Chapter 4: Laying Down Roots
Metropolis
Jet Ray made it back to Clark's apartment several hours after leaving the Kent farm. From there, he easily made his way to the Daily Planet building, where he found Clark and, to his surprise, Lois. Clark gave a small smile when he noticed Ben's trademark jacket. Lois, on the other hand, was considerably less happy.
"Where were you!?" Ben could tell that she was more than a little annoyed with him; probably because he'd disappeared near the presence of a psychotic super villain. "After Metallo attacked, I couldn't find you anywhere! What happened?"
Ben put up his hands in a placating gesture. "Sorry, after Metallo got up, and you said that he would probably try to kill me, I freaked out. I got lost for a while, then I wound up at Clark's apartment. I got my jacket, then got directions back here."
Lois' expression changed from worry to skepticism. "How did you get into Kent's place?"
Ben's smile turned slightly condescending as he turned to Clark. "You might want to consider locking up when you leave home, Clark."
It was a lie, of course, but hey, Ben figured that it would make a convincing cover.
Lois turned a glare towards her colleague. "Really, Smallville? I swear, if you were living in Gotham, you'd have been robbed a dozen times over by now."
Clark shrugged. "Well then, I guess it's a good thing that I don't live in Gotham."
Lois rolled her eyes. "Whatever, I need to head home and finish my story on this new guy, Upgrade. After the Thanagarian invasion, the world could use some more heroes." She gave Ben a small smile. "See you around, Ben, and while I'm glad you're safe, try not to do anything stupid anymore, okay?"
Ben gave a grin. "No promises."
After rolling her eyes again, Lois left. Clark began walking back to his apartment with Ben in tow. Along the way, Ben had to ask.
"Does she know about, uh…?" Ben quickly placed his fists on his hips, mimicking a pose that he'd seen Superman make in several photos.
Clark shook his head. "No, she doesn't know who I am, and I hope that she never finds out, for her sake; I don't want her placed in any more danger than she already is."
Ben thought about this for a moment; it made sense, save for one thing: it seemed that Lois Lane was already in as much danger as possible. From the stories he'd heard from the Kent family during his stay, Lois was always getting kidnapped, falling off of buildings or getting attacked by super villains. Knowing who Superman was wasn't going to make her life much more dangerous, if at all.
"But… you're in love with her, right?"
Clark's head snapped around so fast that Ben could actually hear the tendons crack. "How could you tell?"
Ben smirked. "Dude, I could see you giving her goo-goo eyes the second she showed up."
Clark scratched his head. "That obvious, huh?"
"Yeah. So, what's the problem? Why not just ask her out? You don't have to tell her your big secret."
Clark looked down at his feet. "She has a thing for Superman."
Ben stopped walking. He blinked several times. "Okay, let me see if I've got this right: you like her, she likes Superman, you are Superman, and therefore Superman must like her too."
Not completely sure where Ben was going with this, Clark only nodded. Ben took a deep breath.
"So why don't you make this easy and just freaking tell her who you are!"
Clark opened his mouth to respond, but no words came out; he had nothing to counter Ben's suggestion. Ben pinched the bridge of his nose, his brow furrowed in exasperation.
"Geez, I knew you were invulnerable; I didn't know you were dense!" Ben started walking again.
Clark caught up with him after a moment. "Wait, how do you know about dealing with this sort of thing?"
Ben rolled his eyes. "I told Julie that I was a superhero after our first date. It probably saved me a lot of guilt later on." It still stung to think about Julie, but it was dulled by his frustration with Clark.
Were all the superheroes in this universe like this, or was it just Superman?
They continued to Clark's apartment in silence, both lost in thought; Ben, who was questioning the intelligence of the people in this universe, and Clark, who had to think on what now seemed like a very obvious hole in his logic.
By the time they arrived at the apartment, Ben had finished fuming and Clark had finished kicking himself over being an idiot. They were, however, very surprised to find someone sitting at Clark's table, sipping a cup of coffee.
"Hey Clark, hey Ben." A very cheerful Kara Kent waved at them.
"Kara? What are you doing here?" Clark frowned. "Shouldn't you be in school?"
"Check your watch, cousin," Kara smirked, "it's Friday, and school ended hours ago."
Clark groaned, while Ben grinned. Apparently, Clark had been so lost in thought that he'd barely been able to get home, much less know the time. When Kara got up to put away her coffee cup, Ben noticed something: she was in her costume. Ben had never seen her wear it before; sure, she was a superhero and apparently all superheroes wore costumes, but he'd never seen Kara in hers. She wore a white t-shirt with the "Super-logo" on it, as well as a short, blue skirt, red boots, white gloves and a short red cape that hung from the shoulders of her shirt.
"Not that I mind your company or anything," said Ben, "but why are you here, Kara?"
"I help out Superman whenever I'm in Metropolis." Kara explained. Then her smile grew impish. "And since you're back in the hero game, I figure I should see what you can do besides lift hay bales."
Ben grinned right back at her. "Oh, bring it!"
Clark smiled. This was certainly an improvement from the Ben he'd seen a week ago; he could tell that he was still upset about the loss of his family, but at least now he had some fire in him again.
"Why don't you two patrol Metropolis for the day; if you need me for anything, just call me."
Ben frowned, not really understanding until Clark tapped on his ear to indicate his super hearing. Supergirl smiled, then went to the window.
"You coming?" she asked.
In answer, Ben activated the Ultimatrix and slammed the dial.
"JET RAY!"
The two aliens flew out the window a moment later. Clark stared after them for a minute, then sat down at the table, his mind drifting back to Lois, and Ben's words regarding her.
Downtown Metropolis
"This is so boring!"
Jet Ray looked at Supergirl in confusion. Really? They'd only been patrolling for fifteen minutes, and she was already bored? Maybe it was because she was still a little new to the whole hero business, but her impatience was still surprising.
"Hey, don't worry about it; in my universe, I'd usually have a couple of weeks' worth of patrols behind me before anything happened."
Supergirl looked at him as if he'd grown a second head. "How did you not go insane?"
Jet Ray shrugged. "Usually because I spent that time bugging Kevin."
Supergirl groaned. "But I just want something to happen."
It was at that moment that a large explosion rocked the street, and several armed men ran out of what used to be the front of a bank towards an armored car.
"You were saying?" Jet Ray turned to Supergirl, but she was already rocketing towards the criminals. Jet Ray sighed. The way she'd rushed into the situation reminded him of himself when he'd first found the Omnitrix; he had always acted like he was invincible. Still, he supposed that Supergirl had a right to be a little cocky; as far as he'd seen, Kryptonians were nearly invincible. Still, he decided to keep an eye out, just to be on the safe side.
Supergirl wasn't worried. These were just common thieves, and she was bulletproof. This was an easy chance to show a veteran like Ben her stuff. She landed in front of the armored getaway car.
"Alright boys," she began, "fun's over; drop the money and the guns and I won't have to send any of you to the hospital."
All but one of the thieves looked at each other nervously. The last one, the leader, smiled, much to Supergirl's surprise. Sure, she hadn't been doing this for as long as other heroes, but normally thieves either surrendered or shot ineffectually at her. The only ones who smiled were super villains, or had…
"I knew this would come in handy today." The man's grin grew wider as he pulled out a piece of glowing green rock from his pocket.
Supergirl's eyes widened as she felt the effects of the Kryptonite. In an instant, she felt sick and weak from the radiation the stone gave off. As she collapsed to the ground, she berated herself. She should have known something was up the minute she saw the smile. She should have put some distance between her and them. She should have…
She never finished her thoughts on what she should have done, as a beam of green energy drove a furrow in the street between her and the thieves. Jet Ray swooped in to hover over the small trench.
"Back off, boys. Don't make me hurt you." Jet Ray all but growled the words. He had been content to let Supergirl handle this, thinking that it was only a few thugs, and she did seem to need to let off some steam, but when he saw the light from that stone cause her obvious pain, he knew that it was time to help.
The thugs pointed their weapons at the red manta-ray. They obviously had no fear of any aliens save Kryptonians. Jet Ray had a mind to change that, but he still needed to shield Supergirl from that stone. He slapped the Ultimatrix dial on his chest. In a flash of green light, Jet Ray was replaced by what looked like a gorilla made out of red, blue and yellow Lego blocks. Like nearly all of Ben's forms, the Ultimatrix symbol was displayed on his chest.
"BLOXX!" the creature yelled.
Before the stunned criminals could react, Bloxx leapt backwards. His body extended and connected, forming a dome around Supergirl that protected her from the Kryptonite's harmful radiation. On the inside of that dome, Supergirl rose shakily to her feet as she recovered. She jumped a little in surprise as Bloxx's face constructed itself in front of her.
"You okay?"
Supergirl squinted at him. "Ben?"
"Call me Bloxx." Bloxx's attention drifted for a moment when he felt bullets pelt body. Some of them pierced through, and a few more of those hit Supergirl, but since Bloxx could regenerate and Supergirl was bulletproof, the only thing they needed to worry about was the guy with the Kryptonite.
"What happened, Kara?" Bloxx turned a concerned face at Supergirl. "Why did that rock hurt you?"
"Kryptonite." Supergirl explained. She hadn't recovered as quickly as she'd have liked. While Bloxx was protecting her from the harmful light of the green rock, he also blocked the rejuvenating effects of Earth's sun. "The radiation is poisonous to Clark and I."
Bloxx nodded. "Let me take care of that, then. Think you can take care of the others?"
Kara nodded. "Y-yeah, no problem."
Bloxx noticed the lack of confidence in her voice, but decided to talk to her about it later. Right now there were bad guys who still kept shooting him, and it was really starting to tick him off. Focusing his abilities, two arms grew from the dome, wrapping around the hands of the leader of the thugs and, more importantly, around the Kryptonite that he held. Bloxx's body changed back to his regular form and ran towards the man, ignoring the bullets that continued to hit him, and delivered a wicked head-butt to the Kryptonite-holder. Keeping his hands wrapped around the stone, he stepped back to observe.
Now exposed to the sun's energy, and free from the threat of the Kryptonite, Supergirl attacked with a vengeance. The remaining criminals were out cold in less than a minute's worth of punches and kicks. As the crowd of people that had gathered cheered, and the police arrived to take the would-be bank robbers into custody, Bloxx extended his arms to grab the top of a building and pulled himself up. Supergirl quickly followed.
After a few moments of roof-jumping, Bloxx sat down after making sure that the Kryptonite within him was secure and wouldn't be a risk. Supergirl joined him a moment later. Bloxx could tell that she was depressed. Her face was tilted down, and she was hugging her legs to her chest.
"You okay?"
Supergirl looked up at him. "No, not really, but I don't want to talk about it."
"Trust me," said Bloxx, "we should; it'll do you a world of good. But maybe we should get rid of this Krypto-whatever first." He held up a fist that contained the rock for emphasis.
Supergirl smiled. "Kryptonite."
Bloxx rolled his eyes. "Whatever." Then he slapped the Ultimatrix dial. After the green light faded, Kara saw a green, humanoid gooey creature with a small UFO hovering over its head.
"GOOP!" The creature's voice was squeaky and sounded like it was being spoken underwater. Kara could spot the Kryptonite in Goop's hand, but her eyes widened as she saw the stone dissolve right in front of her!
"Acid." Explained Goop, as if it were obvious. Once the Kryptonite was completely dissolved, Goop slapped the Ultimatrix dial once again, only to turn back into Ben, who sat down in front of her.
"Now do you want to talk about what happened?" Ben's face clearly said that he wasn't going to take no for an answer.
Supergirl sighed. "I messed up. Superman's been teaching me to fight smarter but, I don't know, I just wanted to prove myself, so I ran in without really thinking."
Ben leaned back, surprised. "You wanted to prove yourself? To who, me?"
Kara nodded.
"Look," Ben said, "you don't need to prove yourself to me; anyone who can lift buildings and shoot lasers out of their eyes, and isn't trying to take over the world, has my respect."
"But you don't get it," said Supergirl, "you've saved your entire universe; people still see me as Superman's sidekick."
Ben shrugged. "So what? All that means is that you work harder to show that you're your own person, and eventually people won't see you as a sidekick, they'll see you as a hero."
Supergirl smiled, so Ben took that as a sign that he was getting through to her.
"Now, as for what happened," Supergirl's face fell again at Ben's words, "you would have been fine if that guy hadn't had the Kryptonite. Other than that, you were a little overconfident; it's okay, I was like that for years, and I almost always had to have someone else save my sorry butt because of how I acted. I'm pretty sure that's why the Justice League was founded, so that heroes could watch out for each other."
Kara felt her spirits rise. If Ben could rise above his flaws, then darn it, so could she!
"Thanks, Ben."
Both heroes rose, and Ben patted Supergirl's shoulder. "Well, I learned not too long ago that it's good to talk about this sort of thing with a friend." Then he activated the Ultimatrix and turned into Jet Ray.
"Come on," he said as he took off, "we've only been doing this for a little while; let's check around the rest of Metropolis before we head back to Clark's place."
Supergirl laughed as she flew into the air. "Knowing him, he's probably been worrying since the minute we left."
Jet Ray joined in the laughter as they flew back to Clark's apartment. Unbeknownst to them, however, a certain superhero had been listening in on what they had been doing since leaving his apartment, only stopping when he heard his phone ring; his caller ID had showed that it was someone who usually never called.
…
When Ben and Kara arrived at Clark's apartment a few hours later, they noticed Clark sitting at the couch with a rather thoughtful expression on his face.
"What's up, Clark?" Kara never liked it when people had that expression; with her teachers, it usually meant extra homework.
"Sorry, Kara, but I've gotta take Ben somewhere; Batman needs him for something."
Ben's eyebrows rose. Batman actually asked to see him? "What, did run he run out of bats to chat with or something?"
"Not exactly, Ben."
Clark turned to Kara. "I also have some League business to take care of. Do you think that you can handle things tomorrow while I'm gone?"
Kara was shocked. Clark was willing to give her that kind of responsibility, even for one day? She glanced uncertainly at Ben, who gave her a grin and a thumbs-up. Her confidence bolstered by his support, she nodded at Clark. Then she frowned.
"Wait, why are you waiting for tomorrow? Can't you leave tonight?"
Clark shrugged. "I've given up trying to figure out why Batman does what he does."
"You're probably better for it." Ben muttered.
Both Kryptonians smirked, but said nothing. Clark left for his room; it was getting late, and he was getting tired. Kara got ready to return to Smallville; it wouldn't take her long to get back, and Ben was sleeping on the couch. Before she left, however, she grabbed Ben in a crushing hug.
"Thanks for the talk, Ben."
"Kara!" Ben gasped, "Air!"
"Sorry!"
Kara quickly opened the window and flew out, not looking back. She might have wanted to, as she would have found seeing Ben sitting on the couch, trying to get oxygen back into his deflated lungs, to be hilarious.
…
The next morning, Ben awoke fairly rested. He hadn't woken up in the middle of the night, though the nightmares persisted. Maybe he was just getting used to them, which wasn't a very pleasant thought for Ben. After breakfast, he transformed into Jet Ray while Superman got into his costume. Once they left Metropolis behind, the two flew in silence for a few minutes, with Jet Ray only slightly behind Superman, since he had no idea where they were headed.
"So, where are we headed, and why are we headed there?"
Superman turned his head towards Jet Ray. "Batman needs you in San Francisco; he said that it was important if you were going to live in this universe."
Jet Ray nodded in understanding. Maybe it was some government thing that was based in that city. If Batman said it was important for him to be there, then it probably was.
Superman spoke up again. "By the way Ben, I wanted to thank you for before."
"For what?" Ben asked, not quite sure what the Man of Steel meant by that.
Superman smiled. "First, for what you said about me and Lois; I guess I really needed to have that shoved into my face."
"Does that mean that you're gonna tell her?"
"I don't know; it would be a big step. There aren't a whole lot of people outside of the League who know who I really am." Superman paused for a moment. "But I am giving it more thought."
"Well hey, it's just advice; I just think it might make things easier for you if you want to start something with her."
The two flew in silence for a few minutes before Superman spoke again.
"And I need to thank you for one other thing."
"And what's that?"
When Superman spoke, there was genuine gratitude in his voice. "Thanks for saving Kara, and for telling her what she needed to hear."
Jet Ray's flight wavered for a minute before he could get back on course.
"Hold on! You know about that? You were there?"
Superman laughed. "I don't need to be nearby to hear a conversation, and I can see through almost anything."
"That must make your day job a breeze." Jet Ray muttered.
"It does. I can't tell you how many times Lois has been mad at me for getting a story before her. Which is one reason why I have reservations about telling her."
"At least she can't kill you; Julie had an alien battlesuit that she could kick my butt with if I did something to make her mad."
Both heroes shared a small laugh. The rest of the trip was in silence, but this time it was a comfortable kind.
…
San Francisco
The two heroes landed at the coordinates that Batman provided, which turned out to be an alley. Superman was only there for a minute before he had to leave, saying that Batman had asked for Ben to come alone; plus, he still had a meeting with the other members of the Justice League to go to. Once Superman left, Jet Ray turned back into Ben. He stepped out of the alley to see a limo drive up to him. The window cracked open wide enough to reveal its occupant.
"Get in." said Bruce Wayne.
Ben complied, and the two rode in silence for a while, until Ben couldn't take it any longer.
"Where are we going? Why did you call me here?"
For a moment, Bruce's face stayed in its normal, impassive expression; then his mouth turned in a small smile.
"Your new home."
"What?"
"You'll see."
After a few minutes of driving, the limo pulled into the driveway of a nice house. From the outside, it looked like a normal, two-story home. There was nothing unusual about it. Bruce and Ben walked to the front door, where Bruce produced a key. He opened the door, and Ben's jaw dropped at what he saw.
The outside of the house might have been ordinary, but the inside of what he could see was definitely not! It looked more like the homes of millionaires that he'd seen on TV and in movies before!
Bruce gestured for Ben to go inside. Further into the house, he saw an incredible living room, complete with a beautiful fireplace and an enormous television; there was a great kitchen, and through a glass door he could see all the way to the San Francisco Bay. He turned back to Bruce, but it took a moment for him to get his ability to speak going again.
"How did you get this? Why?"
Bruce smiled again. "I didn't get this for you, Ben; your parents did."
"Come again?"
"I've been spending the last few days constructing your identity in this universe; birth certificate, insurance, medical records. Everything that you will need if you're going to live here, including your parents' last will and testament."
Ben frowned. "How the heck did you get all of that stuff? I never even told you my parents' names; how could you have written up their will?"
"When you told J'onn to read your mind, he picked up more than just the memory of the two previous days. The pain was so fresh that you'd subconsciously focused on any and all information about your family, in order to keep them close, and J'onn read that too."
Ben's frown deepened. "Okay, next time I see that guy, he and I are going to have a little talk about personal boundaries."
Bruce shrugged. "It got you a home faster. Does it really matter now?"
"I guess not." It didn't mean that Ben was any more comfortable with the idea of someone seeing all of his personal information, though.
Bruce smiled, the turned around, heading for the door. "Take some time off. See what's around the city; after all, if you are going to live here, you'll need to see what you need to protect."
He paused in the doorway. "Oh, I almost forgot; here's something else that you'll need."
He handed Ben a small package; inside was a cell phone, a couple of bank cards and a driver's license. Ben looked at Bruce curiously.
"Another gift from 'your parents'. The cell phone has the numbers of everyone in the League, as well as the Kents'. The bank is a few blocks away. You might want to see just how much money you have; I have a feeling that you won't have to work for a long time."
With that, he closed the door. Ben stood frozen for a moment. And then, as if a switch had been thrown, Ben then jumped in the air, an ecstatic grin matching the excitement within him.
"THIS. IS. AWESOME!"
Bruce, who had been about to enter his car, heard the shout and allowed himself a grin before getting inside.
…
Ben spent a couple of hours exploring his new home, which included several more televisions throughout the house, a small room with a home gym in it, a large bedroom and a basement. Oddly enough, the basement was the only thing that wasn't decorated; it was just a basement. Ben had no idea why Bruce would leave that room untouched, but he figured that he'd have a use for it at some point.
There were a couple of computers that Ben quickly set up thanks to Grey Matter. All in all, there wasn't anything that he didn't like about his house. Ben smiled. His house. Two weeks ago, he was still living in his parents' house, now he had a place of his own.
After checking out everything in the house, he used his new phone to call the Kent home to let them know what was happening. Though he'd only known them for a week, but they'd become almost like surrogate grandparents to him. When he'd called them, he'd also asked for Kara's phone number to let her know as well, but they told him that Kara had a bad habit of accidentally holding her phone too tightly and crushing it; they did say that they would tell her when she came back the next day.
After that, Ben walked over to the bank; he was curious to find out just how much money his "parents" had left him. Once he did, a security guard had to ask Ben if he was OK. Apparently, he'd spent about five minutes not moving, just staring at the screen on the ATM.
As Ben walked away, he kept muttering to himself. "Twenty million… what, does Bruce keep that kind of money in a petty cash drawer or something?"
Two stops on his way back home were a supermarket and a clothing store. The cashier gave him a funny look when he bought nothing but black T-shirts and jeans, but he'd only shrugged.
"It's my style." He'd said.
Once he'd stocked up his kitchen, and his closet, he went back out to do a little exploring; he'd spent more time out in deep space than actually seeing his own home state, even if it was in another universe. He wandered around the city, not really looking for anything in particular, until he spotted something familiar; a very large sign showing a smoothie. Ben couldn't stop a very large grin from spreading over his face. A smoothie place; considering how many alien worlds he'd been to over the years that didn't have smoothies, he was actually a little surprised to find that this universe had his favorite drink.
He would have gone inside, but a fire truck sped by, its sirens blaring. Ben sighed; smoothies would have to wait. He ran to the nearest alley, then activated the Ultimatrix.
"It's Hero Time!"
. . .
One Month Later
Ben kicked back on his couch, flipping through channels on his TV. He hadn't been that busy over the last few weeks. San Francisco didn't really have much in the way of super villains, not that Ben was complaining. In fact, aside from the occasional accident, fire or robbery, the city was pretty quiet, at least by the standards of a superhero. It was San Francisco, after all, and that city is not quiet.
Maybe that was why Batman got me a house here, mused Ben.
Still, he'd become a popular hero; at least, his aliens had become popular. He had no intention of people discovering his secret identity a second time.
Further thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door. Ben got up, wondering who it might be; aside from members of the League visiting him every once in a while, he didn't really have visitors. Usually, he'd just patrol around the city, then stop by the smoothie joint he'd discovered; it was the one routine from his old universe that he'd held onto.
He opened the door to see Clark Kent and Diana with very serious looks on their faces.
"Hey guys," said Ben, "what's up?"
"Ben," said Clark solemnly, "there's something we need to discuss with you."
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone