Author's Note: Alright moving forward. I own nothing.

2 Private

Paperwork was never something anyone really enjoyed. Max Tennyson was no exception to that rule. But still it was something that was necessary as part of his job as the only living Magister on Earth. He'd finally gotten the whole story out of Kevin and Gwen as to what exactly had gone on while he was stuck in the Null Void. Including the fact that Jen, well she wasn't technically human anymore. That had thrown him for a loop and he'd called Azmuth ready to verbally destroy the First Thinker. But Azmuth had been as he always was, calm and collected. He let Max rage at him for a while though the human suspected he'd been muted at one point. When Max stopped, out of words to say for that moment, Azmuth spoke.

"I understand your concern Magister Tennyson, but there is nothing that can be done. Removing the Omnitrix would be detrimental not just to the safety of the universe but to Jennifer's personal health. They are bound together permanently." Max made to speak but Azmuth kept going. "I knew it was likely that if worn for an extended period of time the Omnitrix would likely bond to the host at a base energy level, but I admit I did not expect the bonding process to go this far. The Omnitrix is an infinitely complex device with, to an extent, a will of its own. I believe that on some level it realized that it was coveted by many and has chosen its host for itself. But beyond the programing the only thing I am certain of about the Omnitrix is that everything is uncertain." Max had frowned at that but agreed that at this point it was more of a risk to try and remove the Omnitrix than to just let it be.

But the information that simply removing the Omnitrix would be the easiest way to kill his granddaughter was not something he wanted to become common. So Max had some paperwork to do.

Everyone who had a status with the Plumbers, either criminal or agent, had at least one file. Some of them were quite large with years of detailed mission reports. Others were small with just one or two things they had done to either assist or harm the universe. But it was rare that a Plumber, even a Specialist, needed two files. One of the public, the other for private use.

The private one was for the Magister's who worked with her and the Magistrata as well as a few choice Plumber doctors. With the exception of medical emergency, and Azmuth, no one else had access to this file. But no one but Max, Azmuth, and the Magistrata knew about this secondary file. Honestly at first glance the differences were minor, but crucial. On the public file Jen was listed as Human, the private listed her as Techno-Organic Human. Both listed her scars, gained over years of fighting crime. But the private file went into more detail as to how those scars had occurred. He was typing away on the file when he heard a chime. He turned to his second monitor and frowned. The computer had just logged Kevin, Jen and Gwen coming into the Hole and booting up the system, scanners and all. He frowned and stood, minimizing the file as he stood and stepped out of his office.

"I'm starting to think I can't trust anyone! I can't even trust Grandpa Max!" Jen's statement made him frown.

"Can't trust me to what?" Gwen's grin was forced as she spun her chair.

"Can't trust you to make soup without Dung Beetles or Lizard Gizzards in it." Kevin made a face but Jen looked annoyed as she turned back to the computer in front of her.

"That actually sounds like a pretty good combo. But what are you three doing down here in off hours, Manny and Pierce are on patrol right now." Kevin shrugged turning to the computer he'd been working on when Max came in.

"We, had a bit of a situation." Kevin gestured to his display, which was currently showing a technical scan of the chips. Max frowned.

"What's that?" He stepped over to the computer and his frown deepened. "I've seen those before." Jen stood and stepped over to him.

"Where? Grandpa there's something you need to explain." Her question was a little too close to a demand, but before he could place where he'd seen the chips the alarm began to blare. There was an intruder in the Hole. Gwen tracked them easily, the mana that shouldn't be here, easy to trace. They found Ethan in Max's office. Max was less than pleased.

"It's not ok! It's a Valadis. How'd you get in here?" Ethan held up the wrench from the cup on the wall that held the key to the elevator that led into the hole. Kevin frowned.

"Time to get Big Ed some glasses." He muttered but Jen was more concerned with the blaster Grandpa Max was still pointing at Ethan.

"Been a long time Mr. Tennyson." There was venom behind Ethan's words. Jen looked back and forth between the two like she was back at one of Julie's tennis matches.

"Grandpa, Ethan was the one who set up the sale of those weird chips." Gwen said and Jen glared at her cousin.

"I should have known! I knew I'd seen them before!" Ethan sounded next to desperate as he stepped forward despite the blaster trained on him.

"I had to do that, I need help and I couldn't get your attention any other way. It's my father! He's been taken by whoever or whatever made those chips. I knew only the Plumbers could help." But Max just wasn't having it.

"Get him out of here!" Jen stepped between her grandfather and her old friend.

"You can't be serious Grandpa! He needs help!" She didn't see it, but Kevin and Gwen did. Hope flashed through Ethan's eyes at Jen's protest. But Max stood stubborn.

"That was an order!" Kevin frowned and stepped forward but Gwen was closer and caught Ethan around the room.

"I may not know what's happening but I know he's serious. Come on." Ethan shook her off with some difficulty though. His voice had grown louder and it was clear he was close to tears.

"I'll tell you what's happening! Your sweet old grandpa turned his back on us three years ago! Threw us out on the street when we needed help. Now my dad's missing and he still won't raise a finger to help. And to top it all off he lied to you to cover his tracks!" Jen glanced at her cousin. It wouldn't be the first time Grandpa Max had withheld information from them. He'd lied about his job for years, lied to Jen's face when she started having nightmares about Vilgax after a close encounter with one of his drones as Upgrade. He, like Jen, was notorious for wanting to keep people safe at any cost, even if it meant keeping them in the dark. Gwen looked down at her shoes, her face caught between mistrust and thoughts she clearly didn't want to be thinking. Jen thought fast and stepped out of the way, she'd been between Kevin and Ethan. Kevin shook his head taking this for permission and stepped over to the boy. Ethan seemed to take it that way too as Kevin grabbed him by the arm.

"Thanks for the help." He bit out sarcastically. "You're real heroes." Jen had stepped over to one of the computers and her fingers were flying over the keys. "And Jen," she looked up at him and spotted the pain and betrayal in his eyes, "thanks for being a real friend." It hurt but not as much as what she saw on the screen in front of her as Kevin escorted Ethan out of the Hole.

"You did lie." Max turned to her but she stepped away from the screen, which had been unlocked, and Max nearly swore. She'd pulled up Viktor's file while he'd been watching Ethan. Right there in large red letters was the damning word 'Disavowed'. "He didn't quit. He got kicked out. Why?"

"Viktor Valadis was fired for stealing alien tech, the same stuff his son was selling. That family cannot be trusted. I trusted Viktor and paid the price. He was dishonorably discharged, a traitor." Max and Jen stared each other down as Kevin stepped back over.

"Traitor's son has left the building." Kevin was trying to break the tension, but he succeeded in doing just the opposite. The air seemed to grow closer and more uncomfortable from looks two of the Tennyson's were shooting at each other. Gwen was standing off to the side frowning at the screen still displaying the file on the ex-Plumber.

"You still think he's still the same boy you knew?" Jen's glare didn't falter.

"He told us the truth. You lied again!" Max tensed as Kevin glanced at Gwen for explanation. She shook her head, she'd tell him later.

"I did that for your own good you were too young to understand!" Gwen flinched and Kevin pulled a face. There were two things you simply didn't say to Jennifer Tennyson, 'you can't' and 'you're too young'. Max had just crossed one of those lines and Jen bristled.

"So at ten I wasn't too young to handle the Omnitrix, but three years after that I can't understand that someone close to you broke Plumber code! You never thought it would be a good idea to let any of us in on this? How well did that work out last time? Oh right it didn't! It ended with me getting sliced open like a botched cadaver and nearly getting my arm hacked off!" It was Max's turn to flinch. Jen's voice lowered as if even she regretted bringing that up. "You can't judge him for something his father did." She turned away, seeming to think she had ended the conversation.

"Stay away from him Jen. The Valadis family is blacklisted, there can be no contact between them and the Plumbers." Jen kept going. "Jen! That's an order." She spun on her heel.

"It's a really good thing I'm not a Plumber then huh?" It was partially true too. She had never been given a badge, never been acknowledged as a Plumber. The Watch granted her certain privileges, Azmuth had seen to it that she had others. Even though technically the Omnitrix classified her as a specialist she was not technically an officer of the Plumbers. Gwen seemed to decide it was a good time to cut in.

"You can't break ranks Jen!"

"Cuz, I'm not in the ranks, yes I can." She turned and took off into the winding halls of the Hole. Kevin grimaced as Max slammed his hand down onto the keyboard in front of his computer, sitting down hard at his desk. Gwen rubbed her temples.