I don't think I really need to say it, however, I do not own Codename: Kids Next Door. KND and its characters are the sole property of Mr. Warburton. Unless they were created by me, specifically for this story.
CONTINUING...
KIDS NEXT DOOR MISSION:
OPERATION:
P.A.R.E.N.T.S.
Parental
Attention
Readily
Exposes
Never
Told
Secrets
TRANSMISSION THREE:
A SPY IN THEIR MIDST
WRITING OPERATIVE:
Sgamer82
Despite leaving earlier than usual, Numbuh Three was the last one to arrive for the morning briefing. She came into the briefing room to see Numbuhs Five and Two staring at Numbuh Four. Numbuh One wasn't present but it wasn't hard to figure out why when Three saw Four.
Numbuh Four had a small fly on his nose. He was practically cross-eyed trying to look at it. He just stood there, still as a rock. When Three asked what they were all doing Five quickly hushed her. Three sat down next to Numbuh Two and watched along with them, trying to figure out what was happening.
After a few more moments, Numbuh Four suddenly moved his hand so fast it was a blur. He took a swat at the fly, which was still perched on his nose. The fly flew away before Four could hit it. Numbuh Four himself wasn't so lucky. He hit himself in the face with his right hand so hard he knocked himself backward a bit. Numbuh Five suddenly jumped to her feet and shouted to Numbuh Two.
"Ya see. What'd Numbuh Five tell ya? I knew he'd smack himself silly to get that fly. You owe Numbuh Five a Choco-Crunchy bar!"
So that's what they were doing. Five and Two had bet on whether or not Four would actually hit himself to get the fly. Obviously, Five had bet he would.
The boy in the pilot cap reached into his pocket, pulled out the candy bar they'd bet and handed it to Numbuh Five. Five put it in her pocket to save for later.
The fly buzzed around a bit then left the room. When it did Two called out that it was safe. Numbuh One came into the briefing room, scanning it to make sure it really was gone. Numbuh One hated insects. He'd told the other Kids Next Door that it went back to a bee-sting incident when he was two. When one of your first conscious memories is being put in the hospital by a bee-sting allergy, you tend to develop a dislike towards anything with more than four legs.
When One was convinced the insect had truly left, he regained his leaderly composure and began the Kids Next Door morning briefing.
"Good morning, team. It's good to see you all in good spirits." said Numbuh One, "Are you feeling well, Numbuh Three?"
"Yep, wet as rain!" Three exclaimed.
The others rolled their eyes at Three's slight mangling of the figure of speech. But nobody made a wise crack, they all figured they'd go easy on her today. Numbuh One continued, dropping the formalities and getting straight to business.
"Team, I have some disturbing news. As you all know, the appearance of Knightbrace at our last mission was unexpected. The fluoride operation we busted up was, compared to some that other Kids Next Door teams have found, relatively small. There should've been no reason for someone like Knightbrace to be present."
"That c'n only mean one thing." said Numbuh Five, picking up on where One was headed, "They knew we was comin' before we came."
"Yes, that's my theory as well." said Numbuh One. "Somehow, they learned of our mission to attack them."
"Ya don' think 'dere's a traitor here, do ya Numbuh One?" Numbuh Four said, "If there is a rat they're gonna deal with me!"
"I considered that possibility, Numbuh Four." But not happily. Numbuh One added to himself.
"I rejected it though. None of you knew any details of the mission until just before we left. There's no way they could've tracked down and hired Knightbrace in the time it took us to reach the school from the tree house."
"Who could've known about it beforehand?" Numbuh Two wondered.
"There's only one guy here who coulda." Numbuh Five said, casting a glance at Numbuh One.
"Yeah, I know." Numbuh One said, looking at the floor, "I've known about the mission for a week. It was transmitted to me from moon base headquarters. But I'm no spy."
Most of the Kids Next Door knew Numbuh One was one of the most loyal Kids Next Door there was. Even as the most likely suspect not a single one of them even considered One would betray them intentionally.
"So if none of us are traitors, how is it that our foes knew of our plans?" Numbuh One asked, wanting to see if any of the other Kids Next Door would come to the same conclusion he had.
Numbuh Three began jumping up and down and waving her over sleeved arms yelling "I know! I know!". Numbuh One wondered if he should hear her answer or not. He decided to risk it.
"Okay. Numbuh Three. How could they know?" Numbuh Three thought about it, as if trying to word her answer.
"Mmm... they disguise themselves as bugs and sit on the walls?" she said, while looking around.
This time the Kids Next Door did react. They let out a communal groan.
"Um... I doubt that Numbuh Three." Numbuh one said, "They'd have to be pretty tiny for us not to notice them. Anyone else?"
Numbuh Three seemed disappointed her idea got rejected. But she quickly forgot it when she suddenly burst out into a fit of giggles. One was slowly getting irritated with Three. Though even he couldn't resist a smile when he caught a glance at what Three was laughing at.
Numbuh Four's face was starting to develop a red mark the rough size and shape of his right hand.
"Yeah, Yeah, yuk it up." Numbuh Four said angrily, his arms folded. Two and Five joined in the laughter. When they had gotten that out of their system, Numbuh One continued.
"Moving on. I do believe that somehow, our enemies are eavesdropping on us."
"But who is it? And how?" asked Numbuh Two, his curiosity starting to come up with possibilities. Numbuh one sighed.
"That I don't know, Numbuh Two. That I don't know."
In a mansion down the lane from the Kids Next Door's tree house, five children sat quietly and watched TV. However, they weren't watching a TV show. They watched as the Kids Next Door, their adult-defying foes, researched ways to figure out how they were being spied on.
This was a slight problem for the Delightful Children from down the lane. Their surveillance of the Kids Next Door had proven an invaluable asset. It had provided them with much information on their enemies. But the Children had tipped their hands in alerting the faculty of the elementary school of the Kids plans to attack them. Now the Kids Next Door were on to their tricks. The Delightful Children had to figure out a way to make use of their advantage while they still had it.
They continued watching the Kids Next Door, to see if anything they did would yield something helpful. Their morning meeting had ended, and now they were checking out ways their security could've been compromised.
Numbuh One was poring over his notes from the briefing, trying to figure out just who was spying on them. He felt it was imperative to figure it out as soon as possible. The longer their security was compromised the longer every mission they went on would be jeopardized.
While Numbuh One worked on the "Who", Numbuh Five, the local expert in stealth & surveillance, was in the tree house library working on the "how" and "what". She spent her time reading every comic book she could find with info on hard-to-detect spy equipment. If she could figure out what they were dealing with, then disabling it would a piece of cake.
Numbuh Two was assigned to trying to figure out the "when" part of the equation. Going on the assumption that what they were dealing with was electronic, he was charged with rigging up something that would detect when something other than Kids Next Door equipment was sending out signals to someone.
The Delightful Children made a note to try and do something about that device before it was finished.
Numbuhs Three and Four were assisting where they could. However, research wasn't really their thing. Three seemed to be handing out refreshments. While Four renewed his hunt for the fly that had invaded the tree house. The Delightful Children remained mindful of him as their mechanical fly viewed everything within the house.
Once they had had to wait for the fly to return to them before they could view what it saw. But now it had been modified to the point that it could send live pictures. Father had been quite proud of his children for that development.
Unfortunately, their observation failed to gain them anything even potentially useful other than the fact that Numbuh Three puts way too much sugar in her lemonade (though Numbuh Five's reaction to trying some did earn a monotonous chuckle from the Children). They were just about to call the fly-spy back home when something happened.
The phone in the main briefing room began to ring. Numbuh Four was the first to reach it.
"Kids Next Door." he chimed in greeting, "Numbuh Four speakin'. Uh-huh. Kuki? Oh, yeah. I'll get 'er. 'Ang on.
Four put his hand over the receiver and called out in a loud voice.
"Yo' Numbuh Three, Ya Dad's on da p-oof!"
Before Numbuh Four could finish his sentence Three had tackled him to the ground and grabbed the phone out of his hand. She covered Four's mouth with her free hand and sat on his chest, pinning him to the floor.
"Oh, hi Dad. Yeah. I'll be here for a while." She said, with a slightly worried look on her face.
"Um, yeah... he did say "Kids Next Door". Uh... me an' Wallabee an' the others are... playin' spies. Yeah. We even get code-numbers. I'm Number Three! Yep. Be home by six? Okay. Bye-bye."
With that Numbuh Three let go of the phone and let Numbuh Four loose. Needless to say, Numbuh Four wasn't very happy with what just occurred.
"What th' bleedin' crud was 'dat all 'bout, Numbuh Three!"
"I'm sorry Numbuh Four!" Three replied, "But I had to. My mom an' dad don't know about the Kids Next Door! If they did they'd never let me be one. My mom'd be too scared I'd get hurt. I'm so sorry."
Numbuh Four's anger seemed to diminish with the explanation. But he was still in a huff when he left the briefing room. He headed in the direction of his wrestling ring, possibly to work off some frustration.
In the mansion, the Delightful Children thought of the scene they had just witnessed. Kuki Sanban's mother and father didn't know of her membership in the Kids Next Door. That was a very useful bit of intel.
As all their thoughts do, the Delightful Children realized simultaneously what had to be done. It wasn't proper for children to deceive their parents so. The Delightful Children From Down The Lane decided that now might be a good time to speak to Mr. and Mrs. Sanban about their daughter's... extracurricular activities.
END OF TRANSMISSION THREE