Waking up, Hoagie is hurt but still able to walk. He gets up to find that his jet pack is damaged.
"Ah, son a bitch." Hoagie licks the ruined technology before wandering out of the woods. He looks up into the sky, when he sees the Galactic ships appearing.
"Oh no." Fearing the worst, he immediately proceeds to sprint back to his house and hope to find his family there.
Rushing into his house, he becomes worried when nobody is around. "Hello? Mom? Grandma? Tommy?"
"Hoagie? What's the matter?" Tommy asks curiously, before he is hugged tightly by Hoagie.
"Oh thank God you're safe." Hoagie says.
"I'm fine, what's going on?" Tommy asks.
Hoagie takes Tommy to the window, where Tommy sees the alien ships coming from the sky.
"Um… what?" Tommy is a loss for words as he is now scared for his life.
"I know what I'm planning, but I need you and two other people for it to work. I need you to pack bags of clothes and supplies and meet me in the garage." Hoagie demands.
"But Hoagie-"
"Tommy, please just do what I ask." Hoagie pleads as he runs off to his room to pack a bag.
As Tommy packs a bag, he can't help but feel nervous about what Hoagie plans to do. After he has packed the necessary gear, he goes into Hoagie's room.
"I'm ready to… Hoagie are you okay?" Tommy sees Hoagie crying as he is writing letters.
"I'm… fine. I'll be fine just give me a minute." Hoagie says.
Respecting his wishes, Tommy goes to the garage to wait for him. When Hoagie enters the garage, he has finally calmed down.
"What were those letters for?" Tommy asks him curiously.
"They're letters for mom and Abigail. I left a note saying to open it when the time is right." Hoagie explains. He then pushes a button and two planes shoot up from under the concrete.
"Wow, so what are we going to be doing with these planes, Hoagie?"
"It's part of a backup plan to help fight Galactic. If they're here that means Nigel's in danger. It also means that the Villains here are likely to lash out against the KND for not warning them. I wanna keep mom and you safe. If we disappear, KND has deniability and Villains won't go after mom. I also wrote mom and Abby the letters to let them know my plan." Hoagie explains.
"So we're not gonna see mom?" Tommy sheds a tear.
"I know it's hard. But least she'll know we're safe. Abby too." Hoagie says, hugging Tommy close to him.
"So, who are we going to go see, other KND agents?" Tommy asks.
"No. You'll see when we meet them." Hoagie says. The two of them then take off from their garage.
Meanwhile, Ace Ferrara is flying in a small jet that matches that of his girlfriend, Henrietta von Marzipan. As they are cruising in the sky, they notice an alien ship that Ace promptly shoots down as it nears him.
"What was zat, mein darling?" Henrietta asks.
"I don't know, but let's get down there and check it out." Ace says. The two land their jets and proceed to inspect the ship, but before they can get close, it self-destructs.
"Well, all we can do now is look through ze rubble." Henrietta suggests.
As they look at the markings on the ship, they realize that whatever was flying the ship was not human.
"Do we tell someone?" Henrietta asks.
Before Ace can answer, a call comes in on his radio.
"Ace, do you copy? This is Hoagie Gilligan. Come in, Ace."
Ace goes to answer the radio.
"I read you, Hoagie. What's happening?" Ace asks.
"Shit's gonna be hittin' the fan pretty bad for a while. I need to meet up with you and Henrietta."
"Well I'll have to do it later, esé. We're checking this weird ship that I shot down." Ace states.
"Tell me where you are and I'll help. This is pretty goddamn important."
Ten minutes later, Hoagie and Tommy arrive at the crash site.
"What the hell happened here?" Tommy asks.
"Zis weird started flying at us, so Ace shot it down. Where could it have come from? Zese markings, zey are not human." Henrietta answers.
"Space. They come from a supposed group known as the Galactic Kids Next Door. Though from the looks of it, they may actually be our enemies." Hoagie informs the two.
"Aliens invading Earth?! Vat is Abigail doing about zis?"
Henrietta asks.
"I don't know. I'm actually thinking that the four of us band together to fight these fuckers off. Being separated from the rest of the KND… and my family will ensure their safety and give them deniability." Hoagie says to them.
"Hmm, I like the way you think. Do Abigail or your family members know?" Ace asks.
"They'll know when the time is right. I think we should have a name to call ourselves if we want KND to have deniability. We should call ourselves… The Air Berets." Tommy suggests.
"Tommy that's… actually a really cool sounding name. Ha, ya finally got one." Hoagie says, realizing that Tommy finally thought of a clever name.
"I like it. Makes us sound like a special forces unit. Good thinking, Tomás." Ace says.
"Thanks. And to make sure our name makes sense, here wear these." Tommy hands each of them a blue beret.
"You've been anticipating using these, haven't you, Tommy?" Hoagie questions.
"Well I was saving for when I either joined Sector V or W when I was a trainee. But obviously circumstances prevented that conversation from happening." Tommy explains.
"Well in any case. It is a brilliant thought in your end, Thomas." Henrietta states.
"Thanks."
"So where do we go from here?" Ace asks.
"Well I think I can link our ships' radios and GPS up to ourselves and also find any more of these alien ships throughout the world." Hoagie explains.
As Hoagie sets everything up on the ships, he finds another massive cluster of alien ships on the radar.
"Found one! It's gonna be a long trip guys, we're going to Baghdad." Hoagie says.
"Oh great. Zat place is a war zone, even without ALIEN terrorists." Henrietta sighs.
"Hey beggars can't be choosers, and it's not like we could anticipate a GOOD place to fight terrorists in." Hoagie says.
"Fair enough, Hogarth." Henrietta says.
"Well everyone, buckle in. Our fight is in Iraq, not here." Ace says. The four pilots get into their respective jets and make their way towards the aliens invading Baghdad.
End of the chapter. This was a hard chapter to write because it was difficult to write how The Air Berets come together, and why Hoagie formed them. The next chapter is going to be about Father recovering from the assassination attempt on him
