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.
Smash the Shell (Part One)
Chapter Two: Everything In Its Place
Devlin trailed behind his parents as they entered the Plumbers Headquarters in Bellwood. He looked around to see if he could spy Kenny anywhere, but the time traveling sentai appeared to be playing least-in-sight. Perhaps he was still avoiding a lecture from Uncle Ben now that the older man knew Kenny's identity as Spanner. Ben was not happy, and he was not taking the revelation well. –At least, not as well as Gwendolyn, Devlin's mother, took the revelation that Devlin was converting energy into mana and going out at night as his own masked avenger, Bad Luck.
Speaking of Ben, he came marching up to their group before they could even get halfway across the main chamber. "Rook wants to see," he said to Kevin, "you in Grandpa's office before you leave. He has something for you."
Devlin opened his mouth to ask, wouldn't it be 'Rook's office' now that Great-Grandpa Max retired? Rook took over his job, his responsibilities, and his office. Didn't continuing to call it Max's office after Max was gone and someone else working in his place a sign of disrespect? But the Osmosian closed his mouth again without saying anything. There was an odd tension between Ben and Rook, a tension that was so charged it was almost electric. The Osmosian could almost taste the energy between them when they were in the same room together, or when one mentioned the name of the other. Devlin did not want to risk involving himself in… whatever that was.
"I hope it's because those asshats at Galvan Prime finally approved my reacquisition request!" Kevin let go of Gwendolyn's hand, brushed past Ben, and marched into Rook's office.
For half a second it looked like Ben was going to follow him. He turned his head to watch the older man's retreating back. But he didn't. Instead, Ben turned to glare at Gwendolyn. "Did you know my son was Spanner!?"
Next to his mother, Devlin cringed. There was actually a list of people who knew Kenny was Spanner. It was a short list, but enough people for it to be odd that Ben 10,000 wasn't in the know. Professor Paradox, obviously, he was the one to give Kenny the time travel device that made him Spanner in the first place. Devlin, he was Bad Luck and Spanner's partner for all non-time travel related cases and misadventures. Gwendolyn, she could sense mana and recognized Kenny was the time traveling sentai, Spanner, before Kenny actually ever was Spanner! Finally, Kevin knew too. After he learned that his own son was Bad Luck, it didn't take long for him to put two-and-two together. Bad Luck was Spanner's partner, and Devlin and Kenny were best friends. Considering the people who knew, it was actually kinda amazing that Ben was one of the ones who didn't know.
"Can you blame him for keeping it from you?" Gwendolyn asked by way of deflecting the question. "If this is how you're reacting…"
Ben sputtered for a moment, taken about by his cousin's complete lack of sympathy. But he recovered quickly. Crossing his arms over his chest and glaring a challenge at her. "I'd like to see how you'd react if you found out your son went behind your back and started fighting the kinds of enemies we fight as some kind of costumed vigilante!"
Slowly, Devlin cast a sideways look at his mother. She also slid a sly glance at him and their eyes met.
"Want me to show him?" Devlin offered. It would be better if Kenny were here to see his father's reaction, but Devlin could always tell the other boy about it later.
"Not here in the main chamber." Commanded Gwendolyn. She took Ben by the hand and pulled him across the main chamber to one of the various laboratories –currently vacant and not in use, obviously. "Okay." She said to Devlin. "Now if you want to."
Devlin cast a mischievous –very Kevin 11 brand- grin at the Hero of the Universe. For Kenny –and the shock value of seeing Uncle Ben's face- the Osmosian planned to go over the top with this.
He turned his attention inward, doing a quick assessment of how much energy converted into mana he was currently holding in his body. Devlin did not have mana of his own, he was not an Anodite like his mother, he was very much an Osmosian. But different Osmosians had different abilities, and Devlin's ability that set him apart from other Osmosians was that he could convert energy –any kind of energy- into mana and use it like any other magic wielder. He also had a wider threshold of energy that could be absorbed before he was overloaded and went insane. One of the benefits of having an Anodite for a mother and being steeped in the wellspring of her mana for nine months. Devlin had more than enough energy for just a quick, low-level, magical costume change. In fact, he could add a little flair to it!
Doing a theatric little twirl, Devlin was enveloped in sapphire light. Borrowing a trope from anime, he did the costume change in stages, daring it out, making it more of a 'magical boy transformation' rather than just a heroic quick change.
Starting as the feet, turning his Doc Martins into a different and much more functional pair of combat boots. Hair coming undone from the tight, no-nonsense man-but he usually kept it in, and switching to the ponytail style he favored back when Ben first met him. Black gloves over his hands, gloves with stripes going from the cuff of the wrist down the back of the hand to the tips of only two fingers. Slacks changing to tighter, more form-fitting black pants. Sweater vest and collared shirt disappearing to be replaced by a skin-tight top, high collared and long sleeved. An upside-down crescent in the center of the chest, and in the middle of the crescent was the number eleven. Stripes starting at the shoulders made their way down his arms to match up with the stripes on the gloves to make it look like the line went all the way down from his shoulders to the tips of his fingers. Finally, the last thing, was a mask over his eyes. A black domino mask with whited out eyes.
When the transformation was done, Bad Luck put a fist on his hip and smirked at Ben. "Mom's known about this since, like, the second day."
Ben just stared at him.
"And, yes, I was angry." Gwendolyn admitted. "But not for the same reasons you are with Kenny."
Shifting his focus, Ben looked at her, skeptical and confused.
"I was mad because Devlin felt the need to hide the fact that he was Bad Luck from me." She explained. "He didn't trust me and that hurt."
"Mom was so absurdly over-protective back then." Back Luck chimed in. "I assumed she would just up and forbid me outright from doing this."
"The thing is," Gwendolyn took over again, "with kids like mine and yours, you can forbid them from doing things all you want. But that just means they'll go behind your back and do it anyway. Probably go about it the wrong way, and get themselves hurt." A pause. "Or worse. So we need to adapt and accommodate them. Be more like Grandpa Max. Let them fight aliens, and mutants, robots, and monsters all they want. Be there for them when they need advice or guidance, or swoop in at the last minute when they need a save –but only at the last minute if there's no other way for them to help themselves. You have to let them do things on their own."
Ben frowned at her. He did not like the idea of that.
"Do I need to be here for the rest of this conversation?" Asked Bad Luck. "'Cause I was kinda hopping to see Kenny."
There was a matter of particular importance they needed to discuss now that Kevin was on his way to the Null Void. A list of objectives given to them by Professor Paradox three years ago when Kenny first became Spanner. Paradox said Devlin had to discover and master the powers he inherited from his mother. That was the ability to convert energy into mana and wield it like magic. Check. Kevin had to accept the position deployed in the Null Void, and take over as the Plumbers' commander there. Check. So far, so good. Things were on the right track.
But, Paradox also said that while they were doing things right on their end, their enemies would still be moving in the shadows. Just because they did everything right, didn't meant things couldn't still go horribly, horribly wrong. Paradox did show them the worst-case-scenario ending. A future that was so utterly destroyed that the very fabric of space was broken open. Cracks in reality, spilling Earth into the Null Void and the Null Void onto Earth.
Ben glared at Devlin in his stupid glowing Nightwing-esque costume. "I haven't seen Kenny since he blew me off after Grandpa's retirement party."
Devlin fidgeted. Ooh… Uncle Ben was super pissed.
"If I see him, I'll tell him you're looking for him." Devlin fled the room. He wasn't the one in trouble. But still, he did not want to be around Ben's negative energy if he did not have to.
People shot him odd looks as he walked through the corridors of Plumbers HQ. Spanner worked with the Plumbers a lot. But Bad Luck tended to combat enemies that were more magical in nature. That implied that he worked for the High Magus' office. As such, Bad Luck did not spend much time in Plumbers' bases and headquarters. It was unusual to see him strolling through the hall as if he once upon a time lived there for a couple weeks when he was eleven. Some people stopped and stared.
Bad Luck never really learned how to react to people staring at him. So, on the random occurrence that someone made eye-contact with him through the whited out eye-sockets of his mask, he would give them finger-guns. One time even accompanying it with an awkward 'pew-pew!' Bad Luck regretted it immediately after, and promptly vowed never to interact with another intelligent being ever again –since he clearly was not an intelligent being himself.
Finally, Bad Luck made it to the roof of the building. A tall tower rising up above the city. From atop the roof of the Plumbers Headquarters, a person could see all of Bellwood, and even a little into the dessert beyond. On a clear day, and if they had good eyesight, a person could see all the way to Los Solidad.
Today was not a particularly clear day. The weather was nice. Warm. Mild sun. Only a few whispy clouds in the sky, but nothing dark or overcast. But it was a weekday which meant heavy smog cover. The haze from the city extending out to the landscape beyond it. Bad Luck could not see all the way out to Los Solidad today.
That as fine. It was now the view that he came up here for.
Kenny was sitting on the railing that ran the perimeter of the roof. Still wearing his Spanner costume, but without the helmet. His brown hair blowing in the wind. Bad Luck hopped up on the railing beside him, waved a hand in front of his face, and the domino mask covering his eyes vanished into the air.
"Saw your dad downstairs." Said Devlin.
"He still mad?" Asked Kenny.
"Lividly." Confirmed the Osmosian. "I told him that if I found you, I'd let you know that he's looking for you."
Kenny only scoffed. He had been sitting in the roof –not hiding- for a while now. If Dad really was looking for him, he must not be looking very hard.
And it was so stupid too! He was so mad and there was no reason! Mom wasn't this mad. At Great-Grandpa Max's retirement party, Kai's reaction to learning that her son was Spanner all along was more along the lines of 'disappointed but not surprised'. He was also the son of Ben 10,000 after all. What did they expect from such a child? He grew up in a huge shadow, with a high reputation to live up to. It wasn't a question of whether or not Kenny became a hero of his own, it was a question of 'how did they ever think they could stop him?' At least, his mother understood that.
But Kenny pushed his parents from his mind. They had problems of their own, and thinking about them inevitably led him down a dark trail of thought that he could not let distract him right now.
"Uncle Kevin leave for the Null Void yet?" He asked.
"Just about." Nodded Devlin. "He was in Rook's office when I came up here. But he's gotta have left by now."
Kenny nodded. They needed Kevin in the Null Void. At least, Professor Paradox told them they needed Kevin in the Null Void. Things were coming together. So far, so good. "What do you think Paradox meant when he said 'the enemy will still be moving'?"
The Osmosian gave a shrug. "I imagine he means they'll be working on plans of their own, learning skills or putting people in strategic locations, same as we are."
Looking out over the city, Kenny rested his elbows on his knees and frowned. He really wished he knew what 'the enemy' was actually doing. That would be nice. Or even what their actual plan was. Their objective. Destruction of the universe did not sound like an actual goal. More like a horrible accident. When they went to the future, Kenny saw himself and Devlin fighting Servantis, the leader of the Rooters. So, then enemy had to be the Rooters.
At least they knew the 'who', even if they didn't know the 'what' or the 'why' just yet.
…
The machine was a ruin.
Over thirty years old. It was broken, the vertical spire topped with a dimensional drill-bit was listing to one side, threatening to fall. The central chamber was covered in a thick layer of rust. And what used to be kormite was reduced to a pile of brown mulch.
But that was fine. Servantis wasn't looking to use the dimensional drill. He just wanted to see how it was built so that he could make one of his own.
Thirty-two years ago, this was the doomsday machine of D'Void –Dr. Animo operating under a temporary moniker during his stay in the Null Void. His dimensional drill, which he planned to use to break open the barriers between the Null Void and real space, take his army of mind-controlled Null Guardians, and conquer Earth –and possibly the rest of the universe as well.
Servantis wasn't quite sure how he felt about universal domination. Or even world domination for that matter. But his mission had always been to neutralize (read: kill) Ben Tennyson and destroy the Omnitrix. He couldn't do that if he was trapped in the Null Void. And if he happened to recapture a couple of his favorite Osmosians along the way, well, that would just be an added bonus!
"Take it apart." He commanded to Phil Billings and a number of other grunt troops they had enlisted since being stripped of rank by the Magistrata and sentenced to remain in the Void as criminals. "But do it carefully. I want to know how it worked. We're going to make one of our own…"
…
Kevin 11,000 was going to be arriving any minute now.
Magister Levin.
He was a Magister ranked Plumber again, not the criminal Kevin 11,000. He was going to be taking over Rook's position as Warden of the Void.
Warden Levin.
Everyone was feeling a little unsure, even apprehensive, of the new shift in leadership. The Null Void had always been a difficult deployment. With a high turn-over, and a high mortality rate among Plumbers. It was usually used as a disciplinary transfer for Plumbers that deviated outside of what was considered acceptable behavior for a uniformed officer. Magisters Arys, Frey, and Roose were all assigned to the Void as punishment for one thing or another. Honestly, the same explanation could applied to Warden Levin too –since he was the infamous criminal Kevin 11,000.
"You put in our transfer requests, right, Chaz?" Roose asked.
The Loboan was the third to ask him in the last ten minutes. There were only three other Plumbers stationed in the Null Void besides Chaz himself. That meant every single one of his co-workers had pestered him to make sure he put in their transfer requests.
No one wanted to work under Kevin 11,000.
No one wanted Kevin 11,000 as their direct superior.
Even Chaz was apprehensive. He had been in the Null Void longest out of all of them and, while he never confronted the man directly while he was a criminal, Chaz did see just how terrifyingly destructive the Osmosian could be.
"Yes." Chaz assured his colleague. "I made a special trip to Galvan Prime in order for the requests to be expedited quickly."
Chaz was their 'paperwork guy'. More often than not, if something required forms, reports, or filing, Chaz was the one to do it… or else it did not get done correctly –or at all.
They were all lined up shoulder to shoulder in front of the Null Void teleporter, standing at parade rest –if it could be called a 'rest' with shoulders slouching or arms crossed. Chaz was about the only one actually holding the pose as it was meant to be held. Feet slightly parted, arms resting behind his back, spine straight and shoulders back. Arys, Frey and Roose all looked like disenfranchised children awaiting detention.
Roose yawned, all four mandible of his Loboan snout parting with the action. Displaying rows of sharp canid teeth and a long blue tongue.
Frey was fiddling with her scarf, all three of her Uxorite eyes focused on the fabric, not looking up. Her head tentacles twitched behind her, swaying from side to side like the tail of a nervous and impatient cat.
Arys looked board and kept reaching up to pull one of the energy blades he carried as he preferred weapons from the sheaths on his back. He was about another minute away from taking one of the weapons out and polishing the blade emitters, or servicing the grips right there in the Null Void chamber.
They were all impatient and none of them wanted to be there. They had all put in requests to transfer to other deployments. Out in real space. Other planets, or outposts, space station, hell! even just a service depot. Anwhere that wasn't about to fall under the command and control of Kevin 11,000.
Suppressing an unprofessional sigh, Chaz cast a glance to the "Null Void's Most Wanted" wall. A segment of the Null Void teleporter chamber was taken up by more than a dozen mugshots of criminals within the Null Void. The Null Void itself was supposed to be a prison, but it was a prison that had been used as such for centuries. The original prisoners who 'settled' the Void had eventually had children and made families. Their descendants were not criminals, just natives of a prison dimension. One of the Plumbers purposes here in the Null Void was to protect the native residents of the Void from the new criminals and prisoners that were teleported in. The worst or most dangerous offenders were posted on the wall for the Plumber to watch out for.
Kevin 11,000's poster was still on the wall.
Right at the top. Right next to Hector Servantis' poster.
The mugshot was crossed out. Someone –probably Rook- had taken a strip of back speed tape to the poster and marked through it. Kevin Levin was no longer the criminal Kevin 11,000. He was one of them again. A good guy. An ally of Ben 10,000. A Plumber. Soon to be the new Warden of the Void.
But nobody had actually taken Kevin's mugshot down.
Moving on impulse, Chaz crossed the Null Void chamber and pulled Kevin's picture down from the wall. It would not do for their new commanding officer to teleport into the base and the first thing he sees is his own face listed at the top of the most dangerous criminal list.
Chaz was tucking the picture under one arm, trying to figure out what to do with it when the teleporter flared to life.
The machine making a whirring sound as the teleportation nodes began to glow and a figure appeared on the target pad. Bipedal, standing erect. Two arms, two legs, one head. Long dark hair falling down his back, one errant lock falling in front of his face. Wearing an outdated set of proto-tech armor that looked like it might have been Rooters issued. Wearing an old metal padlock with the number eleven etched into it. An X-shaped scar on his chin. Carrying a duffle over one shoulder and a long metal case under the other arm.
Kevin 11,000 –Warden Levin, he was Warden Levin now!- stepped off the target pad.
He already looked tired.
Everyone snapped to attention.
Chaz dropped Kevin's mugshot. It clattered loudly on the paneled floor. Everyone turned to stare at him. Kevin's eyes fell on his own face and the familiar mugshot. Chaz inwardly cringed. He was hoping to avoid exactly that.
Kevin's eyes snapped up to Chaz's face, recognizing him. "You're still here! Hasn't somebody killed you yet?"
"No, sir." Chaz assured him. Then caught the tone Kevin used. "Sorry to disappoint you, sir."
"Oh, you're funny now. That's cute." Kevin dropped his duffle on the floor with a muted THUMP. He turned his eyes to the other three.
Roose, Frey, and Arys. A Loboan, a canid, werewolf-like alien from the moon of planet Anur Transyl, Luna Lobo. Kevin had plenty of experience with Loboan abilities thanks to Ben's use of Blitzwolfer, but he was not so experienced with actual Loboans themselves. He had even less knowledge of Uxorite. He knew that Max had dated one in the past, Max was a bit of a fox in his prime. But all of his knowledge was second hand. Lewodans, however, he was very familiar with. Not only did he help Ben with dissident Lewodan political sects and terrorist groups hiding in Undertown, he also escorted the Lewodan prince, the Tiffin, halfway across the galaxy on –what he thought at the time- was a political hostage exchange. (It was not a hostage exchange.) Lewodan, at least, Kevin felt more informed on.
None of them looked particularly enthusiastic.
He set the metal case down next to his duffle. Then crossed his arms over his chest. "Alright, how many of you actually plan to still be here by the end of the week?"
No one raised their hand or equivalent appendage.
"Good." Kevin nodded. "'Cause I didn't prepare any rousing speech about our mission or purpose here, or how we're supposed to be serving a noble role in the Void. The Null Void is a shit-show and I'm only here because I'm actually crazy enough to care what happens here."
Leaving his baggage on the floor, Warden Levin crossed the teleporter chamber to Magister Chaz.
The younger man froze, terrified to find Kevin 11,000 coming towards him. The normally pale green tone of his skin fading to liter shade of dusty sage.
Kevin stopped just short of him. Glaring down at the other man. Gosh! Kevin 11,000 was so tall! His file said he was a hundred and eighty-seven centimeters tall (in his baseline form), that was almost two meters. It was one thing to read that a person was almost two meters tall, it was an entirely different thing to see them glaring down at you with dark eyes, through a curtain of ebony hair, and know that they could break you in half on a whim.
But Kevin did not break Chaz in half. Instead, he bent down and picked up the mugshot he dropped. Kevin's own mugshot.
Picture in hand, he stepped past Chaz as if the other man wasn't even there and put the mugshot back up on the wall where it had been. The speed tape was still over it, marking out half his face, but it was still identifiable as Kevin Levin.
"Don't ever forget what I am." He commanded. "I don't."
That done, he collected his baggage from the floor and marched out of the teleporter chamber.
Chaz managed to wait until the door had slid shut behind him before he crumpled on the floor in an unprofessional heap of nerves. "I thought he was gonna kill me!"
"Don't worry." Frey tried to reassure him, not exactly sure how. They spent the past three years working together, but also keeping each other at arm's (or equivalent limb's) length. They were not very close and did not actually know very much about each other. "If he kills you, he'll be branded a criminal again."
As if Kevin 11,000 would even care. He played jump rope with the line between helpful and constructive member of a society, and sociopathic mass-absorbing fuck-head monster.
"Unless Kevin just says Chaz was killed in the line of duty." Roose cut in. "I mean, this is the Null Void. It would be our word against his and he's our commanding officer."
"I'm sure there's a lot of paperwork involved in a death." Arys argued. "Kevin 11,000 –I mean… Warden Levin might not want to deal with all the that."
"There's really not." Chaz informed them all. He was 'the paperwork guy' he would know. "It's just one form, and it's really easy to fill out."
All four of them looked back at the closed door Kevin exited through.
"Okay, but we all put in our transfer requests." Frey reminded the room. "As soon as those go through we won't have to worry about Kevin anymore. We'll all be gone."
Chaz looked down at the paneled floor. He made sure to put in their transfer requests, but he didn't put in one for himself.
…