Ever since Number 1 left, things were changing quickly in the life of Wallabee Beatles. And he didn't like it one bit.
It all started the very next day after Number 1 left. Number 5 called him into her room on a gray rainy morning.
"Numbuh 4," she said, walking over to her personal ice cream bar, "sit down and have a sundae with me."
Number 4 did as he was told. Number 5 had the best soda and ice cream bar on the planet and any chance to get something from it was to be taken at all costs.
As Number 4 began to eat, Number 5 sat at the bartender's stool nursing a vintage root beer. With a mouthful of ice cream, Number 4 thanked her for letting him in and asked what the occasion was.
He was expecting her usual reply of "No occasion." but instead she sighed and looked down at the counter.
"Listen, Number 4… Number 5 has to be honest with you. I didn't just invite you in here for ice cream."
"What is it ?" Number 4 kicked his legs back and forth under the bar. He could never really sit still, especially not when something huge was about to happen.
Number 5 took a deep breath. "Look, when Number 1 left he put me in charge." Number 4 went back to his ice cream. What did she even call him in here for? Everybody already knew that.
"So now that Numbuh 1 is gone and I'm in charge the position for second in command has just opened up." Abby looked at him waiting for questions he didn't really have.
Wally continued eating.
"So… Bradley's second in command now?"
"No,you fool!" Number 5 decided she needed to take the direct approach. "It's you, genius. In two weeks you'll be the official second in command of Sector V."
Number 4 choked on a candy-coated pretzel and Number 5 had to hit him a couple of times on the back. When he could talk again, he wasn't too excited about the new position.
"But Number 5, I can't be second in command! You know me. I.. I ... I'm too stupid!" He blurted out without thinking about it.
Number 5's expression softened. "You're not stupid,Number 4. You're just... more street smart than book smart and that's all."
Number 4 looked up at her. He tried to tell if she was lying or not , but how could he be sure? He knew he wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed. Not at school, not at home and not even in his sector, but he never needed to be. Wally Beatles was good at fighting. He was brave and tough and the strongest kid in the treehouse. That was his job and he was good at it. He wasn't so sure he could do something so much bigger. Not when he felt so small on the bar stool with his feet not touching the floor.
"You remember the clam cannon, right?" he said, slamming his hands on the counter. "That was a cruddy disaster. And remember when Numbuh 1 went feral? Didn't Number 86 make Number 3 leader when you didn't wanna do it?"
A wry smile appeared on Number 5's face. "Man, for someone who thinks he's stupid, you got a good memory." She polished off her root beer and sat back with her feet up. "Look, Number 4, I didn't want this job either, you know that? Heck, when I was eight, after that mission where Number 1 lost his hair, I sure didn't want that second-in-command job."
Number 4 went silent at that last bit. It was a rule not to talk about THAT mission.(Number 1 used to have such great hair and he was never really the same after what happened.)
Number 4 felt even smaller as Number 5 went on.
"Do you know why I took that job after all? And do you know why I accepted the role of sector leader after Number 1 asked me to?"
Number 4 tried not to look scared. He didn't get scared. No way. Never. Not him.
"Because we're the Kids Next Door, Number 4. We save kids. It's our job. And when the job needs you to do something, you gotta do it."
Number 4 took the job after that talk. After that he tried to be more like Number 5, even when he wasn't officially second in command yet. He did little things and tried to be less selfish. He didn't even complain when they were vegging out on the sofa and Number 3 changed the channel to a Rainbow Monkey soap opera. None of it made him feel any bigger and neither did the fight.
Everyone had their own ways of coping with Number 1's absence . Sometimes Number 3 would cry, not very often but loud and openly when she did. Number 4 would spend as long as he needed in his room punching the tar out of his punching bag. Number 2 would take one of the ships in the hanger and come back a few hours later;no one could see his eyes under his goggles, but you could always hear the sniffling. As for Number 5, she had many ways of coping(most of which she knew were unhealthy or even dangerous). But right now Number 4 had a feeling that the new Sector leader was rubbing a patch of bark at the bottom of Sector V's treehouse.
Once, in an event that somehow seemed a lifetime ago to Numbuh 5, the Delightful Children had attacked and completely destroyed the treehouse. Not only that, but they were able to get ahold of Number 1 and use an age changing ray to make him an old man.Things eventually got fixed after they were able to steal the ray and Number 1 returned to them. And they rebuilt the Treehouse, bigger and badder than ever before! That whole month of rebuilding the treehouse was one of the most fun times Sector V had ever had.
The only scar left from that encounter with the Delightful Dorks was a slight discoloration from where the new bark didn't quite match the old.(There used to be a huge band-aid and a few decorations, but some of the hamsters nibbled it off and the big pink bow had been thrown off by Number 4 at the first opportunity.) Now all that was left was a slight change in tone on the patch of tree bark.
Number 5 now looked at the change and a swell of memories came back; the time when her and Number 1 had been rookies and Number 1 promised his undying loyalty to her for changing his grade for the Kids Next Door entrance exam; her sister Cree(who was still Number 11 back then) showing her around the treehouse;the night where every single villain within a 100 mile radius tried to attack the Treehouse in the middle of the night(All while Number 1 was asleep!)
Those were simpler times .Sure, they were times when there were problems, but it wasn't Number 5's job to figure out how to deal with them. Being second in command was a whole different world from being in charge. Number 5 had a brief experience as the head honcho once upon a time, and she never wanted to be there again. But here she was!
Abby thought about how that woman had to save them from those Delightful Creeps. The more she thought about it the more she couldn't stand herself.
As a Kids Next Door operative, having to have an adult save you was humiliating. It was like having your mom pull apart a little kid fight.
A voice that started as a whisper in the back of her mind a couple of blocks from their beating a couple of hours ago now became a shouting accusation.
If Cree was sector leader like back in the old days, then they wouldn't have needed saving back there! If Nigel was here, he would have chased those Delightful Dorks back to their mansion hurling mud at their new white outfits all along the way!
She began to cry silently.
"Number 1, why'd you have to leave?"
Then a voice from behind her made her turn around.
"Number 5?"
Abby looked back over her shoulder to see Number 4 a couple of paces up the stairs.
"Yeah? What is it?" She said though a crackling voice and sniffles.
"Uh, Number 65.3 just called. He says you gotta come up and listen to a super secret report."
Number 5 wiped her eyes and nodded.
"Hey…Number 5? Are you crying?"
Abby almost wanted to throw him off the tree.
"I'm not crying, fool! I just have something stuck in my eye is all."
Number 4(who had used that exact same excuse at least a gazillon times) just nodded in pretend acceptance. Number 5 brushed past him but hesitated when they were only a few steps apart.
"Hey, Number 4… how did I do today? Did I handle everything okay? I mean, the whole thing with the Delightful Children…"
Number 4 said nothing for a few seconds but then moved a step closer.
"We're all off our game, Number 5. It hasn't been easy on any of us. Number 1's up in Canada and we're all down here ..."
Number 4 trailed off and stared at the horizon.
Number 5 just sighed and started to walk away before Numbuh 4's next words made her stop for a minute.
"Y'know, since this afternoon I've been thinking a lot about that week too. Now I ain't the best at remembering stuff, but it seems to me that you were the one who led that mission to get that cruddy baby's cigar away from those Delightful Doofuses."
A smile came to Abby's face.
"Thanks, Number 4."
Number 4 waited until the leader was gone and then kicked the wall as hard as he could. Sector V got a super secret message from Moon Base and it was Number 65.3 on the line.
Usually Sector Leaders had to be present for anything this classified or important to be read. It was a dumb rule and almost everybody hated it. Sooner or later everyone was going to be privy to the order anyway, so why bother?
It didn't happen often, but sometimes when it did Number 5 could get the message out and save everybody a trip to the communications room. Number 4 had tried in vain to work the same magic, but he couldn't get a single word of it.
"Come on, I'm second in command here! Just tell me and I'll go tell Number 5. We've all had a long day."
The operative on the screen sighed. "Regrettably, yes. Number 4, you are second in command of Sector V, but you are NOT sector leader."
Number 4 stomped out of the room to go get Number 5. When he was just barely past the door, he heard something that made him clench his fists.
"Honestly though, the skunk would have been a better choice."
Normally Number 4 would have gone back and threatened to beat up Number 65.3, but he was trying to work on his temper too. For now he would just have to settle for kicking the wall.