Hello one and all, welcome to His Last Intent, a story written in association with Gamewizard2008's own series beginning all the way with Operation: GALASCIA and currently Seven Lights: The Last.
Go check all of his stuff, it's great. It's the ultimate crossover.
So, what exactly is His Last Intent? It's the story of an OC character that I created for Game's series six years ago. This story is a love letter to the character and to the universe he resides in.
This story is meant to completely wrap up every loose end I myself have written in stories such as Declaration of Intent, Crutch, Agenda, Ethics, Sixth Age, Zen and Intent and Through Glass.
This is also me saying goodbye to a character I created and watched develop into a fully fleshed out being.
Kids Next Door Rulez, everybody.
His Last Intent
Chapter 1: His Name is Nolan
9 Years after Legend of the Eight Firstborn
-kzzt-
"After Action Report Zero-Two-Four-Two-Zero-One-Two. Numbuh 414 here, just talking about, well, everything…ugh." The operative on the screen rolled his eyes. "Why am I doing this again?" He asked to someone off screen.
"It's for proper documentation. Andrew wants everything for future reference." Replied the voice of a young boy.
"Yeah that's stupid." The operative muttered.
"But it's an order. Now get to it." The voice said sharply. With that the operative on screen, Numbuh 414, remained silent, looking off to the side no doubt to the boy he'd been speaking to.
"Damn it Mario." Numbuh 414 muttered under his breath as he once again turned his attention to the camera. "So…a lot just happened. A lot of things I don't know how to explain. But, uh, I'll try."
"My name is Numbuh 414." The operative reiterated to the screen. "Twenty-Two hours ago I saw combat on Icarus Island." He sighed. "After alengthy investigation into Evil Adult Industries' largest competitor, we discovered Icarus Corp was creating, under the orders of their founder and CEO, Jonah Icarus, that they were constructing a machine capable of eradicating childhood by forcefully agifying every child on Earth."
"I was charged with landing the ground team consisting of my own Sector and Sector T. Not everything went well however as my transport was shot down. Thankfully no casualties. Not like how it went earlier with Travis…" Numbuh 414 paused, a somber yet thoughtful look on his face. He allowed himself a long moment of silence for a fallen comrade before continuing on.
"After that me and my associate Numbuh 720 got our act together and regrouped with the team before defeating the bad guy. There. End of After Action Report." With that said, Numbuh 414 reached out to the camera to switch it off, but then he relented.
The boy on the screen fell back into his seat and let out another tired sigh. He glanced upward at the ceiling and then back to the camera. "I also saw some things down there at the Island." Numbuh 414 said, a slight fearfulness in his voice.
"I saw it. I saw it there after me and Numbuh 720 crashed on the beach." He said, whatever fearful thoughts he held secret coming to light. "I didn't think it was real, but there it was. I saw The Shimmer, it was just standing there, waiting for me to get back up."
"There's only one reason why The Shimmer appears." Numbuh 414 said quietly, now glaring at the screen. "I-I think I was supposed to die there, on that beach."
Numbuh 414 sat there for a moment, fully contemplating the gravity of his words. Quietly, the young operative looked back to face the camera. He opened his mouth to speak, but he appeared to be unable to find the words. He sat there a little while longer and sighed once more. "Numbuh 414, signing off." And with that, the boy reached out to the camera and the screen went to black.
-kzzt-
The screen went as the video ended. A young man, whom looked years older than he truly was, sat before the screen in a wheelchair with a thoughtful look on his face.
A red light flashed and a siren blared. The computer monitor to his side flashed alive, displaying real time news coverage and incoming messages from the KND rapid response hotline and from the young man's contacts in the Guardian Units of Nations.
It had been nine long years since Nigel Uno and the forces of good had triumphed over evil and saved the multiverse. Sector V and all their friends had since grown older, acting as silent guardians watching over the future of humanity. But while the days grow shorter and they older, social lives and their very own futures have taken precedence.
So while the Kids Next Door keeps up the good fight with men and women who'd subjugate children, Nigel and the rest of his friends have for better or worse retired from lives of action, pursuing the life of family. No one would ever dare question their decisions, they'd already given up so much. It seemed only fair to let everyone have that happy ending they deserved.
But for one such former operative, it'll never be enough.
The young man in the wheelchair, his name is Nolan York. Once upon a time known as Numbuh 2030, he'd served as Sector Leader of Sector Q, been the leader of the now defunct KND subgroup The Prospectors, gone rogue once before his thirteenth, , got mixed up in a bad crowd, been a villain and became the apprentice of a psychic villain.
But that was once upon a time. Then he'd reformed, became one of the good guys in Nigel's merry band. Even helped save the world a time or two. He joined up with the TND, went on fighting in secret, fighting the good fight keeping drugs out of schoolyards and adopted a vigilante alter ego. An alter ego he lives by to this day.
"We are The Neo Brotherhood of Evil." A sinister voice declared to the world through the use of commandeered television sets throughout the world. "Relinquish your lives to us, or we will plunge the Earth into chaos."
Heeding the call to action yet again, Nolan reaches out to his drawer, with drawing a syringe with a green compound. Injecting himself with the cocktail, almost spontaneously his withered away legs expand, rapidly growing enough muscle to carry him. Whatever had broken, when Lizzie landed on him with her L.O.C.K.A.H-S.O.C.K.A.H. some years ago, reconnected. And Nolan pulled himself out of his chair, able to walk yet again.
Dressed in a greyish brown three piece suit with a long coat jacket, Nolan claimed the remainder of his outfit, a pair of black gloves, a brown fedora and a gas mask left for him by a man much wiser than he. The gloves fit like they were made for him. He then turned to the gas mask and stared into the lenses with his baggy blue eyes. He threw it on and then the fedora.
It was time to get to work.
Rhode Island State Zoo
"Hah ha! Run!" A fanatical man dressed in black cackled as he and his conspirators fired at fleeing GUN officers.
The Neo Brotherhood, the latest incarnation of the Kid Next Door's longtime foes had set up shop at the local Zoo where they now made their stand. Their ultimatum had hit the air some time earlier, where they demanded that the world governments would surrender their authority or suffer the consequences.
"Keep up the good work fellas, I'm going to check up on the bomb!" The man dressed in black shouted before leaping off the Zoo's sign and running off to the back of the Zoo.
Jayden Hayes was a man with a sordid past. Once upon a time he was a member of the Kids Next Door, he wasn't anymore. Not because he was grossly overage now at seventeen, but rather, he'd gone and drawn a line against its principles. When he was twelve he realized there was only one true way to protect child kind, to subjugate all of humanity.
To say the least it didn't end well when he was ejected from the organization. He rose up a warrior cult in vengeance once, that lasted a minute or two. But now here he was running through an empty Zoo where he and the rest of the Neo Brotherhood held the world hostage, running to meet with the man who made all this possible.
"Affright!" Jayden shouted loudly as he made his way to where his benefactor set up their means of subjugating humanity near the Gorilla pen. "What's taking so long, huh? We gonna do this or not?"
"Mind your tone." A long coat wearing man spoke hoarsely from behind what appeared to be glowing purple and green clear cylinder. "I'm working." He said, looking up from the biological agent. Under the moonlight the man looked like a corpse, the way that burlap sack mask he wore was stitched together and pressed against his face. His long black hair hung low, shrouding him further under the darkness of his long hat. Affright was a truly disturbing sight.
"Is it ready to go or not?" Jayden questioned standing firm. "We've got GUN at our doorstep. You know very well what that means."
"A man of your skills should have no difficulty dealing with Gunkan's men." Affright said before resuming his work on the device. "They aren't the one we should be worried about." There was a clicking sound followed by a noisy beep. "Finished." Affright declared before standing up and stretching.
The corpse looking man then produced a remote-like device and tossed it to Jayden to catch. "It's ready to go. If you have the stomach for it."
"What are you talking about? This is all I ever wanted." Jayden smirked. "We bathe the entire Eastern seaboard in that gas and they'll have no choice but to answer to our demands." Jayden then pocket the device and wandered to a nearby table, claiming a black gas mask with a red letter 'A' spray painted on it. He threw it over his face and addressed Affright once more. "You should be happy, this is what we both want."
"Never attempt to claim you understand what another man wants." Affright cast a cold glare in Jayden's direction.
There was a loud audible sound that caught the pair's ears. It didn't sound as if a car had just crashed through the Zoo's front gate. The pair of villains shared a glance of acknowledgement, both of them knew very much that GUN wasn't brash enough to attempt such suicide.
"I believe the rest of the Brotherhood is in need of our assistance." Jayden turned his eyes away from Affright to the direction he'd come. "Shall we?" He asked before looking back. But when he did, he found Affright to be gone. "Coward." He sneered.
The Sandmobile slammed through the gates of the state zoo, ripping them off their hinges. The Sandmobile kept on going, racing into enemy fire. The brutish Brawl, a massively sized man and member of the Teen Ninja unit Mayhem, stood in the line of sight, laying down heavy fire. Bullets ripped through the Sandmobile, but that did not stop the vehicle.
"Brawl get out of the way!" Garrison, a member of the Teen Ninja unit Mayhem, shouted. But Brawl stood his ground, seeing which would break first. The car or himself. The Sandmobile then promptly smashed into Brawl. The Sandmobile continued on its course, its hull riddled with bullet holes and engine set aflame. The Sandmobile then crashed into the statue at the
The Mayhem Squad, minus the unconscious Brawl, began to close in on the wreck. There was no taking chances, Nolan was dead when they saw a body. At the front of the zoo, the gas mask wearing Nolan stepped through the smashed gate. Armed with only his gas gun, he continued on further into the zoo.
With the biggest gun knocked out, the Sandmobile provided the vigilante the perfect distraction to get the drop on The Neo Brotherhood.
"He in there?" Merc, the female leader of Mayhem asked her mute subordinate Shot.
Shot, who at one point served under Numbuh 100 in the Sixth Age, only shook his head. He saw no sign of their most notorious adversary. From behind Garrison, in the shadows of the burning wrecked car, Nolan approached. It was a simple pull of the trigger of his gas gun and the unsuspecting Garrison was on the floor. A whiff of the knock out gas was all it took.
Having heard Garrison's body hit the ground, the two remaining able bodied Mayhem Squad members spun around, ready to engage Nolan. A searing white laser bolt blasted out of Shot's spherical helm. Nolan leaped forward into a roll, completely dodging the blast. He found his footing and lunged forward at the pair, getting between them, minimalizing Shot's chances of using his laser helmet, lest he hit his leader.
Nolan engaged Merc and Shot in hand to hand combat, using moves he learned from his days in KND boot camp and other little things he'd picked up since then. He quickly matched Merc's sword strikes and caught her arms. He rammed his head forward and head-butted her. With Merc disoriented slightly from the attack, Nolan turned his attention to Shot and spun around bashing the man's helmet laser with his fist.
Shot's helmet began to static out of control, forcing the man to remove it and toss it away before it could explode. The helmet exploded off to the side, creating a hole in the ground that rained debris over the trio as they fought.
Their fight caught the eye of the rest of The Neo Brotherhood, however, who abandoned their posts at the front of the Zoo and charged into the fray, all wanting a piece of the gas mask wearer.
Promethean was an amnesiac, molded by Father to be the ultimate assassin, but these days he was nothing more than a flamboyant knight in tinfoil armor. He lunged at Nolan with his steel blade while the masked vigilante elbowed Shot in the nose. Noticing Promethean coming from behind, Nolan spun around and kicked the sword out of his hand.
Merc then took the opportunity to jump Nolan from behind, throwing her arms around his neck in a bid to strangle him. But Nolan was more than capable with dealing with her as he threw his arms back and grabbed Merc's sides. Then, with all his might, he threw her over his head and bashed her into Promethean.
With those two out of the way, Nolan returned his attention back to Shot, who was helped to his feet by another pair of Brotherhood goons, the unlikely duo of Joe and Steve. Nolan recognized the pair from his earlier years with the KND. They were low level henchmen for Teen Tornado and Prom Queen, nothing more. They lacked the intelligence and cunning to advance in the organization as well as a backbone of any kind. To say the least, Nolan was surprised to see them at all, he'd expected them to have retired by now.
"It's time we showed this guy what Wrath is all about!" One of the two, Steve, Nolan assumed, never having cared to figure out which was which, shouted.
"Damn right!" Joe exclaimed in agreement as he and his life partner charged alongside Shot.
As the trio raced to meet Nolan, the once upon a time ago operative spent his attention elsewhere, to the crazed zealot riding the flying Moose up in the sky. Fanatic was the zealot's name, or at least that's what he called himself. A byproduct of Rachel T. McKenzie's fight with Ganondorf was the creation of the religious cult that Fanatic hailed from, The Cult of Crime, who saw Ganondorf as some sort of messianic figure.
But it wasn't the raving madman riding the Moose that concerned Nolan, it was the Moose itself. Long story short, The Moose had a complicated history with the Kids Next Door. Gifted with the powers of flight and laser vision, The Moose was typically a neutral party that found itself wrapped into the KND's affairs as either a pawn of some malevolent force or of its own volition. It also died once. But, obviously, it got better.
As the trio of Shot, Steve and Joe charged at Nolan, Fanatic commanded The Moose blast the vigilante in the name of his lord and savior Ganondorf. The Moose paused for a moment then complied with Fanatic's requests, but only after the man fed it an apple.
Red hot laser beams shot out of The Moose's eyes and struck the very ground Nolan stood. The vigilante did a backflip, landing on his feet and drew his gas gun and his grapnel gun from their holsters within his coat pockets. He aimed the grapnel gun at the Moose high up in the air and the gas gun at the trio in front of him.
He pulled the triggers of his weapons, snaring one of The Moose's hooves and engulfing the trio in knockout gas. They coughed and wheezed as Nolan was yanked into the air by The Moose. While the likes of Shot, Joe and Steve collapsed into unconsciousness, Nolan reeled in his line and quickly ascended into the air.
Fanatic ordered The Moose to attack Nolan, but without incentive the empowered animal saw no reason to do so. Nolan shot up the side of The Moose and grabbed a hold of Fanatic with one hand while his free hand dug into his pocket. While keeping Fanatic at arm's length in a threatening manner, Nolan produce the granola bar he carried around to kill the hunger during his nights watching over Rhode Island.
"Land." He ordered before handing the bar over to the grateful Moose. The Moose chewed on the bar, wrapper and all before complying.
They landed right at the center of the carnage where Nolan had left the others defeated. After petting The Moose on the nose, Nolan returned his attention to Fanatic and lift the man over his shoulders before slamming him onto the ground. The cultist bounced off the pavement, letting out a pained shout. He the rolled over and tried to find his back to his feet in an effort to put up a fight. And just as he did, Nolan ran at up, punching him across the jaw with such force Fanatic spun around before falling onto the pavement face first.
Nolan let out a tired breath and took a moment to catch his bearings. He pressed a hand to his chest, feeling his heart beat wildly within. The Moose snorted to his side, bringing Nolan back to reality. Right, the clock was ticking and he didn't have the time. So he picked himself up and carried on.
The vigilante spared a glance The Moose's way and found it simply standing there doing no harm. So he let it be and ran further into the Zoo while GUN troops began to swarm and arrest the defeated.
What was left of The Neo Brotherhood fled deeper into the Zoo, to the Gorilla pen. No doubt they would have fortified their position, just as they did the front of the Zoo. But they were expecting teams of highly trained professionals to run in after them. Nolan was only one man and hardly a professional. He was vigilante who couldn't let go of his KND roots, too stubborn to quit and too stubborn to die.
Crayon Boy had a history with the KND, nothing outstanding. The worst thing until today he ever did was try to cut in line during lunch. But Kuki got the best of him. Kuki. So when Crayon Boy stood to halt Nolan's advance, it wasn't much of a fight. A fist to the face and he was on the floor, the gun he'd aimed at Nolan promptly dismantled and tossed to the side just like Crayon Boy's villainous career.
When he stepped into the Gorilla pen, a red beam of light shot out of some nearby bushes, a dot on Nolan's coat. Seeing as he wasn't dead, Nolan remained where he stood and waited for the remaining Brotherhood members to reveal themselves.
Out of the shadows emerged Jenny Winslow, a pyronetic who burnt down her orphanage and began a life of crime in honor of her fallen father, a KND villain known as The Pioneer. Followed by Jenny was Peter Coolidge, better known as Seaweed, a small time crook who often did battle with Numbuh 20,000, the Deep Sea Science Lab's Head of Security. And behind him was Castoff, hooded man who used overgrown fishing hooks to fight. Once upon a time Castoff had used said hooks to rip the Sector Q treehouse out of the ground, roots and all.
After the rest of the hired muscle showed themselves, out stepped the one with gun. Bob Johnson was a familiar sight, the kind Nolan immediately wanted to hit. Back in the day Bob was Numbuh 802, he served with Nolan on The Prospectors. He betrayed them, shot two of them in the back and later killed another. Nolan never got his revenge, especially when Bob started working for the Teen Ninjas.
But that was a long time ago and the last time anyone saw Bob Johnson was back when the Kids Next Door and all their allies fought the original Brotherhood. He thought he killed Numbuh 202, but ol' Kimberly faked her death, came back and trapped Bob in a bubble. She said goodbye as he floated off to the heavens. Guess he finally landed.
"I applauded you, 'Sandman', for making it this far." The true mastermind said, revealing himself to Nolan. Out stepped Jayden Hayes, not at all surprising Nolan. In his hands were a clear cylinder with green and purple gas dancing and mixing and a remote, no doubt a detonator.
Nolan recognized the purple gas in the cylinder. "Nightmare Toxin." He muttered. There was a sinister history regarding Nightmare Toxin, a kind of gas that broke minds and realized deep hidden fears, turning them into living nightmares. Nolan's eyes narrowed at the accursed bio agent, having lost one too many friend to it in the past. The green gas, on the other hand, was a mystery to the man.
Jayden smiled behind his black gasmask. "You and your people should've listened, now we're going to plunge the world into a chaos, staring with America."
"You're not intelligent enough to make something like that." Nolan's glared behind his gasmask.
"Yes, our mutual associate, Affright made it for us." Jayden laughed. "He and I share a vision for the world, one where it isn't ravaged by nonsensical war and run by corporations. A world where children don't have to fear the rule of adults. When the world goes mad, the children will rise above it and inherit the Earth."
His suspicions confirmed, Nolan looked around to the five remaining Brotherhood members standing before him. And Affright was nowhere to be seen. "Speaking of Affright, where is he?" He questioned, his eyes falling on Hayes once more
"Sadly, he didn't have the guts to stay for the event. I'm sure you aren't surprised by this, you know better than the rest of us. All those years fighting." Jayden's smugness practically seeped out of his mask.
A small smile found its wave onto Nolan's face. "Hmph." He scoffed before turning his eyes to Bob, the only one who truly posed a threat to him.
It was a blink and you'll miss it moment. Nolan drew his grapnel gun and launched the hook at Bob's gun. The effort to rip the weapon out of the man's hands had caused him to discharge a round, but that was alright, Nolan planned it so, it would be kneecapping Seaweed, who was already attempting to attack the vigilante from behind.
With Seaweed screaming in pain, holding up his bloody knee, Nolan took the rifle he'd ripped out of Bob's hands and bashed the end of it against the small time crook's head, sending him to the ground. Nolan then tossed the weapon aside, giving Jenny and Castoff his undivided attention.
On their own, Jenny and Castoff could give any Sector a run for their money, Nolan knew that for a fact, he'd fought them personally in the past. But that was before he developed the cocktail that gave him back the use of his legs.
Nolan leapt up into the air, caught one of Castoff's oncoming hooks and readjusted its trajectory by kicking it at Bob to the right. The hook connected with Bob's hand, piercing through it as he attempted to reach for his hip sidearm.
Jenny fired up singeing the night air. She raised her hands and shot out fire at Nolan as he touched the ground. Nolan had to hand it to her, which was actually well thought out. Her goal was to hit where he would be, and there he was, unable to dodge. So Nolan took the blast, and was engulf in flame.
He tossed off greyish brown coat jacket, letting it burn away behind him. There Nolan stood, truly revealing his arsenal of smoke grenades held to his belt and two hand guns of line and gas. He didn't really carry much into battle, for there really wasn't much he couldn't fix with his hands.
But in Jenny's case, she was the exception. So Nolan grabbed two of his three smoke grenades and popped the pins, tossing them onto the floor. The exploded, engulfing everything in pitch black smoke. Jenny's firey form stood out from the rest, who could miss the orange tint. The pyrokintetic didn't waste any time trying to hit Nolan through his smokescreen, sending wave of flame washing through it.
And just like that, a path through the smoke was cleared and there stood Nolan to greet here. But the distance between them had been cut down severely, they were less than seven feet apart. Seeing her target standing directly in front of her, Jenny didn't hesitate to conjure a fireball to throw at him. And Nolan didn't hesitate to preemptively throw the last of his three smoke grenades at Jenny.
The fire connected with the smoke grenade before Jenny had even thrown it. The fire superheated the grenade causing it to explode in her face, sending Jenny flying backwards. Following Jenny's defeat, Castoff came running at Nolan, twin hooks spinning on their lines.
"Get Over Here!" Castoff shouted before throwing both hooks at Nolan.
Nolan met Castoff's attack with his own, producing his grapnel gun and launching his line at his hooks. The hooks clashed, tangling up right at the middle. Castoff yanked on his lines, attempting to pull Nolan along with his grapnel gun, but Nolan simply hit the recall switch on his gun and stood his ground.
Instead of Nolan, it was Castoff who was yanked off his feet. Dragged to meet Nolan, Castoff suddenly halted and looked up to find the vigilante leaping at him and bringing his fist firmly down on his face. Nolan's fist connected with Castoff's symmetrical mask, shattering it. With the trio of villains dealt with, Nolan turned his attention to Bob.
Bob removed Castoff's hook from his hand with a pained grunt and then drew his sidearm. But Nolan was already upon him. The vigilante smacked the gun out of his hand and delivered a long awaited uppercut, sending him into the air and allowing Nolan to grab his legs midair and slam him onto the ground. There was an audible crack, no doubt Bob's collarbone shattering on impact.
Nolan turned away from Bob's shock induced cries and averted his attention to Jayden, his hand firmly on the remote.
"Nice effort, but wasted." Jayden said, smirking under the mask. And with that said, he hit the button on the remote. But nothing happened. Once more he hit the button, then he hit it again and again. But still nothing happened.
Nolan stood there, unfazed by the malfunction, while Jayden began to panic. "God dammit!" Jayden shouted before violently smacking the remote. "Why isn't it working?!"
"You were right when you said I knew Affright." Nolan quietly spoke amongst the pained groans of the fallen combatants. "He's one of the vilest men I've ever known. But most of all, he's solo act. There is no team to him. You were just a pawn, a distraction, a test."
"A test?!" Jayden exclaimed, sounding horrified. A wicked idea crossed his mind. He didn't need the remote, not when he could detonate the biological agent manually. Without a word he slammed the cylinder on the floor and allowed the green and purple gas to spread. But nothing happened.
"The purple gas was Nightmare Toxin, yes." Nolan stepped forward. "The green was neutralizing agent. He played you."
"No!" Jayden shouted before reaching for his hip sidearm. But he never reached it, Nolan was already there. He smacked Jayden's hand away from the gun and then popped him once on the face, disorienting him. Nolan then reached past Jayden, grabbed him by the back of his head and slammed him facedown onto his elevated knee, completely breaking his gasmask's filters and lenses.
"Yes."
Released from Nolan's grasp, Jayden staggered backward, too stunned to act. Seizing the moment, Nolan struck once more and kicked him at a nearby wall. And with that, Jayden fell to his knees and then flat on his face.
And right on cue, as soon as the heavy lifting was done and over with, the cavalry arrived. GUN officers stormed through the Zoo with medical teams, quickly swarming around Nolan as they scooped up the members of The Brotherhood. At the same time, men in hazmat suits arrived to clean up the gas spill.
Out of the mob of GUN troops stepped forth a man with white hair and mismatched eyes. He wore a silky, blackish-gray uniform, with black shoes, and white gloves. And the left half of his suit had a red-and-blue sash of medals.
"Commander Gunkan." Nolan greeted the decorated man by extending out his hand.
"Sandman." Commander Gunkan, leader of GUN, shook the vigilante's hand. "Thank you for your efforts tonight."
"Just doing my job." He said before walking away, leaving the rest of the job to the professionals.
Outside of the Zoo, Nolan walked by what was left of the Sandmobile, his ride home. Seeing it a firey mess made the vigilante frown. But he shrugged it off and turned his eyes to a nearby GUN cruiser he was sure the good Commander would be alright with looking the other way as he commandeered it for the night.
"Hey, Nolan!" A familiar british accent caught Nolan's ear. The vigilante looked up into the sky, seeing a woman dressed in what could only be described as a witch costume, riding a staff came flying by and landing before him.
"Maybe try speaking a bit louder, Crystal? I don't think the whole world heard you." Nolan sarcastically addressed the woman.
Crystal Wickens was her name, and technology was her game. Back in the day, Crystal had always wanted to join the Kids Next Door, but she never got the chance. It wouldn't be until her teens when she got her chance to help the KND, albeit, as part of the TND. It was in High School where Nolan met the so called 'witch'. And after seeing her willingness to help others he took her under his wing as a protégé and partner in the world of crime fighting.
"Tone it down with the sass Mr. Broods-Too-Much." Crystal quipped as she shouldered her staff. "What happened to givin' a girl a call, eh? I'm your partner! I thought we were a team!"
"And I thought you had finals in the morning." Nolan retorted while looking away to the distance.
"Crazies takin' over the world? Finals can wait." Crystal replied.
"Attempted takeover. It's finished. Go home." Nolan stated as something out there amongst all the GUN officers and paramedics. There was something green out there, something among the people. And it was looking at him.
"What? I missed it? Aw!" Crystal said with disappointment. She then turned to her right to see GUN officers hauling away members of the Brotherhood. "Now what?
"Go home Crystal, we're done for the night." Nolan
"Wait, you mean no night patrol? No late night hi-jinks and messing with Gwen and Doug? Oh come on, you know that's my favorite."
"I've got some things to look into." Nolan said, hoping that would be enough to settle the matter with Crystal.
"Are you serious? Just go home and call it a night? What if there's muggers behind movie theater alleys? It's not like you've got anyone waiting on you anymore." She said, before quickly realizing her mistake. "Oh, sorry Nolan, I mean-"
"I know what you meant." Nolan sighed, feeling a small pain in his chest and a pit in his gut. "But it doesn't change anything. I've got other work to do. Now go home. We're done for the night."
With that, Nolan departed, leaving Crystal in the Zoo's parking lot amongst all the paramedics and news crews. And he didn't look back, not even once.
Returning home was an uneventful affair. Nolan left the GUN cruiser a street back and walked the rest of the way as not to arouse his neighbor's suspicions.
He kicked open his door and made his way into his home, feeling the effects of the serum he'd injected into himself some time ago wearing off. So Nolan trudged his way to his underground lair as he slowly began to lose control of his legs.
Nolan collapsed on the metal floor of his lair, right in front of his wheelchair. He let out a pained sigh and remained where he lay, listening to the beat of his heart against the cold steel. It was beating faster than ever, which was never a good sign.
But he let it go and crawled to his awaiting wheelchair and pulled himself onto it. He let out an exhausted breath as he felt sore all over his body. He gave himself a minute to recompose, then he took a little bit longer.
He then rolled back to his computer setup and continued his work. He grabbed another file off the KND network and hit play.
-kzzt-
"After Action Report Zero-Two-Four-Two-Zero-One-Three." It was Numbuh 414 again, and he was looking into the camera. "I saw it again." He said, sounding scared.
"I saw it. I saw The Shimmer."
"It's haunting me. I'm seeing it everywhere I go."
"That green freak…they say that whoever sees it is destined to die…and I've been seeing it a lot…oh goddamn."
-kzzt-
The video ended abruptly. Nolan glanced to Numbuh 414's file on the computer to his left and in bold it read 'Deceased'. He'd died long ago. Nolan knew this for a fact, he was there.
Something was watching him, Nolan, something was out there and it was watching him. He saw it again earlier in the night, the same thing that had haunted Numbuh 414 until his death. The Shimmer was out there, waiting for him to die.
Every character that appeared in this chapter has appeared before in some other sort of medium. Most were all OCs, mostly villains I created to challenge the characters I wrote. But also there was that crossover element that you see here that's the staple of Game's series and integral to every character in the KND.
So, next update should be next Wednesday, see you all there!