Disclaimer: I don't own Ben 10 or DC

Intervention

Watchtower; May 20th 2019; 11:22AM

Ben stared down the hall for nearly twenty minutes, looking at the double doors that led straight to his answers; people passed by him, mingling in their own worlds whilst he gazed as though he wished he were Kryptonian to blast the doors down with heat vision. Which he could do with mana but, the analogy speaks for itself.

He felt his grip on the briefcase tighten; his hands were a tad clammy from the stress, he'd heard about Albedo's sacrifice which, for him, showed something he'd never seen in him before, change.

M'gaan and Nightwing were standing behind him; the Martian placed a hand on his shoulder and leaned into one ear, "You don't have to do this…"

"I'm the only one he'll talk to," he responded, "I'm the only one he thinks is smart enough to understand him."

Dick scoffed, "You?"

"Yea," Ben agreed, "But, that's the way he sees it whether we like it or not."

Silence erupted aside from the chatter from others in the distance, staff members and maintenance workers going about their lives, "I don't want to be disturbed," Ben finally said as he placed a hand on the door handle, "Under any circumstances."

M'gaan nodded as he pushed open the door, leading to a bright white padded cell; it was quite large, larger than most penthouses yet, void of any and all furnish. Instead he had a twin sized cot and a tray for holding food, "Ben Tennyson! Just the twin I've been looking for," he watched as he sat down and placed the case on a silver table facing an observation glass.

Albedo stood but, slowly as he had to struggle with the straight-jacket which restrained him, "How is everything after killing Vilgax? Is the grass a little greener, the sun a bit brighter?"

Ben raised a brow, "What makes you think I killed him?"

Albedo scoffed with a chuckle, gazing around at the padded room, "Well, all of reality hasn't shifted, trust me," he leaned closer to the glass plate which sealed him from the observation room, "I'm the one person who would notice."

He gave another chuckle and strutted toward his prison toilet, staring at it with distain, "Not to mention those quakes, only a cosmic battle coul-"

"Vilgax isn't dead…" Ben interrupted the laugh Albedo was having with news so devastating it wiped the smile off his face, "I barely beat him to begin with, and he got away with a fraction of the baby's power."

Albedo practically pounded his forehead against the glass, "Are you absolutely deranged!? With even a small amount of cosmic power he can make irreversible changes to the… fabric of… reality…" he started looking around at his cell again.

Ben smiled, folding his fingers together; Albedo took a step back, "But, he hasn't yet… I just said so, and I know I'm not wrong."

Ben pulled out a folder from the briefcase and slapped it down on the table where they could both see the contents, "A list of known Light associates, what is this?"

"A second chance…" Ben pushed the file forwards, so that Albedo could see it more clearly, "These are the members we know of; we need names, locations, and details on their plan, before and after Vilgax intervened."

"You truly have gone mad," He scoffed, "Why would I ever help you?"

Ben smiled and placed his hands on the silver-table, "Because I know…" Ben stood up and moved toward the door which led into his massive cell, "I know that, deep down, you never wanted any of this… You just let too many dominoes fall to stop it all now."

"That isn't true-"

"You made a handful of mistakes and then you doubled down by joining the Light, am I missing anything?"

Albedo stood closer to the door, "Shut. Up."

Ben's smiled faded, That's the plan, we're going to hash this out, end this cycle of violence once and for all."

Albedo, for the first time in three hundred years, had absolutely no idea what was happening, "What are you doing?" he asked as he flipped from violent to curious on a moment's notice.

Entering in a six digit-code followed by his thumb print and retinals being scanned opened the pressurized steel door; Ben stepped inside and approached Albedo's jacket with a silver key, "I-I don't understand…"

Ben explained as he undid the straight jacket, "Vilgax was going to kill Veronica and my cousin; you made sure that didn't happen," the white restraint dropped to the floor as he turned to face his twin, "You gave us vital information which all checked out like you said it would."

Ben and Albedo were only a foot or two apart when Ben pulled a crimson watch-core from his pocket, "You could have escaped several times but, you chose to stay in custody."

"Please, try to sanitize your mouth after kissing my ass…" he eyed the core and looked back up at Ben who was obviously conflicted, "What are you going to do with that?"

Ben looked it up and down in the light, "I was thinking destroy it but, now I'm starting to think I should give it back."

"To Azmuth?" Albedo scoffed.

Ben never broke his glare, "To you."

"Why would you-"

Ben walked towards Albedo's food tray, placing the core down and walking back to his side of the cell, "Here's the deal," he announced, "We're going to fight in here, one round, first back to touch the ground loses."

Albedo smiled, "Oh, I see now," he paused before continuing, "The injuries from your battle with Vilgax must have driven you completely insane! A battle like that would…"

Ben continued, "You get one transformation and I get none," he unfolded his arms and allowed the turquoise energy to envelope his body, slowly flowing over his skin until his skull caught fire, cackling with mystical sparks, "We both know which transformation you should be picking…"

Albedo looked over to the core sitting on the tray, "What is the point of yet another grudge match? Trying to endanger more lives, are we?"

The crimson Omnitrix core floated up at the gesture of Ben's finger, flying into Albedo's hands telekinetically, "This cell is in a room surrounded by fourteen feet of solid reinforced steel, in an orbiting space station."

"And your point?"

"I want to see what you're really angry about…"

He swiped his dimmed watch opening the slot for the core, pressing it in sent crimson sparks across his wrist; he twisted it three times with three distinct beeps. He didn't hesitate to transform via thought into a Kryptonian; Ben felt like he was looking a funhouse mirror; a bigger, bulkier, taller version of himself stood staring back at him in a suit akin to Superman's.

"I believe this course of action is a waste of time," Albedo said with Ben smiling as his aura exploded around him with powerful surges of energy.

He approached, taking steps towards the taller twin turned into a float as he wanted to be at eye level when he right hooked Albedo in the chin. It sent him tumbling sideways but, it didn't even draw blood, "C'mon, don't pretend we haven't danced this dance before…"

Albedo growled but, maintained himself, wiping his lip he floated back, "I refuse to fight…" he didn't get to finish his explanation as an uppercut sent him ten feet up into the ceiling, denting it severely. As gravity pulled him back down, Ben sent a pulse of mana into his midsection forcing him to hit the wall back first, shaking the entire room.

Albedo landed on his feet, shaking his head, his eyes flashed bright red, "If you'd like to fight, then so be it!" at half the speed of light, he sent a left straight directly through a mana-shield, hitting Ben in the nose. Skirting back on his heels, he didn't hesitate to fire back with bolts of mana which forced the Kryptonian back.

"Eradiko!"

Retaliating with heat-vision, the beam was met half-way by a blast of blue mana in the form of lightning; struggling to gain ground on either side, Albedo pulled his left foot up and stomped on the ground, shaking the entire Watchtower.

Ben was knocked off balance, hitting the ground on his hands and knees, he just barely rolled out of the way of a thundering stomp which would have crushed his metaphysical skull.

"Why am I so angry? How could you even ask that!" He threw a punch which Ben dodged to the side, letting Albedo send a fist through steel as he grabbed his torso with a mana construct and pinned him against the far side of the cell.

"Because I don't know anymore!" Albedo sent a forearm down shattering Ben's construct, "There's only one real person I hold grudges against, so this is the first time I've done this."

Albedo approached with a aggressively smug expression, "Okay," he grabbed the only chair he had in the room and casually tossed it through the observation glass, hitting the entrance, "Let's start with refusing to relinquish the Omnitrix to help fix my condition!"

Ben threw up a mystic shield to defend against even thicker heat vision, "To be fair," Ben held the shield as best he could as he slid backwards on his feet, "You were lying and being a total dick about it!" the beams broke his spell as he ducked under them, teleporting from his position before the blast vaporized him.

He manifested above the Kryptonian landing on his shoulders, he gripped either side of Albedo's ears and shouted to the heavens, "Tempestus Impaetus!" turquoise lightning struck down from nowhere but channeled directly though his hands and into his opponent's head, sending billions of joules directly into his head.

"Then you let Azmuth trap me in this putrid form!" He grabbed Ben from atop him and tossed him forwards, hitting the wall and sliding down to his ass.

Ben coughed, standing up, "You were hurting people; actions have consequences!" he dove to the right, sprawling to avoid beams of heat.

"You destroyed my gene-bomb that would have restored all of my problems! I would have had access to every alien in the Omnitrix without a device, I could've been a Galvan again!" He dashed forwards, gripping Ben by his shoulders and slamming him against the wall, "My identity, Ben Tennyson, who I am! That is what you have stolen from me!" using his grip, he tossed him across the room, through the shattered window, through the sealed doors and into the hall where M'gaan and Nightwing waited. He landed on his back.

The other staff and workers were quickly evacuated from the deck; Ben recovered quite quickly, standing in the hall as his teammates prepared to help him, he held out a hand signaling them to stand down.

"You sold out!" Ben chuckled as Albedo rushed him and pinned him against the wall by his throat.

"I did what I had to, to return to my original form, to be myself again!" Albedo had an epiphany in that moment, he looked around at the spectators and then back to Ben, "I sold out…"

"You never stopped being you, not until you decided to join horrible people for the sake of revenge," He slowly let Ben go as he stepped back, "You have always been Albedo; you have master-control, you could be a Galvan whenever you wanted for however long you wanted but, that wasn't it."

"This has never been about my identity…"

Watching someone have an existential crisis could be quite the experience, the doubt in their eyes, the look of total cosmic confusion; seeing their hated enemy go through it though, didn't seem as enlightening.

Ben held his throat with mild discomfort, "Being in my body was a minor inconvenience; being beaten by someone not as smart as you shattered your whole entire world."

"I've been a fool…" Albedo floated down and transformed back into his normal form; Ben reverted to his own human state as he placed a hand on his doppelganger's back, "On Galvan Prime I was the second smartest on the planet, back then I only strived to better the Universe but, now I've stooped so low…"

M'gaan stepped in with Dick observing from behind, "It's never too late to make a difference, to change."

"Of course, it is, what I've done can't just be forgiven…"

Ben dusted his shirt off and sighed, "That's what kind of sucks about being a hero; it's easy to hate, it's harder to forgive."

Dick turned and stepped aside as Sunny approached in her human form, her heels clacking against the floors were signal enough that she was approaching.

"Besides," she held her hand out with a smile, a genuine smile, "You can be good and still have fun," she winced at him, as he turned and faced all the supporters. He took her hand, looking into her eyes for a moment, he suddenly narrowed his eyes.

He pulled his hand from hers quickly, "Why would you… trust me? After everything I've done… how could you possibly forgive?"

They all gave each other simultaneous looks, "You can start by dropping the secrecy act and tell us everything the Light and the Reach are planning."

"And, if I do this, you'll take a few years off my sentence?" he chided sarcastically.

Ben shook his head, "No," he responded, "I've spent way too long being angry at people, it's gotten me nowhere so," he reached his hand out for Albedo to grab, "It's time I tried a new approach."

Albedo hesitated at first, reaching out slowly and looking back into Sunny's eyes which flashed magenta, it wasn't that though, it was her smile that convinced him; he clasped his twin's hand and shook firmly, "Let's stop some invaders, yes?"

"Actually," M'gaan cleared her throat, "We have a watch problem we need your help with."

…

"The inhibitor I developed was meant to use the Omnitrix's wavelength with Primus to disguise its presence and latch to the device," Albedo looked over Ken's watch as he laid in the Watchtower infirmary, completely unconscious, "I was told to construct a device that would render him docile and suggestible without directly interfering with his brainwaves."

Nightwing gave a long sigh, "Confirming our suspicions that everything Ken has experienced is now information the Light has access to."

"Well, not just his experiences…" Albedo said as if it were obvious, staring down at the unconscious child as they focused their gaze on him, "What? His main objective was observe and report but, he was also subjected to subconscious behavioral conditioning."

After receiving blank looks across the room, even from his own doppelganger, he groaned, "The inhibitor left him open to suggestion, allowing Lex Luthor to manipulate the children from the Reach all in order to steal the key to War-World."

M'gaan raised her hands in confusion, "Why would he do that? Maybe he figured that he'd need a powerful weapon once Vilgax got what he wanted?"

Albedo placed a finger to his chin, "They were all fools, they believed his tales of grander, however; Lex was the smartest of them all…" he turned in deep thought, "Almost a hundredth as smart as I am, it's possible he anticipated your victory and used the battle as a distraction."

Nightwing chimed in, "If he knew Vilgax would lose than that means he's betting on the Reach in this trifecta of shit…"

After a brief flash of crimson, Albedo emerged as a Kryptonian and interrupted within seconds, "I just went through forty-seven billion outcomes and calculations; using predictive calculus, I can safely deduce that our primary concern should be the Reach."

"Vilgax has five-percent of Omnipotence," Dick argued spite not at all knowing what that meant.

M'gaan furrowed her brow, "And, of course, you would want us sniffing far from the Light."

Ben took a step forwards, a head shorter than his twin now, he placed a hand on his shoulder, "I spent three years wallowing in despair; I knew the world was suffering but, I drank and smoked the feelings away."

They all stared back at him, glancing at his more serious tone, "I've been sober for over a month and the feeling is back; my intuition, my gut feeling that… that I know what's right and what's wrong, and this is right."

"I trust him," Ben finalized, patting his twin on the back.

They all filed out to head into the main holo-ring, M'gaan stopped though, turning and closing the door before Albedo could leave; she got close, very close, putting a hand on his chest, "Ben and I have just recently gotten our relationship back on track…" she took one of her fingers and slowly traced it down his suited chest, "And you look so much like him, too…"

Albedo backed away, "Is this some sort of test?" he backed until he was cornered.

"No…" she said seductively before turning on a dime, a blade suddenly appeared from a lead sheath in her sleeve made of glowing green Kryptonite placed against his neck, now so soft to the touch; her eyes were ones of fury now, rage and anger boiling beneath a cool exterior, "I know you have Ben fooled and, I'll go along with whatever he says but," her eyes turned green and she instilled her killing intent into his mind in ways she'd never done before.

He didn't react otherwise the blade could've severed an artery, "So, let me make myself perfectly clear, right now. You make one step backwards, one slip-up; give me one reason why I might think you'll hurt Ben and you won't have to worry about your identity…" she stopped for only a second, pushing the blade closer as sweat formed above Albedo's brow, "Because I will end it right then and there…"

"Point made," Albedo said with a smile. He gulped with his hands up as she sheathed the blade and turned around, "I didn't know you had it in you… this explains it."

She turned, "Explains what?"

"Ben's last lover was a spit-fire, she was tenacious and determined but, most notably… loyal," he lowered his hands and passed her, heading for the door which opened for him, "I didn't understand why he would fraternize with someone so weak but, you've shown be something I haven't seen in humans in a long time."

"What's that?" she asked, almost afraid of the answer.

"Power."

…

War World; Earth's Solar System; May 20th 2019

The satellite was so massive that enemies could wage a war from either side; the Reach occupied part of the War World in an attempt to keep their enemies from using it, through the plethora of guards came another armored beetle.

This one was emerald green, much thinner, and the scarab had a Martian for a host giving him all the abilities that come with that biology. He landed beside Black Beetle, staring at the empty key chamber, "The children must've stolen it whist they distracted me, that's all."

His comrade didn't judge, "I understand being overwhelmed by numbers, to which is why I've been summoned to aid you here on Earth."

He ground his teeth, "I don't need help…" he gave a long exhale, "But, if the Ambassador insists."

"He does, our priority must shift to guarding the key chamber, so that whom ever stole the key cannot reactivate it," Black Beetle was spot on aside from one crucial detail.

"True but, the Justice League already has that position taken," he referred to a recovered Shazam, Flash, and The Atom doing precisely what Beetle intended.

Black was visibly upset, "And our Ambassador has no appetite for direct confrontation…"

…

Even after hours of patrolling the chambers of the massive weapon, there was no sign of any trouble, "Reduced to mere security to this War-World, how galling…"

As they strolled passed random soldiers, Green Beetle responded, "Yes," there was almost a twinge of humanity within him, a very sad attempt, "Like all Reach soldiers…"

"We live to serve," Black Beetle was absolutely furious but, his programming kept him as calm as it could.

…

Watchtower; May 20th 2019; 3:44PM

After spending nearly seven years away from civilization to learn the ways of the Amazonian's, small pleasures like hand-held video games were comforting in stressful times, Cassandra still couldn't believe how advanced cell phones had gotten.

The rhythmic sound of Ken's heart monitor was agonizing enough as it is, let alone the raw boredom of sitting in a hospital room by herself; yet, she couldn't bring herself to leave, barely even to go to the bathroom. She'd no idea he was suffering from such mental torture, to be foggy and manipulated all the time without even realizing it.

Analyzing it any further made it even harder on her; was it his programming to get close to her? Were his feelings manufactured? Or was it all real? She quickly shut her book, louder than she thought she had, Percy Jackson was one of her favorites for obvious reasons but, she'd already read it three times.

"Is any of that stuff… accurate?" Ken's voice was a tad raspy as he spoke up for the first time in days.

Cassie blushed, not at all expecting him to wake up so soon, not that she wasn't glad; she looked down to her book, chuckling, "No, not really; that stuff about Medusa is though, I heard she was a total bitch…"

Ken chuckled, looking back up at the ceiling of the hospital room, "I did things, didn't I?"

She sighed remorsefully, "Yeah."

"Did I hurt anyone?"

"Not anyone who didn't deserve it," she stood from her seat across the room and dropped her book in her seat as she approached his bed side, "All fault for what you did or didn't do falls on Luthor and that Albedo guy."

She wasn't expecting him to reach out, grabbing her hand, still staring upwards with tears forming in his eyes, welling but not spilling, "I felt like a puppet, like a slave…"

She knelt down to get to eye level with him, holding his hand tighter, "Mind control is definitely a traumatic one but, I'll tell you one thing," a very short smile curved across her cheeks, "It brought us together, even if we don't know what this is yet…" she quickly remembered her thoughts from earlier and cleared her throat.

She took a step back and chuckled, "That is if you still have those feelings and it wasn't some crazy Cadmus manipulation…" she kicked invisible rocks, trying not to seem obvious.

"Cass," he sat up with a slight groan, "Everything I felt for you, I think was real… and we didn't get a lot of time to explore what this is but…"

She grabbed his hands in hers for a moment, "I want to finish exploring with you."

Eyes of onyx and crystal blue met closer than they'd ever been; their noses almost touched but, they mutually backed away blushing, clearly not there just yet.

…

Watchtower; May 20th 2019; 6:30PM

Dick, M'gaan, and Albedo were in the center of the holo-ring attempting to strategize against the Reach threat which loomed closer with every passing day.

"Perimeter Alert: Celestial Object Entering Earth Space."

They all turned to see the news outlets reporting on the War World itself, approaching from behind Earth's Moon at near light speeds; coming to a stop a few thousand miles from the Moon, which was completely restored by Alien X as was the rest of the Universe.

"What in the hell is that thing doing here?" Dick shouted, as if they didn't already have enough problems.

"Someone here on Earth has the key to War-World," M'gaan answered.

There was a pause of silence, Ben and Albedo turned and gave similar looks, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Doubtful but, if you're thinking of destroying War World, I'm most definitely interested," Albedo fiddled with his watch as did Ben, who'd left his other watch in the Forge of Creation, the Biomnitrix was always a novelty anyways.

"How do you two plan on destroying something that big without killing anyone?"

…

2 Hours Later

Albedo was in the Bioship with M'gaan who couldn't help but give him daggers the entire time, "You know, I'm not sure I'll ever forgive you for what you did… What happened with Tula…"

Albedo closed his eyes, "And I have to live with those mistakes for the rest of my life…" he pressed his finger into his ear, activating a communicator, "Ready, when you are."

Albedo transformed into Negative Gravattack with a massive planetoid structure and bipedal humanoid features; he further evolved this transformation into Ultimate Negative Gravattack retracting his legs altogether but, simultaneously gaining immense upper body strength. Several miniature planets with faces floated around him, orbiting his mass.

…

On the ground, Ben transformed via thought into a massive To'kustar, towering above buildings, he felt like he could reach out and grab the Moon himself.

He crossed his arms, facing upwards towards the massive satellite; the Bioship fled the scene at mach three, heading back towards Earth whilst avoiding Way Big's sight line.

Emerald energy cackled around his forearms, electricity sparked and cosmic energy begun to form at the intersection of his arms; the energy grew in volume and destructive capacity until eventually it burst. Sending a beam upwards into space at the speed of light clashed with War World, the beam had such intense heat that it melted directly through the sphere, the beam dissipating into space.

It was only seconds before an enormous explosion with the force of a thousand nukes went off, shaking the Earth's atmosphere; War World split apart, slowly drifting towards the closest planets pull, however; anticipating this Albedo used Gravattack to reverse the trajectory of the savage devices debris field, which would have eradicated Earth.

Sending the red-hot debris into the void of space, Albedo transformed back into base Gravattack before landing in the Bioship and reverting into his Kryptonian form.

…

Watchtower; May 20th 2019; 10:05PM

Ben, Albedo, and M'gaan arrived on the Watchtower with a surprise waiting for them; and not the fun kind, "Ever predictable heroes…" Lex Luthor announced aiming a gun at Ken's head.

Analyzing the situation, Wonder Girl was bleeding from the shoulder and unconscious against the wall; "This gun fires Kryptonite, Nth Metal, and Lead bullets to name a few; any of you take one step and its by-by adopted son."

M'gaan took a step forwards, "Did you forget I can phase through your weapon?" she still didn't make a move with her 'son' in the position he was in.

"Oh, please, like I didn't think of combustible flaming projectiles…" he scoffed, "Martian's always were glass houses."

"Lex, what do you gain by killing the boy?" Albedo reasoned as he stepped in front of the other two, "You already have money and power, more so than any other human so, what is making you want to pull that trigger?"

"You!" He turned the gun on Ben, "Ever since you arrived in this Universe, you've brought nothing but suffering with you! I came here to retrieve something but, since I can't leave without making a grand exit…"

Lex pulled the trigger and Albedo's enhanced reflexes forced him in front of the bullet; he knew which of the two were more important and he couldn't let him die, not just yet.

M'gaan used Albedo's collapse to telekinetically slap the gun from his hands, tossing it across the room; "No matter, he was a traitor anyways, my business here is completed."

He pulled a box from his jacket pocket and activated it opening a wormhole beneath him, letting a boom tube swallow him whole.

"Ben!" Albedo shouted as they both approached, he had a gaping wound with Kryptonite lodged deep within his solar-plexus, "Listen to me," he gripped his white and black shirt tightly and pulled him in, "This isn't how I planned this but, I'm sorry…"

"Sorry?" Ben questioned.

"For everything…" as tears welled up in his eyes, he looked deep into Ben's, "I-I'm afraid to die…"

M'gaan covered her mouth and looked away, fighting away tears, "It's a bit too late for that now, it's time to say goodnight…" he supported his white-haired head until it slumped back. He drifted for a moment, muttering something unintelligible before collapsing into Ben's arms completely, blood all on his shirt.

Ben backed away slowly staring at the blood on his hands, sweat pouring down his face; M'gaan came from the left and wrapped an arm around his, digging her nose into his arm. She never liked Albedo but, she didn't think he deserved to die.

…

Incredibly short chapter just because the next two should be pretty long, thanks for the reviews, I can't thank you guys enough for 320,000 reads.