Leia: Okay, I guess I didn't specify that I wanted 5 more reviews, but I'll give you the chapter anyway. Thanks especially to you that reviewed, you peeps helped me out tons :P
Disclaimer: Dont own KND, only Janey, Mara, and Nick.
Chapter warning: If you scare easily, don't read the first part in a dark room or at night.
Operation:
D.R.E.A.M.S.
Chapter 4: A Series of Suspicious Events
Nmubuh 5 sidled up to the door of the creepy Victorian home, Numbuh 6 tiptoeing along behind. When Abby reached out and knocked on the door, it swung open with an ominous creak. They saw light pouring into a dingy hallway from an open doorway on the left, the sound coming from the room sent chills down their spine.
"Heh, well, no one's home but the blender. Let's g-" Janey said, interrupted as another whirring screech sounded.
Abby rolled her eyes, dragging her fellow, wide-eyed operative into the house. They crept silently toward the mysterious noises, eventually reaching the side of the doorway. Even Abby was slightly weak in the knees at this point, but she motioned to Janey to keep quiet. She took a deep breath and rounded the corner. For a moment, the world was silent, then…
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"
Freaking out, Numbuh 6 ran for the exit. Not even three feet from salvation, the door slammed shut. Naturally, she tried the handle, but no luck. Backing against the door, she scanned the darkness, trying to see what would be the end of her. Heavy, monster-like breathing echoed around the cavernous hallways
"Who are you? What do you want!" Janey shrieked, tone getting higher with every syllable.
Then, that horrible, telltale, monotone giggle emanated from the darkness, followed by speech.
"We want you to destroy your precious organization from the inside out!"
An eerie, green light flared behind the Delightfuls, also revealing Abby, floating in a liquid-filled tank as a full-fledged teenager who was beginning to change into a Father-like being.
Anyone outside the house would have heard a piercing scream, seen a bright blue flash of light, and felt the ground rumbling as if a giant machine were burrowing away from the site of a horrifying act.
XXXXXXXXX
The maze behind them seared with heat. The key to the giant wooden door was way up on the wall. There was a ladder, but that was way up there too.
"Wot's the point of the cruddy ladder if we can't reach it without it?" Numbuh 4 cried in exasperation.
Sick of all the rude remarks, Numbuh 3 blurted, "If you want the ladder so bad, Shorty, grow wings and fly up to it!"
Everyone just stood there and looked at her, astounded. Numbuh 4 was shocked beyond reason. The short, orange-wearing boy stared at the taller, green-wearing girl, wondering if she really meant that.
"Oh, Numbuh 4, I'm sorry!" Tears welled up in Numbuh 3's eyes, and she pulled Numbuh 4 into a sincere hug. He hugged back, still in a little bit of a stupor.
"It's okay, Numbuh 3," He said, "I forgive yeh."
Nigel and Hoagie had regained their awareness and were waiting impatiently for the love-fest to end.
"This is all very touching," Numbuh 1 said, "but what, pray tell, are we going to do about the key?"
"Oh…yeah." Numbuh 3 said, plopping down on the ground, the other operatives followed suit.
"I admit, this seems really hopeless." Hoagie said.
"I want that cruddy ladder down here."
"Me too."
"Yeah, that would be nice"
"I concur."
Almost as if they had said a password, the ladder fell from the hook way up the wall.
"Well that was cool." Wally said, breaking the silence.
They used the ladder to get to the key, then get to the keyhole.
They pushed with all their might and the door opened to a castle-like hallway. Tapestries on the wall depicted people turning pitch black, but still with normal in spots on their figures. Another showed an army of the 'shadow people' following an even darker leader who looked exactly like-
"Father!" Nigel spat, and they looked at him in fear. Now that they knew what was happening to Lizzie (Nigel had explained earlier), how could they find out how to fix it? They wandered to and fro, studying the wall hangings for any clues. It wasn't long before Numbuh 4 found something.
" 'Ey! Lookit this! There's some people beatin' the crud outta the shadow people! Looks like they're usin' soap suds or somethin'. Wot's so wimpy that it gets beat by soap!"
"Sure looks like soap suds, but more poofy. Maybe like foam." Hoagie said, scratching his head.
"Hey! It's like that stuff Mushi made once!" Kuki chirped, "She put the yucky, smelly water on the white powder and it went WOOSH!" She said, elaborating by waving her arms.
Nigel stared into space for a minute, then he snapped his fingers, "Vinegar and baking soda! Numbuh 3, I can't believe I'm saying this, but you're a genius!"
Their leader took off down the hallway, shortly followed by the other three, but not before they yelped, "Where are we going?"
After a lot of complaining and a few minutes of running around, they found themselves in a kitchen-like room. It looked more like a laboratory, but it had all the conveniences of a kitchen.
"What is this place?" Numbuh 2 said, looking all around, especially at the high ceiling.
"Yeah, really. What is it?" Kuki asked pointedly.
"It doesn't matter," Numbuh 1 said, "we just have to find vinegar and baking soda."
"Wot are we gunna do even when we have it? We aren't gunna be able to jus' walk up and dump it on 'er." Numbuh 4 said.
Pulling a bottle and box out of a cupboard he had been fishing through, Numbuh 1 straightened up and looked at Numbuh 2 over his sunglasses, "That's what a weapons specialist is for."
XXXXXXXXX
The 3 teenage girls (Lizzie, Janey, and Abby) were in the tank, suspended in a weird liquid that accelerated the spread of the 'shadow' over them. The tank was being guarded (not so) carefully by Mara and Nick.
"Don't you hate this?" Nick grumbled, "How did we even get caught here? We could be back at headquarters, but we're stuck here, taking orders from this-"
But before he could finish his sentence, a dark, adult voice behind him, bursting with rage cried out, "This what?"
Spinning around on his heel to face the one called "Father", Nick was grabbed by the neck and the evil adult held him up in the air, practically choking him.
"After all I've done for you two! I saved you from that pitiful orphanage, gave you a home, clothes, food, and a family, you can only disrespect me!"
At this point, Nick was gasping for air, and Mara was beginning to cry.
"Stop hurting him!" She yelled, slamming into Father, using both fists to give the shadowy man as much pain as he had caused her and Nick over the years.
Flashback
Mara and Nick weren't even related, but they were the closest friends, even sharing the same birthday. They were the weirdoes, even at an orphanage. They had made a pact, never to leave the other behind. Never, they promised, would they allow someone to take the other down without fighting for them.
No one ever wanted to adopt them, until he came along. He took them home, and for the first weeks they were treated like royalty. He had played games with them, ate meals with them, acted just like a loving father. That was before he had started to change.
It started with the lady. She was always over, and he started to pay less attention to them. Then he got a job that he traveled a lot for. When he wasn't travelling, he was talking like an idiot to the lady who he called his girlfriend.
Along came the littler ones that he called 'his children'. Now he never paid attention to them, almost like he had forgotten Mara and Nick altogether. That was excepting the times he would take out his anger on the pair. Whenever the Delightful Children failed to destroy the Kids Next Door, he would come after them. They learned to avoid him, but not before there was substantial damage done to their rooms, emotions and trust for others. Once, Nick had even gotten a broken arm that their only friend, Cree Lincoln had helped fix, even though later she joined Father willingly, not just because he made her.
The final step towards what he was now, was when his girlfriend's life was taken by a plane crash. The plane's navigating systems had gone down because of a haphazard KND satellite. He had disappeared into the laboratory for a few days and come out with an evil fire in his eyes, and skin the color of blackest night.
End Flashback
While thinking about all that, Mara didn't even realize she had slammed Father unconscious. The original Father was in there somewhere, but he was so deep in, that he wasn't ever coming out.
"Mara…MARA! Calm down." Nick said, "We have to find the Kids Next Door before the Delightfuls do. We don't want anyone else added to this stupid army!"
They took off down the hallway, desperate to find the kids who were still normal. They didn't see that the 3 that were in the tank had awakened.
XXXXXXXXX
The Kids Next door (or at least the normal ones) made their way through a door into a bright white room. There were 5 other kids in there, too.
"Hey, delightful dorks!" Wally shouted, aiming his quickly assembled weapon at them. It looked like a SPLANKER, but it had a ladle on top, instead, making it a handheld catapult. He launched a pepper and garlic filled balloon at the 5 before they had a chance to respond. Coughing and wheezing, the Delightfuls stumbled around.
Finally, they got enough clear air in their lungs to sputter, "Your silly weapons are nothing. You are a prisoner of your own nightmares. In this warped reality, a cross between the sweet dreams of before and the conscious reality you are used to, you can't fully process what's happening and you can't control it like a dream. We are the ones in control here!"
The operatives gave each other sarcastic glances. The evil laughter echoing around the room. A typical monolog gave away stuff they didn't know yet, but also gave them something to throw sarcasm at. This particular monolog also revealed a flaw in the plan
XXXXXXXXX
Leia: w00t! I finally finished this monster long chapter. BTW, the flashback was written with disregard for the episode where Nigel is giving the school report about how adults were made and all. Hey, everyone else has their own ideas about how Father became so evil, even though we've all seen that episode.
Anywho, I hope you all like it! Please review, and be prepared for another update after at least 4 more reviews
Smiles for miles :D
Leia