Brother Night and Ember, momentarily unbalanced by XLR8's swift push, quickly regained their composure, landing with supernatural grace.
XLR8, ceasing his blur of motion at the base of the structure, fixed a piercing gaze on the sorcerer and dragon, his disappointment palpable.
"You, insolent…!" Brother Night bellowed, ire rising in his voice.
"Nice try, but ruining days isn't really my thing. Why don't you take your circus and disappear?" XLR8 retorted, his voice laced with a mix of defiance and wit.
Zatara, observing the outcome, couldn't help but to comment about the situation.
"You've found yourself quite the interesting ally, Batman." Zatara remarked, an eyebrow raised in amusement.
"Forget that, the alien and I will keep Night and Ember distracted. Focus on freeing the citizens from the ritual and restoring normalcy." Batman commanded, his voice cutting through the chaos with authority.
"Agreed, the fate of these people hangs in the balance." Fate concurred, his tone grave.
Brother Night, unfazed, snapped his fingers. Shadows writhed and twisted, birthing hordes of monsters and demons that surged towards the heroes.
"I can't allow you to foil my plan this easily. Now, can I?" he taunted, a sinister smile playing on his lips.
"Ready. Set. Go!" XLR8 shouted, a blur once more as he darted among the monsters, delivering rapid-fire punches.
Attempting to breach Brother Night's defenses, he was repelled by a sudden, shimmering magic barrier, sending him skidding back to his allies.
Pressing the Omnitrix, XLR8's form shimmered, and in a flash of green, he transformed.
"Time to heat things up." he declared, his figure now engulfed in flames, magmatic skin glowing and head ablaze. Heatblast had arrived.
"So, we beat the bad guys, and the wizards deal with the ritual, right?" Heatblast confirmed with Batman, seeking clarity amidst the chaos.
"In essence, yeah." Batman replied, just before hurling a series of explosive Batarangs into the fray, each explosion taking down a demon.
Heatblast unleashed a torrent of flames, scorching the advancing horde, the air crackling and the ground beneath them blackening.
Meanwhile, Zatara and Fate advanced towards the ritual site, only for Brother Night to unleash dark magic orbs in their path.
"Not so fast, Fate," he sneered, blocking their progress.
Heatblast, seeing the attack, propelled himself towards Brother Night, only to be intercepted by Ember. Her claws slashed through the air, striking Heatblast with such force that he was hurled against a wall.
"Puny being of flames, your mere sparks are nothing in front of a dragoness," Ember taunted, her voice dripping with contempt.
Ember engaged Heatblast in combat, their battle a clash of fire and fury, while Fate and Zatara faced Brother Night's relentless assault. Batman, now the sole force against the remaining demons, moved with calculated precision, his explosive Batarangs finding their mark in the demonic figures that Heatblast hadn't fully vanquished.
As Heatblast picked himself up, the pain from Ember's attack flaring across his body, he couldn't help but grin through the grimace.
"Not just sparks," he spoke, reigniting his flames with renewed vigor, "a wildfire!"
Heatblast's head flares up, his fiery gaze fixed on Ember as he lunges towards her. The dragoness reciprocates, claws digging into Heatblast's limbs.
Despite the searing pain, Heatblast grits his teeth and summons his resolve, delivering a powerful headbutt to Ember's face.
The draconic fiend staggers backward, hatred burning in her eyes as she prepares to unleash a fiery breath.
However, in her blind rage, she forgets one crucial detail—Heatblast is made of freaking fire. He dashes through the flames unscathed, delivering a devastating strike to Ember's chest.
"Time for a change," Heatblast declares, pressing the Omnitrix on his chest.
With a flash of light, Heatblast's form morphs into that of a towering, red-skinned alien with quadruple arms, the Tetramand, Four Arms.
The newly-transformed Four Arms wastes no time, charging back into the fray with newfound strength and ferocity. He pummels Ember a few times before shifting his focus towards the demons and monsters that remained.
Each of his massive fist's lands with earth-shaking force, sending shockwaves through the cavernous chamber as he pummels through the ranks of monsters and demons.
Meanwhile, Brother Night focuses his dark magic against Zatara, launching a barrage of shadowy tendrils and cursed incantations.
Zatara, with a quick flick of his wrist and a muttered spell, erects shimmering barriers of mystic energy to deflect the sorcerer's attacks.
"Your cruelness truly knows no bounds, Brother Night." Zatara remarks, his voice laced with a hint of hatred.
"Save your compliments, magician. They won't save you from your inevitable defeat," Brother Night sneers, his eyes ablaze with malevolence as he continues his assault.
Doctor Fate, sensing the urgency of the situation, takes advantage of the distraction provided by Zatara's defense.
With calculated precision, he channels the ancient magic of Nabu, conjuring swirling vortexes of ethereal energy to interfere with Brother Night's ritual.
As the battle rages on within the depths of the cave, the citizens of Bludheaven cower in terror, their souls being slowly drained by Brother Night's sinister ritual.
Their anguished cries echo off the walls, a haunting symphony of despair that spurs the heroes onward.
In the heart of the cavern, Batman continues to fight with a steely gaze, his mind racing with strategies and contingencies.
'11:45, we're losing time and Fate can't undo the ritual with Night bothering him.' Batman.
"You, kid!" Batman called Four-Arms.
"I'm not a kid but Ok, what?!" Four-Arms.
"Can you take care of the rest?" Batman.
"Sure, whatever, just finish the job so that I can finally get some grub." Four-Arms.
Batman nods and runs towards Brother Night, he throws his Batarangs at him and make him lose balance with the explosions.
"Fate! Zatara and I will deal with Night, undo the ritual, we've got less than 10 minutes left!" Batman.
"Understood." Fate.
Doctor Fate flies towards Gentleman Ghost, who's the keystone to the ritual, and begin creating ethereal signs around him.
"NO!" Brother Night tries to stop him but Batman gets in his way once again.
Batman rushes with Zatara to fight Brother Night. Zatara aims his wand at Brother Night and prepares a spell.
[!eof ym hsurc dnuorg eht yaM] Zatara.
The spell makes that the ground binds itself and attempts to crush Brother Night.
Brother Night avoids the attack but receives a punch in the face from Batman. He then begins to summon orbs of dark magic but Zatara intervened again.
[!ssenkrad ruoy esare llahs thgiL] Zatara.
The spell created orbs of light that erased Brother Night's dark magic, rendering his previous spell useless.
As the echoes of Zatara's spells reverberated through the cavern, the tide of the battle began to turn. Batman, with a renewed sense of urgency, launched himself at Brother Night, his fists a blur of motion as he sought to break through the sorcerer's defenses.
The caped crusader appeared to be the one to be in charge of the offensive, but in reality, he was merely the bait for Brother Night to focus and then Zatara would deal with him using his magic.
Meanwhile, Four Arms, towering and formidable, turned his attention back to the seemingly endless waves of demons. With every swing of his mighty arms, he sent demons flying, their forms dissipating into the ether from which they came.
But then, Ember rose from her defeat, her eyes burning with rage and a fierce determination to turn the battle in favor of her master.
Her figure cut through the dim light of the cavern as she charged towards Doctor Fate, intent on aiding her master through stopping who's undoing the ritual.
Before Ember could even be halfway through her target, Four Arms caught sight of her approach.
"Oh, no you don't!" he muttered.
With a swift press on the Omnitrix, Four Arms transformed once again, this time into Diamondhead, his crystalline form shimmering in the sparse light.
Ember's path was blocked off by a giant pillar of crystal, when she looks back, she sees Diamondhead touching the ground and smirking at her.
With the rage building up inside her, Ember releases a powerful flame blast towards Diamondhead.
Ember's flames met a formidable opponent in Diamondhead, his body easily resisting her fiery assault with ease.
'Man, it feels like a sauna, but I better not stay too long just in case.' Ben thought.
With precise, calculated movements, Diamondhead launched a barrage of crystal shards at Ember, each one aimed to incapacitate rather than harm.
As Diamondhead engaged Ember, Batman and Zatara continued their relentless assault on Brother Night.
The sorcerer, now clearly on the defensive, struggled to fend off the combined might of the Dark Knight and the master magician.
With every spell from Zatara and every tactical strike from Batman, Brother Night's control over the dark forces waned.
Back at the ritual's heart, Doctor Fate worked tirelessly, his hands weaving through the air as he inscribed ancient symbols of power.
The golden aura of his magic grew brighter, illuminating the cave with a hope that had seemed lost.
Gentleman Ghost, caught within Fate's enchantments, began to shimmer with ethereal light, his form becoming unstable.
As the final moments ticked away, the heroes, and Ben, fought with a renewed vigor, knowing that the fate of Bludheaven's citizens hung in the balance.
Diamondhead, with a final, mighty effort, managed to subdue Ember, her form collapsing into the cave floor, exhausted and defeated.
He then impaled her wings against a wall and left her there while he made his way towards Batman and Zatara.
Batman, seizing the opportunity, landed a series of critical blows on Brother Night, each hit echoing through the cavern.
In his blind rage, Brother Night decides to gather every ounce of power left and blast Zatara with it. he hits Zatara but he makes a shield to protect himself. However, the true target was Batman, who was now rendering vulnerable to Night's attacks now that Zatara is occupied.
The Dark Knight has no means to escape and Zatara was busy trying to protect himself.
Lunging himself from the ground, Diamondhead stands between Batman and the laser and blocks it with his hands.
"Reflect it back, now!" Batman commanded.
"I was gonna, I was gonna, gimme a sec!" Diamondhead.
Diamondhead changes his arms into a series of prismatic reflectors that rebound the energy from Brother Night's blast into another direction. Diamondhead begins to slightly tilt his body, making the beam reflect into Brother Night's face.
The beam impacts Brother Night's face and renders him helpless on the ground.
"Good job." Batman.
"Indeed. Tell me, how did you know that this form can reflect advanced magic blasts?" Zatara.
"Advance what now? Wasn't it just a normal energy beam?" Diamondhead.
The two veteran heroes look at each other and decide to keep themselves quiet about the matter.
With Brother Night subdued and Ember defeated, all eyes turned to Doctor Fate. The sorcerer supreme, with a final, determined chant, reversed the sinister ritual.
The golden light from his spell washed over the cave, breaking the chains that held the citizens' souls captive. One by one, the stolen souls returned to their rightful bodies, each person gasping for air as they were reborn into the world of the living.
[Lumen Parcae, retrahe hanc insulsam missionem, et Bludcaeles animas innocentes ad suas quisque exercitus redde. Gloria aeterna Parcae!] Doctor Fate.
The cave was now filled with an intense light, Doctor's fate spell not only managed to reverse the effects caused by Brother Night, but also send the civilians back to the places they were before disappearing.
Batman, Zatara, Doctor Fate, and Ben, in his alien form, stood together, weary but victorious.
"Now, to imprison Brother Night, Ember and Gentleman Ghost." Zatara.
"Oh yeah! I forgot about that guy. (lie)" Diamondhead.
In an instant Ember grabbed Brother Night and took out a weird prism.
"Give it up, dragoness." Fate.
"You'll rue this day, heroes! No one denies Brother Night what's his!" Brother Night yelled while being carried by Ember.
"Give it up, Eldon. You've got nowhere to run." Zatara.
"I'm happy to see that age is catching up to you, Zatara. Ember!" Brother Night.
Ember smashes the rock and a cloud made of red magic surrounds both of the villains, when Doctor Fate and Zatara tried to pursue them, they had already disappeared.
While the magic duo was tracking their magic back to them, Batman proceeded to cuffed both arms and legs of Gentleman Ghost with Nth metal handcuffs.
Craddock was just regaining conscience when he saw his ghoulish body in anger and disappointment.
"No…No…No!!!!!!!!!!" Gentleman Ghost.
"Trading lives won't give you back yours, Craddock." Batman.
"Curse you, Batman! I was so close to regain my life and once again, you've taken it away from me!" Gentleman Ghost.
"And you took away the life of those ladies decades ago, a crime is a crime, regardless of how long it's been since you've committed it." Batman.
Batman punches Gentleman Ghost in the face, knocking him out for the count.
"Damn, hardcore." Diamondhead.
'Crap! I've just realized, since this shindig's over, the lock up mode will end! Gotta get outta here.' Ben.
Ben presses the Omnitrix in his left chest and transforms into XLR8.
"SorrynotimetoexplainGOTTAGOFAST!!!!!!!!!" XLR8.
XLR8 runs away from the group, leaving Zatara and Fate confused.
"That was…unexpected." Zatara.
"Agreed. Dark Knight, why did your ally leave all of a sudden?" Doctor Fate.
"He wasn't really my ally perse; he was more of a "Key suspect" of sorts" Batman.
"How so?" Zatara.
"I'm sorry, Zatara. I don't have time to explain, regroup with the leaguers in the watchtower while I check on something." Batman.
Batman begins to follow XLR8'S tracks and leaves the cave.
"I'll take my leave as well, the world's still in the need of Fate." Doctor Fate.
"Before you go, I have to confirm something. Was the energy from that crystal from…" Zatara.
"Affirmative, the Avatar of Chaos is plotting something once again." Doctor Fate.
"I see, I'll catch you up to speed about the alien kid, should you ask." Zatara.
"Fate appreciates your thoughtfulness." Doctor Fate.
Doctor Fate makes an Ankh of light and passes through it, transporting himself to another plane. Zatara was left alone on the cave but he soon after left after a teleportation spell.
[With Batman]
Batman knew that he couldn't catch XLR8, but he HAD to make sure that his trackers were online. When did he put them? Anytime, He's Batman!
(Deny it or change my mind, it's a valid debate subject.)
Batman finally gets more signal but is displeased of finding that every tracker he placed was destroyed.
'Hmm…either he found them and destroyed it, or, the speed was superior to the tracker's adhesive capacity. I'll discard the latter since these trackers were made and tested to stick to speedsters, even at their maximum speed.'
'The other thing is that the distance recorded by the trackers is just him around this house. He knew about them and didn't take any chance, perhaps everything up until now was just for me to lower my guard?'
Batman lets out a sigh.
'It's been a long night, even by my usual standards. I'll rest and have the meeting tomorrow and organize my thoughts after.' Batman.
Batman pressed some buttons on his armguard and the Batjet (I'm calling it Batjet since there's a character named Batwing.) and left Bludheaven.
[With Ben]
There are a few things a man truly hates. A kick in the nuts, waking up at 4 AM, and prostate exams, unless you're a pegger.
But if every man has to say what's the thing, they hated the most in their childhood, those with normal childhoods will definitely say that it was…
*EEE…UUU…EEE…UUU…EEE…UUU…BEEP…BOOP…BOOP…BOOP…BOOP…BOOO…! *
In a flash of red, Ben de-transforms from XLR8 to his human self and crashes against his camper.
"Ow…! Once I gat my hands on whoever made this watch, I'll make him or her give me the master control or I'll fill their mouths with Stinkfly's goo." Ben.
"Wait, is the Omnitrix the only thing here or is this world a fusion between Ben 10 and DC comics/series/movies?" Ben questioned.
*RUMBLE*
"Argh! I'm so...…hungry! The watch will take its time so, time to ransack, old school style." Ben.
Ben enters his van and noticed the lots of tickets he had on the windshield.
"Even with the city in chaos they still managed to give me tickets." Ben.
Ben gets out, takes all the tickets and puts them on the glovebox.
"Time to see if I can beat Kevin's record." Ben.
With all that done, Ben left Bludheaven.
[The next day, The Watchtower, 2:39 PM]
The members of the Justice League are sitting in their respective seats, preparing for the discussion that Batman had summoned them for.
The Actual Justice League is formed but the following Members: Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lanter (Hal Jordan), Shazam and Cyborg are the founding members. Aquaman, Martian Manhunter, Hawkman, Green Arrow, Red Tornado and Giovanni Zatara are members that joined later on.
"I'm surprised Bats isn't here yet." Green Lantern.
"Yeah…do you think he fell asleep?" Shazam.
"Yeah, Batman missing a reunion due to lack of sleep. The guy spends the whole night fighting bad guys like there's no tomorrow, something else must've happened." Flash.
Just then, Batman arrived and took his seat.
"What took you so long?" Superman asked in a playful tone.
"An associate of mine got sick. I tended to him longer than expected until Robin was available." Batman.
"Huh, never pegged you for the caring type." Green Lantern.
"Moving on." Batman made sure to change the subject.
He felt that he at least owed them that much of an explanation.
Batman connects a USB drive to the monitor in the table and shows the League members the footage from yesterday's Bludheaven event.
"As you may know, Bludheaven was subjected to one of Brother Night's schemes." Batman.
"Yeah, but you and Zatara took care of it, right?" Green Arrow.
"Right, but I didn't know about it until later on, I was in Bludheaven tracking (Presses more buttons and appears pictures of Diamondhead, Four-Arms, XLR8, Ghostfreak and Heatblast.) him." Batman.
The leaguers look at the image with curiousness.
"Five unidentified alien species?" Martian Manhunter.
"No, a single shapeshifting individual, courtesy of the alien device that crashed a few days ago." Batman.
He zooms into the Omnitrix in every alien.
"It looks like a watch." Shazam.
"That's also my theory, but the curious part is about who is wielding such weapon." Batman.
"Why? Is there something unusual?" Wonder Woman.
"Yes, after a few information exchanges, he confessed to be kicked out of an orphanage at the age of six and uses the same van that Victor Zsasz used in one of his crimes four years ago. The wearer must be a 10 or 11-year-old kid." Batman.
"That kind of power shouldn't rest in such young hands." Hawkman.
Shazam coughs the water he was drinking, drawing attention at him.
"S-sorry, went the wrong pipe." Shazam.
Everyone shrugged it and focused back on Batman.
"Not only that, I suspect that the device has been collecting DNA samples all across the universe, should more powered aliens be unlocked, the possibilities to his power can become a danger for the world." Batman.
Everyone thinks about his words for a few seconds and then Batman continues.
"So, this meeting is about how we should deal with this situation?" Batman looks at all the League members with his serious gaze.
The debate about Ben Myers Tennyson begins…Now!
(They don't know his name yet.)