The poll is still up, vote now for 'who you want the last girl in the harem to be.' Right now Starfire is winning with one point ahead of Harley Quinn.
Guest 1: Thank you.
Kevin06x: Batgirl is the mysterious fourth girl I've been talking about.
Guest 2: I'm glad Ben 10 hype is coming back, Death battle kind of helped and didn't… but whatever. And if Harley gets picked for the final girl she sure damn will get a redemption arc. However, if she doesn't I still might in season 2… maybe.
DemDazer: Actually, Justice Era came out before that and you can tell AUfan62 copied a lot of his work as well. At every point every author's fanfic and actual stories copy something. Like the Ditto idea, yeah Justice Matrix did it first, however, I came up with that idea on my own. Justice Matrix had nothing to do with it. Why do people copy and paste the Santa Prisca ep is it has to happen since it's where the team is coming into their own. Mistakes have to be made to get where they are, they have to learn their lessons. If you want a story that I've gotten into recently like that check out 'A Reflection', it's a Young Justice and Ben 10 crossover which is awesome. And also I didn't copy and paste it, interactions happen differently because Ben is there and it leads to a different result. Why didn't I say 'I got this from Justice Matrix or Justice Era' or something? Because I didn't. Everyone on this site copies at some point and some don't. I used Justice Era as a basis for what I wanted, however, the dialog is completely different from that story, same with the narrative. There are going to be chapters not linked to the continuity like the last chapter, but what's wrong with sticking to the story? I'm not saying it's just going to be Ben and the Young Justice gang, where Ben means little to the plot. But fair warning, there are going to be some chapters that don't change the ep's format much and some that completely change as a whole. Sorry if that disappoints you but I can't please everyone. I'm going my own way with this story.
Wahid Alam: Thank you so much! It helps to get your support! This chapter is pretty long on its own, actually, I think it's the longest so far so that kind of fixed that problem. Oh and thanks for saying the interactions are good. I wanted to make sure it wasn't robotic or too cartoonish and that it was silly. Like some fanfics with Ditto, he basically becomes Bug Bunny, sure the show also treats him like that. But I also didn't like when the show did either.
Guest 3: thank you! I hate it when some stories just have characters like Joker, who don't have any powers, that just curb stomp, Ben. I'm glad it's worth it in the end. Also, Batman made sure to tell Ben it was a one-time thing, but how are you going to berate someone for a rule they don't even know about? Plus Batman is a little more chill in Young Justice.
RedBurningDragon: I don't even want to talk about the reboot. It had its fair share of good moments but was also terrible too. I think Batman's countermeasure to Green Lanterns is a fear toxin.
Now onto the chapter.
Infinity Island
August 7, 23:49 ECT
Guards went back and forth protecting the giant building behind them. Red Arrow narrowed his eyes as he aimed his bow at one of the guards. Releasing the bowstring, the arrow flung towards the guard slicing through the air and letting the sound of fssshh echo through the night.
The arrow struck the guard, piercing through his shoulder, thanks to his precise aim however it wouldn't be life-threatening but it wouldn't knock him out either. To solve for that the arrowhead released a massive amount of volts of electricity through the guard's body.
He didn't even have time to cry out from the wound on his shoulder and the sound of biri biri was the only thing that could be heard until he passed out.
The ginger-haired teen dashed past the guard not even sparing a glance towards him. He then shot a new air that was attached to a cable. The arrow hit the roof of the building. He made quick work of climbing it, until he reached the second floor. He stayed in the shadows, pulling an arrow out of his quiver and readying his bow whenever he needed it. He quickly dashed past some more guards and fired some arrows to knock them out as well.
All released a high voltage of electricity to stun them, except for one he used that had a boxing glove on its arrowhead. He had forgotten to give that back to his old mentor Oliver Queen, also known as the Green Arrow. For some reason, he loved using those boxing glove arrows and even gave some to his… former protege. Roy himself wasn't big on the idea of a boxing glove arrow but decided to use it one last time.
He then flung a new arrow at a security camera which made it so the control room would only see a little frizzle with the camera before going back to normal.
Red Arrow kneeled on the ground, coming out from the corner and letting another arrow fly through the air hitting another guard, once again releasing electricity, silently knocking him out. He did the same to the guard's partner shortly after that.
Dr. Roquette sat at a computer dressed in a white lab coat and continued to work on her project which she was being forced to do.
"We're losing patience. Complete the project or forfeit your life." A voice said over the intercom.
Dr. Roquette didn't even look up at the man who spoke to her. "I'm going as fast as I can."
Both guards behind her gripped their weapons. It was up to them to decide whether she was taking too long or not. Of course, they couldn't kill her till the task was complete but they were allowed to motivate her to move faster. Whether that be pointing a gun at her or knocking her on the head with the back of the gun.
They were about to instill this motivation before suddenly heard a knock on the door. It wasn't a knock you would hear if someone was trying to come in, it was more like a 'thud' like someone had hit the door. The two guards got ready to fire but were left stunned when the door flew open.
The hinges just barely holding sent the door flying into the guard on the left, the guard on the right held his weapon up and got ready to shoot but with a speed that almost seemed superhuman Red Arrow elbowed the gun downwards. The gun unleashed several bullets all missing their target, as Red Arrow uppercut the guard in the jaw then elbowed him in the abdomen and knocked him into the wall behind him.
Dr. Roquette had finally acknowledged the noise and got up to look at Red Arrow.
"Dr. Roquette." The red archer greeted.
"Tell me you're the 'advanced guy'?" Roquette said with a hopeful look in her eyes. Red Arrow took out an arrow and got ready to fire.
"I'm the only guy."
"You didn't bring any backup? What? Were there budget cuts?" Roquette hissed.
An alarm echoed through the halls and 10-20 more guards went running through the halls of the buildings getting their guns ready to fire.
Red Arrow let the arrow go and it blew up the wall on impact. Roquette coughed as the smoke that came from the explosion cleared.
"Now or never, Doc." Red Arrow said, holding his hand out as he got the cable to zip line down the ground ready. She looked down at the device she was helping make.
"We can't leave this." She said worry took over her voice. Roy gritted his teeth slightly.
Him figuring it must have been a device the league wanted to weaponize he sighed and gave her a harsh look. "Look, I either take it or I take you!"
Roquette grabbed her glasses and took them off before she lost them. "Right, take me."
He grabbed Roquette and she grasped him tightly. "Hang on!"
The two slid down the rope, Roquette screaming along the way down. A hailstorm of bullets followed when they finally made it to the ground. Red Arrow was the first to take off with the doctor right behind him until they came to the water that surrounded the island. Roquette stopped when she saw the army green colored tarp be yanked off the thing underneath it to see a boat.
She gave him a deadpan expression before looking up at him. 'Why couldn't I get someone that can fly?!' She thought to herself. "What do you call this, the Arrow Boat?" She asked sarcastically while hoping in.
Red Arrow pushed her head down. As he drove off the hail storm of bullets hit the boat and even some parts of the glass in front of them before he shouted out, "I call it a rental."
Red Arrow started up the boat and pressed the tracker that was locating all the explosives he had laid down. About a hundred red dots appeared on the screen.
It wasn't soon after a loud explosion erupted behind them that sounded close to a volcano going off. The explosion took out the remaining guards letting the ride to now be easy without the bullets being shot at them.
"I think we're clear."
Roquette got up and looked back for a split second. "Great, that leaves only one problem..."
Professor Ojo and Sensei looked over the device Roquette was making. Inspecting until the Professor smiled wickedly.
"Well?" Sensei asked.
"She finished. We're good to go." Ojo informed him.
Mount Justice
August 8th, 09:58 EDT
It had been days since Ben had fought the Gotham villains and even longer since the Amazo mission but the League decided to give the Team some time off and regain their bearings.
While summer vacation had closed, summer was still upon them so they decided to hit the beach outside of Mount Justice. Which led to the team, minus Wally, to enjoy a beautiful day at the beach.
They all looked at the scenery admiring it and what was to come. Ben smiled as he felt the warm sun hit him. The Null Void was a nasty, terrible place where you couldn't enjoy many beach days. One, there was no sand; two, the water in the Null Void was hard to find; and three, the Null Void's suns were always making it too hot that it would make you crave for shade.
It was also great to work on his tan since he had gotten a little paler, after all with the sun being hot as hell he spent most of his time in his makeshift home.
All five members of the team grinned at the soon-to-be fun day.
"Hello, Megan! We should hit the beach every day!" Excitedly, M'gann exclaims.
Robin's head tilted down in what was, in Ben's opinion, the best act of sadness he had ever seen. However, Ben knew it was just that… an act. "Let's have a moment of silence for our absent comrade."
"Poor Wally," M'gann says with actual sympathy.
"He'll live," Ben said with a grin. "I'm sure he's fine… maybe…"
Central City
August 8th, 9:00 CDT
The bell rang at Central City High School.
"Welcome class to the first day of sophomore year." The teacher said, not so enthusiastic, the emotion carried through the class as Wally sank down in his seat with a groan.
Meanwhile, the rest of the team was playing in the water. Superboy even joined in with a cannonball. Aqualad even had set up a game of volleyball. Uses his powers to create a net and has Robin and Superboy on one team and M'gann and Ben on the other. It was undecided if they could use powers or not so there were sometimes when both teams cheated. Whether that be Superboy using super strength, M'gann using telekinesis, or Ben transforming.
Wally himself had his own situation with the water fountain at school. The pipe must have been broken since when he went to get a sip of water he was suddenly splashed in the face with water. The speedster then looked down and saw his pants wet and groaned once again.
The team then sat and enjoyed some hot dogs while Wally just got a plate of slop that couldn't even be defined as food. And would look more appropriate in a prison cafeteria.
After a bit, the team decided to head inside to put their hero outfits on. Ben was the first one done since his suit was the simplest, with just his casual clothes. M'gann would usually be first, but she was struggling with the disadvantages of being at the beach with trying to come out the sand and seawater in her hair.
As we walked he found himself in the training/Zeta Tube room. There he saw the Team's deployers for missions and another person he didn't recognize.
There was Batman, Green Arrow, Black Canary, and Red Tornado, but there was also a girl with blond hair that was tied into a long ponytail. She had on a green suit that consisted of a green mask, pants, boots, elbow-length gloves, and a sleeveless top that exposed her midriff, with an arrowhead design on the chest area, which pointed up. In her hand, she held a bow that was somewhat different from Green Arrows. She seemed his age but slightly younger.
"Yo," Ben called out to them, gaining their attention. "With all of you here I'm guessing we're getting a new mission… also who is she?" Ben asked, pointing at Artemis.
"We don't have any missions ready for you all. We are here to simply tell you about your new teammate. Artemis." Batman says, gesturing to Artemis.
The girl now named Artemis gives the boy a once over. He seemed fairly average, his defining features being his lime green eyes and his brown hair slightly covering his eyes giving him an almost dangerous look to him in her opinion. It was hard to believe this boy was the same one she saw changing into all those creatures and taking down the Amazo robot.
"Cool, new teammate." Ben's casual attitude took her off guard as he walked up to her and held his hand out. "Name's Ben."
The girl raised an eyebrow but shook it anyway. "Nice to meet you…"
"She's my new protege, and I figured being on the team would be good for her." Green Arrow spoke, it seemed somewhat forced, like he was following a script. But Ben only paid attention to his new teammate.
"So since Green Arrow wasn't the one that shot that arrow that saved me, I'm guessing it was your arrow…?" Ben asked, almost getting tongue-tied with how many times he had to say 'arrow'.
Artemis straightened her posture, in her life she has had experience with a lot of prideful men, and she was assuming this encounter wasn't going to be any different. So if she was going to have to deal with some speech about how he could have 'handled himself' even though it was obvious he was about to die, she felt it was only right if she egged him on.
"Yes I did," She spoke before Green Arrow got his word in. "I mean it was obvious you were in danger with that giant android crushing your ribcage and all when you were that weird red creature. No need to thank me." She smirked, waiting for his response.
"Thanks…" He said once again catching her off guard as he rubbed the back of his head with his hand. "I mean I know you just said not to, but thanks anyway. I mean you were right if you didn't shoot that arrow I don't know if I would have gone out of there as alright as I did."
"Um… no problem…" Artemis says she wasn't prepared for that kind of response. Wanting to change the topic she then spoke again. "By the way, how are you able to turn into all those creatures?"
Ben held up the Omnitrix, "This allows me to transform into different aliens. It's called the Omnitrix."
She blinked then sighed, the world just kept getting weirder. Changing the topic again she started to look around. "So where are the rest of our 'teammates'?"
"Right here!"
"GAH!" Artemis screamed slightly backing up as Robin suddenly appeared from behind Ben. Robin almost burst out laughing at the reaction but covered his mouth just in time to hold it in. What was truly surprising was how Ben didn't move an inch.
"Dude, you gotta stop with that ninja thing, it freaks people out," Ben says he had no idea he was behind him, however, after a couple of times of Dick doing that same prank to him he had gotten used to it.
"I know," Was his simple response as the rest of the team walked up and started to introduce themselves.
About 30 minutes had passed until Red Tornado and Black Canary left for some 'League business' as they put it.
"So I heard I had six teammates. Is the last one taking a nap or something?" Artemis asked as the five looked at each other.
"Oh yeah, where is Wally anyway?" M'gann asked, Artemis raised an eyebrow guessing that 'Wally' was the fifth member.
Ben slightly elbows Robin's arm gaining his attention. "Bet you 10 bucks now that we are talking about him, he'll show up in the next 5 seconds."
"Deal," He smirked, holding out his five fingers.
"Four, three, two, one…"
"Recognized Kid Flash B-03." As soon as he materialized on the teleporter pad, Wally dashed forward, wearing swim trunks and carrying beach equipment.
"Damn," Robin swear under his breath, his smirk still present on his face from the getup Wally was wearing. "How did you know?"
"The universe has its ways. You just got to know the rules."
"All right, the Wallman is here, so let's get this party star-" Wally didn't finish his sentence; as he tripped and fell on his face, his beach equipment spread across the floor. "-ted." He finished a beach ball passing by the team, like a tumbleweed.
Ben and Robin had to hold in their laughter as Artemis took a step and looked down at the sprawled speedster. "Walman huh? Love the uniform, what exactly are your powers?" She said her smug look was ever-present.
Wally got up and glared at her, "Um, who is this?"
"Artemis, your new teammate."
"Kid Flash, never heard of you," Wally retorted.
Green Arrow walked forward and placed a hand on Artemis' shoulder. "She's my new protégé."
Wally turned to him stunned. "What happened to your old one?"
"Recognized Speedy." The computer announced. Everybody turned to the Zeta Tube to see the red archer walk towards them. "First he doesn't go by Speedy anymore, call me Red Arrow." The scowl on his face deepened when he saw Ben and Artemis. "Who are the noobies?"
"Hi names Ben, the hero from another dimension," Ben says with a smirk. Roy, assuming he was joking, ignored him and then turned to Green Arrow.
Green Arrow stepped forward. "Roy, you look-"
"-Replaceable." Red Arrow cut him off.
"It's not like that. You told me you were going solo." Green Arrow explained.
"So why waste time finding a sub? Can she even use that bow?" Red Arrow questioned.
Artemis stepped forward, poking her bow into his chest. "Yes, she can." She said in a challenging tone.
"Hey, let's not fight here!" Ben said getting in between them.
Roy narrowed his eyes at the kid about one or two years younger than him. "I'm sorry, who are you again?"
Ben grunted slightly scratching the back of his head. This guy was clearly not in the mood for jokes and clearly wanted to fight the woman archer. "The leader of this team." He says sternly.
Roy raised a brow before clicking his tongue.
"She's not your replacement, Roy." Green Arrow said, "She wanted to learn, and I taught her. You can't fault me for that. You're the one who wanted to go solo."
"Who said I was upset?" Red Arrow asked. "I just want to make sure that the archer on the Team knows what she's doing."
"She does." Green Arrow replied with absolute certainty, clearly having faith in her.
"We have no quotas on archers, there is always a place for you here," Aqualad said.
"And even if we did, you'd know who we pick." Kid added, clearly showing his dislike for the female archer.
"Both!" Ben speaks up glaring at Wally. "If you came here to join that's fine but Artemis is part of this team now so you'll have to deal with that."
"I'm not joining the 'Junior Justice league'" Red Arrow nodded and replied. "I just thought this mission would be right up your alley. Doctor Serling Roquette." Red Arrow said simply.
Robin went over to the Cave's computer and pulled up a file on the doctor. "Nanorobotics expert from Royal University in Star City; vanished two weeks ago."
"Abducted two weeks ago." Red Arrow corrected, "By the League of Shadows."
Ben heard some gasps and ignorantly asked. "What's the League of Shadows?"
"The League of Shadows is an organization of spies, assassins, and mercenaries." Batman, briefly, explained.
"You're a hero and yet you don't know that?" Red Arrow scoffed
"From a different Universe, never heard of half of the organizations here," Ben speaks, Roy raises a brow but ignores it and goes on.
"So you need us to help rescue her?" Robin asked, excitedly.
"Hardcore!" Wally exclaimed, while high-fiving Robin.
"I already rescued her." Red Arrow told them, much to the Team's disappointment. Then walked up to the computer and brought up a picture of an insect-like robot.
"There's only one problem, the Shadows had forced her to create a weapon that she calls The Fog. It's composed of millions of microscopic robots; nanotech infiltrators, capable of disintegrating anything in their path, concrete, steel… flesh." He explained, but he wasn't done.
"But it isn't just destruction; it's also theft. The infiltrators eat and store raw data from any computer system, and deliver the stolen intel to the Shadows. That gives access to weapons, strategic defense, cutting-edge science, and tech…" He finished.
"Perfect for extortion, manipulation, power broking…" Artemis sighed. "Yeah, it sounds like the Shadows."
Wally rolled his eyes. "Like you know anything about the Shadows." Artemis merely smirked, which infuriated him even more. "Who are you!?"
"I'm pretty sure we established that…" Ben speaks glaring at Wally.
"Roquette is working on a virus to render the Fog inert." Red Arrow said, bringing their attention back to the mission.
Robin's eyes went wide. "But if the Shadows know she can do that…" He started to say, but Roy beat him to the punch.
"Then they'll go after her."
"So where is she?" Ben questioned.
"Off the grid, I stashed her at the local high school's computer lab."
"You left her alone!" Green Arrow exclaimed.
Red Arrow shrugged. "She's safe enough, for now."
Green Arrow stepped forward. "Then lets you and I keep her that way."
"You and I?" Red Arrow echoed, "Don't you want to take your new protégé?"
Green Arrow opened his mouth to respond, but felt a hand on his shoulder; he turned to see Batman give him a look and sighed. "You brought this to the Team; it's their mission." He gestured towards Artemis, "Which means that it's hers, too."
"Then I guess I'm done then," Roy said as he walked. "Recognize: Speedy."
"That's Red Arrow B-06, update." He said as he teleported out.
After a few awkward moments of silence, Ben spoke up. "Alright, let's meet at the ship in a couple of minutes, so get whatever you need to take with you."
The Team nodded and started walking off but not before Ben grabbed Kid's arm.
"What is the matter with you?"
"What do you mean?! She started it!" Kid proclaims as Ben sighed.
"She didn't start anything! She's part of the Team now so deal with it, I get you pissed Red Arrow doesn't want to join but Artemis isn't at fault for that. It's his!" Ben growls at Wally, before letting go of his arm and walking off. Artemis, however, had heard the conversation and smiled slightly while walking off as well.
Tower Of Fate
August 8, 10:30
Located in a small park a tower that seemed very narrow and built out of stone blocks stood, invisible to the naked eye. However, the tower was more than just a building.
It was the Tower of Fate. Inside, held many rooms, and doors that went to different dimensions and parts of the universe.
The only human occupant was an old man that looked about 70-80 years old. He wore a simple black tux. He sat on a comfortable neon blue chair that was located right next to the fireplace that had been lit up for the sake of it.
The man's cane, which was made out of wood and the handle gold, leaned up against the chair. It glowed a vibrant gold and then rolled slightly to the right.
The old man eyed the movement from the cane as a sudden blue light enveloped the area.
"Kent Nelson…" A British accent suddenly echoed through the room. A familiar tone set in his voice and a smile greeted the old man's lips.
"Paradox… I haven't seen you in…"
"Five seconds." The man now named Paradox spoke then his eyes suddenly went dull. "Well I haven't seen YOU in quite some time, but I did just meet the older version of you. Ahh, time travel has to be so confusing." The man named Paradox had fair skin, grey eyes, and black hair. He wore a white lab coat over a white shirt with a brown vest and black tie, black pants, black shoes, and goggles that were around his neck.
The old man named Kent chuckled, "It always is… so what do I have the pleasure of meeting you now old friend? Care for some tea?"
Paradox smiled as he sat on the neon blue chair across from his old friend. "Always." He spoke in a sing-song voice. "And I'm sure you already know, you felt it, did you not? When the boy crossed over?"
"Yes, well, I'm pretty sure everyone felt the quakes from the battle with that giant alien. However, the energy that came from it, I certainly felt, felt it before it even opened. Who is he?"
"A boy, a very special one, one that has already changed your future drastically just from being here."
"Should I be worried?"
"Not unless you're turning dark on me, old friend."
The old man smiled, "Wouldn't dream of it. So who is this kid?"
Paradox, picking up a glass of tea that seemed to just appear out of nowhere, answered. "To tell that tale I'll need time and a willing listener."
Kent smiled, "I've got all the time in the world…"
Paradox smiled for a moment then chuckled, catching Kent's attention.
"What?"
"Nothing, just thinking of the boy in question." Paradox smiles again.
Happy Harbor
August 8th, 21:53 EDT
When they arrived at the school where Roquette was located in they all immediately took their positions. Roquette, Ben, Robin, Kid Flash, and Artemis all stayed inside a classroom on the 3rd floor. Aqualad was instructed to patrol the halls, while Superboy and Miss Martian were told to stay outside.
Ben thought about going Wildmutt and patrolling the halls himself but found that since Superboy and Robin were going to leave soon to go find the bots and stop whoever was controlling them, he needed to be here for the time being.
After all, if the assassins got past Miss Martian then him, he would have to rely on the 3 team members left in the room to deal with them. And 2 of which were actively glaring at each other.
Miss Martian then established their psychic link to the team, plus Roquette.
'Everyone online?' Miss Martian asked, through the psychic link.
Everyone gave a simple 'yes', save for Artemis, who looked at her hands. 'This is so weird.'
"And distracting." Roquette snapped as she typed away at a computer. 'Coding a distributed algorithm virus on a kiddy computer with less RAM than a wristwatch is hard enough, now I have to hear 'teen think' in my skull.'
'Lady, do you always complain when someone tries to help you?' Kid Flash asked.
'Pot, kettle.' Artemis said, gesturing from Roquette to Kid Flash. 'Have you met?'
'Hey!' Kid Flash glared at her. 'I don't need attitude from the newbie!'
"I'm not a new-" Artemis snapped, standing up but was cut off by Ben.
'Both of you knock it off!'
'She started it!' Kid Flash said.
'Fate of the world, at stake here!' Roquette shouted, mentally, throwing up her hands in exasperation.
Ben sighed, 'So this is what Grandpa had to deal with…' When he was 10 he only ever cared about how much Gwen annoyed him and then fought her fire with his own. He never considered how his Grandpa must've felt during their pointless arguments until now. But in his and Gwen's defense, they were 10. These guys were in their teens!
Ben messaged his head slowly, thinking of what to do now. With a heavy sigh cracked his neck for some release and started to talk with the team. 'Aqualad, trade places with me. Artemis patrols the grounds with Miss Martian. Once we find out where the bots went and Superboy and Robin head out, Aqualad and I will switch back and Kid will help with patrolling the halls.'
While Artemis complied and started to walk out the door Ben followed with Aqualad walking in right after.
Roquette gritted her teeth at how 'safe' she felt with this new team that the Red Arrow kept talking to her about. 'Couldn't get the Justice League.'
'You might want to cut her some slack, it was her arrow that saved our asses against Amazo, if not Ben would have been squashed.' Robin spoke up.
'What? No way, that was Spee- I mean Red Arrow's- arrow Right?' Kid Flash replied, almost getting tongue-tied.
'Afraid not.' The Boy Wonder smirked.
'Well, I'm still not giving her the satisfaction.'
'You just did moron.' Ben pointed out.
'I can still hear you!' She thought through the link as both she and Ben walked the halls. Ben was circling through his aliens trying to find Wildmutt.
Ben sighed, "This playlist is getting a bit too big…" Ben then turned to Artemis. "You ok?"
Artemis looked at him with an unreadable expression. "Yeah, I'm fine, I'm used to prideful men like that. Although telling the truth here, I first thought you would act like that, you know, after you found out it was my arrow that saved you."
Ben actually laughed at that. "Well, I have to admit, when I was 10 that would basically be the reaction you would get."
Artemis raised a brow. "You started this when you were 10?"
"Yup, it was when I got the Omnitrix, I was a pretty stupid kid. Thought the best thing to do in a fight was to rush in and then complain to anyone trying to help me. Kind of like 'Kid Mouth' over there." She laughed at the nickname.
"What changed?"
"Well, I had to grow up at some point. The environment I was in for the past couple of years helped with that. But I also knew I wouldn't get anywhere else so I needed to change and especially now with being the leader of this team."
They then went into silence as they soon had to split up and both went to the area they needed to be in.
'Can you track the weapon?' Aqualad asked through the mental link.
'My Utility-Fog is not a weapon.' Roquette snapped fiercely. 'It's science, brilliant science, and of course, I can track it, but I'd have to go online. I might as well put up a billboard with this address and the words 'assassinate me' written in neon.'
"Maybe now is a bad time to put out there that if bad guys are using it, it's basically a weapon…" Ben muttered to himself and then looked at the Omnitrix. "But I guess there also goes my idea…"
He had thought that maybe he could try to help with the tracking with Upgrade but that would also probably boost the signal of where she was.
The words 'We'll protect you.' came through the mental link which made Ben smile. He was happy Aqualad was comforting her. Ben then transformed into Wildmutt and started to sniff out any smell that wasn't the team.
After a few moments of silence, Roquette once again spoke. 'Tracking The Fog now.'
Wildmutt shook off the noise and started sniffing the ground for any scent he didn't recognize.
Nothing. He couldn't smell anything of the ordinary. But still, even though he didn't have any visible ears, his incredible hearing picked up some tree branches rustling. Something Superboy picked up as well.
Superboy jumped over the school while Wildmutt ran through the halls for both to meet at the front next to Artemis and Miss Martian.
Both scanned the area but found nothing. Ben quickly changed back into himself and sighed. While turning back towards the school.
'Omni, Roquette found the Fog,' Aqualad says through the link.
'Alright, Miss Martian, cover for Superboy, while he and Robin go after it. Aqualad switches with me.' Ben ordered, as Miss Martian then brought the Bioship ship down for the two members to take.
But while they were making this switch, no one saw the assassin run past Miss Martian and Artemis and infiltrated the school.
Inside
Ben had reached the computer lab, passing by Auqalad with a friendly wave, and then sat next to the doctor while she worked.
Kid, seemed intent on not getting on the doctor's bad side so he just decided to stand in front of the lab and keep a lookout.
For a split second, he could have sworn he had heard the faint sound of zssip.
The sound the speedster made whenever he started running. Slightly glaring at the door he started to turn the dial to Four Arms who then suddenly appeared in a flash of light, startling the doctor.
She didn't have time to process this though as a shrinking came flying from the doorway. Four Arms grabbed the shuriken and threw it away like an old piece of trash.
"Doc, get down!"
The assassin looked in through the door and frowned which was blocked by her Cheshire cat-like mask that held a feline grin. The girl flipped into the classroom throwing 4 more shurikens at the boy that swatted them away.
Pulling out a sai and sword out of what seemed like nowhere, she rushed towards him, almost stabbing his neck. Four Arms grabbed her arm with the sword in his top right hand. He then grabbed her other arm holding her in place but not before she kicked off his face and flipped backward.
Throwing her sai at the doctor, Ben reacted quickly by picking up one of the desks next to him and throwing it at the shuriken. The weapon cut through the desk but got lodged ⅓ of the way in. And killing 2 birds with one stone, the desk smashed into the glass window alerting the team that they were under attack.
Aqualad, Artemis, and M'gann all ran to the computer lab with Miss Martian making a detour to the school's pool to see Kid Flash drowning, she quickly levitated him out of the water and began performing CPR.
Four Arms was having a hard time dodging the attacks in the narrow area he was given. He was also starting to regret picking Four Arms at all, sure he had the strength advantage down pat. But he wasn't too good with speed, not to mention he had to hold back his strength a lot.
Putting all of his strength into his hands and making a sonic clap sound like a good idea on paper, after all, he was sure it would send the woman flying. But he was also sure that he would be bringing down the building as well.
Aqualad and Artemis arrived at the same time making the assassin turn around to look at them and give a familiar look to Artemis.
"Ooh, things are getting interesting." She comments as Artemis shoots a couple of arrows only for them to get sliced in half. Aqualad tried to rush in with blades made of water, but the assassin quickly threw him off by throwing a large number of shurikens that he either had to dodge or cut before they hit.
Ben suddenly slammed the dial on his chest and transformed into a diamond humanoid-like alien. Covering her eyes the female assassin looked back at him and frowned again. It was one thing if it was a normal three-on-one. But these guys were keeping her on her toes. She wasn't worried about Artemis; she was sure she could beat her. But the shapeshifter was unpredictable and the Atlantean was skilled.
"Diamondhead!" He called out as the female took a smoke bomb and threw it on the ground, Diamondhead shot forward trying to grab her, but he didn't get there in time and went right through the smoke. He expected to catch something but ended up falling forward and knocked into Artemis.
Diamondhead tried to steady himself up as he looked around to see one. Miss Martian and Kid Flash came in a few short seconds after that.
"She's getting away! You're letting her go!" Roquette said disappointed in their performance.
Ben had to agree as he suddenly changed back and looked out at the broken window cursing himself for giving her an easy exit.
Even though he wasn't used to the whole telepathy thing, he should have used the mental link instead of breaking the window.
Sighing to himself in frustration he looked to Kid Flash who seemed to glare at Artemis.
"This is all your fault!" Kid Flash shouted at Artemis. "You were on the perimeter! How did that Shadow get in?"
Artemis narrowed her eyes, but Miss Martian cut in before the archer could speak. "That's not really fair; I was outside too."
"Outside… being distracted by her!" Kid said, refusing to cut Artemis any slack. "Besides, I can't stay mad at you." He smiled. 'You gave me mouth-to-mouth.'
'We heard that.' Everyone else yelled, reminding the speedster that the psychic link was still active.
"Damn it!"
"Enough Kid!" Ben shouts, gaining his attention. "You were outside the door, why didn't you alert anyone you saw something!?" He grunted at Kid just sulking. Clearly, this wasn't working with Artemis here, but he wasn't about to send either of them home just because Kid had an axe to grind.
"Robin to Omni," Robin said urgently on the comms. "We tracked The Fog to Philadelphia, but we were too late; the Shadows hit the STAR Labs that was based here. There's nothing left. The Fog leveled the building, and now all of their cutting-edge research and tech is in the hands of the enemy!"
Ben gritted his teeth.
"So, what's our next move?"
"Scan for The Fog again and we'll move the doctor to another location. Oh and come and grab Kid while you're at it."
Later
Artemis and Aqualad guarded Roquette while she worked. While Ben stood outside looking around.
Walking about normally he felt as if he was being watched and his eyes shifted to his right. "Miss Martian, remain camouflaged and patrol the south! We'll take the west area!"
He thankfully didn't come up with a plan that just might work all he had to do was-
An orange web suddenly stuck to the top of his head and he was then pulled up into a tree and then launched into the side of a truck.
The assassin's Black Spider and Hook both walked up to his body while the female assassin Chesire hopped onto the truck and faced the other assassins.
"To think this kid was that monster I faced…" Cheshire mused looking at the brunette. "We need to take out the target before the Martian returns," Chesire ordered.
Black Spider entered the building first, kicking down the door and crouching. Aqualad sent a stream of water that made a somewhat water whip. But Black Spider just flipped onto the ceiling and stuck to it.
Black Spider shot his orange webbing from his gauntlets, but Aqualad avoided it quickly, he then shot balls of water at the villain, each almost hitting him.
Artemis aimed an arrow at the arachnid-themed villain, but the sound of breaking glass behind her made her turn. Hook grinned as he stared at the blond archer, and then he blocked an arrow she shot at him with his metal hook.
The archer shot a couple of arrows as she spoke to Roquette. "Don't stop working." She ordered, eyeing Hook, and scowled as he blocked each one. As Roquette went back to typing, Cheshire silently opened the window on the other side of the building and took aim at the scientist with a crossbow.
She easily shot the crossbow that was aimed straight at Roquette's head only for a bench to block it. The only thing is the bench had moved without anyone holding it.
Cheshire snarled as she recognized the move. "The Martian is here! It's now or never!"
Aqualad used his water blades to cut the orange webbing off him. Then charged at Black Spider. He received a punch to the gut but not before he elbowed his jaw then slashed at his arm cutting his skin and making his arm bleed slightly.
Black Spider flipped back and then shot his webbing at the bench and threw it to Aqualad hitting his back and making him stumble forward. With a clear shot, Cheshire jumped down in front of Roquette. Artemis tried to change her target to Cheshire but Hook shot his metal hook that knocked her in the jaw.
Roquette tried to get away, but Cheshire was faster, kicking the blond woman in the back and knocking her to the floor. As Cheshire raised a Sai to kill the doctor, Roquette's head suddenly twisted 180 degrees, while her skin changed to green. Miss Martian smiled triumphantly at the success of the Team's ruse.
Cheshire snarled again, as she realized that they had been played. "We've been duped!"
Unknown to them, Ben, who pretended to be unconscious, took Roquette to a small cafe. "This was an impressive plan for a teen like yourself."
"Aqualad came up with it," Ben commented, cracking his neck since it and his back were killing him after the massive blow.
With the Team
After a bit of fighting both Cheshire and Artemis had run off. Cheshire had found out where Ben had gone and Artemis wanted to stop her. Probably to prove herself to the team, but no one could think of that at the moment as Aqualad and Miss Martian both had their individual fights.
"Miss Martian, let's end this now!" Aqualad says as the water swirled around his body. Then mutable bullets made out of the water are fired at the villain. The arachnid-themed villain dodged most of the bullets, however, could not dodge the onslaught that had come. The first couple he took like a pro however when they all started to hit him he fell on his back from the pain.
Miss Martian, was currently dodging one of Hook's attacks, his metal hook had been ineffective to hit his target. After all, how was he supposed to deal with a Martian with just a metal hook? Then again he just had to stall for time so he fired his hook once again only for her to use her telekinesis and send the hook back and crash into his face.
"Woo!" M'gann cheered. "I got mine!"
"Mine as well." Aqualad smiled and then frowned once he eyed the door.
In the Cafe
Ben heard something creaking behind him and dial one of his aliens slamming on the dial.
In a bright flash of emerald light, Ben was now a light orange crab-like creature with pincers for their hands. With two skull plates for his head that hid a huge brain that could manipulate electricity. It had six legs and wore a silver and black neck brace where the Omnitrix emblem was also located.
"Brainstorm!" A shuriken once again came flying towards the doctor but was quickly intercepted by a blast of electricity coming from Brainstorm's head.
Cheshire flipped into the cafe, coming in from some of the ceiling titles, she threw a couple more shurikens than ran at the alien shapeshifter, however, Brainstorm was a Cerebrocrustacean, they were known for their smarts.
A small matter of seconds between when he first transformed and when Cheshire threw those shurikens was enough for him to predict all of the female's moves and come up with a plan to capture her.
'Potentially useful objects,' Brainstorm thinks, scanning the room. 'Metal weapons, cash register, trashcan, fluorescent flush mount lights. Her advantage, superior skill, my advantage, superior intelligence.' He had run the numbers he had a 1.47% chance of losing and her getting away.
Brainstorm used the electricity that spawned from his brain to stop the shurikens in midair and have them fall to the floor. Backing away slightly he skillfully dodged a roundhouse kick to his insanely large head. Cheshire grabbed her sai and threw it at the doctor, however, Brainstorm has thought of all the outcomes and was pleased with her choice since this outcome would have her knocked out in the next 20 seconds.
Doing the same as he did to the shurikens, a stream of lightning crashed into the sai knocking it off its course to the doctor and it spun into the air and stuck itself onto the ceiling cutting a part of the fluorescent flush lights wire that was holding it to the ceiling. The first light's wire snapped as the second wire desperately tried to hold the whole light together.
Cheshire paid no mind to this though as her attention was brought to the computer that was so close to finishing downloading.
Only 18 seconds were left.
Cheshire anticipated her metal sai wouldn't do her any good so she threw a bunch of darts that were laced with jellyfish poison, Brainstorm quickly used the trash can that was filled with paper bags and old food as a shield and blocked the darts before they made contact.
Cheshire ran towards the crab alien but was first met with the sight of the trash can flying at her. She quickly jumped on top of it. Used it as a spring and jumped off readying the sword that was then blasted out of her hands and onto the wall behind her.
"You're good," She says, readying her fists and getting ready for a fistfight since her weapons had become ineffective.
"You as well, however, this battle has already been decided."
11 seconds left.
Dodging most of her attacks, with only one hitting him into a chair and table in the cafe, Brainstorm used his electricity to grab the cash register at the far part of the room and send it flying towards Cheshire.
Cheshire responded to the attack by flipping back and dodging it just narrowly and hummed in delight.
"'Been decided' huh?" Cheshire smirks under her mask, not noticing the light that was just barely holding on by one wire was hit by the register and started to swing uncontrollably.
7 seconds left.
Cheshire went to punch the crab-like alien, however, noticed the computer and widened her eyes when she saw that it was now done downloading.
She repressed a frustrated groan but was caught off guard as the computer suddenly came flying at her. The machine knocked her clean in the face and her mask flew off.
After the attack Brainstorm got a look at her face. He has to admit she was quite beautiful, however, that didn't impact the outcome of the fight, after all, it was decided and the victor would be determined.
4.
The wire on the light suddenly snapped and the same light now appeared to be right on top of Cheshire without her even noticing.
3.
Brainstorm ran to the woman, the light hitting her almost instantly knocking her unconscious from the sudden blow.
2.
Brainstorm tackled the woman and pinned her to the wall with the capsules holding his humongous brain opened up revealing some sparks of electricity circling the large pink organ.
1.
A large amount of electricity circled the assassin with her then let out a stunning groan and pain-filled yelp. And then she suddenly passed out, a trail of black smoke rising from her head. Brainstorm quickly backed up as the woman fell to the ground and he transformed back into a human.
"Well, that was…" he commented to Roquette who could only stare at him wide-eyed.
After the fight had taken place Ben had placed the woman in handcuffs and hauled her off to where the rest of the team was meeting him.
"Good job guys," Ben says breathing somewhat heavily, he had been pretty tuckered out from the fights that had been occurring today. "How did it go with Robin, Superboy, and Kid Flash?"
"They defeated their enemies soon after they got the virus for the fog. We won." Aqualad stated with a smile. The team, even Artemis, cried out in victory.
"We should all celebrate back at the cav-" Ben quickly covered her mouth shaking his head.
"One of the rules of being a superhero is don't talk about your secret base in front of the enemy," Ben says pointing to Cheshire who had her hair over her face at the moment.
Miss Martian blushed at the sudden contact and repeatedly nodded her head. "Oh ok, yeah, sure." She stuttered out multiple reptiles all different.
Ben, not noticing the blush, looked to Artemis. "Artemis, do you mind grabbing her, don't want her escaping on us now."
Artemis, with a smile present on her face, nodded and walked up to the female assassin who had knocked her out so easily. She could only freeze and gasp when she saw the face of the assassin. A giant grin on her face, Cheshire looked at Artemis and winked for a moment, which she made sure no one saw.
Ben seemed suspicious of Artemis's sudden action but didn't say anything, and wouldn't, for now.
Ben then speaks up to change the topic. "Alright, well, I'm getting a smoothie."
Artemis notices the team's chuckle almost as if him saying that was an ongoing joke or something, She gazed slightly towards Cheshire and then back at her team. Artemis then gave a genuine smile. 'I think I might actually like being here.'
Next chapter Ben talks to Artemis about something he learned with Brainstorm. Stay tuned!