I think it's probably been over a month since I last updated huh? Well after all the waiting here's the next installment!
I've been meaning to post this chapter earlier, but school got in the way.
Hope you all are enjoying!
Chapter 12: An Unexpected Turn
...Connection Re-Established...
"The Kids Next Door seemed to have gained the upper hand in this war, and Father's defeat appears to be imminent. Are you sure it was wise of you turn against our only ally?" Chamenos questioned, as he looked up at the world map showing allied forces advancing from every corner of the globe.
Leader slouched back in his chair and smirked. "Ah, you seem to misunderstand. You see Father was merely an instrument of my plan."
"I don't quite understand." The boy was utterly confused.
"With Father's forces now on the run, it's only a matter of time before the Kids Next Door catch on to our plans." Chamenos added.
Leader grinned again. "Do not worry about that wretched organization, it is already much too late for them to stop my plans. Speaking of my plans, is the chamber fully operational?"
"Yes sir, all it requires is test subjects. What about the scientists we kidnapped?" Chamenos replied back, staring straight at his superior.
"Excellent, oh and as of the scientists…. Please dispose of them, I no longer require their services." The cold and calculated figure then gestured his subordinate to exit the room.
"As you wish…"
"He's in critical condition!" One of the medics yelled as he and his team rushed through the flaps of the makeshift hospital tent. Nigel was losing massive amounts of blood and fast. If they didn't stop the bleeding soon, the boy would die. Rachel and Sector V were following close behind, but were immediately stopped by several guards at the entrance of the tent.
"No unnecessary personal beyond this point, please stay back." The guard stated.
"What do you mean? Unnecessary personal?! I'm the Supreme Leader of the Kids Next Door! That's my friend in there!"
The guard then responded, this time without an intimidating voice. "I'm sorry, but I can't allow you beyond this point. Letting you guys in could possibly take up even more space that are needed for other wounded operatives. Besides it's a mess in there…"
Abby then put her shoulder on Rachel's. "I'm sure Nigel will be fine… He's been through worse."
However Abby's usually calm and sure voice sounded uneasy, like even she was scared for the legendary operative.
Rachel then stepped back, away from Sector V, and sat on a crate that had just been unloaded nearby. Her worst fear had finally become a reality. Because of her last minute decision to bring him to the front, Nigel was now seriously hurt.
She should've just followed her first decision she thought, which was to leave Nigel aboard a carrier or somewhere safe where he could command in safety. But now it was too late.
The girl couldn't get a grip on the events unfolding. She didn't realize the extent of intimacy she had with the boy until this point. Usually in situations like this, Nigel would be right there with her to help her cope with the growing stress. Just the sound of his voice was enough to keep her going, keep her from giving up hope. But now that he wasn't there, she wasn't sure what to think. She was lost and confused with no one to help guide her.
If Nigel couldn't be saved, she'd never be able to hold him again, see his face again, or hear his voice again. It finally hit her, if he did pass, she'd never be able to confess the feelings that had slowly developed in her during this whole journey.
It was at this point did her emotions begin pouring out. Rachel's silent sadness transformed into a noticeable sob, and several of the other operatives nearby noticed, but were too busy tending to their own duties.
A Scottish voice then called her name from behind, followed by a hand that touched her shoulder.
"Is everything ok Rachel?"
No one called her by that name except those closest to her. Rachel attempted to wipe off the tears, hoping that no one would notice her depressed state and slowly turned to the owner of the voice.
"What are you doing here Fanny?"
"Her' on clean' up operations, ye sure did make quite a mess."
"Oh I see." The blonde girl turned away from Fanny and stared into the muddy ground.
"Hey, I heard what happened to Nigel…"
Rachel then let down another silent tear.
"Fanny… it's all my fault, I'm the reason why he's hurt. I should've been the one shot not him!"
Fanny attempted to calm the girl down. Even though she didn't always like Numbuh 1, she knew this whole time that her best friend had feelings for the boy.
"Don't beat yourself up; he did what he had to do. He saved your life Rachel, I'm sure you would have done the same if you were in his shoes."
Rachel continued to look away from Fanny. Realizing that her friend needed some time alone, she decided to turn away and began walking in the opposite direction.
"Well, I gotta get back to my post, see ya' round Rachel. Don't let this affect ye' leadership role of the KND, we still have a war to fight."
The Scottish girl picked up her pace and resumed barking orders at her soldiers.
Several minutes passed before another event caught Rachel's attention. Numbuh 60 quickly ran up to Rachel, apparently bringing urgent news.
"Supreme Leader! I have some unusual news for you."
Rachel attempted to hide her face and blink away the emerging tears that were about to pour out of her eyes "What is it Numbuh 60?"
"Well… hey are you ok?" Patton could hear the girl sniffing and noticed that she seemed to be shielding her face.
"Um… Yeah, just the fuel exhausts from all these vehicles are beginning to irritate me, that's all"
"Oh, well the man who shot Nigel… he doesn't appear to be one of Fathers…"
Rachel's head quickly picked up on the words that just came out of the Commanders mouth.
"Well then who is he from?"
"I think you better take a look yourself." Patton quickly gestured Rachel to follow her.
About two minutes later, they arrived at the site where Nigel was shot.
Several S.R.S.S.T members set up a perimeter around the area, making sure the scene remained untouched, only giving access to operatives who were granted permission to the site.
Around the fallen unknown soldier was a team of analysis, who were quickly taking samples of the unique armor.
"So why'd you bring me here Patton?" Rachel questioned
Patton then pointed at the body, which had extremely unusual characteristics, one that she was not familiar with, until she really thought about it.
A gas mask combined with a helmet, a long robe, and an armband that had the same emblem she had been seeing. It was a Hasayan soldier.
Rachel knew that this was by no accident.
"What the… have you guys found anything on this guy?"
"Yeah… this guy has some pretty fancy tech on him, some infrared goggles, extremely complex armor, and some other advanced technology our scientists are analyzing."
"Well, keep searching him, notify me if you find anything else peculiar." Patton nodded and saluted, quickly leaving the scene.
Rachel on the other hand, thought briefly about the fallen Hasayan. It's obvious that this was planned by whoever this "Leader" guy was, but why? She shrugged it off, as her thoughts quickly shifted to Nigel. She immediately hustled towards the hospital tent, hoping that maybe he was alright.
She arrived at the tent, eager to hear news of the wounded boy. Rachel approached a medic who was standing outside keeping track on who exited and entered the field hospital.
"Is there a boy under "Numbuh 1" still in there?" Rachel questioned eagerly.
The medic quickly flipped through several pages which was filled with the names of injured operatives when he finally stopped and located the child in question.
"Ah yes, apparently he was relocated to the recovery tent right over there." The medic pointed to a large tent which was constantly being filled with wounded personal from the field hospital. In most circumstances, one tent would suffice for operatives being worked on by doctors as well as those recovering, but casualties were so high they needed to separate the two.
"Ok, well thanks." The blonde girl left quickly, and the medic nodded as a sign of respect to his Supreme Leader.
Rachel quickly walked towards the recovery tent, and upon arrival, found operatives who were missing limbs, suffering from shellshock, and covered in bandages. She quickly looked around, searching for the bald headed boy she came for.
A doctor came out from one of the curtains which was covering a patient. He quickly approached her, his gloves almost entirely red from blood.
"Good thing you came."
She was confused, why did the doctor say such a statement?
"Um, excuse me, but why is that?"
"I'm assuming you're her for Numbuh 1 correct?"
Rachel nodded, trying to mask any emotions she was feeling at that moment. She was so worried about Nigel that it was a miracle she was able to respond back at all in a calm manner.
"Yeah… well… how's he doing?"
"Not very well actually… we stopped the bleeding but he's lost so much blood there's a good chance he won't…"
"Survive huh? Is that what you came out for? To look for me and tell me that he's going die?"
The blonde commander's emotions got the better of her, but she stopped before she spewed out anymore words.
"No, that's just a worst case scenario. We're currently trying to stabilize his conditions but we're having great difficulty doing so. I'm surprised he's still even alive at all to tell you the truth Supreme Leader."
A brief silence came between the doctor and Rachel, before the doctor continued.
"You know… if it makes you feel any better, not too long ago he woke up suddenly and called out your name, asking where you were. We couldn't make out what he was trying to say, but I think the message was he wanted to make sure you were safe."
Despite Nigel facing the possibility of death, he was still thinking about her, making sure she was out of harm's way. This thought invaded the girl's mind and she stood their quiet for a few seconds.
"Can… Can I see him?" She asked hesitantly.
"Not right now, it's a blood bath in there. We'll call you when he's ready."
Rachel nodded and quietly exited the recovery tent.
"What do you mean we're losing this war?!" Father violently lashed out at his remaining commanders.
A veteran commander soon stood out from the group and began to speak up.
"They hit back at us hard. We couldn't have predicted a counter-attack of such magnitude. We're vastly outgunned, and outnumbered, and with our energy cannons now gone there's nothing we can do to stop them."
Father rubbed the back of his head and looked at a map showing his remaining forces as well as the advancing allies. He looked at the map carefully, his commanders were right. The Kids Next Door have already taken North America, and were currently sweeping across Europe. Around the world Father was losing on all fronts, and the allies were now closing in. It would only be a matter of weeks before they managed to reach Moscow, Father's main HQ and base of operations.
It was now clear. Father would lose this war unless they managed to produce some type of miracle, but even that was out of the question. Earlier in the war, Father's forces were vastly superior compared to their KND counterparts, but it seems that has changed. The KND have managed to out produce their enemy, and have built much more technologically superior equipment and vehicles. Their soldiers were now much more trained and battle-hardened.
No matter what angle Father looked at the situation, it was obvious that things were falling apart for him.
But he couldn't admit that to his commanders.
"I want you to send our most elite armored divisions and forces to launch one last counter attack on all allied forces in Europe and Asia."
"Are you sure…?" one commander questioned.
Father glared at him with cold eyes, and the group of generals all nodded and quickly left the room.
He radioed in Cree, who was basically held in reserve due to her recent 'failure'.
"Cree, I would like you to find out the location of this so called, hidden Hasayan Arctic facility."
"Fine with me." She responded back.
"Good, this is your chance to redeem yourself, do not fail me again. Father out."
Rachel was sitting outside the recovery tent by herself in complete silence. Despite having a war to fight, she couldn't distract her mind from Nigel. He sacrificed himself for her, and that thought alone constantly stabbed at her mind and soul like a million daggers. She took a few more minutes of silence before she decided to redirect her thoughts to the war effort.
She walked to the makeshift KND command post that just hours ago, was used by the enemy to rein down artillery shells on their advancing armies. The place was busy with communication directors, and decryption machines that would intercept and decode any enemy transmissions.
Amidst the hectic command post, she spotted Patton, Chester, and several other commanders and newly appointed admirals all in a heavily guarded room discussing something.
Strange, there must be something extremely important to discuss if a group of VIP's were all in one room risking the chance of getting hit by random strays of enemy bombardment. She decided to see what was going on, and immediately walked up to the entrance of the room. Being the Supreme Leader of the KND, the guards automatically granted her full permission to enter.
"Numbuh 362! We were just about to call you in." Patton yelled from across the room.
In the middle of the room was a holographic map of the world, which showed that the KND had recaptured a large portion of Europe as well as most of Asia. The rest of the world also seemed to have been recaptured by allied forces. The map showed promising results, and Rachel began having high hopes that the war would be brought to a swift end.
"Don't be fooled by such deceiving results, this war is far from over." Numbuh 1942 interrupted.
"What, what do you mean? Father has little control over Europe and his last stronghold appears to be located in Russia."
"Unfortuantely, just minutes ago, our forces in both Europe and Asia report a fierce counter attack by Father in a last ditch effort to halt our advance. As it stands, we are currently holding them off but sustaining heavy casualties. Even if we repel the counter attack, we project casualties would reach the hundreds of thousands by the time we manage to capture Moscow and conclude this war."
Rachel was stunned, she had never faced a time where she would have to sacrifice the lives of so many operatives. Usually she had a choice, but this time she didn't. It had appeared to her that the only way they would win the war was by pushing forward, by any means necessary.
Rachel turned to the door and saluted. "I see… well reinforce those areas and hold off the enemy attack. Notify me of any updates on the front."
Just before she exited the door, Patton called out to her.
"Wait Supreme Leader! I also have another thing I needed to inform you about."
Rachel turned away from the door and walked towards Numbuh 60. "Well, what is it commander?"
Patton quickly pulled out a piece of paper that contained a map of some sort. Rachel quickly inspected it and was confused.
"Where did you find this Numbuh 60?"
"We found it off the soldier who shot Nigel, it appears that the facility on that map is located somewhere in Northern Alaska."
Rachel thought about it for a minute, and then it finally hit her. The Arctic facility that they have been looking for was now being shown on this map. But the girl sensed that something was not right. Why would the Hasayan's be so careless as to send one of their soldiers with a map showing the exact location of their base? Perhaps their main objective wasn't to shoot Nigel after all she thought. But if that wasn't their intent, what was?
"I want you to ship Numbuh 900 here A.S.A.P. As soon she as flies in, I want to be flown in near the area marked on the map."
"But… Supreme Leader, we can't spare anymore of our forces." Numbuh 60 interjected.
"I'm not asking for any additional support, what I'm asking is that you simply send me and Numbuh 900 to this base."
Patton began to feel that Rachel was beginning to lose it, and maybe it was because Nigel was shot. "But… but what? We can't risk sending you alone over there! We still have a war to fight."
"Ugh, I don't have time to explain."
"It's the Hasayans isn't it?" Numbuh 1942's voice suddenly broke into the conversation.
"How do you know about them Numbuh 1942…?" Rachel questioned.
"That organization a few years back. I heard they tried to take over the KND, and despite having little support from most of the operatives, they still managed to meet in secret, conducting unspeakable experiments out in some top secret facility somewhere near the Arctic Circle."
Numbuh 60 and the other commanders were puzzled. "What the, Hasayans? What the hell are you talking about?" Patton said.
"And how the hell do you know about the Hasayans Numbuh 1942?" Rachel was beginning to become suspicious of the admiral.
"Before I became an admiral, I was the leading director of all S.R.S.S.T operations. I was the one responsible for ordering that strike on that Arctic facility."
"What the?! How come you didn't tell us and come we didn't know this before?!" Now things were getting even more complex Rachel thought.
"The identity of the Director is kept secret for obvious reasons, and even operatives who are under the S.R.S.S.T branch don't even know who is in charge."
"So why come out and tell us this now Numbuh 1942?" Rachel questioned, while everyone else in the room remained silent.
"Because, I feel partly responsible for their continued existence."
Now everyone in the room was extremely stumped. What the heck was Chester rambling about they all thought.
"Explain." Rachel gestured.
Chester cleared his throat and continued.
"The Hasayans scared global command out of their minds, and as soon as we attacked the base and it had appeared that they were finally eliminated, global command quickly dropped the subject, hoping that it would all become just one big bad memory."
"So how are you responsible?"
"Because, I could've authorized closer inspection of the base and even issued another strike, but instead I called it off, believing that the job had been done."
"I see, well I guess now is the time to finally end it." Rachel added.
"You think can you can get S.C.A.M.P.E.R to fly us into these exact coordinates?" The blonde girl handed the admiral a map. He scanned it and quickly nodded.
"Yeah, but it's in some pretty rough terrain. Plus we have little intelligence on the Hasayans. The last time we pulled through with this type of mission, Numbuh 900 was the only survivor."
"I'm aware of the risks, but someone has to do it. Patton, you'll be in control until I return from this mission." The young blonde girl shifted her voice towards Numbuh 60.
Patton saluted and quickly turned to exit the war room.
"The rest of you, I want you guys to keep up what you're doing and inform me of any more developing situations regarding the war, that is all." She then quickly exited the room.
After the meeting, Rachel found herself at Nigel's bedside. He was still unconscious, and the sound of air pumps and machines keeping him stable flooded the room.
She picked up his hand, which felt cold and weak.
"I'm so sorry Nigel…" A tear slowly fell down her face. She remained there at his side for hours until Serena had finally arrived from the East Coast.
"Hasayan Arctic facility has been found, and infiltration was a success. The Teen Ninjas are now in position, Leader in site." Cree radioed in to Father.
"Kill him." He responded back.
Cree and her men quickly leaped out of hiding behind Leader who was staring at a holographic image of Earth that illuminated his face.
The room was almost pitch black, and the only source of light they had was the hologram of Earth in the middle of the room.
"I'm assuming Father has sent you here to kill me." Leader stated, his voice echoing through the empty corridors of the room.
"Yeah… time to put you out of your misery you brat." Cree mocked.
Leader laughed, confusing Cree and her men.
"What's so funny?" Cree questioned, unsure why the boy was laughing at his certain death.
"This." Leader snapped, and quickly all the lights in the room turned on revealing 100's of Hasayan soldiers pointing their guns at the small group of Teen Ninjas. The eye lids of their gas masks were glowing a deep red, and their heavy armor was much too thick for any of the weapons the teens were carrying.
"Go figure." Cree and her squad quickly raised their weapons and waited for the enemy to strike first.
Leader suddenly snapped again, and the sound of gun fire could be heard throughout the facility…
...TRANSMISSION INTERRUPTED...
