Disclaimer: I do not own Ben 10 or DC

Endgame

Chicago; May 30th 2019; 7:33AM

Having been living in her uncle's apartment for several months now, M'gaan had made herself almost too comfortable having Ben there; now she felt even worse having a third guest. Without a safe place to hide from the Light and Reach while plans to delegate the United Nations and Justice League in escorting Reach crafts out of Earth space, Ken had no where to go once cleared from the infirmary after his aid in the recent battle.

She moved herself into her Uncle's bedroom and gave Ken the guest room, leaving Ben to stay on the couch… however long that lasted, she didn't really remember. She turned over at the bright rays of sun light that beamed into her eyes from the window, as she did she felt the mattress was warmer and more firm than she remembered; having spent the night in celebration whilst their trip to Raan was prepped through the Zeta-Shield, she woke enough to realize she was in bed with Ben, again. Both very much naked but, this has become a regular occurrence at this point so how could she be surprised? She smiled, after the battle with the Reach soldiers she finally felt like she could settle things with Ben and perhaps even have a normal life; M'gaan slowly grazed his chest with the tips of her fingers whilst staring up at the ceiling and imagining what that life could look like.

"I'm no telepath but, I'd say you were thinking about something," Ben announced himself with a slight groan as he opened his eyes for the first time with her pressed up against him, he could see in her eyes and smile that she was looking into the future.

She chuckled and glanced at him, "At all ends pretty soon, we can exonerate the League with the evidence from the Summit, which can also be used to give the Lantern Corps a reason to politely ban all Reach activities in Earth's Solar System and finally wipe out the Light for good, we didn't get all the members on recording but, their organization will be fractured," she only stopped because Ben reminded her to breath with a quick graze of his hand on her shoulder as they sat up a bit in bed.

"Yea, I still can't believe it either, for the first time since we formed the team we wont have a main goal..."

"We don't always need to be heroes, ya know?" M'gaan suggested, looking back towards the blinds, "We can retire and have a normal life and have a normal relationship like Wally and Artemis."

Ben took a breath, whether he liked it or not, he'd never lived in a world that didn't fundamentally need Ben Ten Thousand before; he wasn't sure what to think for a moment, "Maybe, it definitely sounds nice but, I don't know... I know this watch can't come off until Vilgax is six-feet-under, and he's out there, I can feel it."

"I know, but, after everything you've been through, don't you think you deserve the choice to give it all up?"

Ben wanted so badly to agree, he wanted to take off the Omnitrix and chuck it into space or the bottom of the ocean but, every time he thought of doing that he could only picture the carnage he would ignore while Vilgax roams free; he was fatally injured when Alien X lost him only the squid-faced alien never seemed to know how to die so there was no doubt that he didn't escape only to keel over in a ditch. He was out there plotting against him, it felt as though Ben and Vilgax were playing a game of chess only the chessboard was time itself, crossing the span of years and through Universes just to make the next move. As long as he could feel Vilgax out there, whether via his own instinct or his Anodite abilities, he could never stop being a hero; the last time he relaxed after thinking he beat Vilgax he let himself spiral into drugs and alcohol, only running from who he needed to be.

"I don't know if I do," he left her in silence as he rubbed the back of his neck, staring at the sheets.

…

Rimbor; May 30th 2019; 10:46AM

"Let the defendants rise," Superman, Wonder Woman, John Stewart, Martian Manhunter, Hawkgirl, and Batman were shackled together by energy binds that kept them connected as they rose from beneath the stand, looking up at the judges of different species obviously representing the system of planets they were forced to attack, "You are accused of willfully attacking Rimbor and directly causing the deaths of dozens, is there nothing more the defendants would like to… offer the tribunal before we reach a verdict?" he faked a cough over the word 'offer' clearly implying a bribe but, the League refused to compromise their morals. Even execution couldn't scare them into debasing themselves that way, not that they had much to offer to begin with.

Icon, their personal intergalactic attorney, spoke up, "No more, tribune, I believe we have presented enough evidence to fully exonerate my clients," he had only very brief training in intergalactic criminal law in his life but, he knew a corrupt judicial system when he stood before one and this was a very good example.

Hawkman watched from the stands, narrowing his eyes at the situation as the tribunal head sighed loudly towards Icon's response, "Then you leave us no choice; the tribunal of the high court of the polyglottery of Rimbor finds the defendants guilty on all charges! Sentenced to execution!"

Gasps echoed through the room as the heroes held their heads low, feeling quite defeated by a game they didn't even know was being played behind their backs, and now being executed for a crime they couldn't even remember committing.

"Take them away!" cheering began erupting from the stands as the heroes were lowered back down beneath the courtroom where they await their sentencing; Icon and Hawkman landed on the spot where the original six where just standing, looking down in deep thought.

"What the hell happened?!" The Thanagarian shouted.

Icon placed his hand on his chin, "Someone has already placed bribes against us, the judges were implying I should counter offer but, I... I couldn't think of anything Kal and Diana would be okay with, let alone John."

"This is bad, right?" He asked in return, looking around as the stands were emptied quickly after the hearing, leaving them relatively alone in the room.

Suddenly, Superboy, M'gaan, and Adam Strange all flew in above the crowds landing next to the two heroes with solemn expressions; they approached with the highly advanced data-drive containing both the Light and Reach directly admitting to capital intergalactic terrorism, "Icon, Hawkman! We've brought new evidence, the Light and the Reach on holographic record admitting to their crimes!"

Superboy was ecstatic as he stepped forwards, but couldn't help but feel like something was off, "It should easily clear them of all charges, it's irrefutable!"

Neither hero looked interested or excited, "Why do I feel like something bad just happened," Strange said.

Icon looked away, "I'm sorry, you're too late," he went into more detail but, M'gaan backed away only hearing a ringing in her ear as she realized her Uncle could be executed in a matter of hours or less over a crime he was innocent of, slightly in shock she was happy to have Conner there to place a hand on her shoulder as she tuned back into Icon.

They all gasped as they weren't expecting such a turn of events; they thought they'd finally won but, if the Justice League is executed here then there isn't a chance of stopping the Reach and their armada.

…

New York City; May 30th 2019; 7:33AM

Aboard the main Reach vessel, Black Beetle stood at the central command as he watched their entire plan fall apart bit by bit; the insipid machinations of the designated Ambassador for this mission doomed them from the start, trying to trick a world like this was foolish when they could just rip the control from them by force, "Time to leave this meat infested world."

"Warrior, look!" Scientist, one of the only Reach attendants still aboard the main deck, shouted as she pointed to the security screens beside them, "The infestation is aboard this ship!" she noted the cameras watching heroes like Wonder Girl, Impulse, Nightwing, and Aqualad tearing their way through their Reach defenses; beating down on soldiers and tearing through walls.

"Enough," Black Beetle's body suddenly bulked up, he tuned his Scarab armor to operate at its maximum capacity as energy surged through the skin-tight sentient suit. He formed a long-serrated beetle-horn that extended from his wrist by three-feet, "The Ambassador tied my hands, now all the hero-meat will die!" His scanners picked up the disturbance the instant before it happened as Black turned toward the entrance.

"I would not be so sure!" Aqualad said entering the room with leading his comrades, enjoying his old Atlantean armor over the clunky Manta unit and was more than happy to be on the right side of the fight again, blue mystic meat-hammers at the ready; he entered with Blue Beetle on one side of him and Spiritus on the other; with Impulse rushing in from behind, Nightwing and Wonder Girl joined his side standing against the armored Reach soldier.

Without warning, Blue Beetle shifted his hands into staple-shooters, firing without a second thought which pinned the scientist to the wall behind them in one shot, too quick for Black Beetle to react but, not too quick to catch himself as he swatted them away with one hand.

Black Beetle was going to into counter-attack when a blast of pink mana struck him in the chest pushing him back on his heels, "You are alone," Kaldur announced as they closed in on him, he took his individual weapons and closed his palms forming a nearly four-foot glowing blade almost as neon blue as Ben's mana form, they clashed with his new weapon connecting with the familiar Beetle-horn, the soldier lifted a leg and kicked Kaldur with enough force to send him thirty-feet into the air and into the ship-interior wall. He collapsed with a thud as he groaned attempting to get up.

Impulse vibrated from behind one of the walls to attempt a sneak attack, moving at nearly one-percent the speed of light, he circled the Beetle as he swung wildly through the gusts of wind that begun to form; he threw several thousand light jabs into his back before ducking under a swing from his blade as bright yellow lightning formed across his skin. He vanished and reappeared behind the soldier throwing even more potent punches as fast as he could only, this time, it was the suit that reacted forming a stun-gun from his back without looking, he attempted to retreat but, was shot and incapacitated as Bart tumbled into the ground.

"As for you two," Black Beetle turned and formed a plasma cannon with his right arm aiming it at Jamie and Veronica, "Hopefully, I'll still be able to reset your Scarab after I cook the user within alive," Blue Beetle naturally formed a weapon of his own, stepping in front of Spiritus to counter the blast before she could even react; his experience and physical superiority clearly showed as Black Beetle's darker purple energy wave slowly over powered Blue's. She looked up and saw his back to her, stopping the blast of unfiltered plasma from disassembling her atoms but, at the risk of his own life.

"Go! While I hold him off!" Blue shouted but, instead he received a firm grip on his free hand, intertwining her fingers with his, suddenly the Scarab registered incredible energy.

"Foreign Energy Detected: Designation, Compatible!"

It was the first time he'd heard the suit tell him that anything on Earth was compatible with his weapons as pink mana energy sparked across their finger-tips and flooded his armor's reserves with magical energy, "Current Power Output: 427%"

"You can do this!" Veronica shouted quickly as she aimed his palm out forming a second plasma weapon, "I know because I love you!"

Her emotional outburst sent waves of pink electricity through his arm cannon which fired a much thicker and wider blast of energy fueled by a massive pool of untapped magic; they quickly released the beam struggle he was in with Black Beetle, with enough speed to avoid being hit, his much more powerful mystic-plasma blast approached the armored behemoth still flying above them. The energy tore holes in his suit, peeling away at it until the wave was finished; he was smoldering and smoking as he toppled to the ground, falling twenty feet to his knees, cracking the sheet metal floor. Aqualad tried to sneak up on the Beetle soldier from behind but, with his suit still operating at one-hundred-percent the scanners caught him before he could approach forming a large staple gun in the center of his back, it fired a single shot pinning Kaldur to the wall juxtaposed to the computer console.

…

Rimbor; May 30th 2019; 1:53PM

As the judges looked over the scans of Lex Luthor, Queen Bee, the Brain, Ra's Al Ghul, and the Reach, whom were apparently well known across the Universe as planetary scourges, the Supreme Judge delegated with their constituents; they analyzed it all and gave a long sigh, "Your new evidence is compelling, Icon but, the High Council has already made a decision, the fact that we reconvened at all…"

Icon interrupted, "I understand your reluctance, your honor but, this is a direct confession from multiple parties promptly placing the blame for the attack on Rimbor on those responsible, the Light and by extension the Reach armadas," the judges gave each other confused looks and muttered amongst themselves, "It even gives a solid motive; to bring Earth to the Reach's attention by sending their post powerful defenders of peace," he turned to other members of the council, "Which if you'll remember, I provided evidence to support their undoubted heroism. This attack was a clear ploy to get rid of these defenders."

"Yes… yes…" the main judge was a blob of a creature, pink and gooey but, he kept his head up as he listened using one of his tentacles to scratch his chin narrowing crimson eyes, "Do you not have any more to offer?"

Icon was shocked, damning evidence that deliberately places his clients as innocent was the best defense he had, he wasn't expecting them to be so adamant on being bribed or coerced with some sort of monetary value, and the bribes against them would certainly be effecting their decision; Icon couldn't help but, feel like this was the case on a lot of planets in a lot of societies.

Superboy narrowed his eyes at the ground, tightening his fist at his side, "We do have more to offer!" he shouted as he sprinted into the square next to Icon.

The judge sat back down, comfortably adjusting his seat, "Lovely…"

Superboy stuttered, "Well, I… uh," M'gaan took this time to intervene as she floated out of her seat and onto the stand next to Superboy.

"This… is a court of justice; I mean the decisions of the tribunal have repercussions across the entire Galaxy!" She announced trying to put together a point she didn't fully have, luckily Superboy jumped in to finish her sentence once she finished.

"Right, and what we have to offer is…" he thought for a moment, quickly using his half-Kryptonian brain to think of something these creatures would want that wouldn't break their code of truth and justice, before throwing his hands up and shouting, "Opportunity! Opportunity to prove that truth and justice prevail here."

The judge seemed unamused, looking back and forth between one another, "That is not the more we are accustomed to receiving…" they scoffed.

"Perhaps not but," M'gaan stepped forwards pleadingly, "If the tribunal shows its fundamental fairness here and now? Then how many other disputes would be brought to the tribunal from across the known worlds! Perhaps even separatist planetary disputes?"

"And the more disputes brought to the council, the more, mores the tribunal will receive!" Superboy finished as he looked back at M'gaan, smiling at the teamwork they shared even without a psychic-link.

The judges were silent for a moment, "We need a moment to discuss," they backed away and whispered in alien languages they didn't quite understand.

...

Meanwhile, Black Beetle approached Blue and Spiritus as his suit reformed from their combined attack, Veronica tried forming a mana-shield resembling a massive seal with ancient writings across it but was backhanded away as the shield was shattered in one swing; she hit the wall and tumbled to the ground, "This all began with you! And now it shall end with you!" Black swung a Beetle-horn blade down where Blue tried using two of his own to stop his but, the brutes strength only increased as he quickly picked his foot up and front kicked Jamie in the chin, sending him up into the air but not far as he caught his smaller counterpart by the neck, "Once I have a third Beetle at my side, nothing will stop me."

Suddenly, the entire ship begun shaking as the hull vibrated as if something was tearing through it from below; "Ultimate Humungousaur!" the massive green alien beast roared as he crashed upwards from below the platform they were on, reaching out and grabbing Black Beetle in his grip and tossing him into the ship's controls, sending sparks flying. He pulled himself from the console and looked around as a flash of emerald green instantly revealed a black battery-like creature six-feet-tall with spark plugs hanging down to his waist like dreads, each finger was another socket and he had a sleeveless suit of emerald where the Omnitrix sat on his chest, "Feedback!"

Black Beetle clapped his hands together forming three plasma cannons that slowly shifted into one much longer, eight-foot barrel cannon that sparked dark purple as the energy build up was clear, "This time I won't underestimate you!"

"Good plan but, bad idea," Ben narrowed his one eye as his voice sounded as though he was speaking with static in the background; Black Beetle didn't heed his warning and fired his weapon anyways sending a powerful beam of energy towards Feedback who lifted one hand, letting the sockets on his fingers absorb the blast completely, as though it was being sucked in, hitting nothing and causing little to no destruction on the ship.

"But, how?!" Black Beetle separated his weapon and backed away as Feedback looked over his one arm now sparking with glowing dark purple lightning, he was itching to release this new power but, couldn't help but send a message.

"Didn't you hear? I'm Ben Tennyson, I can do anything," he aimed his one hand and fired a beam twice the potency of what he was hit with, the purple beam lined with bright blue electricity from Feedback's own pool of energy hit Black Beetle square on, even as he tried defending himself, the blast passed over him and struck a twenty-foot hole in the hull as the beam dissipated into the atmosphere.

Beetle was stunned, he fell to his knees in shock as his smoking body was paralyzed in a suit that was critically damaged; a single flash of emerald light erupted as Black Beetle couldn't recover, Upgrade appeared as he melted into a puddle and slithered over to Black, covering his entire body and melding with his Reach armor; sending black ooze with green circuitry across his skin, his armor bulked up even more and received several upgrades. He stood up and looked his armor over but, it wasn't Black making the decisions, the Reach beetle within fought for control but, Ben wouldn't have any of it, "Sorry but, this suit is history!" Upgrade slowly leaked out of the armor as it disintegrated into a pile of dust in his wake, reforming with all of the Reach data Black Beetle stored in the suit itself.

"Oh, no…" Upgrade noted as he transformed back into Ben; he could still remember the data he'd read as Upgrade while merged with the enemy, it was complicated code but, he knew what it meant.

"It is over, we have won," Aqualad said, finally having pulled himself from the staple, Nightwing, Wonder Girl, and Impulse also recovered and approached Ben in the center of the room only, he didn't look at any of them for nearly two minutes until he finally put the pieces together completely.

Ben shook his head and stepped back with a fearful expression, "No, we lost; when I melded with his armor I received all the data it had stored including plans to erase all evidence of their attempts to conquer us… to avoid violating the Lantern Corps treaty," he choked on his own words, "By destroying the Earth."

…

As Black Beetle was defeated and his suit was rendered nothing more than a pile of dust; unfathomable storms begun to erupt across the globe; tornadoes in Paris, hurricanes in the desert, blizzards in Florida, and more weather phenomena sent the world into a planet-wide emergency, all thanks to miniature devices hidden by the Reach upon their arrival nearly six months ago destabilizing the atmosphere.

Watchtower

What was left of the League and Team tried their best to avoid a panic by doing crowd control and evacuations, saving people from debris and other important duties left to the likes of Plastic Man, Booster Gold, Black Canary, Green Arrow and other street level vigilantes.

"The natural disasters have escalated," Captain Atom noted as they watched screens from across the globe of those heroes helping to save lives, "The Justice League is spread thin trying to keep casualties to a minimum," images of Zatanna stopping a Tsunami in Japan with an ice spell, Gai Gardner carrying victims to safety in Brazil within a large willpowered baseball glove, and Captain Marvel keeping a bus from collapsing off a bridge in New York flashed all around them.

"It's Black Beetle's MFD's," Ben noted as he stepped forwards and addressed the entire group, having finished his mission not twenty-minutes ago, the data was still fresh in his mind "Magnetic Field Disruptors; they're seeded at multiple locations across the Earth, they're slowly deteriorating the Earth's magnetic field…"

The Atom, standing at seven inches tall on Captain Atom's shoulder, finished his sentence for him, "Which in turn is causing these not so natural disasters; if this continues for even an hour or two more, the entire planet could wiped of all biological life."

Ben folded his arms and turned to the massive computer displaying a thorough holographic globe where several marks were pinpointed but, there were still some missing that they hadn't accounted for, "I can track the rest of them down but, I don't know how to stop them because Black Beetle didn't know. This was an endgame strategy, there is no failsafe."

Suddenly, their screens were interrupted by the United Nations symbol while the computer announced the transmission received, "Incoming transmission from United Nations Secretary General Tsang."

Ben gave Captain Atom and Atom a glance before receiving a nod from the former, allowing the transmission only to find Tsang in the background with Lex Luthor staring at them through the camera in a two-piece suit as lavish as ever, "Luthor? How did you-" Ben was cut off.

"Secretary Tsang was kind enough to let me use this frequency, as I may have a possible solution to our mutual problem," Lex finished as he folded his arms across his chest, he was human too and clearly at odds with the Reach since the Summit so, it was only natural that he be trying to stop them, however; this was all his fault to begin with.

Captain Atom spoke up, "A mutual problem you created when you brought the Reach's attention to Earth!" he nearly shouted as he slammed his palms on the holographic table.

Lex raised a brow, "I have no idea what you're going on about," he pulled a thumb-drive from his inner jacket pocket and held it out, "Lexcorp has developed an anti-Reach software program; a virus that should disable magnetic field disruptors like those placed used to cause this mayhem."

"How convenient..." Ben noted.

…

Rimbor

M'gaan, Superboy, and Adam Strange along with Icon and Hawkman stood in the main hall, surrounded by empty seats, where they waited for the tribunal to come to a conclusion; M'gaan paced for several minutes with her hand on her forehead and her other arm tapping her thigh, until Conner grabbed her arm, "Hey, it'll be alright."

"According to several time travelers, this is the moment where my Uncle and the rest of the Justice League is found guilty and either imprisoned here for life or worse executed and I'm supposed to expect it to be alright?" she panicked a bit but, he held her shoulder with comfort.

"The fact that you even know that might happen already changes things, there isn't much else we can do at the moment but wait," he was surprisingly zen for the roided-out beast she'd first met over half a decade ago, "Sit with me," he reached his hand out and she took it along with a deep breath.

M'gaan sat next to him on an otherwise empty bench as they branched off from Strange and the two League members, she ran her hands through her short head of hair, "How could you be so calm?"

"Remember when I took that six month sabbatical in Taiwan with Dinah and Oliver?" He reminded her, as he added details, "It was right after Ben left the team for good, when you two first-" he glanced away, "Anyways..."

She nodded in response addressing the bad break up between Ben and herself, both sides handling things poorly, she couldn't help but wonder where this was going, "I took this trip to this temple and met all of these monks and gurus, each one trying their damnedest to teach me how to control my rage," he chuckled a bit as he looked at his feet, "I must have put so many holes in those wooden floors..."

M'gaan cleared her throat, returning the favor by putting a hand on his shoulder, "What did you learn?"

"Most people spend their entire lives worrying about the future, always looking to the horizon, never here and now; the point is that they were all so busy living in the future they never managed to spend time living their lives now. He taught me a principle that I used to channel the rage that comes from my Kryptonian side," he looked off, narrowing his eyes a bit as if to try and remember, "You have to learn, in time, to trust the Universe otherwise you'll sabotage yourself with doubt and worry."

She took a second to think, it seemed all they did this year so far was prepare for the future, for the Krolotaens, for the Reach, for Vilgax; it wasn't until that critical moment that she came to realize she hadn't really taken a moment to let herself breath, "Trust in the Universe, huh? Look at you, all zen and stuff."

"I can just tell when my friend needs some advice."

Suddenly, the council rose from below ground still in their seats which was high above them now looking down on Icon as M'gaan and Superboy watched from the sidelines; having finally come to a conclusion, they announced their verdict with haste, "We've heard your unorthodox appeal and have come to a decision," after a dramatic pause they looked among each other as M'gaan prepared for the worst. They continued, "All charges will be dropped effective immediately," the judges signed some paperwork as they continued and a flash of relief swept over Hawkman and Icon, "The defendants will be processed and released to Earth's custody."

"We did it!" M'gaan shouted as she jumped for joy, hopping into Superboy's arms with a tight hug, "You were right, I trusted the Universe and we saved the League!"

Icon and Hawkman finally approached as the judges descended back into their quarters, Icon was the first to congratulate them, "The credit goes to you two, you saved them this time."

"Thank you so much," Superboy noted to Icon as he and M'gaan separated and looked back toward Adam Strange who had the receiver for the zeta-beam transeiver that would send them home, "But, we're needed back on Earth as soon as possible, can you handle things from here?"

"We'll make sure that the League is processed and released into the Lantern Corps custody, headed back to Earth in under 24 hours," Hawkman responded as they nodded back towards him, collecting Adam and heading back towards the exit.

...

Earth; Metropolis; May 30th 2019; 4:45PM

There wasn't time to debate, every single active or nonactive hero or vigilante was called to duty if they were willing, young and old generations joined forces in the middle of an evacuated city; every hero that could be found assembled around a staging area in the middle of an abandoned street as temporary zeta-tubes were set up behind them by Atom and Flash along with a team from Star Labs including renowned engineer and biochemists Cisco Ramon and Caitlyn Snow, "Are we good to go?" the latter shouted over her holographic tablet as the young Hispanic man with long hair tied into a pony tail pulled two cords together, connecting them.

"Should have a steady connection!"

Zatara stood next to his daughter proudly sporting a greying beard and his mystical cane, he was blessed that Ben had released him from Nabu's grip so he could watch his daughter grow but, even he would admit Dr. Fate could be useful at times like these. As the clouds from the growing weather phenomenon shrouded the city in overcast, it made the summer heat actually bearable as Beast Boy, Miss Martian, Superboy, Wolf, Robin, Wonder Girl, Shifter, Batgirl, Aquaman, Aqualad, Garth, Flash, Kid Flash, Impulse, Jay Garrick, Green Arrow, Black Canary, Artemis, Red Arrow, Arsenal, Tai Longshadow, Virgil Hawkins, Asami, Eduardo, Black Lightning, Plastic Man, Red Tornado, Captain Marvel, Spiritus, Sunny, The Atom, and even Mal Duncan in his guardian armor all gathered together, standing on the asphalt road in front of a larger stage, to go over their strategy against the cataclysmic final ace in the hole for the Reach invaders.

Ben approached the audience of heroes and took a step forwards to stand next to Nightwing, Lex Luthor, and Captain Atom who led the team, "Every single one of the magnetic field disruptors must be disabled before they chrysalis to guarantee Earth's safety," Captain Atom explained as Ben continued for him, adding to his point.

"Each MFD is protected by two Beetle Drone's with weapons on par with Beetle warriors like Blue, Black, and Green but, they don't have the same armor, meaning they're vulnerable; I managed to locate twenty of them across the planet, there are about forty of us here so you'll be assigned to squads of two," Ben folded his arms as Blue Beetle and Lex worked together on stage to program devices that would disable the world-ending drones.

Lex finally spoke up for himself, holding up his device for everyone to see which was about the size of a football, "You will all be given Reach-Tech eggs programmed with my personal disabling virus; while one hero runs interference with the drones, the other only has to physically touch his or her egg to an MFD to disable it," he spoke with a condescending tone, as if they were all children but, details were important and there was no time to argue.

Cassandra scoffed folding her arms, having seen Lex's new power in action twice and knowing what he did to Ken boiled her blood, "You really think we can trust Luthor?" she whispered over to Ken who shrugged in response.

"I don't know," He looked down at his newly re-calibrated emerald Omnitrix, "It's his world too and I'm pretty sure he doesn't want it reduced to space dust," looking back up into the eye of his creator standing on stage, barely even noticing him in the crowd, "Like him or not, we're in this together," as they both set their arms to their sides again, Cassandra reached over with her pinky-finger not taking her eyes off the stage, wrapping her finger around his, comforting them both.

"Alright," Captain Atom announced holding out a holographic spreadsheet of which heroes would best serve which environment, "I have your assignments, we'll distribute these eggs and go!" Once he finished, Cisco and Caitlyn rolled a rack of over twenty MFD disabling eggs out onto the stage, one for every hero team plus extra just in-case.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Lex announced to the heroes gathering closer for their egg, placing his hands behind his back nonchalantly, "The fate of the world is in your hands."

…

Pacific Ocean

"Sigma has engaged!" Aqualad and Garth swam at supersonic speeds leaving trails of distorted water behind them, darting back and forth underwater the MFD's Drone defenders incapable of hitting them; they operated equally underwater, even at this depth but, they were simply too slow for two Atlantean's in their natural element.

Speaking in Atlantean, Kaldur shouted out to Garth, "I'll distract them while you plant the egg!" he nodded in response and swam away, dipping into the darkness of the ocean, as Kaldur formed two solid hammers made of mystic liquid; he dodged over a blast of concussive energy before bringing his hammer down on the first drone. The second blasted him in the shoulder but, Kaldur was relieved when it was crushed from behind, noticing the deactivated MFD drifting in the waters; Garth swam over and shook his old friends' hand.

"Thank you, brother," Kaldur said in his native tongue.

Garth simply chuckled, "I am only glad that I can hear you call me that once again."

"Playing the part of a selfish maniacal villain was taxing but, I'm happy to say it was well worth the time spent," both smiled as they checked in with Nightwing on the Watchtower, as himself, Captain Atom, and The Atom watched the heroes deactivate one MFD after another, the effect on the planet was slowing but, not even near saved just yet.

…

Paris

Artemis turned on a dime, keeping one position and simply turning at different angles to fire arrow after arrow, hitting one drone after the other but, never gaining any headway as this particular MFD was guarded by at least a dozen or more of these weakened Beetle Drones; her explosive arrows didn't do much to the outer shell and nothing else she tried worked, however; she got better angles when her speedster boyfriend scooped her up and allowed her to find an open joint in one of the drone's shell. The arrowhead pierced a mechanism that caused the drone to fly off course and hit another, smoking and exploding, crashing to the ground.

"Ah, the Eiffel Tower!" Wally shouted in a mimicked French accent as he whisked her away from a blast that would have surely vaporized her, "And the ever-romantic city of lights!" he kept his pace at six-hundred miles an hour as she shot multiple arrows at a time, taking down drones one by one with his help, "We definitely have to come back here babe, ya know, when we aren't saving the world."

Artemis looked up at him, he was focused on running and the grin he had when he ran was almost as gleeful as the one he had on when they were together, he was at peace even if he didn't want to admit it; she giggled, "There will always be a world to save! Now drop me and go," she leaned back firing an arrow upside down from his waist, hitting a drone in the center of its head and exploding.

He set her down and dashed off so fast her hair-tie keeping her long blonde mane in check was nearly torn off, moving from one drone to the other so fast his punches shattered their armor as if made of glass; sending bare fists into them at five-thousand two-hundred feet per second was enough to completely annihilate them.

Wally made sure the Drone's were disabled before slapping the egg on the MFD before it could even register him, "Foxtrot, the eagle has landed!" Wally shouted into his earpiece.

"Those aren't your codenames and that didn't even make any sense," Nightwing responded through the communicator.

Artemis chuckled, tapping into her own earpiece, "The MFD is down, I repeat, the MFD is down."

…

Detroit City

Black Lightning was just Jefferson Pierce, an African American man living in a world where a particle-accelerator gave him the ability to generate his own field of electricity and manipulate it at will; he dodged a purple beam from one of the drones as he formed a shield of lightning which deflected the plasma blast before he fired off his own lightning-based attacks, hitting the wall behind them. He ducked under another blast and rolled to a proned position opening his palms and blasting both drones apart at the same time.

It was then that Virgil used an iron manhole cover to hover over the sewer water below, he too was gifted the power to manipulate electronic fields, even controlling the static electricity which is generated through friction, how ironic. He approached from behind holding the egg in hand as he dodged between the explosions, he flipped through the smoke and slapped it on the MFD, which shut it down promptly sending it into the sewer waters below.

Virgil hopped off of his sewer-lid and onto the service walkways approaching Jefferson, he jumped for joy as he pumped a fist into the air, "Hell yea, that's what I'm talkin' bout!"

"You got a real talent for this, kid, if you ever need a mentor, hit me up!" Black Lightning noticed his enthusiasm and the similarities in their meta-abilities; while he accidentally received his power, Virgil had this life forced onto him by alien invaders, his powers never should have been activated to begin with, Jefferson knew if the kid was going to live a life in this world he would need guidance.

"Damn, are you serious?" Virgil smiled brightly.

…

Gotham City

In the middle of the street, buildings were evacuated and the streets abandoned as Heatblast released an intense wave of fire, trying to melt the drones that surrounded the MFD's, Ken kept them as busy as he could while Cassandra tried her best to jump in and use the egg; even the flames of three-thousand degree heat didn't singe their armored shells. The drone's fired a few concussive blasts to defend the devices, hitting the Pyronite in the shoulder once before hitting him in the chest and knocking him to his back; he rolled to his hands and knees as a flash of emerald light engulfed him once again.

A tall humanoid with large ears and no ocular-senses on his face, however; he was covered all across his arms and torso with emerald eyes with the pupils blinking in sync, "Eye don't think this is working!"

"Trust me!" He heard her shout out as one of the two drones turned to find the sound of that voice; noticing this, three of Eyeguy's pupils formed one singular eye on his palm as he pointed it up at the now searching drone.

"Eye don't think so!" he shouted as, very unexpectedly, a beam of ice shot from the alien's hand, turning the drone into a large brick of ice; the other drone became hostile as it opened up two barrels, firing off beams rapidly. Different eyes on the other side of his body reacted by forming together and projecting an emerald shield which blocked each bolt before hitting him although it still forced him back; this was exactly the type of distraction Wonder Girl needed to swoop in, doing a back flip off of an apartment building.

Landing gracefully on the MFD, she pounded the egg onto it as it fell lifeless to the asphalt as did the drone attacking Eyeguy; transforming back into himself, Ken watched as Cassandra slowly landed on the ground in front of him, "That was amazing," she announced.

"Me? You're the one with the fancy moves," he punched her arm lightly but, she didn't take it; she rubbed the spot he punched for a quick second as her face turned bright red, "What?"

She closed her eyes, forgetting everything else, she threw herself into his arms and planted her lips to his; slowly wrapping arms around his neck, she melted into his embrace as Nightwing pinged their earpieces, "Uhm, guys?" they continued kissing as he repeated himself, "Guys?"

…

San Francisco

Ben formed a mana-shield in front of himself as the Beetle drone's fired blast after blast, these were supposedly as strong as a Beetle Warrior's attack but, it was starting to seem like that was becoming less and less the case; M'gaan was beside him as they watched the Drone fire away at them, "Have you given it any thought?" She asked.

"What?" Ben asked as he maintained their shield for the seconds they talked.

"This morning before court, we talked about what comes after this?"

"Well, it's complicated, I-" he was going to try and explain as best he could but, she didn't allow him to.

"It's okay, I know what you're going to say," she smiled and took a step forwards next to him, "You've been fighting this war with Vilgax since you were ten, since we met, and I can't stand in the way of that; the world needs Ben Ten Thousand with or without Vilgax and I just want to be there by your side... holding your hand until the end," M'gaan reached out and wrapped her fingers with his.

"Wow, I... I don't know what to say," he grinned happily, "I wan't to retire one day and live life like a normal person too but, I don't think it's time for that yet; I can promise one thing though, no matter where it is I end up, I want you to be there with me," they hugged tightly as the drones surrounded his shield and began firing more intensely as they stared at each other, he didn't take his eyes off of her, "We should probably..." he glanced at the MFD but, she was already ahead of him.

"Got it handled," she pointed behind both drones as she telepathically lifted and pushed the egg, slowly approaching the disrupter from behind without any of them noticing, once it got within a foot of the MFD, it clung to it and the entire device shut down, clattering on the ground in seconds as the drone's ceased fire and did the same.

"See? Not a problem," M'gaan said as Ben couldn't take his eyes off of her, looking her deeply in the eyes as her lime green cheeks heated up, "What, do I have something in my eye?" she asked, wiping her mascara for good measure.

"No, you just look beautiful…" he said slowly as he pulled towards the temporary zeta-projectors, "Let's go, we need to make it to the Watchtower in time to make sure the others finish up on time!"

…

Watchtower

Ben approached the small group of strategic-observers being Nightwing, current head of the Team, Captain Atom, current head of the Justice League, The Atom, current smartest man in the Justice League, and now M'gaan approaching behind him, they watched the twenty or more screens displaying the events taking place across the planet, "Beta team successfully deactivated the disruptor, Gamma has too," the clock was ticking and time was of the essence as Nightwing, he counted their victories as they happened simultaneously, "Eighteen, nineteen, and twenty!" he shouted, "Twenty MFD's disabled and twenty eggs delivered."

There was a brief relieving silence but, it was cut short, "We missed one," The Atom pointed out as he enlarged the screen from his size to a size large enough for them all to see, "It was hidden by Earth's North magnetic pole; there are no zeta-tubes in the area, how are we going to-"

Suddenly, a familiar voice echoed through their communications as Barry Allen ran toward the arctic at thirty-thousand times the speed of sound holding a blue anti-Reach egg, "Don't worry, guys, I got this!" he was more than prepared to handle the situation alone, being faster than even the real Beetle warriors, these drone's would be a cake-walk for him.

Impulse joined him at nearly the same speeds, not surprising him since the day he stopped Neutron from attacking Central City, "Not without me you don't!" he shouted dashing next to him, to ensure the Flash survives, to ensure his future never came true.

They carved into the snow with their friction-proof boots, quickly approaching a glowing cave made entirely of ice, they came to a quick and controlled stop as they sighed, "It's too late," Barry said with a crack in his voice as the defending drones dropped lifelessly next to the massive spinning chrysalis forming within the cave that it quickly consumed, "The MFD has already gone chrysalis."

"I don't think the egg will-" Bart was cut off by Lex Luthor's voice.

He scoffed, "The egg is useless now, you were too late," the sphere of inconceivable kinetic energy sent bolts of white lightning out around it, carving into the ice and growing by the minute; the energy was bright blue still sending white bolts of energy out cascading across the icy tundra. Once it had grown larger than a house, it formed a massive cyclone around it made entirely of wind and ice; it reached into the sky and connected with a massive hurricane that encompassed a quarter of the hemisphere.

Barry put a finger to his ear, shouting over the intense winds "Now, what?!"

"Now, you run," Lex suggested.

Barry turned for a moment, talking into his communicator, "Hey, I'm no quitter!"

"No, you buffoon, you and Impulse run around the chrysalis opposite to its energy flow, this should unravel and dissipate the cataclysm," Lex explained as Barry finally understood, he narrowed his eyes and looked over at Impulse who had been listening in, they both placed their one knee bent, two hands on the ground, and yellow lightning surging through their pupils as they accessed every drop of speedforce energy they could gather even if it killed them. They took off running, both of them nearing the speed of light in close to a microsecond.

Ben looked back at The Atom, still on Captain Atom's shoulder, "Is it really that simple?"

"I wouldn't call it simple," Atom explained pulling up the calculations and readings on a holographic chart next to the satellite feed, "They'll be attempting to siphon its power with their own speed trails, it'll take a massive amount of energy to pull off even at light speed."

Ben turned back to the computer and announced into the communicator as Barry and Bart kept their speed even at ninety-nine percent light speed, "Whatever you do, don't slow down until the chrysalis has been completely unraveled! Otherwise it'll simply restart the process," Their intense speed over the loose snow and continent of ice below caused another more massive cyclone, one that overshadowed the chrysalis for the time being moving opposite to the motion of the energy produced by the MFD.

As predicted, blue sparks of pure kinetic energy suddenly begun striking the two speedsters but, their intense speed kept it from effecting them; their speedforce gave them a bio-electric aura that protected them from high-speed damage, including kinetic energy which was enough to keep them safe and running.

"I think it just might be working!" Bart said with a huff, almost out of breath for the first time in a while, he kept his arms in a swinging motion as he ran to keep his balance, it was still so crash to be running along side the Flash, even under these circumstances.

Flash didn't slow his stride either as he ran alongside his future grandson, "It's definitely slowing down but, not stopping. Even at our top speed, I'm not sure the two of us can generate enough energy to unravel it!" He suddenly felt the speedforce flicker as another runner came from the snow.

"Then how about us three?" Wally announced as he zipped in next to them, just barely keeping himself at their pace for only an instant or two, "I might not be as fast as you two but, If I can run from Paris to the Arctic in five minutes, I'm sure I can add my fair share of kinetic energy!"

"Good man!

"So crash!"

Both speedsters zipped off at several hundred times Wally's top speed, "Come on, Wallace, don't get out shinned by some kid!" he pushed himself further, speeding up to nearly as fast as the return stroke of a bolt of lightning, the only difference between himself and the other two speedsters is that he gained access to the speedforce through an artificial experiment, not a natural event like Barry or Bart's, so when the excess kinetic energy struck his body, it nearly knocked him off his feet but, he couldn't let a little pain stop him now.

Ben sent M'gaan, Artemis, Kaldur, Conner, Jamie, and Dick ahead in the Bio-Ship while he stayed behind to observe the situation, things were still looking good even as it was a slow process the MFD was deactivating just as The Atom had predicted; "Look, it's working!" Dick shouted pointing at the shrinking vortex as he arrived on scene.

The Atom spoke up from the Watchtower, reading the speedsters vitals via their suits and watching Wally's body go into critical condition every few seconds was starting to become worrisome, "Guys, we still have a problem! The Earth's magnetic field is stabilizing but, Kid Flash can't take much more of that kinetic energy feedback."

As he ran, Wally was once again nearly knocked over by a blast of blue energy that struck his chest from the center of the disruptor, better him than the planet he figured even as his atoms started to disassemble; "Barry and Bart are too fast, all of the energy is hitting Wally!" The Atom concluded in front of Ben who stepped back, "He will be scattered to the cosmic winds..." he muttered under his breath.

As the vortex spun, Barry shouted out to Bart as best he could through the wind sheer and running speed, "We need to slow down so we can siphon off some of the energy!" a fruitless effort as slowing down enough to save Wally would doom the Earth and maintaining enough speed to save the Earth would still kill their friend.

Blue Beetle listened to his scarab and widened his eyes, "If this keeps up, Wally is going to… going to…" he couldn't finish his sentence as he'd never heard his Scarab be so blunt before, he watched on his scanners as Wally slowly faded from sight, drifting in and out of existence but, still clinging to the marathon of his life.

"Ben, what should we…" Captain Atom and The Atom both turned to find they were the only ones left on the Watchtower, "Do?"

…

Wally could feel the wind sheer vanishing as air molecules slipped through him, an odd sensation that caused him to shout in pain; a blue aura outlined his body, his atoms slowly vibrating apart as the kinetic energy struck him over and over in the form of white lightning, "This is it, Barry!"

"Don't say that, Kid!" Flash shouted reaching out and swinging his arm right through his former partner, shocking him as his eyes went wide underneath his cowl.

"I'd rather die doing this than live knowing I could have stopped it!" Artemis had her hands over her mouth as she listened to their conversation over comms, barely audible over the wind but, still enough to hear what he was saying, "Tell Artemis I love her!" he shouted out at Barry.

Without warning, Ben teleported into the area with his magic as his eyes simmered bright blue he melted the snow around him with his landing, only a few dozen feet closer to the cyclone than his former Team. Transforming into XLR8 almost immediately, the young Martian was afraid of what he was about to do, "B-Ben? What are you doing?" M'gaan shouted as she took a step forward but, he didn't respond or even turn to look at her as his visor slid shut over his face. He used his mental access to the watch to introduce a million years of combat simulation to the DNA in his watch evolving the already fast velociraptor-alien into a crimson-red suited, black-visored version of himself with razor sharp claws and a tail that could carve through concrete with one swing.

Ultimate XLR8 sprinted through the snow leaving a massive wind trail at speeds nearly half that of light, he cracked the icey tundra with his wheeled-heels as he nearly sent his team off their feet just by taking off into the fray, "Ben!" M'gaan shouted as he was on the scene in seconds circling the chrysalis with them and adding his own speed to the mix, removing the danger from Kid Flash but, also putting himself at risk as he had no speedforce in his system to protect himself.

Wally was almost shocked to see someone running next to him but, he quickly addressed it as he shouted at his former leader, his friend, "No! The world still needs you! You can't just do this!" Wally shouted as their entire conversation took place within a picosecond, "The world needs Ben Ten!"

"The world needs heroes, if I've learned anything it's that I am not a hero," XLR8's visor opened up, as he took a brief instant to look Wally in the eyes, "Dying is the easy part, the real heroes are the ones that have to keep going…" he said as the energy struck him again, slowing him down a bit as his material body faded, his atoms scattering, "Keep running, Wally."

With those last words, everything slowed down as he watched Ben physically vibrate just fast enough to knock Wally out of the loop, the fundemental laws of nature allowing his atoms to instantly regain their stability even as he was sent hurtling into the snow at mach three, he recovered quickly enough and stood as before he could jump back in, the chrysalis imploded and the entire vortex came crashing down in a plume of snow.

When it finally all cleared, Barry and Impulse were exhausted, breathing heavily and nearly coughing, as they held their knees and stared at the snow at their feet, Bart pulled off his goggles and fell to his knees, spitting and sweating into the snow; Artemis moved across the field of snow to comfort Wally who was still regaining his balance after being forced from the vortex.

Bart had to watch Ben die twice now, this wasn't the future he wanted, not like this; Aqualad and Nightwing rushed in to help the exhausted speedsters up, "You guys did it!"

"Congratulations," Kaldur announced pulling Bart to his feet as Dick put a hand on Barry's back but, they were cut off by M'gaan's frantic rush, she looked around the area as the dust had settled but, there was no sign of Ben anywhere, "W-Where is…" she asked as Barry looked up at her with a solemn expression, shaking his head in failure, it was never easy losing a life, especially a heroes sacrifice.

The Martian held her arms, shaking uncontrollably as she collapsed to her knees, clutching the snow with tears welling and streaming down her freckled cheeks, "No…" Wally approached and held her back as he closed his eyes, not wanting her to rush into the area they'd just stopped from destroying the planet.

…

Purgatory

For a long time there was nothing, it felt like he'd been knocked over the head but, without the headache; Ben opened his eyes and looked around… wait, did he have eyes? Did he even have a head? Was he looking or just, existing? It was dark for a while, very dark. He wasn't quite sure if he was dead or not, Alien X had told him there was a heaven so he was definitely expecting something to happen but, time felt so nonlinear that he wasn't sure if it was a matter of when or if he was going anywhere. For all he knew, this was hell. There was nothing around his non-corporeal body but an empty void forever, or maybe just a few miles, or maybe distance didn't factor in at all; he couldn't feel his body, or his brain or any of himself but, he still felt like he was there, like he was still existing.

"Hello, there!" he heard a familiar British voice shout as suddenly his body materialized, at least it did visually, "I'm terribly sorry that I'm late, or am I early? I don't like the temporal physics of purgatory at all…" Paradox appeared in a flash of light, the only light he'd seen since he left Earth, he appeared to be completely in-tact and physical, unlike himself, holding a pouch of assorted candies, "Care for a gumball?"

Ben looked down at his candies and back up to the time-traveler; he was in his body again but, it was all blurry; it was all faded and everything he heard was an echo, this was some sort of different dimension he could figure, "What happened?"

Paradox sighed and tossed a candy into his mouth, "I'm afraid in the heat of saving the world... you've died, young Benjamin."

played with the idea for a moment, recalling the last moments before he appeared here, saving the Earth from the Reach MFDs and vanishing in the crisis; with a click of his pocket-watch Paradox displayed two clouded portals, one in either hand on either side of him. The one on the right was where he'd just left, the Universe of superheroes where, in the Arctic snow, M'gaan cried out into the cold winds with Artemis and Wally comforting her, however; on his left was a blank empty white void of nothingness, just as empty as where he was now but, perhaps a bit lighter.

"So, I'm finally done?" He asked as he heard his own voice repeat two or three times after he spoke, this didn't apply to Paradox for whatever reason.

"It would appear so," The white voided space and displayed his childhood home, the one he grew up in, the one destroyed by Vilgax; sitting in the living room was all of his family and friends having dinner at a large table, Gwen, Kevin, Julie, Grandpa Max, his Parents and his Aunt and Uncle all breaking bread and sharing stories, one of the happiest moments he could possibly imagine, or at least, its what he would have wanted.

A tear formed in the corner of his eyes as he backed away from the two portals, almost afraid but also in shock to see his family healthy again, "Because of your countless sacrifices for this reality and others, my boss, and I should repeat myself for emphasis, my boss, has decided to give you an ultimatum," Paradox explained as he held both portals on either side of himself up, "You can return to where you left to see your new family or you can join your old family in heaven."

Ben turned around facing the void of darkness for a moment before turning back to him, "What do you think I should do?" he asked Paradox.

He reached into his lab-coat and pulled out a pouch of gumballs, leaving the portals floating where he had held them, "Hmm, you've dedicated your entire life to peace in the name of justice, don't you deserve to be happy?"

This left Ben thinking on what he and M'gaan had discussed the morning before his death, did he deserve a chance to be happy, especially now that he's effectively saved two different Universes over half a dozen times total, was that enough for him to finally retire in perhaps a more permanent manner? Gwen, Grandpa, Julie and Kevin were all in their prime, just as he remembered them before everything that had happened that day, as if seven years was only seven days for them; Gwen stood from the table and approached the portal being the first to notice it, looking out at him, she smiled, "Come on, what are you waiting for, dweeb?"

"I...I want to, I really do," tears welled in his eyes, an emotion he wasn't certain was physically real but, still just as impactful as he turned to watch the fall out of his dead and M'gaan's crying, "But, I'm not sure that I'm done here yet."

"Ben, you've been a hero for as long as I can remember, we aren't going anywhere," she grinned and held a hand out, placing it against the portal as Ben reached out and placed a palm against where hers was.

"Not a day goes by that I don't miss you, all of you," they turned from their seats and looked back at him, all smiling and all seeming at peace with their current afterlife.

Grandpa Max cleared his throat as Paradox watched, "Son, I know that whichever decision you make will be the right one, you deserve to be happy but, the definition of that happiness is up to you to make, you define your own happiness."

"I define my own happiness, ya know, I've been so lost without you guys... that's some of the best advice you could have given me," Ben said.

Maxwell only smiled, "All your family and I have ever wanted was for you to be happy, no matter what."

"Thank you, both of you, I will join you one day and by then I'm hoping I'll have a few friends to introduce," Ben thought optimistically as they nodded with proud grins all around the room, until it turned to smoke and vanished entirely, the only portal left was the one into the real world.

"Then it's settled!" Paradox announced as the portal leading to the Arctic grew to the size of a door he could walk through but, Ben didnt budge for a moment or two.

He narrowed his eyes and locked a glare with Paradox, "Your boss didn't just give me this option because I've been a great guy, did he?"

"Vilgax still holds approximately four-point-nine-five percent of pure Celestialsapien energy; if this timeline is to survive his wrath you must be around to stop him," Paradox without taking his eyes off Ben.

"And if I chose death?"

"Well, you certainly wouldn't have had to worry about that, would you?" Paradox motioned towards the portal as he smiled, "Do you still feel guilty, Benjamin?"

He searched his feelings for a moment but, answered without hesitation, "I do."

"Then your work, is not yet finished."

...

Ten Minutes Later

Bart and Barry had caught their breaths and made it to the Bio-Ship, being happy to fly back to base after the run they just went on; Conner, Artemis, and Wally helped M'gaan up as she sniffled, wiping tears away as the sight was cleared and they were prepared to leave, returning to the cities that still very much needed attending to, "C'mon, we need to help the League do crowd control and rescue the injured," they turned their backs as a surge of white light sparked and exploded dropping two figures into the snow, on their feet drawing the attention of the heroes still approaching the ship.

M'gaan, Artemis, Wally, Dick, Kaldur, and Conner watched as the light dimmed and Ben was in full view, completely unharmed standing beside a tall Caucasian man with jet-black hair wearing a long lab-coat, "Sorry for the wait, I've always found it difficult to be on time."

"Ben..." Artemis announced as M'gaan perked up and took a few steps forwards.

He turned to face Paradox and left a hand out, "Thank you," he said.

The time-traversing immortal chuckled, "It's I who should be thanking you," raising his voice as he shook his hand, "Without your intervention this world would have perished, surely."

"As much as I'd love to stay and catch up; there seems to be something known as an Infinity Gauntlet being assembled and I must be going…" He looked at Ben, as they retracted their handshake, who smirked at him in response, "Strictly for observational purposes, of course," he adjusted his tie before giving Ben a wink as another white light enveloped them and when it dissipated, Ben was left standing in the smoke alone.

M'gaan took another few steps forward as tears began forming in her eyes again, she started walking faster as it turned into a floating motion she approaching quickly, nearly tackling Ben with a warm embrace which was comforting as it began to snow once again, the weather returning to normal, "I can't believe you're alive!"

"Don't worry, I plan on sticking around for you as long as I can," he chuckled as he rubbed the back of his neck, "If you'll have me back."

They hadn't yet put a title on what their relationship had blossomed into after Ben's return to the Team and League but, she was certain of what she wanted now, "Ben, I thought I lost you for ten minutes and it felt like my world was over," M'gaan welled up with tears again, "Now I know I never want to feel that way again even if it means I have to fight by your side for the rest of my life," tears streamed as she threw her chin over his shoulder, sobbing with happiness, "Ben Tennyson, I love you!" she finally shouted.

"I..." he muttered as a smile slowly crept over his face, holding her head of crimson hair with his hand, the other around her waist as he pulled her in, "You have no idea how much that means to me, I love you too, M'gaan M'orzz."

…

Seven Hours Later

Mount Justice; May 31st 2019; 1:32AM

John Smith had never been happier to use his ring before, after having its power inhibited for weeks upon weeks while imprisoned, the Green Lantern used his ring to create a vessel in the shape of an Earth-style rocket-shuttle allowing the Leaguers to return home at much faster than light speeds, as most Lantern's could cross Galaxies in minutes; as John lowered his rings construct, they noticed the decimation of Mount Justice, "Are we too late?" Superman asked with a concerned expression, immediately scanning and finding no life in the area

Batman put a hand on his shoulder and gestured up to the sky, "Look."

M'gaan, Ben as Chromastone, Beast Boy as a hawk, Spiritus, Blue Beetle, Shifter as Big Chill, and Wonder Girl arrived from the pale moonlit sky as their silhouettes approached and landed on the beach next to them; the Super-Cycle wasn't too far behind holding Superboy, Aqualad, Nightwing, Wolf, Robin, an exhausted Impulse, and Batgirl.

Batman stepped up first, "Aqualad, Nightwing; what happened here?!" his obvious concern was warranted but, he was put at ease by a gesture from Kaldur.

"Fear not," He responded solemnly and turned to the Team and others who assisted in saving the planet, "The crisis has passed, however; not without obvious sacrifices," he gestured up towards the mountain which had been totally decimated during his undercover mission, "The real credit goes to Ben Ten Thousand who practically led the mission that saved Earth and made the ultimate sacrifice."

An emerald light flashed as Chromostone reverted into his normal form, "Luckily I have some cosmic-deity looking out for me, whoever it is; point being, I think it's safe to say I did what anyone here would have done if they could and I'd do it a thousand times over if I had to."

"Well," Batman huffed as he looked around at their former base now completely destroyed, "And the Reach?"

"Defeated and exposed," Nightwing announced as he turned to John Smith, "You can call a squad of Lantern's to escort them out of Earth space as soon as tomorrow morning."

Superman chuckled, "To think we missed so much and yet you all managed without us, I guess this was a good testing situation."

M'gaan stepped from behind Ben as she raised her brow, "Wait, testing?"

Wonder Woman spoke up, interjecting to clear up what they meant, "When facing the charges on another planet, a question arose for us, can we trust Earth to be solely defended by the youth we've done our best to train? And while not ideal, our only option was to wait and find out."

"You all proved yourselves today, a likely long briefing on the Watchtower should be in order but otherwise...?" Batman looked around at them all smiling back at the League, "Good work."

…

After taking several hours to explain everything that happened up until the Summit, they ran into a snag when Captain Atom seemed to have issues with the recording Artemis took of the admission of guilt from both parities of the Light and Reach; the seven members who had been off world were present and waiting for the debrief with Ben, Kaldur, Dick, Conner, Artemis, and M'gaan present alongside him.

"This is impossible!" Captain Atom shouted with the others behind him, equally confused as to how this situation could happen, "We had him dead to rights!"

"What do you mean?" Superman folded his arms, "Who was almost dead to rights?"

Artemis stepped forwards holding a holographic key that projected a recording of the Summit, in the center of the room they noticed a static where one person might've been, it moves but there was no way of telling who it was and the voice was removed entirely from the audio; "I used this, while undercover with Kaldur'Ahm, to record the events of the Reach and Light meeting, trying to catch them red-handed admitting to everything they'd done in the last almost six years, "Among the usual suspects like The Brain and Ra's Al Ghul; Lex Luthor was also there and from the looks of it, he was running the show on the Light's side."

"I just don't understand how one single voice, name, and image can be erased from a digital recording individually? Not without the recording being stolen but, it's been in League lock up for several days," Ben noted as he looked it over once again, staring at the distorted figure he knew was Lex Luthor.

M'gaan folded her arms, "Well, it had to be Luthor, who else would want his personal identity erased from incriminating evidence? If it were the Light the entire drive would have been erased for good measure," she noted as the League murmured among themselves.

Ben caressed his beard slowly, "But, the real question is, how? How did he pull this off?"

Conner got a notification on his phone that dinged loudly, which shouldn't happen on the Watchtower but, he noticed it was a United Nations breaking news alert as he looked at his phone before his eyes went wide, "Turn on channel fifty-two, now," he insisted as he read his phone until Captain Atom pulled up the satellite feed.

It was but a series of a few buttons before an ninety-inch screen of the news report, covered by the alien hating G. Gordon Godfrey, was holographically projected in front of the entire room, "-The lone voice of reason, calling for the ouster of U.N Secretary General Tsang after his disastrous collaboration with the Reach who are currently in the process of being escorted off world by Green Lantern agents, at least those aliens have badges, meanwhile Tsang has decided to resign due to this! You're welcome!" He proudly switched the narrative to fit his own ego whenever he got the chance, they watched his slander only for the last bit which was the most important part, "His successor hasn't been chosen yet but, we all know the most qualified candidate, the genius responsible for saving the entire planet, Lex Luthor!"

They switched to a feed of him being welcomed on stage by a crowed of cheering people, Ben narrowed his eyes; things were getting more and more complicated even as they finally sent the Reach packing and crippled Vilgax; things would never slow down, this world needs Ben Ten Thousand, whether he liked it or not.

…

After debriefing the League completely, they all returned home with much to think about and a lot to be thankful for, all but Ben and M'gaan who stuck around afterwards; Ben was going over data from the recording trying to find some back-door Lex could have hacked through while he conversed with his girlfriend, "So, now that your Uncle is home I think we need to find a place of our own..."

"Yea," she agreed, "Something big but, not too big... for now I guess the Watchtower has a few spare rooms."

"We can start looking for places in the morning, for now, I think there's nothing else I can do for this," Ben stood in the center of the Watchtower and dispersed the recording, looking over the data on the holo-computer one last time when a bright flash of pink energy exploded behind them; Sunny appeared and quickly reverted into her human form, "Hey, cus."

"Hey," Ben turned around to face her, as the tension in the room only grew thicker, M'gaan exhaled loudly.

"Well, I'm going to go make sure our room is ready," she pecked Ben on the cheek and made her way out of the main-hall, giving them privacy to talk.

"So, are you going to stick around?" he said as he dispersed the holoscreens behind him, focusing his attention on her, "Vilgax is still out there somewhere."

Sunny chuckled a bit, brushing a lock of hair behind her ear, "Ya know, for a moment I thought I might but, after losing Albedo I really don't think I should stay; as for Vilgax, I think you can take care of it from here; between Bart and I time traveling, I think we've changed the timeline enough as it is, its time I go see what it looks like," Sunny straightened out her blouse and looked toward her feet, "I am going to miss you, ya know?" she reminded.

"Yea, I'll miss you too, more than I thought I would," She quickly shared an embrace, hugging him tightly as they separated, "How are you going to get home?"

"I never had a problem getting back to my timeline; I just wanted to spend more time here with all of you," Sunny gave him a smile and clapped her palms together, cackling pink energy summoned a seal which spun until a vortex opened for her, the other side was flashing brightly, "Smell you later," she said playfully as she vanished within the portal, closing behind her.

…

Hall of Justice; June 1st 2019; 2:33PM

After being leveled by Vilgax and Albedo only a couple months ago, the Hall was still under construction, however; the main-hall and gift shops were still opened where temporary holographic monuments were projected in a line including Flash, Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter, Hal Jordan, and Aquaman with the new addition of another monument at the end of the hall in between the two rows of Leaguers.

Ken stood alone in front of the massive center holographic monument of Ben Ten Thousand with the words 'Hero of Heroes' floating inscribed underneath; his 'father' had saved the world more times than he could count and he was supposed to follow in those footsteps, how? Being just a clone of the greatest superhero that ever lived, in multiple Universes, how is he supposed to live up to that?

"Hey," Conner announced his presence which startled Ken as he didn't notice the half-Kryptonian enter, "Nice new Omnitrix…" he muttered looking up at the floating statue directly to the right of Ben's.

"Thanks," Ken said as he looked down at it, "It's what Ben's looked like before he destroyed it... to save the world... again."

"I know exactly what you're thinking, what you're feeling, you know that?" He turned to face him as Conner did the same, continuing, "How do I know who I am if I'm just supposed to be a lesser version of him," for Superboy he turned to look up where Superman's virtual statue stood, having the same existential crisis six years ago when he was first released from stasis.

"He's the best of the best, how do I top that?"

Conner shoved his hands in his jacket pockets and turned back to the hologram of Ben, "When Ben led my team back five or six years ago, he was a mess... he was drinking all the time, smoking, street fighting, obsessing over beating Vilgax, there were times where he would sit in M'gaan's lap and just cry because he had no clue how much longer he could handle the pressure."

"Does this story have a point?" Ken asked promptly.

Conner chuckled lightly in response, "Ben was only a few years older than you are now and he had no idea he was going to be a 'hero of heroes', the only thing he did had that he never lost was his determination to never compromise his values, especially not for revenge, he created this life for himself and it wasn't easy; you need to carve your own destiny, walk your own path, and don't expect for a second for it to be easy," slightly nudging his shoulders, he stepped back basking at all of the heroes and smiling, taking a deep breath, "We are what you grow beyond."

Ken was surprised at his wisdom as they both looked up at the statues, "Carve my own destiny..." he repeated as Conner patted his shoulder once and walked away, back towards the main exit while, from the entrance juxtaposed to the exit, came Cassandra, Bart, Tim, and Jamie with Veronica holding hands, "You don't have to be a part of the team, you don't have to be a part of the League," he said as he walked away without looking back, his smile never fading, "You can be Outsiders, all your own."

Cassandra happily greeted Ken with a kiss as Conner left the building, there was a new generation of heroes brewing and it couldn't have made him happier, fortunately it seemed this new era of justice would continue on a bit longer than predicted by Bart and Sunny, what a world he lived in.

...

Apokolips

A boomtube opened up allowing Lex Luthor and a tall, bulky, figure to exit the portal; the large alien was clad in maroon armor, he had advanced steroid enhanced pumps embedded into his arms, and a respirator covering his mouth and nose as tendrils fell down his lower-chin. Each of his foot steps pounded the ground, cracking it with every stride his armor producing a hydraulic-sounding clank, approaching an equally tall and threatening force of nature with glowing crimson eyes of the devil; Darkseid and Vilgax got within a few feet of each other and held a hand out, slowly clasping forearms, they shook as their machinations began with Lex Luthor soon being capable of hindering the Justice League's political charter, the Anti-Life Equation was within their grasp.

…

Season 3? If you want it, review about it and i'll consider it.
Seriously, tell me if you want it and feel free to post ideas in the reviews i do read them.