...Connection Reestablished…
The skies were becoming gloomy. Clouds of grey shielded the earth from the pleasant sun. Regardless, luminosity shining through the mansion windows scarcely replaced the area's murkiness. Numbuh 1 stared up at the highest point of their enemy's home, which so happened to share the sky's shadows. He was well aware of the fact that the highest room of the home was one of Father's many private rooms. It was stupid of Father, making the most observable room of the mansion a private room. But Numbuh 1 wasn't complaining.
"Ow." He rubbed his behind after having backed up into another small thorn. "Numbuh 3, couldn't you come up with a better hiding place?"
Numbuh 3 popped up immediately out of the same bush, her mouth filled and part of her face stained bright red. "Hm?" she questioned, clearly not as completely focused on the mission as her own scrumptious one.
He groaned, aggravated. "Will you please try to stay alert? We're supposed to be on guard."
"Numbuh 2 to Numbuh 1. Can you read?"
Once again, he stooped down into the thorny bushes to perceive the medium-sized portable video communication system, as they also referred to as the L.U.N.C.H.B.O.X. Numbuhs 2 and 4's faces became visible on the screen. "Numbuh 1 here. Spot anything suspicious?"
"Nothing yet, Numbuh 1."
"Though that cruddy butler was lookin' kind 'a eerie," Numbuh 4 stated.
"Keep a sharp eye, you two. Any of these adults can be hiding something."
He grabbed the binoculars that hung by a twine around his head and poked his head out of the bush. Some of the upstairs lights had now been turned off, but the main floor still remained illuminated. Raising the binoculars to his eyes, he examined through it, getting a clear picture of the rooms closer to their hiding spot.
The sound of munching did not cease, so he sent an annoyed glance towards his female comrade. "Numbuh 3, will you please stop eating those raspberries and pay attention to the mission?"
She swallowed a larger amount of raspberries before looking at her leader. "Oh, sorry, Numbuh 1," she said, and then held out to him yet another handful. "Did you want some, too?"
Numbuh 1 rolled his eyes. He didn't hate Kuki being unmindful or in another world all the time. In fact, he kind of admired the fact that she nearly always believed that the world is a peaceful, beautiful place. However, he knew that there's always a time to face the harsh reality of the world. And there are also times to just cruddy focus.
"That's it. Next time, I'm choosing the hiding spot," he announced after having backed up into another thorn.
Numbuh 3 stared at the raspberries in her hand, shrugged, and threw them in her mouth. To be honest, sometimes she had no clue what Numbuh 1 meant. Sometimes, she did and just chose to ignore it.
"Numbuh 1, come in."
The leader sighed, rather thankful. "Yes, Numbuh 5. Any luck?"
Inside of the mansion, silently looming the dimmed hallways of the main floor paced two children that would most likely be unwelcome if discovered within the home. Both of them shared similar earpieces to the ones on Numbuhs 1 and 3. "None. We checked all the rooms on the higher floors. There's nothin'."
"There can't be nothing, Numbuh 5. There's bound to be some sort of plans. Did you manage to hack into the systems?"
"Yeah. I'm tellin' ya, there's nothin'. It's like everythin' was deleted or somethin'."
Now, Numbuh 1 was truly puzzled. Why in the world would Father delete everything? "That's kind of strange. We've never had a problem hacking into his systems before. Was there anything that may be implicit of any hidden files? Perhaps you missed something." He had to have options. Otherwise they might as well turn around and go home.
"There was absolutely nothing in the computer systems, Numbuh 1," Mark's voice verified through the earpiece. "Everything must have been erased."
"Maybe there's a special system in one of the lower floors," Numbuh 2 suggested. "Remember the Delightful Children mentioned Father's inner sanctum down in the basement?"
"Of course," Numbuh 1 said in realization. "It has to be down there. Numbuh 5, see if you can get into the sanctum."
"Numbuh 1! We got a lock on Father and those cruddy Delightful Brats."
"Great work, Numbuh 4. Give me the coordinates."
Numbuh 4's expression went blank, demonstrating his uncertainty. "Eh…" He looked at Numbuh 2, who was turning knobs to get a clearer picture of an upstairs room in which a camera was zoomed in on from the outside. "Th' livin' room?"
Numbuh 1 raised the binoculars to his eyes and turned it towards the home's living room. "There they are," he murmured when he spotted only the back of the flaming man's head, unable to see the rest of him. "Mark, I need you to head to the mansion's living room and listen in on Father and his Delightful Children. Can you handle it?"
A frown appeared on Mark's face, as Numbuh 5 observed even in their darkened surroundings. If she hadn't known him better, he would have almost looked doubtful of his own ability. Or doubtful of something, anyway. She raised an eyebrow, interested in the reasoning behind his hesitation.
"Actually, would it be all right if I went down to the basement to search the systems instead?"
Numbuh 1 put down his binoculars, revealing his baffled expression. "Why?"
"Just for comfort purposes; I'm more trained that way. But if you prefer the other way, then I'm willing."
"Numbuh 5 doesn't have a problem with eavesdroppin', boss."
It wasn't that he doubted either one of them with whichever job. He had full faith in Numbuh 5 to easily listen in on Father and the Delightful Children, and he was perfectly comfortable with her hacking into Father's main systems. Mark wasn't much of a problem either. After all, he seemed virtually good at everything. The thing that bothered him was the fact that, even though he was capable of both tasks, his mind was set on the one. Did he make up his own penetrating plans without consulting the rest of the team? Was that a sign of taking charge?
Whatever it was, it would have to do. Numbuh 1, coming back to the world, played with the earpiece. "Yeah. Sure, Mark." He thought of this as doing the right thing, since he had a few days of loutishness to make up for.
"Thanks, Numbuh 1. I appreciate it."
He nodded technically to nobody but himself since Numbuh 3 was still pleasantly distracted by the raspberry paradise. One thing he realized he had been was insincere. He knew very well that he had a lot of things to improve about himself. After all, who in the world doesn't? Anytime would be a good time to start. "All right, you two. Move out."
They did. Numbuh 5 went off in one direction after acknowledging the Cadet in training. Mark, being that Cadet, watched her to ensure her direction was apt. He rushed down the other direction, towards the basement.
Numbuh 4 watched the insides of the mansion, particularly the higher floors, through the binoculars in his hands. "'Ey, Numbuh 2," he said without looking at his friend. "What do ya suppose those Delightful Creeps are up to? Just a guess."
At a small control panel with a large screen set up in front of it, Numbuh 2 was patiently flipping through various rooms recorded by the tiny cameras Numbuh 5 and Mark had set up all over the upper floors of the house. "I don't know. Maybe Father's trying to take over the world again or something, like those evil scientists on the Space channel."
"Ah'm thinkin' that he's tryin' ta turn all kids into cock roaches an' then put us in a plate of spaghetti ta serve t' tha cruddy adults on Independence Day."
Numbuh 2 stared at him, awkwardly. "A little specific there, aren't you?"
"Nah. Ah just got an ingenious brain."
"Oh, right. How can I forget?"
Even Numbuh 4 was intelligent enough to catch the sarcasm. "Ya never know, ya know," he proclaimed. "Father's done crazy things before, am Ah right? 'Member tha time he turned us all into animals?"
"Of course. That was the day my baby brother became a hero," Numbuh 2 proudly claimed.
"Ya mean makin' Father a Kids Next Door operative? Yeah, he's a real hero."
"Numbuh 2, Numbuh 4, come in," a British voice echoed through the S.C.A.M.P.P.E.R's intercom. "Numbuh 5 has nearly reached the living room. She's going to set up the camera on the west wall. See if you can activate it for our L.U.N.C.H.B.O.X."
"Roger that," the pilot responded before beginning to play with the controls.
Meanwhile, Numbuh 5 was just outside the living room, back up against the wall. Her expression showed the temporary ruthlessness that often found its way to her external self. She did these kinds of things all the time. Nevertheless, the fun of it all never ceased to entertain her. She always thought that it was too easy, but she didn't always know whether that meant something troublesome or if the villains were just idiots. She had fun concluding the second option but was still very cautious about the first one.
Quickly, she realized the multiple wood beams that created shelves just above her head. Her instincts kicked in and she climbed the shelves to the near ceiling. As quietly as she could, she pulled out two plungers from the yellow backpack hanging off her shoulders. Before putting them to use, she snuck a small peak to see whether Father suspected anything strange or not. She was rather surprised at the confirmation.
Numbuh 5 adjusted the small microphone near her lips. "Numbuh 5 here. Can y'all hear me?"
"Loud and clear, Numbuh 5," Numbuh 1 answered. "Any news?"
"Man, you're not gonna believe this."
With those words out of the way, she set up a miniature video camera on the wall, as close as she could get it to the figures down below. As soon as it was in place, a small red light began flashing repeatedly. It didn't take too long before the living room could be viewed on the S.C.A.M.P.P.E.R. monitor and on Numbuhs 1 and 3's L.U.N.C.H.B.O.X. within the bushes.
Numbuhs 2 and 4 were open-mouthed. Numbuh 3 cocked her head to the side. Numbuh 1's left eyebrow rose.
"Children," called out the very relaxed voice of Father. "Come on in here, my precious darlings."
Well, this is new, Numbuh 1 thought.
Father was contentedly slouched in an extended armchair. His slipper-covered feet were prompted up on a cushiony stool and wearing his yellow robe with pink furry edgings. Wrapped in his arms, resting on his sagged stomach, was a red bowl of buttered popcorn. In front of him was a table on which rested a bucket of chocolate ice cream, a couple bags of potato chips, and a variety of other snacks.
In due time, the Delightful Children from Down the Lane strode into the living room. "Yes, Father," they said in sinister unison.
Father idly lifted his head off of the top of the couch to look at his children. "Get ready…"
Numbuh 1, still behind the bushes beside Numbuh 3, moved closer to the screen expectantly.
"…to watch the movie! I'm paying for these Premium channels, you know. Now go upstairs and get into something comfortable."
Numbuhs 2 and 4 looked at each other awkwardly. Numbuh 3 scratched her head, and Numbuh 1 straightened his slumped back, confounded. None of them had any idea what was going on. Befuddlement had struck them in respect to why Father would be spending his time acting normal and lazy when he could have been plotting schemes to destroy the Kids Next Door, as always.
"Right away, Father," the Delightful Children uttered before excitedly dashing out of the room.
An older man with a hairless head and a grey mustache, wearing a black suit, ambled into the living room. Balanced on his right hand was a silver tray holding a few cans of soda. "Your drinks, sir," he announced, bending his upper body slightly forward to allow Father to get a hold of the contents on the tray. Father responded by claiming the sodas.
"You know, Newton," Father voiced to his butler, "It has been by far a very difficult life for me all these years. What with my dad getting decommissioned again by my brother and nephew, and the whole making-kids'-lives-miserable thing. Sometimes it just feels good to kick back and relax. Why, who knows? I'll probably do it more often."
Numbuh 2, back in the S.C.A.M.P.P.E.R., began shaking his head. "Okay. Is it just me, or does it sound like Father's considering retirement?"
"Shh!" Numbuh 3 hissed into the microphone attached to her shirt, attentively watching the screen.
Newton straightened as soon as all the soda cans were off the tray. "Of course, sir. It must be very pleasant." Since Father was staring at the television screen, Newton rolled his eyes. He left the room without another word.
The Delightful Children appeared in the doorway, dressed in their night clothes. "We're ready, Father," they simultaneously uttered.
"Excellent," he declared. "Now sit down, children. This movie's a new release."
They did just that. The five unionized children flopped down on the couch just after the blonde Delightful child picked up a bowl of popcorn and the girl with pigtails grabbed the bag of potato chips. Rare, but calmed smiles brightened their faces.
"It sure is nice to be spending time with my Delightful Children," Father pronounced as he picked up the remote.
In the meantime, Numbuhs 1 and 3, contained by the bushes, were staring at the video communication system's screen, completely shocked. They were open-mouthed, and their eyebrows were raised as high as they could possibly go. Back in the ship, Numbuhs 2 and 4's expressions were similar as they gawked at the monitor. Numbuh 5, hanging off the outer wall by the two plungers, shared their stun.
"So, what now?" Numbuh 2 asked. "We sit and wait for the movie to finish?"
"Nuh uh. Numbuh 5 ain't hangin' here for an hour an' a half."
Numbuh 1 contemplated, somewhat timid. He looked at Numbuh 3, who looked back at him interestedly. There was really nothing else left to do. Why Father had decided to move on from a villainous life, he probably wouldn't know for certain anytime soon. He couldn't wait to report this news to Global Command. "Well, team, it looks like that's that. You can get out of there now, Numbuh 5. Our job's done."
"Copy that, Numbuh 1," she said softly, still cautious of the awareness of the people in the next room. Within seconds, she was down on the ground and hurrying back down the hallway.
"Mark?"
Ashlock, who was just outside Father's inner sanctum down in the basement, adjusted his earpiece. After doing so, he pulled up his brown backpack higher over his shoulders. "I read, Numbuh 1," he stated. "I'll be right out."
"All right. Numbuh 2, ready the ship for launching. We're going home."
The mansion was dreadfully quiet. The television was turned off, and there was minimal movement.
Through transparent glass set to be a window, five children watched the ship flying off. "They're gone, Father."
Father smirked. "Excellent."
...Transmission Interrupted…
The best thing about the future is that it only comes one day at a time.