Ben 10 the Justice Leaguer

Then There Was One

" Professor Paradox, I'm guessing young me is good to go back to where he-me-we came from? " Ben asks seeing the immortal appear in his apartment, while the two were in the middle of a sumo slammers match.

" Right indeed young Ben. Now, we should get moving before the portal that sent young you here, closes for good and won't be opening again for the next few moons. " He states looking at his pocket watch.

" Let's get a move on then! " Ben says pausing their match, " Oh come on! I was so going to win! " The young boy says, glaring at the culprits for making him forfeit his match.

" Come on young Tennyson, time waits for no man. " Professor Paradox says disappearing from beside the television and reappearing next to the exit.

" Yeah, yeah, I'm coming. " Trudging his feet to the exit, he pauses and looks back to his future self, " You coming or what? I'm not old enough to drive yet you know. "

" Of course I have to drive past me there. " Ben whispers grumpily as he takes the Tenn-speed 2.0 keys and heads out the door with mini him in tow.

...

Bringing the Tenn-speed 2.0 to a stop, Ben takes off his helmet and alights the vehicle. " Come on, professor Paradox is waiting. " He says as he tilts his head to the portal that was now open, and where the immortal time traveler was waiting.

Checking the time on his pocketwatch and looking at the dimensional portal which was slowly shrinking as time went on he says, " Hurry now, we don't have all day. "

Stopping in front on the portal, Ten year old Ben looks back and says his goodbyes.

" See you around? " He says.

" We'll see. " Waving goodbye to his younger self as he steps into the portal and returns back to where he came from, professor Paradox follows suit and the portal closes.

With the portal closed and young him back to his own time and the correct dimension, Ben let's out a sigh of relief, " Am I glad that's over. " He says leaning against the Tenn-speed 2.0 and looks up to the sky.

" I could use some downtime. " He says after a while.

" What are you doing here? " An all to familiar voice asks, bringing Ben out of his calmness.

" Nothing! " he says, quickly turning around to talk face to face with the hero of Gotham city. " Where's Robin? " He asks, noticing the young boy's absence and also in an attempt to steer the conversation away.

" Batcave. " Was the only reply he got " Ah, did Alfred make a new batch of cookies? " he asks with stars in his eyes, gaming the day away with ten year old him without a snack break was beginning to take effect.

" No. " He receives the Bat glare from the hero, " Like that's ever stopped me from doing and eating what I want. " Ben says with a wave of his hand, climbing onto the Tenn-speed 2.0 and putting on his helmet, he gives a cheeky grin as he speeds off to the Wayne Manor.

" Alfred. Prepare an extra batch of cookies once your done making dinner, Ben's coming over. " Batman says over his comms before speeding back to the Batcave in his Batmobile.

...

" Good to see you again master Ben, I presume your here for the cookies? " Alfred says, seeing the young teen raid the kitchen cabinets in search of the cookie jar.

" Yup, here they are! " Ben says happily as he takes out the jar of cookies from a hidden compartment inside one of the cabinets.

" Tennyson? What are you doing here? " A young voice asks from the kitchen entrance, making Ben pause in his movements.

" I thought you were in the Batcave? " Ben asks Damian with Alfred the cat by his side. " Father sent me up here. " Damian says staring at the jar of cookies in Ben's hands.

" Master Damian, may I suggest you wait in the dining room for dinner to be served? " Alfred says calmly noticing what the young Wayne was eyeing. " You too master Ben, give me the cookie jar and have a seat outside. " This made Ben backtrack, hard.

" But why? " He asks looking at the cookie jar sadly. " I presume you have yet to have eaten your dinner? " And as if to prove his point, Ben's stomach decided to make itself known to the world with a whale-like call.

".....Would you believe me if I said yes? " Ben says sheepishly with a hand rubbing the back of his head.

" Hey Alfred! " A voice calls for the butler from outside the kitchen, following the voice, a series of tumbling noises occurs before stopping right outside the kitchen entrance.

" Hi! " A head pops in, along with a face Ben knows all too well. " Aren't you Ben? " Dick asks, realising the extra person in the kitchen.

" Now, as pleasant as it is to catch up on what you have missed while you were away, I suggest doing it outside of the kitchen so I can serve dinner. " The family butler says gently guiding them out of the kitchen, and promptly closing the door shut.

" Cookie? I snuck some when Alfred wasn't looking. " Ben says, taking the cookies from his pants pocket and offering them to the two.

" Golden boy, wasn't expecting you to show up till next week. " Jason says noticing the eldest Wayne in the dining room. " You. " He says flatly realising Ben was also in the dining room.

" I just came for the cookies. " Ben says defensively putting space between him and the teenager with the colourful vocabulary. " I'd rather you have not come at all. " Jason grumbles out, not wanting a earful from Alfred and Dick about manners.

Alfred alone was enough, adding Dick in was begging for him to dive off a cliff and straight into the ocean.

" Coffee. " Tim says stumbling into the dining room like a zombie, passing the rest of the boys in the dining room without a care in the world. " Tim! The sun's already gone down, you're not supposed to be drinking coffee at this time. " Dick says sternly, steering the sleep deprived boy away from the kitchen and to his seat.

" Tt, Where is father, the foods ready to be served. " Damian says with his arms crossed seated at the table. " I'll check. " Ben says earning questioning looks from the four. " What? If his not here, I can't get the cookies and head back to finish sumo slammers, which I left on pause. "

" What is Sumo Slammers? " Damian asks with scrunched eyebrows once Ben was out of earshot. " How would I know, he's a weirdo. " Jason says propping his feet up onto the dining table.

Once swatting Jason's feet off the table like he was a fly, Dick heads to the kitchen to help Alfred with the plates, leaving the three other Wayne's to their own devices.

Which in retrospect, is a terrible idea.

...

" Hey, Alfred said dinners ready so I'm here to bug you to avoid your four dangerous children. " Ben says, walking up to Bruce who was sitting at the Batcom.

" Alfred making you stay for dinner before you can take the cookies? " Bruce guesses, not even bothering to look at Ben.

" I'm not gonna talk about that, I'm just here to drag you to the dining room before your sons can kill each other. " Ben says poking his nose around the Batcave, curiously seeing what new things were added or made, since he last visited.

With a heavy and defeated sigh, Bruce leaves the Batcom and heads up the stairs with Ben following along, but the teen hero looks back longingly at a cool new blaster he found next to a Batgrenade on the workbench.

However, the suspicious blinking red dot on the Batcom's screen brings his attention away from it ' I'll see what that's about later. '