"RAAAH!"
The only answer Batman got was a furious roar.
Heat surged from the Parademon's throat—then a blast of flame shot upward, licking the night sky.
Batman's reaction was razor-sharp. He shifted back in a blur, narrowly avoiding the attack. But the Parademon lunged to its feet and closed the distance instantly—
—and drove a solid right hook straight into Batman's head.
"Whoa… that one's gonna hurt."
Ben had already "borrowed" a bucket of popcorn from an unattended street snack stand. He backed off and gave Batman the stage—this kind of front-row seat to a superhero blockbuster didn't come often.
Sure, Batman was completely outmatched in raw strength—but Ben wasn't worried.
Batman always had a Plan B.
If Ben jumped in now, he'd probably just ruin whatever Batman was setting up.
"Woooo—!"
A train whistle screamed through the air.
A full-sized locomotive made of green light came thundering out of the sky.
BOOOOM!
With a crash like a building collapsing, the glowing engine slammed into the Parademon and knocked it clean away from Batman—launching it straight into a nearby storefront.
Ben winced. "Hal Jordan might want to think about how much he's paying Batman for property damage before he uses that move again."
Creative attack, absurd collateral—yeah, it had to be Hal.
As the smoke and dust began to settle, the impact looked like it had rattled the creature senseless. Wrapped in emerald light, Hal Jordan made his dramatic entrance.
"Batman? Huh. Didn't think you were actually real."
While shaping ring energy into restraints around the unconscious Parademon, Hal angled his hand and let the ring's glow sweep across Batman like a flashlight.
Batman didn't even flinch. "Of course I'm real. That question is meaningless."
Still chewing popcorn, Ben walked toward the downed creature.
He flashed to its side, tapped the Omnitrix emblem on his chest, and ended the transformation early.
The original Omnitrix wasn't as "smart" as later versions—it didn't automatically detect and scan unknown DNA.
If Ben wanted to capture new alien DNA with this early model, he had to make direct contact.
"Let's see what you really are."
He placed a hand on the Parademon's body and pressed the Omnitrix dial against an exposed area—somewhere the armor didn't cover.
Green light flickered.
But instead of the Omnitrix recording a new alien form like Ben expected…
Something else happened.
Inside the glow, the creature's twisted shape began to change. A strange pale-blue substance started peeling off it, flaking away layer by layer—revealing what had been underneath all along.
Ben's eyes widened. He whipped his head toward the two men who were in the middle of awkwardly "meeting" each other and waved hard.
"Uh—hey! You guys might wanna see this!"
As the monster reverted into a human—an unconscious young man—Ben's voice rose in disbelief.
Hal stared, stunned. "Can someone tell me what's going on? Why did both of these aliens turn into humans?"
Even with Green Lantern training, this kind of nonsense was clearly new territory for Hal.
Batman crouched and glanced at the unconscious man. A micro-camera under his cowl snapped a photo and uploaded it to the Batcave's computer.
A response came back almost immediately.
"This is one of the victims who was abducted and went missing recently."
Batman got confirmation: the young man was indeed one of Gotham's missing persons from the kidnapping cases.
So the victim had been taken, altered into a monster, then used to commit more kidnappings in Gotham.
Things like that had happened before in this city—but it wasn't common.
And whoever could turn an ordinary person into that, then equip them with high-tech armor…
Even Batman couldn't immediately identify who was pulling the strings.
He stood and fixed Ben with a sharp, scrutinizing stare.
"How did you do that? Do you know anything?"
If Ben could reverse the transformation, he might have information—or at least a lead.
After all, this teenager who'd suddenly appeared in Gotham could transform himself too.
Ben spread his hands, helpless. "Honestly? I'm not sure."
He'd tried to record new alien DNA.
Instead, he'd accidentally triggered the Omnitrix's genetic repair function.
"It's like those Half-Beasts from the second Ben 10 series—bio-weapons created through genetic modification."
"The Omnitrix only records the DNA of sapient species. If something's been engineered into a weapon like that, it won't add it—it repairs it."
"So me being able to transform, and turning him back… that's all because of this watch. It just kicked in some kind of gene-repair mode."
Hal didn't look satisfied.
He flew right up in front of Ben and raised his ring.
"Let me see that. Ring—scan and identify."
Green light pulsed.
A diagnostic construct formed instantly, surrounding Ben's Omnitrix and running an analysis against the ring's database.
"Scanning… processing…"
The device whirred with a cold, mechanical AI voice.
Then the result came back.
"Unable to identify."
Hal blinked. Hard.
The Omnitrix—an absurdly advanced piece of tech—was beyond the ring's recognition range.
"That's impossible," Hal said, genuinely rattled. "The ring knows everything the Guardians know… and the Guardians know everything."
His shock was honestly entertaining—but Ben had bigger concerns.
In the distance, the chop-chop-chop of rotor blades grew louder.
Police sirens layered over each other, closing in fast.
"I think we should take this conversation somewhere else."
A moment later, squad cars flooded the scene. More and more. Gotham PD sealed off the street, and several helicopters circled overhead.
"This is the GCPD! Hands above your head! Repeat—hands above your head!"
Gotham officers poured out with guns raised, barked warnings blasting from loudspeakers, treating all three of them like armed suspects.
Ben stared. "Wow. They really don't like us."
Hal turned toward Batman, baffled. "Is the local hero's reputation really that bad?"
They'd just taken down a monster and saved a modified kidnapping victim. Why was the GCPD aiming at them like criminals?
Batman's voice stayed flat.
"The world fears us."
Hal's mouth twitched. "One of my enemies would love you."
That sentence dragged up a memory Hal clearly never wanted to revisit.
Ben, meanwhile, took one look at the wall of guns and immediately slipped behind Hal like a kid hiding behind an older brother.
"Should I pretend to be a hostage? Would that be safer?"
Then he leaned out and yelled toward the dark figure in the cape:
"Batman! Use your Plan B and get us out of here!"
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 50)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 50)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 50)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League (Chapter 44)
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