Disclaimer: I don't own Codename: Kids Next Door. It belongs to Tom Warburton.

How on Earth Chapter 8

Hoagie was looking for Numbuh Four. He had a note clutched in his hand. On it was a message Nigel's dad had written before leaving. He had to tell the blonde boy what had happened.

"I don't believe you," he heard the familiar Australian accent and looked to see the boy arguing with the Toilenator, who looked quite ticked. "What you say is just unpossible!"

"Oh, yeah!" the villain exclaimed. "Well, I'll prove it."

"Sure you will," Numbuh Four said sarcastically, "just like you showed the other villains you could beat us."

The Toilenator stomped away toward the bathroom, probably to sulk, Numbuh Two suspected. The pilot walked over to the Australian and asked, "what was that about?"

Numbuh Four turned to him with a satisfied look on his face and said, "you'll see."

"What do you mean, I'll see."

"I mean you'll find out later. Now come on, we have a meeting to go to."

Numbuh Two fell into place beside the other boy as he asked, "did you find Numbuh Zero."

Numbuh Two handed him the letter as they walked out of the living room and past the communication screen, where Lizzie was currently working with Numbuh Forty Two. While the tech officer worked the machine, trying to get in contact with other people, Lizzie did the actual talking. The girl could be disarming when she wanted to be and because she wasn't a KND operative, if they got in touch with people who were usually enemies, she still stood a better chance of convincing them to cooperate. They would try to get in touch with as many people as they could before the building went into lockdown and then talk about who they managed to contact. They'd reestablish their connections in the morning with those groups that did not fall in the night.

Numbuh Four looked at the note for a very long time, probably having trouble reading it. "He went to Grandfather?!"

At this statement, both heads popped up.

"Does that have anything to do with Nigie?" Lizzie asked. Despite the seriousness of the situation, Numbuh Two saw Numbuh Forty Two attempt to suppress a laugh. Sector V's Pilot had a feeling that if they made it through this, that nickname would spread through the KND like dropped ice cream across a sidewalk on a hot day. Well, if Nigel could get through the mockery that came with losing his hair, he should be able to rise above Lizzie's nickname.

"His dad is going to be with him," Numbuh Two said.

At this statement, although Lizzie looked relieved, the Two by Four officer next to her worriedly asked, "you mean Numbuh Zero left?"

So, word had already gotten around about who the man was. "Yeah, he's gone."

"How are we supposed to beat Grandfather without him?" Numbuh Forty Two asked.

"With help," Numbuh Four said, "Which we can only get if we can get in touch with other people who are still free."

Numbuh Forty Two understood the order to get back to work. Lizzie continued to watch as the two boys left the room, since there was no one on the line at the moment.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Numbuh Five asked as they walked to the situation room.

"Well," Jessica replied, "you did say you needed one of us to show you how to get to the underground elementary without alerting the citizombies in the area and Laura isn't exactly the best for sneaking around."

"Why is it that they're hanging around there, anyway?"

Do you remember what happen when Nigel Uno was thrown off the swing set last Thursday?"

"Yeah, he landed on a…" she trailed off.

"A prune juice well," the other girl finished for her. "Grandfather will probably go nuts over it when his minions tell him and they know it."

Numbuh Five nodded. "If that's the case, then the area underneath the school is probably not even going to be somewhere to hide for very long."

"You better hope it will be," the first grader stated seriously as she hugged her stuffed bunny to her. "Do you know what might happen if that monster finds the Fountain of Youth?"

Numbuh Five thought about it. The fountain could indeed prove to be a double edged sword.

She looked at the younger girl, impressed by how perceptive she was. "Numbuh Five doesn't recall you being like this when we showed up at the chocolate volcano."

"Well," she replied, "I hadn't had time to think about how I almost got Mr. fluffilufigus turned to chocolate, not to mention a couple of fourth graders who came to help us, because I couldn't stop that greedy candy hoarder," she stated as she hugged her stuffed bunny. "I thought I'd even lost Hopsy Mopsy." She started crying as she recalled how Hienrich von Marzipan had chocolatized the doll and ate its ear right in front of her.

"It wasn't your fault," Numbuh Five said. "There was nothing you could have done at that point. And you ended up saving us in the end." She didn't like the thought of what would have happened if she hadn't, recalling her next encounter with the other candy hunter.

"Only because I was too angry to be scared."

Numbuh Five studied the other girl for a moment and asked, "How would you feel if I gave you a chance to stop stuff like that all the time?"

The younger girl looked at her, "How would you do that?"

"I'm sure by now you know that this base is owned by a child network called the Kids Next Door, right."

The other girl nodded, "when Laura mentioned checking to see if the Kids Next Door could help, I remembered the meanie calling you that when he threatened to lower you into the chocolate lava."

"We are an organization sworn to helping kids everywhere," older girl said, "and with a word of recommendation from Numbuh Five, you'd have no problem getting into training."

"I don't know."

"Well you don't have to, right now. It's kind of been put on hold due to the fact that almost all the members have been turned to citizombies, anyway. Just think about it and when we've cleared this mess up, you can consider if you want to join or not."

"Do you really think that we'll be able to save the world?"

"Numbuh Five thinks that if there's such things as people with fire powers, volcanos that changes things to chocolate and fountains that make people younger, anything could happen."

The other girl giggled before replying, "I guess you're right."

As they entered the situation room, Numbuh Five looked at the other people whom were assembled there under her request. They were all using the round couch that surrounded the holographic projector, which currently was off because the power was being routed elsewhere.

In the spot farthest to the left was Lydia Gilligan, her cane resting against the arm rest beside her. She would not be going on the mission, just showing them where the Tapioca Truck was parked on a map.

To her right was The Tommy. All Numbuh Five had to say in order to get him to volunteer was that they needed his help for a very important mission. At that, he had broken into one of his lame speeches. "I, The Tommy, who brings justice to justiceless kids, shall help save the tree house so that you all can be saved to fight another fight. For I am…The Tommy." As he said this, he was running around the room, twirling his cape full of holes and repositioning his hat, trying to look mysterious, emphasis on trying.

The others she had talked to, besides Jessica, were all KND agents. The first person she chose from the KND was Numbuh Forty Four B. The moon base infantry soldier was used to dealing with stressful situations, often doing things from protecting the Moon Base to escorting villains to the Arctic Prison. She also figured that Numbuh Forty Four A was amongst the elderly group across the street. It was no secret that the twins were close. Knowing his brother is probably nearby might tempt him to do something stupid. He would do much better elsewhere.

Numbuh Five was lucky to find Numbuh Fourteen, the leader of Sector N. She hadn't thought to look for her since Numbuh Thirteen was not here, causing problems. She'd bumped into the other operative and known instantly that she would be perfect for the task at hand. With one kid who was untrained and one who was used to working alone in the group she was assembling, Numbuh Five needed someone who was used to getting things accomplished, even with teammates who weren't the most ideal for combat situations. Sector N still managed to meet minimum quota for successful missions, despite usually having the KND klutz with them.

Finally, there was Numbuh Eighty Five, who was currently trying hard not to be noticed, which was kind of hard with his horrible haircut. She had been worried that he wouldn't come when she first went to talk with him. He hadn't wanted to leave his little brother. When she explained the situation to him, he had unwillingly agreed that if nothing was done, Shauni would soon be agified, along with everyone else in the tree house.

She felt sorry for him, the problems that he had to deal with were similar to the hassles Numbuh One had endured when he was bald but hadn't established himself as a force to be reckoned with yet. Numbuh Five felt a twinge of guilt over the mistake she'd made all those years ago that cost him his hair.

As Jessica went over to sit with the others, Numbuh Two and Numbuh Four walked in. The prior looked quite annoyed. She walked over and asked quietly, "Did you find Numbuh Zero?"

Numbuh Two replied quietly enough that no one else could hear, "No but I did find a disassembled recommisioning module with a note of apology."

"What?!" she exclaimed quietly.

"He was so sure that Numbuh One would be successful earlier that he took it apart because he didn't want to be recommissioned again. There's no way I'll be able to reassemble the thing without some time to really sit down and look at it. It's surprisingly complicated."

"And where is he?"

Numbuh Two's look softened as he said, "he couldn't leave Numbuh One all by himself if he's… you know."

Numbuh Five understood but felt conflicting emotions. Despite being upset that he left, she said. "I think having his dad close will really help him. He needs someone who's not a fire throwing psycho."

Numbuh Two sighed heavily, "yeah, I know. I'm still upset that he broke the recommisssioning module, though."

Tommy watched from his spot beside his Grandma as Hoagie talked with Numbuh Five. He hadn't been able to take his eyes off of his big brother since he walked into the room. He was definitely angry about something. The younger boy wondered what it was.

Then Numbuh Four walked to the podium, looking uncomfortable there. Tommy suspected that it was because it was the place where the missing member of Sector V would usually stand. The blonde boy waited a moment for Numbuh Fourteen and Numbuh Forty Four B, who were chatting away, soon looking annoyed. He cleared his throat but they continued to ignore him. Finally, he said, "We don't have all night to wait for you to stop talking about how this might delay the newest set of Yipper Cards or the next Rainbow Dorkey Movie. You were called in here for an important mission but if you'd rather chat the evening away, I'll tell Numbuh Five to find someone else."

They fell silent, although Numbuh Fourteen looked offended at Numbuh Four, calling Rainbow Monkeys dorkeys.

Tommy smiled and asked, "What are we gonna do? What is this special mission?"

"If you'd shut up, I could tell you," the Australian exclaimed angrily.

After confirming that Tommy would indeed be silent, he began. "We have a major problem. Although we currently have a few hamsters in our generator, I'm sure you all know that they are not enough to run this base, even at minimum power. Both the KND operatives and Tommy nodded.

"The reason the base is working is because Numbuh Two's Grandma was able to set up a tapioca powered generator and brought enough tapioca to keep it running." He glanced at her before continuing. "As the base is currently running, we will run out around midnight."

"And what do you expect us to do, break into one of Grandfather's factories?" Patrick asked, incredulously. "Such a mission would be…"

"I'm not finished," Numbuh Four cut in. "Hoagie's Grandma knows where there may be some that's not guarded by citizombies and we have a plan to buy more time."

The kids settled down, allowing him to continue. "She will tell us where the Tapioca is and you will go out and find it." For a moment, everyone looked at her.

"We need a small group that can move undetected." Numbuh Four stated.

"You mentioned a way to save power?" Tommy queried, as interested in learning details about how the base function as in knowing how much time they would have to complete their mission.

"I'll let Numbuh Two explain that."

Hoagie nodded and said, "We are going to lock down the base for the night. No one will be able to get in or out tonight. It will buy us time but we will need the tapioca here at dawn. Any earlier and you won't be able to get in, any later and there probably won't be a base to come back to."

Numbuh Four continued where he left of, "As some of you realize, that leaves a few hours extra. You are not only going to get the Tapioca but you're also going to the secret school under Gallagher Elementary. You will meet up with the rebel group hiding there. They will get a portion of the Tapioca and you will stay there to help them set up defenses. Someone will meet you there to deliver the supplies back here." Numbuh Two and Numbuh Five looked surprised at this statement.

Tommy rolled his eyes. They were getting rid of him.

Numbuh Four continued by asking, "Mrs. Gilligan, has Numbuh Five already given you a map?"

The old woman nodded.

As they discussed the location where the SCS had left the truckload of tapioca, and his Grandma brought out the map to show everyone where they would need to go, Tommy sulked. After all the help tonight, Sector V was still getting rid of him. And here he thought that things were going to be different this time.

After they established where they would be going, Numbuh Four said, "Numbuh Fourteen, I'd like to talk with you about the exchange later. Tommy will go with Hoagie and everyone else will go with Numbuh Five. Be at the elevator entrance in the living room in fifteen minutes.

As the meeting was called to a close, Tommy walked over to Hoagie. "C'mon, we'd better get you a tool kit."

As they walked down the halls, for a few minutes the younger boy was silent. Finally, they reached the door with the Number Two on it and the younger boy asked in a hurt, angry tone, "Why are you sending me away?"

Hoagie turned to his younger brother and said, "Do you think I want to send you out there, Tommy? I didn't even know that you were going to be picked to do this until I saw you sitting there." He took a moment to calm down as he opened his door and entered the room before saying, "But it makes sense."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Tommy whined as he followed.

"It means that you will be more useful there than you are here."

"Because I get in the way?"

"No, that's not why."

"Sure it's not. You know it's funny, I go through all this work so I can spend time with you and now it seems like we spend even less time together than before I tried to join the KND. It's just not fair!"

"I know." Hoagie said as he dug through his stuff, trying to find the spare set of tools.

"I don't get it. I've been nothing but helpful this evening and you guys still want get rid of me."

Hoagie turned and said, "That's exactly it, you've been a huge help. Make no mistake; you're being rewarded for it. When you get to the school, you will be the head mechanic there. You know very well that you don't have a chance of that here. I hold that position and we both know that I am still more experienced than you and will be to the day I'm decommissioned."

The boys paused for a moment in their argument, thinking about the horrors of decommissioning and how it would probably change their lives. Tommy was even worried that, because he'd received KND training, he might end up on that schedule, despite no longer being part of the Kids Next Door.

Finally, Tommy said, "I wanted to join the Kids Next Door so that I could spend more time with you. Now we spend less than ever together. It's not fair!"

Hoagie sighed as he looked through his stuff. For a moment the younger boy thought he wasn't going to respond, and then he said, "I'm actually kind of glad you didn't end up in Sector V, Tommy."

Tommy was shocked by what he'd heard. "Why not?!" the boy asked.

"I love hanging with my friends but our team gets some of the most dangerous missions of the KND. Cleveland is the central hub of Villain activity. For goodness sake, we fight the delightful children almost weekly and we are right next to the Delightful Mansion. Now, I've just found out that my best friend and sector leader is related to Father and Grandfather. And there's other things, too. Tommy, there are secrets Sector V has... dangerous secrets that not even the rest of the KND knows about."

Tommy could see that his big brother was being serious by the look on his face. He felt goose bumps as he wondered what type of secrets his big brother could be referring to. Maybe he'd look into it when all this was over.

"Here it is, Hoagie exclaimed, snapping Tommy out of his thoughts. He placed a regular looking, slightly rusty toolbox on the table. "This is the first tool box I made for myself after I joined the Kids Next Door. It's not as shiny as the stuff I have now but basically all the same gear."

He pushed it over to his little brother and said, "This thing has helped me build all sorts of equipment. It's yours now. I'm sure you find it useful."

Tommy picked it up carefully and looked at it. He was about to open it when Hoagie said. "There's no time for that right now. You have to report to the armory, to get gadgets from Numbuh Five."

The younger boy nodded and rushed out the door.

As Tommy left the room to meet up with the rest of the group, another visitor came in. A familiar hamster jumped up on the boy's worktable, placed the spray bottle down and struck a heroic pose as it smiled at Hoagie. The boy laughed, his mood lifted a little by the hamsters antics.

Hoagie smiled and said, "Good job out there." He pulled out a bag of cheese puffs and offered a few to the rodent, who happily took them and started nibbling on one.

Joaquin waved one cheese powder covered paw, as if to say it was no big deal.

"No, I'm serious. Grandfather is a big deal. I will admit though, I didn't expect the fountain of youth water to be that effective."

The hamster giggled at the statement.

"How did you even get free from his powers anyway."

The hamster paused for a minute, thinking. Then he disappeared from the table for a few moments, only to come back with a ball of lint. He shaped it into a bunny, held it to his chest and then moved as if he was trying to be stealthy. Then he put the doll down, turned around, sucked in his gut, hunched over his back and squeaked. He dropped the stance, picked up the piece of lint again, gave out a high pitched hamster imitation of a scream and pointed the water bottle at where he'd been standing.

After Hoagie stopped laughing at the hamsters shenanigans, he said, "You were sprayed with fountain of youth water by Jessica."

Joaquin nodded as he began to eat the next cheese puff. The fur around his mouth already dusted with orange powder.

Hoagie smiled and said, "well, I've got a distraction to set up. Then I'm going to prepare for a lock down and I suggest you do the same." With that, the boy left the room.

Joaquin knew that the boy meant that he would be needed to help power the base tonight but he had other plans. The hamsters couldn't keep up this pace forever and they weren't going to have an easy time catching their brethren who were partying to sousaphone music in the house resting on the trees roots.

He had a plan, though. He turned and signaled to the corner of the room where two more hamsters were hiding. Out of the shadows came the hamsters who'd temporarily stood in for Numbuh Four and Numbuh Five when they'd gotten injured, the only remnants of the small replacement group who were not agified.

As they approached, he motioned for them to follow. They had to make it to the roof before the lock down was initiated. They couldn't waste time trying to chew their way out of a wall.

Hoagie headed directly up to the artillery room. Once there, he and a few other operatives waited for the order to begin. When the stealth team left the base, the eyes of the citizombies would need to be elsewhere. Hoagie was going to make sure that they were.

Since the events of Operation Zero seemed to happen somewhere early in Season 6 but I couldn't figure out exactly where, I've decided to draw the line for what happened beforehand at Operation RECESS/ Operation HAMSTER.

In Operation END, after most of Sector V was decommissioned, they thought the idea of the KND sounded absolutely nuts. I don't think the decommissioning chamber would go that far if the organization's existence was common knowledge amongst most people.

Because College is about to start back up, I am not sure how soon I will be able to post another chapter for a while. If I have enough free time, I'll try to post more during the semester but I can make no promises.