How on Earth: Chapter 4
After the kids had used the anti-aging cream, the members of the Senior Citizen Squad lead them to the living room, where there were indeed more people. The furniture had been pushed up against the walls, to make room for people to move around.
Sitting in Hoagies chair was Tommy, one of the two Citizombies that the SCS had manage to catch and put some of their anti-aging cream on. On the couch was the other, an unconscious Toilenator.
There was currently a group of kids on the floor transferring water from two half gallon jugs to spray bottles which previously held cleaner solutions or some other spray. One was a girl was Jessica, who had her stuffed rabbit Hopsy Mopsy next to her. One of the other kids was Numbuh 85, whose haircut was as bad as the rumors had hinted, if not a little worse. He had brought his little brother along. The fourth child helping was Laura Limpin, who was running back and forth, taking partially filled containers into the connected kitchen and filling them the rest of the way with water from the sink, no doubt to keep herself busy and therefore distracted from the situation. Working too fast, Jessica splashed herself and became noticeably younger, revealing the nature of the substance that they were working with.
Off to their right, there were four babies. One was Joey, with a dodge ball in hand. The other three were Jackson and a couple of his Ankle Biters, each of which had objects that looked like toys and pacifiers but were probably weapons of some type.
Finally, seated in Numbuh One's Chair was Lizzie Divine, with shopping bags placed on the ground beside her.
Darting back and forth around the room were between twenty to thirty hamsters, including Joaquin. A couple of them had been given sprayers which were probably laced with some of the fountain of youth water that the children were currently working with.
"So, is this everyone?" Monty asked.
"No. There's a whole army out on the front lawn. Didn't you see them?" Lydia Gilligan retorted sarcastically.
"There's no need to be mean, Grandma." Hoagie stated as he looked at the group that was now assembled in the sitting area in front of the television.
"So, what are we going to do now?" Numbuh Three asked.
"Well, we won't get anywhere just standing around, will we?" Numbuh Four stated, surprising everyone. "We need to see what still works around here and get ready for the fight that we all know is coming. These people here may have figured out how to get the power on but only we know how to run this place."
Numbuh Five looked at the short blonde boy. She recognized his stance as one she had seen once before and for a while, she had wondered if she would ever see this side of the Australian boy again. It had been perhaps their darkest hour before today. The tree house had been totaled, Numbuh One had been turned into an adult and the rest of the team had moved into a cardboard box for a base. It was Numbuh Four who had gotten them out of their rut and moved them to action. That was the Numbuh Four who was before them now.
She felt a wave relief for a pressure she wasn't even aware she was feeling. She hadn't wanted to take charge of their team and she had a suspicion that none of the others did either. Even if Numbuh Zero was a good leader in his day, he wasn't a kid anymore. To let him call the shots for them would undermine everything the KND stood for. Numbuh Four, when he was like this, might be able to do it.
"Numbuh Five'll go to the switch board and reroute the power to the defense grid," She said after looking at him for a few moments. "Then she'll try to get the security system up and running. It has a setting for emergencies where we might have had to allow adults in. Like what might have happened if we hadn't saved Kuki's house from exploding."
"And, I think I can calibrate some of our laser weapons to be useful against the agification process." Numbuh Two added. "Maybe we can rescue some of the other operatives as well as ourselves when the Citizombies strike.
Numbuh Four nodded, then asked, "Can somebody find out where we can place everyone for the upcoming fight?" He asked, gesturing to the people who were now staring at him in surprise. Everyone was astounded that the boy they had labeled the stupidest member of Sector V was taking control like this. Even the Toilenator had awakened at some point while the boy was talking.
"I'd be willing to do that," Numbuh Zero said, "if I can get some help from someone who's familiar with how modern bases work."
Numbuh 85 stood up and said "I can." Then he turned to Numbuh Four and said, "If you would allow me… sir."
Numbuh Four paused at the statement, the meaning of the word sinking in. Sir. He was leading Sector V, he thought. He smiled at the idea of finally leading his team.
No, he suddenly realized, he was leading the Kids Next Door. He almost lost control at the thought. He considered running into his room, blocking the door with his bed and setting up the robot he usually beat up in the training arena as a guard.
Then a voice behind him asked, "Should I get the medical stuff out?"
His mind flashed back to earlier that day, first to how Kuki had tricked him in the closet and then how they had acted while they were together by themselves after being Citizombified. He knew that a lot had been beyond their control while they were changed but he wondered, how much of her feelings were real? He knew one thing. No matter what happened they couldn't go back to what they had before, not exactly.
The two stared deep into each other's eyes until he heard someone clear their throat. He wasn't sure who it was, but it caused them to come back to reality. "Yeah, Numbuh Three, um that would be a good idea. You do that."
Then he looked around. "Well, why is everyone just standing around. I want everyone to get to work. We have a fight to get ready for and I don't think those cruddy Citizombies are going to give us time to get set up once they get here!
Hoagie's mind was at work before he was told to get moving, "I'd like to bring Tommy with me to help. Grandma, you're good with technology too, right?"
His grandmother looked at him and said, "yes but I can't go up with you right now."
"I wasn't going to ask you to. I was wondering if I drew out the schematics really quick and showed you some of our laser weapons, would you could modify some of the ones people can carry."
Under her breath, his grandmother stated, "This isn't what I went into retirement for." Then, louder, she said, "Fine. Draw it out and I'll see what Sheldon, Maurice and I can do here."
Hoagie quickly grabbed up a sheet and started drawing up what he had in mind. As his Grandma and his brother gathered around, he started explaining the schematics. After talking for a few minutes, the three came up with modifications to put the device together quicker. They could worry about durability later, when they weren't under immediate threat of attack.
Thinking about the soup gun that his dad had made for his mom and of what Betsy was capable of, Hoagie couldn't help feeling bad that he couldn't be part of this. Hoagie Gilligan Sr. would have loved this type of thing. The boy wondered if he would have been able to come up with other good ideas. He'd tried to find the schematics to the things he had made but he couldn't figure out where to look. The boy knew that they had to exist and had even found the occasional disjointed sketch and one word notes in his old office. They were the same type of notes that he would take down when he'd get design ideas in class, so that he'd have enough to be reminded of what he was thinking later but not so much as to give adults who might see them something to use. He shook his head. No point in thinking about that right now.
Satisfied with the design, Hoagie went to his room after spending a few minutes typing in passwords to deactivate his security system which had been blocking the entrance. He grabbed the supplies they would need and went back into the living room. After leaving some so that his Grandma could arm people, he nodded and the gestured to Tommy, "come on then. We've got work to do. There's no telling how long we have until the Citizombies show up."
The other boy smiled, happy to be able to do something with his older brother for once. The boys walked out of the room side by side.
"You really want me to help?" Tommy finally asked, excited.
"Well, yeah. We don't have much time to set this up and I knew once I showed you how to modify the weapons, you'd be able to work on your own."
"Yay! I'm going to get to design new KND guns with my big brother. This is going to be so much fun. I…"
"This isn't a game Tommy, this is serious. In case you didn't know, the person behind this is Father's dad."
These words seemed to remind the other boy of the seriousness of the situation. "His dad!?
"Yes!"
"Well, why didn't you say that sooner? We'd better get going."
As Hoagie led his little brother into the elevator, the younger boy asked, "So, Nigel's dad is obviously fighting Grandfather. I saw them in front of the Mansion down the Lane. How does he fit into this?"
Recalling that the other boy had not heard the tale of Numbuh Zero, Hoagie replied, "He's Grandfathers eldest son, who rebelled against him when he was younger and won."
Tommy stared at him silently before saying, "but doesn't that mean that Father is Numbuh One's uncle?"
Hoagie, who had been thinking of a million other things up until that moment, looked at his brother and said in a surprised tone, "I guess it does, doesn't it."
"That guy's really messed up!"
There was a ding as the elevator opened up, and the boys exited, heading toward the artillery, silently mulling over their new realization.
Numbuh Five was looking at the circuit board when she heard a couple of people moving behind her. She looked back to see Jessica and Laura standing there. "What are you two doing?" She asked as she went back to work.
"We finished working with the water and wanted to see if you needed help." Jessica said.
"Last time Numbuh Five checked, Numbuh Zero and Numbuh Eighty Five were taking care of finding out what you can do."
Laura spoke this time, "I will stay down here when the Citizombies come, if you haven't got the security system working. Jessica is here because everyone thinks I need someone to help keep me stay calm."
Hearing the angry undertone the second girl's voice, Abigail stopped working and looked at her. It wasn't smart to ignore Laura Limpin, even when she was in the best of moods. She now suspected that the girl had been sent to her to prevent an incident in the tree house, more than for her to play defense. She was currently her normal size but had a pimple on her nose, showing evidence that the Big Badolescent was ready to make an appearance.
"Laura…"
"I am so tired of everyone treating me like a time bomb. I've been learning to control it." As she said this, a few more pimples appeared. "If it was a year ago, I'd be rampaging through the streets, still freaking out over the thought of what's happened to my parents. I saw them coming over here from the school. I had to act like I was going to attack them." She was crying now.
Numbuh Five walked over to the first and second graders and said, "Numbuh Five had to fight her big sister after watching her get agified. She knows this is hard for you but you aren't alone."
The two girls looked at her, surprised by the genuine hurt they saw in the older girls face.
"But right now, everyone out there is depending on us to help them. That isn't gonna happen if we let our emotions get the better of us. Can your parents count on you for that Laura?"
Jessica took a step away from older girls, sensing that something major was about to happen.
Laura took a deep breath and a few of her pimples disappeared, although she was by no means all better. "Yes, they can."
"Good, then I'm going back to work on redirecting the power, but I ought to warn you, until I figure out the password, the security system is going to be downright obnoxious. It drives me nuts; I think it would be smart if you put on my headphones while I'm trying to get it to work.
"Fine with me," Laura said, hiding her emotions to the best of her abilities.
Then, as Numbuh Five went back to work, she asked, "So what's the story behind the fountain of youth water. Last I checked Leaky Leona was doing everything she could to keep it secret."
"That's why she's currently tied to a desk, getting the water she needs through a bendy straw." Jessica stated as Laura snickered. "That selfish jerk was going to leave us all to get agified while she hid in her private underground school. Well, it's not so private anymore."
The operative shook her head in disappointment as she chose switches to turn on or off. "She never was too fond of sharing that stuff."
"I busted through a wall to get us in," Laura added. "After the old auditorium collapsed behind us, the Citizombies assumed we'd gotten ourselves killed and marked the area off as condemned. We have access to much of the school as well as exits off grounds. Apparently, other parts of the town have old underground sections.
Numbuh Five made a mental note of that last fact. Those underground tunnels could come in handy later.
A single shot rocked the building. It was obviously meant to be an attention grabber and it worked incredibly. Everyone looked toward the side of the building that the blast came from. A few people stated moving to look out the windows but Numbuh Zero said, "No, we don't want them to know how many people are here. We all need to take our positions to defend the base now."
Jackson stood up and said, "My team will take to the skies. We can outmaneuver any big kid vessel ever made. I'll Drop Joey off on the roof, with all the balls we have, so he can work his magic."
Numbuh Zero was uncomfortable with letting the babies go, to say the least but he didn't have time to argue.
From outside, an Irish voice amplified by a megaphone yelled "Sector V. You have one minute to surrender yourselves before we storm the building."
"Why is she using a megaphone when she has enough lung power to be just as loud without it?" Numbuh Three asked in a sarcastic tone.
"I suggest we go to weapons area now," Numbuh Zero stated.
Numbuh Four nodded and said, "It's only a couple floors from here." Some of us can make it before our minutes up."
"Then go, those who can't make the run can use the elevator. There should be few enough that you will fit in there."
Numbuh Five pressed the on button and the machine clicked to life. "Alright, now things get tough."
"What do you mean?" Jessica asked as Laura adjusted Numbuh Five's headphones on her head.
"Now Numbuh Five has to figure out Numbuh One's password for this thing." As if the control system had heard her, it ordered, in its obnoxious tone, "Input Access Code."
At the same time, the sound of Numbuh Eighty Six's voice came from outside, announcing that they had one minute to surrender. Yeah right.
Numbuh Five started typing combinations she suspected Numbuh one might use, causing the device to scream "Incorrect Code! Incorrect Code! Incorrect…" Rip.
So much for the headphones. Numbuh Five looked up from the screen, which was, amazingly, still functioning, to see the Big Badolescent crushing the metal jaws that been the source of the noise. The monstrous girl was now reducing it to a metal ball as she stated, "Me no like that noise."
Numbuh Five smiled and said, "Nobody does," as she stared at the girl, who seemed incredibly calm for having just taken her larger form.
Suddenly the building shook from a rocket blast as a couple of ships flew around into view of the window.
Jessica had run behind the couch when Laura's transformation started. Her head poked up from behind it as the larger girl stood, managing to remain somewhat in control of herself. Numbuh Five glanced at the furniture and then back at Laura as an idea began to take shape in her mind.
"Hey Laura, How good's your throwing arm?" Perhaps she could buy them a couple more minutes.
Half of the people in the base were aiming their guns toward the sky, shooting the airborne vehicles. The others were focused on the ground, trying to hit the decommissioning squads DOH-DOHs (Decommissioned Operative Hunter Drives On Hydrolics). Joeys Dodgeballs were bouncing off of both aerial and ground attack vehicles, often striking sensitive locations and doing damage.
Three of the weapons were firing lasers that reversed the Citizombification and the rest were firing weapons simply damaged oncoming ships. Numbuh Two, whom was using the strongest of the prior, had already liberated eight and Numbuh Four had freed another five. The ships that were freed were doing all they could, side by side with the Ankle Biters, to help defend the base from the army that assaulted it.
The third gun, under the use of Lydia Gilligan, who was now once again a teenager, was not as powerful and only partially freed the people on board the enemy ships long enough for them to hesitate. Which was longer than it took for her two teammates, Maurice and Sheldon to cripple their ships.
The others who manned regular defensive weapons were having varying degrees of success. Lizzie Divine, for instance, after hearing that her beloved had been captured by the monsters, was determined to take her vengeance upon as many Citizombies as possible. She had yet to miss a target. Numbuh Zero, whom hadn't used such a weapon in years was rusty and made only occasional hits. At the far end of the spectrum was the Toilenator, who was not used to combat of any sort and barely ever hit a mark.
Despite everyone's best efforts, it seemed that, for every ship taken out there were two to replace it. If Numbuh Five didn't get the automated security up soon, they were going to fall, Numbuh Two thought sadly. That was all there was to it. They couldn't keep this up forever.
Suddenly, a ship swerved around to the living room area and blasted a hole in the wall. Another one pulled up behind it, an agified COOLBUS (Carries Operatives Overhead Luxuriously Boasts Unbeatable Speed), no doubt filled with troops. So that was how it would end, Numbuh Two thought as he shot another ship, freeing it. They were going to take the defense system before it could be activated and then storm the building. Well, he wasn't going to be changed back without putting up a fight.
Then something shot out of the hole and crashed into the rather large shuttle. Everyone in the artillery room let out a cheer. It took Numbuh Two a moment to realize what the object was. Numbuh Four caught on at the same moment he did and screamed, "NO! Not the flat screen!"
The ship that had shot hole retook it's position and loosed a round of laser fire, only to be silenced as the couch slammed into it, sending it hurtling toward the ground.
After that, no more ships tried to take that room but it still didn't mean that they had won the day. Numbuh Two swapped to a different gun as one of the enemies blew out his Anti- aging Laser. The other two such guns were the biggest targets for enemy fire and while it did cause many more ships to become easy targets as they tried to take aim, it also meant that the guns wouldn't last much longer.
Just as Lydia's laser was hit, a rumbling sound echoed throughout the tree house.
"What's happening?" Lizzie asked. "Did they get us?"
Numbuh Three said, "No Silly, of course they didn't. Numbuh Five just got the security system working."
And then a sound echoed through the whole tree house, a recording of a familiar voice with an English accent stated "Security Systems Online, Activating Defense Grid."
If some felt that Numbuh Four seemed out of character for taking charge, I'd like to point out that, on top of demonstrating a desire to lead in many episodes, there are a couple where he has also shown some actual leadership capabilities. My first example is Operation GROW-UP, when he motivates the team to get out of their box and do something. Then, in Operation FUTURE, it shows that, under the right circumstances, Numbuh Four could become devoted enough to such a position to lead a cause for over seventy years (he probably would have done it to his dying breath if the Boys Next Door hideout hadn't been found. There has been a spattering of other, minor clues throughout later parts of the series, when the writers aren't working so hard to portray him as an idiot.
I have also made some corrections within the earlier chapters. Most of them were spelling and grammar errors but there are a couple other minor changes as well. The most major changes are:
At the end of chapter two I change the mention of a girl from the elementary to multiple girls.
In chapter three, in Numbuh Three Sixty Two's conversation over the communication screen, there is now mention of the attacks made on the Moon Base earlier that day.
With the exception of correcting spelling errors, I will not make changes like this often. I thought I had made the ones mentioned above before I posted the chapters. I'm sorry if it has caused problems for any of my readers.