The Galactic ship that had chased them had fired a temporary EMP upon the ship of Sector Z, so as to temporarily cripple it.
On the ship, everyone's cradles appear to be rocked. Rachel is attempting to get the ship up and going, but it fails.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck! Everything's down. We gotta take out that ship before it takes us out." Rachel says, slamming her fist repeatedly into a computer screen.
"I don't think they're here to kill us." Chad says.
"What makes you say that?" Bruce asks.
"They don't want to kill us yet. They're here for me and Nigel. We gotta get you him outta here." Chad demands.
"Him? What about you?" Rachel asks.
"Don't worry about me. Get him outta…." Before he can finish his sentence, a tube shoots from the Galactic ship and cuts a hole through the roof.
Chad and Rachel both rush to Nigel to get him into the escape pod, while Bruce and Constance wait time to fight the enemies to enter the ship.
Unfortunately several bombs are dropped into the ship. The bombs set off electric charges and all go off and once. Chad is knocked into the escape pod, which suddenly kickstarts due to the electric bomb. Before Chad can attempt to get out and help the others, the escape pod launches away into space.
Rachel attempts to get to Nigel but is stopped when a bomb knocks her across the room. Suddenly something tentacle appears from the tube and appears to grab Nigel. Still fazed, he cannot shout out for help.
"Nigel!" David attempts to grab his leg when he is pulled up the tube, but he can't reach him in time.
The roof is sealed shut once more, the tube leads back into the ship and it takes off into space.
When Rachel comes back to it, she rushes towards the window to see the ship fly off into space.
"NOOOOOO! NIIIGEEEELLL!" She then absolutely breaks down in tears.
"We can still get him back, Rachel." Ashley reassures her.
"How?! How are we supposed to get him back?! The ship's dead in the water! This was our ONE chance to get him back. And I fucked it up!" Rachel rants, still crying her eyes out.
"We didn't completely fuck it up. This blindsided all of us. And you're wrong, that wasn't our one chance to get Nigel. We can still find him." Bruce reassures.
"What do you mean?"
"I had thought this would happen, so I embedded another tracker onto Nigel. We're gonna get him back, I promise you." Ashley informs. Rachel is still crying however, as she is unsure whether this attempt will succeed or not.
"I'm glad you thought of that, but I'm still scared of what they'll do to him." Ashley then puts a hand on the girl's shoulder.
"Think about it, what will Nigel do if Plan A failed and there wasn't a real backup plan?"
"He'd improvise. And he'd always come out on top."
"Exactly."
"I knew I picked the right team for this mission. Come on, let's get the ship up and going again. We got a mission to do." Rachel says, now more confident about retaking Nigel.
Meanwhile, Nigel is taken to a Galactic prison where he is hauled into a large room.
"You mother fuckers! Get your hands off me!" Nigel screams he is then strapped to the chair. When he is secured, Numbuh Infinity walks into the room. Nigel looks at him as if he wants to split his head on a curb.
"Leave us." Infinity orders the guards, who obey him.
"Now then, down to business." Nigel spits in his face, though Infinity seems to brush it off like it is nothing.
"Fuck you… you piece of shit. You tried to have me murder billions for your psychopathic rhetoric. When I get out of this place, I'm going to kill you, you sick son of a bitch." Nigel threatens, though Infinity still seems to be unfazed.
"I was willing to be civil and give another chance to Numbuh 1, but you leave me no choice. We are going with Option B. Galactic is now prepared to go to Eart and personally wipe out anyone who is infected with adulthood. You are going to watch us do it from this prison, and you will never know the benefit of being a hero amongst Galactic operatives." Infinity informs, as coldly as he can.
"You don't truly know Earth the way I do. They'll fight you all off with a hellstorm they're willing to unleash on you. Before that war ends, you're going to die. You're worse than almost every adult on Earth."
"Even the villains, Numbuh 1? What of the ones who wanted to destroy you?" Infinity says, in a final attempt to convince Nigel.
"Most villains were merely selfish, they just wanted some extra soda for themselves or just an extra math sheet for us. Unlike them, YOU deserve to die." Nigel snaps, not stuttering for one moment in his response.
"And what of the ones who do deserve to die?"
"They are not yours to kill, there is a special round in hell for them and I'd love to send you there personally."
"Very well then." Infinity stands up and several guards grab hold of Nigel.
"Throw him in the cell with Numbuh 9L. He can have one last moment of happiness, before we destroy the Earth." Infinity then leaves the room as Nigel is dragged to his cell.
The prison has a panopticon style, and Nigel is thrown into a cell on the lowest level. Inside his cell, he sees a familiar face. It is Numbuh 9L. She is a massive cat with orange fur and red stripes, and two tails.
"Numbuh 9L, is that really you?" Nigel asks, relieved to see a familiar face.
"Numbuh 1? Numbuh 1!" Numbuh 9L yelps ecstatically. She then rushes from one side of the cell to the other to pull him in for a hug with her paw.
"What happened to you?" Nigel asks, curious to see her in the prison. She suddenly becomes angry and sad all at once.
"They destroyed it. They destroyed Kepler, and all that I loved there." She begins to cry when Nigel comforts her.
"I'm so sorry. They just told me they plan to do the same with Earth. Their original brainwashing plan failed because I was rescued by Earth operatives on a secret mission. But Galactic recaptured me, Numbuh 274's in a spacecraft to God knows where, and the ones who tried to rescue me are stranded in a spacecraft that I'm pretty sure can't start up again." Nigel begins crying himself, when Numbuh 9L pulls him close to her.
"Whoever it is that wants to help you, I hope they're alright. In the meantime, you're safe with me. I'm not gonna let anyone hurt you." She uses her tail to rock him to sleep, and then places him protectively in her arms. She licks his cheeks, as a form of a kiss.
"Nobody's gonna hurt my baby." Numbuh 9L says as she looks at Nigel asleep in her arms.
End of the Chapter. A lot to unpack in this chapter and how truly important it is to the story. Chad is not stuck in space, forever. Given what I've read about Numbuh 9L's description by Tom Warburton, I chose to have her treat Nigel the way Kuki treats Bradley; like her baby. The planet she was from is actually based on a real planet called Kepler-452b. As you can imagine, the next chapter is going to have an epic fight moment, set to epic music. Until the next update, please read and review.