operation F.A.T.H.E.R.
Freaky
Aging
Twist
Hampers
Evil
Rebel
Father was tired. He hadn't slept since he'd starting working on his latest device three days ago. But he gave no sign of it as he surveyed his Delightful Children, who were standing before him.
"You summoned us, Father?" they said nervously.
"It is complete," said Father.
The Delightful Children looked at another before responding. Father made a mental note to punish them for their insolence later.
"Congratulations are in order," they said finally.
"Test it," said Father, suddenly impatient. He was too tired to play these master-servant word games.
"But Father..."
"No buts!" yelled Father, flaring up briefly.
"Y-yes Father," said the Delightful Children, scurrying away.
Father watched his children turn the dials on his device. He'd initially been unsure about using another age-changing ray against the Kids Next Door, but then he'd remembered that they generally had an age zero setting. It was a brilliant way to permanently get rid of annoyances, without having to face murder charges.
"Hurry up!" he called to the Delightful Children. They finished with the dials and ran to the front of the device. Unfortunately, the device was far larger than the one that the Kids Next Door had stupidly thrown away months ago, but it served its purpose.
The Delightful Children were turned into adults without a hitch, and they went to change themselves back. Father knew that they wouldn't mind staying adults forever, but he had forbidden it, as they'd instantly lose most of their usefulness the moment they hit permanent adulthood.
A screw came loose from the side of the device. Father glanced at it, then did a double-take when he realised the implications. He watched as more nuts and bolts came loose, then looked at his children, who were waiting for the device to come to full power. They hadn't noticed a thing. Father's sleep deprived brain tried to figure out what to do, but it only occurred to him to get out when the machine reached full power. There was a bright flash, and Father lost consciousness.
In Sector V's treehouse, Numbuh One looked up at the faint sound of an explosion.
"What was that?" he said.
Father groaned and sat up. He noticed the room seemed a bit bigger than it used to be. He saw the Delightful Children looking at him. They were looking at him the same way they did to a KND operative.
"Intruder," they said coldly.
"what are you fools talking about? It's-" he stopped as he heard his voice. It was a child's voice! He looked at his hand, which was small and unshadowed.
"It can't be..." he whispered.
He turned around to the mirror and gasped. Staring back at him was a boy around 10 with wavy dark hair and glasses with thick red frames.
"No..." he whispered in horror. "I am NOT an intruder!" he yelled as loud as he could.
But the Delightful Children didn't answer. They merely continued to move towards him, eyes flashing malice. Despite himself, Father backed up against the wall. He knew very well what happened to any child found in the mansion who could be a KND spy.
"Open your eyes you snot-nosed brats!" He yelled furiously.
But they kept advancing. He tried to summon his fire up, but found that he couldn't.
"Delightful Children!" He yelled in the voice he only reserved for when he was angry at them.
They didn't bat an eyelash.
"Delightful Children!" He yelled again. but this time his voice cracked at the end of the sentence.
Not even a flicker of recognition passed on their faces.
And suddenly, Father was afraid.
"It's me..." He choked.
He stood up and ran out the door. He ran through the halls, thoughts racing through his head
"How could this happen? I'm a CHILD... How could... the ray must have affected me as well!"
Father was startled by an explosion, tripped on his shoelace and fell, slamming his head against the wall. He was too dazed to moved, but he heard voices. They had to belong to those nosy Kids Next Door...
Father felt someone lift him off the floor. Someone spoke, and he felt that if he had been fully conscious, he would have recognised their voice.
"Hey Numbuh One, I found someone!"
Footsteps. Then:
"Check if he's Delightfulised, Numbuh Two."
The someone prised open one of Father's eyelids. He briefly saw a large, concerned face.
"Nope. Clear."
"Let's go before those Delightful Doofuses come round!" said another voice.
Father felt himself move. He started to feel dizzier, and soon passed out again.
"Kid?" said a voice.
He forced his eyes open and stared into someone's face. There were other kids there too. He couldn't see properly because someone had removed his glasses, but he felt that he should recognise the faces. But he didn't. In fact, he realised with slight panic, he didn't remember a thing.
"Kid?" said the same voice again.
"Wha..." he said. He realised that he remembered his name, which was Charles, and that something frightening had just happened. He remembered being afraid.
"You're awake!" said a female voice happily. His cheeks felt cold. Why did his cheeks feel cold?
"Numbuh Three, you were supposed to be administrating first aid," said another male voice, which belonged to a boy with no hair.
"What did you do?" mumbled Charles. A mirror was shoved into his field of vision, and Charles winced. He was wearing makeup, and his hair was done up in curlers. With an effort, he reached up and wiped the makeup off.
"Oh, now look what you did!" said the girl. "I spent hours perfecting that makeup!"
She pouted.
"Well, the important thing is, we got him out in time. Who knows what they could've done if they found him first!" the first boy said.
"They?" Charles was confused.
"The Delightful Children from Down the Lane, our arch enemies!" another boy said in disgust.
"What were you doing in their mansion anyway?"
"Delightful Children?" repeated Charles. He recognised that name as well. But from where?
"Yes, the Delightful Children from Down the Lane!" said the angry boy. "What are you, a parrot?"
"I don't remember a thing," said Charles after a moment. "I think I hit my head."
"Amnesia," said the bald boy.
"Well, we'd better help him get his memory back!" the large boy said.
"Um... pardon me for asking... but who are you guys?" Charles asked.
They looked at him.
"We're Sector V of the Kids Next Door!" the bald boy said proudly.
"Kids next door?" Charles asked confusedly.
"You never heard of the Kids Next Door?"
Charles shook his head.
"What kind of kid doesn't know 'bout the kids next door?" the angry boy muttered.
"Must be the amnesia," the bald boy whispered back.
The angry boy whispered something else, but Charles found that he couldn't keep up with the conversation anymore. He tuned out and started wondering if he could trust these kids. He was suspicious of them. Something must have taught him to be suspicious.
"Father?" said the Delightful Children.
Where was he? They had reported to the dining room for luncheon as usual, and he hadn't been there. They hadn't seen him since the disaster with the age changing ray a few hours ago. They'd assumed that he'd retired to his chambers before they'd woken, but he hadn't been there either. It was unusual for Father to vanish without announcing his plans. The Delightful Children were worried.