Code: RESTRICTED (Complete Series)

by OfficiallyWrong

ATTENTION EARTH: The aging virus is beginning to spread to other planets. We cannot allow you to travel throughout the galaxy and contaminate the rest of the universe. Therefore. The planet Earth has been quarantined until further notice. You are no longer permitted to travel outside of your own atmosphere. If you do, there will be dire consequences. -UNO-

23. MEMORIES (part 3)

Chapter Summary: Abby rides out the rest of her memories, not all of them as pure as she initially thought.

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CONTENT WARNING: Implied violence and abuse/Death/Trauma

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NOTE: This chapter takes a few liberties with the timeline in order to show the fragmentation of memory, but also how present events subconsciously shape how we remember the past.

This fic is technically canon-divergent anyway so...I guess it doesn't really matter. I hope you enjoy it!

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Code: [RESTRICTED]

Operation: M.E.M.O.R.I.E.S. (Part Three)

Many

Emotional

Moments

Originate

Right

In

Everyone's

Subconscious

Written by OfficiallyWrong with properties owned by

Tom Warburton and Cartoon Network

RESUMING TRANSMISSION...

Episode 23

"You really don't wanna come?"

"Abby, if I came it would be a whole to-do, wouldn't it?"

"You know they'll never forgive you."

"I will come for theirs! But since you're not actually being decommissioned—"

"Shh! They don't know that!"

"Trust me, Numbuh 5. It's better this way. Keeping distance is the best way to avoid..." He gulped. "Missing them."

"I already miss them. Distance ain't gonna help that."

"Perhaps you haven't given yourself enough."

"Well I ain't lightyears away like you, but I tried it and it don't work. I miss them too much."She groaned. "And now Numbuh 2 wants to do this project. I mean what the heck is that boy thinkin'? What am I gonna do if he screws up and I'm already knee-deep in TND stuff? I can't just blow my cover and dig him outta his hole. And you know him, he always finds a way to get into trouble and it's gettin' worse by the day. Do you know how many times he falls off stuff in a week? He's always got new bumps and bruises all over the place and I tell him not to do stupid stuff, he's the leader now he's gotta be responsible but every day now I notice somethin' new. And he tries to cover'm cause he thinks he's so clever. Like I won't notice when he checks in that he can't blend his mama's makeup. Like I won't know he's been doin' dangerous stuff. I know he's doin' dangerous stuff! But I call him out on it and he gets all flustered and don't wanna come clean. So fine. Whatever. But if he gets delightulized or falls off a roof again I swear I'm gonna burry him into the ground right next to his daddy!"

"Numbuh 5! That's a horrible thing to say!"

"Well, I'm sorry but the boy drives me crazy! I can't take any more jokes, Nigel. If I gotta hear one more pun I'm gonna pummel him."

"Abby."

"And how is Numbuh 4 gonna pass his classes? In that boy's world two plus two equals fish and Harriet Tubman invented the bathtub. How is he gonna survive in school without my help? Make it through high school? He keeps losin'his homework and when you pull it out it's all crumpled and ripped apart. What does he think is gonna happen? Not to mention all the fights he starts for no reason! He made a little girl cry the other day cause he didn't like her doll. I swear, if I had a nickel for every time I had to drag him out of a useless fight. And he don't even care. He's gonna pick fights with everybody and I can't do nothin' because I gotta keep my distance. He's gonna drop outta school. I know it. I can't do this, Numbuh 1. I'm gonna lose my mind. I'm already losin' my mind."

"Abby."

"And Numbuh 3 just lets everyone do everything for her cause she's cute. What happens when she gets older and gotta do things for herself? No one's gonna make her do stuff. I'm the only one that makes her do stuff. Without me, what's she gonna do? Who's she gonna trust? She won't live up to her potential! And who's gonna make sure she and Numbuh 4 stay together? Who's gonna visit My First Rainbow Monkey in the retirement home? Who..."

Nigel waited for her.

"Who is gonna take care of my team, Nigel? They're gonna be out there...in the world...all alone...without me."

"I think this is the part," he said. "Where you have to trust them."

Abby wiped a tear from her cheek. "Trust? Those idiots?" She sniffed and smiled. "Impossible."

---

"So, I got this one kid."

"Uh-huh."

"And he's just so annoying! He fights all the time."

"Right."

"And I ain't even told him to fight anything! He's fightin' with the other kids!"

"And that don't sound familiar?"

"...Familiar? No! No one on our team was ever like that! He's just as bad as Numbuh 362's brothah. And no one is as bad as that kid, not even Mushi. But this kid drives me bananas! And he doesn't listen!"

"Numbuh 5 was surprised you wanted to recruit. You hate young kids. And girls. And especially young girls."

"Actually, the girls are really nice." He flushed. "Don't tell anyone I said that."

"No promises."

"Numbuh 2 was supposed to do it, cause we get requests and stuff but he's so bad at it! He just lets them do whatever! Oh no, it's fine. Just play around. Goof off! It's not like we're here for training. Remind me again why you made him the leader?"

"He's good at delegating."

"Gatin'? What, he can make gates? That don't make sense, Numbuh 5."

"No, ding-dong. It means you're good at recruitment, so he lets you do the recruitment stuff."

"Oh." Wally thought about this. "OH! Well, then I guess he's not so dumb after all."

"Oh, he's plenty dumb. Blind as a bat. Overly-ambitious. A pain in my—"

"At least he didn't give this job to Numbuh 3. Last time she gave away cookies to all the kids and then they wanted me to bring them cookies and I was like...no. I ain't brinin' you cookies! You're little monsters!"

"You loooove them." Abby grinned.

"Do not!"

"You wanna watch'm succeed."

"S-Shut up! I'm just doin' this job for Numbuh 2!"

"Uh-huh. Sure."

"...I hate you."

"You miss me."

"Like crud I do!"

"You miss me so muuuuch." She hugged the short kid, rubbing his blonde hair with her hand. "And you love children!"

"I don't!"

"Numbuh 4's a regular ol' softie."

"I'm gonna smack you!"

---

Kuki pushed Abby along the street, though Abby couldn't see anything through her blindfold.

"Numbuh 3...where are we goin'?"

"You'll see!" she exclaimed excitedly. After a while she lifted the blind-fold, showing an abandoned building. "Ta-da!"

"Ta-what?"

Kuki grabbed her hands and swung her around. "So I was thinking since you're Soopreme Leader now and Numbuh 2 has his new project and Numbuh 4 being a total butt about everything, I wanted a project of my own! And...well...here it is!"

"That's great, Kuki. But what is it?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Kuki squealed. "Don't you remember My First Rainbow Monkey? And that evil Nurse Clayborne tried to use him in her cereal and you saved him?"

"Yes."

"Well, even though she was a horrible mean lady who should be punished for that cruel thing, I thought...the retirement home for stuffies wasn't a bad idea. But! Retirement homes are so...ugh, you know? I mean sign my death certificate now, why don'tcha? So!" She rubbed her sleeved hands together. "I've devised a plan! Introducing – San-baan! The all-inclusive stuffed animal spa and treatment center!"

Abby glared at the building. "A Spa...for stuffed animals."

"Once they get old, their owners can take them here. We can re-stitch them, give them new coats, fresh buttons, let them relax and enjoy themselves. I even have a Rainbow Monkey special offer that offers a strict diet of birthday cake and sharing!" Kuki beamed. "And when they're all freshened up, we can give them to kids who don't have any toys to play with. Like orphanages or...poor families."

"That's...actually...a great idea."

"Isn't it?!"

"You sure you can get all this done by your birthday?"

"Well, Numbuh 4 has taken over recruitment and we don't exactly have that many missions these days. So we have lots of time."

"Numbuh 4...is on recruitment." She couldn't believe it.

"I love teamwork, but it's really fun to do something for myself, you know? I've never had my own project! And I think this could change a lot of stuffie's lives."

"Lotta kid's lives too, Kuki. Don't sell yourself short." Abby smiled. "So are your Rainbow Monkeys gonna be the first customers?"

"Oh golly no!" Kuki gasped. "I will never ever ever get rid of my Rainbow Monkeys!"

"Didn't think so."

"Ever."

---

"So, what do you say?" Abby had never seen Hoagie so shaky in her life.

"S-Say?" Abby trembled. She was apparently shaking just as much. "I can't approve this!"

He pouted. "Why not?"

"Why no— You look at these plans you tell me why not."

He huffed. "So it's a little dangerous..."

"A little dangerous?"

"C'mon, Numbuh 5! The Arctic Sector won't approve the project, so I need you to override it. Please!" He folded his fingers together. "When do I ever ask you for anything?"

"You are supposed'ta be trainin' new recruits. I put you in charge of the team, so you could lead them, not endanger yourself with this...this...I don't even know what this is."

"My mom calls it a phase," Hoagie teased. "I am not a leader like you and Numbuh 1! I am a scientist! Let me do science!"

"Not this science."

"Ugh! Come on!"

"No. Absolutely not."

"Please!"

"Numbuh 2!" Abby stood up. "What you are askin' to do is insane!"

Hoagie's lips twisted. "So we just continue to do nothing. That's real Kids Next Door spirit..."

Abby sighed, sitting back down. She knew he was right but... "Why the Delightful Children?" she asked.

"Because no one is even trying to help them."

"For good reason."

"We've been sitting on the truth for like...basically forever now and everyone is too scared to do anything! But if we don't do something, Father is just gonna keep torturing those kids!" He went toward her more confidently. "I can do it, Numbuh 5. I have the skills and we aren't getting any missions lately because of recruitment so I have the time..."

"You have the stupidity. You do realize that you can't magic them back? In order to study delightfulization you need—"

"A delightfulization chamber. I know."

"No."

"Numbuh 5—"

"I think you need to rest yo' head. You probably scramblified your brain on that fall."

"Now you really sound like my mom..."

"What if somethin' goes wrong? What if there's an accident? If this goes sideways you could be lost. Forever." Her stomach turned. "You could belong to him."

He hesitated. "I know."

"So what gives! Why would you do that? Why would you risk everything for the Delightful Children of all people!"

"Sector Z."

Abby shook her head. "Numbuh 2...this is crazy."

"Because they're kids, and they need help and that's what we do," he said bluntly. "That's what you're always saying."

"Unless it's chocolate pudding day..." Abby reminded him. "Then they're on their own."

"Numbuh 1 said it was a great idea."

"That's just a flat-out lie. You ain't even tryin' no more."

"Ugh! You don't get it! Your family is perfect!" he shouted.

"Perfect? Have you met my sister?"

"That man hated his brother so much that he stole his friends, brainwashed them and has been torturing them for decades! Could you imagine what it would be like to be in that house? To live with that man? And they can't even fight back!" He began to pace. "I-Imagine if Cree did that to you. Or if Tommy did that to me. Or Mushi! Actually, Mushi definitely would do that. She's the devil. But, come on! We are better than this!"

"Okay, we get someone to build it. That don't have to be you."

"I want it to be me."

"Well, I don't!"

"It's my proposal!"

"It's our last year together!" She shouted. "How the heck am I gonna cope if..." She had to swallow her words. "Nobody cares what I think. I ask them not to do things, they do'm anyway. I feel stupid for even tryin'. You're just like Nigel. Both of you...ALL of you..."

"Suppose," Hoagie said gently. "Suppose there were kids in the world, who needed help. And they were in so much trouble they were embarrassed to even ask for it. Do you think the KND helps those kids? How could they, if they can't even scream loud enough to be heard? And wouldn't it be horrible if...if all of those kids never got saved?" He wrung his hands. "Maybe...we're playing it safe."

"Safe? We risk our freedom every day—"

"I didn't mean that."

"Then what?"

"I mean that...It's complicated. The more battles we win, the more it feels like we're losing the war." His voice cracked again. "Maybe cause half the war isn't out there, where we're sending our agents. Maybe the other half is hidden in houses. And maybe that's the half we're losing."

Abby thought about this. "Why you?"

He shrugged. "Because I can. And I want to. And no one else is."

"Nuh-huh. I know you. What's goin' on?"

"Okay, fine." He rested his hands on her desk, which was piled up high with paperwork. "I..." he looked at her for a long time as she waited. She couldn't see that he was looking directly at her through his goggles, but she could feel his gaze. "I wanna be a hero."

"This just in..." Abby joked, not flabbergasted by this information.

"Someone beat my chili-dog eating record today," he said, trying to keep a light-hearted tone. "We're older now. Someone is always gonna be a better pilot. A better scientist. A better Agent, you know? We can't help that. We're just shoulders for other people to stand on. I wanted to do something important. Isn't that why you became the Soopreme Leader? To make the most of the time we have left?"

Abby swallowed. "Yeah."

"I spent a long time pretending to be a hero and I don't think I did a good job. I have my Dad's name, but I haven't been living up to it, have I?"

"Numbuh 2...you're doin' great."

"I wanna save those kids. I can save those kids. I wanna be a hero. A real hero. Being a hero means being on the front-lines. For real. Not pretending. Not playing it safe. Not being afraid. Being willing to do what no one else is willing to do, so the right thing can be done." He shrugged. "I learned that from you. But I won't do anything without your approval." He picked up the proposal papers and handed them to her.

She grabbed them, tugging them so tightly that part of the corner ripped off. "Fine."

"YES!" He exclaimed, jumping up from his toes. "Thank you thank you thank you! You're the best! I mean that, Numbuh 5! The best ever! You won't regret this!"

"I already do," she mumbled.

However, she was shocked to feel a pressure on her right cheek as the smell of soap and rocket fuel was dancing around her senses. It was tender, not slobbery, but not light either. And as the pressure released, blood rushed to her cheeks as her heart skipped a beat. She couldn't remember if it had ever happened before.

"Numbuh 5? You okay?"

Apparently, Abby's shock was all over her face. She looked down. "Uh...sorry I...ripped...the..."

He peered over her. "Wow." He said. "That's tear-ible."

Abby blinked. Before anything happened, he sprinted toward the door. She crumpled his proposal and threw it at him like a bomb she desperately wanted to explode.

"Thanks-a-lot-I'll-send-you-another-one-see-ya-later-byeeeee!"

The spot on her cheek still tingled. She rested her hand over it. The flush was now all in every crevice of her face, behind her ears, in her nose. And it didn't stop tingling for the rest of the day.

All she could smell was soap and rocket fuel.

---

"Paper work," Abby groaned, her desk piled high as she stared at her screen. "That's all I remember about this period of my life. My team is off havin' adventures. You're in space. And I'm doin' paper work. Numbuh 86 is supposed to do all this, but she don't. Why do we have so many papers? What about this organization needs approval for everything!"

Nigel laughed at her from the other side of the screen.

"Oh ha-ha you wouldn't be laughin' if this was your job, Mister!"

"If you hate it so much, why not quit? Go back to Sector V."

"I wanna but..."

"But..."

"Apparently Numbuh 5's really good at this."

"Shocking!" he said sarcastically. "Numbuh 5 is a good leader! I would have never guessed!"

Numbuh 86 soon came back, shoveling in another pile. Then another. And another. Soon Abby was drowning in paperwork.

"Nope! I'm done! Get me outta here! You can delete this part I don't care..."

---

"You never talk about it."

Maybe she spoke too soon.

"Never talk about what?"

"Numbuh 1."

"What's there to talk about?"

"Numbuh 3's still cryin', Numbuh 4's angry, but you ain't said nothin' since he left. And it has been months."

"I talk to him."

"But not about him. Don't you miss him?"

"Sure."

"You don't act like it."

"I miss him."

"You never talk about nothin'. All you do is make jokes."

"There's nothing to talk about."

"If you're sad or angry or...just...feel any sort of way about it. Don't you wanna talk about that? Ain't that what friends are for?"

"I don't."

"Why."

"I don't feel any sort of way about it."

"..."

"It's not like he's dead."

"So you don't care at all that Numbuh 1 is gone? Or that I'm gone? Or that soon all of this will be gone!"

"People leave, Numbuh 5. It's what they do. We can't stop it, so why waste your feelings on it? Come on, you know that. Cree left you, then Maurice, now Numbuh 1, and soon you'll leave us. It's just life. It's cruel and it sucks and it's never-ending and it's a waste of time to feel about it because it doesn't change anything and it's better than walking around being hurt all the time."

"...you're a jerk."

The door slammed.

---

Abby sighed, leaning against a different door. "Are you gonna be mad at me forever?"

"Yes!"

"Come on, Man. What was I supposedt'a do?"

"Say no."

"To Numbuh 362."

"Yes!"

She exhaled. "I'm sorry."

Huff. "No you're not."

"Wally would you just...come out? Everyone's worried."

"Sorry I had to drag you away from your important business."

"You can't get what you want by poutin'. I thought that was Numbuh 3's thing."

"You were just as upset at Numbuh 1 leaving as I was and then you went off and did the same cruddy thing!" he snapped. "And now 'oooh hooray' you get to talk to Numbuh 1 all the time but what about us? What about our family? What if this happens again! Will you still go back?!"

"Numbuh 4, it was an accident."

"Sure it was a cruddy accident..." he grumbled. "And then there'll be another cruddy accident. And do you think Numbuh 1 is gonna care? No! He's got his fancy space friends and he don't need us no more."

"I thought you were over this—"

"Numbuh 2 is my best friend! And he's actin' like nothing's wrong, like it didn't even cruddy happen! I talk to Numbuh 3 and she just gets all quiet, like she knows somethin' but she won't say what!" Wally croaked. The door flew open revealing the boy's puffed-up cheeks. "I don't care if Numbuh 1 is saving the world! I don't care about the Kids Next Door! He should have been here!"

"We agreed not to tell him."

"This is so stoopid!"

"I am tryin' to keep this team together! Numbuh 1 is a part of that team! I can't make him worry about stuff he can't control!"

"...Would you tell him if he died?" he grumbled.

"Numbuh 4!"

"Would you tell Numbuh 1 then? Would you lie about it? To protect his pwecious little brain? Why are you acting like this isn't a cruddy crisis mega important terrible thing, Abby!"

"Because—"

"Because you care about Numbuh 1 more than you care about us! You always have! You always will! And now that he's gone you're stuck with us and you can't stand it, can you? You ran away to the Moon Base, so you could get away from us. Maybe you should have gone to space with Numbuh 362 instead'a pretendin' like you give a crud about what happens to Earth!"

"Numbuh 4 I offered to come back," she finally said. "I asked Numbuh 2 if he wanted me to come back, but he said no! Or else I would have. You know that. In a heartbeat I—"

"Left."

"Wally."

"You left. You left. You left. You left. You left. You. Left!" he screamed. "You're just like Numbuh 1! You're perfect for each other! Just go off and get married and leave us alone!"

"Look. I am sorry about Numbuh 1. I cannot change the past. I am sorry that I took that job. I just wanted to do something important. Numbuh 1 just wants to do something important...it doesn't mean we don't care about you."

"This is important."

"Of course it is..."

"Why? Why does Numbuh 1 get a pass? Why does he get to abandon us to grow old while he lives in paradise with his cruddy girlfriend!"

"Cause they chose him! Not us. And there ain't nothin' bein' angry can do about it," she heaved. "I can't undo it. I can't undo the last few weeks neither. I ain't magic. I didn't want any of this. And if Numbuh 2 says he doesn't want to be leader no more then I will come back. I promise."

"He ain't gonna do that! Not after all this crud! All he wants in the world is to make you happy. To prove himself to you. Cause Numbuh 1 broke your heart. And you act like you're fine with it but you ain't fine with crud. And since I'm the only one who seems to actually say what I'm feeling, I'm saying what I'm feeling now. If you think Numbuh 2 is still doing this leader thing for any other reason, you are stoopider than I am."

Abby crossed her arms, turning into herself defensively. "My heart is not broken."

Wally paused for a long time. "He ain't alright. Something is wrong. But he won't talk. He just laughs off everything. And you just put the weight'a the world on his shoulders so with all due respect, Sir..." he snarled. "I hope you know what you're cruddy doing."

The door slammed.

---

"Why can't you just lighten up?"

"I'm light! I'm light as a cruddy feather."

Abby couldn't stop them now. They were far too into it. Nose-to-nose. It seemed like everyone was fighting these days.

"You are not! You are being a meanie-mean-meanie-pants!"

"Oh, am I? I didn't lose the cruddy remote!"

"Well, I didn't lose it!"

"You so lost it."

"I didn't!" She turned to Abby. "Numbuh 5!"

"Nuh-uh. Not my business," Abby said, ducking beneath her magazine.

"I wanted to watch the Rainbow Monkey Care-Share-Lovey-Romance-Hour-Special and now I can't because Numbuh 4 won't change the channel!"

"I'm not watching your cruddy tv show..."

"You never wanna do what I wanna do!"

"You never wanna do what I wanna do!" He griped back. "I always gotta sit through your stupid lovey-dovey stuff and you never sit through my actual cool stuff. That ain't fair, Numbuh 3. You're not being a very good girlfriend."

"Excuse me?!" Kuki gasped. "I am the best girlfriend! You didn't even get me a Christmas present! I know you just gave me your leftovers! And french-fries? Not a good gift!"

"Well a good girlfriend wouldn't complain every time she doesn't get whatever she wants," he grumbled. "And not whine about it to Numbuh 5."

"Ugh!" She scoffed, turning her back. "Numbuh 1 would've watched it with me..."

Wally got very still. "Oh," his voice growled. "Would he?"

"Yes, he would!" Kuki clearly didn't realize what she was saying.

"Then how about...you be his girlfriend."

"I can't be his girlfriend, Stoopid!" She turned back to him. "He's with Numbuh Vine!"

"Oh, no." Abby lowered her magazine.

"Don't use Numbuh 1 like that!" he was screaming. "That's not fair! He doesn't care about your cruddy rainbow monkeys!"

"Yes he does. Numbuh 1 loves Rainbow Monkeys. And kindness. And sharing. And you are just a stinky butt-face who doesn't know how to be happy!"

"Yeah, Numbuh 1's so kind. He's simply the best!" he shouted sarcastically.

"He's way nicer than you and if he was here—"

"He's not here! So I don't care!"

"He's here in our hearts!"

"Not in mine!"

"How could you say those things?!"

"I don't care about your stoopid, girly, tacky, friendship that doesn't exist! You think it's real, Kuki? You think that's real? Love and friendship and kumbaya well it's not! You are lying to yourself cause that ain't how it works, girlie! You're naive and gullible and you believe everything you see on that cruddy box!"

"Well. At least I'm not mean! You are a cold, heartless person who can't love anyone but yourself!"

"Hey!" A voice rang through the treehouse. It was so loud, it shook the branches.

Wally and Kuki froze.

"N-Numbuh 2..." Kuki tried. "Y-you're back!"

"Shut it," the goggled boy growled. "Both of you. Shut up. I have had it. With the screaming and the yelling and the complaining and the kvetching..."

"Ka-vet-what?"

"You two are a team!" He shouted. "You're a couple. You're friends. You are family. Act like it."

Abby stood. "Numbuh 2. Don't...your head—"

"I'm fine!" He screamed. "Is it too much? Just too much to ask for you to get along? I am so sick of people being cruel to people over nothing!"

Kuki scuffed the floor. "It's not nothing."

"It's nothing!" his voice was hoarse. "It's all nothing! It doesn't matter! None of it matters! So just be nice! Act like you like each other! Or get out of Numbuh 1's treehouse!"

And with that, he stormed off.

A door slammed.

---

It was strange, looking back, at how many memories she had of small things. Not missions or grand adventures, the way she had anticipated. It was the personal moments that were brought to the front. She knew big things happened, Adults did their thing and the KND responded as they always did, but Abby's brain wanted to remember small things. Small things that she realized were the biggest things of all.

She sprinted down the street, faster and faster. Crud! She was late. This wasn't good. Abby turned the corner up the hill. Around through the grass. Where was it? They said it was around here. Finally, she stopped, a figure stood alone on a small hill. Abby stopped. Maybe she should just go back to the...she clenched her fists. Marching up the hill, she approached the figure, whose black suit stood out against the grass. It was the end of February and the sun had decided, just for today, to peak its head out of the clouds.

She cleared her throat. "I am so sorry," she said, brushing her hair back. She had fixed it up in a bun, which she never did, and was not used to it. Frizzy strands of hair were going everywhere. She looked like a mess. "I got caught up in a meeting and I told'm I had a thing...I didn't say what thing, I just said it was a thing, cause I didn't know if you'd want'm to know about..." She took a step back. Oh, god what was she saying? "Anyway I got here fast as I could. I am really, really, really sorry."

The figure looked at her through bright yellow goggles. She couldn't see his expression.

Finally, a tiny voice came out. "You came."

It was so surprised and frail, Abby had a hard time believing it came from Numbuh 2. She smiled. "Y-Yeah."

Course I came.

Hoagie crossed his arms and smirked. "I knew you would," he said cockily. "Numbuh 4 didn't believe me. He was willing to bet me twenty bucks you wouldn't come, but I said nope Numbuh 5 is definitely coming. So, now he owes me twenty bucks."

Abby looked around. "Where is everybody?"

"Oh, they went to the reception. I was gonna head over there." Hoagie brushed his bangs back and forth, clearly accustomed to wearing hats and not having one on at that moment. "I just...I dunno. I wanted to stay for a little bit." He smiled at her. "But you should go, Numbuh 5. They're gonna have cakes and cookies and there's a slideshow which'll be cool. My mom's even gonna let us have soda but don't tell anyone."

Abby rocked back on her heels. "I can stay till you're done. Unless you wanna be alone."

Hoagie thought for a second. "Uh...no, I don't mind. You can stay if you want."

"I'm really sorry, Numbuh 2."

But he continued to smile. "That's okay. You don't need to be sorry."

Abby didn't really know how to act in this situation. "How'd it all go, anyway?"

"Oh, it was nuts. There was this trumpet guy who played and a big military procession, and they even shot off bottle rockets cause y'know he loved bottle rockets. Some guy recited a poem I think? Which was weird but kinda neat. I think he would'a liked it."

Abby stared at her feet.

"Numbuh 5?"

"Hm?" she looked up.

His rosy grin brightened. "Since you're here, you wanna meet my dad?"

Abby was hesitant, but he held out his hand to her in reassurance.

"C'mon."

She took his hand, which completely engulfed hers as he led her to the hole where his father lay, a casket draped in the American flag, piles of dirt splattered over it. He leaned over it.

"Hey, Dad. This is Numbuh 5. She's the Soopreme leader of the Kids Next Door. Pretty cool, huh? You're real lucky to have her here but I know you know that. You left before you got to meet each other so I thought I'd introduce you now." He put his hand on Abby's shoulder, bringing his arm around her and pulling her in closer. "Numbuh 5, this is my dad." He let go, leaning over the hole. "Be extra nice to her, okay? I'm probably gonna marry her sister, so she's gonna be part of the family one day."

Abby rolled her eyes. "Oh please. You know that's never gonna—" But as she looked, she noticed Hoagie's smile vanish. She didn't know if she should say something.

"It's weird seeing your name on a grave," he finally spoke. "Even if it's not really yours."

His words were so unexpected, Abby felt her jaw drop.

"Mom's gonna get a plot next to Dad's. Grandma already has her gravestone made sitting next to Grandpa's. I wonder...how that makes them feel?" Suddenly, he realized he was speaking out loud. "Not that it matters for us. By the time we get old, we'll have already implanted our minds into robot bodies." He smiled widely. "You n' Me? We're gonna live forever." He folded his hands in front of him. "Dad's gonna be so jealous."

They stood there, not saying anything for a while. He didn't cry, which surprised Abby. He just stared into the hole.

"You can throw some dirt over it if you want."

Abby didn't say anything. She reached over to his hand, brushing her fingers against his before pushing in her palm. Her fingers locked gently in as she felt the clasp tighten. His hand twitched at first, then squeezed tightly as though he were holding on for dear life. Finally, it released, and they stood there holding hands, staring into the hole.

"You never did that," he said after a while.

"I know," Abby replied. "But I should've."

A chill came over them. Abby could feel a nip in her nose. The sky had clouded over, tiny white flakes descending as gentle as flower petals in spring. She gazed up, her lips folded.

"That's odd," she said quietly. "I don't remember it snowing that day." She took a step to the side, moving to let go of Hoagie's hand, but as soon as she was about to lose contact, it instinctively grabbed hers back, squeezing it. The palm was shaking. "What is it?"

But as she looked at him the gust of wind from the snow eroded the scene from her memory. The sky darkened, afternoon. The snow had piled up to her ankles now. She shivered.

Ohio weather was the worst.

She searched the landscape, pushing through the blistering winds, her body wrapped in a thick winter coat and her head protected by a wool cap. She could see the outline of a building before her. She huffed, out of breath as though she had been running. In the snow, she could barely see where she was going. The outline soon became a shadow, a shadow with lights in the windows and a sign in the concrete parking lot.

Oh, she thought.

She took a step back.

She was right. It didn't snow that day...it snowed that day.

Her feet continued to stumble backwards.

"Oh no. I ain't goin' in there," she whispered into the wind. She tried to turn and run. "Not again! You can't make me—"

But the building just got closer and she knew she couldn't evade it. No, she was running towards it. Full-speed now. Running. The ice, the bluster, the chill in her tennis shoes she hadn't bothered to change. Nothing was going to stop her. She ran through the glass doors, which opened as soon as they sensed her. Panting, she didn't stop. The blurry outline of orange and green managed to seek into her vision. Everything else was brown and muddy. The sweat crystalized on her frozen face was tingling now in the warmth.

---

"Ha!" she heard Wally. "Numbuh 5's here! Now you're in big trouble!"

"Finally!" Kuki called.

Abby didn't stop to look at them but kept running toward the large thick tan doors with no windows. However, she was halted in her tracks by two arms scooping her up and holding her by the waist.

"Oh, no you don't."

Abby kicked. "Lemmie go!"

"Get security..."

"Hey!" Wally ran up, kicking the woman holding Abby in the shin. "Leggo'a her!"

She kicked him off, shouting. "Will somebody get these children out of here!"

Abby squirmed trying to reach for her weapon, which had dropped to the floor. She kicked the woman in the face, but the adult managed to hold her arms back. Abby couldn't even tell what she was screaming anymore, everything was a total blur. She just knew that Wally and Kuki had now joined in on the fight, as had some other adults trying to 'keep the peace'.

"Dr. Lincoln," Abby remembered hearing someone say over the phone. "Yes. We need you to come to building C, please. You daughter and her friends are here...again."

The struggle continued until Dr. Lincoln made his way through to the building. Luckily, he was not in the middle of anything major at that moment. He gently took his daughter, who continued to squirm. Abby couldn't remember much except her screaming and the image of his scrubs on her face.

"Abigail...Baby girl! Shhh."

"Daddy! Daddy! They won't let me get thorough! I gotta get through!"

"Now, why do you need to—"

"I gotta get through! The bad guys are gonna get him!"

The receptionist that had first grabbed Abby soured her voice. "Does your daughter think this is a game, Dr. Lincoln? This is a professional institut—"

"You're one of them, aren't you! You're gonna scramblify his brain! You evil witch! Give him back!" She tried to kick the woman but was pulled back from her by her Father. "Give him back!"

"Abigail! We do not talk to people like that! With the screaming and the name calling..."

"But Dr. Lincoln! Numbuh 5 is right! This is super mega serious!" Kuki said, rushing to Abby's aid.

"Last time you said that, there was a car that hit a skunk, Darlin'."

Kuki gasped in horror. "Bradly is my baby!"

Mr. Lincoln laughed. "Is that what this is about, Baby? Did you find another skunk?"

But Abby couldn' t breathe enough to speak anymore. She heaved and huffed as the tears wouldn't stop running down her face.

"Babycakes..." he held her head.

"We went to the front place and they said to come here, but now they won't let us through!" Wally shouted. "And they got fancy locked doors now, so we can' t bust in."

"And then they said peeyeww. It was very rude!" Kuki said. "And then they said: I see you pee. They're watching us pee!"

"It was a threat!" Wally shouted. "They got cameras in the toilet!"

"They told you to come here? Why would they..." He stopped. "I see you pee-PU. PICU." Then, he stood. "Excuse me. Do you have the patient registry? Thank you."

Dr. Lincoln did not speak for a while as he looked it over.

"Oh, no."

---

Wally and Kuki fell asleep in the waiting room, still not allowed into the main area. After dark, Abby was finally able to sneak in, nestling herself in the long hallway. She had managed to sneak a peek at what room he would be in and had plopped herself right in front of it, weapon in hand. Earlier, she had placed a detector on the window, though the curtains were drawn, and she could not see much of anything. Now, she could examine ever "nurse" that came in and out of the room, ready to attack at a moment's notice. She couldn't remember what the weapon was, only that it was long and big and if anyone opened that door, they would be actual dust.

Then, like ghosts, she heard echoing voices down the other end of the hall.

"You can't be serious!"

"Accidents like this happen. They're not uncommon. Tragic, yes. But very typical."

Abby felt her nose wrinkle as rage built up inside of her. One voice belonged to her father, the other to her sister. Cree. What did she want? If she was here to...Oh. Abby knew if Cree even tried to open that door she would blast the hair right off her head.

"You can't call this an accident. There's no way."

"Baby, this is really none'a our business."

"You don't know that kid like I do. He's got...jet packs and heel rockets and like a million little gadgets on him like all the time!"

"Cree. He's a child."

"He didn't fall. You know he didn't fall! You said so yourself, the impact pattern doesn't match it at all! Or whatever I don't know your medical words."

"He must have hit a tree."

"Hit a tree."

"Or the gutter."

"You're seriously this ignorant? You think a kid who builds airplanes fell off a roof. Today of all days."

"Snow. Ice." Dr. Lincoln spoke calmly and more seriously than Abby had ever heard him speak before. "You have been on about that boy for weeks now and it don't do you any good."

"He didn't fall."

"Are you suggesting he jumped? A twelve-year-old boy?"

Cree huffed. "You know what I think."

"Cree."

"That family is hiding something."

"Betty is a wonderful person. She has always treated you with respect and welcomed you into her house, gave you her hospitality and work, and you just sit there and accuse her of terrible things. I raised you better than that."

Abby listened, stunned. Had she...forgotten this conversation? She didn't remember it. Had she repressed it? Did decommissioning delete repressed memories? She didn't know.

"I'm not saying she did anything. I'm just saying that someone in that house is lying. It smells rotten. And you want to tell Abby there's nothing wrong. You wanna lie to her like you adults lie to everyone else?"

"Your sister is still a kid. Don't tell her things she can't understand that you, Darlin', have no proof of. You're not a detective. And it ain't your business gettin' involved with other family's stuff."

"You know, what? Fuck you, Daddy."

Footsteps.

"Cree! Don't you go spreadin' rumors!"

"Relax!" she shouted back.

She had made it to the door, hesitating slightly before trying to turn the handle. Her hair was tied up with a scrunchy. In her arms were white flowers. Carnations, Abby remembered, though she didn't remember what they meant. And as Cree went to open the door, Abby's gun pointed at her head. Cree knew she was there, she had walked in front of her on purpose. Just to make her angry. Well, today was not a good day to make Numbuh 5 angry.

"Don't even think about it," Abby growled.

Cree stopped, not raising her hands, but just looking at her. "Parley," she said.

"Huh?" Abby straightened her shot.

Cree walked across the hall. "It means truce."

She walked straight to her sister, not hesitating, not worried about being shot. Kneeling in front of the little girl, she set the flowers by her side.

"Just until this part is over," she whispered.

Without any more words, she wrapped her arms around her sister and held her. Not tightly, but firm enough to where Abby knew it was genuine. The weapon fell into her lap.

"In the real world," she whispered. "There's no justice, is there?"

Abby's voice raised pitch, as though she de-aged four full years. "C-Cree?" she trembled, unable to stop her voice from shaking. "What's goin' on?"

Her sister pulled away, dropping the flowers on her lap and taking the weapon away, setting it where the flowers once were.

"Make sure he gets them, okay?" she said, pinching her sister's nose. "And don't think I won't come kick your butt if you don't." Cree smiled. "They're safe, don't worry. We're on a parley. You can't attack each other on a parley. That's what it means. Get some sleep, Baby Sister. He'll be here in the morning. I promise."

And with that, she left. And not long after she left, Dr. Lincoln found his youngest daughter sitting on the ground, unsure of what all of this was supposed to mean.

"Well, well," he grinned. "Nobody listens to the old man, do they?"

"Daddy..." Abby still couldn't lower her voice. "How come everybody's actin' so weird?" She dropped the flowers and hugged her legs. "I don't like it. I don't want Numbuh 2 to be in this place. It ain't like where you work at all. It's cold and dark and he ain't gonna like it at all when he wakes up."

Her father sat beside her in the available space. "Well, baby girl. This is where people go when serious things happen to them. So they can get better."

She hugged herself. "It's scary."

"Abigail." His tone darkened. "I talked with Mrs. Gilligan today and there's somethin' important we need to discuss, okay? Are you okay to talk right now?"

Abby nodded.

"Baby...you know how your friend's daddy is in the military? He fights really important battles, so we don't have to? To keep us safe. Well, sometimes, people give their lives for what they think is important. And Hoagie's daddy...he gave his life to protect us."

"So...Numbuh 2's daddy ain't alive no more?"

Dr. Lincoln sighed. "That's right, Baby."

"Did somebody kill him?"

"He was flying a plane and the plane went down. But probably some enemies shot at it and made it go down." He stroked Abby's head, removing her hat so he could provide closer comfort. "So that means Hoagie is going to be very sad for a long time. And you are his friend, so you need to be nice to him. You need to be patient and kind and all the things your daddy taught you, alright?"

"So Numbuh 2 is awake now?" She sat up. "Can I see him?!"

"No, Baby. He's not awake right now," Dr. Lincoln said. "He might not be awake for...a long time. He hit his head pretty hard."

"Daddy."

"Yes, Baby?"

"Are you gonna die?"

He laughed. "Not right this minute."

"I don't want you to die. I want you to be my daddy forever."

He rubbed her head. "I would like that very much. But that's not what life is. The greatest of our adventures happen beyond life. The great unknown. With the space, and the stars, and angels and Jesus and all those things."

Abby looked over at the flowers. "Will Numbuh 2 be okay?"

His voice grew tense. "We don't know, Baby. We just don't know."

"But you can make him better."

"Right now, all we can do is leave it up to God."

She slumped over. "Well, God better hurry up."

"You can't choose everything, Abigail," he said. "But you can choose what you do. And you can choose how you live and how you see things. And you can spread love wherever you can." He stood, picking up the flowers. "Come on. Let's go spread some love to your little friend."

"I don't wanna." She said. "I don't wanna go in this time, Daddy. I don't think I can take it."

But he held his hand out to her gently, his eyes warm with fatherly affection. "Memories means all the memories, Baby Girl," he said. "Even the ones we don't wanna remember. Especially ones like these, too important to forget."

---

This scene was vivid in her mind, pristine like the day it happened. There were very few memories Abby re-lived during her decommissioning where she remembered every detail. However, she remembered that room. The beeping sounds of the heart monitor. The sterile floors and close curtains, which Abby opened wanting the patient to have light in the room all the time, so he wouldn't be scared. Not that Hoagie himself was ever afraid of the dark, but she just had a strange feeling it would be better they be opened. Her father put the flowers on a bedside table, a chair in the corner had a blanket, where Mrs. Gilligan had been sleeping but had returned home for her other son. She would be back in an hour's time, but what happened after this was a mist in Abby's mind. As the moon peaked through the window, she had no knowledge of how this scenario was going to play out, and it frightened her. She only knew that she had been here before and being here gave her a very uncomfortable feeling.

It was rare that Abby ever saw Hoagie Gilligan without his goggles on. She hardly recognized him, tangled up with wires and tubes, with a different kind of mask over his face than usual. It was a discomfort that seeped into the pit of her soul. And if she still had her memories of the future, it would have never truly left. She had accepted it now, this whole decommissioning thing. She was aware that it was happening and was not able to stop it. In actuality, all of this was just an instant that came and went. But because she did not know how this story ended, and perhaps never would know again, the feelings of the moment were just as real as they were when they first crossed her experience.

Abby leaned over the side of the bed. She thought about taking his hand or kissing his forehead, but she was too scared to do it. Instead, she stared at him.

"You don't get to die," Abby whispered at him. "Not ever."

Just then, the boy twitched.

"N-Numbuh 2?!" Abby almost fell over the bedside.

His mouth elongated, his tongue sticking out. Slowly, both his arms lifted straight up as he lifted himself up to a seated position.

"I live!" he moaned. The wires and tubes popped off of him.

Abby frowned. "Knock it off."

"Did I scare you?" He laughed. "I'm the undead uuhhhhhnnnn..." He drooled and made zombie noises. "Get it?"

"Every time Numbuh 5 has a moment, you gotta come in and ruin it."

"Come on. It was funny." Hoagie flashed her a toothy smile. "Lighten up a little!" He noticed the carnations. "Did you get me flowers? That's so corny, Numbuh 5! I thought you were the cool one."

She pinched her nose. "What I'd give for one day where you didn't make my life a bumillion times harder."

"Don't worry. After this, you won't think about me as much," he said as a matter of fact.

The door to the room opened. It was just the two of them now. A white glow came from the doorway.

"That must be for you."

But Abby stayed planted. "I don't wanna leave."

Hoagie was confused. "But you hate this memory."

"Doesn't mean I wanna lose it," she said.

---

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"I'm sorry Abby. I just can't stay here wondering what might have been..."

"You can't quit. We need you."

"Before, when we got close to thirteen, there was nowhere to run. But now there is.

Numbuh 1 found paradise. He found a way out."

"He's comin' back, Sir. I know he is."

"I can't wait."

"I can't do this, Numbuh 362. Numbuh 5 ain't cut out for it. She'll just fail everyone."

"And how many times are you going to say that before you realize it's total crud?"

"...I..."

"Maybe it is stupid. Maybe Nigel doesn't care about me at all. But...who cares! I'm going after what I want.

Don't let fear stop you from becoming who you were meant to be."

...

Meant to be.

...

"I'm not anything."

...

Who are you?

Past and future are an illusion.

One question

And yet you are unhappy.

One question

"So why? Why are you still unhappy?"

One question

"People like you shouldn't think that way!"

"People like me. As opposed to, what? People like you?"

Why you wanna fly, Blackbird?

Who are you?

You ain't never gonna fly.

...

Five words only

Who you are

We Are -

...

"What do you want, Abigail?"

...

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Document: Codename: Kids Next Door

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RESTRICTED Memory files

ABIGAIL LINCOLN

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"Uh...so..." Hoagie scratched his hat. "That's...that's it."

The four others gaped, their necks cranked up high into the sky as they gazed upward.

"You...you built it..." Abby couldn't even speak. "You built it...right there."

"Y-Yep." He flushed. "I-If you don't like it I can change it!"

"Holy Holiday, Batman. How did you build it so fast?!" Wally asked.

Hoagie shrugged. "I mean...it wasn't that hard. It wasn't like it had to fly or anything. I tried to give everyone their own room that they can decorate themself."

Nigel was in tears. "It's perfect. It's beautiful." And then, he screamed like a girl. "Oh, look at it, Numbuh 5! My very own treehouse!"

"Our!" She corrected him. She looked back at the others, sincerely. And for the first time in a long time, there was levity in her heart. "Our...very own tree house."

"I'm gonna pick out my room!" Kuki shouted as she ran up to the house.

"Wait! Me too!" Wally chased after her. "Numbuh 3! Wait up!"

Hoagie crossed his arms. "So, um, does this count?"

"Of course it counts!" Nigel said. "It sooper counts!"

"Numbuh 5's never seen anything like it," Abby admitted.

"Well," Hoagie grinned. "There's never really been a team like this before," he said. Which almost made her blush. "We all kind of just...crashed into each other's lives."

"So, you do have emotions."

"I told you!" Nigel got excited again. "Didn't I tell you? It's brilliant! It's perfect! It's exactly what we needed!"

"So you're gonna stay then, huh?" She nudged Hoagie. "Hall monitor."

"Maybe," he said. "We'll see if something better comes along." He looked up. "I better make sure those two don't get lost..." he said and left Abby and Nigel alone.

"You, okay?" Nigel asked as he saw Abby gazing at the treehouse.

"Yeah."

"I know this wasn't how you thought it would be," he said. "But...maybe this will be better."

"Team'a misfits?"

"You can't have a team of misfits without being one yourself," Nigel said. "That's what my Nan always said."

"It won't be Sector V," she said.

"No," he agreed. "But it will be ours."

---

The new Sector V collapsed behind the door to their treehouse, all falling on top of each other, panting and out of breath. Abby was snug next to Nigel, Wally and Kuki and fallen over each other, and Hoagie somehow had ended up upside down. Their leader pushed his way out from underneath, causing the precarious tower to collapse.

"Hahaha!" He brushed himself off. "Nice work, team!"

"Nice work?" Abby was dumbfounded. "It was a total disaster!"

"My butt is a pancake..." Kuki whined.

"Then flip it over," Hoagie sneered at her, his face still slammed into the wooden floorboards.

"Ugh! This is so stoopid!" Wally complained, standing up. "How come these delightful snobs won't just share their cruddy cake!"

"Gotta admit, Numbuh 1, that was pretty rough," Abby said.

"Nonsense!" Nigel adjusted his sunglasses. "We made it out, didn't we? And I even captured a prize!"

The kids scrambled over each other. "Lemmie see!"

"You got some of the cake?"

"Where is it?"

Nigel grinned. "Right here!" Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a small plastic bag with a red cherry inside. Around the cherry were drippings of blue icing. "See? That's way better than that Sector L, don't you think?"

"Yeah!" Kuki said. "L for LOSERS"

"The mission was to get the kids to share their cake, not lick the frosting off of it," Abby reminded him.

"Pfft. Those kids ain't sharin' nothin'! They're rich. Rich kids never share, they're always competin' with other rich kids as to how much they don't gotta share stuff," Wally explained.

"Maybe if I showed them the Rainbow Monkey Care and Share special edition VHS they'll learn to share more!" Kuki said.

"Or become even more evil..." Wally groaned.

"If they aren't going to share the cake then maybe..." Nigel thought. "We'll just have to steal it and share it ourselves. With all the kids in the neighborhood!"

Hoagie found his feet, flopping over with his legs out. "Isn't that kind of rude?"

"Rude? Rude?!" Nigel gasped. "They're the ones who are rude! Having a birthday party and not sharing their cake! It's downright meanie behavior!"

"Yeah, so is stealing a cake that isn't yours, Nigel," Hoagie said.

"Numbuh 1...I'm Numbuh 1!" he exclaimed. "We're on a mission so we have to use our code names, right Numbuh 5? Those are the rules!"

"Numbuh 5 don't think it matters..." Abby replied calmly. Her mind was already on other things.

"You guys!" he groaned. "You're not taking this seriously! We're not playing a game, we're in the Kids Next Door! It's a sooper important job! That's what we've been training for! To teach Adults a lesson! And those kids are evil! They're the evilest evil that ever eviled ever!"

"Is this cause of the hair thing—" Kuki suggested.

Nigel snarled and she backed away.

"I'm tired. And I have homework. Can we do it tomorrow?" Hoagie whined.

"No we cannot do it tomorrow. The Delightful Children only have five birthdays a year!" Nigel snapped. "Come on, guys. We're a team. We can do this! Don't we have a responsibility to the kids of the world to make sure they get their—"

"Just desserts?" Hoagie laughed.

"The Moon Base gave us this very important mission, and though we did not come out victorious today, our bond is an unshakable force that will turn the tide to victory! I make a solemn vow that I will get that cake! No matter how many years may pass, or how many failures we encounter, I promise you this moment that wherever there is cake at a birthday party, there will be children invited to that birthday party eating that cake! Now, who's with me?"

Wally leaned over to Kuki. "Who made this guy leader again?"

"I am!" Kuki waved her hand. "I wanna eat cake!"

"O-Oh...good..." Nigel's face was red now. Abby rolled her eyes. He was so obvious. "Right. Of course! Who else! We can go back out there right now!"

"Nig—Numbuh 1," Abby approached him. "This was their first mission. So maybe we should take a break?" She turned to her team. "How bout we go to the beach?"

Nigel's jaw dropped. "The beach!"

"I've never been to the beach," Hoagie said.

"Never ever?" Kuki gasped. "Numbuh 1. Change of plans. We gotta go to the beach right now!"

"But...we were..."

"Team-buildin' exercise," Abby explained. "It'll make us stronger."

"W-W-What better team building exercise could there be than going on an actual mission!" Nigel complained.

"It's called fun," she grabbed him by the arm. "And you could use some of it. Come on! We'll get the cake next time."

"N-no! Abbyyyy," He tried to sink himself into the ground she couldn't pull him, but she was too strong. "I don't wanna go to the beeeach!"

---

Abby stared at the boy and girl in front of her. The one blonde boy was exceedingly short and appeared to have quite the temper. The girl next to him was tall for her age, black hair, and never stopped smiling. Abby believed in diversity, but she wondered if these two kids even got along. After all, there was a reason they agreed to join Sector V of all Sectors. No one wanted to join after Cree left and Abby was worried that giving this Nigel Uno kid the title of leader simply because he really wanted it was a bad idea. Still, it was far better than being in charge herself.

The two came together, like a package deal. What she was most worried about, however, was how these two professionally trained operatives were going to say about Nigel's little...experiment.

"What do you think?" Nigel asked.

"What can they do?"

"Anything you train them to do, obviously."

Abby walked up to the boy, who was glaring at her. "I got skills now, girlie, I can fight you if you get too close!" he shouted.

"Numbuh 5 won't kick yo' butt if you never call her 'girlie' again."

The boy grumbled. "I didn't know there'd be girls on the team."

"Of course there are girls!" the other new recruit gasped. "Girls are the best! They're almost as great as..."

"If you say Rainbow Monkeys..."

"Rainbow Monkeys!"

He groaned. "I can't be in the Kids Next Door if there are girls here! They'll make everything lame!" He looked at Nigel. "Numbuh 1, can't you lead an all-boys team?"

"Numbuh 5's really tryin' hard not to take offense by that, Kid," Abby stared him down. "Numbuh 5 may be a girl, but she'll rough you up."

"Oooh!" The black-haired girl waved her hand. "I'm Kuki! You must be Abby!" She ran up and hugged Abby, which Abby did not enjoy much at all. "We're gonna be bestest best friends I know it! We can play rainbow monkeys!"

"Pass."

"And do each other's hair..."

"Do not touch my hair!" Abby snapped.

"S-Sorry," she backed off. "Jeez."

Nigel jumped up and down. "Isn't it great? Now we have a full team! One, two, three, four, five!"

Abby looked around. "Where is your hall monitor?"

Nigel frowned. "Quit calling him that."

"Why? He's a hall monitor. And he ain't even officially joined so I don't know why you think he's gonna stick around."

"I hate cruddy hall monitors," the blonde boy said.

"So," Abby went back to the two in front of her, wanting very much to forget about Nigel's previous...choices. "What makes you feel like you wanna be in sector V?"

"Numbuh 1 kinda..." The boy was blushing. "Saved my butt. So I owe him."

"And what about..."

"Oh my gosh!" Kuki said. "You won't even believe it! There were these girls and they were saying so many mean things about this Sector like..." she put on a deep-manly voice, which had nothing to do with mean girls at all. "No one would ever wanna be in that sector after what happened with Numbuh 11. And that's just mean. So I decided to join! Cause I don't like meanies. I mean who even cares about Numbuh 11 anyway?"

Abby's face twisted. "She's my sister."

Kuki gasped. "Ohhh. That's why no one wants to be here."

Abby stared. "Pity. Great." She turned around and grumbled. "A-Class team, Numbuh 1. Pity, guilt, and a pretty please."

"Abby! Wait!" Nigel chased after her. "What do I do?"

"Just train them or something!" Abby snapped.

"Abby! I know you don't see it yet, but I promise! It will be great!"

"Uh-huh. Sure."

"Numbuh 3 is great at diversions!"

"Mmm."

"Numbuh 4 can shoot really good!"

"That's great, Nigel."

"Abby!" Eventually, he gave up.

And then, she stopped. Like something was holding onto her feet. She turned back to look at the three of them. And soon, the fourth came stumbling out of a room covered in soot. They didn't like each other, in fact they were all so drastically different that none of them connected. And yet, as the memory faded, Abby couldn't help but feel that this was important. It was the beginning of something. And she had the strongest urge to return to that place and figure out what it was.

"Wait." She tried to pause the memory. "Go back."

Just as the urge got strong enough, the memory dissipated.

"Go back!"

---

Abby did not want to be there. She rearranged the contents of her desk multiple times before finally burring herself into pages of paperwork. There were still five minutes to go. She wasn't nervous. Why would she be nervous? She'd shot down candidates before. And that's what had to be done. Obviously. There was no way she could recruit a...

"A hall monitor!"

She reminisced about her conversation with Nigel that morning.

"Just listen! You said you needed team members! And everyone who has been selected for Sector V has transferred out because of Cree...and...you know..."

"So I'm desperate. That's what you mean?"

"No! I'm saying let's get some recruits that don't know about the Kids Next Door yet! And Hoagie..."

"Don't...say his name like he's a kid. He ain't no kid! He's a hall monitor! They work for the Adults, Nigel!"

"Oh, but he's brilliant, Abby. You need a 2x4 technology officer. You've hated all the ones who have agreed to work with you, so why not let me try to find one? I'm the leader and stuff! Hoagie can do all that stuff they can do and more!"

"I am not. Not ever. Not in a million jillion years EVER gonna let a hall monitor join the Kids Next Door."

"You've gotta at least give him an interview or somethin'!"

"No. Way."

"I'm the leader and I'm ordering you to do it."

"I should have never have done that..."

"Abby I won't ever ever talk to you again and I'll quit forever if you don't do this."

And thus, Abby had to give an interview to a child she had no interest in, just to stop Nigel from bugging her about it. And oh, he had been. For weeks he had been plugging this character and for weeks Abby had turned him down. Her sanity couldn't take much more of it. Just as the feelings of the past were tying her up in knots again, there was a faint knock at the door.

Here we go, she thought with negative anticipation.

"Come in," she called.

The door only cracked. "Um..." the voice was like a mouse. "I uh..."

"Come in," she repeated.

Now, Abby had seen this kid before. She knew of all the Hall Monitors of Gallagher Elementary. And she knew they all answered to this kid and to his partner, who walked around acting like they were detectives in a crime novel instead of cops. And Abby was trained to never, ever trust a cop. It wasn't that she thought cops couldn't make the transition into the KND, but with her reputation on the line there was no way she could recover if she hired him and something went wrong. That was just common sense.

But the kid didn't wear his hall monitor outfit. Probably a safe bet. He instead wore mostly normal clothes. Mostly. Over his head and face, he looked as though he were preparing to join the air-force, not the KND.

"You're Number Five?" He asked.

Abby raised her eyebrow intentionally so he could see it. "Yeah. You expectin' different?"

But the kid backed away, shaking his hands. "N-no I didn't mean anything like that I just...everyone talks about you like you're so scary but you're not scary at all...not that you couldn't be scary it's just when they said that I pictured someone really scary, you know? N-Not that you're not really scary...that came out wrong."

Oh great, Abby thought. A blabbermouth. This just kept getting better.

"Um...can I sit down? Or should I just..."

Abby stared at him until he finally took initiative and found his own seat, screeching it across the floor toward the desk, and apologizing all the way. She, meanwhile, could not stop staring at the giant yellow orbs over his eyes.

"What's with the uh..."

"Oh!" He smiled. "It's to protect my secret identity."

"Secret Identity." Jesus. Who was this kid?

"Yeah, you know." He made a showy gesture. "Spies. Undercover."

"We ain't those kinda spies," she said bluntly. "And anyway, you go to my school. I know who you are."

"O-Oh. Really?" He fumbled his fingers. "Uh...that's cool."

"You can take it off."

His body looked uncomfortable. "I'm good."

"I want you to take it off. Can't trust you if I can't see yo' face."

He cleared his throat. "I kinda...need them to see."

Abby didn't understand that at all. But she wasn't one to push.

"Well. Thank you for your interest—" Abby tried. She had to break it to him early. Just snap the lid on it. She wasn't sure what he'd do. The last thing she wanted was for him to cry. Making kids cry was the worst, even if they were working for the enemy.

"Number five," he interrupted her, holding his hand out as to do it politely. He was actually overly polite, which Abby was not expecting. Nothing about this kid was what she expected. "Sorry. I...gotta be honest," he said. "I have no interest in joining your club."

Abby stared at him as though a bird fell out of his mouth. The only thing she could think to say was "It ain't a club."

"I appreciate you making the time to see me, but let's be real, okay? You don't want me here, I don't want to be here. So let's just do this so Nigel will be happy and he'll leave us alone about it, okay?"

Abby blinked. "You don't think I want you here?"

"Duh."

"We accept all kinds of kids into the Kids Next Door. I give everyone the benefit'a the doubt."

That was a lie.

"You'd let a hall monitor join the Kids Next Door?"

"Of course."

Absolutely not.

"Look, I just want Nigel to leave me alone. So just...tell him I didn't make the cut or something. Cause I keep telling him I don't wanna join but he won't take no for an answer!"

It was then that Abby realized she was so focused on the kid's unique taste in headwear that she missed the tiny little machine that he dragged with him. It was a round thing, about the size of his head. He noticed her looking at it and pulled it up.

"Nigel said I needed to bring something to show off my skills," he said, setting the machine on her desk. "I got one at home, so you can keep that."

"What kinda weapon is that?" she asked.

"It's not a weapon," he said. He turned it on and the compartments opened, hissing and grinding until eventually out popped a tiny bowl filled with a single scoop of chocolate ice cream. "He said to make something kids would like."

"So you made an ice cream machine?" Abby looked at it skeptically. "You know you can just buy those at the store."

But the boy just smirked at her. She went to take a bite with the spoon that was also provided, but he stopped her. "Just wait."

Abby waited. And waited. And waited. And nothing happened. "What?"

"Notice anything?"

"Nope."

"Exactly."

"...huh?"

He went to the desk. "This ice cream doesn't melt," he announced. "You can leave it out for days, weeks, and even years. It never goes bad. And unlike those dot things that taste like freezer burn, this actually tastes fresh one hundred percent of the time!"

What was he, an infomercial?

"Just try it," he could tell she wasn't enthused.

Abby did. And it took her every ounce of her being to remain cool. The chocolate was creamy, the cream was smooth, it was everything you wanted in an ice cream that never lost its consistency. No soup at the bottom, no crystals of ice or chunky bits. She swallowed.

"Numbuh 5's gonna keep this..." she cleared her throat. "For inspection purposes."

The hall monitor went back to his seat. "Sure. Okay," he said knowingly. "Seems kind of basic for a test if you ask me."

"It's just the test for consideration," Abby explained. "To be a 2x4 tech officer you gotta be able to go through the whole thing."

He thought about this. "Alright. Give it to me."

"What?"

"The exam."

"Why?"

He grinned. "Cause it'll be fun." She was hesitant. "Come on, that way you can tell Nigel you did it and you didn't cut any corners, right?" His grin widened. "And when I pass, you can just lie so it doesn't look like you missed an opportunity."

Abby laughed. "Oh, you think you gonna pass? You ain't even been trained, smart boy."

"What do I need to do?"

Abby opened the drawer of her desk, throwing him one of the weapons. Then, she laid a tool box in front of him. "Take it apart, reassemble it, but change what it does."

"Easy."

It was a long, narrow gun. Abby of course knew what it was, but that was irrelevant. Without speaking, the boy grabbed the tool box and began disassembling the weapon. He worked with a level of efficiency that was almost impressive. Abby had to stop herself, reminding herself who he actually was.

"You know it's pointless, right?" he said as he worked.

"Shut up and do it," she said.

"I meant the Kids Next Door," he said.

Abby was too used to the doubt to be angry. She hadn't expected a lecture, but she was always ready for one. "Numbuh 5 don't listen to kids who sold their soul to the Adults."

He didn't stop working. He didn't even look up once. "See? That's your problem. You only think you can help kids in one way. That you guys hold some kind of trophy or something and honestly, it's really annoying."

Abby wasn't going to get angry. But...something inside her twitched.

The more he spoke, the faster his movements became. He was moving at a rate Abby had never seen. "Like you think you're so much better than everyone else, while the rest of us are just out here trying to survive. And I help kids do that, you know. Joe might be a wimp, sure, he falls for every bribe in the book, Adults and Kids. Not that I've never taken a bribe myself, only from kids who are facing something totally unreasonable. Which I don't have to tell you, is a real problem in this line of work."

Abby switched her focus from his words to his actions. What happened to the shy kid who stumbled in five minutes earlier? This kid was someone completely different than that. Quick, assured, articulate.

"But kids need to learn to follow the rules. We don't have any power, and starting pointless fights over lunch hours and homework assignments doesn't help things. Because soon kids get the idea that the world is something that it isn't. Like they have a say in things. And that's a nice pipe-dream, but it's not real. It's thankless, but someone's gotta do it. Cause if they don't...there's always something worse let's just put it that way."

He cocked the gun.

"Done."

"Prove it," Abby said.

He shrugged and went to the window.

"And you're wrong, you know," she said. "You hurt kids, just so they don't get hurt, but then they end up hurt anyway, just less? That makes zero sense. You're still a bully."

He held his weapon out toward the window, shooting it out into the air. The tiny dot sparkled out before exploding into a firework, shimmering in the sunlight. "It was a lazar before, right? My aim sucks, but you get the idea."

He shot again.

"You know I might like you if you was kind as you was smart," she said.

"Have you ever been spanked, Number Five?" He asked, retracting the gun.

"N-no," she admitted.

"It stays with you," he said. "I've never met a kid that's been spanked that didn't remember it. Only you don't always remember it in the usual way, you know. It's like that fear becomes a part of your DNA. Adults do it to punish, or at least that's what they say. Really, they get scared of losing control. And spanking, that's the easiest way to get it back. Soon Adults realize they can use it to get what they want, only this time they get more scared. They reach for their belts...rulers...books..." He paused. "Walking sticks."

He tossed the gun to Abby.

"And when your people act out, it's the average kids who are punished for it. And Adults are watching everywhere. They don't need to say anything anymore. Kids do as they're told not because they're obedient but because they're always being monitored. They're scared. I'd just rather them be scared of having their Saturday taken away and not a belt."

We walked back around to the desk but didn't sit.

"So, what's next?"

"You design a project. It can be whatever you want, but it's gotta be a show of your best work," Abby said. "Usually kids build weapons..."

"Basic."

"Or airplanes," she said, looking at his hat.

"Too easy," he chuckled. "I thought you said it was hard?"

"Alright, then, what would you build?"

"I have no idea," he said.

"It can be anything."

"How about this," he said, leaning on the desk. "You tell me what to build, and I'll build it." He grinned. "Anything you want."

Abby smirked. "How about a sense of morality?"

The boy laughed. "Oh-ho, that's cold."

"If bein' safe means not bein' free, then I don't wanna be safe," she said. "I'd rather fight for a world not controlled by fear than stick my head down and wait for it to subside."

He smirked. "Did you really say that?"

"I don't think any of us actually said any'a this," she admitted. "It's just how Abby remembers it."

"The brain is fascinating, isn't it?" He leaned on his cheek over the desk. "A complex working of tissues creating ideas and identities, where there's really no time, no beginning, no ending...just feelings."

"What makes you think I have any feelings about you?"

He shrugged. "We're here, aren't we? Which means you remember me. Which means somehow...I made an impression."

"Don't flatter yo'self," Abby said.

"Wouldn't dream of it." He left the desk, moving toward the door. "If that's all..."

"He doesn't care about you," she called after him. "Balooka. He's selfish and mean and don't care about no one but himself." That stopped him. "See, you say you don't wanna join the KND, but I don't think that's true. I think you don't like what you've become. I think Joe treats you like doo-doo and the one person in school who actually cares about you...is here. So you're here. Cause deep down you don't believe the lies you keep tellin' yo'self. You wanna believe there's hope."

He sighed, his face was a foot from the wooden door. "I can't join the Kids Next Door."

"You can."

That startled him.

"Numbuh 1 is the leader. He wants you. So if you want this, I can't stop you. And I guess I am a little...um...desperate for recruits so-"

"Number Five." His voice was stern. "I can't."

"Cause'a your oh-so important job."

He exhaled. "I'm not a good person," he said. "I have one friend. One. And if I quit...It's just better you stay in your lane and I stay in mine." He opened the door. "I gotta go."

The air turned cold, as a strange feeling overwhelmed her. Abby stood. "Stay."

Hoagie stopped. "But...this is...the part where I go."

"I know but..." She moved around the desk. "But maybe..." This was ridiculous. "Don't?"

"But I'm gonna be late for dinner."

"Join the Kids Next Door. Nigel wants you. I...want you."

"Abby, you're making up stuff that didn't happen again."

"Stay." She felt her throat tighten. "Stay and I'll be your friend. And you don't gotta go back to Joe, you can stay here. I want you to stay here."

"Oh, I get it," he smirked, swinging the door open seductively. "You hate to see me go, but you love to watch me leave..."

"Hey, wait!"

The door shut, as though no one had been in there at all. And in fact, there wasn't anyone. Just Abby alone staring at a door. Was someone going to come through? She didn't know.

She really hoped it wasn't that Hall Monitor Nigel kept talking about.

TRANSMISSION INTERRUPTED...

BY ORDER OF THE GALACTIC KIDS NEXT DOOR

YOU ARE HEREBY UNDER ARRE—

Now Loading...

RESUMING TRANSMISSION...

The pavement was hot, it burned through Abby's shoes. As she hiked up the hill toward school, the sweat sizzled as it hit the concrete. Her mind was empty. There was no point in thinking about things. All thoughts just fell onto the pavement. There was a scream, followed by a crowd of kids pushing past her. The hot sun was blocked by a dark shadow. Then...

"Help! Someone!" A boy sprinted in the middle of the street. "Someone help me! Please!"

"Nigel..."

What had he gotten himself into now?

Abby's feet started to move, as was her instinct. But they slowed to a halt. The boy's screams quieted as the monster machine picked him up and dragged him off. The laughter of those crazy obnoxious rich kids from down the street was bounding down the road. And Abby, usually the first to respond to these things, was now halted. Why? Why should she even try to save him? Kids grew up into adults, the cycle repeated and repeated. She was a terrible leader. She was a terrible KND agent. She'd demanded he be on her team and now she had half a mind to quit.

They were cycling through teammates faster than there were weeks to train new ones.

He'd find out sooner or later. He'd give up like the rest of them.

They always did.

Then, something strange happened. As the machine walked off, part of the girl split off, trying to run after it. The shadow turned, or perhaps the girl herself was the shadow. Separate, one girl said to the other.

"Come on! We can catch it!"

The other girl folded into herself and sighed. "What's the point?"

"He needs our help!"

But the other Abby threw her hat on the ground. "Why should I? I never got nothin' from helpin' nobody! I hate this stupid hat! I hate the Kids Next Door!"

"That ain't why you do it!" The first Abby said. She picked up the hat. "Fine! If you won't do it, I will!"

Abby slipped on her sister's hat. It was a little big for her, flopping to one side, but she didn't care. She raced to catch up to the machine. She could see the boy inside of it, pounding on a glass wall begging to be set free. She remembered turning her face on that boy. That was how it all began. What, she couldn't remember. But she knew it was too important to let go. So, she ran. She didn't have any bike or planes. She just had her two feet. And yet, against the blistering hot sun, she ran. Through the neighborhood and around the corner, she ran.

"You!" She would shout. "Come back here! Do you hear me? You can't have him!" Her shouts turned to screams. "You can't have him!"

But the faster she ran, the faster the machine moved away from her. She ran until she couldn't run anymore, her heart falling out of her chest, gasping for breath. No, she couldn't lose. It wasn't time. She had to get him back...somehow. She had to apologize for abandoning him.

Her knees fell to the ground, scraping on the asphalt street. Her head fell. Reaching her hand to her face, she could feel tears spilling out of her eyes. They flowed out like waterfalls, smoothly and without any other symptoms. Why was she crying? What had she lost? She couldn't remember. Not a name, nor a face, nor an object, or even a thought.

Though she got the feeling, a sinking feeling, that it was a someone.

A someone who would have changed everything.

A someone who would have set her free.

But there wasn't a someone to be found.

She was all alone.

---

Abby was small, so when she curled herself in a ball she was convinced no one would see her. The Treehouse was empty now. Everyone was gone. The only one left was Maurice, Numbuh 9, who Abby wanted to stay more than anything. He sat beside her on the steps for three hours that day, not saying anything.

"It's all my fault," Abby said.

"No, Abby. It's all of our fault."

"You're not really going away, are you?" she begged.

"I was going to ask her to come with me...to South America."

"Is that where the chicken pox are?"

Maurice laughed. "The chicken pox are everywhere, Abby. There's a scientist down there who's made a lot of progress in research and I'm gonna go see her."

"Don't go!" She whined. "Stay! Stay with me!" she said. "You can join Sector V again!"

"Abby..."

"I promise I'll do my best to take Cree's place! I'll do such a good job you won't even miss her! I won't screw up like I did before!"

"Oh, kid. They didn't leave because of you—"

"If you stay, I won't have to be the leader!"

"You're the one with experience," he said. "You'll be great."

She buried her head. "I wanna quit."

"You do?"

Abby nodded.

"Okay."

"Huh?!" She shot up. "You meanie! You're not even gonna tell me not to!"

"You're a big girl," he teased. "You can make your own choices."

"I just wanted to be like my big sister..." she mumbled. "Cree is the worst! I hate her! I hate her! I hate her!" She hugged herself closely. "I ain't never ever gonna forgive her!"

"Yeah...I get how you feel."

"So don't go to South America!" Abby stood. "We'll have a team you and me and Cree'll be so jealous!"

But Maurice's face went dark. "It wouldn't be Sector V without her though, would it?" he said.

He stood up.

He walked away.

And Abby couldn't help but feel like people were always walking away.

And that they always would.

Forever.

---

Dearest Abby,

I'm sure you're really upset with me. I understand. I'm sorry that it had to come to this. I wish I could explain. Maybe someday I can. I want you to know that no matter what happens I will always be your big sister. But I can't go through with this. I didn't want to embarrass you. I know that you are still so new to all of this. That's why I'm writing you this letter. Abby. If you care about yourself, you will do me this favor.

You will quit the Kids Next Door.

I know, I'm the one who convinced you to join. But trust me, get out now. Now while you're still new. If you love me, you'll do this. Please. Nothing good will come if you stay. I don't want us to be enemies. I don't want you to lose everything. I want you to understand the truth. When you're older, you will.

I love you, Baby Sister.

I'm sorry.

- Your Sister,

Cree

---

I wish I could remember how we met.

But it's been so long I can't quite put my finger on it.

Was it in the lunch hall at recruitment, or maybe at school?

I thought I knew.

You were just one of those people who shows up. And all of the sudden you're everywhere.

I thought my mind would be able to recall the memory, but even here at the end of it, I can't find the date and time. The place or mood.

If you remember, maybe you'll tell me the story one day, and we can have a good laugh about it.

I don't really know who you are. Only that you're still everywhere.

Soaked into my memories, your face hidden from me.

I know the events of our lives together, but I've jumbled the order of things.

And now those are disappearing too.

I don't know why my mind wants to take you away.

Could this be what they call...decommissioning?

Am I really that old?

I feel like I should be sad. But I don't feel anything.

Nothing at all.

Maybe that's worse.

I wish I knew your name.

Or something.

But a name would be nice.

But for now you must be a memory.

A melody of an old familiar song.

A harmony in a different key

Where I can't sing along

And each time I remember it'll change a little more.

Until you're just a story I've heard before.

Hmm. That's catchy.

...what was I saying?

Oh well.

If it's important, I'll remember.

---

Abigail Lincoln was snuggled into her first real big-girl bed and it was the best thing ever. She loved the fluffy white pillows and the soft comforter and sheets. She felt like royalty sleeping in her own room. Now, however, it was always difficult to get her to fall asleep. So Cree had to come in and read her stories until she passed out. It was always the same: one more, then one more, she hardly ever got sick of them.

"Tell me another story!"

"Abby, seriously. It' s like...ten already. You need to go to bed."

"One more!" She shouted. "One more!"

"Okay fine," Cree rolled her eyes playfully. "Scooch in."

"I wanna wear the hat!" Abby said, grabbing for Cree's red cap, that Abby always admired. "Lookit! I'm you!"

"You wish," Cree nudged her sister, who giggled. "Okay, what kind of story—"

"Adventure story!" she exclaimed. "With fighting and big bad guys and heroes and happily ever after!"

Cree smiled. "Yeah, maybe it is time." She cuddled in close. "Listen, Abby. This story is a secret. So we have to be very quiet when we tell it."

"What's it about?" she whispered.

"Just what you said. It's about heroes...and bad guys...and adventures. And kids! Just like you." She tickled her stomach. "It's about a place where kids could play and be free to do the things they want to do. To just be themselves. And in it there are...mountains of candy and...oceans of asparagus..."

"Ew!" Abby groaned. "Asparagus!"

"And there's a group of kids who would fight to keep that place peaceful. And some of them even lived on the moon."

"On the moon? Why were they on the moon?"

"So they could see everything!" Cree said. "And they rose up against the mean Adults who were hurting kids. Because some Adults wanted to hurt kids. We don't know why they did, but it wasn't very fair. So there was a huge rebellion and the kids fought back. And now whenever there are sad things that happen to kids, the Kids Next Door are there to help rescue them. Like heroes."

Abby's face was beaming. "Wow. I wanna be in the Next Door Kids!"

"Maybe one day, if you're really good and work super hard, you will be," she said.

"Cree! Are you a Next Door Kid!"

Cree nodded.

"No way!" Abby stood and jumped up and down her bed. "Can I join? Can I? Can I?"

"You're still a little young," Cree said. "Sit down."

"Do you see chocolate mountains? And fight bad guys? And go to space?"

"All those things."

"Wow!"

"But it's a responsibility, Abby."

"I wanna join!"

"I'm sure you will one day," Cree said wistfully.

Abby sat on her bed then, settling down from her excitement. Cree tucked her into her bed.

"Now, it's bedtime for real."

"Cree," Abby said. "Is it over?"

"Yeah, baby sister. It's over."

Abby rubbed her feet together. "That's when you told me'bout it?"

Cree nodded again.

"What's gonna happen to me?"

"Are you scared?"

Abby nodded.

Cree pulled the covers over her sister, taking her hat off of her head and setting it on her night stand. "Close your eyes."

Abby did.

"And count to five."

"I feel weird."

"One."

Abby sighed. "One."

"Two."

"To."

She felt lighter.

"Three."

"free."

"Four..."

"Fo."

"Five."

"Five."

Abby felt her sister lean in to kiss her goodnight.

"...Meet me at the Moon Base."

And after she rested, Abigail Lincoln opened her eyes to a whole new world.

END TRANSMISSION

---

RESUMING TRANSMISSION...

"Abigail? Abigail can you hear me?"

The light flashed in her eyes as she squinted under it. A shadow cast over her.

"Where am I?"

She struggled to open her eyes.

"Who are you?"

"Don't worry. You're safe now. Everything is going to be okay. You can trust me." The voice was a male's. Calm and reassuring.

"I'm here to save you."

---

END TRANSMISSION