Hello everyone and here is chapter 7. Sorry for the longer wait, but school is starting to catch up with me, hopefully though I will be able to release chapter 8 before the end of next week, no promises though. More big thanks go out to Lil Appleduck and the GameWizard2008 for some great reviews as well as Appleduck for following my story. Lil, in response to your question: yes your she did already ask that and yes it is going to be part of the story eventually. Big thanks to all the people who have viewed story so far, I have almost reach 500 viewers WOOT! More dark stuff in this chapter, so enjoy!


"It's always darkest before the dawn"- Anonymous


KND Arctic Base: Command Center

As Schmitt and Jonathan rushed to catch up with the others, meanwhile, Numbah 60 was relaying everything he had learned to Numbah 362 and the others. "Apparently, he told everyone in the fleet about this as well", finished Patton, "or so Numbah 1918 says." Rachel considered this, she had already gathered much of what Numbah 60 had told her from the events on the Moonbase, that Schmitt had known about the invasion and that it involved forces beyond the KND, still this news that the whole fleet was in on it the whole time was something else. "And they never told us", she thought out loud, "half the Kids Next Door knew this was coming and they never told me, how deep does this conspiracy go!?" Numbah 60 answered her question, "only as far as the fleet, according to 1918, Schmitt wanted as few people aware of the invasion as possible, apparently he only told a few of the higher officers about it as well as the members of his old sector and they only gave vague answers to the fleet personnel, so they really don't know any more than us." "Good", Rachel replied in a relieved voice, "so the only real traitors we have to worry about are Schmitt and his command staff, I worried for a moment that we may have to decommission half the KND when this was over."

"Are you really considering decommissioning him when this is over", asked Nigel, in a skeptical tone, "after what I've seen, I don't know if we could take him." Rachel also looked skeptical, "maybe, but that Arthurs guy said that you were his best agent, best agent in the whole Confederacy, whatever that is, so that's gotta count for something, right?" Hearing this, Numbah 86 just laughed, "you won't get the chance, the moment we have him away from those fleet traitors, I'll have the decommissioning squad take him down faster than you can blink." "Funny", shot back Nigel, with a wry grin, "thats how long it took him to disarm you, remember?" He spoke with a teasing tone, to which Numbah 86 replied indignantly, "he got lucky is all, I wasn't ready, next time it won't be so easy for him."

"Whatever", cut in Numbah 60, "the point is we can't trust any of them, not the fleet, not Jonathan and especially not Schmitt, I say we take all of them down right now and take our chances with the invaders, we still have the fleet's old tech stash here in the Arctic base, we can beat these guys all on our own." "I'm not taking that chance Numbah 60", replied Rachel, firmly, "like it or not, Schmitt has critical information on these invaders, information I doubt we'll get anywhere else, so no. Schmitt stays on our side until this is over, but then I promise you we will do something about him and his fleet." "His fleet?" questioned Numbah 2, "I know he's the admiral, but come on? They can't all be on his side."

"Schmitt hand picked the top officers of the fleet", said Rachel, "and those officers trained and conditioned every cadet that went into the fleet, I have no doubt that they're all loyal to him. Plus he was the one who came up with the idea in the first place, its pretty much his fleet." "Was his fleet", said Numbah 86, grinning, "most of those traitors got wiped out in the opening attack, it shouldn't be any problem to stop the ones who are left." "FANNY", yelled Rachel, horrified, "fleet or no fleet, those kids were still KND operatives and they died fighting to protect us, show some respect!" "I don't care what he says", said Numbah 86, jerking a thumb at Numbah 60, "in my eyes, they're all still all traitors! Just what I'd expect from a bunch of stoopid boys!"

She stomped off up the hallway in a huff, leaving the other operatives to continue on without her. Numbah 60 watched her go with a mixture of frustration and pity, "maybe I should go talk to her-" "I' don't think thats a good idea right now Patton", cut in Nigel, "give her some time to cool down." "...Alright", agreed Patton, "I feel I should also mention that 1918 said Schmitt built the fleet to defend the Earth from the invasion." "What? Why would he plan an invasion of the Earth and then build a fleet to defend it against that invasion", asked Rachel, utterly confused. Numbah 60 just shook his head, "I don't know, Jonathan says its because Schmitt was against the invasion to begin with, but still that makes no sense, if he was against, why'd he help plan it in the first place?" Nobody had any answers, but they all knew the one person who did, "Schmitt", swore Rachel, "I think it's time we got some answers out of him, where is he?" One of the operatives in the back of the crowd spoke up, "he was in the hanger talking to Numbah 1918, they should be coming up here now." "Alright", Rachel spoke out to the whole crowd, "we keep this secret from the fleet operatives and especially from Schmitt, do you understand?"

They all nodded in agreement and ran up the passageway towards the command center. On the way up Rachel spoke quietly to Numbah 60, "do we even know who's side Schmitt is on?" "I think he's on his own side", replied Patton, "I guess that means you want me to watch him, right?" "Yes, I want you to keep a close eye on him, if it looks like he's going to try and run, I want you to shoot him in the back, understood?" "Loud and clear", acknowledged Patton, relishing the possibility, "I was hoping you'd say that." They ran up the hallway and burst into the command center, which was currently in an uproar. Operatives were screaming into radios and numerous screens displaying locations and tree houses from across the world, hung from cables overhead. Rachel noticed that several of the screens showed locations under attack and tree houses on fire, she quickly ran over to the holo table in the center of the room, where the 44 twins were pouring over a 3D image of the globe.

"STATUS UPDATE NUMBAH 44", yelled Numbah 60, both of the twins turned around at the same and were about to speak, but then they started arguing over who he was talking. "THE LEFT ONE", yelled Numbah 60 impatiently. The left twin smirked at the other before reporting, "sir, reports are coming in from every tree house around the world, just ten minutes ago forces from orbit descended on nearly every major city world wide!" The newly arrived operatives gasped, Numbah 362 started asking questions, "how are the tree house doing? What are our losses?" "According to what we have sir, we've lost sectors HH, B, C, D and EG as well as most of our sectors in Africa and Europe, but sectors F and G managed to escape to to sector R in Russia." This shocked Rachel, "it's only been ten minutes and we've lost half our forces!" The 44 twin nodded solemnly, "they hit at least half of our tree houses at once, by the time we realized what was happening, it was too late."

Just then Schmitt and Jonathan came bursting into the room, "whats going on", Schmitt demanded, "has the invasion started?" Rachel turned to face him, "yes it has, and apparently we've already lost half our numbers." She seethed with barely controlled anger, "this is all your fault Schmitt, operatives all over the world are dying because of you! If you had just told told us when we had time then we could have prepared, we could have been ready!" Schmitt walked up to the holo table, hands clasped behind his back and responded evenly, "if I had told you back then do you think you would have believed me? You wouldn't have, and I never would have had the chance to even start the fleet."

"Your fleet lasted ten seconds before getting blown out of the sky", yelled an irate operative, "how does that help us!?" Schmitt whirled on the operative, snarling, "the fleet wasn't ready, I needed more time! And this", he angrily threw up a hand, indicating one of the overhead monitors, "isn't the invasion I planned for!" "You don't have anymore time", yelled Rachel, "these Confederates are here now, so tell us, how do we beat these guys!" Schmitt ran a hand over his eyes, "the knowledge and training to beat an enemy like this doesn't come in a single day. This is a trained army, not a band of adult thugs or teen delinquents!"

He slapped his hand against the table for emphasis, glaring out at the others with a look of exasperation, "you're not fighting ice cream men or candy pirates or some black suited moron who shoots fire balls this time!" He paced the table, hands behind his back, "this is a legitimate, professional and experienced military force, one that has been trained and conditioned to fight, kill and win." He gestured at the images on the screens, "this is a real war, with no mercy or quarter, no stun lasers or mustard guns, those soldiers are armed with real guns that fire bullets, not condiments, and they have real tanks, mechs and aircraft."He put his palms on the table and leaned over the top, "what have we got, a ragtag army of barely trained kids, fighting with weapons that give you a headache and aircraft that were made out of parts found at a dump." He sat down in an open chair and slumped back, "I may be an excellent tactician, but even in the Beach War I had some advantage over my enemy, here we have nothing, so I'm telling you, WE. CAN'T. WIN. THIS. ON. OUR. OWN!" Numbah 60 scoffed, "some master strategist you turned out to be." Schmitt glared at Patton, "conventional strategy is utterly useless in the face of such impossible odds!"

Numbah 362 favored Jack with an angry expression, "so who do you expect us to turn to then? The teenagers? The adults?!" Schmitt barely heard her, he was staring past her at one of the TV screens mounted on the wall behind her. He slowly got up out of his chair and stared past her with an irritated expression. "I think those options are off the table", he growled. He pressed a button on the holo-table and immediately the 3D projection of the Earth was replaced with a live action video that showed Hendry Middle School being stormed by battalions of heavily armed Confederate Infantry. Around the school lay smoking piles of rubble, the remains of the teen bikes and defense systems, and on the ground around the school lay the bodies of dozens and dozens of Teen Ninjas. In the air above the school, the few remaining teen bikes were engaged in a climactic dogfight with a squadron of Confederate fighters, while on the roof of the school the few remaining Teen Ninjas held out, firing their wrist lasers at the hoards of Confederate troops. But despite a few lucky shots, the teens lasers just bounced off the soldier's armor, while the Confederate's return fire cut through the teen's BRAs like a knife through tissue paper. The battle was hopeless, for every Confederate soldier that fell, ten teenagers died.

Schmitt pressed the button again and the image was replaced with a similar one from McClintock High School. Numbah 5 gasped as she saw her sister and Maurice fighting off legions of Confederate soldiers. Both of them were battered and bloody, Cree had a laser burn on her shoulder from a Confederate rifle and Maurice bled openly from a puncture wound in his side. Many of the operatives in the room averted their eyes as the soldiers closed in around the two, but at the last second a teen van plowed through the crowd, toppling soldiers left and right. Cree and Maurice quickly hopped in the back as the van took off again, flying straight up into the sky, hampered by a pair of Confederate fighters.

Schmitt pushed the button a third and final time and the scene at McClintock was replaced by a city in flames. Black smoke rose in thick columns from dozens of burning skyscrapers and the smoking remains of bombed out buildings, all of which coated the sky in a fog of ink black clouds. Entire sections of the city had been reduced to rubble, debris from ruined houses cluttered the streets and charred scraps of paper blew in the wind. Far off in the distance, bright lights punctured the fog of smoke, the indication of a far off battle. Here and there a few surviving people walked through the ruins of their city, while others simply sat in the ashes of what once been their homes and wallowed in their own despair.

At the forefront of this horrible scene stood several Confederate landers, ramps open, down which marched row after row of Confederate soldiers. The soldiers marched down the ruined streets in perfect step and formation, moving out into the city as if they were on parade. But this is not what truly caught the attention of spectating operatives, what truly caught their attention was the picture of a Confederate flag, hoisted high over the ruined remains of a demolished convention center, around which lay the bodies of dozens of adult super villains. The gathered operatives choked as they slowly picked out several of their old nemesis's from the rubble, villains who only a few days ago they had been fighting themselves.

Many of the nearby operatives who could see the details, fell to their knees from the weight of the despair emanating from the image. Others rushed out of the room, unable to take in the enormity of what they had just seen. "Count Spankulot... ... Crazy Old Cat Lady", said Numbah 4 in voice as low as whisper, "Stickybeard... Chester..." he went on, recounting all the names of the villains in a sort of shocked eulogy. Nigel was rooted to spot, unable to take in the knowledge that all of his former enemies were now gone. He'd fought them for years and had been determined to bring them to justice for their crimes, but not like this, not like this.

He reached out and grabbed Rachel's hand for support and she held on with a grip that suggested the same things was going through her head as well. Jonathan in the back of the room closed his eyes and hung his head while Schmitt stood stock straight, glaring at the screen. His eyes played across the image as though searching for something, then they locked in place, fixated by bearer of his rage. His voice was a low growl as he said one word, "Arthurs." He raised a finger and pointed at the screen, where Arthurs was visible, standing before the whole scene, flanked by a pair of armed and helmeted soldiers, watching on with a look of pure triumph.

"Sound" ordered Schmitt. One of the nearby operatives shakily hit a button and instantly the speakers in the command center blared to life with the sounds of the dying city. Through the speaker emanated the sounds of marching boots, crumbling rubble, far off explosions and gunshots. "Look", exclaimed one of the nearby operatives, pointing a finger at the side of the screen. A dark shape was visible in the entrance of the convention center, it moved with a stagger and wobbled slightly. Suddenly the speakers, as if in echo, pumped out one word, spoken in the voice of a wavering death shout, "ARTHURS!" Arthurs whirled around and his guards raised their weapons towards the noise. The black shape resolved into the form of Mr. Boss, his suit torn and ragged and bleeding openly from dozens of gunshot wounds across his body. Yet he still walked, staggering forwards with a look of pure defiance and rage, in his left hand he held aloft a matte black, ceramic pistol, gripping it so hard you could see the white in his knuckles.

Numbah 86 gasped with shock when she saw her father and she leapt towards the image as if she could jump through the hologram and stop what was to come. "Dad", she whispered in horror. She made a beeline for the screen, a few operatives had to restrain her to keep her from literally attacking the TV, "DADDY!" On screen, Mr. Boss continued forwards, staggering with each step as he threatened to topple. Arthurs looked unconcerned as his soldiers itched to take the shot. Slowly Mr. Boss brought his pistol to bear on Arthurs and fired, the recoil slamming his already weakened arm back. The bullet sped towards Arthurs, but went right through him and out the other side. The hologram of Arthurs fizzed for a moment, then reconstituted as Mr. Boss finally collapsed onto his knees from the pain of his wounds. He coughed black stains of blood onto the pavement as Arthurs stood over him impassively.

He spoke, "Fool, wasting the last seconds of your life fighting when you've already lost." Mr. Boss spoke, his voice low and in pain, "yo..you can't beat...all of us...kid" he looked up in one last act of defiance, "adults...control..the...earth,...we..control...you." Arthurs turned and gestured with his arm, one of his soldiers put his pistol to Mr. Boss's forehead. "Not anymore" he sneered and the soldier fired, blowing Mr. Boss's brains out the back of his head as his body finally toppled to the ground. "NOOOOO!" screamed Numbah 86, as tears streamed down from her eyes, "NOOO NOOO NOOO!" She broke free of the operative's grip and ran from the room screaming and crying. Schmitt looked over at Numbah 60, "I think now would be a good time to go talk to her", he said matter-of-factly. Patton gave a stiff nod, still coming down from the shock of what had just happened and quickly took off after Fanny.

On the screen, Arthurs turned and walked away from the body, but before he walked off the screen he turned around and said, "I know your watching Schmitt and I know you realize this is happening all over the world right now." He smirked right in the face of the camera, as if he knew right where the satellite was and said, "the adults are finished, the teens are finished and now, I'm coming for you", with that he made a gesture to someone off screen and immediately the image on the holo projector dissolved into static. "Shit", swore Jonathan, "they took out the satellite!" One by one around the room, all the screens connected to the orbital satellites fizzed out into static as well.

"They're taking out all the satellites", Schmitt observed, his voice low and hard. At his sides, his hands balled into fists and his eyes narrowed at the space where Arthurs had been. Jonathan walked over and put a hand on the admiral's shoulder, shaking his head, the message was clear: not now. Schmitt sighed and nodded, then he turned to Rachel and Nigel who were also rooted to the spot and said, "we need to ready the base, were about to get hit." Nigel and Rachel did not respond and Schmitt shook his head again. He pushed a button on the holo-table and a live, 3D image of the Arctic base sprang up. "Jonathan get back to the hanger and form up with Fritz, get the operatives to their defense positions and fortify the entrances, also I want those anti-orbital guns to fend off any capital ships that make a move towards the southern polar orbit and feed me the positions of every ship in orbit to the tactical display here constantly, understood?" "Yessir", Jonathan snapped off a crisp salute before running back out the door to the hanger.

Schmitt turned to the other operatives in the room, "the rest of you get the perimeter secured and the anti-air defense online, as for the fleet operatives go and get the defense shields operational, we'll need them." The fleet operatives saluted and snapped to work, the regular operatives are bit more sluggish in their preparations, but they slowly managed. Very soon the command center was emptied as every operative ran off to perform their tasks. Schmitt gave a flick of his wrist and immediately all the doors in the room closed. He turned to Rachel and Nigel and said, "I believe its time I told you two the truth."


Dark stuff huh, dark stuff, bye bye . For those of you who are disappointed that I pretty much killed off all the adult villains in one chapter, well don't be because I can always find excuses for some of them surviving and hey, Father and the DCFDTL aren't here, yet! We'll finally get some answers concerning Schmitt and the invasion in the next chapter, so nice cliff hanger if I do say so myself. As always, please comment and review!