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.

Growth

Chapter Three: Different and Bad

They still ate lunch together.

Kenny and Devlin.

They still sat at the same table. But where Kenny used to sit next to Devlin while they ate, he now sat across from him with the table in between. Across from, and a little to the side so it was more of a diagonal reach between them. That way, if Devlin decided to go crazy again and absorb the Omnitrix, Kenny would have at least a small opportunity to get away.

Not that Kenny actually thought Devlin would do a thing like that again. Of course not! But… it never hurt to be prepared, right? Devlin could have killed him that day at the Rooters' base. Might have actually killed him if it hadn't been for Kevin. Saved from one Osmosian by another Osmosian. Who would have thought?

But then, it seemed like Kevin Levin had been doing a lot of saving people since he got out. He didn't just save Kenny that day, he also saved Ally (and Billings) from Servantis' mind control. And lets not forget the reason he was let out of the Null Void in the first place. To help Devlin and Dad save Aunt Gwendolyn from Cooper after his little emotional breakdown.

Come to think of it, neither Devlin nor Kevin had really forgiven Cooper for that little episode yet, while Dad and Aunt Gwendolyn already seemed to have put it behind them. Water near a bridge. Apparently it was commonplace in their social sphere for friends or allies to go a little nuts and try to kill them every now and again. Kenny had heard the stories, but he'd never actually had to go through being betrayed by a friend -let alone a brother.

Was he being to hard on Devlin? Was he being paranoid?

Dad and Aunt Gwendolyn had already forgiven Cooper and moved on, and Aunt Gwendolyn was the one hurt most by his psychotic break. Maybe he was being unfair to Devlin?

But then, neither Devlin nor Kevin had yet forgiven Cooper and Devlin had also been kidnapped and drugged by the tech-wizard. So maybe Kenny's distrust and fear of his cousin was justified.

Kenny just didn't know. This had never happened to him before and he had no idea what he was supposed to do. How he was supposed to feel. Devlin very well could have killed him that day, and probably would have if the grown-ups hand't interfered. Kenny could very well be dead now, and Devlin could very well still be crazy. For the first time in his life, Kenny was confronted with not only the fact that his cousin was actually a very real danger to him, but was also confronted with his own mortality. He was not untouchable or immortal. And Devlin was not harmless.

"So… are we just not gonna talk anymore either?" Devlin asked suddenly. "Is that what's happening here? If so, tell me now so I can start bringing a book to the lunch table too."

"Huh?" Kenny looked up at his cousin.

Sitting diagonally across the table from him, lunch tray already half empty -huh, a week ago, Kenny would have called it 'only half full'- sitting straight, hair combed neatly and pulled back into a tight pony tail that exposed his shaved sides, and staring a Kenny with earnest, pleading emerald eyes. Eyes identical to his own. The Tennyson eyes. But for the first time, Kenny realized that Devlin wasn't a Tennyson. Though he tried to deny it, Devlin was a Levin.

"Usually at lunch I can't get you to shut-up." Devlin pointed out. "Now all of a sudden you're quieter than me."

"I've just been… thinking." Kenny explained lamely, not meeting the other boy's eyes. He didn't know how to talk to Devlin anymore. There was an awkwardness between them now. Like they were both trying to avoid acknowledging something that was different between them. Something terrible. It was no big wonder what it was that had changed. Devlin tried to kill him. That was it. They both knew it. But neither of them were talking about it.

"About what?" The older boy pressed. "C'mon, Kenny. It used to be that I couldn't get you to stop blurting out every thought you had."

Once upon a time, that was actually true. Kenny did have the habit of vocalizing almost everything that passed through his brain -so long as he was around people he trusted and felt comfortable with. But that was the rub, now, wasn't it. Kenny no longer trusted Devlin. No longer felt comfortable around him. Before they were family. Closer than brothers. Now, he was one of the bad guys. An enemy to be cautions of and keep on your guard around.

"Just… stuff."

"What kind of stuff?" Devlin insisted. "We used to talk all the time. They're postponing our Psychologicals because of this, Kenny. Don't you want to hurry up and have things go back to the way they were before? Before Kevin showed up and started ruining everything."

Except, in Kenny's opinion, Kevin wasn't the one ruining things. Kevin rescued Aunt Gwendolyn, Kevin cleaned out the mind-control that was influencing Ally, Kevin subdued Devlin when he was trying to kill Kenny. From his point of view, Devlin's father was one of the good guys. It was Devlin that was the problem.

But he couldn't exactly say that to his cousin's face.

Kenny cast his brain around for something to say. "How are your lessons with him? Has Kevin been able to teach you how to absorb matter yet?"

Because it would be kriffing fantastic if Devlin had a power other than absorbing energy or turning into a giant mutated alien monster. Kenny used to think Devlin's other form was cool. But after being chased down by his cousin's energy-mad mutation, Kenny was quickly changing that opinion.

"No." Devlin groaned. "He's a terrible teacher. I don't think I'll ever be able to learn anything from him."

"Are you sure?" Kenny pressed. "Have you tried practicing while he's not around? I mean, I know he makes you nervous sometimes. Maybe take what he's trying to teach you and try it on your own. Don't do it the Kevin Way, do it the Devlin Way!"

They lapsed into silence again after that. Devlin, thinking about what Kenny said, and Kenny, relived that the other boy was satisfied with his answer. He didn't know how to tell his cousin -whom up until recently he was closer to than a brother- that he was now terrified of him, thought of him as one of the 'bad guys', and didn't want to be alone in the same room with him.

Kenny didn't know how Devlin would react to an admission like that.

And that worried him.

Kenny just didn't know Devlin anymore.

…

Max found Kevin in the hanger.

Of course he would be.

If neither Gwen nor Devlin were home, and Kevin wasn't raiding the kitchen or taking a nap, then he was working on the Rust Bucket. That was about all he could do, really. Kevin couldn't go back to his old job -his legal old job. Being a Magister ranked Plumber.

The Presidential Pardon Argit gave him, excused Kevin of all crimes committed either on Earth, or against Earth while he was Kevin 11,000. But it did not excuse him of any other crimes committed anywhere else in the known universe, and the Plumbers were an intergalactic organization. So, while he was still among the universe's most wanted, Kevin could not return to his Plumber's work.

And while he wasn't technically under house arrest and did have the use of Devlin's car -uh, his car- Kevin didn't really have anywhere to go. He spent almost twenty years trapped in the Null Void and in that time the world march on without him. All the old places he used to go weren't there anymore, or if they were, they weren't the same. Combine that with the fact that his face was equal parts famous and infamous meaning he got fearful or incredulous looks, or disbelieving stares wherever he went and Kevin quickly realized that he had far more reasons to stay inside than go out.

It was a striking change from the man Max used to know.

There was once upon a time when Kevin Levin didn't care how people looked at him, or what the world thought of him.

That was before he realized that the rest of the world's opinion of him can influence his son's opinion of him, and Kevin wanted Devlin to like him. So he was trying to lay low for a while. It was a move Max would have expected from Gwen -and maybe just a little bit Ben- but not Kevin. It also made the older man wonder of the Osmosian might not also be just a little depressed.

He didn't show it.

But Max still wondered.

He entered the Rust Bucket cockpit and found Kevin laying on his back, his head and half his torso buried under the console in a nest of cables and wiring, a thin layer of what looked like tire rubber covered the Osmosian's whole body. He might be acting slightly out of character for him, but at least Kevin was still smart enough to insulate himself before working with delicate electrics.

The older man cleared his throat to alert Kevin to his presence.

"You need something, Max?" The younger man asked, not pausing in his task.

"Not really." He shook his head knowing Kevin couldn't actually see the motion. "I was just wondering if you had any plans."

"You asking me out to dinner or something?" Asked the Osmosian in a tone that implied a joke.

"No." Max assured him. "I'm asking what you plan to do from here on out. Obviously you want to be present in Devlin's life, and you and Gwen seem to have picked up right where you left off -more or less. But I can't imagine you enjoying living with Ben for very long. And I know your pride won't let you continue to live off them. So, I want to know what your plans are. What are you going to do for income? Will it be legal? How about living arrangements? Have you and Gwen even talked about what you're going to do?"

The honest answer to that question was 'no'. Because neither of them really had the opportunity to calm down long enough to even think about it.

When Kevin was first pulled from his cell in Incarcercon, it was to help Tennyson rescue Gwen. That was all that mattered at the moment and so there wasn't time to consider what might happen after. But almost as soon as that crisis was resolved, everyone got busy again trying to organize and push through his Presidential Pardon. Then, literally the moment that was officiated, Proctor Servantis showed up and started making trouble for everyone. Kevin learned he wasn't really an alien but a mutant Earthling -among other even less appealing secrets- and Devlin was caught up in the conspiracy, along with some of their friends' kids.

There just wasn't time or opportunity to think of things like jobs, moving, or the property market. Such domestic things were irrelevant.

But just because they weren't relevant didn't mean they weren't important.

Kevin paused in what he was doing with the wires and slid out from under the console. Sitting up, the rubber armor faded from his body as he stared up at the older man. "Are you asking me to move out, Max?"

"No." Max assured him. "I want you to take the time you need to get your act together and get back on your feet. But, I also want to make sure you are trying to get back on your feet. You're a brilliant young man, Kevin-" 'young' here was a relative term. Kevin was into his forties now, and Max had to be well past ninety. "-and I know you can do brilliant things. But I also know you have trouble staying… uh, on the right side of legal, lets say. You've been incredibly lucky -your whole life. But after that Kevin 11,000 fiasco, I think your luck is finally running out. That Pardon Argit gave you will probably be your last free pass. You need to stay on the straight and narrow this time. And not just for yourself either. But for Devlin and my granddaughter too."

Kevin was silent a long moment, staring at the paneled floor. Everything Max said was true. That didn't make it any easier to hear.

"I know." He said at last.

"You know I'll help you if you want." Max added. "I think of you as one of my grandchildren just as much as Ben, Ken, or Gwen. A bit of a troubled grandchild, but still mine."

"Thanks, Max." Kevin offered an awkward smile. After the fiasco with Servantis and learning that the man he thought was his father never actually existed in the first place, Kevin realized that Max Tennyson was the closest thing to an actual father figure he'd ever had. "I… I'll talk to Gwen. See what ideas she has."

"Don't rush." Max nodded. "I didn't come in here to try and push you out. I just want you to think about it."

"Okay."

There was a beat of silence in which neither man really knew what to say. Max said all he'd come to say and Kevin was never really one to talk about his feelings, so it wasn't like there was anything he was going to add to the conversation.

Luckily, they were saved from the awkward moment when Max's cell phone began to ring.

"Max Tennyson." He answered while Kevin got up off the floor to consult a technical chart for how the console was supposed to be wired. He scrolled through the data pad, only half paying attention. One ear was piqued listening in on Max's call. "Wait, he did what? Well, is he okay? He is?" And Max tried to suppress a laugh at that. "Okay, I know someone who can help with that. We'll be right over."

He ended the call.

Then turned to Kevin.

"You're not gonna believe this." He said. "But Devlin somehow got himself suck in a locker."

Kevin blinked, startled. Tennyson did say that Devlin was bullied for being his son. But Kevin never would have imagined the kid would allow himself to be stuffed in a locker. The fact that that kind of cliche bull-kriff was only supposed to happen in TV shows aside, the kid knew karate and was perfectly capable of defending himself without resorting to having to use his powers.

"Is he okay?"

"Yes." This time Max could not hold back the smile or the soft chuckles that escaped him. "But he needs you."

…

Kenny was at soccer practice. That meant Devlin was waiting for him on the bleachers, reading his book.

Or rather, staring at the pages of his book without actually reading a word of it.

To many conflicting thoughts were running through his head, preventing him from comprehending a single line of text.

For one, there were his issues with Kenny. They didn't talk anymore. He jumped any time Devlin touched him -even just casually. He always kept his distance from the Osmosian at meals, Group, or in the car.

Then there was Kevin. His father whom Devlin only just met a few weeks ago. All his life, Devlin had been taught that his father was a cruel and evil man. A villain not worthy of affection. But since his arrival, the man had been nothing but affectionate and attentive to him. That is, he was, up until the Rooters Fiasco. As soon as Kevin realized that Devlin had never been under mind control in the first place, he showed his true colors. Gone was the patient, affectionate, and attentive father. Instead he was replaced by a calculating and manipulative con-man.

And Devlin couldn't tell anyone about it without exposing himself. That he kidnapped Herminie Armstrong of his own volition and not under Servantis' control as everyone else suspected.

Now Kenny was suggesting he take the lessons Kevin was trying to teach him and work on them on his own. To take Kevin's guidance as just that, guidance, and develop his own means of absorbing matter. That in and of itself didn't sound like a bad idea. But then, was it really such a wise idea to practice what a villain like Kevin was teaching? Not only practice it, but do so without supervision.

Snapping his book shut, Devlin stood. There was no point in pretending to read. He wasn't fooling anyone.

Coming down from the bleachers, he reentered the hall with his locker and opened the combination lock. The book was replaced in the locker, but he paused before closing it. Staring at the bare metal of the door.

Kevin did say process matter would be easier to absorb than natural matter. Fewer impurities. Fewer things to confuse whatever part of the brain that managed the Osmosian power of absorption.

Kenny did say he should try practicing while Kevin wasn't around. Take Kevin's ideas but try his own techniques.

And it wasn't like he had anything better to do at the moment. Kenny's soccer practice wouldn't end for another half hour. Everyone else not associated with a sport or club had gone home for the day. Devlin was alone in the hall.

Why not give it a try?

Placing his palm flat on the metal locker door, Devlin tried to remember the important parts of what Kevin had been trying to tell him for the past week. Energy and mana absorption came to him so easily and naturally. Like sucking soda through a straw. But for some reason, he just couldn't slurp up matter in the same way. Kevin said he had to feel the small energies within the matter. Like electrons racing around a molecule. But that was crazy. There was no way Devlin could feel that. It was to small. Either Kevin didn't actually know what he was talking about, or else he was a different kind of Osmosian from Devlin.

But maybe there was another way Devlin could do it. Not sensing the energy of electrons racing around a molecule, that was stupid.

Last week, Devlin learned very quickly that different things behaved differently when absorbed. Raw energies like electricity or mana were potent and hit like a cup of coffee sweetened with a 5-Hour Energy. Life energy was more wild and harder to control. It didn't exactly have a consciousness of its own, but it was more 'willful' than raw energy not from a living thing. It was life energy that made Devlin go crazy when he absorbed Kenny's faux-Omnetrix. The life energy of all the aliens he had stored inside it.

It stood to reason that matter absorption would have a different behavior all its own. Maybe the reason he couldn't absorb solid matter was because he was expecting it to be like absorbing raw energy or life energy. But it wasn't either of them. A rock was a rock. And a locker door was cold steel.

Palm flat against the cold steel, Devlin closed his eyes and 'examined' the metal. The texture and harness. It was a thin sheet of stainless steel, dented in places from where heavy text books had fallen against it or students had punched it. The lockers were almost as old at the school was. They had well over thirty years of wear and tear on them.

When Devlin was confident he had a feel for the thing, he tried absorbing it. Not the same way he tried absorbing other matter before with Kevin. Not sucking it up like soda. Matter wasn't as fluid as energy. Instead, he sort of 'massaged' it. Easing the steel of the locker door into something a bit more malleable. Something he could manipulate and absorb. Then, eyes still closed, Devlin felt it!

It wasn't like drinking a soda. It was more like moistening a sponge. He and the matter were filling each other. It wasn't what he expected, but it was a result. And honest and true result. Devlin was absorbing matter!

He opened his eyes…

…and nearly had a heart attack.

He was not absorbing the locker. The locker was absorbing him!

Or, more accurately, since he was just a touch hysterical at the moment, his hand had passed through the locker door. Devlin now stood staring at his had that appeared to just end right before his wrist, and sticking out from the other side of the locker door was the missing wrist with hand attacked. He wiggled his fingers to make sure it really was his hand he was looking at.

His normal, lily white hand. Not an ounce of matter on it. He hadn't absorbed the locker. He had passed through it. (Which, if he wasn't so panicked at the moment, he would have to admit was much more accurate to the name 'Osmosian'. Which was derived from 'osmosis', the process by which water -or other things- passed through cell membranes.) But Devlin couldn't appreciate that at the moment. He was to shocked. Instead, he screamed.

He screamed loud!

A loud, primal, almost inhuman cry. A sound that echoed of his monster from even in his human shape.

It brought Kenny and his whole soccer team running to see what the heck had append. Also the school's janitor, and the one lone office employ who was required to stay on campus until all the kids associated with sports or clubs went home. Before he knew what was going on, Devlin found himself surrounded by a semi-circle of people, starring wide-eyed and confused.

"I, uh, I don't know what happened." He said.

…