A/N:Super late Happy New Years guys! I may or may not be re-editing some past chapters, so stay tuned for that.

There's also a poll going on my profile, so be sure to check that out! Thank you again for your continued support!

Update 1/05/14: I will be going on vacation again on the 11th! Just wanted to give you all a heads up.

WARNING: Some cussing and violence.

Chapter 10: Turning Point

...Connection Re-Established...

"So, what do you guys think about the mission?" Hoagie asked openly to the entire group sitting in the main compartment of the plane. They were being deployed from a new aircraft the science geeks back at the Moon Base had conceptualized. With a nearly infinite amount of resources, this is what they came up with; a new high altitude stealth aircraft that can do anything from deploying tanks onto the battlefield to dropping supplies to disaster ridden areas. It vaguely resembled a B-2 bomber, although it was much larger to it's more smaller counter part and had two large engines that were equipped on each wing.

Rachel shrugged, resting her chin on her palms, "Just want it to be over with already."

A small rumble of agreement came over the group, before they were interrupted by a message from the pilot over the aircraft's intercom.

Arriving over Paris in ten minutes

Ten, long, agonizing minutes. The whole flight had seemed like it had lasted an eternity. Her gut was telling her that there was something totally off about this mission, but in all honesty, there was nothing she could do about it. This may be the first and only time an opportunity like this would be presented to them, and it was now or never. If they captured Alam Rashir and any evidence that could possibly be stashed away in his hide out , not only would they capture the worlds most wanted terrorist, but also gain the leverage they needed to use against the European Federation. The KND already knew they were working together, but they needed undeniable proof to show the world.

"So..." Rachel stated awkwardly, breaking the silence on the plane, "how long have you and Wally been going out? Never did ask."

Kuki perched up, absolutely delighted to answer the question, "Three months!"

"Yah... three agonizing-" Kuki smacked the Australian boy on the head, who in turn, expressed a quizzical reaction to her sudden aggression.

"That's nice... I guess." Rachel's mood died down when she witnessed the couples interaction. Though Wally was too masculine to admit he, he loved Kuki, and enjoyed every single moment he spent with her. She was happy for them, but perhaps it wasn't a question she should have asked because it just reminded her of how lonely her own personal life was. Of course technically speaking she was taken, but the girl was beginning to seriously contemplate the relationship between her and Nigel. It wasn't selfish thinking at all, but Rachel didn't understand why was she being deprived of the companionship that everyone else seemed to so easily gain? Though she had been approached by literally dozens of guys, her loyalty towards Nigel had forced her to turn them all down. She ceased her pessimistic thinking, reminding herself that the path before her wasn't easy, and she wasn't about to cry over something she had no control over, no, she had a job to do.

Arriving over Paris in 5 minutes

Everyone around her tensed up a bit at the sound of the voice over the intercom. They were all nervous and really, who could blame them? Even Rachel was feeling a little jittery, despite having years of experience. The mission sounded easy; take out the guards, capture their target who's code-name was Kingfish, loot anything that potentially contained important information, and get out with the help of an SAS team. But if it's anything Rachel learned throughout her career, it's that missions like this were anything but easy. No amount of training could prepare someone for the unexpected, and she knew that from personal experience.

Arriving Over Paris in 2 minutes. Retrieval team, load up and prepare to to jump.

The group unfastened their seat belts and grabbed their gear. From what they were told in their briefing, they would be landing somewhere in the outskirts of Paris, about two miles away from the targeted compound. Rachel watched as the large cargo doors of the plane opened downward, allowing a large gust of wind to howl through the main compartment of the plane. Upon opening completely, they were exposed to quiet night sky scattered with light clouds. Rachel and her team were about to perform a HALO jump; a high altitude free fall jump in which the operator deployed their chute once they reach a lower height from the ground. They would free free fall to the ground at over 30,000 feet, which meant that they had to wear a specialized oxygen mask and goggles that wouldn't break under the high wind resistance and freezing temperature.

They lined up near the exit, waiting for their cue.

"Stand by!" One of the aircraft's crews announced standing in front of the opening.

Ten seconds later, the red light turned green.

"Go, Go, Go!" He announced.

The group of five ran to the edge of the cargo bay, and then, just like something straight out of a Hollywood movie, plunged rapidly towards the ground below them. Too Rachel, jumping at this height was a complete nightmare, and if it's one thing she hated the most, it HAD to be heights. That time when Nigel rescued her from being trapped in broccoli was child's play compared to this.

Plummeting down to Earth, the only thing she could hear was the deafening roar of the wind pummeling against her body, and her heavy quickened breathing that came with her fear of heights. Everything to her was nerve racking, and she couldn't wait to find her feet on solid ground again.

She didn't really have time to focus, nor the proper state of calmness, to spot the exact location of her team mates, but she did scan around to make sure they were some where within her proximity.

About a minute or two later, they came close enough to the ground to pull their chutes. Simultaneously the team landed in an untrimmed wheat field, immediately packing their chutes to cover up their tracks and assembling their equipment and weapons. After having a brief subtle reunion with the ground in which she nearly got on her knees to kiss the dirt floor, Rachel pulled off her oxygen mask and armed herself, surveying the land for any immediate danger. She finished faster than any of her peers, and waited patiently for the rest of her team to do their final inspections.

The blonde was clenching on to her M4A1 silencer equipped assault rifle, knowing that this piece of machinery was the only thing that separated her from the enemy.

Similarly to Sector V, she was wearing an all black balaclava that covered her entire face except the bridge of her nose and her eyes. Their protection was a combination of a ballistics helmet, knee pads, and a combat vest that was placed over a thick grey camouflaged uniform. She brought out her wrist, checking her tactical watch.

01:55:23

One hour and fifty-five minutes to complete their objective.

As soon as her team mates finished wrapping up unpacking their gear, they headed slowly towards their intended destination. The compound Alam-Rashir was supposedly staying in was only about two miles away from them, but they had to maintain their element of surprise if the mission was to be a success.

The team was completely silent; there was no chatting, no one humming, nothing. They were covered by the darkness of night, but that wasn't a problem with their night-vision goggles. For now, everything was proceeding exactly as planned.

Walking at a fast pace, they came upon small dirt road, which marked the half way point to their target. Rachel was about to cross it when she noticed in her peripheral vision bright lights travelling down the path. Acting without hesitation, Rachel jumped back into the cover of the wheat field, signalling the rest of her team to maintain their positions behind her. They waited and waited, until the stream of vehicles came zooming by them.

Rachel counted about four vehicles, three being trucks filled with soldiers, and one being an Armored Personal Carrier (APC). Judging by their trajectory, they seemed to be on routine patrol. It disturbed her to find that their intelligence wasn't completely accurate. Nothing in their briefing mentioned anything about armed patrols, and she began to wonder that was it possible the EFCT and Alam Rashir knew they were coming? Maybe, but regardless if whether or not they were expecting them, they had to carry out their task.

Waiting until the small convoy rolled out of sight, the five of them slowly emerged from the field and crossed the road. The blonde could see the compound, which was surrounded by a ten foot wall. Not a problem for operatives of their caliber.

After a brief walk, they came about several yards away from the surrounded building itself. It wasn't all that impressive, and was more of a small countryside villa with protection rather than a fortress. Still, European Federation special forces were thought to be guarding the structure, and that alone was enough to keep them all on their toes.

"How many guards do you count Abby?" Rachel whispered while the rest of the group got into their positions.

A brief moment passed before Numbuh 5 finished surveying the wall. "Around three."

Rachel nodded, giving signals to Hoagie, Kuki, and Wally.

Following her commands, the three each took aim at their designated targets. They took deep shallow breaths, exhaling before the trio pulled their triggers at the same time, sending bullets straight through the heads of each guard. With the walls cleared, Abby and Rachel hustled towards the wall.

Wasting no time, Abby helped her squad leader climb into the compound by placing her two hands together to give a platform for Rachel's foot to step onto. When she stepped foot over the wall, Rachel extended her arm out to Abby and pulled her over. The rest of the group followed their lead. At this point, the team would be split into two, with Rachel and Abby working their way up through the villa while the rest of Sector V covered the back entrances and surroundings of the building.

"You guys cover the back and deal with any stragglers, me and Numbuh 5 will breach." The three nodded, carrying out their orders exactly as trained.

Seconds later, Rachel received a message through her ear piece from Hoagie alerting her that they were in position.

Back is secure.

She pressed the side of her small ear piece and responded back, "Roger that, breaching now."

Rachel turned to Abby, "Ready?"

Her dark friend nodded.

Placing a breach charge on the door, the two teenaged girls retreated to the sides of the door, waiting for the device to go off.

..3..

..2..

..1..

BANG

The force of the explosion forced the door to fly back, generating a loud thud which would undoubtedly alert anyone in the building of trespassers. In a matter of seconds Rachel and Abby ran through the entrance and straight into the living room, guns aimed and ready to fire. From the looks of it, they would have never guessed a terrorist was staying here, especially given the elegant paintings and furniture that lay around the interior of the villa. Again, any political objections Rachel held in regards to Alam Rashir had to be kept to herself, but deep inside she was furious. What kind of man prided himself in terrorizing innocent civilians and causing fear and mayhem? Did this teen have even the slightest clue how much suffering he was causing? Did he even care? It sure didn't seem like it, because the villa was filled with luxury of the rich and famous. She couldn't wait to meet this little bastard face to face and bring him into custody so he could answer for his horrific crimes against humanity.

While Rachel was briefly submerged into her own consciousness, bullets passed by her and Abby almost immediately after they breached the building. "Enemy contact!" her second-in-command shouted. Seeing no other options, Rachel scurried behind cover, not realizing she had left her partner behind. As soon as she was out of reach from gunfire, she frantically searched for Abby, finally locking eye contact with her team mate who was hiding behind the wall on the other side. Then, just as trained for situations like this, the blonde produced a flash bang grenade from her vest, holding it up to alert Abby.

Without a second thought, Rachel threw the grenade out towards the group of gun men who were blazing their weapons away at their general direction.

A loud pop followed by a ringing noise and bright flash engulfed the room, handicapping their opposition. Suffering no impairments aside from hearing a faint ringing echo in their ears, the two ditched their cover and peppered the four perpetrators with silenced machine gun fire, making short work of them. The villa now fell eerily silent, but it was clear that anyone else in the building were now aware of their presence. But even if they knew, it was already too late for them to make any attempt to escape.

"All clear." Abby whispered, gesturing for them to go up to the second floor. Carefully, they crept up the wooden steps towards where they hoped the world's most wanted man was hiding at. The sound of their heavy boots stepping onto the stairs were the only sources of sound they could hear, and that didn't provide any sense of comfort what so ever.

They finally made it up to the second floor, finding three rooms. Splitting up, Rachel entered the room on her right while Abby entered the one to their left. Cautiously, Rachel approached her room and opened the door, staring down her ACOG sight as she entered in at lightning speed. She had her finger on the trigger, but came to the hasty conclusion that there was no one here. Instead, the room was littered with documents, maps, and a wide range of computers and equipment. Though Rachel didn't understand any of it, she came to the realization that what she had stumbled upon was an intelligence gold mine. But as interesting as everything seemed to be, her first priority was to apprehend their target, which meant that all of this would have to wait.

Exiting the room, she met up with Abby who was already waiting for her in the hallway.

"Find anything interesting?" Rachel whispered

"Nope, completely empty. You?"

"Yeah, we'll talk about that after we search the final room."

She nodded, and they stepped closer towards the final door that lay at the opposite end of them. If intelligence was right, their man had to here.

Drawing nearer towards their objective, Rachel could feel her heart pound faster as her steady footsteps landed against the wooden floor. Despite participating in countless missions, both public and covert, the girls veteran status did nothing to quell her increasing anxiety, especially since she knew exactly what was at stake here.

Rachel's senses heightened at an unprecedented rate, and her mind was only focused on the doorway in front of them and the contents that hid behind it. Finally, the two found themselves leaning against each side of the door.

Abby took out a breach charge and waved it at Rachel.

"Ready?"

The blonde girl inhaled a deep breath of air and nodded.

She placed the charge on the door, and both of them waited in anticipation for the timed device to go off. If Rachel's heart was beating fast before, it was pretty much about to burst out of her chest now.

The explosion blew the door open, and the two flung themselves in the room, bringing their guns up to their faces. They found two sixteen year-old boys who appeared to be guarding someone, but just when they were about to fire, one of the teens pulled out an odd-looking weapon and fired a burst of purple energy that came flying their way.

Acting quickly, the two practically jumped to the side to avoid getting hit.

What the hell? Rachel caught Abby's face expressing the same thought. But they were in the middle of a dangerous situation, and there was no time to discuss the recent strange turn of events. Still on the floor, the blonde observed in horror as the boy powered up his weapon again and aimed at her. Without hesitation, Rachel stared down her ACOG sight, but the teen was already ahead of her.

He was about to pull the trigger when Rachel witnessed several objects pass through him, sending him face down on the floor, dead. His partner gasped, bringing up his rifle and preparing to exchange fire. But he was no match for Rachel, who already had him lined up in her sights. She fired three rounds into the young man's chest, flinging a small splatter of blood onto the wall behind him. At point blank range, their guns proved devastating when making direct contact with human flesh.

Rachel balanced herself up, and walked in disgust as she passed by the dead body of the teen who operated the strange weapon that nearly killed them only moments ago. She came up to the only survivor out of the group of three. He wasn't wearing the familial shades she was accustomed to seeing on him, and in person he was much less intimidating. She managed to do this all in a matter of seconds before she forced a black bag over his face and cuffed his hands together. They got what they came here for.

She hit a button on her ear piece to alert global command.

Kingfish has been brought into our custody

They captured Alam Rashir.

"Numbuh 274 please report to Infinity's office." Chad was working back at Afthonia, assigned away from Nigel for quote unquote "security reasons." He stopped asking questions, because frankly, Infinity never answered them.

Lately, he was finding it hard to come up with excuses for his long absences from the TND HQ back on Earth, creating an increasingly suspicious Maurice who already knew of his involvement with the GKND. However, even though Maurice was in the loop that such entity existed, he was only updated on a need to know bases, which meant that he hardly knew anything about the GKND, much less the intergalactic war that was currently taking place.

The blond boy sighed, steadying himself up from his desk. He was trying to figure out Asdan's strategy, which seemed sporadic, almost irrational. While the rest of the Federation was capturing the Republic's outer rim systems and attacking important planets and strongholds, Asdan seemed to have been venturing to completely random locations, some that didn't appear to have any strategic value what so ever. But Chad knew for a fact that it couldn't have been the general going insane, no, there was a pattern to this madness. From what Chad could tell, he was looking for something, but what it was remained shrouded in mystery.

However, there was one clue that presented itself to the former KND agent, and it had to do with Asdan stealing an ancient but largely believed useless crystal from the Republic's historical archives. Its existence was placed all the way back to the very beginning of the Republic, perhaps even before that, but information regarding it had been lost over the ages. As uninteresting as it was to many, there was a rumor regarding the crystal, a rumor that perhaps it wasn't as useless nor innocent as it appeared. Some believed that this harmless looking crystal possessed dark secrets, secrets that could ultimately change the fate of the galaxy. But that was just a legend, and making military decisions based just off fictitious fantasies could produce disastrous results. If that was the case though, why would a tactical genius feel the need retrieve it? It was obviously important enough for Asdan himself to get it.

"Numbuh 274, please report to Infinity's office." The intercom announced again.

Chad shook his head, he was now riddled with more questions than answers. Shutting off his holographic interface, he walked out of his room and down the arched window ridden halls towards Infinity's office. It was just like any other day back at central command, with a decent amount of operatives from a multitude of other races passing by Chad minding their own business. There was once a time when everything in the GKND was bizarre and alien to him, but that time has since passed. The stress-ridden teen reached his destination and opened the door, finding Infinity staring out of the window towards the skyline view of the capital city.

"You needed me Infinity?"

"Why yes I did Chad, now I'm sure you're quite aware of the dire times the Republic faces, correct?"

The disgruntled teen nodded.

"Of course you do, and desperate times call for... desperate measures."

Chad rubbed the back of his head, "Um... what do you mean Infinity?"

"There is a saying, one that I'm sure you're quite familiar with Numbuh 274." Infinity paused. "The end justifies the means... you've heard of that quote, correct?" He said, rubbing his chin.

Chad groaned in frustration, "Yeah... what are you babbling about this time?" He felt like this whole little meeting was just wasting his time, in a matter of fact, he felt as if this whole thing was a waste of time! Years of service and dedication, and he had been reduced from the most idolized operative in the Kids Next Door to nothing but a traitor, a double agent, and a liar. Though he had been treated like complete cannon fodder by just about everyone, he knew exactly what he was fighting for, and nothing would get in the way of that. But enough of his own thoughts, there was something eerily off about the boy who stood before him.

He watched him warily, sensing that something was definitely up. His concerns were answered when a calm and collective Infinity turned around slowly, a plasma pistol in his hand, aimed straight at Chad's head.

"I'm sorry. Your service to the Republic had been invaluable, but you will just merely get in the way of what must be done."

The blonde boy froze for a minute. Are you kidding me?

His senses were brought back by the sound of a distinctive "click", followed by a round of plasma that headed straight towards him.

And here I thought we were on the same team. Chad dove, but the burning light still managed to graze his arm. Wounded but far from finished, he dashed for the door, dodging Infinity's fire as he went.

Well that figures, no matter where he went he seemed to be always in the middle of some deranged plot.

The minute the wounded operative exited Infinity's office, he found that the hallways were now completely void of any operatives. No doubt something on a much more grander scale was happening, and he figured that he was just one piece of it. With no one in sight to help him, intuition told him he was the only one who could stop Infinity.

Checking his waist, he pulled out his pistol that was composed of all sorts of intrinsic metal. Though it wasn't exactly as powerful the plasma one Infinity wielded, it would have to suffice.

Hesitantly, he peeked over the corner, careful to stay out of Infinity's sight. Then, acting on pure adrenaline, he ran into office firing his gun sporadically, shattering the large glass window and forcing the rogue operative to take cover behind his desk. A gust of wind traveled through the broken window, and Chad for a moment had the upper-hand, that was, until a blinding light obscured his view of vision, forcing him to squint his eyes.

The light turned off, revealing a Republican gunship hovering by the window just behind Infinity. The confirmed traitor recovered from his pin-downed state and stood exited the safety of his cover. He casually walked towards the hull of the ship, turning his back against Chad with a sense of victory. Not thinking of any possible consequences, Chad squeezed the trigger and awaited for a bullet to travel into Infinity's back. Unfortunately fate had other plans, and his pistol produced nothing but the sound of an empty clip.

"Ah, what a pitty, out of ammo Numbuh 274?" he mocked, glancing back at a wounded Chad.

The teen scoffed, preparing to rush him. "You won't be saying that once I-"

"Ah, Ah, Ah, Chad, you won't be going anywhere." Infinity brought up his plasma pistol, once again locking Chad in the same position he was in only moments ago; except this time, he wasn't sure how he was going to escape.

"I always knew you were up something Infinity, you traitor." The ex-Supreme Leader narrowed his eyes on the dark boy.

"Oh the irony of you calling me a traitor, if I don't recall, you're still considered to be on back on Earth." Now that little remark got Chad's blood boiling, but luckily for him, rational thought had overcome his emotional impulses. If it wasn't for the miserable son of a bitch, he probably would've been a GKND operative long ago. In fact, it was mainly because of this boy had he gone through all this unnecessary suffering.

The delusional operative shifted his body back to face Chad. "In case you haven't noticed Numbuh 274, but the Republic is losing this war, and it's only a matter of time before the Federation manages to defeat us. You see, I'm doing the Republic a favor-"

"By doing what?" Chad interrupted.

Infinity frowned, still aiming his pistol "by eliminating those who would stand in the way of making peace with the Federation you fool."

"You can't be serious? They can't be bargained with Infinity, you out of all people should know this! Besides, no one in their right mind would help you."

The boy in a suit and tie grinned, "Oh you're mistaken my friend. You see, there are high ranking members of the Republic's military that also share that same sentiment, and as a result have sympathized to my cause. Soon this will all be over, and the Republic will survive."

"Are you crazy?!" he shouted, "You're talking about starting a military coup in the middle of a war!"

"It's what must be done, we must make peace with the Federation if the Republic is to continue, it's our only option."

"You've lost it..."

"Maybe so... now if you excuse me, there is a fleet waiting for my presence. Good Bye Chad, your commitment to the GKND will be remembered."

Infinity inched his finger closer to the trigger, ready to take take away Chad's life. But in a twist of fortunate events, he was stopped when shots rang out from his office door towards his direction. Not taking any more risks, Infinity ran straight into the hull of the ship, which immediately zoomed away the minute he entered.

"Are you ok sir?" A hand was extended to Chad, helping him get up. It was a clone, a highly ranked judging by his uniform and armor. Behind him were several more, accompanied by a squad of regular soldiers.

"Yeah, arm's just a little battered up that's all."

The clone nodded, pressing the side of his helmet to call in for a medic.

Taking in everything that had just happened, he sat up, clutching the badly burned part of his arm. He couldn't grasp the fact that he had just been fired upon by someone he loosely considered to be an ally. But then again, it shouldn't have come as a surprise to Chad anyway, especially since deep inside he knew that Infinity was capable of such heinous betrayal.

In a state of almost utter confusion, his eyes spotted someone else walking through the doorway, but he didn't get a good look at him until he got closer. He was oddly familiar, and the more he observed the teen, he finally came to the starch realization that it was... No it couldn't be, that was impossible!

"Numbuh 100!? What the-?"

The legendary ex-Supreme Leader smirked, almost pleased to see Chad staggering over himself.

"But- but- but-"

"Quit stuttering Numbuh 274."

He re-acquainted himself with standing over the floor, rubbing his eyes to ensure that his sight wasn't deceiving him. The most famed Supreme Leader in KND history, on par or even above himself and Numbuh 362, was standing right in front of him.

"When the hell did you get into the GKND!?"

Cody chuckled underneath his own breath, "You really think I just got decommissioned?"

He guess he could take that as in answer, especially since he couldn't recall any other Supreme Leader in recent memory who was still committed to the cause that had actually been forcefully decommissioned. Looks like he'd been given the full privilege of being a full official member of the GKND, which explains why he wasn't in the TND.

Chad still couldn't believe that the very person who trained him, the very person he aspired to be, was in the GKND along with him this entire time! Though through his large ego he considered himself as the best the Kids Next Door had to offer, in his heart he still knew that Cody could beat him even with both of his hands tied behind his back. It was only through this young mans teachings did Chad manage to get as far as he had gotten now, despite his rather tragic life.

But the brief re-unification between the two simmered down, overshadowed by the dire situation that presented itself to them.

"So what in the hell is going on around here?"

Numbuh 100's face expressed a serious concern, "Apparently Infinity and a couple other backstabbers are staging a coup d'état. They're calling themselves the New Republic, and are working with the Federation to secure a peace treaty. Now if you ask me, I think they've completely lost it."

"You don't have to tell me twice." The blonde said, examining the severe burns on his arm. "So what are we doing to stop them?"

"Luckily for us we managed to blockade the rebel fleet before they were able to slip through to the capital," Cody sighed, "But the bad news is we don't know whether or not there are more people involved. It could be anything from a small group to half of freakin' central command."

Chad wasn't sure if he should've been surprised or expecting this sort of bad news, because recently, that's the only news he'd been hearing about.

Dealing with the Federation was one thing, but now there was internal fighting among their own ranks. "What about Nigel and Naomi or any operatives from Earth? They're not part of this right?"

His mentor rubbed his chin in thought, "No, not that I've heard of. Our intelligence about this little rebellion is shady at best, but I don't even think they know what's going on out here."

Knowing that operatives from his own planet weren't branded as traitors put him at ease, regardless of his bitter relationship with most of them. But now it was apparent that their troubles would only increase in difficulty, especially with the Republic now facing the possibility of an all out civil war.

...Transmission Interrupted...