Hey!

So most reader will probably have no idea who I am, which is good because I'm trying for as clean a slate as possible here, but if you do happen to be someone who read my work before my very long hiatus followed by the writing purge: Sorry! I know there were at least a few people upset about the purge. I've been confronted about why I removed my stories and even had at least one request for putting them back up somewhere. I am so appreciative of that support, so thank you! However, I'm afraid I didn't have any of those stories backed up, so their last to the ether, and quite frankly, there's a reason I deleted them. I didn't like them. I felt the characters were kind of flat and all over the place, I didn't like the style, and I felt the plot lines were unfocused and messy. However, since I can't(And wouldn't if I could) give you back those stories, instead I give you this plotline I've been working on.

For any miracle reader that happens to be familiar with my old work, you may see some familiar faces. I've kept some of my, as well as reader, favorites as far as OCs go, they're just revamped and in some cases(Or maybe most is a better word) very different from their originals. If there are any OC's yoou particularly liked and would like to see again, please tell me and I'll see if I can fit them in.

As for this, it is actually kind of a side series of scenes to explain circumstances we will see in my actual full story(Which I do hope I will get to put up). There will be at least a few of these chapters before I start the other story because they actually lead up to the start of the story and then sort of parallel what's going on elsewhere. Sounds complicated I know, but trust me it's not really'^.^

Okay, I'm done babbling because most of you guys probably didn't even read all of this anyways^.^

I don't own KND. Just in case anyone had their doubts. .

~What You Have to Do~

"Did you hear about Numbuh 11?"

Rachel McKenzie looked up from her sandwich. Patton-no he was Numbuh 60 now. It was funny how little time it took to develop a habits that would be nearly impossible to kick later. She had known the dark-haired boy as Patton for only two months before he took his codename, but that was plenty of time for him to permanently become Patton in her head. Even now, more than six months after their cadet graduations, she still couldn't make herself remember Numbuh 60. Regardless, he was approaching them with a box in his hands, grinning that crooked, ever-amused grin. Fanny-Numbuh 86- looked up from her work wrapping an operative's arm. Rachel was sitting cross-legged on the bed right next to where she was working and that's where Patton set down his box and hopped up to sit. "Abigail Lincoln's older sister?"

Rachel smiled a little around her food, glad to see that she wasn't the only one struggling to remember to call their classmates by codenames and also wondering why the other girl even needed to ask. Numbuh 11 was a legend. Abigail was even more so. Not every cadet could say they'd already been on KND missions before the first day of training. Numbuh 60 nodded in answer to Numbuh 86's question opening his box and pulling out his lunch. He wore the KND guard uniform, green shirt and cargo pants with black pads on his shins, elbows, and chest. He'd removed his strainer helmet, emblazoned with his codename, and his gun, the best model 2x4 technicians could muster because Moon Base gaurds deserved nothing less. He'd placed both behind him. "She went rogue."

"What?" Rachel asked, swallowing. "Why?"

"She turns thirteen tomorrow. Guess she decided she couldn't keep her oaths after all," Patton replied with a shrug. He bit into his sandwich. Rachel hated how non-chalant he made it. Defecting was the worst crime Rachel could imagine. On the day you graduated you swore to stay loyal to the KND and then a person could turn around and throw all of that away over something they knew was coming all along? And here was Patton, acting like it wasn't anything, it was even a little funny too him. She dropped her sandwich, her appetite gone. "It's a real shame. She was such a good operative, now her reputations going to be completely ruined all because she couldn't give up a few memories."

Fanny shook her head and muttered about teenagers, accidentally pulling too hard on the bandages she was working on and making the boy yelp. "Anyways," Patton went on, "you can guess what kind of trouble she's causing. I mean, there's a reason basically every operative knows her name, wants to be her. The entire decommissioning team went after her and she still got away. They say she beat them up so bad doing it that they had to send the team to an adult hospital because the damage was too extensive for KND medics."

"That's a loud of crap," Numbuh 86 informed him. "I would have known long before you if the entire decommisssioning team had been brought in as injured as you say, and anyway, nothing's too extensive for me."

"You're barely an operative," the patient informed her grumpily, "and you're wrapping that too tight!"

Numbuh 86 snapped, "It's supposed to be tight, stupid."

"Regardless of what you're ego tells you can and can't be true," Numbuh 60 pressed on, ignoring Numbuh 86 when she stuck her tongue out at him. "Something pretty bad had to have happened because the Supreme Leader's going after her himself." At that bit of news even the injured operative took a break from glaring at Numbuh 86 to stare at Patton in awe. "It's true. I was standing guard ouside his office. Saw him leave myself. He took quite a few combat-specializing officers with him as well."

"But he didn't take you," Fanny observed, seeming to find this short-coming highly amusing. Numbuh 60 only shrugged and asserted that he wasn't experienced enough to take on Numbuh 11 anyways.

"He's right about that. Numbuh 11 would eat any one of you babies for breakfast," Number 86's patient observed as the fiery-haired girl pinned the bandage and let him up. "Numbuh 274 is the best, though. If anyone's going to take her out it's him."

As though on cue, the door burst open then and a small flood of officers entered, some limping or supporting teammates. One carried a smaller operative in his arms. Rachel leapt off of the bed at the sight of the tall, blond operative, her heart racing. There was no operative active that didn't know the supreme leader on sight, even without the catcher's chest protecor that displayed 274 across it. He looked around frantically as he laid the unconscious girl on the closest bed. "Where's Numbuh 911?" He demanded. His hair was plastered back from his face by thick, red gunk. Rachel had never seen his eyes before, she didn't think anyone had, they were usually covered by the blond locks. Today, however, they were visible and concerned.

"He went to lunch," Numbuh 86 replied, staring around at the wave of injured, seeming at a lose. Rachel wanted to laugh at the irony. It seemed despite all her talk before even Numbuh 86 could be overwhelmed. "What happened?"

"Cree," one of the operatives said simply.

The blond boy pointed to Numbuh 86's patient and told him, "Go get Numbuh 911! Now!" The boy gaped like a fish, eyes wide and focused on the red gunk making tracks down Numbuh 274's face and staining the collar of his pale blue t-shirt. "Now!" Numbuh 274 repeated, louder this time and the harshness of the word seemed to rouse the patient who stood shakily and left the room at a run. Fanny ran to the back and returned with a kit of bandages and needles and thread.

"Supreme Leader, sir," she started as she hurried to the blond boy. "You're bleeding. You should let me look."

Numbuh 274 waved her off. "My head's fine. Cree just nicked me with a knife."

"She had a knife!" Patton gasped, mouth falling open. No one had trained them against knives, their enemies didn't normally use them.

Numbuh 274 went on as though he hadn't heard the interruption. "It's Numbuh 12 that needs help. Stupid kid tried to track down Cree and bring her back. They were teammates, so she thought she could get through to her." He shook his head. "She was unconscious when we found her. I don't know what Cree did."

Fanny hesitated. "Sir," she started slowly. "You're the Supreme Leader-"

"And I'm ordering you to take care of Numbuh 12!" Numbuh 274 told her shortly. She jumped at the edge to his voice, then nodded. She turned and threw the kit to Rachel.

"Here, Numbuh 362 will fix your head!"

"What?" Rachel gawked, fumbling with the kit. "But I have no medic training!" But Numbuh 86 wasn't listening. She was busy following Numbuh 274's orders. Numbuh 274 lingered near the bed as she started her work, but at a sharp word from the young medic, he started edging toward Rachel. Her heart skipped several beats as she saw him coming towards her. She tried to pass the kit to Numbuh 60 who stumbled away quickly, objecting:

"Oh no! I'm not a medic!"

"Well I'm not either!" She hissed, trying again, but he turned on his heel and ran out, leaving behind his half finished lunch and his helmet and gun. Rachel groaned and turned back around to face Numbuh 274 who was suddenly right beside her, towering over her with one hand outstretched. He smiled reassuringly at her.

"It's okay," he said in a kind voice, very different from the loud bark he had been using not moments before. "I was a medic when I first got out of Cadets Next Door. I'll walk you through it."

Rachel gulped, nodding and handed over the kit. Numbuh 274 took a seat on the bed on which her lunch and Numbuh 60's belongings still sat. He pulled open the top and removed what looked like a giant version of the q-tip her mom used to clean out her ears- and sometimes her nose-, a bottle of orange-looking stuff, a needle and thread, and a syringe. Rachel gulped. He held the syringe out to her and she cringed. "What's wrong?" He asked, frowning. His eyes flickered between her and the needle in his hand. They were a really bright blue- his eyes- pretty, but also thoughtful, intelligent. Since the day she had first seen him, she'd always wondered how he could even see with his hair in his face all the time. Now that seemed like a trivial thing to wonder about. She'd always wonder now why he would ever want to cover them up. If she had eyes that incredible, she'd show them off all the time.

She'd gotten so caught up in her own thoughts she hadn't even noticed the spark in those very eyes when he realized what was wrong without her answer. But when he spoke she realized they were now sparkling with the same boyish amusement she had always associated with Numbuh 60. "Are you afraid of needles?"

"Not afraid," she defended, crossing her arms and sticking her nose up. Somehow he seemed far less intimidating when he was sitting there thinking she was funny. It seemed to remind her that he was just another boy to tease her about stupid things. "I just don't like them."

"Well it's not like it's for you," he told her with a laugh. Now he definitely wasn't scary. She snatched the needle away and he pointed out a spot near the place where his scalp had been sliced open. "Just stick it in and push the top part all the way down."

She did as instructed and when she was done he took the syringe and tossed it in a red box that read, "Medical waste". Then he picked up the bottle of gross-looking orange stuff and dipped the big Q-tip inside. When he handed the Q-tip to her he explained, "Now you use this to clean the cut and the skin around it."

So that's what Rachel did. While she was at work with that Numbuh 274 tried to strick up a conversation. "So what's you're name, kid?"

"Numbuh 362."

He laughed. She had to put in a lot of effort not to scowl. She didn't think there was anything funny abut the codename she'd chosen. "You're real name." Oh. She felt her cheeks go hot. Of course he wasn't actually laughing at her codename. She was just to wound up from the situation, she told herself, she wasn't actually that crazy. When she hesitated trying to convince herself of that he seemed to take that as uncertainty about revealing her actual name because he added, "Aww come on. I'm about to let you sew my head closed. The least you can do is tell me your name."

Right. "Rachel."

"Rachel," he repeated, sounding pleased, as though the name fit just right on his tongue. "That's a good name; not too boyish but not obnoxiously cute. I'm Chad." Rachel didn't respond, afraid she might say something stupid. She just focused on cleaning instead. Her silence didn't deter Chad. He just kept talking. "Talk about an obnoxious name, huh? Sounds like I'm already a stupid teenager."

If you don't say something he'd going to think you're stuck up. Then he'll hate you and that's the last thing you need; the supreme leader hating you, Her brain hissed at her. "Maybe someone should check on that. Make sure you didn't change your age in the system or something," she managed.

The idea seemed to amuse Chad. He chuckled and asked, "Is that possible?"

Rachel shrugged. "If a cadet can hack into the computer and change their test scores I don't know why the Supreme Leader can't hack in and change his age."

"A cadet did what?"

Rachel nearly dropped the big q-tip, now a gross looking rusty brown between the stuff from the bottle and Chad's blood. "What?" She asked in a panic, trying and failing to sound innocent. Way to go, genius. Maybe next you should tell him Numbuh 86's dad makes plots to get rid of his employees children or that you secretly love brussel sprouts. Chad looked up at her and opened his mouth to say something, but at that moment Numbuh 86 grabbed her by the arm and pulled her aside.

"We have a problem," the medic whispered, glancing around as though worried someone may here. Rachel's relief at being saved from explaining her stupid slip up faded almost instantly. She glanced at Chad, who was staring intently at them and moved Fanny a little further away, turning their backs in his direction, but keeping her head turned so she could watch him from the corner of her eye.

"What is it?"

"I don't know what's wrong with that girl...Numbuh 12." Judging from the scowl she wore it was a painful thing to admit. "There's no sign of injury at all. It's like Cree just gave her some sort of sleeping draught."

Rachel considered. "Maybe she did. Maybe she didn't want to hurt her own teammate."

Numbuh 86 shook her head. "I don't think so. Her breathing is weird and her heart. I don't know how to explain it, it was just...off."

"Is everything okay?" Chad called and when Rachel glanced back at him he was getting to his feet. She held a hand out to stop him.

"It's okay," she assured. "She's just saying we need some more hands, but that guy should be back with Numbuh 911 soon, right?" She looked at Fanny, trying to reassure her and warn her to stay calm and not cause alarm all at the same time. The medic seemed to get the message because she nodded and went calmly over to look at a boy whose leg was turned at an unnatural angle.

Rachel went back to Chad, who was glaring suspiciously at her. "What is really going on?"

Rachel ignored him and finished cleaning the cut, but Chad was determined and tricky. He kept slipping in little comments as she worked trying to throw her off. He demanded to know why Numbuh 86 wasn't working on Numbuh 12 mostly and didn't take, "Numbuh 12 is fine." for an answer. Every time he insisted she wasn't fine and he knew it. Not even walking her through how to use the needle and thread to sew his scalp closed deterred his insistent questions. He just fitted them between instructions. Finally, just as Rachel thought she might crack and tell him the truths, she was saved when the doors burst open and Patton rushed in, closely followed by an older operative with a shock of dark hair, wearing a white lab coat with 911 drawn crudely in marker across its front. Rachel wondered briefly what had happened to the injured kid that had been sent to look for the head medic.

"What happened?" Numbuh 911 demanded, looking around. Fanny flushed with relief at the sight of him.

"The patient in Bed 2 needs immediate help, sir," She started instantly, rushing across the room. "I'm not sure what's wrong with her…" and she preceded to talk with him in a hushed voice. Numbuh 274 looked at Rachel, his eyes suddenly devoid of that boyish amusement.

"Numbuh 12 is fine, huh?" She blushed fiercely, but didn't justify his comment with an answer. She only moved to start fixing his head, but he brushed her off, standing and heading towards the bed where the medics were crouching over the injured operative. She grabbed his arm and said in a quiet voice, "You'd only be in their way. Trust the medics to do their jobs."

He stood perfectly still for a long time, just staring at her, but she didn't back down. This was important, she knew it in her gut. It was important that Numbuh 274 stayed right where he was instead of going across the room to breath down Numbuh 911's neck and she couldn't let the fact that he was older and the supreme leader and very intimidating when he wanted to be get in the way of that. Not when it was this important. He seemed to get the message, because he sat slowly, glaring resentfully at her the entire time.

But despite his choosing to stay there, Rachel couldn't get the supreme leader to stay still. He kept shifting to watch as Numbuh 911 examined the young operative, frowning. There was a long few moments when the head medic stopped his examination all-together. He just stepped away from the bed and stared at nothing, mouth moving silently. Numbuh 86 searched his face, horrified and kept demanding he stop standing around and do something.

Then Rachel saw it. A moment of horrible light in the medic's eyes and he reapproached the patient and began searching over her body with his fingertips. Numbuh 86 looked scandalized. "What are you doing?"

"Here!" The medic cried as though he hadn't heard Numbuh 86. Rachel couldn't see what he had found, something just under the hem of the girl's tee shirt, "She must have raised her arm to protect her face and revealed the skin here." He then raised the arm on the same side and pointed out something on the underside, "see it caught her here too."

Numbuh 86's mouth hung askew, brow furrowed. "What is it?"

"Marks from a T.A.Z.E.R," He replied, bustling around now to lay the operative on her back and strap her down to the bed. Rachel frowned and looked to see if the supreme leader understood what he was talking about. Numbuh 274 seemed as confused as her and called for further explanation, which made the medical officer jump. He looked around and seemed to realize everyone in the room had stopped what they were doing to watch and listen to him. His face turned very red and only more so when he realized who had spoken to him. "Supreme Leader, sir! I didn't know you were here! You're head's injured." Numbuh 274 dismissed his concerns and repeated his original question so the medical officer explained, "It's new technology being developed by the weapons specialists. It shoots electrical conductors from the end that hold heat seeking devices so it is more likely to find exposed skin and stick. The scientists designed them only to conduct enough electricity to stun an enemy. The one used on this operative was much more powerful and I'm guessing has caused severe internal damage."

The operative hesitated in his work on the patient, contemplating, then took a deep breath and crossed the room to Numbuh 274, bending low to speak quietly enough that most of the room's curious occupants wouldn't hear. He couldn't speak quiet enough to stop Rachel hearing however. "I fear the internal damage is too severe, sir. We do not have the resources to help her."

Rachel thought of what Patton had said before about the decommissioning team. He had said they had been forced to send some of the operatives to adult hospitals and she remembered how Fanny had scoffed and insisted she could fix anything. She didn't seem so sure now, staring down at the patient with wide eyes and looking as though the ground had disappeared beneath her feet. Like everything she knew was suddenly gone from her. Faintly, Rachel heard Numbuh 274 say, "Do what you have to do."

The operative nodded and made his way back to Numbuh 86, speaking quietly to her across the table. Without flinching, Numbuh 86 helped him wheel the girl calmly from the room, but Rachel could still see that vacant terror in those usually so fierce eyes.

She was so caught up watching them leave that she had forgotten about Numbuh 274, until he cleared his throat. She jumped and stared at him blankly. He pointed to his half closed wound and asked, "You gonna finish?"

"Right," she muttered, feeling her face grow hot. She picked the needle back up and returned to sewing his scalp closed. As she worked the questions whirled in her mind, too many in number for her to just pick one to ask, so she settled with considering them silently and pulling together her supreme leader's skin.

After a long silence, Numbuh 274 spoke, "That little red-head's pretty good under pressure. Did you two come from the same cadet class?"

"Yes sir."

"She trained in anything other than medicine?"

Rachel paused and frowned at him. "Why?"

"Because I'm the supreme leader and it's my business what kind of training my operatives have," he offered, as though it were only a suggestion despite the fact that Rachel understood it to be a scolding for her questioning his motives.

"Combat: hand-to-hand and weapons."

He made a thoughtful sound. Rachel wanted to ask him why he wanted to know again, but thought better of it. Instead she covered his wound with gauze and a bandage and said, "There all done...I think."

He stood and said, "Come with me." Rachel blinked, surprised and tried to object, first with the excuse that she had to clean up the kit, then, when that didn't work, by insisting she had to get back to duty, which was true, she had well exceeded her lunch break. He was insistent though and you couldn't exactly argue with the supreme leader, so she followed. He took her through the many halls of the moon base, over the deck of the ship that looked out into space through the giant, glass wall, and past the decommissioning chambers and science labs. It seemed he took her all the way around the base, until they came to a big set of double doors at the end of the hall. "Know what this is?" He asked her. She shook her head, she had never been down this hall before. "It's my office."

He removed something from his pocket, a small remote and pressed a button at the top. The doors hissed and slide apart of their own accord. Inside the room was big, but simple. A desk behind which stood a high-backed, leather chair and in front of which set two more smaller chairs. Filing cabinets, topped with many trophies acting as racks for medals and ribbons, stood on the walls to each side, and across from her, behind the desk, the wall was made completely of glass in much the same manner as the deck. Rachel was so caught up marveling at the room that Numbuh 274 had to nudge her before she realized he wanted her to go inside.

The doors slid closed behind them and Rachel felt suddenly very nervous. Numbuh 274 took a seat behind his desk. It was messier that she would have imagined. Paper lay strewn across it half-burying a little bobble head in a football helmet. Rachel took a seat uncertainly, eyeing that bobble head, which had begun to nod when Numbuh 274 had opened a drawer on his side of the desk. He dug around in that drawer, making the head bob more, without saying a word. Finally, Numbuh 274 muttered something, it seemed he had found what he was looking for, and sat up. In his hand he held...a mirror?

Rachel frowned as the supreme leader examined his face, peeling back the bandage to see the wound. "You didn't do half bad," he observed.

"Sir," she started slowly, "Is that all? Because I really do need to get back to duty."

He put the mirror away and sat back in his chair, staring at her. "What department are you in?"

"Spies, sir."

"I'll call Numbuh 007 and tell him what's going on." Rachel thanked him uncertainly, still wondering why he would be so interested in her. "That medic, Numbuh 86, how long have you known her?"

"We were cadets together, sir. We were in the same squad," she replied. She didn't add the part about them living next door for as long as she could remember. How Fanny's mother always invited Rachel and Harvey over for snacks or meals or any excuse really. Rachel suspected she was trying to parent them as well, which she didn't mind since her own parents didn't do it... That probably would have been a far more heavy response than the supreme leader had bargained for.

"Oh? Did she act as leader? She seems like the take charge kind of personality."

"We worked as a unit. We were all inclined to take charge so we just l kind of put all that energy together." It had been a nightmare at first. They butted heads so often they had gained the attention of the Head Drill Sergent. Nothing was scarier than that boy screaming in your face and telling you if you didn't learn to work together your would be kicked out of the program all together.

Her answer seemed to amuse the supreme leader. "Do you think she would do well if I put her in charge of a team?"

Rachel wasn't sure how to answer that so instead she just stammered uselessly, hating herself the entire time for how useless she was being. "Sir...I'm not sure...really I don't think I'm qualified-"

"The question wasn't 'Do you think you're qualified to tell me if she could run a team?' it was 'do you think she could?'"

Rachel hesitated for a long moment, staring with her mouth agape at Numbuh 274. Finally she decided it wasn't some sort of test or joke. She answered very slowly, "She is very good at taking charge. I think...with the right team...yes she would do well. What did you have in mind?...If it's not overstepping for me to ask, of course.." She thought back to his first question about Numbuh 86's other specialties, "...field medicine?"

Numbuh 274 nodded. "Yes in the beginning. I would assign her to the decommissioning squad as a field medic and Numbuh 968 would groom her to be the next Head of Decommissioning."

"Head of Decommissioning," Rachel repeated, surprised. "That would be a great honor."

"She's impressed me," he explained. "I reward those who impress me…" He stared at her with a little half smile that made her weary.

"Why are you looking at me like that, sir?"

"You've impressed me as well, Numbuh 362," he explained. "It was a serious situation, but you kept your head, helped out where you were needed. You did this," he pointed to his head, "With no training other than what I gave you in the moment, so I know you're flexible and quick to pick things up. And most importantly, you stood up to me. I was letting my emotions get in the way. you saw that I could cause more damage than good and stopped me. You know when to lead and when to follow. That's the most important thing a leader can know. So, starting today, you will act as Numbuh 007's apprentice. You'll help him with paperwork and other administrative things. You'll sit in on briefings to see how they work from the the other side, and when you do take missions they will be much more serious and complicated ones to prove you have the skill to handle them. Then, a little more than a year from now when Numbuh 007 reaches his thirteenth birthday, you will take his place as head of the spy unit."

Rachel blinked in surprise. "Sir.." she started uncertainly. "That's...that's a great honor." Somehow, "Are you sure" seemed a little ungrateful even though that was exactly what she was itching to ask. He smiled at her as though he could see right into her head and read her thoughts.

"You think I'm making a mistake?"

Numbuh 362 shook her head vigorously. "No sir. Of course not, sir. It's just...I'm a little overwhelmed," she admitted. "I'm not even a year out of cadet training."

"But by the time Numbuh 007 is gone you'll be close to two years out and that's nearly half your time with the organization." That fact made Rachel's heart drop. Was there really that little time? "And you're talented, kid. I think you could really make a mark here, but that won't happen if you're too scared to take a chance, or at least believe in the people who want to give them to you."

Rachel stared at her black combat boots. Head of her own whole unit. It would be amazing, and she could do it. It would be like taking care of her little brother, but just with more than one little brother. Right? How would she know if she didn't take the chance? She looked up and met his eye. His hair was still pulled back out of it, this time by the medical gunk she had used too clean his wound and the bandage. Part of her wished he'd leave it that way.

Again he seemed to take her temporary distraction as hesitation. He said, "What do you say, kid?"

And for some reason his words to Numbuh 911 popped into her head then. Do what you have to do.

"I would be honored to accept your proposal, sir."

Okay, last PS before I go. This is an alternate universe that is a little more sinister than the show. Because the circumstances are a little different, some characters may mature in a different way than in the show. So in Layman's terms: Some characters may develop to be a little(or a lot) out of character. I will try to make sure there is a good and explained reason for any OOC-ness.

Okay, I'm done. Thanks for making it this far!

3Divachick3