Ben 10: Justice Incarnate

Mister Smoothie

Central City

July 6, 11:30 EST

Harleen forced a smile on her face for the customer on the other side of the counter. "Again, Ma'am. We do not sell caramel macchiatos or any other coffee. We also have tea. If you like, we have some fresh dragon fruits for"

The mother, in her mid-thirties, raised a fist in irritation. "What kind of Mickey Mouse establishment is this?!"

The nine-year-old next to her sunk her head into her hands. "Mom, please. The store is called Mister Smoothie."

'At least the kid seems to know better.' Harleen couldn't help but imagine strangling the mother.

The woman waved the child off. "Quiet, honey. The adults are talking. Well, one of us, at least." She stuck a finger at the cashier. "I demand to speak to your manager!"

"Oh yeah? You want to speak to the manager?" A sly grin crept onto Harleen's face. "Well, guess what. I am the manager, and I'm asking you to leave."

She huffed in indignation. "Why, I never. I am a Yelp Elite member! I will ruin you!" She grabbed onto her daughter's wrist. "Come, Jenny. We're leaving this hussie and her dump of a shop." As the two left the store, the kid mouthed a 'sorry' to the worker, waving goodbye.

Harley rolled her eyes and waved back at the child. As soon as the door closed, she collapsed against the counter. "God, I hate people like that!"

The backroom opened, revealing Ben against the door frame. "I must say. You handled that better than I expected." He chuckled. "Although this is my first time hearing about your promotion to manager."

Harleen crossed her arms. "Consider it a temporary position of power. Isn't that how you deal with them, especially since you are the owner?"

Ben shrugged. "Kinda. I still try to be nice to them but don't accommodate unreasonable people."

"What about the fake reviews?"

"Eh, don't worry. If I find any fakes, I can sometimes find their picture. From there, I match it up to the security tapes. After I report it to the admins, they usually remove it."

"Smart move. I swear I would've strangled that bitch." She made the hand motions only to notice Ben's flat look. "But I didn't. Not with her kid there."

"Right… That's the issue I had with the strangling. How about you have an early break while I take over?"

She sighed in relief. "Thanks." Harleen dropped onto the shop's couch by the window.

Ben started wiping down the counter. "I'm surprised that you're feeling this stressed already. I thought you blew off some steam during your weekend in Gotham?" He paused. "Actually, I don't think you told me what you guys did. What's fun in Gotham this time of year?"

Harleen went stiff at the question before straightening herself a bit. "Well, we did some bird watching, flew some kites, and tried one of those escape rooms."

Unknown Building

Gotham City

19:45 EDT, Saturday, July 2, 2010

A man in a green suit decorated with a question mark appeared on the monitor. "Welcome to the Think Tank!" Riddler grinned wide. "If you don't find your way out in time, you'll either lose your life or your mind!"

In the middle of the dim room, Harleen and Ivy stood, staring irritatingly at the man. "Thanks a lot, Harls..."

The blond raised her arms in indignation. "Oh, come on. How was I supposed to know it was a trap?"

The Riddler rolled his eyes. "I was saving this for the Batman, but you'll do well for a trial run. Besides, Penguin asked for a favor."

"Dammit! I would have thought he would have taken a day or two to recuperate his resources."

"You two blew up his most recent shipment and escaped on kites." The monitor showed a recording of an explosion at the Iceberg Lounge. "His reputation and profits took a serious hit because of you."

"Oh, he started it."

"Yeah, well, I'm ending it." He gestured through the screen. "If you look behind you, you will see several doors leading to different rooms, each with a different theme and array of tricks."

Ivy raised a brow. "Wow. You're really pushing the SAW deathtrap inspiration, Nygma."

"Kinda." Riddler shrugged. "Less overcoming your personal struggles and more mind games and bodily mutilation."

Harleen crossed her arms. "Nigma, I've read your file numerous times in the past. I know how you tick."

"It's never the obvious answer. Also, you cheat, like a lot," added Ivy.

"Personally, I don't really care if you two live or die, but I don't feel like cleaning up your bodies when Batman gets his turn."

Harleen deadpanned. "This helps us how?"

"Okay. Fine." The Riddler held up one hand with the other on his heart. "I promise that I'll go easy on you and not cheat. There. Happy?"

Ivy rolled her eyes. "Yeah… Real reassuring."

"Whatever, Riddler. We'll play your games." The blonde smirked. "In fact, I'm sure we'll get out of here in less than an hour."

The redhead pressed her face into her palm. "I just wanted to have a good time this weekend, and that damn well doesn't include dying. So, there's no way we'll lose to you."

Riddler huffed. "I'll believe that when I see it. Choose your theme." Without a second thought, they chose the second door on the right. "Predictable… Go ahead and choose your number of hints. I do not care."

"We don't need you-"

Ivy covered her friend's mouth. "We'll take as many as you can give."

"Very well, but I doubt you'll be able to find the exit. Begin!"

The door opened, and as soon as the duo entered, it locked behind them. Ivy saw a potted plant, thinking it would be their easy ticket out, but it turned out to be plastic. In the corner of the room, a TV displayed several question marks.

Immediately, Harley opened stuff randomly.

Ivy kicked away the broken vase. "Uh, Harley, what are you doing?"

"I'm trying to find the key to the door, duh."

"Well, yeah. But we're supposed to work on the other locks first. Do you even know how these things work, let alone how to solve an escape room?"

Harleen dismissed the concern. "So what? Joker and I robbed a Thinker Toys last year. I don't think this is so different."

"This is gonna be a long day," sighed the redhead.

'It's a miracle that we made it out of there alive. We must have used god knows how many hints. I think at one point Nygma just wanted us out of the building.' "That last one was a mind-bender. We improvised some stuff on Sunday, but it was nice. What did you and the girls end up doing?"

"Oh, man. We ate out a lot. I'm a sucker for food. We did a lot of tourist stuff in the first two days. We were at the beach when the whole eternal darkness thing happened."

"Considering how dark it normally is in Gotham, about half the city didn't care. The other half decided to have fun apocalypse-style. The GCPD hasn't been that active since the Arkham incident."

Ben ignored the voice in his head, saying that Harleen and Ivy were part of that other half. "Well, you came back in one piece, and the city didn't burn down. That has to mean something."

"Ye of little faith." She placed a hand dramatically on her heart. "You wound me."

He chuckled. "Yeah. The governor put us in a state of emergency. Everyone had to stay indoors until the situation ended. So much for their last day in the States. Thankfully, we found a way to pass the time before they had to leave."

"Oh, I'm sure you did." She scoffed.

"What are you on about?"

"Hey, don't think I haven't noticed that dumb look on your face when you got back."

Ben groaned in irritation and slight embarrassment. "Come on, Harleen."

She resisted a laugh. "Hey. I ain't judging."

"I'll let you know that I was talking with a group interested in my services."

"Oh, really?" The blond raised a brow in skepticism. "You met sponsors? How'd that go?"

"Something along those lines. I'd like to think it went pretty well. They said they would call me after some more checks."

Hall of Justice, Washington, D.C

17:50 EDT, Monday, July 5, 2010

The four representatives of the Justice League took their respective seats in front of their new recommendation.

Black Canary placed a smartphone on the desk. "For our records and future reference, do you consent to have today's interview recorded?"

Ark shrugged. "I'm fine with that."

"Thank you."

Diana handed him a packet of paper. "Since the Justice League has a charter with the UN, they have provided their own set of questions in addition to our own for the recruitment process. I must warn you that some of them are rather blunt."

Green Arrow nodded. "It's important that we reiterate that this is an interview, not an interrogation. You are free to answer or not answer any questions that you feel are uncomfortable."

"We hope to understand your character better to see if you are a promising fit for the League. If things go well, we'll have you fill out any necessary paperwork," added Green Lantern.

Canary brought up her clipboard. "With that in mind, we will start with the simple ones and work our way up. Any questions?"

Ben thought for a moment and came up with nothing urgent. "I think I'm good for now."

Diana smiled. "Alright then. Why don't you start off by telling us a little more about yourself."

GA agreed. "You've spoken of a few of your endeavors last night, but we still have questions. Considering your current uniform and alias, it's safe to say that you prefer to have a private identity."

"You would be correct. I have insight on what it's like to go public." Ben groaned at the thought of having another Will Harangue. "It would be a weight off my shoulders to not have to deal with the media and interference in my personal life."

"That's perfectly fine," acknowledged Black Canary. "It's important for people to be able to have a balanced lifestyle. Devoting oneself entirely to a single goal would be detrimental to relationships and possibly health."

"I agree," added Diana. "People are more than machines. Even Red Tornado has desires beyond his initial programming."

"So, could you tell us what it was like when you started in this line of work?" asked GL

Ark chuckled at the memory. "Well, it all started when I accidentally set a forest fire." They raised a brow at his admission. "As I said before, I was ten at the time. My life stopped being ordinary during the first few weeks of getting these superpowers. I started fighting all sorts of bad guys, including mad scientists, clowns, and alien bounty hunters."

"Clowns?" repeated GA with a snicker.

Hal's expression went stern. "Wait, what bounty hunters?" His thoughts went to the Guardian's Most Wanted List, showing a gray alien with dreadlocks on a flying motorcycle of all things

Ark held his hands in defense. "In that order, it was an evil clown that practically tried to steal my family's and me's souls." The quartet stared at him blankly from the declaration. "I know. It sounded weird to me, too."

'I'm starting to see Bat's paranoia regarding Joker now,' thought Green Arrow.

"As for the hunters, one wanted to mount my pelt on his wall, and another cut my left hand off."

Eyes drifted to the still attached appendage.

"I was able to get it back on."

Lantern shook his head. "Alright. Um. Let's move on. We've seen a few reports of your work in Central City, and you seem to be doing well. With that in mind, why do you want to join the League instead of staying independent?"

Ben leaned back against his chair. "Whether or not you have the power to change the world, fighting on your own can leave an empty feeling. I've had family and friends by my side, giving me different perspectives or even pointing out my mistakes. I'd like the opportunity to work with others again."

"I understand the sentiment," replied Arrow. "Helping Star City was a difficult task. I started building up my own little group. Once I met with League, we started sharing advice and resources. Things have been much more positive since."

"Yeah. My old partner Rook was really by the books, but I would trust him with my life."

Dinah coughed into her fist. "On a more sensitive topic, have you committed any criminal offenses?"

Ark raised a brow. "Am I including vigilantism?"

"For the sake of this interview, no."

He started listing things off on his hands. "Well, I trespassed on an old military base to stop a time wraith. I technically entered Egypt illegally when I crash-landed after I was fighting a ghost and a knock-off Frankenstein in space."

Not for the last time did the four heroes look at their recruit in surprise or disbelief. Oliver stood from his seat and walked to the nearby liquor cabinet. "I think now's a good time for a quick drink."

#

A/N: Special thanks to Jebest4781, Charles, vividlearner744, and Seana!

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