Hi again!

Thank you to everyone who took the time to read the first chapter and come back here a second time! And two those that faved, followed, and reviewed: You are awesome, I appreciate your support so much and your kind words mean so much, so seriously can't thank you enough!

I know its been a few weeks between updates. I've always been like this and I always say, "I'm going to do better." But the fact is that for me this is a long process because I want it to be the best that I can make it and that requires lots of writing and rewriting and editing and things too that nature and also I have a lot of other things in my life that extend that process even more. On that subject if anyone happens to find anything sketchy please let me know. PM or a review will work, I'm not going too be mad if you correct me in front f everyone, it's totally cool^.^. But honestly I want this to be the best experience for everyone and no matter how many times I edit I always miss something. (On that note I wouldn't mind a beta if anyone's interested in THAT!)

So this chapter is not as action-y as the first one. It's mostly setting up for things that will occur in later chapters as well as offering a little backstory for a major character/relationship in this story AND answering a question I've always had about the particular character involved in my own creative way that I feel fleshes him out as a human.

Okay, I'm done boring you with my talking.

I don't own KND or any of its concepts.

Sunglasses

Numbuh 274 was in his office, skimming through the paperwork piled on his desk to separate out the things he should pay close attention to from the things he could just give to Numbuh 559, his assistant/best signature forger the KND had. He believed it helped as a leader to understand when to delegate...mostly he just didn't want to spend of all of his time signing paperwork. It was boring and Numbuh 274 was more of a take action sort of leader.

There came a knock at his door. Speaking of tack action, he thought and called for the visitor to enter. As he had suspected, the operative that poked his head in was small, with a mop of brown hair and wide-brimmed glasses that made his eyes grow several sizes. Numbuh 0101 graduated in the same class as Numbuh 274 and the supreme leader had never seen a better hacker come through the KND. He motioned for the operative to come in and take a seat. The boys slinked in, clutching a folder to his chest.

"Are those the records I asked for?" Numbuh 274 asked, motioning to the folder as the boy took a seat across from him.

"This is it sir," Numbuh 0101 confirmed, handing it over. "If it's not to forward of me to ask, sir: what could you want with old cadet test scores?" The question he wanted to ask was why was the supreme leader stepping on the head drill sergeant's toes. Numbuh 274 knew what rumors would travel when word got out that he had obtained Cadet files without even talking to the Head Drill Sergeant, but Numbuh 888 was prickly about his job and it would be much easier to come to him with actual prof of a problem instead of suspicion of a problem.

He didn't scold Numbuh 0101 for asking. He had asked the hacker to do something very unethical thing and for that the boy deserved at least a little bit of a reason. "I heard a thing," he answered simply, flipping through the pages, eyes skimming for anything… "There," he said aloud and grabbed the nearest pen, circling the line. Then when he took a look at the name at the end of that line, he frowned. "That doesn't make any sense."

"What doesn't make any sense, sir?" Numbuh 0101 asked, trying to peek at what he had marked.

Numbuh 274 shut the folder. "Thank you for your help, but I can take it from here. Go back to work." Numbuh 0101 looked for a moment as though he may object, but in the end stood, nodded respectfully to the supreme leader and took his leave. As he went out, someone shoved him out of the way and both haker and door went flying back, crashing into the wall. "Hey!" Numbuh 274 called sharply to the boy who entered in their wake. He was tall, with broad shoulders and a permanent scowl on his face, which at this particular time had a very long gash reaching from his left ear to his chin. The work of Cree Lincohn. Atop the thick brown curls he wore a strainer helmet with a little plate in the front reading his codename: 968.

The Head of Decommissioning.

Numbuh 274 got to his feet, the folder forgotten on his desk. He had been expecting this visit since the moment he had made Numbuh 86's transfer with the added note that she was to be trained as his successor. Numbuh 968, use like Numbuh 888, was a proud operative and didn't like to be reminded that his last day in the KND was creeping ever nearer.

"Trying to get rid of me already?" Numbuh 968 demanded loudly. Numbuh 0101's mouth was hanging open. Most operatives would never dare speak to the supreme leader in such a way. But Numbuh 968 wasn't most operatives.

"It is wise to train an operative before giving them such a notable position, you of all people know this. You were trained as well and you started much sooner than Numbuh 86."

"She's a medic!" The older boy roared. His face was very red, which concerned Numbuh 274 slightly. He considered suggesting the Head of Decommissining try actually breathing so that maybe he wouldn't pass out...or at least so his head didn't explode all over the office.

"She's trained in more than just medicine. It just happened that a medic was what was needed," Numbuh 274 tried to explain calmly. Unfortunately, Numbuh 968 wasn't going for that.

"I don't care what she's trained in. I am not passing my legacy to a weepy, over-emotional, rainbow and unicorn loving-"

"Have you actually met Numbuh 86?" Numbuh 0101 put in, wincing as he got to his feet. "She's really tough. I don't ever think I've seen her cry...or fawn over rainbows and unicorns…" he said that last part as though the idea were quite an exceedingly absurd description of any girl.

It made Numbuh 274 smile and helped his own argument, which was, "Numbuh 0101's right and the only person being over emotional here is you-"

"I'm being overemotional-"

"So!" Numbuh 274 continued over the Head of Decommissioning's objection. "I suggest you go home. Take the night to reconsider your position on my decision and consider just doing as you're told."

"You haven't heard the last of this," Numbuh 968 warned, then turned on his heel and stormed out, making Numbuh 0101 flinch as he went by. Numbuh 274 thanked the hacker for his support and bid him a good day. When the door was safely closed behind him, Numbuh 274 slumped back into his chair and sighed. It had been a long week. Such a long week.

He couldn't have said how long he sat like that. It was a little more difficult to tell time when the sky outside had really only one setting: dark canvas painted with stars and the big blue and green blob that was Earth or the giant yellow blob that was the sun… or sometimes both at the same time or neither at all. When he did finally stand, stretching and determined to head home and take the weekend off, his eye caught sight of something that reminded him he still had work to do. The folder sat amongst the papers looking completely innocent unless you knew what was inside. Confirmation of his suspicions, of that little spy's off-handed comment, the incrimination of an operative whom, as it had turned out, he was very fond of.

Then again, perhaps it was nothing. Maybe Numbuh 362's comment had been only a joke or just some tall-tale that her cadet class liked to tell. Every cadet class had at least one tall-tale. Maybe it was as innocent as he would have taken it if he had seen it without any other context.

There was only one way to find out. He shuffled the mess around his desk until he found his communicator. The boy that answered was so layered in coats and hats that it was hard to tell where he ended and the fabric began. You couldn't see his hair under the beanie and eskimo cap. He was pale and his nose was always red anytime Numbuh 274 saw him, even when he wasn't in the middle of the arctic. It was like spending so long in the cold had permanently changed his nose's color. It amused Numbuh 274 to think that that must of been what happened to Rudolf the red-nosed reindeer.

"Numbuh 888," the supreme leader greeted genially. "I hope I'm not interrupting. I know you're probably busy getting ready for the new class of cadets coming to you in a few weeks."

"It's nothing my drill captains can't handle on their own," he assured. Numbuh 888 was a good liar, but they booth knew that the drill captains had absolutely nothing to do with planning for the new cadets. They knew nothing until the breifing right before the arrivals. Numbuh 888 was not a delegator and perhaps that had to do with Numbuh 274's preference. Anyone who had seen, really seen as he had, how much pressure Numbuh 888 was under because of his own tendency to hoard work, would prefer any other method. Numbuh 888 had trained Numbuh 274 more closely than any other student. The supreme leader had been his pet cadet, and Numbuh 274 didn't regret a second of it, despite the teasing he had endured the entirety of training and afterwards. You never forget the person who helps you get to where you are and likewise, the instructors never forget their most promising students. He was banking on that, anyways, considering what he had done, but the thought stirred something else inside him. A little trail of doubt when he thought of the name that waited inside that folder. "Chad?" Numbuh 888 asked at last, breaking his trance. "Was there something you needed?"

Numbuh 274 smiled. Even as supreme leader and the boy's superior, he would always be Chad the Cadet to the led Drill Sergeant. "Yes. I had a question. I heard something interesting the other day that got me thinking, so I pulled the test scores of the last graduating class of cadets," Numbuh 274 explained as he watched Numbuh 888 close a door behind him on the screen and walk around the room, which the supreme leader assumed was his office, to take a seat. He could see a sparkle of the irritation he had expected in the Drill Sergeant's eye, but the boy still remained silent and listened. "And it shows you overrode the computer to enter one of the scores manually-"

"I didn't do that," Numbuh 888 interrupted at last. It seemed that Chad's planned had worked. The irritation had been replaced with an uncertainty and slight alarm. When he was confused and attempted to furrow his brow it looked like ice splitting under too much pressure. The eyebrows jerked into place and the lines in his forehead seemed too deep to be natural. "I didn't even know that was possible. I always just let the system do its work."

"Interesting," Numbuh 274 thought aloud. "Well, someone changed it using your name and override code…" This fact seemed to melt away the confusion and alarm and replace it instead with annoyance. Numbuh 888 flexed his shoulders as though thinking about hitting something.

"Who do you think could manage that? That little freak show Sheldon probably..."

Numbuh 274 laughed. "What reason would Numbuh 0101 have for changing some cadet's test scores." He shook his head. "No, I'm sure it was one of the cadets in the class. Can you think which one may have the skills to do it?" Numbuh 888 shook his head, still brooding. Numbuh 274 nodded. "Well, in that case, do you happen to keep hard copies of the tests?" At that the Head Drill Sergeant nodded proudly. "Excellent. I'd like you to send me one."


Numbuh 274 was pacing his office when Numbuh 362 entered, poking her head in first, nervously. "Sir?" She called, watching him pace. "You called?"

"Yes, come take a seat, Numbuh 362."

She did as he bid, feeling hot in the face and trying to remember what she had done that might get her in trouble. Numbuh 274 was obviously agitated about something and she hated to think she could be on the receiving end of it. Less because she was afraid of what he would do, although that was a concern, but mostly she hated the idea of disappointing him. She had too much respect for her supreme leader-and owed him too much to boot- to not be concerned about his opinion of her.

He made his way in front of her and leaned back against his desk. Then he removed an open folder from the mess piled atop the desk and handed it over to her. "Do you know what this is?"

Her eyes barely had to skim the paper to figure it out. She forced down any reaction that may give away that she suspected where this was going and blinked up at the supreme leader as innocently as she could manage with the sirens blaring in her head. "It's the final cadet exam we took before graduating sir."

"Indeed," he agreed. "Does that look like a passed test to you?"

Numbuh 362 looked back down at the test, pretending she had to take a second look at the answers too be sure, even though she already knew. How could she not? She had been the one to sneak Abigail into the Head Drill Sergeant's office. She had stood guard as the girl hacked into the system and changed the score with Numbuh 888's security codes. And now she was caught. What kind of punishment awaited her at the end of Numbuh 274's roundabout questioning.

She set the folder down in her lap and looked back up at Numbuh 274. "No sir, it doesn't."

"And yet he graduated," Numbuh 274 observed, pacing back around his desk. "I know he did, because I trained him myself. It was one of the proudest moments of my KND career when he took his codename." He stared at her for a long time and she tried very hard not to betray any of her guilt. "How well do you know him?"

"Sir?" She squeaked, even though she was now certain it was pointless playing dumb. He knew.

"You knew he changed the score," Numbuh 274 accused. "You let it slip last week in the medical wing. Remember? When you stitched this up?" And he gestured to the bandage still wrapped around his head. "So how could you have known, unless you helped him? Which would also imply you knew him well."

Rachel deflated. "I didn't really know him at all, except in passing." It wasn't a lie. He always kept to himself and only really talked to Abigail and the chubby boy that always wore the pilot's hat. But she had known Abigail Lincoln and had a lot of respect for her. So when the girl came to her and asked for help, she hadn't refused. She hadn't even asked questions, like why Abby felt so responsible for the weird bald kid. Now she wished she had. "It was a favor for a mutual friend…"

"That's an awfully big risk for someone you barely know."

"Our friend," Rachel started, uncertain how to explain it. She had felt guilty at first, like she was cheating on the test herself, but Abby had assured her it was the right thing. "She said he struggled with reading, but he was fantastic in the field and it wasn't fair to deny the KND such a promising operative because of some words on a paper." She'd used a specific word, but Rachel couldn't remember what it was. "She said there was some sort of disjunct in his brain. She said he had to see a special teacher at school for it and everything."

Numbuh 274 was silent for a long time, but she could see the agitation slowly slipping away and something else seemed to light his face. Was it hope? Understanding? She couldn't tell, but she thought it was good.

"If your friend was right," he said as though he were thinking aloud. "Then she school will likely have records on it." Rachel felt as though she were intruding now and was about to ask if that was all and make a beeline for the exit, but Numbuh 274 smiled at her then. "I've got a mission for you Little Spy."


The file was on his desk the next morning. Numbuh 274 blinked up at the little blond girl in surprise. She was dressed all in black, he had never seen her in anything else, with her hair in a high ponytail and her eyes glittering with pride that only grew more apparent when he asked, "You got it already?"

"I happen to be very efficient at my job," she replied smugly. Numbuh 274 grinned. She was getting more and more comfortable with him and the more comfortable she got the more he like her. She was talented and spunky.

"Thank you, Numbuh 362. That will be all." She nodded and headed out without another word. Numbuh 274 opened the folder and read over what he found inside. Sure enough, just as Numbuh 362 had claimed, there was the condition. That word. Numbuh 274 had heard it before somewhere, but he couldn't put his thumb on where-

Then it occurred to him. He folded the record to hide the name, then sent out a mass message to let his heads of departments know he would be out, and headed for the hangar and his personal travel ship.


The KND museum was tended to by Numbuh 101. He was young, not even two years out of cadet training, but was filled with useless facts and always spent any encounter either rambling or asking for an autograph(which he collected as religiously as his fun facts). Normally he annoyed Numbuh 274, but today the supreme leader was grateful for the boy's insane knowledge.

When he arrived at the museum Numbuh 101 rushed out to greet him. He had a horrible lisp that made Numbuh 274 cringe when the young operative said his codename. "Numbuh 274! What an honor! What brings the Supreme leader all the way down here? Are you here to give me an autograph for my birthday?" He asked, thrusting the notepad and pen he had brought at the supreme leader.

Numbuh 274 waved them away. "I'm here for some information."

Numbuh 101 nodded enthusiastically. "Anything you need to know, I can help you with. Well, anything fact related," he added sheepishly. "I couldn't tell you how to find the square root of pi, although ironically I do know what it is-"

"Numbuh 101," Numbuh 274 interrupted, pulling out the paper. "Focus. I need to know something about Numbuh 0."

"The great Numbuh 0 that founded our branch of branch in the history of the Kids Next Door?" Numbuh 101 elaborated, his lisp getting worse as he got more excited. "Why he's my favorite subject. I did my thesis fr this position on his life! Anything you need to know I got right here." He tapped his head. Numbuh 274 smiled, remembering the very long lecture he had been forced to sit through for that very "Thesis". As much as he had wanted to fall asleep, however, the speech did give him one thing. It gave him this day.

"Good. What about his relation to this…" And he showed Numbuh 101 the folded report, his thumb pointing out the term he needed information on.

Numbuh 101 made a very excited sound and nodded vigorously. "Oh, yes. He struggled with that most of his early life."

"What is it?"

"A learning disorder, sir," Numbuh 101 explained. "It makes learning to read difficult because people with it don't process letters the same as others."

"So if he couldn't learn to read, how did he read the KND book. How did he lead the KND if he couldn't read reports or messages or write orders?"

"Well that's possibly the most interesting part of the story." Numbuh 101 assured him. "Why don't you come inside and I'll tell you everything." Numbuh 274 obliged.


Numbuh 1 had trained with Numbuh 274. They had spent hours sparring, Numbuh 274 teaching him lessons by knocking him on his back or throwing him over his shoulders. When you've spent so much time with another person, you get comfortable with them, so there was no reason for him to be so nervous today. Somehow, though, he was. As he sat across from the supreme leader his hands shook and his face felt hot. Perhaps it was how amused Numbuh 274 seemed. What was he up to?

"Thank you for coming in Numbuh 1."

"Of course, sir," he replied quickly. "Is there a problem."

"You heard, I'm sure, about Numbuh 11's defection," Numbuh 274 began. Numbuh 1's eyes drifted unconsciously to the bandage on the supreme leader's head and he nodded. "Her defection has shaken her sector, for obvious reasons. One member was seriously injured, her sister is devastated and the twins are close enough to their own thirteenth birthdays-and were so close to Cree- that their loyalty to the KND is now under serious question. So, I've decided to form an entirely new Sector V. A new leader and fresh blood, well mostly, Numbuh 5 will remain onboard."

"And…" Numbuh 1 began slowly, "you're putting me on this team?"

"No!" Numbuh 274 laughed as though that were the funniest thing he had heard that day. Numbuh 1's face went hot. He didn't have to be so mean, it was a reasonable assumption considering the current circumstances...or at least Numbuh 1 thought so. He was opening his mouth to say so when the supreme leader went on, "I'm giving you the team."

"S-sorry?" Numbuh 1 stammered, sure he had heard wrong.

"Well I want to," Numbuh 274 elaborated, "I've put together what I believe to be the perfect team. The best 2x4 technologist we have- especially impressive considering he's not even a year out of cadet training-, a very skilled weapons specialist- although he's got a temper so you'll have to watch that-, an excellent medic with knowledge and skill in several other areas making her quite the trick hitter, and Numbuh 5 whom's qualifications you already know."

Nigel still hesitated, part of him wondering if this were some sort of joke, but a bigger part of him knew that the supreme leader would never joke about something this serious. Numbuh 274 liked a good laugh, but he understood when it was and wasn't appropriate. Then something the supreme leader had said flashed in Numbuh 1's mind and he asked, "You want to?"

"I do," Numbuh 274 agreed. "However, first there is something we need to discuss. See, I heard something that got me wondering. So I checked out all the cadet tests from your class and I found something sort of odd. It seemed the head drill sergeant overrode the system and changed a test score manually. This was obviously something to raise eyebrows considering what had sent me looking in the first place. So I gave Numbuh 888 a call to ask…" Numbuh 1 felt he knew where this was going and suddenly wanted to be anywhere else. "And curiously enough he had no memory of changing any grades. So we pulled the paper copy of the test and what should we find? The operative had failed his cadet test, but managed to override the system and change it so he could graduate."

"Sir, I can-" Numbuh 1 started, but numbuh 274 cut him off.

"Hush, I'm speaking." Nigel did as instructed his face hot with shame and fear. Numbuh 274 leveled his gaze on him and continued, "I couldn't figure out how you did so poorly. You were one of the most promising cadets of your class. So I took a look at the questions and answers and found that you had missed questions I knew you knew the answers to. I was very confused as I'm sure you guessed so I looked into your school files and what I found there was that you have been determined at risk for dyslexia." Nigel swallowed hard and nodded. "So you didn't fail that test because you didn't know anything. You failed it because you couldn't read anything."

Numbuh 1 had never been so humiliated. Not even when he had lost all his hair. His face was burning and he wanted to hide under the desk. Or cry. Or both. Instead he took a deep breath and said, "I understand if you don't want to give me the position now. It's important for a leader to be able to read…"

Numbuh 274 didn't respond at first. He riffled through his desk instead, searching. Finally, he seemed to find what he was looking for and sat up to look at Numbuh 1. "You're not the first KND operative to have dyslexia and you wouldn't be the first great leader either. Would you like to know another operative with the same problem?"

"Who sir?"

"Numbuh Zero." Numbuh 274 smiled at his shock. "That's right. He struggled as well. So some of his best 2x4 officers created a program that connects to the brain, scans letters and helps the brain correct them. Once they had successfully completed the program they enhanced these to use it." And he sat a pair of inconspicuous black sunglasses down on the desk between them. "His infamous sunglasses. They've been preserved in the KND museum for years, but I pulled some strings."

Numbuh 1 could produce no words, only uncertain sounds when he tried. Numbuh 274 smiled at his efforts, but said nothing until Numbuh 1 finally managed to say, "Are you...are you giving them to me?"

"Well," Numbuh 274 began, "With the contingency that they work. Until we know for sure, I'll keep them here. You'll come in once a week for reading lessons, which will hopefully be successful if the glasses do their job. Then, when I'm satisfied you have enough basic reading skills I will transfer all of my chosen operatives to Sector V and you'll take it from there."

Numbuh 1 considered for a long time. "...Why do all of this for me?"

"Because, Numbuh 1, I think you're special. I think you'll be one of the greatest operatives the Kids Next Door has ever seen, and I won't miss the opportunity to see that because of some messed up brain chemistry."

Numbuh 1 smiled despite himself. It was nearly the same thing Numbuh 5 had told him when she had decided to change his grade in the system. He'd never had so many people believe in him, think he was more than that stupid kid that can't even read. He looked up at the supreme leader. "Thank you sir. I won't let you down."

Like I said, this one didn't have quite as much action, but I hope you enjoyed it anyways and I promise next chapter I have planned is much more interesting.

So come back! Also, if you have any requests for a little mini background story to be included, please feel free to ask either in a comment or PM me. I love hearing suggestions, sometimes things like that is exactly what I need for a little inspiration to get me out of a slump.

Okay I'm done done talking now. Thanks for reading!

*Divachick*