Kapitel 3: Hero Time
Kara stayed with Ben for most the night, only leaving when she knew that the Kents would be waking up. Though neither had gotten much sleep, both Ben and Kara felt better for the emotional release, and for that, Ben was especially grateful. Though both would later remember the event with a touch of awkwardness, neither commented on it. They were friends; awkwardness was expected every now and then.
The next few days may not have been eventful, but they were just what Ben needed. Every day, he would help the Kents with chores and farm work, usually with the help of his aliens. After he was done, he would hang out with Kara; usually he would show her more of his aliens, or tell her more of his adventures. Every night after the first, he would have nightmares but, fortunately, they were not as severe. After the third night, he was actually able to fall asleep again after the nightmare ended.
Ben had more company than just the Kent family. Superman would visit from Metropolis every other day to check up on him, and the other League members each paid the young man a visit as well, only while in civilian clothes, and only by themselves, to avoid suspicion. Except for Batman. The Dark Knight only called the Kent home once, and only briefly. It was certainly a surprise for Ben. Batman had never seemed the comforting type, so even checking up on him via phone call must have been weird. Still, it did wonders for Ben's emotional state to find out that there were people who cared for him. He wasn't alone.
. . .
Gotham City (The Batcave)
Batman sat at his computer, lost in thought. He had barely left his chair since Ben had left for Smallville. He had even entrusted Batgirl and Robin with more patrol duties to cover for him, much to the surprise of his young partners, who had never thought that Batman of all people would allow them to watch over 'his' city. He stared at the image on his computer. An image of Ben Tennyson stared back.
Bruce heard footsteps coming from behind him, but he didn't turn around. Years of training had taught him how to recognize the pattern of an individual's footsteps, and even without training, he had heard those shoes against the floor for so many years that he could have recognized their owner anywhere.
"Hello, Alfred."
"You got me again, sir."
"You tried leading with your left foot again." Batman smirked. "It's been awhile since you tried to fool me."
"With all due respect, sir, I was worried that your project concerning young Master Tennyson had distracted you from all else."
Bruce looked up as his butler placed a tray of food next to him. Then he looked at the time. He did need to eat. Bringing his attention back to the screen, he began typing with one hand, while picking up his food with the other. Alfred waited patiently behind him.
"What is it, Alfred?"
"Sir," Alfred began, a hint of trepidation in his voice, "Ben Tennyson is not Bruce Wayne."
Bruce turned around and gave his butler a sharp look. "Are you so sure, Alfred? He lost his family, the girl he loved, everyone who was important to him. How is he not like me?"
"Is that why you are helping him?"
Batman gestured to the computer screen. Under Ben's image was his age, birthday, and every important fact needed in an identity.
"When my parents died, I was left millions of dollars, I was the heir to an incredibly successful company, and I had a home.
Ben is from another universe. He has nothing. He doesn't exist in this universe. Not even his hometown exists here. This way, he can at least have an identity. He can have a normal life."
"Will you use this as a bribe to get him to be a hero once more?"
Batman sighed, then looked down. "I'm hoping that he sees it as an incentive to not be."
Alfred looked at him quizzically. "Sir?"
"He blames himself for what happened to his family. He believes that if he hadn't chosen to be a hero, he wouldn't have drawn attention to his family. I can give him a chance to start over, to give up the life of a superhero… if he wants to."
Alfred nodded. "I understand, sir."
Batman resumed typing for a moment, then printed out a piece of paper, which he handed to the butler.
"Call Superman," he instructed, "tell him to give this to Ben before he tries to introduce the kid to anyone."
. . .
Smallville
It had been a full week since Ben had arrived at the Kent farm, and on the morning of the seventh day, he had a pleasant surprise.
He had slept through the entire night; in fact, he'd overslept. It was almost 10 AM!
Sure, he'd still had nightmares, so he couldn't call his sleep restful. But heck, it sure beat waking up crying at 2 AM!
After showering and cleaning his clothes with Clockwork (he still didn't have any other clothes), he headed downstairs. He was mildly surprised to find Clark at the table, sipping a cup of coffee. He was in his civilian attire, for which Ben was grateful. He had gotten used to people wearing costumes, but still, he thought it looked a little silly.
"Morning, Ben." Called the Kryptonian, "How did you sleep?"
"Better than usual," Ben replied, "though that hasn't been saying much, lately."
"Still having nightmares?"
Ben sighed as he sat at the table. "I don't know if I'll ever get rid of them and, to be honest, a part of me doesn't want to."
Clark tilted his head, confused. "Why wouldn't you want to…?"
"Because I'm in another universe." Ben interrupted, "My family never existed here. The nightmares are the only time that I can see them now. I can't even visit their graves."
He looked down at the ground. "I know that sounds pretty messed up, I'm not gonna lie… but those nightmares, regardless of how bad they've been… they're the only things I have left to remember them by."
The two sat in silence for a while, until Clark seemed to remember something. He tapped Ben on the shoulder to get his attention, then slid him a piece of paper.
"Batman asked me to give this to you." He smiled sheepishly. "I don't think I was supposed to read it, but I got curious."
Ben raised an eyebrow. "And here I was, thinking you were such a boy scout."
Clark chuckled, remembering Flash saying something similar after the Justice League had defeated their evil, parallel-dimension counterparts, the Justice Lords.
"Never even got my first merit badge."
Ben laughed, then turned his attention to the paper. His eyes slowly widened as he read. It was a short summary of his life. Only, it was not his life. Rather, it was the life of Ben Tennyson if he had lived in this universe. The details on the paper were vague, but Ben realized why. What he had been given was a rough draft of a new life.
According to the paper, his entire family had recently died in an accident (which wasn't entirely untrue), and while he was waiting to receive property that had belonged to his family, he was staying with the Kents, who were apparently family friends.
Ben blinked. Property? What property? He looked over at Clark, who only shrugged.
"Guess he's looking out for you."
Ben smirked. "Aww, and here I thought he didn't care."
Clark's face grew serious. "Bruce might not act it, but he's one of the most caring people on the planet. And I don't just mean the charity work he's done in the past. He once changed the retirement policy throughout Wayne Industries just so one employee didn't have to retire."
"Oh." That eloquent response was all Ben had. While he had figured that Batman wasn't all that Bruce Wayne was, he hadn't realized the guy could be so damn nice. Ben would have to find a way to return the favor one day.
After a moment of awkward silence, Clark asked, "So, Ben, other than when you first arrived in this universe, you haven't seen much of Metropolis, right?"
Ben snorted. "You mean Metropolis without Thanagarians invading it? No, not really."
Clark smiled. "Yeah, alien invaders don't really attract tourists. Anyway, I figured that you could use a change of scenery. After all, a week on a farm could get boring."
Ben didn't necessarily agree. For the most part, he'd been pretty happy at the Kent farm. He had no problem helping out since his aliens made chores a breeze, and the Kents were good people. It was only yesterday that he'd found that he had nothing to do. Normally, after he was done with chores, he would hang out with Kara, either showing her some of his aliens, or telling her about more of his adventures; however, her school had reopened, the world starting to resume its normal schedule following the Thanagarian invasion. And that meant that Ben's newest friend had to finish her last few months of high school.
Ben shrugged. "I guess it wouldn't hurt to see what's there. After all, Metropolis doesn't exist back home."
Clark grinned. "Great. I can introduce you to a few friends of mine. You should probably leave a note for my folks; tell them you'll be out for a couple of days."
As Clark got up to change into his costume, Ben quickly ran up to his room, where he grabbed a piece of paper and a pencil. At first, Ben had wondered why those things were in the room, but Clark's parents had later told him that Clark was a journalist. Now it made sense to have those materials. He quickly wrote a note explaining to the elder Kents where he was going, and that he would be back in a few days.
As he was walking out of the room, he paused. He went back to the desk and wrote another note, this one to Kara. It said the same thing as the first, but with one addition.
P.S.
Remind me to tell you the story of when I fell into the Fountain of Youth. Trust me, it's hilarious.
Thanks for being there,
Ben
Before Ben went down the stairs, he slid the note to Kara under her door. By the time he came back down the stairs, Superman was waiting near the door, already in his costume and tapping his foot impatiently. Ben quickly placed the note on the kitchen table and activated the Ultimatrix.
As he cycled through his aliens for Jet Ray, Superman frowned.
"Where's the rest of your stuff?" He asked.
Ben paused, then looked down at himself.
"This is all I've got." He admitted.
Superman mentally kicked himself. Of course Ben wouldn't have anything other than the clothes on his back. Which reminded him…
"What about your jacket?"
Ben froze. His face took on a conflicted look as he looked back at Superman.
"I'm… not sure if I'm ready to put that on again."
Ben turned his attention back to the Ultimatrix. Once he found Jet Ray, he stepped outside and slammed the dial down. There was the familiar green flash, but when it faded, Superman didn't recognize the alien. It was about three feet tall, white with some black on the head and chest, and had three spikes coming out of the top of its head. The Ultimatrix symbol was on its chest.
"DITTO!" he cried. "Wait, what?"
Then he looked down at himself.
"Oh, come on!" Ditto yelled at the Ultimatrix symbol, "You work fine for months, and now you decide to mess up again? What the heck, you stupid watch!?"
Superman was torn between confusion and laughter. Confusion, because he'd never seen Ben turn into something he hadn't wanted before, and laughter because the alien before him looked so harmless.
"Has the Ultimatrix not given you the right alien before?"
Ditto looked up at him. "Yeah, it used to screw up all the time, but Azmuth promised me that he'd fixed it!"
Superman shrugged. "Maybe it just won't happen as often."
Ditto grimaced. "I hope it won't."
"So what does that one do?" Superman asked, curious to know what a harmless looking alien like Ditto could do.
Ditto grinned, before he shocked Superman by splitting into three separate copies of himself. "We can do this!" The first Ditto explained.
"And we can move around on our own without someone having to control us. It's like each clone is another version of me." Ditto 2 added, wrapping an arm around the first one
"The only drawback is that we feel what happens to the other clones if they get hurt." Ditto 3 admitted, rubbing his head sheepishly. "If one of us gets punched in the face, we ALL end up feeling the pain."
"Ouch." Superman cringed in understanding, seeing how such a thing would be considered a drawback.
"Anyway, this won't work."
Ditto slapped the Ultimatrix dial, and in a green flash, stood Jet Ray.
"JET RAY!" the red alien stretched his wings. "There we go. Much better."
The two aliens flew off at a leisurely pace, not in any real hurry to get to Metropolis. Superman pointed down at something below.
"We're passing over Kara's school; she just waved at us."
Jet Ray looked down, but unlike Superman, all he could see were small squares below. They were several hundred feet up, and he didn't have super vision like the Man of Steel. Still, he hovered for a moment to wave his arm-wing at the ground, hoping that Kara was still there to notice. Superman looked down for a moment, then looked back at Jet Ray.
"She saw. She waved again."
Jet Ray smiled and the two resumed their course. After a moment, Superman turned his attention back to him.
"Who's Azmuth by the way?"
"Creator of the Omnitrix and the Ultimatrix. Genius, egotistical, kind of a jerk, you get the idea. He's also the leader of the Galvan."
Seeing the blank look on Superman's face, Jet Ray sighed. "He's a Grey Matter."
Superman nodded in understanding, remembering the small but brainy alien Ben had used in the past invasion.
"So, why do you call out your aliens' names?"
Jet Ray shrugged. "I don't know," he said, "I guess the Ultimatrix read my mind or something and gave all of my alien's superhero names."
"Now it's my turn," said Jet Ray, "how did you know that I was having nightmares?"
Superman looked away for a moment. "I got home about an hour before you woke up." Then he tapped his ear. "Super hearing. By the way, you snore."
Jet Ray just groaned.
. . .
Metropolis
"You know," Ben said as the two were gliding over the cityscape of Metropolis, "this place is pretty neat to look at when the views not blocked by invading alien birdmen."
Superman guided Jet Ray to his apartment, where Clark quickly changed into his civilian attire. All Jet Ray had to do was slap the Ultimatrix symbol to get back to normal.
Ben took a look at Clark's home. "Nice place." He commented.
"Thanks." Clark replied, "It's not bad for a reporter's home."
"Considering that I was still living at my parents' house until a little over a week ago, this is one heck of a first apartment."
Clark laughed, then went to grab his briefcase, then both headed towards the door. As they were about to leave the apartment, Clark stopped.
"Almost forgot something; be right back." He went into the bathroom for a moment, then came out with a roll of gauze. He tossed it to Ben, who caught it.
"What's this for?"
"To cover the Ultimatrix." Explained Clark. "I don't have any jackets that fit you, and since you didn't bring yours, we need to cover it somehow."
Ben gave a wry smile. He should have known that the Ultimatrix would draw attention; it certainly didn't look like an ordinary watch. He wrapped his wrist up in the gauze, then used a clip to fasten it. The clip and the gauze could be easily removed in case he needed to use his aliens. Ben hoped that he wouldn't need to resort to that, but with his luck, he wouldn't be surprised.
When they left the apartment, Clark hailed a taxi, and the two headed to Clark's office. As they got out of the cab, Ben's jaw dropped. He'd seen this building before!
"You work here?" asked Ben as he gestured to the golden planetoid that topped the Daily Planet.
Clark shrugged. "Yeah. Why, do you know this place?"
Ben lowered his voice, so that no one could overhear. "I 'arrived' not too far from here. That building was the first thing I saw."
Clark grinned. "Well, now you have a landmark."
Before Ben could respond, he saw a woman waving at them. Specifically, at Clark. As she walked over to them, Ben saw Clark's eyes light up. Ben could see why. The woman was certainly attractive, with a good figure, long black hair and a cute face. She wore a purple dress jacket and a short, white skirt.
"Hey, Smallville." the woman greeted. Ben blinked. Smallville? She had nicknamed Clark after his hometown? That was kind of weird. Or was it some sort of pet name?
The woman continued. "So, who's your new friend?"
Clark smiled. "Ben Tennyson, I'd like you to meet Lois Lane, head reporter for the Daily Planet."
Ben shook Lois' hand. Both had polite smiles on their faces.
"So, Ben," said Lois, "how do you know Smallville here?"
Ben paused for a moment, remembering what Batman had written down.
"Well, his family and mine were close, so I'm staying with him until I get my place up and running."
Lois looked confused. "Can't your family do that?"
Ben looked down, his good mood vanishing. It was still hard for him to say it out loud. There was a good chance that it always would be.
Clark noticed his young friends' discomfort, so he decided to take over.
"His family was recently killed in an accident, Lois. My family is all he's got."
Lois put a hand to her mouth, then put a hand on Ben's shoulder.
"I'm so sorry."
Ben shrugged. "I'll be okay."
Lois nodded in understanding, then turned to address them both.
"Come on, Smallville, we can give the kid a tour of the place."
Clark nodded, then guided Ben inside the building.
…
Ben stared at the huge office, slightly in awe of his surroundings. He had always thought that journalists worked in cramped little offices or worked out in the field. Not true with the offices of the Daily Planet, though. This room was bigger than the Batcave! It had high ceilings, a great view of the city, and every reporter there had an enormous desk to work from. Ben figured that this was the five-star hotel of journalism.
After a while, he turned his attention to Lois and Clark. Lois was currently chewing out a redhead named Jimmy Olson, while Clark was trying to defend whatever Jimmy had done. It was actually kind of funny. It reminded Ben of when it was just him, Gwen and Kevin. Usually, it was Ben who had done something wrong, Kevin giving him grief, and Gwen giving Kevin grief over giving Ben grief.
The memory of that made him frown. It was saddening to remember that he would never see them again, but it wasn't as soul-crushing as it had been a few days ago. While he had been at the Kent farm, he had told Martha, Jonathan, Kara and whichever League member that was there that day stories of his adventures. It had become his own personal therapy. Each time he talked about it, it became easier to think about without bursting into tears. He still had a while to go, but he was getting better.
While the three Daily Planet employees argued, Ben glanced at the walls. Every three feet or so was a framed copy of their newspaper, the oldest going back several years, which had the first official appearance of Superman on it. Other front-pagers had more stories on either Superman or the Justice League, and all seemed to have been written by either Lois or Clark. Ben smirked whenever he saw Clark's name under a Superman article. It seemed kind of self-aggrandizing.
Further thought was interrupted as a middle-aged, balding man burst through the doors and ran up to the journalists, urgency and worry written on his face.
"What is it, Perry?" Clark asked, seeing the concern on the man's face.
"Bizarro was just spotted heading in this general direction." Judging from the way that everyone tensed up, Ben guessed that Bizarro was a super villain, and a bad one at that. The older man, Perry, continued.
"Lois, Clark, get down there in case Superman shows up. Olson, go with. And you, kid, whoever you are" Perry directed a stern look at Ben, "don't go anywhere and don't touch anything."
"Hey Smallville," said Lois, as she raced to her desk, "you and Jimmy go on ahead, I need to get my stuff."
The two men nodded and ran off.
While Lois was gathering her things, Ben walked up to her.
"So this Bizarro," Ben began, "he's pretty bad, right?"
Lois gave him an 'are you serious?' look.
"Think of a twisted, evil, stupid version of Superman," she explained, "and you'd hit the nail on the head."
Ben swallowed nervously. He'd seen what Superman was capable of, and now he found out that there was an evil twin? Just great.
"I'm afraid Bizarro is the least of your worries, love." A voice with a British accent suddenly spoke up from behind them.
Ben and Lois spun to see a man in a trench coat behind them, his face covered in bandages. Ben blinked. How the heck had anyone missed a guy like that?
"That voice…" Lois began to say, and Ben was quick to pick up on the tone of alarm.
"Oh, that's so sweet," said the man mockingly, "you remember your old friend Metallo."
With that, the man ripped off the coat and bandages.
Ben's eyes went wide at the sight. He wasn't exactly sure what he was looking at. It looked like a human man, but most of his torso, right arm and the right half of his face were replaced by gleaming metal. Or rather, it was more accurate to say that the (apparently) fake skin around those areas had been ripped off, leaving them revealed for all to see. The exposed half of his face looked like a metal human skull, and a sinister green light glowed from the eye socket.
Now that's just wrong, Ben thought, I'm the only one who should have glowing green eyes.
"What do you want now, Metallo?" Ben had to admire the fearlessness in Lois' voice. "Do you have anything to do with Bizarro coming here?"
"You'd be surprised what kind of distraction Bizarro will make if you offer him a cookie and a chance to kill Superman." The human half of Metallo's face grinned sadistically. Then he began to walk towards them. "But before he dies, I think I'm going to hurt him by killing you."
"Ben, run! He's after me, not you!" Lois tried to run to the stairs, but Metallo blocked her escape, swiftly seizing her by the throat in the process.
Ben froze for a moment.
'What should I do?!' He wondered. He didn't want to turn into an alien here, there were still people working here.
And besides… did he really want to this again?
Did he really want to go back to being a hero?
In Ben's mind, if he chose to be a hero again, he'd never stop. He would once again face the possibility of the people around him getting hurt…or even getting killed… because of villains who would try to get to him though his friends and loved ones. The pain of losing his family, of losing Julie, had still not completely faded over time. It was there, looming over him, plaguing him and mocking him with the memory of his misery, of his greatest failure as the so-called 'hero' Ben 10.
But then, just as indecision was about to overwhelm him, he suddenly started to remember all the times that he'd saved people. From stopping robberies and rescuing a little boy from a fire, to even the time he had saved the Highbreed from extinction, he remembered it all. Had he asked for anything in return? No, he'd only helped people because it was the right thing to do, because every time he had done so, he had felt incredibly happy to help someone in need.
And since Metallo had obviously less-than-friendly intentions towards Lois, Ben couldn't just look the other way. In the end, that's not who he was, who he had been raised as.
Still, there was no way that he was giving up his secret identity. Not this time around.
Ben quickly bolted across the room, as were the few other people who hadn't already left. But unlike them, Ben wasn't trying to run. He slid behind a desk, and he was grateful that it had wheels. He began to push.
Across the room, Lois was beginning to lose consciousness as Metallo choked her with his exposed hand.
"You have no idea how long I've waited to do this." Metallo sneered.
"Hey! Tin Man!"
Metallo turned his head to see a very large desk headed towards him, being pushed by what looked like a kid. Honestly, he hadn't seen that one coming. His grip loosened in surprise, allowing Lois to fall to the floor and crawl away. The desk slammed into Metallo's legs, causing him to fall on top of it. The combined momentum carried both the desk and Metallo towards the window. It shattered, sending both desk and super villain plummeting twelve stories down.
As Lois was working on getting air back into her lungs, she noticed Ben trying to do the same. She was more than a little shocked. Ben had attacked a super villain? Not only that, he had knocked him out of a window? She wasn't sure if that was brave of him or very, very stupid.
Ben stretched his arms and grinned at Lois.
"Well, that takes care of him, huh?"
Lois shook her head. "He's gone toe-to-toe with Superman. A fall like that's only gonna make him mad."
Ben leaned his head out of the shattered window. There was no one else on the street. People had learned years ago to evacuate and seek shelter whenever a superhero brawl was about to commence. Ben could see the broken remains of the desk, and a figure getting up. A gleaming, metal figure.
"Aw, man," said Ben. He looked at Lois. "How mad do you think he's gonna be?"
Lois gave a small, sympathetic smile. "He's going to want to kill you."
Story of my life, Ben thought grimly, but outwardly, he only looked worried.
"Uh, I'm gonna go now." Ben tried to act as nervous as possible, while backing towards the stairs.
Lois nodded. "Yeah, I'm going to see if I can get to Superman. He should be able to stop Metallo."
Ben raised an eyebrow. "But Metallo is right outside."
Lois raised a notepad and gave a cocky grin. "I never miss a story on Superman in Metropolis."
Now it was Ben's turn to wonder if Lois was either brave or very, very stupid.
…
The two parted ways, with Ben heading out the back door. He cut around the side of the Daily Planet building, where he could see Lois trying to get past Metallo again, with the same lack of success as before, receiving a backhanded strike across the face. Ben scowled, but took a few steps back. He then ripped off the gauze and activated the Ultimatrix. He cycled through his aliens until he reached one of his veteran forms; one that would work perfectly against a machine, and might even be able to help Superman in his own fight.
"It's Hero Time!"
…
Metallo was about to crush Lois Lane. In fact, he was so sure that he would succeed that he was already planning the murder of that kid that had knocked him out of the window. However, he was distracted by a green flash, and the shout of a mechanical voice.
"UPGRADE!"
A figure strode out of the alley. It was vaguely humanoid, in that it had two arms, two legs and a head. The similarities stopped there, however. The back and head of the thing was black and covered and covered with green circuitry. The front was white, save for a strange symbol on its chest. A single eye glowed on its otherwise featureless face. The eye narrowed.
"Okay, ugly," the creature took a fighting stance, "let's go!"
Metallo snarled, dropped Lois and then charged the thing. This was getting out of hand. First that kid, now this… whatever-it-was. Was there to be no end to this interference? "I don't have time for this nonsense!"
"Well too bad for you, Rusty! Time to wrap things up!"
Upgrade leapt at Metallo, but didn't strike him. Instead, his body became more blob-like, and then wrapped itself around Metallo's body!
Lois' jaw dropped. Well, that was new!
"What the-Gahh!?" Metallo yelled as he was enveloped by Upgrade's elastic body. "G-get the hell off of me, you freak!"
Metallo struggled in vain to dislodge his attacker as the alien somehow seeped into every part of his mechanical body. To the outside observer, Metallo appeared to have been completely covered in tar and green circuitry. After a moment of flailing about, Metallo suddenly froze, then stood straight and walked over to Lois, who backed off warily.
"Relax, Miss Lane," said Upgrade/Metallo, "I'm not going to hurt you."
Lois wasn't convinced. "Well, considering that you were trying to kill me a minute ago…"
Upgrade/Metallo shook his head. "That was Metallo, not me. I have control over him now; he can't do anything anymore." Just then, a small green circle appeared on Upgrade/Metallo's featureless face and flashed as he spoke. "See?"
"Who are you? What are you doing here?" Lois might have been afraid, but she was an investigative reporter. It was in her nature to seek answers.
Upgrade/Metallo would have smiled if he had a mouth.
"First off, you can call me Upgrade. Second, I'm just here to help." Upgrade/Metallo looked around for a moment. "I don't suppose you know where Superman is?"
As if in answer to his question, a smoking figure hurtled through the air, crashing through a building behind them; he was quickly followed by a familiar red-and-blue figure. Upgrade/Metallo looked back at Lois.
"Never mind," he said, "I think I know where to find him."
Turning away, two rockets somehow grew from Upgrade/Metallo's back, which in turn sprouted stabilizer fins. Lois blinked. Metallo had never been able to do that before! Upgrade/Metallo gave her a two-fingered salute before rocketing away.
Lois smiled as he left, before quickly taking down notes of what she had just witnessed. She now had what all journalists lived for.
A brand new story.
…
Superman was getting annoyed. Bizarro was difficult to deal with at the best of times, but this was the fifth time he'd had to smash the twisted clone through something. Why couldn't he just give up? His musings were interrupted by the sight of Bizarro struggling to his feet. Superman sighed.
Maybe the sixth time would be the charm.
Before he could move, a bright green beam of energy struck Bizarro in the chest, driving him to the ground again. Superman turned in midair to see what looked like a man made out of black paint and green circuitry rocketing towards him. The only thing that gave away his identity was a familiar symbol on his chest. Before he could say anything, the figure held up a hand.
"Call me Upgrade."
Superman nodded. "So, what's this one do?"
Upgrade/Metallo spread his arms wide. "I can take control of machines, and then make them better. This is what happened when I grabbed Metallo."
Superman's eyes went wide. "Metallo!? What was he doing here?"
"He was trying to kill Lois. Don't worry," he added, after seeing the panic in Superman's eyes, "I stopped him, and Lois is fine."
Superman sighed in relief. "Thank you."
Upgrade/Metallo shrugged. "No problem; I'm just doing the hero thing."
Both heroes noticed Bizarro getting back to his feet.
"What do you say we end this?" Superman began charging his heat vision for emphasis.
"Sure," said Upgrade/Metallo, "let's see just how powerful I can make this guy."
Both of Upgrade/Metallo's arms became cannons. A third, larger cannon grew from his chest, and a small rack of missiles morphed from each shoulder. All of these weapons fired at once, joined by a green beam of energy from his eye, as well as Superman's own heat vision. The combined blast made a considerable crater in the ground, and left a smoking and thoroughly smacked-down Bizarro. The two floated down to street-level.
Upgrade/Metallo froze for a moment, until Upgrade separated himself. Metallo fell to the ground, but instead of collapsing, he remained frozen in the same position.
"What… what did you do to me!?" Metallo could barely get the words out, as his jaw was clenched shut.
Upgrade explained, just as Lois Lane and several other reporters arrived. "Before I left, I shut down every one of your systems except for your mind, your eyes, and your voice box." Upgrade looked up for a moment. "Of course, now I wish that I'd shut that last one off too."
Metallo could only snarl in response.
The reporters all laughed, while Superman gave a grin. Upgrade turned to Superman.
"Think you could give a lift? I need to get something."
Superman looked confused for a moment, but nodded and grabbed Upgrade under his arms and took off before the reporters could ask any questions. Superman landed on a rooftop several miles away, where Upgrade looked around for a moment to make sure that no-one could see them. When he was satisfied that they were alone, he turned back to normal.
"I thought you said that you didn't want to be a hero anymore?"
Ben looked down at the streets below. "I was always taught by my parents and grandpa to do the right thing; to help other people to the best of my abilities." Ben grinned and held up the Ultimatrix. "And thanks to this, I've got a whole lot of abilities."
Superman smiled back, but then looked away. "I thought you blamed that watch for what happened to them."
Ben's smile faded. "Maybe I still do. But I do know that they would be disappointed if I didn't do what I believe is right. I don't know, maybe I'm trying to honor them by living up to what they taught me."
Superman nodded, then put a hand on Ben's shoulder. "I do the same thing; I try to live up to what both my Earth parents and my Kryptonian parents taught me."
"Thanks, Clark."
"No problem, Ben." Superman frowned. "So, what was it that you needed to get?"
Ben shrugged. "Something that I left at your parents' house. I'll be back in a couple of hours."
Superman tilted his head. "So, why did you need me to carry you here? You could have just transformed into Jet Ray right there."
Ben stared at Superman for a moment, then slapped his forehead.
"I am such an idiot." He mumbled.
Superman was still laughing minutes later when Jet Ray took off towards Smallville.
. . .
Smallville
Ben arrived at the Kent farm, still kicking himself over completely forgetting that he could transform immediately. He had flown through an open window in the farmhouse, then transformed back to normal. He walked over to the house and opened the door to the sound of cheering. Confused, he followed the sound to the living room, where he spotted Martha, Jonathan and Kara clapping and celebrating whatever was on television. Ben was embarrassed when he realized what they were cheering about. They were watching him help Superman beat Bizarro on a news report! Apparently there had been a news crew recording the entire fight.
Oh well, thought Ben, at least here I'm getting good press.
Supergirl, courtesy of her super hearing, heard someone come in, even over the volume of the television and the cheers. She turned to see…
"Ben!" she cried. The elder Kents turned to see Kara tackle Ben with a rib-cracking hug. "That was so cool!"
"Kara!" Ben gasped, "Air!"
Kara quickly let go. "Sorry!"
"It's okay," Ben replied as he rubbed his sore side, "just remember that I break easy when I'm human."
"We just saw what you did," Martha said as she placed a hand on his shoulder, "I'm sure that your family would be proud of you."
Ben felt so much pride when he heard that.
"Plus," added Kara, "the way you used Metallo to beat down Bizarro? That was awesome!"
"Thanks, but I think that Clark did most of the work, I just finished him off." Earlier in his superhero career, Ben had often bragged of his accomplishments; now he was more mature, and knew how to be modest.
"Wait, why are you back here? I thought you'd still be in Metropolis." Kara tilted her head in confusion.
"I forgot something here," explained Ben, "and if I'm gonna be doing the hero thing again, I'm going to need it."
He quickly went upstairs, but came back down only a moment later, once again wearing his green jacket. It was only a simple change, but it seemed to make him an entirely different person. His eyes seemed to shine, and there was an almost cocky grin on his face.
"Hello, world," he said, "Ben 10 is back!"
. . .
"Looks like it's about time."
If the others hadn't been preoccupied with congratulating Ben, they would have noticed something rather out of the ordinary for the town of Smallville. A little ways from the Kent house, in the field across the road, a figure dressed in dark clothing and hood could be seen watching the Kents and the wayward hero talking and laughing through the front windows of the house. The figure watched for a moment, then turned around and walked away, the surrounding air suddenly distorting before them as a black portal opened in front of them and they walked through it.
Before it closed again, and if one had been close enough to hear, they would have heard the words that he addressed to the oblivious shape-shiftier… and seen a hint of the grin that had etched itself across their pale features, or heard the excited burst of laughter laced with anticipation that trailed off as he vanished.
"I can't wait to get things started!"
Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
-- Power-
Rangliste 
-- Power-
Stein