Disclaimer: I don't own Codename: Kids Next Door. I just own an English dictionary, an iPod and this personal computer.
So, I've decided to characterisize Numbuh Inifinity in my own way; not his personality, just his background. I hope I kept him In Character during the process though, but I'm not sure. If there's something wrong please tell me.
This is also a sort of late (very very late) birthday gift for RaidersEcho. Starring Numbuh Infinity... how sad. XD
Okay, I'm Italian, and this means English it's not my native language, so if I make grammar mistakes please tell me; although I've recently installed an English grammar corrector in my computer I'm figuring out it's not as foolproof as the site promised. Or is it just because I'm paranoid? *shrugs*
Warning: obvious presence of an OC. Enjoy.
Numbuh Infinity loved order. He loved it because he knew that if there was order, there was peace; it wasn't a personal opinion but a logical fact, or at least that was what he thought. Maybe this conviction had been nourished by the job he carried out within the Organization, where he had to check that every operative did their duties, that the operations came to a successful conclusion, but above all, he had to keep secret from the other agents matters regarding the KND way much bigger than them, matters they weren't still ready to understand.
Altogether, calmness to him was his daily bread, the main drive that made his life bearable and at intervals (or rather, when he was in a good mood) worth being lived. Thanks to it, Numbuh Infinity could get a clear picture of the world and see the solutions to problems, and according to him, this last thing was an enviable gift owned by few people. But the only way to be calm, he believed, was to have order in life, to have every single thing planned; just like this he could arrive nearer to something people usually called 'happiness'.
Luckily, when it came to work's matters, he could always count on the science nerds' help, especially Numbuh 74.236's, who Numbuh Infinity thought of him as a close friend, since the pre-teen wasn't a good mixer and preferred to spend his time alone focusing just on his work and nothing else. He seemed having no other interest apart from the KND but he didn't care, as long as he continued to work. Nobody was able to realize that his job consisted in keeping order, and to him, order equaled peace.
Only Numbuh 74.236 knew the reason of his behavior.
It was because of two people. Two important people in his life.
Well, actually one. His mother never caused so much problems, although she had an odd way of thinking: she firmly believed everyone was good inside, humans needed to live in harmony with the nature, money was useless and she and her family could perfectly live on love, 60s music and vegetables. Needless to say during his career he had found lots of objections against the woman's beliefs. Thank goodness, Numbuh Infinity turned out to be a prosaic person, demonstrating he hadn't inherited his mother's personality.
The real reason of his behavior was his little brother.
As the diplomat considered order a peaceful island in the middle of the sea in which consisted of palm trees, white beaches, cool breezes and light heat waves, he thought of his younger sibling as the destructive hurricane that systematically swept away his tropical paradise, bringing nothing but chaos and confusion.
It wasn't like the child did it on purpose, for Heaven's sake; it wasn't his intention at all. The problem was, aside the fact he suffered from a congenital bad luck, he possessed an extraordinary talent to get himself into trouble because of his naivety, and to fix the damage (or to avoid of coming to a bad end) he ran to his 'big bro' asking for help, and most of the time the same Numbuh Infinity risked his own life to solution the jam the little pest had provoke; without mentioning the kid tended to embarrass him in front of his colleagues cutting poor figures and being clueless of what he did.
Infinity wasn't ashamed of his little brother at all; he knew to be his only reference mark, a kind of male model, since the child had never had the chance to know their father, dead when the youngest of them was just three. The KND operative loved him, but he brought chaos, and Infinity needed order to be relaxed, to feel better, and that order the pre-teen liked so much was impossible to maintain if he came around.
Infinity brought order, his brother brought chaos. Infinity brought it willingly, his brother brought it unintentionally.
That's why the diplomat adored spending his time in the Organization, to get the peace he wished, the peace he deserved. Besides, his job seemed being made especially for him: he could improve his skills and have a prestigious position compared with the other agents, given his essential and secret role in the Kids Next Door.
His job brought order, order brought peace, and peace brought him comfort. This was all he needed and when he was inside the walls of the Organization, his brother couldn't come and ruin everything.
But, as the saying goes: Man plans, God laughs.
At the moment, Numbuh Infinity was having a break sipping a cup of coffee, quite proud of himself for being able to help the 'upper grades' (and he wasn't talking about Numbuh 274) regarding a certain matter, when he saw Numbuh 74.239 proceeding towards him. The scientist looked somewhat nervous.
"Good evening, Infinity. How are you?" he greeted.
"What's the problem, 74.239?"
"W-what makes you think there is a problem?" he asked, taken aback by his friend's comment.
The diplomat glared at the science nerd from behind his shades. "You know where I've been now: usually, after the reunion, you come towards me all excited and instead of saying hallo you ask me almost screaming 'what did they tell you?'. Why did you make an exception today?"
Numbuh 74.239 rubbed his neck: "Actually… you see… there are bad news." he admitted.
Infinity adopted a worried expression: "Something serious?"
"Well, nothing serious for the KND… for now." The young scientist breathed in and gave him a woebegone look: "I'm sorry, pal."
The dark skinned operative got irritated: "Numbuh 74.236, please give me a coherent answer, what the heck happened and what it has to do with me?"
"W-well, you know what day it's today, right? Aside from the 'reunion' day with the upper grades?"
Infinity thought about it: "Let's see… it should be… oh, the day in which the cadets graduate to become officially Kids Next Door agents, I guess."
The kid scientist nodded, anguished.
"So?" the diplomat questioned.
"You see… he's… he was training at the Arctic Base…" he shut up, not wanting to reveal the tragedy that was going to fall over his friend's head.
"Who's 'he'?"
Then Numbuh 74.239 looked at him in the eyes.
Numbuh Infinity had always considered the saying 'a look says more than thousands words' quite a blunder, but for the first time, that sentence seemed to make sense. On the science nerd's face there wasn't written just a mere message, but a whole novel.
The heart's agent skipped a beat. Him… a cadet? Here? In the Kids Next Door?
No, it was impossible.
"Impossible." said Infinity out loud.
"Yes, instead." his colleague contradicted, "I've just talked to him, he's now waiting with the other cadets."
"He didn't tell me anything; he didn't even mention he was joining the KND!"
"He told me he wanted to give you surprise."
Infinity, although he was trying to keep his hair on, the face betrayed his real mood. He was shocked. He breathed in a pair of times, attempting to think with rationality and to avert a panic feeling that was slowly seizing him.
His job, his refuge, his peaceful place was coming to an end; the tropical island that he had associated to his moments of quiet wasn't going to be attacked by an hurricane, no, much worse: like Atlantis, it was going to be swallowed up by the sea and hurled in the unfathomed deep. Forever.
He couldn't move. Every muscle of his body went stiff.
The diplomat felt a hand on his shoulder; evidently Numbuh 74.239 wanted to reassure him.
"I'm fine, Numbuh 74.239. I don't need any kind of solace." he said annoyed with a robotic voice.
"You're very pale."
"I just have a headache, nothing else." he answered back, rigid as a steel post.
The kid genius opened his mouth to speak, but he was interrupted by some noises coming from behind them. A group of cadets entered in the hall guided by the Drill Sergeant of the Arctic Base and without stopping they went towards the room where there was going to be the graduation ceremony.
One of them, at the sight of Numbuhs Infinity and 74.329, began jumping in excitement and waving both of his hands, full of glee. He was going to say something to them when he collided inadvertently with an operative who was carrying some documents; the two kids fell on the ground with loud thud, while the sheets went flying disorderly around them.
"YE STOOOPID BOY!"
Screams of pain from the boy's side followed the previous comment.
Numbuh Infinity rolled his eyes exasperated and found himself moving towards the place his brother was being beaten up to death.
Order brought peace, of course, it was a logical fact. Sadly, the diplomat just couldn't understand that order never lasted too long and even so, it still needed steadfastness to be maintained; but chaos happened in a blink of an eye and without any outer intervention. To the difference of order, it set up by itself.
Chaos would have always found the way to reveal itself, people whether liked it or not.
Everywhere, every time.
In short, Numbuh Infinity was practically fighting a lost battle.
Author's Note: One day to write it, three days to translate it. Curse you, Infinity!
I sorta have a love-hate feeling towards Infinity. I find him interesting, but I hate his manipulative personality, so I wanted to make fun of him. It was also funny imagining his private life.
Hope you liked it. Leave a review if you want.
-Ines