The ship landed onto the landing pad gracefully, and the moment it touched down, it seemed like a bajillion spotlights shined down on the ship.
There weren't that many Kids Next Door operatives in the Arctic Base as usual, with the vast majority of them having flown to the Moonbase to wish Rachel a happy 13th birthday. However, the few that were remaining, a dozen or so, surrounded the ship, all aiming mustard guns, hot sauce guns, and whatever other weapons at the ship. Defense turrets along the wall opened up, and pointed straight at the ship where Rachel, Patton, and Cree were in. Such was to be expected. Kids were given enough wedgies and noogies and spankings from teenagers that no more chances were taken.
Numbuh 40 to Life, warden of the KND Arctic Base, stepped forward, megaphone in hand.
"Ahem," he said, speaking into the megaphone. "Please step out of the ship with your hands in the air where we can see them. You have 20 seconds to comply or we cover you in condiments until you're all red and yellow!"
Cree turned to look at Rachel, "Well, what are you waiting for, Miss Supreme Leader? You should probably head out first. If I stick my head out there, I'm getting shot with so much mustard that it'll take me weeks to clean it out of my hair."
Rachel nodded, and was about to hop out of the ship when Patton put his hand on her shoulder.
"Hold on commander sir. Let me head out first, I'll calm the nerves of my subordinates. Then you can come out, and Cree will head out last when they're all fully pacified."
The ship opened up its tinted window, and Patton hopped out of the ship and landed on his feet in front of the Warden.
"Alright, listen up! I want you all to put down your weapons, now! This is a direct order from Numbuh 60, your commander!"
A gasp went out through all of the operatives when they saw and heard their commander's loud voice. Almost half of them immediately dropped their weapons on the floor, while the rest quickly lowered it, slowly loosening their grip on their weapons.
The warden stepped forward towards Patton.
"Commander Numbuh 60, sir, where have you been? And why did you bring a teen's ship with you? You were supposed to help watch over the Arctic base with me while most of our operatives went to Numbuh 362's 13th birthday party!"
Patton shook his head and waggled his finger at the warden.
"You mean, this Numbuh 362?"
Rachel jumped out of the ship upon hearing Patton's callout, and landed right next to Patton.
"At ease, operatives!" Rachel yelled out, giving them all a big salute.
An even louder gasp went out through the crowd this time, and even the warden fell backwards onto his butt in disbelief, dropping his megaphone on the floor.
"Numbuh 362, commander sir ma'am! What are you doing here? Why aren't you in the Moonbase? Isn't it your 13th birthday?"
"Yes, it is. Is there a problem?" Rachel gazed at the warden, looking straight in his eye until he turned away, losing this game of chicken. She then glanced around at the rest of the operatives, every single one of them turning away from her gaze.
Patton coughed loudly to get the attention of the operatives "Please understand that Rachel is still your Supreme Leader, no matter what the circumstances may be. I can personally vouch for her. And I know all of you still believe in her."
"That's right," Rachel followed up. "I might be 13, but I still care about the Kids Next Door as much as you all do. I've been Supreme Leader for how long now? And you've all known me to have a great track-record since the day I joined the Kids Next Door. What difference is one day going to make, really? When I help finish solving this problem and we get back to our normal lives, then I'll sit down and let myself be decommissioned like usual. But until then, I'm going to help the Kids Next Door, even if I have to do it while I'm a teen."
The kids in the room all looked at each other, some of them nodding in agreement while a few others just looked lost, including the warden.
He stood up and dusted off his butt before turning to look at her.
"Of course, Numbuh 362 commander sir. It's not that I don't believe you but... what exactly is the problem you need to solve? Command hasn't sent out any warnings, and the Arctic Base has been as quiet as a mouse."
Rachel turned to Patton for answers. After all this time spent in the ship with Patton and Cree, she still didn't know what the exact problem was. All she managed to figure out is that Cree and Patton are now temporarily working together in order to stop some new enemy, and they busted her out of the Moonbase so she could lend a helping hand before she got decommissioned. That's all she knew.
Patton looked back, understanding the look of confusion on Rachel's face, before he snapped his fingers, "Well, it looks like it's time to introduce you all to another surprising face. And please, do not panic."
This time, it was Cree who jumped out of the ship, her Battle Ready Armor fully activated. She looked like she was ready to kick the butt of every kid there.
"It's a teenager!"
"It's Cree! Shoot her!"
"Runnnn! She's going to give us all wedgies!"
Patton quickly raised his hands up and roared, "Shut up!" All of the operatives were panicking, including the warden, but they immediately stopped in their tracks upon hearing Patton's commanding voice.
"Look, I'm not a big fan of it too. And Cree doesn't like it as much as you guys. But now is the time for us to settle our differences and work together, at least for now! We've got a huge problem, bigger than us kids and the teens combined! I dare say it's even bigger than the adults! We have to work together if we want to stop this menace. Once it's all over, we'll go back to normal, kicking teen butt and locking evil adults up in prison."
Patton then turned to face Cree, "And the kids would be a lot more trusting of you if you didn't wear your armor like you were going to fight them."
Cree only scoffed before turning off her Battle Ready Armor. Once she did, the concern on the kids' faces quickly vanished thanks to Patton's pep-talk, and some of them were even waving at Cree, much to her annoyance.
"Alright!" Patton continued. "I need every operative here, besides the warden, to return to your stations! Especially the ones manning the radars, I need you to be extra vigilant! I have a feeling we'll be meeting some friends of ours very soon. If you see anything appear on your radar, you are to inform me immediately! Especially if it's allied aircraft! Am I understood?"
"Yes commander sir!"
Most of the operatives quickly went back to their duties, which mainly consisted of monitoring the prison and the halls, and manning the defensive turrets. The number 39 twins who were in charge of watching the Antarctica air space were left a little bit befuddled as to why they were told to keep a close eye on allied aircraft, but didn't bother questioning orders from Numbuh 60.
When the room dispersed and it was just Patton, Cree, Rachel, and the warden, 40 to Life, Patton turned to the rest of the group. "Numbuh 40 to Life, commander sir, please follow me. I think it's about time Cree and I tell you exactly what we know."
The four of them made their way into the large elevator. There was plenty of room for all of them to have breathing room, as the elevator was made for dozens of kids mobilizing quickly across the entire treehouse.
They rode the elevator down in awkward silence. The warden was standing next to Patton, eyes forward, looking stern as a brick wall. Patton was at the front of the elevator, hands in pocket and looking directly at the door. Cree was in the corner of the elevator, staring straight at Rachel, like she was an exotic animal in a zoo. And Rachel, she was looking down at her feet, lost in deep thought.
When the elevator chimed and the door opened, the four of them stepped out and made their way down the hall, the very last door being the door to Patton's office. The door was just a thick piece of wood, heavy like a tree as well. Bringing out his key, he opened the multitude of locks on it. One at the very top, three in the middle, and one at the very bottom. Patton does not like being disturbed.
When the door finally opened, they all entered, and Patton proceeded to relock the door. The room was extremely bland, save for the office chair and desk in the middle. The walls were plain brown, and the floor was spotted tiles, mostly black with white and red dots here and there. There weren't even any extra chairs for other people to sit on.
Patton sat down on the only chair in the room, his chair, while the other three were left standing. Reaching down, he opened a drawer and pulled out a file and set it on his desk.
Cree stood in the corner of the room, hands crossed. Rachel and 40 to Life were standing in front of Patton's desk, front and center.
"Now, Cree and I already know everything that's happening currently. Warden 40 to Life, commander sir, I don't think I need to say this, but I will. Whatever is said in this room does not leave this room. We will be some of the very few people who know about this information. Cree has already told a select few of her closest teen comrades about this as well."
Patton opened up a file and pulled out a few photographs, one of them being a blurry picture of what looked like to be three people. Two of the members were standing and one of them was kneeling in front of them. What's strange is that the two members appeared to be covered in some green substance. It looked oddly familiar.
"Do you remember the last time we tried to make peace with the teens, but they decided instead to play ear-shattering music?" the three kids looked straight at Cree, who only just shrugged. How could they forget? It wasn't that long ago. "I was able to quickly take a shot of this strange moment. Commander sir, did you happen to have seen anything that looked like this?
Yes, she has. She's certain that it's that same booger-technology she saw Chad use when she was about to be decommissioned.
Patton only studied Rachel's face for a second before coming to a swift conclusion. "So you have seen it. I figured. Look at this closely, can you make out who the people are in the photo?"
Rachel leaned in closer to get a better look, a scowl quickly forming on her face.
"Number 1, Number 274, and Number Infinity..."
"Precisely. So now do you understand why we've formed a temporary truce with the teens?"
Rachel nodded in acknowledgement. However, a few questions were still bothering her. "Do you even know what they plan on doing? Maybe you guys are just overthinking this whole thing."
"That's what I thought at first too, but then I remember that Numbuh Infinity is always hanging out with Numbuh 74.239, one of the higher ranking KND scientists. So I managed to sneak into Numbuh 74.239's room. I didn't find anything at first, but after a bit of snooping, I was able to snap a photo of this thing hidden in the crack between his desk and the wall.
"We wouldn't have teamed up unless the situation really was dire." Patton proceeded to pull out another photo, this time a picture of what looked to be a blueprint of a so-called 'A-Antibiotic'.
Rachel couldn't really make heads or tails of what this thing is supposed to be. She's a Supreme Leader, not a scientist!
"So… what is this thing?"
"I wasn't too sure either at first when I saw this, so I took it to a scientist here that I fully trust, and from looking at the whole schematic, he believes it stands for Adult-Antibiotic."
"Which does what exactly?"
"It makes anybody over the age of 12 disappear. Forever."
Upon hearing Patton utter those vile words, the room fell eerily quiet. Rachel could only stand there with an open mouth in shock, and even the stoic warden was looking very queasy.
This must be the work of the splinter cell! I knew they were bad but I didn't know they were so… so evil!
"That's absolutely insane," Rachel whispered to herself, but thanks to the isolated room, it was loud enough for everyone to hear, and everyone nodded in agreement.
"It is," replied Patton. "I think I speak for a lot of us kids that we don't particularly like adults or teenagers, but a device that just gets rid of all of them? For pete's sake, that's too far! Way too far! And what's worse is that this isn't your normal antibiotic, like in a pill or capsule. No, this is a gas! They're planning on pumping this stuff into the atmosphere and eliminating every single teen and adult on the planet in one fell swoop! Once a teen or an adult takes even the tiniest whiff of this gas, their bones and skin will disintegrate into ash, which will blow away in the wind!"
"Well, now you understand why we have to work together, huh?" Cree finally spoke up, breaking the thick tension in the room. "Look, I don't really want to work together with you brats, but it's either this, or I disappear forever, and I don't really want that. Also, just to make this clear for you, girly, you are 13 years old. Which means if that device goes off, then you also go poof. I don't think you'd want that, would you?"
Rachel could only hang her head low, "...no, I wouldn't."
"Good. So let's figure out a way to put a stop to this device before it gets built, and then afterwards, I can go back to giving all you brats wedgies, just like how it's supposed to be."
The moment after Cree finished her speech, a monitor pulled up out of Patton's desk, the Numbuh 39 twins appearing on screen.
"What's the issue, Numbuh 39 and 39? I'm in the middle of a very, very important meeting!" shouted Patton at the screen, gripping his hands on the desk.
"Commander sir! You told us to contact you if we spotted anyone in our airspace, including friendlies! Well, we have visual on friendlies! They just entered our airspace and are moving towards us!"
"Alright, how many airships?"
The Numbuh 39 twins looked at each other as they held up their fingers. "Uhh... we're not sure. We ran out of fingers."
Patton looked at Rachel and the others, the same look of concern plastered on their faces.
This time the warden spoke up, but quietly this time, "Maybe they're coming back from the birthday party on the Moonbase?"
"...our landing pads only fit 15 ships," replied Patton.
"Well... this isn't good."
Patton turned to Rachel, worry visible in his eyes. "Well, I don't think I need to tell you what this means. They probably figured out that we fled here, and they ended up sending every single operative that was at the Moonbase to us. And since pretty much every operative went to the Moonbase for your 13th birthday, that means every single operative is going to converge on this location."
The Numbuh 39 twins piped up again, "Commander sir, we tried counting again, but with our toes too... we also ran out of toes."
This moment was not looking very good.
"Move over!" Rachel quickly pushed Patton out of the way and resumed her rightful position as Supreme Leader. "Number 39 and 39, how much longer until those ships reach here?"
"Uhh, should be about 5 minutes if they keep up their current speed, commander sir ma'am!" they said in unison, like most twins do.
"Darn! So little time!" Rachel shouted, slamming her fist on the desk in frustration. She was doing her best trying to figure out what to do about this situation when Cree walked over and pointed her phone at Rachel.
"Girl, you might want to check this out. It's a message from your new Supreme Leader. Oh, and don't ask me how I got this."
"What? What do you mean, new Supreme Leader? I'm the Supreme Leader!"
All four of them crowded around Cree's phone, watching the message.
"Attention, all Kids Next Door operatives! This is Numbuh Infinity, your new Supreme Leader! As most of you have already heard, our previous Supreme Leader, Numbuh 362, Rachel T. McKenzie, has betrayed the Kids Next Door and sided with our mortal enemies, the teenagers! Look at this!" A cropped video of Rachel jumping into the teen ship with Numbuh 60 and Cree was now showing on screen. Of course, it didn't tell the full story, as it made sure to hide Numbuh Infinity, 74.239, and Chad off screen. The screen then changed back to Numbuh Infinity.
"Yes, you saw that correctly! That was our former Supreme Leader, along with Numbuh 60, Patton Drilovsky, commander of the Arctic Base, in a ship with Numbuh 11, Cree Lincoln, another traitor who I'm sure most of you have been unfortunately acquainted with. They have all escaped and have ran away to the Arctic Base! All sectors, you are to ignore your current duties and head directly for the Arctic Base! You are to assume that any operatives in that Arctic Base has sided with the enemy! Capture any and all Arctic Base personnel, find those traitors, and bring them back to the Moonbase! This is an order from your Supreme Leader! Kids Next Door rules!"
After his speech was over, the screen went dark, and Cree put the phone back into her back pocket. Rachel was seething. Numbuh Infinity has the nerve to call himself the Supreme Leader?! After that stunt he did?!
Patton put his hand on Rachel's shoulder to get her attention, "Commander sir, what are your orders, sir?"
Rachel stood up straight, a mean glint in her eyes. She was not going to let this slide.
"Activate the treehouse defenses, set them to fire on any friendly ships and ignore teen ships."
The warden quickly spoke up, "But commander sir, are you hearing yourself right now? These are friendly ships you're asking us to shoot down! They're fellow kids!"
"Did you not hear what that message said? They're planning on capturing every operative here and decommissioning them, even when they have done nothing wrong. I can't let that happen. After this is all over, I'll send out a formal apology for any damages and injuries our fellow operatives received. But it's a small price to pay to prevent any wrongful decommissioning.
"Number 60, I want you to tell your operatives to activate the defenses. All of them. The Arctic Base has some of the top-of-the-line security out of all of the tree houses, even comparable to the Moon Base. It'll buy us a lot of time, and we need every single second we can get."
"Yes commander sir!"
"Cree, you mentioned a teen hideout closeby? I want you to head there and gather up as many allies as you can and bring them here. Along with your strongest weapons and ships. This treehouse will be set to not fire on your guys' ships, so make sure to pass the message."
"Oh man, I get to beat up a bunch of brats, and with permission from the Supreme brat herself? You don't need to ask me twice. But hold on just a second, I'd love to beat up brats as much as the next teen, but what about this A-Antibody? We can't be wasting time fighting when we should be figuring out a way to stop this device!"
"Don't worry about it for now. I may not know a lot of sciency-stuff, but I've seen enough tech blueprints to assume that it's still in the middle of its construction. It's not actually built yet. We need to first prevent any operatives from getting decommissioned and make sure we don't get captured, and also figure out a way to sway these kids back on our side. Then we can worry about Numbuh Infinity, 74.239, and the A-Antibody."
"Alright, well I suppose I'll trust your judgement. The next time you guys see me, it'll be in the front of an army."
"Good, that's what I'd like to see."
Patton unlocked the door as quick as he could, and he and Cree both bolted towards the elevator as fast as possible. Time is of the essence.
"Warden 40 to Life, take me to the prison. We're going to need all the help we can get. This is going to get messy."
Notes:
Things are heating up, and it's about to get spicy next chapter! Don't miss it! Anyways, I'm sure most of you know, college is starting up again. Which means I'm going to be busy. I'll try to find time to continue writing, and I especially want to finish up this story. But expect longer waits.
Again, if you see any mistakes, either the characters are OOC or there's grammar/spelling mistakes or if you just want to say thanks, then please leave a review! I greatly appreciate them all. Thanks for reading this story!