This is long. Very very long. Thank the stars my sister has the patience to edit because I'd be screwed without her. Also thank you to everyone who reads this, it means a lot! Especially to my reviewers. Your feedback ceeps me going. Anyway, brief character overview: Gwen is badasser, Kevin is Kevin, Albedo is a good guy with a secret (not an evil secret), and I never got that one fish-like plumber's name so he is just the older plumber.

Gwen stood, confused, after hearing grandpa's message. It didn't make any sense. For one thing, Grandpa Max was retired, he shouldn't be in contact with the Plumbers, much less doing their job for them. Secondly, wouldn't he have told Gwen about something like this? They were a team after all. Nothing was adding up. *knock knock*

She swiveled around to face the door. Had that alien from before come back? Damn it, she should have captured him for questioning. She chastised herself for not thinking things through as she stalked towards the front door. More knocks came, these ones harder like someone was slamming the side of their fist against the rust bucket. Gwen picked up the fire extinguisher again, and got ready to strike the first person to come in.

Albedo had shoved his partner aside to bang harder on the door. They had just seen the girl go inside, and the pair would have been there sooner if his partner hadn't tried to arrest the sotoraggian that had been thrown out the window.

"Open up already!" This time Albedo got shoved out of the way as his idiot partner grabbed the door handle. "Hold on, you can't just-" The door swung open cutting off Albedo's warning. As the fish-like alien stepped inside something struck him hard in the shoulder.

"Grah!" The Plumber stepped back and clutched his injury. The girl who hit him made to strike again before Albedo stepped between them.

"I apologize miss, my partner can be very insensitive to other cultures, and I understand that you do in fact most likely belong here, but we really need some information to help find our friend!" Albedo hurriedly poured out the words while shielding his face in "slight" fear that the angry female might hit him. He missed the look of confusion on her face, and the lowering of her weapon. This kid sounded so familiar to Gwen.

"Who are you?"

"I am a duly deputized agent of the Plumbers, an intergalactic law enforcement organization," The older officer stated, trying to take control of the situation, "This is my trainee," he gestured to Albedo, who rolled his eyes.

"My name is Albedo, and we're technically partners." Albedo extended his hand to Gwen who gladly shook it, but was startled when she looked down at his wrist to see a red omnitrix. She quickly grasped his wrist in her hands to stare at it in disbelief. This kid was too familiar to Gwen.

"Albedo, restrain this human for questioning so we can do a search of this place." Upon hearing this, Albedo appeared personally offended.

"Can't you read a file old man? This is Gwen Tennyson, granddaughter of Max Tennyson, and a hero of earth."

"I guess so. I mean, yeah I'm Gwen Tennyson, but I wouldn't say I'm a hero or anything." She slowly let go of the albino Plumber's wrist. Gwen opened her mouth to ask about the red omnitrix, but Albedo's partner spoke before her.

"Max Tennyson's Granddaughter? We were working on a case with him when he went missing."

"You should help us find him," Albedo suggested.

"Absolutely not," His partner objected.

"Come on, she's more than capable."

"Still here guys."

"We're investigating illegal activity believed to be caused by Vilgax, it is beyond dangerous!"

"Vigax?" Gwen suddenly became panicked. "Grandpa Max went behind my back to investigate trouble caused by Vilgax, and now he's missing?!" Now anger began to boil up inside her again. "You think I'm not going with you after hearing that? I already lost my best friend to that freak I am not just gonna stand by and lose Grandpa as well!" Gwen breathed deeply, trying to keep her composure. "I. Am. Going with you."

"So what are we doing here again?"

"Stakeout. According to a tip from your grandfather, the forever knights: a group of criminals who-"

"Trade in alien technology. She knows, she's run up against them before." The older Plumber gave his partner a disapproving glare for cutting him off.

"They're supposed to show up here tonight to receive a shipment if illegal alien tech."

"Who do they get it from, and how will this help us find Grandpa?"

"Don't know miss," The older Plumber turned from the dark train yard to look back at Gwen, "Max was going to tell us, but then he disappeared. We're hoping they might have information on what happened to him."

"Someone's coming," Albedo shushed the two with a finger to his lips as the sound of engines neared. Two semis pulled up to the middle of the yard. A group of regular joes hopped out of one while red hooded figures filed neatly out of the other. Once it seemed everybody was out, a third vehicle pulled up. It was a brilliant green sports car with a black stripe running down the side. Gwen felt a dead weight in her gut when the driver stepped out.

"That's Kevin."

"You know him?" the older Plumber asked Gwen after she whispered Kevin's name.

"Kevin Ethan Levin," provided Albedo, "half human half osmosian. Gwen fought him many times when she was younger. Until he was sent to the null void, that is. We still don't know how he escaped." Down below, one of the hooded figures approached Kevin with a briefcase. With a quick check inside Kevin confirmed the contents, and motioned for the non-robed men to wheel out their cargo.

"Well, he's brokering the deal," spat the older Plumber.

"Why not," hissed Gwen, "You did say it was illegal." Kevin handed the briefcase back to the hooded figure before opening the cargo.

"As promised," He lifted the weapon out to show the knights. "Four dozen factory-new laser lances. Ether point energy module, antenna focus emitter, it's good for 35 minutes of continuous fire at point six terawatts. Is that good?" He fired the weapon at a freight car, effectively destroying it. "You tell me."

"Those lancers are level five technology! Earth only has level two," The fish-like Plumber yelled.

"Hey," warned Albedo, "what happened to the whisper?!" His partner drew his weapon before pushing Albedo aside.

"Hands above your heads air-breathers! By authority of the plumbers, you're all busted." The humans all stared at him blankly before removing the masks that had cloaked their true forms.

"Sotoragians!" Albedo cried the same time as Gwen remarked on how totally creepy those holo-masks were.

"Back off." The older Plumber fired his blaster at the ground to make a wall of flame which did nothing when they began firing at the trio through the flames.

"Behind us!" Albedo and Gwen turned to see the forever knights closing in from the rear. Albedo stepped between the knights and Gwen before activating his red Omnitrix. In a flash of red, Albedo had transformed into an albino plant alien. "Swampfire! Gwen, back us up."

"Right." Gwen began blasting knights and sotoragians with the older Plumber as Albedo provided a distraction. They were actually pulling through till one of the sotoraggians threw a glue bomb at Albedo's partner, who tried to free his blaster from the sticky substance only to be struck by more and more bombs until he was completely trapped. The other sotoragians began throwing glue bombs at Gwen and Albedo. Albedo was able to dodge, but Gwen was not nearly as lucky, and was trapped trying to free the older plumber. A particularly determined sotoraggian managed to chase Albedo away from his trapped friends. Albedo dove behind a metal crate. As he listened for his approaching enemy his hand came to rest on a bar of scrap metal. The sotoraggian drew nearer, and the moment he was in sight Albedo lept over the crate. The hit from the bar knocked the sotoraggian out cold.

Quickly, Albedo made his way back and continued pounding on the purple, armored criminals. The aliens began to retreat back to their truck with Albedo in close pursuit. They managed to get inside the vehicle, but Albedo struck their truck with a pole, knocking it on it's side, and preventing their escape. Before he could even put the pole down a laser shot a hole through his chest.

"Heh, that tickles." The forever knights kept firing at Albedo with no effect as he regenerated faster than they could fire. "You guys are in so much trouble." He charged the knights, and managed to knock out two.

"Evening officer," Kevin grinned, coming between Albedo and the knights.

"What do you want."

"Normally, to stay as far away from Plumbers like you as possible, but you remind me way too much of this brat I owe a knuckle sandwich." Kevin rolled up his sleeve to reveal the omnitrix... Ben's omnitrix. Kevin began to mutate, spreading out from the omnitrix till he'd become a fusion of four arms and diamondhead. Gwen felt faint. There was no way this was happening, no way, no possible freaking way-.

Kevin punched Albedo strait through the gut, only to get stuck due to Albedo's healing factor. Albedo grabbed Kevin by the head and threw him into the side of a storage container.

During all this commotion, the aliens packed up and escaped. None of the four even noticed. Kevin lifted the container he'd hit, throwing it on top of Albedo, who had barely moved to avoid it. Kevin approached the container with a smug look of victory.

"And that's what happens when you mess with GAH!" Kevin was yanked into the air to come face to face with the most royally pissed Gwen anyone had ever been unfortunate enough to see. A heavy pink aura blared out from her like wild fire so strong the energy even seemed to be in her voice as she boomed her words at Kevin.

"WHERE DID YOU GET THAT?!"

"W-what?"

"BEN'S OMNITRIX, YOU GARBAGE!" Kevin looked ready to piss himself when Gwen's body language suddenly became calm, but her murderous aura and magic remained. "No, it doesn't matter. Vilgax took him. You have his omnitrix! YOU WILL PAY!" Gwen's power engulfed Kevin then blasted him into the cement. Before she could attack him further, though, Albedo suddenly stepped in front of Kevin like a shield. "You?" Gwen's face suddenly softened. "But you were-"

"It does matter!" Gwen was silent as Albedo tried to diffuse the situation. "It matters to the law and it matters to you."

"You don't know anything about me."

"Yes I do! Your name is Gwendolyn Tennyson, you spent an entire summer saving the earth from alien criminals at the age of eleven with your Grandfather and cousin: you're a hero."

"That summer my cousin was killed, and my family was torn APART!"

"But it also brought recognition to the rising crime on Earth so plumbers would be sent to patrol!"

"WELL, WHY WEREN'T THEY HERE SOONER?!"

"... It wasn't listed as a dangerous planet. We didn't know." Gwen began floating back down as her glow faded. "I'm sorry."

"No, it's- *sigh*" She put a hand on Albedo's shoulder. "You should go free your partner, and you," She glared down at Kevin. "Are going to take us to to the forever knights."

"Ok, um, why?" he squeaked. Kevin no longer had much of an idea what was going on, but he was pretty positive that his life was hanging in the balance.

"Because they're our current lead to finding my Grandpa."

"And you let them get away with a truck-load of ether-point powered laser lancers." The older plumber walked up to Kevin with his arms crossed. "Those weapons shouldn't even be on this planet, and neither should you."

"But," Albedo came up next to his partner and powered down to his human form. "if you were under plumer custody we can label this under conditioned parole." When Kevin cocked an eyebrow in confusion at what Albedo had just said the albino explained. "If you don't do what we tell you, or leave the presence of one of us plumbers, then you get shipped back to the null void."

"Trust me, if I get away you won't be able to find me again- HEY!" Kevin jumped when Albedo's partner snapped something around his ankle while he wasn't looking. Kevin began struggling to try to get it off to no avail.

"Energy cuff, ain't nothing there to absorb." The plumbers and Gwen stood around Kevin as he got up in a huff. He rolled his pant leg back down over the cuff while only looking at the plumbers.(he was still pretty scared of Gwen) "It's got a unique signature that will let any plumber be able to hunt you to the farthest corner of anywhere like a vulpimancer to its lunch."

"You coulda just asked." Kevin smirked. "Those guys ran off before I got paid." Gwen scowled at this.

"Don't get any dumb ideas, thief." She held an orb of energy up to his neck before brushing past him towards his car with the plumbers behind her.

"Y-yeah, wait what are you doing?!" Gwen turned back to look at Kevin as she opened his front passenger door.

"You're going to drive us to the forever knights."

"Okay, you, maybe," he slammed his rear door closed before Albedo's partner could get in, and glared over the top at Albedo. "But there is no way I'm letting two cops inside my car."

"Well, how else are they supposed to get there?" Kevin was about to reply to her when she continued. "We walked here."

"..." Kevin looked back to the plumbers, then back to Gwen. "Pfft! Ha, ha ha ha! Oh my god!" Kevin walked around to the driver's side, laughing the whole time. "That is just sad, man! Whatever, *sigh* get in."

"I still think I should drive-"

"No one drives the car but me!" Gwen was getting a headache. She was not about to let them have this argument again.

"So," she looked back to the older plumber, "you were going to tell us about the aliens?"

"I would if I could, but I don't know anything about the ones we fought today accept that they were sotoraggians. Their species relies on mercenary work mostly."

"They're one of the few species not on the omnitrixes," Albedo provided.

"Yeah, about that, why do you have a red omnitrix?" Gwen looked back at Albedo.

"This?" He held up his wrist. "This is the first omnitrix. My master and I built this one and and the second one. It has less features, and slightly fewer aliens than the one Kevin has." He snuck a glare at Kevin before putting his attention back on Gwen. "My master, Asmith, is working on an even better one, but I decided I wanted to be a plumber instead of a scientist like my parents wanted. Asmith told me I was being young and rash." He smirked, and it finally hit Gwen who he reminded her of. "I graduated early with highest honors anyway!"

"Ben…"

"Huh?"

"You remind me so much of my cousin, Ben."

"That makes sense." Albedo shifted uncomfortably. "We didn't have any human DNA in this omnitrix previous to Ben so he's the only person I can turn into. Normally we take several samples and average out the most common traits to the alien you turn into is as standard as possible."

"But Kevin has Ben's omnitrix."

"The omnitrixes are linked to share data, or, well, were. There was an accident that occurred with mine causing it to drop the link. One of the side effects was that it removed the pigment for all my forms so now I'm albino no matter what species I am."

"Cool?"

"It's alright," Albedo shrugged, but still blushed and smiled a bit at the kinda complement Gwen gave him.

"What about you Kevin?" Gwen folded her arms, fully expecting to be lied through the teeth to. She was taken back with how serious Kevin answered.

"I… don't know really. Trust me, I'd love to say I stole it, but I was in the null void when it just showed up."

"Just showed up?"

"Believe me, I couldn't understand why, but somebody just opened a portal into the void and tossed it in there! I snached it up before anyone else could."

"That might be true, but… why can you use it?" Albedo wondered out loud.

"What?"

"Well, the omnitrix can only be adjusted to someone by me or Asmith. Otherwise, it will automatically set to whoever comes in contact with it first. It forms to their DNA so it can change them back when it powers down to recharge."

"Oh, well when it didn't work at first I used my powers to absorb Ben's DNA from it. Took me a long time to figure that out, but I guess it makes sense now." Kevin looked back and forth from Gwen to the road with his eyes before taking a deep breath. "Hey Gwen, I know I'm gonna regret asking this, but...what...where's Ben?" Gwen kept her eyes on the road. She took a few deep breaths when her shoulders began to shake.

"You don't need to tell him if you don't want to Gwen." Albedo leaned forward to put a hand on her chair.

"No, I can-" She took a deep breath. "I can do it." Despite what she said her bottom lip still quivered as she spoke. "At the end of summer, after you went to the null void, we were heading home. We stopped for the night, and he just came out of nowhere. He- Vilgax attacked us. There was nowhere to run. We fought him, but he got Ben. He took him. Grandpa contacted the plumbers, but Ben was already dead according to their informant. He survived seven hours in Vilgax's lab before a ship carrying his remains was sent off to dispose of whatever was left of him."

"...Shit."

"Yeah."

"No, Gwen, I mean- not like 'holy shit', more like 'oh shit'. Benji was the last real friend I ever had, hell the only real friend period." Kevin shook his head. "I betrayed him when he tried to help me, treated him like crap, and blamed him for years. I-I thought we might run into each other, and I'd-just...Shit! I don't know, but I didn't think "I hate you" would be the last thing I said to him! ...F*cking hell." Silence washed over the car till they reached their destination.

The castle was not impressively large, but being built in the middle of nowhere did make it stand out like a sore thumb.

"Subtle," commented Albedo, "no one would think to look for knights in there."

"You didn't." Kevin glanced back before parking in front of the castle.

"We're here, but how do we get inside?" The older plumber turned to look at his partner, who turned to Gwen.

"On it." She pulled down the drawbridge with a bit of effort before leading the group inside. It quickly grew so dark Gwen had to use her powers in order for them to see anything. The energy from her hand casted an eerie pink glow over the halls."There's nobody here. You sure this is the right place?"

"There's a hidden door, keep looking," Kevin assured as he slipped away to grab an expensive looking goblet.

"Maybe you should have brought a shopping cart?" Kevin jumped when Albedo came up behind him.

"Whatever, nerd." Kevin popped a couple of the gems out of the goblet before tossing it behind him. Both the plumber and the criminal cringed when they heard the loud clang of armor hitting the ground behind them.

"Albedo! Kevin! What are you doing?!" Gwen scowled as a helmet and the goblet that knocked it down rolled across the floor.

"Sorry, Miss Tennyson."

"Don't worry Gwen," Kevin turned to face her and the older plummer. "There's no reason to be so paranoid-" *growl* His face paled when he saw the giant dragon that had risen behind him. "Run!" The dragon charged through the castle after the group till it stumbled, and nearly crushed them under its girth.

"Nobody move! Put your hand on your heads!" The forever knights came around the corner with swords drawn and laser lances at the ready. Kevin shifted into four arms, absorbed rock from the pillar over all four of his arms, and gripped the ground hard.

"Make me," he growled while lifting a heavy interlocking floor tile as high as he could before slamming it down with all his might. The thick tile rolled like a wave from the impact causing the approaching knights to be flung several feet into the air. They came down in a heap of metal clangs and sickening cracks only to be passed by another wave of reinforcements. The new group of knights began firing at the group. Gwen quickly put up a shield before any shots could hit them. The shots began cracking her shield, so Gwen snapped up a new one, this time adjusting is so the aquatic plumber could fire back. A roar came from behind them as the dragon caught back up.

"My turn," Albedo called out before activating his omnitrix, "Echo-Echo!" He split himself into six parts while in mid air. All the Albedos crashed into the dragon's head, knocking it off balance, and sending it to the floor.

"You're not gonna…" one of the knights cried when Kevin held him and three other knights one knight per hand.

"Yeah, I am." He bashed all four of their skulls together before dropping them to pound on the swarm of lights that had filled the room. He was so focused he didn't even see the knight behind him powering up his laser. The older plumber was far more vigilant.

"Kevin!" He reacted quickly by leaping to the side and firing at the knight. The force of the impact shot the knight back. His laser was damaged, but he quickly got back on his feet and prepared to fire it. "Don't! It's busted!" The knight paid no heed to the officer's warning. He pulled the trigger causing the laser to spark then explode! "Hit the deck!" Kevin was shoved down by the plumber. When the dust settled the knight had been vaporized along with a good portion of the floor. "That's why level fve technology is illegal on earth: humans aren't ready for it."

"I owe you one." Kevin turned from the wreck to face the plumber who just saved his life.

"Yeah," he said matter-of-factly, "Ya do." Both of them shared a glance before re-entering the fray. As the fight continued they began to pull through. Gwen, the power-house, was taking down knights in droves with not a scratch on her while Albedo continued to try to rangle the dragon.

"Got him, got him, got him...don't got him!" The Albedos were thrown into the wall, but quickly recovered to take formation around the beast. "Cover your ears!" The Albedos warned before releasing a chorus of sonic blasts. The dragon's roars were lost in the sound, and the beast began to vibrate before crumbling apart. The mechanical dragons parts were shattered by the sound as bits of the castle also fell to the noise. Albedo began to raise the pitch till the vibrations became too much for the hot metal and wires. There was a flash of blinding light before the sound stopped. The team uncovered their ears to see the charred wreckage of the once frightening machine.

"Dude, you gotta show me how to use that alien." Gwen shot Kevin a disapproving glance for the comment. "What? I only have access to Ben's original ten!"

"Of course," Albedo broke in with the odd buzzing voice of his sonorosian form.

"That's all of them. If you wouldn't mind..." The older plumber tossed a laser lance onto a pile of laser lances he'd made. His reaction was completely neutral as Albedo destroyed the lances the same way he'd done in the mechanical dragon. "Let's get going."

"Hold it!" Albedo grabbed his partner's arm when he'd turned to leave. "You're bleeding!" Everyone looked down to see pale blue drops falling to a tiny puddle by his feet. The older plumber pressed his hand to the gash on his right side before bringing it up to his face. The cold liquid was already beginning to evaporate outside his suit.

"I didn't even gah!" Albedo quickly shifted back to a human, and helped his partner to the ground as the dribble suddenly became a gush of blood. "No...tice…"

"Dude! H-hold on! I've got a tire patch kit in my car. Maybe I can-"

"No Levin, this much blood… I've been shot… in my heart." The plumber instinctively placed a hand over the pouring wound as he panted. His face was already growing pale. "There is nothing… anyone can do." He turned to Albedo with dead certainty in his eyes. "Finish the job. I know you can." His griped Albedo's hand, and smiled as the blood continued to drain. "You're as great an officer as any partner… I've… ever had, but you've got to find where that level five tech is coming from."

"I will."

"That's only the tip of the iceberg, partner." Shakily, he turned to Gwen. "Your grandpa was on the trail… of something *wince* big… a conspiracy… with earth in the middle. *grunt*" Albedo leaned closer to hear the man's fading voice. "Get to.. the bottom of this...find...Max...save earth."

"You have my word." After hearing Albedo's Pledge, the dying plumber gave his last breath. Heat leaked into his suit, disintegrating him jedi-style. The group looked down solemnly at what was left of their fallen member before Gwen stood up. The look in her eyes could only be defined as powerful. A dull glow rolled of her skin, and both boys looked to her as she spoke.

"I'm gonna need help." She looked to Albedo.

"I'm here for you," he nodded. She turned to Kevin. He reached down and took the dead plumber's badge. Kevin gave a small glance at Albedo, surprised he hadn't stopped him from taking it. The younger plumber just gestured for Kevin to take it.

"I'm in." He looked down at the badge in his hand. "I mean- not like I have a choice or anything, but still." Gwen looked between Kevin and Albedo. Kevin and Albedo looked to Gwen. She was about to do the last thing she wanted to do, to save the last person she wanted to lose, with the last people she'd ever expected herself to ever team up with.

"Alright boys, it's hero time."

Thank you all, but it's eleven at night and I'm going to bed. P.S. Kevin and Gwen's relationship will be a much slower burn than in the original series, but it will still be at a decent pace.