Disclaimer: I do not own Ben 10 or its sequels, spin-off and related characters. All is the property of Man of Action and Cartoon Network. I'm just borrowing them for some non-profit entertainment.
…Before Its Ever Even...
Chapter Twelve: Some Much For Old Times
Kevin came home later that night with a tupperware container of leftover spaghetti and meatballs. It was nice having dinner with the wife and kid. But Gwendolyn still wouldn't let him spend the night. She now trusted him enough to be around their son so long as she was present and in a position to easily intervene should hostilities arise between father and son. But she did not trust him to stay in the house over night while Devlin was there. Not when she was asleep and not alert.
After all, it was in the middle of the night when she was asleep that Kevin originally kidnapped the boy in the first place.
So, the older Osmosian was sent home.
He stopped to open the roll up door- -and was annoyed to find yet another uninvited guest sitting on his couch. "Tennyson! What the fuck!?"
"Your lock's broken." Ben say by way of greeting, and explanation.
Suppressing a snarl at the younger man for the presumption of hospitality, Kevin climbed back into the driver's seat to pull his car the rest of the way into the garage. Parking properly, he cut the engine and got back out to shut the roll-up door after him.
"Its not broken, its picked." The Osmosian finally said.
"Someone try to break into your place?" Ben asked, genuinely concerned. Though, it was a little unclear exactly which party he was concerned for. Kevin and his home and safety. Or the unfortunate burglar should they happen to catch the notoriously vengeful Osmosian while at home. "Do you know who it was?"
Kevin placed his Tupperware container of spaghetti in the fridge. Noted just how bare it was and made a mental note to go grocery shopping at some point in the coming week. He shut the 'fridge door a bit harder than was necessary. "Yeah. You're idiot brat and my son were here when I got home from work today."
The younger man stood from the couch, blinking. "Kenny did? But why?"
"Fuck if I know!" The Osmosian snapped back. "Why are you here?"
Looking suddenly indignant, Ben sunk back down to sit on the couch. He pouted like the spoiled ten-year-old brat he was when they first met. "I thought maybe we could hang out. Ya know, since we're supposed to be friends. Wanna go on an adventure?"
"Didn't you just get back from an adventure?" Kevin raised a skeptical eyebrow. Turning his back on his on-again-off-again frienemy, Kevin sat down at his work table and started taking apart the burned and warped pieces of Devlin's hoverboard. Over his shoulder he added, "Shouldn't you be shit-faces tires and just wanna take a nap? Haven't you been flitting through time all week?"
"Well, yeah." Ben once again stood from the couch. Crossing the room, he leaned over the Osmosian's shoulder to get a better look at what he was working on. It was so rare to see Kevin Levin taking apart or putting back together something mechanical that wasn't his own damn car. "But that's like 'fate of the universe' stuff. Ya know, Big Damn Hero stuff. I was thinking something more small time. Like stop a protection racket, or foil a robbery," a pause to cast a meaningful look sideways at the back of the Osmosian's hear "or interrupt a weapons deal."
Kevin continued to ignore the other man. Pointedly.
"C'mon!" Ben whined. "I'd think you'd jump at the chance to get out there and work the streets! Since Grandpa still has you chained to a desk at Headquarters. Don't you wanna hit the bricks and bust some heads?"
The Osmosian only rolled his eyes. Yeah, he wanted to hit something right now, but it wasn't the bricks. And he'd been in such a good mood after leaving Gwendolyn's house to... Satisfied in a way that only she could satisfy him. More than just satisfied. Hut happy, and optimistic for their future together. He was getting his life back. They were getting their life back. Kevin was -slowly- getting the family he never knew he wanted. But Ben already had that. So why was he here at Kevin's place instead of at home enjoying time with his own family?
"A better question would be 'Why do you wanna hit the bricks and bust some heads?' You just got back from some Big Damn Hero adventure all your own. You should be totally exhausted. Go home and hug your annoying kid. Kiss your overbearing wife. Why are you here bothering me instead of at home with them?"
Ben opened his mouth to reply. But whatever he was about to say, he thought better of it and shut his mouth again. It took him the better part of thirty years, but Ben Tennyson had finally learned to think before he spoke. Instead he started pacing back and forth behind Kevin and the Osmosian tried -and failed- to ignore him.
"You mad about something?" Kevin ventured, matching the exact same pitch and tone Ben had been using this past year whenever he asked the Osmosian that very same question.
"Mad? No." Ben shook his head. "Just... I've been thinking... I don't know..." With a sigh, the Hero of the Universe stopped pacing. He took a deep breath to steady his nerves. Gave a second's thought to whether or not it was a wise idea to share this with Kevin Levin of all people. Then spoke anyway. "I can't face Kai right now. I've been thinking -about things- and I just- I just- I don't wanna hear it from her. I don't wanna hug her, and kiss her, and have to listen to her whisper in my ear all low and sexy how much she likes me as one of my aliens. That's what I've been thinking about, okay. Kai only likes me because of Blitzwolfer, but I we've been married for almost fifteen years now, our son is gonna being turning twelve this year! We have a life together! Its about time she liked me for me! I want someone to like me for me."
At that admission Kevin did turn around and look at his long time frienemy. He could think of someone who was in love with Ben because they legitimately liked Ben. As a person. For who he was. Not because of any one -or many- alien forms he could change into. The Osmosian blinked at the younger man, wondering if Ben had come to the same conclusion and was saying what he thought he was saying. Ben had been going to the past a lot recently. And in the past he had a partner that was no longer present on the Team in this time.
But, the Osmosian also knew his frienemy well enough to know that Ben wouldn't come out and say it. The fact that he'd only dated human (or at least half-human) females aside, while Ben was always flippant and carefree with his relationships, he did always play his true feelings -his deeper feelings- close to the chest. Ben didn't share. Usually Kevin was fine with that. He didn't share either. The Osmosian generally tended to prefer he and Ben not talk about their feelings. But this... this was juicy. Was gossip material. Kevin wanted to know.
So, he decided it was best to humor the Hero of the Universe. Do what he wanted. Kill time until he was ready to talk. Because, eventually, Ben would talk. If for no other reason than for the attention. He might be in his forties now, he might have matured over the years. He might be a reputable and responsible Hero. But one thing would never change. One thing would always remain the same. Ben Tennyson loved attention. Ben Tennyson needed people to pay attention to him.
"Alright, Tennyson." Kevin pushed back from the work table and stood. Grabbing his keys, he made his way back to the car. "You're right. I could use some unofficial patrol time. Where did you have in mind? We'll have ourselves a 'guys night out'."
He unlocked the car and for half a second considered holding the passenger door open for Ben. But Kevin didn't wanna seem to eager for the information that he planned whole heartedly to turn into juicy pillow gossip between himself and Gwendolyn. If Ben thought Kevin was trying to con him, he'd never talk. So, instead, the Osmosian reclaimed the driver's seat, tapping the steering wheel in impatience.
"C'mon, Tennyson! I need to know where I'm going." He snapped instead.
Grumbling, Ben climbed into the passenger seat. "Jeez. You're always so impatient. Five second ago you didn't even wanna come with me."
…
As it happened, Ben had no idea where to go.
That was no surprise.
So, Kevin took him back to headquarters. Not upstairs to the residential floors where his wife and son resided, just to the ground -and below ground- floors where the real workings of the Plumbers base was. Down to Records, to sift through cold-cases. Kevin was banned from patrolling the streets and working active cases. But Max never gave an ruling on the Osmosian perusing the inactive or cold cases.
Boxes upon boxes of paper folders, files that were yet to be digitized and loaded into the Plumbers database.
Shuffling through paperwork was not something either of them cared for very much. Gwendolyn was the paper-pusher in the family. Ben and Kevin were the action guys. But, Kevin had been doing paperwork and filing for the past year now. As tedious and uncomfortable as it was, it was familiar by this point. Familiar and easy. Kevin sifted through the folders while Ben lazed against a shelf.
"You could help." The Osmosian huffed, not looking at the other man. "This was your idea, after all."
"I'm waiting for you to pick something that's interesting." A pause. "To you. Interesting to you. I'm usually down for any old alien fight. But you, you've always been a little more... hardcore than me."
Kevin just rolled his eyes. "Oh, yeah, I'm so~o hard core. I'm so hardcore that my big accomplishment for today was that I finally got my son to pet the family dog."
"Zed let Delvin pet her?" Ben blinked, pushing off from the shelf he was leaning against and coming up beside the Osmosian. "After he nearly killed her the last time he touched her. Wow! That's amazing. That's great!"
Giving up on the box he was currently sifting through, Kevin replaced all the folders he'd taken out and placed the lid back on it. Selecting another, the Osmosian repeated the process. Shifting through the files, looking for anything that looked interesting enough to keep them occupied, but not to interested as the shift focus. Kevin wanted Ben to get talking. He did not want to derail the night with a legitimate threat to life, the universe, and everything.
"What about you?" He asked as he withdrew folders and set them aside.
"What about me?" Ben echoed.
Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, the Osmosian elaborated. "What was your great accomplishment today? I assume you just got back from the past. What part of the Time War were you in? Which bad guy did you stop? Maltruant? Eon? Generic Time Beasts? C'mon, Tennyson, you love to brag! Talk my ear off. Regal me with tales of your exploits until I'm physically ill from over-exposure to your self-inflated ego."
"Why do I feel like you're bating me? Are you bating me?" After over thirty years, Ben had finally learned to tell when Kevin Levin was playing him. He just couldn't tell what the Osmosian was fishing for. "Do you wanna fight or something. 'Cause, if you wanna fight, all you have to do is say so. We can go outside and just wail on each other."
Actually, that did sound very appealing. Even as the best version of himself, even during the times when he honestly felt that Ben was his best friend, Kevin still always felt the subtle desire to punch the obnoxious Hero in the face.
"Maybe later." He said at last. He wanted to ask Ben if he saw Rook during his latest jaunt to the past. The Osmosian assumed he had since the two were practically joined at the shoulder back then. But he also didn't wanna seem too interested. So, he asked about someone else instead. "Did you see Gwen back there? In the past. Ya know, I always did love those plaid skirts she used to wear back then." Kevin sucked on his bottom lip, appreciating the memory of his wife during her collage days after she stopped wearing tights or stockings under her skirts and let her legs out to show off her skin. And that Lucky Girl costume! A short skirt and an exposed mid-rift... Mmm. Gwendolyn never wore anything that exposed her mid-rift these days. Not since Devlin was cut out of her. The scar was too disfiguring. "I wonder if I bought her a new one she'd wear it for me..."
Ben only scoffed. "Would she even be wearing it all that long?"
"Hell! If I could find her one with pockets, she'd wear it every fucking day!" Kevin shot back. "Ya know its 2030 and my wife is still complaining about them not making women's clothes with real, functional pockets."
"Kai's started sewing pockets onto the outside of her pants." Ben admitted. "Have you seen that combat jumpsuit she wears? Its skin tight and sexy as hell! But it didn't come with any pockets when she got it and, man!, did I get an ear-full about it. As if I was personally responsible to the lack of pockets in her new alien fighting clothes."
The Osmosian just rolled his eyes. "Why would a combat suit even need to be 'sexy' in the first place? Its not like that's gonna help any in a fight. No one's ever stopped mid-fight and been all like 'oh, you look so sexy in that suit, I must have you now! I will give up my evil ways for the chance to bone you.' No one does that!"
The Hero of the Universe was about to agree with the other man until the idea called up an uncomfortable memory to mind. "Hey! Wait a sec! Didn't you and Red abandon me on planet Isley to go and do just that? In the middle of a fight with Pamelaivy, I might add!"
"That was completely different!" Kevin snapped. "We were both dossed with an aphrodisiac pollen! It had nothing to do with anyone's clothes! The only time either of us thought about clothes was to notice that they were in the way."
"See, now, if you had listened to Rook on the way there, you would have known it was pollen season where we were landing and taken an antihistamine like he and I did."
The Osmosian was about the bite back with a retort, but paused. That was the first time Ben had actually said Rook's name since Kevin came home to find him sitting on his couch. He did not want to pass up this opportunity. Swallowing whatever snippy comeback he had originally planned, Kevin shifted gears in the conversation. "Good ol' Rook. Ya know, I haven't seen him since he last came to offer me that job I don't want. I wonder how he's doing in the Null Void...?"
He cast a sideways look at Ben to gauge whether or not the question had any affect on him.
It had more affect than Kevin was expecting.
Ben's face fell into a concerned scowl. Brows coming down in seriousness, eyes darkening, the corners of his mouth downturned in a worried frown. Ben crossed his arms over his chest, thinking. "The Null Void is so dangerous." Ben had almost died there a couple times. "You haven't seen him, but has he at least called or whatever? Have you spoken to him?"
"No." The Osmosian shook his head. "But I've been busy. He's probably been busy too. Its been a few years since you were last in the Null Void, so let me remind you: its a very busy place."
That was the understatement of the century. Yes, the Null Void was a busy place. But it was so busy because it was so dangerous. Even more dangerous than it used to be when they were children.
When they were children it was a wide expanse of emptiness occasionally interrupted by the a floating asteroid or hunk of similar such rock. There were roving Vulpimancers, Null Guardians, and something that looked like Charmcasters rock-bats but weren't made of rock. The greatest danger was death by dehydration, starvation, or exhaustion rather than some version of an attack. There was one formal prison with walls and cells and everything and if you were unlucky enough to be locked in this prison there was danger of being attacked and killed -or worse- by a fellow inmate. But at last you would have regular meals and water.
When they were teens it got a little more dangerous. That prison that was about as safe as the spacescape beyond its walls got more dangerous. A corrupt guard rose to become a corrupt warden. He converted the compound from a prison into a work camp, using the inmates as forced laborers to mine a mineral that when ground into a fine powder and inhaled induced hallucinations, dream states, terrors, and paranoia. The prison was no longer as safe as it used to be. But now the outside had been flooded with a drug that drove beings to attack -or even kill- their friends and loved ones in fits of hallucinogenic episodes. But that wasn't even the half of it. At that same time, another group began working in the Void. Capturing aliens with potent powers and abilities. Pyronites, Tetramand, Kineceleran, Quilqupine, Protosapian-B, Aerophibian, Cerebrocrustacean. Took those aliens DNA and grafted it into the bodies to human test subjects. Children. Converting them into living weapons.
But things didn't stop there. In the latter half of their teens, when Kevin, Gwendolyn, and Ben were all on the cusp of their adulthood, the Earth was being ravaged by a handful of To'kustar. Gentle aliens that had been taken by a villain named Dr. Psychobos, tortured and mutilated, mutated into feral monster versions of themselves. It took all their cooperation and even help from Argit -off all beings!- to finally subdue them. Then, what do the Plumbers do with the poor mutated creatures that used to be otherwise docile and gentle creatures? Not seek a cure or way of reversing what had been done to them. No. Instead, the Plumbers just dumped them in the Null Void with all the other criminals of the universe. As if these victims that should be deserving of empathy and help, were no better than living garbage. Now the mutant To'kustar, of 'Way Bads' as they were now called, ran rampant through the Null Void, attacking settlers, nomads, criminals, and Plumbers indiscriminately.
So, yes, the Null Void was a lot more dangerous than it used to be.
Rook had plenty to keep himself busy.
Rook also had plenty that could kill him.
"Could you call him for me?" Ben asked at length. "Just to make sure he's still alive and that he's alright."
Ah-ha! Kevin got him. It wasn't technically confirmation that the one Ben was thinking about, the one that like Ben for him and not any of his aliens, was Rook. But it was close enough for Kevin.
He didn't know when or how he'd become so invested in the younger man's personal drama. Usually, Kevin preferred to say out of Ben's personal drama. Maybe he was getting a little stir-crazy being stuck behind a desk all day every day. Maybe he needed some type of diversion. If not the action and excitement of patrolling the street, working open cases, defending the world from current and material threats, then something else. Perhaps not as heart-pounding exciting, but equally entertaining. Ben's near constant stream of romantic misadventures had always been a source of endless entertainment for him.
"I could call him." Admitted the Osmosian. "I have that ability. But you have the ability too, and I'm not in the habit of making your social calls for you."
"Its not a social call!" Insisted the younger man. "I just wanna make sure he's still alive."
"Well, as of last week, he was still alive."
"That was last week!" The Hero of the Universe did not sound hysterical and his voice did not crack, but he was loud enough to confirm for the Osmosian that he wanted to call for more than just to make sure the Revonnahgander was still alive. "You should know better than me how quickly things can change in the Null Void."
There was a beat.
With that single thoughtless comment, Ben managed to derail everything.
One could have heard a pin drop.
Like the flipping of a switch, Kevin forgot all about meddling in the Hero's personal life. Fuck Ben's personal life, and fuck Ben too! He dropped the folders he was holding messily back into the box, papers flopping out and mixing together. The Osmosian rounded on the younger man.
"Oh, I should know!" He snarled. "Better than you I should know how things are in the Null Void! Why don't we take a moment to remind ourselves exactly why I know more about the Null Void than you! Or have you already forgotten who sent me there in the first place!" A pause. "And the second place! And the third place! In fact, lets recall every time I've ever been locked in the Null Void and remember who it is that's always doing it to me!"
As with many of his mistakes over the course of his life, Ben realized what he did wrong all too late. He never should have made that comment about Kevin and the Null Void. Especially not so casually and flippantly. For the past year Ben had been so carful of Kevin's feelings. Asking if he was mad when things started to get touchy, trying to gauge his emotional state. Kevin was always mercurial in his moods, but he did have a base-spectrum of shifts that were just normal every day "moody Kevin", and then there were things that sent him careening out of that base spectrum into actual, hot-blooded, cold and bitter, anger. Making light of his childhood trauma in the Null Void (and his adulthood trauma in the Null Void) was one of the things that set him off.
Even the 'good' version of Kevin still felt rage over it.
Ben should have known better.
The Osmosian shoved the Hero in the chest, slamming Ben against the shelf behind him. "You wanna see if your boyfriend is still alive, you call him your fucking self!"
"He's not my boyfriend." The Hero of the Universe groaned, his words coming out in one breath.
Kevin wasn't listening to him. Kevin didn't care. He left the files and boxes where they were and stomped out of the Records room. In the doorway he paused to turn and look back at his frienemy. "And clean up this fucking mess!"
The door slid shut behind him with a deafening slam.
Well, so much for having a nice little alien adventure and monster fight like old times.
With a sigh, Ben started gathering up all the papers and folders. He didn't know which documents corresponded to which files, but if they all came out of the same box then he at least knew which box they belonged in. Closing the lid, the Hero of the Universe replaced it on the shelf where it went and likewise headed out of the Records room.
Kevin wasn't there when he reached the bull-pin, and a quick check of the motorpool showed that his car was no longer parked in the garage either. The Osmosian had left. There was the headquarters nightshift manning the consoles and monitoring the patrol feeds, but Ben wasn't as social with them as he was with the day crew. He should go upstairs. Crawl into bed with his wife and get some sleep. But Ben still wasn't feeling up to seeing her yet.
There was once a time in his life when Ben was closer to Rook than he was anyone else. Than he was with his own family.
Now he and Rook never spoke.
And it wasn't from distance or lack of ability. As Gwendolyn and Kevin kept saying, he had the Omnitrix, he had a badge, he had all the highly advanced tech of Plumbers Headquarters. If Ben really wanted to speak to the Revonnahgander, he could literally just call him at any time.
Ben cast another glance at the lift that would take him upstairs to his family's living quarters.
Then back to HQ's communication array.
He stood there for several moments, frozen by indecision. At his side's his hands balled into fists. He didn't realize how tense he was until something inside him cracked. Some little piece of something Ben wasn't even aware he'd been bottling up and suppressing seeping out. Shoulders relaxing, his fingers uncoiled, and he sighed. Making a decision he'd been wrestling with since he went to see Rook about what to do with the Null Grenade holding Kevin 11,000 over a year ago.
Ben turned away from the lift that would take him upstairs to his wife and son.
He walked right up to the communications array.
Paused.
Hesitated.
Then dialed the extension that would connect a call to another dimension. Specifically, the pocket dimension that was attached to their own. The Null Void. He watched the screen flash with the word 'Connecting...' for several moments before the call was answered.
"Plumbers Headquarters, Null Void." The face that answered was not that of Rook Blonko. "You're speaking with Magister Deccar Chaz, how can I-" he cut off abruptly, recognizing the face of the one who was calling his base. It was, after all, one of the most famous faces in the universe. "Holy hell! You're Ben 10,000!"
Remembering that he wasn't just any celebrity, but a decorated Hero that the Plumbers Academy had dedicated a chapter and half of study to, Ben put on his friendliest and most welcoming smile. "That's me!"
"What can I do you, uh, sir?" Magister Chaz asked. He had the mingled features of someone who was some kind of human-alien hybrid. Not like Helen and Manny whom looked so alien one couldn't tell they were part human. More like Ester and Pierce, where the difference was split fifty-fifty. But Ben didn't recognize Chaz's pedigree.
"I was trying to get through to your boss." Ben said. Then thought this sounded too casual and unprofessional, so decided to rephrase. "To Magister Rook Blonko, Warden of the Void. Is he available?"
Chaz's expression quickly melted from eager to please and mildly star-struck, to hesitant and guarded, even a little tense. "Oh. Ahm. Warden Rook is unavailable at the moment."
"Oh." Ben's first thought was that Rook was avoiding him, and he kicked himself for thinking such a thing.
That was absurd. It wasn't like he had planned to be unavailable right at the time that Ben would call. How could Rook even know he was going to call? Rook was probably just busy doing Wardeny things. As Kevin was always trying to remind him, Rook had a real Plumbers' job. A real plumbers' job that kept him very busy. It was absurd to assume that his former partner -that he hadn't spoken to in a year, and hadn't seen in almost a decade before that- was avoiding him.
"Well, when he is available, please tell him I called." Ben hoped that sounded polite and unassuming. Not at all as awkward and uncomfortable as he was actually feeling.
"I will." Promised Magister Chaz. "May I know what this is in reference to so I can make a note of it in the call record? I have level seven security clearance -if that helps."
"Oh, uh, well, I wasn't really calling about anything in particular..." Fuck, he sounded like an idiot. This Plumber probably thought Ben actually was the gigantic idiot Kevin was always saying he was. Who made social calls over official Plumbers channels? Who did that? That wasn't a thing! He was wasting Plumbers resources and Plumbers' time. This Magister was probably super-annoyed with him. "I, uh, I just wanted to know how things were going... In the Null Void! I wanted to know how things were going in the Null Void! It's been a year since Kevin 11,000 was reverted back to his normal self. I just wanted an update on how things were on that end. But its not a big deal. I'll call back when Rook is available."
Ben clicked off before Magister Chaz had the opportunity to say anything more.
He looked down from the now blank screen and mentally kicked himself. What in the world ever possessed him to try and call Rook?
…
On the other end of the line, Chaz was also sitting in front of the communications console, wondering what in the universe had possessed Ben Tennyson to call and ask about Magister Rook. He did a quick check of the local time on Earth, North American continent, Eastern Sea Board. It was the middle of the night there -almost morning, in fact. Why would Ben Tennyson call so late in the night asking for Rook unless he knew something was wrong.
Did the Hero of the Universe already know the Warden of the Void was missing?
They did used to be partners. Did they keep in regular contact even after the Revonnahgander transferred to the Null Void team? Was Ben suspicious?
Reaching for the console again, Chaz dialed the team he sent out to look for the Warden. "Frey, please tell me you have an update!"
…
