Hello, Good Morning. Good Afternoon. Good Evening. Welcome to the first chapter of 'Numbuh 322: The Night". This story has a great importance to me as it is my 100th Story published on Fanfiction.
WOOOOOO! 100! WOOOO!
Story theme: 'Quiet Mind' by Mother Falcon
Legends Universe: Story 13
Numbuh 322: The Night
29 October 2005
Rhode Island
Former Sector Q Tree House
Current Prospector Tree House
She used to be able to sleep at night, but now all Numbuh 322 could do was toss and turn and hopefully she'd lose herself to exhaustion. Numbuh 322, known as Kayla Valera, had seen much in her brief ten years on this lovely blue marble. She'd seen the stars and she'd seen the inside of a jumbo jet go crashing on some island in the middle of the Atlantic.
The dreaming was the worst of it all. Her body ached for slumber, as all do. When Kayla succumbed to rest, it was another experience all on its own.
The ocean air slamming against her face. The smell of salt and fish piss in the air. The rustling of tree leaves. There she was sitting on a rock, looking out as far as her eyes could take her. No land in sight. Just her only her.
There's a shiver running down her spine and a sudden chill. Kayla looks over her shoulder and sees the trees rustling on their own. There's a feint howl in the distance. A light chanting in her ears, like the screams on the plane being drilled into her brain.
Kayla whips her head back around. She knows what's behind her and she dare not look. The sound of her beating heart. A cause for concern she looks to her chest and holds a hand against it. Expecting a familiar thump to go along with the noise, Kayla finds nothing. She took in a deep breath and still she could not feel her heart beating.
Weary eyes looked back to the ocean, looking for hope in the hopeless. The sun flew overhead and began to descend. Kayla stretched out her hand, as if attempting to grab the sun. The golden globe set over the horizon and then it was gone. Darkness fell and Kayla felt cold.
The water below the rock began to rise. An alarmed Kayla shot up to her feet and began to back away from the edge. The water kept rising and rising, engulfing where Kayla had sat. She stepped backward, not taking her eyes away from the water as it drew near.
All around her the ocean was consuming the island. Further into the heart of this land Kayla went. With every step back she could hear the wails growing louder and more unhinged. The water swept through the surrounding jungle. Entire tree lines fell before the mighty power of the unrelenting water.
It was all gone by the time Kayla reached the center of the island. Standing in a small patch of land, surrounded by only five trees and grass, Kayla once more stared out into the ocean. The wails of the island's inhabitants had been replaced with cries of panic. Bubbles in the ocean told Kayla all she needed to know about their current whereabouts.
Once again it was only her, just her, no one else. The eerie silence consumed Kayla. The trees beside her wilted away, revealing three dead Rainbow Monkeys hiding inside. The Rainbow Monkeys fell out of the dead trees and then found themselves splashing in the seawater. The dead tees fell also and then Kayla was left completely surrounded by the ocean, no cover from the elements, nothing at all to forge a shelter from.
Kayla looked up into the night sky. She was searching for salvation. Up in the sky she would find a plane flying over. She raised up a hand and shouted to the heavens. She so desperately wanted to be saved. The back end of the plane burst into flames and then began to spiral downward, just like her plane had. Except this time, there was no island for it to land on, just that speck of dirt Kayla stood on.
The plane nosedived, attempting to land. Kayla shut her eyes right before the fireball collided with her.
Waking in a cold sweat, Kayla sat up from her bed. She pinched her temples and let out a sigh of relief, knowing that it was only a dream. She glanced at the clock in her room, finding it half past one. Deciding not to return to sleep, Kayla got out of bed and threw on her slippers. She had a lot on her mind and she needed to think on it.
It had been some time since the island. It had been some time since Kayla quit being a solo act. Running with the Prospectors had its perks. A home away from home. Access to crazy weapons. And the sweetest of feeling of all, revenge.
Leaving her room for a glass of milk, Kayla took a stroll down the empty halls of the treehouse. Never before had she realized how quiet and lonely the thing could be. Passing through the other bedrooms, Kayla couldn't help but notice how some were still open.
It wasn't uncommon for an operative to spend their nights at their respective treehouse. But they still ad lives to live and so Kayla wasn't surprised to find many of the rooms were empty. She peeked into Numbuh 832's room, only to discover a gruesome sight. He had what looked like a goat skull sitting on his workbench.
She continued on with her walk, every once in a while poking her head into another person's room. That's what they get for leaving the door open. But the she stopped in her tracks. There was lighting shining out of one of the open rooms. Someone was still up.
Walking up to the room Kayla peeked through the doorway, finding the source of the light. Seated in front of a computer was her teammate Numbuh 2030. A pale boy whom Kayla had only recently met when she joined The Prospectors, Numbuh 2030 held the distinction of being the treehouse's longest serving operative.
There was an air of mystery that surrounded the room. Kayla couldn't help but look around. The boy's walls were littered with photos of various kids, teenager and adults. Red string ran through each photo, even through news articles that had been stapled to the wall. The strings all eventually converged on one another, connecting to a piece of paper with a large blue question mark on it.
"Can't sleep?" Kayla froze in place, as if she had been caught with her hand in the cookie jar. Her head tilted away from the direction of the wall and to Numbuh 2030, who was looking over his shoulder and at Kayla.
"Something like that, yeah." She shrugged. "You?"
"Yeah, something like that." He muttered cryptically. He turned his attention back to the computer screen. Some quick taps on the keyboard in front of him and the screen shut off. He spun around in his seat and got up. He walked to the doorway and walked passed Kayla. "Up for a midnight snack?" He asked.
Kayla shrugged and then continued on her way to the kitchen, now walking side by side with Numbuh 2030. They didn't talk, they were still right by the bedrooms. Numbuh C4 among others would most certainly act cross if disturbed from a night of slumber.
When they crossed through the treehouse and reached the kitchen, they were free to converse further without worry of waking their teammates.
"You want to talk about it?" Numbuh 2030 asked while he grabbed a pair of mugs from one of the cabinets.
"I do enough of that with my shrink." Kayla said half serious. She kindly accepted the mug Numbuh 2030 handed her and walked over to the fridge. She opened it up and pulled out their half empty milk carton.
"I don't mean to pry." Numbuh 2030 said setting the record straight. "Just can't help but notice this has been becoming a recurring thing." Kayla slid the carton of milk on the kitchen counter over to Numbuh 2030. The operative produced a frying pan and set it on the stove. He poured milk onto the pan and turned on the stove to a low burn.
"It's a nice gesture there, 2030" Kayla dug into a corner and pulled out a wooden spoon and tossed it to Numbuh 2030, who caught it and began to stir the milk. "But, don't you think it's a tad hypocritical for you to assume I have something going on in my head just cause I'm up and walking around at night?"
"You're not a night owl." Numbuh 2030 said a matter of fact. He stirred the milk until it had heated just right. He kicked off the stove and then began to slowly pour heated milk into their mugs.
"Cheers." Kayla said before the tapped their mugs together and to a swig of warm milk. "Tell you what, Nolan," Kayla set her mug on the counter. "You need to quit worrying."
"We're a team, all of us." Numbuh 2030 looked at his mug and narrowed his eyes. "This is a place of acceptance and understanding." Without another word, Numbuh 2030 quickly downed the rest of his drink and walked over to the sink and washed his mug.
It was then Kayla spotted the writing on the cup. It had the number 57 on it. Now that was a sore subject.
"Just say you need an ear and we're there. Say if you need a cat ear and you'll have to turn to Violet, however." Numbuh 2030 joked.
"Heh." Kayla chuckled lightly before downing the rest of her drink. "Thanks." She then tossed the mug over to Numbuh 2030 who caught it. "I'll see you in the morning."
"G'night, Kayla." Numbuh 2030 waved to her before turning back around and washing the mug.
"Night Nolan." Kayla yawned.
Kayla walked back to her room alone. She opened the door and closed it behind her. He took her seat back in bed and laid down. Now she stared up at the ceiling and waited for sleep to overtake her. Or for morning to come. Whichever came first.
Kids Next Door Arctic Prison
Behind a six inch locked bar door, sitting on her cot in the cold, a teenager unlocked the secrets of the universe through deep meditation. The teen's name was Galil White. A couple months ago she'd been entangled in a plan to blow up the KND Moon Base.
The plan was foiled by some kid she and her accomplice, Reese Martin had believed to have iced with a plane crash a while ago. With Reese's fate uncertain after that day, now she sits in the dark and in the cold. Plotting her revenge.
Galil had many secrets. Once she'd spent a few months with a hidden order called the Shadow Federation. There they taught her to project her conscious through dreams. They never once taught her how to weaponize this ability. No, she was cast out by the order long before that. But recently, she'd had plenty of time to figure that trick out all on her own.
"…Numbuh 322…" Galil muttered, finally opening her eyes. "You took my friend…I'll take yours."
The main plot for this story is something I've done before. Which is funny when you consider that it was also the first time the Kayla and Nolan character interacted with a comical moment with her kicking him out of the girl's room. That was all the way back in 'Out of Mind'. Man how time flies.
Anyways, I'll update this when I can. I just took on doing a RWBY fic. So, that's a thing. 'Til next time dear reader. Later days!