If you didn't know already I wanted to inform everyone of two things for this story. Ben won't be that bratty child instead he usually is he will be more like his Alien Force version, for the first two seasons at least, I feel like that fits this version of Ben well since he just survived 5 years of hell. But also there are just some fanfic's out there that keep his bratty attitude and give him stuff that is undeserving of it. For instance, the second thing which is a harem.
THIS WILL BE A SLIGHT HAREM STORY! Only 5 girls and I have already planned who they will be. You might be wondering why only 5? If you are going to have a harem I feel your story has to apply to two rules.
First, have a small harem 3-5 at most, people with a large scale harem almost never survive even 10 chapters because there is just no way to develop all of them at once. Second, have your character worthy to hold the love of these characters, not just because they are a hero but because they are a nice or deserving person that would deserve a harem.
Now that this is established let's get to the Q&A.
RedBurningDragon: Yeah, it was after Malware destroyed Feedback is when he took off the Omnitrix. So he will still have Feedback. All he really doesn't have yet is Alien X.
Romance Breeding: Can't reveal that yet…
Maximum Rhapsody: He can't return to his world because of what 'Recording Azmuth' said about there being only one Omnitrix. It was stated with Albedo as well that if 'there were two watches the universe would be ripped to shreds.' Magic and Paradox could probably get him home, same with technology like the one Ben made. But the risk is too high. That being said, Paradox might still appear. It's a harem with 5 girls.
Guest1: Yes he will still have Ditto, think of it like the Echo Echo situation in UA where he was still able to turn into each alien even though there were two clones of him. Also I completely agree with the scanning thing. Why would Ben need aliens like Four Arms and DiamondHead when he has a kryptonian to his beckon call. It's acceptable for Alien-X because it comes with a cost of dealing with Bellicus and Serena. If it was the Omniverse Omnitrix then that would be a different story since the Omnitrix itself picks the aliens.
The Moist Crusader: Yeah, there's nothing more annoying than when someone gets the Omnitrix functions wrong. Especially in those Ben 10 stories when he goes into Dc universe and then the villains are able to replicate the Omnitrix! I mean the smartest aliens in Ben 10 that are way smarter than any human in Dc couldn't even perfect a replicate Omnitrix. Just knockoffs. Yet when he goes into the Dc universe, they are not only able to hack the Omnitrix, another thing that is practically impossible even if it's the Ultamatrix, but soon make a copy and replicate the powers of it.
Guest2: The reason why barely anyone puts it in crossover with Dc is because the Aliens all have their own individual powers. It's one thing to transform into Four Arms instead of Humongsaur. But why transform into either when you can be a Martian and Kryptonian, and remember only the Ultimatrix copies the form's appearance. The Omnitrix, classic and Omniverse, turns Ben into the prime of their species in all aspects. Ben, at 16, could possibly be stronger than Superman and have an even better telepathic mind than Martian Manhunter. This would be pretty cool and acceptable if it was a crossover with the animated Justice League series or just the Dc-verse in general but a Young Justice crossover not so much. Especially, since Ben is already op in general in this universe. Although it would be cool for the other ones which I might do in the future. As funny as the Miss Martian thing would be, remember she is actually a white martian so she would be more fearful if there was another green martian around.
And now to the chapter.
A red and black plane known as the Bio-Ship flew through the air at around Mach five as Ben, Robin, Superboy, Miss Martian, Aqualad, and Kid Flash were gathered inside mentally and physically preparing themselves for their first mission.
"We're approaching Santa-Prisca," Miss Martian announced. Ben fiddled with his Omnitrix, a little thing he did ever since he was a kid. It was a way of finding out the code for Master Control. He stopped what he was doing and looked at the island through the front glass of the plane.
He had to admit he was nervous, he never did like stealth missions. Sure there were a few incidents in the Null Void where he had to use stealth but never before that when he was a being a hero. Now, however; he had to be careful with his transformations considering a bright green light may give away his location. 'This is going to be a long night…'
Mount Justice
2 hours ago
Kid Flash and Aqualad looked at each other, Wally with a cocky grin and Kaldur with a calm expression as a holographic timer popped out above them and counted down from '3'.
When it hit 0 both teens ran towards each other, Kid Flash using his super-speed closing the distance fast. Aqualad tried to punch his chest but Wally quickly moved out of the way and stood behind.
Kaldur turned to Wally with an unamused expression while Wally had anything but. Kaldur tried kicking the ginger in the face but Wally did the same as he did before. Running behind the teen before his attack could land.
The 2 did this about 5 more times before Kid Flash when running behind him pushed him slightly making Aqualad fall over. Kid Flash laughed and looked at Miss Martian hoping to have impressed her while the girl in question was clapping slowly with a smile on her face. Next to her were Robin, who was trying to hold in his laugh at the scene, and Superboy, who was crossing his arms barely if not at all paying attention.
Wally tried to show off a bit more and get into a heroic pose for his crush before Aqualad spun on the floor and kicked Kid's legs out from behind him.
The hologram above them showed Aqualad as the winner while Miss Martian and Robin started clapping louder than before. Miss Martian was doing it for good sport but Robin was just trying to taunt his friend.
"No fair," Kid Flash says, taking Aqualad's hand while the boy lifted him off the ground.
Before the boy could respond a yellow flash came from the zeta-tubes and they heard a voice ring through the air.
"Hey guys, haven't seen you all day." Everyone looked back and saw Ben, he seemed now like a completely different person. He now had new clothes consisting of a bright green jacket with two white stripes on the right sleeve but another stripe on his left shoulder going down to the bottom of the jacket, with the middle of the strap have a '10' inside a black circle, a simple black shirt underneath the jacket and bright blue jeans. But he also got a haircut, it was somewhat like his old hairstyle but his hair was slightly smaller making his green eyes and facial features more visible. He gave them a bright smile as he walked over to them.
Kid Flash was the first to, quite literally, zoom up to him. "Hey man, you look really weird without the caveman look you had yesterday."
Ben gave him a deadpanned look. "Batman and I had to spend the whole day getting me a new identity and a fake background. However, the best part was me getting rid of that long hair. All it did was get in my eyes too much."
"Nice," Robin spoke out as the rest of the team gathered around Ben. "How did everything go?"
"Well Batman isn't much of a talker so I annoyed the hell out of him trying to get him to talk… he never did but we did manage to get me a driver's license so that's pretty cool."
"Do you really need it though? Don't you have a bunch of flying aliens in there?" Surprisingly Superboy spoke up looking at the Omnitrix.
"Well, it's not just about the car getting me somewhere faster. It's about the experience that comes with it. Plus, I shouldn't use the Omnitrix for all my problems like just going somewhere. So anyway, how do I look?"
Miss Martian observed his looks, his green eyes, pale skin, and brown hair. Her face grew a slight pink that was barely visible. "You look good…" She says with a smile that Ben returns.
"Thanks, it took forever to find these clothes, I don't know why but wearing something with a ten on it just feels right," Ben says, grabbing the jacket's sides and observing it.
"It suits you," Aqualad says seeing how he looked rather at home in the green jacket.
"Batman 0-2." The robotic voice from the zeta-tube spoke echoed through the room.
"Hey, Bat's what's up?" Ben spoke turning around. Everyone turned to Batman with either a smile or giggle from the nickname Ben gave him. If anyone could see the costume's hero's face they could see his eyebrow twitch slightly.
"Gather up, I have a mission for you all." He says and walks to the main hall of the room ignoring the excited faces of the team.
The team soon gathered in the main hall of Mount Justice in their civilian clothing as Batman introduced their first real mission. Wally, Superboy, Kaldur, Dick, M'gann, and Ben stood side-by-side with one another in that order; each one watched intently as they were briefed on the assignment.
"Isla, Santa Prisca," Batman announced as he pulled up a satellite image of the island on a holo-screen, "This island nation is the primary source of a dangerous and illegal neo-steroid. A strength-enhancing drug sold under the street name 'Venom'; infrared heat signatures indicate that the factories are still running at full capacity but, all shipments of Venom have been inexplicably cut off. That's where this team comes in; this is a covert recon mission only, observe and report. If the Justice League needs to intervene, it will."
Batman prepared to dismiss them before Robin spoke up, "So who's in charge?" Red Tornado shared a brief look with Batman before turning back to the team.
"Work that out among yourselves," Batman said before turning back to the holo screens and dismissing them with a flap of his cape.
Present
M'gann was fully outfitted in her Martian costume at the helm of her Martian Bio-Ship moving over the water in camouflage mode. Silently gliding above the ocean, she announced their arrival, "Approaching drop-zone A."
Aqualad stepped up in his Atlantean armor, tapping the symbol on his belt causing the nano-technology on his suit to shift the crimson color of his armor to a grey and black variant. He prepared for his departure as he stiffened his body.
"Ready," he confirmed as a hole opened up in the floor below releasing him headfirst into the water. Thanks to his physiology as an Atlantean he swam way faster than any normal human. He then found a main-land net separating the waters from the shore; he sliced through it with a quick strike using his water-bearers in the form of a machete.
He maneuvered through a minefield on the ocean floor as the beach became closer with every moment, he flew out from the water landing on the sand and looking out for any movement around him, he sighed in relief when he found nothing.
The ground to air detection system was not far, awaiting any movement above the Island to dispatch it to nearby guards; Aqualad placed a red and black device on the hull of the machine, as it opened he pressed his finger to his ear; "Heat and motion sensors patched, data is now on a continuous loop, move in," As he spoke he witnessed the distorted figure of the bio-ship camouflaged flying past him.
They approached the center of the island and Miss Martian announced their arrival once again; "Drop zone B," she willed her ship to a halt and commanded several harness-like wires to descend from the ceiling.
Robin and Kid Flash stood in full uniform and attached the lines to themselves quickly as they prepared to deploy; Kid tapped the symbol on his suit causing the color scheme to go from yellow and red to a black, grey, and red color scheme. "How cool is this?" Kid asked toward M'gann who smiled in response.
"Very impressive," she noted as she used her organic clothing to shapeshift her costume to a red and black variant of her normal uniform, better for stealth and blending in.
"Uh, that works too! Hey, Ben, Superboy, last chance to try out the new stealth tech?"
Ben chuckled lightly, "I don't think I'll be needing it. I don't do tights and masks."
"It totally works for you..." M'gann hummed with a swooning gaze before Ben turned to look back at her which snapped her out of it and allowing her to clear her throat, "As in that it's good that you can totally do good work in those clothes;" she gave two thumbs up causing Ben to raise his eyebrow in confusion. After the embarrassment was over M'gann covered up her blushing face by flipping up her hood, she then camouflaged and sunk into the hole.
"What about you, Superboy?" Kid asked
Superboy merely just crossed his arms and replied. "No capes, no tights, no offense."
Ben scrolled through the Omnitrix aliens and stopped on the one he wanted. The dial popped up and he immediately slapped it down and in a bright emerald light transformed into a humanoid, moth-like alien with four wings and two antennas on his head, giving him the appearance of a phantom. He had a black body with cyan patches on his arms, shoulders, legs, and the back of his wings, and the back of his neck that resembled ice chunks. On his torso are three plates: one resembling the chest, a shorter plate under the chest, and one resembling the stomach. On his face were large green eyes with dark green spots. He also had three pointed fingers and a thumb on each hand, and two toes on each foot, and a third toe-like extension on his ankles.
"Big Chill!" A raspy cold voice spoke out while his skin and wings turned light cyan blue as he phased through the floor and landed on the ground, his body turning back to normal as his wings and antenna wrapped around himself like a hoodie.
A hole in the floor of the ship opened up, M'gann hopped through and levitated to the ground followed by Kid Flash and Robin who used their grappling line to lower safely to the ground without a sound. After they had all landed and detached themselves from the Bio-Ship which sucked their lines back into it; Superboy jumped down but didn't attach a line before jumping from over a hundred feet up, causing the ground to shake abruptly.
"Knew I didn't need a line," Superboy chuckled, dusting off his hands casually.
"And yet, causing a seismic event may not have helped us much with the covert part of the mission," Robin noted in a loud whisper.
"Aqualad, Drop B is a go," Big Chill spoke through his comm-system.
"Head for the factory, I'll track your GPS and rendezvous ASAP;" Aqualad gave them the right directions and the team agreed.
They then headed for the designated factory on their GPS.
Big Chill and Miss Martian quickly turned invisible as the five teenagers dashed through the jungle. After running for a while; Superboy stopped his stride and looked back for a moment as he heard branches and twigs being crushed by boots somewhere nearby, "Did you guys hear that?"
Everyone stopped to look at the boy of steel and even Big Chill and Miss Martian revealed themselves.
"Hear what?" Big Chill asked
"Is this a super hearing thing or what?" Kid Flash asked and he nodded. "Ok Rob, now what?" Kid Flash turned to ask the boy wonder who was nowhere to be found. Kid threw his hands in the air and darted his head around, "I hate it when he does that!"
Big Chill then turned to his team. "Superboy, Kid; switch to infrared vision and see if we're being followed," the two nodded as Kid twisted the lens of his suit's goggles and Superboy blinked a few times to adjust his multitude of visions.
"I got a squad of armored bozos incoming from the south," Kid announced, narrowing his eyes behind the goggles.
"Two squads," Superboy corrected, "but they'll meet each other before they meet us,"
Bullets began flying as the shots echoed in the distance; Big Chill narrowed his eyes slightly wondering what the next move should be.
Kid chuckled to break the tension, but only did so much, "Guess we don't need super hearing after all..."
"Swing wide, steer clear," Big Chill advised in a serious tone as he turned to walk away from the gunshots, exercising caution towards the covert aspect of the mission, however, Wally didn't plan on keeping true to that order.
"Yea, yea, just as soon as I find Rob!" Kid sped out into the fray dodging bullets and energy rifles at high speeds.
"Damn it, Kid!" Big Chill yelled flying to where Kid sped off to. "You guys stay out of the fight, I'll get them back!" The aliens' raspy cold voices rang through the comms.
Kid sped up until he accidentally tripped on an exposed tree-root that sent him flying into the dirt and skidding to a halt right in front of a buff man wearing a black tank top and a white and black hockey mask, "So much for the stealthy part, hehe..." Kid dashed in the opposite direction just narrowly dodging point-blank automatic gunfire.
The man in the mask had his sights set on Kid Flash and was about to pull the trigger when a huge amount of ice-cold breath from the gun and the man in a giant ice block.
"W-What is this?!" He shouted out with a growl.
Two more men had set their sights on Kid Flash who had disarmed half the assailants already with super-speed, holding half a dozen automatic guns in his hands. Before they could even fire, Robin jumped from atop a thick tree branch and kicked one guy in the face, using his shoulder as a jumping board. The roundhouse kicked the second shooter in the neck knocking them both out near simultaneously and landing with graceful accuracy, behind him Superboy and Miss Martian joined in the fight. Miss Martian pushed aside three armed men with her telekinesis, lifting them twenty feet up before dropping them and knocking them unconscious. While Superboy decked a few men in the face sending them all flying.
"What's wrong with you guys? Remember covert? Why didn't you follow my lead and vanish into the jungle?" Robin exclaimed as he hit two more guys in front of him with a casual shot from a taser gun.
"That's what you were doing?" Kid Flash exclaimed as he finished knocking another man out; "Thanks for filling us in; we're not mind readers ya know!" His attention was then taken by Miss Martain pushing back a few more men. "Well most of us aren't!"
"You told me I could only read the bad guys' minds!"
As the leader of the first team was about to retreat he turned to face Aqualad who was attracted by the commotion. He gently placed his hands on the leader's chest and generated his Atlantean bio-electricity through him, shocking the man and knocking him out cold before stepping on his weapon and crushing it.
A few minutes later
"I recognize those uniforms, they belong to the Cult of the Kobra," Robin said looking at the first group's getup.
"I am certain Batman would have mentioned it if he knew dangerous extremists were running Santa Prisca's venom operation," Aqualad rubbed his chin in confusion.
"Unless he never knew about it in the first place, right," Ben spoke up with his hands in his pockets.
"Well, there's certainly no love loss between the cultists and those goons. I'm betting Kobra came in and tossed them out." Robin figured "That's why normal supply lines have been cut off."
"We get it. Kobra wanted super cultists. Mystery solved." Kid said as he looked at me. "Radio bats and we'll be home in time for-" He couldn't finish since Robin had interrupted him.
"These cultists aren't on Venom. Kobra's hoarding the stuff. We don't leave, not until I know why."
"Until you know why," Kid retorts.
"This team needs a leader," Robin shot back.
"And it's you?" Asked Kid Flash with a scoff. "Dude, you are a 13-year-old kid who ducked out on us without a word"
Robin laughs at his statement, everyone knew Kid was the least mature out of all of them. "And you're a mature 16?" He crossed his arms after this and continued, "You blew our cover the first chance you got!"
Miss Martian looked over to Superboy who was watching the argument, "Don't you wanna lead?" She asked as Superboy crossed his arms and scoffed in response.
"You?"
"Not after the Mister Twister fiasco…"
"Eh, you did alright…" Superboy responds in his own cold way. "To be honest I think the role of 'leader' is obvious…"
"Really?" Miss Martian saw the clone's eyes drift to someone else in the group and she couldn't help but smile. "Aw, hello Megan!" She says lightly bonking herself on the head.
"Enough!" Ben's voice shouted to the two gaining their attention. Unfortunately, he tried to stop their argument causing him to miss the second group speaking to each other in Spanish that he would have heard thanks to his universal translator. "Robin is right!"
Robin grinned and looked proud of himself while Kid's jaw dropped. "What, even after he abandoned us and is being so selfish with them me, me, me talk?"
"No and no," Ben answers, making Robin frown slightly. "He's right when he says 'WE' have to stay and find out what Kobra is doing. I know Batman is making this out to be a covert mission, however, I'm not just going to leave when I can prevent people being hurt sooner than normal. And last I checked from the story you guys told me, this team wasn't made to be a scout and report to the Justice League. It was supposed to be so you guys could have a little freedom while not being in the League's shadow to keep up with the good work you did on July 4th. So we will scout out the area, find out the buyer and stop it ourselves, agreed?"
Kid Flash smiled. "Exactly what I was thinking! Agreed!"
Robin was the last to smile and nod. "Agreed!"
One of the prisoners that they had previously tied up spoke up. He laughed suddenly, "Clever niños, but you only know half the story," he paused for a moment, "Let me show you the rest, get you into the factory via my secret entrance."
"You're Bane, one of Batman's worst enemies; why should we trust you?" Aqualad asked rightfully with a glare as he stepped forwards.
"Miss Martian, you think you can read his mind?" Ben asked and she nodded.
Miss Martian knelt down beside the man and let her eyes glow green while she pried through his mind, "There is a secret entrance but, he's also hiding something," M'gann narrowed her eyes before widening them in confusion, "Ugh, he's mentally reciting football scores in Española, this could take a while;" she turned to Ben who narrowed his eyes at Bane.
"It's not complicated; the enemy of my enemy is my friend," Bane stretched a sinister smile across his face as the heroes looked among each other to weigh their very few options.
A sigh could be heard from Ben's mouth. "We are going to regret this…"
Bane led them through a dense jungle area with large trees covering them on all sides, eventually, they made it to a cliff where they could easily see the layout of the compound and factory as well as the landing strip for helicopters and planes. There were dozens and dozens of men piling crates, packing crates, and moving crates into the facility; several of them were surrounding one man in a long cloak that was taller and more built than the others, however, his face was hidden.
Robin took out his binoculars and raised a brow as he focused on the facility, "Look at all of that product! A buy is definitely going down but, if Kobra isn't selling to the usual suspects…"
Ben sighed and knelt down beside him grabbing the binoculars and taking a look at the armed men, "We need to identify that buyer if our info is going to be worth anything."
"Just what I was thinking," Kid added, obviously attempting to seem like he had come up with the idea himself.
"Yea," Robin scoffed sarcastically, "You're the thinker."
"Sarcasm? Dude, a real leader would focus on getting through the mission; not sarcastic remarks," Kid stated blatantly as he and Robin practically butted heads, literally.
"Will both of you quit it!" Ben's voice of reason rang through their ears.
Bane stepped over to a cave-like structure guarded by a thick layer of moss and vines and a large boulder that seemed practically immovable in sheer size; the Spanish villain casually picked up said boulder and tossed it aside revealing an abandoned mining tunnel.
"The mission is this way, chinos," Bane said, waving them towards the tunnel before stepping inside leading the way through the damp interior.
"So, now El Luchador is our leader?"
Robin bumped Kid Flash with his shoulder as he walked by him for his stupid comment, they all filed into the tunnel following Bane who held a glow stick above his head to illuminate his path. Eventually, they came across a panel with some buttons on it embedded into the cave wall; Bane pressed a few of those buttons and a doorway opened up leading them into the factory.
"All clear," Robin said as they dashed through the room in silence, ducking behind massive cooking canisters for cover.
Bane looked around moments later to find Robin nowhere in sight, "Did that little fool already get caught?"
Ben looked around and sighed with exasperation, "No, he just does that..."
"Stay put, I'll get our intel and get back before the Boy Wonder!"
Kid Flash dashed at super-speeds into the facility as Ben called out to him in a loud whisper, "Damn it, Kid!"
"Great chain of command," Bane muttered as he walked past them casually, noticing no guards in the area.
"Says the man that lost his facility to a bunch of cultists." Ben shot back making Bane growl as they walked until they came across a bunch of workers moving crates with forklifts and stacking boxes; they ducked behind a stack of crates in the far corner and watched the workers do their menial jobs.
"It's a massive shipment; bigger than even we anticipated," Aqualad pointed out as there were hundreds of more crates that they couldn't see from the cliff.
"Yea, but they're only taking new products off the line; they aren't touching this Venom," Superboy mentioned patting the crates of Venom they were currently hiding behind and observing from.
"Maybe freshness counts?" Miss Martian proposed. Bane scoffed at this and leaned against the wall with his arms crossed completely disinterested with their mission now that he was back in his factory, it was killing him to just watch as they sold metric tons of his product.
"Doubtful, I have a hunch they've altered the formula somehow and that's why they would only need the new product because the old product isn't what the buyer ordered," He watched as none of the guards left any boxes unattended; even if he wanted there was no possible way to get a sample without tipping off their presence.
"Helicopter inbound," Superboy stated using his super-hearing to notice before anyone else.
"Are you sure?" M'gaan asked until they all suddenly heard the chopper incoming with its loud blades cutting the wind, "Never mind."
As the helicopter landed, Ben dialed up an alien and transformed with Aqualad, Superboy, and M'gann as his cover to shield the light as best they could; Big Chill shifted into his camouflage mode and Miss Martian floated into the sky on her own, they both observed the landing pad as it settled and shut off its engine. Superboy and Aqualad stayed behind to observe from afar as the helicopter opened up its side-hatch and a man with blonde hair wearing bulky body armor and a hockey mask stepped out. As he approached the cult leader along with his two ugly guards, one being the giant behemoth that took Bane down when the cult took over, and the other being a tall woman with ginger-orange hair and cybernetic enhancements on her arms, right leg, and left eye. The buyer suddenly darted in Miss Martian's direction and squinted at her camouflaged form but carried on being unable to see anything unusual.
"Lord Kobra," the man said as he greeted his supplier; he stuck a hand out and shook with Kobra as the buy officially began.
"Sportsmaster," he identified the man as the famous mercenary and enforcer of the Light, "The shipment is ready," the cult leader said, wearing a red cloak that hid most of his features other than his paper-white skin and a creepy sinister-smile.
The red-headed cyborg walked up holding a small briefcase in hand, inside were eight vials of a blue liquid; "The new Kobra Venom?" Sportsmaster asked, picking out and examining one in the moonlight.
"A complete success," the cult leader said waving to his twelve-foot tall massive subordinate known only as Mammoth; "Our mutual friends will not be disappointed."
"This is a game-changer; finally we can go mono a mono with the Justice League!" Sportsmaster laughed childishly with the vial in hand, knowing just how even the playing field would be with a hundred Kobra Venom soldiers as strong as the Mammoth before him.
'Sending you all telepathic images of the buyer now,' Miss Martian spoke through the mental link and memorized Sportsmasters masked face before sending the image through to Aqualad's cortex.
Kaldur focused on his thoughts as an image suddenly appeared in his head, "Sportsmaster!" Aqualad exclaimed suddenly having all the information needed to consider the mission a success, "He is the buyer? Aqualad to Red Tornado, do you read?" static erupted from the com-line clearly displaying the facility had communication-jamming signals. "I can't reach the league, Robin, or Kid; we need a plan!" Aqualad said looking over to Superboy who shrugged in response and began to think of a strategy.
"I have a suggestion," Bane said suddenly before jumping over the crates they hid behind and ramming two nearby cultists; two more attempted to subdue him but, he backhanded them directly into the wall and knocked the unconscious but, not before they let some gunfire out and notified the cult leader.
Sportsmaster narrowed his eyes and looked back at Kobra, "Problem?"
"Never," He turned to his two subordinates, "Make sure we are alone!"
They nodded and turned to jog towards the facility as more gunshots rang out into the factory attracting more guards by the minute; "What is he-" Aqualad began before a massive beast busted through the factory wall and grabbed Superboy's skull with his momentum and ran off with him.
The cyborg walked in with her arm transformed into some sort of energy rifle as she caught sight of Aqualad behind the crates along with Superboy trying to hold back Mammoth and Bane fighting off cultists with ease. "Destroy them!" She shouted as Mammoth grabbed Superboy's leg and tossed him through a canister and into the wall causing a massive flood of Venom to spill onto the floor.
Mammoth charged after him, going around the canister and aiming two fists for the Kryptonian's head, however; this time Superboy met the creature mid-way stopping him in his tracks grabbing his fists with his own strength only to have himself picked up and tossed back into the wall behind them.
Cultists began shooting with automatic rifles at Aqualad who created a shield with his water bearers, he formed a machete and charged at them knocking them out one by one. His job became a lot easier when a blue invisible alien phased through each one of the cultists and were frozen solid.
A green flash erupted from nowhere as the invisible Big Chill shifted into a Humungousaur; he grabbed the beast man-handling Superboy by the neck and tossed him back through the air. Humungousaur helped Superboy to his feet before charging the behemoth once again, together.
Sportsmaster, who had entered the compound after hearing the commotion, analyzed the entire fight until he noticed something floating above the battle. It was distorted as if camouflaged but when he witnessed men being telepathically flung across the battlefield; he figured out exactly the opponent he was dealing with. Without flinching, SportsMaster pulled a small baton from his belt which extended into a long silver javelin effortlessly launching it towards the distorted Martian.
Miss Martian noticed just in time to avoid the javelin itself but that wasn't all it would do as seconds later it detonated only feet from her sending her flying across the factory.
Aqualad took cover behind a large metal canister when two cultists came from behind and pointed their guns at him; It was a short-lived victory as Kid Flash came from the side and kicked them into each other and out cold on the ground.
'This isn't getting us anywhere…' Ben thought, looking down at the Omnitrix dial. "Voice Activation Mode. Benjamin Kirby Tennyson."
"Voice Activation Accepted." The robotic voice from the Omnitrix said.
"Allow the subject known as Miss Martian temporary and limited access to my mind." Ben states as the Omnitrix makes a slightly beeping noise and then stops. "Miss Martian! Coms are jammed, link us up with your telepathy!" Humungousaur shouted as he locked hands with Mammoth and drove him back; Superboy jumped between them and uppercut Mammoth on his back. Humungousaur then grabbed Mammoth's shoulders and then hosted him up, he then started to swing the beast around in a circle and then launch out into the forest.
M'gann got to her knees and nodded as the entire team felt a small spark in their brains allowing them to connect their thoughts; 'Link established,' she said before dodging a javelin strike to the ground by floating up.
'Good; we need to regroup,'
'Little busy now,' Robin responded as he back sprung away from an attack from King Kobra himself.
"Batman must be desperate if he sends his whelp to fight me alone," Kobra responded as his lackey Shimmer the woman with the orange mohawk and a mechanically modified body stepped forwards, "This is beneath me; Shimmer, take him."
Shimmer dashed forwards as Robin backflipped out of the way of her stampede; her metallic arm opened up revealing a beam-like weapon but, just as she prepared to fire…
'Robin, now!' Humungousaur shouted telepathically causing Robin to grunt and launch a smoke bomb beneath him covering his retreat.
Kid Flash then zoomed past them. 'We're running away?!'
'It's a strategic retreat; Kid, clear a path!'
Kid Flash ran through the factory in a zig-zag formation knocking cultists aside and relieving them of their weapons as Superboy, Aqualad, Robin, Miss Martian, and Humungousaur followed behind him in that order.
Humungousaur quickly transformed back into Ben and shouted to his left where Superboy sprinted next to him, "The support beams!" he nodded his head towards the wooden beams keeping the secret tunnel intact.
Superboy quickly caught on as he used his running momentum to ram through the support beams, collapsing the tunnel behind them with so much rubble even Mammoth wouldn't be capable of digging his way through.
Aqualad snapped a glow stick in half lighting up the area.
"How could my first mission as leader go so wrong?" Robin asked as he looked at the large rocks blocking the nearest exit.
Ben shrugged while looking at him. "Beside me, you have the most experience, you and the Brute Bat back at the cave. But, that's not a good thing, you and Batman don't really need to talk but, this team is new and a leader can't just expect us to know what to do."
Robin frowned and looked over to Ben as he realized his small mistake, "Oh?! So, I'm supposed to hold everyone's hands?" he shouted suddenly as Ben didn't even flinch at the outburst.
"Yup, I know it sucks, huh?"
"Who am I kidding?" Robin said, noticing Ben's obvious composure and solid demeanor, "You should lead us, Ben, you're the only one who can."
Ben's eyes widened. "Uh… m-me?"
Wally stepped up and raised his hands in protest, "Please! I can run circles-"
"Wally, c'mon, you know he's the one; we all do," Robin said with a smile, placing his hands on his belt.
"Hello Megan, it's so obvious!" M'gann said as she put a hand on Ben's shoulder, reassuring him. "You're totally better at this than any of us."
Ben looked over to Superboy who shrugged his shoulders, however, he did have a small smile on his face, he was hoping they would do the right thing and pick him to lead. "I'm not leading."
It was then his gaze shifted to Aqualad. "You kept this team afloat even with the difficulty that came with it. You deserve to lead."
Ben then looked at Kid who crossed his arms in jealousy, "Yea, I guess you are pretty good at the hero thing..."
Ben blinked a few times making sure this wasn't some hallucination. "Okay, then… I guess I'm the leader;" Ben said as he looked through his aliens for a moment, "Our first priority has to be preventing that shipment from leaving the island."
Later
Sportsmaster exited the same helicopter he'd arrived in, the aircraft was making an odd noise crackling and not taking off at all, "Sabotaged… Robin?"
King Kobra sighed, "Undoubtedly," he turned to Shimmer standing by his side, "Fine the problem and fix it."
She bowed and moved towards the copter.
One cultist with Mammoth following close behind approached Kobra and bowed before speaking, "Lord, should we send search parties after the intruders?"
The King was amused but, only slightly, "Don't be absurd; they'll come to us."
With the Team
"Sportsmaster is the supplier/buyer but, it still doesn't add up; he doesn't have the juice to acquire the Blockbuster formula or to get Kobra to do his dirty work," Robin analyzed his holoscreen as they ran through the tunnel back towards the entrance to the not so secret tunnel.
Kid spoke up as he had to run averagely to keep up with everyone, "Neither of them has the chops to add the Blockbuster formula with Venom, that took some major nerdage."
They approached the entrance where Robin noticed blinking C4 charges surrounding it, "Guess he was right after all?"
Aqualad smiled, "We clearly chose the right leader," they sprinted out of the cave and into the jungle.
"The helicopter is now operational." a random cultist bowed as Shimmer and Mammoth stood beside him.
Sportsmaster grunted as he grabbed the small case and approached the copter casually; suddenly, a blur of speed rushed through the area knocking out cultists left-and-right with ease.
"Take the shipment!" Kobra shouted as SportsMaster immediately made a b-line for the chopper, slapping cultists out of his way in the process.
Several cultists raised their weapons and trained them on Kid but, before they could fire, Superboy landed behind them with enough force to knock them on their asses; he walked through the field crushing their rifles under his boot.
Mammoth huffed as he saw Superboy, "Go again?" the boy of steel taunted. The beast stepped forwards cracking its knuckles until a massive stream of water blasted him through several trees and into the ground, "Sorry, not the plan."
Aqualad used his water-bearers to drain a nearby river and pin down the behemoth with his hydrokinetic prowess; Superboy scanned the area, looking around for his planned opponent before being shot in the back with an explosive that actually hurt.
Sportsmaster wielded a crimson energy weapon expertly firing multiple attacks into the Kryptonians back as he was forced to his knees. However, he was suddenly caught off guard by a large puddle of green snot-looking goo that wrapped itself around the gun and disintergrated it with its acid-like body. A flying disk then hovered over the goo and swiped it up, the lime green goo made a humanoid body made entirely of the gross substance.
"GOOP!" The Omnitrix on its chest now present, Sportsmaster could have sworn he had seen that symbol before. If he remembered correctly it was the same one the giant dinosaur had on its chest.
Meanwhile, M'gann, in her camouflage mode, floated down behind the helicopter and through the open hatch, sitting on the shipment.
She came from behind and attempted to attack SportsMaster but he backflipped out of the way and quickly put her in a headlock, continuing to fire at Superboy whose shirt and pants were being torn by the severe gunfire.
Multiple cultists attempted to shoot Kid Flash but missed entirely as he simply knocked them out one by one; the last one he knocked out he managed to grab his cult mask with a smile, "Souvenir!" he sped off again as King Kobra narrowed his eyes in anger.
Goop then punched Sportsmaster back before he could do anything to M'gann. The man growled and then jumped back into his helicopter.
"Thanks for the workout but, I gotta fly!" The hatch closed behind him and the helicopter took off. Goop stood and watched as the helicopter rose in the air. He then fired several shots of acid at the propellers and engine. The acid on contact melted through the steel and Sportsmaster found quickly he was losing control.
The mercenary then jumped out of the helicopter and disappeared into the jungle.
"What happened to Sportsmaster?" Superboy asked, running towards them still smoking and injured.
"He ditched the helicopter and landed somewhere in the jungle-" A large boom sound filled all their ears as they looked back as they saw a giant fireball of an explosion go off from the helicopter landing roughly on the facility. "At least we took care of that" Ben chuckled, changing his form back to his human self.
Robin looked out into the jungle pulling two palm-tree leaves apart but, spotting nothing, "Kobra also got away..."
"Well, we did manage to acquire the Kobra-Venom before it was shipped off to whoever was employing Sportsmaster," Aqualad added as he restrained Mammoth with a metal pipe,
"All in all; I say we did pretty well," Ben says with a smirk.
Later
Batman stepped into Ben's face, getting up close and personal as he nearly shouted, "A simple recon mission; observe and report!"
Kaldur, M'gann, Superboy, Wally, Dick, and Ben were all lined up in the center of the common room in their own Mount Justice; Red Tornado sat idly by as Batman walked back and forth tearing the teens a new one.
"You will each receive a detailed evaluation of your many mistakes,"
"Our many mistakes?!" Ben gritted his teeth. Some of the teens gulped and turned to look at him slowly. "We got the job done. We're not little kids and I thought this team was supposed to be about what we did back there. Save the day, stop the bad guys. Not be your errand boys and girls."
Batman's eyes narrowed. "What we agreed on-"
"I know they told me. You said 'you would only allow covert missions while you handle the big stuff.' But they also told me about why they formed this team, with all the distrust the League was giving them, with the distrust their mentors were giving them." Ben corrected himself. "I'm fine with doing covert missions, but if we can handle the job then let us handle it. Sure the plan didn't work out. But we stopped the facility from ever opening again, we took down the Kobra cultist and we stopped and identified the dealer. Something that if we had stopped to inform you guys the deal would have already been done."
Batman paused while making eye contact. "...Agreed. Good job."
"Huh?" The response came from all of the teens.
"No battle plan survives first contact with the enemy;" He turned and walked away but continued to speak, "How you adjust to the unforeseen is what determines success." As he approached the exit, he finished his speech, "And how you determine who leads, shows character." Robin shot Ben a glance. "We'll talk about what you guys can handle and not handle later. For now, hit the showers."
"We really picked the right guy." Kid said in awe and Robin only nodded.
"Seriously, I've seen cold-hearted criminals quake in their boots with just a glance from the guy," Robin said.
"I too am surprised by his calm demeanor," Aqualad said then asked Ben. "I am curious too how you… keep your cool?"
Ben shrugged. "Eh, I've seen worse."
"Really, like what?"
"Well, the Way Big a couple of days ago, Vilgax, mutated Kevin, really I think it's just an immediate reaction to not be afraid of those types of guys. Plus my parents give me a WAY better death glare when I didn't clean my room when I was a kid." Ben chuckled walking back to the lounge area while the others followed him.