New Cadets just out of graduation ceremonies were told that the Kids Next Door Moon Base was a quiet, orderly installation. The gears were well-oiled, the commands controlled, the officers courteous, and everything as smooth as could be arranged.

It didn't usually take the cadets long to learn that it was all a lie. Kids Next Door Moon Base, as the central control of the KND organization, was just as disruptive as any two-bit installation, and maybe a fight or two more. Stolen Ice cream, snotty noses, untied shoes, and loud arguments were just a few of the things one might have to deal with.

Currently, one of these arguments was taking place in the main bridge, right on the central pavilion of The Soopreme Command, and the Soopreme Leader was listening to it with her head in her hands, hoping against hope everything would all just go away.

"She doesn't have to tell him anything!" That was Numbuh 65.3. "Line 48.7 of the Kids Next Door employment contract clearly states that operatives may be taken from their sector and employed to the general benefit of the Kids Next Door without their sector leader's approval or knowledge!"

"Aw, shut up." Numbuh 60. He always had hated the regulations. "That doesn't make any kind of difference, but the man has a right to know what's going on in his sector!"

"Ya mean to say you'd entrust vital KND operation plans to a boy!?" Numbuh 86, obviously.

"A little late." 60 shot back. "We already entrusted them to Numbuh 2 and 20,000!"

"Yeah, and look where they are now!" Fanny screamed back. "I say we should take a quick bombing run with the MOSQUITTO's and just cut our losses! We shoulda never had boys involved with this in the first place!"

"Look." She heard 60 take a step toward 86. "I've had it up to here with you and your stupid boy complex…"

"STOP!" 362 lifted her head from her arms, startling the argument into silence. Operatives 60, 65.3, and 86 paused, turning to look at her.

"This whole thing is getting us nowhere." 362 sighed and let her head fall back into her palm. "86, have we received anything new in the past five minutes?"

Flustered, 86 turned to a control panel and fiddled with the screen a moment before turning back to face her weary commander. "No, sir. But Security says Numbuh 1 has landed and is on his way up here."

"Fine." 362 groaned. "Just great. Okay, all three of you clear out. The support technicians too. I want everyone OUT of this room ASA-NOW!"

"But sir, regulations…"

"OUT!" 362 half-started from her chair, making 65.3 jump back and scramble for the exit. 60 shot him an amused grin and nodded reassuringly at the Soopreme Leader as he left, followed by the support technicians, who were all but clueless as to the entire fracas. The guards filed out, pushing two wayward operatives who had somehow decided to play Frisbee on the command deck.

The last to leave, Numbuh 86, turned at the door. "Sir, if you need me for anything,or if that boy causes any problems…"

"Just…" 362's head was sunk deep in her hand. "don't worry about it, Fanny."

"Allright." Fanny eyed her commander worridley. "As long as you're sure you want to…"

A short laugh burst from the huddled orange shirt. "I didn't want to do any of this, Fanny." She looked up at the Global Tactician. "But since when did that matter in this job?"

Fanny stared at her.

"Go." Rachel pointed. "Please. I'll call you guys back in when I'm ready."

She let her head fall back into the soft folds of her sweatshirt, not looking up as she heard the door slam shut. In her mind, she tried to run over what she would say, but her thoughts would not focus, running over hill and under dale and round in circles. She tried to marshal them, concentrate on one problem and develop logically from there. It was a useful skill she had often had need of as Leader. But the problems wouldn't stay still, they weaved and dodged and seemed to multiply.

Spinach, yes, they could start with spinach… Or maybe candy pirates. No, start with Spinach, it would put him on the defensive, and then she could… but that wasn't right. He deserved more than that. He deserved… Oh shoot, he deserved 86's command post, if you wanted to get picky. He probably deserved her command post. It's not like she had done such a great job on keeping it. She didn't do a great job on most things. Take this one, for example. It had been her idea to start this whole operation in the first place, and now look where it was. Her own cabinet couldn't…

Her eyes flew open. The clear, distinct tap of sneakers on hard metal could be heard in the hallway.

He was almost here. She'd better get ready. Suddenly noticing a throbbing sensation on the sides of her head, 362 realized she was pulling on her hair. She let go and smoothed it back, straightening up in the chair and turning to face the window outside. No more time to think now. Better just take a few deep breaths, just to calm yourself. It was an old trick she had learned from her father.

A fine time for it to suddenly stop working.

There was a small whoosh of air as the door slid open. The sneakers paused at the entrance, apparently confused by the room's emptiness. 362 allowed herself a small grin as she thought about that. Slowly, cautiously, they squeaked over the gap, and the door whooshed shut. The tapping resumed, quietly and curiously at first, and then quickly and more bold.

The deep breaths weren't working, and 362 didn't think they were going to. With a resigned sigh, she closed her eyes and turned the chair around to face Numbuh One.

He was just on the first tier of console computers, about twenty feet from the entrance, and was peering about in a most perplexed manner. As she turned around, he had whirled to face the noise, and half-drawn something from his boot.

The sight almost made her smile. The kid had some serious paranoia issues. Clearing her throat, she spoke.

"Numbuh 1. Good to see you on Moon Base again."

"Miss Soopreme Leader." His hand withdrew from his sock. "Sir."

She gave her head a small lift. "The others are off on lunch break."

A lie. Obviously. It was 4:00 in the afternoon. But Numbuh 1 did not comment, but simply straightened up in a salute. "Reporting for duty, sir. I have some inquiries to make regarding some operations underway at Global Command."

Clever. He wasn't asking about Numbuh's 5 and 2, just about 'some operations.' "Numbuh 86 is out right now." She replied. "But I think I might be able to help you with that."

"Yes, sir, I know." He moved up to the second tier of computers. "In fact, I came here expressly to ask you about these operations, because I think you know about them just as much as Numbuh 86."

She watched him slowly pace up the stairs. "Well, yes, that is my prerogative. Is there something going on I should know about?"

"Not exactly." Nigel paused for a moment to find the right word. "More… something I need a bit more data on. Just a simple information clarification."

"Intel usually handles…" She started, and then suddenly stopped and sighed. "Oh, what's the use. You're here about Hoagie and Abby, aren't you?"

There was a slight pause before his answer. "Yes. I am." He sounded surprised.

With a groan, Rachel slumped forward in her chair.

"How did you know, anyway?" Nigel walked up the last couple tiers and started up the stairs.

Rachel shrugged wearily. "Not too hard. We have people watching the Lincoln's and the Gilligans', and we knew you didn't report that one break-in at your base…"

"Then it was you." Nigel raised his eyebrows. "I thought so."

Rachel gave a curt nod.

"Well." Nigel gave his sunglasses a little push up his nose. "Could you kindly tell me why my base was broken into and where my two best operatives are? After all, as their leader, I do have some right to know."

Groaning, Rachel slipped down from her high command chair. "Nigel, you have to understand something." She said, walking towards him. "As global commander, you're not always free to do exactly as you want."

Rachel wasn't sure whether to walk right up to Nigel or pace back and forth on the platform, so it was something of a relief when he deferentially moved out of her way so she could descend the stairs.

"There are things you have to consider. Rules, traditions, tactics, the safety and security of kids at large… all of them have to come into play when decisions are made." Rachel stepped off the bottom and waited for Nigel to join her. "Simply being a leader means that you can't do whatever you like."

"I know." Nigel nodded. "Being a leader myself, I am familiar with the demands and responsibilities. But this doesn't exactly answer my question."

Sighing, Rachel turned from him and began to walk back down the computer tiers. "Okay, this is the shorthand account." She stopped at a sizeable computer, one that 65.3 generally used, and pressed a few buttons. Images sprouted on the screen as Nigel came up to look. "The attack on the artic base was orchestrated by Stickybeard and the Spinach Armada. Your two operatives were sent in to investigate the threat and neutralize it, preferably by pitting them against each other."

"Why not a simple tactical strike?" Nigel interrupted, frowning at the images of brussel sprouts and bubblegum.

"Are you kidding?" Rachel gestured. "Look at their weaponry! We'd be lucky to last five minutes against that!"

Nigel shrugged. "We've faced off against worse."

"By necessity, not design. It's not something we'd like to do again." Rachel returned to the screen. "Anyway, as you can see from the progressing reports, things proceeded rather well, if a bit slower than we expected."

"Building trust with one's enemies is not exactly easy." Nigel nodded.

"Granted." Rachel inclined her head. "Numbuh 5 managed to penetrate the pirates rather easily, while Numbuh 2 took significantly longer. However, we were learning a lot, and we had no better ideas, so we kept on."

"I see the raid on the treehouse was done to get some supplies they requested." Nigel pointed. "That was the day of the convention center raid?"

Rachel bit her lip. "Yes. It was."

"The day you called me to the moon base for debriefing?"

"A distraction, yes." Rachel looked up from the screen and stared the boy right in the face. "This is what I was telling you about, Nigel. It's not as if anyone here wanted to trick you, but we had to get those maps somehow." A quick glance down for a moment, and then her gaze was back. "You have to know that we had no choice except to lie to you."

"You could have asked us for them." The blue glow of the screen glimmered off the British operative's glasses.

"Yes." Rachel inclined her head. "But you would have suspected something."

Nigel shrugged. "I did anyway."

"You did?" Rachel blinked at him.

"Oh yes." Nigel looked at her. "Numbuh 86 is a very poor stealth operative. She left a great many signs of her breakin, and yet left no register on the security grid." A small smile twisted his lips. "Numbuh 3 wants her Power Princess Rainbow Monkey back, by the way."

"Power Prin…?" Rachel stared at him. "You're not saying that she…?" Smiling herself, she shook her head. "I'll have to talk to Fanny about that." Privately. She thought. 86 was not anxious for her secret passion to be known.

"There was also something else."

She snapped her head back up. Nigel was talking again.

"In the debriefing, you had mentioned how Numbuh's 2 and 5 understood sacrifice. You wouldn't have mentioned them, especially while they were on vacation, unless, well, they weren't." Nigel shrugged. "It struck me as a trifle odd, and with the security problem and some other things I'd noticed, it wasn't too hard to guess what was going on."

Rachel stared at him.

He grinned. "Numbuh 2 lends me some of his mystery stories from time to time."

Strangely annoyed, she blinked and looked away. "Well, I didn't really think you would stay fooled for long. Actually, I thought I'd have to deal with it sooner." With a shake of her head, she looked back at him. "But if you did know, why didn't you say anything?"

"I'm quite capable of understanding a need for secrecy. I decided if you needed me to know, you would tell me." Nigel looked down. "I kinda hoped you would tell me of your own free will, instead of me having to barge in like this."

There was a little pause, and just a slight catch in Rachel's voice as she asked, "Then why did you?"

"The raid on our base, and Numbuh 86's sudden request for their profiles two days ago." His right eyebrow lowered rather ominously. "Such drastic actions convinced me that something had gone wrong, that Global Command had made a bad mistake somewhere."

A short silence filled the room. Rachel chewed on her lip, and Nigel waited, watching her. "I'm right, aren't I?" He finally asked, after it became obvious she didn't want to reply.

With a sudden violent motion, Rachel shoved away from him, and almost ran down the tiers to the deck below.

"Hang on!" Nigel hopped down after her. "Wait a moment!"

He slowed as he reached the deck, carefully stepping onto the metal floor. Some twenty feet away, Rachel stood facing the cold hard glass of the observation window. Her back was turned to Nigel, and he could just barely catch the reflection of her face, but something warned him to approach slowly.

"Rachel…" He started.

"Stop." Her voice arrested him.

He waited for her shoulders to stop heaving, and said nothing as she turned to face him, eyes glimmering but defiantly tearless.

"You're right." She answered steadily. "As of one week ago, we lost touch with both of your operatives. They had missed a few check-in calls, and a team sent to check on Numbuh 5, the central link, has now disappeared without explanation. We have also sent a few men to establish link with Numbuh 2, but they have reported they can find no trace of him anywhere." She blinked a few times and looked down, but kept right on. "Repeated calls to 5 have had no effect, and 2 has been lost to our scanners."

Numbuh 1 closed his eyes.

"Currently we are awaiting further word while our command tries to figure out what to do." Numbuh 362 swallowed what dignity she had left. "But for the moment, you're right. I've made a bad mess of things."

Numbuh 1's eyebrows shot up. "I never said…"

"No. But nonetheless it is the case." 362's gaze still did not waver. "The entire operation was under my control and supervision, and as such, its failure is wholly and entirely my fault."

"But surely…"

"Nigel." Again she stopped him. "You just said you're a leader. Whose fault is it if something goes wrong in your team?"

Nigel stopped in mid-response. He lowered his head and the glasses slipped down his nose. "Mine."

"Exactly." A nod and a forced swallow. "As head of Global Command I should have foreseen the problem and taken care of it, or consulted you at the first side of trouble. I'm sorry for the problem with your teammates, Numbuh 1, and I'm sorry I had to lie to you."

Sensing the awkwardness of the situation, Nigel glanced down. "Well… correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't most of the things you told me completely true?"

Her eyes widened.

"In a technical sense." He added.

Another nod, this one rather slower. "Yes. The things I told you were true, they just weren't the whole story."

"So then." Nigel looked up and smiled. "It isn't lying. Just deception."

"Yes." Rachel agreed. "Though that doesn't make me feel any better."

Again there was an awkward silence, until finally Nigel coughed. "Well," He said, saluting. "Now that I've cleared that up, I should be getting back to my sector. Sorry for taking up your time." He turned to leave.

"Nigel."

Again she stopped him with a word, and again he turned. "Yes?"

"If I know you, and I think I do." She frowned. "You're thinking about going after your teammates."

"I wouldn't dream of it." Nigel's glasses hid any movement of his eyes.

"Regardless." She stepped toward him. "Understand once and for all, this is a global command operation. Your sector is not to be involved in any way. Do not attempt a rescue, do not send any of your members, do not do anything with direct authorization." She glared at him. "Do you understand?"

Numbuh 1 nodded, slowly. "Completely, sir. You won't need to worry about a thing."

He saluted once more, and then without a word turned and left.

Numbuh 1 of the Kids Next Door shoved past Numbuh 60 on his way to the ships. With a few quick strides he ran up to the SCAMPER and jumped inside.

"Numbuh 3, set us a course for home." He snapped. "Quickly!"

"Okey dokey!" The bright girl bounded up to the computer and began pressing buttons almost at random. Numbuh 4, from his chair on the left, glowered at their commander.

"Heard every word from that BUG you was wearing." He snarled. "What's the cruddy idea? I thought we came here to tell that stupid girl that we're not going with her stupid plan to send off our stupid teammates on some stupid mission! What was all that crud you said in there about!?"

"I assume you're talking about Numbuh 86." Numbuh 1 cocked an icy eyebrow at the Austrailian. "As to my talk with Numbuh 362, we are doing exactly what I said."

"What!" Numbuh 4 nearly exploded up from the chair. "You mean we're not going to do anything?"

"That's not what I said." A small grin spread on the boy's face. "I said I understood what she wants, and I do. I said she won't have to worry, and I don't think she will."

The ship made a few beeping noises and began to shakily roar off the platform.

"And I said I wouldn't dream of attempting a rescue, and I won't." Numbuh 1 pushed his sunglasses up his nose. "I've already planned it all out."

Numbuh 4's face showed nothing but utter and complete bewilderment.

Please Comment! Please Review! Please FLAME me if you so wish! (Am I the only one who thinks Numbuh 1 is a little too perfect here?) Just let me know you read it!

So. Here we are. Things finally starting to move. I have some kinks worked out and I think the next couple chapters should go very well. Thanks to everyone who's stuck for so long. Actually the amount of reviews have been quite encouraging.

On a note of shameless self-promotion, I have a deviantArt account, and I recently put up a picture for the first chapter. I might put up more (I don't know), but if you're at all interested, look it up, it's called SEPARATION: 5 and 362/

Chapter: Abby and Stickybeard talk about the importance of friendships, while Abby's old friends plan a rescue.