Over a month has passed since Sector Z was granted sanctuary on Pegasi. In that time, they have spent their time searching the planet and searching for any Galactic insurgents with the assistance of Numbuh Palm. In that time, Numbuh Vine never revealed to Nigel that she was Lizzie Devine. Nigel hadn't heard the voice inside his head since he found out about Earth. Everything seemed to be going fine for them, especially when they managed to learn that the war on Earth had remained in the Kids Next Door's favor, despite it being a war of attrition. Unfortunately, good things do come to an end they're good for a long time. Eventually, Numbuh Infinity had caught wind of humans hunting down Galactic insurgents on Pegasi, and led an invasion force there.
At the lunch table, Pegasi Command and Sector Z are sitting around when they see Numbuh Infinity and a group of Galactic guards with him. Naturally all of them draw their weapons on their enemies, with Nigel's anger at a boiling point.
"You didn't think you could hide forever, did you Numbuh 1?" Numbuh Infinity says.
"Leave this place. You are not welcome here." Numbuh Vine says.
"Oh Numbuh Vine, this is no longer your world to control. Even with you hunting down those insurgents." Numbuh Infinity scoffs.
"You got ten seconds before we take out your guards and blow your fucking head off." Rachel threatens, cocking her blaster.
"Numbuh 362?" Numbuh Infinity asks, barely recognizing her with the mohawk. "I was wondering why Numbuh 5 became Supreme Leader and where you disappeared to. And I can only assume that you are Sector Z, once the Delightful Children." Numbuh Infinity says, finally recognizing all of them.
"Thin fucking ice, asshole." Bruce says.
"How very much like the adults you are, using profanity and teaming up with the enemy. I knew there was a reason you turned traitor Numbuh 362." Infinity taunts.
"I'm not a traitor, because I stick to my principles." Rachel replies.
"And I stuck to mine." Infinity says, looking out the window as a giant robot descends from the sky and onto the planet surface. As it begins dropping bombs on the Pegasi capital, the aliens all begin to run away from it in fear.
"You monsters!" Numbuh Vine lunges at Infinity, only to be shot with a stun gun. Infinity then uses his weapon to set to reveal her human disguise.
"Take a good look at the one you trust, Numbuh 1. Does she not seem familiar to you?" Numbuh Infinity taunts as Nigel stares at Numbuh Vine, now in her human disguise.
"Lizzie? You were an alien this whole team?" The shocked boy asks.
"I am so goddamn sorry, Nigel. This wasn't my fault." Numbuh Vine pleads.
Sector Z fires upon Infinity's guards and Rachel tries to attack Infinity, only for him to disappear once more. As Numbuh Sage manages to bring Numbuh Vine back to her true form, Nigel just sits there as Rachel tries to snap him out.
"Help me get him up!" Rachel can't budge him. "Come on, Nigel! We gotta get outta here!" Unfortunately, he pleas fall all on deaf ears as Nigel becomes blinded by anger once more, slipping back into the dark place.
"That's it, my boy. Embrace the evil inside of you." The sinister voice says once more.
"Who are you? I need to help them! Let me go!" Nigel angirly protests.
"Oh no. I'm not holding you against your will. I'm trying to help my grandson realize his potential." The voice says, with Nigel now recognizing the voice as Grandfather, the KND's worst enemy in history. In his mind, Nigel sees Grandfather standing before him.
"Grandfather? How is this possible? My dad decommissioned you!" Nigel is shocked at seeing the sinister figure.
"My dear boy, you can never truly escape what is not dead. My powers remain dormant when I am decommissioned. However, the evil inside our family will always remain so long as there are those who are nothing but angry. Like you, and my bastard son." Grandfather explains.
"How can you call Father a bastard when you're more evil than him?" Nigel asks curiously.
"Because your uncle Benedict is my bastard son. Monty and Benedict have different mothers. My wife, your Grandmother Agatha, left me when she found out about Benedict. Benedict's mother died, leaving me to raise that little shit. My biggest regret has been that he inherited evil. And he can't even have kids of his own, unable to pass on the family tradition. But now I see an opportunity for you." Grandfather explains.
"Why me?" Nigel asks.
"Because of what you have gone through. You have every right to be." Grandfather then shows Nigel images of Nigel's past. "Manipulated by the girls who claim to love you, abandoned in space by your so called friends, running from a terrorist cult, you need me." Grandfather says.
"No. Get away from me!" Nigel protests.
"This is not up to you, Nigel." Grandfather says.
Outside his mind, Rachel tries to snap Nigel out as he flails around.
"Nigel! Come back to me!" Rachel pleads.
Nigel then opens his eyes, which are now completely yellow and a black suit begins to surround him.
"Oh fuck." Bruce says.
Ashley and Constance run to get water. Nigel looks out the window in anger. The robot spots him and rushes towards him. Using his new abilities, Nigel flies into the air and breathes fire on the robot. Noticing this, Infinity becomes very scared.
"Fall back!" He orders his troops, leaving only the robot left on Pegasi as they disappear.
Nigel in the meantime manages to melt the robot in hot liquid metal, while leaving scorched ground surrounding him.
"Hurry up with that water!" Bruce orders.
Ashley and Constance run up with the water, but Nigel unintentionally set a fire perimeter around himself and the melted robot.
"We need to get over top!" Ashley shouts.
"Don't bother, I can reach!" Numbuh Vine shouts. She gets up to the perimeter, stretches herself far enough to douse the fire, cool the metal, and not get burned. Nigel screams out in agony as he flails about. Eventually David and Rachel get to him and rip the silhouette suit off of him.
"Ah! It burns! It hurts!" Nigel screams.
"Nigel, look at me!" Rachel shouts as Nigel opens his eyes. He takes a look around and sees the damage that Pegasi sustained.
"Is… is all of this because of me?" The teary-eyed Nigel asks.
"Most of it, no. And nobody was hurt because of what you did, Nigel. You saved lives." Rachel informs him.
"But, what happened Nigel?" A concerned David asks.
"It was my Grandfather. His dormant powers managed to take hold of my anger. It turned me into something I'm not. I don't want to hurt you guys." Nigel says.
"So your Grandfather communicates to you in times of anger?" Rachel asks.
"It's only happened twice, this time and back on the ship when we saw the news. I just felt angry and alone." Nigel says.
"You're not alone, Nigel. You have a girlfriend who loves you. And you friends who can talk to you about feelings of paranoia and uncertainty." David says.
"You mean that?" Nigel asks.
"Yes I do. Not a day goes by where I'm not afraid that one day we'll all wake up Delightfulized again. But I get through the day knowing I have comrades like you, Rachel, and Pegasi command. You're it alone, Nigel . We're all here for you." David says.
"Thank you, David. That means a lot to me." Nigel says.
"Come with me, Nigel. I think someone wants to talk to you." Rachel takes his hand and they walk to find the others.
They approach Pegasi command, who is working with the rest of Sector Z to make sure nobody else is horribly hurt.
"Numbuh Vine?" Nigel asks.
"I am so fucking sorry, Numbuh 1. If I could go back and change the past, I would. You didn't deserve any of that from me." Numbuh Vine says.
"I forgive you, Numbuh Vine. I don't blame you for any of this, knowing what I know about Galactic. Maybe in another life we could have been good together, but that doesn't matter now. All that matters is hunting down Infinity, and putting an end to his reign of terror." Nigel says.
"Well unfortunately for us, Infinity escaped when you went apeshit on the robot." Bruce says.
"Yeah, but he's scared. We have him on the run. And he doesn't know what causes your powers. If we can find him and wear him down again that could stop him." Lenny says.
"What am I supposed to do. Light myself on fire? Wear yellow contacts?" Nigel asks sarcastically.
"Honestly that second one isn't a bad idea for every once in a while. And you can probably eventually control your abilities so it doesn't get that bad again. But for now, let's focus on repairing Pegasi before we hunt him down across the galaxy." Lenny says.
"Indeed." Nigel says.
The team the proceeds to repair the damage caused by Galactic before they embark on their new mission, to hunt Infinity down across the galaxy.
End of the chapter. A lot to unpack here. I was nervous with this chapter with the revelation of Grandfather and Nigel's reaction to Lizzie. I was never certain of how it would play out. But I'm glad that it came out the way it did, and I hope all of you enjoyed it as well. As a reminder, there are going to be time jumps in the story, because certain things happen at the same time so it will still be non linear at points.