"Who is it, Billy?" She heard, though she couldn't see the man's face past the heavy black hooded robe. Eerie, she thought.
"It's Dexter, Grim! And his girlfriend!" he said, snickering at the thought. Though Billy was almost as old as Dexter, he still retained a childish demeanor.
The man, Grim, got up and walked into the hallway to meet Dexter and Cael.
The latter gasped and shot back, fumbling for the doorknob on the only accessible exit.
Grim rolled his eyes as Dexter went to calm his friend down. "Cael, it's alright. He's on our side!" He pulled her away from the door.
"Yeah. He's just the grim reaper, after all." She said, in a high pitched voice.
"Just da Grim Reaper, eh, girl?" he said, impatiently. "I'm da one who's been revivin' yer sorry kiester every time you get blasted halfway to oblivion!" he held up his scythe for emphasis. "One hundred and forty-two times, now. I been keepin' count."
"And you'll pass her through the Resurrect 'Em's a thousand times more if you need to, Grim." Dexter said, testily.
Grim stared down at Dexter for a moment before heading off, mumbling something. The boy could vaguely make out the words "taking orders," and "small fry carrot top."
When grim was back in the living room, Dexter turned back to the younger boy. "Billy, we need –"
"Dexter and his girlfriend, sitting in a sheep, k-i-s-s-i-n-"
"Billy, focus!" he shouted, silencing the immature boy in front of him. "I would like to get back to Sector V. We need ammo. Do you still have the ammunition we gave you?"
"Sure do, carrot top!" Billy ran off to another room in the house; Dexter didn't bother to follow.
"How far is Sector V from here?" Cael asked, coming up behind him.
"Some good mile."
"Now, I know we didn't walk for a mile." She said, flatly.
"It must have been another precaution of the Dexbots. I gave them all manners of material to build the escape hatches. That particular route might have used a teleporter, and we didn't even know it."
"Fabulous." Cael rubber her eyes.
Dexter noticed this and turned around. "When was the last time you slept?" he asked, skeptically. The girl shrugged.
"I don't have a clue… It seems life forever since this mess started. Can't have been more than two, three days at most." She waves her hands around in emphasis.
Dexter shook his head, telling her that he was to have her set up in a resting unit the moment they got back to Sector V, but she wasn't paying attention. She was watching this Billy kid as he came up the basement steps with a box brimming with all different sorts of weaponry. There were rifles and melee weapons and spare ammunition, everything you could think of.
Cael walked up to the box and took out a small gun, the barrel of which looked like an éclair.
"That's a Custard Buster. Despite its size, it's actually quite effective for long range targeting."
"Anything you recommend?"
"I keep my wrench with me, at all times. But as far as ballistic weaponry goes, I would recommend the High-Range Pitch Pistol."
"I don't see any," she said, sifting through the box. "I like this one," she bounced the Custard Buster in the palm of her hand, emphasizing its small, light frame.
"Not a bad choice in itself. Then again, most of the Kids Next Door two by four technology is excellent."
He watched as she holstered the weapon and stepped back from the box. He stepped forward and started sorting the guns, looking for a weapon to take with him. At length, he chose a small pistol that was easily concealed within his lab coat. As he walked off with Cael behind him, she could see Billy walk up to the box and take up a gun, staring down the barrel of it.
Dexter took the NanoCom off his belt and pressed a series of buttons, and the girl watched as a holographic map of the towns was projected. Dexter pointed to a thick red line that curved off of the page. "This is a monorail system. It will take us straight though the adjacent towns back to Sector V. The only problem is that, in order to get to it, we would have to go through the Jack-O-Lantern territory. No exceptions, which is why we need the weapons. Follow me and we'll get though in no time."
Both ran out of the house, Cael unholstering her weapon as she did so.
Numbuh Five plucked her NanoCom off her belt. "Yo, Dex. Where are you with this girl you keep talking about?" The boy genius's face appeared on the NanoCom screen. "You told us you'd be at Dexlabs."
"Yeah, well… Change of plans. We're in Endsville."
"What the heck are you doin' all the way up there?" she asked, throwing her free hand into the air.
"Dexlabs has been compromised. We took an escape rout and are on the monorail back to Sector V. Is everything ready?"
"We got everything except for two things." Numbuh Five said, coolly. She could see a look of panic cross Dexter's face.
"What? What're we missing?" he stuttered.
"You and the girl, genius!" she roared. "Now hurry up and get over here." At this her tone softened. "These people are getting restless!"
On the other end, Dexter nodded and ended the transmission. She couldn't blame him for being a little unorthodox, especially now, but it was so unlike him. It was kind of weird, seeing him so frazzled. The girl re-clipped the NanoCom to her belt and stepped up to the microphone. "Will you all calm down?" she asked, impatiently. "They're comin'!" The roar of the audience diminished only by a few decibels, but it was enough to keep Numbuh Five's oncoming headache at bay.
Why had Dexter wanted to do this again?
Dexter stood on the platform as they sped over the towns. The monorail wasn't the fastest way to get from one place to the next, but for their purposes, and in interest of time, it was perfect.
Cael sat on the metal platform next to him, playing with the settings on her NanoCom. She looked up at him. "Numbuh Five sounded pretty stressed. What's going on back there?" she asked.
"We've pulled the soldiers from battle, and rallied them all in Hero Square."
"Isn't that a little dangerous?" She cocked an eyebrow skeptically. "Good way to get everyone blown up at once."
Dexter, however, acted as if she hadn't even said anything. "I have a few things I would like to tell them in interest of inspiration. The soldiers have become increasingly weary due to the standstill pace of the fight." He explained.
"I don't blame them. I know I wasn't here when the fight began… I can't imagine what it must be like to have been fighting for a year, without any progress… that must rip every ounce of faith from you…"
Dexter scoffed. "You don't know the half of it."
Cael saw the boy's grip tighten on the railing of the monorail platform. "Dex?"
"What?"
Cael stood up, clipping her NanoCom back onto her belt. "When I was in the future, you told me that you felt responsible for what happened." She put her hand on his shoulder. "I'm going to let you know two years early: I don't blame you for the accident. If it weren't for you, I would have never made it back here. Besides, the whole point of me volunteering for the experiment was to get over my fear of time travel. For the most part, I'd say it worked!" she said, brightly.
"What was it like there, in the future?" he asked, flatly, staring down at the ground that rushed past below them.
She leaned one elbow against the railing. "I think that's the last thing you need on your mind, right now." She said.
"Tell me so I can stop wondering." He demanded.
"Well," Cael started, hesitantly. "Like I said, there's not much left… and what IS left is covered with infected Zones. Fuse's monsters are everywhere," she sensed a negative change in his demeanor. "But the soldiers… they fight harder every minute. Each and every one of them is aware of what is at stake." She said. "You've got yourself some exceptional soldiers, Dexter." She hugged him from behind, resting her chin on the top of his head, smiling as she thought of the growth spurt he was going to have. In two years, he was going to be a good head taller than her. "These next few years are going to be tough, Dex. It's important not to lose faith. I didn't. Not in myself, and not in Earth. I've seen what Fuse is going to do to this planet, and I still believe there's a chance. And as the leading force behind the human race, it's so important that you don't give up. I won't allow it."
He shrugged out from under her and planted both hands firmly on the sides of her arms. "Never again," he said, looking her in the eye.
She tousled his hair. "Little soldier."
Both sat against the railing as the platform sped towards Hero Square.
"There you two are!" Numbuh Five exclaimed, pulling both by the wrists as soon as they got out of the S.C.A.M.P.E.R.
"You two are crazy, you know that? Completely loco. Numbuh Five has been here for TWO HOURS with these rowdy soldiers, tryin' to keep em calm. It ain't workin'! Now get out there before they start a riot!"
Dexter laughed, pulling a confused Cael onto the balcony of the Hero's Square monument. Up against the rail was a petite wooden podium, topped with a microphone system. He pulled her up to the podium and stood next to her.
"Soldiers of Earth," he addressed the crowd. At the sound of his voice, almost everyone on the square went dead silent, with the exception of a few who were whispering excitedly to their neighbors. "As I'm sure you are all aware, I have been – admittedly – unusually active as of late. This is due to the arrival of a special addition to our forces. Though I know you've heard me talk of her sure arrival, I also understand why a good number of you were not ready to believe me. But, though I was beginning to believe it a lie as well, it is with great honor I introduce to you soldier and time traveler, Cael Claw."
There was a collective gasp from the crowd as Dexter stepped down from the podium. Cael stood there, for a moment, looking down onto the mass of people. What was she supposed to say?
"Well… This is unexpected." She leaned over slightly into the microphone. "I'm not entirely sure what to say. I know a lot of you have been feeling like this is a waste of time, like we're not doing anything… I guess the most I can offer is that it's not going to get better. Two years from now, there's next to nothing left. Even Dexlabs is compromised in the future." At this, she could see just what that meant to the crowd. They all seemed stunned, and another wave of whisper rippled through them. "There isn't much of a way to sugar coat it. It's not a pretty future, but it's not going to get better if we give up! I've seen what's going to happen, and I still haven't given up. We have a chance to change that, now."
There was a small roar of applause. Still, with all the people in the Square, it was enough to hurt her ears. When Numbuh two and another, armor-clad operative ran onto the balcony, shouting about something, seemingly frantic, she couldn't hear what she was saying.
The soldiers on the balcony were swarming, now. Cael stared confusedly at the scene and as the audience saw this, the applause died down. Numbuh five ran up to the podium and Cael moved out of the way for her. "Attention, KND operatives of Sector V, report to the nearest S.C.A.M.P.E.R., now." Cael ran off the balcony with Numbuh Five, trying to find Dexter, to figure out what was happening.
Eventually, she stopped one of the armored soldiers. "What's going on?" she shouted over the commotion, which now included blaring sirens.
"Dexlabs has been attacked."