Disclaimer: I own nothing.
A/N: Chapter 7! Here we go!
When love's not enough
Chapter 7
Numbuh 4 opened his eyes. The dark dungeon was even darker now. The torch on the wall had burned out. A dim light managed to slide over the stony floor from the doorway that led out to the long hall.
He yawned, realizing he had fallen asleep last night out of pure exhaust. He wondered what time it was, lifting his head up from the hard floor. He got up in a seated position, wrapping his arms around him. The dungeon was very cold this early in the morning. He had goose bumps. A chill went down his back. His eyes searched the dungeon for any signs of life, any signs of the cruddy Delightfuls. But there was only silence.
His bladder felt like it was going to burst soon. He remembered how badly he had to go last night. He kind of wanted somebody to show up now, so that they could take him to a freaking bathroom! If nobody showed up soon, he'd most likely wet his pants.
Numbuh 4 got up from the floor. His side was aching after sleeping on that hard ground. He didn't think he'd ever felt less comfortable. Night is supposed to be the comfortable hour, he thought as he walked over to the bars. He tried to look out into the hallway, but he couldn't see far. "'Ello?" he called out with a voice he barely even recognized. He cleared his throat. "'Ey, is there anyone there? I've gotta go to the bathroom!"
No answer.
"Great!" he muttered sarcastically and leaned his face onto the bars. "This is my luck!"
Early morning in the Treehouse:
Numbuh 3 got up with a gasp. She soon realized she'd just had a bad dream. She couldn't remember what it was, only that it was horrible. She sighed with a frown. Then she picked up her orange Rainbow Monkey and hugged it. "I hate bad dreams," she said to it. After she'd been cuddling it for a while, she got out of bed and got dressed.
Meanwhile, Numbuh 1 was in the kitchen, getting himself a glass of orange juice. He never liked eating much in the morning now days. A glass of orange juice would do just fine for the next few hours. That, and sometimes even a pop tart.
Numbuh 2 entered the room as Numbuh 1 was busy drinking his juice. "Good morning," he said in a cheerful voice. He crossed the room to get to the fridge.
Numbuh 1 greeted him with a nod as he finished his juice. "Hey, did you hear Numbuh 4 coming back last night?" he asked and placed his empty glass on the counter next to the sink.
"No, I didn't," Numbuh 2 replied thoughtfully. He reached into the fridge and started to gather all kinds of food in his arms. He placed all the food on the counter and started to make a couple of sandwiches. He put just about all their fridge's contents on them. Swiss cheese, peanut butter, sausage, jelly, scrambled eggs and so on. To go with the sandwich, he grabbed a big glass and filled it with chocolate milk.
Numbuh 1 had already left the kitchen by then and made his way back to his room. He was getting very worried about his missing team mate. Numbuh 4 should have been back a long time ago.
Numbuh 5 entered the kitchen next. She greeted the chubby pilot over by the table, who was stuffing his face with one of his huge sandwiches. "Morning."
"Morning, Numbuh 5," he replied, his mouth full of food.
Numbuh 5 went over to the big kitchen cabinet and browsed through cereals and other food. She settled with a peach toaster pastry. She put it in the toaster, then turned around to face Numbuh 2. "Hoagie, do you know if Numbuh 4's been holding any secrets from the rest of the team?"
Numbuh 2 stared at her with a frown, as if he didn't understand what she was talking about. He took a big sip of his chocolate milk. "What kinda secrets?"
Numbuh 5's eyes wandered the room. "Well, if he ever told ya about a certain girl he liked?" she replied, shrugging.
He smiled at her, a tricky smile. "Oh, so you wanna know if he likes you, is that it?"
"What?" Her jaw fell. She lowered her eyebrows at her team mate. "Nu-uh! Numbuh 5 doesn't like that little shrimp! She was just wonderin' if ya heard him say anything about any girls he kinda liked."
"Well, no," Numbuh 2 replied, scratching the back of his head. "What, you know something about that, is that why you're asking? To make sure you're right about it?"
She shrugged again. No way was she telling that dorkster about Numbuh 4 and his confession. She had promised Numbuh 3 not to. And besides, she knew Numbuh 4 would appreciate her shutting up about it. There was probably a reason why he never told the other guys about his crush on Numbuh 3 in the first place. No need to screw up his cover just yet.
Her toaster pastry was done. She grabbed a plate to put it on. Then she got herself a glass of orange juice.
Numbuh 3 came skipping into the room, expecting to see Numbuh 4 by the table with the others. She scanned the room. "Hey, where's Numbuh 4?" she asked.
"I don't think he even came back last night," Numbuh 2 replied, taking a big bite of his sandwich. After chewing it all up and swallowing it down, he added: "My guess would be that he went home to his parents. But I don't know why."
Numbuh 3 glanced at Numbuh 5 with a sad look on her face. Numbuh 5 wrinkled her forehead in sympathy at her.
Numbuh 2 finished his breakfast, cleaned up after himself and left the room. Numbuh 3 had just been standing there on the floor, thinking. Numbuh 5 hadn't moved either. She was just waiting for the pilot to leave so that she could talk to her best friend in private. After Numbuh 2 finally had left, she turned to Numbuh 3.
"Kuki?"
"He's not back because of me," Numbuh 3 whispered sadly. She bent her head in shame. "I should probably go and find him. I-I decided to tell him that I… like him."
"That's the spirit, gurl!" Numbuh 5 grinned at her, getting up from the chair and walking over to her. "Look, he'll be back soon. Numbuh 5's sure of it. He just needs to… blow off some steam. Not that I blame him." She glanced at the doorway as she thought she heard something.
The leader entered the room with a confused look on his face. "I just called home to Numbuh 4's to check if he was there," he informed the girls. "His parents told me they hadn't seen him in a couple of days. They didn't worry, because they thought he was here all along."
"So… you're saying that Numbuh 4 is completely missing?" Numbuh 5 asked, her eyes growing wider under the brim of her cap.
"That's exactly what I'm saying," Numbuh 1 replied. "Kids Next Door – we're going on a search mission right away!"
The three operatives ran to the next room and got into their chutes. They landed in Numbuh 2's room. He wasn't exactly surprised to see them, as this had happened about a gazillon times before. He looked up from the engine of the S.K.Y.C.L.A.W. that he had been ordered yesterday to improve.
"Numbuh 2, we're going to look for Numbuh 4," Numbuh 1 ordered. "I fear he's been captured by someone we wouldn't want him to be captured by. He always comes back home to sleep, but not last night. I'm worried that something has happened. I don't have any other explanations for it."
The two female operatives exchanged looks. Of course, they did. They thought Numbuh 4 hadn't come back last night because of what had happened with Numbuh 3. They thought he had spent the night somewhere else.
"Alright, I suggest we take the bus," Numbuh 2 said, pointing over at the old yellow school bus. "I noticed a few things I need to work on, on the M.O.S.Q.U.I.T.O.."
The leader nodded and led the way over to the bus. The others were right behind.
Meanwhile, in the Delightful Children mansion:
"They will be here any minute now, my Children." Father gazed down at the five glassy eyed Children from the shadows of his armchair. "And we will be prepared."
"It seems we know them too well, Father," the Delightful Children said in unison with monotone voices. "Every move they make makes it easier for us to predict their next move."
"That's correct, Children," Father replied. "And this time they will not escape!" His eyes burned with hatred for a moment. Then he looked at the Delightfuls again. "Go check on the prisoner. We don't want him to starve and die on us, now, do we? But make sure he understands that if he won't change his choice of words soon, he'll know what it really feels like to be a prisoner! Remember what I showed you down there, your new toys?"
The Delightful Children smiled at the words of their Father. "Yes, Father. We remember." They then turned around and went over to the bookcase to get down to the dungeon through the secret passage. They disappeared into the darkness. The tallest of the Delightful Children plucked a torch down from the wall in the long hallway, one of those that still was on fire.
Numbuh 4 had been standing in the cell by the bars, waiting for them as he had heard a sound further down the hallway. He knew that somebody was coming down to check on him. "'Ey, let me the crud outta here!" he shouted in anger as they stepped in through the doorway. "I seriously need to go to the bathroom! Now, are yeh gonna let me out, or do I have to pee on you guys?"
They stared at him with expressionless faces. "Father wants you to watch your mouth," they said. "Or else you might end up in trouble."
"Trouble?" Numbuh 4 yelled. "I'm already up to my knees in trouble! Partly because of you Delightful Dweebs!"
"Remember what we told you last night, Wallabee?" they asked him monotonously. "We're not joking with you this time. We're not planning to let you out of here – EVER!"
"It doesn't matter!" he replied crossing his arms over his chest. "Because the team'll be here any minute now!"
"You keep believing that," they said and let a smile cross their other so serious faces. Their glassy blue eyes sparkled at him. The dark marks around their eyes looked even darker. "You're so ignorant it's almost scary."
"Whatever!" Numbuh 4 called. He jumped up and down a few times. "Now, get me to a cruddy toilet! I'm about to pee my pants here!"
They grinned at him. "Maybe we should just let you pee your pants, then."
"Hah!" Numbuh 4 let out a laugh. "You guys are the ones that would have to clean it up!"
Out in the neighborhood:
"Alright, team," Numbuh 1 said from his seat in the front of the vehicle. "I want two up in the air, and two on the ground. Numbuh 2 – you'll steer the ship. Numbuh 3, you stay here with him." He turned towards Numbuh 5. "You're with me, Numbuh 5. We're going to check all the possible places for Numbuh 4 to be. So this is my plan; if we can't find Numbuh 4 down there, we're attacking the Delightful Children From Down the Lane's mansion. I have a feeling that's exactly where we'll find him." He got up and walked to the back of the ship to get two parachutes for Numbuh 5 and himself. He handed her one of them, and strapped the other one on. Then he got himself a freezer gun.
Numbuh 5 got ready, picked up a ray gun and walked over to the door of the bus. Numbuh 2 opened the door for the two team mates, and they both jumped out in midair.
Numbuh 3 lowered her head. "I really hope we'll find him," she muttered.
"Don't worry, Numbuh 3," the pilot replied. "I'm sure he'll show up soon. He can't have gotten that far."
Numbuh 3 avoided eye contact and turned around. She stared out of the window. "Where are you, Wally?" she muttered under her breath. She looked up and saw her reflection in the glass. She frowned. Then she smacked her hands over her reflection so she wouldn't have to look at her own guilty face. "It's my fault…"
Meanwhile, Numbuhs 1 and 5 landed softly on the ground thanks to the parachutes. They started to check through the neighborhood. Numbuh 1 actually wanted to attack the Delightful Children's mansion, but he knew it was too soon. He wasn't even sure if they had Numbuh 4. So he had to do this all by the book first. Then he could blame his archenemies.
After checking all possible places for Numbuh 4 to be, and asking random people on the street if they had seen him, which they obviously hadn't, Numbuh 1 decided it was time to pull out the big guns as attack the mansion. He rolled up his sleeve and pressed a button on the T.A.L.K.E.R.. "Numbuh 2 – we're over by the candy shop," he said. "Pick us up as soon as possible. We can't find him anywhere, but I think I know where he is anyway."
"Aye aye, sir," Numbuh 2 replied through it.
"It's war now, ain't it?" Numbuh 5 asked the leader as she walked over to him from the other side of the candy store.
"True, Numbuh 5," he replied looking at her. "We're blasting a hole in their mansion! I don't understand why they kidnapped him. They don't even need him." He thought about it for a few seconds, lowering his eyes. "Unless they're using him to get us over there."
"I was thinking so too, boss," she said. "I think maybe they have something big planned for us thins time."
"You're right, Numbuh 5," Numbuh 1 said, sounding rather surprised as everything became clear to him. "You're absolutely right! We need the strongest weapons we've got for this battle. They're just waiting for us to show up. It's so obvious."
Numbuh 2 was now right above them, letting out rope ladder for them to climb up in.
"We're attacking right away, guys," Numbuh 1 said as soon as he made it up into the ship. "Suit up, bring our most destructive weapons! We're taking them down!" He pointed a finger at the Delightful's mansions down the lane.
The ship erupted with cheering and aggressive shouting.
A few minutes later, the ship was parked and the operatives were ready for a battle. They ran over the lawn and up to the wall of the mansion. They stopped and started to look for the best place to break in.
"Blast this wall open, Numbuh 2!" Numbuh 1 ordered. "It doesn't matter what waits for us inside. They already know that were coming."
"Well, I only had time to make one more W.A.L.L.B.L.A.S.T. last night, so this is the only real bomb we have left," Numbuh 2 replied, picking the bomb out of the backpack he constantly carried around to make sure everybody had ammo at all time. (His other backpack was still in the mansion after the Delightful Children took it, this was just another one). He placed the bomb on the wall, making sure it would stick there, then winded it. He and the others got out of the way as the wall blasted open in another loud boom!
"Well done, Numbuh 2," the leader congratulated. "Now, let's move in!"
They all got in through the hole together, their fingers on the triggers of their weapons.
"Not so fast, little kids," a dark voice said from the corner of the room they had just entered. Father's dark being stepped out of the shadows to revile his hiding place. "I was expecting you earlier." He glanced at the old clock over by the wall the Kids Next Door operatives had blasted themselves through a few seconds ago.
"Hand over Numbuh 4!" Numbuh 1 demanded the dark man. "He's of no use to you!"
"You are mistaking, Nigel Uno," Father replied. "Everything went according to plan, only because I got a hold of that snot-nosed little excuse for a kid."
"Don't talk that way about Numbuh 4, you evil adult!" Numbuh 3 shouted angrily, aiming her T.H.U.M.P.E.R. at Father.
He ignored her. "And since I had so much time on my hands waiting for you to show up, I made sure you would not win and get away this time." He glanced over at the door just in time to see a bunch of men wearing ice cream uniforms enter the room. "Get those kids!" he ordered them, his eyes burning.
The ice cream men started to fire scoops of icy ice cream at the Kids Next Door operatives.
"Kids Next Door –," Numbuh 1 yelled. "Battle stations!"
They all started to fire back at the ice cream men. Numbuh 5 watched as Father made a run for it, the ice cream men covered him. He was laughing evilly, as if he knew he was going to win this time.
"Nu-uh!" Numbuh 5 shouted. "That lousy scum's not getting away that easily!" She was about to run passed the army of ice cream men that blocked the doorway, but Numbuh 1 held her back.
"Wait! Let him go. We'll deal with him later. If you leave us now, we're going to lose against these ice cream weirdos."
It was a tough battle, but after a little while, our little heroes managed to bring most of the ice-cream-men army down.
"Numbuh 5!" Numbuh 1 called out to her as she was firing from the other side of the room of him. "I need you to go and find Numbuh 4. This is our chance! We don't have much time. Hurry!"
Numbuh 5 was about to make a run for it, but stopped as she saw the look on Numbuh 3's face. She moved closer to her and made sure she didn't get hit by any scoops of ice cream. "Listen, gurl," she said. "I think you should do this. After all, you proved us all yesterday that you're at least as good as Numbuh 5 at being a spy, if not better."
Numbuh 3 brightened up and hugged the African-American girl tightly. "Oh, thank you, Abby!" Then she quickly ran across the room, maneuvering away from all the ice cream scoops that came flying at her.
"Numbuh 3!" Numbuh 1 called out. He had of course no idea why she was leaving the group, but he had no other choice than to cover her back as she ran.
"Don't worry, Numbuh 1," Numbuh 5 said. "She's going instead of Numbuh 5."
"What?" Numbuh 2 shouted. "Are you nuts? She can't possibly do your job!"
"Yes, she can, you lamer!" she snapped. "Didn't you see her yesterday? Don't underestimate her!"
Meanwhile, Numbuh 3 was running down the hall. "Alright – think, girl, think!" she muttered to her self. "Where would they be holding Numbuh 4 now? Would they actually be stupid enough to leave him down in the dungeon again?" She thought she'd check, just to be on the safe side. She ran into Father living room, scanned it for any signs of life and hurried over to the bookcase. "Which one was it again?" She was not sure. With a sleeve-covered hand, she grabbed a bunch of books. None of them worked. She grabbed a few more, pulled them out of their places, till there were no more books left. "What?" she exclaimed as she realized it didn't work. "Have they changed it?"
"Stupid little girl!"
She threw herself around, stressfully as she heard the five monotone voices over by the door.
"You now realize that there is no way for you and your little friends to win this time?"
"Let Numbuh 4 go!" Numbuh 3 ordered. "He's down there, isn't he?" She pointed at the bookcase behind her.
"Correct, Kuki," they replied as they took a few steps into the room. Their eyes seemed to get colder. "But we were smart enough to make a few changes on the entrance before we'd capture you again. Numbuh 4 was actually stupid enough to be out all by himself last night, which of course was a thrill to us. We used him as bait to get the rest of you here. Now we'll capture you and use the MindReader 3000 on all of you!" They laughed at what they had said, an evil laughter.
"Well, that's not very nice!" Numbuh 3 said with a frown and placed her hands on her hips, her weapon under her arm.
They suddenly stopped laughing and stared at the raven haired girl. "Of course it's not nice, you twit! Come along, now. It's time for you to join your friend down there." They started to move closer.
Numbuh 3 aimed her weapon at them and fired. They had no other choice but to leave the room. "Yay!" Numbuh 3 cheered to herself. "I'm the best!" But she got quiet as she heard a sound from out in the hall.
All the sudden, the Delightful Children came back in one of their machines. It was shaped as big light bulb with iron legs. They were standing in the top of it, the top of the machine was of glass. "What do you say now, Numbuh 3 of the Kids Next Door?" They fired at missile at her.
Numbuh 3 let out a shriek at ran away from the bookcase. The missile hit the shelf and blasted the secret passage open. Numbuh 3 stared at the open hole. She didn't think for a minute, just got up and ran over to it, disappearing into the stairway of the cellar.
"Lenny – you're an idiot!"
Numbuh 3 ran as fast as she possibly could. She ignored the smell, the darkness, the threats of the Delightful Children that were yelled after her. She just ran.
Inside the dungeon, Numbuh 4 was curious about the loud explosion he had heard. He thought the cellar was soundproof. He got up and stood by the bars, this time with an empty bladder, since the Delightful Children had been kind enough to take him to the bathroom.
"Numbuh 4?"
His heart skipped a beat as he heard that voice call his name. "Kuki?" He grabbed on to the bars, clenching his hands so tightly around them that his hands whitened.
Numbuh 3 ran through the doorway. "Wally!" she exclaimed. "Oh, I'm so happy to see you!" She went over to the bars and laid her hands on his.
He remembered at once the terrible experience he'd had with her the day before, and started to feel sick. He let go of the bars and tugged his hands away form her.
"What's the matter?" she asked with a disappointed tone in her voice, frowning at him.
He pulled away from the bars. "I didn't think you cared about me," he muttered irritated, looking up at her from under his bangs, his eyebrows lowered.
"Now you're just being silly, Wally," she said seriously. "Of course I like you. Maybe not the way you would want me to like you, but…" She avoided eye contact. "I've got something to tell you, though…" she glanced over at the doorway as she heard something down the hall. "But I can't tell you now! We've gotta get you out of here!"
Numbuh 4 looked away, crossing his arms over his chest. "I don't care if I get out or not," he muttered. "It doesn't matter to me now."
"What are you talking about?" She was starting to get rather impatient with him.
"I'm not going to talk to you about it, 'cause if I do, I might end up regretting it for the rest of my life!" he shot back, glaring at her.
Numbuh 3 shook her head. "Would you knock it off? You have no reason to regret what you told me yesterday."
"Oh, no?" he asked aggressively. "What do you think went through my head that moment I realized I had made a complete ass out of myself? How do you think I felt last night? Why do you think I left the Treehouse? Huh?"
"Wait, we'll talk about this later!" she interrupted. "We have to get you out!"
"Numbuh 3?" Numbuh 1 voice was heard from down the hall. "Are you down here?"
"I'm right here, Numbuh 1!" she replied, relieved it was her team that was on their way to the dungeon. "Numbuh 4's here, we have to get him out!"
The three other operative entered the dungeon, glancing over at Numbuh 4 inside the cell.
"Are you alright, Numbuh 4?" Numbuh 1 asked, moving closer to the cell.
"Yeah," he muttered, avoiding eye contact.
"Numbuh 2, do you have any other explosives in that backpack?" the leader asked and pointed at the pilot's back. "Anything at all, so we can blow open that lock?"
The pilot went through his backpack real quick before he pulled out a grenade.
Weapon/vehicle interruption:
Kids Next Door P.O.O.F.
Powerfully Opens Obstacle Fast
Now ending weapon/vehicle interruption…
"This should do," Numbuh 2 said and attached it to the lock on the door. He pressed a tiny button on and quickly got out of the way.
A little explosion took place, which practically blew the lock to pieces.
Numbuh 4 got out of the cell. "Let's get the crud outta her!" he exclaimed. "I'm not staying here another minute!" He made his way over to the doorway. Numbuh 2 handed him a ray gun, so that he was ready to meet the Delightful Children and Father if they happened to do so.
Together, they all ran out of the dungeon and down the hall. Nobody stopped running, not a word was said before they'd reached the top of the stairs and the lounge came into view.
"You thought you'd outsmarted us, didn't you?" Father asked as he stepped out in front of the opening. "Outsmart this!" He blasted a huge fireball at the five Kids Next Door operatives that sent them all a few steps back down. Numbuh 1 was hit the worst. He had been standing in the front, leading the team.
"Numbuh 1!" Numbuh 5 shouted in fear as she realized her leader had been knocked out. "Oh, no." She picked herself up and crawled a few steps up to get to him.
"No cruddy way you're going to keep us here!" Numbuh 4 screamed at Father in fury as he got up, ignoring the sharp pain that had a tight grip in his back after the sudden blast. He picked his gun up and fired at Father, but missed as Father was too quick for him. He gritted his teeth and fired again. This time he hit him in the arm.
Father growled in pain. "You! You little brat!" He blasted a fireball after the blond Aussie. It was not as big as the first one, but big enough.
Numbuh 3 thought quickly, and in less than a second she got up, standing in the way of the fireball so it wouldn't hit Numbuh 4. It hit her in the chest, sending her into Numbuh 4's arms. She let out a loud shriek in pain. They both fell a few steps down.
"Kuki!" Numbuh 4 exclaimed in shock. He managed to get up seated with the Japanese girl lying on his lap. "Are you nuts? You weren't supposed to do that!" He shook her arm to make sure she hadn't fainted. "Kuki?"
"Alright, that does it!" Numbuh 2 screamed angrily at Father. "You're not supposed to do that to innocent girls!" He fired his gun at the dark man, getting a clear shot in his midsection.
Father got slung a few feet back. He once again growled at the pain, and bent down a bit with his arms over his chest. "You'll regret that, you little creep!"
"Hoagie, we have to get outta here!" Numbuh 5 squealed and got up, pulling her unconscious leader a few steps up the stairs.
"No kidding!" the pilot shot back, firing his gun at Father again.
Numbuh 4 got up and gently lifted Numbuh 3 up in his arms. She moaned at the pain in her chest. She had closed her eyes, but now she looked up at her little hero in the orange hoodie. Her violet eyes met his emerald ones. She wanted to smile at him, but the pain made it too difficult. She actually wanted to cry out in pain, but she managed to keep herself from it.
Father tried to blast another fireball to hit Numbuh 2, but he missed.
"Let's go, guys!" Numbuh 2 shouted. "Hurry up, while I distract him!" He kept firing his gun at Father.
Numbuh 5 lifted Numbuh 1 up on her shoulder. "Numbuh 5 heard that!" She started to run out of the room.
"Go, Numbuh 4!" Numbuh 2 howled.
"But what about you?" the blond fighter asked as he'd made it all the way up the stairs with Numbuh 3 in his arms.
"Don't worry," Numbuh 2 replied, firing another shot at Father that sent the evil man down on the floor. "I'll be fine. Just get her out of here!"
Numbuh 4 then got a move on it and ran out of the room, following right behind Numbuh 5. They ran as fast as they possibly could with one operative each in their arms to worry about. They made it all the way to the big room they had blasted themselves through earlier. There were ice cream everywhere, and the damage of the room was great. Not that Numbuhs 4 and 5 stopped to wonder about that. They just ran out through the hole in the wall, and out to the ship.
Meanwhile, Numbuh 2 was busy keeping Father nailed to the floor. "You didn't think we had such powerful weapons, did you?" he asked. "I invented this one especially for you!" He fired again, and received a fireball in return. He got blown a few feet back, landing on the floor.
"You better watch out, kiddo!" Father said, getting up from the floor, his entire body in flames. "You never know when your enemy strikes back!"
Numbuh 2 swallowed down hard. "You know what, man? I think it's time I left." He giggled nervously and got up. Then he started to run, waving his arms frantically in the air, and screaming like a little girl.
"Oh, no, you don't!" Father shouted as the chubby boy ran out through the door. He made himself into a fireball and chased after the Kids Next Door operative.
"Oh, no!" Numbuh 2 whined to himself as he realized he was being followed. He tried to increase speed, but his legs started to hurt. He jumped around a corner as the hall made a sharp turn. Now he spotted the room they had come in through. "Just a little bit longer," he said to himself out loud. Knowing that Father was right behind him, he feared he'd trip or decrease speed, or both.
The open door was closer now. He practically threw himself through it. He was panting like a mad dog as he ran across the room and jumped out of the hole in the wall. To his surprise, the ship was right outside the hole, the door open for Numbuh 2 to get on. Numbuh 5 stood in the door, waiting for him. He threw himself in and grabbed a hold of her arms.
"Alright, he's in!" she shouted. "Let's go, Numbuh 4!"
Numbuh 4 stepped on the gas and got them out of there right before Father flew out of the hole in the wall. Father missed them by only a second or less.
"So long, suckuh!" Numbuh 5 shouted down to him before the door was closed.
Father turned back to normal and stared at the ship as it gained altitude. "NOOOO!" He had been so close to get them all this time. But again, he had failed.
