This story is part of my 100 Theme Challenge. For more information, visit my profile.

As of now, this story is slightly AU, but by the end of Season 6, it will be completely AU.

I do not own Kids Next Door.

38. Abandoned

"Yeah, and they fly around in these big rocket ships, and they have a treehouse on the moon!"

Nigel's eyes widened. "On the moon?"

Abby nodded proudly. She had just finished explaining to her best friend about how her big sister was part of the Kids Next Door, and got to fight adults and lots of cool stuff like that.

"Wow, that's awesome."

Abby noticed the tone of admiration in his voice and grinned. "And you know what else?"

"What?" he asked, leaning forward excitedly.

"She says that in a year or two, I can go to the Arctic base and start training to be in the Kids Next Door myself!"

"Wow," Nigel said in awe. "Hey, can I be in it too?"

"Oh, of course, and Hoagie, and Tommy eventually, I guess. By then we can tell him all about it." She gasped as an idea occurred to her. "Hey, you know what would be really fun? To go on our very own mission!"

"What a great idea! That would be so cool!"

"I know," Abby said, rather smugly. "Let's go see if Hoagie can come."

They ran down the stairs and out the front door of Abby's house, stopping briefly in the hall to tell her dad that they were going out to play.

"Be careful, with the cars, and the strangers, and the – d'aw, you know what I'm talking about."

"Don't worry, Mr. Lincoln, we will!"

They knocked on Hoagie's door, but his mom answered and said that he was grounded for shooting off rockets in the house. "Sorry, kids, but he won't be able to come out until Monday. I told him what would happen if he broke another window."

Nigel stuck his hands into the pockets of his khaki shorts and kicked at a pebble. "Now what do we do?"

"Oh, we can still do it," Abby said decidedly. "We'll just go by ourselves."

"I don't know, Abby. It sounds kinda dangerous, and with just the two of us…"

"Don't be such a wimp. Come on, it'll be fun! We can even use the treehouse in your backyard for our base."

"Well, okay, I guess."

They clambered up the ladder to his small treehouse, and Abby immediately took charge. "We're going to need binoculars."

Nigel pulled a pair out from under a pile of comic books and asked, "What do you want these for?"

"To find a good place for a mission, of course." She pointed them out the small windows until she found something interesting. "Hey, what's that?"

Nigel took the binoculars and looked where she was indicating. "Oh, that's our new neighbor. He just moved in, and he's kinda weird. All shadowy and black, and he said his name was Father. No last name or anything."

"Huh, that is weird," Abby agreed. Then her eyes lit up. "Nigel, he'd be perfect for our mission!"

"He's creepy, Abby. He glows and stuff. I don't want to go over there. Besides, uh, I think he's on vacation this week."

"Oh, please. We'll just look in the window and maybe climb a few trees. If you're going to be in the Kids Next Door, you're gonna have to be a lot braver than this."

He sighed, but nodded. "All right, as long as we're just looking in the window. And if he sees us, we leave. Deal?"

"Fine."

They slid down the ladder and got on their bikes. It wasn't really very far, but they wanted to have a speedy getaway available if they needed it.

When the two kids reached the mansion, they hid their bikes behind a bush and creept toward the house. "I still don't know about this, Abby," Nigel whispered as they reached the building.

"Stop being such a scaredy-cat," she hissed, standing up to see over the edge of the window. "And be quiet, or you'll give us away."

Abby looked inside, and then gasped. "Nigel, quickly, look at this!"

Nigel cautiously stood up next to her and peered through the window. "Oh my gosh! We have to do something!"

"Wait, Nigel, we can't just rush in there! We need a plan!" She put her hand on his arm to hold him back, but he shook her off and slid open the window. As he jumped inside the house, she could see that several of the strange-looking ice-cream-covered men had noticed him and were coming towards them.

"Oh no! I have to get help! Come on, Abby, think." The girl knew that she couldn't take on the men all by herself, and Nigel wouldn't be able to help her. They had already grabbed him, and he was unable to do anything at all.

Suddenly, she had a brainstorm. Hoping desperately that Nigel would be okay, she began to run back towards her house. When she got there she hurried, panting and out of breath, up to her sister's room.

"Cree!" Abby shouted, throwing open the door. "Quick, we have to hurry! Nigel – and Father's house – and there were so many ice cream men!"

When Cree was able to get her sister calmed down enough to understand what was going on, she acted quickly. After putting in a call to their neighbor Maurice for some backup, she pressed a button on her nightstand. Instantly her bed turned into a small plane. Abby stared. She didn't have much time to gawk, however, because in a second they had shot out from the roof of the Lincoln household. They flew over the houses and were on Father's lawn in minutes. Maurice arrived soon after, and the two older kids prepared to break into the house.

"You'll need to stay here, Abby," said Maurice, not unkindly. "We have to move quickly, and we don't want you to be in danger too."

"I can help," Abby said indignantly. "I'm real good at sneaking."

"Not now, Abby," Cree said gently. "I promise you, though, the first chance I get I'll let you come with me on a mission, okay?"

"I guess," Abby grumbled.

The operatives nodded, and Maurice took his mustard gun from his pocket. "Showtime," whispered Cree, and they vanished through another window.

As soon as they were gone, Abby ran to the window and peered inside anxiously. She had complete faith in her sister, of course, but there were so many guards in there…

She shouldn't have worried. As soon as Cree and Maurice were inside, they crouched back to back and assumed fighting stances. Maurice began shooting the attacking ice cream men, and Cree kicked and jabbed at the ones that were left. Within minutes, all of the guards were lying on the ground, unconscious.

Abby cheered, unable to help herself. Cree looked over and frowned, then smiled. "I should have known that I wouldn't be able to keep you away from the action. Now, where's your friend?"

They scanned the room urgently, and finally Abby spotted him in the far corner. "There he is!" she cried, and then gasped as Maurice helped him into the light. "What happened?"

Nigel stood wearily, his clothes torn and bruises all over him. But that wasn't the worst of it. On top of his head, the hair that he had been so proud of was gone. Nigel was totally bald.

Abby rushed forward and reached Nigel just in time to catch him as he collapsed. "Cree, we have to help him!"

Cree nodded, flipping open her watch face to reveal a communicator. "Numbuh 94, we need a Medlab ship to the house down the lane from mine right away. Hurry!"

Within seconds, the plane touched down on the lawn, and the other members of Sector U rushed out. "What's the matter, Cree?" A tall boy wearing sunglasses asked.

"This boy is badly hurt. He needs immediate medical attention."

The crew loaded Nigel onto the ship, and Abby followed worriedly. Nigel smiled weakly up at her from the stretcher. "Don't worry, Abby. I'm going to be just fine."

"But it's my fault, Nigel. It was my idea to go to Father's house, and I'm the one who should have rescued you when you got captured. It's my fault for abandoning you."

"Oh, Abby. I wasn't abandoned. I was being rescued."

Numbuh 5 sat up in bed and gasped. It had been years since she'd had that dream, but tonight it had come back in vivid detail. Of course the entire events of that day, right up to Numbuh 1's last words to her before he was taken to the KND hospital, had been burned permanently into her brain, but over the past couple of years she had managed to mostly forget about it.

It must have been because that day they had gone on a mission to save Leona from the Delightful Children, and almost failed. It had brought back all her memories of the last time she had failed to rescue someone who was captured.

Nigel always said now that he was rather glad for that "training mission," as he called it. It had given him the motivation to begin real training, and by the time the KND was looking to recruit him, he was one of the best fighters in his age group. He always told her that it was her help, and encouragement to "not be such a wimp," that made him the fighter that he was.

He always said that, but Abby knew better. She had seen the terrified look on his face, had heard the fear in his voice, and was well aware of just how seriously he had been injured that day. She knew that whatever he said, no matter how positive a light he tried to put things in, he couldn't change the facts.

It was her fault. She had abandoned him. And she could never make it right.

The End

A/N: I'm not sure I should do many more of these "traditional" story types. I think I'm much better at the kind that are more introspection, like Love, and Deep In Thought. I might even try another one in first person, like Waiting. What do you guys think?

As always, reviews welcome and concrit greatly appreciated!

Numbuh 212