he looked over at Diana, clad in her Amazonian/Wonder Woman armor with her sword at the ready.

"Remember to never expose your flank to your opponent." Diana laid her sword on her free arm and took a ready stance. "Again."

Will picked up his nano-tech sword and held it in front of him, taking a traditional Escrima stance. "All right. Best Five out of Nine."

He and Diana stalked around one another waiting for the other to make the first move. Will decided to chance it with a quick lunge and thrust at her midsection. Diana blocked and parried his sword to the side before pushing his blade up and back. She did a slash to his head but he ducked and did a slash at her leg which her leg greave blocked. Will leaned back to avoid an upward slash to the face before attacking with a cut to the midsection but Diana blocked and parried it into her own cut and then thrust. Will managed to side step the thrust at the last second only for Diana to shove him back. He managed to catch his footing and steady himself before he attacked with a low kick and then several quick cuts that Diana blocked with ease. She did a fancy behind the back block before pushing his sword back and did several thrusts to his stomach and sides that he managed to parry. She came at him with an overhead slash that he ducked but it left him open to an elbow to the face.

Will staggered back a bit from the hit but managed an overhead slash and then a horizontal cut that Diana dodged before she jumped at his side and did a leaping thrust. He rolled to the side to avoid it before advancing with several quick cuts only for Diana to parry his last attack and push his sword up. She did a horizontal cut that he managed to avoid and then blocked and parried several of her thrusts before he went on the offensive. Several quick cuts and thrusts before he parried her block to the side and did a diagonal slash that managed to make a small scratch in her armor.

"Impressive." Diana remarked.

"Thanks." Will stepped in and did a lunge which was a mistake as Diana managed to catch his arm. She then come at him with an overhead thrust but he caught her arm like she did him. Only that was what she wanted and she kicked him in the chest. The impact was enough that he tripped and fell on his back. He leaned up only to see Diana had her sword right at his face. "But let me guess. There's still a lot for me to learn."

"Indeed." Diana lowered her sword and extended her other hand to help him back to his feet. Will retracted his helmet and gingerly touched his nose. "Sword combat is one of the tenants of Amazonian culture and takes years to fully understand and even more to master but not bad for a beginner. I daresay you could handle yourself against a common opponent if the situation should arise."

"But not against an Amazon, I get it." Will crinkled his nose a bit. It stung but he could feel it wasn't broken. If it was he would be in more pain. "Even with the armor that elbow hit hurt."

"Sorry but it'll be a wise reminder in our sparring sessions going forward. Even when you think you have the advantage on your opponents flanks, never let your guard down." Diana warned him.

"Yeah, lesson learned. Believe me." Will shook his head and flexed his nose a bit before deactivating the rest of his armor. He stretched and twisted his back a bit to ease the muscles and tension. "Thanks again for the sparring."

"It's my pleasure." She told him as they grabbed their towels and walked out of the training room to see the DEO agents filter out of the observation room. With the sparring match over they went back to their usual activities. Max was there waiting and handed them two bottles of water.

"Good training session you two." Max praised them.

"Thank you, Max." Diana smiled and the two shared a kiss.

"Ugh, yet again, I don't need to see that. I'm heading to the showers." Will walked away to get cleaned up.

"A shower does sound nice." Diana grabbed a bag with her regular clothes and went to the women's locker room.

"All right. I'll finish up my work. Meet me at the garage bay and we'll head back to the city." Max told them.

"Will do!" Will gave him a thumbs up as he walked away. His reaction wasn't to express his dislike at his dad's new relationship but more to the fact that he didn't want to be present when he was making out with Diana. When she came back from Themyscira with her mother's approval and role as Themyscira's ambassador to the outside world, she and Max moved forward into a relationship. Granted their relationship was with her alter ego, Diana Prince. Yeah, not real original but it was how she was introduced and they had to keep Wonder Woman and Diana as two separate people. Wasn't that hard with some glasses and a change of clothes although Will felt that was stupid. No way glasses and a change of clothes would really work as a disguise.

Anyway, Max was a little rusty in dating and this was Diana's first relationship so to say it had its learning curves was an understatement and there Will was for all of it unfortunately. After his mom passed, his dad had dates, of course but nothing ever serious for more than a couple of months which was likely because of his secret work at the DEO and possibly because he hadn't found someone he really liked. Now, Will couldn't say that Diana was going to be the next one for his dad but they both seemed happy which was more than good enough for him. And to make up for destroying his car in the fight against Deimos, Diana offered to help train Will in hand-to-hand combat and swordsman ship. Considering that Amazons were warriors she had a few things she could teach him. They had a fun dynamic and things were good. He just didn't like seeing them kiss or acting all lovey-dovey. He had no problems with public affection but seeing his dad make out with someone made his mind wonder to what they do in the bedroom and it was at that moment that he felt the urge to throw up and needed brain bleach. He had no idea why his mind went there but god he wished it would stop.

After a nice shower he got dressed in his regular clothes and sat on a bench outside the locker room as he tied his shoes. That's when he saw Director Henshaw walk over with a file. "Whatever that file has on me, I swear I didn't do it and I have an alibi." Will stated.

"Relax, Will you're not in trouble. At least, not with me. I don't know if you're in trouble with your dad." Director Henshaw pointed out before handing him the file. "I want your opinion on this."

Will opened the file which contained stilled security and CCTV camera images along with police and incident reports in National City. The stilled images from the security cameras showed masked men or criminals committing regular crimes and such but one immediately caught his attention. It was in a convenience store and was of a guy physically carrying an ATM on his back by himself with no special equipment. "Whoa…"

"I know. That was my first reaction and the convenience store robber wasn't the only one." Henshaw told him as Will looked through the other photos to see other people doing feats of incredible strength that were well beyond normal human capabilities. One man lifted up a sedan over his head while another showed a man punching a hole through the side of a brick building with his bare fist. "Incidents like these have been reported all over National city the past few days."

"I don't see any kind of advanced tech or weapon. Humans?" Will wondered and got a nod in response.

"So far all the perpetrators have come up human but clearly something is going on that is causing the sudden increase in super strength. At the moment the DEO doesn't have anything to go on so keep your eyes and ears open if you hear anything." Henshaw told him.

"Understood." Will closed up the file and handed it back before he got up and headed to the garage.

Later that night…

Will was perched up on the roof of the tallest skyscraper in National city. He was clad in his armor but was laying on a gargoyle while playing games on his phone. He was killing some time before anything happened. After getting the file from Director Henshaw, Will told his dad and after dinner with him and Diana he went out into the city to see if he could find any leads. Mr. Baumann and his patrons at the dive bar hadn't heard anything other then what the public knew so it likely wasn't some kind of alien tech or weapon. He hoped that he might get lucky listening in on the police bands and find a lead.

His feet were dangling off the side of the gargoyle as he finished his tenth round of Tetris on his phone when his HUD alerted him to something. "Sir, I'm picking up a silent alarm being tripped at the National City Mall." Jarvis alerted him, bringing up CCTV footage from the mall and isolated the feeds that recorded the entry of the burglars. A part of him just thought that they were run of the mill robbers when Jarvis brought up footage from inside the mall. The trio of robbers headed to a jewelry store and one of them ripped off the giant security gate with his bare hands and tossed it to the side like it was nothing. "It would appear we have our first lead, sir."

"That we do, Jarvis. Good job." He activated his flight wings and took off to the mall.

The trio of robbers were getting all the necklaces, bracelets, rings, and expensive items as quickly as they could. Some of the items were kept in the glass display cases which were quickly smashed open but the more high-end and really expensive ones were locked in a safe in the back room. One of the robbers stayed in the store to take everything that wasn't nailed down while the other two went to the back room. That's where one of the robbers grabbed onto the handle of the safe and actually managed to rip the safe open. The door was six inches thick of solid steel and the locks were titanium yet he managed to physically force it open.

The robber in the store smashed another display case which had rings and began taking everything when he felt someone tap him on the shoulder. He turned and standing there was Skullmaster, the armored Vigilante of National City. He got punched in the face and then his legs swept out from under him before he was grappled and thrown into the ceiling.

One of the robbers rushed back into the store to see his friend on the ground. "Harry!" He rushed over only for a shield to hit him right in the face. It bounced off and Will caught it before landing a flying knee to the robber's chest which sent him crashing into a wall.

"Fire sale's over." Will told them.

"RAH!" The last robber ran out of the back room and charged at him.

He rolled to the side to avoid the robber's punch which ended up making a hole in the granite floor. He got up and punched the man in the face and then the gut but he barely flinched. A quick duck and sidestep saved him from a wild right cross and kick so Will continued with a shield bash to his side and then a jumping side kick to the robber's head. That made him stumble back but he managed to catch the next punch to his head. Will shield punched him in the face but he bounced back and shouted before punching back. That punch had enough force to send Will flying through the jewelry store window, the security gate and out into the mall.

"Son of a bitch…" He muttered, getting up and feeling the slight sting of that punch. The armor was able to take the hit and didn't break but the force was still there. "What kind of steroids is this guy on?"

"RAH!" The robber jumped through the broken window and charged.

"Enough of this shit." Will back rolled and pushed off the ground to get back to his feet before throwing his shield. It flew past the robber and ricocheted off a wall, hitting the robber in the back of his left knee. It staggered him to one leg allowing Will to land a flying knee to the man's face. He then flipped over the man, grabbed his head and slammed him into the ground. The robber got up and threw out a wild punch that he ducked before kicking up his shield which hit the robber in the jaw. Will then landed a bicycle kick to the back of the robber's head and shield bashed him in the face which sent him to the ground. He got back up and five small discs stuck to his chest but didn't do anything.

"Is this supposed to do something?" The darts then blinked red and released a 50,000 volt shock to his entire body. His muscles spasmed and his entire body went into lockdown so he couldn't move. Will then did a butterfly spin and threw his shield, hitting the robber right in the face and combined with the electricity it knocked him out and he fell back.

"It does that." Will caught his shield and put it back on his arm where it retracted back into his armor. He walked over and gave the man a gentle nudge with his foot to check he was indeed unconscious and thankfully he was. "Now, what makes you so strong?"

His HUD scanned the robber from head to toe to find anything out of the ordinary when it found something on his arm. He knelt down and rolled up the robber's left sleeve and saw what looked like a rectangular band aid patch on his arm. He removed the patch from his arm and there was no cut, burn or wound that would need it but he saw the veins around the area were more pronounced and engorged. He checked the robber's pockets and got his phone but also found more patches so he removed one from its protective film. "Jarvis, scan the patch."

His HUD began doing an in depth scan of the patch and picked up a chemical substance soaked into the dressing of the band aid. Normally that wouldn't raise a red flag as some band aids would have an antiseptic put in the dressing to aid in the healing but that wasn't the case. The scans picked up a very advanced and complex chemical formula so Jarvis tried to find a match.

"Sir, I believe I've found a match. The dressing of the band aid appears to be soaked in Venom." Jarvis informed him, bringing up the chemical formula for the steroidal-like compound that the DEO had on file.

"Venom? Are you sure?" Will asked, grabbing the robber by the leg and dragging him back to the store.

"I've found a 100% match to the formula in the DEO database and it is the same venom that Bane uses. The venom is soaked into the dressing of the patch and when applied to the skin it's absorbed into the blood and grants the user an increase in strength as well as an increased surge of adrenaline." Jarvis brought up a miniature model of the process in his HUD. "The amount of venom in the patch will last the user roughly two hours if used properly but my simulations do show that the venom increases the dopamine production in the brain and puts the body into a compulsory state that physically needs another dose of the drug."

"Venom's a highly addictive steroidal compound so that makes sense. And given how strong it makes you feel I don't doubt it would have a lot of takers but I thought there was only one person who had access to it." Will said and Jarvis brought up the Arkham Asylum file on Bane.

"Bane. Yes, you're right sir and according to Arkham Asylum records he is still incarcerated."

"So, who is making these Venom patches and how did they end up in National City?" Will asked himself as he put the Venom Patches into his belt. "Jarvis, inform the DEO what we just found and let Director Henshaw know that I think I have the answer to his question."

"Yes, sir. Might I suggest you clean up and leave. The Police are arriving soon."

"Right. Thanks, Jarvis." Will grabbed the other two robbers and secured them before leaving.

Four National City Police officers arrived at the mall and they rushed over to the jewelry store which is when they saw the three robbers. They were hanging upside from the ceiling and the bags of the items they were planning to steal were on the ground. The police were confused as to what happened and who stopped the robbers.

Line Break xxxxx

The Next day…

National City High School

The National City High Football team was having its first official scrimmage of the summer. The first game of the season was still a few weeks away but National City High and by extension Vic had been doing intense summer training and practices. Will and his friends were in the front row on the stands of the football field to watch Vic and the team play because he was the star running back and Karen was there as well since she was on the cheerleading team. There were other students there in attendance to watch because the scrimmage was against their bitter rivals, Eagleton Prep. Despite it being a scrimmage, the players took it as a serious game because of the serious rivalry between the two schools. There were even some college scouts at the game who were looking at the potential talent and recruits for their college teams.

"Come on, Vic!" Will shouted and the others cheered as the teams took the field. National City was on offense with Eagleton on defense. Vic waved at his friends and at Karen before getting ready.

"Down, set. Hut. Hut!"

The center hiked the ball to Henry who dropped back and then slipped it to Vic who went to the outside. Vic's speed and agility were in full display for everyone, including the college scouts as he ran through the line of scrimmage. A very tall and large Eagleton linebacker tried to stop him but Vic just tucked in and dipped his shoulder down. He ended up running straight through the linebacker with ease and knocked him flat on his back. The National City High fans cheered as Vic kept running until he was tackled from the side after making a 22 yard gain.

"WOOO! That's what they get when you mess with Vic Stone!" Ed cheered before high-fiving Will.

"Way to go, Vic!" Yolanda, Beth, and Courtney cheered as Karen and the other cheerleaders did a small chant for him.

"Time out!" The Eagleton coach shouted so the ref blew the whistle and called a time out.

"Nice job, Stone!" The National City High coach shouted and the team congratulated him as they got a quick water break. Eagleton's team went to their side and got some water as the Eagleton coach rushed over and grabbed the linebacker that just got his ass kicked by Vic.

"Mason, what the hell was that? What kind of bone head defense did you just put up that got you knocked on your ass?!" The coach berated him before yanking his helmet off. Mason was a senior at Eagleton prep and star linebacker but he didn't look that great. His face looked tired and he had some bags under his eyes.

"I'm sorry, coach."

"You are, sorry. You're all the sorriest bunch of losers I've ever seen. I pulled a lot of strings to get these scouts here and I'm not about to let your sluggishness make me and this team look like idiots. So, slap on and get to work." The coach whispered to him and gave him a violent shove before walking away.

"Yes, coach." Mason replied before walking over to the bench where his backpack was to get something. He looked around to make sure no one was looking before he moved his sweatband a bit and put the patch on. The veins around the area began to enlarge and his body began to shiver as the surge of Venom coursed through his system and flooded his brain with the euphoric feeling of both Dopamine and Adrenaline. Mason put the sweatband over his patch and began jumping around like the energizer bunny. "WOOO!"

Will looked over at the Eagleton side and saw the linebacker Vic knocked over jump around like he just consumed ten Red Bulls. "All right, game back on!" One of the ref's blew his whistle and the teams took their positions. Mason was jostling around like crazy as the game continued.

"Set, hut!" Henry got the ball again and Vic ran left before heading straight into a button-hook. Henry threw the ball and Vic caught it before running at Mason.

"RAHHH!"

Mason charged at Vic and ended up tackling him but instead of taking him to the ground he carried Vic up and ran out of bounds and then into the stands.

"Look out!" Will pulled Courtney and Yolanda out of the way as Mason slammed Vic into the stands.

"WOO!" Mason shouted in delight but Vic teammates quickly pushed Mason off and a fight between the two teams started. The Refs blew their whistles and tried to break it up but Mason's vicious beatdown on Vic wasn't taken well.

"Vic!" Will rushed over and got to his side as the coach and medic came over.

Karen rushed over and held his hand. "Vic, you ok?"

"My ribs…" Vic groaned in pain as the coach and medic checked him out but didn't move him yet.

Will looked over and saw the Eagleton coach get into the fight and pull Mason away. "Quit whining. It was a legal check. Nice hit, Mason." He congratulated him and Mason smiled. That's when Will saw the sweatband on Mason's right arm partially covering up a band aid patch, exactly like the one he saw on the robber last night. He took out his phone and snapped a quick picture before they got too far.

The medic helped stabilize Vic and his rough assessment indicating nothing was broken but his ribs could be fractured. He would need to go to the hospital to determine that. Only he wasn't the only one as the game continued and three more of Vic's teammates were injured by Mason or other members of the Eagleton Prep team. Mason's 180 performance caught everyone by surprise except for the Eagleton side but he wasn't the only one. Three other players suddenly ended up just as ruthless with an increase in strength which ended with a lot of insults and anger hurled at the Eagleton team but their players and the coach could hardly care. The game finally ended with Eagleton winning 36 to 14 and the fact that ambulances were called to take care of Vic and the four other players put a damper in the mood.

The paramedics put Vic on a gurney and put him in the back of the EMT Van to take him to the hospital for X-rays. The other players thankfully weren't as serious with some serious bruising but Vic got the worse of it. "I already called your mom and dad and they're gonna meet you at the hospital." Will told him.

"Thanks." Vic said.

"We'll meet you there." Beth told him as Karen got into the back with him as did the coach and were driven to the hospital.

"I hope he'll be ok." Courtney said.

"Vic will make it. Likely just some fractured ribs." Will assured her.

"Ok, I can't have been the only one to notice something was off with Eagleton. I mean, did you guys see them?" Ed asked. "They have to be juicing or something."

"Normally I'd like to give people the benefit of the doubt but I think Ed's right. There's something going on with them." Beth pointed out.

"Ok, but what do we do?" Yolanda asked.

"I say we go find our proof about what's going on and bust them." Ed declared.

"Easy there, Sherlock Holmes. One thing at a time. Eagleton can wait for now. Let's head to the hospital and make sure Vic's ok." Will told them and they nodded. "All right, you guys head to the car and I'll be right back. I have to go to the bathroom."

"Hurry back." Courtney told him and he nodded before heading to the school while they went to the parking lot. He arrived at the school but instead of going in to use the bathroom he slipped around the side to the gym. Eagleton was using one of the locker rooms for the scrimmage before they headed back to their school so Will wanted to check something.

He hugged the corner of the gymnasium and watched as the Eagleton Prep players exit the locker rooms. They had cleaned up, showered, and headed to the bus. Will looked through the crowd but didn't see that Mason guy or the other players who exhibited enhanced strength.

"What are you doing?"

Will turned and grabbed his sneak attacker before putting them up against the wall only to see it was Ed. "Ed?"

"Will, what the hell was that? What's—"

"SHH!" Will whispered, motioning him to keep quiet as he went back to snooping around the corner. Ed slowly peaked his head out the same as Will did and watched.

"What are you doing?" Ed whispered.

"Shh…" Will shushed him again but quickly pulled back when he saw Mason and the three other players walk out of the gym.

"Hey, guys. You got them?" Mason asked them and they subtly handed him small plastic bags. "All right, thanks."

The four then joined the others on the bus which headed back to Eagleton. Once they were gone Will and Ed stepped around the corner. "You saw that too, right?" Ed asked.

"I did. Clearly, Mason and his friends want to hide something." Will remarked as he looked at Ed. "What are you doing here?"

"Same as you. I felt something was off with those guys so I came to check. Guess you didn't need to go to the bathroom." Ed pointed out as the two made their way back to the parking lot where the girls were waiting for them. "So, should we talk to the police?"

"And say what? That on a hunch we snooped on some Eagleton players and think they're juicing? That's not gonna go far and even if they do believe us it'll give the Eagleton players a chance to get rid of the evidence." Will said, knowing that's what Eagleton would do if they got wind of the Police after them.

"Whoa, Will. You've been spending way too much time reading those detective novels to try and be Batman." Ed pointed out.

"Look, clearly something is going on with Eagleton but we need to know more. But don't tell Courtney or the others or else they'll kill us for doing this on our own." He pointed out.

"Very true." Ed replied as they joined up with the girls and went to the hospital to check on Vic. Vic suffered from a few fractured ribs but it wasn't too severe. A month of resting and healing and he'd be back on the field in no time. He wasn't exactly happy with that but given he could have had a broken leg or worse he was lucky to just get off with some fractured ribs. The coach assured him he'd still play in the season and he'd make sure that the college scouts would see him. The coach and Vic's parents went to handle the paperwork and after he spoke with everyone Vic asked Will to stay behind.

"That Eagleton player was definitely juiced, Will." Vic told him. "I've been playing football long enough to know when that tackle felt way too strong."

"I know, man and I think you're right. Ed and I saw that Mason guy and the three other players with something. I can't confirm it yet but I think they are juicing with something." He replied. "And I promise I'm gonna get to the bottom of it. They're not gonna get away with this. I swear."

"Thanks, man."

Will walked over and the two grasp hands before doing their handshake. Eventually, everyone called it a night and headed home. Will dropped Courtney off but instead of heading home he activated his armor and did some breaking and entering at Eagleton Prep. He entered the football locker room and used his HUD to scan the area before he found Mason's locker. He opened it and checked his duffle bag where he found a small envelope hidden in an Eagleton playbook. Inside said envelope were patches, the same Venom ones he got from the robber last night at the mall which meant that some Eagleton players were using them for a boost during a game which explains how Mason went from roadkill one second to taking out Vic the next. He took the patches and placed the duffle bag back before leaving to get some help and there was one person he knew who might be able to give him the info he needed.

Gotham City

Will flew over Gotham using his armor wings and was going to head to the roof of GCPD to find Batman when his HUD alerted him of an incoming transmission. "What brings you back to Gotham City? Another Alien?" Batman questioned.

"Batman? How did you get the transmission frequency for my armor?" Will wondered.

"Back when you helped at the Blackgate lockdown, I logged your unique transmission frequency into my system when you contacted me and extrapolated a secured, encrypted communication line to it incase you showed up again. I detected the same frequency enter Gotham a few minutes ago." Batman told him.

"Wow, you're a great detective and a genius. This is alien-enhanced tech you managed to connect with so well done. And no, it's not another alien in Gotham but Venom. It's made its way to National City and I need your help to find out how." Will told him but then didn't get a response. "Batman? Hello?"

"Meet me at the Gotham Clocktower by Chinatown." Batman told him before signing off so Will adjusted course and flew there. He saw the Clocktower in the distance and Batman waiting for him on the roof so he flew down for a landing. "What do you mean Venom made its way to National City?"

Will reached into his belt and pulled out a plastic bag filled with the venom patches. "Found these on a robber in National city last night." He said and Batman took the bag to get a closer look. "I scanned them and they came back as Venom. Same formula the DEO has logged into the database that Bane uses. A smaller dose then the setup he uses though. Doesn't make you a giant hulking monster but gives the user enough strength to rip open a steel security gate and punch through granite like it was cardboard. DEO's been tracking small-time incidents, thefts, and such where the perps had increased strength but it's starting to spread out. Even getting into the hands of football players at a high school."

"Come with me." Batman pressed a button on his gauntlet and one of the roof tiles opened up. Batman slid down the hole so Will followed and they landed in the dusty, clutter filled attic of the clock tower. Batman then walked over to the wall and moved an old picture to the side. He pressed his hand to the wall where it was scanned and then a light scanned him from head to toe.

"Identity confirmed." A computer voice said and soon enough the clutter parts of the room were lowered into the floor and out came a computer terminal. Three of the walls then turned into three massive screens.

"Whoa…is this your super-secret hideout?" Will wondered as Batman walked over and placed one of the patches into the scanner so the computer could analyze it. "Is this the Batcave?"

"Just a base of operations in the city." Batman told him.

"Still, this is awesome." Will admitted, walking around like a kid in a museum. "Where the hell did you get the money for this?"

"These incidents in National City? How many so far?" Batman asked him while intentionally ignoring his question.

"Just a handful. Mostly robberies or assaults but with super strength. One perp literally ripped out an ATM from a wall and carried it away. And then earlier today I saw some football players use it in a game and they hurt a friend of mine." He answered.

"Be careful involving this line of work with your personal life. That's a tricky line to cross." Batman cautioned.

"Well, pretty much everyone in my life knows about my superhero life except for my high school friends and even then one of them already knows so it's a little late for that."

"Doesn't help that your dad is dating an Amazon." Batman remarked. "Seems like your life revolves around extranormal circumstances."

"You know about that? What are you stalking me now because if you are that is creepy." Will told him.

"Call it proper due diligence. You're a teenager with a powerful alien device on your wrist working for a government agency. I want to make sure that you're well adjusted and won't do something that you or this planet would regret." Batman said, defending his overcautious and slightly stalking actions.

"Harsh…but fair, I guess. But Diana's nice once you get to know her. You know, I've been thinking that us superheroes/vigilantes might think about sticking together in case something like DC happens again. A sort of team or group. What do you think?" He asked when the computer finished its analysis.

"You were right. It is Venom. A small dosage but it's the same formula bane uses. It's admission through the skin provides a less drastic physical strength and not nearly the same increase in strength Bane gets when directly injected into the blood stream." Batman said.

"Yeah, my scanner said the same thing."

"But even a minor dosage of Venom is dangerous. Bane's had enough exposure to it for years to develop a sort of tolerance. Regular people using it could experience serious side effects later down the line." Batman told him.

"Then I've got to stop it but the question is how did these things end up in National City? Isn't Bane supposed to be the only one with the knowledge of how to make Venom? Because if he wasn't then wouldn't there be more stories of giant muscle heads like him running around?" Will pointed out.

"True. As far to my knowledge, Bane killed anyone who could have knowledge of Venom when he acquired it and is the only one who knows how to make it which means that someone would need access to him in order to synthesize their own." Batman brought up the Blackgate and the Arkham Database.

"What are you doing?" Will asked.

"The only place Bane would be unable to defend himself or stop someone looking into Venom would be when he was incarcerated at Blackgate or Arkham Asylum." Batman answered which is Will began to connect the dots and see where he was going with this.

"Which means that only a doctor there would have access to Bane or his venom to get a sample and then synthesize it." He added.

"Like Doctor Adam Donnely, head physician at Blackgate where he was the only doctor authorized to treat Bane while he was held there temporarily when Arkham was being retrofitted. No charges have been filed but there have been numerous accusations against Doctor Donnely for misconduct and misuse of hospital equipment and medicine. Several months later, he quits his job as head of medicine at Blackgate to take a lower paying job in National City at the Regional Hospital." Batman explained, bringing up his financials which didn't add up with his income he was getting from the hospital.

"Yet despite his lower paying job it looks like Doctor Donnely is doing quite nice for himself. Something that illegal production and selling poison to people might help with. Thanks, Batman. I'll take care of him and make sure his venom can't get into the wrong hands." Will assured him.

"Be careful. He may not be Bane but enough of the Venom and he'll be dangerous." Batman urged caution.

"Got it. Oh, before I forget." Will handed Batman one of the communicator watches he gave Superman and the others. "Just in case something comes up."

Will jumped up through the hole in the roof of the clock tower and flew back to National City. Batman looked at the communicator watch Will gave him before slipping it into his belt.

Line Break xxxxx

National City

Eagleton Prep was having football practice as usual but Mason and some of the players weren't doing so well. They were sluggish and during a practice play Mason got ran over by a smaller player when he should have taken him down. The coach saw that and blew his whistle.

"Wake up, Mason! My grandmother can hit harder then that!" He shouted as some players walked over and helped him up.

"I don't feel so good." Mason said, looking like he was gonna throw up any second.

"Am I working you ladies too hard? Either get your heads on straight or hit the showers!" The coach shouted so Mason and three other players walked off the field to the locker room. They removed their helmets and slumped to the ground or against the walls.

"Ugh, I can't even get through practice without a slapper." Mason muttered.

"Yeah, it'd be nice if we still had some." His friend pointed out.

"It wasn't my fault! I don't know who took them." Mason shot back.

"You're supposed to be in charge. This was your idea!" His friend reminded him but before they could start fighting another player broke them up.

"Guys, relax. Look at what I found at home." He held up a few hundred dollars and they smiled.

After practice, Mason ended up downtown and was waiting in an alleyway with the money in his hand. That's when a black sedan drove over and stopped. One of the windows rolled down so Mason handed him the money and got a bag of slappers in return. The car drove away as fast as it could but before he even started walking away Mason took out a slapper and put it on. He felt the euphoric relief of the venom surge through him and smiled before leaving. Unbeknownst to Mason he was being watched. Not by the police but by Ed of all people. He was using his phone to watch the exchange from afar and recorded the entire thing as well. He had some video evidence to take to the police but he also needed physical evidence as well so he would follow Mason to get it.

The car that gave Mason the slappers drove through the city to its destination and was being followed by Will's drone. And following the drone was Will who was flying high above the city. He saw the exchange with Mason and now whoever was behind this would lead him to Dr. Donnely's operation.

"Looks like our dealer is heading home. Director Henshaw, you seeing this?" Will asked.

At the DEO, Director Henshaw was monitoring the drone feed and charting its progress through the city. "I am. Containment teams are prepped and ready. Once you've secured the location we'll move in."

"Roger that." Will watched the feed and saw the car look like it was making another stop which meant it could be another deal.

"Will, stop that deal but don't stop the car. We spook him and hope he heads right back home." Director Henshaw told him.

"I'm on it." Will flew down to ruin their day.

The window to the sedan rolled down and a man walked over with a roll of twenties. He handed it over and was handed a patch of slappers when a shield flew through the air and knocked it to the ground. The man looked up and saw the vigilante up on the roof and ran while the car peeled out and drove away as fast as it could. Will jumped down and fired a disc from his forearm launcher which burst into a spinning bolo. It snared his legs, tripping him to the ground before he kicked up his shield and threw it. It ricocheted off the wall and hit the guy in the head. Will turned and saw the car turn the corner and was out of sight.

"Jarvis, follow that car." Will ordered as he tied up the man he just knocked out. A quick scan of his face and he found out he was a thief with a laundry list of crimes so he strung him up for the cops.

"Already on it, sir."

Jarvis was following the car from the air and it was speeding away as fast as it could but avoiding the major streets. It went south and ended up stopping at the old National City Herald Newspaper building. Ever since the Herald moved to a new building in midtown, the old one was abandoned but someone must have found a home for it. All of the old printing press equipment used for the newspapers were dismantled for parts. They were then combined with some new equipment and chemical dispersion devices to make a Venom slapper printing press. The man working the machine was there to make sure nothing went wrong. He wasn't making the formula, just making sure the machine didn't stop or break.

The car sped in through the old gate and skid to stop before the driver and Dr. Donnely got out. "You're back early, boss." The worker said.

"My delivery was interrupted by the Vigilante." Donnely told him when Will broke through the skylight and landed on an old printing press machine.

"Were you talking about me?" Will wondered as the worker and driver pulled out pistols. They shot at him but Will jumped to the side and took out his throwing star boomerang. He threw it to the side and cut the rope holding up the old printing rollers in place. They spilled out and rolled over the driver and worker, knocking them out and trapping them. Will jumped forward and kicked Donnely to the ground as he caught the boomerang and put it back in his belt. "Your Venom making days are over. You should have stayed in Gotham."

"And deal with the Batman? No way." Donnely sat up and slowly crawled backward. "You weren't seen as much so I figured National City was a fine place to set up shop. No shortage of people wanting to feel strong and it's good money."

"By selling poison to kids and criminals?" Will said in disgust.

"That's right." Donnely removed his jacket and tossed it into Will's face, momentarily distracting him so he could take the slappers from his pocket and put them on. He placed one on his left shoulder, another on his left arm, one of his right collar bone, and two more on his right arm and forearm respectively. "RRAAH!"

Donnely picked up a garbage can and threw it but Will jumped over and hit him with a dropkick to chest but Donnely just flexed and pushed him off. Will backflipped through the air and landed on his feet before firing several taser discs. Donnely was hit in the chest and growled in pain from the electrical surge but managed to tough through and rip them off his body so Will rushed forward and punched him in the stomach, kicked him in the side and then landed an uppercut into a jumping back kick. That didn't faze Donnely as he grabbed his leg, spun him around and let go. Will crashed into Donnely's car and then quickly jumped to the side to avoid an overhead dual hammer strike which practically tore the car in two.

Removing his arms from the destroyed car gave Will the chance to land a jumping side kick to his head before he backflipped to avoid getting hit. Donnely charged and threw out a wild punch but Will ducked and took him to the ground with a double leg takedown. He jumped onto Donnely's stomach and punched him in the face when he was grabbed by the neck with a double hand choke. Will grabbed his arms and fought against his venom strength before kicking him in the face and jumping off to get some distance.

Donnely got back to his feet and felt some blood in his nose which just made him angry. Will activated his shield and motioned him to come at him. "DIE!" Donnely charged in rage, fully intending to tear him apart but when he got close Will threw down a flashbang disc. He couldn't see or hear but felt a punch to the stomach, an uppercut to the jaw, a jab to the armpit, a shield bash to the side, a kick to the back of his left leg, a knee to the side of his head and then felt his arm grabbed before he was thrown to the ground. He waved his arms like crazy and managed to get back up just as his vision cleared and saw the vigilante so he threw a punch but his arm was grabbed and he was thrown into the slapper printing machine.

"AHHH!"

Donnely screamed as more slappers touched his skin, flooding his body with more venom. It made his muscles bigger and his body began to slightly morph like Bane's when on Venom but judging by the screams it wasn't pleasant. He walked in a daze, mumbling nonsense with the occasional bout of shouting.

"It's over, Doctor. Give up now." Will warned him but Donnely's eyes just dilated and lifted the slapper machine over his head with his bare hands.

"I'LL KILL YOU!" He shouted in rage which is when Will saw the chemicals dripping down the machine and the loose sparking wire that was ripped free.

"Doctor, wait—" Will was cut off as the wire ignited the chemicals and the machine exploded. The explosion was powerful enough to bring down part of the ceiling, the walkway above, and several support pillars. Will was close to the explosion but when the smoke cleared it was revealed that his wings had deployed and with his shield they managed to cover him from the explosion. Jarvis piloted the drone down and moved it back into the slot in Will's armor as he looked around.

"Will, are you all right?" Henshaw asked.

"I'm fine."

"And the doctor?"

Will walked around and eventually found him under some rubble. He was alive but looked dazed and completely out of it. He snapped his fingers and waved his hand but the doctor didn't respond. His HUD picked up the Doctor's vitals so he was alive but clearly the venom overdose and explosion did some damage to his brain. "He's out of it. It was the venom. Too much of a good thing. Area is secure but it looks like his venom operation is done."

"All right, we're on our way. Good work, Will." Henshaw praised him when his HUD alerted him to a call from Ed.

"Hang on, Director. I've got another call." He deactivated the voice changer before answering Ed's call. "Hey, Ed. What's up?"

"Will, I've got the Eagleton guys dead to rights."

"What? Ed, what are you talking about?" He asked.

"I got video of Mason doing a drug deal and I'm at Eagleton prep right now. He's handing out drugs to the rest of his teammates in the locker room. They're going down for this—HEY, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!"

"Ed, are you ok?"

"OH, SHIT! The team—" A flurry of images and a video was sent to Will's phone before the line cut out.

"Ed? ED?! Dammit!" Will activated his flight wings and flew towards Eagleton Prep as fast as he could. As he was flying he called his dad. "Dad, listen. Call the police and tell them to head to Eagleton Prep. I think Ed's in trouble."

Eagleton Preparatory High School

Suffice to say that Ed's little detective moment didn't end well. The Eagleton coach and some of other players had arrived and spotted him snooping in the locker room when Mason was handing out the slappers. That alerted Mason and when Ed tried to run they grabbed him. They took his phone and locked him in a locker and were now trying to figure out their next move. That's when Will arrived and rushed into the locker room to see the Eagleton coach and some of his players.

"Hey, this is private locker room. Get out!" One of the players tried to get Will to leave but he wouldn't move.

"Ed, you here?!" He shouted.

"DUDE, GET ME OUT OF HERE!" Ed shouted, struggling to get free from the locker he was stuck in.

"Hey, you heard me. This isn't a public locker room so get the fuck out of here." The player told him, pushing him back a bit. Will raised his hands and tried to deescalate the situation.

"Look, guys. I don't want any trouble. I'm just here for my friend. Once I have him, we'll leave." He promised.

"LISTEN TO HIM!" Ed pleaded.

"Shut up!" One of the players kicked the locker making Ed scream in fear and to inadvertently start pissing his pants.

"Last chance. Let me have my friend and we'll leave." Will said as he walked forward but the Eagleton players got in his way. "This is a really bad idea."

"Now you're not going anywhere." The Coach told him so one of the Eagleton players grab Will by the arm.

"I tried to warn you." Will grabbed the player holding him and jostled him forward before kicking him back. One of the players reached over to grab Will but he grabbed his arms, kicked out his legs and then kneed him in the face before throwing him into a bench. He kicked another Eagleton player in the stomach and then slid over a bench where he kicked another player in the groin and then hook kicked his head into a locker which knocked him out. One of the larger Eagleton defensive tackles grabbed Will from behind, lifted him up and slammed him through a bench making the other players and coach cheer.

"WOO! You're going for a ride!" He grabbed Will and threw him into some lockers before charging. Will saw a muscle roller stick on the ground so he picked it up and sidestepped the defensive tackle while hitting him in the back of the head. He went crashing into the lockers face first and knocked them over.

Will ducked a kick and grabbed the player who tried to kick him so he could Suplex him through a table. "Sit this one out, will you?" He joked before rushing over to the locker holding Ed. "Ed, hang on. I'll get you out!"

Will was kicked into the locker but turned in time to block a knee to the chest. The player grabbed Will by the jacket but he grabbed his arms and used a joint lock on the wrist to make him let go before getting the leverage to spin him around and throw him to the floor. The player caught himself at the last second so he didn't fall face first into Ed's piss but Will just axe kick him in the head so he went face first before ducking back behind some lockers.

"FUCK!" The Eagleton player punched the locker in anger and went after Will only to get a locker door to the face and his leg kicked out. Will kicked a bench so he tripped up another player before jumping off said bench and landed a flying roundhouse kick on the Eagleton player's head. He hit the locker which inadvertently knock Ed's locker to the ground and freed him.

"Sorry!" Will jumped on top of the lockers for height and kicked some at the Eagleton players trying to get him. One player managed to get up and tried to punch him but Will just grappled him and jumped off the lockers, using him as cushion when they hit the ground. Will groaned but got up and walked back a bit to get some space. The coach and Eagleton players still standing were hesitant to fight after seeing the others get their butts kick. "Is that all you got? I can do this all day."

Three players rushed at Will so he picked up a towel and whipped it in the faces of two of them. He wrapped it around the neck of one and slammed him into a wall letting him land a spinning back kick on the second, before rushing forward and landing a flying knee strike on the third guy, knocking him into a locker. He used the towel to grapple the first guy in front of him where he quickly took him to the ground with a hip throw and punched him across the face.

"Holy shit…" Ed muttered, seeing Will kickass like an action hero.

"Mason, get in there! NOW!" The Coach ordered. Mason took out a slapper and put it on his arm. He shivered in euphoria before his eyes turned to pure rage and charge while the other players cheered him on.

Will saw him coming so he threw the towel in his face to obscure his vision and slid forward into his guard to pick him up over his shoulder into a fireman's carry throw. While Mason was on the ground, he got in dominant position and threw out some ground-and-pound punches before grappling him and doing a Hammerlock to try and keep him from moving. "Stop!" Will warned him but Mason managed to get the leverage to elbow him in the side and throw him off.

Will got back to his feet as did Mason who whooped and shattered a bench with a punch. "WOO! You felt that?! HUH?!"

Will sidestepped a wild right cross and punched him in the groin but Mason powered through the pain and threw him into a bench. He rolled to the side to avoid a punch to the face, picked up a broken wooden plank from the bench and hit Mason across the face with it. He then hit him with a kick to the chest and then a kick to the thigh before smacking him across the face once more. Mason staggered as he threw out a punch but Will moved in with a single leg takedown and tried to grapple his arms into a lock. That didn't work as Mason just pushed him off, picked him and then threw him into a locker.

"Is that all you got?! WOO!" Mason shouted and his teammates cheered him.

"Atta boy, Mason!" The coach cheered while Ed looked at Will in worry.

"This is ridiculous." Will groaned in pain and laid on the ground for a bit. He couldn't use his armor or his aliens in this fight without risking his identity and fighting a venom slapper using linebacker hand to hand wasn't going to work out. Where was his dad with the police?

"Get up!" Mason walked over and picked him up so Will grabbed a bottle of water from the ground and splashed it in his face, catching him off guard so he could deliver a straight punch his left cheek. Mason staggered back and charged, throwing wild punches over and over while Will kept his distance. He pushed lockers on top of him but Mason just pushed them off. When he got close Will pulled down a locker to block Mason and began throwing punches after punches to his head and neck. The venom using jock covered up so Will kept going, throwing in some elbow strikes as well. He finished it off with an elbow strike to the back of the head, an uppercut to the face and then a right cross that knocked Mason's head into a locker and left him dazed. Mason then grabbed Will around the waist and squeezed. Will punched Mason in the sides and elbowed him in the back while throwing up some knees to his chest and stomach. He tried to fight out of the grasp until Mason lifted him up and then slammed them both to the ground. (4)

"Son of a bitch…" Will muttered, grabbing the back of his head in pain, and was really wishing he could have used his armor.

Mason got up to the cheer of his teammates and coach. "WOO! That's what I'm talking about! Did you see that?!" The coach cheered and Mason smiled before he fell down and passed out. "AH! Call an ambulance!"

That's when the door to the locker room was kicked in and in rushed several NCPD officers. "Everyone! Don't move!" They shouted and everyone did as they were told.

"Will!" Max rushed in after them when he saw Will laying on the ground and immediately went over. "Will, you ok?"

"I've been better." He managed to utter out in between the groans of pain.

"I want that kid arrested! He broke in here and attacked my players!" The coach told the police.

"That's not what happened?!" Ed got up and rushed past the Coach, taking his phone back and moving over to Will and his dad. "The coach and the players are using drugs. And they kidnapped me and shoved him here into a locker and wouldn't let me leave. That's kidnapping. Will came to help. He asked them to let me go but they wouldn't and then they attacked him. It was self-defense."

"Officer…" Max pointed to a pack of Venom slappers on the floor. "I think those are the drugs."

"Call it in and get an ambulance here." The lead officer said to one of his subordinates who radioed to the station about what was going on.

"Will, you ok? How many fingers am I holding up?" Ed asked him, holding up three in his face only for Will to slap them away.

"Three more I'm adding to the slap I'll hit you with later." Will promised.

Eventually, more police and an EMT van arrived to treat those injured. The FBI soon arrived which ended up being Director Henshaw and some DEO agents undercover to inform the officers there that they had just taken down a drug ring in the city that made those slappers. Those slappers were used in various crimes throughout the city so the NCPD knew about them and the fact that Mason, an Eagleton Prep student had used one added more credibility to Ed's story. He told them what happened and the evidence he had gathered on Mason's drug deal matched surveillance photos the FBI had of the same deal so Mason was going down. Once he was arrested, he squealed like a pig and exposed the other players on the team using slappers as well and that the coach knew about it and didn't stop them, he in fact encouraged them. And that they also kidnapped Ed and held him against his will was put on top of those charges. The students and coach were arrested and their parents were notified. Many of them came to the scene making a big fuss how this was a set up and everything but they were just delusional rich people. The commotion at Eagleton Prep drew a crowd of spectators and news crews who wanted juicy details on the story.

Will was sitting inside the EMT van holding an ice pack to his side as a paramedic fixed up the bruises and cuts he had from the fight. He had a cut on the back of his neck which the paramedic cleaned up and stitched. "How's that?"

"Better, thanks." Will answered as Max walked over.

"How is he?"

"He'll be fine. Some bruises and cuts but nothing's broken or fractured. A possible concussion though so take it easy and if you get any nausea or dizziness then you should take him to a hospital." The Paramedic informed Max.

"Thank you." Max shook his hand and the Paramedic then left to tend to the other students who were injured. They were the ones that Will ended up fighting. "You sure you're ok?"

"Yeah, just sore." Will groaned a bit as he adjusted the ice pack. "The police?"

"Ed's statement has you acting in self-defense. Some of the Eagleton players spoke up to avoid serious charges and admitted the same so you're fine." Max sat down next to his son. "You rushed headlong into danger, you know that right?"

"Yeah but I get that from you." Will pointed out. "I didn't know if they were gonna hurt Ed so I had to act."

"I know and I'm glad he's all right but this was still dangerous, Will. Don't do something stupid like that again." Max warned him. "We dodged a bullet on this one. Next time you might not get so lucky."

"Yeah, I know. I'm just lucky that Mason didn't know how to fight but I'll be careful next time." He promised and Max nodded before a smirk started to form.

"So, you fought all of them?"

"No, not all of them. Just a handful. Training is coming in handy." He admitted as Ed walked over.

"Dude, I owe you. I mean it. Whenever, wherever, whatever, dude I owe you. You saved my ass!" Ed hugged him too tight and Will groaned. "Oh, sorry."

"It's ok…" Will wheezed.

"You kicked ass, man. You were like a hero in an action movie. Where'd you learn to fight like that?" Ed asked and Will pointed to his dad. "Well, Mr. Detmer that training paid off bigtime. I can't wait to tell the others. Vic is gonna lose it that he wasn't here but he's gonna be happy that Mason guy is done for and Eagleton is screwed. Hell, once word gets around about what you did you'll be a legend."

"Thanks, but this was my one and only heroic appearance, Ed. Next time, don't get yourself into situations like that." Will pointed out but saw that Ed wasn't listening. "Ed, keep it lowkey or else your little pants wetting will be known."

"All right. Swear on my heart, dude. Man, I should have gotten that fight on camera." Ed muttered.

Venom Slappers were done in National City, Vic got some karmic justice and Will lives to fight on another day. All in all. A win.

Line Break xxxxx

National City, National City Museum of History

After Will and Ed's amateur detective investigation and the police finished things up with the FBI, the four Eagleton players who were using slappers were charged with drug use and kicked off the football team. That was only the minor stuff as they also had to deal with the kidnapping and assault charges and the Eagleton Coach was also arrested for his part in everything. The parents of the Eagleton players had their lawyers try to get the charges dropped but that wasn't going to happen and if they didn't go to jail then it'd be a serious blackmark on their future. Suffice to say that the Eagleton football season was off to a horrible start and after the enormous pressure from the media scrutiny and the police, the dean had no choice but to open an investigation into past seasons for other drug usage and all players now had to submit to random drug screenings if they wanted to play. Not only that but the chances of Eagleton being able to play in the state finals was gone. It wasn't official but considering the horrible news there would be no way they would be taken seriously and any victory they would have would be called into question. The Eagleton PTA tried to fight this but it wasn't exactly a fight to be had.

National City High on the other hand was happy, Vic especially since it meant he didn't get the fractured ribs for nothing. He was beyond grateful for what Ed and Will did but Ed's parents chastised him for being so reckless and the girls smacked them both upside the head for being stupid. Especially, Courtney. But a win was a win. And the others were shocked to hear of Will's little action movie moment. After the excitement of the drug busting, kidnapping, and locker room death match, Will and his friends were spending a summer Saturday at the National City Museum of History. The reason for that was Beth. It was her turn to decide how they spent their Saturday and she suggested they go see a new exhibit at the museum. Naturally, her idea wasn't that well received and it was only because of the promise of Big Belly Burger after that everyone finally agreed. Besides, the museum was air conditioned so at least they wouldn't be sweating and considering both Vic and Will were on the mend they needed something that wouldn't aggravate their healing.

Will looked at some cool masks on display, thinking his was better when the elderly female tour guide brought them over to glass case holding an old book. "And behind this impenetrable glass is the recently discovered and only known existing copy of the Arkamada book of spells." She told them.

"It contains ancient witchcraft and rituals form the late 1600s." The tour guide and Beth said at the same time.

"Maybe you should work here, dear." The old grumpy woman remarked. "Moving on."

"Ah, don't let her get to you, Beth. She's probably older then that spell book." Ed then began walking like a zombie and she laughed.

"See, this place isn't so bad?" Beth pointed out.

"Sure, it's not bad but a nice day at the beach would be ok too." Vic pointed out.

"Except you can't swim or do anything strenuous while you recover." Karen reminded him. "So, museum is it."

"Come on, let's get to the exhibit about dinosaurs. That's something I'd be ok with seeing." Will said when the ground began to rumble and shake.

"Earthquake?!" Courtney shouted when they were levitated into the air one by one and forced against the ceiling. The tour guide and other visitors were then flung into the ceiling like them.

"Is this part of the tour?" Ed asked when a trail of red smoke crashed through a window and landed on the ground where a man appeared. He had green skin with black symbols on his shoulders and his face was painted black and white to resemble a skull. He wore a red and black dress and hood with black pants that were torn at the knees, black arm guards, and long socks that didn't cover his toes or heels. He looked like a tribal member or nomad and was wielding a staff with a weird bird skull on the top.

"The Arkamada Book of Spells. All of its power shall soon be mine. Fah-me-doof!" One of the five charms on his shirt glowed orange and the case around the book was destroyed allowing him to take it.

"You can't take that!" Beth shouted as the man raised his staff and it glowed a bright flash of orange that blinded them. The spell keeping them trapped on the ceiling ended so they all fell down but the blinding light allowed Will to activate the Omnitrix. A flash of green light and he turned into XLR8. He sped around the museum and grabbed onto one of the giant banners before pulling it taught and securing it to the ground. It acted as a landing pad and caught everyone, safely putting them back on the ground.

"Everyone out!" XLR8 shouted before his visor came back down and he ran at the magic thief.

The man looked unimpressed and raised his staff while another charm on his shirt glowed orange. "Bethi-mordo-natta!" His staff spewed out fire but XLR8 was too fast and was able to avoid it. Seeing the damage this guy could do to the museum he grabbed him by the back of his weird jacket/cape thing and dragged him out of the museum and threw him down the street.

"FYI, dude. Next time you want a book, try the library." XLR8 quipped as the man raised his staff and it spewed out a barrage of red crystals. XLR8 was able to avoid them with ease before speeding forward and hitting the guy with a flying knee. He then raced around him in a circle so fast that he was a blur and beat him all over with one punch having enough force that it dislodged one of the charms from his shirt. It flew off and got caught in the spinning vortex XLR8 made which flung it down the street. XLR8 finished it with one final uppercut that sent the man crashing onto a parked car. Once he saw the man not getting up he super sped away to get back to the others.

Pedestrians on the street and the museum goers were in awe with some taking photos or videos of what happened. The police then arrived and quickly arrested the magic using man who was still unconscious while Will slipped in through the crowd of spectators to join his friends.

"Was that a dinosaur?" Will wondered, acting like he should if he was just a spectator.

"It looked like one. Sort of like a velociraptor. Guess you did see a dinosaur." Ed joked as Vic looked over at Will and gave him a subtle nod and smile.

"Bigger question is who was that guy?" Beth asked and why he wanted the book.

"Guess that's a question that will remain a mystery." Courtney pointed out. "Let's go. I could use some Big Belly Burger."

"Agreed." Yolanda added and they walked away. Beth took a few more photos with her phone and rushed to catch up with the others when she saw something on the ground. It was a circular charm with an unusual symbol on it. It glowed orange and Beth's intellectual curiosity got the better of her so she picked it up and put it in her pocket before joining her friends.

After hanging out at Big Belly Burger the friends called it a day. Courtney and Will spent some more time together and went to her house, Vic and Karen went their way and Yolanda went to go see Henry. Ed was the gentlemen and walked Beth home but not before he stopped to get a hotdog from his favorite hotdog cart.

"Ed, how can you want a hotdog? We just had Big Belly Burger." Beth reminded him.

"Hey, when you're near Hector's famous Sonoran Hot Dogs, you always stop for one no matter what." Ed told her as he smiled in delight seeing the beauty in person. "A grilled, bacon-wrapped hot dog in a bolillo-style bun topped with pinto beans, onions, tomatoes, and Hector's amazing homemade salsa. Gracias, Hector."

"Enjoy." Hector smiled as Ed took a bite of what could be considered a heart attack in a bun.

"She's a beauty." Ed said, his mouth half full with hot dog.

"Egh, more like nauseating." Beth admitted when they heard a commotion. A police officer tried to stop a purse snatcher and was chasing after him. The charm in Beth's pocket gave off an orange glow as someone accidently bumped into her which in turn knocked her into Ed and they fell on the ground. Beth got up and nudged Ed's skateboard which rolled down the sidewalk into the path of the purse snatcher. He tripped on the skateboard and fell down, throwing the purse into the air with Beth catching it. "Whoa…"

"Nice catch." The officer praised before handcuffing the thief and retrieving the purse. "Thanks again, kid."

"Your welcome." Beth said as she helped Ed back to his feet. "Did you see that?"

"Yeah, that was awesome but you made me drop my hot dog." Ed pointed out when he saw Beth's pocket glowing. "Uh, Beth. What's that?"

He pointed to her pocket so she reached in and pulled out the charm she picked up from the street. Both she and Ed saw the symbol was glowing before it stopped. "Whoa…" Beth looked at the charm in wonder.

"Beth, what is that thing?" Ed asked her.

"I don't know but I want to find out." She told him.

The next morning…

Will's phone ended up being his morning alarm because someone called him. He groggily reached his hand over to his nightstand and grabbed his phone to see Vic was calling him. Calling him at 7am on a Sunday during Summer vacation.

"Vic, this better be important." Will answered.

"It is dude. Shower and come meet me at Ed's house." Vic told him.

"What?" Will managed to sit up and rubbed his eyes before letting out a yawn.

"Dude, just hurry. Trust me." Vic said before hanging up.

"Ugh…" Will fell back on his bed and groaned in annoyance.

After managing to wake up enough to shower and then dress, he drove to Ed's house but not before he picked up a coffee on the way. He parked his car on the curb by Ed's mailbox and got out, gulping down his coffee as he walked down the driveway to see Vic there with Ed and surprisingly Beth.

"Sundays are my days off to relax when the rest of the week I'm waking up early to go to work so this better be important." Will told them.

"Is it." Ed promised.

"Trust me, dude. When you see this you're gonna be glad to know I called you." Vic assured him before nodding to Beth. "Watch."

Beth bounced a basketball and looked up at the hoop on top of Ed's garage before turning around and hurling it over her head. It bounced off the garage into the air where it then bounced off a garage can onto the hood of Will's car which sent it up into the air onto the utility pole by the curb. The basketball slid down the electrical wire to Ed's house and rolled off when it landed on the roof before rolling down the side of his house and went into the hoop with a swish.

"Nothing but net again." Ed smirked as the ball rolled over to Will's feet.

"Sorry about your car." Beth said as he picked up the basketball.

"We're definitely not playing horse, that's for sure. How did you do that?" He asked and Beth took out the charm from her pocket. Will recognized it as one of the charms that magic guy had when he stopped him at the museum.

"This charm. Whenever it glows it's like luck goes my way." Beth answered when Ed's mom opened the front door.

"Breakfast is ready. Oh, hi, Will. Can you join us for breakfast?" She wondered.

"Uh, sure." He answered so Beth and Ed walked inside but Vic walked over to him. "That charm thing is the same one the magic guy had at the museum."

"I know. I remember seeing it glow when we were stuck on the ceiling. One of them must have come loose when you fought him and Beth found it." Vic suggested as Will took out his phone. "Now what?"

"Now? I've got no idea but we need to make sure that Hex guy is still in jail." Will called Director Henshaw to have him check on the magician before the two walked inside and had breakfast with Ed's family. After a nice and filling breakfast and helping Ed's mom clean up, the four friends went to Ed's room so they could talk in private.

"After I found this charm thing, I remember seeing it on the guy who tried to rob the museum so I spent all night researching and finally got some information." Beth turned her laptop around to show them computer images of the book from the museum and six charms like the one that Beth had. "I cross-referenced this charm with all kind of magic stuff online but it didn't get me anywhere which is when I remembered he was there for the book at the museum."

"Nice to see that even on vacation you haven't lost that huge brain of yours." Will complimented her and she smiled.

"Thank you. There wasn't a lot but I cross-referenced the Arkamada book of spells with any kind of searches about charms and stuff and I finally got something. This charm is part of a set called the Charms of Bazell. The charm that I have is luck. There are other charms for fire, levitation, protection, and even reincarnation." Beth explained. "One of them probably fell off during the fight with the magic guy and it's why he wanted that spell book."

"What do you mean?" Vic questioned.

"There's an excerpt here that says all the charms of Bazell must be used for casting spells from the book to be used at their full power." Beth told him.

"Too bad for that guy his loss is our gain. I for one think we should take this thing on a test drive and try our hands at the lottery." Ed suggested.

"Ed, none of us are 18 yet and before you suggest it, we're also too young to go to a Casino." Beth cut him off.

"Wow, she got you pegged pretty quickly." Will pointed out and Beth smiled while Ed just grumbled. "Look, as awesome as that lucky charm is holding onto it is dangerous."

"Come on, dude. Don't spoil things just when they're getting good. We've got a golden ticket with this thing." Ed pointed out.

"Yeah and the last user of that charm happened to be that crazy Hex guy who tried to rob a museum. I mean, you guys saw him. How do we know what could happen to us if we keep using this thing? We could end up looking like that guy? All crazy face and crap or worse." Will pointed out, not onboard with this at all. "And come on. Have any of you ever heard of anything good happening when you deal with magic?"

"Guys, I'm with Will on this one. I'm not lying that a good luck charm would be awesome but we've got no idea what could happen if we screw with this thing. And what if that Hex guy breaks out of jail and comes looking for it. Or other crazy guys like him?" Vic added, making some very valid supporting arguments for Will's side.

"They're right." Beth admitted and saw Ed groan in annoyance. "Come on, Ed. We both know they're right."

"I know, I know." He told her. "I just…come on. A good luck charm and we're not gonna keep it?"

"Well, I'd rather be unlucky and live long instead of lucky and die tomorrow. For all we know this could a Monkey's Paw type situation." Will said only to get confused looks from Vic and Ed.

"A horror short story written by W. W. Jacobs in 1902. The main character is given a magic monkey paw that grants his wishes but at horrible prices. The whole be careful what you wish for motif." Beth explained for them.

"Oh, yeah. Simpsons did a Treehouse of Horror episode on that. It was funny." Ed joked only for Will and Beth to sigh in disbelief.

"Look, I know this thing seems cool but until we know more, we should be cautious." Will stated.

"Ok, but now what?" Ed wondered.

"Why don't we head to the museum and see if we can get some answers. There has to be a specialist there that knows about these kinds of things. They did have the book there." Beth suggested.

"Good idea. I'll drive us there and maybe academics can make sure we don't end up dead." Will added.

"Fine." Ed relented and they got their things ready to leave. Will went to the bathroom before they left and while he did go to the bathroom he also texted his dad that they were heading to the museum with the charm. Max told him that Henshaw would send some DEO agents there as FBI agents to take it but he also told him that Hex broke out of prison this morning and was in the wind.

"Shit…" Will muttered, praying that they could put this charm thing to rest before something bad happened to Vic, Beth, or Ed.

Line Break xxxxx

The drive into the city to get to the museum was smooth for a bit until they hit Sunday traffic which was tourists leaving and going home while the people who left for vacation came back. And it was a Sunday so everyone was out and heading to the beach or something. Will was in the driver's seat, Vic in the passenger seat with Ed and Beth in the back.

"You think maybe we should tell the others about this thing?" Ed wondered.

"They'll probably say the same thing Will and I said but if they call then I guess we can tell them but you want to be the one to tell them we found a magic artifact. I've love to hear how you explain that and not sound like an idiot." Vic joked.

"That'd be hard." Will quipped while Ed just glared at them.

"So funny I'm almost forgot to laugh. I need to listen to some music." Ed moved up between the front seats to turn on the radio. He tuned the radio to a station he liked and smiled when Maroon 5 came on but then it turned to static. "Come on. You need to get your radio checked out, man."

"I did a check up on this thing, recently. It should be working fine." Will turned to another station but all he got was static. That's when he and the others heard some commotion going on outside with car honking and the people on the sidewalks were running away from something. "What the hell?"

"What's going on?" Beth asked as they all looked up and saw the Hex guy floating in the air above the street. His cane was in his hand and the wind around him was blowing like a tornado as he looked through the street of cars when his gaze was locked on the Camaro. His cane began to glow when pointed at the car.

"There you are!" Hex shouted, raising his staff up.

"HANG ON!" Will put the car in reverse and slammed on the pedal, backing the car up as fast as he could. His quick thinking and speedy reverse saved the car from getting blasted by an energy beam from Hex's staff. "Buckle up!"

Will looked back as he swerved past other cars while reversing before pulling the handbrake and doing a quick 270 spin onto another street and pulling the car back in drive before speeding away. "Where'd you learn to drive like this?" Ed asked.

"Long story." Will told him as Beth looked back and saw Hex following them. "Vic, glove compartment. Give me the device inside."

Vic opened it and handed Will the Proto-box. "What is that?" Ed asked.

"Later." Will activated the Proto-box and connected to the DEO communication line. "This is Will, I'm being pursued by a…magic using individual. I've got three civilians with me. I need backup!"

"Got it. We're on our way."

"Make it fast!" Will drifted around a corner, barely dodging a magic blast that destroyed a parked car. "And I just got this car fixed up too."

Vic looked in the rearview mirror and saw Hex hold up his staff and the ground began to shake before chunks of the streets levitated up. "Will, we've got incoming. On your left."

"Got it." Will veered to the right, avoiding the chunks of concrete only for Hex to fire a magic blast at the rear right tire causing the car to flip onto its roof.

Hex hovered to the ground and one of the charms on his shirt glowed orange. The car was flipped back onto its wheels but then the entire roof was ripped open and Beth was pulled out. She was hung upside down and levitated over to Hex. His staff glowed and the charm in her pocket flew out. She tried to grab it but missed as it flew back into Hex's hand. "Ah, there you are. You will pay dearly for stealing from me." Hex taunted before he turned them around and flew away.

Will managed to get the mental clarity to activate part of his armor and fire a tracking device onto Hex's coat as he flew away.

"Beth!" Ed shouted as he managed to get out of the car and saw Hex take her. "He's got her. We've got to get her back."

"We will." Vic rubbed his ribs and looked over at Will who managed to get out of the car. He was pissed it was wrecked but more pissed that Hex took Beth. "Will, you've got to stop him."

"I know. I tagged him with a tracer." He held up the Proto-box which was tracking Hex. "I'll get him."

"How? You've got great driving skills and can kick ass but that dude is magic. How can you fight magic?" Ed questioned him. Vic gave him a nod and Will nodded back before rolling up his sleeve to reveal the Omnitrix.

"With aliens." He answered.

National City Cemetery

Hex touched down at the old National City Cemetery. He raised his staff and Beth was flung onto a tree where several branches sprouted to hold her. He then placed the missing charm of Bazell back into place with the others and they began glowing. He was back to full power and ready to finish what he started. His staff glowed and the clouds began to block out the summer sun quickly followed by heavy winds and thunder. Hex took out the Arkamada book of spells which he had stolen from the museum after he broke out of prison. The charms glowed orange and the book opened up.

"Time to turn this city into an old memory." Hex's eyes began glowing orange as he was filled with power. "Rava…bilatis…galametro!"

The wind picked up and lightning began to strike the city, making people run for cover inside. "Citaro-macola!"

"RAH!" Ultraman blindsided Hex from the side and tackled him into an old mausoleum. That interrupted his spell which in turn stopped the thunder and winds. A loud thundering boom was heard as Ultraman punched Hex into the ground and was going to divebomb him when the charms on his shirt glowed and blasted him back. Ultraman's impact dug out a small trench but he managed to get back up. He grabbed his chest in pain as that blast did hurt. "Magic, right."

Hex levitated out of the ground with his charms and staff glowing which produced an orange magical shield around him. "You dare challenge me?! Darkela-vortium!"

Hex's staff released red smoke which infected two stone gargoyles and two stone golems, bringing them to life with glowing red eyes. "That's a new one."

The gargoyles flew at him but he used his heat vision to cut them both in half. He turned his gaze to the golems but one of them managed to claw him across the face. It actually hurt and he staggered back before the golem grabbed him and chomped on his shoulder. It then tackled him across the burial grounds into another mausoleum.

While Ultraman dealt with Hex's puppets, Vic and Ed managed to sneak around over to the tree and started to get Beth down. Vic and Ed had small daggers in their hands and used those to cut her free. "How did you guys get here? How did you find me?" She asked.

"It's a long story." Vic told her.

"Like really long." Ed added, cutting the last branch holding her up.

"Thanks. We've got to stop him before he hurts more people." Beth told him and they agreed. They saw Hex standing on the roof of a mausoleum but he hadn't noticed them. Vic saw some rubble nearby and got an idea.

Hex dissipated his shield and raised his staff up to continue the spell when a baseball sized chunk of concrete hit him right in the groin. Magic or not, Hex dropped his staff and covered his tender bits in pain. Vic was the one who threw the rubble while Beth and Ed looked on in delight. "Luck only takes you so far. Skill does the rest." Vic stated before throwing another chunk of rubble and hitting Hex square in the face. He slumped over and fell to the ground. One of the stone golems saw what they did and charged them.

"RAHH!" A red blur smashed into the golem and crushed it to pieces. When the dust cleared Ed, Beth, and Vic saw a red skinned four armed alien with the head of the other stone golem in one of its hands. "Four Arms beats rock."

Four Arms saw Hex's staff on the ground so he picked it up, snapped it in half and then crushed the headpiece into dust. Beth picked up the necklace of charms just as Hex regained consciousness and saw they were missing. Four Arms grabbed him by the jacket and lifted him up. "Where are you going? It's time for your disappearing act."

Four Arms chucked him into a concrete grave that was uncovered from his spell and then Ed and Vic pushed the concrete slab over it, locking him in. "Booyah!" Vic high-fived Ed as Beth looked at the charms. Her intellectual curiosity wanted to know more.

"Magic is powerful…but dangerous." She placed them onto a grave when Four Arms walked over with a shovel.

"Care to do the honors?" He asked and she nodded, taking the shovel, and smashing the charms to pieces.

Blue energy erupted from the charms and flew into the sky, dissipating and undoing the effects of Hex's spell. The skies cleared up and the sun returned. The Omnitrix on Four Arms' shoulder blinked red and soon he had turned back into Will.

Beth, Vic, and Ed looked at him in astonishment. "Yeah, I know. I've got some explaining to do." He admitted and they nodded.

The DEO team arrived soon after to secure the scene and take Hex into custody. Without his staff and charms, he was powerless so they managed to subdue him easily. They'd keep him detained for a bit before sending him to a supermax prison. He was magic, not alien. Vic, Ed, and Beth were off to the side while the DEO agents checked over the area before Will walked over to join them.

"So, is this the part where you're gonna wipe our brains and make us forget this?" Ed wondered and Vic chuckled as did Will.

"I could but I think that would mess with what braincells you have left, Ed and you need them." He joked and they chuckled. "No, I spoke with my Director and so long as you guys sign some NDAs and promise to keep this between us…we won't have a problem.

"I can live with that." Ed replied.

"Same. After all, you did save me." Beth walked over and hugged him and he hugged back.

"No problem. Oh, here." Vic handed Will the dagger back and Ed did the same. Will's armor activated and absorbed the daggers.

"So, you're the Vigilante. You were the one those Knights guys were after. And you knew?" Ed asked Vic.

"I did. I saw the watch they were looking for and saw it was the one Will had." Vic answered.

"It does make sense why anyone would wear something so bulky and…ugly." Beth pointed out.

"How'd you get it?" Ed wondered.

"That's a long, long, long story." Will warned him.

"We've got time. We're gonna have to walk back to the city since your car is wrecked." Ed pointed out.

"Don't remind me. This is the second time she's been wrecked so far and I've barely had her for a year. My insurance premium is gonna be crazy." Will muttered.

"Not as crazy as finding out your best friend is a superhero. Which reminds me, we could use the walk back to discuss some cool superhero names for Will because this Skullmaster that Catco suggested is crap." Ed said as the four friends began making their way out of the cemetery. "Now, we know what he can do so we just need to think of a cool name. How about Changeling? Or the Shifter? Huh? Come on, guys this is gold."

"And I do have some questions about the device and those aliens. Are they from this solar system? How do you turn into them? Are there other aliens in there? How many can you turn into and for how long? What was with the flashing?" Beth listed question after question while Ed continued suggesting superhero names.

"Starting to regret that Ed and Beth know?" Vic wondered.

"Yup." Will answered as they walked out of the cemetery.

End of Chapter 7

1). Mr. Ignacius Baumann from Ben-10 Omniverse.

2). The opening ship fight scene from Captain America: The Winter soldier.

3). Pakmar, the alien vendor and shopkeeper from Ben-10 Omniverse. The one that Ben always aggravates because he destroys his shops.

4). The locker room fight scene from Donnie Yen's movie Big Brother. Check out the clip on Youtube. It's awesome.

And that's Chapter 7. Hoped you guys liked it. We've got the beginnings of the League starting to form. All it's gonna take is another serious global threat to bring them together for good. But they have a member missing? Who could it be. And Will's dealt with another villain who will become a constant pain in the but in the future but not the only one.

I've introduced some secondary characters from the Ben-10 universe like Mr. Baumann and Pakmar from Ben-10 Omniverse who will be able to help Will with things he needs, most likely things for his car as the rate it's going it's gonna get destroyed once a week. There was also a fun mission inspired from a Batman Beyond episode I liked. And Ed and Beth now know about Will. It won't be long before the rest of his friends know and suffice to say his senior year is shaping up to be a weird one. Also, we got Jarvis. I thought that Will could use a sort of AI to help but he's not exactly a super genius hacker but he is a superhero fanboy so what would anyone do if they had an alien who make a program like that and just saw Iron Man. I'd do it. There have been numerous references to Marvel and the MCU in the Arrowverse which is pop culture on their earths so a superhero fanboy would try to make a Jarvis if he could which he did.

Next time, Will's summer is nearly over but he and his dad due end up getting to go on a small vacation. And then he ends up encountering a hidden underwater alien threat that puts him face to face with the King of the Seven Seas. After that, a camping trip puts him into the sights of a drone sent by an alien looking for the watch. Once it has its sights on Will, it marks the beginning of a long standing conflict. And a chance encounter with the Forever Knights gets him some answers as to who could be helping them. Until then!

Update for July: Mandalorian Maverick will be up on the 31st and I'll try to get the final chapter for Multiverse up as well. Everyone stay safe and enjoy the summer.

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. Cares deeply about his friends and family. 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. Training in Amazonian martial arts and sword fighting. 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.

Jarvis: Natural Language User Interface system and program designed by Grey Matter to assist Will and the DEO in all matters. Inspired and designed after the Jarvis program from Marvel.

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.

Will's Car: 1969 Chevrolet Camaro SS with supercharger. Dark Blue with black stipes and outfitted with a Khoros-5 indestructible engine block for increased horsepower and speed.

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