So my last attempt at writing a future fic. Hopefully that this is a good attempt and will finish what I have since this has been on my computer for awhile. Happy reading!
The Future
The walls of the Arctic base near the cadet training held the pictures of new graduates from the past 20 years. Kids of all shapes and sizes were officially inducted into the Kids Next Door. Including those of the new sectors that were officially created. This meeting that was called was the Cadets Next Door graduation.
"A-TENION!" yelled the girl, numbuh 90, to all of the kids. All of them stood attention standing very straight. A boy in a blue hoodie with a white strip on his sleeves, black jeans, and neutral shoes stood in front of them. He looked at all of them with a stern look before starting out his speech.
"Alright, as supreme leader, I numbuh 007, congratulate all of those that went through the rigorous training to get this far," he said smiling.
The cadets all stood in a row and they all started to whisper to each other. A couple of them paid very serious attention to their supreme leader talking. Others not so much as they whispered, played with their hands, or looked around the room daydreaming. "Blah, blah, blah, buh blah," whispered a blond to her friend with red hair. The said girl giggled covering her mouth.
Around them a set of twins were silently talking about picking the same numbuhs. Chinese operatives were speaking in their native language to each other. At the end of the row an operative started to get deep enough in a day dream to wander around just off stage. The stage wasn't very large but not everyone could see what was going on.
Boom! All of them stared and looked as said boy, Ollie Vaughn, who tripped on the curtain. Several kids ran to help him up as the curtain started to rip from the ceiling. It was like the beginning of the Lizzie McGuire movie all over again. Operatives behind the curtains gasped as the cadets were revealed. Operatives started to wiggle around as they watched it fall and land on top of numbuh 007 in the middle of his beginning speech. 007 stood up with the red curtain making him look like a very sick ghost.
"Ollie," shouted the blond and the redhead in unison helping numbuh 007 with the curtain.
"The boy's an idiot," said the redhead before both her and numbuh 007 fell off the stage. Both of them landed in a heap on the ground without a fail. Numbuh 90 rushed to their aid trying to find the end of the red cloth.
"Bridget!" cried out the blond before hopping back. More cadets were just sitting around and laughing. That is until some kids saw the deserts on the table in the back of the room. Namely, the boys and a few girls with a sweets desire. Without thinking a couple of the boys stood up on their chairs and pointed. The older kids only watched on fascinated about what is going on the stage. None of them interested in stopping them.
"CAKE!"
Throwing out all rules of decorum without putting their booger in the system, several kids ran to the back of the room. Leading the way, two biracial boys were handing out pieces as they came. The operatives that were watching on stood stunned.
"I should have had a smaller speech," moaned out numbuh 007 from underneath the red fabric. The redhead that landed next to him only nodded with a sigh. Struggling to stand up he finally kicked the curtain off of him to stand next to the code module.
"Hey, will Angie A come up and pick a numbuh, thanks!" he shouted. A couple kids started to applaud as a girl in pigtail braids and glasses came up to the stage. She had chosen the numbuh 185 and selected to sector N.
"Ollie V." The boy stood up from his spot and holding water bottle from the cooler at the end of the table. He started walking to the code module. However, not before tripping over his two left feet, and throwing the water on numbuh 007. He smiled before putting his booger into the system. Numbuh 007 spitting out water onto the floor.
"Natalie C."
"Brianna D."
"Nathan E."
"Gary M."
"Yasmine V."
"Jonas G," he said as the boy walked from the back of the room. Cake and icing on his face, as he walked up proudly. His finger already in the system. "Numbuh 29."
"Sector W," said the machine. Numbuh 29 smiled with an awkward grin to numbuh 9x12 as he snapped a photo. Numbuh 29 waved guilty at his siblings in the audience before taking his seat again. Then his friend that helped lead the great cake heist came next.
"Edwin B." Then he came from the back of the room. Apparently he had landed face first into one of the cakes provided. So vanilla icing on his face and clothes walked up to the podium. The worst of it came when he decided to hug numbuh 007 with the icing all over him.
After all the names were called the pictures of each operative mounted in place. A good number of them covered in icing and cake. Then they started to leave with their sectors waiting for their first mission to come the very next day.
Four kids that made up sector W stood in front of the pictures with a look of pride on their faces.
"I can't believe both you lead the great cake heist. Before we even got inducted," said the blond. "And Bridget got stuck in the curtain with numbuh 007."
"You're lucky that I'm nice," joked Bridget before smacking both of them on their shoulders. For being nice that kind of hurt, but both boys just smiled at her. "And Leah, never bring this up again."
"I have a feeling that we are going to do great things," interrupted Jonas before Bridget could insult Edwin. "I have that feeling that if our parents knew about this, they would be proud."
"You think we'll end up like them one day?" asked Bridget absentmindedly gesturing to the door.
The hall next to them was the hall of greatness. The walls stood decorated with pictures of great operatives. They were known for doing great things in the Kids Next Door. The accomplishments ranged from as many missions completed in a row to being rather legendary. The start of it all, a picture of numbuh 0 or Montgomery Uno, standing proudly in his frame. A picture that was generously donated from numbuh 1 himself.
"Maybe one day," said Edwin wistfully.
The Past
"Thomas Waldo Gilligan unlock this door and get out and play," yelled his mother. Betty Gilligan only muttered under her breath about kids these days. Frustrated, he only rolled his eyes at the locked and barred door. In front of said door sat his desk and night stand. He would have his dresser there too but it was too heavy to move. His mother had finally give up, probably throwing her hands in the air. In his room Tommy Gilligan wanted nothing more to stay at home. Today was important to him to stay inside. He had promised his brother, Hoagie, that he could fix this machine. He had promised Hoagie that it would be fixed by the time he got home today. Normally, this wouldn't matter to Tommy but he was eager to tinker with it as much as he could.
He only looked it over confused about what could be going on with it. He had to make this thing work. Otherwise, Hoagie wouldn't give him any more machines to work on. Then he'd have to make all his own by scratch and while it's not difficult to make something like that, it is just easier to build off of. He had many different machines and devices surrounding him in his room made both ways. Tommy could always fix what he could, but his machines didn't always really work. There was nothing he could do to easily fix it.
He muttered under his breath looking closely at the machine. It was a mix between a clock and an old fashioned video camera. Tommy ran his hand through his auburn hair. Cross is the worst way to describe his emotion right now, but it was how he was feeling. He turned and looked out his window to see his brother riding his bike down the street. Around him four others followed in suit. Hoagie wasn't even going to stick around the neighborhood to check on him later.
Tommy looked down at his machine and tried to use more duct tape. He was hoping that Hoagie would come and check in with him. He was going to prove to his brother that he could fix any machine. Right now, he couldn't help but think that he had an unfixable device, although it looked a lot better than it did when he first got it. He didn't know what it would do but at least it would work now. He bet that even Hoagie didn't even know what it did. Glumly, Tommy just added the string to the clock part. Now, he wished that he had found his friends this morning. He kept pulling the string little by little.
Sonia lives 5 streets away.
He pulled the string again.
Lee lives near the elementary school.
He pulled the string again.
Paddy was older then him, but he would probably love to play. He had a brother, Shaunie, who would be eager to play as well. Tommy didn't really know their family but they seemed nice from what Sonia and Lee said. Tommy originally meet Shaunie and Paddy through them.
He pulled the string again.
Through Sonia and Lee, he meet Harvey McKenzie. Kids like Harvey makes Tommy glad that he quit the Kids Next Door. He was bossy and got his way because his sister is numbuh 362. And numbuh 362 is awesome in her own right. However, operatives like Harvey made him want to interfere in KND missions and show him up. Tommy rather liked working alone.
He pulled the string again.
Hoagie would love to play with him…. sometimes. He was busy today playing with his friends today though. Maybe just fixing a machine wasn't on the agenda today. Tommy just wanted to play with his brother.
He pulled the string again and let it go. The clock on the camera kept spinning clock wise past all the numbers. Tommy liked the way it could spin. Just how fast it could go reminded him of a spinning top. He must have pulled the string about 25 times already. It had past the twelve at least twice.
That was when the room started to spin. Everything started to change around him. The room started to change. His room went from a mess to clean. The walls changed from white to green to blue. Machines changed to food, robots, and weights. Finally, the final form turned into books and more advanced gadgetry. However, all that changed when a bright light surrounded him. He could hear voices surround him whispering. Then somewhere behind all of the voices he heard the screaming. In the light he could see figures talking and moving about.
"The list was stolen."
"You know who took it."
"The delightfullization chamber WORKS?"
"Who is he?"
"How'd he get in?"
Now
He could feel his back pressed against hardwood floor. The back of his neck hurt from the weird crook of his body from his fall. From where he was laying he could make out the sound of birds chirping. A car passing by down the street. The sound of kids yelling and running seemed like music to his ear. For the past couple of minutes –or was it seconds? - he heard nothing but whispers and shadows around him. So the everyday noises were pleasant to his ears.
Above him looked like branches from a nearby window. It sounded like he was in a treehouse; judging by how close the chirps were and the branches. This wasn't really his street because there wasn't anyone that had a treehouse on his street. Nigel's house was two away from his own.
Tommy looked around and saw a blue couch in the middle of it, just two feet shy where he landed. He sat himself up and found no one. The clock read 8:07 a.m. in a bright purple florescent light. The KND news was on the TV indicating that someone was indeed awake. To his left was a hallway leading to what he guessed was bedrooms. Slowly, he crept out of the main room and started to follow the hall that seemed to come to a dead end. This was for sure not his brother's treehouse.
Peeking in the first room had nothing but rows upon rows of rainbow monkeys. Some of them in neon colors and others that reminded him of rainbow sherbet ice cream. There was even a rainbow monkey backpack sitting at the door. Even the furniture looked like rainbow monkeys, judging by the shape of the bed. Someone was clearly obsessed with the product. Since the door was already opened he just walked by and looked in the other.
The next room looked like it belonged to one of the delightful children. Everything was clean and tidy. The bed looked like it hadn't been slept on without a wrinkle on it. Books filled the shelves with titles like The Hobbit, Madeline, and Harry Potter. Nothing was out of place and what caught his eye was the school picture still in the envelope. A girl smiled up at him with a wide happy smile. Her dark red hair pulled halfway up and halfway down. The girl looked like someone he knew. Tommy noticed a school notebook labeled English Notebook across it. On the first page stamped across the front was Bridget, Grade 2, homeroom Mrs. Jackson.
Confused and a little desperate to find out more, he slide on over into the next room. This was looked more up to his speed with a poster of the Doctor on his door. The room had a model of some science experiments set up. In the corner near the window stood a model of the solar system. The bed was messy and toys littered across the floor. The window was open and steam coming from the nearby bathroom showed that someone was there.
Quickly he exited and didn't bother going into the last bedroom. For all he knew someone was still sleeping in that room. Tommy made his way back to the main room. As soon as he got there he saw a girl with long blond hair and their eyes locked with each other. Before he could run far away, he turned and hit his head on a low beam that was not there before. The last thing he remembered was the girl running toward him.
Leah only looked surprised when she saw the new person in her treehouse. She had just been selected sector leader and nothing was supposed to surprise her. Well, kind of. She loved surprise parties and she always got surprised even if they weren't for her. Or if she knew about them then she would get surprised too. Anyway, back to the situation at hand. What should she do? First off he seemed to have knocked himself unconscious on the beam that they were supposed to fix. The next thing she thought of what he could be doing here. Almost every sector got an ally or he had to some kind of spy. And if he is a spy, he's a pretty bad one since he had no weapon on him. Then he got caught, so that would be a pretty horrible spy. Hmm, this was kind of interesting to say the least.
Ever so gently, or as gentle as she can be, she put her head on his chest listening for a heartbeat. Then her small fingers found his pulse on his neck. Both were pumping so Leah knew he wasn't dead. Now the only thing she didn't know was why he was here. Or how he got in… Well, he could have opened the door and got in that way. Why would he be here though? Gah, she had to start working on this kind of stuff as sector leader.
Compared to the other sectors they were amateurs and have yet to go on an actually real mission. Just graduated the other day actually and introduced to a position she wasn't sure that she entirely wanted. Just the thought of that made her overcome with joy at the idea. Not only that, but she didn't really go through the medic unit to help the boy that was in their tree house. That's Bridget's job and she had to somewhere in this huge treehouse. Or did she go home last night? So instead of thinking about it, Leah did the next best thing.
"Oi, Bridget! Bridget! Where are you!?" she called as the boy started to stir some. Leah had turned to notice him wake up. That was when her rainbow monkey backpack, filled to the brim with heavy textbooks, hit him square in the face. She should not have turned so fast because now he passed out again. Forgetting about the bag on her back, she only shrugged before muttering, "Whoopsies."
Well, they sure weren't going to school today to turn in last minute textbooks. Quickly, she started to run around the treehouse yelling her teammate's name. What to do? What to do?
"Bridget! Bridget! Where are you?!"
Appearing in the door way to the rest of the treehouse, the yelling attracted her friend, Jonas, as he got out of his shower. He Jonas only scowled a bit at Leah's ranting. She was supposed to be a professional. Not only that but he had to get out of the shower, he hated to admit it but he liked being clean. Just the thought of getting down and dirty in moon dust just grossed him out. Or least made him want to wipe his hands off first. Jonas turned and saw why Leah might be yelling about. Just there, not even five feet from him, lay a boy that looked familiar to him. A little too familiar to him. Slowly, he creeped closer to the boy. Could it be? No, no, it couldn't actually be him. Before he could get any closer, Leah had gone in a complete circle around the treehouse, and back to his side. She was still yelling loudly for their other friend.
"Jonas where's Bridget?" she shouted in his ear, her hands forming a fist at her sides. Jonas knew Leah all his life and it all of a sudden occur to him that she was annoying? Wait, he knew that, because she was the one that cried when the canceled Rainbow Monkey Teens. That show was annoying to everyone who watched it, excluding Leah of course.
"Leah, Bridget isn't here, she went home last night for some kind of spaghetti dinner," he said trying to calm the girl down. Leah had stopped short, smiling because she remembered that Bridget was gone for the day. She took a breath and Jonas looked at the boy curiously. It looked exactly like… No, that's not possible.
"What do we do about him?" asked Leah before quickly adding, "I mean if you were sector leader." She bit her lip not daring to admit that she might need some help with her position of leadership. All the new sector leaders felt that way, right? They were still new to this entire kid's next door business that they might as well be allies. Jonas looked curiously at the boy before turning back to Leah.
"I would try to wake him up and see why he's here. Maybe we get an ally!" he said getting excited by the idea, pushing the thought of who it could be away. Allies were cool and it would awesome if they got one. Allies were usually assigned to sectors that generally had more experience, though. Sectors that were targeted more often than the new ones. Still, the thought excited Jonas. Leah didn't want to tell Jonas that she was suspecting him of being a spy.
Both of them looked up when they heard the door of the treehouse open. In the middle of the doorway stood a seven-year-old girl. This is the girl that Leah was yelling for not even five minutes ago. Before the girl could drop off her overnight bag, Leah was all over her.
"Situation-we-got-a-knocked-out kid-in-the-middle-of-our-floor," she said quickly. The girl only looked like this happened every day before going to get a medic kit from somewhere in the treehouse. To be honest no one but her seemed to know where it was. Leah and Jonas were going to have to learn sooner or later. Most likely the later. This happened to be the exact reason Leah and Jonas couldn't really help the boy. Scoffing, she turned to Tommy and started by putting a brown wrap around his head. Leah and Jonas got in close to watch her do her job.
Bridget got a glass of water for the pain killers he would be taking. As soon as the ice hit his head the boy shot up really fast and everyone stepped away a bit.
Tommy studied the three children that stood around him. He remembered waking up and then promptly get a face full of something in his face. He spit a little and out came some colored thread. He focused his eyes and looked around. To his right a girl with pin straight blond hair and brown eyes looked down at him. She was kinda pretty standing there in a yellow skirt that stopped just above her knee, navy and white shoes, and a navy striped with white shirt. He just looked at her the longest before sliding his eyes over. Just next to her stood a boy with slightly tanned skin.
Finally, stood another girl stood a redhead in two long ponytails. She looked really familiar. This girl wore a teal long sleeve sweater dress with a brown belt on her hips. She looked friendly enough with a concerned look on her face for him.
"Where am I? Who are you?" he asked trying hard not to sound scared. No, Tommy Gilligan was going to be as cool as he could be. Then the back of his head started to hurt really badly. "What happened to me?" They didn't seem like threats in fact they looked to be his age. The three seven or eight-year-olds shared a look with each other than back down at him.
"I thought you knew what happened to you," said the redhead with a smirk on her face.
All of them looked a little familiar to him in little ways. The girl with red hair handed him a painkiller and water, which he took and gulped down quickly. Then she started to bandage a cut he had on his hand from the first fall. Tommy didn't even notice that he had it. Instead, he found himself just trying to understand what was going on. He had fixed the machine that Hoagie had given him. He started to play with the hands of the clock. He just kept turning it until he decided to get up for a drink. Then he found himself falling and falling and falling until landing in front of a kitchen door.
His head hurt but he didn't feel that he hit it that hard. Tommy could feel the thickness of the brown bandage across his forehead. The girl had already fixed his head when he banged it and judging from touching it, a good job. From the corner of his eye Tommy could make out another figure still dressed in his sleeping clothes. He even had on one of those old fashioned night caps on his head. The boy only walked over, scratching his head and watching them. Then turning back to his room only to return fully dressed.
"How many fingers am I holding up?" asked the blond girl, as he turned back to her.
"Three," he said.
"What is 2 plus 2?" she asked again.
"Four."
"What's today's date?"
"November 20, 2007."
All of the four children shared a look with each other. Curious, Tommy only looked around trying to understand why they were so lost. The calendar on the wall behind them read July 17, 2040. The digital clock that read the date, also said 07/17/40. The KND news running on the TV said the date was July 17. Outside the sun was already beating down on the black pavement.
"What's the capital of Mississippi?" continued the girl.
"Er, Tallahassee?" he guessed. He didn't know what the capital of Mississippi. The girl looked satisfied with his answer. So he decided to go back to his questioning. "Who are you?"
The redhead looked at her friends before confirming what they would tell him. It looked like they had talked about this already – How long had he been out of it?
"I think you have a mild concussion. I mean you knew how many fingers I was holding up and basic math. But you didn't know today's date and the capital of Mississippi. By the way I'm Numbuh 26 if that answers your question," said the redhead.
"I'm numbuh 27!" cried out the blond girl happily.
"Numbuh 29," said the African American boy. He had the same (somewhat) dark skin like Abby. Then a bit of a chubby body like his neighbor. On his head sat a dark blue hat, on his hand fingerless gloves, and around his neck a red bandana; finally, he wore a black t-shirt and blue jeans all ending in white sneakers.
"Numbuh 28," said the new boy with spikey black hair. He looked a bit like numbuh 25 but he could tell they weren't really siblings. The boy had on what looked like black combat boots, green cargo pants, and a maroon sweater. On his head sat a maroon beret that matched his sweater. Then on his back a camo backpack. Well he had answered their question but that still didn't explain why he thought he knew them.
Finally, he wanted to say something before they thought he lost his voice. So he turned to the redhead and out came the stupidest remark. Tommy could finally place where he knew the girl. "You look like numbuh 86."
The girl only rolled her blue eyes. "Everyone says that I look like my mom. You're not the first to tell me that."
My mom? Wait a second July 2040. July 2040. July. 2040. He, Thomas Waldo Gilligan, had fixed a time machine. Tommy had fixed a time machine… A time machine that actually worked. He honestly didn't know what he was fixing but this is amazing. A shiver ran up his spine in joy. This could probably be a joke but everything seemed to work. The date on the TV had to be correct, those don't change that easy. The funnies from the adult Sunday paper he saw on the counter had to be right. The KND news network didn't exactly lie. He was in the future. He was looking at future operatives and one of them had to be numbuh 86s child. The proof was in the face.
He closed his eyes and pinched himself hard to make sure this wasn't some kind of dream. He opened them and saw that all four kids were still surrounding him. This was awesome! He was in the future and he could see everything that happened to him in the future. Tommy wanted to see everything that the future holds. He'd do anything if it meant getting his tongue stuck to a pole ala A Christmas Story. Even if it meant taking away his memory afterward. At least he got a taste of what he wanted to see. What if he was stuck here though? Before he could ponder on that thought the other kids started to speak.
"If it helps me real name is Leah," said the blond. He looked at her and saw how he knew her. She looked like a cross between Lee and Sonia. Her blond hair and long bangs must have come from Lee. Her dark playful brown eyes reminded him tons of Sonia. Oh gosh, Tommy thought she was pretty and he shouldn't be saying that about his friend's kids.
"I'm Bridget," said the redhead.
"Edwin," said the boy in maroon.
"Jonas," said the other boy.
Tommy was about to say something else but the TV in the kitchen went off. Somehow, they had made their way into the kitchen to get some breakfast. Only Bridget wasn't eating food. On the screen stood a girl in front of a plain dark green background. Before he could properly react to her, Leah had pushed him onto the ground hiding him before he could be noticed.