Connection Re-established
Chapter 4: Headstrong
They could hear Blake's laughter even after they left the alleyway and into the very loud crowd forming around the dome.
"Oh! I can't wait to see this, yo!"(1)
"Yeah, this is gonna be the bomb!"
"Stupid teenagers and their stupid lingo..." Nigel muttered bitterly as they circled the dome.
"At least they don't draw attention to us," Rachel reminded him as she moved the tracker around, looking for the signal that sounded when 777 is near.
Numbuh 10's keen eye traveled across the line. "I don't see Father, the Delightful Children, or Numbuh 411 anywhere near here, guys."
"Maybe he's already one step ahead of us and is already in the dome." Nigel suggested, his sunglasses glinting in what little light the dreary sky had to offer. "If we don't find a signal here, we're going to infiltrate the Warped concert."
It was then that Rachel picked up a signal. "I found her!"
"I thought the Code Module was broken. How were you able to find 777's DNA?" Belle followed Nigel and Rachel to the other side of the dome.
"Simple, the curator of the KND museum, Numbuh 101, had a strand of her hair up for display. We borrowed it from him, under my orders of course," Rachel answered, her eyes not moving from the ticking item. She moved ahead of them as the signal got louder.
"Simple my butt! My hand's still cramping from signing his stupid autograph book in every crayon of the 52 box set!" Nigel gnashed his teeth at the memory, but then felt very satisfied about signing every US Presidents' names instead of his own into the book. No doubt Matt at this moment is ripping his hair out because his autograph book is now ruined. Nigel was going to have to remind himself to find Matt and gleefully thank him for allowing him to refresh his memory of US Presidents for class. Sweet victory.
"Yeah, well you know what everyone's saying nowadays: 'One small step for Nigel Uno, is one giant leap for KND'. I think signing your name fifty-two times is a cakewalk compared to the many rumors I've heard about you," Numbuh 10 said crossly. "The Zero Incident? Gran would have a heart attack if she knew the stuff you were doing!"
"Then don't tell her, duh! End of story," Nigel retorted in annoyance.
She stuck her tongue at him. "Don't get saucy with me, Nigel Uno! Just because Blake's riled you up a bit because he likes the Supreme Leader doesn't mean you can take it out on me! And why not? He's just joking around! Maybe she can set him straight if I set them up."
"You're not going to do that!" Nigel said angrily. "I'm not gonna let you!" The thought of just standing there watching Blake take advantage of Rachel made him feel like hot lava was burning into his skin so infuriatingly.
"Excuse me?!" Belle was getting angry fairly quickly. "Why not? She's not taken!"
"Because he doesn't deserve her!"
"That's not your decision, it's hers!" She defended back.
"Well it's none of your stupid business to interfere with her personal life!" He snarled right back at her.
"It's none of your business either! And why do you care? It's not as if you love her or something!" She raised an eyebrow at the froze look on her simpering cousin's face. Realization hit her like a ton of bricks.
"Nigel..." She whispered disapprovingly.
"Shut up!" Nigel walked ahead of her, very disturbed. "You're reaching the wrong conclusion!"
"Am I?" She muttered to herself as she followed them to the back.
The tracker led them to the backstage entrance, where very few teens who had the right passes had been let in by two big security guards.
"She's in there! And she's close!" Rachel turned to inform her comrades to find Nigel looking extremely irked and his cousin staring worriedly at him from behind his back.
"Did something happen, guys?" The blond asked the quiet duo.
"Nothing," They both retorted glumly in unison.
"O...kay...follow my lead," Rachel hoped that her small stature would go unnoticed if she blended with the teens who had passes.
She almost made it inside when the Security Guard noticed her and picked her up with one hand. "Where's your pass, girly?"
"Um...I left it in there! I had to go to the bathroom! Let me in, my brother is going to get in trouble if he's not watching me!"(2) She lied through her teeth expertly.
The second guard looked at her funnily. "There's a bathroom inside and if you left it in there, how come we don't recognize you?!"
"I don't know!" She pretended to almost burst in tears. "I'm just a kid!"
"However truthful that may be, you're still not allowed in." He dropped her. "Now beat it kid before I call your folks."
Rachel was about to hightail it back to the others when she saw Cree and Maurice backstage, talking animatedly to each other.
Teen Ninjas! That meant that Father was somewhere inside!
Everything was silent all around her when she also saw Chad there, her heart stopping unpleasantly.
Of course, Chad would be there. He was part of the Teen Ninjas after all...
But...her heart clenched against her ribcage and found it hard to breath when she saw him talking to another girl. She was obviously being wooed at his charm.
She shook her head so fast, her brain was hammering back and forth inside her skull painfully. She had a job to do. Getting sidetracked could get you in trouble! Taking a huge breath, she observed the situation and began to think logically.
Also remembering that Maurice was part of the Teens Next Door, he may be able to give her some insight without blowing his cover if he recognized her now. Deciding on her mentally created plan she took charge.
"DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?!" She bellowed loudly at the guards, but mostly so Maurice can hear her. "MY NAME IS RACHEL MCKENZIE AND I DEMAND YOU LET ME IN HERE AT ONCE!"
"Rachel! What are you doing?!" Nigel hissed in alert.
Rachel's plan worked like a charm, because Maurice put two and two together and his eyes widened in recognition of his Supreme Leader.
"Rachel McKenzie...? It can't be...!" Chad ignored the girl he was talking to completely, much to the girl's chagrin and immediately tried to find the location of the shout, only to find Maurice acting quickly and shielding him from finding her.
"McKenzie? Is she your ex-girlfriend or something?" Maurice nervously joked. "Is she hot?"
Upon Chad realizing that Maurice was decommissioned so he wouldn't remember the current Supreme Leader of the KND, he laughed. "Yeah, she was one tough broad. And being adorable was like a cherry on the sundae! I doubt it's her, though. There are a lot of Rachel McKenzie's out there! But I wouldn't mind seeing her if she was around.." This earned him a gigantic huff from the girl he was charming and she stormed off. Chad shrugged nonchalantly and began to chat with Maurice about his ex-girlfriends.(3)
"Listen, you rugrat! I don't care if you're the Queen of England, you ain't getting in without a pass, now move it!" He shoved her aside, causing her to fall forward. Numbuh 1 made it in time to catch her from falling.
"You barbarian! You can't treat a woman that way!" Numbuh 10 yelled at the offending adult.
"She's not a woman," the Security guard laughed. "She's just a kid."
"Thanks, Nigel," Rachel said from the safety of his arms. "I'm fine."
But Nigel didn't want to let go of her. Was this growing up? Or, something...
He grudgingly let go of her and she brushed herself off gingerly. "Well, that went well."
"What were you yelling for?" Nigel inquired.
"Hmm..." She looked back at him smug. "We may not be able to get in, but we do have a mole inside."
"Who?" Numbuh 10 tried to think of possible moles. "Sector E?"
"Older. Maurice is in there," Nigel raised an eyebrow. "And so is the Teen Ninjas. Father's definitely in there."
"But you won't make it inside. Ever." A metallic, drone sounding voice sneered from the shadows.
By instinct, they took out their weapons. "Show yourself!" Numbuh 1 demanded.
"With pleasure." The figure stepped out, his features looking very familiar.
"Delightfulized," Rachel gaped. "A delightful teenager?!"
Nigel looked at him in disgusting horror. "There are more of you?!"(4)
"Pitiful Kids Next Door. Is this the best your organization can offer? Girls?" The delightful teenager droned on, an evil smirk on his features.
"Who are you calling a girl, you Delightful Troll?!" Nigel pointed his weapon dangerously towards the enemy's face. "Such talk for a defenseless robot with weapons pointed at him!"
The Delightful Teen only smirked as if their tools were useless. "Poor Nigel Uno. Your biggest flaw is your underestimation of people. Did you think I'd come after a bunch of kids on my own?" He snapped his fingers and figures jumped down, surrounding the three operatives.
"The Rowdy Hooligans From Across the Square!" Numbuh 1 and 10 exclaimed. Rachel only raised an eyebrow. "Who are they?"
"I only bear one message to you KND insects: Do not follow after 777." The Delightfulized Teen laughed as he returned to the shadows. "Destroy them."
The Rowdy Hooligans jumped at them and Nigel clicked his heels to activate the rockets in his shoes. "Grab on!"
Rachel and Numbuh 10 attached themselves to Nigel as they skyrocketed up in the air shooting their ammo at the disoriented Hooligans. Reaching a subtle distance as the rockets ran out of fuel, they ran, the Hooligans charging after them.
"What gives?! Who the heck are you guys?!" Rachel yelled behind her shoulder in mid run as the Hooligans gave a charging scream at them.
They were trapped in a dark alleyway with a solid brick wall in their path.
"We're going to have to fight them man to--" The girls looked at Nigel in annoyance. "I mean, kid to kid." The chicken in his gun screeched as he forced it to load more eggs.
"Why are you following Father's orders?" Belle snarled at them. "You don't care about anyone's plans but your own!"
"Aye, but Father promised to turn the concert into a Football stadium if we destroy you blokes!" The leader's grin was lecherous. "And anyone who wants Football here is an ally of ours!"(5)
"Weak fools!" Rachel shot toothpaste from her R.O.O.M.A. and smacked it straight into the leader's mouth causing him to sputter and yell.
"Aah!! Minnnntttt!!!"
Nigel motioned Belle and grabbed Rachel's hand. "Time to go!" While the Hooligans were too preoccupied helping out their leader, the KND bust through them using his rocket shoes as leverage to boost their speed.
As promised, Blake was waiting by the car, having a smoke.
"Blake! Put out that cancer stick and start the car!" Belle skidded professionally on her butt against the hood of the car, causing Blake to drop his cigarette in shock at the rough treatment.
"Don't treat my car so shamefully!" He bellowed angrily, but his cries went unheard as Nigel forced him inside the driver's seat.
"No time for punishing! Step on it!" Nigel let Rachel in first and then dived into the backseat with Belle as the tires screeched loudly.
Blake made a disbelieving frown as a couple of rowdy looking kids were chasing his car momentarily until they gave up and disappeared into the streets. "What the--? What the heck did you do under the process of ten minutes?!"
"Our jobs, stupid," Belle retorted sheepishly. "Looks like we failed this mission...man!"
Rachel shook her head encouragingly. "We've got a TND operative in there, so it's not a total failure. Let's just hope that Father hasn't found Numbuh 777 yet."
Nigel sighed angrily. "Agreed. Let's return to Gran's for a regroup."
"What's your Gran like?" Rachel dropped the KND subject for Nigel's sake. An impatient Nigel was a risk-driven Numbuh 1.
"Senile." Blake and Nigel responded shortly. Belle shook her head at the boys.
"Rude little things: boys. Gran may be old, okay...very old," She scoffed at the nodded assent from the boys. "Not everything is up there in the noggin, but harmless...very harmless." She contradicted the shaking heads of her relatives.
"Please, remember that one time I forgot the milk?" Blake gripped the steering wheel. "She threw my Cd's out the window!"
"You deserved it," Belle snapped back. "She repeated it to you a thousand times! Plus, you came back with a girl on your arm instead of groceries! If I was Gran, I'd be less generous and have thrown your TV instead."
"Only because you're evil!" He retorted.
This went on for quite some time...
"Nigel! Oh, look how you've grown, sweety! You're becoming a man, just like your father!" Gran grabbed the sheepish Nigel and hugged him to the point of lack of air.
Nigel panicked. He didn't want to look like his dad! "Um...good to see you too, Gran."
Rachel examined the warm old woman. She was rather old, with fair gray hair and bespectacled silver eyes.
In fact, as Rachel interestedly peered into, they were almost the same color as Nigel's, who held solid, storm-like eyes. Gran's was lighter, though, and seemed to sparkle with warmth and mirth.
She let go of him and proceeded to Rachel, who was tethering near the doorway nervously, unable to decide whether she should let herself in or not.
"And you've brought Elizabeth along too! How nice! I'm grateful that you're keeping my grandson in line! He's always into the...skateboards, or whatever doo-hickey risky little boys are doing these days!" She hugged 'Lizzie' just as tightly.
Rachel chuckled nervously. "I..I'm not 'Elizabeth', Nigel's Grandmother..."
"Yeah!" Nigel finally looked gratefully at Blake for clearing it up for Gran. "That's my girl, Gran. Lizzie's back in America!"
That did it.
"Why you!!" Nigel tried to kick Blake in the shins but missed. The older teen sauntered behind the embarrassed Rachel and snuggled her.
"Her name's Rachel McKenzie, Gran. Isn't she adorable?" He nuzzled her, instilling a volcano of rage to rise up inside Numbuh 1.
"She's not your girl, you idiot! Don't assume things!" Nigel roared angrily and pulled Rachel from Blake's grasp.
"Language, Nigel!" Gran warned. "Why haven't you brought Elizabeth over for me to meet, then? All I have are pictures of her."
Blake narrowed his eyes. "You have pictures of Nigel's girlfriend, Gran, and yet you compare her to this beauty of Venus?!" He hugged Rachel as if she was just as ashamed as he was. "The humanity!"
"Hey! There's nothing wrong with Lizzie!" Nigel and Belle said heatedly in unison.
"Oh, yeah?" A twinkle glinted off of Blake's eye. "The pudgy part or the manhandled attitude? She looks like a human bowling ball with Pippi Longstocking's pig tails."
"How dare you talk about someone like that?!" Belle actually succeeded in kicking Blake's shins, causing him to jump up and down holding his leg in pain.
"Idiot!" Nigel snarled. "Don't talk about my girlfriend like that, or you're going to be at the bitter end of my F.O.S.S.E.Y.!"
"Inside everyone!" Gran said cheerily to most of the arguing group. "You'll let the air out! I'm going to make tea."
Rachel blinked and turned to Belle for answers. Belle nodded and answered her by pointing at her own head. Rachel finally remembered being told that Gran was mental.
Settling down for tea, Rachel could see the strained aura surrounding Nigel and his family. She gingerly took a sip of her tea while Gran spoke.
"How long are you two staying here in England? Your mother never told me Nigel, dear," She pleasantly handed a tray of biscuits to Nigel, which he had no choice but to except.
"This is not a vacation, Gran. We'll stay here as long as the Warped Tour is. Then we follow after them to their next destination," Blake rolled his eyes and slapped his head at the blunt tone Nigel was giving.
Gran laughed. "Dearie, it sounds like your on one of those spy movies! Missions and all!"
"But Gran!" Nigel was mortified at how she thinks that they were playing some sort of game. "This is extremely important! We," He pointed at the embarrassed Belle and the dumbstruck Rachel. "are the Kids Next Door! It's our duty to stop evil adults from making kids' lives miserable!" Blake was mocking Nigel's speech by mimicking the words with his hand. Belle snickered silently.
"Oh dear!" Gran stood up. "You forgot to pick your mother up, Blake!" She looked at her watch. "And Belle, you need to go to the market quickly and pick up noodles. I'm making my special Pasta Prima Vera tonight."
"Crap!" Blake got up abruptly and swung his jacket over his shoulder, picking up Belle by the scruff of her neck and the keys. "I'll drop you off at the market, brat."
"Perv!" Belle retorted as she was swung out the door, Blake following close by.
"Nigel!" Nigel sighed as Gran turned to him. "Why don't you bring your luggage upstairs for now...not you, dear!" Rachel was about to follow him as well. "Why don't you help me make dinner?"
"Gran, you don't let guests help make dinner!" Nigel began to heave the biggest luggage. "It's not very honorable!"
"Nonsense!" Gran pushed Rachel into the kitchen sweetly. "Helping me cook my special meal is honorable enough!"
Rachel sighed as bits of her pleated hair went into her eyes and she brushed it back, chopping up lettuce.
"My dear," Gran looked over her shoulder expertly. "You've done well for your first time. I'm surprised someone as warm looking as you has never cooked before."
The Supreme Leader blushed a bit. "We have cooks back home. Mother says a lady must never dirty her hands unless it's absolutely necessary."
"Ah. I did sense a sort of aristocracy in you," Gran chopped the tomatoes without looking. "The way you held yourself up during tea. But I'd have never believed that the amazing things Nigel has told me about you by the way you act."
Rachel blinked and halted from her chopping. "Nigel has said things about me?"
"Oh yes, from trivial things like eating your broccoli when no one else would," Rachel gritted her teeth at the memory of going through all that broccoli to stop Father. When Gran said it, it didn't sound as great as the real truth was. "to amazing things like being in charge of thousands of kids all over the world for your secret club thing, yes indeed, Nigel speaks very fondly of you." Rachel's blush grew twice as big.
Gran smiled then sighed. "I'd just wish he'd talk about his girlfriend more! Whenever I bring it up on the phone, he'd just give me one word answers and I have to egg him on!" She pointed the wooden spoon at Rachel. "Do you know anything about Elizabeth, Rachel dear?"
Rachel looked away to think. What did she really know about Lizzie? Other than that disastrous first meeting, she knew very little about Nigel's girlfriend. She sighed. "I'm sorry, I've only met her once."
"And how was she like?" Gran moved in questioningly.
The young blond frowned. Should she tell her the truth? "Well...she's..." Any girl in her position would take advantage of this and spout every negative thing about her, but Rachel...she wasn't cruel. Nigel expressed that he cared about her. It wasn't her decision on who Nigel should love. "She was very...passionate...when I first met her. She cares about Nigel a lot. And...I've heard that she's a very sweet girl." She took a deep breath. For some reason, it was hard to defend Lizzie!
Gran was silent for a bit, looking at Rachel as if examining her like she wasn't telling the truth. Her question shocked Rachel. "My grandson, what is he to you?"
It was Rachel's turn to be silent. Did she give any clues that would make Gran think that she cared for Nigel as more than a friend?
But Gran let on more than what was beneath the surface and could probably sense her lying a mile away. She closed her eyes, trying to visualize the feelings that were jumbled up inside of her, like a bunch of jigsaw puzzles that were difficult to put together. She imagined every scrap of memory she had of Nigel and tried to evaluate them. It was very confusing. She took a deep breath at Nigel's image burned into her retinas.
"He's a dear friend of mine," She took another breath, imagining the memory of how he consoled her when she refused to remain Supreme Leader of the KND. "A great operative," She clenched the knife in her hands all too tightly as she remembered the resoluteness in his eyes as he battled the Citizombies to save the world. "He's a strong leader," She began to turn and return to her chopping, visualizing the way he commanded his Sector to attack the intruders at the KND Museum, right into believing that the attack on Moonbase was only a decoy. He also spoke his mind, defended his girlfriend so passionately when everyone else frowned upon her character. The last part clenched at her heart tightly. "And a person with an honest heart."
"There is no such thing as an honest heart, dear child." Rachel paused at Gran's words. "Everyone carries deep secrets in there under lock and key because they are afraid that their feelings will shake the sensible world they live in. Many secrets sometimes remain kept forever because the person their hearts resonate to is taken by another and the holder of that secret would rather hurt instead of cause friction and problems for the one they care about. But sometimes, if the secret remains hidden, both of them will suffer. Always give the here and now a chance."
Rachel didn't know what to say after those haunting words. "Don't worry, dear. After all, you're still young and the pasta won't make itself!" Gran returned to her cheery self and went on her way to inform Nigel to set the table.
Now alone in the kitchen, Rachel couldn't help but wonder why her brown eyes began to tear as she stared at the reflection of her knife.
"Nigel, honey! Come over here, I want to talk to you!" Nigel groaned from his resumed packing and proceeded down the hallway to his grandmother's room.
A few days have passed with unsuccessful attempts to infiltrate Warped Tour and it was weighing heavily on Numbuh 1's mind. Rachel had also been down in the dumps ever since she started cooking with Gran and he was curious to know what had transpired behind those closed doors.
He waved at Rachel from the other guest room and she looked up from packing. He was silently telling her that he would be returning to her room after being summoned by Gran. She nodded and pointed at her ear, making known that she is communicating with Moonbase and that he can take his time.
Nodding back, he went on his way. It was good that he had someone he can count on with KND missions, not that he would change his Sector V. They just weren't as dedicated to their jobs as he was.
He was quite sure that after he turned thirteen, he would be given the choice of joining the Teens Next Door. Rachel had hinted that only the most dedicated and the best were given the privilege. And who better than Nigel Uno to join this secret co-op group?
Quite possibly Chad and Cree would've had the chance if they had not gone mental and bust themselves out of decommissioning. That only proved that they weren't worthy nor dedicated to join. It was like, being sentenced to death and then being reprieved from it because you accepted your fate.
As he knocked on Gran's door, he wondered if Rachel would choose to join the TND when she pushed the age limit. She was almost a shoe-in: she is the best spy in the KND, the most patient and a highly-able Supreme Leader to boot. Probably the best in the 7th Era of KND in his opinion.
"Come in, Nigel." Nigel opened the door to find Gran rummaging through her things. "Oh, I know it's in here somewhere!"
Nigel hovered behind her questioningly. "Gran, do you need help with something?"
She looked at him. "Oh, no. I was supposed to give something to you and I can't find---oh!" Nigel raised his eyebrow as she picked up a small black box. "Here it is! I knew it was in here! Nigel, what do you think this is?" She raised the box for Nigel to clearly see.
He looked at it warily. "An old box, Gran."
"No, you smart aleck! What's in it?" Nigel sighed at Gran's guessing game.
"Gran, I have a lot of packing to do. The plane leaves in one hour."
She sighed in exasperation. "Oh, Nigel, you act like a forty year old! Act your age!"
"Fine," He snapped tiredly. He then set his voice to squeakily high as if on a candy buzz. "Oh, Gran, Gran! I don't know! Is it a bird, a plane, a BUNNY RABBIT??!!!"
The sarcasm in his false voice did not go unheard. Gran rolled her eyes. "It's like I'm talking to your beloved mother all over again..." She opened the box to reveal a small silver ring with what looked like vines and thorns snaking around it. "A good friend gave this to me to give to my grandchild with the most on his plate. And since you fit the bill..." She set it on his palm. "It's yours."
Nigel was exasperated without comparison. "But Gran! I'm a boy! Grandmothers give their boys skateboards or baseball cards! Rings are for girls!"
"It's not for you to wear!" Gran waved a disapproving finger in front of his face. "You save that for the girl you love in the future! Like an engagement ring! And you know this family's rule: the one you give an engagement ring to is the one you will ultimately marry! So, be careful who you choose! It's rude to take the ring back when you change your mind!"
"Yeah, yeah," Nigel tossed the ring up and down repeatedly. It was obvious that he had barely listened to her warning. "Engagement ring, give to girl, marry, okay."
Gran rolled her eyes and pushed him out of her room. "Just go and pack, you ungrateful little---"
"Yeah, love ya too, Grandma." He quipped sarcastically as he left to finish packing, stuffing the embarrassing ring in his pocket.
"Any word from Maurice?" Rachel spoke clearly into her headset as she packed her clothes.
"Nay, sir. There's no word from im'." Fanny's voice rang fuzzily because of the poor interception. "There was a suspicious report from da TND secta that claims dat Maurice was trying ta contact dem, bu' it was cut short."
Rachel grew worried. What kind of interference was strong enough to block Maurice's communication device from the TND's?
Making up her mind to wait at a later time, she issued her orders. "If there are any new news from Maurice or anyone that concerns our mission, contact me at once. We're heading to Barcelona by plane in an hour to follow Father."
"Aye, si---" the transmission went dead.
Believing that the signal faded, she moved the earpiece vainly to try to reestablish the connection. She jumped as she heard a male voice amongst the loud snowy sounds.
"Sect...any...read...urgent..." She recognized that voice anywhere...!
"Maurice?! This is Supreme Leader of the KND, Rachel McKenzie! Do you read me?!" She yelled clearly.
"Mc...Ken...zie...trouble...mecha...report..." Was all she could hear.
"Report! Tell me report!" She tried to dumb it down as best as she could so he could pick it up. It seemed to work as he said word for word back.
"All...Sector...Z...part...operative...of...since...era...1...jinx...13...plan...failed...to...recover...777...now...illumina...nonexist..." She went cold as the line went dead. Did something happen to Maurice?!
"Nigel!" She cried out in worry. Nigel burst through her door under a split second.
"What happened?!"
She relayed the broken message to him word for word. She was gifted in memory reading which had made her an excellent spy operative.
Nigel sat with her on the bed and stared at his clenched hands in thought. "He must've discovered some sort of plan involving Sector Z's apparent jinx of disappearing operatives and Father failing to apprehend Numbuh 777. He said 'mecha', maybe some sort of 'mechanism' is what's causing the immense interference."
"Since era 1..." Rachel closed her eyes in deep thinking. "Does the Book of KND talk about Sector Z being jinxed since the 1st Era?"
"I think so," Nigel responded quietly. "It doesn't go into much detail, just operatives disappearing in Z and were arguments of closing the Sector to avoid this, but they never got around to do it." He looked down at his shoes determinedly. "And in this era, everyone believes that it just was coincidence that Z operatives disappears."
Rachel looked up at the ceiling in mid thought. "'There are no coincidences in this world'," She quoted vaguely. Where did she remember that from again? She shook her head. Now was not the time to figure out these things. "He also said, 'Illumina' and 'Nonexist'. I think he meant 'Illuminati' and 'Nonexist' is 'Nonexist'. Illuminati means an intelligent secret society bent on the good of mankind..."
"And 'nonexistence' means, you don't exist." Nigel finished. For once in his life, he was afraid of this mission. Were they about to go in too deep? Way deeper than a pair of preteens were supposed to discover before their time?
As they stared at each other, the burden gripping their shoulders like vultures, all they could think about was that they were about to depend on each other more than unlike anything they've faced before.
Transmission Interrupted
Wiki Time!
(1) Hmm...my sister says this from time to time. Sounds 'teen-ish' don't cha think?
(2) I got into a Disturbed concert with this excuse. These guys were just too smart for little 362:)
(3) I know that the Chad/Rachel fans would get a kick out of this...lol. Yes, he dated her once upon a time in this story. Hmm...maybe I should make a sidefic to their relationship? As an update, I have decided to change my plans just a tad bit and give Chad the screen time he deserves! Why? He'll be very important later in my story! If you still don't get it, read his bio at Wikipedia. But, I'm afraid that I'll spoil part of the ending...! Oh, decisions, decisions.
(4) This is a cool nitpick I found. Mr. Warburton just confirmed that there are more Delightful People out there! So, this fic will actually become more canon than usual! So happy! Thanks, Mr. Warburton!
(5) For the culturally inept, no they don't mean 'Football'. They mean soccer, as it is called in Europe. Makes perfect sense, really: 'Foot'ball is soccer! And it should fit them just perfectly, since they're called the 'Rowdy Hooligans'. Many culturally orthodox citizens call soccer fanatics: hooligans, because they're just plain crazy during Football season!
Reviewing is like an Author's Garden: Dig it! Review please!!!