I don't own Ben 10 or Justice League or Justice League: Unlimited

…

Justice X

Chapter II

…

Wayne Manor

J'onn spoke as Flash re-joined the group, taking a moment or two to dash across the bat-cave, like a kid in a candy store, he bounced off the walls until settling down in just a few seconds, "We were just speculating as to why the Thanagarians are really here".

"Obviously not to protect us," said Clark as folded his arms across his chest, "They've completely taken over Earth and stripped free-will!"

Ben stroked his beard, "If they aren't building a shield that means these Gordanians aren't headed this way, or at least not as fast as they say."

Diana took a seat at a round table in the centre of the room, across from the super-computer Batman spent billions on, "But if the Gordanians aren't anywhere near Earth," asked Wonder Woman, "Why do they need to build that force field?"

"If it even is a force field" argued Bruce, "They'd subjugated the planet and its government, clearly they're hiding something from us."

"I have transformations with hyper-intelligence, if we can get our hands on schematics or blueprints or something… I might be able to figure this all out," The League all turned to look at Ben, "I know I'm new but, I don't think you have the option to question me at this point!"

"I can tell you what it is," a familiar voice echoed from the darkness as Shayera Hol stepped from the shadows with her head down in shame.

"You!" a green flash of light exploded as Fourarms advanced, having one fist held back by Superman who narrowed his eyes, "You had me knocked out! Thrown in a cage!"

"Give me one good reason I shouldn't let his arm go?" Clark asked as he removed his glasses with his free hand and kept Ben subdued for the time being with the other.

Diana stepped forwards, "You have a lot of nerve showing up here."

"We should be thanking you," said Batman chuckled as he pulled shuriken from his belt, "You saved us the trouble of having to track you down.".

"I didn't come to fight," Shayera struggled to choke out, going against everything she'd ever been taught, "I came to help."

"Hawk soldiers all over the planet?" asked Flash sarcastically with a frustrated tone, "Martial law? Being chased down like rabid dogs? I don't think we need any more of your help".

Shayera looked at Superman with a pleading look in her eye, she was telling the truth, there wasn't anyway she could prove it but, she was being completely honest, "Have manhunter scan my mind."

J'ohn stepped forwards, "I already have, several times," he noted as he walked into the centre of the group, "She isn't lying but, she's also withholding information."

Shayera stared at them for a moment, before then turning back to where she'd entered from, but her guilty conscious got the better of her as she turned back around and announced her news, "They're building a hyperspace bypass!" she shouted, "If it's activated, it will rip apart the entire planet and the surrounding space."

She approached Bruce and handed over what looked like a purple video cassette but, smaller like a thumb-drive, "Here; this has all the information I couldn't get on their project," Bruce simply glared at her without saying a word, "Believe me when I say; I did not know the true intentions of Talak's plan or the plans of my people."

Without taking his eyes off her, Bruce snatched the device from her hand, "We'll check it out".

As he turned away from her, he said, "There's the door," unsurprisingly, Wonder Woman, Flash, Superman Martian Manhunter and FourArms shunned her on her way out, he was starting to befriend these heroes and any enemy of theirs would be one of his for the time being. He realized he related more to these heroes than he did to the Galactic Enforcers back on Earth spite their similarities, and Diana was a sight to behold but, he wasn't sure if he was ready for love again after loosing Kai.

FourArms was so lost in thought that he didn't even notice Shayera and John talking to each other; before she left the Batcave, she clasped John's hand, glowing with green light, she turned around after saying something he couldn't hear before leaving.

"She didn't propose to you or something, did she?" FourArms transformed back into his human state as he asked the question.

John shot him a mild glare as he then slipped the ring onto his right hand; his civilian clothes were over shadowed by an energy suit with the Lantern symbol in the centre of his chest; a green glow surrounded his body as the suit materialized, and then he began to levitate off the ground.

"Okay, I gotta admit that's pretty cool," Ben noted.

Ben and John approached the rest of the heroes who examined a holographic blueprint of the hyperspace bypass given to them by Shayera, "Ingenious" Batman admitted.

"Yeah, I'm so impressed," said Superman nonchalantly, taking off his glasses again, "let's go wreck it".

"How?" asked Green Lantern, "it's being protected by a force field that none of us could break?"

"I think you tried that before you had me… I'll take care of this," Diana grabbed his arm as he turned towards the exit.

"You can't possibly stop the entire facility on your own…"

Ben raised a brow, "Can't I?" He transformed into XLR8 and sped off at break-neck speeds, carving a trench in his wake.

…

Ben walked lazily through the desert approaching the entrance to the construction of the hyperspace bypass, "Halt! Identification!"

"No thanks," His eyes flashed bright green as his Omnitrix hummed to life, as it did, an explosion of emerald light blinded the entire area as a massive three-hundred foot tall white humanoid creature rose from the ground, sporting crimson cosmic-armour and a horn pultruding upwards from his head.

The hawk-people were absolutely flabbergasted, they had no idea what to do, "Fire! Fire everything!" they aimed their rifles, pointed their cannons, rolling tanks up to his feet but Way Big was not having any of it, with one stomp he crushed three tanks. The barrage of blasts that hit his skin did little to nothing to him, like being hit with rubber bullets; Way Big swung his arm and shattered a monitoring tower, sending it crashing to the ground in a fiery explosion.

Way Big stood up, showing he was nearly twice the size of the bypass, he crossed his arms and focused the energy that coursed through him; where his arms intersected collected an immense surge of energy shaded bright green. Within seconds he unleashed a beam of immense untold energy which carved through the entire base, sprouting explosions across its infrastructure.

Way Big was engulfed in green light as he transformed into Jetray, doing an aerial circle before heading to the ground, landing and changing back into his human form.

…

Batman flew beside his comrades in his batwing; Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, and Flash running below them, faster than any of them. As they approached the scene, they noticed the massive alien crushing tanks and swatting hawk-soldiers out of the sky.

To help the effort, Superman, Manhunter, and Green Lantern engaged in battle with the hawk-men, blasting them with heat vision and will-powered blasts.

Diana and Batman watched as Way Big blasted the base they were skulking outside of, "What incredible powers, it is fortunate he is on the side of heroism," she noted through her communications as a soldier swung down with an axe which she caught with one hand, crushing it to pieces and round housing him in the chin as he fell back.

"We'll see about that," Batman growled as he circled around the base, firing missiles that struck the shield generators but, did no damage; two hawk soldiers landed on his craft but, with the flip of a switch two-million volts of electricity stunned them, sending them toppling through the air and off his jet.

"How could you possibly still not trust him? He's saved our lives several times," Superman reasoned as he fired beams of heat into the chest of one of the soldiers but, he powered through until he was close enough for Clark to right-hook him in the face hard enough to shatter tempered steel like glass. One came from behind and placed Superman in a full-nelson, he motioned forwards with enough strength to flip the attacker overhead where he was blasted with heat vision, sending him away.

"I don't trust anyone," Batman responded, "We need to regain control of the Watchtower; we should split into two groups, one to infiltrate and retake the base and the other to keep their attention occupied here."

Way Big transformed into a ghostly figure, as he spread his moth-like blue wings, he flew towards and phased through Batman's jet, sitting in the passenger seat before an abrupt light symbolized his transformation into Ben, "I'm in."

"As am I!" Diana announced flying next to the jet as they slowed down to a hover, allowing her to enter and sit behind the two men.

Batman spoke into his communications, "Superman, Manhunter, Flash, and Lantern are distracting them with an assault on their base."

"On it!" John flew back as he charged energy into his ring and fired off a thick beam of green energy, slicing through a massive cord which exploded after being severed.

Talak flew up into the sky to meet John as he ceased fire, "I knew it would come to this but, I'm warning you now that you're no match for me; I don't want to kill you."

John looked down and tightened his fist, "The feeling isn't mutual!" he formed a sword construct and attacked meeting his Nth metal weapon as the shockwave from their clash exploded outward.

Clark and J'ohn noticed this as they were in the air, taking care of one soldier after the next, this battle was personal so they let him handle it alone unless the battle became fatal; Manhunter phased through every one of the attacks thrown at him before shifting his density to that of the weight of a building, striking with enough force to shatter mountains

…

Watchtower

Flipping a few switches, the bat-jet sealed itself up and opened up larger thrusters as it reached escape velocity and headed towards their former base, "How do we plan on getting in?"

Bruce smiled, "Who said I was ever locked out? I built the place," he opened a compartment in his jet and pressed a large red button, circling around the station and entering through a garbage disposal hatch.

"Docking code confirmed," a robotic voice announced as there was no human staff in this area to greet or betray them; the codes he used obviously manipulated their programming.

…

Kragger looked out at Earth from space as the bypass was big enough to see from the station now, he basked in the moment before a soldier approached from behind, "Commander, we have an error code in the disposal unit. Drones aren't responding, should I send a squad?"

"No, I'll settle this myself," he grabbed a nearby Nth metal axe which lit up with electricity, "Lock down their sector."

"We already have, sir, I don't think it will stop them!" a holographic screen displayed Cannonbolt ploughing his way through the metal-security doors, pin-balling his way in and knocking out two guards at once before rolling to a halt, transforming back into his human form.

Batman and Diana entered the command centre seconds later as Kragger's first target was Wonder Woman whose blessed bracelets perfectly countered the Nth metal blade; he reeled back to swing again horizontally but, this time she ducked under it, stopping it with both hands and snapping the handle as the blade toppled onto the ground.

Cannonbolt transformed again into Spider-Monkey, an alien resembling a cross between an average monkey and a spider, sporting blue fur, four arms, two legs, and six eyes as well as dexterity and flexibility unheard of in any human or animal; he ducked back, his spine forming a ninety-degree angle, to avoid the swing of an electrified mace. He reacted by propping himself up with his hands and reached out with his legs, wrapping them around his opponent's swinging arm and forcing him overhead into a wall, shooting a web-like substance from his tail to pin him there.

Batman quickly and effortlessly subdued the two guards nearest to him, but even as he did so more entered the docking bay wielding staff-weapons that fired bolts of energy. One had Diana, who was busy subduing Kragger, in his sights but a batarang pierced his hand as he shouted and dropped his weapon before being able to fire, Batman narrowed his eyes as he turned around to analyse the rest of the battle.

Several more guards entered the hangar, firing off blasts of energy from their weapons as Diana stepped in front of Bruce using her enhanced reflexes to deflect each and every one. Ben transformed with another explosion of light which they were all starting to notice was a huge advantage for his specific power type, his opponents being blinded by his changes.

He emerged as a creature similar to Diamondhead only made completely of purple and magenta crystals with a single crystal coming from his forehead; he had one singular eye and long shards of crystal pultruding from his back, Chromastone stepped in front of the enemy fire as the blasts bounced off of him and absorbed into the crystals coming from his body; his eye flashed a rainbow cascade as he raised his palm and took aim. One after the other he blasted the soldiers down, each attack that hit him only made him stronger and the longer this went on, the less enemies they had to worry about.

"Is there any alien you don't have a solution for?"

Chromastone chuckled and shrugged as he finished off the final soldier in their way and transformed back into his human form.

…

Hyperspace Jump Gate

John blasted away at Talak's armour which took the majority of the damage as he powered through, upper cutting John and grabbing his leg swinging him down into the roof of the shield generator, the one protecting their base not the one they tricked the government into supporting. John stood up and formed a will-powered katana of emerald energy as Talak swung his axe, "You want to destroy this shield generator, you'll have to take it from me!" he deflected another blast of green energy with his blade as John grew frustrated, "And this won't be like the last time you took something from me!"

Blades clashed sending sparks out around them as left and right swings connected, faster than the human eye could process; John ducked under an axe swing just as Talak jumped over an attempt to chop his legs off, landing and instantly they clashed again, deadlocking.

John snickered, "Anything I took from you was freely offered, maybe you should take better care of your stuff!" Obviously referring to Shayera, he formed a massive mallet above his head but, the Nth metal cleaved through it as he reformed the katana putting all of his will into it.

They clashed, one swinging left and the other to the right, locked in combat as they pushed against one another in mid-air; he spun John's defence and slashed him across the back sending him to his knees atop the shield generator, splattering blood across the silver metallic plating. Talak kicked him in the gut, sending him tumbling to the side, groaning in pain, "She never loved you, she needed your trust, that's all it ever was!"

"I… highly doubt that!" He announced as Shayera came from behind and bashed Talak over the head with her mystic-mace, knocking him out cold as his helmet took most of the damage, blood slipped down between his eyes as he hit the floor and passed out.

John didn't pay her any attention, even though she reached out as though she had something to say, he simply scowled at her as he flew down to the generator, scooping up Talak with a construct and focusing a powerful blast on the device below; the three of them flew away from the massive explosion, just barely saving Talak's life, that would finally allow them to destroy the jump-gate without taking the Earth with it.

…

Thanagarian Flagship

Ben, John, Shayera, Talak and Diana entered the flagship with their commander in tow, beaten and bloody, they all readied their weapons, aiming at the heroes.

Ben transformed immediately into Diamondhead as John lifted his ring, they were in a stand off as they now dropped Talak who couldn't take his eyes off the ground, "Stand down…" he muttered.

"What?"

"I said stand down!" He shouted as wiped the smeared blood from his face and stood up, "Our occupation of Earth was a failure, we lost."

"But, sir!"

"We're leaving…" He ordered with no room to argue, "And so are you three," he turned referring to the heroes as they all turned around heading for the exit except for Shayera, "I hope you realize what you're doing…" he shouted in a whisper, "It'll take years to find a new world and rebuild a jump gate in the right-"

"Then you'd better get started," Shayera interrupted him, removing her helmet and shaking her head of orange hair, tossing it at his feet the metal clattering on the ground as she walked out.

…

Wayne Manor; the Next Day

Ben Tennyson and Shayera Hol sat next to each other on the couch, watching the news; every channel was covering the same things; Thanagarian occupation lifted, traitor Hawkgirl under investigation, Justice League to assist in Thanagarian escort off world… it was all very much over whelming having just lost her friends and her people.

Ben reached for the remote, shutting off the TV for her as he dropped it and looked away again, "Thank you," she muttered as she couldn't take her eyes off her fingers, playing with her finger tips nervously.

"I don't know the specifics but, if you did the right thing," Ben looked over and gave her a short smile, "I'm sure they'll forgive you."

"I'm not sure I deserve forgiveness," Shayera sat back and held her hands over her face, "They've been in there a long time."

"Yeah," Ben replied putting his feet up on the coffee table in front of them, "They certainly have," he looked over at her for a moment and sighed, "I've done my fair share of crappy things and I can tell you from personal experience that not every story has a happy ending, sometimes you have to live with the choices and move forward with them."

She glanced up from her hands and blinked once or twice, his advice was black and white, it was exactly the truth and nothing but, "Thank you, most people would be trying to tell me everything is okay but, at least you're honest."

"Oh, yea," he assured, "You're screwed."

She sighed, "Thanks again."

The League emerged from a private study for Bruce's father, his most trusted friends are the only people he ever allowed in there, as they took their time discussing what should be done about Ben Ten Thousand and their traitorous friend. They exchanged opinions and conditions, Ben was an immigrant from another reality and Shayera had taken their most precious trust and shattered it. There was much to discuss.

As he waited for their decision, he took his own journey into deep thought; he wondered if his cousin was alive or if she was looking for him, or if it was even possible to find him now. Not to mention they were supposed to excavate Vilgax from his frozen-lake prison soon and without their champion there, a panic could start. He knew Gwen could handle the Neo Circus-Freaks and Exoskull, low level crime but, if Kevin or Vilgax or even worse manages to get free without him there to protect the Earth, who knows what could happen?

He could see the struggle in her eyes as tears welled up, she watched her people leave to return home without her and now she wasn't even sure she had place in her new home; everything came crumbling down so quickly.

Ben sighed, "Look, Shayera", the Thanagarian stopped staring at her shoes to look up into his emerald eyes, they almost reminded her of John's, "I know what you're going through."

"You betrayed your species for an intergalactic war?"

He shook his head and looked down at his watch, "I was married once… I was so focused on the mission, so focused on the fighting that I invited tragedy, "I know what it's like to lose yourself in the mission and the fall out wont be pretty but, you need to make sure you're moving forward with what you want."

Shayera blinked for a moment, she was so caught up in what her friends thought of her, of what her people thought of her, of what the world thought of her; she never even considered what she thought of herself, what did she want?

"I'm just gonna say this," Ben continued as he looked back toward an empty tv-screen, "If you hadn't intervened when you had, John would be dead and whole lot of us would be dead too, the Thanagarians were going to come no matter what, you were just following orders," Shayera gave a weak smile as Ben put a comforting hand on her shoulder, "Whatever they decide in there, means nothing, you decide who you are."

Shayera gave Ben another smile; this one, however, was genuine for the first time since she could remember.

…

"She exploited our weaknesses, betrayed us…" Wonder Woman had been ranting about what their former teammate Shayera had done to them, and by this point had probably repeated several of her own points, "She ensured our capture and helped them build a device that would have wiped out Earth!"

Barry held his hands up, "She didn't know what she was building but, I guess she did give them our weaknesses."

Superman held his hands folded together with his chin propped up on his wrist, "Shayera is confused, she made mistakes but, even if I did forgive her entirely, it's a group vote."

"I vote for her immediate suspension," Diana announced.

"I vote for her… not suspension," Barry pounded the desk lightly as he had no clue what terms to use.

Green Lantern, with his arm in a sling and the bruising and swelling still present on his face, just looked at the table, deciding to stay out of the discussion for as long as possible, "She did more good than harm but, as for trust? I just don't think we can ever salvage that again," he uttered with a defeated expression.

"We're going around in circles," said Batman bluntly, folding his arms, "It's time to vote".

…

"Excuse me, Miss Hol," Alfred, a spritely old gentleman in a classic two-piece suit announced himself as he entered the room. Both Ben and Shayera stood up with apprehensive expressions, "But, they've sent for you."

"Thank you, Alfred," the butler nodded at her thanks as Ben said nothing as he entered pushed two large wooden doors opened, facing a round table with Superman, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, Wonder Woman, Flash, and Batman all sat formally, treating the proceedings as professionally as possible.

"Hawkgirl…" Superman began as Ben took a step or two back.

Shayera narrowed her eyes and tightened her fist, interrupting him, "Ya know what, no. Before you start, I have something to say," she took a deep breath and let it out, preparing to stand up for what she believed, "I came to this planet as a patriot. I had a mission and I carried it out. What I couldn't know was that I would come to care for the Earth, and her people," she looked at each of her teammates in the eye one by one; even Batman, who looked at her in suspicion, and Wonder Woman, who still gave her a look of contempt, "That I'd come to care for all of you; I've spent the last five years torn between my feelings and my duty. I won't ask you to do the same," Her spine straightened and she sucked up tears as some of her old fire returned, "Therefore, I am handing in my resignation to the Justice League, effective immediately, regardless of your decision."

Shayera turned to face the door, walking out with her pride in tact only Wally dashed in front of her, giving her a warm hug but, as he did she whispered to him, "Keep an eye on Ben; from what he's told me, he could use the help."

He nodded and with that, she let go, and walked out the door, refusing to look back.

…

Ben didn't know what to say, he had known Shayera for even less time than the rest of the League, but he still counted her as a friend between her efforts in the fight and the person he'd met, and it was a shame she was leaving. He wanted to say something, anything, to cheer her up, "Good luck," was all he'd managed.

…

Shayera stood at the edge of the cliff near Wayne Manor, the ocean crashed rhythmically against the cliffside, even with her enhanced sight she could only see oceans for hundreds of miles; the sun setting over the horizon and the wind in her hair made her absolutely sure she made the right decision keeping Earth safe.

"You never asked how we voted," John asked from behind, approaching with his arm still in a sling.

Shayera glanced into his green eyes before returning her gaze to the sunset, "It didn't matter; I need time away from it all either way."

"So… where're you gonna go?"

"I don't know," said Shayera after a moment or two of thinking, "Some place that doesn't hate me for what I've done, somewhere that doesn't involve the fate of worlds on my shoulders, somewhere without lies and half-truths."

"Was it all a lie?" John asked, clearly referring to their romantic relationship.

Shayera turned to look at the Lantern. "I love you, John, that was never a lie," she said that with a small smile, "I could never lie about that," After a moment of staring into his eyes, Shayera Hol turned around, opened her wings, and taking off into the sunset, majestically.

John Stewart watched her go, until she was too far to see. Only once she was gone did he allow the tears to fall.

"I love you, too."

…

Ben Ten Thousand stepped up after hugging Shayera, they weren't expecting it to be over so quick but, the sooner they were done with this the better; in front of six of the world's greatest heroes, he didn't seem very impressed.

Superman stood up first, "First and foremost, we'd like to thank you for your help in a time of crisis, it was very noble of you."

"Thanks," he said nonchalantly, "Am I going to receive a medal or something or can I go now?"

Batman stood this time, looking over documents he compiled throughout his short experience with Ben, "Your abilities are incredibly dangerous, if someone were to get their hands on it, the result could be disastrous."

"I'm missing your point," Ben shoved his hands into the pockets of his cargo-pants, "The watch is bonded to my DNA, it cant be removed."

"These are the types of things we need to know…" Bruce stated bluntly, "That and who you are, where you come from, why you're here?" Batman spoke stoically.

Ben could tell that this man didn't trust him, he just saved their planet and none of them trusted him enough to even consider what he was saying, "I only helped because I'm a hero and it's what I do… because when I don't bad things happen."

They were taken aback by his sudden outburst, "I have been to hell and back and the last thing I need is a bunch of flamboyant heroes grilling me for saving their planet," an explosion of green light left XLR8 in his place as his visor slid down in one motion, "I've been a hero alone for ten years, I can do it for ten more."

He sped out of the room sending papers and loose items across the room as Flash stood up, he suggested, "Should I go after him?"

"No, I'll go talk with him," Diana stood up for the first time, stepping around the table as Bruce questioned her.

"How do you know where to find him?"

She gave him a coy smile, "I may not be as smart as Bruce Wayne but, I'm smart enough to know Bruce Wayne wouldn't let an unknown into his house without bugging him."

"Clever," he pulled out a tablet which displayed his exact location, "It looks like he's moving at mach nine back towards New York, a small town in the state."

"I'll intercept him," she said as she left the room, making her way to the garden where she took off, reaching a safe distance before going supersonic.

…

New York

Ben was in his human form, staring out at the lights from a large cliff, you could see almost the entire city from one spot; the city was different, the places were different, the technology was different but, this view was always the same, beautiful. Speaking of whom, he heard Diana's heels land behind him, talking a few steps forwards she sat down on the ledge nearly a hundred feet up, swinging her legs over the side.

"This must all be quite strange for you," Diana noted as Ben didn't look at her, he kept his gaze out at the city, "A world you don't recognize, in a time you already lived through…"

Ben shrugged, "All of that, I've been there, I've done that but recently I realized something about myself that I'm not sure I'm ready to face."

Diana propped her head up on her knees as she pulled them into her chest, "I am a great listener," her inability to properly use contractions was adorable.

"I ran around my world saving life after life, person after person, but I lost myself in the mission; I started doing things heroes don't do, hurting people that don't need hurting," Ben looked down at his own hands, "I splintered off into someone else and I'm not sure if that person is a hero."

"You aided in stopping an armada of invading aliens that would have slaughtered millions and stopped a device from entirely annihilating the planet Earth," she reached out and punched his shoulder, "Only heroes risk everything to perform feats like those."

Ben scoffed, "Believe it or not, I'm talking a bit deeper here, I've done all of that; I saved the entire Universe before but, that was the old me."

"Look, Ben," Diana reached out and placed a hand on his free forearm, "I can't pretend to know what you're going through but, I can tell you that you can redeem yourself, if not in everyone else's eyes than in your own."

Ben and Diana were inches apart, their hands touching as the lights from the city danced off their faces but, he pulled back and took his hand back, "I'll hear what the League has to say but, that doesn't mean I'm agreeing to anything," they stood as Ben held his hand out, Diana's petite fingers grasping his and pulling herself up, noticing they were about the same height.

"We should go…" Ben's cheeks heated up but, he didn't allow his facial expression to change and hid his embarrassment with a transformation into a blue alien with grey-trim only, he was humanoid and had whiskers. Fasttrack dashed off back towards Gotham City with Diana following closely behind him.

…

"We realize that you didn't choose to join our cause but, you did so anyways for the sake of the innocent," Superman noted as Batman continued, "You showed integrity, skill, and control," Diana took over lastly as the trinity was the one to formally ask, "You're free to say no but, we'd love to have you join the Justice League, at least until you find your way home."

Ben looked down at his shoes with his hands still in his pockets, "Being a hero is all I know how to do so, if I'm going to be stuck here I might as well do my best to keep the planet safe."

"Is that a yes?" Bruce asked stoically.

"Is there paperwork?"

"No."

"Then it's a yes," Ben smiled and sniffed his own underarms, "Does anyone have anywhere I can stay?"

Bruce walked passed him and out of the room, "You can use the shower here and stay the night, Alfred will show you to your room; tomorrow we'll have a place for you to stay on the Watchtower."

"Great," Ben gave him two thumbs up as they all shook his hand one by one, the Galactic Enforcers were jokes compared to these guys, this might actually be what he needed to get him out of his rut.

…

Earth Prime; Bellwood; 2026

Charmcaster struggled in her bonds which were moulded by steel and enchanted to keep her from escaping as Gwen, Grandpa Max, and half a dozen soldiers escorted her down a long hall leading to a room with a large chamber, "I'm sorry! Okay? I'm sick! Put me back in my old cell, I'll be good I promise!"

Max sighed, "We've been through this, Hope, this is your third offence and you know what that means," she wanted to snap at him for using that name but, was too terrified of what she faced.

Gwen grabbed her collar, "If you help me find my cousin, maybe we'll throw you back in super-max."

"I swear! I don't know where he ended up! It could be anywhere! Anywhen!" Charmcaster shouted as Gwen let her go and pushed her on, the sliding doors opened revealing a large containment unit the shape of an Omnitrix symbol.

"You can't put me back in there!"

Max turned the dial on the control panel, "You did this to yourself, hun."

The hatch opened as a massive crimson-white vortex opened up as Gwendolyn grabbed her by the restraints and undid them, still leaving her enchantment in place so she stayed subdued, "Goodbye, Charmcaster," she kicked the villain through the portal, sending her through dimensional rifts as the door closed behind her.

…

Null Void

Charmcaster fell to her hands and knees as she turned around, the portal closing in front of her before she could even react; she turned around looking at the vast orange-crimson void around her, floating planetoids and asteroids, one of which she was currently on. It was massive as it could have held an entire island but, she just dusted herself off and looked around taking a deep gulp.

She took a few steps forwards but, she knew the moment she was back in the Null Void that he would find her in a matter of minutes; she heard him coming from miles away, his Kineceleran speed or rather the dozens of Kineceleran's he absorbed to become fast enough to cross an island in a picosecond. He stopped in front of her on a dime, sending a gust of sand and dust exploding behind him from the intense control in speed, "Hey, there, caster…" he was taller than her, he sported two scars on his chin delivered by Ben Tennyson himself, wearing a sleeveless black tee and black combat pants with boots to match, "Long time no kill?" he grabbed her with the strength of a Vaxasaurian by the neck and lifted her off her feet.

"I'm… I'm sorry…" she choked as he dropped her and she gasped for air, "I'm sorry that I left you here, baby, I had to get my uncle out before I could-"

"Bullshit!" he backhanded her as she screamed and tumbled across the dirt, "You were going to leave me here to rot!"

Charmcaster was bleeding from the lip and on the verge of tears but, she smiled holding her hands up, "Baby, I can make it up to you! I-I know where Ben Tennyson is!"

Kevin Eleven Thousand tightened his fist but, let go of his anger as he held his hand out and helped her up, "That's what I'm talking about… if you aren't useful, what good are you to me?"

"Exactly," a tear slipped down Charmcaster's right eye even as she faked a smile, she was way in over her head but, she could make it all better, she could make him happy and then they'd finally be happy together again.

…