Operation: L.E.M.O.N

Lemonade. Event. Makes. Odd. News

The Amish Kids Next Door were not known for their excitement. To be honest, the sector was not known for much anything beyond the fact that they were, well, Amish. Good or bad, their way of life was their only claim to fame in the never-ending fight against adult tyranny.

But if they were being honest, at the end of the day, as far as the sector itself was concerned, being known for only being Amish wasn't a terrible thing.

The children of sector A were a humble bunch, nestled quietly in the country side with nothing but the fresh air and their traditions keeping them going day by day. No adults attacking them over strict curfews, no crazy 2x4 experiments to keep them awake. Yes, sector A was a quiet sector, and that was fine by them.

However, there was one time each year where sector A was more than ready to prove their worth. During the sweltering summer months, when KND budget demanded attention and operatives' tongues cried out in thirst, sector A provided the solution. So this year, like every other year, it was once again time for-

"-The Annual Lotta Lemonade Luncheon," said a voice belonging to the ever beautiful Numbuh 10. The fiery leader of sector L dazzled the camera with her smile as she gestured to the ocean of operatives and booths behind her, filling in the normally desolate country-side. "Bring out your t-shirts and pitchers because lemonade fever is wild at this year's luncheon."

Numbuh 10 strode across the field, her faithful crew not lagging behind. The redhead effortlessly moved through crowds of operatives, passing the cadets playing hide and seek and other kids everywhere getting in proper amounts of summer fun at the bustling festival.

"Every year, sector A hosts this event to give operatives world-wide a break in the sun, raise money for the yearly budget, and hey, if we all happen to get a cool glass of their Amish Style Lemonade?" As she posed her question, a volunteer server ran by with a tray of lemonade. Numbuh 10 gently plucked a glass from the collection as the kid walked on, then raised it towards the camera with a subtle wink. "Then that's just a bonus, wouldn't you agree?"

She fluttered her lashes for the camera while covertly scanning the crowd for her next target. With a trained smile, she ambled over to a young cadet fresh off from the face-painter and cutely positioned herself next to the young one in a move that would have her PR guy crying tears of joy.

"Even the cadets get time off from training to join in on the fun." She lowered her mic to the young girl, Numbuh 9-Film making sure the camera got every angle of the stars and kitty-cats painted on the kid's cheeks. "Tell me, sweetie, what's your favorite part of the Lemonade Luncheon?"

"I like the face-painting, the games, the face-painting-oh! And Numbuh 3 and the Supreme Leaduh's Adopt-A- Furry-Friend Booth!" The girl raised her hands, slowly unclasping them to reveal a curious baby hamster. "This is Blinky! He's really cute, and really fast, and can do this thing where he-"

"Isn't that adorable?" Numbuh 10 said with a laugh as she snapped up, tossing away the glass of lemonade and shooing the cadet off camera. "Yes sir, the festivities are in full swing here. Wait one second, why, is that sector A's leader himself I spy?" She expertly picked the kid out from the crowd, snapping her fingers as she and her crew bolted off after him. "Numbuh Jebediah! May we have a word?"

Numbuh Jebediah sat down his crate of lemons, taking the moment to fan himself and adjust his "beard." As he tugged out his collar, a heavenly voice rang out calling his name. He curiously looked around with his hands on his hips, wondering whoever could it be trying to get his attention now?

However, the moment he recognized Numbuh 10 and was surrounded by her camera crew, his pleasant smile dropped and he defensively rose his hands. "Gah! Numbuh 10, I told you I don't want no part in any of your-"

"Interview? You are far too kind, Jebediah," Numbuh 10 said as she slung her arm around his shoulder, mouth quirking into a smirk. Numbuh Jebediah gave a nervous smile in return, as his eyes ventured back and forth between the girl and the camera. Having caught him, she shoved the mic in his face as she rattled off questions. "So, Jebediah, this is your third Lemonade Luncheon; how does it feel to be in charge of such an important event?"

…bzzzzzz…

"Ah, well, it's certainly quite the task," he slowly answered. Noticing him staring at her confused, Numbuh 10 subtly tilted her head towards the camera. Thankfully, the boy got the hint. "It takes a lot of sweat and tears to fashion together, but we here in sector A aren't strangers to a little hard work."

…bzzzzz…

"Hard work you say? Care to elaborate on that for our lovely viewers?"

…bzzzzz…

"Well, a lot of time and care has got to go into making lemonade. Ya got make sure the lemons are ripe, scrub 'em down, then get to slicing them up."

"Now that's interesting. Tell me, what exactly goes into making a good cup of-"

…bzzzzzZZT!

"-ACK!"

Everyone took a cautious step back as Numbuh 10 made a very un-Numbuh 10-like noise. The girl's eyes bulged, her mic dropped, and her hands leapt to her neck as unprofessional retching noises spewed from her throat.

"It's in my mouth! IT'S IN MY MOUTH!" she managed to croak out as she dropped to her knees. Numbuh Jebediah's jaw dropped as he watched the leader of sector L seemingly strangle herself. Numbuh 10 continued to make a series of long gagging coughs, managing to glare at her team for standing there dumbfounded. "NUMBUH 11.0!"

"Uh, r-right you are, Numbuh 10!" Recognizing that tone of voice, Numbuh 11.0 ran up from the rear and scoped up Numbuh 10's fallen microphone. Within in instant, the pudgy boy schooled his features as he calmly drew attention away from the scene with the camera crew, sans 9-Film, wisely following him. "Let's head on over to the lemonade stand to see just how long the line is this year…"

As the news team wandered off, Numbuh 9-Film rushed over to his leader's side. Numbuh 10 continued to cough and gurgle until, with one heap of effort, managed to hock up a fly that had lodged itself down her throat.

The small insect tittered about, but Numbuh 10 centered her icy gaze on the fly as she evened out her breath. Out of nowhere, she wielded a can of bug spray and wildly spewed out generous clouds of fume as vile promises of death and squashing spilled from her mouth.

Numbuh Jebediah and 9-Film coughed as they backed away, and with a victorious squeal, Numbuh 10 caught to fly in her sights and watched merrily as it fell to the ground. Not done with the poor thing, the girl dropped to her knees as she continued to spray, emptying the entire contents of the can on the downed fly.

Once the can was dry, all that was left as spot of sticky residue in the grass, and a fly on its back with its legs twitching in apparent agony.

Numbuh 10 sneered as she leaned in close. "Tell your friends."

Her vengeance complete, Numbuh slowly rose from the ground and daintily wiped off her sundress. Silence ticked on, and from his position not even two feet away, Numbuh Jebediah looked over to 9-Film with a raised brow. The camera-boy, however, offered no answers. He simply pinched the bridge of his nose and started counting down.

Five.

Four.

Three.

Two.

One-

"Ugh! Have I mentioned how much I hate bugs!?"

Numbuh 9-Film sighed. "That'd be the tenth time this hour, ma'am."

Numbuh 10 looked ready to say something, but decided on a huff and rolled her eyes. "Go bring me another can from the SCAMPER. Something tells me I'm going to need it."

With a lazy salute, Numbuh 9-Film turned and slowly made his way over the hill. Numbuh Jebediah, for his part, still looked completely bewildered as he stroked the bristles of his "beard." Unfortunately, he would have no time to break down what just happened before Numbuh 10 broke into his personal space again.

"You're killing me here, Jebediah," Numbuh 10 said. "Haven't you guys ever heard of bug zappers or modern pesticides?"

Jebediah frowned and crossed his arms. "I'll tell you like I tell you every year, Numbuh 10, we'll be having none of your fancy-shmancy technology here."

"Oh yeah, you're Amish. How could I have forgotten? It's not like you shove it in my face every ten minutes," she grumbled as she kicked the ground. "What with your no AC or lack of indoor plumbing."

"Seems ye've also forgotten how to show respect," he snapped back. "Need I be reminding you that you wouldn't be able to cover this event had I not granted special permission to use your cameras?"

"What's the point of even covering this luncheon if you won't even give me a proper interview?" she asked. "You were dead in the water back there! We're not going to get any views with your thousand-yard stare. If you'd just let me give you some pointers-"

"I don't have time for any interviews!" he interrupted. He bit back a sigh, and began rubbing his temples as he felt a stress headache coming on. "Including myself, there's only three of us in sector A. We gotta serve lemonade to a eleventy gazillion KND operatives, and none of you ever bother to help us make the stuff."

"No one will help? That's just tragic," Numbuh 10 cooed, sliding up to the exhausted boy and patting him on the back. "You guys work so hard every year to give us quality lemonade and no one bats an eye. Well I won't stand for it! Me and my team will help you personally," she said. "Mostly them."

Jebediah blinked. "Truly?"

"Of course! I'd never lie to you, Jebediah. Need to keep that professional integrity intact and all." She smiled warmly as she straightened his collar and adjusted his broom-beard strap. "All you'd have to do is the itty, bitty, little favor of bumping me to the front of the line this year and I'll-"

"Oh no!" Jebediah pushed himself out of Numbuh 10's grasped and straightened his hat as he stubbornly walked away. "You'll wait your turn just like everyone else."

Numbuh 10 snapped her fingers, slumping down into a nearby chair as her face crinkled into a frown. "Shoot. Thought I had him that time too."

"Trying to butter up to Numbuh Jebediah, eh?"

A shadow enveloped her and under any normal circumstances she'd welcome the shade. This, however, was not normal circumstances as the voice struck a cord no many could touch.

Numbuh 10 leaned her head back, craning her neck to stare unimpressed at the familiar face above her. "Patton."

Patton smirked as he tipped the rim of his beanie. "Georgette."

"What'd I do to merit your attention?" She neatly folded her hands in her lap and greeted him with a tiny smile. "Because I swear I'll never do it again."

Patton's mouth thinned as he rose a brow. "You could start by retracting that story about me using Rainbow Monkey Silky Smooth Shampoo."

"Come now, don't tell me you're upset about that rumor," she said before winking. "I didn't even start that one."

"You still decided it newsworthy."

"Operatives everywhere are dying to know how you get that fwoosh in your hair, Patton. Who am I to deny them possible answers?"

Patton opted for a silent frown.

"I'd warn that your face will freeze like that, but it seems I'm too late. Shame." she said. She used her finger to softly flick his nose, using his momentary fluster as her chance to stand. "Don't you have a cadet to drill or something? There's tons of them running around here."

Patton rubbed at his nose before saying, "It's their day off. Even I'm not that strict."

Georgette put a hand to her heart as she feigned a relieved sigh. "I'll sleep easy tonight knowing the Antarctic hasn't frozen your heart."

"Could say the same for you. Figured this heat would mellow you a bit."

"More like melt me," she groaned. She opened her eyes at Patton, only to double-take as she took in his attire. "But geez, you're still dressed like we're at the Arctic Base! How do you function!?"

Patton glanced down at his signature winter jacket and wiggled his toes in his boots. With a shrug, he adjusted his beanie then dusted off his sleeves. "In my day to day, ya get used to extreme temperatures. Besides, this is my favorite coat."

"Patton, I am concerned. Seriously." She ended up walking around him, hesitantly watching out in case of a heat stroke. "Believe me, I'm all about keeping up good fashion sense, but you must be sweating up a storm."

"I don't sweat."

Georgette paused mid-step. "You…don't sweat?"

"Nope." Patton puffed out his chest proudly as he smirked. "Annoys the crud out of Father to this day."

"Huh. I may actually do a story about this," she said, rubbing her chin as her mind began working on several angles she could take. Actual weird story about Patton that were true just didn't drop on her doorstep. As if remembering something else, she blinked, and suddenly brushed past the Arctic Commander. "Speaking of stories, Numbuh 11.0's been hogging the camera quite enough."

Georgette moved through the crowd of children, ignoring the calls of several attractions and tables lined with potluck lunches. While the Lemonade Luncheon wasn't her favorite event to live broadcast, she'd be darned if she deprived the world of her radiance in her KNN coverage.

As the redhead moved towards the main booth, no doubt where Numbuh 11.0 and the rest of her crew had wandered off to, she noticed Patton had fallen in step beside her. "What, are you stalking me now?"

Patton rolled his eyes. "Not my fault you happen to be walking towards…the…line."

She noted him trailing off and slowing to a stop. The girl mirrored his movements and stopped to gaze out to the sight that had Patton stunned.

There before them was a seemingly never-ending line of Kids Next Door operatives, veterans and cadets alike, all in a sloppy queue that stretched from sector A headquarters to the horizon far away. The clamor and commotion was audible before they crest the hill, and it seemed volunteer Moonbase staff had its hands full keeping the line in order.

Patton let loose a whistle. "If that don't beat all. We'll be lucky if there's any lemonade left by noon."

Georgette ignored his comment and scanned the field for her camera crew. Her eyes trailed over the massive line, settling on the lemonade counter poor Numbuh Rebecca was trying to keep in order. A daunting task, if the rabid operatives around her were any indication.

When she picked out a few of those operatives wearing dress suits and holding the most expensive camera equipment lunch money could buy, she strode towards the stand with renewed purpose.

"WE WANT LEMONADE! WE WANT LEMONADE!"

"Please, everyone, settle down!" Numbuh Rebecca meekly called out, trying to ebb the never ending wave of complaints and whines. "It'll be a bit before we can start serving the first round!"

"Numbuh 11.0, KNN," Numbuh 11.0 quickly introduced before leaning the mic towards Rebecca. "Is it true this year's batch of lemonade is supposed to be the most yummylicious ever?"

"No need to fret, my good public, armature hour is officially over." Numbuh 11.0 found the microphone plucked from his hand and a sly Numbuh 10 jumping in front of him as she leaned towards the overwhelmed booth attendant. "Numbuh 10, KND Nightly News. Numbuh Rebecca, is it true this year's lemonade supply was contaminated with hamster droppings?"

"W-What? No!" Rebecca said aghast. "How could you think of suggesting such a thing?"

"I know, right? Normally my moral compass keeps me from spreading such slander." Georgette lowered the mic and began twirling her hair. "But you see, I'm so very thirsty, and I think it's impairing my judgement…"

Rebecca blinked before scoffing. "I won't be falling for any of your tricks, Numbuh 10. You'll wait in line like everyone else."

"Ha!" Georgette slumped defeated against the counter as Patton came up laughing. He coolly leaned against the stand and sent a smug grin towards the redhead. "So much for being able to talk your way into anything, huh, Georgy?"

"Don't be getting uppity, Numbuh 60," Rebecca snipped, Patton flinching in surprise. "Your pulling rank nonsense isn't going to work this year either. If Numbuh 362 couldn't get away with it, then neither can you."

"Aw, c'mon!" he whined, Georgette snickering once his all confident aura fizzled out. "My tongue is bone dry, for Zero's sake!"

"I'm sorry, but rules are rules." Rebecca shook her head before pointing behind Patton. "Just look what I have to deal with."

"WHAT DO WE WANT!?"

"LEMONADE!

"WHEN DO WE WANT IT!?"

"NOW!"

"Ah, I suppose you're right." Patton slowly nodded. Suddenly, his posture straightened and his hands snapped behind his back. Georgette was quick to surmise what was coming, and managed to slink away around Patton as performed a sharp about-face and yelled, "Atten-SHUN!"

All operatives swarming the stand went rigid and not a peep was heard.

"Listen up! I want an orderly, single-file line in front of this booth, and you all will treat sector A with patience and respect as they serve us their delicious, sweet as can be, Amish style lemonade!" He paused before raising his voice an octave. "Do I make myself clear!?"

All before him saluted. "SIR, YES SIR!"

"Well what are you waiting for?" He began swatting them away. "Back it up!"

The children dispersed, putting as much distance between them and the stand (as well as Numbuh 60) as humanly possible.

Rebecca let loose a breath she wasn't aware she had been holding and reached out to shake Patton's hand. "Oh, thank you kindly, sir! I thought they were about to riot."

Patton returned the handshake. "No problem, Numbuh Rebecca."

Rebecca nodded. She released his hand and smiled at him.

Patton returned the smile.

Rebecca's smile dimmed.

Patton still smiled.

Rebecca blinked.

Patton smiled expectantly as he eyes flicked between the line and the stand.

Rebecca frowned and shook her hands. "Shoo!"

"Awww man." Patton walked away in a slump as he stuffed his hands in his pockets. Rebecca rolled her eyes and went back to preparing the stand.

Georgette's covered her grin as Patton's walk of shame ended right in front of her. "That was almost precious."

"Shut up," he grumbled. "We're gonna be fighting over the back of the line the way this is going."

"This has got to be the longest one yet," Numbuh 11.0 spoke up as he watched, fascinated, as the line seemed to stretch out forever. He shifted his weight from foot to foot as he looked to his leader with excitement burning in his eyes. "Can I cover how many are in line this year? Pretty please?"

Georgette shrugged. "Go nuts."

"Oh boy!" Not needing to be told twice, Numbuh 11.0 rallied the Sector L crew and took off to face his assignment with feverous intent.

Patton raised a brow as he watched the boy begin his long count. "Not like you to let your co-anchor cover big events."

"Like the long line at the Lemonade Luncheon is some big juicy secret." Georgette then dramatically swept her hands around and proclaimed, "In other breaking news: Father is a jerk!"

Patton shook his head. "Whatever the case, looks like we just gotta find a spot, grin, and bear it."

"Ugh," Georgette huffed. "I'm fed up with this luncheon, I'm starving for a story, I'm thirsty for lemonade, and I'm tired of being patient and just hoping something interesting will happen!"

"Ah, but patience is a funny thing," a voice rang out in the crowd, drawing attention as kids curiously looked about. "Seems to me, the more of it you have, the longer ya gotta wait!"

Patton scratched his head as he looked around, but Georgette simply tensed as her eyes narrowed. "I know that voice…"

"And hey, I know they say the wait makes you appreciate," the voice continued, seemingly moving its way towards the front of the line. "But don't you fellas wanna appreciate your lemonade right now?"

Georgette clenched her fists and shut her eyes. "Please don't be him. Please don't be him…"

"If I could have your attention please. Your attention, please!" The murmur of kids seemed to lessen as a spry boy in a purple business suit jumped atop the lemonade counter. "I can deal with this trouble, friends, with a wave of my hand-this very hand!"

Patton seemed lost. "Who's that guy?"

"Aggrrh," Georgette growled. "It's him."

"If I could have your attention maybe, for I'm Numbuh Crazy 80," the boy introduced as he spun around his cane and wiggled his straw-hat with a smile. "And I'm here to help organize this lemonade stand!"

transmission interrupted