Chapter 29

Supervillain SuperMax Prison

There was no rest in the life of a superhero, as Wonder Woman and Heatblast knew as they worked to stop a prison breakout. Giganta, a size-changing woman, was attempting to free her boyfriend, Gorilla Grodd. Heatblast sent a wave of fire into her face, distracting the giantess long enough for Wonder Woman to send her flying into an evacuated part of the prison.

"Come on, Giganta," said Wonder Woman, "how long are you going to be Grodd's errand-girl?"

"As long as he needs me." Replied Giganta.

"I took you apart before," warned Wonder Woman, "why go through it again?"

"She's a glutton for punishment?" offered Heatblast.

"Nope," said a suddenly smiling Giganta, "this time, I've got help."

Both heroes looked to the side as a red-and-blue blur slammed into them. "Bizarro here to save the day!" sang Bizarro.

Heatblast turned into Echo Echo, made several dozen copies of himself and unleashed a massive wave of sound. Bizarro shook it off, and approached the fallen Amazon, preparing to finish her off.

"Don't. Ignore. Me!" said Echo Echo, as the copies merged into one. "Time. To. Go. Ultimate!" He twisted the Ultimatrix dial and slapped it. The four spikes popped out, and Echo Echo changed; his body was about Ben's height now, was a dark blue and more robotic in appearance. Strange disks were attached to various points on his body, and he had no feet. Instead, he hovered a few inches over the ground.

"ULTIMATE ECHO ECHO!" he shouted. His voice was more robotic as well. He detached a disk from his shoulder and threw it at Bizarro. It hovered there for a moment, then released a sonic attack so powerful that it drove the twisted clone to his knees.

"I guess you heard me that time?" asked Ultimate Echo Echo smugly.

"That's a new one," commented Wonder Woman, who'd come to, "can you take Giganta? I've got this."

Ultimate Echo Echo nodded as his disk returned to his shoulder. He flew over to the size-changer in question and bombarded her with sonic waves. She yelled in pain and flailed around, eventually knocking him away; Ultimate Echo Echo corrected himself and sped back towards his opponent, who was headed for the area where Grodd was being kept. However, Giganta stopped when she spotted Long Shadow standing in front of her.

"Out of the way, tiny," sneered Giganta.

Instead of replying, Long Shadow focused his powers and grew in size; in a moment, he was towering over even Giganta.

"You were saying?" he said.

"Oh, poop." Said Giganta, just as Long Shadow punched her in the face.

Ultimate Echo Echo flew over to Long Shadow's head. "Nice work, dude," he complimented, "mind if I finish this up?"

Long Shadow smiled. "Be my guest."

Ultimate Echo Echo deployed all of his disks, which flew around Giganta's head and began replicating; soon, her head was surrounded by the disks.

"What is this?" demanded the dazed giantess.

"This is Sonic…" Ultimate Echo Echo seemed to take a deep breath, "… Doom!" with that last word, the disks unleashed a truly impressive sonic attack that, had Giganta not been so resilient, would have shattered a mountain. As it was, the size-changer was knocked out.

"That was pretty cool." Said Long Shadow.

"Thanks." Replied Ultimate Echo Echo as his disks returned to their normal number and reattached to him. He looked down at Wonder Woman's fight. "Come on, we should help out."

"Does Wonder Woman need it?" asked Long Shadow, even as he followed the alien.

"Probably not," admitted Ultimate Echo Echo, "but would you really pass up an opportunity to smack down a bad guy?"

"Point taken."

…

Bizarro reeled back as Wonder Woman punched him in the face. He shook his head to clear it as the Amazon Princess approached him.

"Can't you see that Giganta is just using you?" she asked.

Angered, Bizarro slammed her into the side of one of the buildings. She fell to the ground, trying to shake off her dazed state as Bizarro approached her.

"Me do anything for woman I love!" he declared as he raised his fists, "Even break her boyfriend out of jail!"

"And what's going to happen to you then?" Wonder Woman asked.

Bizarro lowered his fists, thinking about it. Sadly for him, he was distracted long enough for Wonder Woman to recover and deliver an uppercut that sent Bizarro flying. Ultimate Echo Echo blasted him with a twin sonic wave, and then Long Shadow smashed him into the ground, knocking him out. The size-changing hero walked over to the others.

"Good job." Complimented Wonder Woman as she placed a hand on both of their shoulders. Long Shadow smiled; Ultimate Echo Echo would have, but his mouth didn't move, so he settled for nodding.

…

Later, after helping the prison guards restore order, and after Ultimate Echo Echo became Chromastone, the three heroes stood on a hill overlooking the prison. Long Shadow was explaining his origins to them.

"Believe it or not, when I was born I was small and sickly. Luckily, my parents were scientists; they were experimenting with growth hormones. I guess the experiments were a success." He gave a small laugh.

"I'm just glad they didn't try it out on a monkey first," commented Chromastone, "or we'd have King Kong running around."

The other two heroes smiled at the joke, then Wonder Woman turned to Long Shadow. "Where are your parents now?"

Long Shadow looked down, his expression turning sad. "Mom… passed away. Dad's retired." Changing the subject, he asked, "Do you two really believe that I could make it in the League?"

"Dude, you kicked the butts of two heavy-hitting supervillains," said Chromastone, "I think you're more than ready."

"So do I." said Wonder Woman.

Long Shadow looked down, uncertain. "But I guess… I guess I owe it to the Ultimen to…" Before he could finish his sentence, his cell phone rang, and he picked it up. "Yeah?" he listened to whoever was on the other line for a moment. "Okay, right away." He turned to the others. "I've got to go."

Both Leaguers nodded. Long Shadow went back towards the Ultimen HQ, while Wonder Woman and Chromastone were teleported back to the Watchtower.

…

Unknown Location

After Long Shadow arrived at the HQ, he and the other Ultimen were taken to a building nearby and immediately placed in a medical ward. They weren't told what the place was, or why they were really there, only that it was important for them to be there. The five had been lying in medical beds for several hours, and were getting very bored.

"How long are they gonna keep us here?" asked Shifter.

"What's the hurry, sis?" asked Downpour, "Gotta get home to wax your mustache?" Juice laughed, while Shifter fumed.

"Well I, for one, have a date." Said Wind Dragon. That didn't surprise the other Ultimen; Wind Dragon hadn't been single for longer than three days. Young women practically worshipped him.

Unbeknownst to them, the Ultimen were being observed by Maxwell Lord and Professor Hamilton.

"It's worse than we thought," said Hamilton as he led Lord to a computer; it showed scans of the Ultimens' bodies, though Lord had no idea what it all meant, "the Ultimen's genetic code is breaking down. Wind Dragon in particular is showing rapid signs of degradation, but their all in the early stages of failure."

"How long?" asked Lord sadly.

"A few months, or a few days," answered a somber Hamilton, "and the process will be painful. We should do everything we can to help them."

"That's not our priority." The two men turned to see a woman walk through the door; she was a stout, African-American with a grim demeanor. She didn't look like much, but she was one of the most dangerous people on the planet.

"But Mrs. Waller," argued Lord, "I really think that we…"

"Since when did your opinion count, Lord?" Waller interrupted; then she turned to Hamilton. "How fast can you get the second team up and running?"

Back with the Ultimen, Long Shadow started to focus; one ability that he'd never told anyone about was that he had superhuman senses. It wasn't on the same level as Superman, but he could hear through solid objects without difficulty. He started to hear voices, and the voices were saying things that he didn't like.

A door opened, and Maxwell Lord stepped into the room. "Great news, troops," he said bombastically, "Dragon's new power is nothing to be concerned about, but just to be safe, Professor Hamilton wants to keep you overnight for observation."

The Ultimen groaned and began to protest, but Long Shadow held up a hand to quiet them. "No problem, Max; we'll be happy to stay."

The other Ultimen were surprised, but after a look from their teammate, they didn't argue.

…

A few hours later, the Ultimen were in an assigned room, watching a movie; they weren't really paying attention to the film rather, they were waiting for Long Shadow to give the signal. Finally, he nodded at Juice, who sent a small amount of electricity across the floor, up the wall and finally, into a security camera, which exploded. Now free from observation, Shifter turned into a gorilla and broke down the door.

As the Ultimen raced down the hallway, two guards tried to stop them, but were blown away by Wind Dragon, and the Ultimen continued on their way.

"What exactly are we looking for?" asked Shifter as they ran.

"We'll know it when we find it." Replied Long Shadow.

Eventually, after searching several rooms, they entered what looked like a lab, filled with cages. Shifter approached one, and almost had her head bitten off by a giant mutant dog.

"Ah!" shouted Shifter, "What is that?"

"Over there." Wind Dragon pointed to the back of the room.

Floating in five liquid-filled tubes, were the Ultimen. Obviously, they were clones. The Ultimen outside the tubes were beyond shocked; they were devastated to discover that they'd been violated like that. Shifter wept into her brother's chest, while Downpour held her tight.

…

A few hours later, Hamilton and Lord were examining the clones for sign of tampering, while guards ran around, searching for the Ultimen.

"The clones are unharmed." Announced Hamilton, as Mrs. Waller entered the room.

"Security can't find a trace of our Ultimen," she said as she walked up to Lord, "But I want you to find them, Mr. Lord, and bring them back."

Lord shook his head. "They're not going to trust me, or anyone else, not after…"

"Bring them back," snapped Waller, "or I'm calling in the squad to put them down." She turned her attention to Hamilton. "I want this laboratory dismantled and relocated; no loose ends." She then stormed out of the room.