Author: Mattiesensei666

Disclaimer: I do not own 'Codename: Kids Next Door' or 'Torchwood' or any other franchises that I have borrowed elements from in making this story, this is merely a fan-based work

Author's Note:

This story takes place after another KND fanfiction that I plan on writing in the future, however I recently rewatched all of Torchwood and that put me in the mood to write this particular story, I'll probably pull a George Lucas and write up the prequel to this story at a later date, that being said, this is the first ever fanfic I've ever written so feedback, especially of the constructive variety, is highly appreciated.


Recap

When we last left our heroes a villain named Dr. Gero had reappeared after his crushing defeat at the hands of Numbuh 0. With a new android body, Dr. Gero released a series of androids to track down and retrieve 7 powerful gemstones known as the Chaos Emeralds. Numbuh 2 was already in possession of one of the Chaos Emeralds and was trying to research ways of tapping into its power source, one of his breakthroughs was the creation of a device that could produce artificial Chaos Energy that could grant him and his fellow operatives superhuman abilities. Dr. Gero wanted the Chaos Emeralds to power his mechanical body so he could get revenge on the Kids Next Door. After a lot of searching for the Chaos Emeralds and a few very close calls Numbuh 362 found herself face to face with a fully powered up Dr. Gero, the members of Sector V had managed to retrieve the Emeralds from Dr. Gero but were seriously injured in the process, Numbuh 362 used the Chaos Emeralds to fight and defeat Dr. Gero once and for all. During the celebrations Numbuh 1 and Numbuh 362 revealed their true feelings for one another and began their relationship.

Six months have passed since that day.


Prologue

1965, somewhere in Nevada

A Kids Next Door S.C.A.M.P.E.R. lands in the middle of the desert at dusk, the doors open and twelve Kids Next Door operatives disembark. "Are you sure this is the place?" one girl asks.

"Yes, trust me." a male thirteenth operative says in a reassuring voice before disembarking himself.

Suddenly a bright beam of light descends from the sky causing the operatives to shield their eyes due to the sudden increase in brightness, all except the thirteenth operative who was wearing sunglasses. "Walk into the light." The thirteenth operative commands, the other twelve ready their S.P.L.A.N.K.E.R.s and S.C.A.M.P.P.s, some seem hesitant at first but they nonetheless obey their leader's command and march into the light, after all twelve operatives are within the light it vanishes just as suddenly as it appeared along with the twelve operatives.


Day One: The Children Stop

Present Day

Kuki Sanban was skipping merrily down the street on her way back to the Sector V treehouse from the supermarket, she had bought yet another Rainbow Monkey plush, she was anticipating showing her new friend off to her friends back at the treehouse in spite of the fact that her friends, especially Wallabee Beetles, didn't share her obsession with Rainbow Monkeys. She was preoccupied with singing the Rainbow Monkey song to herself when she bumped into a boy standing in the street. "Whoops, sorry about that!" Kuki apologised, the boy didn't respond and just stared blankly at her. "What are you looking at? Do I have something on my face?" Kuki asked confused while touching her face to see if anything was there, no response, frustrated, Kuki just continued walking. "What a weirdo." she thought to herself.

As she rounded the corner she saw more kids just frozen in place in the park, in the middle of the road ignoring the cars beeping their horns to get them to move, and across the street, some of them were in mid-stride just standing there unmoving, Kuki thought it was weird but didn't think anything sinister was going on, it was probably just some new game that's become a new fad. The kids then started moving again as if nothing had happened, the ever naive Kuki once again thought it was strange but nothing to be concerned with, what mattered to her more was her new Rainbow Monkey, she continued walking.


Sector 51, Nevada, one hour after the first incident

Numbuh 3003 was walking down the hallway, she was a British girl with long brunette hair that reached her lower back and a black hair band, she wore a school uniform complete with a tie, she had a nervous disposition and seemed to be in a hurry, she approached a fellow operative, an African-American boy with black hair styled as cornrows.

"What is it, Numbuh 5005?", she asked the boy. "Numbuh 74.239 is here to see you, he's in your office right now." he replied.

"Thank you Numbuh 5005, I'll see him right away." Numbuh 3003 said, the brunette girl continued walking until she reached the door of her office which was slightly ajar and opened it, standing in the room wearing his white lab coat was Numbuh 74.239, he had his back to her and his hands behind his back, Numbuh 3003 closed the door behind her and Numbuh 74.239 turned around.

"Ah, you're finally here, good to see you Emily." Numbuh 74.239 greeted.

"I think we can dispense with the pleasantries Gabe, you and I both know why you're here." Numbuh 3003 stated with a matter-of-fact tone, Numbuh 3003 and Numbuh 74.239 both sat down opposite each other with Numbuh 3003's desk separating the two.

"Please tell me this is all just some elaborate game, a prank, mass hysteria perhaps, just this once, tell me it's nothing." Numbuh 3003 asked clearly stressed out.

"You and I both know I wouldn't be here if it were that simple." Numbuh 74.239 stated, Numbuh 3003 frowned as Numbuh 74.239 used her own wording against her.

"We've been watching the news broadcasts," Numbuh 74.239 began, "this isn't an isolated incident, we've had reports all over the world, in different time zones of course but it happened at exactly the same time, for exactly 30 seconds, you, me, and every kid in the world just stopped."

"Even on the Moonbase?" Emily asked.

"Even the Moonbase," Numbuh 74.239 confirmed, "though Numbuh 362 herself was unaffected, she spent the entire time everyone else was frozen contacting our Deep Sea Science Lab, hoping someone would report what was going on, that's what prompted me to come here. It is my personal opinion that whatever is happening is extraterrestrial in origin, and after all, Sector 51 was created to monitor for those kind of threats."

"Why wasn't the Supreme Leader affected?" Emily asked even more confused than before.

"We don't know, if we found one or more kids who were unaffected we might be able to find out if there's a correlation."

"If this continues it could be disastrous for the Kids Next Door. Three of my operatives were flying a C.O.O.L.B.U.S. back from a successful mission stopping Stickybeard when it started, they crashed and all of them had to be taken to the hospital, it's been just me and Numbuh 5005 since then. If this is going to continue we'll need to order all aircraft to remain grounded until we can find a way to stop this, whatever it is, from happening, Sector 51 shall be placed on yellow alert, effective immediately."

"I don't think that's wise, Emily, we don't want to cause a panic, right now this is random enough to go unnoticed, but until we know more, we're just stuck waiting for the next incident, whenever that will be, I'm heading back to the Sea Lab, the equipment I have back there might give us a better chance of tracking down the source."

"Are you sure it's safe to be using any sort of vehicle?" Emily asked concerned.

"My S.U.B.S.T.A.N.D.A.R.D. is equipped with autopilot features, all I have to do is punch in the coordinates and she does the rest!" Numbuh 74.239 reassured. "I'll come back once I find something. I understand that half your team is out of commission, once we know more, I'll move my equipment here so we can work on this together."

"Thank you Gabe, I hope you find something sooner rather than later." Emily said.

And with that, Numbuh 74.239 got up, took his coat and scarf and left, he had a much easier time of hiding his true feelings in situations like this than Numbuh 3003, but in reality, he was just as stressed out as her, he got into his S.U.B.S.T.A.N.D.A.R.D. and put in the coordinates for the Deep Sea Science Lab, setting the vehicle to autopilot, he wasn't taking any chances.


Sector V

Kuki sauntered into the Mission Prep Room, Rainbow Monkey in tow, Hoagie Gilligan was sitting at one of the monitors. "Hi Numbuh 2! Did you see all those kids playing statues in the street? Weird huh?" Kuki said in her usual cheerful tone.

"Yeah, I did Numbuh 3, but what's really weird is it's not just here, apparently it's happening everywhere, even the Moonbase was affected." Hoagie explained.

"That's the way these fads start, eventually everyone's doing it and anyone who's not is seen as uncool! Don't sweat it Numbuh 2, they're just leaving us out as per crudding usual!" Said an all too familiar Australian voice as Wallabee walked into the room.

"Hi Numbuh 4! Wanna see my new Rainbow Monkey?" Kuki said.

"No Numbuh 3, I don't want to see your cruddy Rainbow Dork!" Wally growled.

"Aww, you're such a meanie sometimes Wally!" Kuki exclaimed.

"Can you two focus? We have much more pressing matters at hand here!" Hoagie shouted, clearly annoyed by Wally and Kuki's bickering.

Wally and Kuki silenced themselves. "Now then," Hoagie began inquiring "as far as I'm aware every kid just froze, all at the same time, even Kids Next Door operatives who were in vehicles at the time, there have been a bunch of accidents involving kids all at the same time but for whatever reason, we weren't affected."

"What Numbuh 5 wants to know is who or what could do something like this?" Abigail Lincoln asked as she walked into the room.

"Hi Numbuh 5!" Kuki shouted.

"Yeah, hi Numbuh 3." Abigail returned Kuki's greeting.

"Hey Abby, you know what I think? I think it was aliens." Hoagie said half jokingly.

"You've been watching way too many sci-fi movies Hoagie." Abigail said in her usual sassy tone. "So any idea why we were excluded?"

"I have one theory," Hoagie began "from what I can gather, Numbuh 362 was unaffected also, she was trying to make contact with the Sea Lab but got no response until about 30 seconds later when this whole thing stopped, that was about an hour ago, she's currently on a date with Numbuh 1."

"Aww, they make such a cute couple!" Kuki squeed.

Wally grimaced in response, he always hated that lovey-dovey stuff, even if he had romantic feelings for Kuki.

"Anyway," Hoagie continued "if my theory is correct Numbuh 86 should also have been unaffected, that's why I'm trying to contact her, to confirm if she was affected."

Eventually the monitor turned on and a very angry red haired girl was on screen.

"What do ya want stupid boy!?" Fanny shouted in her thick Irish accent "First all the idiots in my squad decide it'd be a good idea to start playing statues while we're tracking down an operative scheduled for decommissioning, only a bunch of stupid boys would come up with that idea! I was lucky the operative I was tracking was just as stupid and just stood there so I could capture him! Now I get you lot bothering me for no reason!"

"Well that confirms it, my theory was correct." Hoagie said smugly.

"What are ya going on about now, stupid boy!" Fanny shouted, growing impatient.

"For once I agree with Fannypants, what the crud is this theory Numbuh 2!?" Wally shouted. Fanny growled at Wally's use of her father's nickname for her.

"We've all used Chaos energy in some form during the Gero incident," Hoagie began explaining "be it the artificial Chaos energy like the kind stored in my C.H.A.O.S.-D.R.I.V.E.s, or in Rachel's case, the pure Chaos energy from the 7 Chaos Emeralds, I don't know how or why but Chaos energy must interfere with whatever's causing all kids to stop moving."

"That's all well and good Numbuh 2 but what the crud is doing this and how do we stop it?" Wally said in a frustrated tone.

"If I knew that I wouldn't be sitting here, maybe we'll find out more if it happens again." Hoagie said.

"Well if that's all ya needed me for I guess I'll go, I have better things to do anyway!" Fanny shouted before ending her transmission.


Somewhere nearby

In a fancy looking restaurant Nigel Uno and Rachel McKenzie were enjoying a meal of spaghetti and meatballs, Rachel had been looking forward to her date with Nigel all week but at the back of her mind she couldn't help but curse the timing of this strange incident, Rachel was absentmindedly twisting her fork into the spaghetti, she had barely touched her food.

"Honestly Rachel you need to relax, I'm sure we'll get to the bottom of this." Nigel said trying to comfort her.

"Yeah, I'm sorry Nigel, I'm really grateful for this date, at the very least for giving me some time away from the Moonbase, it does get boring being stuck up there." Rachel laughed.

Nigel smiled, it was good to hear Rachel laughing, she always carried the demeanour of a girl with the weight of the world on her shoulders, she deserved some relaxation for all the hard work she does on a daily basis for the Kids Next Door.

"But I am the Supreme Leader of the Kids Next Door, I need to be a leader everyone can turn to for support," Rachel continued "so how can I be strong when I have no idea what's going on, this thing affected every kid in the world for crying out loud! That is phenomenal power, how do we combat something like that!?"

"Rachel, you remember Dr. Gero right?" Nigel asked.

"Yeah, how could I forget?" Rachel answered.

"Well he was so powerful we thought that all hope was lost," Nigel continued "but you never gave up, even when me and Numbuh 2, 3, 4, 5, and 86 were down for the count, against all odds you stopped him."

"What are you trying to say, Nigel?" Rachel asked.

"I'm saying you need to stop doubting yourself," Nigel said "if you can stop someone with enough power to destroy an entire planet, you can stop whatever is causing this, and you won't need to do it alone," Nigel held Rachel's hands "I'll always be by your side."

Rachel smiled and blushed, she began leaning in to kiss Nigel but something caught her eye, over Nigel's shoulder she could see through one of the windows in the restaurant, there was a girl, had to be no older than eight just standing there while her mother was trying to get her to move.

"Crap, it's happening again!" Rachel exclaimed.

"What's happening?" Nigel asked.

"The kids! They're doing it again!" Rachel exclaimed.

Rachel ran out the restaurant with Nigel following close behind, she ran up to the girl.

"Samantha, come on, I've got to be at work in half an hour." The mother said.

Nigel pulled out his P.I.P.E.R. "Numbuh 2, Numbuh 3, Numbuh 4, and Numbuh 5, get over here now, the kids are doing it again!" Nigel commanded.

"Is she okay?" Rachel asked the mother concerned.

"She's fine, she's just playing a game." The mother said, she then turned to her daughter "Come on sweetheart, people are staring at you. Samantha stop it." The mother was sounding more worried now.

The girl didn't respond in any way.

Nigel and Rachel noticed more children just frozen in place exactly like the girl, they stayed that way for about five more seconds.

And then the screaming started.

Nigel and Rachel had to cover their ears as every child in the street and most likely the world began screaming at once. It was perhaps the most unnerving thing that Nigel and Rachel had ever witnessed.

Abby, Wally, Kuki, and Hoagie had arrived at Nigel and Rachel's location.

"What the crud is that noise!?" Wally exclaimed.

"Numbuh 5 doesn't like this one bit!" Abigail shouted with her hands covering her ears.

The scream continued for about five seconds in total and then every child went silent for a brief moment before they all started chanting in unison.

"We… we… we… we… we…"

All of the children's voices could be heard but the Kids Next Door operatives who were unaffected could make out an unearthly low-pitched voice beneath theirs. The voice sent shivers down Kuki's spine, the others stared on, unsure what to do.

"We are… we are… we are… we are… we are…"

"Okay?" Nigel said confusedly.

The kids could all guess that since the chant changed, it would change again, they all held their breaths in anticipation of the next word to be added to the chant.

Kuki was visibly shaking at this point.

"We are coming… we are coming… we are coming… we are coming… we are coming…"

"Oh my God!" Rachel exclaimed.

At this point Kuki had fainted, falling into Wally's arms.

"And now would be a good time to get the heck out of here!" Hoagie shouted panicking.

Rachel didn't know what to do, she knew that whatever was controlling the children was trying to communicate a message by speaking through the children, she wondered if the communication worked both ways so she took a wild stab in the dark and asked the girl some questions.

"Who are you? Who's coming?"

The chanting continued for five more seconds while the kids except the unconscious Kuki just stared, all visibly unnerved by what was happening, then the chanting ceased.

The girl looked around confused, she seemed unaware of what just happened. "Mom, why are those kids staring at me?" She asked innocently.

"Come on Samantha, let's go." The mother said while hurriedly taking her daughter's hand and walking off.

"We should head back to your treehouse, some date this turned out to be." Rachel said, frustrated that her day out with Nigel had to be cut short.


Sector 51, roughly three hours after the second incident

Numbuh 74.239 walked down the hallway towards Numbuh 3003's office, he opened the door, Numbuh 3003 was just staring at her desk.

"I don't want to see anyone Numbuh 5005, please go." She said in a stressed out tone.

"It's me Emily." Numbuh 74.239 said.

Emily looked up at Numbuh 74.239, "What is it Gabe?" She asked.

Numbuh 74.239 said just one thing but it definitely caught Numbuh 3003's attention.

"456."

The utterance of those three numbers made Emily's heart sink into her stomach. And with that, she followed Numbuh 74.239 out of the room, out of the Sector 51 treehouse and to his S.U.B.S.T.A.N.D.A.R.D. They headed for the Deep Sea Science Lab and said nothing to each other the entire journey there.


Upon arrival Numbuh 74.239 finally spoke up to ease the tension, "It's been awhile since we've had visitors down here. Not since that business with Patient C."

They headed down the twisting metal corridors to a secret room.

"The operatives that worked here before us converted the readings to digital years ago. But we kept all the original equipment and it's been sleeping for years." Numbuh 74.239 explained while looking over some equipment used to monitor radio waves "But during the first incident at 8:30 it woke up, and again at 10:30 during the second incident today, transmitting on the 456 frequency."

Numbuh 74.239 played back a recording of the scream but with all the children's screams dampened so all that could be heard was this unearthly noise, almost like a low growl, whatever it was, there was no way a human could have made that sound, Numbuh 3003 was visibly disturbed by the sound.

"Just five seconds in total but that was enough." Numbuh 74.239 said.

"What's it saying?" Numbuh 3003 asked in response.

"I believe it's a burst of compressed information, but it will take me some time to translate it." Numbuh 74.239 explained "But the point is, the 456 frequency was opened."

"But why would they come back now?" Numbuh 3003 asked, both frustrated and confused.

"That's your job to find out." Numbuh 74.239 replied.

Numbuh 3003 frowned.

"We'll have to tell Numbuh 362." Numbuh 3003 suggested.

"Supreme Leaders, they just come and go, the 456 was here long before her and it'll be here long after she's decommissioned." Numbuh 74.239 responded "And so will we, Emily, monitoring the skies for alien life, the cockroaches of the Kids Next Door!"

"Have you got family Gabe? Brothers and sisters?" Numbuh 3003 asked.

"Too busy working to worry about that sort of thing, it's a godsend really." Numbuh 74.239 replied dismissively.

Numbuh 3003 looked annoyed at Numbuh 74.239 for dodging her question but she didn't pry, there were clearly more pressing matters happening right now. Namely why the 456 had made contact and for what purpose?


Sector V

Hoagie was typing away at his computer when he suddenly exclaimed, "Hold on, it's been staring us in the face this whole time and we couldn't see it!"

"What is it Numbuh 2?" Nigel asked.

Hoagie pulled up a video showing an Asian boy chanting.

"Yes Numbuh 2 we were there, we all saw it." Nigel said frustrated.

"But don't you see?" Hoagie began "This video was filmed in Taiwan, so why is the kid speaking English?"

"Well, English is the dominant language on the planet," Rachel explained "I assume that anything extraterrestrial would use English for that reason."

"Actually, that's a common misconception, sir," Hoagie replied "Chinese, specifically Mandarin, is the dominant language, there are three times as many Mandarin speakers than there are English speakers in the world."

"Nerd." Wally muttered under his breath.

"So what you're saying is whatever is communicating to us is looking at an English speaking country in particular?" Rachel asked.

"That's exactly what I'm saying." Hoagie confirmed.


Somewhere in the Caribbean Sea, roughly two hours later

Numbuh 74.239 and Numbuh 3003 were heading back to Sector 51 with the equipment for monitoring the 456 frequency in a S.U.B.S.T.A.N.D.A.R.D. on autopilot.

"When I first joined the Kids Next Door it was the Delightful Children From Down The Lane, Gramma Stuffum, Mr. Fizz, it was all so bloody simple." Numbuh 3003 said, "Now it comes raining down from the skies, made of metal, stinking green, and God knows what else."

"Evidently they don't want to destroy us or they wouldn't have sent us that burst of compressed information, the 456 want us alive, I suppose we can take solace in that fact at least." Numbuh 74.239 reassured.

"What should we do?" Numbuh 3003 asked.

"You tell me." Numbuh 74.239 responded.

"Given that this is now worldwide it would be best if certain historical events were taken off the record." Numbuh 3003 suggested.

"But how do we know if the 456 will keep quiet?" Numbuh 74.239 asked.

"We don't, all we can do is hope to cover ourselves." Numbuh 3003 answered.

"Numbuh 362 doesn't know about 1965 but given what's been happening she'll most likely start investigating and given her past record it'll be unlikely that she'll keep quiet." Numbuh 74.239 explained.

"Well, in the event of an alien incursion it was decreed that Sector 51 is to be granted emergency powers to deal with the alien threat by all means necessary, even the Supreme Leader cannot override this, if what you're saying is true and that she may pose a problem, we can order her to be decommissioned." Numbuh 3003 explained.

"No!" Numbuh 74.239 exclaimed.

Numbuh 3003 paused, "Then what do we do?"

"I'm not having my name on this." Numbuh 74.239 said in a serious tone, "You never told me, I was never a part of it."

Numbuh 74.239 didn't exactly refuse her suggestion, he was just washing the blame from his hands, whatever they decide to do next was entirely Numbuh 3003's responsibility.

"If I'm ordering that Numbuh 362 be decommissioned, given her romantic involvement with Numbuh 1. Numbuh 1 will most likely pose a problem and by extension all of Sector V, they shall all have to be decommissioned to ensure the smooth running of diplomatic relations between us and the 456." Numbuh 3003 said coldly.

"Do what you feel is necessary but as I said previously, whatever you decide to do, I never knew about it, it's out of my hands. Is that understood?" Numbuh 74.239 said.

"Yes sir." Numbuh 3003 responded.

For the entire journey back to Nevada both operatives sat in silence, Numbuh 3003 was in deep contemplation, she almost couldn't believe what she had just suggested, but her job was to deal with extraterrestrial threats and she knew that Numbuh 362 would just get in the way and would take a confrontational stance against these aliens. The 456 were capable of hijacking the minds and bodies of every child in the world, Numbuh 3003 could only imagine what else they were capable of, the last thing she would want to do would be to provoke their ire, to that end she considered the loss of Numbuh 362 and Sector V to be acceptable given the circumstances.


Sector V, three hours later

Hoagie continued searching the web for any leads to what is happening, he eventually came across some top secret KND documents that had been buried beneath tons of firewalls and other defences for years under the name '1965 456 Incident'.

"I might have found something." He said so everyone in the room could hear him

He tried clicking on the document to open it but a black screen appeared with red letters reading 'ACCESS DENIED'.

"Darn it!" Hoagie exclaimed, slamming his fist on the desk.

"Use the password 'Blurpleberry', that should override it." Rachel suggested.

Hoagie obeyed the Supreme Leader's command and typed in the password, and the document appeared on screen.

"We're in!" Hoagie exclaimed rubbing his hands together.

"According to this, twelve Kids Next Door operatives went missing in Nevada sometime in 1965." Hoagie read.

"Does it list their names?" Nigel asked.

"Nope, all the names are blacked out, the only name I can see is '456', who's '456'?" Hoagie answered.

"I don't know," Rachel replied "there are no records of any KND operatives called Numbuh 456, for some reason that Numbuh has been banned, no operatives upon joining the KND after 1965 were allowed to use that code name."

"So, what you're sayin' is this 456 isn't an operative?" Abby asked.

"It would appear so." Nigel said.

"Ahh, great! They're hiding something from us!" Wally exclaimed.

"But why?" Kuki asked.

"I don't know but if even the Supreme Leader is being kept in the dark it must be pretty serious." Hoagie theorised.

Rachel just stood there contemplating exactly who in the organisation had the power to keep information secret from her and for what purpose? Rachel didn't have too much time to think however as a familiar Irish voice was trying to get hold of her through her P.I.P.E.R.

"Numbuh 362, come in sir!" Fanny shouted.

Rachel took out the device and answered.

"What is it Numbuh 86?"

"We… we believe we've found something, i-it might have something to do with what's been happening, we need you to come have a look." Fanny said, her voice seemed a little shaky which seemed odd but this hadn't exactly been a normal day, Rachel just assumed the craziness of today's events were affecting Fanny just as much as they were affecting her.

"Very well then," Rachel said "I'm with Sector V now so they should accompany…"

"No!" Fanny exclaimed, cutting Rachel off "I-I mean this is for the Supreme Leader's eyes only, sir, I'll send you the coordinates for where we'll meet."

"Okay, I'll see you then." Rachel said before hanging up.

"So, where are you going?" A concerned Nigel asked.

"Fanny said she'd send me the coordinates, I have a R.O.A.D.S.T.A.R. parked nearby, I'll be taking that, don't worry about me Nigel, I'll come back once I've seen what Fanny has found." Rachel reassured, and with that, Rachel kissed her boyfriend on the cheek and left the treehouse.


Somewhere in the woods, roughly half an hour later

Rachel reached the designated point given to her by Fanny, she had to reach it on foot as the woods were too dense for her to drive a vehicle through, when she got to the clearing Fanny was standing there with a forlorn expression on her face.

"Okay, I'm here Fanny, what do you want me to see?" Rachel asked.

"I-I'm sorry Rachel, I'm just following orders." Fanny said, tears streaming down her face.

"What do you mean?" Rachel asked, confused by her friend's words.

Fanny gave a hand signal, prompting the Decommissioning Squad, six on foot, three piloting D.O.H.-D.O.H.s to emerge from hiding, surrounding her. Rachel could only say one word under her breath when she realised what was happening.

"Shit."

Two Decommissioning Officers attempted to restrain Rachel but she fought back, using a roundhouse kick to knock the first one down and turning around to punch the second one in the face, stunning him. A D.O.H.-D.O.H. stepped forward and shot at Rachel with its lasers, Rachel dodged the blasts and rolled under the walker's legs, sprinting into the forest to get to her R.O.A.D.S.T.A.R. the Decommissioning Squad were in hot pursuit.

So many thoughts were running through Rachel's head at this point, someone in the KND had ordered the Decommissioning Squad to take her in, but she was 11 years old, she wouldn't be scheduled for Decommissioning for another two years. Who could possibly have enough power over the Kids Next Door to order the early decommissioning of the Supreme Leader? Was it the Splinter Cell? One thing was certain, this was all connected to 1965 and that 456 thing, she didn't have time to dwell on it now, what was important right now was avoiding capture so she could get to the bottom of this conspiracy.

Before Rachel became the Supreme Leader and way before the Gero incident she had always had a reputation as the best spy in the KND, she knew how to keep herself hidden, she would hide nearby and wait for the Decommissioning Squad to lose track of her, then when they moved on to search elsewhere, she would get to her vehicle and drive off to warn Sector V. Fanny had betrayed her but she knew that Nigel could never do something like that.

While running through the woods the Decommissioning Squad lost sight of her, she used this as an opportunity to hide up a tree, as she heard the loud stomping of the D.O.H.-D.O.H.s close by she held her breath, she didn't dare make any noise, the machines clanked and stomped around the area for a few seconds but to her it felt like an eternity, her heart was racing the entire time, eventually one of the operatives shouted, "she's not here, search over there!", the blonde girl didn't dare let out a sigh of relief until she could hear the stomping way in the distance.

Rachel cautiously climbed out of the tree and quietly snuck away, looking around to make sure none of her pursuers were in the immediate area. She could see her vehicle on the edge of the forest, all she had to do was reach it, she was sprinting for the car when she heard a loud metallic noise, a fourth D.O.H.-D.O.H. leapt from the woods and with a loud crunch, crushed her car beneath its feet, Rachel looked up and saw none other than Fanny herself piloting it.

"Please sir, just surrender, make this easier for the both of us." Fanny said sadly.

"You know I can't do that, Fanny, something big is happening, something alien, and I'm going to get to the bottom of it, even if the entire KND tries to stop me!" Rachel said in a commanding tone.

"Then so be it." Fanny said quietly, she aimed both laser guns at the blonde girl. The redhead hesitated for a brief moment but that was all Rachel needed, she pulled up her sleeve and pressed the button on her C.H.A.O.S.-D.R.I.V.E. the blonde girl began glowing with a brilliant golden aura of artificial Chaos energy, causing Fanny to shield her eyes as Rachel uttered an all too familiar phrase.

"Chaos Control!"

All colours seemed to invert as time froze, when time unfroze Rachel was nowhere to be found and the walker Fanny was piloting suddenly exploded, launching the red haired girl into the air who landed with a thud.

Fanny got back to her feet and saw that a message had been written in the dirt.

'Forgive me'

Fanny radioed her squad and ordered them to head for the Sector V treehouse immediately.


Sector V

Rachel frantically ran up the stairs to the main room of the treehouse. She saw all of Sector V huddled around Hoagie's computer.

"Guys, we need to go now!" She shouted out of breath.

"What's wrong Rachel?" Nigel asked.

"The Decommissioning Squad are on their way here! They're going to take us all in to be decommissioned!" Rachel responded frantically.

"Wait, you can't be serious!" Abby exclaimed in disbelief.

Kuki was looking out the window when she saw a group of Decommissioning Squad members carrying what looked like some sort of explosive devices.

"Guys, they're here!" Kuki exclaimed.

The operatives began attaching the explosives to the base of the tree, Wally ran over to the window to have a look.

"Aw crud! They're gonna blow up the treehouse!"

"What!?" The other kids not looking out the window exclaimed.

"Kids Next Door, evacuate!" Nigel commanded.

All the kids hurriedly got into escape pods and were launched out of the treehouse, as the pods landed nearby in separate directions the base of the treehouse exploded with a massive bang, the whole tree toppled over and impacted the ground as parts broke off, the treehouse was completely ruined.

Abby got out of her escape pod as one of the Decommissioning Squad operatives grabbed her arm.

"Hey, get offa me!" She shouted angrily.

The operative didn't respond and seemed to be frozen in place.

And then the chanting started again.

"We are coming… we are coming… we are coming…"

Abby jerked her arm free from the operative's hold, she quickly searched around the debris of the treehouse for her friends, not knowing how long she had before the chanting would cease.

After about a minute and a half of searching she and the other members of Sector V found each other.

"Well, that's everyone, but where's Rachel?" Nigel asked concerned.

"We don't have time to search, we don't know how much longer we've got!" Wally exclaimed.

"Numbuh 4 is right, I'm sorry Numbuh 1, but we need to get outta here and hide somewhere!" Abby said.

Nigel reluctantly agreed with his second-in-command and the five fugitives ran off down the street. Nigel promised to himself that no matter what, he would come back and save her.

Meanwhile, Rachel had hit her head pretty badly when her pod hit the ground and was out cold. Fanny, who was also unaffected by the 456's control, opened up Rachel's pod and carried her out, Fanny still had a sad expression on her face, she had no idea why she'd been ordered to do this but she had no choice but to obey, Sector 51 had triggered the Emergency Protocols and now outranked the Supreme Leader for the duration of this crisis, she carried Rachel away from the burning treehouse with her fellow operatives still frozen in place chanting.

"We are coming… we are coming… we are coming…"

"...back!"