GKND: Operation ALPHA

by KicaCris

A year has passed ever since Nigel was recruited by the GKND to become their very first Earth representative and Sector V is now part of the Supreme Global Command. Peaceful times come to an abrupt end when GKND suddenly sentences Earth to a planetary decommission. Now it's up to Sector V and a Secret Teen Sector to team-up and save their home. This is the legend of Sector Alpha

7. A controversial decision

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Galactic-Kids-Next-Door mission

Operation: A.L.P.H.A.

Story written by Cris Carvalho

Chapter 7:

A controversial decision

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[Somewhere in the Milky Way a legendary falcon-shaped ship is flying at full light speed]

Voices…He could hear voices but he was too tired to open his eyes.

"Turn on the oxygen mask! - Ok breath, breath! That's it, just breath normally-Ace, throw me your jacket!" a familiar female voice ordered.

"Here, have mine too!" another familiar male voice offered.

"We need to raise his temperature, he's freezing cold-damnit why did he have to jump out of the window like that?! A few more seconds floating in space and it would have been too late!" he heard the girl say now.

"Yo! How much longer until Earth?!"

"The Falcon is going as fast as he can but I´m afraid the extra weight is slowing him down a bit…" a second male voice spoke with a thick accent.

"I think he's going to pass out-"

"Hang in there bro, we're almost home!"

"Chad!"

The voices began to fade away.

"Chad!"

"Alpha!"

A new single voice suddenly appeared and made his eyes snap open.

He found himself in a strange unknown place, a massive battle seemed to be happening around him. The sky was tinted red and brown with thick smoke clouds, and the arid field had been deforested of any possible green spot. He saw what looked like several KND tree houses laying flat and destroyed on the floor, their trunks all severely cut at their bases.

"Where am I?"

He then heard screams and turning over his shoulder he saw kids, dressed in very old KND uniforms, running out from the smoke.

"Runaway!"

"Retreat! Retreat!"

"Somebody please help us!"

Hundreds of kids, with their horrified faces covered in mud and sweat, ran and passed through him as if he was just a ghost. He switched his attention from the wave of screaming children to the large dense fog behind them and then noticed a growing giant silhouette materializing behind it.

Chad gaped as what it looked at an old model of the evil-adult-tech known as "Octopadler" stepping out from the shadows with its long 8 mechanical arms holding a child in each hand. The smoke then began to clear and he saw with shock 10, no! Hundreds! It was a battalion! A large battalion of Octopadlers advancing mercilessly, grabbing and spanking kids, cutting tree houses with big axes and saws, destroying everything on their path.

This battle…he knew this battle.

"This is…"

He then turned around to look behind his back, to where the army of Octopadler was marching.

A gigantic tree house stood tall and proud in the distance. It was childhood's greatest lost monument, the legendary Sooper Double Mega Triple Tree House.

It dwelled into him where and when he was.

"The Time Out War" he whispered, losing all the colors of his skin.

"Alpha don't do this!"

He heard the same voice from before again, louder this time. It was the voice of a girl.

"Please don't do this! Please! There must be another way!"

He blinked and again the scenario changed. He was now floating high in the sky, the Earth under him seemed more and more far away.

"Alpha please!"

"Don't do this!"

"We can do this together"

"This isn't what you wanted!"

He blinked again and he found himself inside a ship. There were other three unknown boys at his left and right, sporting green, blue and yellow-colored uniforms.

He looked ahead through a large window with a view to the outside.

His eyes went wide; A figure engulfed in bright white light was floating above the Sooper Double Mega Triple Tree House. The person had its back turned towards them, but Chad just knew who she was just by looking at her white armor and her long flame-like white alien hair.

"ALPHA!" he suddenly shouted, his voice overlapping the female voice he had been hearing.

"COME WITH US PLEASE!" He and the other voice said at the same time.

"I can't…this won't work if I go with you" he heard a different more ethereal female voice speak in his mind.

Tears welled on his eyes and he began to hit the glass in desperation.

"NO PLEASE! PLEASE STOP! PLEASE FALCON! TAKE HER WITH US TOO" he and the other voice begged together.

"We made a promise, didn't we? Don't worry, I'll find you"

"No! Please! PLEASE!" He saw as the glowing figure raised a hand with a rapier made of light aiming towards the sky.

"NO! ALPHA DON'T!"

"I'll see you soon… Wendy"

He saw his reflection on the ship's glass and saw a blond girl crying the same tears as his.

/

[Planet Earth's Orbit – KND Moon Base]

"Sector W reporting for duty, ma'am and uhm…sir?"

The short chubby figure of Thomas "Tommy" Gilligan greeted Numbuh 86 and 60 hesitantly upon entering the command bridge of the Moon Base with Sonia, Lee and Patrick behind him.

It's been exactly 48 hours since the Global Command Sector departed for what was informed as a High-ranked-super-double-classified-mission and things were chaotic at the KND Moon Base.

Scratch that, it had been a globally chaotic two days for the entire KND organization since the world evacuation of every KND treehouse base had started 24 hours ago.

Generals Numbuh 86 and 60 had been working non-stop the whole time, overseeing the gradual process of every single treehouse detachment of Earth and subsequent launch to Earth's Orbit.

Even though every KND Sector had received a very short brief about what had made the Supreme Command decide to evacuate all KND operatives from Earth, not much was known about this new enemy that was apparently threatening from space itself.

Many operatives even wondered if perhaps the whole thing was just a very early and elaborated April's-fool-prank kind of thing, but then that would mean to question their Supreme Leader Numbuh 5's judgment.

"Ah yes welcome Sector W" Fanny greeted them without parting her eyes from the tablet she had in her hands, " did the Unos gave you any trouble while evacuating your base?"

Sonia and Lee exchanged glances of worry as Patrick began to explain "well…"

/

[FLASH BACK]

"MONTY! COME HERE QUICK!" The alarmed voice of Mrs. Uno was heard from their yard.

"Mary dear, why are you shouting-SWEET MOTHER OF QUEEN ELIZABETH!"

The couple stared in shock at their family tree house, floating above their house with four giant rockets attached to its truck.

Then they both saw the familiar face of the youngest of the Gilligan boys peek out from one of the windows.

"Don't worry Mrs. And Mr. Uno! We're just borrowing the treehouse for a little while, I promise to bring it back soon!"

He smiled sheepishly and waved as the treehouses started to rapidly ascend until it was no longer visible among the clouds.

Mrs. And Mr. Uno blinked silently at their now completely trashed backyard, a massive hole was now in the place where their son's favorite tree house used to be.

/

"I don't think Mrs. Uno will be giving us more of her delicious madeleines anymore…" Lee said sadly while scratching the back of his head.

"Nor they will ever let us play at their place ever again…" Sonia whispered at his side.

"Doesn't matter" Fanny said sternly now addressing them fully with her piercing dark green eyes, "we're on a global emergency so you juniors better buckle up and take this seriously instead of mopping because of some stupid muffins-"

"Fanny" Numbuh 60 called her attention, "Sector L is asking for instructions to whether or not move their base since, you know, theirs isn't located on Earth but it's actually a satellite?"

Numbuh 86 rolled her eyes largely while Sector W peeked curiously behind her.

"Argh, I don't know? I suppose they should stay put in their current coordinates since they aren't a combatant sector? The evacuation instructions the Super Computermabob gave us doesn't have any specifications about the orbital bases!" she said exasperatedly.

"Fine, then I'll tell them to stay put" Numbuh 60 too said equally tired.

"Geez, it seems like these two haven't slept much in the last two days" Sonia whispered to Tommy.

"Yeah, but why is Numbuh 60 still around? Wasn't his decommissioning scheduled for like, yesterday?" Patrick questioned him too in a whisper.

"Dunno, things must be really bad if your big sis hasn't chained him up by now" Numbuh T whispered back to them in a worried tone as their generals continued to banter in front of them.

"Uhm…hello?"

Sector W turned around to a new voice and blinked curiously at a young cadet girl, dressed in a white and red striped overall with a very old looking book in her hands.

"I'm cadet Trixy Jhonson, are you the famous Sector W?" the dark-skinned girl asked them timidly.

Tommy couldn't help himself but spark with proud at her remark while Sonia and Lee blushed in embarrassment.

"Famous?-"

"Well yes of course we are! I'm Numbuh T, leader of Sector W and these are Numbuhs 83, 84 and 85!"

Sonia, Lee and Patrick arched questioning eyebrows at him, "since when is he the leader?" the Asian boy said.

Trixy grinned excitedly, "I heard you once had to sacrifice being part of the KND to defeat Father!" she commented.

Tommy snickered mischievously, "that's right! For a brief while I was only known as The Tommy, the mysteriously cool non-registered KND agent who helped Sector V and KND by fighting in the side-lines. But then our cool Supreme Leader Numbuh 5 decided to re-commission me after the previous Sector W's leader went coo-coo in the head and had to be decommissioned for his own good" he said with pride while Sonia and Lee rolled their eyes and Patrick chuckled.

"Oh right, ex-Supreme Leader Numbuh 362's younger brother. I actually thought she was going to recommend him to be the next Supreme Leader", the young cadet casually commented and the team sweat dropped nervously at that.

"Boy! That would have been…troublesome, to say the least," Sonia said nervously and Trixy tilted her head curiously at that, obviously not knowing much about the subject.

"Cadet Trixy" General Patton's deep teenage voice suddenly caught their attention, "why aren't you with the rest of your group? Cadets were ordered to be in their bunkers, not wandering around the Command Bridge" he frowned disapprovingly.

Trixy rubbed her shoulder timidly, "I…had trouble sleeping, sir" she admitted.

"Well then grab a glass of warm milk in the cafeteria and go back to sleep" he ordered a bit too harsh, which made Tommy frown at him.

"Yes sir, I'm very sorry sir" she whispered.

"We will gladly escort her back to the safety bunkers if it is ok with you, sir" Numbuh T offered. He knew the generals were tired and therefore even crankier than ever so their patience levels were probably under the floor.

"You were actually going to be assigned to help guard the cadets anyway so yes, go now!" Numbuh 86 ordered and turned around to watch again the multi-monitor-console of the Global Command.

With the generals' attention not on them anymore, Tommy smiled apologetically at the young cadet. "They don't mean to sound harsh- well , sometimes they do I guess, but I'm pretty sure this time they just want you to be safe, ok?"

Trixy gave him a small smile, "I heard we are being attacked by some mysterious evil foe from space and…I got scared and that's why I couldn't sleep." she said as she looked at the book in her hands.

Sector W exchanged worried glances with each other at that.

"I'm pretty sure it's nothing as bad as it sounds. The Global Command is only taking the maximum precautions for our safety" Sonia kneeled in front of her to look at the cadet with warm reassuring eyes.

But Trixy didn't seem less nervous, "it's just…what if it is…them?" she stammered as she opened the book and showed Sonia a page with what it looked like a very old drawing. The picture had two figures fighting against each other with swords up in the sky, one was painted in all white and the other painted in black. On top of the two dueling figures, there was a large bird with four eyes with its wings sprung wide, and under them, 4 human shapes were aiming some weapons towards the sky.

Sonia looked at the picture with confusion just as Lee, Patrick and Tommy peeked to see behind her, "what?"

"Oh! I know that one!" Tommy exclaimed excitedly, "that's the drawing of the 'Alpha Omega Battle', done by a British KND operative from the 1900s. Tolkien or something? I don't remember his name-"

"Who?" Lee and Patrick questioned as Trixy's face lighted up like a Christmas tree.

"You know about Sector Alpha?!" she exclaimed.

Tommy snorted, "who doesn't? I mean, they were the ones who pretty much started it all KND!" he said dismissively.

"What?"

"I don't remember that story"

Tommy gasped at his teammates, "are you kidding me?-HOW did you graduate from Academy without knowing about THEM?"

"Meh" Lee shrugged, "I always felt asleep during KND History Lessons" he took out his yo-yo and began to swing it loosely.

"My big sis always told me to not focus on KND fairytales and pay more attention to combatant lessons" Patrick admitted.

"I honestly don't remember anything about them?" Sonia smiled awkwardly.

Tommy seemed beyond offended, "my apologies Trixy, please ignore my very uncultured teammates-" he said overly dramatic while grabbing her hand.

"HEY!"

"But contrary to them, I DO know about Sector Alpha! I'm a big fan of those stories too" he grinned proudly at her.

"Yay! Finally someone other than mister Numbuh 101 who I can talk about them!" she cheered.

"Wait" Tommy suddenly realized, "but what do you mean you're worried that our newest enemy is 'them'?" he pointed at the picture in her book.

She burrowed her frown worriedly, "Numbuh 101 has this theory…he thinks the strange enemy Sector Alpha was said to have banished from Earth came actually from space…what if this new enemy is the same? What if they are coming now to take revenge?" she shouted anxiously.

"There is no Sector Alpha to stop them now…"

Sonia, Lee and Patrick frowned confusedly at her, not knowing what to say.

"That story is very old, Trixy. I don't think Omega would still be around these days anyway" Tommy tried to give her some peace of mind.

"Omega? Trixy, for the 10th time today, he doesn't exist!" Numbuh 60 suddenly said angrily from behind them. Apparently, he had returned his attention to them at some point.

"But sir, the Super Computermabob's message said-"

"The Super Computermabob's database is old and might need an update. The Global Command went to investigate to make sure its warnings aren't an unfortunate error in the system. There's no Numbuh Omega nor Sector Alpha to worry about. Everything that is happening is just a standard protocol for an unclear emergency situation!" his patience seemed to have finally run out.

Tommy stood up in front of Trixy protectively, "hey now there's no need to be a butt-" he suddenly stopped himself in mid-sentence and went wide-eyed.

Sonia, Lee and Patrick too changed their expressions to utter shock as they looked at something behind Numbuh 60.

"What?"

Warning! Unauthorized KND spacecraft has entered the KND Moon Base' orbit!

The voice of the Super Computermabob echoed in a loop through the whole base as many KND operatives began to stare in complete awe at the large windows of the Command Bridge of the Moon Base.

"Patton! Patton!" Fanny suddenly shouted behind him with alarm.

Numbuh 60 turned in angry confusion to look at Numbuh 86 who seemed to have turned pale in shock as she signaled for him to look at the windows.

The teen general glanced at windows and his jaw dropped. He very slowly turned around and walked to stand next to Numbuh 86 as Sector W and Trixy rushed to stand closer to the windows to have a better look.

There, floating right in between the moon and the Earth, a very strange looking bird-shaped ship had appeared in a blink of an eye with its magnificent wings sprung wide open. Its golden and silver metallic fuselage reflected the stars shinning around it, with the blue and green hues of Earth's giving it a strange fantastical glow as if the thing was something out of a fantasy/sci-fi movie.

"What in Numbuh Zero's name is that?!" Numbuh 86 whispered in shock just as the 4 blue, red, yellow and green eyes of the robotic 'bird' seemed to look directly at them.

"Sir? Uhmmm…" Numbuh 65.3 suddenly spoke from his own command console, "we're receiving a request for permission to drop a package delivered to KND?"

Numbuh 86 and 60 turned to look at Herbie who seemed to be sweating nervously.

"Who is making the request?" Fanny asked him.

Numbuh 65.3 glanced at his monitor, "I think it's the bird-ship, ma'am" he answered with a confused shrug.

The ship suddenly flew a little bit closer to the Moon Base, making the insignia on its chest fully visibly.

"OH MY GOD!" Tommy exclaimed.

"NO WAY!" Trixy Jhonson gasped and opening the book she saw again the drawing she had just shown to Sector W. She saw the figure of the giant bird creature above and noticed that it also had the same symbol of 'Alpha' as the strange ship outside.

"IT'S THE FALCON ALPHA!"

Numbuh 60 and 86 turned to look at Trixy and Sector W. The young cadet held the book open for them to look. "It looks exactly as this drawing!"

The two generals went even more wide-eyed and looked back and forth between the picture and the looming large ship outside the windows.

"HOLY GUACAMOLE IT'S REAL!" Tommy said excitedly.

"Sir, ma'am, it seems the ship is dropping something from its… claws?" Numbuh 65.3 interrupted them again with a serious tone now.

He hurriedly tapped his keyboard and showed a zoomed-in image of the ship in one of the monitors in front of Numbuh 60 and 86. The pair gasped upon recognizing the much smaller aircraft that was now floating loosely away from the giant falcon ship.

"That-THAT'S THE S.P.A.C.E.C.H.A.S.E.R. of the Supreme Leader and the Global Command!" Fanny shouted in distress to everyone's shock.

Tommy's excited expression suddenly changed into a worried one, "oh no!"

"Crud!" Patton exclaimed, "shoot a gravitation ray and help it land, NOW! Call the medical staff and tell them to send support to the landing strip!" he ordered urgently as the small ship continued to float away from the Falcon and closer to the Moon Base.

"All guards with me!" Fanny ordered as she, Patton and Sector W hurriedly ran out of the Command Bridge.

/

[KND Moon Base – Landing Strip]

A thick cloud of moon sand began to clear as the main door of the S.P.A.C.E.C.H.A.S.E.R. began to slowly open.

"Did they just dropped us like discarded space trash?!" Numbuh 4 stepped out of the ship while waving the dust away from his face.

"I know! That was certainly very rude and uncalled for!" Numbuh 2 also complained as he too stepped out of the ship with his left arm warped in bandages.

"Hoagie?"

They both turned around as the moon dust finally fully cleared. There, in front of the ship, was Numbuhs 86 and 60 with Sector W, flanked by a group of KND soldiers and medical operatives.

"Oh hey guys!" Numbuh 2 waved with his healthy right hand while Numbuh 4 grinned awkwardly at them.

Fanny growled in annoyance, "what the hell just happened?!"

The group then suddenly gasped collectively as a big purple creature that looked like a cat stepped out from the same door that Numbuh 2 and 4 had come out just a few minutes ago.

"HOLY CHEESE-WHAT IS THAT?!" Numbuh 60 shouted in alarm as he and the rest of the guards took out their KND weapons and aimed it to the large creature behind them.

"NO! DON'T SHOOT! She's a friend!" Numbuh 3 hurriedly came out of the ship and stood firmly in front of the large purple cat with her arms wide open.

Then, to everyone's surprise, Lizzie and Numbuh 74.239 also came out from the ship and stood next to each side of Numbuh 3.

"At ease soldiers! No need for any weapons here. We are all friends!" Gabe chuckled nervously.

Numbuh 60 lowered his weapon and looked at Numbuh 86 with confusion.

"Gabe? Lizzie? What the-why are you with them?!" Fanny questioned severely, clearly remembering that only Sector V had departed from the Moon Base in the S.P.A.C.E.C.H.A.S.E.R.

Gabe looked at Lizzie who seemed to silently sweat in her human disguise, "well it's a funny story actually-"

"We don't have time for stories now" suddenly the unmistakable voice of the Supreme Leader Numbuh 5 came out from within the spaceship.

Upon light finally hit her, the KND soldiers gasped in shock as everyone noticed the unconscious body she was now carrying on her shoulders.

It was Nigel Uno, aka Numbuh 1.

"I need the medical staff to take care of the wounded. Numbuh 1 must be kept handcuffed and in custody all the time until further notice. Numbuh 3 will come with you and help you take care of…what was your number again?" she glanced at the large alien cat.

"Numbuh 9L" Gabe answered for her.

"Right, Numbuh 3 will lead the medical staff into attending Numbuh 9L's wounds. I don't want any questions for now-" she cut herself mid-sentence as a loud screeching sound was heard from the distance.

They all turned around and saw the Falcon Alpha suddenly turn around and fly away at full speed towards Earth, leaving a tray of starry dust behind it.

The KND operatives blinked silently in confusion as the Supreme Leader once again cleared her voice to speak again.

"Ok, maybe SOME explanations are actually due... Numbuh 86!" she suddenly ordered.

Fanny straightened herself in attention, "yes, Supreme Leader?"

"Call Sector L and tell them to come to the Moon Base immediately, with all their cameras and stuff!" she commanded while a medical operative came to her to help her with the unconscious form of Nigel.

"Numbuh 5 needs to send a message"

/

[KND Moon Base – Global Command Meeting Room]

"Alright, I don't want to drag this emergency meeting too much but I figured that I, at least, have to brief you on what happened in Pluto before addressing everyone else…" Numbuh 5 leaned on her hands on the large meeting table while looking at all the main core of the Moon Base Global Command.

Numbuh 86 and 60 were present along with the KND chief of Global Communications, Numbuh 65.3. Lizzie and Gabe had also been allowed in the meeting, as Numbuh 5 knew she would need them to back her up in what she was sure was probably the most unbelievable crazy situation the entire organization of Kids-Next-Door has seen itself involved.

The members of Sector V were all standing around Numbuh 5, with Numbuh 3 and 4 at her left and Numbuh 2 at her right. You could clearly read in their worried faces the magnitude of the situation they were about to explain.

Abby took a deep breath and continued, "I'm also fully aware that what I'm about to tell ya it's probably…very difficult to believe in the first place. However, before we departed to Pluto 48 hours ago, I came beforehand with a plan to bring proves of whatever we were to encounter in our trip, so I asked Numbuh 2 to install small spy cameras on my helmet and on certain clothes of the rest of the team to have everything recorded." She smirked and paused as she takes a minute to read all the surprised expressions on everyone in the room. Even Lizzie and Gabe seemed surprised at the secret maneuver.

"I plan to show some of the images of these recordings in my speech to give the proper weight of veracity to the situation. This way all our forces will be fully aware of the magnitude of the situation and start taking the crisis seriously. Something tells me the evacuation is taking longer than expected because some operatives think this is a very elaborated April's fool joke or something" she said slowly and with a slight tone of annoyance.

Numbuh 86 and 60 blushed in embarrassment and coughed nervously but Numbuh 5 still smiled at them.

"I'm not blaming you guys, don't worry, I know you did your best to push everyone to move their butts and go along with what I left instructed. Seems to me skepticism is the only culprit, and that's why we need to end it now and today."

She looked at Lizzie and Gabe and with her hand she signaled them to come to her side.

As they walked towards her, Numbuh 5 took off her helmet and handed it over to Numbuh 2, who already had a USB cable in his hand to connect to it.

"I'm going to show you EVERYTHING we saw up there…but there are certain images I will not show to the rest of KND…"

Fanny, Patton and Herbie looked at her with questioning eyebrows raised.

Abby smirked with confidence, "we found out we have some allies in this mess but I don't think they want their identities to be revealed publicly just yet."

She said as Numbuh 2 plugged the cable in the helmet and the omnipotent image of the massive GKND Spaceship appeared on the room's tv screen.

/

[A few hours later]

Numbuh 60, 86 and 65.3 had frozen and gone pale completely, with their jaws now hitting the floor and their eyes bulged out of their skulls as they stared in stupefaction at both the now blank tv and the recently revealed real forms of Lizzie and Gabe.

"I want you all to formally meet Numbuh Vine, also known as Lizzie Devine, who unfortunately has her voice compromised right now as a punishment for warning us about the GKND plans. And well, you all already know Gabe, Numbuh 74.239, who is also an alien KND operative and has recently decided to take our side and is willing to cooperate with us by giving us all the technical information about our enemy".

Abby said, not being able to help the amused grin that was no curled on her lips. Kuki giggled behind her sleeves as the trio in front of them opened and closed their mouths repeatedly as if trying to form words.

"I guess the aliens got their tongues this time, uh?" Numbuh 2 said jokingly while elbowing Numbuh 4 in an attempt to light up the mood, and for once Wally couldn't help but chuckle.

"Any questions? I need to check if Sector L has already arrived" Abby urged but then saw with shock Numbuh 60 fall to his knees.

"I can't believe he was right!" he suddenly shouted with his hands on each side of his head, "this is madness! All those stories! All those crazy theories-oh my god all his theories were right! I'm such a fool! Please decommission me so I can forget about this humiliation!"

Sector V collectively arched an eyebrow at the now hysterical teen.

"Uhm…who are you talking about now?" Numbuh 5 asked now scratching the side of her head.

Numbuh 86 hurried to help Numbuh 60 to stand up and slapped him hard on the face, shocking everyone out of their skins in surprise.

"Damnit Patton, don't have a stupid teenager break down now! Hold yourself together or I swear I'll put a plunger in ya face!" she angrily snarled at him while pulling him from his collar.

Patton rubbed his cheek and looked at the freckled girl with pain in his eyes, "ouch Fanny, that hurt!...thanks?"

Fanny let him go and with a smirk she dusted her hands off proudly, "anytime mate! You'll probably need to put some ice there later-"

"Ehem!" Numbuh 5 coughed and got their attention back, "can you please explain now who were you talking about now? Whose theories are you referring to?"

Fanny and Patton exchanged glances and then looked at their Supreme Leader with serious expressions.

Fanny began, "Numbuh 101, ma'am. Somehow he had all these theories about Sector Alpha that turned out to be accurate. He even came to us once in the cafeteria to tell us who he believed were part of the current secret sector and-" she suddenly stopped mid-sentence as the realization hit her.

"Wait…did you…was she there too?" Numbuh 86 came closer to Numbuh 5 and grabbed her by the shoulders.

Abby wasn't sure what she was asking now but there was a strange glim of hope in her eyes.

"Was Rachel too with you in Pluto?!" Fanny finally said with an excited smile.

Wally, Kuki and Hoagie were taken aback now. Abby had gone wide-eyed too. None of the images they had shown them had in it Rachel but Sector V had indeed seen the ex-Supreme Leader, along with Maurice, help rescue Chad.

Numbuh 5 frowned at the chief of decommissioning in confusion, "I-what makes you think she was there?"

"Matt thinks she was, or is, part of Sector Alpha" Numbuh 86 let her shoulders go and looked at her with an expression mixed with confusion.

"He was right about Chad apparently" Patton interjected, "and he also believes Maurice is involved somehow".

Abby looked at both senior operatives with alarm at the revelation.

"Uh… and here I always thought Matt was completely off the chart in all his researches. I should have paid more attention-" Numbuh 74.239 casually commented.

"Are you telling me one single operative somehow –?" Abby shook her head and turned around to avoid Fanny's eyes.

"Was Rachel there?" Patton now asked in a hopeful whisper as Abby looked anxiously at Sector V's eyes. She knew the late Supreme Leader was a dear friend to the other two senior operatives and her decommission had hit them especially hard. The thought of her somehow still being able to remember them must have sparked some comfort to them but Abby just couldn't give them a straight answer.

"I didn't see who pulled Chad inside the Falcon so I don't know…" she didn't know why she couldn't tell them the truth yet but somehow…she sensed the secret needed to be held up for a little while.

The Supreme Leader turned around again with a serious expression, "Where is Numbuh 101 right now?" she asked them in an attempt to change the subject.

Fanny looked back at Patton.

"He's probably at the KND Seriously Cool Museum of Artifacts and Stuff, securing and doing an inventory of all the preserved KND monuments. That was one of the first treehouses we evacuated alongside the Arctic Base. It's orbiting over the North Pole right now" Patton reported.

Abby was silent for a minute thinking, "tell him to come to the Moon Base. I want to know where are these theories of him coming from".

Suddenly Lizzie started to move her veins in an attempt to speak. Gabe spoke on her behalf, "do you think he might be a spy?" he said with surprise.

"A spy? That nerd?" Wally snorted but then went rigid upon noticing Abby's very deep and serious frown.

"We'll see. Don't let him speak with anyone else until we have spoken with him first."

/

[Earth – 04:15pm]

"Hey Delta…hehehe…wake up!"

Chad's eyes began to slowly open after hearing again the ethereal laughing voice echoing in his mind. At first, his vision was blurry and unfocused so he couldn't see much around the darkness that seemed to be now surrounding him.

"Where am I now?" he groaned, feeling his numbed body finally starting to fully awake, with his muscles complaining in pain.

He blinked a few more times until his eyes finally managed to distinguish a fan moving slowly above his head.

"A fan?" he suddenly realized he was lying flat on his back, on top of something soft and warm. He then noticed a lightweight resting on top of him.

"uh?" very slowly and painfully he rose his head to see what was pressing on his stomach.

After blinking confusedly for a few seconds his eyes went wide, not believing what was he seeing.

There, curled against his stomach completely asleep was the head of Rachel T. Mackenzie. A couple of bandages were falling off the hand she was using as a pillow to sleep on top of his stomach.

"Rache-?" his eyes then moved to her side and went even wider as he noticed the form of Maurice also sleeping next to her.

"Mo-?" a loud snore to his left surprised him.

Turning slightly he finally recognized the figure also sleeping soundly next to his ear.

"Ace…" he said in annoyance. The pilot was lying flat on his back right next to him and his snores were so loud he wondered how he hadn't awoken everyone in the neighborhood by now.

"Wait…" it suddenly came to him. Neighborhood…he looked around him and saw all the normal human-made furniture around him, the pillows under his head and body, the two jackets he was using as a blanket, the familiar warmth of the end of summer, the sound of the street outside.

After almost a year and a half living in the cold space, he was back on Earth…he was back with his friend…he was finally-

"Home" he smiled as his eyes became glossy, "I'm home" he chuckled not believing it. "I'm back" he laughed fully as tiny tears formed in the corner of his eyes.

The rumble of his laugh began to awaken Rachel.

"so loud" she mumbled sleepily and raised her head to glare at the source of the noise.

After blinking a few times, she shook her head violently and saw Chad straight in the eyes with her eyes full of concern.

He smiled at her with one tear rolling down his cheek, "Hey there…" he greeted her weakly.

"YOU CRAZY STUPID BUTT-HEAD!"

Chad was caught off guard as she went and iron hugged him hard. The commotion began to also awake Maurice and Ace.

"Ouch Rache!-easy!"

"DON'T YOU 'EASY' ME NOW YOU JACKASS, WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!" she scolded him angrily as tears rolled down her eyes.

Ace put on his glasses and smirked knowingly as Maurice shook the sleepiness off himself.

"I know…I know…" Chad said and smiled apologetically at Rachel and then at Maurice and Ace, "I'm really sorry…" he said and looked away in honest shame.

Rachel growled, shoved her head against his chest and cried angrily.

Maurice sighed and came closer to the two ex Supreme Leaders; "Damnit bro, you really need to stop doing this to us!" he too scolded and hugged them both. "If we had arrived one minute too late, you would have been goners".

Chad was about to say something when Ace went in and dog piled them all with another euphoric hug, "awwwwww this feels nice, just like the good old times! You really scared us back there, mister 'best-there-is'" he said while patting his head like a dog.

Chad rolled his eyes in annoyance but still moved one of his arms to hug his very obnoxious old friend, "to be honest, you were the only one I didn't miss much".

Ace lifted himself and made a very fake but very overdramatic offended gasp, "how could you not miss your own super cool second-in-command, who just so valiantly rescued you with the greatest and fastest space-ship there is in this galaxy?" he said with his arms wide open and the cockiest grin possible.

An angry vein popped on Chad's forehead just as Maurice and Rachel rolled their eyes at both.

"You're welcomed by the way" Ace winked with a chuckle and Chad went mad red.

"Quit it now both of you!" Rachel finally commanded, "we don't have the time for you to rekindle on your old stupid macho banters".

"You!" she pressed her index finger at Chad's nose, "I think you should go and take a shower, right now!"

Chad blinked and then pulled on his shirt's collar to smell himself. He blushed in embarrassment upon noticing that he was indeed a bit smelly.

"And You!" Rachel then pointed at Ace, "it's your turn to pay for the pizzas".

Maurice smirked as Ace pouted in annoyance, "but, shouldn't be Chad's turn by now?!"

Chad arched an eyebrow at him, "oh I'm sorry, I didn't bring my space wallet with me" he said sarcastically.

Ace groaned and shoving his hand inside his blue jean's pocket he took out his yellow iPhone and began to dial, "hermano I swear, you own us all like a lifetime of pizzas!"

Suddenly the lights of the living room were fully turned on and everyone went blind.

"AH! ESTOY CIEGO!" Ace shouted dramatically, even though he was wearing his aviator glasses.

"What the hell man?!" Maurice complained.

"Oh crud…" Rachel's troubled voice made them turn to look at what she was currently seeing.

There, standing right in the entrance of the living room was a well-known freckled blond-haired boy, with one hand on the lights' switch and the other tucked inside one of the pockets of its teal-colored hoodie.

The quartet of teenagers went pale upon recognizing him.

"Harvey…" Rachel sweated nervously as her younger brother blew out a piece of bubble gum and made it pop soundly with a bored expression plastered on his face.

He shoved his free hand inside the pockets of his hoodie and arched an eyebrow at her, "do mom and dad know about this… little slumber party of yours?" he suddenly smirked teasingly.

Chad, Maurice and Ace went fully tomato red in embarrassment as Rachel tensed angrily, "it's not what it looks like!" she stood up angrily and glared daggers at her younger brother.

"I'm pretty sure they won't agree with you on this, big sis" he continued to tease to everyone's shock.

He then gave a long good look at the boys who were there and recognized them all, "Oh if it's only you three… I always wondered why you boys stopped visiting my sis all those years ago…wow Dickson, did a truck run over you? What's up with all those bandages?… well I´m glad to know you're back, your team has been losing big time these past two seasons-"

Rachel then marched decisively towards him and towered above him menacingly, "shut up…what do you want?" she suddenly asked him furiously.

Harvey smirked up at her, "You mean, what's my price so I don't let our folks know you were napping with your three boyfriends in our living room?" he made her blush completely in furious embarrassment.

"PRICE?! I think we are both EVEN after you smashed our neighbors' windows while you were playing baseball with your friends!" she spat angrily at him.

Harvey however arched and eyebrow confusedly at her, "what? When did that even happen?"

"What-Oh don't pretend you don't remember! You were with Tommy, Patrick and-" Rachel suddenly went rigid as she remembered.

She face-palmed herself, "of course you don't remember…" she said and Harvey seemed even more confused.

She sighed exasperatedly.

Suddenly Maurice came closer to both with something in his hand, "here Harvey, be cool and take this" he said as he handed the boy 20 bucks.

Rachel went wide-eyed, "Mo, no-!"

"Alright!" Harvey swiftly took the dollars off his hand, "You are my favorite now, Maurice! I'll keep my mouth shut. You guys better leave though before Mom and Dad arrive from their seminar".

Harvey turned around and walked away while whistling. Rachel and Maurice followed him with their eyes until he climbed the stairs and heard him get in his room.

Rachel crossed her arms and side glared at Maurice with a blush, "you didn't have to do that, now I own you!"

Maurice, however, smiled sweetly at her, "Nah, don't worry about it".

"What's up with him? He seems different" Chad suddenly questioned out loud while standing up weakly.

Ace stood up too and smirked, "oh yeah you don't know about it" he began to explain while taking his aviator jacket from the floor and putting it on, "Numbuh 5 decommissioned him about a year ago or so".

Chad was surprised, "she what?! Really?! And you were ok with it?!" he looked at Rachel who shrugged at him.

"I would have done it myself if he weren't my brother, you know?" she admitted, making Maurice and Ace chuckle.

Chad blinked a few times, "damn you were right, she's good for the job".

Rachel and Maurice smirked proudly.

"She's surely going to be better than the last two stressed blondes that were in charge" Ace said teasingly as he walked past them, earning double glares from the ex Supreme Leaders.

"I think it's time we truly get back home! ¡Vamos!" Ace said cheerfully and the other three teenagers followed him out of the Mckenzie house.

/

Upon reaching the house street entrance, Chad clumsily stumbled on something invisible and fell flat on his face.

Maurice, Ace and Rachel turned around to look at him in confusion.

The blond teen stood on his knees and rubbed his face painfully as a loud screechy sound seemed to laugh ominously next to him.

He rolled his eyes and glared at the empty space next to him.

"Very funny…hello to you too, Falcon" he grumbled while looking up un-amusedly at the 4 large laughing glowing eyes that suddenly appeared above him.

The laughing yellow, red, green and blue eyes screeched a few times.

Ace laughed loudly, "he said he had missed your grumpy face a lot too".

Chad stood up and dusted himself off, "sure he did," he said still glaring at the invisible ship.

A luminous neon yellow square appeared next to Chad and quickly shapeshifted into an airplane door. It opened wide, revealing the interior of a very advanced airplane cockpit.

The look of the interior suddenly made him remember his last vision.

"It's the same" he murmured.

Maurice, Rachel and Ace came closer to him, "the same what?"

Chad looked at them with a serious frown, "I had a dream…or perhaps a vision? I'm not sure but I have been seeing these images ever since…"

They saw him shove one of his hands inside his worn-out grey pants and take out his red iPhone.

They blinked curiously as the symbol of Delta suddenly appeared in the cellphone's screen and began to glow intensively. The phone then became pure red light and morphed into a new shape.

They gaped as the phone had now transformed into the hilt of the Delta Sword.

Ace was sparkling with excitement, "SANTA MARIA, the sword DID fuse with your iPhone just as I predicted! Oh man, I love this alien tech so much!" he came closer to see the famous legendary weapon up close.

Chad gave him a small smile, "yeah, your little invention worked alright. The hilt seemed completely damaged before but then it repaired itself upon merging with the phone you made out of the tech you created from copying the falcon's alien components".

Maurice and Rachel also came closer and looked at the hilt in awe.

"So, chances are that it will also work with the other remaining weapons?" Maurice asked his second-in-command.

Ace grinned excitedly, "oh you bet it will! I'll let Falcon eat me if it doesn't!"

The ship however screeched in clear disgust at the idea.

The pilot rolled his eyes, "of course I'm tasty, after all, I'm the most guapo of the team!"

Chad, Rachel and Maurice arched incredulous eyebrows at him.

"Anyway! There's no time to waste then! Let's get back the base so we can start tracking the other Alpha Weapons" Ace sprinted inside the ship excitedly.

"Wait, Ace. Are you talking about-?" Chad seemed shocked as Maurice grinned fondly at him.

"What did you think I meant with 'going home', hermano?! Hahaha!" He heard him respond from within the ship as the engines started to come alive again.

/

After flying at full speed over the United States, passing right over Florida and then over Puerto Rico, the Falcon crossed thru the familiar stormy weather of the zone known as the Bermuda Triangle.

When the rain and lightning stopped, the thick fog cleared and a small island suddenly appeared in the distance, washed over the warm rays of the sunset.

Chad, Rachel and Maurice were smiling in awe with their eyes glossy and full of nostalgia.

Ace grinned knowingly as he pulled from the video game steering wheel and lowered the Falcon for landing.

—-

The metallic claws of the Falcon were gently washed by the beach waves as the powerful alien ship became fully visible and stretched out its wings in a relaxed manner, shaking his head and chirping happily as he looked at the four human figures step inside the forest at the end of the beach.

"You guys are going to love the few new additions I've been working on the place these last years. Don't worry, I didn't go too overboard with it, I respect the place just as much as everyone else, you know? But I mean, let's be honest here for a sec. The place is still THE oldest Tree House on the entire planet after all so… remodeling was meant to happen sooner or later!"

Ace lifted a few large palm leaves out of their way and grinned fondly at the view.

Chad, Rachel and Maurice walked slowly ahead of him and gasped in marvel at the image unfolding in front of them.

There, right crossing over a large blue and teal lake and surrounded by the most beautiful and greenest swamp, a giant odd-looking old tree rose above a tall rocky outcropping, so tall it seemed to even reach the mountains behind in the distance, with roots that glowed dimly neon teal under the water. The trunk was thick and long and raised above the other much smaller trees of the swamp. In its base you could see 4 animals perfectly carved like rocky totems, circling the giant tree's base in a protecting manner: a lion facing the north, a falcon facing the south, a killer whale facing the west and a winged dragon facing the east. Five thick main branches came out at the top of the trunk rising in five different levels of height with even smaller branches curling and intertwining with each other as they all grew higher towards the sky. Then you could see five small houses made of wood were located in each of the five thickest branches and a sixth one of bigger size was located right in the middle and on the top of the trunk, connecting the other 5 smaller houses thru flying bridges and slide tunnels also made of wood.

The leaves of the tree were curiously very similar to the ones the KND Moon Base also seemed to grow, but instead of orange, these were teal colored.

Rachel covered her mouth with her hands as Maurice whistled largely next to her.

"Man, was this place always this beautiful?" he chuckled with a warm nostalgic smile.

"I guess that's the magic of building a treehouse out of simpler materials instead of random junk" Chad chuckled too in sarcasm.

"It might look 'vintage' in the outside but I assure you, this is probably the most technologically advanced Tree House there is in the planet, even more than any of the newer orbital KND bases," Ace sighed dreamily.

"I understand why you guys didn't want to come back here after…well after that whole mess".

Chad, Rachel and Maurice looked at Ace with sad understanding eyes.

"But I guess I've always been the most sentimental of the team and just couldn't stop coming back here. Of course, being an off-the-grid agent gave me a lot more liberty to go and come whenever I pleased, especially since our Tree House doesn't appear in any of the KND nor adult-tech radars there is, so of course this place became my immediate get-go hideout…but naturally, I eventually grew bored of just having the whole place to myself so that's why I started to get myself busy and go into full remodeling mode…"

He rubbed the back of his neck and smiled sheepishly at his teammates.

"Oh Ace…" Rachel smiled apologetically at him, "why didn't you tell us?"

"Eh, I don't know…I guess I was brooding too in my way, plus you guys were pretty busy being Supreme Leaders so I guess you didn't have the time to come anyway…" he shrugged dismissively, making Chad and Rachel burrow the frowns in sorrow.

"Mo did come after he got 'decommissioned' and got surprised to find me. He was just as shocked as me finding out he hadn't been decommissioned hahaha", he chuckled.

Maurice grinned, "Yeah, that was one weird hilarious day. I was walking home, you know? Pretending to have been decommissioned and stuff when suddenly Falcon showed up in the middle of the street, which was pretty scary and reckless of him, mind you, but still, he didn't stop screeching at me until I finally boarded him and he took me back here. I was exploring the place, completely absorbed in nostalgia when suddenly Ace's head popped out from the ceiling with his face all covered in sweat and oil. We blinked at each other silently for like 1 long minute, not knowing what to do, until I finally simply said 'Ace?' and just with that-"

"We both knew!" Ace completed for him, "I mean, I didn't know exactly why, but I didn't care much, all I knew was that he still remembered me and suddenly we were back to the good old days! He even helped me with a few remodeling ideas of his own!"

"Then, after I met Chad at the DCFTL party and discovered he too had fake-betrayed KND, following the same orders the Super Computermabob gave to me, I told Ace to keep this a secret because I just KNEW Rachel was going to join us too in no time and I insisted to keep it as a surprise!" Maurice said excitedly.

Rachel and Chad both grinned happily at their tale.

"Well, color me surprised indeed. Are the showers working?" Chad asked as they all walked towards a boat near them.

"Yup, and we now have hot water too" Ace answered him proudly.

"Awesome!"

—

They boarded an elevator made of bamboos and rapidly began to ascend the massive tree trunk, going between the Dragon and the Lion totems and passing thru many lose vines until they finally reached the house at the top.

When the doors of the elevator opened, Chad and Rachel loudly gasped.

"HOLY COW!"

"Now this is what I call: IMPROVEMENT!"

The central house might have looked rustic and old fashioned like a traditional tree hut in the outside, but the inside it was definitely the opposite. While the walls and floor kept being all made of wood, there was new furniture now decorating the interior.

There was a big fireplace right in the center of the room, with its firebox made linked to a long copper neck that went up high until reaching the top of a glass ceiling, which was made of many large hexagonal crystal windows that formed a beautiful dome with a view to the other top 5 houses above the three and the starry sky.

There was a pool table on the other side of the fireplace that was also right next to a library wall full of books, comic books and video games. A large L-shaped Sofa was in front of the pool table and there was a giant flat tv screen on the wall in opposed to it, with a large super tech computer keyboard, very similar to the one the KND Global Command had in the Moon Base Tree House but obviously much modern.

Right at the end of the living room, you could see part of the kitchen, as some of the wooden kitchen cabinets and marbled countertops peeked from behind a rustic bar stool kitchen island.

The house also had 4 balconies enclosed behind sliding doors made of glass and wood that helped to keep the living room's warmth. Each balcony had a flying leader that connected the central house with the other 5 different houses on top of the tree.

Rachel and Chad had stars on their eyes.

"Dude...I'm freaking moving out of my parents' house right now, this place is now something else!" The tall blond ex Supreme Leader couldn't help but grin largely in awe.

"Wow Ace, Mo, you guys outdid yourselves. I feel bad we didn't get to help you!" Rachel admitted with honest embarrassment.

"Well, we left your rooms with the same decors they had before we disbanded so you guys can decide what to keep and what to add" Maurice mentioned.

"Yeah so all your rainbow monkey collection is STILL there, Golden Girl" Ace said teasingly while wiggling his eyebrows.

Rachel blushed embarrassingly, "geez, I should donate a few of those I guess".

"You can keep your most favorite, just as I did" Maurice smiled softly.

Chad arched an eyebrow at him, "you kept yours?"

"Yeah man, no way I was going to leave it at the KND Cool Museum of artifacts and stuff. My mom gave it to me!" He said proudly.

"Uh...I pretty much left everything of my stuff in the Moon Base when I-"

"When you did that stupid stunt that I had to somehow fix after you?!" Rachel suddenly said while glaring daggers at him.

Ace and Maurice stepped a few steps back from the blond duo, already sensing a storm they knew was long overdue.

Chad looked at the now very angry form of Rachel and smiled with fear.

"Oh that! Hehehe yeaaaaaaah...you still angry at me about that"

"OF COURSE I AM, DICKSON!"

Chad sighed in defeat, "look...I know it wasn't exactly my best plan but I didn't have many options, you know? I mean, coincidentally the Super Computermabob had ordered me to skip decommission so I could continue with Operation A.L.P.H.A. the exact same day we received the intel about Cree's plan to detach the Moon Base to launch it to the sun!" He defended.

"Yeah but we had A PLAN to counter-attack HER PLAN, but YOU still decided to do things YOUR stupid way and then expected ME to pick up after your mess!" Rachel yelled at him.

"No! I didn't mean that! I-I!" Chad stammered, lifting his hands in front of him in case she decided to do something drastic, "I panic, ok?! Everything just happened way too fast- I'm sorry! I'm really sorry!"

"And you got Sector V completely decommissioned you butthead! If it wasn't because Fanny managed to miraculously fix the old Recommissioning Module, they would have been permanently GONE!" she yelled loudly at his face.

"Ye-yeaaaaaah…that…that was a huge mistake on my part"

"ONLY THAT?!"

"NO! Argh! I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I know I own you for life!"

Ace and Mo very slowly began to walk back towards the kitchen.

"Soooo Mo, mi hermano, I think we have some frozen pizzas in the fridge we could work on while these two work out their old business, yes?" Ace smiled sheepishly as the two saw Chad went to his knees and begged Rachel for mercy.

"Yeah! Sounds like a solid plan, let's leave them be for a few minutes" and with that, they both ran into the kitchen.

/

[KND Moon Base - 7:50pm]

"With all due respect, Supreme Leader, ma'am, I still think the measure you're proposing is just too drastic and-and-" Numbuh 65.3 stammered while cleaning the nervous sweat off his chubby face.

"Controversial?" Numbuh 5 completed for him in a monotonous tone while she flipped through the pages of her speech, revising all her words one final time before the global broadcast.

They were all now at the KND Moon Base Auditorium, with many KND operatives now taking seats while members of Sector L were running around them working with the cameras and microphones.

"To say the least, yes," the global chief of communications said while peeking behind the curtains to see the hundreds of innocent faces awaiting outside.

"Not to mention that you are going to leave us without jobs!" Numbuh 4 suddenly complained with Numbuh 86 standing next to him with her arms crossed and also looking silently troubled by what Numbuh 5 had just decided to announce along with her speech.

"I honestly don't know if Rachel…or Chad…would have done what you're about to do…" Fanny said uncharacteristically worried.

Abby looked at both and for a second she too seemed doubtful too.

"We spent two hours discussing this Fanny, and we voted and we all agreed this was our best option…numerically speaking it will prevent us from losing any more valuable operatives before the invasion happens and…it will also send a message to the other party involved…" Numbuh 60 defended.

"Well of course you'll be happy about the measure 'cause it coincidentally benefits you!" Wally spat angrily at him, earning a deep glare from the senior operative.

"Enough!" Supreme Leader Numbuh 5 said severely, "Numbuh 5 is not taking back her decision and doesn't care if no Supreme Leader has done this before. Do I have to remind you that we can't fight this war alone? We don't have the numbers and we need the numbers, so we need everyone involved and the only thing we can do to get that is by offering some kind of truce with all parties. I know the last time we tried a truce it failed miserably in our faces, but this time…this time none will have a choice".

Abby's words were hard to swallow but it managed to make Numbuh 4 and 86 look away and sigh in resignation. They knew she was right and that indeed there was no other option this time.

"The only downside I see of this plan" Gabe suddenly interjected with a tone of fear, "is that THIS decision will definitely not sit well with Numbuh Omega…he will be 1000% furious and when he is furious… things can get even more dangerous" he warned and Lizzie silently nodded next to him.

Numbuh 5 nodded with a serious frown, "I'm aware of it…but this is why I also think the measure will help us to keep him distracted while our other secret ally collect all the forces they need to fight him!" she whispered with a confident small smirk

"Supreme Leader Numbuh 5, everything is ready for you".

The Global Command turned around at the same time to address the new female voice joining them.

It was a beautiful girl dressed in a white skirt wearing a green vest over a white turtle neck, matching white long socks that reached up to her knees and perfectly well kept black leather shoes. She had long wavy orange hair styled in a tall ponytail, green emerald eyes and a beauty mark on the right cheek of her sun-tanned face.

Everyone automatically blushed at the sight of the famous prettiest-there-is of the whole KND.

"Ah, Numbuh 10!" Herbie swiftly took off his helmet and tried to comb his hair.

Abby seemed surprised, "Wow you guys work fast, I thought we still had another hour before the transmission".

Numbuh 10 smiled softly, "Well I believe such an important message from our Supreme Leader will certainly reach much more viewers if we manage to broadcast it at the same time block of our KND Nightly News program, so that's why we worked as fast as possible to be able to start broadcasting at 8 pm sharp. Am I right Global Chief Numbuh 65.3?"

Hebert blushed deeply, "ye-yes! It was really kind of you to cede the time of your very popular program for us to transmit our message to the entire KND, lady Numbuh 10".

Fanny rolled her eyes largely, "oh for the love of Numbuh Zero, it's not like that stupid show is more important than our message anyway! She didn't do ANYTHING heroic, she just did her duty!"

Everyone silently stared at the sudden angry snap of Numbuh 86.

"Fanny! Now it's not the right time!" Numbuh 60 whispered and grabbed her by her shoulders.

"YOU are nothing special, YOU HEAR ME!" Fanny pointed her finger angrily at Numbuh 10 who seemed completely confused at her outburst.

"What the hell is wrong with you now, Numbuh 86?!" Abby said angrily as Patton gently dragged his friend away.

"So-so sorry guys, don't mind us- come on Fanny, let's grab a cup of hot cocoa" Patton dragged an angry mumbling Numbuh 86 away from the backstage.

Numbuh 3 giggled secretly as Numbuh 2 and 4 looked at each other with the same questioning frowns.

"Sorry about that Numbuh 10, I really don't know what was that about now," Abby said apologetically.

Numbuh 10 shrugged, "It's alright, Supreme Leader, I just hope I haven't offended the general in any way. I admire her very much" she said.

She then turned towards Lizzie and grabbed her hands with her eyes shining with a sad smile, "I hope we can catch up after the broadcast my friend. I've missed you so much. I hope General Numbuh 3 can find a cure so you can recover your voice soon".

Lizzie smiled and hugged her old friend tightly. She then moved her hands a few times and Gabe translated for her.

"She said she hopes you still keep considering her your friend after you see the Supreme Leader's message," he said with his eyes furrowed sadly.

"But of course we will, why would the message change that?" she asked.

But before Gabe could say anything else, Numbuh 11.0 who was the other KNN anchorman of Sector L appeared behind them.

"We are officially ready, Victoria, the Supreme Leader can now enter stage whenever she's ready!" he informed his sector leader.

"Victoria? That's your name?" Kuki asked excitedly.

"Yes, Victoria Prime" Numbuh 10 said smiling, "My father named me after one of the Queens of England. Just like you, right Lizzie?"

Lizzie blushed but smiled happily for the first time since she had lost her voice.

"I have to go now. I hope I can visit my cousin at the KND hospital later. Good luck with your message, Supreme Leader!" Numbuh 10 turned AND gave Numbuh 5 a thumbs up before walking towards where the rest of Sector L was waiting for her.

Abby glanced at Kuki once she was sure Numbuh 10 wasn't in their hearing range.

"So, what's up with Numbuh 86 and Numbuh 10 that I'm unaware of?" she saw Kuki grinned largely at her.

"Oh that's her gossip grin alright," Hoagie said while Wally shook his head next to him.

"Spit it out, Sanban!" Abby ordered with a smirk of her own.

"Ok well, short story version. You remember you sent Rachel to a full covered vacation to Sector J right before her decommission, right?" Kuki said hurriedly as the music of the KND Nightly News started to play loudly in the auditorium speakers.

"Yes? What about it?"

"Well…guess who she took with her to her little vacation? I'll give you a clue, it wasn't either Fanny nor Patton!" Kuki said with mirth.

Abby, Hoagie and Wally were now very surprised.

"She took Numbuh 10? Why? I didn't even know they were friends in the first place" Numbuh 5 said while scratching the side of her head.

"Oh Abby" Numbuh 3 giggled, fully enjoying herself, "You don't know half of all the juicy rumors there are about the mystery surrounding the Supreme Leaders and Numbuh 10!"

"Wait, Chad too?" Wally asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Oh yeah"

Abby rolled her eyes largely, "Numbuh 5 deeply regrets asking…forget it, I don't need to know anything more about this soap opera" she said, turning around and marching towards the stage.

/

[McClintock High School's Gymnasium – 8 pm – Teen Ninja Weekly Meeting]

"So, you're saying none can actually tell me what happened to our remaining 3 General Captains after they disappeared from our radar since last Friday?!" Cree angrily snarled at Stacey who flinched in fear before her.

"I-I…I'm afraid so, your grace. None has been able to locate them. Their parents did say they have been in contact with them through their cellphones and mentioned something about picking up an old friend of theirs at the national airport and spending the weekend camping? The intel's kinda confusing" the Lieutenant of the Cheerleader Squad tried to explain.

"An old friend?" Steve, who was sitting casually on his 'throne' seat right at the top of the gym's bleachers, perked in attention but remained relaxed with his arms crossed behind his head.

"Oh I hope that means 'good news' for all of us!" he said cheerfully.

Cree, who had been standing next to him, glared "what the hell are you talking about now? What's so important for them to disappear out of our radars for more than 72 hours now! If they don't show up at school tomorrow I swear-"

"YOUR HIGHNESSES!" suddenly the doors of the gyms were opened sharply as a young girl of curly blond hair and blue eyes dressed in a cheerleader uniform interrupted them.

Stacey gasped loudly, "Cadet Tessa, how dare you come here and interrupt this meeting?! Do you think you're still in the Kids-Next-Door or what?!" she scolded her angrily.

Tessa, who was the actual name of the traitor operative also known as Numbuh 12, ran towards the gym stands and glared at her leader.

"I believe our queen and king will forgive my offense once they see what is currently being broadcasted all over TeenTube!" she said while sweating nervously.

Cree and Steve looked at each other and quickly picked up their phones.

"Oh hey, isn't that your little sister, my queen?" Steve said as the image of Supreme Leader Numbuh 5 appeared on his phone along with a headline that said 'Super Important Global Message from KND to the World'.

"How did they hack our server? What are the brats planning now?" Cree narrowed her eyes suspiciously as her sister began to speak.

/

[Delightful Mansion From Down The Lane]

"Kiiiiiids, who messed up with the cable now? Why am I seeing the annoying face of Numbuh 5 in all the channels?!" Father angrily complained while still dressed in his usual yellow and pink bathrobe, with several empty buckets of ice-cream scattered around him. It's been a very difficult year for him.

"Uh? We have been working on our homework this whole time, Father. We don't know what-" the 5 children said in unison as they came closer to stand next to him and the tv.

/

[Bermuda Triangle Island – Sector Alpha's Tree House – 8 pm]

Maurice and Ace glanced at each other and then to their other two friends as they all ate their pizza in very awkward silence.

Chad, who had finally had the time to take a good shower, was now dressed in a tight black shirt with a pair of grey jeans and a pair of white and black sneakers he luckily still had kept in the closet of his room of the Tree House. The clothes felt a bit tight for him now that he had obviously grown quite a bit since leaving Earth a year and a half ago, but he didn't mind much as he liked the way it made him look a bit 'muscular' for an almost 15 years old teen. The training with GKND had had its good perks in the end he guessed.

He glanced back and forth between his slide of pizza and Rachel, who refused to even look at him, obviously still angry despite the many apologies he had given her. She hadn't said another word after and instead, right after he returned from changing himself, she angrily but silently came to him and put some new band-aids on the few glass cuts he still had on his face and arms and then joined Maurice and Ace in the kitchen to have dinner.

After the group had almost eaten 4 large pizzas entirely, Rachel finally decided to speak.

"You'll pay for all the team's pizzas from now on," she said without looking at him, "that's how you're going to repay us for the trouble you have caused us all".

Ace and Maurice blinked nervously and looked at Chad expectantly.

The older ex Supreme Leader sighed, "Alright".

And with that, he finally earned a glance from her, which still felt a bit cold but it was better than her completely ignoring him.

Ace swallowed his large bite of pizza and smiled largely, "finally some truce! Alright, I know what will certainly improve all our moods right away!" he stood up from the table and ran towards the living room.

Chad and Rachel looked at Maurice with questioning frowns, but the taller guy simply shrugged and also followed him out of the kitchen.

When the trio entered the living room, they saw Ace picking up the tv remote from the pool table and turning the screen on.

The image of the KND Nightly News logo immediately appeared. "Right on time for my favorite tv show!" he told them with a big grin.

"We interrupt your normal scheduled program to give you a very important message from the KND Global Command" they all suddenly heard.

"What-aw come on don't do this to me tonight!" Ace's grin immediately disappeared.

But then the four went wide-eyed as the image of Numbuh 5 standing in the middle of the KND Moon Base Auditorium suddenly appeared.

"Abby?" Maurice said with worry as she began her speech.

"My fellow kids-next-door...and everyone else watching this transmission…"

/

Numbuh 5 was standing behind the Supreme Leader's speech podium, flanked by Sector V, Numbuh 86, Numbuh 60, Numbuh 65.3, Lizzie and Gabe. She gave a good look to all the kids present as she waited for 4 large tv screens to be lowered down from the ceiling. The screens were then turned on and the logo of KND appeared in each one of the TVs.

She took a deep breath and continued.

"I, Supreme Leader Numbuh 5, am sending this message to EVERYONE around the world to warn you about a great danger that is now threating us all equally. An enemy so powerful I'm afraid... we are not really prepared to confront it".

Murmurs were heard loudly in the auditorium.

/

[Pluto's Orbit - Omega Main Orbital Base - GKND Command Bridge]

"My emperor!" Numbuh Infinity saluted as he entered the GKND Command Bridge.

Numbuh Omega had his back to him but the squirrel alien cleared saw him raise a hand in a way of ordering him to stay quiet as he continued to watch the large holographic transmission they have intercepted from Earth's KND.

/

"As most of you know already, exactly 72 hours ago, the Global Command of the Kids-Next-Door received a very disturbing warning message from an un-registered operative identified as Numbuh Vine…Her message caused our Super Computermabob to automatically initiate a massive global evacuation protocol of all KND Tree Houses on the planet".

"The Global Command then tracked the source of Numbuh Vine's message up until Planet Pluto, and then it was decided to embark on an urgent mission to investigate the veracity of this operative warnings. Generals Numbuh 86 and 60 were ordered to stay behind to help with the evacuation while Sector V and I checked on what was supposedly happening in Pluto…"

Numbuh 5 paused and nervously glanced at Sector V for support.

/

"She's nervous," Maurice said with his frown burrowed in worry.

"Of course she is…she's gonna tell them everything…" Rachel said equally worried.

"Wait-EVERYTHING?" Chad didn't seem to like it.

"Guys…" Ace suddenly said as he checked his iPhone, "They are transmitting in all broadcasting systems on Earth…they're even on TeenTube and in the Adult News!" he said with panic.

Maurice, Rachel and Chad went pale as they all saw the screen suddenly be split in two: on the left side there was the live image of Supreme Leader Numbuh 5 and on the one in the right, there was a paused video with the image of Planet Pluto.

/

"What we found in Pluto's Orbit…was beyond anything we ever imagined or expected. But I know my retelling won't be enough for you to believe us so that's why, thanks to the hidden cameras we were all wearing during our trip, we will tonight show you what we encountered there."

The video started to play and soon a giant ominous space ship in the shape of a birthday cake slowly appeared behind the image of Planet Pluto.

Everyone in the auditorium gasped loudly.

/

[McClintock High School's Gymnasium – 8 pm – Teen Ninja Weekly Meeting]

Steve lowered his glasses and looked with utter alarm and shock what his cellphone was now showing.

"No…it can't be…"

"What kind of silly kiddy joke is this?!" Cree snorted mockingly.

/

[Delightful Mansion From Down The Lane]

Father spat out his coffee in shock.

"No! No! No! No! No! It can't be them!" He said nervously while glancing at the framed picture of an old black and white photo of his brother and him when they were still kids, standing smiley next to another girl and a boy who were both dressed in fancy British school uniforms.

"What's the matter, Father?" The Delightful Children asked intrigued.

/

[KND Moon Base]

"Upon arriving, we confirmed 3 things, with the first one being obvious: we aren't any longer the only Kids-Next-Door force there is in the universe. There is a bigger and much more technologically advanced version of us, which now we know were the ones behind the establishment of ours here on Earth centuries ago.

They call themselves: The Galactic-Kids-Next-Door."

She paused as the murmur in the auditorium grew slightly louder.

"The GKND guards escorted us and let us board their ship," she said as the images showed Sector V' ship surrounded by various smaller alien ships that followed them until they landed inside the massive Orbital Station.

"There we were received by a representative committee which led us to our second discovery" she nodded as Gabe and Lizzie gave a small step forward in front of the podium.

They exchanged one last reassuring glance at each other before shapeshifting into their real forms.

The whole auditorium went hysteric in surprise.

"HOLY MOLY-THEY ARE ALIENS!" Tommy exclaimed from his seat next to Sector W and the cadets-next-door.

On the tv monitors, the image of Numbuh Infinity appeared escorted by many other animal alien operatives and he too was shown shapeshifting into his squirrel-like alien form.

"Apparently, we have been infiltrated by GKND operatives all this time. Numbuh Infinity, Lizzie Devine and Numbuh 74.239 had been sent to our planet 3 years ago approximately to study and recruit potentially eligible human operatives to join GKND. Lizzie turned out to be Numbuh Vine, the same operative who after discovering GKND's real plan, decided to take our side, and both she and Gabe have now provided us with all the information we needed about our enemy. This is why they are here with us today." Numbuh 5 explained, managing to calm the audience a bit.

Abby braced herself for the next part of her report. Then we were confronted with our third and most dangerous discovery.

"We met with the one who is in charge of GKND. An operative we all thought was just a legend...a fairy tale."

The image of a strange-looking alien suddenly appeared on the monitor above her.

/

[Bermuda Triangle Island – Sector Alpha's Tree House]

"Is that?!" Maurice couldn't finish the question, not believing what he was seeing. Ace lowered his aviator glasses in shock as Rachel covered her mouth anxiously.

"Yeah...that's Numbuh Omega," Chad said angrily with gritted teeth.

/

"This operative is known as Numbuh Omega, Supreme Leader of the Galactic-Kids-Next-Door," Abby said with an angered tone as the murmurs in the auditorium returned.

"And yes...it's the same Numbuh Omega we all have read about. How can this be? Well, I've been informed this creature is apparently eternally young...incapable of growing up...that's how he's still here, thousands of years after the first page of the Book of KND was written". She said to everyone's horror.

She looked at the stands and noticed Tommy trying to calm down a crying Trixy Jhonson.

"He explained to us the reason behind why the evacuation protocol had been initiated for our planet. You see, being the superior force they are, GKND evaluates and decides which planets with KND colonies are worth continuing being supported. They do this by recruiting planetary operatives who are, in theory, consulted about their planets' viability. I say 'in theory' because it turns out most of the cases these operatives are forced to decide against their own will."

"Which was exactly what happened with the operative they have recently chosen to represent us".

Everyone gasped as they saw the images of a zombified Numbuh 1 using alien weapons and fighting against Sector V.

"Nigel Uno, also known as Numbuh 1, had been recruited by Numbuh Infinity and Numbuh 74.239 the day of our last CAKED mission. Apparently, he had been with the GKND the past year and a half and was effectively brainwashed into betraying us and asking for our planet to be decommissioned". She announced with a very obvious disappointed tone.

"And what is a Planetary Decommission, Supreme Leader?" An operative suddenly yelled, getting shushed by others around him.

"That's a very good question" Abby conceded as the images in the monitor changed to show some graphics.

"I'm still not sure how the GKND reached this conclusion, or if it is even true, but they concluded some time ago that adulthood is supposedly a deadly virus that has been spreading all over the universe since the beginning of time. It's their mission to eradicate the virus by finding its cure, but they haven't been able to fulfill this mission after thousands of years.

So, while they continue to search for this supposed cure, they decommission the planets that get too infected. And how does this work? After reaching the decommission verdict, they order the KND colony of say planet to immediately evacuate and be added to their space forces, which I know, sounds kind of cool in a way, until you find out what happens next. "

A simulation was shown to everyone's better understanding.

"After the evacuation is completed, GKND shoots some sort of laser cannon that immediately affects the planet's weather, lowering the temperatures to unbelievable levels until the entire planet and all inhabitants remaining on it are completely frozen and in suspended animation".

Whispers filled the auditorium again.

"The KND colony is left with no choice but to leave everyone they know above the age of 13 behind, with no real promise of ever seeing their planet or loved ones again...This means we would never see our parents, grandparents, older siblings, cousins, uncles, aunts and even friends who are 13 or older than that."

Gasps and whines echoed around.

"GKND thinks the number of teenagers and adults on our planet have increased to an alarming point, and therefore convinced...forced... Numbuh 1 into requesting a Planetary Decommission for Earth."

The auditorium grew deadly silent.

"But I didn't accept that, because I don't think they have the right to decide what's best for our planet! Yes, we might run into difficult situations with some evil adults from time to time, but I think we have been able to hold ourselves together while protecting kids all over the planet on our own so far. I also don't believe that adulthood is a virus. If that were true then they would have the cure by now! I especially believe this after Numbuh Omega revealed his true colors to us".

A new image of Numbuh Omega was shown in the monitors.

"Why are you doing this? What did we do to you?!" The recorded voice of Numbuh 5 was heard in the background.

Numbuh Omega was then shown glaring in disgust at the camera, his dangerous eyes infusing fear into everyone who was watching.

"I'm finishing what my sister started" his menacing voice echoed loudly and threatening around the auditorium.

All the kids in the auditorium suddenly began to shout and boo at his image.

"That's right! He doesn't really care about saving us!" Numbuh 5 hit her podium with her fist, "he only wants to get his revenge against us, the Kids-Next-Door, because of what happened to him the last time he fought us!" she said and everyone yelled in agreement with her.

"And you have my word that we will indeed kick him out of our galaxy, AGAIN!" she announced, earning a sudden standing ovation from the many operatives in the auditorium.

"But!" she suddenly said, silencing the room again.

"But...there is a key factor we cannot ignore...and that is...we are greatly, unfairly... outnumbered". Numbuh 5 then showed a new graphic.

"This is the current number of active operatives in KND and the current number of our functional fighting spaceships" the graphic showed the approximate number, which rounded around the 10 million.

"And this...according to both Numbuh Vine and Numbuh 74.329's information...this is the approximate number of GKND forces..."

Everyone gasped as the alarming number of 100 million blinked in red on the four tv monitors.

Panic was palpable in the air.

But then Numbuh 5 smirked with confidence.

"Thankfully we happen to count with an ally which nor we nor Numbuh Omega knew we had!"

And with that, the ominous powerful image of a falcon-shaped spaceship with the symbol of Alpha on its chest appeared gloriously in all the screens.

"Turns out we weren't in this fight alone" She declared as the ship was shown flying fast and precisely while firing at the giant GKND ship, effectively compromising the upper and lower zones of it.

/

[McClintock High School's Gymnasium – Teen Ninja Weekly Meeting]

Cree gaped in surprise.

"That ship! I remember that ship! That was the same ship that saved me and Sector V all those years ago!" she exclaimed.

/

[Delightful Mansion From Down The Lane]

Father stood up slowly, not believing what he was now watching.

"God Monty…why do you always have to be right?!" he said with panic in his voice.

/

[Bermuda Triangle Island – Sector Alpha's Tree House]

"HAHAHA LOOK AT US GOOOOO! Ah man, I have always wanted to see us fight, I'M SO FREAKING HAPPY THEY RECORDED THE WHOLE THING!" Ace yelled in utter excitement as the Falcon was shown repelling the laser shots fired at them as if they meant nothing to the powerful robotic ship.

/

[KND Moon Base]

"I'm going to admit this right now...I don't know who they are...but I think we can all agree, that just by looking at this ship, which coincidentally looks so very similar to all these paintings in all our KND History books, we all can pretty much guess who they really are" she said while also showing old paintings that looked very similar to the moving images that everyone was currently watching.

"Until further investigation proves otherwise, I'll be referring to our mysterious ally...as Sector Alpha" she declared, earning shocked gasps from the audience as images of the Falcon escaping from Pluto and then safely delivering Sector V at the Moon Base before flying away towards Earth, flashed before everyone's eyes.

/

[Bermuda Triangle Island – Sector Alpha's Tree House]

"She didn't show any images of me fighting Numbuh Omega" Chad suddenly pointed out.

Ace rolled his eyes, "awww are you angry they didn't get to show your 'hero time'?"

"What? No, you idiot!" Chad angrily slapped the back of Ace's head, "I mean, they're only showing the Falcon but nothing about us. And they did see me fighting Omega, and also had a clear view of Rachel and Mo pulling me up inside the ship. They purposely chose to not show those images publicly!" he explained.

Rachel smiled proudly, "she's buying us time...she knows the message is being watched by everyone in the world so she knows we still need our identities protected from..."

"Cree" Maurice deduced it too.

/

[KND Moon Base]

"We are very thankful for their help…but we are going to need A LOT of more help if we're planning to fight against the Galactic-Kids-Next-Door. We would literally need the help of everyone on Earth to actually have a fighting chance against them."

Abby took a deep breath as Sector V gulped heavily in unison.

"That's why…today I have taken a very difficult decision. A decision that will surely benefit us all into asserting more forces for our cause. The battle isn't anymore about kids versus adults. This is a battle for our planet, so we either ban together and win…or we will lose our planet, our lives, forever" she said as she looked at the camera intensively.

"From this day on, we will accept anyone who wishes to fight for our planet to join our forces. It won't matter if you're a kid, a teenager or an adult" she announced.

"And since we no longer can afford to lose any more operatives, today I'm also declaring… all decommissions to be officially suspended…permanently."

/

Please check on my social media for art related to the story! Plus, we now have a spotify playlist with the perfect song list to accompany your reading!

Comments and constructive critiques are really appreciated!