Operation C.U.P.I.D
C-Complex
U-Upsides
P-Perplexes
I-Individual
D-Decisions
The job was difficult, likely the hardest of her career, it required perfect synchronization, countless bribes of high ranking officers, and could easily leave her with a one way ticket to the Arctic Base Prison. But the reward outweighed the risk, if done right the Kids Next Door would be left either crippled or permanently changed, for the better or the worse would just have to wait and see.
With her final checklist rattled off, she slipped on her quiver and stepped aboard the S.C.A.M.M.P.E.R. As she walked towards her seat, the pilot looked back at her and asked a simple question: "What's my name?"
"No Idea" she responded
"What is our destination?"
"Moon Base"
"Why are we going there?"
"Routine supply shipment" she said as she buckled in.
"And finally" he spoke while flipping switches above him as the vehicle began to start up "Did I know you were aboard this vehicle before, during, or after this flight?"
"No, of course not"
"Alright, stick to that, good luck"
No more words were exchanged as they flew through the atmosphere or orbit, the only sound was a constant muttering underneath her breath: "For the good of all kids, I do this."
To say The Soopreme leader was having a difficult day would be the same as saying that broccoli wasn't particularly tasty, it was true yes, but didn't give the whole truth.
Rachel was beyond aggravated, a scheduling mixup had the cadets of all people at the moon base, asking moronic and obvious questions about any and everything. She walked from place to place, door to door signing this, permissing that; all while a gaggle of recruits followed her.
She looked at her guards with a stern glare, a glare that demanded submission both out of respect and fear. One such guard gulped as he again asked the cadets to settle down, wondering just who on earth (or moon) was he to listen to.
Numbuh 60, had ordered said guard to and I quote "watch these cadets, do not let them leave your sight or you'll be scrubbing floors till your thirteen."
Assumedly Numbuh 60 did not know he was a guard, a guard of their leader in fact, but what was he to do? When the trainer of nearly all operatives currently active orders you to do something, you do it.
What was odd were the two escorts on either side of Numbuh 60, they were decommissioning squad members, each a hand on their holster.
Numbuh 86 (Fanny to her friends), was tired, it was 11:00 Pm her time when her comm began to buzz, she flicked on her lamp and reached for the hidden compartment in her headboard.
She put it on, stifled a yawn, and demanded to know who would dare to have called her at this hour.
"Who do ye think ye are, calling me on mah one day off, at-" she looked at the clock "11 at night?!"
"I-I'm sorry ma'am, but you're needed for a decommissioning"
"Decommissioning?! What decommissioning, there wasn't one scheduled."
"I know ma'am, but we've just gotten a new requisition from records, and an operative has been now revealed to be thirteen."
"Alright" she said, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Send a S.C.A.M.P.E.R far meh,I'll be there in a half hour."
And here she was, standing at attention, waiting for the next sorry kid to walk through that door and kiss their childhood goodbye.
But as the doors slid open, she was greeted by one of the few boys she could tolerate: Patton Drilovsky.
He did not bore the look of fear and anxiety that usually marred kids' faces as they walked in the chamber. Instead he looked more annoyed than anything else.
"Patt-" Fanny began, before clearing her throat "Numbuh 60, why are you here?"
Patton looked at his friend, just as confused as she was "you tell me."
"SETTLE DOWN BACK THERE, BEFORE I TURN THIS THING AROUND!" the drill sergeant bellowed behind him.
It had not been three minutes since he and the cadets had lifted off for moon base before the cadets began to bicker over which Yipper card was more rare, and whether or not it was superior to Rainbow Monkeys.
He and Rachel had texted through the night about possibly scheduling a field trip for the recruits, show them just how vast the KND was and most importantly: that this wasn't a game.
He brought the overhead communicator of the C.O.O.L.B.U.S to his mouth as he spoke into it.
"This is Numbuh 60 requesting docking for hangar 9"
The comm link crackled to life as a voice spoke through it "Numbuh 60, what are you doing here? You're not scheduled to arrive."
Patton looked at the communicator as if it insulted him. "Say again? I'm not scheduled? I have a direct ok from Numbuh 362."
"I'm sorry sir, but if it's not on the list of arriv-" the voice paused "nevermind the screen just needed refreshing I guess, it's here now, come on in."
That was weird Patton thought I requested this trip from Rachel last night. He parked the C.O.O.L.B.U.S, but made no move to get up or open the doors, he sat there, gears turning. It's not like Rachel to not immediately notify the hangars, what if-
"Hey Boss, you gonna open the door?" the cadet with the yoyo, Lee, if he remembered correctly asked, snapping Patton out of his thoughts.
"Oh, sorry, I was-nevermind" he said as he pulled a lever, opening the door. "Relax" he spoke to himself "You're just being paranoid."
The rest of the trip had gone on without so much of a hitch, that was before the reached the office of their Soopreme leader.
"Beyond that door is the office of our current Soopreme leader, Numbuh 362, Rachel McKenzie, the office itse-" he was stopped as a hand fell on his shoulder. He turned to see two decommissioning officers staring back at him.
"Sir" the one on the left spoke "we need you to come with us"
Patton shrugged off the hand, "Whatever Fanny wants, tell her it can wait-"
"No sir, it really can't" the one on the right spoke, making an effort to show he was reaching for his weapon.
"No need for that, I'll come along quietly, but first" he cupped his hands and yelled to an operative coming his way "HEY" the operative in question looked up to meet him.
"Yes sir?" The operative spoke.
"Watch these cadets, do not let them leave your sight or you'll be scrubbing floors till your thirteen."
"...And that pretty much gets us up to date" Patton finished, looking at Fanny. "So… seeing as how tweedle dee and dum here" he said while gesturing behind him "escorted me, I take it it can't be a very good reason I'm here."
Fanny looked confused, she'd known Patton for years, she knew they were the same age (11 and a half) so how'd he wind up here.
She looked at the officers around her and questioned the room "which on of ye got the message from records?" A timid voice from behind her spoke up "M-me ma'am". Numbuh 86 turned ready to yell before seeing the girl before her, had it been a boy kids on earth woulda heard her.
"Lemme see the message" she spoke, walking towards the monitor, she typed in the passwords and found the most recent message. It read:
To: DECOMMISSIONING
From: RECORDS
Due to recent reviewing it seems numbuh 60 is in fact 13 as of three days ago. Please apprehend and handle accordingly.
IMPORTANT: DO NOT RESPOND TO THIS MESSAGE.
Fanny turned back to Patton, only to find the boy leaning over her shoulder, reading the message. She looked at the boy quizzically, reading his expression, he didn't look like he was scared or angry at being found out, he seemed genuinely confused.
"Patton" she said, "is this true?"
Patton looked back at her "You and I both know you wouldn't ask that question unless you were a hundred percent sure, and seeing as how I haven't been shot yet, you know I'm not thirteen."
Fanny nodded, and turned back to the monitor, her fingers already opening up a video call with records. The screen changed to a girl, dust covering her shoulders and thick rimmed glasses.
"Hello numbuh 86, lemme guess, you've got some teen begging to look at the records saying he was born on a leap year, right?" the girl spoke.
"Not this time, can you look at Numbuh 60's also known as Patton Drilovsky's file?"
"No problem" she said as her face turned to another monitor, "He's elven years, six months,two weeks, and four days old, I assume that's what you wanted right?"
"Yeah, yeah it was, can ye find out whoever over there claimed he was thirteen and send 'em to me?" She said, secretly relieved she'd get to keep knowing her friend.
'Okie dokie" said the girl "Numbuh .096 out" the screen flickered before turning back to regular operations. Fanny sighed, annoyed that she got called in on a (what she assumed to be) a grudge.
"WELL?!" she yelled "What are ye all standing around for?! Get back to work!" The operatives in the room jumped at her voice and left the room, going back to normal routine.
"Take it you didn't get much shuteye?" Patton asked, he was met with a sharp glare from the red head. He put his hands up in a don't shoot motion, "I'm just saying" he gestured to his and her eyes, "we've got matching luggage"
"Aye" she responded "I got called in near midnight mah time, what 'bout ye?"
He stretched deeply until his back popped, he was tense and had been that way for little over 19 hours, "been up for… 15 hours" he lied, not wanting to spark the medic in her.
"Not likely, bags like that don't become apparent till 17 hours awake, unless supplemented by stimulants. You're lying to meh." She answered just a hint smug.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever, but unlike you I can't go back home to sleep"
"Who said I was goin' back?" she said as they began to leave the chamber, "it's too close to meh next shift to go back"
"Well, before I get back to my group, I was gonna get some lunch, breakfast for you I guess. Care to join?"
"Gladly" she answered "what's this about a group?"
Neither noticed the figure turning the corner behind them, heavy coat covering her form and anything she might have.
"I'll tell you over some grub" Patton said, hint of a smile quirking up his lips.
Rachel, head in hands, sat at the mess hall table waiting for the line to thin out all while 6-8 year olds chattered and babbled around her. She could've used her mere presence as leader to cut to the front, but what kind of leader would she be if she misused her power like that?
An animal cracker whizzed over her.
Although right now she was seriously considering it. She turned to look at one of her three guards, beckoned him over, and spoke
"By Zero, could you please take the cadets to the younger operatives in concessions? Watch them carefully."
The guard straightened up, "ma'am with all due respect, that would leave you underguarded, according to regulations, I cann-"
She looked up at him between her fingers, "that is an order lieutenant"
"My apologies ma'am" he looked over at the cadets and spoke "CADETS!"
To their credit, they stood up straight and in formation at his booming voice.
"Follow me, if one of you goes missing you can kiss being an operative goodbye."
The Cadets followed him as he walked away from the table, trying desperately to look at attention.
She looked up at the line, it had thinned out enough she supposed. She only had about 20 minutes left of the lunch break she allowed herself.
But as she got up she saw two of her closest friends walking towards the line as well, Fanny Fulbright and Patton Drilovsky.
"Patton; Fanny!" she called, the two operatives looked away from each other to the blonde leader. They met in the middle, both Patton and Fanny holding out their right hands for a respective handshake.
… only for Rachel to either not see them or not care and give both a hug. Patton froze for a moment, before giving a brief chuckle and returning it. Fanny on the other hand looked around a little anxiously.
"Uh, numbuh 36- Rachel, I've got a reputation to uphold." she said, trying to look tough with the Kids Next Door leader's chin resting on her left shoulder.
"Okaaay" Rachel said, pulling away "sorry for the informal greeting you two, been a very stressful day." Patton looked at the two girls.
"Alright ladies, I'll pick up the chow, Fanny, I know your usual." He turned to Rachel. "You're always different so…"
"I'm thinking nachos today" she responded "Oh and thanks Patton, such a gentleman" she added teasingly.
"Harty har" he said while walking to the line.
Fanny and Rachel walked back to her guarded table, talking amicably about whatever came to mind. Neither saw nor felt the pairs of eyes watching them from the overhead balcony. The figure walked down a flight of stairs and leaned against the wall, waiting for opportunity to present itself.
Numbuh 60 walked to the table a tray of food with him, two slices of pizza and a plate of nachos. He thought about what he was gonna talk about, like why someone in records hated him, and why the hangar computers were slow.
He sat down at the table and decided to listen to his two friends talking about recent operations.
Rachel absentmindly ate her food before realising something, why was Patton here? "Hey Patton" she said "why are you here...are you here with those cadets?" She wiped her face as Patton stared back, confused.
"What do you mean, you suggested I come here, do you not remember?" Fanny now sat up equally puzzled.
"When was this?" Rachel asked, Patton pulled out his phone, scrolling through his contacts before pulling up his texts with Rachel.
"See, last night around 1900 hours."
"Are you daft?" Fanny interjected "She-"
A sound like a cherry bomb exploded behind them as they saw the cadets fighting amongst themselves in front of a broken vending machine. Rachel looked at her remaining two guards, "Go, find out what's going on over there and settle it"
As the two guards ran over shouting for things to cool it, a hooded figure walked over to the three's table. Her steps were silent as she approched, her voice however was not.
"Numbuhs 362, 86, 60" she spoke "those are your designations, correct?"
"Yes, they are" Patton answered "have we met?" He tried to get a lower angle, to see her face.
"No, you don't know me, but you'll know each other much better."
She stepped back as three arrows slid down her left sleeve and a bow expanded from her right. She loaded the three arrows, each at differing angles
Each arrow hit true.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Yo, hope you liked it, sorry for leaving on a cliffhanger, but I'm hoping it gets people to want more. Sorry if it felt like it jumped around too much, I wanted for it to get the foundations settled. See ya on the flipside, Jade.
PS: Follow me at jade-ion on Tumblr