BEN 10, JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED AND YOUNG JUSTICE DO NOT BELONG TO ME. ANY OC'S DO, HOWEVER, AND YOU DON'T WANT TO TRY TO STEAL SOMEONE WITH SUPER-STRENGTH.

Quick alert: if you haven't read Ben 10: Unlimited, or if you forgot what happens, READ THAT ONE FIRST! Seriously, you won't know what's going on, otherwise.

Hi, everyone! I know that you all demanded this sequel, and I admit, I procrastinated writing this, since I was sucked into writing my Star Wars story, which I recommend that you all read. I think you'll like it.

This is my first sequel to my first story ever, so it's kind of awesome; I never thought I'd ever reach this point when I first started writing Ben 10: Unlimited. But now I'm here, and I'll do my best to make this story as enjoyable as its parent. Be aware, however, that there will be an extensive author's note, defending certain actions I will take.

With all that said, enjoy the story!

Unlimited Justice, Part 1

Prologue

New Beginnings

Heroes faced many challenges in their lives. Whether it was facing the latest crisis, protecting their secret identity or just the everyday stress that comes with being a superhero, there was always something that a hero needed to rise to face.

Unfortunately, Ben Tennyson—a man who had saved worlds, galaxies, universes and even all of reality on more than one occasion—must have missed the lesson on being a new parent in superhero-camp.

At the moment, he was pacing outside of a room in the Fortress of Solitude, while his wife, Kara Zor-El Tennyson, was giving birth to their child. He had known that this was coming; the advanced Kryptonian scanners within the Fortress had predicted when Kara would go into labor down to the minute. Still, that didn't make it any less nerve-wracking.

Ben finally stopped pacing when a hand gently but firmly landed on his shoulder; he turned to see Bruce Wayne, known to the rest of the world as Batman, looking at him with exasperated amusement.

"Ben, relax," Bruce said, "Kara will be fine, and so will the baby."

"Have you had a child with an alien before, Bruce?" Ben snapped back, "Yeah, I didn't think so; I'm allowed to worry, okay?"

Behind the two men, Diana Prince, AKA Wonder Woman, struggled not to laugh, though she did feel a little impressed when Ben simply shrugged off Bruce's infamous "Bat-glare" that the billionaire gave.

The other founding members of the Justice League had traveled to the Fortress once they'd received word that Kara had gone into labor; Wally West, the Flash, John Stewart, the Green Lantern, Shayera Hol, Hawkgirl, and J'onn J'onnz, the Martian Manhunter. Clark Kent, Superman, was inside with Kara, along with several of the robots that manned the Fortress, helping to deliver the baby.

Along with the founding members, several of Ben and Kara's closest friends and family were there as well. The Anodite, Verdona, who was Ben's grandmother, Oliver Queen, Green Arrow and his wife, Dinah Queen, Black Canary, and Kara's best friend, Barbara Gordon, AKA Batgirl.

The heroes had all come in their civilian clothes; they decided that welcoming a new life into the world while in costume seemed a little inappropriate. Without masks—at least, for those who normally wore them—the looks of surprise on everyone's faces was obvious when the Fortress briefly shook.

"That's the third time in the last hour," Wally commented, "How much longer?"

"I don't know," Ollie replied, "but it's starting to worry me."

"Worry you?" Dinah asked incredulously, "How do you think Ben feels?"

During the last three months of her pregnancy, Kara's hormones had started to get out of control, and that, in turn, made her powers unstable. She would sometimes twitch, and a five-foot hole would appear in the nearest wall, or her heat-vision would suddenly activate and vaporize anything she looked at. In order to keep everyone safe, Batman had developed a red-sun radiation suit that Kara had to wear under her clothes; it negated her powers, much to the relief of everyone.

Now, however, with the baby on its way, the medical devices of the Fortress suggested that Kara be placed under a yellow-sun radiation generator, for both her own health and that of the baby. Unfortunately, that meant that every time Kara had a contraction, she would punch something, and the super-strong blow would shake the entire Fortress. While the potential threat of being buried alive made everyone present nervous, it was even worse for Ben.

Finally, after one last tremor, the Fortress was still; Ben froze and stared wide-eyed at the door. After a few seconds, they opened, and a tired-looking Clark Kent walked out.

"Go on in, Ben," Clark told his cousin-in-law, "There's someone who wants to see you."

Slowly, as if in a trance, Ben made his way into the Fortress' infirmary; behind him, his friends and family smiled widely or cried tears of happiness.

The first thing Ben saw was his wife's face; Kara looked exhausted, but immensely happy as she cradled a tiny, blanket-wrapped figure in her arms. She looked up at him from the bed she was lying on and beamed.

"Ben," she said softly, "come and say hello to your son."

Ben approached the bed and saw the face of his newborn son; he was sound asleep, his cheeks still red and the tiniest wisp of blond hair on top of his head. Ben sat on an adjacent chair and tentatively reached out to take him from his mother. Kara gently handed him over, and Ben slowly rocked his son in his arms.

"Hi there," Ben said, then briefly glanced at Kara; she nodded, letting him be the first one to address their son by his name.

"Welcome to the world, Kenneth Max Tennyson."

…

Over the next hour, the other heroes took turns saying hello to the baby, though they let Clark and Verdona spent the longest time with him.

"Oh, I'm so happy for both of you!" Verdona squealed, though she made sure to keep her voice low as she held her great-grandson close, "You're going to be fantastic parents!"

"Thanks, Grandma," Ben said, his face nearly frozen in a grin, "But I want to know: does he have the Spark of the Anodites?"

Kara, her strength rapidly returning, sat up, her own expression curious; Verdona closed her eyes and gently placed her finger on Kenneth's forehead. After a moment, she removed her finger and opened her eyes again.

"Oh, he's got it, all right," she said proudly, "I'd wager that he'll be one of the most powerful Mana-users I've ever seen. Don't worry, though," she said when she saw Ben's look of worry, "I'm not going to try taking him away, like I did with Gwen; I'll train him here, with his family."

Ben sighed in relief; he trusted his grandmother with his life, but he still remembered the time when she had tried to destroy his late cousin's human body to free the Anodite within. He knew that she wouldn't do that to his son, but he was still a little paranoid.

"Of course he'll be powerful," Kara said with a smug smile, "Considering who his parents are, I wouldn't be surprised."

After Verdona gave Ken back to his mother, she had to ask. "So, do you know if he got any powers from the Ultimatrix?"

Ben looked at the silver gauntlet on his left wrist before answering. "Well, according to the alternate-future version of him I met, he will, but I don't know for sure; we'll have to wait and see."

Verdona nodded, just as Bruce entered the room. "Ben, I've just been contacted by the Watchtower; we have an Omega-level situation, and we're going to take care of it."

Ben nodded, then turned to sit next to his wife, but Kara held out her hand to stop him.

"Ben, go with them."

"What?" Ben was confused, "Kara, they can handle it…"

"It's an Omega," Kara interrupted, "and I did not just become a mother right before the world blows up. Go with them, save the day and then come right back here, got it?"

Ben looked hesitant for a moment, then nodded, kissing Kara before leaving.

"Grandma, can you look after them while I'm gone?"

Verdona nodded, her face serious for once. "Nothing will happen to this family while I'm here."

Ben smiled, then ran out the door.

"Come one, guys," he said the Leaguers, "it's Hero Time!"

…

Scotland

In the face of a planetary threat, most of the League was assembled; only Kara had remained behind, and the Justice League's coordinator, Mister Terrific was still on the Watchtower. As the station teleported everyone—those who had gone to the Fortress were now in costume—Ben felt confident with over sixty superheroes on his side. That kind of power could destroy planets… or save them.

As Ben felt the effects of being teleported wear off, he focused on the Ultimatrix; specifically, on the aliens that the device could turn him into. In a flash of green light, Ben was replaced by a humanoid creature with a body of blue stone, arms, head and spikes from his shoulder blades made of green crystal.

"DIAMONDHEAD!" he shouted.

"So, what's the situation?" Flash asked, though not to anyone in particular.

"I can answer that," a man in a blue bodysuit with a golden cape, helmet, boots and gloves said as he flew over to them, "I was monitoring the world's natural flow of magic and noticed a tremendous amount of energy gathering here."

"And that would be bad?" Diamondhead asked.

"It would be under any circumstances," Dr. Fate said gravely, "But a spell that requires this much power would be enough to alter reality itself; not to mention that it is being cast by Morgaine Le Fey."

That was enough to make most of the Leaguers cautious; Morgaine Le Fey was already a powerful sorceress—what could she do with that kind of power? That was a good enough reason to call an Omega-level threat.

"Over there!" Superman said, pointing at a nearby hill; rushing at them an army of strange creatures, amalgamations of stone and wood with glowing runes on their bodies.

"She has used druidic magic to raise an army!" Dr. Fate said, blasting apart the nearest construct, "They are not the real threat; she is using them to delay us, to keep us from stopping her!"

"Understood," Batman said, "Ben, take Captain Marvel, Dr. Fate and Zatanna and stop Le Fey!"

Diamondhead, who had just skewered a charging construct with a dozen shards of crystal, nodded, then disappeared in a flash of green light.

"JET RAY!" the red, manta-like alien yelled, before taking flight, the other three heroes right behind him.

"Okay, Doc, where are we headed?" Captain Marvel asked.

Dr. Fate's eyes glowed briefly, before he pointed over another hill; there, Morgaine Le Fey stood at the center of a circle of runes, her hands raised to the sky as she channeled incredible amounts of power. Protecting her was over a hundred of the wood/stone constructs, only these were bigger, hulking things with hammers for arms.

"Okay, Captain Marvel and I will work on clearing a path," Jet Ray said, "Fate, Zatanna, see what you can do about containing that magic, or at least slowing it down!"

The others nodded as Jet Ray transformed once again.

"RATH!" the tiger-like alien roared, before snarling at the small army in front of him. "Let me tell ya something, magic rock things! This was the worst day you could try taking over the world, 'cause now it's time to go Ultimate!"

The Ultimatrix dial on his chest sprouted four spikes and then Rath's body changed; he became larger, his fur became a light gold, he sprouted a tail that ended in a battleaxe, a large mane grew around his neck, his upper fangs became much longer, and the single claw that emerged from the back of his hands became three.

"ULTIMATE RATH!" he shouted, before charging at the nearest construct, his fist hitting hard enough to shatter it.

The others weren't far behind him; Captain Marvel was a blur of motion, smashing constructs with his fists or blasting them with bolts of magical lightning. Dr. Fate and Zatanna avoided most of the fighting, instead choosing to rush towards Morgaine's position. It was a good thing that they arrived when they did; a dome of red mystical energy was spreading outwards from the runic circle. The two magic-users began chanting spells to try to hold back the dome, but it was like trying to hold back the ocean with a wall made of paper.

"Rath!" Zatanna shouted, knowing that, since her powers weren't on the same level as Fate's, stopping her own spell wouldn't make much of a difference at that point, "Disrupt the runes! That should stop the spell!"

Ultimate Rath nodded, showing that he'd heard; he pointed his fists at a pack of constructs, and the claws on his hands shot forward like missiles and then exploded. Once that was done, he changed back into Rath, then changed into a black-and-blue velociraptor with balls for feet.

"XLR8!" he shouted, then zoomed forward, avoiding the handful of remaining constructs, then colliding with the dome of energy; after a few seconds of resistance, he forced his way through and ran over the runes, making sure to destroy as many of them as he could.

"No!" Morgaine shouted, as the energy changed from red to green, "Do you know what you've done!?"

XLR8 scratched his head. "Um, saved the day?"

"You've reversed the spell, you fool!" Morgaine shouted, before the dome of energy flew outward.

The heroes braced themselves, but emerged unscathed; not too far away, the rest of the Justice League was hit, but were also unharmed. As XLR8 and his team were trying to understand what had happened, they spotted Morgaine trying to slip away.

"Oh, no you don't!" XLR8 yelled, dashing up to her, but he was too late; the sorceress disappeared into a swirling, golden portal. Ben scowled as he turned back to normal.

"Dang, I was hoping to catch her…" Ben looked up to see Dr. Fate, Captain Marvel and Zatanna staring at him. "What?"

"Ben, look behind you," Captain Marvel said, pointing.

Ben turned, and nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw a tendril of green energy shoot out his back and fly north.

"What just happened?" he asked nervously, "I didn't just get my soul sucked out, did I?"

"I am… uncertain," Dr. Fate admitted, but jumped slightly when a similar tendril emerged from his back, as well as Zatanna and Captain Marvel.

It wasn't just them; nearly every member of the League went through the same process, but again, none were harmed, though all had the same question on their minds.

What was going on?

…

The Fortress of Solitude

"So, are there any plans of giving young Ken here a brother or sister someday?" Verdona asked, her tone playful even though her body was tense as she kept watch; after losing so many members of her family years ago, she would let nothing happen to the ones she had left.

Kara could see Verdona's tension, but answered anyway. "Are you kidding? I just had my first kid, why would I even think about another one at this point?"

"Just curious, dear," Verdona said, smiling, "Besides, I need to know how many children I'll have to spoil, and—look out!"

A tendril of green energy had just passed through the ceiling and was headed straight at them; Verdona raised a shield of violet Mana to stop it, but the energy passed through it as if it weren't even there. The tendril then split into three, striking Verdona and then Kara; the Kryptonian tried to shield her infant son from the attack, but was too late. To her horror, the thing hit her son…

And nothing happened, at least, not outwardly; Kara quickly X-rayed Ken, but couldn't spot anything out of place. She did the same thing to herself, but she was also fine; what had happened?

"Verdona," she said shakily, "I need to know if Ken is okay."

The Anodite, getting over her own moment of panic, quickly scanned the newborn, who was still asleep. "I can't feel anything wrong, thank goodness."

Kara heaved a sigh of relief; her baby was all right. Still, she still had to wonder: what was that? And was her son in any danger?

…

The Watchtower

Several hours later, the Justice League had assembled in its entirety, awaiting the results of Dr. Fate's analysis of the magic. The founding members, along with Ben and Kara, were in the private conference hall, where Dr. Fate was ready to give them answers.

"The spell was intended to drain life," Fate began, "It was meant to rapidly age not only us, but those we cared about the most; it would age us one year for every day."

"Well, since none of us feel any differently," Wonder Woman said, "I can only assume that the spell failed?"

"Not exactly," Fate said, shaking his head, "According to Ben, Morgaine said that the spell had been reversed. I've done the research, and have come to a conclusion: instead of aging rapidly, we're aging slowly."

"How slowly are we talking about?" Flash asked.

Fate paused for a moment before answering. "One day for every year."

The Leaguers sat back in shock; it would take a whole year for them to age just one day?

"And… and this spell also affected the people we care for the most?" Superman asked, worried about Lois Lane, the woman he'd been planning to propose to next week.

"Yes; I can only assume that Morgaine, or someone operating through her, wanted to use the spell to hurt not only us, but our families and friends as well. Now, our loved ones will live as long as we do."

"Ben," Kara asked worriedly, "What about our son?"

"Oh my god," Ben said, "Is he going to take ten thousand years to grow up?"

Fate hesitated. "I am… uncertain. I would need to scan the child to be sure."

After a quick call to Verdona, who was watching Ken back at the Fortress, the Anodite brought the infant up to the station. Fate placed his hands a few inches above the still-sleeping baby, and muttered a quick incantation; his hands glowed briefly, and were then pulled away as Fate pondered whatever he had just learned.

"Well?" Ben asked, starting to panic.

"The spell was cast on him," Fate said, much to the worry of the new parents, "but it is not affecting him—not yet, at least."

"What do you mean?" Kara asked.

"It would appear that the magic will remain dormant until he reaches maturity," Fate explained, "I believe that the same effect would happen to any children that are born from any of us."

"Okay, so we're immortal," Hawkgirl said stoically, though she held Green Lantern's hand under the table, "And we'll have immortal families?"

"We are not truly immortal," Fate corrected her, "We can still fall prey to injury or disease, and we are aging, just at a snail's pace."

"This will change a lot of things," Batman said, "People will notice if we stop aging, and that puts our secret identities at risk."

"Well, we don't have to worry about that for a few years, at least," Ben said, "But I can make a call to my universe; I can probably get us some ID masks and program them to make us look older as the years go by. After we're supposed to be dead… I don't know, we'll think of something."

"And what about our superhero identities?" Green Lantern asked, "People are still going to ask questions."

"Well, we can just say that the alien members of the League have a much longer lifespan than humans; it's true in J'onn's case, anyway," he nodded at the Martian before continuing, "As for magic-users and metahumans, we can just say that whatever gave them their powers gave them longevity; Lantern can say the same for his ring."

"What about people like Batman?" J'onn said, gesturing towards the Dark Knight, "People like him have no special powers or tools that could explain his lack of aging."

Ben thought about that for a moment. "Well, not many people know who you are under the mask, right, Bats?"

Batman nodded, seeing where Ben was going and taking the reins of the conversation. "People will assume that someone else has taken on the role of Batman, or anyone else without powers."

"Great!" Flash said, relaxing, "Problem solved."

"Not quite," Wonder Woman said thoughtfully, "What if Morgaine or someone else tries to use the same spell, and we can't stop it in time?"

"Not to worry," Fate said, "the magic that was used drained the ley lines of the area, and that was the only place that could be used for a spell like that. Something like this will not happen again."

"Then that leaves only one question," Ben said, "If someone was using Morgaine, who was it… and will they try something else?"

…

Unknown Location

"This is a disaster!" a man, shrouded in shadows, said, "This operation was meant to destroy the Justice League, not make them outlive us by millennia!"

"That isn't true," another man said in a gravelly voice, "Yes, the destruction of the League would have aided us in the short term, but in the long…"

"You planned this from the beginning?" a woman asked, her voice both accusing and amused, "And yet, you never told us?"

"If the League was destroyed, that is simply a boon," the gravelly-voiced man said, "but the advantages we can gain with them alive far exceed what we could if they were dead."

"There is still the matter of the League's longevity," the first man pointed out.

"They can still die, like any other person; at any rate, we can use Morgaine's failure and replicate it to a smaller scale, and use it on ourselves and our associates. The plan requires at least two more decades to come to fruition, and I would prefer that all of our assets were in good condition."

The first man huffed. "Very well… but I want my objection to this to be noted."

"It is," the gravelly-voiced man said, and the others disappeared; once he was alone, he smiled.

"So it begins…"

…

San Francisco

Later that night, Ben and Kara tucked Ken into his new bed; the baby had been silent since birth, save for the occasional gurgle when he woke up. His parents looked at him fondly for a few minutes, watching him sleep. Ben gently took Kara's hand in his own.

"You okay?" he whispered.

Kara put her head on his shoulder. "Yeah, I'm fine; just thinking about what happened today."

"Yeah, first we became parents, and now we're as close to immortal as we can get," Ben said with a quiet laugh, "But we can handle whatever comes next, and so will Ken, when he grows up."

Kara nodded, her eyes growing heavy from exhaustion; despite the energy-restoring properties of the yellow-sun radiation, she was still drained from both childbirth and the scare from thinking she'd lost her son. Seeing this, Ben gently lifted her up, bridal-style, and took her to their room.

"He's gonna be a hero when he's older," Kara mumbled, as she got into bed.

"Considering his family, I wouldn't be surprised," Ben said, lying next to her.

Both of them were silent for a few minutes, until Ben sat up straight with a worried expression; Kara glanced up at him with a raised eyebrow.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Do you think…" Ben swallowed nervously, "Do you think he'll like smoothies?"

The only response he got was a pillow to his face.

All right, first chapter to the first sequel is done! Now, I know a lot of you are scratching your heads about what I did, but let me assure you, I have a method to my madness. Everything I do has a purpose at some point, even if it isn't obvious.

Believe me, the League's pseudo-immortality has several reasons behind it, not the least of which is that I don't want most of the heroes to be old. I know that a lot of you were hoping for the Batman Beyond universe to show up, but it won't. Sorry, Terry, but Bruce Wayne is the only Batman for me. On to Young Justice!

You might also be wondering why this is called Part 1. Well, it's because I realized something in Ben 10: Unlimited. I had several story arcs in one story; think of this thing, which will be broken up into 3 parts, as seasons. This is just the first season.

Something I should mention, before I forget, is the Leaguers' costumes; if you don't remember from Ben 10: Unlimited, the founding members are wearing the good-universe costumes from "Injustice: Gods Among Us", J'onn has his Young Justice costume, and Supergirl is wearing feminine version of the costume in Man of Steel.

Hope you're ready for excitement, explosions and my first Muffin quote of this story!

Muffins, Assemble!