Revolution

Chapter 1: "Who Are We Fighting Against?"

The sun had been up for two hours now, and still all the members of the KND were asleep. That is, except for Numbuh 1. He had pulled another all nighter, finishing a report on new 2x4 technology that he intended to send to his supervisor, Numbuh 362, before noon. Having just completed the report, he pressed the send button, and promptly collapsed in his chair, exhausted. Normally, he would have slept like this for the next six hours or so. But today was going to be different. A blaring alarm jolted him awake, and he knocked his head against his computer.

"Wha-wha, what's going on?" he asked, panicked, looking around the room for the source of the disruption, not noticing the talking head displayed on his computer screen.

"Numbuh 1, this way!" yelled the talking head. Numbuh 1 jerked back in surprise and fell out of his chair, losing his sunglasses. As he got back up, he placed his sunglasses back on and said with as much dignity as he could muster, "Yes, commander 362. I'm here."

"Numbuh 1, we need your team to head to the moon base ASAP! Bring every fighter you can with you! Understood?" asked Number 362.

"Yes, ma'am. We're on our way." He saluted her and turned off the computer. He opened up the communications channels of the tree house and yelled, "Kids Next Door! Report to the launch pad immediately!"

"What? What's going on, Numbuh 1?" came a groggy voice with a heavy australian accent. "It's only 8:00."

"Yeah, Numbuh 5 needs her beauty sleep," called another voice.

"Just hurry up and get to the launch pad! Numbuh 2, all of our dogfighters are still in the H.A.W.K.S.H.E.A.D shuttle, aren't they?"

"Well, yeah, I guess," said a sleepy Numbuh 2. "Can't this wait until later? I haven't even had breakfast yet!"

"I'm sleeeepy!" called Numbuh 3

"Darn it, just get to the launch pad, pronto!" Half an hour later they were in the Hawkshead, preparing to launch.

"So, Numbuh 1, why the early wake up call?" asked Numbuh 2 as he strapped himself in the pilot's chair. "Why are we going to the moon base?"

"Well, I, uh, I don't know," sighed Numbuh 1. "But it sounded very important!"

"It better be. This better not be over another Rainbow Monkey key chain," grumbled Numbuh 4.

"All right, liftoff!" announced Numbuh 2. After a few minutes, they had left the stratosphere and had entered outer space. It was a three hour ride to the moon base, which would have been surely boring had Numbuh 4 not gotten into an argument with Numbuh 3 over whether Tarzan could beat up a Rainbow Monkey. Finally, they had approached the moon base.

"Whoa, check out all the battleships!" exclaimed Numbuh 2, looking at his display screen. "Here, I'll put it on the overhead so you can see." He flicked a switch, and the display was on.

"Good Lord!" shouted Numbuh 1. It was the biggest armada they had seen in ages. A gigantic swarm of battleships were hovering over the KND moon base, armed to the teeth, and judging from the class of ships, they were probably loaded with fighters.

"All right, if this is over a Rainbow Monkey key chain, I'm really going to be pissed," grunted Numbuh 4. Still, he couldn't help but be amazed at the amount of battleships. "Guys, this is going to a big one, isn't it?" he asked, a trace of fear in his voice.

"You got that right, Number 4," said Number 5. She sighed and looked over at him. "Something tells me this aint gonna be easy."

They landed on the launch pad of the moon base. Clothed in space suits, they left the Hawkshead and made their way to the base. They were approached by security guards.

"Numbuh 1!" called out the leader of the guards. "It's me, Numbuh 69! Thank god you got here in time! Numbuh 362 is waiting, we'll escort you to the war room."

They left to the war room of the base. They were greeted by none other than Numbuh 362, leader of the entire KND, and several of the various leaders of the separate KND sectors. They had grim looks on their faces, and they were decked out in armor.

"Numbuh 1, glad to see you arrived so promptly. As you can see, we've assembled most of our armada already. We're still waiting on China and Australia. They should be here in about in hour," announced Numbuh 362, looking towards the stars through the one way window of the ceiling.

"Australia's in this too?" asked Numbuh 4. "Well, then we're sure to win!" He smacked his fist into his palm. "If Dizzy and the boys are coming, then we've got nothing to worry about!"

"I wish that were so, Numbuh 4. But the fleet we're up against is huge, even bigger than the one we have now. There's no way we can take them on in a head to head battle, so we're going to have to capture their leader aboard their mothership. If we even get to it," she added bitterly.

"Who are we fighting against?" asked Number 1.

"Teenagers. They've decided against subtlety this time around, and are going to destroy the moon base directly. They're not in the mood for a simple victory. They're going to kill us all."

Everyone stared dumbly for a moment. Then Numbuh 4 said, "What do you mean by killed?"

"I mean the opposite of alive, you idiot."

"But even Cree would never–"started Numbuh 5

"This is an order from Father, not Cree. I know most teens wouldn't want to flat out kill us, but right now they're more afraid of Father than becoming murderers. The battle will be nearly impossible to win. They have the financial backing of Father, and they are being led in this battle by Chad Dickinson and, um," she glanced quickly at Numbuh 5 and then looked down, "Cree Lincoln.

Numbuh 5 looked scornfully at Number 362. "You say that like I'm supposed to care," she said flatly.

"Numbuh 5, I understand if you would rather work with communications in the Moon Base instead of dogfighting–"

Numbuh 5 walked up to 362 and looked her straight in the eye, her face only a few centimeters from her. "I'm gonna show that brat what a real fighter is, so don't try to stop me," threatened Number 5, her voice seething in anger. Numbuh 1 looked like he was going to pass out at the way Numbuh 5 was treating his supervisor.

"Very well, Abby" said Numbuh 362 cooly. "Do as you wish." She turned on the 3D display screen in the middle of the war room.

"Here's our armada right now," said 362. "There's a gap right here," she paused, zooming in on the space between fighters," but we can fill that up as soon as soon as China and Australia get here. As I said, we can't hold out against the teenager fleet, so we're going to have to use diversionary tactics to slow their advance and buy time. Numbuh Three, that's your specialty, so I want you to work with the rest of our strategists and see if you can come up with any useful disruption techniques in our remaining time."

"Aye aye, captain!" replied Numbuh 3, saluting.

"Wait a minute, what good are disruption tactics? They'll defeat us eventually," pointed out Numbuh 1.

"That's why we have to take care of Father first. We'll need to be quick. I'm sending an elite squadron to capture him."

"You've got to be kidding me! Even Numbuh 274 couldn't pull off something like that! Only and idiot would try to infiltrate the Mantra !" exclaimed Numbuh 4.

"I'm sorry to hear you say that, Numbuh 4. I was going to have you lead the elite squadron."

"Whoa, really! Awesome! I'm your man!" cried Number 4. "When do I start? When when when when when when..."

"Meanwhile, Numbuh 2, you'll be in charge of fighting the teenager fleet with Numbuh 5."

"You're asking me to fight in a suicide mission? I'd rather hand out band aids, if it's all the same to you."

"A pity. That rival of yours has decided to give us a hand. Now would be a perfect time to show him who's better. But if you're chicken," started Numbuh 362.

"Wait a minute, the kid's here? All right, bring it on! I'll show him whose boss!"

"Excellent. Numbuh 1, you'll be in the communications center with me, giving out new information as the battle is being waged. Everyone, you have your duties. I wish you the best of luck in carrying them out. Good luck." The Numbuhs 1-5 stood still. "This is the part where you leave!" shouted Numbuh 362.

"Oh, right!" exclaimed Numbuhs 2-5. Numbuh 1 remained with the other leaders.

"Do you think we stand a chance, Numbuh 362?" asked Number 1.

"I think so. Numbuh 4 may be a bit stupid, but he's the best man for this job. The others are good enough to carry out their tasks as well. You are one of the best teams, after all," said 362, giving him a small smile.

Nigel blushed. "Er, um, thank you, ma'am. Shall I head to the communications center?" he asked.

Cree turned off the spy camera placed inside the war room. It had broadcast clearly all the way to the Mantra. She was impressed. "You heard all of that, right?" asked Cree nervously, turning to her companion in the shadows.

"I did."

"What do you plan to do about it?"

"Oh, I've already got something planned."

"I want to make sure this turns out right. No mistakes. Everything could go straight to hell if we aren't careful."

"Don't worry, my child. Father takes care of all of his children." He snapped his fingers and a small flame appeared in the palm of his hand.

"Stop. It's creepy when you talk like that."

"Heh heh. Sorry." He clenched his fist and the flame disappeared. "This battle should turn out to be a hell of a show. Everything's all set. Today's the day."

"Don't be so cocky. There's him you have to worry about, remember?"

"He's not a threat. I've known him for years. He's just a child compared to me."

"I'm sure he thinks the same about you."

"Arrogant fool. I'm not afraid of him."

"You should be. Never undestimate your opponent. That's what you taught me, remember?"

"Who's says I'm underestimating? Now go out there and kill your sister like a good girl." Cree marched away angrily. He'd better get this right.