Chapter 2. I guess the theme song for KNDGE is 'Cells' by The Servant.


New Mexico

Night Time.

A black limo pulled up near a blocked off crater in the ground. The passenger door opened and out stepped Benedict Uno, President of the United States and most influential person in the world. Benedict looked around the open desert area, finding scorch marks and metal debris littering the perimeter of the crater.

"Sir." Benedict turned to see an abnormally large eighteen year old in a business suit walking towards him.

"What do you have for me Big Brother?" Benedict said, not taking his eyes away from the crater.

"Our guys are checking the crater, so far no meteorite or anything." Big Brother said as he popped stuck a tooth pick in between his lower front teeth. "We've brought up the senses, nothing points out that there was anything out here for miles."

"That means that this charred metal once was a solid mass. It was what fell out of the sky." Benedict summed up.

"So far, we don't know what it could've been." Big Brother scraped his teeth with the tooth pick. "Chester's lookin' into it as we speak."

Benedict turned to see Chester scanning each individual chunk of metal in order to create a 3D recreation of the object. Chester scanned what appeared to be a crumpled up piece of metal, until realizing it was a slightly burnt poster. "Mr. President, you may want to see this."

Benedict stepped over yellow 'caution' tape that was struck up around the crater. Benedict approached Chester, who handed over the crumpled up poster. Benedict unfolded the poster, finding it to be an anti-KND propaganda poster.

"Now why that would be all the way out here, nonetheless crumpled up?" Chester asked slyly.

"This was not a random occurrence." Benedict summed up. "Someone's been here before us…someone that opposes us."

"KND?" a teenage girl in black body armor and a black helmet asked as she approached the crater.

"No…this is too messy." Benedict said tossing the poster aside. "Ever since I've outlawed them, they've been force to continue on in secret, rarely appearing in the open, always leaving without a trace."

"So…who could it be?" Big Brother asked.

Benedict looked up to clear night sky. "Someone who's been gone…unaware of how the world has changed…" Benedict motioned to his pipe, only to realize he didn't have it. It was a habit of his, to reach for his family pipe. Benedict hadn't had his pipe in over three years, ever since the scavenger hunt. "I want my pipe back from that bald nephew of mine…and I think the opportunity has presented itself…"


2x4 Helicopter

Nigel looked out the passenger window to the bright cities and natural structures below. He'd spent three years of his life in space, on other worlds similar to Earth in more ways than one. His experiences and time away from Earth have made the planet as foreign to him as any other planet he'd been on.

"I take it you don't even know where we are?" Sand asked, having noticed the bald brit's actions.

"Earth…that's all I need to know at the moment…" Nigel trailed off. Nigel no longer knew this world. He felt fear, knowing that his childhood friends were most likely as foreign to him as he would be to them.

"I know that look…Nolan used to have that look…" Sand let out a humorless laugh. "…It usually meant he had his mind on something else." Sand reached out to a button on the helicopter's control panel. She pushed the button, causing a compartment to flip out of a compartment under her seat. She pulled out several vanilla folders and handed them to Nigel. "You're probably wondering about your friends, that's all the information on their current whereabouts. You can thank a girl named Angelie for that."

Nigel rose a brow at the mention of Numbuh 78's real name. He opened the first folder, finding it about Numbuh 4, aka Wallabee 'Wally' Beatles. Nigel skimmed through the contents of the folder, finding that Wally had been decommissioned on his thirteenth and that he went out honestly. Nigel smiled, knowing that despite Wally's apparent nature, he had a code of conduct that he lived by. Nigel also began to crack up laughing, finding that after the aussie's decommissioning he'd turned into a genius and was now taking college courses.

Nigel flipped through another file, Numbuh 2's, aka Hoagie Pennywhistle Gilligan Jr. Hoagie willingly walked to the chamber without an escort. Hoagie was apparently the only member of Sector V at the time. Nigel frowned, having no clue what kind of events led to Hoagie's strange willingness to be decommissioned. A smile slowly returned as Nigel read the rest of Hoagie's folder. Hoagie had apparently immediately gotten a hold of a pilot's license and was already on the list to join the air force.

Nigel pulled out another folder, Numbuh 3's, aka Kuki Sanban. Kuki had apparently become Numbuh 5's secretary. She left the KND only three months ago. Nigel knew he was older than both Kuki and Wally, yet he wasn't decommissioned, this thought raised a number of questions in Nigel's mind. He set Kuki's folder aside, having read she was now getting A's in all her classes.

Nigel pulled out Numbuh 5's folder. Numbuh 5's real name was Abigail Lincoln. Nigel read that she'd become Supreme Leader for a short amount of time. She was supposedly decommissioned, having in reality joined the TND. Abby was now noted as being one of the few known uncorrupted members of the Teens Next Door.

"The TND is corrupt?" Nigel asked, turning to Sand.

"Yeah…after Benedict became President, all he had to do was pay people off." Sand shook her head as she continued to pilot the helicopter. "The TND was his only real problem for a while; all he had to do was break it, such as killing off a number of members and corrupting high up members."

Nigel sighed before returning back to the files in hand. He quickly skimmed past Fanny Fulbright's and Patton Drilovsky's files. They were both Numbuh 86 and Numbuh 60. They were members of the TND and both currently dating. Nigel raised a brow, remembering that they had started a civil war in the KND years ago due to their disdain for one another.

Nigel moved onto the final folder. The file was on Rachel T. McKenzie, the Supreme Leader during his time on Earth. She was Numbuh 362; she looked up to him and vice versa. She was the one who'd helped him get over Lizzie. Rachel was currently a member of the TND; she'd also been spending a great deal of effort looking into his disappearance.

Nigel frowned. He'd been gone to do good without telling all of those he cared about. Rachel was one of them and she spent the last three years trying to find him.

"Find something you didn't like?" Sand asked.

"Sort of." Nigel admitted. "I should've been decommissioned a little more than a year ago. A friend of mine had spent the past three years of her life looking for me."

"I guess that's a lot of information to take in. You'd only been back for thirty minutes and you find all this out." Sand said as the helicopter began to descend. "Well, we're landing now. Welcome to our base of operations, your home for the rest of your stay, welcome to The Society."

Nigel looked down to see part of the ground split apart. "Definitely not with the TND I see."

"Like I said, they're corrupt." Sand remarked as the helicopter landed. The ground pulled back together, covering up the landing pad.

Lights on the ceiling turned on, illuminating the dark landing pad. Sand and Nigel disembarked from the helicopter. Sand led the way to a hallway with a framed picture of a teen wearing a gas mask, tinted goggles, and grey hoodie on a wall. Next to the picture was one of Matthew Garley, the former Numbuh 101.

"What's with their pictures on the wall?" Nigel asked.

"They are former members of The Society." Sand said her attention primarily on the picture of the teen with a gas mask similar to her own. "Matt was vetoed out due to doing…something the rest of us would prefer to forget."

"Who's the other guy?" Nigel asked, noting the similarities between him and Sand.

"He was the Sandman." Sand said solemnly. "Numbuh Infinity recruited him first, he was also meant to start a following for you to rally together like minded individuals…but then…his girlfriend was sent to kill him…not knowing that it was him behind the mask…"

Nigel picked easily picked up on Sand's change of tone. "...You were the girlfriend."

"Yeah…I was…" Sand said uneasily. "…Well…we better get moving…Numbuh Infinity wants to gut you up to speed immediately."

Sand walked off. Nigel took one last look at the two pictures before following Sand. They came upon a door with the number infinity on it. Sand opened the door and motioned for Nigel to enter.

Nigel entered the room, finding Numbuh Infinity sitting at his desk looking over a piece of paper. "Numbuh Infinity, he's here." Sand said bringing Numbuh Infinity's back to reality.

Numbuh Infinity looked up to see the Nigel standing in the doorway beside Sand. "Good." Numbuh Infinity stood up from his seat and walked over to Nigel, extending his hand. "Welcome back to Earth, Numbuh 1."

"I can't say it's good to be back." Nigel said, shaking Numbuh Infinity's hand. "I'm not exactly familiar with the events that have taken place in my absence."

"All you need to know now is that we've got a job to do." Numbuh Infinity said heading to the door. "We might as well get you up to speed on everything that's happened in the last three years."

"That would be helpful." Nigel and Sand left the office behind Numbuh Infinity. "So…my Uncle's the President of the United States?"

"Unfortunately…" Numbuh Infinity sighed. "Ever since the original Delightful Children washed up on a beach, four fifths of them dead by the way, he devoted the remainder of his life to destroying everything you stood for."

"Such as the Kids Next Door?" Nigel rose a brow.

"No, childhood." Numbuh Infinity said in his usual collective tone. "He then began his campaign for office by appealing to adults everywhere. Benedict then began placing all sorts of bans on kids everywhere. A number of teens stood up against him, both publicly and secretly…many were silenced."

"I've heard..." Nigel rubbed his chin. "So what's our first course of action?"

Numbuh Infinity pushed open a door. Numbuh Infinity walked past the door followed by Sand. Nigel walked through the doorway, finding the room to be cavernous in size. Nigel noticed a number of teens, adults, and kids walking around or working on equipment.

"Simple…" Numbuh Infinity began. "We're going to Mexico."