Hello and welcome to yet another chapter everybody. How you doing? Good? That means you're good to write a review. Tap that follow and favorite button man it only takes a few seconds. Go on do it. Why you still here? Why you still reading this? GO AND FOLLOW M-
Anyway, let's jump right in.
Chapter 11 – Just the beginning
"So…how do you feel about your confrontation with Lizzie? Does it offer some form of closure to your situation?" Number 42 asked in his usual position. He bit his pen as he observed Nigel.
In the corner of the room, her eyes hidden behind her red hat, Abby stood there ever watchful. Her arms were crossed observing Nigel as well. She didn't speak, just watched. Although Abby's workload has probably increased tenfold due to her position as head of all spies she couldn't care less. If she wasn't able to stand and watch Nigel it was Hoagie or Wally, Kuki and Rachel less so however.
After the election Rachel was declared PKND and Kuki was declared VPKND. Rachel's previous office was abandoned and a much larger, better office was put in its place.
It was resized to accommodate Kuki. They had white boards, tables they extruded out of the floor and as much 2x4 technology they could stuff into the walls of the room.
Kuki, so far, loves her job. The only downside of it was she won't see combat any more. It's less of a downside more of a realization to a bigger epiphany, she wouldn't see combat with Wally any more.
She couldn't be there to watch his back or mend his wounds. This worried Kuki and often times she would sit to her desk and her thoughts would run off about Wally.
Kuki couldn't stop thinking about the kiss. It was so weird, so sudden but she loved every microsecond of it. It was her first time ever kissing anyone. She didn't know what she was doing, she didn't even know she what she was doing as she did it.
Yet, she loved it. She knew Wally loved it to but something tells her he's not entirely sure if she liked it. Rachel came right when she was about to explain after all.
But what did this all mean? Kuki and Wally kissed, now what? Should she confront him about it? What would she say? How would she say it? When? Is this even a right time to ask these sorts of questions? They're at war!
Rachel shared the same convictions but her affections lie with Nigel. She knows now she needs the bald headed hero in her life but…where? Why? Why now? So many questions, so little answers and fewer ways to obtain such answers are the norm of the growing children.
"I-I feel…great…I guess. I feel…liberated."
"Oh…how so?" Number 42 asked as he jotted down notes.
"I don't feel closure but…I feel as if I could keep fighting. I can keep fighting but…I don't know how long."
"Ah…do you feel you need something to fight for? A bigger cause than the KND perhaps? Do you feel threatened that the war may be coming to an end?"
"No, no. I'm glad the war maybe soon ending but…I don't know. I want to fight for the KND, there is no bigger cause than that."
"Interesting, Number five, I'd love to speak with you. You stay here Number one."
Without protest, Number one continued to lie on the therapy chair as 42 and Abby exited the room. Abby leaned against the wall behind her and kept her arms crossed.
"What's the status doc? He's getting better?"
"Well, he doesn't seem like he's going off the deep end any more. We have breathing room for sure however. We need to know where he found that will- that power that made him lead the operation to shut down James' race."
"You want me to figure out why Number one got out of his rut and back into the fight?"
"Precisely."
"Alright doc, I'll report to the President and I'll get back to you with what I find."
Abby walked away, hands in pockets, to her 'bosses' office.
Inside the Presidential office Kuki was writing on the whiteboard all the members of the Assembly while holding a stack of papers in her hands. Rachel was sitting behind her desk writing away on a few pieces of paper. Not too long after, Abby walked in.
"Abby! How's Nigel?" Rachel asked.
Abby took a seat in front of Rachel's desk and kicked her feet up. Rachel was very much aware that Abby respected her from here to the next galaxy so the gesture wasn't taken to offense. Abby just likes kicking her feet up.
"Nigel's fine, according to Number 42 I need to figure out how he got out of his depression so quickly."
"That would be useful to know." Kuki said taking a seat next to Abby.
"I should be there for him…not stuck in this stupid office. I feel responsible." Rachel balled up a document in her hands and threw it into a trashcan half way across the room. "He needs a friend next to him 24/7 and we're all just busy. I mean, me and Kuki can't even find time to go over there."
Abby shook her head. "The boy's fine. 42 said we have breathing room. Now, we just need to worry about the other thousand problems we have and then get back to Nigel."
"Kuki, can you bring us up to speed?" Rachel asked.
Kuki nodded and tapped a few buttons on the device she held in her hand. A small hologram protruded out of the screen towards her for easier handling.
"The adult fighters have shot down 376 of our fighters, most notably 102 of our best fighter/attacker craft, the Skyclaw. Pilots are drop dead frustrated especially Hoagie and Ace after you commanded them to wave off their attack."
Rachel sighed. "I'm not losing my best pilots to put a few numbers on a scoreboard. Go on."
"Well bad news says that the Teens have apprehended Maurice. They have arrested him but…that's about it. Good news is it doesn't seem the Teens really arrested him for anything other than spectacle. It hasn't affected peace talks or anything."
"A bit of good news I guess you can call it." Abby commented.
"The siege of V6 is still a huge problem. We're getting distress signals saying they're running low on supplies and moral. My guess is we're going to lose V6 Rachel, we need to break the siege and evacuate the tree house."
"Do we have the force for that?"
"More than likely. We have the grunts that are itching for a fight. We can break the siege, evacuate the tree house and detonate it to make sure Fizz doesn't get a complete victory." Abby said.
"Any more bad news Kuki?" Rachel asked hoping for a no.
"Umm…the Teens are asking for a location, date and time for the peace conference and our pilots are screaming at us to make a better fighter. That's it so far."
Rachel groaned. "Alright, you're next Abby. What bad news you got? Tell me, it's all over your face."
"Don't you know me so well? My spies have no idea where Lizzie or James is. After this, I'm going to the interrogation room to question Anna with Ace's assistance. I think I can assist with some of your problems however."
"Oh yeah, how will you do that?"
"Let me make contact with the Teens. I'm sure if I ask nicely with my contacts in the Teens I'll get Maurice out. I'll see if he has anyway of finding a schematic of the adult fighter. Maybe we can find a name for the thing as well instead of calling it 'the adult fighter' all the time."
Rachel nodded. "Alright, get it done Abby."
Abby nodded, got out of her chair and walked out of the room shutting the door behind her. Kuki looked at Rachel with a raised brow.
"Who should I send to lead the attack Rachel?"
"Send Fanny and Wally, I want two of the best with whatever they need. Tell Fanny she has a blank check and I don't want her coming back with change."
Kuki reluctantly nodded and tapped away on her device. She stood up and did as she was ordered with her back turned toward Rachel. Rachel noticed the sudden change in body language.
"Is there something wrong?"
"No! No, nothing…"
"Kuki…you have to call me out on things you don't agree with me on. What is it?" Rachel pressed.
"Is this off the record?"
"Of course."
"And I have permission to speak freely?"
"Kuki, you always have permission to speak freely."
Kuki sat back down and Rachel took Kuki's hand into her own. She was visibly worried.
"I'm never going to be cheery about sending Number four on any dangerous missions okay? I think I should just state that."
Rachel began to catch on. She remembered how red Kuki's face was when she found the two in the medical room. Rachel was happy to know they had feelings for each other but was slightly jealous that she didn't share the same with Nigel.
"Can I be honest Kuki?"
"Of course. I guess we both need to get things off our chests."
"Yeah…Kuki…I'm…very interested in Nigel."
"Really? I mean, I sort of saw it but I never expected you to-"
"To be interested? Yeah, me neither." Rachel said as her face became hot with rosy cheeks.
Kuki sat back in her chair and crossed her legs all womanly like. This was new to Kuki. Someone sharing these strange feelings she possessed as well and on top of that, someone willing to talk about them?
Kuki always had Abby to talk to about her feelings and emotions but she never felt as though Abby shared the same feelings. She understood Kuki's feelings and convictions yes but it's different to be understanding than to share the feelings she had in a similar situation as well.
Kuki felt like she was looking into a mirror. They're both busy and both of whom they care for are going through the most turbulent times in their lives.
Wally is a general now, not a simple operative under Nigel's authority. He can't just punch his way out of problems any more. In a way Wally has to mature, he has to led, he has to worry about his fellow operatives and on top of that make it back home in one piece.
Even though Nigel is going through therapy he refuses even the notion to stop working and often times is seen in briefings and debriefings. Nigel still works and commands even though inside he's on a ticking clock. He can't simply fight this mission and be done with it. There's no target just emotion for Nigel to fight.
Both girls sighed and giggled. They knew now that they'd be closer than ever as they'd share their convictions about the two boys they cared for now.
Abby knocked on the door to the interrogation room. After a few guards had it opened for her and escorted her to the room where Anna was being held.
The room was small with nothing but a table and two chairs on either side of it contained inside the room. There wasn't much else to the room. The walls were bland and other than the one way window Abby peered through the room was designed was lacking.
Ace was already inside asking questions so Abby decided to watch Anna through the window. She paid close attention to Anna's body language. While Maurice's intel can never be questioned Anna can still have guilty thoughts.
"Who were you to James and Lizzie?" Ace asked.
"I-I…I thought I was just a campaign manager." She responded back.
"Anna, I need you to be honest with me."
"I am! I-I don't understand why I got dragged into this!"
"Are you sure about that?"
Anna stayed quiet. She slouched in her chair and held her hand tightly with the other. She quickly put a few misplaced strands of hair out of her face and tapped her feet. She was nervous.
"Call him out." Abby commanded to the two operatives behind her. At her order, one of the operatives called Ace out with a comlink and out came the interrogating fly boy.
"Eager to get to her yourself huh?" Ace asked with that same charming smile he let fleet him recently.
"You can say that. Why you jump in to interrogate her before I came?"
"She's, technically, been working with the adults. Maybe she knows something about the fighter, how to catch it, where it's made, something."
Abby shrugged as she stepped pass Ace to enter the room. "You're good cop, I'm bad." She said before she opened and closed the door behind her.
"Anna." Abby said as she took her seat.
"Look, I-I don't know anything. If you guys are trying to get information out of me I don't have it! I'm sorry for everything I did just please let me go."
"You know I can't do that Anna."
"Well what else do you want? I already gave the guard everything I have- names, numbers, contacts James and Lizzie made. What else do you want?"
Abby stared at Anna from head to toe, watching her body language closely.
"Why did James want to bring you so bad but left you behind?"
"I don't know! That's why I'm cooperating! I hate James!"
"Do you Anna?"
She gulped and played with her hair to keep herself calm. Abby took notice to all her little finicky gestures and movements.
"I-I don't know what you mean."
"James has done this to you more than once hasn't he?"
Anna peered all around the room.
"I…I…"
"How many times Anna? We already know he did twice…how many more times? Two…? Three times…ten maybe…seems a little high…but James has you wrapped right around his finger doesn't he?"
Tears began to well up into Anna's eyes. Abby wasn't fazed by it however.
"I wanna go home!"
"I want information."
"I told you everything!"
"How many times did he hurt you Anna?"
"Stop it!"
"More than ten then? Are you that weak?"
"Shut up!"
"You were his little puppet weren't you?"
"Please just shut up!"
"How many times did he hurt you? Did it get physical sometimes?"
"Leave me alone! Leave me alone!"
"He's abusive and you like it don't you Anna?" Number five stood up easing over to her side of the table cranking up the pressure. She looked at Anna, up and down, in a twisted seductive manner. "You like getting hurt…what if I…hurt you right now?"
Number five felt Anna's cheek with her finger. Anna flinched as Number five skimmed her cheek.
"I could be just as painful as James…maybe…maybe even more." Abby swiftly yanked Anna's ponytail back so her face was staring up at Abby. "If you make me angry."
Abby shoved her away and briskly walked out the door, slamming it behind her. Anna just covered her face as she cried. Not a minute passed before Ace walked back inside. Anna didn't even acknowledge his presence when he walked in.
Ace stood next to the crying Anna rubbing her back and offering comfort to her. At the comforting gesture Anna looked at Ace, his disarming smile putting her at ease. Ace pulled the chair up right next to Anna and continued to comfort her.
"I told Number five…that I'd take over the interrogation. She won't be allowed in this room again…unless I don't get information…can I get your cooperation Anna?"
Anna briskly nodded to cooperation…but we all know what Ace said was not true.
Abby was off again on another lone wolf mission. She didn't bring any teen clothing or any disguises. As far as Abby was concerned, she was walking right through the front door.
One of the Teens' largest bases is a once abandoned mall that they took over. The mall is huge but a complete contrast to its previous self. There were lights where there needed lights to be. Everywhere else was dimly lit at best which was lovely scenery for Teens who wanted to run off into the shadows and experiment.
Abby landed in the parking lot not worrying much about locking the craft behind her. She walked towards the mall swarming with Teens.
Some wore their armor, some were brandishing weapons, and others were gathered around burning barrels, making out, drinking beer and dancing to obscene music. And to think – this is only the outside.
A clique of teens was barely guarding the front door. A much taller boy noticed Abby first. He jumped off the beer keg he was sitting on and stepped up in front of her.
"Hey brat, no kids allowed. Get out of here."
"I'm from the KND."
"Your point?"
"I'm Cree's little sister."
The boy recoiled at the statement. A few drops of his beer spilled out when he flinched. He was obviously a little tipsy, just enough to keep on his feet.
"Oh, alright…that's cool. Gimme a second." The boy pulled out a walkie talkie and tried his hardest to sober up a bit more before he spoke.
"Um…hey yeah Cree, your sister's out here. I guess she's looking for you. Y- Yes I'm- No I'm not drunk yet. Okay, okay, I'm bringing her in." After he strapped the walkie talkie to his pants waist he gestured for Abby to follow him inside.
Their path was illuminated by a single light hanging from four floors up. It wasn't powerful either so the entrance was barely lit as well. As Abby followed the teenager she passed many teens that were talking among themselves.
A few noticed Abby. Some threw glares, some were confused, and others didn't seem to mind at all waving at Abby with a small smile before getting back to their conversation.
Abby started to see the teens as they really are. The rhetoric of the KND was the Teens are just bumbling, older and evil that only purpose was to ruin the fun of kids. But that doesn't seem to be the case.
Other than the glares, they seemed normal. None pulled out a weapon and fired at Abby, most just disregarded her presence entirely. They were normal and Abby finally confirmed it.
After a few sets of escalators, some operating and some not, Cree and Chad along with Janet, surprisingly, appeared from the shadows. They dismissed the half-drunk tour guide and he went off to probably get another beer.
Cree instantly hugged Abby and for once Abby hugged back. They both were too happy to see one another again.
"How's my little sis?"
"I'm good. Janet…Chad…" Abby said recognizing their presence. Chad still had his serious face on always appearing as if he was about to punch someone in the face. Janet didn't have much of a pleased expression but she seemed fine with Abby's presence.
They lead Abby through corners, dilapidated kiosks and broken store fronts to a small bookstore sort of library. Not much teens hung around this area and those who did only came to retrieve or return a book they borrowed.
"How's…how's Rachel?" Janet asked in a sort of reluctant tone. It seemed as if she didn't want to admit she was starting to worry about her sister's well being
"She's great, she won the election."
"Well…whatever." Janet responded and crossed her arms. She turned away, a part of her slightly disgusted she was evening worrying about the 'brat'.
"You know, you're allowed to be proud of her." Cree commented but Janet kept quiet.
"Anyway," Abby said to carry the conversation on. "Do you have any intel on the adult fighter? Schematics? Documents? A picture of it going a normal speed?"
"No but…I'm sure Maurice would have some way to get it." Janet stood up after Cree's statement causing her chair to fall with a crash.
"Who in hell said we were doing a joint mission with the brats? Isn't letting her in here enough?" Janet quietly exclaimed.
"No it's not. Janet, you do realize making peace with the KND means we're declaring war on the adults? Before the peace conference and before we make this public we need to suck as much information out of the adults as possible. We need to know their strengths, weaknesses, how to fight them and more. We need to do this now."
"I get it but…look, this is hard okay? I'm not use to this crap."
"Believe me…I've noticed." Abby said smartly catching a glare from Janet. Chad balanced his head on his balled fist.
"We got more things to worry about than Teens' and Kids' hate. We need to be able to fund a war against the adults for a period of time we can't predict. We don't know how big of an army Father has, we don't know how much power he's acquired and that's been the natural theme for a while."
"What do you mean?" Abby asked Chad who looked less interested in this conversation than Janet could ever be.
Chad didn't quite care about the tensions between kids and teens. Whoever annoyed him annoyed him and those who didn't just didn't. Chad was incredibly concerned about what a war between teens and adults would look like.
Chad is a general of the teens and he knows that fighting kids is way different than fighting the adults.
"I mean we teens have never been in Father's inner circle. We didn't attend his war meetings, we weren't invited. We were given orders, we followed, and we got stuff in return. We don't know much more about the adults than you do. Only reason why Maurice was so good at sabotaging teen missions was because he stole a lot of information from the adults about us. The whole Splinter group thing was the only big plan Maurice found out. He knew it was always Lizzie and James but he doesn't know who the Splinters of the teens are."
"And that's why Maurice is locked up. When word broke out about the Splinter group a lot of people started pointing fingers. A lot pointed at Maurice. I mean, everyone just found out he was a spy so…why not right?" Janet explained further.
"Oh please," Cree rolled her eyes and stood up gesturing their conversation was coming to an end. "We all have a pretty good idea that all those who pointed fingers at Maurice are the ones who want this war with the kids to continue."
"It is a smart move I'll give them that." Janet commented.
"Alright, here's the plan. We get Maurice out. Janet takes the heat for his release and will take stock of our equipment and army. We need to know how much we have to fight against Father. Me, Abby and Maurice will head to Father's mansion to get every ounce of information we can. Chad, you're driving."
And with their plan clear, they exited the dilapidated shop and made their way to the prison cells.
Maurice sat quietly in the dimly lit cell playing with a tennis ball he snuck in. Constantly bouncing the ball off the wall of the cell and catching it he sat there bored out of his mind. He was use to this experience however.
Maurice had to deal with situations like this all the time. Spying didn't always include action packed recon missions and sabotage. Lots of times it was stake outs, hiding in people's closets and bathrooms and finding files in cabinets.
It made the job humbling. While many KND operatives spoke about the legends of kids continuing their role as secret teenage KND operatives deep behind enemy lines they usually left out the more boring but important stuff those agents probably had to do.
So, Maurice played with his ball. Throwing and catching until he got tired and fell asleep. He's only been in the cell for a day but it only felt like two naps and a few meals to Maurice. He was way too good at blowing time away.
A few knocks on the door and teen guards opened it up. Clad in their ninja armor and escorting Cree and company they allowed them inside and shut the door behind them
Cree tackled Maurice with a hug and a quick kiss on the check which annoyed Abby but she kept her emotions buried in some deep hole inside of her conscious.
"How's my teddy bear?" Cree asked but Chad butted in.
"Hate to break up your make out but we have things to do."
Cree rolled her eyes. Missions were important but not important enough for her to forget to suffocate Maurice in love. Not as if he didn't enjoy it.
They quickly left the mall jail and made their way to a waiting teen ship in the parking lot. A few teens glared heavily at Maurice but you could tell he didn't even notice.
After explaining the plan to Maurice quick goodbyes and good lucks were exchanged then Chad, Cree, Maurice and Abby took off towards Father's mansion.
They went high altitude in the dead of night to avoid being spotted. They jumped at the highest altitude possible, so high that they wore oxygen masks as they made their free fall decent to the mansion below.
"There it is…here we go." Cree spoke through the communicator inside the oxygen mask to Maurice and Abby.
They didn't bother with parachutes. It would take too long for them to glide down, so, at the very last minute, Cree and Maurice both fired their rockets in their shoes to slow their fall with Cree catching Abby by the back of her collar to stop her fall.
Even though they timed it perfectly they still landed with a few thuds but nothing they couldn't walk off. They dove into a few nearby bushes and took a look around.
A few guards were patrolling around the mansion. Otherwise there was little resistance outside. They took the opportunity and quickly made their way inside through a window.
They came into a long corridor with doors on either side. The walls were decorated with portrait paintings and pictures of Father in proud poses. His entire body was the same ominous black we all have come to despise.
They quietly scampered forward, hunched over, making as much noise as a faint wind in a noisy crowd. Doors upon doors lining the corridor made their jobs so much harder.
They didn't know where to start. Behind anyone of the doors could be Father himself, a trap or some guards slacking off and playing poker. With no intelligence of Father's mansion, how it's setup or even a clue where they could be holding information Maurice took it upon himself to just randomly open a door.
The two sisters were caught off guard and took their positions for breaching and clearing a room but Maurice barely took cover, standing in front of the door casually not expecting much to be on the other side.
Maurice walked inside and the sisters followed pointing their pistols in every direction until Maurice shut the door behind them and simply flicked on the lights.
"Are you insane?" Abby's whispering screamed amplified to a quiet shout in Cree's and Maurice's ears.
"Now…I can see." He causally responded. The room was on the large side containing a few filling cabinets and a table to hold a few files. Maurice took the liberty to start investigating.
"You're gonna get us killed." Abby replied quickly scanning through files that had anything of interest. They all pulled out little devices that scanned the files and stored them away for later analyze.
"Hey, what can I say? If we got this far with not much stopping us…I don't think we're leaving here without a fight." Maurice quickly stuffed a few folders inside of his jacket and started going through a filing cabinet.
"You think Father detected us?" Abby asked stopping for a moment.
"More than likely." Cree coined in. She took no time to read much of anything rather scanning whatever seemed like something of interest. As far as Cree was concerned, everything was interesting.
"This is risky…I don't like it. Wait-"
"You hear it too?" Maurice quietly closed his filing cabinet and scurried over to the door. He placed his ear on it to listen to whatever they had heard.
Abby went a hundred times faster than she already was taking whole thin folders and shoving them into her pockets scanning whatever she thought she could. In her scuffle, she picked up a document that had something relating to the war on it.
It instantly caught Abby's eye and it was something she couldn't simply scan and read later. No, it was too important. She quickly read what she could.
Operation: Ameliorate
It has come to our attention….our arsenal needed to have a serious overhaul…experimentation with weaponry has led to new discoveries that will…these new discoveries have led to the development of a brilliant new fightercraft we have dove 'Fagin's Wolf 190'.
More research has shown many incredible…with more research we have discovered a new non-lethal weapon that is perfect at subduing children. This weapon-
"Abby!" Cree shouted startling Abby as she really began to read the document. She shoved the document into whatever space was left of her pocket and ran over to Cree. She caught her sister stuffing documents into her pockets and even neatly folding a few papers and storing them in her shirt, more specifically in her bra.
Abby watched with a questioning eye but Cree shot the look right back at her. "What? These," Cree pointed to her chest. "Tend to come in handy."
Abby's questioning look didn't fade and Cree's annoyance to their mother for evading 'the talk' only grew. Cree just rolled her eyes and shot a "When you're older" look at Abby and they made their way to Maurice.
Cree crouched over Maurice's shoulder, the noise was profound now. Loud and causal footsteps coming in their direction only meant for them to take their positions. Maurice shut off the lights and they hid in the shadows.
The door creaked open and four men walked inside with their ice cream uniforms. They were armed and had their armor on scanning the room in the darkness. One snapped the lights on and found Maurice smiling right in his face.
It took the three veterans no time to disarm and knock out the four guards. As Cree checked the hallway Abby noticed one of the ice cream trooper's radios was still operating.
"Clark? Clarky? Respond! How's room 19 doing, is it clear?" The radio sounded. Abby quickly smashed it under her foot.
"They know we're here." Maurice commented as he watched Abby's reaction to the radio.
"What now?"
"What now?" Cree repeated after Abby. "Now's the fun." Cree reached into her pocket and in her hand came out four large marble explosives for each hand. She threw them all over the room and the marbles seemed to stick to the walls and the floor. A small red light blinking as they stayed put.
"God I missed 2x4 tech. Come on, let's go!"
They busted out the door completely disregarding their stealthy approach to things running as fast as possible to their exit point.
They turned a corner and came across a squad of unexpected ice cream men. They made short work of them knocking them out and carrying on.
Cree ran ahead of the others throwing the marbles everywhere. They reached an interior balcony that overlooked the front door and lobby area of the house. Presuming Father was searching for them they didn't even bother with the stairs. They jumped down from the balcony and sprinted for the door until they were stopped.
The chill of his voice caused them to freeze. They turned to see Father standing with at least a hundred ice cream troopers out of sight from atop the balcony but in full view from the ground floor.
Father stood there, hands behind back, pipe in his mouth, an evil black grin appearing over his face. He was accompanied and flanked by Mr. Fizz and Mr. Boss on either sides of him.
But what really sent a chill down their spines was the gun Father held in his hand. It was a pistol shaped weapon of some sort. It seemed real.
"Ah…the Lincoln sisters and Maurice…isn't this just a pleasant surprise?"
"We were just leaving." Cree smartly commented.
"You can't leave yet…we haven't seen the test." Father's grin increased.
"What test…?" Maurice spoke but he wish he hadn't. Father raised his pistol with the draw of a veteran marksman taking aim at Abby. He fired three quick shots, their echoes shattering all their bones in terror.
Abby got hit by all three. One in the gut, one in the shoulder and the last on the forehead. The last shot knocked on her back. Abby laid there out cold with small droplets of blood running out of the wounds.
"Intriguing…" Father muttered to himself pulling on his pipe. Maurice was a bit shaken but his composure remained Cree however…Cree didn't hold back.
"I'm going to rip out your fucking throat!"
"Oh my…the language."
Cree almost pounced trying to make her threat true but Maurice held her back at the last second. He grabbed the detonator hidden inside her pocket and detonated the marble explosives.
"Move! Move! Move!" Maurice shouted. He grabbed Abby and dragged Cree along then pulled out his communicator screaming for Chad to pick them up.
"Chad, we need our extract now!"
"I know! What the hell is going on down there?!"
"Just fucking get down here!"
Father and his cronies pushed passed the rubble and ruins of the mansion not expecting the sudden change of events. "Such insolence…" He muttered and fired the weapon again at the retreating operatives.
Ice cream troopers began to appear out of nowhere trying to catch up with them as they ran through the front lawn of the now crumbling mansion. Cree pulled her hand away from Maurice, grabbed more of the marble explosives and turned into a major league pitcher.
She threw countless marbles at ice cream men not bothering to throw them in non-lethal ways. She went as far as throwing a marble right at the ice cream men.
Not far from their extraction, Chad showed up right in time. He landed at the front gate, jumped out and fired a few shots at the advancing adults.
Maurice and Cree scaled the gate with Abby on Maurice's back now. Maurice handed Abby over to Cree and chucked a few marbles of his own before he hopped into the transport.
"Get in! Are you crazy!? What the hell happened?!" Chad exclaimed when he saw Abby.
"We need to get her to a hospital now! She needs a medic!"
Chad jumped into his seat, closed the cockpit of the craft and took off only getting a few cones fired at them before they could have been affected.
"Abby? Abby?! Abby!?" Cree screamed at her unconscious sister shaking her to try to make her wake up.
"We got the adult fighters on radar!"
"We need help. Those fighters will tear us to shreds in this thing. We need moon base to send support!" Maurice exclaimed.
Chad shook his head and face-palmed. "I can't believe I'm saying this." Chad picked up the communicator and radioed directly to Number 86.
Fanny must've kicked kids into their cockpits. She commanded, basically, a small section of the moon base fleet down to Earth to escort them back to moon base.
Hoagie and Ace were the first ones to break through the atmosphere. They completely disregarded their basic training and nosedived as fast as possible towards Chad's location.
It wasn't quick enough though. Chad maneuvered to dodge one of the fighter's shots. Before Chad could even get his craft back into a decent position the fighter had already had him lined up for another past.
It fired a few shots and hit them damaging them greatly but the craft was still flying. They got hit in the engine spilling oil and coolant everywhere. The engine slowed down and they were sitting ducks.
But before the fighter could get the last killing past Hoagie and Ace swooped in. The fighter diverted pushing its engines to the max to get away from Ace and Hoagie. Seeing they had their engines to the max coming in from space you can only imagine the speed they were coming in with.
With a few jukes Hoagie actually got a shot on the fighter. It wounded it but not much else. Hoagie was too proud to shout in the communicator "He's hit! We hit him! He's trailing smoke!"
However, their mission was to get Number five back to moon base. They doubled back and meet up with the small fleet Fanny sent. One whole capital ship and two whole squadrons of Skyclaws was enough of a deterrent to keep the rest of the fighters away.
Chad docked their crippled vessel to the capital ship and they blasted away to the moon. Father watched below, a large chunk of his mansion behind him in flames.
Mr. Boss growled in annoyance. "What now?! Some test! I could have brought in a few captured kids and they wouldn't have escaped!"
Father shook his head, held onto his pipe and looked back at his two cronies standing before him.
"If we start rounding children up for experiments that wouldn't look good for public image…now would it?"
"Well…you have a point."
"But what now?" Fizz questioned pointing at the escaping operatives. "They're getting away, they were in there! They could have gotten intelligence on our plans!"
Father began to cackle. "They've already lost this war gentlemen…no more planning…let's show what happens to disobedience…right children?"
Out of the shadows the eerie unity of obedience and docility crawled out into the light. The Delightful Children show their creepily 'perfect' heads.
"Yes…Father…"
"You see gentlemen…the saying goes 'Bend the tree while it's young'. I have my own saying…break the tree to show domination. For you see
…this is just the beginning…"
Damn
First things first to explain why Abby and Ace interrogated Anna it was a good choice to play good cop bad cop because Ace is extremely charismatic.
Okay, let's get some other things out of the way. I know, I know, some of you maybe weirded out by this chapter. Let me explain. Firstly that some of you may have thought the whole Kuki and Wally scene last chapter and the interrogation scene between Abby and Anna was weird. Well, rightly so, that's how you're supposed to feel about it.
Some of you have noticed the chapters are getting a little longer, there is profanity now and things seem a bit more mature. Well again, that's how it's supposed to feel.
Basically any chapter writing before chapter 6 was written in a sort of kiddish light. Everything was simple, go do this mission, go do that but at the same time the characters started to question a lot of things. Abby faced growing up with a smile. Wally wondered what the point of it all was on the dumpster, Hoagie wrestled with anxiety with flying. This was basically the life kids live. Facing growing up, wondering why we have to do all of this and dealing with fears. Simple, but as they grow older they began to question more difficult things.
After chapter 6 you start to see more serious things going on. Abby wanted to kill Cree because of Maurice, Nigel almost committed suicide, Rachel has to deal with meeting her sister again. These are more mature problems that don't quite have an answer. Something you would experience as you grow up. That's why the kiss between Wally and Kuki felt awkward. Because the kiss was awkward.
If you guys continue to pay really close attention to detail with the story you'd see I do this all the time. I didn't want to explain this because its way more satisfying for you guys to figure it out yourselves and it would be really fun to see you guys theorize about why things are happening etc. but I saw the Anna and Abby scene as very off putting and weird without an explanation. I mean technically they're still kids but hey…that's going to change.
Anyway guys, hope you liked this chapter. Make sure to tell me how you feel about what I'm doing with the story so far. And yes, I have noticed that I hit a higher goal than I asked for so yes you guys will be getting some trailers to some other story ideas in the near future. Now…its 1:27pm. I haven't slept since yesterday so I'm going to go pass out now. Have a good one everybody.