Kids Next Door
Operation: A.N.G.E.L.
Chapter 07:
Note: Vensy is used with permission of Vensy-Chan her creator.
It had been a welcome interlude, the mages- a Summoner named Xanthanos and his attractive enchantress wife Luvara, along with the Tolienator and his son, Luke- formerly known as Numbah Thirteen, had grown frustrated with the results, or lack their of. So far three Angels had been summoned. Only the first Angel, ironically the least powerful, was able to destroy any Kids Next Door club-houses. Xanthanos had gotten the Tolienator and Luke to procure for him the spear of destiny. He was nearest a mortal-born could be to a demi-god. But, the very powerful Angels he summoned, they were defeated before they could inflict the major damage on the Kids Next Door. The Tolienator and Luke both were growing weary of the magically-inclined duo, the Tolienator having very good reason, unbeknown to him, during the first summoning Luvara grew tired of the attention he paid her and cast a charm on him, a minor one.
The Kids Next Door, a month after decommissioning Numbah Thirteen, found themselves attacked by a giant. In order to protect themselves from further attacks, three new weapons, mechanical suits really, were created. They were named E.V.A.N.G.E.L.I.O.N.s and they were fairly efficient at fending off the giant creatures, 'Angels' that were attacking their bases. Numbah Four was the first agent to become a pilot of Numbah Two's new contraption. During the first battle the inexperienced pilot lost control of his unit, and was badly damaged by the Angel, in order to survive Wally beserked, throwing away all logic and reason to a primal need to survive and protect Kids Next Door. The second fight, while difficult, was much less stressful for him. In the third battle, the underground earth central base was attacked unexpectedly. The engineers had just built a new E.V.A.N.G.E.L.I.O.N. Unit, and had brought Numbah Five in for training on piloting it. Unaccustomed to fighting in such a large mech, Abby was defeated and at the mercy of the floating cube that was the third angel. Numbah Four was able to arrive and save the day. Abby recovered and decided to never be defeated again. Numbah Two then went to work to improve the two E.V.A.N.G.E.L.I.O.N. Units. While modifying them, he decided that a third unit should be built. Numbah Eighty-Six was happy to hear about it, and made herself the pilot of it.
Luke and Vensy were best-friends from kindergarten. The clumsy boy and the girl with the dark attitude were both outsiders, rejected by their peer group. Their friendship however, came to a rift when Luke tried to tell her about his dismissal from Kids Next Door, the fragments he remembered. She was less than sympathetic, having been made the newest Numbah Thirteen recently. Luke felt more confused with his father suddenly develop leadership and planning abilities. Vensy, having lost her only friend, was growing more and more isolated despite being involved in Kids Next Door. She had hoped to make friends in that organization- but after seeing Numbah Four brutally slaughter the second Angel.
"So what 'Angel' are you guys going to summon only to be quickly defeated by children this time?" Luke asked sarcastically.
Luvara, brushed a lock of hair off her face and smiled sweetly at the boy-child. She gently chided him, "But remember, you picked out the last Angel."
Luke turned red, having forgotten that he held the responsibility for the last failure. His father also scolded him briefly, which confused the boy, as his father had never scolded him so seriously before, it still made him feel bad anyway.
Luvara's smile faded, her brows furrowed as she considered something aloud, "The first Angel did the most damage, as it was unexpected. The second Angel was expected, and Kids Next Door had their defenses built up. The third Angel, likewise. All of the Angels have been deployed to inland areas. Perhaps we should try a different approach. I don't believe the Kids Next Door would be expecting an aquatic enemy. From what I've scryed of their weapons, they are made for land combat only."
Xanthanos picked up the almanac and began searching it. "There aren't many aquatic Angels, the climate they come from is far too hot for the amount of water they need. But there is one, Gaghiel, he's not the most powerful, rather obscure, but he should do nicely."
There was a Kids Next Door base on Ellis Island. Back during immigration rushes, the island was known as the "Gateway to America" for more than fifty years, more than twelve million entered the United States through it. It currently is a museum and secretly also houses the Kids Next Door recruitment offices.
The Angel Gaghiel had no problem navigating to and wrecking that base. The operatives who worked there had very little warning, however, most they did have enough warning and were able to flee.
Numbah Two was just putting some finishing touches on the third unit when the alarm went off. He grimaced, realizing that he had been given the luxury to build the E.V.A.N.G.E.L.I.O.N. In peace, but not to completely finish it. It still needed some of the safety features tested, there was no way it could participate in the combat that he was certain would be soon to follow.
He shuttered when he heard Numbah Eighty-Six approach, she wasn't going to like being told that her unit wouldn't be ready. She had spent the last couple days visiting him every break she got, asking about the specifics of "her" unit, talking about how excited she was to start piloting it. She had done training in Numbah Five's unit and was getting to be skilled.
Numbah Four ran to headquarters. He didn't want to be late again, what happened to Abby because he took so long to get there last mind was fresh in his memory. He arrived just to see someone else climbing into his E.V.A.N.G.E.L.I.O.N. Unit.
Numbah Four jumped in as the unit closed and activated. Much to his surprise he landed on one Numbah Eighty-Six.
"What in the world are you doing!" He demanded. "This is MY unit, get your own!"
"Get off of me!" Numbah Eighty-Six shrieked. "There's not room in here enough for two!"
Numbah Four and Eighty-Six moved so that they had some, albeit only about a millimeter of, personal space.
"My unit wasn't ready yet, so I'm borrowing yours," Numbah Eighty-Six stated plainly.
"You have no right!" Numbah Four didn't like dealing with such stupidity. "This is MY unit, not yours."
The unit itself shook, being loaded on the contraption to be moved to where it needed to go to battle the angel.
"Watch where you're falling!" Numbah Eighty-Six hissed.
"What!" Numbah Four rebutted. "It's not like I had much choice where to land!"
"Yeah," Numbah Eighty-Six retorted. "Well you're stupid!"
Numbah Four realized that the E.V.A.N.G.E.L.I.O.N. Unit was well on it's way to where-ever the latest Angel was, and that he and Numbah Eighty-Six were going to have to get along if the unit was going to fight efficiently.
One crowded and uncomfortable ride to near Ellis Island later...
"Holy buckets!" Wally exclaimed. "That monster is huge!"
"If you're afraid," Fanny said in a mocking voice, elbowing him out of the way getting to the controls. "Get out of the way and let me fight it!"
"I never said I was scared," he said defending himself. "Fine, you pilot it since you want to soooo bad. It's not like two can pilot one unit anyway."
Numbah Eighty-Six smiled, pleased with herself. Her eager grin soon faded when she saw that Numbah Four was right, the monster was huge. It was twice as big as the E.V.A.N.G.E.L.I.O.N. They were sitting in. It was almost twice as long. It looked like a streamlined combination of a manta ray and a jellyfish.
"Hey guys," Numbah Three-Sixty-Two said over the communications line that was built into the unit. "I got some bad news, Abby isn't going to make it to day, her mom called her in sick to school today too. You two are on your own."
"Bloody hell!" cursed the Australian. "Why didn't you take HER E.V.A.N.G.E.L.I.O.N.? THEN we could be two pilots in two working units, instead of two pilots crammed into one unit!"
Numbah Eighty-Six shrugged, "How could I have known?"