Chapter 14: Kevin 11: Part 4

I Don't Own Ben 10 or Any of the Respective Characters, The Rights Belong to Man of Action Studios and Cartoon Network

Author's Note:

* Hello and welcome to Chapter Fourteen of the reboot!

* The only thing I'll say is that this chapter will also not have a Director's Commentary segment at the end. Once again, there just weren't enough noteworthy changes to warrant having one here. Really all the changes are just grammatical changes or small changes to dialogue. Nothing noteworthy to talk about.

* I don't really have anything else to say in regards to this chapter, so let's get right into it!

Earth Prime

Thursday, May 31st, 2018

Downtown Bellwood

Ben

We all have to make choices in life! Now, choose!

The echoes of Gwen and Ken's screams rang in my ears as they fell. I couldn't deal with this kind of decision. I couldn't just decide to save one of them, while allowing the other to die. That wasn't right! Gwen and Ken were both two of my best friends. I had made my decision. I couldn't live without either of them. I pushed Kevin out of the way, as I dove head first from the building, in the direction of both my cousins. I reached Gwen first, while Ken was falling slightly lower than Gwen.

Wait, that didn't make sense! They were both dropped at the same time and they both weight roughly the same. So, how can Ken be lower than Gwen, while both of them have the same weight? That's not how physics work!

I wrapped both of my arms around Gwen and as soon as I caught her, something interesting happened. Maybe it was just a miracle from God, I really don't know. But as soon as I caught her, I automatically changed into different alien, one that I had never seen before. The alien was green and he looked like he was made of vegetation. I don't know how I did it, but the alien's arm shot up like a vine and wrapped around a flag pole attached to the top of the news building.

Next, this new alien form swung into Ken as he was falling, and I ended up catching him, too. I swung towards a neighboring building, with both of them hanging on to me. We crashed through the windows of said building, with me taking most of the force of the crash. The only injured one was Ken, with a gash in his forehead from the shards of glass that had come from the window. I got up, leaving both of them on the floor. I walked over to the window, about to jump out and go to track down Kevin.

"Wait!" I heard Gwen speak. "Where are you going?"

I turned around to face her.

"I have to go hunt that thing down. Maybe I can talk some sense into it." I replied.

I turned around to leave, when Gwen interrupted me once more.

"Wait."

I let out a sigh of annoyance as I turned around to face her. She stayed where she was at, with her hands clasped together as she sniffled.

"You saved my life!" she exclaimed as I heard her start to cry. "I don't know how to repay you!"

I looked at Ken, who shrugged at me as he held his bloody forehead.

"You can repay me by staying safe."

I then jumped out the broken window and used my vine arm to swing back up to the roof of the news building, where Kevin was waiting. As soon as he noticed me, he changed into Stinkfly's form and flew away.

"Oh, so this is a chase now?" I asked out loud.

I followed him around the city for a couple of minutes. After that, I tracked him down to an old tenement building. Just as I landed through a window of the abandoned building, the alien watch timed out. Back in my human form, I began to look around the floor that I was on. The place was an old apartment building, but any occupants were long gone. Kevin must have been staying in this building for a while, since there was a mattress, a pillow, a blanket and duffel full of his clothes.

"So, is this your hideout?" I called out, not really thinking about what I was doing.

"Something like that." he called back.

I couldn't exactly pinpoint where Kevin's voice was coming from, it bounced around all over the place within these old walls.

"So, have you brought me here to kill me?"

"No. Of course, you would think that."

"That wasn't cool. What you did back there, I mean."

"Which part?"

"Um, how about every part? You tried to kill my two best friends. I was telling the truth when I told Gwen that I was coming here to talk some sense into you."

When Kevin didn't speak, I spoke once more instead.

"Look Kevin, you don't know what having a secret identity is like. You're always in danger, your loved ones are especially always in danger, even if they don't know your identity. Just like you did today. I almost lost five people because of what you did today. I almost lost Gwen, Ken, J.T. and Cash."

"Who's the fifth person?" Kevin asked, breaking his silence at last.

"You are. You almost crossed a line today, Kevin. But you didn't. You are not too far gone. You can still come back from this. Just surrender, let me help you. Before you do something you'll regret. You can turn yourself in and we can get you the help you need. It's not too late. Just please, let me help you!"

Kevin didn't speak for a minute.

"Kevin?" I asked with a fearful tone.

I heard pained grunts from somewhere up above, followed by a roar of anger.

"Kevin!"

Finally, he answered.

"No, no, no. It's too late for me. Why don't you come up to the sixth floor and you can see for yourself." He spoke in a deeper toned voice.

I was confused, but I eventually followed his directions. Very cautiously. I eventually found the stairwell and found out that I was on the third floor. I cautiously went up the stairs, not knowing if they would collapse under my weight or not. The stairs ended up being stable, so I continued on my way. Eventually I came up to the sixth and final floor. I crouched and cautiously snuck around the sixth floor, looking for Kevin. I finally found him. Or rather, I finally found it. I could only assume that this was Kevin that I was looking at.

Its legs and chest were a light red color, like maroon, and there were two toes on each foot. On its chest, there were those kind of rupture lines that Ghostfreak has on his body. It had four arms now, the two upper arms were a Diamondhead arm and a Heatblast arm, while the lower of the two were Wildmutt's arms. Its back was composed of the material that Upgrade was made of and on its back were Stinkfly's wings. It also had XLR8's tail.

"Kevin?" I asked in a fearful tone.

The giant whirled around to face me and I saw the three eyes that it now had, as well as that bobber that Ripjaws had.

"You turned me into an abomination!" he exclaimed as he charged toward me. "I'll kill you!"

I flipped out of the way as Kevin charged toward me, causing him to ram into a wall.

This is the kind of thing I was afraid of in regards to Kevin absorbing the watch's energy!

Kevin let out a roar of anger as he turned around and then he made an attempt to swipe at me. I ducked out of the way and then went to punch him in the rib. And I would instantly regret it. I held my hand in pain, as it felt like I had just punched a rock.

Just then, maybe a gift from God, the watch finished recharging. And as it did, Kevin made an attempt to hit me again.

"Quit trying to hit me, Kevin!" I exclaimed as I dialed up the alien watch.

"Kill you!" Was all that Kevin exclaimed.

I dodged his attack again and then used the watch to transform into Heatblast.

Okay, I hate to admit this, but since Kevin can't be reasoned with, I have to put him down. And fast.

Kevin slammed all four of his hands onto the decaying wooden floor, causing it to collapse out from under us. We fell down to the fifth floor and miraculously, that floor didn't collapse. Before I could even get up, Kevin grabbed me with his Diamondhead hand.

"Kill you!" Kevin exclaimed as he leveled his Diamondhead hand out into a spear.

"Yeah, I got that part!" I said as I cupped my hands over my mouth.

My intention was to blow air into Kevin's face, but I ended up blowing actual fire from my mouth! He dropped me as he backed up, letting out a scream of frustration as he did so. I took my chance, ran up to him and started throwing punches all over his body while he was stunned.

"Say 'Uncle!'." I exclaimed as I continued hitting him.

Kevin let out a roar of anger as he recovered, before using his diamond crystals to send me across the derelict room. I was sent through a collapsing wooden support pillar.

"Ugh, I think I'm just gonna lie here for a minute."

After a few seconds, I forced myself back up. I charged over to Kevin, who just grabbed me by my foot, taking me off my feet. He threw me behind him, slamming me into the wooden floor, then threw me in front of him, slamming me into the wooden floor again, and then he repeated the process about five times. Somehow during one of his attempts, I managed to kick free.

"Kevin, this is your last chance!" I exclaimed. "Please, just let me help you! Don't make me fight you!"

Kevin let out a roar, as he charged me once again. I dodged his attack easily.

"I'm sorry." I said, letting out a sad sigh as I began to produce a giant fireball.

As Kevin attempted to charge me once again, I threw the fireball I had produced into his face. He let out a scream of frustration and anger, as he stumbled around the room, punching at the air. I ran up to him and started punching his upper torso area and head as hard as I could.

"Damn you for making me do this, Kevin!" I exclaimed as I hit him. "This was you, not me!"

The final punch I hit him with had a lot of force behind it and sent him towards a boarded up window. He crashed right through the boards and fell. I let out a gasp of shock as I ran to the window. I stared out the window; to see that he had fell five stories to the ground. I jumped down to the ground, to where Kevin was.

"Kevin, Kevin! Are you okay?!" I exclaimed, my voice full of worry.

That's when I heard what sounded like a bunch of firearms cocking. I looked up to see at least a dozen men, all in armored uniform, all of them pointing some kind of futuristic firearms at me.

"You! Put your hands over your head and get on the fucking ground!" the main guy, with blonde hair and a long scar over his eye exclaimed.

I did nothing; I just backed up a little.

"What are you, deaf?! Get on the fucking ground, now!"

I was about to do what he said, when all of a sudden I heard a familiar voice.

"Director?" I heard my Grandpa Max asked.

The guy turned to the right a little bit, looking to where my Grandpa Max's voice was coming from.

"Maxwell?" he asked in an angry tone. "What are you doing here?"

"Backing up my grandson. And what are you doing?" Grandpa Max asked.

"Who's your grandson?" the man asked.

Before my Grandpa Max could answer, the watch began to enter its timing out phase. With intense speed, the man focused his firearm on me again.

"You get on the fucking ground, now!"

"Director Steel!" Grandpa Max exclaimed with a scolding tone.

Just then, I transformed back into my human form.

"He's just a kid?" the man named Director Steel asked as he lowered his weapon after a few seconds.

"I'm seventeen. I'm not a kid." I said in a bold voice.

"Benjamin Tennyson, do you have any idea who you're talking to?" Grandpa Max asked me.

"No, no." Director Steel interjected. "I should apologize. I didn't realize that you had the Omnitrix. Director Steel of S.E.C.T."

"S.E.C.T.? Who exactly are you guys?" I asked.

Even though Grandpa had already told me about S.E.C.T., I decided to play dumb for the time being.

"We are the Special Extraterrestrial Containment Team. S.E.C.T. And we are here to apprehend this... thing." Director Steel said, struggling with his voice when he said 'thing'. "Interesting. I've never seen any alien like it."

"He's not an alien, he's my—" I cut myself off, as I realized I had to accept the truth. "He was my friend."

"What happened?"

"He used the watch's power to mutate himself. And he tried to kill four of my friends as well."

"Power can make a man do crazy things." Director Steel said as he got on his knee to inspect Kevin's mutated form.

"Am I under arrest?"

"I'd like to take you in for questioning on some other day. But other than that, no. You're in no real trouble and I don't see why you couldn't just run along now."

"Is he—?"

"He's not dead, if that's what you're going to ask. But we have to take him to our base for containment and rehabilitation. It's just too dangerous for him to be around."

"What about me?"

"About the questioning? We'll do that when we're good and ready. Until then, just hang around. When we're ready, we'll find you."

"Okay, then."

With that, Director Steel and his soldiers stopping paying attention to me. As they worked on prepping Kevin for transport, Grandpa Max pulled me aside.

"Listen Ben, I think you should get back home and check in on Gwen. If what you said is true, I wouldn't be leaving her alone right now."

I nodded.

"Okay, Grandpa."

I then moved to start on my way back home. I didn't like how Director Steel let me go just like that. It seemed too easy. I expected developments from them to come later. And not good kind of developments.

One Hour Later

I walked up to my front door, unlocked it and walked in.

"Gwen, I'm home!" I called out as I closed the door. "Gwen?"

I walked around the ground floor of the house, for a good minute, before I heard the sounds of sniffling. I walked down the hall towards Gwen's room, to see that her door was open. I saw her sitting on her bed facing me, her eyes red and puffy from crying.

"Gwen?" I asked, as I sat down on the bed with her. "Are you okay?"

She shook her head.

"I almost died today Ben!" she exclaimed as she threw her arms around me and began to cry into my shirt.

"I, uh, I know. I saw the news reports. I'm sorry I couldn't be there with you."

No answer.

"Is Ken okay?" I asked.

She eventually nodded.

"Yeah, he's a little shaken up. Somehow, he seems to be taking it better than I am."

"What about you? Do you think you'll be okay?"

She shrugged.

"Maybe. I guess I do feel a little better now that you're here."

"Good. I'm glad."

After a few seconds of silence between us, she spoke again.

"Ben?"

"Yeah?"

"What the hell is wrong with our world?"

"I wish I knew, I wish I knew."

Later That Night

Gwen asked if she could sleep in my bed tonight. I didn't bat an eye to her request whatsoever. She had almost died today and she just wanted comfort. So, I let her sleep in my bed tonight, just for that extra peace of mind. She was currently fast asleep next to me. However, there was no sleep for me. Not after today. Kevin had really done a number on my life today. He tried to kill four of my friends and loved ones, all because I wasn't willing to share my power with him.

I rolled over onto my side, facing away from Gwen. Something needed to change. I don't know what needed to change, but after the day I had, I could tell. I wasn't doing something right with how I was handling this hero thing and I needed to find out what that thing was, and change it fast.

Author's Note:

* And that's it for this chapter, I hope you all enjoyed!

* What did you guys think of this one when compared to the original version of Chapter Fourteen? Give me any comments or questions that you may have in either a review or a private message, please. I am very curious on what you all thought of this version of Chapter Fourteen.

* Anyway, that's going to do it for me. Before I do go, I will say that next chapter, things will start to pick up. I'm going to go now, so have a great day and bye.

Next Chapter: After Ben and Gwen do some house cleaning the next day, a new villain gets ready to emerge into Ben's life.