Warnings: OOCness, overuse of flashbacks, and small grammatical mistakes.
Disclaimer: I COULD be Mr. Warburton, if I was a guy and my last name was Warburton. But I'm not either of the two, and lawyers keep getting in my way.
Notes: The flashbacks aren't necessarily in order. In fact, the flashbacks are just Hoagie thinking of previous events in third person... ;
Italics – flashbacks, emphasis, or thoughts
Bold – emphasis
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Aftermath of a Fairytale
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transmission accepted; decommissioning in progress
---
Bright light invaded his senses as he heard the sound of switches flicking one by one. A few moments later, the ground began shaking and a loud buzzing noise echoed throughout the room, almost deafening his ears. From his vantage point, he could see the structure of the Control Room's balcony, where a young redheaded girl stood with her arms crossed, glaring at him with a smug look on her face.
---
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NUMBUH TWO!"
Blue-gray eyes through orange-tinted goggles blinked in surprise at the words "hApi b-dAy, #2!" that were scribbled of top of the badly decorated birthday cake that was right in front of him.
Oh… So it's THAT day today… he thought to himself. Heh. How could I forget?
He smiled and accepted the cake gratefully, taking full note that they hadn't bothered to write his age along the top of the icing like they used to.
"Ahaha! Is the drawing at the side supposed to be an airplane?" he asked cheerfully (well, as cheerfully as he could muster…). Numbuh Three's eyes crinkled a bit at the obviously fake action. But she smiled, nonetheless, as she handed him the cake. "No, silly! That's SOOPUH-Sleuth-Rainbow Monkey! It's cuz you like detective stuffs, right?" Hoagie just laughed and nodded. Numbuh One approached him quietly and handed him his present. "So…" the leader began, "Would you like us to watch your decommissioning...? Numbuh Four's sleeping right now, but I'm sure all of us can make it." The now-teenage boy smiled and shook his head. "You don't have to. It'll just hurt us all."
---
At the center of the room, near to where he was standing, a hole appeared out of nowhere as the sound of sliding metal rang out loud. He watched as a shiny, metallic P.O.D. rose out from inside the hole, its metal gleaming coldly against the light. As he felt a stab of fear gut him in the stomach, he laughed inside in irony when he realized he was the one that made the thing in the first place. At the time, he thought it served the greater good for kids everywhere.
Now, it was like his worse nightmare come to life.
---
It was almost finished. It just needed a few adjustments. A little tweaking on the side, maybe some more oil on the other, another screw at the top, and just a dash of SHINE! on the metal, and… VIOLA!
BOOM! Numbuh Two coughed out a puff of smoke after his latest project just blew up in his face. Numbuh Four was lounging on the couch behind him, munching on an apple. "Ah dun get whyya' do 'dat, Numbuh Two," the Aussie muttered while chewing on the apple. "S'not like de ol' one's busted, 'er anythin'…" The 2x4 Technologist just took off his goggles, ignoring the blond-haired boy that laughed at his "No Glasses" glasses (the goggles prevented the soot from touching the area near his eyes), and wiped the ash off the goggles with a clean handkerchief since his shirt was in a similar state. He turned around and smiled at Numbuh Four, before standing up and plopping down next to him on the couch. Four threw a soda can at him, and he caught it easily. "It's gonna be SO COOL, Numbuh Four!" he squealed as he opened the can with a POP!. "It'll look shiny and sleek! Not like those ugly plungers that suck on your head! Once I finish this thing, I'm gonna be like a HERO, man! And those soon-be-decommissioned teenagers will be so SCARED, they'll never know what hit them!" He laughed merrily and chugged down his drink. Something that sounded a lot like "Righ' now, you're de one scarin' me…" came from Four's mouth, but Two was too busy daydreaming to notice. Out the corner of Numbuh Four's eye, he noticed the handkerchief (which was slightly dirty from when it was used) poking out of Two's pocket. Not that it was weird or anything… but it wasn't like the aviator to have one of those. Especially not one as… effeminate.
"'Ey, Numbuh Two… wher'd 'ya get de 'kerchief?" Numbuh Two paused and glanced down at the Aussie, a slight blush gracing his cheeks. "Aah… Nowhere."
---
"Go on," he heard the girl order as he felt the guards take off the shackles binding his feet. He still had chains wrapped around his arms, he noticed. But he doubt he would escape even without them, anyway.
A guard ran over to the P.O.D. and opened the door while another lead him towards it. Obediently, he followed and (ducking a little because of his height) went inside the P.O.D. without any qualms. (Deep inside, he wanted to struggle free and run, but he knew that they'd end up catching him back.)
He closed his eyes and tried not to remember all the things he had achieved in his stay, all the laughs he shared with his friends, and all the missions they went through together.
Trying not to remember her was the hardest of them all.
---
Numbuh Two cried out sharply and reached for his bleeding right leg. He had been limping for the past hour now, after a crash landing gone wrong, and he was just a few blocks away from the tree house…
"Okay… So maybe landing a large, brakeless aircraft on the nearby garbage dump WASN'T a very good idea…" he said to himself as he sat down the sidewalk for a short, needed break. "Note-to-self: The next time you accept a challenge from The Kid, INSTALL A FRIGGIN' AIRBAG… Or just say, 'No.'" (He wasn't being serious with the last part. The hell he was going to lose to that punk!)
Numbuh Two was so busy groaning and writhing in pain, that he didn't notice the dark figure approaching him. "Here." Two glanced at the white, lacy handkerchief offered to him. His gaze went towards the owner and his mouth opened in shock. It was her.
"Umm… Are 'ya dum', or sumthin'? Abby's trying ta help ya', kid." He may have been imagining things, being out of the sun too long, losing so much blood on the way home… It could be possible that everything happening to him right now was just a mirage and that once again; fate was being cruel and was poking fun at him. He convinced himself that the pensive look on his former teammate was just a figment of imagination, and that the sight of her teenage self, reaching for his injury, was just an illusion. But if all of this was just another sun-stroked dream of his, how come he could feel her fingers as they gently inspected his leg wound? Or the soft touch of the handkerchief; its fabric lessening the tension and the blood loss? He could have been daydreaming, because he found himself alone a moment after. But there was a white frilly handkerchief, bandaged to his leg.
---
He shook his head and forced down his tears.
It's not worth remembering something you'll forget right after, he told himself.
Before the door closed in front of him, he heard the Scottish accent mockingly call from the balcony, "Happy birthday, teenager! I hope you enjoy the ride-- NOT!" followed by a loud, maniacal laugh.
At the press of the button, the dark cell lit up and began spinning until his world spun along with it. He was sure that he was crying now, because of the wetness staining his cheeks.
Don't remember anything… Don't remember anything… Don't remember anything AT ALL! he kept chanting to himself.
Deep brown hair, smooth dark skin, and a bright, perfect smile…
---
Before he stood up to leave, he heard a voice mutter right behind him.
"Hey, kid… Have we met before…? Abby thinks she's seen 'ya from sumwhere…"
Oh. He thought she left already.
He faced her slowly and smiled. "I'm sorry. You must have mistaken me for someone else." The teenage girl frowned a bit, before shrugging and running away. "Well, Abby hopes ta' meet ya' again soon!" she yelled as she disappeared from view. Hoagie's smile twitched as he waved goodbye. "Me too."
---
Happy birthday… Hoagie.
Then all went blank.
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transmission complete; decommissioning, success
- FIN -
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P.O.D. (Purpose: Only Decommissioning) – I made a mistake of writing this early, so I tweaked the storyline a little bit. (Let's pretend) Hoagie made this in his KND years to replace the old decommissioning system, saying that it was "for the greater good of kids everywhere! (And it looks cool too!)". It's basically a shiny metallic oblong-shaped cell that rises up from a compartment under the decommissioning room. The rising up had no purpose, really, but Hoagie thought it was cool and scary. Instead of sucking the memories off like the old system, it spins it away. By spinning so fast, your memories are gathered while you are in the state of hurlfusion (made that one up), and the P.O.D. sorts them one by one.
A/n: And so, I make my first fanfic over here! I'm aware that Hoagie's rather OOC, but it's because he's a teenager now. He has a reign over his emotions, and a sense of maturity. I know that being mature doesn't happen that fast (I'm still a kid at heart, y'know), but some people can be eerily calm in certain situations, even if they're normally not. I'm actually considering to make this multi-chaptered, or at least, another connected one-shot, but that depends on how much free time I have...
Sorry if it's not that good, but it's because writing isn't my specialty, really...
Also, this was originally posted in the KND Fan Forums, which I recommend you to join if you're a big fan of KND. XD
http / numbuh8 . proboards48 . com / index . cgi (remove the spaces)