38 Chapter 38

Bellwood

Underneath the city of Bellwood was a sprawling base, home to hundreds of the most dedicated and skilled law-enforcement agents in the universe.

The Plumbers.

All of the Plumbers were good at their jobs, but the leaders of the Earth Precinct were some of the best, known for their skills, their accomplishments, and of course, their friendship with Ben Tennyson.

Helen Wheels, a Kineceleran, or XLR8, as Ben would call it.

Manny Armstrong, a Tetramand, or Fourarms.

Alan Albright, a Pyronite, or Heatblast.

Cooper Daniels, a technopath, able to control and manipulate machinery, as well as enhanced strength and a genius-level IQ.

Last was Jimmy Jones. While not an official Plumber, his information-gathering and organizational skills were beyond impressive; he practically ran every aspect of the day-to-day operations of the base.

Though these five were the youngest of the Plumbers, they had been trained by both Max and Ben Tennyson; they knew what they were doing, and had proven that they had the right stuff over and over again.

Now, they were overseeing the initiation of the four newest Plumbers; the Ultimen. After arriving in their universe, the four superheroes had quickly been brought up to speed about how things worked. After attending Plumber Academy, they'd been deployed to Earth and were being assigned their rooms and standard Plumber armor.

The former Helpers had been shocked when Verdona had shown up and announced that Ben was actually alive. They had been devastated when they heard about what happened to the Tennyson family, as well as Kevin and Julie. They had been deployed to an emergency several light-years away, and had been unable to help. To find out that Ben was still alive…

When the Ultimen showed up, and told them that they'd actually met Ben, they'd been bombarded with questions; unfortunately, they hadn't known Ben that well. In fact, they hadn't even known that he was human until they arrived at the Plumber base. All they could tell them was information on their own universe.

"Still can't believe that Ben's living in a world full of superheroes." Muttered Manny.

"Manny, you've been saying that for months," scolded Helen, "would you let it go?"

"He could have at least sent a message, or something," offered Alan, "anything to let us know that he was still alive."

"I can understand why," said Jimmy from behind them, "think about all the times he spent time with us; nearly every time, Gwen and Kevin were with him. Do you really think that he wanted to be reminded of them?"

The three aliens looked down at their feet. While they had initially been furious that Ben had left them to think he was dead, his reasons for staying in another universe made sense.

"I guess not," said Manny.

"Don't worry about Ben." The Plumbers turned to see Wind Dragon, the other Ultimen behind him. "From what I saw of him, he's been doing well."

"Indeed he has." All whirled around to see a man with black hair and a white lab coat.

"Professor Paradox!" exclaimed Jimmy. The time-traveling hero had visited the Plumbers on occasion, requesting their help in stopping anomalies in the time-stream every once in a while.

The professor gave a smile. "Yes; anyway, Ben has been doing well for himself. He's already saved his new universe once, and I daresay he'll…" Paradox frowned and put a hand to his head.

"Professor?" asked a concerned Shifter; she had met Paradox a couple of times, and despite his eccentricity, found him a likeable person. "Are you all right?"

Paradox looked up at them. "I'm fine; however, I must be going. Cheerio, and all that!"

In a flash of blue light, Paradox vanished.

"What was that about?" asked Cooper.

"I don't know," said Jimmy, "but it can't be good."

…

Watchtower

Shayera's return to the Justice League had left most members in 1 of 2 camps; some didn't think she could be trusted, while others were at least willing to give her a chance. Ben, on the other hand, firmly believed that he could trust the Thanagarian with his life; seeing Ben, a trusted Leaguer, put his faith in Shayera had actually brought other members to the second camp.

Some, however, wouldn't forgive her for her betrayal. One of those was Wonder Woman, who was currently glaring at her as she walked to her table in the cafeteria.

"Diana's carrying a grudge." Commented Green Lantern, where he, Batman and Ben were eating.

"She'll get over it." Said Batman.

"Hopefully." Added Ben; he'd learned about the Amazon culture, and betrayal of any sort was a crime of the highest order. "How about you, Lantern? Carrying anything?"

"What, with Shayera?" Lantern smiled. "It's been a long time since we were together; we've decided to give each other our space for a while."

Both Ben and Batman looked at him skeptically.

"I'm very happy." Said Lantern.

"Uh-huh." Said Batman, clearly not believing him.

"Anyway," said Lantern, trying to change the subject, "why is it that we always talk about either Ben's love life or mine?"

"More like your lack of one." Commented Ben.

Lantern shot him a look, then asked Batman, "What's going on between you and Diana?"

Most of the senior Leaguers enjoyed implying that there was something going on between the princess and the Dark Knight, Ben included, though he did think that they were a good match.

"There's nothing going on between us." Said Batman.

Ben rolled his eyes, while Lantern said, "Uh-huh."

"I don't have time to pursue a relationship," said Batman, "my work is too important. Diana's a remarkable woman, she's a trusted friend, she's…" he noticed the looks the other two heroes were giving him, "… standing right behind me, isn't she?"

"Don't let that stop you," said Wonder Woman as she put a hand on Batman's shoulder, "keep digging."

"Intruder alert!" the four heroes stood up at the sound of the automated alert. "Dormitory deck. Intruder alert! Dormitory deck."

They rushed to the deck in question, with Ben turning into Swampfire, to find a man in a blue bodysuit, goggles and a silver belt stealing one of Batman's spare utility belts.

"Freeze!" yelled Swampfire, a ball of flame appearing in his hand.

"Y-you weren't supposed to see me!" said the man in a terrified voice. He pressed a button on his belt, and jumped into a white, swirling hole that appeared behind him. The four heroes quickly followed, but began to spin around until Green Lantern created a bubble around them with his ring.

They shielded their eyes as the end of the tunnel became very bright.

…

Elkhorn, Oklahoma

When the four exited the tunnel, they weren't in the Watchtower anymore. In fact, they had no idea where they were; all around them dust, mesas and tumbleweeds. Swampfire turned back into Ben and swayed on his feet.

"Everyone okay?" asked Green Lantern.

"I think I left my stomach back on the Watchtower." Moaned Ben.

"Where are we?" asked Wonder Woman.

Before anyone could answer, they heard the sound of guns being cocked; the four heroes turned to see four men on horseback, each aiming a pistol at them.

"Where?" said Batman, "I think the real question is when."

The men hopped off their horses and approached them.

"I have to confess," said one, "yer about the most colorfully-attired folk I've ever bushwhacked. You circus-folk?"

"Not exactly." Said Wonder Woman.

The guy shrugged. "I don't care what ya are, so long as ya pay the toll."

"Toll?" asked Ben.

"Welcome to Elkhorn, Oklahoma, folks." The man said, tipping his hat, "This here's Tobias Manning territory." He held out his hand, expecting his "toll".

"You want tribute?" asked Wonder Woman, incredulous, "Money?"

"Well, I ain't particular," he said, his eyes drifting to her hip, "that fancy gold chain will do just fine." Then he cupped her chin in his hand. "Unless there's somethin' else you wanna give me?"

Bad move, dude, thought Ben with a smirk.

Wonder Woman heaved the man over her head and sent him flying. One of the others aimed his gun, but Ben knocked it aside and slammed his fist into the man's jaw; just because he could turn into super-powered aliens didn't mean that he didn't know how to fight on his own. The other two fired their guns, but Wonder Woman deflected the shots with her bracelets.

"Those are the biggest, slowest bullets I've ever seen." She commented.

"You're letting them go?" asked Batman, as the two tried to run.

"Oh, no way." Wonder Woman caught the fleeing men with her lasso. She knocked the men out, while Batman and Green Lantern brought the horses over.

"I was afraid of this," said Batman as he pulled a newspaper from one of the saddles, "The Elkhorn Gazette; it's either an amazing forgery or it's less than a month old."

"So?" asked Wonder Woman.

"Look at the date," said Batman, "June, eighteen seventy-nine."

"I have mentioned how much I hate time-travel?" asked Green Lantern.

"Fantastic," said Ben, looking around, "and no Professor Paradox to get us out of here."

"Do you think that Clockwork could get us back?" asked Wonder Woman.

Ben shook his head. "Doubt it; I only know how to do a few things as Clockwork, and actually moving through time isn't one of them."

Wonder Woman sighed. "Then if we don't find our sneak-thief, we're stuck here."

"Let's head for the nearest town," suggested Lantern, "see if we can find him."

"We can't go anywhere dressed like this." Said Batman, gesturing to their costumes; Ben was wearing his usual attire, but jeans, a green jacket and a black t-shirt wouldn't blend into 1879 America any more than Batman's costume.

"No," agreed Wonder Woman, as she looked at the men she'd knocked out, "we can't."