The news about Duncan couldn't wait, but it could wait until after the Caber Toss, which is why Fanny stands just out of Thor's line of sight. Thor yells as he hurls his end of the caber into the air and the other end slams into the ground. Fanny holds her breath as Thor's end shoots up...up...up, losing momentum as it goes. For a moment, Fanny's afraid it'll tilt backwards, but it slowly, slowly, moves forward and lands slightly off center on the large imaginary clock that the judges use for scoring.
"11:30!" The Referee says before calling out the name of another boy.
"Yes!" Fanny claps her hands and rushes forward. She has patience enough to wait until the Referee and Craig are finished shaking Thor's hand in congratulations before she grabs the collar of a very surprised Thor and pulls him down into a deep kiss.
The Referee and Craig share a confused look before shrugging it off. Josh scoffs.
"What the hell do girls see in that skinny twerp?" He mutters to Craig.
"Hmm," Thor reluctantly pulls away with a grin. "Wow hello." He says to Fanny. "You're a little early. There's another Caber Toss round after this."
"I could watch you chuck trees all day, love," Fanny says. "But this can't wait." She lowers her voice to a whisper. "Urgent KND business."
The smile drops from Thor's face. "Oh."
"Oh," Fanny echoes.
"Then I should probably let my parents know what's going on," Thor says.
"And...I should probably introduce you to my parents," Fanny grimaces and turns away from the bleachers. Thor walks over to the Referee.
"Ref," he says. "There's a family emergency. I need to go."
"And your emergency doesn't have anything to do with your lady friend there?" The Referee points at Fanny with his pen.
"What?"
"Och, if you need fifteen minutes, I could switch the lineup for the next round..."
"Oh no," Thor goes red in the face and stares at the toes of his shoes. "It's not for...that."
The Referee throws back his head and laughs. "I'm only having you on, lad. You've done very well. We'll send you your ribbons and medals through the mail, yeah?"
"Yeah, thanks," Thor turns away and with a quick goodbye to Craig, starts a brisk walk towards the bleachers.
"What's wrong?" Fanny asks as she struggles to keep up with Thor's long stride. "You're all red."
"Yeah, I mean," Thor slows his pace so they can talk. "The Ref just offered to switch the lineup for the next round so I could have fifteen minutes alone with you."
"Huh? ...Oh," Fanny turns red too. "It must've been that kiss."
"Do you want fifteen minutes with me though?" Thor asks with a grin.
Fanny squirms. "...If we're being honest..."
"Fanny!" Thor gasps in mock surprise.
"Shut your face," Fanny says. "Like it's news to you. And that can wait. And that's not why I had you pull out."
"Bow chicka-"
Fanny swats Thor's shoulder. "You been spending too much time with Hoagie and Patton."
Thor chuckles and takes Fanny's arm in his as they head up the bleachers. "Sorry. Tell me about this KND emergency."
"Well," Fanny can't help but squeeze Thor's arm. Thor was fit before, thanks to his training with Wally, but ever since he's started with Paddy, he's gotten even more solid. Fanny doesn't think she's ever felt Thor's body be this dense and wonders how the rest of Thor's body is like.
"Are you gonna talk, or are you gonna grope me for the rest of the day?" Thor asks.
"Uh," Fanny blushes and explains the KND mission.
"Who's the Teen Ninja contact?" Thor asks. Fanny glances at the left side of Thor's chest.
"…Duncan Kerr," Fanny says. She squeaks in surprise when Thor grabs her shoulders.
"Duncan Kerr is here?" Thor asks, his eyes dark and his mouth set in a hard line.
"Kuki saw him," Fanny says. She squeaks again when Thor begins to steer her away from the bleachers. "Where are we going?"
"You are going to a safe place while I sort this out."
"Och, wait a minute," Fanny gently pushes back and puts her hand on Thor's chest under his left collarbone. "You are not sending me away right before you face Duncan fecking Kerr. You don't have to be alone for this. Let me help."
Thor takes a deep breath and Fanny feels his chest move under her palm. "Okay."
"Really?" Fanny asks with a pout. Thor can't help but smile.
"Yeah."
"Good," Fanny takes Thor's hand in hers and leads him up the bleachers to her parents. She doesn't know if it's the disguise fueling her imagination, or if the sensations are real, but it seems that Thor's hands are more powerful than before.
"Daddy, Mum," Fanny says. "This is Thor Grimmson."
"Hello, sir," Thor says. "Ma'am. It's nice meet you," Thor sticks out his hand. Mrs. Fulbright shakes it, but Mr. Fulbright stays silent. Beyond them, Mr. and Mrs. McKenzie give them a little wave. Thor and Fanny try their best to ignore Mrs. McKenzie's teasing wink.
"Hello dear," Mrs. Fulbright says. "You did very well in the Games."
"Thank you," Thor says.
"So you approve of him?" Fanny asks. "You're alright with us dating?"
"Hmph," Mr. Fulbright crosses his arms. "Nothing was wrong with McKenzie's kid."
Mrs. Fulbright nudges him with her elbow. "A deal is a deal," she says. "Take care of my daughter, young man."
Fanny smirks. "But Mum, he isn't a young man." She reaches up and pulls Thor's ponytail out, letting his blonde hair free. Mr. Fulbright's eyes light up in recognition and he laughs. Mrs. Fulbright looks on in terror as Thor peels the voice changer patch from his throat.
"Ta da!" Rachel says. Her voice has returned to normal. "I'm Robert McKenzie's kid."
Mr. Fulbright's laughs devolve into hacking coughs that make everyone around him stare in concern. "Ah Christ," he takes a few stuttering breaths. "Maybe I should lay off the cigars."
"You probably have a lot to think about," Fanny tugs Rachel away from her parents. "So we'll leave you to it. Bye! See you at home!"
The two girls laugh as they make their way to the McKenzie's.
"Hi Mom!" Rachel says. "Hi Dad!"
"Are you done?" Mr. McKenzie asks. "Can we call you by your name?"
"Yeah."
"Oh Rachel," Mrs. McKenzie envelops Rachel in a crushing hug. "We're so proud of you!"
"Thanks, Mom." Rachel says.
Mrs. McKenzie pulls away and picks up her bag. "Alright, then. Let's go home."
"About that...Mom, I was wondering if I could hang out with my friends."
"Hoagie is the one with the car, right?" Mr. McKenzie says. "Does he have enough room for you two?"
"Yeah!"
"Ok," Mrs. McKenzie plants a kiss on Rachel's forehead. "Have fun."
"Bye," the girls wave as the adults leave. A few seconds later, the people sitting behind them move when Kuki pushes them aside to get through.
"You guys!" Kuki shouts. She's sobbing. Rachel doesn't think she's ever seen Kuki so desperate. "Help!"
=== Five Minutes Earlier ===
Duncan wipes his mouth on a crumpled napkin and tosses it into a nearby trash bin before he reaches out to take the messenger bag from 2x4. Now, while he's distracted, Abby thinks, but before she can move, Nigel and Harvey leap from their respective hiding places. Nigel aims a futuristic laser gun at Duncan and Harvey aims a MUSKET at 2x4.
"Drop it, teenage scum!" Nigel yells.
"2x4, you are under arrest for conspiracy to commit treason!" Harvey says.
Abby takes her first good look at Nigel. She expected him to be tall, and slender, but really, he's barely taller than Harvey. Even Wally has outgrown him by a head. Concern wells up in Abby's chest.
"The itty-bitty kiddie committee," Duncan smirks and puts the strap of the messenger bag on his shoulder. "Was wondering where you were."
2x4 steps behind Duncan to hide from them and Harvey steps towards them to adjust for the range of the gun. Abby remembers Fanny complaining about MUSKETS once.
"It's no better than a shotgun," Fanny had said. "Wide, powerful shot up close, but shite after 5 feet or so."
And now Harvey's within five feet of Duncan.
Oh no.
Abby leaps from her seat in the bleachers and vaults the side railing to skip the stairs. Behind her, Patton and Wally stand up and move to follow her. Wally takes the same route Abby takes, but Patton chooses the stairs. Behind them, Paddy rushes towards them from his place beside Kuki. Abby lands catlike on her feet and runs towards the group, but it's too late.
Duncan lunges forward and grabs the slide of Harvey's MUSKET. He forces it to the side as Harvey pulls the trigger, shooting mustard in Nigel's direction.
"Ack!" even though he's out of range, Nigel flinches. 2x4 breaks from Duncan and darts into the crowd.
"No you don't!" Paddy shouts as he follows him. He jumps from the railing and tackles 2x4 in the grass. 2x4's monocle cracks from the impact and after making a few attempts to get up, he gives up with a groan.
"You have the right to shut up," Paddy says as he untangles himself and takes out KND handcuffs. "Anything you say can and will be used to ridicule you later."
Duncan rips the MUSKET from Harvey's hands and lands a front kick square in his chest, sending him flying.
PEW PEW.
Nigel pulls the trigger of his gun, sending angry red lasers at Duncan. Unfortunately, Duncan smiles and ducks and weaves, making the shots miss. With every dodge, he steps closer and closer to Nigel.
"Hnng!" a man in the crowd behind Duncan convulses and falls to his knees when one of Nigel's shots hits him. A woman and a few strangers next to him rush to his aid. A few more shots hit another woman in the face, a twelve year-old boy, and an old man with a cane, making them convulse as well.
Nigel just keeps pulling the trigger.
As Abby runs past Nigel, she punches the laser gun out of his hands and kicks it away.
"Hey!" Nigel shouts at her, but Abby keeps running up to Duncan, intercepting him before he can reach Nigel.
POW.
When Abby gets to Duncan, she does a powerful front kick, making him stumble back a few feet.
"Oof!" Duncan gasps. The MUSKET he holds falls to the ground with dull thump. Usually, a front kick is all it takes to subdue other teen ninjas, but of course Duncan grins instead.
Of course he would. Duncan's dark eyes are full of joy and all that concern Abby feels sours into fear.
Duncan's grin turns feral and he throws the remainder of his sandwich at Abby.
SPLAT.
Abby ducks, and the sandwich shoots over her head and into Wally's chest behind her. Tri tip explodes everywhere and Wally stumbles back.
"Ack!" Wally wipes his face with his hands.
Without missing a beat, Abby straightens up and begins fighting Duncan. Punches, kicks, blocks and dodges flow seamlessly between them at an alarming rate, barely giving Abby time to breathe. Abby lands punches to Duncan's chest and stomach, but he doesn't seem to feel them. Duncan lands three kicks to Abby's left thigh. Pain lances up Abby's leg and compounds with every kick, making it harder for Abby to move. Abby inwardly curses when she catches on to his strategy.
Slowly, Duncan is rendering Abby's left leg too injured to use.
"Ragh!" Wally and Nigel jump into the fight with her. Together, they throw punches and kicks, and some of them even land, but Duncan blocks and deflects most of them. All while still smiling.
Nigel does a spinning round kick, and his thin ankle lands right in Duncan's open palm. Duncan's hand closes around Nigel's ankle in a fist, and he pulls, making Nigel fall. He swings Nigel around like ragdoll, flinging him into Wally.
"Oof!" Wally reaches out to catch Nigel and is knocked down himself. They tumble head over heels in the grass until they land in a tangled heap of limbs.
Abby leaps at Duncan, pushing him onto the ground. She follows him down, straddles his hips, and begins raining punches onto his chest and head. Duncan brings up his arms to shield himself, then brings his feet up to his butt. After enduring a couple more punches, he bucks, unseating Abby and throwing her off balance.
"Rragh!" Duncan hugs Abby's right arm to his chest and braces his other arm across Abby's chest. He pushes and the both of them roll over, switching places. Duncan punches Abby in the solar plexus, winding her. Then he punches her in the face. Pain explodes through Abby's left eye and she rolls over onto her side, bringing her arms up to block any extra punches.
"Yeah, that's what I thought," Duncan stands up with a look of contempt. His chest heaves from exertion, but he soon recovers. He notices that he no longer has 2x4's bag. "What? Where?" He scans the ground around him and sees Abby getting back up. The bag is in her hands.
Duncan's eyes flash dangerously. "Hey!"
Abby turns and runs, still surprised that her plan to steal 2x4's bag worked. "Numbuh 2," she shouts as she runs. "Turn the engine, we're on our way."
"10-4," Hoagie says over the earpiece.
Abby weaves through the crowd, trying her best not to run over strollers and small children. She can't just run though; the next part of her plan depends on her ability to multitask. Abby fumbles with the clasp of the bag, but in doing so, slows down. Behind her, Duncan shoves people out of his way, not bothering to discriminate between adults and children.
"Move!" Duncan shouts. He barrels through a group of inebriated young adults from the local college and runs after Abby, who gives one last push to get away.
"Watch it asshole!" One of the students shouts, but Duncan ignores them and lunges at Abby.
"Raagh!" Duncan roars as he grabs her by her braid and yanks. Abby falls to the ground again, out of breath, and Duncan looms over her. He reaches down to take the bag.
"Let's dance, teenager!" Nigel shouts as he kicks Duncan off of Abby. Duncan takes a couple steps back and looks at Nigel like a cat would at a canary.
"Alright," he says. "You lead."
Nigel jumps at Duncan; doing spinning kicks, flips, and other trick moves that happen to be standard in the KND arsenal. Duncan simply dodges what he can, and swats away whatever he can't. Nigel's moves look impressive, they look downright cool, but none of them come even close to touching Duncan.
"Squirrely, aren't you?" Duncan says. "But I've seen enough." He takes a deep step into Nigel's space and delivers a palm strike to Nigel's chest, sending the boy flying ten feet out and onto his back.
"Oof!"
"Hey!" Patton runs up and aims a TND gun at Duncan from a safe distance. "KND and Teen Ninja guidelines say…."
"KND and Teen Ninja guidelines say 'no inflicting serious injuries,'" Duncan says, but instead of pointing at Nigel's wheezing form in the grass, he gestures to himself. "And as you can see, I'm just fine."
"Numbuh 5!" Harvey stands a few feet away from them. He beckons. "Over here!"
Abby silently asks Rachel for forgiveness as she throws the bag over to Harvey. "Keep it away from him!" She yells, then into the earpiece, "Keep 206 off of 363. He needs to escape with that bag."
"What?" Wally asks. Abby stays put as Duncan runs after Harvey. Wally and Patton follow Duncan and the entire chase gets swallowed in the crowd.
"Don't talk back, Numbuh 4," Abby winces as she sits up. "Just do it."
"Numbuh 5!" Kuki kneels down before her, her eyes filled with tears. Rachel and Fanny run up behind her.
"Zero wept," Fanny mutters as Kuki tilts Abby's head up. She kneels down to inspect Abby's face too. "I thought you knew about Duncan, lass."
"5'll be fine," Abby holds out her hands and Kuki takes them to help her up. "Ah…ah! Yeah, 5'll be just fine. See if Numbuh 1 is okay."
All four of them look over at Nigel, who tries to get to his feet, but falls down again. Kuki steps closer and holds her hands out as if to help him, but Nigel manages to stand on his own.
"Numbuh 1?" Kuki asks. Nigel freezes for a moment before turning to look at her. "Are you okay?"
"Numbuh 3! Uh," Nigel straightens his clothes. "Yes, I'm fine. Which way did they all go?"
"You are not fighting 206 again," Abby says. "Do not give him another excuse to lay hands on you."
"Whose side are you on, Numbuh 5?" Nigel asks. "You punch my gun out of my hands, then you steal KND property, then you throw it to Numbuh 363? And now you're telling me to abandon my mission."
"It's too dangerous," Abby says.
"He barely touched me," Nigel says.
"He's not going to hold himself back a second time," Abby says.
"Ugh," Nigel scoffs. "Teenagers don't hold themselves back; they want to win too much." He pauses. "No offence. And now you're just stalling me! I have a mission to complete."
"And Numbuh 5 is trying to save your life," Abby says. "206 has a history of putting people in the hospital. Even kids."
But Nigel just draws back, his face set in a determined scowl. "I've fought worse," he says, and he steps around Abby and runs off. The four of them watch him leave, and when he's out of earshot, Rachel turns to Abby.
"What's the plan?" Rachel asks.
"Pigeon Drop," Abby says. Rachel's eyes widen in recognition.
"The mark?"
"Everyone."
Rachel hesitates before asking. "Who has the briefcase?"
Abby cringes. "Your brother. I'm sorry."
Rachel's face hardens. "We'll talk about that later. 86," she says to Fanny. Fanny straightens up at the mention of her old number. "With me."
The two girls leave Abby and Kuki behind and head to a commotion on the far side of the rows of tents.
"Do you have any guns anywhere?" Rachel asks. "Like a cache?"
"Don't worry about that," Fanny takes Rachel's hand and pulls her into a secluded alley behind a performance tent. She lifts up her skir-
"Oh," Fanny drops her skirt and does a swirly motion with her finger at Rachel. "A little privacy, love?"
"Sorry," Rachel turns around. There are sounds of Velcro tape being torn apart and a few metallic clicks.
"You can look now," Fanny says, and Rachel turns back around to find Fanny armed with two TND pistols. Extra magazine clips are stuck to a belt strapped around Fanny's hips.
"What, no armored car?" Rachel asks in amazement.
"That would be in my other dress," Fanny says.
"Is this why you like wearing skirts?"
"You can hide a bloody tank under a skirt," Fanny grins as she pulls on the slide of her guns. "What's a Pigeon Drop?"
Rachel explains on the way over. When they arrive, they find all the boys on the edge of the dirt parking lot, all of them covered in different amounts of dust. Patton lies facedown on the ground, unmoving, and Wally is almost dead on his feet. His chest and lower half of his face is covered in blood from his broken nose and he sways from side to side. He stares defiantly at Duncan even though his left eye is threatening to swell shut and his right eye is bloodshot.
Duncan, on the other hand, suffers from only a few scrapes, and a split lip. Instead of breathing hard like Wally does, he breathes lightly.
Wally stands between Duncan, and Harvey and Nigel. Harvey presses himself up against the driver's door of a four-door sedan, trembling. He hugs 2x4's messenger bag to his chest and his lips keep moving in a low murmur. If he's smart, which he is, then he'd be contacting the rest of his team for an ASA-Now extraction.
Nigel stares at the two teenage boys in fear, his hands clenching and unclenching as if wanting to do something.
"Hey!" Fanny assumes her shooting stance and aims a pistol at Duncan. Rachel kneels down and puts two fingers on the side of Patton's neck to feel his pulse. "I wanna see your hands, bucko."
"He's okay," Rachel says. She feels the column of his spine just in case and it feels intact. Duncan doesn't raise his hands, but he does turn slowly so he can see them.
"362," Duncan's voice turns tender. "Come to say hello to your mentor?"
"We have nothing to say to each other," Rachel buttons the bottom of her kilt so that she doesn't flash anyone, then stands up. "And you are no longer my mentor."
"Ah, yeah," Duncan says. "You've made a name for yourself: Assistant Leader of Stealth Tactics, Global Tactical Officer, Supreme Leader. You never thanked me, by the way."
"You want me to thank you? I earned those titles despite of you," Rachel says.
"You earned those titles because of me," Duncan grins, his chest puffing out in pride. "I made you…perfect."
"All you did," Rachel's voice shakes and her hands ball into fists. "Was put me in the ICU!"
Duncan laughs and Rachel cuts him off.
"Duncan Kerr, you are under arrest for treason and conspiracy."
"Oh?" the smile disappears from Duncan's face. "That's how it's going to be?"
"That's how it must be," Rachel says. Duncan turns murderous and charges forward.
POP POP.
Fanny pulls the trigger of her pistol and bright green paint explodes across Duncan's chest. Duncan stumbles back and Fanny keeps firing.
POP POP POP POP POP.
Duncan gets hit two more times, but recovers and begins to dodge the shots, much to Fanny's dismay. He steps closer, but instead of moving towards her, he steps towards Rachel. Fanny sucks in a breath and lowers her gun.
Duncan unleashes combo after combo at Rachel; punches, kicks, knees, elbows, but Rachel dodges, or blocks, them all. Duncan growls in frustration.
"Fight me!" He shouts. "Where's the 362 I kno-."
Duncan's cut off when Rachel's left hook catches him in the side. "Yes!" He smiles when they begin trading shots. But after the both of them land a few blows on each other, Duncan scowls again.
"It's not enough," Duncan steps back. "You've lost it." His eyes snap to Fanny's. "Probably because of you."
"Me?" Fanny asks. "I don't have anything to do with…any of this."
"Hey!" Rachel's lip curls. "This fight is between you and me."
"You think I'm a fool?" Duncan asks as he advances towards Fanny. "I know exactly who you are."
POP POP POP.
Fanny fires again, hitting Duncan in the chest. Rachel steps out of the way so that she doesn't get hit.
"Ah! Rrgh," Duncan raises his hand to block the paint from getting into his eyes and flinches with each shot.
POP POP POP POP.
"Reloading!" Fanny shouts. Duncan snarls and lunges at Fanny, but Rachel steps between them.
"Get away from her!" Rachel blocks Duncan's punch and delivers a kick straight to his groin.
WHAP.
He's wearing a cup, so the kick doesn't do as much damage as it could have, but Duncan still doubles over, and Rachel grabs a fistful of his hair and smashes her knee into his face. Duncan goes down, blood streaming from his nose. He laughs.
"There you are," he makes a bridge with his body and blindly kicks out, catching Rachel in the stomach. It's enough to knock her back a few paces.
"Oof," Rachel plants her foot behind her to keep herself from falling down. Duncan gets up and the two of them breathe hard as they size each other up.
"Hah!" Rachel does a roundhouse kick at Duncan's front leg, trying to injure him like he did Abby, but Duncan defends against it and steps in close. He lands an elbow across Rachel's temple that whips her head around, then pulls her head down with both arms in a Muay Thai clinch. From here, he's able to move her around without any trouble.
"Aah!" Rachel shouts as Duncan pulls her off balance. She takes a couple knees to the stomach before she puts a palm over one of Duncan's elbows and shoves it up, destroying the clinch. From there, she punches the developing welts on Duncan's chest, making him wince and pull away.
"Ah," Duncan holds his side and releases a long breath. Rachel reaches up to wipe away a small flow of blood trickling into her left eye, but there's more than she thought. The blood stings, and she blinks.
It's enough. Duncan plants a high front kick to Rachel's chest, sending her to the ground. Before she can get up, Duncan straddles her and cocks his fists. He's able to send out one punch, but after that, Rachel bucks, making him lose his balance. She grabs one of Duncan's arms and rolls them over not unlike how Duncan rolled Abby earlier. Once she's upright, Rachel jabs Duncan twice in the solar plexus, and stabs her elbows into the inside of his thighs to get him to let go of her.
"Aagh!" Duncan hisses in pain as Rachel escapes and gets to her feet. He rolls over on his side and covers his head with his arms and hands when he realizes that Rachel's escaped towards his head. Rachel kicks him in the head. Then she kicks him again. And again. Again, again, again….
Rachel blinks when Fanny takes her elbows and pulls her back. "What? What is it?"
"You've been kicking him for the past minute," Fanny says. For a split second, Rachel catches fear in Fanny's eyes, and her insides flood with hot shame. She looks down at Duncan. Instead of crying, or groaning in pain, he chuckles.
"Ah! Aha ha ha," Duncan winces as he sits up and wipes blood and paint out of his eyes. "You're still mad about getting sent to the hospital, huh?" He asks, grinning. His teeth are stained with blood.
"You almost killed me," Rachel says.
"Everything I did, I did to make you strong!" Duncan shouts and points at the spot below Rachel's collarbone. "Look at how strong you are now, 362! Even with your metal heart. What do you think, kid?" He asks Nigel. Nigel and Rachel lock eyes, and Nigel cringes and looks away. Duncan laughs.
"Don't see much monsters out in space, huh?"
"Och, that's enough," Fanny raises her gun, but Duncan takes two handfuls of dirt and throws them into her and Rachel's faces.
"Ack! Pbbbt," Rachel brings up her hands to block Duncan's attack, but it never comes. When she paws enough dirt out of her eyes, she sees Harvey sitting on the ground, holding his head. Duncan stands at a safe distance away from them with 2x4's bag and he holds his hand up, waiting.
"No!" Rachel steps forward, but the wind whips around them. She and Fanny look up and see a Teen Ninja helicopter hovering a few stories above them. A rope dangles from it and Duncan catches it in his hand and puts his foot through a loop.
"I'd like to stay and play some more," Duncan shouts over the whirring of the helicopter blades. "But I have a mission to complete."
Rachel, Fanny, and Nigel watch, helpless, as the helicopter flies off, carrying Duncan along with it. The teen ninjas inside the helicopters pull up the rope until Duncan is close enough to climb in.
When the helicopter is far enough away Rachel goes to Harvey and makes as if to help him up, but stops herself. Would he want help from her? After seeing her fight? She looks down at her hands and finds the knuckles stained with blood and paint. The shame comes rushing back to her, sickly as heartburn.
"Are you okay?" she asks instead. To her surprise, Harvey grunts and reaches up to her.
"Help," he says, and Rachel helps Harvey up. When she tries to pull away, Harvey keeps a hold of Rachel's hand. She realizes that he's trembling.
"How are we gonna get 2x4's plans back from…that?" Harvey asks.
"We'll, this is as far as the TND goes," Rachel says. "Everything else from here is KND jurisdiction."
"Oh," Harvey's face falls.
"But."
"But?" Harvey looks back up.
"Duncan is hurt," Rachel says. "So there's a chance. You could scramble your team. Escort 2x4 to Arctic Base for questioning and put out the highest priority code on Duncan's head. Bring the entire KND on full alert; you know how teen ninjas don't play nice. If you do this now, you could keep control of the mission and you get tons of resources. And the Supreme Leader doesn't have to get involved."
Harvey's eyes light up. "I can do that?"
"Technically no, but by the time any kids get around to asking questions, you'll already have what you need."
Harvey smirks and Rachel smiles back at him. "Thanks, sis." He lets go of Rachel's hand and runs off.
Rachel turns to Nigel, who gazes warily at her from over his sunglasses. He stares at her the same way most of the Teen Ninjas stare at her. His hands hover over his gun holsters like theirs do. Too late, he snaps out a salute.
"Supreme Leader, sir."
"At ease," Rachel says, unsmiling. She doesn't want to spook Nigel…more than she already has. "I haven't been Supreme Leader in years, Soldier. Shouldn't you be going with 363? You're after the same thing after all."
"I'm ordered not to collaborate with the KND," Nigel says. "But…er…they didn't say I couldn't work with the TND."
"You sure you want help from me?" Rachel spreads her hands, putting the bloodstains on display. Nigel flinches. "I can't speak for your former team, Numbuh 1, but I know that the part that 86 and I play stops here."
"I'm not sending my team against…that teenager," Nigel says. "Numbuh 5 couldn't stop him, Numbuh 4 couldn't stop him. You're the only person that I've seen to fight him and win. It has to be you." Nigel's voice takes a pleading tone. "It's not too late, if we work together, we could still catch them."
"No," Rachel says. Nigel's mouth snaps shut. "I'm sorry, Numbuh 1, but the answer is no. He almost killed me, and now I've almost killed him." Nigel flinches again at the casual mention of all that violence, but Rachel keeps going. "We're even. And I'm leaving it at that."
"But the mission…."
"If Duncan and I meet each other again, one of us will die," Rachel says. "No mission is worth that."
There's a moment of silence. Nigel stares at Rachel in amazement. "You've changed."
"People change," Rachel says. "Do you need a lift?" she asks, but Nigel backs away.
"The 362 I remember wouldn't leave a mission half-done," Nigel says. "She'd fight to the end. No matter what the odds."
"I can't take those kinds of risks anymore, Numbuh 1."
"Why not?"
Rachel glances at Fanny. "Some things are more important."
"Nothing is more important than the mission," Nigel says. He reaches into his hoodie and takes out a small plastic capsule with a button on one end. He pushes the button and tosses it a few feet away, where it explodes into a large puff of smoke and reveals a space ship. It's large and imposing, and the bay door drops down to let Nigel onboard. Halfway up the ramp, Nigel turns around, his eyebrows knitted together in what may be regret.
"Goodbye, 362."
Something twinges in Rachel's gut. She raises her hand. "Goodbye, Soldier."
The ship closes. Rachel closes her eyes and braces herself as the ship sends out a sort of sonic boom, sending itself a hundred feet into the air within a second. After floating for a moment, the ship zooms off in the direction of the teen ninja helicopter.
Rachel watches it go, then keeps looking at the place where she last saw it before it disappeared. She wonders how she feels. Sadness? Disappointment? Relief?
No. Still shame.
Rachel touches her face to find it sticky, and her fingertips come away red and irony. She can feel the rest of the blood coating her face and drying into a tight second skin. No wonder Nigel was so unnerved.
"He looked at me like I was rabid," Rachel says. Before she can move away, Fanny steps in close and takes a handkerchief from one of the pouches around her hips. This she presses over the cut over Rachel's eyebrow and applies pressure to stop the bleeding.
"We both know better than that," Fanny says. Rachel watches her in silent astonishment before she asks,
"You're not afraid of me?"
"I'm afraid for you sometimes," Fanny says. "Never of you."
Rachel hums and leans into Fanny's hand.
"Still got some energy left in you?" Fanny asks. She looks around at Patton and Wally's bodies. "We need to get these boys off the ground."
"Oh! Hm," Rachel reluctantly leaves Fanny and walks over to Patton. She takes Patton's wrist in one hand and pulls him over her shoulders in a fireman carry. "Yep."
"Show off," Fanny rolls her eyes and tries to pick Wally up.
"Need help with that?" Rachel asks.
"No, I've got it," Fanny says. She's able to pick him up from under his arms and drags him towards the Sector V bus.
= = = … = = =
The door to the Sector V bus is already open, and the girls go in. Hoagie sits at the computer terminal and watches a never-ending stream of computer code and maths formulas scroll up the monitor. Kuki emerges from the back of the bus with a first aid kit and squeals when she sees them.
"Wally!" She helps Fanny carry Wally onto the table in the kitchen and makes adjustments so that Wally can lie comfortably. "Uh," Kuki looks back and forth between Patton and Wally and Rachel.
"Tend to Wally, lass," Fanny says. "I've got the other two."
"Oh good," Hoagie leaps from the terminal and into the pilot's seat. "You're here, uh…" he does a second take. "Where's Numbuh 1?"
"He didn't want to get you involved with Duncan again," Rachel says as she lowers Patton onto the floor. Fanny kneels beside him and begins feeling for broken bones. When she's done, she snaps opens one of the pouches strapped around her waist and takes out a penlight. She gently peels back one of Patton's eyelids and shines it into his eye.
"He could've said hello," Hoagie mutters as he pushes buttons and flips switches. The bus shudders and a loud whirring sound comes from outside.
"…Are those jet engines?" Rachel asks.
"Hell yeah," Hoagie says. "This thing flies, didn't you know? Hold on to something. We needed to disappear five minutes ago."
"Why?" Rachel asks. She sits at the computer terminal to keep from falling over and looks at the monitor to find a mess of information that she assumes are 2x4's plans. "Oh yeah. Pigeon Drop."
All Stealth Tactics officers know what Pigeon Drops are. They're expected to perform one in order to graduate cadet training. The con artist approaches a mark (aka a victim) with a suitcase full of money and asks them to keep it safe for them. But the con artist acts paranoid, so they ask the mark to put something of theirs into the suitcase too. The mark puts in their wallet, keys, purse, or anything else that's valuable inside, and when the con artist is satisfied, the suitcase is closed and the con artist leaves. That's when a ruckus happens; the con artist's associate walks by and gets hurt. Let's say they crash their car, or they fall off a bike, or has some other kind of accident that distracts the mark from the suitcase. While the mark is distracted, yet another one of the con artist's associates switches the suitcase for an identical one that weighs the same, but isn't full of money, and disappears as quickly as they arrived. The con artist comes back, tells the mark that they need to take care of something for a few hours, but will be back, and leaves.
Of course, the mark –in their greed – would leave with the suitcase as soon as the con artist was out of sight. Of course, the mark would discover the suitcase has been switched. However, the con artist and their associates would be long gone by then.
Rachel's impressed with Abby's plan; who wouldn't be? The KND and the GKND think that the Teen Ninjas have 2x4's plans and will go after them. When the Teen Ninjas discover that they don't have the plans, they'll go after the KND and GKND to get 2x4 back. They'll descend into a war over 2x4 and won't have time to consider that the plans might actually be in TND hands.
Rachel looks at the usb flash drive that's stuck into the computer terminal. "All this," she says. "Over a little usb."
"That usb's got 85 gigabytes worth of information on it." Hoagie says.
'Wait, that's," Rachel's face screws up as she delves into her limited knowledge of computers. "Wow."
"Yeah, 2x4 was a busy guy," Hoagie says.
"What does HQ say?" Rachel asks.
"Infinity called an emergency meeting. I've been summoned to give my opinion."
"Because you're the technology officer."
"The best technology officer," Abby says as she steps out from behind the curtain at the back of the bus. She holds an ice pack over her eye. "And since we already have the plans here, he might as well analyze them."
"You should be resting, Abby," Kuki says through a surgical mask. Her long hair is pulled back to keep from getting in the way.
"Thank you, baby. Abby can rest as much as she needs from here," Abby sinks into the passenger seat next to Hoagie with a groan. She reaches out and Hoagie takes her hand. "You find anything in that usb yet?"
"It's amazing, Abby," Hoagie smiles as he drives. "All these plans, digital and scanned copies. He's so meticulous…."
Rachel closes her eyes. Just for a moment.
Duncan swings his arm around Rachel's neck and pulls her into a guillotine headlock. She tries to put her hands on his knees to keep him from kicking her, but her hands won't move.
POW.
Rachel keels over from the knee and finds herself on her back, under blinding lights. Her chest is cut open and feels as if it's on fire. She cannot breathe from the pain. A KND medic leans over her and pulls his facemask up to his forehead.
"Wake up," he says.
"Wake up!"
Rachel jerks awake. She's lying in a bunk at the back of the Sector V bus. Duncan is nowhere to be found. Fanny sits on the edge of the bed next to her, her arms up in a defensive position and her eyes wide in alarm.
"Rachel?" Fanny asks. She lowers her arms and reaches over and lays her hand over Rachel's. "You were shouting in your sleep."
The fire in Rachel's chest subsides into a dull ache and blends in with the rest of the pain all over Rachel's body. It takes a few moments for her tongue to unstick from the roof of her mouth.
"I…dreamt of when they put the ICD in me," Rachel says. She moves their hands so that their fingers are intertwined and notices the lack of blood and paint. "Did you clean me up already?"
"Yeah," Fanny says. "You've been asleep for two hours, love." She crawls into the bunk with Rachel. Rachel is already scooting herself to the side, but she can't move much. Fanny ends up with half of her body on top of Rachel's, with one leg between her knees and her ear on Rachel's chest so that she's at eye level with the ICD. Before she can get comfortable though, something digs into Fanny's hip that makes her curse in Gaelic.
"What is that?" Fanny asks. Her hand slides down Rachel's side on its way to investigate, but Rachel manages to catch it over her hip.
"I'm…packing," Rachel says, and Fanny can feel the heat emanating from her face. "Kuki said it'd make the disguise more…authentic."
Fanny smiles against Rachel's chest.
"Shut up."
"…I didn't say anything," Fanny giggles and readjusts herself. But in doing so, she brushes against something and Rachel's breath hitches and her hips give an involuntary buck. The both of them freeze. The steady thump of Rachel's heart quickens under Fanny's ear.
"Oh," Fanny says.
"Uh," Rachel says, dazed. "Huh."
"Stop," Patton says from the bottom bunk across the aisle from them. A bruise darkens his jaw and his left pointer finger is set in a splint. This doesn't stop him from playing a muted handheld video game, however, and he glances up at them from the bright screen. Rachel buries her face in her hands and Fanny curses.
"You guys know that I'm here, right? I've been here this entire time."
"Sorry, Pat," Rachel mumbles from under her hands.
"Don't worry 'bout it," Patton says. He shuts the lid of his video game, putting it to sleep. "Have you guys been to TND Headquarters before? Hoagie's taking us all there right now."
"No," Fanny says.
"Yeah," Rachel says. "They offered me Assistant Director of Stealth Tactics once. I turned it down." Patton frowns and Fanny lifts her head to get a look at her.
"Really?" Patton asks. "And you didn't take it?"
"You never told me that," Fanny says.
"Well, I mean, imagine a 13 year-old trying to give orders to 18 year-olds," Rachel says. "You know how stealth officers are. There'd be mutiny within a week."
"Like you've never dealt with those before."
"Eh," Rachel makes an uncommitted noise. "I wanted to stay away from any leadership roles for a while."
"What's it like?" Fanny asks. "TND Headquarters?"
"You remember KND Moonbase?" Rachel asks.
"Yeah."
"It's nothing like that."
= = = … = = =
AN: Hey! I bet you thought you've seen the last of me (for a year, I mean). But I'm back with this new chapter. Did you like it? Did you not? Did you notice something about it? Do you have any questions? Leave me a review!
I have a special place for all of my readers and reviewers, especially since you all continue to be so patient with me and my non-existent updating schedule. So hey, all of you beautiful people,
Thanks.