GATHERING INFORMATION
"You're going to do WHAT?"
The DAFDTL directors were furious for a multitude of reasons. They were enraged to hear that the Sector V operatives hadn't been apprehended and the base was still standing. They were infuriated to hear that Numbuh 4 had been taken prisoner. And they were livid now to hear from Numbuh 1 that he intended to return to Cleveland to attempt a rescue operation.
"We're going to go back for him. He's a valuable member of this team, completely irreplaceable both as a fighter and as a friend. I couldn't bear to leave him with those dastardly Kids Next Door if I hadn't expended every effort within my power to save him. And I came back here to Base Command to tell you in person that we are going to return to the Sector V Treehouse, and we are going to rescue Numbuh 4, and once we have him back we are going to figure out a way to crush our enemies completely."
"A moving speech Numbuh 1, but you remember the protocol for joining our organization and you know what happens if you are captured. We waste no effort on those who cannot pull their own weight. Numbuh 4's capture is regrettable, but what is more important is not to jeopardize any other operatives in a foolhardy attempt to save him. And it is important to make sure that this doesn't happen again."
"With all due respect," Numbuh 1 countered, "this organization is only able to endure because it has field operatives and courageous individuals like Numbuh 4 to keep it strong. A plan can only work perfectly in theory; it needs operatives like him to put it into action. And to go and retrieve him, I think, would be in the best interests of our organization and our team."
Being the avid actress of the team, Numbuh 3 decided to venture her opinion and sway the directors:
"Please directors. We must go back for him. Wally would do the same for any of us."
When Numbuh 3 noticed the blunder that she had made, she puckered her lips and sucked them into her mouth, as though she might draw back her words as easily as her lips.
"I beg you're pardon Numbuh 3, what was it you just…"
Numbuh 2 came to the rescue. "She said we must go back for him W-w-allll… WHILE… while he still has a chance."
"I see," the quintet of DAFDTL directors replied, though they had some skeptical looks. "Since you all seem so obdurate about this course of action we shall allow you to go. But know this, if any of you should fall captive to the Kids Next Door along with Numbuh 4, there will be no one coming to save you. We will not risk any more of this team or any others for a second rescue."
"Understood," Numbuh 1 replied and he bowed low. As he and the others turned to go, the DAFDTL stopped them.
"Wait! Where is Numbuh 5?"
"Oh, she went to gather some extra equipment from her room while we came to speak with you, directors. But by now I imagine she's probably back at the helicopter. She was adamant about returning to Cleveland to save Numbuh 4."
The DAFDTL seemed to accept that and stood up from their bench to leave. Numbuh 3 then offered a suggestion.
"Maybe you should come to Cleveland with us and observe the operation."
The DAFDTL stopped there and looked quizzically at Numbuh 3. Numbuhs 1 and 2 gave innocent smiles to mask their apprehensiveness. The five directors turned together in a huddle and mumbled for a few moments.
There you go Numbuh 5, the rest is up to you, Numbuh 1 thought to himself as the DAFDTL turned around and gave the team a curt nod.
Abby hung from the ceiling by a single rope that did not prevent her from spinning around as she descended. She lowered herself by the motors in her harness, very slowly, trying not to catch the attention of the many motion sensitive cameras in place around the room. Nigel had…
No, he's Numbuh 1 while your within hearing range of those DAFDTL, she thought to herself. Though it was impractical for her to be correcting her own thoughts when no one else could hear them. Abby was just naturally thorough.
The Code Module was in the center of an enormous room, situated on a desk terminal with a keyboard and monitor.
Huh, Tom Cruise ain't got nothing on me, Numbuh 5 thought to herself as she descended. And indeed her mission and the manner in which she was carrying it out was almost identical to Mission Impossible.
Abby switched off the motor on her harness as she hung directly over the computer monitor. There were laser motion sensors all over the desk, but from an elevated position she could just get her fingertips to the keyboard without setting off the alarms. She activated the computer and opened the files on the Code Module.
She selected the 'Archives' folder, and found several sub-files, including: 'List of Current Operative Codenames', 'List of Current Villains', 'Moonbase Fleet Arsenal', 'List of Ex-Operatives' and '2x4 Technology Armory'.
She selected the Current Villains, just to see if it included anything on the DAFDTL, and unsurprisingly it did, a whole file.
Abby pulled a small Flash Drive from her pocket, inserted it into the USB port on the terminal and downloaded the DAFDTL file. She figured it was more important to retrieve the information than read it at the moment. Once the download was complete, she closed the file and went back to Archives. This time she opened the file, List of Ex-Operatives. The file was huge, much too big for her to download to the Flash Drive, so she decided to try searching by names.
Okay Abby, moment of truth, she thought as she typed in the two words she was most afraid to get an answer for: Lincoln, Abigail.
She hit 'enter' and the computer cycled halfway down the list until it fell on a document that read Lincoln, Abigail, and below it, Lincoln, Cree. Abby's eyes nearly popped out of her head she was so surprised.
Better I just download it now and read it later with everyone else. She decided, and proceeded to download the documents on herself and her sister. She couldn't help but notice that on the individual name bars there were a number of columns. One column entitled Years, with a span of numbers (2002-2009 for her, 1996-2002 for Cree), and one entitled Sector, with a letter. Shockingly it said V, for her and Cree.
Abby was having trouble holding her focus with all this coming to her at once. Sector V? Seven years? CREE! It was a little more than she could handle, but Abby was good at keeping her cool, and she proceeded to complete her mission. She entered the next name that came to mind:
Gilligan, Hoagie.
The page scrolled down and sure enough she found three people named Gilligan. The icon fell on a Gilligan, Hoagie P. who served in Sector V from 1971 to 1976.
Numbuh 2 isn't that old is he?
Then below it she noticed the one she was really looking for. Gilligan, Hoagie P., Jr. had served 2002-2009, also in Sector V. Below him she also noticed a Gilligan, Tommy of Sector V who only served in 2004.
Abby downloaded all three of these names as well and proceeded to check for her other teammates.
Uno, Nigel… …(2002-2009)… …(Sector V)
Sanban, Kuki… …(2002-2010)… …(Sector V)
Sanban, Mushi… …(limited service…2003-2010)… …(Sector V)
Beatles, Wallabee… …(2002-2009)… …(Sector V)
Abby downloaded all of it, the initial shock of what she'd witnessed had worn off, but still she was amazed. She had been a child-terrorist? Is that what she had been doing with all those years? But why couldn't she remember any of it?
She returned to the main database and opened the file on KND History. She made a search for Sector V, 2002-2009 and the computer took her straight to a huge document entitled Sector V: Best of the Best. Abby downloaded it and decided she had all that she and the team were going to need for the present. She withdrew the Flash Drive, secured it in a pouch on her harness, and switched the harness to draw her up slowly.
Ain't no such thing as Mission: Impossible for Abby Lincoln, she prided herself as she climbed out of the room and made her way back along the crawl spaces to her room. Opening the ceiling cover, Abby took one last look in her pouch to see that she hadn't dropped the Flash drive, then hopped down through the hole to her room.She looked at the clock on the wall, saw that she might still have a chance to make it to the helicopter before takeoff and went running for the hangar as she grabbed several random packs of harnessing equipment.
Abby came running up to the runway to find the helicopter just sitting on it's pad. No one was there. She went over to the aircraft, opened the side door and climbed in.
"Oo-ey baby, I complete my mission, and I still make it back to the helicopter before the rest of those guys. All hail Abby." She laughed as she congratulated her magnificent success.
She must still be gathering the supplies we need for the mission… yes, that's the excuse I'll use. Numbuh 1 thought.
Oh who am I kidding, the DAFDTL are never going to buy that.
Numbuh 1 was walking up the runway to the helicopter with Numbuhs 2 and 3. He expected the DAFDTL (who were following close behind with a retinue of bodyguards) would indeed be curious about Numbuh 5's absence. She may have been the stealthiest of the team, but she wasn't invisible to the higher-ups. Numbuh 1 had hopes that he could pass off Numbuh 5's absence as her fumbling to find necessary rescue equipment, but he didn't know how long he could keep up that ruse before the DAFDTL got wise to his intentions. The plan had looked ingenious in theory, but the application was proving to be much less certain.
Maybe I can convince them that we should leave without her?… oh, sure! He rebuked himself. He could only hope to stall them long enough without them getting too suspicious, and then he would have to go in and get Numbuh 5, whether or not she had completed her mission.
Numbuh 1 was still stewing over ideas and excuses for why Numbuh 5 would be late and why he should go back to help her get the equipment she needed, until he got to the helicopter, climbed in and took a seat next to Numbuh 2.
"Well then, to Cleveland if you please Numbuh 2." Came Numbuh 5's superbly calm and composed voice. Numbuh 3 was sitting right next to her so she didn't look so surprised, Numbuhs 1 and 2 on the other hand had been expecting to see her coming running up the runway from the hangar at the last minute, which should've been many minutes away.
"What are you doing here?" Numbuh 2 asked.
Numbuh 5 reached forward, holding a little pouch in her hand and tossed it to Numbuh 1 as she patted Numbuh 2's shoulder.
"I'm just waiting for you guys." She sniggered.
Numbuh 1 stuffed the pouch into his breast pocket as the DAFDTL directors approached the helicopter. He invited them to take their seats in the cargo hold, they merely curled their lips in disgust.
"We have our own transportation, thank you, but you are welcome to use your little toy to lead us to Cleveland." They sneered and walked over to the private jet.
As soon as the directors were aboard their own aircraft, Numbuh 2 set the controls, switched on the engines and they were off.
"Numbuh 5, you were supposed to retrieve information, while we were gone, not from the time we got here to the time we left again." Numbuh 1 criticized her.
"Well you said on the way over here that you were going to tell the directors that you were gonna rescue Numbuh 4, then the whole team was going to figure out a way to beat down the Sector V Treehouse. How could you do that with me stuck in New York?"
"I would've sent Numbuh 2 to get you."
"And what made you think the directors were going to allow you? And what makes you think the directors wouldn't notice I was gone? I mean I'm good at not being seen, but I ain't invisible."
"All right, all right. Did you get what I asked you to get?"
"Stuff on the DAFDTL, and a lot of stuff on us?"
"We were on the Code Module?" Asked Numbuh 3.
"What about the Kids Next Door and their purpose?" Numbuh 1 pressed.
"Well there wasn't exactly a mission statement for the organization, but don't you think Numbuh 4 will figure that out."
Numbuh 1 gritted his teeth. "Numbuh 5, the next time you go off mission, be sure you have all that I asked you to get before you decide to tweak any of the rules."
Numbuh 5 slouched down in her chair mumbling about what a 'pig-headed jerk' and 'near-sighted buffoon' Numbuh 1 was. But besides her grumbling, the flight back to Cleveland was made in complete silence.
Wally had been turning over how he would approach his brother and elicit the responses he desired, but Wally had never been very tactful with language, and Joey, despite his obvious good-boy charm, had a knack for being able to use a very sharp tongue and a cunning mind when he needed.
Numbuh 2…
Hoagie! His name's Hoagie! Wally corrected himself.
...Hoagie had gone a long way from the Treehouse before stopping, and Wally had been walking for more than half an hour trying to get back to the Treehouse. He knew he wouldn't have a lot of time to ask questions of Joey, but he didn't want to run all the way back to the Treehouse and risk being abducted while he was winded from so much running. Wally hated the idea of being suspicious of Joey, who he trusted above all others, but after what he had just seen he was not without some doubts as to his brother's innocence.
Wally was now only a couple blocks from the Treehouse, and it looked even more imposing than ever.
Probably because my favorite person in the world is in there. He thought.
Wally came up to the front door of the house that held up the mighty tree and with some hesitancy gave a firm knock on the door – after his time abroad Wally had grown to disdain most modern conveniences, and among them were doorbells.
A kind-looking woman of about middle age answered the door with a genuine smile.
"Hello, may I help you?"
"Yes, good day," Wally began by using that greeting in the stereotypical Australian fashion. He often employed it when he wanted to get someone to laugh or at least feel less insecure around him. And indeed the woman had to hide a slight chuckle at hearing him use that characteristic Australian greeting.
"Would you perhaps be related to Joey?" She took a guess.
"Uh, yes, as a matter of fact I'm Wally, his older brother…"
"Oh, Joey said you were at college."
"Yeah, I'm just home, visiting for a couple days. Um' is he here by chance?"
"Oh of course dear, one moment I'll go get him. Oh and please come in."
Wally did as he was told and entered the front hallway, but he decided to just stand there and wait for Joey to come. The woman had gone upstairs and he could hear her calling:
"Joey dear? Joey? Your brother Wally is here to see you."
There was some trample of feet on the upper floors, and then the woman emerged from one of the hallways on the second level with twelve-year-old Joey Beatles at her side. Joey was wide-eyed as he looked on his brother. It looked to be genuine happiness and surprise, but Wally, fearing a trap and ashamed that he should be suspicious of his brother, was wary.
Joey ran down the stairs and right into Wally's arms, squeezing him tight.
"Hey Wally. Man I've missed you bro, how come you never call home anymore?"
"Sorry about that Joey," Wally apologized with empty words while only half-hugging his little brother. "I've been pretty busy lately."
"Yeah I'll bet. Senior year must be tough. So how's the lady-situation, hey?"
Wally rolled his eyes. Unlike him, Joey had developed a liking for girls a little earlier in life, and it had made him popular in ways Wally never had been. Wherever Wally had been in school he'd always intimidated most people with his tough guy front and bad boy attitude. And inevitably that persona of his attracted some girls who were interested in a rebel. Joey on the other hand, though he was certainly a fairly tough person was as thoughtful, warm and sweet as Wally was cold and seemingly indifferent, and that attracted even more girls. So many so that Joey didn't feel unnatural around them and had even had a couple serious girlfriends since Wally left home.
Still, for all their differences, both in their attitude towards the world and in their ten years difference in age, the two brothers had always been the best of friends and completely trusting of one another.
Until now, Wally reflected.
"Hey Joey, listen, I need to have something of a private talk with you. Think you could step outside with me for a few minutes?"
" 'Course Wally." And Joey led his brother out to the front step and closed the door.
"What did you wanna talk about?"
Wally didn't know how to say this. Approaching a topic anyway other than straight on had never been his strong suit, so he decided the first thing to do was affirm his brother's promise to be both discrete about the discussion and truthful to him.
"Joey," he sighed as he began what he knew would be one of the most painful conversations of his life. "Before we say anything, let's both promise that we'll never mention a word of this to either mom or dad…"
Joey looked somewhat confused at the sudden seriousness of tone, but he nodded sincerely. "All right then, agreed."
"And… let's promise that we won't lie to one another."
"Okay Wally, nothing but truth, of course."
Now came the point of no return. Wally took one last deep breath, unzipped his coat and folded it over his arm. He was taking the plunge.
"Joey… are you part of the Kids Next Door?"
Joey was shocked by the question at first, then when he eyed his brother's black and orange body armor and full body jumpsuit his eyes grew even bigger.
"Wally… that was… you did… how do you…?"
"Joey, I'm just here to talk, okay? Nothing else… I just want to know the truth." Joey looked down just for a second, then nodded his head as he looked at his brother again.
"And to answer your question: yes. Those people who attacked your Treehouse earlier? The DAFDTL Operatives? I was one of them."
Joey was aghast, he had the same look on his face that Wally imagined he must've had when he found out about Joey being in the camp of his enemy. The both of them sat down heavily on the step in front of the door. This was an awful lot to be taking in.
"How long have you been with DAFDTL, Wally?"
"Only two months now. How long have you been with the Kids Next Door?"
"Almost six years…"
"SIX YEARS!"
"Not so loud Wally, we wanted to have a private conversation, let's keep it that way."
"Why did you join the Kids Next Door Joey?"
Here Joey hesitated. He knew the answer well enough, but it was expressly forbidden to discuss anything about the organization with anyone who wasn't a kid. But nonetheless, Wally was family and Joey trusted him more than anyone. If Wally couldn't be trusted, Joey knew no one who could.
"…because of you."
"Because of me!"
"Yeah, that's why I took the codename Numbuh 4. Guess I wanted to pick up where you left off."
Wally stopped for a second as the weight of these words sunk in. How could it be? It couldn't… could it?
"Joey, are you saying? I was…" and before he could finish, Joey nodded. Wally was beside himself.
"I was a child terrorist? How? How did that happen? Wha… Why can't I remember it? What did I do?"
"Child terrorist! Wally what are you talking about?"
"Joseph Beatles do not play stupid with me, you made a promise not to lie. I know what sort of things your organization is up to Joey…"
"Wally whoa! Now I admit Kids Next Door Operatives fight for children's rights, but we aren't terrorists. We don't blow up buildings or hurt innocent people…"
"Then tell me Joey… what is it that you do?"
"We battle adult tyranny?"
"Adult-tyranny!"
"Well… like ice-cream men who don't stop for kids, or cafeteria ladies who try to force kids to eat really nasty food, or prep-school teachers who try to…"
"All right Joey I get that, but what do you do?"
"Well we go and we stop them from continuing their operations. A lot of times we have to use force and kick a few butts, but we never really hurt anyone… why what did you think we did?"
"My bosses told me that you and your organization tried to spread fear everywhere, overthrow governments, and terrorize society like a bunch of hooligans."
"The DAFDTL told you that? Wally they're the worst adults of all. They've been enemies of kids everywhere since back when they were kids. Don't you rememb… oh, right."
"No Joey I don't remember. And I admit what I have to do for my organization I don't always like, but who am I supposed to believe Joey?"
"Believe me Wally, I'm your brother."
"A brother who lives in a Treehouse filled with weapons-grade technology. Joey that Treehouse has more armaments than a small military base."
"We don't have a single lethal instrument in there Wally, there isn't a single KND weapon in the whole organization's arsenal that can inflict more than just some minor pain, and certainly nothing permanent."
"Joey, I want to believe you, you know I do… but I spent the last two months fighting Kids Next Door Operatives in New York, in Florida, even in the Arctic Circle, and they were all aiming to…"
"Arctic Base... the Code Module? YOU STOLE THE CODE MODULE FOR THE DAFDTL!"
"Joey, shhhh…"
"Unbelievable Wally. You taught me to be loyal to my friends and always do things to help kids and protect anyone and everyone from tyranny in all forms… how could you do something like that?"
"As far as I knew I was defending against tyranny and protecting kids, Joey. I was defending against the tyranny of kids who wanted to destroy society and everything good about it. And I was trying to break up the Kids Next Door Organization so no kids would go down that path ever again."
"Wally don't you know who the DAFDTL are? Or what they plan to do?"
"To be honest... no."
"Ok then, we've got a lot to discuss…"
Author's Note: Most of the discussion will come out in the next chapter and include the whole team. I'm glad to hear you guys are liking this story, and please don't hesitate to let me know what you think of the writing or what you feel needs to be included, I'm open to suggestions.