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Galactic-Kids-Next-Door mission
Operation: A.L.P.H.A.
Story written by Cris Carvalho
Check out the cover art of this chapter on my Tumblr – Twitter - IG: KicaCris
Chapter 5:
Evacuate Everyone!
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[One year ago]
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'If you could choose to remain a kid forever, would you do it?'
I remember our ex-Supreme Leader Numbuh 100 once asked us this question…Numbuh 274 and I must have had the same answer written very clear in our eyes because the Supreme Leader read us without one of us giving him an answer.
To be a kid forever…that would be amazing, wouldn't it?
To have never-ending summers of fun with our friends, eating all the candies and pizza we want, watch cartoons all day forever, play every single game there is and would ever exist, …to never stop being Kids-Next-Door operatives.
When Ex-Supreme Leader Numbuh 100 asked us that question, the answer seemed very obvious.
But do you know what was his answer to us?
'But only the bravest kids grow up because…growing up would be an awfully big adventure!'
His answer didn't make much sense to me at the time.
But now, today on my 13th birthday…I understand perfectly what he was trying to tell us.
Yes, growing up sounds scary, truly frightening. None knows what is really going to be like once we are out there.
But, isn't every new mission frightening too? We can pretend to be brave but the truth is deep down we are on the verge of wetting our pants whenever we fight an evil adult, isn't it?
And what do we do?
Do we run away from the battle?
No, we don't!
We shook the nervousness away, plant our feet firmly and face the enemy bravely saying:
'Kids-Next-Door, BATTLE STATIONS!'
And with that our fears disappear.
With every new scary mission, we become braver and stronger.
My fellow Kids-Next-Door, please don't be sad for me today…because today is just the beginning of a brand new mission for me.
I face this day as the day I chose to take over Numbuh 274's place as Supreme Leader, just as he did when Numbuh 100 too left us.
We can't be kids forever, and that's ok.
Because as the great Numbuh Alpha once said: "Once you're a Kids-Next-Door operative…you will ALWAYS be a Kids-Next-Door operative!"
So brush away those tears, shook away the fear, plant your feet firmly, put on the bravest face you can make and say with me:
"KIDS-NEXT-DOOR!-"
"BATTLE STATIONS!" the whole auditorium roared in response as thunderous standing ovation made the whole Moon Base shake with emotion.
Numbuh 362 put a hand on her heart and slightly bowed to them as they continued to clap and shout for her. She was glad she had managed to turn around what was typically a very sad day into a much uplifting one.
She began to turn around from the podium when suddenly was tackled into a strong hug from two figures.
Rachel sighed deeply as Numbuh 86 and 60 sobbed on her shoulders and squeezed her hard as if silently begging her to not leave them.
"Guys come on…Mom gave me these new clothes as an early birthday present and she will kill me if she sees it wet with your tears and goobers hahaha" she laughed while patting their backs.
They both stopped their iron hugging and looked at her with the saddest tearing eyes, their noses and cheeks red and their breathing agitated. They noticed her new long-sleeved knitted orange dress with the brown leather belt around her waist, the dark blue jean and matching leather boots, and the new earrings that adorned her pierced ears. The three of them had grown together and rarely ever cared to notice the changes happening around them, but today it was impossible not to notice as even her smile seemed different.
"You-you'" Fanny hiccupped, "you're wearing heels!" more tears ran down her freckled cheeks.
Rachel blinked silently in confusion for a second as she looked at her boots and then giggled, "oh come on Fanny, the heels are barely noticeable, just an extra inch of height really!"
"YOU'RE WEARING HEEEEEEELS!" She went to her shoulder again sobbing and Rachel sighed again while Patton covered his eyes with his arm and gripped his teeth in a futile attempt to not be seeing crying any harder.
"Numbuh 86 I command you to stop crying NOW!" Rachel suddenly said seriously while gently pushing Fanny off her shoulder.
The red-haired girl stepped back a few steps and tried to stop her hiccups but tears kept running down her freckles, "Yes-yes, Numbuh 362!"
She waited a few seconds until Fanny's breathing was much calmer and Patton had lowered his arm once again. They both straightened themselves a bit and tried to look as much serious as their teary eyes could allow them.
"That's much better"
"Can I count on you both to remain being the toughest global command operatives there is and help Numbuh 5 lead the Kids-Next-Door as long as you can?" she asked them with the kindest smile.
They both nodded and made a military salute. "Yes Numbuh 362, ma'am, you can count on us!" they both responded in unison.
She grinned with pride, "good! And you better still visit me because mom and dad would find strange if my best friends suddenly disappear from my life. I might not remember my days as a KND operative but I know I will still remember you both being my friends. Those are my final two orders for both of you, do you understand? Stay loyal to Numbuh 5 and visit me"
"Yes Numbuh 362!" they both cried. Patton then grabbed Fanny from her shoulders and gently led her away from Rachel as a new figure began to walk towards her.
Rachel smiled as Numbuh 5, now wearing the rebranded Supreme Leader helmet, approached her while being flanked by the recently promoted Global Command Sector V.
Abby looked up at her with a small smile, "Numbuh 5 thinks you just beat Numbuh 100's decommission speech out of the park".
That made Rachel blush slightly and scratch her head embarrassingly, "Nah, his was more memorable. I just repeated a few of his words anyway".
"Thank you, Numbuh 362" Numbuh 5 suddenly said, "for everything really, for all your hard work and dedication to KND. I hope to become at least a quarter of the Supreme Leader you were".
Rachel's eyes glimmered, "No. You'll be better than me, Abby" she said softly, "better than Chad or Numbuh 100 even. I'm sure of it".
She then opened her purse and took out a small green notebook from it. Abby blinked in confusion as Rachel handled it to her.
"These last months I taught you everything I know about being the KND Supreme Leader, but I know every Supreme Leader era is different from the previous one. So, if for any reason you find yourself in a situation you don't know how to handle it, you might find guidance in here".
Abby grabbed the small notebook and her eyes went big upon reading the engraved number '100' in its cover.
"This was given to Chad when he became Supreme Leader and I recovered it from his abandoned belongings when the Supreme Leader's office was given to me. It has handwritten notes from Numbuh 100's days as Supreme Leader" Rachel explained.
Numbuh 5 gapped at it in surprise, "handwritten notes? About what?"
"Everything"
Abby looked at Rachel with a questioning brow raised.
But Numbuh 362 didn't say much more, "It's a bit cryptic to read I'm warning you. Supreme Leader Numbuh 100 liked to play being mysterious" she rolled her eyes largely at the memory, "but I know you're a smart cookie and you'll figure things out easily".
Just then, Numbuh 2, 3 and 4 came closer to both with a covered big silver tray.
"Numbuh 362, ma'am" Hoagie began with a sad expression and uncovered the plate slowly.
What was under the silver lit was a blue and orange birthday cake, adorned with the number 13 made of a bunch of random objects and a burning small candle on top of it.
Kuki sniffed as Wally grabbed her hand, "it's time to blow out your candle" she said softly and the auditorium went completely silent.
Rachel looked at the cake and then to Abby.
Abby nodded with a calm smile, "don't forget to make a wish".
Numbuh 362 came closer to the cake, looked at the number 13 and then closed her eyes for an entire minute. Then, she opened her eyes again and taking a deep breath she proceeded to blow out the candle until its light disappeared completely.
"Happy 13th birthday…Numbuh 362, ma'am" Wally said brushing his tears under his bangs. He then looked behind him to where Numbuh 86 was. The red-haired was drowning her sobs in Numbuh 60's sweater to prevent being heard. Patton looked from her head and then to Wally and nodded solemnly at him.
Numbuh 4 then looked to the other side, where the Decommission Squad was waiting in silence and then nodded to them.
Lieutenant Numbuh 91 walked towards them looking completely somber and sad. She stopped besides Numbuh 5, and making a military salute she said: "Please follow me, Rachel T. Mckenzie".
Abby looked at Rachel who turned around towards the millions of KND operatives, their sniffs and sobs echoing in the auditorium.
She lifted a fist and with all the strength of her lungs she exclaimed, "KIDS-NEXT-DOOR RULES!" she shouted, and Abby couldn't help but remember Maurice's decommission a year before this day.
"KIDS-NEXT-DOOR RULES!" Everyone chanted back weakly.
Rachel began to walk, slowly passing by Numbuh 60, 86, Sector V and finally Numbuh 5.
"Rachel wait!"
The blond turned around to look at Abby again.
The new Supreme Leader's eyes gleamed with curious mischief. There was something in her brown eyes that Rachel could perceive as if Numbuh 5 was hiding something she couldn't say out loud.
"Goodbye and… good luck"
Rachel looked at her in silence but then smiled with a nod.
"Good luck to you too…Supreme Leader Numbuh 5"
And with that, the door of the Decommissioning Chamber closed behind the back of the era of another KND Supreme Leader.
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"Good luck to all of you"
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[A year later - Present time]
In a dark room, a figure takes the center with several squared shaped screens surrounding him. An image of planet Earth is suddenly displayed in front of him.
"Earth, a class G planet, the only one in its locality capable of sustaining carbon-based life due to its abundance of water and atmosphere. Home to over 8.70 million different life forms, but the planet's dominant species is human of which there are approximately 7 billion. Of that number, more than 3 quarters are over the age of 13…" in other words: adults" upon saying this, a large red cross flashed over the image of planet Earth.
The figure continues to speak, "that's why I have no choice but to do this…" a beam of light suddenly shines over the figure revealing it to be a bald human boy of about 12 years old, wearing an oversized red hooded sweater, khaki shorts, space gray boots with a pair of silver visor glasses covering his eyes. It was Nigel Uno, aka Numbuh 1, human representative operative of Earth's KND.
The platform under his feet makes a mechanical sound and small cylindrical booth raises from it, alien symbols shine brightly as a booger-activated console appears in front of him. Decisively, he raises a finger and shoves it swiftly into his nose, taking out a small piece of his own snot.
He looks at it briefly and then seems to proceed to plug it inside the port…
"NO!"
A familiar voice suddenly halts his finger as it was about to introduce the DNA material. A second light turns on and a beaten and chained Chad Dickson is seen desperately trying to free himself from his laser handcuffs.
"My family is there! Your family! Our friends!" he tries to reason with Nigel.
"It's ruled by adults…" Numbuh 1 glances over his shoulder at him completely emotionless. "…Infested…too far gone" he turns around and looks again at the snot-DNA reader port.
"What about Sector V?!" Chad questions him loudly, "Hoagie, Kuki, Wallabee, and Abigail!" he makes a pause and glares at Numbuh 1's back, "Abby would never let you do this!" he points out lowly in between clenched teeth.
Chad sees as the mention of Abby seems to affect Nigel as he retracts his finger away and suddenly seems full of doubt for a second.
"There! Do we need more proof of where his allegiance lies?"
Suddenly a female mechanic voice sounds loudly around them as a large red screen appears with the symbol of Numbuh Nominal flashing brightly yellow on it.
A light neon blue screen appears next to her with the symbol of Beth Numbuh, "this is… indicative" he agrees in a similar mechanic tone.
"Bah!" another green screen lights on, and Nigel and Chad recognize the symbol of Numbuh Ordinal, speaking in his usual semi incomprehensible self, "this human –norf, norf.- a galactic-level operative? –norf- hahahaha! –norf-" he loudly laughs mockingly.
"There are no human galactic operatives!" a yellow screen with the red insignia of Numbuh Negative Umpteen complains.
"Uh, actually that's not true…" Nigel turns to the front again to find another alien operative speaking and contrary to the others this one was actually fully showing himself instead of hiding behind a colorful screen anonymously. He frowned as he recognized the voice of this humanoid plant operative that looked like a talking-tree.
"There were the famous…" he suddenly stops mid-sentence, "wait-oh for the love of-" he face palmed exasperatedly and began to push buttons on his own screen, "I can never seem to remember how to adjust the privacy settings on this inter-planetary conference calls".
As he continued to push his screen buttons, his shape suddenly flashes brightly and he shape-shifts into the familiar human form of Numbuh 74.239, "Argh! And now my human disguise is acting up!" he complaints outraged, "who is running your tech department while I was on Earth?! Numbuh Moron?!" he yells from his end of the line.
"Who are you calling moron?!" Numbuh Nominal yells back at him from her own screen, "you've been on Earth for so long you now reek adult just like that one!".
Numbuh 74.239 gasps offended as several more voices and screens start to also talk at the same time expressing their opinions and complains loudly. Nigel and Chad look around them as the conference turns heated and unintelligible rapidly.
The teenager glances worriedly at Numbuh 1 as he looks down at the booger in his finger pensively.
"Please! GKND!" A louder omnipotent voice suddenly silences the room.
Nigel looks up at the source of the powerful voice only to find a blinding yellow light that represented the Supreme Galactic Emperor, Numbuh Omega. "The decision does not come lightly, the decision is-"
"DON'T DO IT NIGEL!"
Chad begs and fights against his chains one more time as he shouts as loudly as he could in an attempt to be heard above Numbuh Omega's omnipotent voice.
"THIS ISN'T WHAT THE KIDS-NEXT-DOOR IS ABOUT-!"
"SILENCE!"
Omega yells angrily making Chad flinch before the light over him is turned off completely and he disappears from the room.
"The decision…is Nigel Uno's" the loud sinister voice of the Emperor declared with finality.
Silence engulfed the conference room one more time, with the only sound coming from the flashing symbols of the booger-activated console that is in front of Nigel.
He raises his eyes again and silently looks at the holographic image of his home planet and then gives a long look at the hundreds of colorful screens of the many galactic-level operatives that silently and judgingly waited for his response.
After a minute that seemed to have lasted forever, Nigel Uno straightens himself and raises his left hand in a military salute. A single tear is seen sliding down his cheek.
"GALACTIC-KIDS-NEXT-DOOR RULES!"
He loudly chants as he shoves his finger down the console and willingly sentences Earth…
To a Planetary Decommission.
/
[GKND Research Facilities – Numbuh 74.239 Headquarters – 05:30 am]
The familiar overwhelming smell of disinfectant and cleaning products hit her as she slowly began to wake up. Her blurred vision adjusted to the bright blinding white light and soon she began to see her new surroundings. She was no longer in Numbuh Omega's dark headquarters, she could tell, as the room she was now was too bright and white for the Supreme Emperor's likeness.
Groaning, she began to remember. Omega had grown annoyed of her and decided to sent her away. Looking at her surroundings again, she noticed several large metallic tables with crystal lab equipments all over the place. Her eyes fell on one particular crystal tube that was in the corner of the room, with the remains of the Delta Sword's hilt floating softly inside.
She was in Numbuh 74.239's lab.
Shaking her head she began to float, but she barely managed to move an inch and felt an invisible wall hit her head.
She was still encased, she was still trapped.
A wave of annoyance and desperation hit her as her vines rubbed her head, and growling she began to bang repeatedly the walls of the purple diamond that still had her trapped. She punched them as hard as she could until her vines started to pulse in pain and exhaustion.
Lizzie sighed in defeat and let her vines fell loosely over the invisible wall in resignation. Small tears began to form in the corner of her alien eyes as the memories of last week's events returned to her: Chad getting thrown into a dark cell and Nigel falling under Numbuh Omega's trap and being manipulated into requesting a Planetary Decommission for Earth.
"What did I do? This is all my fault…I shouldn't have agreed to this…I thought Nigie would be stronger, I thought he would be the one to change Numbuh Omega's mind but…stupid! Stupid!...I underestimated his power…what should I do now?"
Just when her tears were about to fall down, she heard it, the hissing sound of the lab being opened and with wide eyes, she saw the human form of Numbuh 74.239 entering the room.
"Ah, there you are! Finally awake! You missed the whole show my dear friend" he approached her and stopped a few inches away from her.
Lizzie immediately began to bang the crystal hurriedly again, her eyes screaming to him in help.
Gabe giggled but his frown was burrowed with worry, "Alright, alright, geez! Just calm down so I can get you out of there".
He took the floating purple diamond that contained the furious Lizzie and by just touching the top of the Diamond, the walls around her finally disappeared.
She floated higher and spun in the air while stretching her vines freely. "Finally! Oh god, what an awful sensation to be trapped like that! Thank you! Thank you!"
She glomped him and hugged him with all her 5 vines making him laugh. Gabe scratched the back of his head, "well yeah...you're lucky he didn't throw you with Chad to the cells. I know you're his favorite and all but boy, you need to be more careful with our Emperors' temper-"
"Gabe!" She stopped hugging him and floated a few inches away in front of him, "what happened?! Did...did Nigel-?"
Numbuh 74.239 smiled awkwardly at her, "oh yeah he did it, I just came back from Earth's Planetary Decommission announcement. It was more dramatic than what I expected I guess-"
"No!" Lizzie backed away from Gabe with her eyes big as plates, "why did you let him do it?! Gabe, he did it against his will!"
He rubbed his left arm, looking very uncomfortable "Well no...he was fully aware of what he's doing-" he weakly defended.
"Gabe! I know about your visors, I know you brainwashed him!" she reprimanded him.
He lifted his hands in defense, "No! No, I didn't! I mean, sure the visors do produce neural waves that may or may not affect the neural circuits of the users' frontal lobe, which compromises a tiny bit the sense of morality and amplifies the senses of paranoia" he pulled from his shirt collar nervously, "but you gotta admit, the idea was already there in his brain so, the visors probably didn't have much to do here…"
Lizzie frowned angrily at him and pressed her alien face hard against his nose with the deadliest glare she had ever muster. "You and I know, Nigel Uno Prime, aka Numbuh 1, leader of Sector V, son of Numbuh 0, wouldn't have never, EVER, in his right mind chosen to condemn his family, friends and the freaking Kids-Next-Door to an undetermined suspended animation. Yes, of course, the idea of a planetary decommission could have been there in his brain because we know Nigel is the most paranoid human we know, but still, he wouldn't ever have taken the option!" She yelled at him.
Numbuh 74.239 backed away from her intimidated with his hands still raised, "fine, yes you're right! But what did you want me to do? You know this is what Numbuh Omega wanted all along. I just couldn't go against his will-"
"You are coward!" she growled at him.
Gabe gasped offended and frowned angrily at her with his hands on his hips "Oh because YOU managed to stop him on your own just fine!" he spat back at her. "Seriously, what was YOUR plan then? What were you expecting to happen by bringing Nigel and Chad to GKND?! Uh?! Something fun?! You know what Omega intended to do with Earth for a very, VERY long time!"
Lizzie cooled down her anger and frowned in shame at her own mistake, "I…I honestly thought Nigel was not going to fall in his trap…"
Gabe sighed not really wanting to be angry at her, "Lizzie… you know what Omega is capable of doing once he sets his mind into something…there was nothing we could do to change his mind" he said as he shoved his hands inside his lab coat pockets and looked down to his shoes.
"We have to do something" he heard her said and his eyes flew up towards her in shock.
"You're joking, right? Lizzie is done!"
"We have to save Earth from getting destroyed!"
"It's not going to be destroyed, it's going to be decommissioned!"
Lizzie glared at him, "No Gabe, you know it won't…you know KND will fight back"
Gabe went pale and sweated nervously, "No-no, they can't! That would be the foolish thing to do!"
"Gabe" Lizzie interrupted him looking him straight in his eyes, "it doesn't matter what Nigel just did. Do you know who is the current KND Supreme Leader?"
Numbuh 75.239 was silent for a second, "yes I know but-"
"You know Numbuh 5 and Sector V won't allow it...KND will oppose the GKND order"
Gabe visibly paled, "They can't...look how well it resulted for our own planet! If it wasn't because a couple of us surrendered before the war started..." he
"Our planet's KND wasn't as strong as Earth's KND..." Lizzie admitted sadly, "but Earth's different"
Numbuh 74.239 shook his head, "no...no, we have to warn Numbuh 5 to not do something as foolish-"
"Gabe, do you really want for our surrogate human families to suffer the same fate of our original families?! My human sister just had a baby!" she yelled at him with tears in her eyes. "Planet Planti is gone! I don't want Earth to be gone too! I don't want to lose my family again!"
"We are not supposed to get attached to them, Lizzie!" Gabe tried to reason but tears were already forming in the corner of his own eyes, "we-we…oh god," he rubbed his eyes while fighting his emotions.
"Gabe...I know you love your human family and your life on Earth, just as much as I do..."
He bit his lip with remorse.
"And...we both know...Numbuh Omega only wants to punish Earth and KND for what happened to Lady Alpha"
Numbuh 74.239 went wide-eyed as a dreadful realization suddenly hit him while remembering the conversation he had with the Emperor before the Planetary Decommission announcement.
"He...only gave 7 days for the evacuation"
"WHAT?! A planetary decommission usually takes a month! In 7 days the only ones who would be able to leave Earth would be the KND Sectors!"
"Oh gosh" Gabe grabbed his hair in regret, "he totally played me with that promotion-"
"Gabe! We have to warn Numbuh 5! There's no time!"
"But Lizzie I...I can't betray him! You know what he's capable of doing-"
"But Gabe!"
"Listen I…I need some air…we have to come up with a plan to prevent Earth's KND to go into an unnecessary war with GKND. A planetary decommission doesn't literally mean the end of the world! All of Earth's KND sectors will be incorporated to GKND and even Sector V will be back again under Numbuh 1's leadership! It will be alright, we'll work something out to save Earth from Omega- I mean, the virus-"
"Gabe please!"
But Numbuh 74.239 was too terrified to even listen to her. He grabbed one of her vines and patted it softly, "it will be alright Lizzie. Let's just put a pin on it, alright? Earth would be safe as long as Omega keeps being fine with a simple planetary decommission and not something more drastic!"
"Gabe…"
"In the meantime, why don't you help me out with the Delta Sword revival project? Did you hear what I told Omega? It's awake!" he tried to change the subject.
"Gabe-wait, what do you mean is awake?" she was momentarily curious.
"Apparently It's not as dead and fossilized as we thought. The symbol of Delta is now faintly pulsing red again!" he said excitedly.
Lizzie frowned even more, "but, we tested it for years and nothing made it react…why now?"
"I don't know!" he chuckled in disbelief, "but ever since it was sent back to the lab after Omega showed it to Chad and Nigel, it's like it came back to life!"
Lizzie went wide-eyed in complete shock.
"Numbuh Omega wants us to try to figure out what made it came back to life. He thinks it might be sensing another of the Alpha Weapons nearby or something. Oooooh! Can you imagine Lizzie if we manage to repair it and find the rest of the weapons too? I'm so excited!" he rubbed his hands eagerly but Lizzie continued silent.
Suddenly his watch started to beep with a programmed alarmed.
"Oh look at the hour. It's time for Chad and Nigel to get their weekly calls for home. We better do this quick so we can start working on the Delta Sword today!"
He walked hurriedly towards his desk in the corner and opening a drawer he took Nigel's old brick phone and Chad's red iPhone. He looked at the phones and then to Lizzie with doubt now.
"You know what? I can handle this on my own. I think you should remain in the labs for a while until Numbuh Omega has forgotten this whole ordeal with you" he chuckled nervously, "why don't you get yourself refreshed while I go check on Chad? I'll be right back! Just stay where you are!"
She saw him ran towards the door and leave the headquarters hurriedly. The door to the room closed shut with the familiar sound of a security lock being put in place and once again she found herself trapped.
But this time, she wasn't so much preoccupied about it as her mind seemed completely focused on just two things: a very rushed 7-day evacuation order and a certain legendary weapon mysteriously active.
She glanced at the tube with the floating Delta Sword's hilt once again and noticed the faint red pulsing light coming from its symbol. Gabe and Omega thought the hilt was reacting again because it was sensing another of its sibling weapons but…something in her gut was telling her that wasn't the case.
Her eyes then noticed the computer on Numbuh 74.239's desk and frowning in determination she made up her mind and hurried towards the most urgent task in her mind: to warn Sector V.
/
[KND Moon Base - 05:45 am]
Unknown to everyone in KND, ever since Numbuh One had been recruited by GKND a mysterious alien operative had maintained contact with Sector V, giving them updates and reports of his training and overall his status inside the force. At first, Numbuh 5 had questioned the reasons to why this particular operative was doing this since they weren't supposed to even know about the existence of GKND, but since this was the only way to know whether Nigel was ok or not, she kept quiet and let the thing go on without stirring much fuzz about it.
The operative identified herself as Numbuh Vine, a green-eyed alien that looked like a mix between a jellyfish and a vine plant. She had 5 long vine-like arms full of leaves and always wore an upside-down pot plant on her head. She was always moody and liked to talk very sternly, always giving the reports as if the task was more of a burden than a mission.
At first Sector V didn't know exactly how to interact with her every time she called. They would end up giving her very short and cautious robotic answers, fearing that any sign of disrespect towards her would compromise getting any information about Nigel ever again. But a few months after the first calls began to happen, they eventually warmed up to her and began to treat her with usual familiarity. They would even dare to tease her prompting her to hang on their calls completely mad at them, but thankfully she would still call again as if nothing had happened.
Oddly enough Numbuh Vine would usually call them once every month using an encrypted signal that was untraceable by any standard KND communication devise and by hacking Numbuh 2's personal computer in his lab at the Moon Base. Hoagie was never happy about it, always feeling greatly offended that some random alien operative seemed to be capable of hacking his computer repeatedly regardless of the many upgrades he would do to his own super firewall (and yes he would always try to make his computer harder to hack for her), as if challenging her with every single call in a futile way to save his computer-tech pride.
But Numbuh Vine wouldn't even register it, as her calls will always go thru regardless of any of Numbuh 2's tech shenanigans.
A year after Rachel's decommission thought Numbuh Vine's call changed drastically. Reports about Nigel' status were no longer her priority, but instead she seemed now more interested in getting reported back about the status of all KND Sector bases, constantly questioning whether or not every tree-house was properly designed to be capable of sustaining itself in space. As the Global Command General and Head of the 2x4 Engineer Division, the question had irritated Numbuh 2 specially, but Numbuh 5's orders had been final and so Hoagie would spend the following months checking every blueprint and ordering proper maintenance and fixes for all the KND Sector Tree-Houses that existed on Earth.
None knew why Numbuh 5 had agreed to put Numbuh 2 in such titanic labor, nor why she would continue to attend every strange request Numbuh Vine would come up with.
Time passed and strangely Numbuh Vine's call began to be less frequent. It's been 3 months since her last call.
Until that fateful morning, right when Numbuh 3 and 4 were on their way to get their breakfast at the Moon Base Cafeteria.
"I heard they are serving rainbow monkey pancakes today at the cafeteria!" Kuki skipped happily besides Numbuh 4, twirling gracefully in excitement.
"He! Wanna bet how fast I can piss Gordon off this time?" Wally smirked while rubbing his hands but Kuki frowned at him.
"Wally don't be mean, the last rainbow monkey pancakes he made me were good!"
"But they weren't PERFECT, and that snobby brat excuse of chef ain't getting a free pass from me after that ridiculous outburst at ex-Numbuh 362 pre-decommission party! If he claims so much to be the next Gordon Ramsey or whatever then he had to stop making half-assed-"
"WALLY LANGUAGE!"
"Oh please Kuki, we're 12 now. It's not like you haven't-"
"I have not said such ugly words!" Numbuh 3 pouted angrily at him with her cheeks red.
Wally smirked teasingly at her, "oh but I know you have!"
"That…that was one time! I got stepped on hard and the words slipped away from me"
"Sure-"
"Lieutenant Numbuh 4! General Numbuh 3!" they both suddenly heard from behind them.
Turning around they found one of the members of the Deep Sea Science Lab, Numbuh 275, running towards them.
"Hey, Numbuh 275, where is the fire?" Numbuh 4 joked as the scientist operative stopped and recovered his breath.
"I'm sorry to bother you, sir, ma'am, but I was just delivering some reports at General Numbuh 2's office and noticed his computer beeping like crazy!" he said while adjusting his glasses.
Numbuh 4 and 3 went rigid, wondering if this meant what they both were thinking meant.
"Really? Well that's good old Numbuh 2 for ya, always putting random alarms for any reminder hehe" Kuki giggled nervously, "did you, uhm, managed to turn it off?"
"I tried"
The answer made both Numbuh 4 and 3 drop the colors on their faces.
"But I inevitably failed. I didn't dare to disconnect the computer fearing I could erase any important work the General had been working on so… could you please tell him to check on it? Strangely, nothing seems to even mute it! Perhaps the computer has been hacked-"
"NAH! NO WAY" Numbuh 4 quickly stopped his train of thoughts, "it's probably nothing, you know how Numbuh 2 is. If I'm honest with you Numbuh 275", Wally grabbed the scientist by his shoulder and whispered to his ear, "knowing Numbuh 2, he probably was playing a video game and forgot to leave it paused it" he said while shaking his head in shame.
"Oh?"
Kuki giggled and played along with Wally' story, "Poor Supreme Leader Numbuh 5 is super embarrassed by this new bad habit of his, playing video games during work hours! Such an embarrassment to the Global Command! Please don't tell anyone we told you about it, Numbuh 275" she batted her eyelashes and smiled sweetly at him.
"Of course, General Numbuh 3! You have my word" the scientist giggled in secrecy.
"Good! We'll go now and tell Numbuh 2 to fix 'the beeping' right away!" Numbuh 4 said very solemnly.
"Thank you, Lieutenant Numbuh 4, sorry to interrupt your breakfast with this, but it was really bothering the rest of the scientists-"
"NO PROBLEMO MY FRIEND! Please save us some pancakes, would ya?" Wally pushed Numbuh 275 towards the way to the cafeteria, hurrying him to leave them alone.
"Sure thing!" they both heard him said as he disappeared in the next corner.
Once they were sure his footsteps were no longer heard, both operatives dropped their act and visibly panic.
"Crud! Why is she calling NOW of all the freaking time?!" Wally whispered as he and Kuki started to run back to where Numbuh 2's office was.
"She never calls in the mornings, that's very strange!" Kuki whispered back at him as they turned the corner.
"Well we don't know if it is morning in Pluto, do we? Who knows how their freaking Canadian time zone works" Wally complained upon reaching the door that led to the labs.
"Shouldn't we tell Numbuh 5 and 2 first? Numbuh Vine hasn't called in months and they're dying to know if Nigel is doing fine" Kuki questioned.
Numbuh 4 opened the door to the lab and heard immediately the blaring beeping sound coming from Numbuh 2's computer.
"Probably but…They must be at the Global Command room already finishing preparations for Numbuh 60's pre-decommission party, so it will take them a few good 10 minutes to reach the labs and we need to stop this bloody beeping party before it stirs more unnecessary attention from other random operatives" Numbuh 4 said and hurried to the computer with Numbuh 3 following right behind.
/
[Omega Main Orbital Base – GKND Prisons - 06:00 am]
"So he really did it, didn't he?" Chad asked from the corner of his dark cell, sitting on the bench and under the only source of light coming from a small round window over his head.
Numbuh 74.239 nodded from the other side of the laser bars, looking completely guilty at the teenager.
Chad let his head fall over the wall and sighed angrily, "Damn it".
"I'm really sorry Chad-"
"Save it, Gabe, I don't wanna hear your lies anymore" he snapped at him angrily with his teeth clenched.
Numbuh 74. 239 rubbed his arm as the words of Lizzie echoed in his mind. None except Numbuh Omega seemed to be happy with him today.
"Your Galactic Trial will be held after Earth is decommissioned"
"Whatever"
Gabe looked at the teen with shocked eyes. After everything that had happened, Gabe would have expected for the ex-Supreme Leader to succumb into some form of desperation and sense of defeat, especially after the show he had put during the Planetary Decommission announcement where he once again had failed to reach out for Nigel's common sense. But even after being beaten to a pulp and thrown into the darkest cell in the ship, Chad still looked strong and determined, even with the many scars over his skin and the tattered clothes, nothing seemed to be affecting him.
'Supreme Leaders are really something else' he thought to himself with admiration.
"Well," he cleared his throat and shoved his hand inside his lab coat pocket and took out Chad's red iPhone. "I…I honestly don't know what's going to happen to you from now on so…I'm going to give you all the time you need to talk with your parents just in case-"
Chad stood up from the bench and slowly began to walk towards the laser bars. He stopped a few feet away from them and silently reached out his hand for Gabe.
Numbuh 74.239 looked at his hand and then at the guards flanking him at each side. He gulped and slowly reached out the cellphone to a safe distance so Chad was capable to take it from him.
He sweated nervously for a long minute, silently begging for the teen to not do anything foolish like grabbing him by the arm and using him as a hostage or something.
Chad's hand finally moved and very slowly grabbed the phone from the scientist's hand without much fuzz.
Gabe sighed in relief as Chad turned the phone on.
"So…the Delta Sword, uh? I remember old Supreme Leader Numbuh 100 was obsessed with finding all the Alpha Weapons" he casually commented while he waited for his phone to get full signal.
Numbuh 74.239 blinked silently for a few seconds, not expecting for the teen to establish a friendly casual conversation after everything that happened.
Gabe smiled naively at him, "yeah! Too bad he never accomplished his dream. Aw man, I wish he was still around, now that we have found the first one we certainly will be able to find the rest of them all!"
"Really?" Chad arched an eyebrow at him.
"Yeah! Especially now that apparently the Delta Sword seemed to be reacting to something! Numbuh Omega thinks another weapon must be nearby and that's why it's now awake-"
"Oh?" Chad simply said.
"Yeah well, he knows these weapons better than any of us so, he must be right about it" Gabe scratched the back of his head feeling a bit silly about revealing too much to Chad.
But then again, there was no way for Chad to escape from this maximum secured jails, right?
"Say, Gabe. How good is your Spanish?" Chad suddenly changed the subject.
Numbuh 74.239 looked at him curiously, "pretty good, I think. I was trained in every human language for my mission on Earth. Why?"
Chad chuckled and scratched the back of his head in embarrassment, "Mom is asking me to write her something in Spanish, you know? They keep asking me about how is my Spanish improving and since I haven't really gotten into any class, would you mind writing something for me?"
Gabe giggled, "oh sure! But shouldn't you warn them about your trip getting…extended?" he really hated himself for doing this to an old friend.
"I already did and that's why they are asking me about how much I have really improved. They probably are thinking I'm slacking or something" he rolled his eyes in annoyance.
He handled the phone and Gabe looked at phone' screen. Nothing was showing in it, just a blank white screen and a blinking black typing bar.
"Ok? What would you want me to write?"
Chad scratched his chin and took a minute to think. "Oh, I know! This will make mom laugh for sure. Write this: Uncle Antonio's paella is the best paella in Pluto!"
Gabe snorted and laughed at the silly phrase, "In Pluto?"
"Yeah you know, Pluto is really far away from Earth so the paella is that good because it's just 'out of the world' amazing? I know, it's a bit geeky" Chad chuckled at his joke.
Gabe laughed even harder and shook his head, "oh you humans have such fantastic sense of humor!" He typed the words on the phone.
¡La paella de tío Antonio es la mejor paella en Plutón!
Chad smirked, "now press 'send'".
Gabe pressed the 'send' bottom and the text suddenly vanished from the screen.
He blinked again in surprise, "fascinating; this is definitely a much more advanced technology".
He smiled at Chad again, "anything else?"
"Nah, I'm good. I think that would be enough to not making them worry much about me" he walked away from the laser bars and sat back again on his bench with a serenade expression.
"Oh? Good! Well uhm" he looked at the phone and noticed that it had turned off on its own.
"I need to go back to the lab now to check on Numbuh Vine" he looked as Chad laid down on the bench with his back turned towards him.
The teen yawned largely and bent his arm under his head to use as a pillow, "poor girl, I hope she's fine. Between Nigel and Omega, I don't know who has given her the most trouble".
Gabe looked at the guards at his sides and both shrugged at him not knowing what else to do. Numbuh 74.239 put the cellphone back into his pocket and clearing his throat he wished goodnight to Chad and began to walk away.
As the sound of their steps disappeared, Chad curled a fist against his heart and felt his heartbeat rapidly accelerating in anticipation. He looked up at the starry space through his cell' small window and silently hoped for his message to arrive soon.
/
"Hello? Hello? Come in? Can you hear me?" Numbuh 4 pressed the computer's bottoms not really sure what he was doing.
"No, no! You have to push this thingy over here!" Numbuh 3 said while pushing a bottom on the far left of the keyboard.
"No wait, don't!"
Suddenly the computer's screen changes and the Rainbow Monkeys' website appeared with the familiar tune of the aforementioned creatures playing in the background.
"Nooooo! Now, look what you did!" Numbuh 4 complained.
"What? I like this site!"
Kuki then started to sing along the song, making Wally growl in exasperation.
"Enough already with the rainbow crud!" Numbuh 4 pressed another bottom and effectively manage to mute the song.
"Come in Numbuh Vine, are you there?" he pulled down a lever in the control panel and again pressed a few bottoms to see if the Plutonian signal was still there.
"We love you!" Kuki randomly said to the screen.
Wally was now losing his patience, he knew Kuki tended to be specially space-out without a proper breakfast in her stomach so he should have expected this and yet, "You did not-this is an official into-Galapagos call!"
"Intergalactic!" she promptly corrected him.
"Argh! Whatever! You don't say I love you-"
"Operatives?" a female voice suddenly interrupted them, "are you there? Do you read me?"
"Oh hi, Numbuh Vine!" Numbuh 4 suddenly changed his demeanor to a much friendly one upon finally hearing her voice.
Lizzie sighed from the other side of the line, she had effectively managed to hack Numbuh 74.239's computer to make the call, "Numbuhs 3 and 4, greetings. Are preparations underway?"
Numbuh 3 and 4 looked at each other, wondering if she was referring to the massive overhauls Numbuh 2 had been conducting on every KND treehouse on Earth.
"Yup, Numbuh 2 has already checked and customized all the KND tree houses just as you requested months ago" Wally brushed his hair nervously, with a sudden bad feeling burning in the back of his head.
"Excellent" Numbuh Vine simply said before going silent for a long minute.
Kuki tilted her head curiously, "Is everything alright, Numbuh Vine? Is Numbuh 1 fine?"
Numbuh Vine looked away and Wally noticed sweat falling down her alien head.
"Alright, spit it out!" he frowned angrily, "something obviously happened"
"I…I need to speak with Supreme Leader Numbuh 5-"
Suddenly they all heard a door being opened from Numbuh Vine's end of the line.
"Well Nigel didn't feel like calling home today and Chad only sent a message to his folks-WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE YOU DOING?!"
Numbuh 4 and 3 instantly recognized the second voice, "that sounded like-?"
"Gabe?!" Numbuh 3 completed for him
"Gabe! There's no time! They need to know now otherwise they won't have time to evacuate EVERYBODY from the planet!" Numbuh Vine defended angrily.
"EVACUATE THE PLANET?!" Both Numbuh 4 and 3 exclaimed in confusion.
"Lizzie, you have lost your mind?! What if Numbuh Omega finds out?!"
"LIZZIE?!"
Suddenly Numbuh Vine's watch started to sparkle on its own, making her glitch and change into a familiar human form.
"oh for the love of- now my human disguise is acting up! Who is running the Tech Department while we were on Earth?! Numbuh Moron?!"
"Tell me about it" Numbuh 74.239 answered back in annoyance.
"You said the watches were fixed!"
"I KNOW AND APPARENTLY I WAS WRONG LIZZIE, GIVE ME A BREAK WOMAN!"
Wally and Kuki gaped with their eyes big as plates.
"Holy crackers!" Numbuh 3 whispered to Numbuh 4 in utter shock.
"She looked better as a plant" Numbuh 4 whispered back to her.
"I HEARD THAT!" Lizzie yelled at them
"Lizzie!" Gabe tried to refocus the attention, "come on hurry up and finish with this call before anyone notices the signal-"
"Then stop interrupting me so I can finish already! Geez! And don't worry, I made sure the signal is encrypted and impossible to be detected by GKND radars" she looked back at the screen with the confused faces of Numbuh 4 and Numbuh 3 still in it.
"So…" Wally began to say, "What do we do now?"
"Now? Now you get everyone off that planet!" Lizzie suddenly said.
Numbuh 3 and 4 looked at each other as if not understanding her, "eh…EVERYONE?"
"Everyone!" Lizzie looked very serious at them, "Every kids-next-door operative, every adult, every boy, girl, man, woman, and child! Because HE is coming, and he's coming soon" she sentenced dreadfully.
"Who is coming?!" Numbuh 3 asked with fear in her voice.
"…Galactic Emperor Numbuh Omega, Supreme Leader of the Galactic-Kids-Next-Door…a Planetary Decommission Protocol has already been initiated and you guys will only have 7 days to get everyone off the planet before it's too late-"
"Hold on Lizzie, what are you talking about?! Does Numbuh 1 know about this?! Where is he?!" Wally now was alarmed. He didn't' understand anything of what Lizzie was saying other than it meant really bad news and his instincts immediately were telling him to ask what was his leader's plan.
Lizzie glanced at Gabe who shook his head at her. They didn't have the time to explain to them, "Listen, just give these coordinates to Numbuh 5, she'll know what to do!".
Suddenly Numbuh's 2 computer began to print a long piece of paper with strange symbols on it.
"How are we supposed to understand all these alien numbers?!" Kuki asked while tearing out the paper out of the printer
"Yeah, we never studied Canadian in school!" Numbuh 4 complained
"There aren't Canadian you Earth dope! That's the galactic standard base numerical system, it combines the pictographic treatments of a galactic ancient base of-"
"LIZZIE!" Gabe protested beside her, cutting off the unnecessary alien linguistic class.
"RIGHT! Just give that to Abby immediately and start evacuating the planet! You have 7 days! Good luck!"
And with that, the call was over and for the first time since the battle with Grandfather, Numbuh 4 and 3 found themselves completely confused and terrified.
/
[GKND Research Facilities – Numbuh 74.239 Headquarters – 07:00 am]
"It's done" Lizzie sighed, a satisfied smile curled in the corner of her human lips, "Now it's up to them to pass the message," she told Numbuh 74.239 who kept nervously wiping out the sweat off his face.
"What message?" A familiar voice said from behind them.
Lizzie froze upon seeing the reflection on Gabe's pale terrified expression.
Very slowly she turned around. Her eyes grew wide as she found the cold end of a laser water gun being aimed directly at her.
The person holding the weapon was none other than Numbuh 1.
"You two are coming with me," he said sternly with his new robotic voice and Lizzie knew this time she was in serious trouble.
/
[KND Moon Base – Present time]
"EVACUATE THE PLANET?!" Supreme Leader Numbuh 5 repeated the words aloud, not believing what she just heard.
"Wait-who is Numbuh Vine?! What the hell is going on?" Numbuh 86 exclaimed in confusion.
Wally took out a long paper from his orange jacket and handed it over to Numbuh 5, "She said to give you this".
Abby took the paper from his hand and found estrange alien symbols written all over it. Numbuh 2 peeked over her shoulder and scratched the side of his head in confusion, "Can you read this language?"
"No" Numbuh 5 frowned in confusion. Why would Numbuh Vine send her a message in a language they didn't know about?
"Oh and turns out Numbuh Vine was really Lizzie all along" Kuki casually mentioned.
"WHAT?! You're kidding!" Numbuh 2 exclaimed in shock.
"No kidding! Apparently, that was her human disguise or something" Numbuh 4 said.
"WOULD ANYONE OF YOU PLEASE EXPLAIN WHAT IN THE WORLD IS GOING ON?!" Fanny shouted angrily at them.
"WHY DO YOU ALWAYS HAVE TO YELL AT US?!" Numbuh 3 suddenly yelled back at her, obviously still in a very bad mood for not having any breakfast yet.
"SUPREME LEADER NUMBUH 5" Numbuh 60 rushed to the room, bullet drops of sweat were rolling down the sides of his face. "There is something wrong with the Super Big Computermabob!"
Abby looked at the almost 13-year-old general with alarm in her eyes, "the Super Big-oh no!".
Without much ado, Abby sprinted out of the room and began to run as fast as she could towards the chamber of the Super Big Computermabob's with Sector V, Numbuh 60 and 86 following her close.
"Ok here is the short version of the story" Numbuh 4 began to explain to Numbuh 86 and 60 while they kept running thru the Moon Base hallways, "Numbuh 1 didn't go to study Spanish abroad, he was actually chosen to be the first KND operative to join the Galactic-Kids-Next-Door, which is pretty much the super big alien organization that established KND on Earth thousands of years ago. Ever since then, an alien operative codenamed Numbuh Vine has kept in contact with us and has been reporting to us about him and stuff"
"Galactic-Kids-Next-Door?! You can't be serious-" Numbuh 60 started.
"WE ARE VERY SERIOUS SHUT UP!" Numbuh 3 yelled harshly at him.
"Sorry, she hasn't had any breakfast yet" Numbuh 4 apologized to the senior operative as they all rounded the corner and startled a bunch of other operatives that were walking by.
"Anyway!" Numbuh 4 continued, "everything seemed normal until she started to request random revisions and upgrades to all of our KND tree-houses. Asking whether they were capable of functioning in space and-OH GOD WE SHOULD HAVE KNOWN SOMETHING BAD WAS COMING MONTHS AGO!"
"So that's why you have been personally visiting all the KND Sectors of the planet?!" Fanny asked Hoagie but Numbuh 2 was having trouble to form any words as he was too focused on not passing out from so much running, so he simply nodded at her.
"Now we know what was all about! GKND is apparently decommissioning Earth!" Numbuh 4 words left a few random operatives on the hallway frozen on their spots.
"But what does that even mean?!" Patton questioned as they all finally reached the tall iron doors of the Super Big Computermabob's central brain.
/
[KND Moon Base – Super Big Computermabob room]
KND scientists stepped out of the way as the KND Global Command entered the large orange room.
Sector V gaped as they gave a good look at the room.
The room where the Super Big Computermabob brain rested was located exactly at the center of the Moon Base Tree House, a symbolic location that highlighted its importance as the 'heart' of the entire organization. The room was as large as the Decommissioning Chamber, with huge and thick orange roots of the tree covering all the walls. For years, the Moon Base scientists had to constantly trim the roots and add several air entrances thru the walls to prevent the room from growing too warm, otherwise the risk of overheating the computer's brain would be too high.
With just a quick look you could tell the famous KND Super Big Computermabob was both the most super-advanced and super antique piece of technology there was. Four groups of old computer terminals, as tall as bookshelves, were all flashing in colorful lights with its cables permanently entangled to the roots of the Moon Base. The 4 groups of terminals were all perfectly aligned and linked to two main ports: one located in on the floor, right in the center of the room, you could see a booger port console attached to the Kids-Next-Door Code Module.
The other port was located right at the top of the room where 4 large computer monitors were connected in the form of a cross, each one facing a different cardinal direction of the Moon Base. The tangled roots, cables and chords grew from the terminals and connected both the Code Module to the 4 Monitors in the roof and at the same time, those same roots would connect them all to the other computers that were linked to the Moon Base's network, and these computers would be constantly spreading all information to all KND Sectors thanks to the many KND Satellites that currently were orbiting around Earth.
More like a heart, the computer was literally the brain of the entire organization. Any important damage inflicted to it could mean the end for the Kids-Next-Door massive communication network.
And things didn't look good in that particular room that morning. The room temperature was way too high, every small light and bottom was glowing dangerously orange, and the 4 giant monitors kept showing random alien symbols while an alarm was blaring loudly around them. KND scientist operatives were running around the room in panic, pushing bottoms and running diagnostics to all computer terminals, trying to figure out what was making the central brain go into such computed hysteria.
"Supreme Leader Numbuh 5!" Numbuh 275 rushed to salute the Global Command. He was all wet in sweat.
"What's the status?" Numbuh 5 quickly ordered a report.
"Not good, ma'am, the computer suddenly started to flash these estrange symbols on every monitor in the Moon Base and, I think they might be showing in every KND Computer on the planet"
Numbuh 5 looked above to the 4 large main monitors of the Super Big Computermabob and squinting her eyes she managed to see what was flashing repeatedly on them.
"Those are the same symbols Numbuh Vine sent us" Kuki suddenly said, making Numbuh 4 and 2 look at her in surprise.
"Are you sure?!" Numbuh 2 asked and Numbuh 4 promptly took the paper again out of his jacket's pocket for everyone to read.
Fanny and Patton came closer and noticed the similarities.
"They are definitely the same" the almost teen operative admitted.
Hoagie looked at Numbuh 5 with worry, "Do you think this has something to do with the Planetary Decommission?"
"The what now?!" Numbuh 275 exclaimed in confusion.
Abby, however, began to walk towards the center of the room, "Stay put" she ordered.
She walked several steps until she stood next to the Code Module and right under the cross-shaped computer monitors. She looked above and then back to where Sector V, Numbuh 60 and 86 were standing with the rest of the scientific staff.
"Numbuh 5 is going to try something, keep quiet until I say so!" she yelled back at them.
Hoagie, Kuki and Wally looked at each other and nodded back at her while everyone stood still in uncertainty.
The Supreme Leader then took something out of one of her white shorts' pockets: a small green notebook with the number 100 engraved on its cover.
"Alright, this definitely fits the 'out of ordinary' criteria Rachel mentioned about. Let's see if good old Supreme Leader Numbuh 100 has an idea of what this could be".
She had already read the small notebook several times after Rachel's decommission so it didn't take her long enough to find the pages she thought it could help her. Numbuh 100 had written down a bunch of notes regarding the Super Big Computermabob, most of them implying the computer was more alive and sentient than what people could imagine, something Numbuh 1 had too claimed not long ago.
She remembered reading something curious written down on a corner of one of the pages. A secret code that only the Supreme Leader was authorized to use in case of emergency. What did the code do? It wasn't specified, but it certainly was supposed to be only used in case of an extreme emergency.
And nothing was more extreme and urgent than an impending Planetary Decommission.
"This is operative Supreme Leader Numbuh 5 speaking, requesting primal access to the Neural Seed Core"
There was a rumble and suddenly all the roots and cables in the room began to glow in red.
What is the secret password?
The mechanic voice of the KND Computer echoed through the walls.
Numbuh 5 took a pause and then began to enlist.
"Beta"
Upon saying the words, Hoagie saw the roots on the wall at his left turn a vibrant neon yellow color.
"Gamma"
The roots on the wall right at Kuki's side suddenly turned neon blue.
"Delta"
Wally gaped as the roots under his feet turned then bright red.
"Epsilon!"
Numbuh 5 finished loudly and the roots that were over the terminals around her glowed vibrantly lime green.
All the roots in the room began to pulse and everybody saw the monitors suddenly turn black as if they were suddenly shut down. Then, the symbols of Beta, Gamma, Delta, and Epsilon suddenly appeared in every screen, glowing yellow, blue, red and green respectively.
Greetings, Supreme Leader Numbuh 5, the Directive welcomes you.
The voice of the Super Big Computermabob was no longer of a single female entity, but instead now sounded more like 4 overlapping voices talking in unison.
"oh my god and here I thought Nigel had lost his mind when he told us about the Super Big Computermabob being alive" Numbuh 2 whispered in fear.
"Hi" Numbuh 5 timidly waved at the four monitors above her head.
Please stand the nature of your emergency.
Numbuh 5 arched an eyebrow at the voices, "You tell me. You were flashing estrange symbols on the screens of every KND Computer in the network"
The four symbols silently flashed consecutively for a minute.
It seems a Planetary Decommission Protocol has been initiated for Planet Earth. The galactic standard base numerical system you mention is part of the language used in ancient pre-recorded messages programmed to be sent to every KND sector with specific instructions and coordinates for the proper evacuation of every single KND Tree House on Earth.
Everybody gasped and whispered as Numbuh 5 took a minute to absorb the magnitude of the situation.
"Why is this happening now? Who ordered this?"
The four symbols silently flashed again and took them a few seconds to answer her back.
According to the Galactic-Kids-Next-Door rules, a Planetary Decommission can only be activated if a chosen galactic-level operative of the same planet determines his or her planet is beyond possible salvation and therefore is rightfully allowed to request a global decommission of all creatures that are considered 'adults'. In Earth's case, all humans above the age of 13 will be decommissioned without exception.
The words of the Super Big Computermabob silenced the room completely.
Numbuh 86, 2, 3 and 4 turned towards Numbuh 60 who had turned pale as a paper.
Abby started to breathe rapidly in stress.
"Wha-what? Why would anyone request something like that?!"
The rule was established 800 years ago by the current Supreme Leader of the Galactic-Kids-Next-Door: Supreme Leader Numbuh Omega.
"That's the guy Numbuh Vine was warning us about" Numbuh 4 whispered to Numbuh 2.
"That's the name of that foe Sector Alpha supposedly fought thousands of years ago!" Numbuh 60 looked at 86 in total disbelief.
Panic started to boil in the room.
"Computer…who?" Abby feared the answer, "who requested this Planetary Decommission?"
The realization hit Numbuh 2, 3 and 4 hard as the question left their Supreme Leader's lips.
According to the database, the only official Earth-galactic-level operative registered in the GKND DataBase is the operative by the name of Nigel Uno Prime, aka Numbuh 1, former leader of Sector V.
Everyone in the room gasped in shock.
Hoagie fell to his knees.
"NO! NO WAY! NUMBUH 1 WOULD NEVER DO IT! IT WAS PROBABLY CHAD! HE WAS WITH HIM TOO" Numbuh 4 yelled at Abby.
But Abby's words were cold and emotionless, "Wally…Do you really think that 14-year-old Chad Dickson would request something like a Planetary Decommission that would specifically target him and his own kind the most?"
Numbuh 4 growled in frustration, refusing to believe it.
"Nigel Uno…what have you done?" Abby whispered as the murmur around her grew louder.
Kuki turned around and noticed all the scientific operatives already in full panic mode. Shaking off the small tears in the corner of her eyes she whistled loud to gain their attention.
"Hey! Shut up and calm down! Supreme Leader Numbuh 5 needs to think so SHUT UP!" She ordered and effectively managed to make the room quiet again.
"Abby! Something must have happened to Nigel! We have to help him! You have to talk with this Numbuh Omega guy and ask him to stop the Planetary Decommission!"
Numbuh 3 words shook Abby out of her catatonic state. She was right! They still had time to stop this! She thanked all the Rainbow Monkey gods for giving Kuki this new super-sharp perceptive sense this last year.
"Give Numbuh 5 the message sent by Numbuh Vine!" she requested.
Numbuh 3 took the paper from Numbuh 4's hand, squashed it into a paper ball and threw it to Numbuh 5.
Abby picked it up, unwrinkled the paper and showed it to the computer.
"Computer please tell me what this message says!"
The 4 lights of the monitors scanned the paper in seconds.
Those are the coordinates of the location for the Galactic Omega Flagship, currently stationed on Pluto's Orbit.
"Computer, is it possible to stop the Planetary Decommission?"
Only the Supreme Leaders Numbuh Omega and Alpha are authorized to request a complete cancellation of a Planetary Decommission.
Abby was silent for a second as if measuring cautiously her options.
"Very well" she then turned around and looked at the operatives in the room, "as the Supreme Leader of Earth's KND, I'll go with Sector V to Pluto to request an audience with the Supreme Leader Numbuh Omega"
Everybody gasped in shock.
"In the meantime, I want every KND Tree House to follow suit the evacuation protocols as programmed. GO NOW! Send the message to every sector! Send detailed reports of what happened today so everyone is fully informed about the situation. I don't want anyone with their guard down. This is a high-level emergency situation! DO IT!" She commanded and soon every single scientific operative ran out of the room and began to yell around the Moon Base in distress.
Numbuh 2, 3, 4, 60 and 86 hurriedly came closer to Numbuh 5 as she began to also walk away and out of the Super Big Computermabob room.
"How long would it take us to reach Pluto, Numbuh 2?" The Supreme Leader didn't waste time to ask.
"In our fastest spacecraft? A day maybe if we try that new light-speed-super-jump system I've been working on. But it hasn't been tested yet-"
"Well seems like NOW is the perfect time to test it, sugar-cube. You two-" she suddenly stopped and looked at Numbuh 86 and 60 very seriously in the eyes.
"I want you two to stay here to lead in my place while I fix this mess"
"WHAT?!" Fanny stopped dead in her tracks.
"Are you sure?" Patton questioned her, looking down at her with doubt in his eyes, "Abby I-"
"I'm sorry Numbuh 60, but I'm afraid I'm postposing your decommission until this crisis is over. You are now a target to them so you'll be safer if you remain with us. I need my two most trusted senior operatives to help me lead the army while I'm briefly absent. A global evacuation will surely cause a lot of panic and I know you two are more than capable of shaking the hysteria out of a large crowd of crying kids to put them to work in perfect synchronization."
"If I fail to stop the Planetary Decommission, we are definitely going to need all those KND Sectors safely evacuated and ready to go into battle if necessary."
Everyone stared at her in shock.
"A battle against an alien version of KND?" Fanny said incredulously.
"That's right. There's no way Numbuh 5 is letting those wackos decide what's best for our planet, not on my watch!" Supreme Leader Numbuh 5 said with determination.
Numbuh 60 seemed still doubtful but nodded solemnly at her, "I won't let you down, Supreme Leader. I don't care if I'm a teenager now, I'm going down with you on this".
"Good, but you better cut that broody vibe now! Freckles, you have my permission to smack his head hard if he starts to act too much like an emo teenager!" she ordered.
Fanny smirked and nodded, "you can certainly count on me and on Patton to lead the crying babies to safety. The Moon Base and the Kids-Next-Door will be here ready for your return, Supreme Leader Numbuh 5" the red-haired girl said with a confident grin.
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