He glared.
She smirked.
He opened his mouth to speak.
She pulled back her leg and kicked.
Steve collapsed as the girl jumped away. He crumbled to the ground, his hands flying to hold his knee. "Virginia, I swear to—"
"Eat it, lame-o!" the girl laughed.
Then, in a move befitting any awesome Kids Next Door agent, Virginia pulled off a triple-double-helix-one-handed backflip — with flourish — onto the stage. Not even a second after landing, she kicked away the mic-prop, the microphone spinning free from its stand right into her hand.
Chad stumbled out from back stage, glitter coating him in places he didn't even know he had. Before he could question pivotal life decisions that got him to this disaster, the blur of Numbuh Twenty-Three came at him like a whirlwind.
The wild crackle of the brat echoed around him. He shot his hands out, hoping to catch her, yet that was about as effective as one would imagine. Chad's face contorted as it became harder to move.
It wasn't long before he felt completely constricted, which was completely in line with Numbuh Twenty-Three's completely over-the-top scheme.
Virginia's feet connected with Chad's back, sending him toppling over. The traitorous teen hit the stage, his body entwined by the wire of the microphone Virginia clenched in her hand. The child stomped her heel between his shoulder blades, the boy grimacing as she gave the cord a sharp tug.
"Enjoy the front row seat, pretty boy," she said. Then, with a flip of her finger, the microphone screeched to life.
Bartie's hand sprang out from below, grasping the edge of the stage as he gingerly pulled himself up. His upper body appeared over the side, his face sheen with sweat, and before he could recover, the ever-lively bane-of-his-existence screamed into the mic.
"HIT IT, NUMBUH 4!"
The lights of the gym went dark, a single spotlight shining down on Wally whom was on the other side of the stage.
Upon hearing his cue, the boy reached behind his back to grab the heel of his right leg.
Bartie watched in pure amazement as Numbuh Four pulled his leg up and broke in some foreign interpretive dance as his body awkwardly jerked forward. "Is this part of the plan?"
Virginia slammed to the ground in front of him, Bartie surprisingly unfazed even as she dragged Chad along with her. "Totally. You got the thing ready, right?"
Bartie answered with a thumbs-up.
At that moment, an explosion from the cheap-seats caught their attention, and despite the days of planning and studying crayon schematics for this stunt, the two children couldn't suppress the shutter that jolted through them as the blindingly furious mass that was The Steve loomed over them.
"You," Steve snarled, his jacket coiling around his body and encasing him in his battle-armor-suit. "I am going to eviscerate you."
Wally, meanwhile, continued his dance uninterrupted as he jerked closer to center-stage.
"Ooooh, The Man-wannabe is using big words. I'm so beyond freaked," Virginia snickered. She then leaned towards Bartie and whispered, "Hey, what's eviscerate mean?"
Bartie could only shrug.
"You think this is some stupid joke—Chad?" Steve spluttered, finally noticing the blond boy tied up and covered in glitter. "What the heck are you doing?"
"Nothing much, sir. Hanging out, wishing I were dead," the boy grumbled as he stared listlessly out into the empty gym. "The usual."
Steve rolled his eyes, his gauntlets sizzling with energy as he aimed both towards Virginia and Bartie respectively.
That was when Wally decided to appear, his odd dance bringing him between Steve and the others. The self-proclaimed king of teen cool arched a brow as the runt of sector V slowly turned on him. Attention now on him, Wally gave one final jerk, his dance complete.
He then released his leg, the power of interpretative dance coursing through his foot as he kicked.
Steve yelped and held his knee again while Wally retreated. "STOP KICKING ME IN THE SHIN!"
Virginia leapt forward, her hands grabbing onto Steve's shoulders to flip herself onto his back. With a battle-cry, she slammed her fist onto his back, activating his jets.
Steve paused in his whining to notice his rockets where whirring to life and screamed as he and his brat of a passenger were taken skyward.
"Do the thing, man!" Virginia yelled towards Bartie as she was pulled towards the heavens. "The thiiiiiing!"
Bartie wryly saluted, then let go of the stage to fall back below.
Chad, for his part, had checked out of this nonsense several minutes ago. As he contemplated what blunt instrument would best erase his memory of this day, he felt a tug at his leg. He looked back in time to see the cord of the mic being pulled into the air. As he realized what was going on, he spewed forth a volley of curses as he was dragged into the air.
Meanwhile, Steve heaved and ranted as he tried to pry Virginia from his back. The child ignored him, ducking every so often to avoid a laser blast as she continued to tinker with his armor's internal systems.
"Nice," she said, a smug look of victory spreading across her face. She then leaned forward, gently plucking his shades from his face before winking. "This is gonna be sweet, dude."
And with that, she jumped from his back, donning The Steve's shades as she fell to the chairs below.
When his sunglasses were removed, Steve felt as if he was freed from an inhibitor of rage. Before he could explode into a fury induced rant, his face smacked into the ceiling.
Below, Bartie lifted himself into a seat, dragging his arm across his face as he released a breath of exhaustion. He settled comfortably into his seat, glancing to his right as Virginia landed into the adjacent chair. The girl adjusted her newly acquired eyewear with a smirk and kicked her feet up on the seats in front of her.
The two kids watched as Steve fell from the ceiling, Bartie adding a whistling effect for the heck of it. As he hit the ground, Virginia added her own SPLAT effect, never one to be outdone in the silly department.
Steve, for his part, simply laid there. Soaking in his embarrassment and allowing his anger to stew. He then began to ascend, body quivering and teeth grinding togehter. He spotted Numbuhs Twenty-Three and Thirty-Five out in the back row.
Sinister nothings whispered in his ears as he charged his laser, intent on bringing the entire building down on the brats.
In response to the teen's unspoken threat, Bartie clapped his hands and did the thing.
Spotlights blared to life, all shining upwards, and Steve blinked as the stage was painted in an array of glittering lights akin to an effect that reminded him of a disco ball. The bewildered leader of all teens looked up, stunned to see a disgruntled Chad gently spinning from the mic-cord, the spotlights reflecting off him in a dazzling display.
While the teen was distracted, again, Virginia crowned her masterpiece as she pulled out a shoddy looking remote and aimed it towards the stage.
Onstage, Steve's battle-armor twisted as several straps snapped into place. He yelped as static danced across him and his internal system went haywire as the code re-wrote itself.
He then went stock still, and found that despite all his wiggling, he could not move as his armor tightened around him.
Bartie used his hands to muffle his laughs while Virginia pressed another switch.
YOU CAN DANCE!
YOU CAN JIVE!
HAVING THE TIME OF YOUR LIFE!
Steve's eyes widened in horror…
…while Virginia's narrowed in satisfaction.
With a snap of her fingers, Numbuh Twenty-Three watched on gleefully as the image of Steve's armor making him dance against his will filtered across the lens of her sunglasses.
Ooooh,
SEE THAT GIRL!
WATCH THAT SCENE!
DIGGIN' THE DANCING QUEEN!
Bartie could no longer contain himself. The poor boy broke out in a fit of belly-aching laughs, they only being drowned out by the music booming out over the speaker system. He held his side as he fell from his seat, and Virginia chuckled herself as she gave a mocking round of applause.
"Shake it, dude, shake it," she called out. She lowered her shades, glancing off to the boy coming back on stage for his encore. "Thanks for the assist, Numbuh 4. I so owe you one!"
Wally slid on his knees across the stage, coming to a stop just short of Steve. The boy's face was a mask of professionalism befitting an expert prankster. He held his hands in the air, shaking them lightly and basking in the glittering lights.
Steve let loose a series of threats and insults, but could do little but bark as his body was forced to slave away to the beat. Virginia cupped her hands behind her head and Bartie slowly got back into his seat as his laughs died down to mere giggles.
A set of bodies moved out from the shadows of the auditorium, making themselves known.
Bartie sat a bit more rigid as Numbuh Three-Sixty-Two herself and other various high-ranking officials appeared. The young Supreme Leader watched the events onstage with an impassive stare, all while lightly munching on popcorn.
Behind her, the various flunkies and note-takers appeared a bit more critical as they analyzed the performance and scribbled furiously in their notebooks.
Virginia kicked herself out of her seat, taking off Steve's sunglasses and presenting them to her Supreme Leaderness as some sort of trophy.
"So," Virginia said, waiting anxiously for Rachel's words. "What'cha think?"
Rachel continued to silently munch on her popcorn, all kids stopping what they were doing to gauge her reaction. She rolled the shades between her fingers, then held them up to the disco-light to inspect them. After a long minute, she turned to the staff behind her and gave a curt nod.
They murmured at her approval. After a moment, once some final notes and scribbles were made, they held up various signs with numbers. The scores averaged from 8s to 9s, with even a few 10s sprinkled in.
Virginia broke into a fist-pump, more than pleased with her results. "Suh-weet!"
"Ah, it's just a load of rookie luck." Patton broke through the crowd of judges, looking indignant as he marched up to Virginia. "MY sooper amazing Halloween Trick is gonna blow your amateur hour stunt outta the water!"
Virginia merely dusted her hands. "Uh, big ol' as if to that, sir. Only thing that's gonna blow is your Trick when it's compared to mine."
"Nu-uh!"
"Yeah-huh!"
Within a matter of seconds, Virginia and Patton broke into bickering; Bartie and Rachel rolling their eyes while the judges behind them began scribbling and murmuring.
Credits:
"Dancing Queen"-ABBA