tbh i kinda hate this chapter, but the next chapter is written and i was very inspired for it.

The episode with Chad got an anxiety diagnosis slapped onto him. He didn't care. That just meant that his parents had a stash of benzos on them in case something like that happened again.

He was rebuilding the cover as quickly and as sturdily as possible. Of course, thanks to his lie, everyone just assumed that the stress of school was really getting to him.

And just like that, he was back home. His room had become doorless, and there were some locked cabinets, but he was back in his normal bed without the beeping. He went back to school the very next day with the promise that he would stay with Abby after school.

All the teachers were bending over backwards for him. He didn't care. He just wanted a distraction.

All of Sector V went over to Abby's house right after school. Rachel had offered to let them come back to missions, but Abby told her to give them a few days. So bored they stayed. "So, guys," Abby started. "What should we do?"

Hoagie shrugged. "Watch cartoons?"

Kuki huffed.

"Sleep?" Wally suggested.

Abby looked at him, horrified.

"What? I'm tired." It was true. The new medication he was on was wiping him out.

"Cartoons it is."

They sat in her living room. Wally fell asleep. He really was exhausted.

"Wally," Abby said, nudging him.

He pushed her away. "No. I'm tired."

She sighed. "Fine."

After an episode, Abby cleared her throat. "What now?"

Hoagie shrugged. "I have some homework, but I can do it while watching another episode."

"Can we turn on Rainbow Monkeys?" Kuki asked.

"I don't know. Wally?" They turned to look at him. He was fast asleep. "Rainbow Monkeys it is," Abby decided.

The doorbell rang. Wally groaned. "Tell them to go away," he mumbled.

"I'll get it!" Kuki sang, running to the door. "It's Numbuh 362!"

"Hey, guys." Rachel stepped inside. Behind her was Janet. "I mentioned to Numbuh 5 that I wanted to add a member to your sector."

Wally glared daggers at Janet. Had she agreed? He was still half-asleep. This was probably some sort of weird nightmare, right?

"Yeah, is this her?" Abby asked.

"Yup. This is Numbuh 300. I figured I'd bring her over and let you all meet, and then we can decide if it's a good fit." She looked at her watch. "I've got to get back to the Moonbase. Let me know how things go!"

"Hi! What's your name? I'm Kuki!" Kuki beamed at her.

"Janet."

"Janet?" Abby turned to look at Wally. "Chad mentioned you used to have a friend named Janet."

"Did he?" he asked, clenching his jaw. How many times were people going to betray him like this?

"I'm Abby," she continued. "And that's Hoagie. And Wally."

"Sup." She settled into the only empty spot of the couch, next to Wally, who kept a continuous glare on her.

"What do you like to do?" Kuki asked. "I love Rainbow Monkeys and tea parties and-"

"The complete opposite of everything you like," she said.

Kuki blinked. "Oh."

Wally closed his eyes. Maybe he would wake up and it would be another world where Janet was not sitting on Abby's couch right next to him. Maybe he'd really given himself brain damage, and this was all some complex hallucination.

Besides, did Janet even know what he'd done? Rachel probably told her, but he wasn't sure.

"So, are you the Janet that Wally used to be friends with?" Abby asked.

"Yeah, sure." She looked at him. He kept his eyes closed. He looked at her. "Like, four years ago."

"Why would Chad even bring that up?" Wally mumbled.

"Because he said you two and Jeremy were always friends, and I'd never even seen either of them before."

He let out an exasperated sigh, but didn't add to it. Maybe if he kept his eyes closed, he would fall asleep again, and he wouldn't have to deal with whatever situation he was in.

"What did you used to do in the KND?" Hoagie asked. "I think I might have seen you around before."

"Mechanic at the Moonbase."

"Oh, yeah! I think we've met before. I'm the pilot and 2x4 Technology officer."

"Wonderful." It sounded anything but.

"I don't know how much Numbuh 362 told you, but I'm the leader of the sector. Our last leader, uh, left, so we're kind of behind on things."

"Left? Why?"

Shit, had Wally forgotten to loop her in? He'd have to remember to do that.

"Moved away," Abby said, avoiding eye contact and scratching her nose. Janet would definitely pick up that it was a lie. "Anyways, Numbuh 3 is our Diversionary Tactics Expert and medic, and Numbuh 4 is our Hand-to-Hand Combat Expert."

Wally cringed. He hated that that was all he was known for.

"Cool. You have all the bases covered."

"Yeah, I guess. But we only have our training for five-person teams. We need another person."

"Hm. Well, I guess I'm that person." She checked her watch. "I've gotta go home. My parents are making dinner."

"I should go, too," Wally said.

"I can walk you home," Abby said hurriedly.

"I'll do it," Janet said. "I know where he lives."

The second they were outside, Wally glared at her. "You said yes?"

"Rachel didn't leave me much of a choice," she snapped. "She told me that somebody needed to make sure you didn't off yourself at the next opportunity."

"Yeah, well, nobody's letting me be alone now, and everything I could possibly use is locked up. So she's a little late to that. By the way, guess who came to visit me in the hospital?"

"Who?"

"Chad."

"Why would he do that? How would he even know?"

"He was at the Lincolns' house when I got out of my coma. And guess what he told me? That either I told the police everything, or he would."

"He's bluffing."

"Of course."

"We all swore to secrecy. He should know that."

"He does know that. But he doesn't care." Wally sighed. "But somehow, I almost believe that he will."

"Damn, you really are nuts."

"Shut up. He seemed more insistent than normal. Maybe working with those aliens really got to him."

"Aliens? Holy fuck, you are insane."

"Shit, I forgot to tell you everything." He sighed. "Basically, it turned out that Numbuh 74.239 and his buddy were aliens working with the Galactic Kids Next Door. And Chad works with them, for some reason. And they took Nigel. And I don't trust them, or anyone who works with them."

"Damn. Either you're insane, or we've got a whole bunch of problems to deal with."

"Oh, and Lizzie was somehow a part of it."

"I can't tell if you're delusional or telling the truth."

"Well, we both knew that the Galactic Kids Next Door is real. In case you're forgotten, I told you about how I got interrogated by them."

Janet sighed. "Okay, maybe you're not insane."

"If Chad's working with them, then we underestimated him, and we can't trust that he won't do it."

"When will he do it?"

"No clue."

"We need to come up with a plan. We can't let him do it." Janet frowned. "By the way, are you dying?"

"I wish. But no. As long as I don't become an alcoholic or do it again, my liver should survive." He frowned. He was probably destined to become an alcoholic.

"Cool." Janet stopped in front of his house. "You made it another day."

"Bummer. See ya."

The next week, training began.

Wally was slower and weaker than he'd remembered. Eight days in a coma really messed with him, not to mention that the medication he was on was making him exhausted and nauseous.

He narrowly avoided the training robot coming straight for him as it shot lasers at him. He tried to kick one back, but it didn't budge.

Janet quickly noticed and came over, giving it a solid kick and sending it back a few feet.

"Thanks," he mumbled. He took out his mustard gun and shot at it. It hit the target exactly: the lens. The robot spun around as it tried to calculate where it was. Janet gave it another swift kick and it was down.

"Nice job, team!" Abby said. "Good job kicking them down, Janet," she added. "You'll do great on our team."

"Thanks." Once Abby turned her back, she rolled her eyes.

"We have a mission today. It's an easy one. Knightbrace stole all the candy from the local candy store. We have to get it back."

And so, into the ship they went. Abby went to Nigel's old spot commanding the ship, and Janet took her spot.

Of course, the mission was a success. Even with Wally so tired and nauseous that he nearly passed out, the teamwork between him and Janet was so tight that they easily took Knightbrace down.

"Wow," Abby said, once they got back to the ship. "Were you guys in a sector together or something?"

Wally wrinkled his eyebrows, trying to appear as confused as possible. "Sector V's the only one I've been in, and she's never been in it."

Abby narrowed her eyes, but didn't argue it. She knew that already, but something felt off.

Janet glanced towards Wally. He might not have noticed it, but Abby was onto them.

"Have a seat anywhere, Wally."

His parents had sent him to a psychotherapist. Someone they hoped would fix him.

He highly doubted that was possible.

He took a seat opposite the doctor, Dr. Terrance. She seemed nice, but she was a psychotherapist. He wasn't going to tell her a thing.

"Why don't you tell me a bit about yourself?"

He frowned. Who even was he, besides Kids Next Door stuff? "I dunno."

"You don't know about telling me, or you don't know about yourself?"

Damn, she was good. "Both, I guess," he muttered.

"What are some things you like to do?"

He shrugged. He didn't really like doing anything. Everything was just a way to pass time.

She wrote this down in her notepad. "So, I'm sure you know why you're here. Do you want to talk about it?"

"Nope."

"Why not?"

He shrugged. He wasn't going to let her anywhere near his thoughts.

"How has school been since you got out of the hospital?"

He shrugged. "Same old stuff."

"The hospital noted that you seemed to have a lot of anxiety about school. Is that better?"

Considering that had been a lie, he didn't know how to answer it. "It's going fine."

"What part of school makes you anxious?"

He shrugged.

"Grades? Friends? Homework?" He shrugged to all of them. "Have you been able to catch up on work?"

"Yup."

"That's good. It must be nice to know that you finished it."

He didn't respond. This was a waste of both of their time. He hoped that she would give up and send him home.

The conversation didn't go anywhere for a solid twenty minutes. Dr. Terrance then switched the conversation to medication. "How do you feel on these medications?"

He shrugged. "Tired."

"Anything else?"

He shrugged again.

"You don't seem to have many feelings. Is that true?"

He frowned. He really didn't. He hadn't felt anything since he woke up from the coma, except for a mini panic when Chad came to see him. "I guess."

"We have to wait for the medication to work before we can switch it. Hopefully that improves." She sent him home with that.

In the car, his mother tried to get him to talk. He refused. He was too busy thinking about how he didn't feel anything.

He hated how that damn doctor had already gotten into his head.

Sector V's mission weekly success rate was the highest it had been in over a year. But that didn't mean that their interpersonal relations were all that great.

Wally spent every second he wasn't doing anything asleep. Janet was a bitch to the rest of the members, even if they were trying to be nice. Abby was losing her patience. Hoagie and Kuki were hurt and angry.

Finally, Abby stormed into Wally's room and shook him awake.

"What?" he mumbled, rubbing his eyes.

"You've gotta tell your friend to be nicer."

"I don't think she can be nice."

"She's hurting everyone's feelings!"

"Yup. Sounds like her."

"How do you know her so well? You've never been in a sector with her."

He shrugged. "We're both awful to people so I guess we work well together."

"At least you're nice sometimes. I haven't heard her say something nice this whole time."

"Well, I dunno. She doesn't do nice." He yawned. "Can I go back to sleep now?"

Abby let out an exasperated breath. "Can't you come hang out with us?"

"No. I'm too tired to move."

"You need some social support right now."

"Not more than I need sleep."

"My dad said we need to encourage you to do stuff with us."

"I've been on all your missions and training stuff. Isn't that enough?" He closed his eyes. "I'm really, really tired."

"Come on, Numbuh 4-"

"I'm tired!" he snapped. "I'm so tired I can't even stand up!"

"Okay, okay," Abby said, raising her hands in surrender. She left his room, closing the door.

She stormed into Janet's new room in the Treehouse. She was reading a book. Her room hadn't been decorated at all. All that was in it was a simple chair and table.

"You need to start being nicer."

Janet rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

"I'm serious! You're seriously hurting Numbuhs 2 and 3!"

"Maybe they should get tougher skin."

"Why are you like this? Some sort of bully?"

"Nah. I just say what we're all thinking."

"What if you do it to Wally and-"

"And I inspire him to kill himself? Won't happen." She rolled her eyes. "You're all treating him like some delicate flower who'll break if anything bad happens to him. He's way tougher than that."

"He won't even talk to me anymore."

"He's just a little out of it recently. He'll get back to normal."

Abby narrowed her eyes. "How do you know him so well? You and him can work together way better than any of the rest of us."

She shrugged. "I guess we just click."

"This doesn't make any sense! How much is Numbuh 4 hiding from us?"

"I don't know. I don't really talk to him anymore." She shrugged. "But honestly, I think a doctor's got him on some antidepressants that are making him feel really sick."

"My dad told me that, but he told me to try to involve him in things-"

"And he feels way too sick to do them. He'll come around and get back to normal."

"There is no more normal around here! First Numbuh 1 leaves, and now Numbuh 4's done something which he would never do, and now we've got you here! Nothing will ever be normal again!"

Janet sighed. She knew Abby didn't come here to vent, but here she was. "Everything will settle down. We all just have to wait a while."

"Everything's changed so fast."

"And hopefully, it will settle down soon enough."

Abby blinked. "You're way nicer than I thought."

"I don't try to be nice. I try to be true."

"Well, thanks, I guess."

Abby was freaking out inside.

She hated being a leader. Why did she agree to this? Last time she was leader, she got Numbuh 1 permanently balded! It was her stupid decisions as leader that led to permanent effects.

But who else would lead?

Numbuh 2? He was too silly and needed to focus on his other duties.

Numbuh 3? Absolutely not.

Numbuh 4? Well… The Numbuh 4 of earlier would have been an immediate no. But she was starting to see more sides of him.

It didn't change her mind on his leadership abilities, but it was scaring her. Who was this kid? She thought she knew him like the back of her own hand, and suddenly, this person she'd never met came and upscaled her.

Could Numbuh 300 be a good leader? Probably not. She was too cruel.

She sat on the couch in her living room alone. This wasn't how things were supposed to be! They were supposed to be a team until they got decommissioned. And now everything was screwed up!

"Hey, Abs! Good day at school?"

She looked up to see her father walk in the door. "Yeah, it was fine," she said. But she could never hide her true feelings around him.

"Why the long face?"

"I dunno. Just thinking."

He sat down next to her. "About what?"

"I don't know. Wally, mostly."

"Ah."

"His old friend Janet is hanging out with us, and she's really, really awful. I don't know why he'd hang out with her."

"Hm, that's very interesting." Dr. Lincoln frowned. "What kinds of things does she do?"

"I don't know. She's just super mean to everyone. She makes people cry a lot. I tried to tell her to cut it out, but she just said that she's saying the truth."

"Some people are unnecessarily blunt and mean. It's better to just ignore them."

"I know, but it's hard." Abby sighed. "And Wally's still completely out of it, too."

"I'm sure he is. He's still recovering."

"Janet told me he's probably on some kind of medicine that's making him feel bad, but he never told me about it."

Dr. Lincoln sighed. "Well, yes, he's on a medication so he doesn't try to hurt himself again."

"But why? Why can't he just see that it was a bad idea? Why would he even think of it in the first place?"

Dr. Lincoln sighed again. "I'm sure he's been diagnosed with depression. It's an illness. He can't think clearly."

"What's depression?"

Dr. Lincoln paused for a moment. Why was he already having a conversation about this stuff with his eleven-year-old daughter? Most mental illnesses didn't show up until much later in life. "Well, it's basically when you stop feeling happiness completely."

"What? How's that possible?"

"Usually, when you do something you like, your brain produces chemicals to make you happy. But in depression, something goes wrong. And it can affect basically anything, and when it's severe enough, it can make you do drastic things that you wouldn't otherwise do."

"But how can he get better?"

"Lots of things. He's on medication, and those take a while to work." Dr. Lincoln sighed. "Unfortunately, it wasn't caught until almost too late. But he can get through it. He's a strong kid."

"I just don't get why he did it."

"Nobody does, Abby. But he won't talk. All we can do is support him from a distance."

Abby nodded. This made no sense to her. But she was going to try to do what she could.

And try she did.

She invited Wally to do so many things that he was starting to wonder if Abby was losing her mind too. Most of them were simple things like watching a movie at her house. He accepted the movie offers when he had nothing better to do. Even though he usually fell asleep on her couch, he at least accepted.

It was only when the whole team was together that things started to break.

Janet had told him to stop working with her well. He didn't know how exactly to do that. But they agreed that they would split up or ignore the other person during missions and training. They were getting too suspicious.

He'd told her to stop being such a bitch. She'd rolled her eyes, but she did try to reign it in.

She had a short fuse. Sometimes it didn't work.

Like the time that Hoagie's 2x4 technology completely failed and she'd snapped at him. Or when Kuki accidentally shot her with a mustard gun. Usually, Abby would have to step in and fix everything.

And Wally was starting to get enough energy that he could pretend to be like his old self again. He'd still get worn out too quickly, but it was a start.

By the end of the second week with their new team, Abby was optimistic.

One day, Wally opened the door to see Chad.

"What do you want?" he muttered.

"I was wondering if you'd done it."

"Done what?"

"Gone to the police."

"Of course not. Are you stupid?"

"Remember Wally, either you do it, or I will."

"You're bluffing," Wally spat.

"I'm not. If there's not an arrest within a week, then I'm doing it."

Wally slammed the door in his face. Chad would never.