Good Morning, Good Afternoon, Good Evening. Welcome to the first chapter of 'Numbuh 322'! The 7th in my series in have dubbed 'Legends Universe'! This story is preceded by 'Numbuh C4', which is also being written at the time of this publishing.
This story follows the adventures of an OC character, try to keep an open mind!
Warning: Before you start reading, note the 'T' rating. That's PG-13 in my book. I'm pushing PG-13.
Legends Universe: Story 7
Numbuh 322
28 September, 2005
The Jungle was loud, she recalled. She had no clue where in the world she was, last thing she recalled was being thousands of miles above the ocean on a plane to visit her mother in Mexico. Now the plane was in pieces, black smoke fuming out the engines and survivors funneling out of the various broken sections. She heard children crying. There were adults, some hurt, others shouting profanities.
The Jungle was loud, like someone held a trumpet to her head and went to town playing Yankee Doodle. She could feel the eyes watching her from the tree line, their dark intent glowering down on them.
She felt powerless. The world had taken a cruel turn and subjected her to the island and its vast jungle of beasts. The plane died. The people screamed. She's back there standing in the wreckage as the world fell apart. She's back there on the Island knowing no one would come and save them.
The eyes were looking down at her. They were staring into her soul, searching for weakness. She was there, staring into the blank eyes of nature, succumbing to the shock. She recalled blinking, opening her eyes and watching the horror unfold.
She was there on the Island.
"-talk about The Island-"
But now she's on The Moon Base.
Kayla Valera was her name. Daughter of a seamstress in Mexico and prison warden in America. To many she was the girl on the plane that crashed that one time. Other times she was Numbuh 322, loyal operative of the Kids Next Door.
She snaps out of her thoughts, turning and looking at the KND appointed therapist sitting behind the desk in front of her. Numbuh 113 was younger than herself, not by much however. She had glasses and spoke in a manner that portrayed maturity beyond her years. For the most part, that unsettled her.
"Numbuh 322, are you listening?" Numbuh 113 spoke
"Sorry." Numbuh 322 apologized halfheartedly. "You were saying?"
"I think it's time that we discussed The Island." Numbuh 113 said, keeping her eyes trained on Numbuh 322, hoping to identify any odd shifts in her body language.
"I think that topic has been talked to death." Numbuh 322 muttered. "My plane crashed. I got off the Island. End of story."
"I think you're downplaying your experience." Numbuh 113 leaned forward, resting her elbows on her wooden desk, pressing her index fingers against her nose. "Sometimes after traumatic events, we recede. We shut ourselves in and keep others out."
"We're the ids Next Door, we build trees on Moons." Numbuh 322 retorted. "If anything, what I experienced was baby stuff compared to what we do."
"Baby stuff?" Numbuh 113 raised a brow. "An odd choice of wording, Kayla."
Numbuh 322's eyes narrowed, staring at her appointed therapist with contempt filled eyes. "I'd prefer you address me by my code number."
"Noted." Numbuh 113 remarked. "But why 'Baby Stuff'?"
"I'm an operative like you, Numbuh 113." Numbuh 322 shrugged, not really in the mood to talk any longer. "I'm one in a thousand. I can take a little plane crash."
"Except there were two hundred other souls on that flight." Numbuh 113 sat back in her chair, recalling from memory the headlines of various newspapers and twenty four hour media coverage. "'Brave girl found adrift. Leads rescue to Missing Plane'. The media spun it for a couple of days, omitting your KND connections of course. Can't have an operative saving adults now, they might start to like us."
"Are we done yet?" Numbuh 322 asked, slumping in her chair slightly.
"Our session will conclude after I'm satisfied with today's progress." Numbuh 113 answered plainly. "One final question."
"Shoot." Numbuh 322
"You landed on the island on a plane. They found you on a raft at sea. Those are the facts that 'have' been discussed to death." Numbuh 113 began. "You were on the Island for a month. What happened to you there?"
She's back on the island again. The animals all around her, their fur changing rapidly, blending wand standing out all at the same time. She recalled screaming, but couldn't discern who was screaming. Was it the adults? Or Numbuh 322 herself?
"I-I…" Numbuh 322 held a hand to her forehead as she thought for a moment. "I don't remember. We good?"
Numbuh 113 let out a sigh. "Yes, I guess." Numbuh 322 got up from where she sat, grabbing her combat satchel by the chair legs and walking for the door. "Numbuh 274 has us scheduled for another session tomorrow, Numbuh 322. Don't forget!"
Numbuh 322 waved her hand up, acknowledging her appointed therapist without looking back. She reached out for the door handle and was gone out the door.
Location Unknown
Teen Ninja Hideout
Within a marble room with red and black tapestries resided a circular desk. Around the desk sat ten teens, some wearing Battle Ready Armor, others in normal civilian attire. As of late, the Teen Ninjas had suffered a huge blow in their intelligence gathering operations. Deep operatives uncovered and exposed.
"Why'd you call this meeting, Natasha?" A girl with long blonde hair asked dryly as she leaned in her seat, addressing a girl across the table who appeared to be dressed in formal wear who just now took her seat.
The girl raised a brow. "I thought you called this meeting, ma'am. Your building, your unit."
"Yeah, I thought it was you ma'am." An armored teen spoke up.
"Actually, I called you all here." Ten pairs of eyes shot to the door. Standing in the entrance was a boy in purple Battle Ready Armor, flanked on his left by a hooded girl in standard armor.
"Reese Martin." The blonde haired girl let out a slight sigh. "You have half a minute to explain yourself before I have Varsity Linemen escort you the hell out of here."
"Relax, ma'am, I'm just here to talk. It's a meeting after all." The boy in purple armor, Reese, played of the threat. He sauntered towards the table and began to walk around the gathered ten teens.
"Recently, I can't help but notice we've hit a snag in operations." Reese addressed the gathered teens. "Years of undercover work gone in a day. A day. The KND just pulled the rug out from under us and we're falling."
"Get to the point, Reese." The blonde ordered, visibly irritated.
"Those snot nosed brats won." Reese spat, causing many of the teens to glare at him. The blonde remained unmoved. "They won, a battle." He added. "Me and my associate, Galil." He gestured to his companion standing in the doorway. "The two of us have been thinking, and we say it's time we struck back."
"How do you suppose we do that?" The girl, Natasha spoke up. "We're an intelligence agency. We infiltrate and gather said intelligence."
"You think too small Natasha." Reese laughed. "We already possess the means to do anything we want. We could've been rid of the KND years ago! Yet we just stood in the shadows blending in, passing on useless information when we could've been slitting throats or accidently launching operatives out of airlocks!"
"You're not about to suggest we put a bomb on a plane again?" Natasha said in disgust.
"No." Reese stated bluntly. "I'm going to put a bomb on the Moon Base."
"You're a god damn terrorist you know that?" One of the teens shouted angrily.
"Sticks and stones, man. Sticks and stones." Reese laughed. "Think about it. We blow up the Moon Base, the KND will be in disarray. It will be chaos and a mad dash to get everything back in order."
"Heck!" Reese shouted smugly. "You can even take the places of some of the kids caught in the explosion. That should constitute as intelligence gathering."
"This is insane!" Natasha shouted. "He said this with the plane months ago! Have any of you forgotten? He blew up a plane with a KND operative on it! People died and the kid lived!"
"Well how about it then?" Reese turned to the blonde. "How about it ma'am? All those dead kids would provide the perfect opportunity to infiltrate the KND all over again. What took years we'd be able to do in minutes."
The blonde haired girl narrowed her eyes, glaring at Reese. "I've never been one for mass murder. But such an event would be a god shot for our organization. A crippled Kids Next Door and the perfect opportunity to once again shadow their ranks from within."
"Ma'am, you can't honestly be going along with this guy's madness?" Natasha
"It appears I am." The blonde muttered. "You'd best be off then Reese, all of Leviathan's resources are at your disposal. Just get it done."
"Thank you ma'am, you won't be disappointed." Reese smirked. He turned for the doorway and practically skipped out the room, followed closely behind by Galil.
"What have we just done?" Natasha shouted, mortified.
"You didn't do anything, Natasha." The blonde stood from her seat and began to walk towards the exit. "Whatever happens is on me. I'll report to The Steve and inform him of Reese's plan. I need you all to report to our agents and prepare them for infiltration. This will be our finest hour whether we like it or not."
"Long live Leviathan." She said coldly as she left the room.
Thank you for reading 'Numbuh 322'! 'Til next time my dear reader! Later Days!
