If you don't understand how a woman could both love her sister dearly and want to wring her neck at the same time, then you were probably an only child.
Linda Sunshine
She strode down the walkway, fighting the urge to discard her disguise now. She was very near her goal, but she must fight off the temptation for a bit longer. Too often had the Kids Next Door ruined her plans at the very last minute.
It was little comfort that this part of the new Moonbase was highly similar to the old one, right down to the purple, abyss-spanning walkway.
"Cree, can you hear me?" came Maurice's hushed voice.
"Yeah. What is it now?"
"Please don't do this. You can still back down now. You haven't reached the Chamber, have you?"
"No, but Cree's mind's still made up."
"And you're absolutely sure KND can't just build another decommissioning module?"
"Yes, I'm sure." she snapped. "They need the Book of KND to do that. You've already asked me five times."
"But won't Father just return the Book when he finds out what you've done?"
"Don't be stupid. He can't let go of the Book. It has way too much power."
"How can you-
"I need to go. Numbuh Five out."
"Cree, we're running out of snowballs! What do we do?"
Cree ducked, narrowly avoiding a projectile, and looked at her five-year old sister worriedly. She was right. They were down to six rounds. And the snow in their little redoubt was powdery, not at all suitable for making snowballs. On the other hand, the snow to the left of the ramparts was of good quality, but it was completely exposed.
There was only one thing to do.
"Abby, listen!" she said. "There's only one thing we can do. See those big round sleds next to the house?"
Abby looked at her in confusion. "What about them?"
"We can use them as shields." Cree explained. "We just have to run to the wall."
"But it too far away. We'll never make it!" her sister whined.
"We'll make it, trust me! On the count of three, we start running. One, two, three, GO!"
They stood up and dashed towards the house's wall, forty feet away. Snowballs, thrown with deadly precision, smacked into their upper bodies, but they kept going. At length they reached the sleds, grabbed two of them by the handle, and put them in the path of the incoming missiles.
"Nice job, sis." Cree rejoiced. "Now come on, let's get the good snow to the left of the fort!"
At the end of the walkway, there was a door, built into a colossal metallic tower. This gate gave access to a small corridor, beyond which lay another door and the decommissioning chamber.
Numbuh 51 was standing guard over the entrance. Although 'standing guard' was a loose term. He was reclining in a swivelling chair reading a comic book, with his feet propped up on a desk. And to think that these were the operatives she had run away from. Embarrassing.
As soon as Numbuh 51 saw her, he scrambled to his feet and stood at attention. "Oh, Numbuh Five, sir! Uh, I wasn't expecting you!"
"At ease, soldier." she replied dryly. "I'm here to inspect the decommissioning module."
51 mustered enough courage to frown. "Uh, I wasn't aware anything was wrong with the module, sir."
"Maybe there's nothing wrong with it." said Numbuh Five. "But we've got several decommissionings taking place tomorrow, and I want to check that the device is functioning properly."
The boy nodded meekly. "Understood, sir." He was still frowning. He must have noticed that 'Numbuh Five' was taller than usual.
"I'm gonna need some peace and quiet. Make sure that no one disturbs me, Numbuh 51." the Supreme Leader ordered.
"Yes, sir."
And she swept past the inner and outer entrances. Once the second door was safely shut, she wasted no time in self-congratulations. She pressed a camouflaged button on her wrist. Her disguise swiftly folded up into a normal-looking bra.
In spite of the situation, Cree grinned. She loved Battle Ready Armor. It was the ultimate spy gadget: light, inconspicuous, and multi-purpose.
Continuing, she touched the small magic crystal in the right part of the bra, activating the armour's combat mode. She used her rocket boots to fly up to the decommissioning module, which actually consisted of four blue, computer-shaped objects fifteen feet in the air. Lastly, at the touch of another button, a flamethrower emerged from her lower armplate.
It was time to get to work.
Abby wriggled her body furiously. Both of her arms were forcibly extended behind her back by her sister. But her efforts were in vain-Cree's grip on her wrists was too tight. She was trapped.
"Come on, Numbuh Five." Cree scolded. "Focus. You keep letting me get behind you. What have they been teaching you at the Arctic Base?"
"Abby's trying", retorted the cadet sullenly, "but she's tired. We've been working for an hour now. Can't we take a break?!"
"Get real Abby. You think that the Delightful Children or Chester will give you a break when you're tired?!" snapped Cree. That was the trouble with novices. They considered being in the Kids Next Door a game. They had no idea what real bad guys were capable of.
She released Abby's wrists. The younger girl dropped to the training hangar's floor in a dejected manner. "Numbuh Five doesn't know, okay?"
"No, not okay! Now get up. We're gonna do this exercise until you get it right."
Hands trembling, she placed her index on the flamethrower's power knob. It was now or never. With Abby's birthday three days away, she wouldn't gain access to the chamber a second time. And yet there was no turning back. After tonight, Father and the Teen Ninjas would consider her a traitor. She would be hunted down by both sides. With hope she would never get captured by Father. The punishment meted out to Teen Ninja traitors was the stuff of nightmares. Then again, Evil Adults Industry's Tribunal might go easy on her, since she'd played a major role in stealing the Book of KND last month. But they might also conclude that she'd only helped steal the book to further her act of disobedience.
But it had to be done. It was the only way to save Abby. She knew better than anyone that the Supreme Leader would never consider running.
"For the last time, no!" Abby shouted. "Abby'll never join the Teen Ninjas."
Cree and Abby stood face to face, breathing hard. Their arms were deployed in front of them in a defensive manner. The bedroom's ceiling and walls were riddled with holes, the result of five minutes of brutal fighting. Chunks of plaster littered the ground around them.
"But why not?!" pleaded Cree, letting her arms sag. "This isn't fair! You've been busting your hump for the Kids Next Door for five years, and this is how they thank you? By wiping out your memories and your intelligence?"
Abby lowered her guard as well, but only slightly. "It's not a question of fair. We have to be decommissioned when we become teenagers. Don't you understand that?"
"No!
"Because teenagers are evil! They can't be trusted, especially when they know everything about us." said Abby, thankful that this belief had been drilled into her during her training at the Arctic Base.
"So you think the second you turn thirteen you'll automatically become evil?" Cree retorted, her voice a mixture of incredulity and contempt. "Is that what you're saying?"
Abby briefly paused in thought. "Yeah. Pretty much."
"And you actually believe that?"
"Yeah, I do." stated Abby proudly.
"But it doesn't make sense!"
"Only because you're a teenager."
Cree shook her head, disheartened. "You're crazy", was all she could say.
She pressed the black button. A torrent of flames shot out towards the computer in front of her. To her satisfaction, the contraption began burning immediately. Whatever it was made of was evidently highly combustible. She kept up the attack until the entire machine was in flames.
She was unpleasantly aware that an alarm had begun blaring. With a well-aimed missile, she silenced it. Too late. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Numbuh 93 enter the room. He gasped and retreated pell-mell.
Cree ignored him. She moved on to the second computer, unleashing her anger at the deranged mentality of the Kids Next Door. The idiots! If they had merely been bowing to the power of Decommissioning Squad, it would have made some sense. But they actually viewed decommissioning as a good thing! No, Cree wouldn't allow it. No sister of hers-even a bratty, dim-witted one-would be subjected to this lunacy.
She only stopped when the four machines had been reduced to a carpet of ash covering the floor and execution chairs. Mission accomplished. There were no other decommissioning modules in existence.
"Stop talking so loud! They're gonna hear us."
Abby looked up from her crouched position, a bottle of whipped cream in hand. Peering through the darkness, Cree saw her roll her eyes.
"Relax, we're almost done."
They continued the job that they had been doing for the past five minutes: writing 'Heinrich von Marzipan is a loser' in huge letters on the German boy's front yard, using whipped cream.
Every so often, they heard creaking noises inside the Marzipans' home. A particularly loud creak sent them scurrying to the sidewalk. Since no lights turned on, Cree and Abby resumed writing, but they remained vigilant. Getting caught was definitely not on their agenda.
After what seemed like hours, but was actually six minutes, the message was complete.
"I can't wait to see the look on Henrich's face tomorrow." said Abby jubilantly they made their escape. "That'll teach him to throw me in a mudpit!"
"Yeah, but I wouldn't rejoice too much." remarked the older girl. "Heinrich isn't stupid. He'll know that the message is our handiwork. Expect him to retaliate very soon."
"You think so?" asked Abby, evidently troubled.
"Definitely. But don't worry, we'll be ready for him." But Cree had spoken too quickly. She would only available to help Abby for ten more days, until her thirteenth birthday.
Cree could hear footsteps rapidly approaching the room, along with shouts. She floated down to the floor and strolled towards the entrance, feeling very calm. Now that she thought about it, there was nothing the Kids Next Door could do to her anymore. They were completely incapable of coping with her speed and agility, or of understanding how she thought. Only the other side-especially Father, with his newly enhanced powers-posed a real danger. Besides, she had fulfilled her goal. Abby would not be decommissioned.
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