1 Chapter 1

DISCLAIMER: ALL RIGHTS BELONG TO DC AND CARTOON NETWORK. THIS IS PURELY FOR FUN PURPOSES. I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING.

Ben Tennyson stared out at his hometown of Bellwood. He couldn't bring himself to even think. It was too painful. If he tried to think, the memories would come back. Memories of those he loved… and those he lost.

Mom, Dad, Grandpa, Gwen, Kevin, Julie, when Ben tried to picture their faces, all he could see were their broken, lifeless bodies. Why did you have to die? Why did you have to leave me? And why couldn't I save you?

Ben glanced down. He had been sitting on the roof of a building, he couldn't even remember where, five stories up. If he was in one of his alien forms, he would be able to survive a five-story fall without a problem. But now, he was a human. Humans were much more fragile. Ben slowly tipped himself forward. As his body lost its connection to the building, and began its swift descent to the street, Ben thought, Don't worry, everyone. I'll see you all soon. As the ground neared, Ben Tennyson saw a flash of blue light, and then saw nothing.

. . . .

Metropolis

Ben knew he wasn't dead. The dead don't feel pain, so that meant that he'd once again cheated death. Why was it that he couldn't die, but everyone that he cared about died? As Ben pulled himself off the ground, he took in his surroundings. He could tell that this wasn't Bellwood anymore. He would have remembered a building with a huge golden planet statue that towered high enough to be seen even in the alley he was in.

"Great," Ben muttered, "instead of killing myself, I wound up in who-knows-where." He began to make his way out of the alley, but he stopped at the sound of footsteps. He turned around to see several muscular men with bird wings coming out of their backs, and spears in their hands.

"Halt, human!" one of them shouted. "Show us your identification, or you will face punishment!" Ben's anger, which had been simmering until now, boiled forth.

"You want to know who I am?" Ben asked, raising the Ultimatrix, "I am…" he slammed down the dial, and the bird-men shielded their eyes from a green flash. "HEATBLAST!" a new voice shouted. The aliens' eyes widened as they saw a humanoid creature that appeared to be made of magma. Its forearms and hands were oversized, and its head was literally on fire. Heatblast raised his hands. "I'm also in the mood for fried chicken!" from his hands came a tornado of fire that blasted all of the aliens out of the alley and across the street. They hit the ground, smoldering and unconscious, but alive. Heatblast looked up to see a ship hanging in the air. It clearly wasn't human, if the bird-men flying protectively around it were any indication. Feeling that he still needed to vent some anger, Heatblast lowered his hands toward the ground and shot a continuous stream of fire, launching himself into the air. He then focused flames out of his feet and rocketed towards the ship.

. . . .

Thanagarian Prison Shuttle

Six members of the Justice League, some of Earth's greatest heroes, had been defeated. They had been betrayed by Hawkgirl, one of their own. Trapped in a sphere of red sun radiation lay Superman, the Man of Steel. In another cell, Wonder Woman, Princess of the Amazons, was bound to a pole by her own indestructible lasso. Near her cell was the Flash, the Fastest Man Alive, pinned to the ground by gravity generators. Across from him lay the Martian Manhunter, the last son of Mars, held by metals that he could not phase through. At the end of the hall were the cells of Batman, the World's Greatest Detective, and Green Lantern. The Lantern had been stripped of his power ring, and was thus helpless. Batman was simply not seen as a threat. A sense of defeat hung in the air, along with silence.

But that silence was broken by the sound of shouting and gunfire. The Leaguers tried to see what was going on, when the door to the cell chamber exploded. A semi-charred Thanagarian fell to the ground a few seconds later. Inside the chamber strode Heatblast. He looked around at the brightly-clad people before him.

"From what I can tell," said Heatblast, "these chickens are the bad guys. Please tell me I'm right, because I'm in a bad mood, and I don't want to make it worse by finding out that I fried the wrong guys." He examined the captives closer.

Superman spoke up. "We're the Justice League. We fight to protect the Earth, and the people who live here."

Heatblast tilted his head. "Justice League? Seriously? Nobody thought that name was a little corny?"

Flash tried to raise his head, but the gravity was too strong. He managed to say, "See? I'm not the only one who thinks so."

Heatblast stopped in front of Wonder Woman's cell, and his eyes narrowed. He never did like the mistreatment of women, and this was a clear example of such. He punched the controls to the cell, and the force field lowered. "Don't move." He warned, raising his hands to grab the metal pillar. A section of it began to glow, and then melt away.

Wonder Woman was able to use her super-strength to pull herself free. She slid out of her lasso, and then attached it to her hip. "You know," she said, "you could have just untied me."

Heatblast shrugged and showed his large hands. "Sorry. These aren't really good for the dainty stuff." He turned around and began walking out of the cell, but he stopped and turned his head back to Diana. "By the way," he said, "I'm Heatblast. Who are you?"

Diana smiled. "People call me Wonder Woman." Heatblast had noticed her red, white and blue leotard and boots. Aside from that, a tiara, and silver bracelets, she didn't wear much else. Heatblast was glad that his face was already on fire, because otherwise he would probably be blushing at the sight of this beautiful woman.

Any further conversation was halted by the appearance of a dozen Thanagarian guards rushing through the remains of the door. "Get your friends out! I'll take care of this!" Heatblast rushed towards the guards, punching, kicking and blasting his way through, leaving unconscious and burned bird-men behind him. He kept another group of guards busy while Wonder Woman helped each of her fellow Leaguers escape their cells. It was here that Heatblast noticed that these people had superpowers. Well, four of them did. Wonder Woman could fly and had super strength, the Flash had incredible speed, Superman had all that and could shoot lasers out of his eyes, and the Martian could become intangible, in addition to super strength. Batman and Green Lantern, who had no powers, were still more than effective.

In short order, the already unfair fight became a beat-down. The few remaining Thanagarians were quickly subdued by the heroes. However, they were surprised by another group of guards attacking from behind. Wonder Woman was able to deflect the energy blasts coming from the guards' spears, but Heatblast noticed a particularly rotund hawk-man carrying a very large cannon. Rather than risk one of his new-found allies getting hurt, he jumped in front of the Amazon, and slapped the Ultimatrix dial on his chest. Heroes and bird-men alike shielded their eyes from the green flash.

"CHROMASTONE!" shouted a new voice. In Heatblast's place stood a thin, cycloptic creature made of purple stone stood defiantly. His hands, forearms, horn and the spikes on his back were all made of pink crystal. "Come on, tubby!" ChromaStone taunted, "Hit me with your best shot!"

Gritting his teeth, the Thanagarian fired his cannon. ChromaStone stood calmly, not moving an inch. Instead of exploding, like everyone expected, the energy blast was absorbed into his body! "My turn." ChromaStone raised his hands, and a rainbow-colored wave of energy coursed out. Had it hit anyone, the blast would have packed enough of a punch to be fatal. As it happened, ChromaStone had been aiming for the wall. A massive hole was blown through the ship. The city could be seen below. ChromaStone used a much weaker blast to knock out the remaining Thanagarians, then turned to the League. "Anyone who can fly, grab someone who can't!"

Superman flew through first, carrying Batman; he was followed by the Manhunter, who was carrying Green Lantern. Wonder Woman was the last out, carrying Flash. Before she got too far, she turned back to ChromaStone. "What about you?" she cried.

ChromaStone grinned at her. "Don't worry," he said, "I've got it covered." He slapped the Ultimatrix dial again, and was obscured by another green flash; in his place stood a red manta-like creature. "JET RAY!" he shouted, then flew past Wonder Woman in a blur. "Let's get out of here!"

Flash looked up at the princess holding him. "You know, it's possible, and I could be wrong here, but it's possible that that guy is on our side."

. . . .

Metropolis: Street Level

The Justice League and Jet Ray had managed to evade the Thanagarians, and had found shelter in a clothing store. Still needing to take his anger out on something, Jet Ray transformed into Big Chill and went outside. As the League caught its breath, Green Lantern turned to Superman.

"That x-ray vision working again?"

Superman looked at a wall. "Just enough to see every Thanagarian within a two-block radius frozen completely solid."

Flash gave a low whistle. "Now I know why he said 'Big Chill'."

Superman turned to Diana and the Martian, J'onn J'onnz. "Did either of you get anything from that guy? Is he really here to help us?"

J'onn shook his head. "I did not enter his mind, but I sensed no ill will towards us; only mild irritation."

Green Lantern looked at the Martian. "Why would he be annoyed with us?"

Flash gave a small smile. "Maybe because the guys who always save the day needed saving?"

The rest of the League rolled their eyes, while Diana shook her head. One of the many gifts given to her by the gods was the ability to read emotion. "I sensed anger, pain and despair; whatever happened to him was terrible, and it nearly broke him."

Flash looked down, a little ashamed of himself for making jokes at the expense of someone in pain. Everyone else paused, lost in their own thoughts. The moment passed as the blue mothman that was Big Chill phased through the ceiling to land in the middle of the group.

In an eerie whisper of a voice, Big Chill spoke up. "That should take care of any trouble for a while. What's next?"

J'onn spoke up. "The whole city will be covered by now."

"Maybe we'll get lucky and they'll all go home." Flash quipped. The others looked at him.

"Trust me," Big Chill said darkly, "we're never that lucky."

"A little optimism can't hurt at a time like this!"

Before the blue alien could reply, a booming voice could be heard from outside.

"THIS IS THE VOICE OF THE THANAGARIAN OCCUPATIONAL AUTHORITY. THE JUSTICE LEAGUE ARE ESCAPED PRISONERS AND VIOLATORS OF OUR MARTIAL LAW. THEY ARE TO BE CONSIDERED AN ENEMY, AND DEALT WITH ON SIGHT. ANY PERSON OR PERSONS FOUND AIDING OR HARBORING THEM… WILL BE SUMMARILY PUNISHED."

Big Chill glanced at Flash. "Optimism, huh?"

The fastest man alive slumped. "Something like that, yeah."

Batman spoke, his voice laden with authority. "We're going to have to go underground for the time being. Keep low and rethink our plan of attack."

"How exactly do we hide when the whole city is looking for us?" Wonder Woman asked.

"Not to mention the fact that your costumes are about as stealthy as a Shag Carpeting concert." The League looked at him in confusion.

"Seriously? No Shag Carpeting on this planet?" The teen hero slapped his forehead. "Great, just great."

"He is right." J'onn said, drawing the others' attention away from their new ally as he held the sleeve of a nearby coat. "They're looking for our costumes. But without them, we are ordinary citizens."

As he spoke, the Martian shapeshifted into a human man in a brown trench coat.

"Whoa, wait a second!" The Flash exclaimed. "What about the whole secret identity thing? I mean, I trust you guys, but what about him?"

The speedster jerked his thumb In Big Chill's direction. The blue alien narrowed his eyes dangerously.

"True. You definitely can't trust the guy who pulled your sorry butts out of a prison ship. That would be stupid." He snarled the last few words, his patience already at its limit considering he would rather be dead than dealing with a group of incompetent, brightly-costumed heroes and saving an Earth that he was completely unfamiliar with.

"Whoa, little hostility there!" Flash reacted, lifting his hands in a passive motion and taking a step back.

"Look, I didn't ask to be here," Big Chill said in a cold voice. "I didn't ask to play the damn hero again, especially after the hell that I went through. I'll help you take your world back, since saving Earth is already a damn hobby of mine. But after that…"

The mothman trailed off, let'Ing the others decipher his intentions with their own imaginations. "And as for this secret identity dilemma…"

With that, Big Chill lifted his hand to the symbol on his chest and tapped it. In a flash of green light, the mothman was replaced by a young human man wearing jeans, a black shirt, and a green jacket with a 10 emblazoned on the left side.

"I'm Ben Tennyson," the kid said, a notable lack of emotion in his voice.

The others were stunned.

"A kid?" Lantern asked in complete disbelief. "You're telling me a kid had to rescue us from the Thanagarians? We must be doing worse than I thought!"

"I'm eighteen, tough guy. And I've been saving the world since I was ten."

More stunned silence ensued.

"Since you were ten?" Superman questioned, raising an eyebrow.

Ben nodded and held up his left wrist. "An alien device, the Omnitrix, was ejected from a ship in orbit to keep it safe from an intergalactic warlord. It landed in front of me, and I used it over my entire summer vacation to be a superhero. Then I got this new version, called the Ultimatrix, and started using that instead. That's the long and short of it."

"And you've had this device for eight years?" Diana asked.

Ben frowned. "Look, how about we go over my history after we sneak out of the city that is currently occupied by bird-man aliens."

Batman nodded in agreement before stepping forward and removing his cowl, revealing black hair and piercing eyes. Ben paused, recognizing the look in those eyes. They reflected the pain that he himself now felt. The pain of losing your whole life in an instant.

Maybe they shared something in common after all.

"Bruce Wayne. Flash is Wally West. Superman is Clark Kent. Green Lantern is John Stewart. And you know Diana and J'onn," the billionaire explained.

Ben glanced over at Flash and smirked. "Wally? Really?"

Flash sighed. "Shut up."

A few minutes later, every member of the Justice League was dressed up as a normal civilian, with Superman wearing a blue business suit and glasses, Diana wearing a long sleeve blue shirt and jeans while tying up her hair in a long ponytail, Green Lantern with a skull cap, brown hoodie and brown pants, Batman wearing a leather jacket along with grey pants and a turtleneck, and Flash going with dark jeans and a brown jacket. Ben stuck with his normal attire.

They were now standing outside in the alley that they had come through previously, Bruce poking his head out to see if the coast is clear.

"We need to split up. They expect seven of us," John strategized. "Who takes the kid?"

Ben gave the powerless Green Lantern a death-glare as Bruce spoke up. "We need to get to Gotham City. We can regroup at my house there. Try not to draw attention to yourselves."

The dark knight looked over the group. "I'll take Diana and Ben. We can pose as a family out on the town."

Bruce then began to walk away, wielder of the Omnitrix and Amazonian princess following his lead. However, the billionaire felt a sudden chill as Ben walked alongside him, an empty gaze facing forward as the teen spoke in a cool voice. "I'll pretend we're a family if I have to. But I am not calling you 'dad'."

The Gothamite glanced over at Diana with a raised eyebrow. She shook her head, warning Bruce not to dig any deeper. She could still feel the despair and rage flowing from the young man, so much so that it was almost painful. Then she realized something frightening.

He was fully prepared to turn that"pain and fury on the Thanagarians, and he had the power to act on those feelings.

. . . .