Newfound Independency

By CC333

Disclaimer: I do not own Codename: Kids Next Door.

Tears were shed the day of Abigail's Inauguration. Every operative that could make it gathered at the moon base to wish Rachel farewell. She had been their role-model, their ultimate leader. And now she was going to be decommissioned. As thousands of kids tried to press against the glass above that surrounded the decommissioning chamber, she entered. They watched her face. It was obvious that she had been crying, but now she was wearing a small smile. Perhaps she was trying to be strong for all of her fellow friends, or maybe she was simply elated to finally not have so much stress upon her. She would be free soon.

No one knew who exactly broke first, but as soon as she crossed the cold floor and sat down in the seat she would soon be strapped into, the sudden cries of a girl could be heard in the massive crowd. This set off a chain reaction and sooner or later, no operative in the room had a dry eye. The leather belts strapped around her wrists and ankles were tightened by a member decommissioning squad. The boy turned his head away, probably hating himself for assisting in the job that had to be done. Numbuh 86, Fanny, stood in the control center. If anyone was crying the most, it would have been her. It must've been killing her on the inside to have to do this.

Numbuh Two gazed from the back of the crowd, silent tears streaming from his goggles. Leaning against the back wall, he looked forward to his right to see Numbuh Five, along with a few other girls and boys, sitting on one of the large main tree branches that ran through whole moon-base. He couldn't see her face, but he knew it was probably damp and dark from the shadow cast by her hat and the tears she probably would never admit to. Numbuh Three and Numbuh Four stood next to each other in the front of the crowd. Or rather, Numbuh Four stood as he held Numbuh Three up. She was balling, the tears an endless river down her face. Trying to be tough for her, he only allowed a single tear to escape from beneath the blonde hair that covered his eyes. Fanny removed her hands from her face and looked down at Rachel, who was calm as ever, her eyes closed and her back resting against the seat.

"Numbuh 362,…d-do you have any…last words for the KND?", she asked, her voice breaking in the process. Rachel cleared throat and stretched her fingers, as if they were uncomfortable from being strapped, which they could have been.

"Dear fellow members of the Kids Next Door. I-I'm not what to say really. This may be the first time I have nothing to say." she said with an almost forced chuckle. It sort of helped lift the spirits of the weeping kids.

"I guess turning 13 means a lot of things, really. I have to move on to my own adventure. Sadly, it will be one without you all, but please remember that I will never forsake you. Even when I probably won't be able to remember any of you or the missions we've been through, I will always be with you. Abby," she continued. Numbuh Five rose her head to look at her to see that Numbuh 362 was looking straight at her atop the tree branch. Everyone was looking at Numbuh Five sitting above them.

"You know what you have to do. As I've told you before, you are more than capable to take over for me. I have the uttermost faith in you", she said earnestly with a smile. Abigail couldn't help but break down a bit, not sure what to say.

"Make me proud, Abigail", Numbuh 362 finished.

Abigail muttered a small 'thank you' before hopping down the tree branch and walking out of the crowded watching chamber. She always did have a knack for disappearing, but Numbuh 2 knew she'd show up sooner or later.

"Well than. I suppose we should…get started, o-okay?" Fanny spoke into the microphone again as she started to power on the machine. The crescendo of the quiet whirring turning loud forced out a whole new symphony of sobs and cries.

The machine was charged and just as always, Fanny flipped the final switch. But this time she looked away when she did it. So did every operative around the decommissioning chamber. Even Numbuh 9-film, the main cameraman for the KND Nightly News, winced when the plunger descended at lighting speeds towards her. Most decommissionings were only mentioned during the segment each night. But for an epic event such as this, it was going to be broadcasted through the network to tree houses across the world (except, of course, Sector A, who live strictly Amish lives). This was to be considered the featured segment for tonight's report.

The plunger did what it had been programmed to do. No one dared to look behind them to see what was happening, but it was hard to get rid of the muffled screams. More tears fell. Eventually, Numbuh 86 flipped the switch and the whirring slowed down to nothing. Almost as if one by one, everyone slowly opened their eyes and turned around to see their former leader being released from the chair and looking around. The familiar look of confusion was on her face. The look of recent decommissioning.

"W-where am I?", she asked to particularly no one, maybe the guard who took her gently by the arm and started to lead her to the space shuttle that would be taking home. Looking behind her, she called back "W-who are all these kids?".

A few operatives had the heart to give a small wave to her. The wave caught on like an infectious, welcomed disease and soon everyone was giving a full fledge wave to the retreating legend. She gave a confused smile and a small wave back. A little spark of hope filled the air, but it came upon all of them that the simple smile and wave was out of instinct and confusion, not out of recognition. Tears were wiped away and Rachel McKenzie was officially removed from the Kids Next Door Code Module. She was now free.

Numbuh Infinity, who no one had seen in an immeasurable length of time, suddenly appeared next to Fanny. He tapped the microphone. "Good Afternoon, fellow operatives."

A collective gasp and flittering whispers started to fill the humongous rooms. Where had he been? They all presumed he had gone into hiding from a mega ultra soopa adult on the KND Most Wanted or a very covert spy mission to unlock the secrets of Candytopia. The rumors had been getting more outrageous every month. And now he was there.

"I would like to point out that Sector A caringly sent a couple tons of home-churned ice-cream to out lovely moon-base out of respect for the resigned Numbuh 362 and it is currently waiting in the main dining hall. If you could please head there and enjoy yourselves before the inauguration. Thank you." he ended, giving his trademark smirk. Numbuh 86 regained her regular temper and was actively chewing Numbuh Infinity for using HER microphone. He didn't seem to care though, as he gazed down midnight black sunglasses at the moving kids as they began to exit the decommissioning chamber.

With a simple glance at the dark-skinned kid who was busy scanning the crowd, Hoagie knew exactly who he was looking for. He was looking for the same girl as well. As the crowd began to d0isperse, Numbuh Two made his way out of the chamber and into the main hallway, quickly replacing his hat over his auburn hair. As everyone else took a right towards the main dining hall, he turned left in the general direction of the wizby deck. He need to talk to her and had a pretty good guess were she would be.

The wizby deck happened to be one of the higher points on the moonbase and had a large glass dome surrounding it. Most kids came to either play around, though there were a few that actually came to play wizby. It happened to also be one of the most beautiful places around. The railing allowed you to hang your feet over the edge and the glass dome allowed for you to see just the edge of the glowing moon below.

He found her doing just that, swinging her feet ever so slowly over the edge while looking it the black starry sky. Utterly beautiful, the whole scene.

He took a few steps towards her.

"Erm, hey, Numbuh 5", he spoke up finally.

"Hey,…Hoagie" she said to him before taking a quick glance behind her.

He moved to sit next to, dangling his feet in the same manor.

"Soooo… nice view, huh" he said, trying to fill in the silence.

"Hoagie, lemme ask you somethin', okay?"

It surprised him, but he turned to her and nodded anyway.

"Why? Just why? Out of all the operatives in the world, she picked me. She knew my past. I just don't get it, Hoags". The look on her face was clear for once, as she had taken off her hat and set it next to her. It was a look of confusion and maybe a bit of pain.

He thought for a second before he opened his mouth to answer, "Because you're perfect".

The following short silence told him his mistake.

"I-I mean for the job, of course. I mean…well you just are. A-a leader with street and book smarts along with plenty of other skills and boatloads of common sense. Abby, you've got it all!" he winded down.

She smiled at a him grim smile. "Thanks, Numbuh Two, but…"

Hoagie stopped her before she could continue. "Don't worry. It'll work out, you'll see".

There he goes with his positive thinking again. The grim smile became just a tad bit brighter if anything.

The intercom system that ran throughout the whole base spoke up with a static-filled voice. Numbuh Infinty was announcing that "Numbuh Five was to report immediately to Grand Hall". She got up and brushed herself off then slapped her red hat back onto her head. "Guess that's my cue" she spoke again, offering a hand to Hoagie. He accepted it and smirked slightly as she hoisted him up from his sitting position.

He nodded in agreement before slowly following her with a secret frown on his face. Things were about to seriously change for good. Again…

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