My time travel story is finally posted! I have a huge and big thank you to Numbuh113 on the KND fan forum for doing the cover art, I think he did an amazing job! This is extremely long but so I did divide the chapter up. Not sure when I'll post the rest but I hope you enjoy it and please review!
Early Summer, 2008
T is technically a number. It's a variable. In physics and algebra, "t" usually denotes time. The numeric value of variables always changes. It's unpredictable. Maybe that's why Hoagie's kid brother decided to invent something which they didn't know what the effects would be. Nobody in Sector V thought that Tommy would create such an unpredictable machine.
Nothing out of the ordinary happened at Sector V's treehouse. Or at least, if you count creating giant robots or traveling to exciting missions. Today was a day when neither was happening, as there were no missions to go on.
"Are you sure, Numbuh 65.3?" Nigel asked the communications officer. On the screen in front of him, Herbie just shook his head with a firm no. Before he could even say another word, 65.3 turned off the camera without a second thought. Depressed, Nigel sulked off to the main area of the treehouse and slouched onto the couch.
Not too far away, Kuki was playing with her rainbow monkey tea set, and Abby was listening to music on her music player. Wally and Hoagie, nowhere to be seen.
Abby perked up, sliding off her headphones and looking at Nigel. "No new missions, I guess?" asked Abby sympathetically.
"I can't believe we don't have anything going on. Where are Numbuhs 2 and 4, by any chance? Maybe we could sneak a peek and see what Father is up to."
Abby just shook her head. "No chance of finding them. Apparently, The Tommy missed breakfast this morning and Hoagie wanted to make sure he was okay. Haven't heard from him since."
"Tommy's missing? Maybe we could go and find him! That's our mission for the day," said Nigel, perking up. Sure, it was Hoagie's kid brother, but honestly, he knew how to get himself into trouble.
"No way is Abby searching for Tommy. No offense, but just because he missed breakfast doesn't mean he's missing. If you want to help them, why not call Sector W? He's friends with 83 and 84 and he's probably with them."
With that, Nigel went back to the communications room and called up Sector W. Thankfully, it was Sonia that answered and not Harvey. Explaining what was going on, she knitted her eyebrows together, uncertain. She shook her head, not sure where he had gone to.
"I'm sorry Numbuh 1, but he's not with us. We haven't gone on any missions today. If you want, we can help you."
"Well, just keep a sharp eye out," said Nigel before signing off.
A little annoyed, he just decided to go through some old mission specs. Some of the early ones made him wince at what they had done. Mainly that one with the giant turnip was just embarrassing. Kuki's mission to Japan was great though, especially when they caught the Interesting Twins.
In the next room, Wally and Hoagie entered, grumbling about something.
"How was I supposed to know that Tommy had a babysitter?" said Hoagie to his friend.
"I don't know why you didn't ask about it," said Wally grumbling. "Although your mom makes some great pancakes, Hoagie."
With that, they each found a space on the couch and grabbed a video game controller. No missions meant more time for games. Woo! Together, they turned one on and played for a bit. Until the emergency red lights went off.
Knocking everyone out of what they were doing, the five went to the communications room. Nigel eagerly pressed buttons to get to 65.3, he surely was the one sending mission specs, right? However, the screen displayed nothing but static. No picture or anything. But they could hear voices on the other line.
"Are you sure you know what button you hit?" asked a girl's voice. It wasn't familiar to anybody in the room.
"Of course," said the voice of Tommy Gilligan, and everyone groaned upon hearing him. Despite missing breakfast, they had an inkling of an idea of where he was. "At least, I think I do. I haven't played with every button on this machine since finding it."
"Uh, just keep running, we gotta make a plan. Anyone have an idea?" asked another boy's voice.
With that, the members of Sector V all shared a confused look with each other. Until finally, Hoagie spoke up. "Tommy quit messing around this is important KND only business line. You can't just call us."
"Yeah, Tommy," agreed Nigel, reaching up to end the call.
They had expected Tommy to answer, but nothing. Instead, more voices came from the other end of the line.
"Left, turn left! Seriously, that would have taken you to Fifth Street," said a different boy's voice. Who exactly was Tommy with? There was a scream from the other end of the line, either one of pain or delight, but they weren't sure which.
"Tommy! Tommy is everything alright?" asked Nigel into the microphone. "What is your location?"
"We're on his tail," said another girl on the other end of the line. "Left left left!"
There was the sound of tires screeching on the street as they (presumably) made a left turn. Hoagie and Nigel shared a concerned look with each other.
"Tommy, where are you? I'm going to hang up and get you, okay?" said Hoagie, mildly angry at his brother. If this was some sorta trick...
Leaning in Hoagie pressed the end call button. Only thing was, the call didn't end, as they could still hear the voices on the other end. "Someone give me my spicer, I have a clear shot at him." That was the girl who was shouting left multiple times a few seconds ago.
"Tommy, what did you do?" asked Hoagie. "Tommy!"
From next to him Abby put a hand on his shoulder to calm him down. "Numbuh 2, calm down." She frowned, not understanding why. "It's obvious he can't hear us, and we can't turn it off to call anyone else."
Nigel put his fist in his hand and nodded. "Let's see if we can find Tommy. It sounds like he just might be downtown. You stay here and call us if you get an answer or can trace the signal, got it?"
Nodding, Hoagie stayed behind and tried to mess with the communicator. It wasn't broken or acting up. In fact, it was in perfect working order, he thought while messing with the controls. He was going to have to call the rest of his team here in a minute. Or maybe the scientists, they could possibly fix it.
With the rest of his team gone, Hoagie frowned at the call. It was pointless to call out to Tommy when he clearly couldn't hear him. Unless he was ignoring him, of course, but if he was in trouble, he'd definitely pick up.
Hoagie fiddled with a piece of tech that he had built himself. Pointing it at the screen, he let it read where the signal was coming from. It… it appeared to be coming from nowhere. Literally, his machine radio silent.
"Uh, Numbuh 2, we have a problem," said Wally into his hand-held communicator. "There's nothing going on downtown. No high-speed chase or any villains attacking, although we did take out the Toiletnator. Are you sure that we're just not imagining this?"
"Unpossible, I can hear them talking still! Listen!"
"Now!" called a different boy's voice. "And we got him…. Whoa, whoa, whoa!"
"Hoagie, we don't see or hear anything like that," said Kuki from her end of the communicator. "It sounds like he's in real trouble. What does your funny reader thing say?"
"It says nothing. It's silent," said Hoagie, frustrated, as he kicked his machine. The screen was still static. They could hear the screams. Nothing changed.
From the other end of the line, he could hear something get kicked. A few buttons must have been pressed, because he could suddenly see a picture. There was a real picture from the other end of the line!
"Guys, get here quick!" Hoagie yelled into his communicator as he studied the screen.
Tommy looked like he was on the top of a moving school bus. He was helping someone fix a piece of 2x4 technology filled with sauce. A girl with long reddish hair held the end of a fishing line, her loose hair billowing out behind her. She was struggling to keep the line as still as possible while they were moving.
"Numbuh 99, can you put on the brakes down there?" asked another girl from off screen.
"On it," replied a distant voice.
The bus was slowing down as Sector V came barreling into the room to watch the battle. A black-haired girl ran from off screen past Tommy and dove from the front of the boss. A little shocked, everyone stared at each other. What was going on? And where exactly was Tommy? He looked like he was downtown where they just where!
"Launch!" called the girls voice. This left Tommy and the boy he was helping to throw their 2x4 tech in front of them.
Then, seemingly in slow motion, some goop appeared in front of them, covering the tires of whomever they were chasing and their own school bus. The girl holding the line started to reel it in to keep it from springing back. "Numbuh 95 and 96, get back on the bus!"
The bus stopped moving, as did the vehicle in front of them. Goop filled the street, keeping anyone from going anywhere. The camera panned down to show 95 and 96 hopping over the goop and pulling a man out of… an ice cream truck? But instead of a normal ice cream man, it looked like he was wearing an insulated suit, in the colors of Neapolitan ice cream.
"Give it up, Ice Cream Man," said the girl. "We caught you red-handed."
Tommy and the others jumped off the bus, avoiding the sticky goop to help someone out of the back seat. Three someones, in fact, as they were untied and helped of the truck. Soon, Arctic Base helicopters filled the sky. As disgruntled "Ice Cream Man" was taken away, Hoagie's eyes were glued to the screen, trying to decipher what was going on.
"None of that was there," said Nigel. "Maybe this is a simulation of some kind and we're witnessing it. Can you try calling him?"
Hoagie blindly dug for his cellphone his mother had given him. It was just a prepaid flip phone, since one of those newer iPhones or whatever they were called would be expensive. They were both given one in case they got home from school before their mom did or needed to be picked up. Sighing, he called Tommy's number.
"Hey, listen," said Kuki. "That's his cellphone going off…"
Quickly Hoagie hung up the phone before Tommy could properly pick it up. "Okay, we know that's really him."
"Numbuh 2, you're supposed to call him," said Nigel, slapping a hand to his face.
"Yeah, I would, but I don't know anything about these people he's spending time with. We just proved that we're not watching a simulation. I'm not going to ask any questions until I have some answers myself."
Numbuh 1 looked frustrated, but he understood. Then again, how long were they going to stand here and watch Tommy hanging out with the five kids before they had to go and get him? Seriously, it wasn't safe until…
He looked down when his own personal communicator went off. Oh crap, it was Sonia! Nigel excused himself into the next room to talk with her. Behind him, he could hear Numbuh 5 musing out loud.
Abby put a finger on her chin trying to figure it out.
"Thing is, who are these kids? They look and act like operatives, but they aren't KND that we know." She nodded before heading off to check in the school database. Maybe they were like KND operatives without being operatives.
With her gone, it was Kuki, Hoagie, and Wally watching the screen.
"Man, that looks like a really cool mission," said Wally while the black-haired girl was talking to an Arctic Base operative. "I bet they got all the free ice cream they could."
"Alright, we have Sector W coming to visit," said Nigel, coming back into the room. "They wanted to see that Tommy was okay." He looked slightly disgusted, since Numbuh 363 was in that sector, but had to let it go.
They watched as the kids and Tommy started to head toward a treehouse. It looked like theirs in the sense that it was really a KND treehouse and not a random one. Nigel's jaw dropped as Kuki and Wally shared a look with each other. What the?! They would have definitely known that treehouse if they had seen it.
Behind them, Sector W arrived with, Numbuh 5 in tow. The eight operatives crowded around the console watching Tommy joke around and generally get along with the other kids.
"Well, Numbuh 5 can't find anyone that matches these kids in the KND. Ditto at Gallagher, Warburton, Amaya, and Meyer elementary."
"They are definitely operatives," said Wally.
"Where is he, though?" asked Sonia thoughtfully. "You know for sure that this is real."
"Positive, I called his cellphone," said Hoagie, his eyes still trained on the screen.
"Oh boy, that was fun," said Tommy. "Do we have another mission we can go on, Adi?"
"Not right now," said the black-haired girl, now identified as Adi. "My only mission is to send moonbase info for what we just did."
Behind him was another beep, immediately annoying Hoagie. He needed to know exactly what his brother was up to. It wasn't helping when communicators were going off. This time, everyone's head swiveled to Numbuh 363, who turned a little red.
"Harvey, can you hear me?" asked Rachel's voice from the other end.
"It looks like I have a mission for Sector W," bragged Harvey turning to his teammates. "How many do you have today, Numbuh 1?"
Nigel felt his eye twitch as he steamed a little from his head. That is, until Rachel's voice grew stern and exasperated.
"Harvey, what have I told you about bragging that I'm your sister? The only mission you're going on today is school supply shopping. Now, where are you? I'm in the treehouse and can't find you anywhere."
Sonia took the communicator from him and answered. "We're at Sector V's treehouse, Numbuh 362, if you want you can pick him up from here."
"Alright, thanks, number 83."
With that, they turned back to the screen, only to see that most of the kids were relaxing. A boy with spiky black hair was reading a Yipper comic. A boy with light brown hair was playing a video game with a bi-racial boy. Adi was putting in the mission specs with Tommy helping her, and the redhead playing with her tea set.
In fact, it looked rather normal, like what was happening with Sector V not even an hour ago. Only this time, Tommy was involved.
Behind him, the door opened again, now for Numbuh 362, who wasn't dressed like the supreme leader she was. Instead, she walked in wearing a purple shirt, blue jeans, and Converse sneakers.
Inspecting the screen for herself, she looked confused at what everyone was watching. "Uhh…"
So far the only thing that they had learned while watching was the kids names. Adi was the black-haired girl (and presumably sector leader), Dakota had the light brown hair, Jackie was the redhead, Terrence was reading the Yipper comic, and Hunter was the bi-racial boy.
"He shoulda blew up that building while he had a chance," Wally barked at the screen, watching the kids playing the video game. Then he looked at Rachel, who still had that confused look on her face. "Tommy's hanging out with kids that aren't operatives but look and act like them."
Nigel filled her in on what happened. Knitting her eyebrows together, she watched the kids, occasionally looking at the others. Something in her mind clicked as realization dawned on her face. She looked at Hoagie and Abby, and then at the bi-racial boy, her mind in overdrive.
The sirens went off again, this time in the other treehouse. Red light flooded the picture as a disembodied voice cooly told them that what the issue was. "Father's mansion is on lockdown."
A series of groans echoed through the camera.
"Again!?"
"Seriously?!"
"It better not be about the remote."
"This is twice in one day."
Adi looked mildly annoyed as she stood in front of all of them. "You know the drill! It could be serious one day. Let's go and check." She looked them all over before climbing into Tommy's machine, and off they went.
Rachel was clearly getting a little giddy. If what she was thinking was true, and what she was witnessing was true, then, well, she just might be jumping for joy. Turning to Numbuh 2, she hoped that her hunch was correct.
"Um, Numbuh 2, this might sound a little crazy, but do you think that Tommy could have invented a time machine? And those kids might be in the past, or the future?" Rachel tried to hide her smile. If this wasn't a simulation, then she knew exactly.
Hoagie looked at her with a stunned look on his face, as did everyone else.
"That's… That's crazy Numbuh 362. I mean… Well… Listen, the only way he could have gotten plans like that is if he had really advanced parts. The only kind of person that had those parts was Margie when she tried to take over the world. Numbuh 3 had went in and destroyed the entire system, right Numbuh 3?"
Now their eyes fell onto Kuki, who started to giggle a little.
"The entire room? I just destroyed the keyboard."
"No, you had to destroy the entire system. Kuki, please tell me you destroyed the entire system!"
Kuki just looked at him and tilted her head to the side. "No, silly, I just stepped on the keyboard."
Everyone's jaw dropped. Abby's eyes were as wide as saucers, Nigel's glasses slipped down his nose, Wally stared at her, Sonia and Lee shared a long look with each other, and Rachel's face excited.
Harvey just looked pissed off.
"Wait a second, you're telling me your brother found parts from some girl named Margie..." he paused. "Fixed her time machine and reverse engineered it so he could go to the future. Like I really believe that."
"Well it's not like Tommy is around here," said Abby. "We went to where he supposedly was. Hoagie, now might be the time to call your brother."
"Now might not be a good time, look!" said Sonia pointing to the screen.
Tommy and Terrence were being chased down by Father, with another kid running alongside them. The room was getting progressively hotter, judging by how the camera lens seemed to be fogging over.
Terrence pulled them into the living room about to be cornered. "I've never seen Father this hot before," Terrence muttered.
"I'd like to see you do better than this," said the blond boy next to them with a pronounced English accent. "Seriously, my great grandfather can throw better than that."
Father had gotten so much hotter that it seemed like the camera was melting. Rachel gasped at how that kid was just pushing Father even harder.
"TOMMY!" Hoagie shouted at the camera, reaching for his phone. Everyone in the room gasped and held their breaths, hoping for a miracle at this point.