When Tony had Jarvis scan the battlefield, he noticed Batman descending using a grappling hook behind Cap to take him by surprise as he was checking up on Nat. He shot forward and collided with him, before dragging them into the air and dropped him on top of a wide platform, where additional containers would be loaded the next day.
Batman's suit's Kevlar withstood the majority of the assault and his fall on the platform. He watched Iron man land and point an accusing finger at him as he stood up.
"YOU! What? You really believe that fooling the Avengers would be so simple? You're going to regret it, buddy," Tony remarked before advancing to assault.
Batman did acknowledge to himself, though, that if he had managed his team's coordination better, none of this would be taking place, but who were they to carry on attacking even when provoked? After Tony finished speaking, he immediately thought, 'Too chatty, less tact.' He was able to predict Tony's attack from a mile away. Batman dodged Tony's attack and knocked him back with his own, being physically capable of doing so using his charged knuckles. Batman increased the power on them after observing no harm had been done.
The intensity of the blow caused Tony to stumble back a little bit, but it didn't hurt him. Ever since Ultron's attack, he had made sure that his armour was extremely robust and durable. 'He wants fists, I'll give him fists Tony activated his armoured hands to resemble Batman's gloves, surprising the dark knight. He muted his microphone, "Jarvis, study his technique and assist when needed."
Batman was caught off guard as Iron mans gauntlets started sparking. I must actually own whatever firm manufactured that suit, Batman thought, and questioned how they had worked in secrecy, not to be recognized despite how advanced the suit was. Batman expression was stoic and said, "We don't have to do this."
Tony became more enraged when he noticed his smirk and said, "Hell No buddy! You got this beating coming to you."
Batman grinned, already relishing the prospect of teaching him a lesson.
Iron man attacked.
Batman waited for his assailant to approach before dodging him and kicking him in the back.
Jarvis spotted this move coming before Tony, who didn't anticipate it because he was too enraged, and successfully reversed the maneuver by spinning and seizing said legs before slamming him against the wall.
Batman was caught off guard by that, as he knew the man was blind with rage and wouldn't see the move until it was too late, if he ever did. He made a mental note of him getting some form of training. When Batman stood up, he spotted Tony charging at him then threw punches his way. However, because Batman was on par with Ras' al-Ghul, if not on a higher level, he countered Tony's every move and started throwing blows of his own. After a series of attacks from Batman, Tony made a mistake and was severely hit in the chest with the electric gauntlets.
Tony exclaimed, "Jarvis!" despite the amour taking the brunt of the blows as he became disoriented from the attacks and realized that he had neglected to switch off the external microphone.
Jarvis analysed Batman's attack for a few more seconds. Taking longer than usual because he was merging numerous combat styles into his attack, making it difficult but not impossible for an AI like it to imitate his actions.
When Batman heard Tony shout, he sped up his attack, intending to put him down before his back up arrived.
Batman's attack continued to land and cause minor dents on the mechanical suit. Amateur He wondered how an inexperienced fighter like him could have blocked his previous attack. He drove Iron man to the edge of the platform, his attacks not letting up. Quickly making a decision, he went in for the final strike to knock him over the edge before his backup arrived. The man blocked and began to defend himself, even landing punches on his own. His attacks were also quicker than before.
Any move the dark knight made was countered, and three punches were delivered to the slower of the two, hitting him. He reached into his utility belt and launched two smoke bombs that detonated upon impact, making the already dark surrounding much darker.
Batman made a strategic retreat to assess his situation. He noticed the suit's eyes lighting up white in the darkness, just like his own, indicating that he was wearing a HUD and had night vision. Considering his combat experience and all that he has accomplished with the suit, "Of course!" He was furious with himself because he was smarter than most people and should have thought of it sooner.
He uttered "AI". It had to be on par with the Bat cave, because that was how he accomplished tasks in that suit and most likely how he studied his attacks and was able to counterattack flawlessly.
Knowing he couldn't win by fighting hand to hand, he made the decision to buy some time and pulled out a tool from his utility belt that he hardly ever used.
"My satellites were breached; how did you do it?" He questioned into the night.
"So that's why you're angry? I hacked a lot of satellites tonight. Which ones were yours?" Inside his suit, Tony grinned before adding. "Next time, don't code your firewalls like an amateur." Before he could continue speaking, batarangs started flying in his direction.
While some were being destroyed, others were colliding with him and his suit was making metallic noises as they made contact. A gadget was then thrown near his foot. Looking down, it released some smoke that enveloped him before stopping.
He was about to attack the approaching person when the device emitted a powerful pulse, which caused his suit to depower. With exception of the arc reactor on his chest, which was still on, everything was offline.
Tony just uttered the word "impossible" before collapsing in a heap of metal. He was astonished. His rage was skyrocketing by the minute, because he had done numerous modifications and upgrades to his suit that prevented any arbitrary EMP device from affecting it.
Due to his intelligence, he wound up with backup protocols for the ones that were already in place in his suits. He was aware that no technology was ever completely secure, therefore he designed mechanisms for when the suit would lose power due to an EMP device. Tony turned off his night vision, so Jarvis' suit didn't appear to be rebooting instantly.
"As you put it, child's play." Batman grinned as he studied the suit's loss of power. He took a chance because he only had one shot and figured the suit was probably EMP proof like most of his devices and gadgets. So he modified the EMP and added some components, to make the blast so powerful that not even his automobile would stand a chance.
To the guy's surprise, it worked and his wager paid off. "Call off your people!" said the low, threatening voice of Batman.
"Not at all likely." They turned to gaze in the direction of the sudden loud BOOOM! And noticed that the majority of the port containers had been turned into scrap metal. They both ignored it and kept looking to attempt to grasp what was happening.
Elsewhere
Captain America reached out and checked her vital signs first, and when he confirmed she was still alive, he unconsciously let out a sigh of relief. When he looked up, a man in red and blue clothing bearing the S symbol on his chest charged towards the Hulk, pulling him away from the fallen woman wearing armour, who was beginning to stand.
Iron Man caught the previous man in the black costume and flew up with him as he heard rocket boots above him. After giving Nat some first aid so she would recover quickly, he helped her sit down while he observed the conflict.
He observed the woman in the warrior outfit survey the scene and fix her gaze on Wanda, who was able to hold her own against the shape-shifting green man, who occasionally became invisible but Wanda always knew where he was. Holding his shield in his hands, he hurled it at her to grab her attention with the dexterity and ease that only he possessed.
Wonder woman was going to head out and offer J'onn the back up he had asked for, when her acute hearing heard a spinning sound split the air hurtling at her at high speeds. She barely ducked her head to escape being struck by the shield, which bounced off various containers before landing back in the owner's hands.
He nearly took off her head, which wouldn't have happened even if the shield had hit her on the neck due to her durability, but it was still rude, and she narrowed her eyes at him in shock and rage. The guy had the gall to shrug his shoulders in response to her. She accelerated toward him in a fit of rage, raising her blade in preparation for an attack.
Due to the serum's boost in his reflexes, Steve just barely managed to raise his shield in time. Wonder woman's sword struck it violently, bending Cap's knee as he used two of his arms to push the shield up against the impact.
She anticipated his shield to shatter or split in half with the force she applied to it with her nearly indestructible sword, but as she flipped back a few meters, she was surprised to see merely a little line of scratch as a result of the strike she had just delivered.
Upon rising, Steve examined his shield and raised an eyebrow when he noticed the scratch left by her blade. He also observed her reaction and pondered why her sword had not been damaged, concluding that both were made of exceptionally tough metals.
She attacked. Steve was prepared for her this second time. Each of them could only dodge and strike with absolute precision after years of training or centuries of combat, which suited Diana and Cap, who have been at it for over 800 years and a century, respectively.
It had been a while since Cap pushed the blade from her grasp, and now it was just two shields pounding against one other as they quickly traded blows.
Wonder woman had to give the guy credit for keeping up with her so far even though she held back considerably; when she accelerated to knock him out, he was able to slow her down to the speed at which they had started. Ever since she entered the world of men, only Steve was capable of doing that, and even then, only because she had taught him how. It was an Amazonian secret combat style for when they fought opponents who were stronger than them, and she pondered where he learned the move so perfectly.
Cap realized he could only fight for so long against the woman who didn't even appear to be breaking a sweat, so he decided to end it quickly and with a brief run, hurled the shield at her with all his strength, which she ducked easily enough before deciding to make his move.
Wonder woman spotted the shield approaching her at a rapid speed and dipped down to enable it to pass on top of her, before straightening to continue fighting, only to be met by a fist to the cheek and a loud Crack!
She winced at the sound of the guy's bones breaking, and also at the fact that the blow had staggered her back a bit. Her cheek was fine and there was no sign of damage anywhere.
The same couldn't be said for the man on his knees, recovering his breath and using his left hand to support his fractured right hand.
Looking up with a glare and seeing that she was fine, he forced himself to his feet to continue battling through the excruciating agony in his hand, that was slowly healing as a result of the serum. Damn it! How can she be okay after I put all I had in that punch and end up with a fractured hand, he wondered as he got up to reform his stance, much like when he had fought Tony for Bucky.
Wonder woman admired Cap's perseverance and fighting spirit, but this was taking too long for her as a warrior, so she moved as quickly as she could and delivered a right knee to his stomach, followed by a backhand to the back of his head, this time knocking him out.
After being kneed in the stomach, he was in too much pain to even try to stop the attack, then everything went black, leaving him unconscious at her feet. She was about to pick him up when she heard a gunshot and looked up to see the woman she had knocked out earlier rise up and point a gun at her.
"Don't even think about it, Cyka!" Nat addressed her.
Wonder woman lifted her eyebrow, as if she recognized the word she had just said. "I don't want to hurt you," she said continuing, "but I will, if you leave me no choice."
Natasha huffed, as if she was stupid enough to believe someone who smashed her into a container and beat Steve unconscious, and she suddenly felt happy that her being knocked out was justified by Captain America also being knocked out by the same person. She's strong, she thought.
When she moved closer to Steve, she fired again, this time not as a warning shot but aimed at her leg, hoping to at least slow her approach.
Nat saw the woman move at breakneck speed to deflect the bullet with her bracelet, then attack her before everything went dark again. "Shit" was her only thought before everything went black.
Diana heard her remove the safety before a gunshot was fired, when she decided to assist her colleague by scooping him up. She reacted quickly enough, by deflecting the bullet into a nearby container before knocking out the woman. She knew she couldn't help or capture either of them when they were still conscious, warrior ego and all.
After knocking her out and placing her next to the other guy, she started surveying the entire battlefield. Her eyes landed on Batman and the red armoured suit guy being restrained by one of his chords. Immediately she heard a loud BOOOM! and turned to see what made that noise and was astonished to see what was happening.
Elsewhere
J'onn had requested assistance from Diana as soon as he realized he couldn't use telekinesis on Wanda Maximoff, an attack he generally utilized as a last resort when he didn't care about the villain's state of mind.
Greater enemies, such as Darkseid and Brainiac, normally had protection against it, but they had Superman and him to level the playing field. In this case his brute strength couldn't help because her force field prevented his from touching her. It also burned him whenever he came into contact with it.
At the same moment, Superman was facing a green furious creature, whose fury could be felt emanating from him in waves.
Shazam and Green Lantern were also busy fighting the other guy who was resisting the two powerhouses. He also noticed Diana, who was occupied by the guy with the shield, leaving him to pick up his slack.
Shape-shifting to a giant reptilian snake, he wrapped his body around Wanda who had been mentally blocking out his telepathic attacks. He wrapped around her and began to squeeze the air out of her, to knock her out.
Earlier Wanda had flown after Thor to help him when he was tackled by Shazam and joined by the green lantern who were tag teaming him, only to be knocked to the ground by J'onn.
"Stand down!" J'onn cautioned her, his eyes glowing, attempting to scare her while also reading her mind. He began to go through her thoughts and saw a large metal-looking robot followed by a guy with a bullet-riddled body, followed by her crying herself to sleep for countless nights, and then he was kicked out with a force that gave him a little headache.
"Argh!" After his healing abilities kicked in, he grumbled and stared at her. What he saw in her face made him reconsider his earlier objective of reading her mind, since he saw and unearthed a memory she didn't want anybody accessing from her brain. Her facial expression changed from a painful one to a furious one aimed at him.
Except for White Martians, who were a whole different ball of worms, J'onn had never met anyone who entirely stopped his telekinesis while still in their head.
"You will pay for that!" That was the only warning he received before she released a devastating spell on him. J'onn had barely gone invisible when the wave washed over him...phasing through it, he could feel the power behind it, pure chaos. Wanda was caught off guard and had to cease her attack when he phased through it, which enraged her even more.
When J'onn morphed into a large dragon, she was pummelled to the ground with only her force field between her and the giant stomping foot that landed repeatedly on top of her. This made her more enraged. Her magic came to life as if it had a mind of its own and blasted the giant creature upwards.
J'onn was flung off her by a powerful force and landed a few meters away.
She began floating towards him, enveloped by a crimson aura.
J'onn's eyes flashed brightly, signaling that he was about to unleash his most powerful psychic attack on her, one that would bypass her minds defenses and knock her unconscious or disorient her until she was arrested. He began his attack. He looked at her and grit his teeth from the anguish he felt while trying to penetrate her mind, which was proving futile, thus he had to telepathically call on Wonder Woman for help because she was truly a formidable foe.
Wanda knew what he was going to do the instant his eyes shone bright. She smirked at his audacious attempt. Fool me once, shame on you...fool me twice, shame on me.
She exploited his desperation against him, finding a back entrance into his mind and began to explore as she felt his mental attacks pounding on her walls. His mind was a breeze compared to when she had to mind control the Hulk and get past his various amazing mental defenses, which was not simple and had just toughened up since that attack on him.
When J'onn felt a gentle prodding at the back of his mind, he knew immediately what it was. He shifted into a large reptilian anaconda and wrapped himself around Wanda, whose force field encased body was slowly being squeezed. The pressure began to take a toll on her and with one final wave of magic, she engulfed the giant snake in a maroon aura which burned like a flame because she had seen that fire was weakness of his.
He recoiled, then sank down, writhing on the floor, the maroon aura still around him and burning at a low pace that would gradually weaken him until he passed out but not die. She watched him writhing and crying out in anguish as she looked down at him.
"I told you you'd pay for it," she said, and with a strong kick of her boots amped up by magic, he blacked out. The physical anguish he was in proved to be too much. She heard a loud BOOOM! And turned to look in the direction of the sound while also taking in her surroundings.
Elsewhere
Thor was tackled into a container before he could counter, he was pounded repeatedly, each punch stronger than the last. Focusing again, he grasped one of his attacker's fists and punched him as hard as he could at the moment, sending the figure crashing into a large crane, which came toppling down from the sheer force of the impact.
He summoned Miljonir and soared towards his adversary, who was getting up and staring at him with anger in his eyes. His objective was to defeat this guy as quickly as possible and help his team, but he had no idea how difficult it would be.
He had hardly begun his approach to Shazam when he was forced to crash land to the dock past the pier into the water, a feat that Hal's missiles made happen. Behind him was a gigantic green model of a fighter jet that he had willed into existence.
"What took you so long?!" He was yelled at by Shazam.
"I was busy trying not to get eaten, that water has some creepy things lurking in there," Hal replied, pointing to the water. Just then, Miljonir knocked Shazam out of the air, sending him plummeting back to the ground.
"You don't know when to give up, do you?!" said Hal as Thor charged towards Shazam, who was temporarily dazed from the hit.
Thor changed his trajectory to Hal and noted his ring was his power source, much like Miljonir was his, and charged at him with that concept in mind.
Elsewhere
Flash was running left and right, keeping the nightshift port workers who were arriving, approaching police units, and news vans as far from the battle as possible. His mission was to limit collateral damage by speeding people out of the way every now and then, because the loud explosions and fighting scattered debris everywhere in the battlefield. He could even see the army helicopters swooping by every now and then, their big flood lights illuminating the port.
"Mr Flash. Lois Lane, reporting for the Daily Planet." "Can you give me an update on what's going on here?" Lois half shouted hoping the Flash would talk to her on her account of being close to the man of steel.
While running around trying to keep people behind the barrier at the ports gate, Barry had heard Lois Lane's voice and stopped for a moment to gather his breath. He'd been on the run since he arrived. "I can assure you Miss Lane that the Justice League will have this wrapped up in no time and p..." A loud BOOOM! Stopped him, causing the watchers, even the fearless Lois Lane, to take a step back.
"That's it; just take a step back from the barrier for your own safety. As you can hear, we are currently occupied..." and with that, he was gone in a flash, rushing to the battlefield to assist in cleaning up, anticipating the Justice League to have dealt with the situation by now.
Elsewhere
Hulk felt the blue guy in the suit yank him away while punching his back, each punch forcing him further ahead until he met with a high stack of containers, which came falling down, crushing the massive cargo ship that was ready to offload them.
"That's one tough beast," Superman muttered, cracking his muscles, which were rigid from dragging the hulk for so long.
That takes care of that. He thought, and examined the port where the fighting was taking place after he saw no evidence of the hulk rising again.
His super senses reacted when a container came huddling towards him and barely catching it in time, before floating a few feet back from the momentum, dropping it into the ocean. He watched the Hulk lunge towards him, with his fist ready to punch and a loud roar.
A loud boom rang out as Superman went supersonic and met Hulk's fist with his own, anticipating its hands to snap from the sheer force of the collision. A tremendous BOOM! was heard, sending shockwaves in all directions, and the heroes nearby were not saved either. Green arrow and Hawkeye, who were still at a standstill, were both knocked out as the abrupt wave threw them against a container.
After their collision, which sent them both flying in separate directions, Superman was surprised to see the Hulk still charging at him. He decided that a lengthy fight with him would just ruin the port, so he sped again towards his approaching target, who expected them to clash head on again, but Superman had other plans.
He flew closer to the ground, dodging the fist thrown at him, and gave the Hulk an uppercut, sending him flying up, with Superman zipping past the upward moving Hulk and waiting for him with both his hands joined together to form a combined fist, then punching the Hulk's chest with enough force to knock out Bizzaro.
Hulk's back slammed against the ground, creating a big crater and causing numerous containers to tumble on top of each other around the harbour as if an earthquake had just occurred.
Superman remained hovering in the sky, watching him slowly rise and take in his surroundings before beginning to breathe even harder, indicating that he was becoming agitated once more.
He gathered himself before BOOOOM! He flew up sharply, creating a distance between himself and the earth. He sped down one more time to administer the final blow to the Hulk, who he had noted could absorb anything he threw at him and also give some back. He had never used this tactic on anyone other than Darkseid, but he was confident it would work.
Either knock the Hulk out cold or simply kill him; either way, the destruction would cease, and he could then assist his teammates. As he approached the hulk, he noticed him suddenly look up and his eyes glow slightly green, and he accelerated his speed to maximize the force of the hit.
Elsewhere
"You're so fucked now!" When Tony saw most of his team mates down, Batman saw a glimmer of glee in his grief filled speech.
"Are you sure we're looking at the same scene or did the EMP work a little too well?" He remarked this, while glancing down at the still sitting but tied up Iron man.
"The sexy warrior lady who just knocked out Cap and Black widow made the big guy angry," Tony pointed out as if it were obvious, shuddering at the thought of what was going to happen. During their time combating crime as the Avengers, Hulk took it personally anytime someone gravelly wounded the team's non-super powered members. He had come to the conclusion on his own that Hulk perceived them to be Banner in his humane weak form, thus they shouldn't be treated as such because they weren't as tough as Banner, who could withstand anything thanks to the hulk.
"Well, Superman is about to finish this whole thing and we arrest you lot!" With finality, said Batman.
Meanwhile, Jarvis had long since rebooted, but Tony was biding his time and waiting for the ideal moment to strike, which would come sooner rather than later when he saw the Hulk unlock a new level of anger.
Elsewhere
After being knocked out of the sky and creating a big crater, the Hulk slowly crawled his way out, his body healing the damage he sustained in seconds. Looking around, he noticed Thor inside a green bubble with two people floating in front of him, while Wanda was OK. He couldn't see any evidence of Tony, which worried him a little, but when he watched how Wonder Woman mercilessly knocked out Steve and Natasha, something snapped inside of him.
Still staring at Nat as she lay immobile in the woman's arms, he found himself becoming more enraged than he ever was, and he didn't even hear Banner whisper warnings in his mind.
He heard another loud boom and knew who it was, the man who had harmed him and his buddies. More enraged than before, he glanced up to see Superman preparing his punch for him...then a loud KAABOOOOOOM! Was heard and the crater widened further down under the pressure that was applied to it while shockwaves slammed into everything and everyone around them, throwing the unprepared or light away.
When the dust settled, the Justice League members who were still conscious, let out surprised gasps because they were the ones who had underestimated the Hulk.
A low continuous growl was coming from the Hulk, who had caught Superman's punch in his palm before trapping him by enclosing his fist in his own and applying pressure that increased by the minute as he became more enraged.
Superman was startled by the Hulk's strike, not even flinching, and his eyes glowed greener by the minute, his hand felt like it was being crushed by a multi- tone crusher, and even his durability and strong bones were straining not to strain.
When he saw his right hand was trapped in a vice grip by the Hulk, he threw his left punch with everything he had, but the Hulk caught it as well, trapping both his arms.
CRACK! Was heard as the Hulk head-butted Superman so forcefully that both of their foreheads cracked under the force of the collision, yet both mended instantly, while the force brought Superman to his knees due to their height disparity.
Hulk, who had faced the likes of Abomination, was unafraid of pain or broken bones, but it appeared that Superman was still not used to it, considering that he was stronger than everything on Earth. Noticing this, he used all of his strength at the moment to break both of his wrists, causing another shockwave from the tremendous force applied there. Superman was then snatched up by his legs and battered numerous times against the ground.
When he saw Wonder woman approaching, he smacked her with Superman's body like a baseball bat. The impact threw her into the sea, while Superman attempted to utilize his heat vision on the Hulk.
Hulk refused to give up and pushed through the pain until he brought Superman crashing to the ground one last time.
Feeling great pain from his previously mended bones and dazed from the impact, Superman heard a loud roar and looked up to see a gigantic green fist slamming down at him before everything went black.
Hulk had again mustered all of his strength at the moment and launched a power punch to the powerful, stubborn blue man, knocking him out for a few seconds.
Looking around for his team mates, he noticed Thor had broken through the green construct with his Miljonir and managed to knock Green Lantern into the water while Shazam was rapidly approaching him. He charged at the approaching figure with a roar, colliding with it head on.
Shazam smirked as the hulk charged at him and accelerated to meet it head on. It was like colliding with an asteroid, which pushed both of them back from the impact. Still bewildered, he saw the beast leap high...really high...and out of the harbour, perhaps landing miles away.
Elsewhere
Batman could count the number of times he was both astonished and speechless on one hand, with this moment being one of them. He had just watched Superman get knocked out by the hulk, which provided Iron man with the distraction he needed to use his hand blasters, which had cut away the cord tying him up, and shot Batman in the chest, assuming his Kevlar would protect him but instead being blasted back by the force.
"Wanda, grab Nat, Cap, and Clint, and let's get out of here," he said through his headset. Thor, noting Iron Man's motion, made a move to follow them out of the harbour, while Hulk leapt ahead of them.
They flew south hoping to avoid any more occurrences while they figured out what the hell was happening.
"Jarvis, activate protocol star crossed." Iron man spoke as he led the team away.
Watchtower
Batman woke up startled when he heard all the murmuring around him, but remained alert and relaxed when he heard the familiar voices of the leaguers. He opened his eyes to find himself in the watchtower's infirmary, his chest bandaged.
"He's awake," flash said, drawing everyone's attention.
"Situation report," he said monotonously.
"We're dealing with it, you need to rest," J'onn said as Batman began to get out of bed.
"I've gotten enough rest, now tell me what happened." After being briefed on what had occurred and the clean-up, he walked to the control room and began typing.
"Cyborg already tried that...nothing worked," Hal said entering the control room.
Bruce paused his work and sat down, his countenance contemplative. "Why did you let them get away!?" he asked, half-shouting.
"We were all pretty out of it, the green guy took us by surprise," Superman shrugged.
"They couldn't have gotten far without something or someone noticing a huge green guy"
"Actually we tracked his long range jumps to a point then they disappeared" stated Wonder woman.
Batman was becoming increasingly frustrated with each response, which only exacerbated his chest pain and headache. "We were hacked," he continued, looking to the cyborg for an explanation.
"Well, technically, nothing was accessed, so no worries... they discovered a back door to all systems through Google. To secure it, I've already sent patches and added the necessary source code." After detecting Batman's glare, Cyborg remarked.
He stood up and walked out the room after activating the teleporter.
"Batman, where are you going?!? You NEED to rest right now!" Diana enquired, worried about his chest bruise.
Bruce came to a halt just shy of the teleporter and looked over his shoulder, saying only "home" before teleporting away.
"Oh," Diana gasped, her face flushed from embarrassment over her outburst at Bruce.
"What was that all about?" "Am I missing something?" Wondered Hal aloud while the others scattered about to continue their tasks.
Two days later...
Ben arrived in the city in his Jet ray form, landing on a massive globe on top of a sky scraper. In a flash of green light, he transformed into ghost freak and turned invisible, in case anyone noticed him flying in or the green flash during his transformation. He was on high alert, not knowing what kind of planet he was on or whether he had a doppelgänger. He scanned the city and noted it was totally different from any alternate universe he had been to. The city's vibe was also different, basically everything's design was new to him.
'Tennyson, consider what Grandpa Max would do in my situation.'
He flew down between the two buildings and transformed into Ben. Loud growls erupted from his stomach, signifying that he was famished after not eating for about two days.
Being in alien form makes me forget eating at times. He thought back to the time grandpa max chastised him for that.
It had taken him much longer to reach civilization since after escaping the wilderness, which he discovered was The Amazon forest, he had flown towards the United States of America using Jet ray because he was faster than most of his flying aliens and to some extent, XLR8 and Fast track.
He had stopped to foil a few crimes along the way, which added to his delay, not that he grumbled because he, too, didn't know what he was searching for. His objective was to search for the organization that was equivalent to the Plumbers in this universe and ask for help in getting back to his universe. This looked like the first major city he came across, so his search would commence in Metropolis.
After exiting the alley, he made his way to a hot dog stand on the corner of a busy street, who was serving a lengthy line of people in suits buying takeout. He started at the back of the queue.
UNCATALOGUED ALIEN DNA DETECTED...preparing to scan... flashed in his vision in electronic form.
"SHIT!" He cursed loudly, then lowered his cowl to avoid the eyes directed at him because of his colourful wording and his attire being the odd one out in the line. He had forgotten that when Trixx was formed, the Omnitrix activated that particular function. His eyes could function as Trixx's HUD while allowing him to see normally. It was just a necessity to assist him in better understanding and using the Omnitrix quantum computer processing. He had Trixx disable the function because he only needed Kevin and Gwen at the time, and Trixx scanning everything he saw wasn't exactly helping either.
It appears that some Omnitrix functions, like DNA sampling, could override any command in the watch until the required sample was identified, retrieved, catalogued, and saved in digitized form.
His eyes scanned around him for the extra-terrestrial who was close enough to trigger the omnitrix. If Trixx stated there was an alien nearby, then there certainly was one. She proceeded to scan the crowd of people with Ben watching his eyes operate like a computer screen and Trixx as his processing unit.
While scanning a person, she displayed the said person's gender, age, physical attributes, and some other minor information that could be analysed at a moments notice then cleared each by writing HUMAN as THE SPECIE. All this was done and organized very simply so that Ben could follow what was happening.
Trixx identified a man walking away from him with a woman in his arms in bold letters; SPECIE: UNKNOWN, and the earlier words UNCATALOGUED ALIEN DNA DETECTED kept flashing across his vision.
Knowing that the watch would do nothing until the DNA was catalogued, he delayed eating for a few minutes longer and began following the two people. Noticing how everything was both similar and dissimilar to his own world, he mentally directed Trixx to use the available networks to learn everything she could about this earth.
In a matter of seconds, he watched millions of lines of code flow through his vision before a little rectangular bar with the writing, 'Processing 2%...' emerged and increased by the second before being pushed to the bottom of his vision to finish processing.
Ben understood Trixx was probably hacking the entire internet, to gather the information she needed since she had the processing and storage power to back it up. Galvan technology and programming were superior to the majority, if not all, computer programming. He was abruptly dragged into the alleyway from which he had exited.
How ironic, he thought.
Elsewhere
After grabbing takeout with his co-worker/girlfriend Lois Lane from their regular vendor, they headed back to the planet to finish up a report they were working on about the incident at the Gotham port.
Fortunately for them, no footage of the incident was accessible to the public, and it was up to Lois Lane to come up with a narrative to tell the public, as it was generally known she was the most reliable when it came to Justice League issues.
They had agreed to blame the whole affair on miscommunication between the two groups that day, but they slightly twisted the reality to favour both sides because, from Batman's perspective, they didn't appear like evil people. They had simply fought to defend themselves.
During their discussion was when his senses picked up on someone's gaze never leaving them. His heightened senses kept him constantly aware of everything around him. This was so that he couldn't lose control and hurt someone or break something. They had been followed for a few blocks by the same person. A guy whom they had left queueing to get some food.
He alerted Lois by writing 'we're being followed' on a notebook he had carried in his pocket.
Slowing his pace down till the tail was closer to him, he moved at the speed of light and dragged him to the nearest alley while Lois stayed back to check if anyone saw anything. (She had found out about his secret a long time ago)
"Who are you and what do you want!" Clark demanded answers.
"Well, that explains the alien part," he said, lifting his left arm, which held the omnitrix, that was now spotting the colour orange in every part that was usually lit green.
He let go of the guy, startled and shocked, when he heard the phrase, 'alien'. Lois joined them with her mouth gaping as she also heard his comment. No one had ever connected Clark and Superman, including her. He had to tell her his secret when they started dating because his physiology restricted them during certain activities.
Ben, seeing their shock as an opportunity to give the Omnitrix what it wanted in case there was trouble and he needed to transform, raised his left hand. The face plate of the watch slid up, and an orange beam of light shot out to Clark and scanned him twice from head to toe, then retracted back and the Omnitrix's green colour returned.
SAMPLE ACQUIRED...PROCESSING... flashed briefly in Ben's eyes before being minimized and then stared ahead. He was shoved against the wall again by the now composed Clark.
Trixx scanned their faces and put up their information to him in his HUD eyes, as if she already possessed a file on each of them.
"I mean you no harm Lois Lane and Clark Kent or as they call you Superman." Ben choked out when Clark knocked him against the wall again.
It took all of his self-control not to go HERO because according to what he read and was informed by Trixx, Superman was a hero of this world, therefore it was just a minor miscommunication. (Yes, Trixx could speak with him telepathically because she digitized his brain, and having an AI as a subconscious could be useful at times)
"How do you know who we are!?" Superman asked the stranger. "Are you working for Lex Luthor?"
Trixx flashed pertinent information on Lex Luthor at the utterance of his name, prompting him to speak up. "No no no no no no, I don't even know the dude, NO!!! I was merely curious,"
Lois wasn't sure if it was her journalist instincts or gut feeling, which made her put her hand on Clark's shoulders and he seemed to relax before letting go of the guy.
Ben landed in a heap on the ground because Clark was way taller than most people. As he rose to his feet, he smiled at Lois and cast a quick glance at Clark.
"Is that how you treat visitors in this place? Damn!" He chuckled as he rubbed his sore throat. He has super strength and super speed, he thought.
"Who are you and what did you just do to me?" Clark inquired, clenching his fist and already restless for an answer.
"I'm Ben 10," he responded, as if that was enough to answer any question. When he uttered his name, he didn't see any recognition on their expressions, and he made a mental note that he didn't exist in this universe.
"I'm sorry, Ben Tennyson," he said again, offering his hands for a shake, then added, "Nothing to worry about, my watch collects alien DNA from time to time, no harm to it," he said, raising both arms to demonstrate he had no ill will towards them.
"How do you know who I am and our identities if you've never seen any of us before?" Clark inquired, having decided he will have to apprehend him. It couldn't be a coincidence he was following them and he knew who he was.
"Well, my watch being a DNA hub for sentient life forms, it can detect an alien when in close proximity to it and in knowing who you are, I just do. After all, glasses don't conceal anything that well."
He called it in after looking at Lois for confirmation on what he was thinking then watched her nod her head in approval. "Superman to watchtower. Requesting teleportation for two." They teleported out of there, leaving Lois to walk back to the office alone.
Watchtower
Ben wanted to go to the watchtower the moment he heard and read about it among Superman's information which Trixx had displayed. Clark phoning it in just made things easier. It also did not disappoint, since it was incredibly updated and massive with various superheroes walking around.
Ever since the incident at the port, everyone was on duty till the group was either located or arrested.
Trixx brought forth the schematic plans for the watchtower and scanned them, as well as the digital handbook, making Ben familiar with everything as if he had been a member since the Justice League formation.
'How do you keep doing that?' While Superman took him to what he now knew would be the interrogation room, he mentally asked Trixx.
She half-bragged, 'I do approximately one million tasks per second and that's barely using 1% of my processor power and speed.'
'You know what I mean...all this new information about this world,' he asked with a sigh.
'You told me to retrieve information about this planet, and that's exactly what I did' she said to him after Clark had left him in the interrogation room.
Trixx had hacked every known database on earth, copied every single file on them while synchronizing herself to retrieve any new information added to them. She then analysed and classified all of the data as best she could, including the database in the watchtower.
'How did you do that in such a short period of time? And how did you know the guy was Superman,' he asked, as Trixx displayed all of the information processed to him.
'This planet's technology is still far from being at par with the most primitive sentient life form back in our universe, so with my quantum processor developed by Azmuth, this was child's play. I also found databases of some social media platforms, among others, then analysed and synced every profile with as much information as I could get. Thus creating my own facial recognition database, which includes this planet's criminals,' came Trixx response.
While he was thinking about this, he didn't notice the founding members looking at him via the double-sided mirror glass.
"What do you think?" Superman, Batman, and J'onn were studying the guy, whom by their estimate was around 22 years old and was lost in thought, staring in front of him blankly.
"You said it scanned you?" J'onn asked, for the eighth time.
"Yes" "and yes, I feel perfectly fine," he said, glancing at Batman, who was ready to say something but stopped.
"What did he want?" Batman asked tensely, a person who could identify Superman in a crowd, in his civilian attire could be a potentially powerful friend or enemy. First the group turns up, then this guy, what game are they playing? Was it coordinated?
"Ummmmm... I don't want anything. Well...now that you've asked, I wouldn't mind something to eat." The speaker linked to the wall between the two rooms turned on.
"You didn't say anything about his super hearing," Batman shot out at Superman.
"I didn't think..." He began defending himself before being interrupted once more.
"I don't have super hearing; I can see you through the camera in the room, and I turned on the microphone," Ben smirked as he noticed Batman frown for a second then cover it.
"I think a system upgrade is in order," Superman stated to Batman, recalling how they had been hacked earlier, but because Cyborg had said he addressed the problem, they didn't linger on it, after all, he was CYBORG.
While perusing the files Trixx had provided for him, he had tapped into the watchtower's security system and scanned the rooms, avoiding the accommodation department because, well, he didn't want a repetition of the plumber base incident. He noticed Clark looking at him through the glass with who he now recognized as Batman and the Martian Man hunter.
They stepped inside the room and the door closer behind them.
No sooner had the Martian entered the room than all of the programs in his peripheral vision came to a halt, and the words UNCATALOGUED ALIEN DNA DETECTED preparing to scan... flashed across his HUD.
The Omnitrix's ambience turned orange again then the face plate slid up as it had before.
J'onn turned intangible as soon as a beam of orange light shot towards him from the watch, as though expecting it to do so based on Superman's description. He was shocked to see that it scanned him twice from head to toe before withdrawing back to the watch.
It's ambience regained the green colour but they were all shocked it scanned J'onn even though he was intangible.
SAMPLE ACQUIREDD...processing... flickered briefly before vanishing.
"Intangibility...cool," Ben said, intrigued by this alien.
This seemed to shake them out of their stupor, and Batman commanded, "EXPLAIN!"
"Only because you asked so nicely Bruce," he said, laughing at his enlarged eyes at the mention of his name. "It's been programmed like that. The Omnitrix can scan any sentient life form whether it is tangible or not. Now can I at least have a soda?" The brief response came.
Nodding, batman issued instructions to his earpiece before returning his attention to Ben.
"How do you know who I am?!" The demand arrived.
"Facial recognition software or is that not a thing here?" With a shrug, he responded.
"Try again, I know for a fact that no F.R.S can connect Bruce and Batman, I made that guarantee for every leaguer's identity."
"Let's just say mine is more advanced." A red blur sped into the room, placing a soda and burger in front of him before standing alongside Superman with his arms crossed.
"Just like I know that's Barry Allen, works forensics for the police, and is in a relationship with Iris West as of thirty minutes ago, according to her Facebook page." Ben surmised as he began eating, giving them time to assimilate the facts.
"WHAT! OFFICIALLY DATING?!" Screamed the flash, pulling out his phone for proof, and then he rushed out of there yelling Hal's name.
"That's what he got from all that?" As flash vanished, J'onn wondered.
"Our scanners didn't pick up any electronic device on you other than that watch. Where is your database stored, and where is the computer you are currently using to hack us with?" Clark added before getting side-tracked again.
"My mind," he said, tapping the side of his head. Ben saw Clark focus for a minute then frown a bit.
"There's no mechanical enhancements to your brain to back up your statement." Accused Clark.
Ben just shrugged, "Doesn't mean it's not the truth." Just then cyborg came into the room hoping to speak to Batman.
"I know we've been hacked again."
"How?!" Batman gave him a look. He rephrased his original inquiry, "who?"
"Him" gestures to Ben.
Cyborg was annoyed as he looked between the two. "How?!" Ben didn't strike him as a capable hacker.
"It's what we're trying to figure out."
Ben had stopped eating and was staring at the cyborg, whom Trixx was already examining. She concluded he was a human who had been upgraded by mechanical parts that were too advanced to be found on this planet.
Cyborg also scanned Ben and his watch, receiving an 'Error' message in his mechanical's eye HUD about what the device and Ben were, but he did notice a big power source in the watch. It almost looked like it was a clean self sufficient energy power source.
"Why do you have a self sufficient energy reactor in your watch and how is it not imploding on itself?" Cyborg inquired.
Batman gritted his teeth, making a mental note to thoroughly examine that watch.
"Oh, it powers the Omnitrix and because this is the most powerful device in many galaxies."
"No, it's not kid, this is." Hal said as he walked into the interrogation room, scanning Ben's watch with his ring, which read 'Error' when he conjured a screen to display the results. He had come to see who the Flash had felt sorry for, for managing to get interrogated by the three founding members of the league.
"Huh! So they don't know everything." he was surprised, referring to the guardians' extensive knowledge, which was extended to them.
Trixx scanned the ring as soon as Hal entered the room, revealing the results to Ben's eyes. It was given the name 'Unknown weapon' and a description of how the ring was physically constructed, which simply demonstrated that it stores a great quantity of energy at specific times and is rechargeable. "It's not powerful if it has to be recharged every now and then," replied Ben calmly while Hal looked like ready to throw out curse words.
"Okay, who the hell told him?!" "Damn, this place has no secrets," he muttered as he walked out of the room.
"I can't read him..!" J'onn spoke up abruptly. He'd been attempting to read his mind since the moment he entered the room, but he could only get a read on the thoughts he was having at the time. He had to strain to get a read on them.
"How is that possible!?" Asked a stunned Clark.
"I..I...I don't know." Everyone was looking to Ben for an explanation.
Amazon jungle
Meanwhile, a group of people sat in a now-modernized cave in the Amazon jungle, monitoring and researching the people they encountered and the type of situation they were currently facing. With the occasional one of them, returning to the United States to obtain more information and supplies for their safe zone.
Watchtower
Ben had explained to the founding members, virtually all of whom he had met by this point, how his watch worked, about Trixx, about his home world, how he ended up in their universe, and how the Omnitrix protected him from psychic attacks and ghost possessions. He had come to consider then an organisation for good, just like the Plumbers.
"They may not be criminals." he added, because the footage he watched from Luthor's servers, revealed that they were just as bewildered as any time traveller would be. None of the violence would have also occurred if Superman hadn't made the first move. The Hulk piqued his interest.
"And why does Luthor have a footage that not even us have?" Superman inquired.
"He's Luthor." Came Batman's reply to which everyone just nodded.
"You have a really powerful device..."
"I know."
Batman said, "so don't lose it."
"I won't."
Turning to Superman, he stated, "We need to find those people and bring them in." before looking around at the rest of the founding members, including Wonder Woman, who was still processing everything Ben had told them. Hera! Was all she could think.
"I can help with that." He said before ordering Trixx to look for them.
Using the facts and information provided by the Justice League, she calculated their probable route to their possible location the size of a city in the Amazon jungle. "I've found them, I'll go convince them to come and meet you guys properly and NO, I will not tell you where they are."
"How powerful is Trixx?" Batman was intrigued.
"She's quantum," and just hearing that made Batman gag and Cyborg gaze at Ben blankly since that kind of processing capacity was still light years ahead of earth.
They were still at supercomputers, and now he really wanted to analyse everything on that watch. He realized that only a processing power that great, could do the computations needed to let Ben transform safely while simultaneously handling the Omnitrix's intricate calibrations.
"Okay, head out." Superman said. Ben knew he was powerful as soon as he watched Superman fighting, so he mentally directed Trixx to activate the first foreign sample found, and with a flash of green he transformed into his own Kryptonian.
Everyone covered their eyes for a brief moment, due to the bright green flash then stared, awed by what they were seeing while Wonder Woman could only stare bewildered.
Ben appeared to be around 28 years old, had short hair, sparkling green cerulean eyes, and a well chiselled facial structure. He wore a white fitting shirt with a green stripe, showing off his well developed physique. He had a green leather jacket with a single white line cutting diagonally and the number 10 was written in white on the back and the Omnitrix on his left hand. Black jeans and well designed green combat boots. The omnitrix produced every clothing using high quality material which were probably more durable than Superman's. Overally, if Wonder Woman thought Superman was attractive, Ben's Kryptonian form was just shy above his level, though he was still a child according to her.
Looking at himself, he could feel the immense power in his muscles, and felt like he had drank a whole tank full of energising drink. All he could say was "Cool."
"I think I'll keep this one for a while," Ben smirked, flexing his muscles. He could see the entire electromagnetic spectrum, which he knew what they were because Trixx was scanning everything. His enhanced vision could see everything, including atoms, the things he read about in school.
He could also hear every sound and everyone talking in the watchtower before he gained control of it. He had to manage his sense of smell too. All his senses were heightened to a level none of his previous aliens had ever achieved, except Alien X. He could feel his body reacting to the watchtowers artificial gravity.
The omnitrix's evolutionary feature automatically made him know how to naturally control and use all his abilities, just like it usually did for every alien he turned into.
Superman is very powerful if this is how he views and experiences everything around him. He thought.
Ben looked at Superman. "Wow! You are very powerful."
The man of steel just shrugged. "So you have all my powers?"
"Yes. I have never felt anything like this. How do you do it?" he asked. Ben felt so powerful, perhaps it had something to do with his body absorbing and processing the yellow sun radiation. He'd only ever felt this powerful when using some of the ultimate aliens, so he wondered what a Kryptonian's ultimate form could do.
"I have had years of practice." Superman answered, worried that Ben would be overwhelmed given how he was marvelling at everything around them. "You better not be using your X-ray."
"What!?" Wonder woman exclaimed unconsciously covering herself with her hands while Hal, the Flash, Shazam and Green arrow were laughing. That was an ability they wished they had. Batman and J'onn were still staring at Ben.
"No I'm not!" he answered quickly, vigorously shaking his head. "Don't worry, I'm experienced enough to use them with the restraint required," he said, as Trixx could still be seen displaying information in his eyes as usual.
"Why should we believe you? You haven't had years to practice using them like him." The dark knight questioned. An amateur with Kryptonian powers could cause serious damage.
Ben did not like Batman's tone but restrained himself with a thought. Don't forget they are the good guys.
"You'll have to trust me." He said, then with a little concentration, he lifted up in the air until he reached the ceiling and hovered in place. All eyes followed his movements.
"Yeah... I forgot to mention that I turn into the prime versions of those species." no one doubted him as they were still staring at him floating above them.
"Does this mean you can now turn into a Martian as well?" enquired a concerned J'onn.
"I can if I want." Since meeting the group at the dock, the Justice League have been getting more and more surprises.
"How long can you stay a Kryptonian?" said Batman, needing to know the average duration per transformation.
"As long as I want. Hours, days, weeks...you get the gist." Ben answered as he landed on the floor once more.
Batman internally cursed. That would be a problem if Ben turned to be an enemy.
Ben heard him tense. "I mean you no harm. You really have a hard time trusting people, don't you?"
The rest of the league knew he was right but none spoke up to support Ben's theory of the dark knight.
"Okay...I guess your watch is a contender for the most powerful weapon..." Hal cracked a joke to relieve the tension.
"That's an understatement." Wonder Woman mumbled to herself, but with so many eyes on her, they had heard her.
"Well, I'd better get going," Ben's voice broke them out of their thoughts.
"Yes, the sooner we deal with this, the sooner we'll figure out what's going on and return you to your universe." Batman replied. That watch was a recipe for trouble according to him.
"You can survive in space right?" Ben had to be certain, even if Trixx had mentioned it as one of the aliens' abilities.
"Of course," said Superman, smugly.
"I like kryptonians more and more." Ben smirked as he took off for the hangar, which was already open.
He flew into space and accelerated to earth, immediately disappearing from their radar.
"Now he's just showing off," the flash said.
"I hope he is one of the good guys. Just think about all the alien heroes and villains he could scan using his watch..." Shazam, who had been silent until now, spoke up. He'd been preoccupied with scenarios of how he would defeat him if he became bad, still enraged by his defeat to the Hulk and the Hammer Guy.
"How do you restrain someone that can turn into Superman and J'onn? Not to mention how many people will want that watch once they learn about it." Hal stated. He had decided he was going to travel to OA to address this with the guardians.
"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it." Were the last words said before them disbanding to various directions.
Somewhere in the Amazon Jungle
"So they have a base of operations in space!" Tony exclaimed, still amazed at the idea.
"Yeah, I wonder why you never thought of that Tony," Natasha, who was looking through Justice League videos, replied.
"Well, the towers are still sweet," Tony argued, while Natasha only smirked at his bruised ego.
Hawkeye, who had gone on a supply run with Wanda, returned at that same moment. "They are the heroes of this earth and thought that we were the bad guys, a case of miscommunication." Wanda shared her thoughts.
When the government was hunting down Bruce Banner in their earth, he utilized the cave they had made into their base of operations as a safe haven. It was a good thing it was also in this earth.
They then rigged it up to provide accommodation as well, creating a fantastic refuge deep within the world's toughest jungle. Tony had set up a lab with the devices they managed to acquire on their runs. They were linked up using solar panels supplemented by Tony's arc reactor as power sources.
"I think we should send one person to go and explain this unfortunate misunderstanding to them," voiced Cap. He continued, nodding their heads in agreement. "I will go tomorrow and contact them so that we can come to an agreement," he added solemnly, leaving no room for argument.
"The superman guy is very strong," Banner observed. "He punches stronger than Abomination and Thor...The big guy had to boost his power each time they came to a stale mate."
"But it's a good thing he knocked him out because we wouldn't have escaped otherwise," Natasha remarked gratefully.
"Yeah, although he's strong he's no much for the hulk."
"The one I fought with had powers similar to myself." Thor finally said something. "We had to start pounding each other because neither could hurt the other with lightning."
"They do have unique powers, since they have a shape shifter and mind reader" said Wanda.
"Not to mention the sexy warrior woman who kicked the crap out of Cap," Tony chuckled.
"Oh, yes? What about the costume person who beat you up, plus Jarvis, who, according to reports, is suspected to be a regular human?" Nat gave Tony a sly grin.
"Jeez! What did I do to deserve this?" Tony bemoaned. "If it weren't for me you wouldn't have known satellite blind spots while escaping thus making us untraceable." He shot back, "Yeah...well..."
"Not necessarily," Nat was interrupted by an unfamiliar voice, followed by a bright green light that blinded everyone for a few seconds, and then by another unfamiliar deep base voice.
"Hey, I'm Ben."