The birds were chirping around the neighborhood. Bikes with bells and the occasional car passed on the left side of the street through the tight lanes. Numbuh .4 didn't have to dodge insane traffic like he did back home. This was more of a walking neighborhood, he realized Sector E had a lot of those.

He approached Grandfather's house from the back, as it was more likely the cranky and stern adult'd glance out his front window. Some squirrels scampered out of his way as he ran across the backyard, which was super close to the other adults' backyards and didn't have fences. Funny, he pictured Grandfather to be rich. But what use would he have to be rich when he had evil world-transforming powers?

Numbuh .4 held his chin in his boxing gloved hand. The blinds were shut and he didn't know which room was the right one. He thought of playing the Rainbow Monkey theme song. Rainbow Monkeys was a new show that was all the rage in Sector Z and other Sectors too. He then thought of throwing a few pebbles at one of the windows. He picked up a nice solid small rock, and tested it with an upward toss.

"Kinda heavy.." He was regretting not bringing the homemade pogo stick he'd been working on but it still wasn't finished and that could mean another trip to the KNDfirmary. He was off the critch, but was still achy from the previous battle Then his brown eyes lit up. "Got it! Numbuh. 4 snapped his fingers which inside the glove was kind of a dull sound and he pulled out a pair of bright binoculars. He pressed a button on the side of the binoculars and the binoculars telescoped out far enough that it tapped on the house. Numbuh .4 dove into the only shrub in the yard, which was out by the street. He then peered through the vegetation and waited.

The blinds on the left window raised, and Numbuh .4 saw Ben spray the window with a water bottle and soap it with a sponge. Numbuh .4 rolled out of the bush, covered in leaves and twigs, and waved enthusiastically to Ben. Ben looked startled through the suds rolling down the glass window and turned his back.

"Wait, Ben! Don't go away!" Numbuh .4 whisper-shouted, and started jumping up and down like a six-year old. "Ben!"

Ben came back. Lenny saw he was wearing a red bow tie and blue suspenders, like as Numbuh .1 would put it, a dork. It was also the first time that Numbuh .4 got a good look at Ben without a disguise, he noticed Ben's yellow eyes. He actually didn't know much about him apart from what Numbuh .1 had relayed after the battle and what, earlier, Numbuh 0 had described to them incidentally after scouting for enemy adults when they first got to Sector E-how Grandfather tried to do this terrifying thing called 'Delightfulization' to Numbuh 0 and failed, and succeeded with Ben, simply by touching their foreheads with his fingers, which was why Ben's eyes had been bright blue. But now they were yellow.

Same as Grandfather's before he was de-powerized. Lenny couldn't help but shudder. He was in the presence of the monster.

Ben, sad and forlorn, held up a sign in chalk: I'M GROWNDED.

But Lenny also understood that he was also in the presence of another kid, and younger than him at that.

Lenny motioned exaggeratedly, sweeping his arm towards him, jumping up and down again. Ben slouched in the window, his elbows leaned on the sill. Lenny made a 'hold on a sec' motion with his gloved palm, and then skipped backwards, activated his electric gloves, and began writing in Grandfather's yard by punching the shape of letters out of the grass..PLS COME 2 TREEHSE, JUST A FEW MINUTS?

Ben looked genuinely moved. He scribbled 'OK BUT ONLEE FOR A FYEW MINUTES' on the same signboard and showed him. Numbuh .4 responded with two gloved thumbs up and raised them up and down happily. Ben opened the glass window, still squeaky from his soaping it, climbed out of the window, shut the window, dropped down onto the gutter, and then looked down at the next far jump. He clung to the wall of the house, afraid.

"Oh yeah..sorry! Don't know you can get down without a trampoline...ah!" Lenny spread his arms out. "I think you're light enough for me to catch you...!"

Ben shook his head rapidly, but the giant flying bird which screamed past his head didn't give him a choice. He fell off the gutter.

"Oh no...!"

But Ben didn't make a suspender-wearing splat on the ground. He instead halfway towards dropping on the ground, started slowing. As he slowed, he became more calm, and slowed some more.."H-huh?! You can fly?!"

Ben became scared again and dropped fast and hit the ground, but the rest of the way was only six inches rather good ten feet he would've fallen if he hadn't suddenly rebelled against gravity.. "How did you do that? I mean, you can do that fire thing but what the heck was that?..!" Lenny yelled excitedly. "Oh, and are you ok?"

"Yeah, but -you know about the fire thing, not just Numbuh .1..?" Ben looked up extremely embarassed, re-adjusting his glasses that had fallen down his slightly scratched nose. His wavy brown hair was a mess.

"Oh yeah..about that. We all know," Numbuh .4 admitted, though Numbuh .2 and Numbuh .3 had warned him to not give Ben too much info. But that's why he had gone alone, Numbuh .1 was being the too emotional one which didn't happen often..or didn't happen more like ever,and so Numbuh .5 had decided that he go because he was being the least stressifying right now, since Numbuh .1 said Ben's power happened when he was stressed during the previous battle.

"Even Monty and the rest of the Kids Next Door..?"

"Which Numbuh is Monty?" Numbuh .4 blinked.

"Oh..I don't wanna give his codename away, sorry I mentioned it.."

Numbuh .4's demeanor changed, but only slightly. So Ben knew someone in the Kids Next Door, and used their non-codename? Why'd he bring it up if it wasn't important? Was Ben just showing them that like how Sector Z knew things that Ben didn't, that Ben knew things Sector Z didn't? Was it payback for him telling Ben that Numbuh .1 told the rest of Sector Z about Ben's fire?

He remembered, he was also wary of his teammates saying too much, but it was because of operatives giving each other lice, careless discloshures, not anything like secrets kept out of maliceness.

Numbuh .4 didn't give himself away though.

"But no, only us Sector Z members knows. In fact, we thought your powers're so COOL that we want you to train with us. So come on!"

"Y..you and the rest of Sector Z thinks I'm cool..? Ok, but will the training take a long time? I've gotta get..." he looked up at the window. "back..nevermind, I'll train with you as long as you guys want...!" Ben made a noise that approximated a glad laugh as he followed Numbuh .4 across the field towards the forest that surrounded that solitary tree, the tree that was taking him away from his chores and his being grounded and taking him away from being around Pappy all the time. As Numbuh .4 headed into the forest Ben inhaled the scent of fresh pine and it smelled like relief, no, more like sanctuary.