Today was not Ben's day. First, he was enjoying the end of a great Fourth of July with his family, but that was crushed by a villain showing up and forcing him to go hero and fight him off. Then he was somehow dragged through a portal because some scientists wanted a "genetic weapon". He wasn't going to let them have that watch on his wrist. He ended up literally running into a small team of teenaged heroes that were checking the place out. They then decided to free a clone of a hero created by this group of wacko scientists, and he responded by beating down the heroes while capturing him. All the while, it turns out Ben might not be in the right reality. He wasn't sure where he was anymore. Was he even on Earth? He grunted, squirmed, and struggled against the clone's grip, but it held fast. It was even slightly tightening as he tried to slip out, only loosening to allow him to catch his breath. Oh right, what made it worse was that when Ben tried to go hero to help, he ended up turning into a minuscule alien he called Grey Matter. No brawn, all brain, and it wasn't helping him in this situation. Dozens of scenarios flitted through his mind and none of them ended well or had the proper opportunity to escape. The ponytail doctor had left already saying something about speaking with the board of directors. After having the three heroes dragged off into pods of their own, Superboy deposited Gray Matter into a small glass cage, roughly enough to cause him to cry out. It was closed and locked by the female scientist quickly before he was brought to another room, separate from the room the heroes were in.

He had a few opportunities now that Superboy left and headed who knows where. Gray Matter hopped it wasn't with the Kid Flash, Robin, and Aqualad. He needed to help them, but first, he needed to help himself. When the scientist wasn't looking, he examined the lock. "Gah, digital genetic lock. Of course, some creeps looking for a 'genetic weapon' would have genetic locks and such." Gray Matter then noticed the back panel of the lock. "Hrm," he whispered to himself, "looks like the glass doesn't cover this part, but rather is flush with it. Just might be the ticket." He looked over to the scientist and noticed she was still busy setting up. Grey Matter went to work. Grunting and groaning, he attempted to remove the panel, using his ability to stick to slick surfaces to grip it before it slid off. Catching it, he looked back at her. She was now gathering tools for dissection and she examined a scalpel. Dissatisfied, she put it down and continued looking. Sighing quietly, Gray Matter put the panel down gently next to the lock. Inside were wires of all sorts.

"Okay, crossing a few of the right ones ought to get me out of here." Doing just that, he grabbed a couple of wires that were deemed good enough and bit into them, before splicing them back together. The result was a soft hiss and click as the door to the small cage opened. Rushing as fast as he could, he headed over to the door and slipped past, seeing as they neglected to close it. Shortly after the woman's heels clicked on the ground slowly before suddenly picking up pace after most likely noticing Grey Matter was missing. Grey Matter opted from sprinting to leaping like a frog to cover ground just a bit faster. He approached the door the group was behind and heard them speaking to someone. Just before he could get to the console, he heard another voice.

"I don't care, just get some genomorphs to look for it. I need you to prepare the cloning chambers." It was the ponytail scientist, followed by the female scientist and the golden helmet man, each with genomorph gnomes. Grey Matter quickly ducked into a crevasse to hide from them. Remaining out of sight, the doors began to open as he placed his hand on the controls. From inside, he heard Aqualad say, "We can introduce you to Superman." A scowl crossed Ponytail's face, "No, they cannot. They'll be otherwise occupied." He turned to the female scientist and ordered, "Activate the cloning process."

"Pass. Batcave's crowded enough," Robin quipped back.

The lead scientist then turned to the armored man and shouted, "Get the weapon back into its pod!"

"Hey, how come he gets to call Supey an 'it?'" Came Kid Flash's complaint.

The armored man placed a hand on Superboy's shoulder. Superboy looked at Aqualad as the young hero pleaded softly, "Help us." Superboy didn't respond, only shrugged off the armored man's hand and stared at him.

"Don't start thinking now," Ponytail said exasperated. During this, Gray Matter had slipped inside and worked his way around the edge, able to witness the small gnome leap from scientist's shoulder to Superboy's, horns lit up in a red glow as Superboy's gaze became distant. Grey Matter rushed a quietly as a six-inch-tall being could, slipping right up to the main console. "See, you're not a real boy, you're a weapon, and you belong to me!" Ponytail paused and looked to the side for a moment before looking back at Superboy. "Well, to Cadmus, but same thing. Now get back to your pod!" Right as Superboy turned to leave with the gnome on his shoulder, Grey Matter had already taken the back panel off the console and began rewiring, crossing some wires and splicing others while yet others were disconnected altogether.

"Dr. Desmond," the female scientist said. So that was his name. "We have a problem."

"What sort of problem could we possibly have now?!" Dr. Desmond stomped over to the console and saw the screen flickering between random symbols and words. "What the?" He turned to the scientist. "Get me someone from IT down here!" He then looked down back at the console and noticed something on the floor next to it. Grey Matter was busy with work and didn't notice the Doctor kneel and look right at him until he turned his head. "Uh oh," Grey Matter muttered. In a hurry, he grabbed a fist full of wires and pulled, knocking out the lights to the console entirely. "Sorry, gotta go!" Grey Matter cried out as he leaped away and toward the pods containing the three heroes.

"The heck?" was Kid Flash's not so elegant exclamation. Grey Matter simply leaped up to the pod and in front of Kid Flash's face before clamoring up to the top. There was a panel being flung off and to the ground. "Okay, one of these has got to be the release," the minuscule creature muttered aloud.

"Get that thing down from there now!" Dr. Desmond cried out. It was in vain when the pod then opened, and Kid Flash was freed. He then bolted from the pod at a blinding speed, rushing and knocking out the Doctor and scientist. Around that time, Superboy returned, ripping the door from its place and missing his gnome. Tossing the door aside he saw that Kid Flash was free and was looking back at Superboy with worry, "You here to help us or fry us?" was the response Kid Flash came up with. Grey Matter poked his head out from the top of the pod. Superboy stared intently at all of them before remarking, "Hmm, I don't seem to have heat vision, so I suppose helping is my only option."

"Well, I don't know if I should laugh at that or not," Grey Matter said. Superboy looked right at him. "Oh, and, uh, sorry for biting you earlier." A countdown beep from the symbol that was on his back, flashing red. "Oh no, not now!" He flung himself off the pod just in time to prevent from getting stuck up there as the watch timed out mid-air, transforming him back into Ben and landing belly-first on the ground. At that time, Robin managed to free himself. "Ugh, luck Batman isn't here. He'd have my head for taking so long."

"Seriously?" Kid Flash asked, "That's what you're worried about? A little alien dude just turned into Ben! Or he was the little guy the whole time? Either way, the whole League will have our heads after tonight!" He turned to Ben. "How'd you do that, by the way?"

Ben smiled, "Just with this watch called the Omnitrix." He then righted himself to his feet. "I can tell you more later, once we get out of here."

"Sounds fair," Aqualad said. "Might I get some assistance?"

"Right, sorry, Aqualad," Robin responded. "Superboy, could you...?" Superboy glowered at Robin. "Just a favor, not an order." Nodding, Superboy walked up to the pod and ripped it open and tore the cuffs keeping him in. Hopping down, Aqualad said, "Thank you."

"You'll never get out of here!" Dr. Desmond cried out, having just woken up. "I'll have you all back in pods by morning!"

"That guy is not whelmed. Not whelmed at all," Robin stated before throwing a few beeping discs at the machines they were previously in.

"What is it with you and this whelmed thing?" Kid Flash asked as they all turned to leave.

Ben ran and kept up with the heroes well enough as they all ran for the exit, and explosions sound behind them. "So, blow up the cloning pods, make it harder for them to make copies of you guys?" Robin nodded in response. They had run up hallways and ramps.

"We are still forty-two levels below ground," Aqualad announced to the group, "but if we make the elevator-!" He was cut off as he noticed six large troll-like genomorphs stomp their way in their path between them and the elevator ahead from side hallways. The group stopped. They turned behind them as they heard movement and noticed that the strange spheres they have been passing changed from white to glowing red as razor-sharp genomorphs emerged from them, chittering and growling angrily.

One of the trolls behind them reared up and slammed its fists down, red eyes glaring at the five of them. Ben looked at the Omnitrix and saw it was still in the red for now. Glowering, he lifted his gaze up to the genomorph and moved with the group as they went to the side of the hallway. Superboy had other ideas it seemed. He grew cross and jumped up and punched the troll in its face, knocking it down. Another one, however, walked up to Superboy and threw a fist down on top of him, pinning him to the ground. Ben, Kid Flash, Robin, and Aqualad managed to get past the pack of trolls but stopped when they heard Superboy cry out in rage as he punched a troll repeatedly into a wall. "Superboy!" Aqualad called out, "The goal is escape, not to bury ourselves here!"

"You want escape!?" Superboy yelled back, thoroughly enraged. He then grabbed a downed troll by its hand and flung it into two others, knocking them down in the process.

Aqualad simply lead the group to the elevator and threw the doors open. Ben looked inside. "If the Omnitrix wasn't recharging, I bet I could go Wildvine or Benwolf and climb up." Robin took out a grappling hook launcher and fired it at the wall much higher up. Kid Flash hopped inside on a rail, balancing and keeping steady. Superboy grabbed Aqualad and jumped up and nearly reached the top before he began to fall. "I'm, falling." He remarked, surprised. Robin, having ascended with Ben and Kid Flash in tow, noticed them falling and threw a metal rod toward them. It stuck firm to the side of the wall and Aqualad grabbed a hold of it. "Superman can fly. Why can't I fly?" He asked sadly.

"Hey, it looks like you can leap tall buildings in a single bound," Kid Flash remarked. "Still pretty cool," he said with a thumb up. Kid Flash then helped Superboy and Aqualad get down from their spot. "Thank you," Superboy said. Suddenly the sound of an elevator starting up was heard.

"Guys, this will have to be our exit!" Robin cried. The elevator approached, though Superboy and Aqualad kicked open the doors at Sublevel 15 with everything being painted steel, everyone darting out of the elevator shaft as the elevator box came racing down.

"That was too close," Ben stated. He was startled when he saw a group of genomorphs rushing after them.

"It's about to get closer," Robin said as they turned and ran down a hallway.

As they ran, Superboy looked around a bit before he yelled, "Go left! Left!" They turned down the hallway. "Right!" The turned down another hallway to a dead end with a vent overhead.

"Great directions, Supey, you trying to get us re-podded?" Kid Flash angrily stated.

"No, I don't understand," Superboy explained.

Ben tugged Robin's cape, "You thinking what I'm thinking?" Ben had a mischievous glint in his eye.

Robin instantly smiled back and walked forward to the front of the group, "Don't apologize, this is perfect!" They squeezed in the vent system one by one. Slowly, they made their way through the vents.

"At this rate, we'll never get out," Kid Flash complained.

Superboy shushed Kid Flash and said, "Listen."

Straining their ears, everyone could hear the scrabble of claws on metal. "Uh oh," Ben said.

"Don't worry, I got this," Robin responded. Once they were out of the vents, Robin got to work from a panel and used his gauntlet. After a time, he looked to the group and said, "I hacked the motion sensors."

"Sweet," Kid Flash exclaimed.

"Still plenty of them between us and out," Robin reminded them, disconnecting his glove.

"But I've finally got room to move!" He then pulled down his goggles and opened the door behind them leading to a stairwell as he zipped up a few floors in a few seconds. A few of the gargoyle genomorphs barred Kid Flash's path, but that didn't deter him. Instead, he picked up the pace and knocked them over for his friends that were trailing behind him. Robin was once again on the holographic display on his gauntlet, calling out, "More behind us!" Ben, Aqualad, and Robin ran up the stairs further while Superboy stayed behind and kicked down the flight of stairs behind them, causing a group of the genomorphs to fall to the floors below. Kid Flash ran ahead, though as he did, a warning light and siren sounded and the sound of a body hitting steel was heard.

Catching up, Aqualad said, "We're cut off from the street," undoubtedly frustrated at the sight of a massive steel drop-down door.

"Thanks," Kid Flash said sarcastically from his floored position, "my head hadn't noticed."

Superboy ran up to the door and punched it as hard as he could, not making a dent. He then grabbed one side and pulled, though the door didn't budge. Aqualad lent his strength as well, but nothing happened. Robin was attempting to open the door remotely, calling out, "I can't hack this fast enough." Just then a small beep and the Omnitrix lit up green. "Yes! How about some extra muscle, you guys?" He started turning the dial and silhouettes of creatures flashed on the face of the watch. Before they could do anything, giant genomorphs showed up. "This way!" Robin said, kicking open a side door as they all rushed through. "Just how many of those things are there?!" Ben asked. As they ran down the hallway, they ran into a massive group of genomorphs blocking their path. "That many," Robin answered. With the genomorphs was the golden helmed man with a gnome on his shoulder still. More genomorphs brought up the rear, pinning them in the corridor. Readying, Robin drew out some discs, Aqualad his water bearers, Ben raised his hand ready over the Omnitrix, whereas Superboy and Kid Flash dropped into a ready stance. In response, the genomorph gnomes had their horns glow red, one by one until all of them had glowing horns. As a result, everyone passed out.

After an unknown time, everyone that was knocked out started waking up. Ben rubbed his head and looked at Superboy. He appeared to contemplate something before he looked up with determination and spoke, "I. Choose. Freedom."

"Feels like fog lifting…" The armored man said slowly, drawing Ben's attention.

"Guardian?" Aqualad asked.

"Go," Guardian said, "I'll deal with Desmond."

"I think not."

The crowd of genomorphs parted and allowed both the group and Guardian a view of Dr. Desmond. He looked cross. "Project Blockbuster will give me the power to restore order to Cadmus," he claimed, holding a vial of lightly glowing blue liquid.

"Are we going to let him drink that?" Ben asked.

Before anyone could move or respond, Desmond downed the whole vial before recoiling in on himself. His body moved, flinched, and slightly contorted as the serum did its work, his glasses falling off with his erratic movements. He fell to the ground, his body already growing rapidly tearing at his shirt and lab coat as both busted off. All anyone could do was stare in horror as his body further morphed and ripped, a second layer of grey skin underneath his normal peach skin. He finally pulled to his full, now doubled height, and roared before turning back to the group and grinning.

"Everyone back!" Guardian yelled before he charged the now monstrous Desmond. Once he was on him, though, he was backhanded into a nearby wall, falling unconscious.

Superboy was next, as he charged and landed a punch on Desmond, receiving a punch in return. To retaliate, Superboy lay down a few hits on Desmond before he was punched away with a strong hit, causing him to roll on the ground. He used the momentum to roll to his feet and jumped at Desmond, but at the peak of his jump, Desmond jumped at him, crashing through the ceiling.

"Okay, that's one way to bust through the ceiling," Robin commented as he fired a grappling hook up the new hole.

"Did Lab Coat plan that?" Kid Flash asked as he hitched a ride up with Robin.

"I doubt he is planning anything, anymore," Aqualad responded.

Ben tapped Aqualad. Now with Aqualad's attention, Ben activated the Omnitrix. When the green light faded, it revealed a twelve-foot-tall red-skinned man with four arms and four yellow eyes. He wore the same white shirt as Ben, but black skin-tight pants now. The Omnitrix symbol was on his upper left shoulder. "Going up?" He asked with a tenor, gravelly voice. Aqualad simply starred and nodded. Ben grabbed Aqualad with one of his lower arms before leaping through the hole. Once at the top, they all saw Superboy being held by Desmond briefly before breaking free. However, Desmond took this opportunity to now grab Superboy by the legs and throw him across the room at Aqualad and Ben. Ben caught Superboy, moving only by a few feet. "You okay?" He asked as he put down Superboy. He was only responded with a roar from Desmond. "Okay, Ugly," Ben called out to Desmond, "Playtime's over!" He punched his hands into his open palms and cracked his knuckles. Desmond then roared and rushed the group, who charged in return. Kid Flash was there first, falling to the ground to slide behind Desmond, crouched. Desmond looked back for only a moment and saw that Superboy and Aqualad had leaped at him and quickly punched him in the face, forcing Desmond to stagger back at the force. As he took a step back, Kid Flash arched his back, tripping Desmond and forcing him to fall on his back. "Learned that one in Kindergarten," Kid Flash said.

Robin then jumped up to where he could throw his bladed rings at Desmond, who simply knocked them away. Taking the opportunity to join in, Ben then grabbed Desmond, pulling him to his feet and punched him with two free hands. Desmond, who's only responses were now growling and roars roared at Ben and punched him away. Desmond then turned and noticed Superboy crouched in a stance, but before Superboy could do anything, Desmond rushed at Superboy, grabbing him and shoving him into a concrete support column that dotted the first floor. Superboy punched from his pinned position, landing two hits before Desmond landed a hit of his own, weakening the support further. He pulled back to punch but was wrapped up by a water whip made by Aqualad who used the force of Desmond's pull to free himself to launch him to the mutated man, landing on the support column and gathering the water into a large, spiked mace. Aqualad swung up then down at Desmond, but he was blocked by Desmond grabbing the mace and he was thrown to the side, landing on the ground hard enough to crack it.

Desmond then threw Superboy into another column, falling to the ground afterward with a chunk of the support column landing on him. Ben then charged Desmond, waylaying a few haymakers into Desmond's strengthened hide. The doctor, however, had other plans and instead laid out a few hits of his own, forcing Ben to bring up all four of his arms to block. While he was blocking the attacks, Kid Flash had run up behind them and attempted to attack, resulting in Desmond to attempt a backhand. Ben noticed this and grabbed his arm and hit him with an upper right elbow and gut-punching with the lower right, keeping hold with both left arms. Desmond, not happy now, reversed the grab on his arm and swung himself around and threw Ben into an already weakened column. The column broke as Ben went through it, causing the upper part to crack all around and rubble falls from the ceiling.

"Of course!" Robin exclaimed after witnessing this. He brought something up on his holographic display and called for Kid Flash, who rushed over. Ben, meanwhile, shakily got to his feet as he noticed Aqualad being held by Desmond against another column opposite to Ben and blocking attacks with a water shield before it broke and Superboy rushing up and grappling with his head. Getting even angrier, Desmond roared and tossed Aqualad before throwing Superboy into the column Aqualad was pinned against earlier, breaking it entirely.

"Got it?" Robin asked Kid Flash, who's response was a quick nod. "Go."

Kid Flash then rushed around then leaped between Desmond and Superboy, landing a punch across Desmond's face, tearing dead skin. Kid Flash looked at the fist full of dead flesh and pointed to it looking at Desmond, "Got your nose!" before running off, Desmond in hot pursuit. This allowed Robin to run up to Ben, Superboy, and Aqualad to call out to them and bring up a holographic display of the floor they were on, showing the support columns, two front ones being broken. Robin then explained his plan followed with an, "Understand?"

"Understood!" Ben responded while the other two nodded. Quickly, they got into position.

Kid Flash taunted Desmond, running around, barely being missed by the large heavy swings as they chipped away at the columns instead. Aqualad used the handles to move water around, causing a slick of it between Desmond and to the center of the room where Robin had just chalked up a large X. Ben ran up to the X on the other side and shouted, "Hey, Ugly, over here!" He then beaconed with two of his hands. Roaring, Desmond charged but once he was upon Ben, he was waylaid by all four fists slamming down onto his head, knocking him down and slipping on the water to his back. Ben took a step back and as Desmond got up to his feet, Aqualad's tattoos lit up and he slammed his hands onto the water, causing electricity to flow to Desmond. Desmond groaned in pain from the shock, though as it ended, Robin yelled, "Move!" All the young heroes ran away towards the back of the room, furthest from the columns as small discs at each of the still-standing ones lit up green and red before they each detonated. This forced a large slab of concrete to break loose and fall onto Desmond, who only roared in dismay.

The falling debris did not stop there, however. The whole building shook as the rest of the building fell. The heroes tried to run for the exit but ducked when the debris fell in front of them. Robin and Kid Flash were shielded by Aqualad and Superboy who were in turn shielded by Ben's huge, four-armed form. The whole building finished collapsing leaving nothing but a pile of rubble at the surface. All was still for a few seconds before Ben hoisted the massive slab of concrete that trapped them and tossed it aside. Even though Ben shielded them from most of the rubble, they were all still a mess. Ben's shirt was torn ragged, Robin had a tear in his cape at his right shoulder, Superboy's suit was torn at the chest, causing the S shield to fall over itself, and everyone else's suits were torn and tattered in multiple places. Everyone was panting from exhaustion, clearly exhausted from dealing with the monstrous Desmond and the running they did all night. "We did it," Aqualad managed to say.

"Was there ever any doubt?" Robin retorted. He looked to Kid Flash who was next to him. They both smiled and high fived, but it was quickly regretted as they both clutched their chest, ribs most likely bruised or even cracked from either the fighting or the rubble. Superboy walked a short distance and spotted Dr. Desmond, still monstrous, but helplessly pinned by a large amount of rubble.

"See?" Kid Flash said, gaining the clone's attention before he gestured behind him and up, "The moon." Superboy stared, entranced by the sight of the large full moon. As he stared, his eyes narrowed, clearly seeing something. Ben looked up, finally catching his breath. The moon was cool to look at, he guessed. However, as they all looked, there was a humanoid figure that appeared in front of the moon, and it grew at it came closer. "Oh, and Superman," Flash said as he walked up to Superboy, "Do we keep our promises or what?" Ben's eyes widened. This was the man that Superboy was cloned from. The invulnerable, super-strong, superfast, heat vision-wielding super-being. As Superman got closer, Ben realized that he wasn't the only hero interested in what had happened. A small crowd of superheroes appeared. There was a red robot with a small tornado granting it flight, a red-suited man with a white cape and golden electric bolt as his symbol, a green-skinned bald man with red eyes and black suit with a blue cape, a magician levitating on a magical disc, a woman with long dark hair in a star-spangled unitard, a man and a woman with bird wings, and more and more. More that didn't fly were lowered via a glowing green disk by one of the men in a green suit with a green symbol of a lantern on their chest. One simply ran up at lightning speed, wearing a red suit similar to Kid Flash's, only the top of the hood was complete and hid their hair.

Superboy was the first to make his move. He walked calmly up to Superman. He looked him in the eye as he revealed the S shield on his suit. Superman's reaction was immediate as his eyes widened in surprise. Superboy gained a hopeful look, but that was crushed as Superman's face grew serious. Ben looked around to the group of heroes that gathered. They all looked expectantly at the duo, though he could feel a few eyes on him.

"Is that what I think it is?" asked the man in a black cape and pointed cowl. Kid Flash walked up and put his hand up between his face and Superboy's general direction and muttered, "He doesn't like being called and it."

Suddenly, Superboy blurted out, "I'm Superman's clone!" Every hero present save for the young heroes and the dark cowled hero started and looked at one another, whereas Superman's gaze was transfixed on the young clone. The dark caped hero narrowed his eyes and demanded, "Start talking."

"Well," Ben started and was interrupted by the Omnitrix counting down, "it's about to get a bit more complicated." The countdown finished and revealed Ben in his human form. He chuckled as he was suddenly under heavy scrutiny. "Ta-da?"

The young heroes explained what all of what they learned while at Cadmus. Ben learned that they were drawn to the building due to a fire one of the genomorphs started to lure them there to help free them. They explained what happened to the best of their ability. Fighting their way to the surface, freeing Guardian, being freed by Ben and Superboy, even Desmond. During that time, Desmond was hauled away and escorted to prison and most of the heroes had left. After their explanation, the hero, now known to Ben as Batman, stared hard at the young eleven-year-old. "Now, explain how you got into Cadmus."

Ben gulped audibly, "Okay. Well, first, I was at one of the parks in DC with my grandpa and cousin when this bad guy named Dr. Animo showed up. I beat him up, but then the Omnitrix, this watch, started acting kinda funny and the next thing I knew I was pulled through some kind of portal. Then, I was inside a lab and they were talking about catching a signal from a genetic weapon. That's when I knew I had to get out of there. I managed to get away but ran into Robin, Kid Flash, and Aqualad. You know the rest of the story."

"The watch, or Omnitrix as you call it. How is it considered a genetic weapon?" Batman asked, his glare hardening.

"Oh, it's got dozens of aliens worth of DNA in here. If I dial up an alien and slam the watch's face back down, I can turn into one of fifteen aliens. There's probably more in there and others out there that aren't logged into the watch yet, but so far it's fifteen." Ben grew thoughtful, "Well, sixteen, but I don't like turning into him." Ben then looked Batman in the eye, "I don't think you've heard of the alien heroes helping people out all last summer, have you? I mean, I haven't heard of you guys at all!" Ben gestured with his arms outstretched.

A bout of uncomfortable silence stretched between the two of them before Batman said, "We'll need to deliberate on this. Stay put." He then looked to the young heroes, "Goes double for all of you." Robin looked chastised and Kid Flash looked sheepish. Aqualad simply turned his head away. Batman turned away and spoke with a group of heroes, while Superman was conversing with another. A few minutes passed and Superboy looked towards Superman hopefully. Noticing him, the green-skinned hero placed a hand on Superman's shoulder, gaining his attention and turned his head towards Superboy. Superman turned around, but Superboy looked away, if only briefly. Superman seemed to sigh, before walking over to Superboy. Sighing again, Superman said, "We'll, uh, figure out something for you. The League will, I mean. For now, I'd better make sure they get that Blockbuster creature squared away." He then turned away and flew off. Superboy did not look very happy at the interaction.

"That could have been worse," Ben remarked. Superboy glared at Ben. He quickly brought his hands up in front of himself, "What I mean was he could have not talked to you at all!" He chuckled quietly.

"Cadmus will be investigated," Batman said, as he, the red speedster, and a man in an orange and green pants with blonde hair walked up to the young heroes, "All fifty-two levels, but let's make one thing clear."

He was immediately interrupted by the red speedster, "You should have called."

Batman glanced at him before turning back, "End results aside, we are not happy. You hacked Justice League systems, disobeyed direct orders, and endangered lives." He looked pointedly at Ben at this last part.

"Hey, I was fine, nothing I hadn't been in before!" Everyone looked at him then. "What? I haven't." He crossed his arms.

Batman returned his stare at the three he was referring to primarily, "You will not be doing this again."

"I am sorry," Aqualad stated, "but we will." The three primary heroes walked in front of Superboy and Ben and faced down Batman.

"Aqualad," said the man in the orange shirt, "stand down."

"Apologies, my king," Aqualad placed a hand over his chest and nodded down a bit before looking back up, "but no." Around then, Ben noticed that Aqualad's hands were webbed. However, at this declaration, the king arched a brow at Aqualad's statement. "We did good work here tonight," Aqualad continued, "the work you trained us to do. Together, on our own, we forged something powerful. Important."

"If this is about your treatment at the Hall," the scarlet speedster said, "the three of you-."

"The five of us," Kid Flash interrupted, "and it's not."

"Batman," Robin pleaded, "we are ready to use what you taught us, or why teach us at all?"

"Why let them tell us what to do?" Superboy asked. He walked up to the three older heroes, "It's simple: get on board, or get out of the way."

"I don't listen to my own cousin, sometimes my own grandpa," Ben interjected, "why are you thinking I'm going to start listening to heroes I don't know?" He pointed to the Omnitrix, "I may have gotten this by mistake, but I've been using it all last year to help people. I'm not going to just stop."

All the young heroes looked to the remaining older heroes. Batman simply narrowed his gaze. "We might have a solution, but first," his gaze turned to Ben, "I assume you don't have a place to stay for now." Ben shook his head. Batman's gaze softened. "I believe we may have a place for you for the time being."

Ben was not expecting to be living with a robot. Red Tornado was the red android he saw earlier that day manipulating wind to allow him to fly. His alter ego was John Smith and he worked as a teacher for a local school. Ben did not catch what city, he was too busy ignoring everyone, including himself, to not think about staying with a teacher the whole time. However, once Red Tornado was able to swap to John Smith, it was all so mundane from there. Take the bus, get off there, take another one, get off there, take the train, get off here. Once or twice, Ben nodded off to get some well-deserved rest. Finally, the arrived at Red Tornado's place. It was a simple, one-bedroom apartment. "I apologize for lack of a spare room, Ben," John apologized.

"That's okay," Ben responded, sleepily, "I'll probably just sleep as soon as I hit the couch." He sleepily rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand.

Once the door was opened, Ben staggered into the simple, spartan apartment and toppled onto the couch. He was right.

He did fall asleep as soon as he hit the couch.

Three days passed without note or incident. All that really occurred was explaining how he got the Omnitrix via pod ejected from a failing spacecraft and how he used it to help people over the past year. Dr. Animo, a scientist who mutated animals to cement his place in history. Hex and his niece Charm Caster, and how they sought the Charms of Bezel to gain immense power. Vilgax, and how he sought the Omnitrix to rule over the galaxy with such a powerful tool that could turn him into any of ten plus aliens. Ghostfreak, and how he wanted to rule over the Earth after being freed from the Omnitrix. That one was a long story on how he freed himself then was brought back after a defeat, then defeated again before having himself scanned again by the Omnitrix to save himself from complete destruction. All the while Ben had a feeling this wasn't strictly confidential, so he told them of Ghostfreak's weakness: Sunlight. Before when Ben would willingly turn into Ghostfreak, his protoplasm shell protected him from the sun, but it was shed entirely after meeting him face to face, weakening him to bright sources of light. "So, I could turn into him," Ben wrapped up, "it wigs me out because he's still conscious in a few strands of DNA. So, he's the only alien I don't ever want to turn into."

"And he has not eliminated you because?" John Smith asked.

"He needs me. He needs to possess me and force me to use the Omnitrix to become whole." Ben shuddered. "It's not pleasant."

"Do you have a defense for this?"

"Other than the sun?" Ben responded, "Well, as it turns out, he can't merge with me when I'm in alien form, so there's that. But that only lasts about ten minutes or so."

"You seem to be very forthcoming with this information, why is that?" The sheer curiosity was not lost on Ben.

"Well, you guys all saw me transform from Four Arms to me, so why not. Heroes usually know each other secret identities, right?" Ben asked with a smirk.

"Not always, but you are not entirely wrong there," John said, returning the smile.

Ben smiled back, "You know, you're pretty good at human emotions for most androids I've come across. You programmed with them or did you learn yourself?" Ben arched a brow, now curious himself.

"I have been wanting to get in touch with humanity," John explained, "so I joined the group of heroes known as the Justice League. That was, I could learn teamwork, cooperation, and comradery. They also helped me learn how to care for others and slowly, I believe I have some semblance of empathy."

"Cool! So, you're a real-deal self-learning robot? That's got to be cool, and you can look like a person or an android like a change of clothes? What's it like manipulating the wind like that?"

"All good questions, but I believe we have to head out soon," John replied. "First, we need to make a quick stop for my android body."

"Oh! Where are we going?" Ben asked, excited.

"You shall see."

Ben never used something like Zeta Beam travel before. I was like some strange cross between traversing into a dimension called the Null Void through a Null Void Projector and using transport discs which teleported you instantaneously. Sure enough, Ben and Red Tornado in his full android appearance teleported to a cave structure that seemed to be in the final stages of setting up. "Welcome to Mount Justice, Ben," Red Tornado announced. "Batman will explain a few things while you are here."

Walking to the center of the cave, Ben saw the four teens, half of them he recognized on site. Aqualad and Superboy being easily recognizable even with civilian clothes on, but he could barely place the dark-haired boy with sunglasses as Robin, and the kid with the shock orange hair would have been nearly unrecognizable were it not for his green eyes and smirk. The teens were lined up in front of Batman as the dark hero looked at Ben expectantly. He ran to a place in the line, next to Aqualad. There, he got to see the scarlet speedster behind them, to Batman's right he saw the orange-shirted king of Aqualad's, Red Tornado stood next to a long-haired blonde woman wearing a denim jacket and skin-tight dark clothes as well as a man in armor and hawk wings. Behind them stood the man with the red suit and white cape. Ben hopped he would learn their superhero names soon enough. Referring to any nicknames he had in his head might be embarrassing for both of them.

"This cave was the original secret sanctuary of the Justice League," Batman explained. "We're calling it into service again since you five are determined to stay together and fight the good fight." He paused briefly, "You'll do it on League terms."

He looked over to Red Tornado and the woman next to him, "Red Tornado volunteered to live here and be your supervisor," Ben felt somewhat comforted by that, somehow, "Black Canary's in charge of training," and Ben felt a bit apprehensive of that. She was in charge of training kids with superpowers? Hopefully, she had some of her own. Batman wasn't done explaining though. "I will deploy you on missions."

"Real missions?" Robin asked.

"Yes," Batman answered, "but covert."

"The League will still handle the obvious stuff," The scarlet speedster said, drawing the young heroes' attention, "There's a reason why we have these big targets on our chests."

"But Cadmus proves the bad guys are getting smarter," the king stated, "Batman needs a team that can operate on the sly."

"The six of you will be that team," Batman finished.

"Aw sweet!" Ben exclaimed.

"Cool," Robin said, before pausing and asked, "wait, six?"

Batman looked behind Robin. Approached was the green-skinned man with the blue cape and a young green-skinned, red-haired girl. She wore also a blue cape with a matching skirt and a white shirt with a red X over it. Batman explained, "This is the Martian Manhunter's niece. Miss Martian." So that was their names. Wait, Martian? As in alien? Maybe a new alien species to scan for the watch, with their permission?

"Hi," said Miss Martian, if shyly.

"Liking this gig more every minute," Kid Flash said. He walked up to Miss Martian, "Welcome aboard! I'm Kid Flash, that Robin, Aqualad, it's cool if you forget their names."

"What are we?" Ben gestured to himself and Superboy, "Chopped liver?"

Miss Martian giggled and said, "I'm honored to be included."

Ben, Robin, and Aqualad also walked up to Miss Martian. Robin turned around noticing someone missing, "Hey, Superboy! Come meet Miss M."

Superboy looked off to the side as though deciding, then walked over to Miss Martian. Once he was over there, her shirt slowly changed from white to black and the cape disappeared. She sheepishly looked down before looking back at Superboy, "I like your t-shirt."

Superboy looked at her shirt then his own, being a simple black t-shirt with the red S shield on it and smiled. Robin walked up to him and elbowed him enough to nudge him whereas Kid Flash sped over to his other side an threw an arm over his shoulder and smiled as Miss Martian.

Aqualad simply grinned at the team and said, "Today is the day."

Ben smiled. Perhaps he could get used to being in this strange world of heroes and villains.

AN: Reminder about the Poll. Tell your friends, check out other stories I've got, leave a review. Writers like reviews. Note: NaNoWriMo is coming up and I'm going to be pausing all writing (trust me, I've been doing it off and on) as well as all video games to write for NaNoWriMo. I will attempt to finish a story within the time limit! Hint for the new story: It will be the first of a series I plan on. I won't post any chapters until the first of December, so expect the first chapter to drop then!