Chapter 1

PROBLEM

Problem Rests On Big Lying Enigmatic Meaniehead

"Thank you for all of your cooperation," five deadpan children's voices chorused at once, each of them wearing an identical smirk upon his or her face. "Your assistance is greatly valued." The children were notorious throughout the town as being well-behaved and even labeled by adults as "delightful". It was no secret that they had been tainted by the words of adults into being so good for them. This being, of course, the reason why adults favored these children over the other rambunctious children that walked around as if they owned the town, and indeed, the world. These "Delightful Children from Down the Lane" were very obviously close to adults in regards to their relationships with them than with their own peers. They were seen as traitors by the other children, especially the most ill-behaved of the children of the town- the Kids Next Door.

"Not at all a problem," another voice chimed, reflecting back a gaze with the same silvery-blue sheen as the group of delightful children. "It is my honor to bring such wonderful information to be used Father to be rid of the Kids Next Door." The voice's owner stood and offered a nod to the school uniform-clad children. "My only hope is that this packet of information can be used efficiently. Digging up all that dirt wouldn't exactly be called easy, even with connections." The voice belonged to a child of the age of eleven whose smile seldom reflected true honest feelings and even more often times deceit.

The "delightful" children simply nodded as the unofficial leader, a short blond boy opened the folder for his friends to peer inside to give a quick skim over the data contained within. The contents contained numbers of the members of the top-secret club "The Kids Next Door" as well as recent blueprints of their moon base headquarters complete with places where the defenses were less than perfect. There was even a list of passwords and guard schedules. "I wouldn't worry about such a trivial thing," the group said, smiling almost to the point of being sickeningly sweet. "Father is resourceful. If anything, we can just send our teenagers out to investigate. We're certain you are acquainted with Chad, yes?"

The solitary child nearly winced, but nodded. "I have met him once or twice, yes. Numbuh 274. He was the best of the Kids Next Door. Until his thirteenth birthday, of course."

"Very well, then," the cluster of adolescents gave a chuckle of a laugh, if it could even be called such a thing. "Then you are free to leave. You have… other duties to attend to, don't you?"

A scoff from the messenger as well as a folding of the arms confirmed their thoughts. "Of course I do. I'm a busy kid. And besides," a smirk spread wide across the youngster's face. "It's a long way back to the Moon."

Kids Next Door Operation: NOT-FOUND

Notoriously Off Target in Finding Out Unfaithful Numbuh's Data

By Kawaii-Kitty

"Kids Next Door! May I have your attention, please?" yelled a young blonde girl into a microphone made from simple household products. Her audience was a full house of yammering sugar-filled children, many of them clad in cookware and things one would normally find in a landfill. And though most of these children lacked any sort of respect to parents and other adults, they each knew when to shut their mouths when their supreme leader was speaking to them. It only took moments for the hall to quiet down. The girl cleared her throat and took hold of her podium, a stern look upon her face. "Kids Next Door, as I'm sure many of you have heard, there could be a traitor among us." Some children mumbled amongst themselves in agreement while the rest gasped in shock, looking to those around them as if any of them could be a suspect. "I know. It's a big shock to me too. We all know that there have been traitors in the past. We all remember Numbuh 274, of course, and Numbuh Eleven, now known to us as Cree Lincoln." She sighed and lowered her head for a moment of anguish upon her youthful heart. "But though there have been traitors in the past, I hoped that there wouldn't be one among us today. And I may be giving a false accusation, but it does seem rather suspicious that someone outside of our organization could possibly take all of the information that they could!"

A child in a red jumper stood up in the crowd, raising his hand. "What did they take, ma'am?" he called, just barely being heard by the girl in front.

"I'm glad you asked." She picked up a remote from the podium and pointed it at a projector not far from where she was standing. Pressing the large red button upon the remote revealed several scaled-down blueprints of various weapons and bases around the globe. "These vital pieces of information have been copied from our databases and handed over to none other than Father." She looked over her shoulder to the crowd, "I'm sure some of you have noticed that your weapons have been neutralized by your enemies and your bases broken into from unlikely places as of late," she said with an eyebrow raised suspiciously. She then turned back to her people and clicked to the next picture; a detailed blueprint of the Moon Base Headquarters. "This is what has most recently been taken from us." Her eyes scanned the crowd accusingly.

"Since our last break-in by the teenagers when they stole our precious Code Modular, we have upped our security to include a scan for Battle-Ready Armor. Unfortunately for us, not all of our systems are ready yet and will not be ready for quite some time. A shot to the right place by a projectile weapon could cause a full-system's shut down." Another chorused gasp. "This is why you all will be on permanent stand-by in case any part of the base needs defense. Keep in mind that among your ranks, there is a traitor hiding somewhere. Beware of whom you share your candy bars with, for they may just stab you in the back someday soon." She then turned to a group of children sitting near the front. "Numbuhs one through five of Sector V!" she cried.

A ten-year-old with no hair atop his head and a pair of dark sunglasses on his face rose to his feet and offered a salute. He was followed by his four team mates. "Yes, Numbuh, 362?" he responded in a very distinct British accent. "We are ready to accept any orders you may have for us."

Their leader, the said Numbuh 362 nodded to them. "You five will be responsible for keeping a close eye on the Delightful Children. Chances are more than likely that one of our operatives would go through them rather than having to deal with Father directly. Meet with me after this to discuss your briefing."

"Yes, ma'am," the bald child replied before sitting back down.

Numbuh 362 offered a smile to them before turning her attention back to the sea of kids before her. "Kids Next Door, dismissed!" And seemingly all at once, hundreds of kids stood from their wooden benches and shuffled toward the exits designated to grab a bar of chocolate and a soda before heading back to their bases back on Earth. The only children left were numbuhs one through five who headed up to the stage each in numerical order.

Nigel Uno, the undisputed leader of the group stood with his hands folded behind his back with a perfect posture. He may have been peering from behind a pair of sunglasses, but by no means did it hinder his vision in the least. "What do we need to know, ma'am?" he asked responsibly.

Hoagie P. Gilligan Jr. plodded up beside Nigel and stood at the best attention that a plump boy could stand, offering his salute before letting himself at ease. "Do we get to fly some ultra-cool robot into their mansion and get our stuff back?" He let loose a laugh and made as if he were piloting a robot or aircraft of some kind. "Man, I'd love to see the looks on their faces when we bust in there and totally stomp on the place!"

A sweet Japanese girl by the name of Kuki Sanban gasped in excitement and cupped her hands together, flailing the sleeves of her greatly oversized sweater into the boy next to her. "Oooh! Does this mean we get to go over to their house for a tea party?" She laughed and threw her arms up. "I'll bring my Happy Tea Time Fun Rainbow Monkey just for the party!"

A shorter child with a temper even shorter known as the one and only Wallabee Beatles growled and swatted at the cloth that had barraged his head, successfully knocking himself off balance and grumbling low. "No, you idiot!" his shout came through in an Australian accent. "We're gonna bust in there, show those Delightful Dorks who's boss, then show Father a thing or two. Like this!" he shifted himself to throw a couple of jabs and a side kick before flipping into a front handspring to finish off his attack with another series of punches.

The fifth and final member of the group Abigail Lincoln rolled her eyes and shook her head with its large red baseball cap. "Are you finished?" Her skin was dark, defining her heritage with a single glance at her. "Numbuh 362 is tryin' to tell us what we need to do, so cool your jets and get back in line!" she folded her arms and shook her head at Wallabee, disappointed. "Honestly, don't you have any control?"

Numbuh 362 cleared her throat and eyed Wallabee as well who shuffled back into line and stuffed his hands into the front pocket of his orange hooded sweater. She then looked to Abigail and nodded. "Thank you, Numbuh five. Now, as I was saying earlier, The Delightful Children from Down the Lane have several important documents that could potentially be a threat. Especially if with those plans, they take our own weapons and use them against us. This must be stopped at all costs." Her brow furrowed as she scanned the group. "Since you five are the closest to the home of the Delightfuls, you are being put on surveillance. I am also giving you the information taken from us, with vital parts scratched out of course, so that you may develop some sort of plan to counteract them and stop them where they stand." She smiled with confidence. "Since they have no idea what to even begin with as far as two-by-four technology goes, you will be one step ahead in figuring out what is built incorrectly."

Abigail lifted her head to eye her leader for a moment. "Uh… 'scuse me, ma'am, but if they've got insider information given to them by an insider, don't you think that they'd just have that kid build it for 'em?"

362 nodded and folded her arms. "Yes, fortunately, I have thought of that. This is also part of your mission. With you monitoring the mansion, the five of you will be able to see who goes in and who comes out. This is crucial to your mission. If you catch the traitor, we will have him decommissioned immediately. If you don't catch him, however… We'll have another sour case on our hands." Her face looked forlorn as her eyes shifted to the side.

Nigel took a step toward his commander and placed a friendly hand on her shoulder, offering a sympathetic smile. "You don't have to worry about a thing, Numbuh 362," he assured, "we won't let this kid be another 274."

362 smiled back at him and took a step back, "Thank you, Numbuh One. Now what you'll need for this mission," she turned her head to a girl who had been standing at the wall since the assembly began. "Numbuh 404, the folder, please."

The brunette girl stumbled up to the group, a bit shyly as though she could barely see, even with her super-thick glasses on. Her clothes were strange, though normal by the standards of children who dressed themselves. An oversized gray sweater with the right arm cut off and a red pleated skirt just poking out from under the hem of the shirt. With hands already showing signs of carpal tunnel, she offered forth a manila folder stuffed with papers. "T-the information, m-ma'am," she said, smiling the best she could. She was not exactly used to being put in the spotlight, especially when it came to an ultra-big mission such as this, and it was obvious.

362 smiled and took the folder, handing it over to Nigel immediately. He took it and stuffed it under his left arm, receiving a salute from Numbuh 362 as a show of gratitude. "I trust you five with the safety and sanctity of our beloved mission to stomp out adult tyranny."

Nigel responded with a salute of his own just in time with his friends. "We won't let you down, ma'am, I assure you. With any luck, this mission will be over within the week and we won't have to waste a perfectly good weekend on this traitor." He then turned to his team and raised his right fist into the air. "Kids Next Door! Move out!" He then turned on the heel of his large brown shoes and marched toward the exit, followed by his team who were obviously much more aloof than Nigel was.

As if on cue, Hoagie laughed and held up a finger to say something. "You know, Numbuh One, I think that if anything, this mission is going to be… delightful!" He roared with laughter at his own dumb joke and with Kuki, he laughed alone.

Kuki was apparently the only other one who thought Hoagie's joke was funny. "And then can we have tea? I'll bring my other fun friends, too! I'll bring Cindy, and Carl, and Stephanie and Mrs. Flopsywopsy and…" She trailed off, listing off as many of the stuffed animals in her room she could say in one breath.

Wallabee was not impressed and more annoyed than anything. "There's not going to be any stupid party!" He yelled, though Kuki didn't seem to hear him. "Stupid girls… All they ever think about is their stupid, cruddy stuffed animals and their stupid, cruddy tea parties…"

From behind him, the African-American girl cleared her throat and bonked him lightly on the head. "Excuse me, numbuh four? Did you say somethin' about girls?" she asked.

Their conversation continued while they marched out the door in their single-file line. Numbuh 362 heaved a deep sigh and sifted a hand through her hair while Numbuh 404 moved an inch closer to her fellow female and smiled. "I'm… I'm sure they'll do just fine, ma'am. Sector V has pulled us all out of a lot of jams… this is a cakewalk to them."

364 looked to 404 and laughed softly. "I guess you're right… but I still can't help but be worried about them. They seem so… mismatched and yet they always come out of things on top… I just wonder how they do it."

"They've got a lot of luck on their side," 404 said with a rare confidence-filled smile. "They'll be fine. They always are."

362 nodded and started off to the exit on the opposite side of the room. "For the sake of everyone… I really, really hope so."

A/N: Wow… my first KND fanfic chapter. I really hope that you all liked it… if you actually read it. I'm really proud of this, even though it was pretty much all thought up as I went along. I hope I got 362 right. And yeah, 404 is my own character. She's a computer nerd, hence the numbuh 404 (page not found) for you non-internet savvy people. For a picture of Numbuh 404, please visit my Deviantart site, or just go right to the pic she's featured on:

Thank you ALL for reading this! Please don't forget to review!

-Kawaii-Kitty