Kuki sat cross legged on the grass, plucking out strands and watching them dance away in the cool spring breeze. Her silken midnight hair whipped around her waist, untamed. Wally was stood up against the old, battered, green railing that surrounded the school, his concentration fixed on a bug he was trying to squish with his shoe. The team had decided to split up so as to cover more ground. Though it was more like Abby had dragged Hoagie away, yelling about how she'd kill Wally if she had to spend more than ten minutes with him. Nigel crossed his legs on the grass and smoothed out the map. Tapping the compass lightly, he looked around the empty field. He wasn't used to having to use stuff like this. Normally Hoagie had some wacky 2x4 Technology to do the hard work for him.

"We should just wing it." Wally grumbled. He hardly ever came into school, and when he did it was only for his P.E lessons, so having to stand around doing nothing was really getting to him. "I could probably find them all just by looking around randomly quicker than you can read that cruddy compass." 'Them' were the letters and symbols hidden around the school.

Nigel rubbed his forehead, "Or you could end up walking around in circles."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Wally snapped, crushing the bug into oblivion. Stamping over, the Aussie crossed his arms and leant over the map. "Come on, I'm bored!"

Nigel smirked, tapping the map. "Okay, okay. This is one, I think." Wally straightened himself and looked around, Nigel joined him. "Right over there." He pointed towards a large tree on top of one of the hills on the school field.

"Easy." Wally snorted, striding off. Nigel tapped Kuki, breaking her trance. She followed obediently. Nigel observed the blonde haired boy as he began to climb the tree incredibly swiftly. He moved with ease, twisting and turning around the branches. "I see it!" He called back from amongst the leaves. "It's the number 43!"

After the first symbol was found, the rest came quite easily. Nigel would point them in the right direction and Wally would collect them while Kuki spun around or wandered off to look at butterflies. The three began walking back up the grey, ageing path approaching the school. "So how did you get that black eye?" The Brit asked, curious to what his ex team mate had been up to. Wally had always had a rough streak in him and enjoyed getting into fights, but he never came across the type that someone would want to whack in the eye. To be honest, Nigel had seen him as sort of sensitive. He had that gangster edge, but the good in him always shone through, especially when it concerned Kuki. It was hard to believe that the chemistry that had once ran through them was completely gone, after the years of pure devotion on Wally's side. Now he had joined everyone else at the school in avoiding Kuki, though the bald teen couldn't see anything particularly peculiar about her.

"None of yer business." Wallaby snapped back, folding his toned, creamy arms over his chest.

Nigel raised his eyebrows but didn't question it further; instead he took a different rout. "Okay, why do you skip school?"

"What the crud is this? Twenty questions? I have more important things to deal with!" He spat, kicking a stone that narrowly missed a twirling Kuki. "Anyway, new guy, what's the deal with you?"

"What deal?" Nigel smirked. The spring sun bear heavily down on him, glistening light shone in his eyes. It was times like this he regretted giving his trademark sunglasses to Abby.

"Well you're not exactly from 'round here, are ya?" He laughed, dodging Kuki as she span between the pair. "Watch it, kid."

Nigel snorted, turning his head towards Wally. "Not from around here? You can talk. And you're not getting anything out of me until you tell me how you got that black eye."

"So this is how we're playing it." The Aussie muttered, brushing his light blonde hair out of his eyes. "I owed some guys some money. That good enough for ya? Now, what made ya move out here?"

Maybe this was what Numbuh 86 was talking about, Nigel guessed. It was hard to believe that Wally was getting involved with the type of people who beat you up over money. He wondered what would push his old friend to have to borrow money from that sort of crowd. "I used to live here when I was younger, moved away for a bit, and now I'm back."

"Your parents got a new job or something?" Wall asked, shoving his hands in his pockets and staring at his shoes.

Watching Wally, Nigel couldn't help but smirk at his actions, in this way he hadn't changed a bit. "No, they live back in England. It's just me."

Nigel saw Wally's eye shoot to the side, then dart back, acting as if nothing had happened. There was a faint redness to his face. "That's me too. My parents are backpacking across all the continents, or something like that." He grumbled, kicking another rock.

This surprised him, Wally's parents didn't seem the type to go off on a whirlwind adventure without their son. "So you live on your own?"

Wally hesitated, biting the inside of his lip. "Not really, my kid brother lives with me. It's hard to make ends meet if you know what I mean."

"Yeah." Nigel responded quietly. "Is that why you skip school, to look after him?"

He shrugged. "Sometimes, I mean, he's six, he goes to school. But I gotta work too." Wally sighed deeply, then looked up towards Kuki. She was sat cross legged on the cool concrete slabs, smiling up at the clouds, her head tilting from side to side. "She's not all there is she?"

"I guess I've only known her a day, but she seems all right." It felt weird taking about Kuki like that, but Nigel guessed the statement was fitting. Clearly things had changed since he had left for the Galactic Kids Next Door, so it was sort of like this was the first time he was meeting the ex operatives of Sector V. He bit the inside of his mouth, "What do you think of her?"

Wally looked slightly taken aback. "I dunno. Don't think we've ever talked. Not that I talk to anyone in this cruddy school."

"You're talking to me." Nigel pointed out, a smile threatening his lips. Wally shrugged again, but stayed silent. Nigel spotted Abby and Hoagie wandering around the corner, Hoagie was writing down the final symbol while Abby was fiddling with some grass. Hoagie smiled and waved at the group, hurrying over. "Did you get all yours?" Nigel asked, handing them his sheet. "We did."

"Us too." Abby answered, looking over to Kuki. "Hey, Kuki, you coming?" She asked as the slender Asian played with a Ladybug on her fingertips. Kuki nodded and jumped up, saying goodbye to the insect and dancing over to join the group. "Well, Abby thinks that went pretty well." Nigel couldn't stop the smile that spread across his face when Abby referred to herself in third person. The group made their way back over to the gym changing rooms and when off to their lessons. Kuki checked Nigel's timetable.

"You've got Science, I'll take you there." She smiled, dragging her new friend by the wrist. Nigel didn't look forward to having a lesson by himself, he was getting used to having Kuki in his company again. "There you go." She smiled, skipping off back the way she had came. The Brit edged into the busy classroom and looked around for anyone he might recognise. There was one. Numbuh 362 was sat one one of the stools, directly to her right sat Patton Drilovsky who was attempting to text under the table without getting caught. It didn't work.

"Mr Drilovsky, please hand over your phone." The balding teacher sighed, holding out his hand.

Rachel looked up and smiled over to Nigel, she tapped the chair beside her, asking him to sit down. Patton frowned for a moment while Nigel sat down, before realisation crossed his face. "Nice to see you again, Numbuh 1." He grinned, leaning around Rachel.

"I see the pair of you got into TND." He replied, genuinely happy to have someone who remembered him. "I can't say I'm surprised." He laughed. "You two were always guaranteed a place, as well as Numbuh 86."

"I'm sorry I couldn't come and see you as soon as you arrived back, but I've been swamped with deadlines and of course, butt kicking." She tittered, then her face turned sympathetic. "So how's it been with the other guys?"

Nigel's face dropped. "I don't understand how they didn't get into the Teens Next Door. They were some of the greatest operatives I'd ever met."

Numbuh 60 sighed. "Yes, they were. After you left, it was hard for them. Especially Numbuh 4. They all sort of disappeared inside of themselves."

"Don't get us wrong, they still always got the job done." Rachel sighed, "But they weren't the same. They lost that spark. And what with Numbuh 4 losing it a bit, we decided to decommission them all at once on Numbuh 5's birthday."

Patton nodded. "We thought that decommissioning them early would be less cruel then making them watch their friends forget them."

Nigel nodded in understanding. "I really wish they could remember me." Rachel put her arm around Nigel until the teacher called for attention. He handed Nigel a class book for him to fill out and began the lesson.

"So had Numbuh 274 been in contact with you yet?" Rachel whispered from the corner of her mouth.

"No not yet." He replied honestly, scribbling down notes on the lesson.

Rachel nodded. "He should do soon then, that ism if you plan on staying on as an operative?"

Nigel let out a quiet chuckle. "Of course, this organisation is my life. But what are they going to do about my team?"

"Get you a new one probably, you can't be a leader without people to lead."