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72. Mischief Managed

KND Official Recruitment File No. 153428613623523

Name: Mushi Sanban

Gender: Female

DOB: 5-18-01

Previous KND affiliations: Sister, Kuki Sanban, Numbuh 3 of KND Sector V; assisted in capturing Cree Lincoln, former Numbuh 11 of KND Sector V

Area(s) of expertise: Has practice with the art of Japanese throwing stars and basic knowledge of several other martial arts. Also appears to be very familiar with science, particularly genetic modification.

Notes: Appears to have temper exceeding that of her sister, as well as tendency to hold a grudge, and volatile behavior. Could pose a threat to KND in the future. Perhaps place in older sector for observation.

Mushi set down the stolen recruitment file and looked out across the rows of houses that made up her suburban neighborhood. The treehouse of Sector X was one of the tallest in the state, and from her seat on the balcony railing she could see for miles.

She thought about the information that she had just read. When she had first received the request to join the KND, Mushi had been ecstatic. Here was a chance to be just like her big sister, and she leapt at the opportunity. She never imagined they might have an ulterior motive for asking her.

Later, of course, when she was placed with an older team than the rest of her group from boot camp, when she had barely been allowed to go to the candy store without supervision, she had realized there was something strange going on. But even then, she didn't call it to anyone's attention. She was content just to go on missions, protecting kids whenever she could. And, of course, the chance to get revenge on Hoagie Gilligan at various KND functions had been nice too.

She glanced toward the open door, where she could see rest of her team watching a movie. It was Frankenstein, one of her favorites, but she needed some time to think. In just half an hour the decommissioning squad would be coming to get her. Because the TND was still a secret from most of the younger operatives, they would have to go through all the motions of a regular decommissioning. Her teammates were trying to pretend that it was just another birthday, but she saw their worried glances when they thought she wasn't looking.

Mushi herself wasn't worried, but she also wasn't sure what she was going to do. She had been offered a pretty high position in the Teens Next Door, but she didn't know whether she wanted to accept yet. She was aware that Father's agents had been looking at her as well, watching her for possible recruitment into his Teen Ninja squad.

She didn't want to betray her sister and what they both stood for, though. She had spent the last five years of her life fighting for this organization, and she couldn't simply turn her back on everything that it had given her. Regardless of the KND's reasons for drafting her, Mushi's time with them had been some of the best years of her life, and she didn't want to lose it all.

On the other hand, double-crossing the KND to work for Father would be the ultimate revenge on the entire organization that had treated her like a problem to be dealt with, instead of the valuable asset she knew she was. Of course Numbuh 363 recognized that she had specialized talents, but instead of sending her out on solo missions, he had always made her stay with the oldest member of her team. As the members of her team got older and were decommissioned, she was only assigned to team missions, and then not even that. Mushi was put in charge of writing reports and planning strategy, and hardly ever needed to leave the treehouse.

She had snuck out often, of course, but it just wasn't the same as being assigned to a solo mission. Now she knew that they thought she was dangerous - a knowledge that made her feel almost smug - but before this realization she had thought that they assumed she was simply too incompetent to be of any good. She had suspected that they only recruited her because her older sister was a member of the legendary Sector V, and after they saw her in action, believed that she was mostly useless.

While Mushi was relieved to know that the KND didn't think she couldn't take care of herself, it was infuriating to find out that all these years she had been little more than a prisoner, guarded constantly to make sure that she didn't become a threat to the Kids Next Door. As if she would ever want to betray the very organization she had fought so hard for most of her childhood.

Of course, others before her had done it. Numbuh 274, Numbuh 11, and even that sweet Numbuh 12 had all cut and run when the time came. She had just been considering it herself. However, the reason she had been considering defection was that she knew why the Kids Next Door had treated her the way they did. If she hadn't found that out, she would probably have never even considered running away from decommissioning. Now, all those years of watching had had the opposite effect. Mushi was mad, and she wanted revenge.

There was another option, whispered a tiny corner of her mind. She tried to ignore it, but once it got started, there was no shutting it.

She had gotten a phone call the week before from a mysterious person identifying himself only as a member of "the Splinter Cell." He had said that if she wanted to be a member of an organization even more powerful than the KND and TND combined, she should meet him at the park the day after her "decommissioning."

Mushi did find this offer fairly appealing. She liked the idea of power, of maybe even becoming the threat that the KND had feared so much, if just to show them how upset she was over the way they had handled things. She liked the idea that she could get back at everyone who had made her feel so inferior all those years.

However, she had done some research on this "Splinter Cell" when she first heard about it, and what she found made her nervous. Or rather, not what she had found, but what she had not found. There was nothing anywhere on file in the KND library about the Splinter Cell. Even hacking into the main dataframe could tell her no more than that the Splinter Cell was a branch of the KND that was hardly ever mentioned. It was strictly hush-hush, and even the Supreme Leader didn't know much about what went in there. Still, there were rumors floating around. No one knew who started it – perhaps the organization itself – but they had all heard them from somewhere.

Mushi, though intrigued by the idea of a secret organization, didn't like that it was too secret. There was no way she was going to get into something without knowing what it was about, especially considering some of those rumors. Still, it was worth at least talking to them.

Just then a ship landed roughly on the lawn in front of the treehouse, and Numbuh 38, the current head of decommissioning, came out with a bullhorn. "Numbuh 66!" she shouted. "Report for decommissioning immediately!"

Mushi sighed, hopping off of her seat on the railing. She began to walk back into the treehouse, then paused, turned around, and picked up an index card from on top of her recruitment file. On one side it had the phone number of Father's mansion, and on the other was the place where the Splinter Cell representative wanted to meet her. She slipped the card into her pocket, and hurried down the steps.

The End

A/N: Well, that one was harder to write than the others. Mushi is four years old in canon, of course, and she's only in a few episodes, so theoretically there should be a lot of room for interpretation. However, even from those few episodes, she has such a distinctive and complicated character that I honestly can't tell whether this is her when she's thirteen or some other person entirely. I think I've been working with it too long to be a good judge anymore. As always, reviews welcome and concrit would be greatly appreciated, especially about Mushi's character.

Numbuh 212