Memories

Chapter 6: Break In to Break Out.

(11pm outside the Prison)

Hoagie and Nigel snuck into the prison disguised as security guards. They had gotten the uniforms from two security guards who had gotten knocked out by Hoagie's knock out gas. Nigel had earlier hacked into the prison's computer system and they know had a complete lay out of the prison as well as the location of Kuki's cell. They headed for the laundry room on the third floor and like it said in the prison files, it was closed for repairs. Nigel picked the regular lock after Hoagie broke the security code. They entered the laundry room and closed the door behind them. As soon as they did Hoagie opened his security guard shirt, which was covered on the inside with gadgets he had made. He took out some of them and both he and Nigel looked over the layout they had printed to double check that they were correct about the vents.

They were going to use the vents to get to the section where Kuki was guarded. It would be less strenuous to not use the vents but it would be riskier since they'd buck into a lot, more guards and risk blowing their cover. Getting arrested WASN'T an option. Even though Hoagie was currently within Father's good graces, both knew that would disappear if it were found out that he tried to help break out a prisoner, worse yet one who's a member of the KND that Father's trying so hard to defeat.

After they both agreed, Nigel used a table and other items to reach the vent and open it as Hoagie prepared grapplers, suction cups and other items that they'd need as they made their way through the vent and to be able to exit the vents as quickly and quietly as possible.

"Ready?" Hoagie whispered.

"Ready?" Nigel responded and they both made their way into the vent with Hoagie leading the way.

"Left here until we see the fifth opening to the left," Hoagie started.

"I know," Nigel reminded him and they both made their way through the vents slowly and painfully like marines crawling under wired fences in mud.

After more than half an hour of moving through the vents they reached where they needed to go to enter the section where Kuki was being held. With help of the suction cups Hoagie was able to keep the exit of the vent open and used the grapping hook to help him and Nigel swing over the heads of several sleeping dogs. Hoagie barely got back the hook without it waking the dogs. They then tip toed the rest of the way out of the room.

"Hey!" a voice cried and Nigel barely closed the door behind him as five Doberman woke up and jumped for it, "what are you doing here?"

"Um wrong room," Nigel said nervously then noticed that the person was the janitor and that his name tag said Bob, "well good night Bob," he said in a deep grown up voice.

"Your friend alright?" Bob asked and Nigel noticed that Hoagie was shaking like leaf.

"Oh yeah," Nigel said trying not to sound nervous, "he has a fear of dogs," he whispered to Bob.

Bob burst out laughing.

"Well that explains it!" Bob declared, "but you should be careful of that room," he continued, "those dogs are used to torture special prisoners," he told them and walked off.

"Tor…" Nigel said for a moment confused then realized what Bob meant and immediately went green.

Hoagie noticed and immediately passed Nigel a nearby wastebasket. Nigel threw up in it then wiped his lip with a hanky from his pocket.

"That's disgusting," Nigel declared softly, "those dogs must…" he continued but stopped and threw up again.

Hoagie also felt queasy but he fought it down. One of them had to at least NOT throw up.

"Let's get going," Hoagie told him, "we got out one vent ahead and need to cover ground quickly."

Nigel nodded and they both walked briskly towards their goal. Hoagie had a device that caused camera's to break down a full three minutes before Nigel and he entered that area. That was to help avoid suspicion of them being out as the cause when everything would be checked over hours later by officers and repairmen.

They eventually reached the door that would lead them to Kuki's cell.

"Hello there," Francine said suddenly and they both turned around, "are you the men who're going to watch out for anyone entering this room?" she asked.

"Yes," Nigel said in a deep voice while Hoagie only nodded, "what do you have in mind for our uh special prisoner?" he asked.

"A LOT of pain," Francine said with a wide grin.

Hoagie could barely keep a straight face.

"Carry on then," Nigel said and stepped aside so she could enter.

But suddenly Francine's beeper went off. She looked at it and her eyes widened.

"I have to go," Francine told them, "I'll be back to deal with that girl later," she told them and started to walk away.

"Trouble?" Nigel asked curiously.

"Two guards were found unconscious," Francine responded, "it might be some KND brats trying to break this little bitch out," she said, "guard her with your life," she ordered and ran off.

"I thought those guards wouldn't be found for another half hour," Nigel whispered angrily to Hoagie.

"I did the best I could," Hoagie snapped, "I don't have all my memory back you know," he reminded Nigel, "this stuff is hard."

"Well if it were easy we wouldn't need a tight knit plan!" Nigel shouted then covered his mouth, "sorry," he whispered.

"Not so perfect NOW, are you?" Hoagie asked.

"Whatever," Nigel spat, "I'll go get her while you stand guard," he said and Hoagie nodded, "here I come Kuki," he whispered and quickly went inside.

Nigel slowly looked around the cell feeling a haunting feeling of hopelessness and pain . Soon he saw Kuki curled up in a ball in a corner and he walked up to her.

"Kuki," Nigel whispered softly.

Kuki slowly unfurled and looked up at the figure that had called her name. Never since she entered this horrible prison had she heard someone speak to her with so much kindness and concern in their voice.

"Yes?" Kuki asked in a shaky fearful voice.

"I'm here to get you out," Nigel told her, "it's me, an old friend," he added.

"Who are you?" Kuki asked in a raspy voice.

"A friend," Nigel said and picked her up, "are you alright?" he asked when she started wincing the moment that he touched her.

"Just get me out of here," Kuki whispered in a pained tearful voice, "I beg of you," she said and clung unto his shirt as she struggled not to cry.

Nigel looked down at her sadly. She was wearing a torn beige prisoner uniform, barefoot, looked as if she had been beaten around from the moment she arrived, her face, hands and feet only had small visible cuts and bruises but Nigel could see some heavy bruises and large horrible gashes through some of the tears in her uniform, her once long and magnificent black hair didn't even reach her shoulders now and it looked like it was roughly cut with a dull instrument and she smelled as if she hadn't bathed since she was incarcerated. Nigel strongly pitied the tortured female preteen.

Those monsters will pay. I don't care if I can't remember her. No ONE deserves this! (Nigel's thoughts)

"I promise to protect you," Nigel whispered to her and walked out of the cell.

Hoagie gasped upon seeing her. Too shocked to notice how she smelled.

"Let's just get out of here," Nigel said seriously, "this whole thing is giving me the urge to vomit a second time," he told Hoagie who nodded and followed Nigel as they made their escape using a well planned escape route.

(One Hour Later at the Uno's Residence)

Both Nigel and Hoagie carefully entered through Nigel's bedroom window. Hoagie had already gotten permission from his mother to sleep over at Nigel's house and Nigel's parents had left a message half an hour ago that they had both left to visit their insurance agent who was in the hospital being treated for leukemia. So it was easy for them to sneak into the house with Kuki.

"She's still unconscious?" Hoagie asked and Nigel nodded.

"She's been badly beaten," Nigel said sadly, "I'll get some medical supplies while you keep an eye on her," he said and Hoagie nodded.

Hoagie sat on Nigel's bed as he continued to hold Kuki in his arms. He had only been holding her from when they almost reached Nigel's house. But already he felt a strong connection to her and fought the urge not to cry seeing her as she looked now. He kissed the top of her head.

"You're a good person," Hoagie said softly, "you NEVER deserved this," he declared.

"Huh?" Kuki asked almost inaudibly as she stirred to Hoagie's surprise, "Hoagie?" she whispered upon opening her eyes.

"Yes," Hoagie said happily, "it's me," he told her, "I helped to saved you."

"Why?" Kuki asked him.

"Why!" Hoagie cried incredulously, "I'm your friend!" he shouted, "well, I was your friend before the decommissioning," he said more calmly, "but I still want us to be friends, like before if possible," he added.

"No," Kuki responded.

"Why?" Hoagie asked.

"Because you're a teenager," Kuki told him, "you're one of them."

"No I'm not!" Hoagie shouted angrily, "do you really think that Nigel and I would've saved you if we…."

"Nigel saved me?" Kuki asked in surprise.

"Actually BOTH of us saved you," Hoagie told her, "and Nigel doesn't have the memories that I've regained so far," he continued, "but he still believed that something was up with Father."

"So you and Nigel saved me?" Kuki asked.

"Yes," Hoagie told her, "Nigel's getting supplies to deal with your injuries," he said, "who did this you?" he asked her.

"Adults and teenagers," Kuki responded.

"Well they're monsters," Hoagie declared, "nobody deserves to be treated like this."

"Francine's one of them," Kuki said suddenly.

"I know," Hoagie said sadly, "she was coming to see you just as we came to release you," he revealed to Kuki, "but she had to leave to deal with something else," he added.

"That's good," Kuki said with relief, "Cree told me what she did to Herbie," she told Hoagie, "and he's dead."

"What!" Hoagie cried.

"Cree said he suffered from massive head trauma as a result of Francine's severe beatings," Kuki said sadly, "and his other serious injuries didn't help," she said tearfully, "he never deserved to die that way," she said and broke into heavy sobbing.

"I'm sorry about your friend," hoagie said comfortingly, "I don't remember him," he admitted, "but he deserved a better death than that," he said firmly.

"Do you hate me?" Kuki asked him, "for decommissioning you which caused you to loose your girlfriend and your memories?"

"No I don't hate…" Hoage started to say but stopped, "I had a girlfriend!" he shouted.

"Yeah but both of you separated before decommissioning," Kuki told him, "because even if you didn't, you wouldn't remember her anymore," she added.

"Who was she?" Hoagie asked but Kuki looked away.

"I can't tell you that," Kuki said, "it's been hard enough for her."

"What about me?" Hoagie demanded, "I've just find out that the girl I thought I was in love with now is a sadistic torture freak and most likely a murderer too!"

"Who's that?" Kuki asked curiously.

"I'm not telling," Hoagie declared.

After a moment Kuki started to laugh but soon started to cough.

"Are you alright?" Hoagie asked fearfully.

"Yeah," Kuki said after the coughing subsided, "I haven't had anything to laugh about in a while," she told him, "thank you," she told him.

"Your Welcome," Hoagie said with a smile as Nigel re-entered the room, "there's Nigel," he told Kuki and turned her so that she could see him.

"Do you remember me?" Kuki asked in a small voice.

Nigel shook his head. But then he took out a photo out of his pocket and gave it to her. Kuki took it into her shaking hands as fresh tears fell from her eyes.

"But a little boy once did," Nigel spoke, "and while I'm not him anymore," he admitted, "I NEVER abandon my friends," he added.

"I missed you so much Nigel," Kuki said.

"It will be alright now," Nigel told her, "we'll patch you up and find a way to safely get the KND to come for you," he said, "without them attacking us," he added remembering what happened to Hoagie.

"Oh that was just procedure," Kuki told him, "we don't usually do that unless it's deemed necessary, I swear."

"Well you scared Francine and I and thrashed my family's house," Hoagie reminded her, "I'm sorry but you didn't give a good first impression," he said frankly.

"Well I didn't really want to attack you," Kuki said humbly, "but I had to do my job and Numbuh 4…"

"Egged you on, I know," Hoagie told her, "I saw you two from the front window in Francine's home," he explained, "you two really freaked Francine out when you mentioned about checking out her house next," he added.

"And now Francine works for Father," Kuki said sadly, "if she were the old Francine she'd never do that," she said, "worse yet she's a murderer."

"This whole thing has changed both Francine and I," Hoagie confessed, "unfortunately for Francine it was for the worse."

"Well you're not innocent either," Nigel spoke up, "you had told the operator that KND was attacking your house," he pointed out.

"But they were!" Hoagie exploded, "what was I supposed to say!"

"I didn't mean it like that," Nigel said, "I just mean that neither you NOR Francine are totally innocent," he told Hoagie, "after all both of you went on television with Father no less," he added.

"At the time I didn't KNOW what Father was really like," Hoagie snarled, "and why are you so intent on blaming me?" he asked, "the only thing we both have in common really is that neither of chose to work for Father after being decommissioned," he put out, "so get off my ass!" he shouted.

Nigel looked as if he'd say something really rude. But he instead closed his eyes and sighed.

"Just help me patch up Kuki," Nigel said coldly.

"Whatever," Hoagie mumbled, "Kuki we're…." he started to say but stopped when he noticed Kuki glaring at him, "so you hate me now huh?" he asked her.

"No," Kuki responded to Hoagie's surprise, "I just hate seeing people arguing," she told him, "are you two enemies?" she asked suddenly.

"No!" Nigel cried incredulously, "I mean, we just had angry spat," he told her.

"Yeah," Hoagie agreed hesitantly, "now we're going to deal with your injuries now," he said kindly to Kuki who nodded.

"Why did you two save me?" Kuki whispered.

"Because it's the right thing to do," Hoagie spoke up, "and Nigel and I plan to help find a way to stop Father and save the KND," he declared.

Done

Death's Soulmate: Yeah I know. I just got stuck and stopped updating this story for a long time. Sorry. Now please review.