Disclaimer: I don't own Ben 10 or Young Justice

Update 6/14/17: I've decided to remaster this entire story, chapter by chapter. Fixing grammatical errors and even adding in brand new content. I hope you enjoy!

It was all planned out, from the very beginning. A small swarm of drones attacking the docks drew Earth's greatest heroes to the scene. Ben Tennyson, wielder of the Ultimatrix and savior of the Universe, Gwen Tennyson, half Anodite, black belt and local hero (among other things) and finally Kevin Levin, half Osmosian, middle school drop-out and also local hero. They had all helped to save the Earth in at least one occasion. They had done it in secret for the first year or so but, once Ben's secret was revealed, their identities were common knowledge although most villains had stayed away from family due to respect or honor or perhaps they were just too lazy either way, family was off limits. Unfortunately there was always the one villain Ben had overcome time and time again only to have him return in every instance. Vilgax, conqueror of ten worlds and all around jerk.

After dispatching the drones, Ben, Gwen, and Kevin returned to find not a family welcoming there safe return but, a scorched city with dead bodies in every direction. They hurried to the one place a person would go when a disaster like this occurred, home.

Ben was always the main target for attacks like these, ever since he was ten years old the villains would always go after Ben and anything they did was, in the end, simply to get to him. So they believed the best place to go at this point was Ben's home to check on the family that they held so dear. For some reason no matter how bad things got, the non-hero affiliated Tennyson family would be there for the trio, even when Kevin went rogue they still helped no matter what, they seemed immortal in a way. What they saw next would utterly shatter that thought process.

The house was in pieces and the entire block was more in shambles than any other place. As if a great battle was held here moments ago and the victor was just decided, the victor was decided and the great battle was over. The trio walked towards the house, Gwen using Kevin's shoulder to muffle her tears and cries of pain. Ben fell to his knees in front of the broken home.

"I swear when I get my hands on that squid-faced freak, I'm gonna-" Kevin's threat was cut-short when Gwen shouted "Look!" and pointed into the rubble.

Ben shot up and ran over to a pile of rubble. What set this pile out from the rest was the black and green ooze dripping from sides. Ben lifted a large piece of building up and struggled to flip it over only to reveal a gruesome body. A face so distorted not even a mother could recognize it but, a familiar pink jacket and white skirt could not lie.

Ben backed up holding his hand to his mouth, feeling as though he could vomit from the utter disgust he was feeling. Suddenly he had an eerie feeling come over him, like a man he wanted to murder more than anything at the moment was standing right behind him, in fact; that was exactly the case. The fifteen foot tall green humanoid stepped onto the street from a hover board he arrived on. His golden armor glimmered on the reflection of the burning city behind him.

"VILGAX!" Kevin roared and simply touched the ground immediately being encased in concrete before morphing both his hands into sledge hammers. He charged the war-lord and leaped into the air to come to eye level only to be back handed effortlessly to the side.

Ben wanted to jump into action, strike Vilgax as hard as possible but, he was frozen in place. Unable to even lift his arm and activate the Ultimatrix he just stood and starred at the charred and disfigured body lying in the grass in front of him.

Gwen screamed with rage causing Ben and Kevin to look over in distress. Gwen shed her skin to the ground causing a purple humanoid of bright and intense energy to float with grace and beauty off the ground.

"A line Vilgax, one you have crossed one too many times!" she shouted as Vilgax let a smile creep onto his face slowly. He pressed one button on his gauntlet and three poles erupted from the ground around her forming a cage of sorts. At least that's what it seemed like until it began shocking Gwen and causing her to fall to the ground, after a few moments her body evaporated into particles dissipating into the air.

"Pure unfiltered plasma, a lesser known weakness to pure energy beings such as an Anodite," he looked over at Ben who simply starred at the spot where his cousin once stood. That couldn't have just happened, could it?

"Wait, you mean?" Kevin started his sentence but simply looked to the ground with tears streaming down his face.

"Once energy has been dispersed in such a way, it can never be reconstituted," Vilgax smiled and looked over to Kevin before stepping forwards.

Every step he came closer to Kevin, Ben became more frozen. He was shocked, petrified, completely at a loss for thoughts let alone words.

"That girlfriend of yours and her Galvanic Mechamorph were the hardest to dispose of but, eventually she fell too..."

"W-Who else?" Ben muttered still staring in the opposite direction.

"Everyone who bears the name Tennyson now has a pike going through their skull and it's all. On. You." Vilgax walked up to Kevin who struggled to his feet only to face a Ray-gun pointed directly at his forehead.

Kevin whispered in Ben's direction "It's not your fault," He cringed at the sound of the single shot that echoed through the ruined suburban neighborhood and then the sound of a body collapsing on the ground broke the dam and rage flooded into the teenagers mind. His face contorted into one of fury as a green light engulfed the area and a dinosaur like creature of equal size to Vilgax rushed out towards the cruel villain with his fist balled up and ready to strike. Vilgax was unable to react as the fist collided with his face with astonishing power sending Vilgax into the ground and creating an impressive crater.

"How could you!?" he yelled as he pummeled the ruthless alien into the ground expanding the already decently sized crater even further. Suddenly both fists of fury were caught mid-swing by Vilgax who had a beaten face but relentless demeanor. He stood and twisted the Vaxasaurian's wrist until he fell to his knees.

"The better question is…" Vilgax paused to deliver a bone crushing roundhouse kick to the jaw sending Humungousaur into the wreckage of his house.

He stood up and saw only a wooden steak with a bloody Hawaiian T-shirt strung on it but, a body nowhere in sight; He rushed out of the house and tripped onto the floor in front of Vilgax who picked the dinosaur alien up by the throat. "Why couldn't you stop me?"

An uppercut that people across the broken city could hear sent Humungousaur into the air. Every window for a mile was shattered and he was sent flying hundreds of feet up, the hero reacted in the only way he could. He slapped the dial on his chest and a massive green light engulfed the entire city. What came from the light was an enormous white humanoid with red armor and a large red spike emerging from his forehead pointing upwards. Still hundreds of feet up or a few feet relative to the To'kustars size, Way Big brought his fist down on Vilgax's body crushing it with all his force and leveling a city block. Ben felt a rush of happiness fall over him as he slammed his fist into the ground causing small earthquakes around the city. This went on for several minutes until the Ultimatrix dial on Way Big's chest turned red and a green light once again engulfed the massive titan and reverted him back into a normal human. Ben stood in the wreckage of a massive crater, one that spanned several miles.

Inside the crater a twitching body was barely breathing, Ben could tell just at the sight of him that it wasn't the end of the evil war-lord. It never was… Vilgax always survived no matter how bad the beating. Ben fell to his knees at the scene around him, the events of the day had settled in his mind… his entire family had been killed and it was entirely his fault. He could have at least tried to save Gwen and Kevin but, had he not been a hero in the first place, this would have never happened. He left the crater and walked along the sidewalk as he let tears flow down and hit the slightly ruptured side walk.

Suddenly a blue light emerged from behind Ben. A man looking to be in his mid-thirties wearing a white lab coat and safety goggles appeared from thin air. Ben didn't turn around, he simply addressed the man in the only way he could at the moment.

"Did you know this was going to happen?"

"Such is the curse of being a time walker," the man replied grimly.

"Why didn't you warn me it was a trap?"

"There are things-"

"You cannot do and places you cannot go… right," Ben finished the man's often used quote with a bitter sadness.

"I am very sorry for your loss truly I am but, the time for mourning is over, we have work to do," Ben turned around and wiped his tears.

"I'm done Paradox," Ben took his jacket off and tossed it to the ground dramatically. "If being a hero caused all of this, than I'm done with it all." Ben looked around at the burning city and grimaced.

Paradox sighed "It already happened so you can't change it, but you can make sure no one ever shares an experience like this ever again," Paradox walked up to Ben and put a hand on his shoulder, "There is another universe I know of that you could start over in."

"Paradox! How can I possibly start over," He looked out at the destroyed city once more tears streaming down his face, "After all of this..."

"Benjamin, I'm afraid you cannot change the past, however; you can shape your own future."

Ben thought for several seconds before turning around, "A fresh start?"

"Ben Tennyson never existed in this universe, you would be starting a new, you could choose to reenter your position as a hero or live out a normal life, the choice is yours," Paradox looked down at his shoes for a moment.

Ben would never forget the pain he felt and all the people he had loved in this world but, if he could start a new life? A chance to form new relationships, to be smarter, wiser, and more prepared. If he could start over in a new Universe he could make sure he didn't make the same mistakes twice! He could right his wrongs, be a better hero! He had only one choice.

"Fine, I'll do it."

"Splendid, we'll go now then," Paradox dipped his and into his coat pocket and flipped open his pocket watch before a blue light wrapped itself around them and whisked them away.

…

Salem, Massachusetts

A blue light illuminated the darkness of night just outside of a large tower in the middle of a park area.

"That's an odd place for an monument," commented Ben stepping out of the blue light casually. Ben looked over to Paradox who walked over to the side of the tower and placed the front of his pocket watch on the damp wall.

"It's more of a tower actually," Paradox smiled as a golden light erupted from the pocket watch and caused a mystic symbol of some-sort to engulf it. The light died down and Paradox put his pocket watch away in his coat and stepped back.

"What now?" Ben asked.

"Well, that was like ringing the doorbell, so now we wait for an answer."

"Hey, I thought it was like four in the afternoon, why is it pitch black out?" Ben asked looking around the empty park.

"Actually in this Universe, on this Earth, in this America, it's sometime after four in the morning, alternate dimensions rarely follow the exact same time frame," Paradox hinted

"What do you-"

"You'll find out eventually," he coyly foreshadowed as a massive golden ankh formed in the position surrounding where Paradox placed his pocket watch earlier.

"I have a friend that lives in this universe, a powerful Lord of Order who might be able to take care of you until you get back on your feet. He can also introduce you to the heroes of this world." Paradox turned around as the golden ankh formed a doorway in front of them.

"Whoa," Ben exclaimed as Paradox waved towards the ankh as if implying 'after you'.

"Whoa indeed," Paradox followed.

…

Somewhere in the Nexus of Reality

They arrived in a comfortable study of sorts with every wall covered in book shelves. Two seats sat separated by a small night stand in the far end of the room. The two large chairs were red velvet with gold trim facing a lite fire-place with a painting of an attractive young woman hanging above it.

A golden light appearing in front of the two caused Ben to shield his eyes, however; Paradox seemed unfazed.

"So that's what that feels like," Ben mumbled to himself referring to the light that suddenly blinded him as he shielded himself from its glow. A rather old man stepped out of the light before tapping on the floor with his cane as if ordering the light to dissipate, leaving the man behind.

"Kent Nelson, last time I saw you, you were inducted into that hero team, what was it? Justice Group?" Paradox stuck a hand out inviting the elderly gentleman to shake.

"It was called the Justice Society and you haven't aged a day, Paradox," Kent smiled and greeted the time walker with a hand shake keeping one hand on his cane, "If only I could say the same for myself."

"What happened to Nabu? He finally let you free?" Paradox inquired with a raised eyebrow.

"After much convincing, yes, it's been nearly seventy years since then, what brings you back to my Tower of Fate?"

"I have a favor to ask of you, old friend," He motioned behind himself to the still shaken teen, dry eyes from crying and torn clothes from fighting; Nelson was happy to offer them a seat to explain their story.

After Paradox explained Ben's situation and everything that took place in Bellwood, Kent turned his head over to the picture of the young woman over the fire place, "That's quite the tale," Nelson stated standing up and looking at the picture of the woman.

"My wife once used this place to offer refuge to the mystically confused or lost souls that needed guidance, I've let her down in a sense with my recent solitude," Kent smiled and put a hand on Ben's shoulder, "I believe its time for me to extend that sentiment one more time."

"Ben was it?" Kent asked before receiving a nod in response, "I could teach you everything you need to know about this Universe and then some," he glanced up at Paradox and back to Ben, "If you're up to it, of course..."

Ben barely cracked smiled in response to this, "I know my family would have wanted me to be happy, staying haunted by their memory won't help me do that. I guess I need to start a new life, but I don't want to be somebody new. If that makes any sense," Ben chuckled nervously as Kent laughed with him.

"Makes perfect sense to me, kid!"

"Thank you ever so much Kent; it means the world to me," Paradox shook his hand once more before generating a serious tone, "If I could speak to you in private for just a moment?"

"I suppose," Kent replied moving to the side of the room while Ben looked around at all the books lined across the walls in the room.

"I have a warning for you, but I can't be too generous with details should he find out I could face serious consequences," Paradox continued, "Beware of the Witch Boy; his return to this dimension is nigh."

Kent looked at the ground in fear gripping his cane tightly, "Klarion," he whispered to himself in understanding, "Thank you for the warning, Paradox."

"I couldn't leave a dear friend out in the cold without at least that much," He chuckled.

They walked over to Ben who was reading through a book of some sort of magic.

"Ya, know this doesn't look too different from what Gwen used to read all the time," Ben deadpanned and closed the book and placed it in the only empty slot on the wall.

"I would love to stay for tea but, unfortunately, there are other things I must attend to," he looked towards Ben and waved with a smile, "Ta-Ta," a blue light engulfed the room and the time walker was gone.

"So what should we do first?" Ben asked Kent who waved his hand at the painting of the woman. The painting instantly changed into a screen of some sort displaying a team of superheroes saving bystanders and fighting some weird creature of some sort. They all wore strange costumes and one of them had some of the same powers as Ultimo.

"How about we start with the Justice League?"

…

Remastered Chapter 2 Independence Day Coming Soon!