Disclaimer: Still hasn't changed, dude…
A/N: More for you to read!
When love's not enough
Chapter 6
In the big lounge:
"Numbuh 3, have you seen Numbuh 4?" Numbuh 5 asked as she came into the lounge.
Numbuh 3 was sitting on the couch, hugging a Rainbow Monkey, while watching TV. She turned her head toward Numbuh 5 as she entered. "No, not in the last few hours," she replied hoarsely. "He left earlier, he's not in the Treehouse." She lowered her head. "I think he's mad at me…" She squeezed the Rainbow Monkey tightly. It was the orange one, the one she usually carried around.
Numbuh 5 frowned at her. "Why would Numbuh 4 be mad at you, gurl?" she asked, sounding sympathetic, and crossed the room. Then she turned suspicious. "What did you say to him?"
"Well, we were just talking… and… we kinda started to talk about… err, if we liked each other…" Numbuh 3 avoided eye contact as she said that. "I think I made a mistake…"
"What kinda mistake?" Numbuh 5 asked, sitting down next to her.
"Well, he told me he liked me," Numbuh 3 replied, glancing up at her best friend. "And I think I misunderstood him. Because I told him that I liked him, too. Liked him like a good friend, you know. But I don't think that's what he meant by it. He thought that when I told him I liked him, that I really liked him, like having-a-crush-on-liking him. I thought he was joking, so I laughed."
"Oh, boy," Numbuh 5 moaned in despair, shaking her head. "Please tell Numbuh 5 she didn't just hear you say that you laughed at him!"
"Well, I did…" Numbuh 3 muttered. "I thought he was joking. Then I got suspicious and asked him if he really felt that way about me, but he just said 'no'."
"Well, of course he said 'no', gurl!" Numbuh 5 exclaimed irritated. "You'd just laughed in his face! Of course he was gonna say 'no' to ya! The boy opens his heart to ya and you laugh in his face. Now, if Numbuh 5 has learned one thing from the guys that we're livin' with, then that is that they have strong confident in themselves. They're very cocky, but if someone manages to make a fool out of them, they get very upset."
"So Numbuh 4 really likes me?" Numbuh 3 asked.
"Yeah, ain't it obvious?" Numbuh 5 replied. "He's been head over heals for ya ever since we became a team. You actually haven't noticed?"
"N-no," Numbuh 3 stuttered, biting her lip anxiously. "So… now I've hurt him..?"
Numbuh 5 nodded. "Mhm, you have."
"But I didn't know!" The little Japanese girl started to feel really bad. "I got scared, I don't want there to be anything between us!"
"Well, why not?" Numbuh 5 asked. "Numbuh 5 thinks you two would make a great couple."
"No!" Numbuh 3 shouted. "I don't like him like that!"
"Yeah, you do…" Numbuh 5 grinned at her. "I've seen the signs, Kuki." Numbuh 3 was surprised to hear her referring to her self in first person. She raised her eyebrows.
"Look at you," Numbuh 5 said. "You're holding an orange Rainbow Monkey, and orange just happens to be Numbuh 4's color." Numbuh 3 stared down at it, still with her arms wrapped tightly around it.
"You're always around him, you always talk to him, you always play games with him. It's always him, and nobody else. You like him, get it?"
"I do not!" Numbuh 3 protested. "It's just coincidental! Well, I just happen to like his company. He's nice, and he likes to play video games with me."
"Because he likes you!" Numbuh 5 added, holding her palms out to Numbuh 3. "Face it, gurl, you like him, he likes you, and that's all there is to it."
Numbuh 1 entered the room. The girls jumped, startled by him suddenly appearing like that. "Who likes who?" he asked, frowning at the two female operatives.
"Nobody!" Numbuh 3 replied quickly. She blushed slightly, feeling rather stupid about the whole "liking" situation.
"We're gathering in the meeting room soon," Numbuh 1 told them, changing the subject. "We're going to talk about the Delightful Children before we go to bed. It's very important." He was about to leave the room when he suddenly asked: "Have you seen Numbuh 4, by the way? He hasn't been in all night."
Numbuh 3 looked at Numbuh 5 with worried eyes, as if she was telling her not to tell their leader about the whole thing. Numbuh 5 nodded slightly as if she told her she understood her and wouldn't tell. Then she glanced at the leader, saying: "Nah, maybe he went home to his parents?"
"Right," Numbuh 1 muttered, lowering his eyes in thought. Then he looked at the girls again. "Well, if you do see him, tell him to come to the meeting room in five minutes."
"Got it," Numbuh 5 replied. She kept her eyes on the leader as he left. Then she looked at the Japanese girl. "Alright, not a word about this to Numbuh 1! He's not going to like the fact that anybody from the team has a thing going on between them."
"That's what I'm worried about, too," Numbuh 3 said, shaking her head. "Though, I don't really want there to be a thing. I want to forget that this ever happened."
"Are you nuts?" Numbuh 5 asked in a low voice, her left eye twitching. "You can't forget about this, this is the biggest thing that happened since Numbuh 1 admitted he really did like Lizzie! On the romance side, that is." She suddenly grinned. "Ya know, I always knew Numbuh 4 had the hots for ya."
"Don't make it sound so gross!" Numbuh 3 whined. "Besides, I will try to forget about it!"
"Kuki, look at me." The African-American girl placed her hands on the fragile shoulders of her best friend. "Just think about it. Do you really want to neglect the fact that Wally likes you? Have you thought about what you really feel for him? Have you thought about what you two could have and share if you realize that you really do like him?"
Numbuh 3 stared at Numbuh 5, her eyes feeling a bit watery. Her chin was shivering slightly. "Oh, Abby - you're right!" she cried out, throwing herself into Abigail's arms. She started to cry, sobbing loudly. "I like him! I just wish I didn't!"
Numbuh 5 patted Numbuh 3's head to comfort her. "There you go… I don't understand why you don't want to like him."
"Because I'm scared!" Numbuh 3 hollered into her shoulder.
"Alright, but why are you scared, gurl? What is there to fear if you two really like each other?" She asked her that question even if she knew that the answer would contain how much she didn't want their leader to know.
"I-I'm scared of what others will think," Numbuh 3 replied, sniffing and wiping her nose on her long green sleeve. "Especially Numbuh 1."
"Yeah… You're right," Numbuh 5 muttered, lowering her eyes. She got her fingers tangled up in the Japanese girl's hair. "But you could at least try. You don't hafta tell Numbuh 1 about it yet. Besides, he didn't tell us about Lizzie, now, did he? No, he kept her secret from us till we busted him!"
Numbuh 3 was quiet for a few moments, thinking with her head on Numbuh 5's chest. "So… what if Wally and I get busted?"
"I dunno, Kooks," Numbuh 5 whispered. "I really dunno."
Somewhere outside in the dark and cold night:
With his eyes on the ground, Numbuh 4 sighed to himself. He was now sitting on a cold and wet bench on the playground. He leaned forward and buried his face in his hands. It was getting colder by the minute, or so it felt. The sky was cloudy, the air was humid and the wind was slightly blowing past him. He found himself shivering from time to time, clattering his teeth. Not that he really care. He hardly felt the pain of the cold air. All he felt was the pain that tore him up inside.
Meanwhile, Father and the Delightful Children From Down the Lane were driving home in their black limo.
"I want to plan an attack on that tree house of theirs," Father told his Children. "I want Numbuh 1! I want his information. With that, we can take out their entire organization, and those darn Kids will never bother me again!"
"Yes, Father," the Delightful Children replied monotonously. Their faces where scarred from the fight earlier. There were even a few burnt marks on their skin. They stared out of the window as they passed the playground. They narrowed their eyes as they saw something out there. Something orange. Somebody with an orange sweater. Numbuh 4! "Stop here!" they suddenly called out to the driver.
Startled by their sudden order, the driver awkwardly pulled up by the sidewalk.
Father glared at the Delightful Children with threatening eyes. "What are you doing?" he asked suspiciously.
"We saw something," they replied innocently. They got out of the limo, quickly walking over the playground.
Numbuh 4 didn't even look up as he heard someone approach him. It was as if he shut all sound out. All he heard were his own thoughts.
"Well, well, well," the Delightful Children said in unison. "If it isn't little Wallace Beatles."
Numbuh 4 looked up now, as he heard the familiar voices. The voices he'd rather not hear at that moment. He stared at them, unable to hide his sorrow. "What do you morons want?" he asked hoarsely. "I'm not in the mood for playing games, buttwipes!"
"We're not playing this time, Wallace," they replied, their voices sounding dark and evil. Two of them reached their hands out and grabbed him by his arms.
"'Ey, let go of me!" he shouted angrily. He tried to tug away from them, but then all of their arms shot out and grabbed a hold of him. There was no way he could beat up all five of them. Together, they were way too strong for him. They started to drag him over to the limo. He tried in vain to fight back.
Father had stepped out, now watching his Children as they kidnapped Numbuh 4. He ordered the driver to get out and open the trunk. The driver did what he was told, watching carefully as the Delightful Children tied Numbuh 4 up with a rope from the trunk. Then they threw him in.
"You can't do this!" Numbuh 4 screamed. "I'm serious, this is strictly against the law!"
"Think about it, Wallace," the Delightful Children said, glaring at him. "Is locking you up in a dungeon legal? Not really. Does it look like we care? Not by a long shot! Now, shut up!" The blond Child in the front closed the trunk aggressively.
"No cruddy way you guys are gonna get away with this!" Numbuh 4 shouted, squirming to get out of the rope. "Numbuh 1'll be here any minute and woop your asses!"
In the meeting room:
Numbuh 1 was getting rather impatient, pacing back and forth on his podium. He waited for the team to show up for the second time that day. And just like last time, they were late.
Numbuh 2 was the first one to show up. "Wow, it's crowded," he muttered sarcastically. "And I thought I was late."
"You are, Numbuh 2,"Numbuh 1 replied through clenched teeth.
"Where are all the others?" the pilot asked, glancing back down the hall behind him.
"I'd like to know that, too!" the leader exclaimed, shooting his arms out to the sides.
The girls finally appeared in the doorway. "Sorry we're late, Numbuh 1," Numbuh 5 apologized, crossing the room. Numbuh 3 was right behind her. "We were just kinda busy."
"You didn't look that busy ten minutes ago!" Numbuh 1 muttered, rolling his eyes. He crossed his arms over his chest. "Why isn't Numbuh 4 with you? I thought you'd find him."
"Well, he's still not back," Numbuh 3 replied, rubbing her sleeve-covered hands together nervously. She now knew that the only reason why Numbuh 4 was absent was because of her. She regretted what she had done to provoke this. The image flew through her mind again - Numbuh 4 telling her about his true feelings for her, and her just laughing at him. How could she do that to him? He was one of her best friends, and she'd just laughed at him! Of course, she had no clue he was being serious about it, but she couldn't help but beat herself up over the whole situation. She decided she had to apologize to him, no matter how awkward and hard it would be. If he only came back, that was…
Numbuhs 2, 3 and 5 sat down on the couch. "Maybe we should just start without him?" Numbuh 2 suggested.
"Would you like it if we started a meeting without you?" Numbuh 1 asked dryly. As he got no answer from the chubby pilot, just a sheepish stare, he raised an eyebrow. "I didn't think so." He took a deep breath and thought about the situation. "Maybe we should call the meeting off. We'll talk about this tomorrow. I'm sure Numbuh 4's back by then. We can't hold this meeting without him - he was the one that got to mindread by that thing."
Numbuh 5 lowered her crimson cap to make sure it covered her eyes. She thought about what Numbuh 1 had just said. So, what if Numbuh 4 didn't show up? What would they do then? Go look for him? She raised an eyebrow as she thought more about what the leader had said. Is mindread even a word?
"But he'll pay for this," Numbuh 1 muttered to the team. "Running off like that, knowing that we're holding a meeting later."
"Alright, so if there won't be a meeting, I'll go back to my room," Numbuh 2 said, getting up.
The leader nodded at him. "Yeah, you guys go on to bed."
The girls got up, too, walking out of the room along with the mechanic.
Numbuh 1 got down from his podium, shaking his head as he thought about the whole thing. "Why would Numbuh 4 leave the Treehouse like that?" he thought out loud, walking over to the hall that led to his room. "Maybe he was upset about what happened earlier, the whole thing with the mind reading machine? So maybe he's thinking out a plan to erase the data that the Delightful Children has." He raised his head as he realized what a brilliant idea that actually was. "Erase their data!" He ran the rest of the way to his room. It was time to plan a second attack on the Delightful Children's mansion within the last 24 hours. "Note to self;" he muttered while running, "-bring more powerful weapons!"
Outside the Delightful Children's mansion:
The limo was slowing down, and coming to a stop. Numbuh 4 was still lying uncomfortably tied up in the dark trunk. He had been thinking about what those bratty Delightful Buttwipes would do to him now. They didn't really need him, they had already drained his brain for info. This was so not his day… Probably one of the worst days in his entire cruddy life!
He listened as somebody got out of the limo. The trunk was opened, revealing the dark night sky. The face of a man dressed in black and wearing shades, despite the darkness that surrounded him, showed up above Numbuh 4. He reached down into the trunk and grabbed the little Australian boy by his tied up arms and legs.
Numbuh 4, aggressive as he was, started to squirm immediately. He yelled some curse words at the man as he got lifted up and carried away from the limo.
"Put me down, you monkey faced moron!" he screamed angrily. "I'm serious, when I get out of these ropes, I'm gonna beat you into a bloody pulp! You wouldn't like that!" He tried to kick his feet, tried to get his arms free so that he could punch, but in vain. There was no escaping the rope and the man's iron grip around him. "You'll regret this, you ass-!"
Numbuh 4 got cut off by the man as he grabbed a hold of his blond hair. "Listen, you little punk!" he hissed at the boy. "If you don't shut the hell up, I'll give you something to scream about!"
Numbuh 4 had cried out in pain as his hair had been tugged. He gritted his teeth at the man. "You'll regret that..!" he warned in a low, yet threatening voice.
The mansion was almost completely dark now. There were only a few lights on the walls, dimly lighting up the hallway. Numbuh 4 kept track of where they were going. He was brought into the room with the hidden passage – Father's lounge.
The man dressed in black stopped when he reached the middle of the floor. "Sir, I brought the prisoner in as you asked," he said with a dark and respectful voice.
"Thank you, Andrew," Father's voice replied from the big armchair that was facing away from them, and into the fireplace.
The Delightful Children suddenly stepped out from behind the armchair of their Father. They stared at Numbuh 4 with pride, as if he was their prey. Their glassy blue eyes sparkled like icicles at him, making a chill go down his spine. They grinned at him, understanding how uncomfortable he felt. And they thought that was delightful…
"Numbuh 4 of the Kids Next Door," Father's voice said. "There's just no holding you kids, is there? But you're actually stupid enough to be wandering around alone in the neighborhood, unsupervised and unarmed." The armchair slowly turned around. Father came into view, hidden in the shadows of the chair. His eyes glowed with excitement. "Too bad we already used the MindReader on you, kiddo. You might think that you're useless to us now, but you're not." His eyes narrowed at the young fighter. "You'll be our bait. With you here, your team will most likely come to rescue you. I don't mind them paying me another visit, as long as they can stay a little bit longer this time." He let out an evil laughter. The Delightful Children joined in.
Numbuh 4 knew that this was bad. He knew that his team would realize where he was soon enough. But Father was now planning a horrible surprise party for them, so he wasn't sure if he wanted them to come and save him. What if they got caught? What if Numbuh 1 got caught? That would cause the organization's doom! And it was all because of Numbuh 4! No wait… it was because of Numbuh 3..! He got angry as the memories of his confession forced itself back into his mind. She better feel sorry about this, he thought bitterly.
Father was again serious. "Bring him down to the dungeon again," he said to the man with the shades. "He's not the skinny one that got out through the bars, so there's nothing to worry about."
The man did as told. He brought Numbuh 4 over to the bookcase and opened the passage. Numbuh 4 noticed once again the terrible smell down there. But there were other matters to worry about now. Could he try to squirm out of the man's grip? No, he was way to strong for the little boy.
Back down in the dungeon, the man threw the Kids Next Door operative on the hard floor inside the cell and ripped the rope off of him. Then he slammed the bar door shut and locked it with one of those big keys. His face was totally serious, glancing at the boy before he walked away.
Numbuh 4 noticed how another torch was placed where the old one used to be. That's odd, he thought. It's like they knew I'd be captured again. Or maybe it was just Father and his flame magic? He shook his head. He didn't feel like thinking about it now. He was getting very tired. His body was still worn out after the experience with the MindReader 3000 earlier, and in the meantime he had been wearing himself out, both physically and physiologically. He had been running, screaming, crying. He was a mess now.
He suddenly felt that he had to go to the bathroom. "Ugh, perfect timing," he muttered sarcastically. He had to ignore it for now, even how hard it was. He sat down in the corner, hugging his knees. "Life can't get worse now!" he moaned. Numbuh 3 was now back on his mind. The darkness that surrounded him called her back so he wouldn't feel lonely. It usually made him feel better, but now it only made him feel worse. He shook his head and tried to ignore the tears that forced themselves back into his eyes. He hoped she was thinking about him, too. But not that he was an idiot. He hoped she had changed her mind about liking him. Err… right, he thought. Like that'd ever happen!
Meanwhile, back at the Treehouse:
Numbuh 3 pulled the blanked up to her chin and grabbed the orange Rainbow Monkey. She hugged it tightly. It reminded her of Numbuh 4. Numbuh 4, who was not down there in his room where he was supposed to be. "Oh, why did he have to go saying that to me?" she whispered to the Rainbow Monkey. "I'm so frustrated. I don't really know what to say to him. I know I should apologize about, but what else should I say? Should I tell him that I like him, too?" She sighed and shut her eyes. She wanted to sleep, but it would be hard to sleep now, with so much to think about. The room was dark, except for the little night lamp she had by her bed so she wouldn't be afraid.
Abby think I should tell him, she thought. But operatives should not date fellow operatives. Numbuh 1 even said that! He'll be furious with us if he finds out about us liking each other. But was that the only thing she feared? No, she feared the radical changes that would follow a relationship with Numbuh 4. Some changes would probably be for the better. After all, she had told the others of how she wanted a boyfriend. Or had she? Well, not exactly, but she had told them what she'd do with him… kinda… Or where she would go on her dates with him. Yeah, that was it! Where she'd like her and her boyfriend to go on a date.
Numbuh 3 suddenly felt how a wave of happy thoughts rushed through her. Maybe I should just tell him? Maybe we should just become a couple, no matter what happens? I mean, you can't deny love! It's the most powerful emotion of all. And it's so beautiful! I love love! So why do I fear it? Ah, it doesn't matter! I'll tell him!
She smiled to herself as she drifted off into a deep sleep, dreaming about all the happiness you could think of.
