"The comparison between Shift and I happens all the time. We have the same color scheme, and we both use a specific tool to fight crime, me a ring, and he uses a watch. More importantly, we both have people claiming we are only heroes due to the tools we used. However, after seeing Shift work hard to save people, even outside of his powered forms, I can safely assure you that he would be a hero with or without his watch"-Hal Jordan

I was never good at serious conversations. Leg bouncing up and down, heart racing, I tried very hard to not think about all the conversations that I had thrown off the rails through a mixture of bad jokes, non-sequiturs, or even simply talking too fast. Unfortunately, all of those conversations paled in comparison with the conversation I was about to have. Two weeks after getting transported somehow to the DC universe, I finally got notice that Bruce Wayne wanted to speak with me. Considering the fact that he was housing clothing and protecting me, and I was trapped in his house, the request seemed a lot more like a demand than a polite question.

I looked down at my clothes, trying to straighten out the black jeans, and black shirt, and winced when I saw the hastily scribbled Omnitrix logo that had not faded from my shirt. I was considering switching my shirt inside out to try to hide the logo, not caring that I was in an open hallway of Wayne Manor and anyone could easily see me when the door to my left opened and saw an old butler-Alfred- beckon me inside. Strangely Alfred looked more around pate fifties, which was adding to my ever-growing confusion of when exactly I was in the DCU. Never mind the differences in the comics and movies, predicting the future was a whole different situation than turning into aliens.

Slowly breathing in and out, I stood up, and walked the short steps inside the room, noting I was in some kind of office, and sat down in the only unoccupied chair, directly across from the desk. Hearing Alfred softly shut the door, I quickly glanced behind me at the door realizing it was only me and Batman in the room, even though his chair was turned around, hiding him from my sight. As the chair turned around I got my first face-to-face meeting with a Justice League member, taking out the one time I was handcuffed. Looking at him in a more regular occasion, which is a business suit, and not a crime-fighting costume, I got to see Bruce Wayne clearer, but his toned body was still very visible, the only new information I could gather was that he kind of looked like the main actor from Twilight, but only if you squinted a bit.

"Thank you so much sir, for saving me two weeks ago, and then letting me stay in your lair, Mr. … Wayne? Mr. Batman?" I say, tone hesitant.

"Mr. Wayne is fine, but the usual protocol is to use people's real names in regular day scenarios, and use their hero or code name in costume" He replies, gesturing to his suit, "For me, it's usually more Bruce Wayne days that Batman days." He laughs a little, but his happy expression doesn't quite reach his eyes.

"Thank, you Mr. Wayne, really but I am slightly confused on why we are having this meeting now..." I trail of unsure how to conduct myself in front of Batman. And while I wasn't mad that he didn't visit me again in the last two weeks, I just assumed it was because he was busy.

"Two main reasons, Beau. One is that watch on your wrist, the other is I am quite interested in how you know who I was, and judging from what I've heard, figured out who Robin was as well. Furthermore, there were some slight inconsistencies within the knowledge you gave me." Inconsistencies?

"Inconsistencies, I'm not-" As he raises his hand I stop talking, trying to remain very polite to the one hero that even knows I'm alive.

"Not large consistencies, but some that piqued my interest. for instance, I believe you said this Heatblast was from the planet Pyros?" Stopping briefly, he continues after I slowly nod. "Strangely, there are no known records of any planet, ever, having that name of Pyros, and definitely none that have the possibility to support life. And trust me, I have some alien experts on call that assured me that planet didn't exist yet, if at all Also, the license you were in possession of does not match any individual in any records of the United States Government. Further illumination on those topics would be very helpful to me. But first" He continues gesturing at the Omnitrix, "If you would explain that.. watch"

Shit. I know why Pyros doesn't exist in this universe, and I also know why my driver's license doesn't match up with any records. This dimension sure isn't the same dimension as Ben 10, and it is certainly not mine, either. If I don't exist in this world, that would be the definitive reason why my license would look fake. I hear a small drumming sound, and look up to see Mr. Wayne tapping his fingers. I blush, realizing I spaced out, and start focusing on how much of the Omnitrix's capability I want to reveal, and then decide to just explain it all. Obviously, the fact that I don't belong here is noticeable, and I doubt any half-cocked lie would fool one person, let alone the whole Justice League.

"The Omnitrix, um sir, is a watch that allows the user to turn into a different array of aliens, using that aliens genetic code," I start, having flashbacks of explaining the exact premise to my friends as a child. "Each alien has a different skill set and powers, and there should be anywhere from ten to.. ten thousand?" I try to remember how many the max was for the Omnitrix is and cant, so decide to keep going. "Anyway, I only have two aliens right now, Heatblast who as you've experienced is a plasma-based lifeform, so has pyrokinesis, and then XLR8 is just really, really fast, but I'm not sure why."

"How long can you use these aliens for? A day? A week? A couple hours?" Mr. Wayne asks, looking slightly interested but a veneer of boredom has begun to creep into his face.

"Only around fifteen minutes usually, but I can always transform back as soon as I want, but if I stay in a form for too long there is a short window where the Omnitrix just turns into a normal watch, but that's only a couple of minutes." Everyone always told me that knowing a lot of Ben 10 facts would be useless, I'm proving them wrong now.

"So in short, you have a genetic watch that allows you to temporarily," he responds, heavily stressing temporarily, "transform into aliens, and then you have to turn back quickly, because if you don't you become weakened?" he does not look or sound impressed, but I chalk that up to excitement fatigue as a billionaire and a famous superhero.

"Well on the surface sure," I say, trying to plan how to sell him on the power of the Omnitrix. "However, once it is on somebody it cannot be taken off, so It can't get stolen in the middle of a fight, but the real impressive thing is that it grows."

"Grows?" Damn, even his ability to raise only one eyebrow is super cool when I know he's Batman.

"Well not in size obviously, but in power. Every time I meet someone with different DNA, or an alien usually, the Omitrix replicates it and allows me to take that form, as well as it randomly unlocks forms, usually whenever the user needs it most, As of right now I only have two, but in a month I could have way more" I decide to use my secret weapon. "For instance, I'm not saying I could copy Superman, or anything, but if he's an alien, and the Omnitrix copies alien DNA....." I trail off, internally smiling, as Batman's eyes light up.

"That watch could give you the powers of Superman, all of them, even for only a couple of minutes?" He inquires, but I can tell he's more intrigued than he was a couple of minutes ago. "what happens to the Aliens that you copy, do they get imprisoned in that watch until you let them out?"

"No, no, no, the aliens inside the the watch are only copies of their DNA, their not actually sentient. If I copied Superman's DNA he wouldn't get captured, the watch would just obtain a copy of his powers that exactly the same. I mean his suit would probably change to have the Omnitrix logo on it, which usually happens to all of the aliens that are transformed to, but other than that, yes. All the powers of Superman."

"Can you confirm with 100 percent certainty that if you met Superman, he wouldn't lose his peers or get trapped in that watch?"

I think, trying to remember if it ever did in the shows, and I don't remember that happening, but.." Not with 100 percent certainty, but it never has done that before," I finally answer.

"I guess you can't meet Superman until we test that fancy watch of yours," he says shaking his head, then tilts his head and stares at my shirt. I can tell he is looking down at the faded Omnitrix logo on my shirt and again raises a single eyebrow perfectly.

"It does that to my clothes in human form too?" I try to respond, but as he laughs I realize he doesn't believe it.

"I would believe that if I didn't hear you and Robin trying to convince Todd that happens to all of your clothes... " He taps the where the Robin logo would be if he was wearing his sidekick's suit. "The emblem has a microphone in it. Rookie mistake for not checking." I start to apologize, but he seems more amused than angry. He smiles for a second and his face turns serious again. "Moving on, I notice that you seem very knowledgeable about the watch, you wouldn't be the creator of it would you?"

"I’m flattered but I am way too dumb to construct something this intelligent," I say, gently shaking the Omnitrix. "Even with some forms that only boost intelligence, I wouldn't be anywhere close to having enough technological information to even begin."

"Then how did you come into the occupation of this watch? I find it highly unlikely that it comes from Lexcorp, and no other company could construct something that unique, and any company that could would certainly not give it to a random teenager. Also, you talk of the watch as someone else wore it before you, but by your own admission once it has been bonded to you it cannot come off. It would be rude for me to ask, but is this some kind of inheritance from a... deceased relative?"

"No"

"A Magic wish?"

"Not any that I remember making."

"Time or cross dimension hopping?" I freeze looking up and he smiles and laughs a little. "Come on, give me some credit. Technological advanced weaponry, having A driver's license that wouldn't or doesn’t match with our system, having knowledge of my secret identity... What year did you come from 2075... 2136?"

"Not time travel, it was the other option, dimension-hopping, but I didn't mean to come to this dimension I just appeared here two weeks ago," I mumble looking down. Judging from the movies, messing with reality usually ends with that "messer" getting booted off to either death or imprisonment.

"Oh that's cool too I guess, " he sighed as if his favorite TV show got canceled, and continued. "I mean if you had knowledge of my competitor's actions for the next fifty years that would be useful, and more if you knew the weakness of dangerous villains, but with dimension-hopping most of the information is too varied for any information to be useful cross dimensions" He concludes, acting like he was talking about his favorite sports team, not insane topics like using time travelers as corporate spies, or why logistically dimension travelers couldn't do the same.

"You're not mad?" I slowly ask, unsure of where the conversation was going to keep heading.

"Mad, why would I be mad? You've distracted the more annoying Robin for two weeks, keeping him out of my hair , helped destroy a secret base of a supervillain, plus, the fact that I found you, means I'll look way cooler next League meeting, I mean usually Superman finds all the new recruits, I never get any."

"So you're not mad that I could be endangering the fabric of reality just by existing?" The switch from ice-cold nonchalant businessman to whatever this is, and the fact that I've been worrying for the last two weeks that if my secret gets out I could be in danger, and now Batman, the one person who "could beat God with prep time" doesn't seem to care is slightly annoying.

"I can't believe you're gonna make me read this, but if you insist," he half mumbles, opening a nearby drawer, and rummaging around for something. After too much time to be spent searching for any object in a drawer the size of a briefcase, he finally pulls out a crumpled piece of paper. Clearing his throat, he starts to read in a very bored and monotone voice, "Have you ever, A), planned to do incalculable damage to the fabric of reality, B), used technology or magic to try to damage or otherwise inhibit the space-time continuum, or C), use the lifeforce of innocents to otherwise damage the fabric of space and time?"

"I mean no bu-" I start to answer.

"Kid, listen. If you want me to call up the "rule-followers" and spend the next two years of your life experimented on by scientists cause your version of reality had me being Manbat or something be my guest. I'm the cool Justice League member, I don't want to do the paperwork that would greenlight that testing. Just chalk it up to the Mandela affect, that's our typical response anyway to unwary dimensional travelers".

The fact that I get sent to the domain of one Justice League member, and it's a slacker version of Batman, I don't even know what to think. so many things were so wrong with what he said, picking one of them is impossible.

"MY DIMENSION DIDN’T HAVE YOU IN IT, AND IT DIDN’T HAVE THE OMNITRIX EITHER!" Judging from Batman's face, he did not expect that reaction, and neither did I, but I quickly decide to roll with it. "My universe didn't have superhero or villains, or alien-well maybe aliens, that's not the point- or magic or space technology that allowed people to turn into aliens. I know about the Omnitrix not because I made it, but because I saw it on a made-up TV show as a kid. Also, Manbat is a real thing, Which I know because you and this entire DC universe was also made up for entertainment!" I stop spewing words, panting heavily trying to catch my breath.

Mr. Wayne looks completely unfazed from my outburst. Looking at me not saying anything for a couple of seconds, he finally continues.

"That’s interesting I guess. Not all that different from what I was talking about before but whatever. I’m allowing you to tell any hero your from another dimension, but keep the fact that your dimension didn’t have heroes at all, to yourself. I’ll send that to our reality guy at the Justice League when I have time, you won’t have to worry about it.” He says, “Also, I'm kicking you out." I blink, look up at him. What? "Well not “kicking you out” kicking you out, but I am transferring you to another member of the Justice League for testing your alien forms and some light training. The Penguin has leaked your personal information throughout Gotham, so unless you want to get stuck in my mansion’s sublevels, not being able to leave, leaving Gotham is your best bet. Also, you melted up the floor of my training mats, which is always a pain to clean up, and stinks up the whole mansion."

This whole conversation has totally gone off the rails, but for once I don't think it's my fault. The vast outpour of information, combined with my reevaluation of Batman, leaves my brain slowed down completely. I can barely think, let alone talk but I somehow manage to croak,

"Where am I going?"

"Ever heard of Star Labs?"