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.
Gwevin Week 2020, Day 2 – "Warrant"
Basement Filing
One would think that a highly advanced and technologically furnished organization like the Plumbers would have done away with paper filing all together. One would think they had a completely paperless system that already had every form and document they would ever need digitized and at the ready to be accessed from any device with clearance.
One would think that.
It one had never been to the Plumber's base on Earth.
Kevin groaned as the lights flicked on, more and more rows of file boxes and crates illuminated as the florescent bulbs faired to life. Row, after row, after row. Stainless steel shelves stacked will cardboard legal boxes, filled with paper files of important documents that hadn't yet been digitized and entered into the galactic Plumbers database.
Kevin put his face in his hands. "This is gonna take forever!"
Next to him, Gwen reached up and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "That's why I'm here to help." She was excellent at filing and paperwork. Kevin probably couldn't do it without her. "We'll just find that old warrant from when you were Kevin 11,000 and nullify it, then you can be reinstated as a Plumber. Easy."
She smiled. It certainly sounded easy to her.
After the first three house, Gwen was feeling significantly less optimistic.
After six hours, Gwen was ordering Starbuck on her phone and making comments about how inefficient and detrimental to the environment paper filing was, and how the Plumbers should be ashamed of themselves. They were an outer space based organization. They had no excuse for this. This was some nineteen-sixties bureaucratic bullshit!
Kevin's heart swelled when she used the word 'bullshit' punctuating the statement with a loud sip of her iced coffee. He loved it when she cursed, and he loved it when she made disparaging remarks about the organization that had no problem with sending him to the Null Void when he was only eleven years old. But, mostly, Kevin just loved her.
Finally, he found a document with his name on it and they both rejoiced. They found the warrant!
Except…
"Wait a minute!" Gwen exclaimed, scrutinizing the document. "This is the warrant for your arrest when you were eleven. Look at the date!"
She looked in the box to see the rest of the files.
"And here's your paperwork for when you were sentenced to Incarcecon." She dumped the filed back in the box with a frustrated huff and tossed it back on the shelf. "This should have been expunged and sealed years ago! Let's keep looking!"
And so they did.
Another five hours and two more Starbuck orders later, Gwen found another warrant bearing her lover's name.
But, again, it was not the one they were looking for.
"Argh! This is that bullshit the Rooters put out on you!" Hand glowing with star-sapphire light, Gwen eviscerated the document in her hands. The Rooters were found to be a terrorist organization operating under the guise of Plumbers authority. That warrant on Kevin should have been annulled years ago.
From another shelf Kevin have a laugh and pulled a single sheet of notebook paper from a box. "Hey, did you know Tennyson tried to write out an official Kill Order on me back when I was Ultimate Kevin?"
He held up the paper he found. Sure enough, it was ordinary notebook paper, ripped out of a spiral notebook, some of the paper chard still hanging off the side. One it was a hand written note –in Ben's hand writing- giving himself permission to murder Kevin Levin, whom had become Ultimate Kevin, for the unforgivable crime of saving the universe when that was supposed to be Ben's job.
Damn.
Talk about salty.
"Still not what we're looking for." Gwen reminded him.
"Yeah, but-"
"Put it back." She commanded. "We're here to find the one for Kevin 11,000 so we can get it nullified, so you can have your job back."
Kevin sighed. "Yes dear."
It was approaching the end of the eleventh hour. Gwen was resisting putting in another Starbucks order because she had too much caffeine already and they would need to be going home soon. She wanted to make sure Devlin had done his homework and had a decent dinner before he went to bed. Kevin also needed to make sure Zed was fed. And they both needed to check their messages to see if anything important had happened while they were in this basement wading through a sea of papers.
They were both almost ready to give up.
Gwen wanted to try just one more box before they left. If they could find it tonight, they wouldn't have to come back the next day. It very well might be in the next box. Just one more box.
And it was!
Finally, after a full day's worth of searching, Gwen pulled out the warrant they were looking for. For the apprehension and arrest of the criminal Kevin 11,000. Real name Kevin Ethan Levin, Earthling, mutant classification: osmosian. Gwen heaved a sigh of relief.
The legal offices would be closed by now. So they couldn't rush to a judge and get the warrant voided tonight.
But they had the warrant in hand. That was half the battle right there.
Stretching up on her tip-toes, Gwen placed a kiss to Kevin's lips. "I got you, baby."
…
END