Jysella: I actually finished a chapter aren't you all proud of me?
Audience of delusions: ::eep::
Jysella: fine be that way, just read off the disclaimer. I'll just go gloat over my physics grade.
Numbuh four: wait we have a cruddy teenager writing our story?
Jysella: ::glare::
Audience of delusions: the psychotic writer-lady owns nothing except her own characters and sachi's supply of pixie sticks that she stole.
Jysella ::while glaring:: so don't sue
Sachi-chan: ::tied up in the closet:: MMMRRRPHHHHH
Chapter one: insanity as usual
There was a general clustering of silence about the wooden room as the raven haired child walked up the path in return from her candy run, followed by a sharp intake of breath as the doorknob turned. Moments passed in this suspended state in wait of the doors opening but it never occurred. Gradually one of the hidden figures moved, slow, quick gestures silenced by an orange sweatshirt, in order to better see out one of the many windows around the room. Through the silence one could hear the sound of skin against skin.
"She saw a butterfly" the orange figure said in a subdued voice. Three other voices snickered only to freeze suddenly when the doorknob again began to move. Instantly the room silenced and filled with the creaking noise of a door opening on un-greased hinges. The orange figure, with no time to hide from the doors opening, grabbed a magazine and flung himself over the back of a large chair from which a soft "ow" emanated when he landed. Before the orange creature was able to respond however light filled the room along with a familiar, if slightly Asian, tune.
"Why are all the lights out?", called out a feminine voice whose source seemed to be the silhouette at the door. Upon hearing no response the silhouette entered the room and flicked on a light. Brightness instantly flooded the old wooden room, blinding the eyes of the orange, wearing figure on the chair. The no- longer silhouette at the door put down a large brown bag and readjusted a high ponytail holding long raven hair from her face, half-way through the gesture she stopped in order to push the sleeve of an overly large green sweatshirt back to it's rightful position on her wrist. Having accomplished as such she reached to her hair once again only to have the sweatshirt slip. After four futile attempts she gave way to groaning and abandoned the sweatshirt, ruffling her already ruffled hair. Beneath the green cloth was a sleeveless shirt of similar color and size. She grinned at her success and began to fix her hair…which was the exact moment the, until then, hidden figures decided to act.
"Surprise!!" they screamed in one voice creating a deafening roar. Shocked the girl released her hair causing it to fall about her shoulders. She screamed and turned around only to be confronted with four of her closest friends laughing hysterically.
"Happy birthday Numbuh 3!!" the four managed to spit out between giggles. For a moment the girl, identified as Numbuh 3, laughed along with her friends until she realized that her hair was still down. Grumbling the girl turned her face upwards and called
" Why gods, what have you got against my hair being up today?" Which only served to extract further peals of laughter from her companions.
She rolled to the left, barely out of the range of the fiery blast her opponent readily supplied, her second's hesitation cost her a strand of her bright red hair. Cursing under her breath she put all her concentration in missing the next beam and forming a counter attack. The metal weapon in front of her began to glow a bright red and her brow furrowed in concentration.
"Three," she said in a voice heard only by herself. The beam would begin to gather energy from the room any second now. Moments later, as if in response to her thoughts, the room grew icy.
"Two," she whispered for her own benefit as an idea hit her. If she were to jump at the exact moment the beam was fired it would hit the red wall behind it and be absorbed causing no damage to the room or herself. Now all she needed was the timing.
" Three quarters" she hummed at one eighth she would have to jump, if she didn't…. well she didn't want to consider that option.
"One quarter" This was it… her eyes narrowed in concentration and her leg muscles tensed in anticipation. She was ready
"One e…" Her whisper was cut off by her cell phone going off. Briefly she contemplated letting it ring…. Briefly. The consequences of such an action could be dire…. Worse than any she faced
Again she cursed beneath her breath and fumbled for the phone, both out of a responsibility and annoyance at the evil gadget's ring.
"Yo" she responded once she had located the demonic device. Without warning her eyes focused back in on what was occurring immediately in front of her and her lilac eyes flashed pure fear. The beam had finished gathering, she had missed her narrow chance at escape.
"Damn," she murmured unable to do anything to remedy her situation
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Once the laughter had receded, replaced with the occasional giggle, and the five people scattered about the wooden room were able to stand without falling prey to the vicious plague the party began.
"Numbuh Five thinks we should try this again" a red-capped girl, being the first to recover, stated eliciting stares from her companions. "Numbuh five's gonna take that as a no," she added.
"How about…" started a round boy with flight goggles on his head only to be cut off by the now jumping Numbuh three as she screamed " Cake, cake, cake" and dragged the bewildered blonde in the orange sweatshirt in an impromptu jumping dance…
"Give the child her cake," the blonde replied as his face dropped all color. He was succumbing to nausea quickly but the raven-haired girl was too excited to realize her near fate. Already having anticipated this the sunglasses bearing fifth member of the crew had fled to the kitchen and was now engaged in a yelling match with the matches, as they weren't lighting. As the round boy was transfixed by his nauseated comrade dragged in a circle by the bouncing Numbuh three, the capped girl heard shouts from the kitchen and left to investigate. Fearing the worse she grabbed a wooden object on the way out of the room and placed three carefully concealed gumballs within. Stealthily she rounded the corner and crept down the hallway. She steadied herself by the doorway of the kitchen and took a deep breath before bounding in. Her fears were unanswered, however, as she encountered her frustrated friend attempting to get a soggy match to light.
"When are you gonna learn Numbuh one?" Not having heard his friend enter the boy known to be Numbuh one turned swiftly while holding the wet matchbook out in front of him as though it would some how morph into a strange contraption similar to the device held in the arms of Numbuh five.
"Oh it's only you Numbuh five," the boy said in relief as he returned to his furtive ploy.
"Ah Numbuh one? The matchbook is wet," the girl stated slightly embarrassed the bald boy had not noticed.
"I know that Numbuh five," the boy had responded testily pulling his red shirt over his arm and wiping the area under his glasses.
"Numbuh one?" the girl asked in a quieter tone "Are you crying?" the boy was prepared to deny such a preposterous idea when he realized that the girl would discover the truth later despite what he said at that particular junction.
"Twelve candles, Numbuh five. She is the youngest of us and she is twelve" he said in response. Her eyes widened when the realization dawned on her. Numbuh three was the youngest of the team having been born nine months after Numbuh one. At twelve she was in her last year on the team. The landmark Numbuh one had met nine months prior and was to come to pass in three months.
"Numbuh one, with teams they usually allow members, even teen members, to stay until the youngest is officially a teen," she said quietly knowing this was a rarely granted asylum.
"I suppose that's true," the eldest member had sighed though both knew their time as protectors of childrenkind was rapidly coming to an end. It was precisely on that somber note that Numbuh two burst into the room, heavily breathing as an effect of the run between the main dwelling and the kitchen.
"Hurry… Numbuh four… cake," he mumbled, struggling to force each word out past gulps of air. Moments later he had collected himself enough, under the scrutinizing gazes of his friends, to speak in full sentences.
" Numbuh three has gone into a cake-needing frenzy and has decided to dance with four" he paused allowing the other two to cringe at the thought of a frenzied Numbuh three.
"How is Numbuh four, Numbuh two?" the bald child asked.
" Might want to bring the sawdust," Numbuh two responded sadly shaking his head.
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She hit the wall with a loud thud. Through the ringing in her ears, and the laughter of her opponent, she was able to discern the wet sound of tissue tearing from bone.
'Stupid!' she chastised herself mentally ' This is where distractions get you!' As she slid down the wall, her skin like paper against the rough surface, the voice on the phone was strangely silent, though she couldn't hear anything through the haze following a blow of such substantial proportions. After what seemed to be hours of relentless sliding down a never-ending wall, when her feet finally hit the floor, she was unable to support her weight, though little, and her legs collapsed. With the collision the now silent cell phone slipped from her grip and clattered across the floor.
'Damn!' her mind screamed only to be joined by her muscles as she rose and crawled after her lost cell phone. 'Now where did it get too?' she thought aimlessly flailing her arms about until 'aha, found it' at which point she looked up to find herself directly underneath her opponent's mechanical giant.
"Shit!" she was shocked into saying out loud seconds before somersaulting under the beast, grabbing her phone on the way.
"Is this important?" she screamed into the receiver watching her opponent at all times. She would not repeat her previous mistake regardless of her distraction. Yet, even with this determination her mind was on something that had caught her eye during the summersaults. Underneath the robotic beast there had been a panel with a loose screw. Vaguely her mind registered a voice on the other end of the phone and, flushing slightly, she asked it to repeat it's previous statement.
"Of course I can take another assignment," she said, quietly, into the phone as she crouched and prepared to run.
'Now all I have to do is get under there, unscrew the panel, break a few wires and get out' her mind thought as it processed the information provided by the phone. She shifted the phone to her left hand and rolled under the metal demon for the second time in five minutes. The voice was still talking, unaware of her situation, as she stopped directly under the loose panel. Holding a screwdriver in her mouth she unscrewed the panel but was unable to dodge the sheet metal as it came crashing down. As a result of her second's hesitation a crimson line appeared down the length of her arm and began to seep deep red liquid almost immediately after it occurred. The person on the phone continued to talk, just as unaware of these happenings as her opponent. Her hand growing jammy with coagulating blood she reached into the metal underbelly of the beast and pulled out a yellow wire.
" That's all?" she asked the phone as the beast ceased to move. There was a loud screech as the metal hinge in a raised leg swung foreword followed by a thud as it hit the ground, throwing the girl a few feet into the air.
"Yes I'll do it," she continued. The girl calmly turned and began walking to the facilities door.
"That'll teach you to skip out on a session," she said as the beast exploded. She continued out the door, closing the phone, with the flames licking her back, leaving behind a trail of blood from her injured arm.
Numbuh five entered the room seconds before one and shut the lights. The crazed Numbuh three ceased spinning the already nauseous four when the cake entered it's candles glowing brightly.
"Happy birthday three," the blonde had said before running out of the room, his hand firmly clamped over his mouth. Three cocked her head at his departure, unsure of why he had left, but her confusion was quickly replaced by delight when the cake finally made it's way to the table at her side.
"Numbuh five says to blow out the candles and make a wish," the dark skinned girl said after the three agents had serenaded the raven-haired girl with happy birthday. Smiling brightly Numbuh three took a deep breath and then blew out her candles. There were only twelve, the same as the year before. Though most years it was customary to place an extra candle for good luck none of the kids next door had believed this a necessary addition to this years cakes as one more candle would make thirteen; an age each of them could feel like a cold weight on their minds.
'I wish we were all still here next year,' she thought as the last candle went out.
"Congratulations three" one stated when all of the candles had been doused with one breath.
"Why?" the Asian girl had asked, eyes betraying as much puzzlement as her tone.
"You blew them out with one breath, Numbuh fives knows you know that means that your wish will come true," the black haired girl replied before Numbuh one could.
"Oh" three giggled as she began to cut the cake. Her eyes suddenly brightened as four-crept back into the room.
"Cake?" three offered failing to notice the large circles under his eyes and pale skin. She was puzzled as four clasped his hand over his mouth and ran out of the room a second time.
"Was it something I said?" she asked as she gave the dark skinned girl cake. Numbuh five merely laughed and walked away leaving Numbuh three as puzzled as ever.