Disclaimers:
I don't own Codename: Kids Next Door. It belongs to Tom Warburton.
The picture I describe in the latter part of this chapter is based off of a piece posted on called Family Photo by Chulala. He has given me permission to use it in my story. I have posted a link at the bottom for anyone who wants to see it. I had to put spaces in it though, in order to get it to show up on Fan Fiction.
How on earth: Chapter 7
Despite the smog blocking the view of the sky, Father could tell by the darkening of his surroundings that it was sunset. Soon, he would be able to see the lights from the tapioca factories reflecting off the clouds above. When he was planning for his Pappy's return, he had told himself that the amount of pollution they had produced was exaggerated in his memory.
Well, he'd also told himself that he'd been exaggerating how miserable his dad made him. Guess he was wrong on both accounts. His recollection of his childhood was perfectly fine.
While he had been waiting for Jenkins by the limo earlier, his delightful children had approached him. They requested permission to accompany him on this trip.
At first, he was going to tell them to not to come but he finally changed his mind for two reasons. The first was that, if Nigel really did have powers, his children would need to understand that the nature of their current relationship with him, as their greatest enemy, would have to be adjusted. Nothing would drive that reality home as much as seeing the boy wearing…
Father took a deep breath and readjusted the position of the pipe in his mouth, the thought alone infuriated him but he was well aware of the fact that cars and fire just don't mix. He'd had to lose his first car in a fit of rage to get that particular lesson drilled into him. It made him sick to his stomach whenever he thought of how it had taken to earn that vehicle.
The second reason he decided to bring his children, although he'd never openly admit it, was that he didn't want to go alone.
As the mansion that he had grown up in finally came into view, Father had to wince. When his Pappy was younger, he had kept the building in peak condition by using his powers on it. When Monty had destroyed those powers, the building had been revealed to be in such a state of disrepair that they couldn't live in it.
In one way, the time that followed had been the hardest of Benedict's life. In another, it had been the best. It was a huge relief to finally leave the place which had held such misery for him. When he was older, after Evil Adult Industries was starting to become successful in improving adult control over children, he had bought up the land with the intent of demolishing the building and constructing a new home there. He could never bring himself to do it, though.
Now, the building was restored by Grandfather's powers to the structure that Father had spent his most of miserable childhood in, like some ghost that refused to be laid to rest. He felt a shiver run down his spine as the car pulled up to it.
He walked up to the front door with his children in tow. Glancing at them, he saw that they were huddled more closely together than usual. He couldn't blame them for being nervous. Even he was uncomfortable being here but he wasn't going to let it show.
He turned and rang the bell.
"Just a minute," his pappy called out.
Father steeled himself for the greeting he expected to get from the senior. His dad didn't fail to meet his expectations. When the door opened, the old man saw who it was, sneered and said, "Oh, it's you."
"Good to see you too, dad," Benedict stated sarcastically. "I heard that you're holding that horrible little brat of a nephew in there as your guest, as well."
"And?"
"I'd like to see him."
Grandfather looked at him angrily and said, "He's not awake yet and I doubt he will be until at least some time tomorrow morning. Come back then and maybe I'll think about letting you."
"Is it true dad? Did you really activate his powers?" Benedict already knew the answer, but he wanted to hear it from the old man, himself.
"Of course I did."
"Do you have any idea what you've done?"
Grandfather came out and closed the door behind him. "You know, it was one thing when the ten year old who barely knew me questioned my abilities, it's completely different when you do it!" He stated angrily. "Of course I know what I'm doing."
Ben checked out of the corner of his eye to make sure his children had backed away to what he felt was a safe distance before replying, "Really Pappy because you could have fooled me. That boy was barely controllable without powers, how do you think it will be now that he has them?"
Grandfather smiled now, "Oh right, an emotionally awakened family member in a time when there were no adults with powers. You wouldn't know, would you?"
"Know what?" Father asked, wondering what he might be missing.
"I think it might be better if I showed you than told you," Grandfather said, once again looking serious. He held out a hand.
Ben reluctantly clasped hands with his parent. It was an unusual gesture from the old man. The moment he did so, he felt a slight tug on his powers but it was easy to shake off. The old man dropped his hand quickly, as if disgusted to have touched him.
"What was that?"
"I manipulated your powers."
"You what!?" The younger villain asked, shocked. "You had no right…"
"Oh, stop it, I just showed you the deepest effect I could have on you and you could shake it off easily."
"If that's all you can do, I hardly see how it's going to slow Nigel down."
Grandfather tucked his hands behind his back and stated, "It will because, for roughly the first year, the blockers that kept me from affecting your powers deeply will not exist. As you are well aware, children have a natural tendency to misbehave. That's hard to do when they can be stopped in their tracks simply by a touch of the hand." Then he added, "It doesn't have to be used to stop them either. It can also be used to help teach them how to properly use their new abilities but that's not the point I'm trying to make. Nigel will be totally under my control and yours, if I decide I need you to do something with him."
"Surely, it can't be that simple," Father blurted out.
"Surely it can." His dad replied.
Father found himself thinking of what he might have done differently if he had known that little bit of information. He recalled their first encounter with Sector V roughly a year ago. If he had known, after he'd heated back up to normal temperature, he'd have probably broken into the KND base, awakened Nigel's powers and dragged him back to his mansion to break him there. He was already ten then, which, according to what his pappy used to say, was the generally accepted lower limit for when to awaken powers. The kid wouldn't have known what hit him.
On top of that, he probably wouldn't have even gone through the trouble of reawakening his dad. By now, he'd have had someone with powers who took orders from him. Although Nigel would have been weak in respect of being new to his abilities, the skills he'd gained in the Kids Next Door would have more than made up for it. It's very possible that Father could have been ruling the world right now without having to share it at all. How nice to find out about this opportunity half a day too late.
"So, how is he handling it?" Ben asked after a few moments.
"As I told you, he's still sleeping. I think that he'll probably do well, though. He seems like a strong willed little rascal."
Father nodded in agreement and asked, "Did he really insult you like you said?"
"I couldn't believe that boy. When I threatened to spank him in front of all the villains for it, he had the nerve to tell me that it wasn't original enough for him."
Father snickered and said "That sounds just like him. One time, when I tried to hit him with a fire ball and missed, he..."
"Hey, now wait a minute, if you had hit him like that before his powers were active, you could have really hurt him."
"Yeah, that was the idea. Now as I was saying…"
"What do you mean 'that was the idea!' That's your nephew you're talking about." Grandfather was starting to sound angry now.
"He knew what he was signing up for when he joined the KND. My children told me that they made him bald when they found out."
Grandfather was about to reply when an agified DOH-DOH came running into view. Both villains watched as it approached and came to a stop in front of the mansion, scraping the Father's Limo as it did so, much to the younger man's horror. It opened, revealing Monty guarded by two ancient looking soldiers.
Grandfather glanced at Father and snapped, "We'll talk about this later, you can be sure of that." Then he looked at his other son and smiled.
"Hello, Monty," Grandfather exclaimed happily. "I'm so glad you're here."
"Where's my son?" Montgomery Uno asked, getting straight to the point.
"Oh, he's on the couch in the living room. How was your…" He trailed off as his eldest son walked right past him. He watched quietly as the man disappeared into the house, not even pausing to look at his brother, whom looked away guiltily as he passed by.
Grandfather glanced back at the soldiers whom had brought him. He knew that although turning into citizombies had switched their loyalties to him, it would not have changed their general behavior nor advance their technology. In fact, it would often do the exact opposite. He studied the people standing before him. They were soldiers, no doubt. Monty's little group of rebels had grown into a real fighting force over the course of a couple decades. He would have never foreseen it, looking at that rag tag team he'd had with him when he attacked the factory.
Finally, after studying them for a few moments, he floated over. They continued to stand at attention until he asked, "So, where's my duplicate?" He looked around as he added, "I know I didn't order him to come back with Monty but I figured he would unless something really important came up."
The operatives glanced at each other nervously. One of them said, quietly, "You tell him."
"Shouldn't he hear it from the highest ranking officer present?" The other responded.
"You're supposed follow orders from higher ranking operatives," The first replied.
"You couldn't pay me enough…"
Grandfather interrupted the argument by saying "one of you better tell me what happened, otherwise you both are going to suffer for it."
The higher ranking of the two operatives sighed and stepped forward. "Your copy was destroyed when it attacked the based."
Surely he'd misheard. "What did you say?"
"Your duplicate was destroyed before it reached Sector V's base." The terrified operative said.
"That's not possible," Grandfather stated.
"Of course it is," He heard Benedict say behind him.
He turned and glared at his youngest son. "You aren't surprised?!"
"Nope, just like I wasn't surprised when you couldn't destroy that book."
"Are we excused?" The lower ranking ex-KND member asked. He may be loyal to Grandfather now but that didn't make him any less nervous about being in the company of two very temperamental fire wielders, possibly three, if what the duplicate had said about Numbuh One was true.
"Yes, you're excused, Grandfather snapped before continuing to focus on his youngest son. "Now, what do you mean?"
"C'mon Dad, I was there when Monty found that book. I've been watching as those blasted kids came back into power, for the seventh time since their organization's creation. Don't you think that I would know what they were capable of? Wouldn't you suspect that I would have tried to destroy that book myself before I came to you for help?" He sighed and added, "I may not have been able to destroy that book but at least I was able to keep it out of sight. There were only a handful of kids who even believed the blasted thing existed. It wasn't even a threat until you brought it to everyone's attention. Heck, I even tracked down and used a spell it referenced to turn those brats into animals once. But you know what, when you told me to beat it, I decided to let you make your own mess."
Grandfather would never openly admit it but he was starting to get an understanding for the reason his grandson had compared him to Ben and expressed disappointment. Had his youngest son really laid out a plan? Would it have gone smoother than his approach had? He did hold most of the world in his grasp now but could his son actually have left him in an even stronger position? "Look, Ben. We'll talk about this around the same time we sit down to discuss your treatment of your nephew. For now, how about we go in and check on your brother?"
The other Uno nodded and walked in.
Grandfather realized that Benedict had just gotten into the house when he had said he wouldn't let him in only minutes ago. Was he slipping or had he underestimated both of his boys?
Monty walked into the high ceilinged living room and went straight to the fireplace, which Grandfather had set wood in but not started yet. At this time of year, the nights were still cool enough that houses benefitted from being heated at night and while Grandfather could heat this building with his own powers, it took a lot of energy and concentration. It was much easier to light a fireplace and let it do the work.
There was furniture arranged around the fireplace. Two chairs faced him from the far side. Facing directly toward chimney was a larger chair for Grandfather himself. It was built so it would match his intimidating figure, whether he was in his silhouette suit or not, at least, it would have when he was younger. He hadn't exactly aged well.
The couch was positioned at a right angle to the fireplace, turned away from the entrance. Monty walked over and looked at the child who was placed there. Grandfather had put his head on a pillow and given him a blanket, tucking it around him so that only his head showed. It was covered in the silhouette suit.
He studied it. Just as with his dad and brother, the overall color scheme was black with a red glow at the edges. Unlike them, wherever there were areas of his face that would be in shadow under normal circumstances, Monty noticed there was a slight red glow, giving his face a more reddish appearance than either of theirs, although not by much. He also noticed that even though the boy's mouth was slightly open, now glow issued from it.
After looking at the boy's face, he pulled back the cover to further examine him. While he didn't have wisps on his arms, around his legs were tendrils, much like grandfathers, The red shadow color scheme continued down his body, most noticeable in the folds of his rather wrinkled shirt and on the aforementioned tendrils.
Monty knelt down beside the boy and, gently enough that it wouldn't disturb the child, tore the outfit off. It fell away to reveal a child who'd clearly had a rough day. His clothes were wrinkled and torn and he was covered head to toe in scrapes and bruises. His wrists and ankles had marks where they had probably been bound at some point earlier in the day. He even saw that Nigel didn't have his shoes or socks.
"It's been a rough day all around for you, hasn't it, Old Bean," Monty said quietly. As if in response, the boy shifted his whole body so that he faced his dad as he slept. Monty kissed the boy on his forehead. The child sighed and, for the first time since he came in, looked comfortable.
Monty covered his son back up and sat on the last cushion of the couch, next to the boys feet. He looked around the room. The wall facing the south was covered with windows , as if set up to watch the sunrises and sunsets which were always blocked from view by smog during his childhood. The rest of the walls each had rows of evenly spaced photos. In the northern corner of the room, away from the door, was a winding staircase to the next floor.
He finally looked at the Portrait above the fireplace. Grandfather had ordered the photo be taken only because Monty had begged for a family photo that included his little brother to be placed there. When Grandfather had originally refused, he'd decided not to speak to him. It had taken two weeks of silence for Grandfather to give in. He'd had to face extra hours at the factory each day for the next two months as the price for his victory.
He was disgusted with the resulting picture though. He struggled to keep his frown from becoming a snarl as he looked at it. In the center if it was Grandfather with his brown coat and red scarf. He glared into the camera with glowing yellow eyes as he sat in his favorite chair. Monty himself was in front of Grandfather but to his right, his hair neatly combed and his new clothes perfectly clean. Even the tie he had been wearing was scared of being slightly crooked or wrinkled, Monty recalled. It had taken ten minutes of begging to get the tie to slither up to him and an additional twenty of fighting to get it on because it knew It would be in Grandfather's presence once it was in place. He had not smiled for the picture either, he'd been too angry at Ben's treatment. His younger brother had ended up being placed behind their dad's chair, so that a small part of his face was actually concealed from view. He had a look of sad acceptance, which was not surprising, considering that was the general mood he had been displaying during that time. If there was anything in this house that needed to be burned, he felt it was this picture. It depicted the miserable family dynamics that had existed in the time shortly before he decided to rebel against his dad.
Even without looking, he knew when Grandfather finally entered the room, along with Father and the delightful children.
For a few minutes they were all silent. Finally, Monty broke it by saying, "He didn't even know he was part of this family until this afternoon, dad."
"He could have fooled me," Grandfather replied moodily.
"At least when it happened to Ben, he'd had his whole life to understand that the possibility was there. Nigel was still getting over the shock of knowing who his relatives were. He probably didn't even reach the point of considering if this could happen to him."
"Whether he knew it or not, he was born to this family. Those powers are his birth right. They were yours, too but as I mentioned when you were younger, there's a window of opportunity for awakening them."
"Fourteen or fifteen, Dad. Nigel's eleven. You did this to punish me."
"I will admit that is part of it." He came over to stand beside the couch and looked down. "Monty, it's dangerous for him not to be wearing his suit while his powers are settling." He stated, sounding more annoyed than worried, as he reached down, touched the boy and summoned the suit back to him. "I doubt he was exposed long enough to be hurt but If I had been a few minutes later, the boy might have overheated. Some family members have actually died this way and even those that don't might not recover completely. There's also tales of family members who weren't able to have kids, most of whom are mentioned as spending an extended time like that during this critical time."
"What?!" Monty exclaimed, horrified by what he'd been told.
"You heard me, Monty. Don't take this off again until he's awake. I didn't choose the name Grandfather in hopes of being the Grandparent to the last living member of our family."
Behind them, Ben said, "But Monty tore off my suit off for me while I was like this."
Monty winced as Grandfather glanced at him and said, "This isn't about you. Besides, it's not a guaranteed thing, almost half the family members who are exposed for more than a few hours lived full lives and had children of their own. "
"Wow, almost half! That makes me feel so much better!" Benedict said in mock joy before adding angrily, "Oh, wait. No it doesn't!"
"I noticed that he's more reddish than either of you." Monty mentioned, changing the subject.
"Your great gran gram's suit had that quality, too."
"Are you really going to change topics? I think this is rather important." Father stated.
Monty gave Benedict a sympathetic look. He hoped he hadn't condemned his brother when he took that suit off all those years ago. He had honestly meant to help his younger brother when he removed it. He recalled that Ben had even thanked him for it at the time. He doubted the man was thankful for his actions at that moment.
" Hey, I know something we can do when this mess is all over," Grandfather stated, as if Father hadn't said anything, " I know exactly where the brat who tried to steal my Gran Gram's recipe for the greatest cake ever is frozen. I was going to melt him out and get it so that I could make the cake on Monty's thirteenth birthday. I could make some for all of us." His smile grew wider as he said, "maybe we'll even get lucky and finally find out where my aunts were when that blast went off. I still think that they might be frozen somewhere in all that strawberry flavored mess."
Suddenly Ben fell dead silent. Monty had a feeling there was more to the silence than his anger at being rebuffed by their dad. That was too normal an occurrence to warrant such a sudden reaction. He felt that this thought was confirmed when the younger villain tore off his suit and lifted his wrist which held his watch. "Wow! Is it that time already? Look dad, I'd really love to stay here and catch up but my little ones do have a bed time and they still have to eat, bathe and do their homework. I think we really have to go now."
The delightful children, who had just gotten into a good position to see Nigel, started "But Father…" then fell silent when Father glared at them.
Zero and Grandfather glanced at each other as Father rushed his children out the door. They continued to stare in the direction the villain had rushed out as they heard tires screeching on the driveway and down the street.
"What do you think that was about?" Grandfather asked.
"He's probably fed up with how you're treating him." Monty replied, although he had a suspicion that there was more to it than that. He looked down at his son. "Dad, I know you're not going to like hearing this but when Nigel wakes up, he's going to need the sunglasses, so wherever you put them…"
"What makes you think I'm going to give that obnoxious little symbol of rebellion against adulthood back? Besides, I don't think any of his light sensitivity will be an issue in this house."
If that was Nigel's only problem, Monty would have probably had to concede to the old mans point. The building was well lit by their family's standards, which was creepily dim to most people. Their family had a long history of problems with the brightness of a sunny day. He wondered if his Pappy had purposefully designed his factories to spew so much smoke for just that reason.
"Nigel is nearsighted, too," Monty stated "and the normal pair which he has as a spare is at home, guarded by an armed tree house."
The villain snarled as he reached for a shelf just above the fireplace but below the painting. He tossed the object he'd grabbed off of it to Monty.
Monty examined the sunglasses to make sure they weren't damaged as his dad said, "it's a good thing you said something because I was planning on melting them down later."
Monty nodded and looked back at his dad. "Pappy, could you set up my old bed, I don't want Nigel to have to sleep on the couch."
The older man looked at the boy on the furniture and exclaimed, "but he's been running around all day, doesn't have fresh clothes and hasn't even had a bath yet."
"Then I guess I'll just have to wash the sheets tomorrow, won't I?
Grandfather gave Monty an annoyed look as the middle aged man picked up the child but eventually gave an exasperated sigh and rushed up the stairs to make the bed.
As Zero picked his son up, he struggled to get the boy in a comfortable position. There was no doubt that he was growing up. Monty remembered the first time he'd held him. Nine months of waiting to hold 9lb 4oz of smiling baby boy.
In fact, Nigel had been a very happy, trusting soul right up to when he'd become bald. Even then, Monty had suspected that the 'accident' was no accident but decided to let Nigel come around to telling him what really happened in his own time. He wondered how this would affect the boy's personality.
Monty was jarred from his thoughts as the boy's tendrils started trying to wrap themselves around his torso and arms. Some of them bunched up the fabric of his shirt in an attempt to grab something. He readjusted his grip to be sure they wouldn't do something to loosen his hold.
As Monty climbed the steps, he couldn't stop another thought from popping into his mind. He'd never wanted Nigel to have to deal with powers but now that he had them, he'd have to learn how to correctly use them. He remembered all the trouble his brother had gotten into when he had first gotten them. They'd even had to leave behind their second family home because he'd decided to use his flames to make a cake for Monty's fourteenth birthday. And by the time they'd grown up, Monty had gotten used to seeing scorch marks or melted spots of any imaginable size on every surface in the house, as well as fire extinguishers in each room.
By the time he made it to the room he and Ben had shared when they were little, the bed was already set up.
"I still think he's too dirty for the bed."
"It's my bed and my boy. What you say I should do with either is a subject of consideration, nothing more." He laid the boy down on the bed and covered him up.
"I could make you bring him back down to the couch."
"You could, but fighting over such a small detail is below you."
Grandfather nodded and said "true," but looked annoyed, nonetheless.
"Dad, my wife Katherine was out in town when Citizombies were coming."
"Isn't that the girl who distracted me while you 'needed to use the bathroom' ten minutes before you attacked my factory?"
"That's the one. Look, I don't suppose you can see if you could find her and possibly lift your powers away from her."
Grandfather nodded and said, "I can do that. Does this mean I can finally expect you to behave yourself?"
"It's not exactly like I have much of a choice right now, is it?"
Here is the link to Family Photo :
browse .deviantart art/ Family-Photo- 348155266