I'm being shoved forward, ordered to walk. I'm terrified. My hands are pinned tightly behind my back, held together by the crushing grip of my captor.
Off to my side is a boy, my age, being given the same treatment. He locks eyes with me and makes an upward gesture with his head.
Keep your head up. Don't let them see you broken. Don't let them win.
That was the last time I saw the Wally I knew.
Wally was accustomed to being thrown around. It was part of his career, in a sense. But he'd had about all he could take at the moment. And the worst part? He had absolutely no power to stop what was happening.
There was no end in sight.
He remembers how it started. Most people would agree that the five teenagers ended up in this position because of an event taking place only weeks earlier. But Wally knows that it began long before that. Approximately eight years ago, actually.
Wally likes thinking about how things were back then. Sure, they were foolish kids to join such a dangerous organization, especially at their age. But who could blame them? They were eight, adventure seeking, and naive. When approached and told that he could join a group of children, his age, fighting crime, he didn't think twice before accepting. And he wouldn't change that decision for anything. It is the reason for his current situation, yes, but he was given so many good things from his years with the Kids Next Door. He was given friends, a goal, ...acceptance.
The organization had seemed like simple fun at first. They took out harmless criminals who posed little threat since they were so obviously deranged.
But the further he and his friends got into the system of the KND, the more they began to question it's motives. Their superiors gave them vague reasons as to why they were sent to take out adults who didn't seem to be doing anything criminal at all. They no longer seemed to be ridding the world of dangerous adults, but rather all adults who had more power than the KND.
Wally remembers watching Number 1 pace in circles, muttering to himself. He was sitting on a couch with his other teammates. He remembers precisely when he looked at his friends and didn't see the same faces he had seen for the previous three years. They were older, wiser, and starting to realize the cold, hard, truth.
The organization that had brought them together, given them so many wonderful memories, and made them the heroes that most kids only ever get to dream about being, was not what they had always seen it as. It was not trying to protect the world, it was trying to claim it. The KND was using them as tools to slowly take over the world, area by area, until it was completely in control.
When Number 1 first proposed this idea to his team, they weren't very accepting.
Number 5 had said nothing, only glared at Number 1 then stomped purposefully out of the room. Number 2 argued with Number 1 that his reasoning was completely wrong and any research he had done was faulty.
Number 3 had given Number 1 an accusing look and said, "Do you really believe that the KND could be that evil?"
His silence spoke volumes and Number 3 was the angriest that Wally had ever seen her.
"It's ridiculous! I'm ashamed that you would ever even consider questioning their motives. Don't you agree, Number 4?"
He, however, wasn't paying attention to Number 3. He felt like he had been thrust from darkness into sunlight. His eyes were still adjusting, but he was beginning to see things that he hadn't been able to make sense of before.
And before he could stop himself, he said, "No, Number 3. I think Number 1 is right."
Number 2 stopped arguing with Number 1. Number 2 looked shocked, Number 1 grateful, and Number 3 was looking at him like she had never seen him before. Like he had abandoned her.
He almost took back what he said.
"How can you say that?" Her voice sounds small and hurt. Wally wanted to comfort her, hold her, but he had to stand strong if he was going to make her believe.
"Think Three," he says softly, reverting to the shortened version of their codenames. "Why do they take away our memories when we become teenagers? If KND is trying to help the world, if it is doing good things, then why would we need to forget. Why take away the best times of our lives, why take away our heroic moments, why leave us with nothing to remember them by? Because they know when we're older, we may figure them out. They underestimate us now, since we are young. They didn't expect to have someone as smart as One in their organization. They didn't think that anyone could discover their secret. And now that we have, we're in danger."
He didn't stop talking because he didn't want to give any of them time to object to his logic. He knew he was right, he knew that One was right. And he knew that they somehow had to get through to the rest of their friends.
"Oh my god," said Three, trembling. Wally realized that she was crying. "It can't be true, it can't be." She shakes her head and denying it, but Wally knew that he'd made an impact. Her face changed from stark refusal of the idea to a fearful acceptance of its truth.
He approached her slowly and pulled her into his arms until she stopped quivering. Two looked stunned and horrified as he wrapped his head around the awful truth. Five entered moments later. She admitted to listening to them from the stairs.
"I'm sorry One," she said, looking him in the eye. "I believe you."
One looked so relieved that Wally thought he might collapse. He let go of Three and moved to his leader's side. He grabbed One and hugged him fiercely. One wasn't used to the physical contact from his teammate, but returned the affection.
"Thank you," whispered Wally. "I would never have had the balls to suggest the idea on my own."
"You saved me, though," answered One, seriously. "I wouldn't have convinced them on my own."
"What do we do now?" questions Five, always thinking of the big picture.
Wally let the audacity of the moment sink down on him. They had been working for a criminal organization bent on taking over the world for three years now. The KND has enough resources to hunt them down and destroy their memories, or worse, once they find out that the five of them have discovered the truth.
There was only one option. They had to escape.