Chapter 5

Rachel kept a brisk pace as she was walking through the neighborhood back to the Sprinkle Puff Donut Shop. The police had passed them about five minutes ago on their way to the wreckage but didn't give them a second glance. Who would give a few kids a second glance? Nigel was still playing over the scene in his head…Rachel really was cut out for this.

"What was that weapon you used back there?" Nigel said, breaking the silence.

"Oh that?" Rachel said with a side glance. She pulled it from her sweater pocket and handed it to Nigel. It was a youth boxing glove that had been weighted and attached into the socket of a small spring loaded extension lamp, the kind that might clip on the headboard of a bed and had a body that folded in on itself. The lamp was modified to be kept under tension and, by the release of the clip, the weighted boxing glove in the lamp socket would spring forward at a violent rate of speed.

"It's called a S.L.U.G.G.A.H, or at least that's what it used to be called by the KCD, I don't remember what the acronym stands for, or why it was named like that. It used to be standard issue under the leadership of Supreme Leader Number 100. It's pretty good for little operations like the one we just completed and for any close quarter situation. It's made to be deployed with little to no space. You can't get the same kind of velocity that you can with that weapon without swinging, but you don't always have the space to do that, like in the cab of an ice cream truck."

Nigel scratched his head, "Strange, but strangely effective."

Rachel laughed and pocketed the tool, "Yeah, but it's woefully outdated. We need some better technology. I was hoping you might be able to help me out with that also?"

Nigel's mind immediately flashed to Hoagie's precious blueprints, "Maybe…" he said nonchalantly.

"I'll take it, by your turning red, that you can help me," Rachel said with a laugh.

Nigel decided that he was going to have to get better at this.

They continued to walk until the Donut Shop came into view.

"Let's go in, I think that some of the team is already here. I told them that we should be meeting here," Rachel said glancing down at her wristwatch, "We're a little late I guess."

They walked around the corner and walked through the main door. The inside looked derelict with dusty, empty shelves and chairs that had fallen over. It would be clear from the outside world that there was nothing inside; it was the perfect place to work in secret.

Nigel followed Rachel into what looked like a closet door that was to the back and it opened up into a stairwell. He followed her down the dimly lit and winding stairwell until they reached another door with a numeric keypad out to the side. Rachel rapidly punched in some numbers and the door slid open.

It was a large room with tables and chairs staggered in rows, a kitchenette off to one side and office desks on the other side with computers humming on them. It was simple, effective and pleasantly more advanced than Nigel expected. There might actually be a chance for them to make a difference in the world. If they could continue to pull off operations like the one that he and Rachel had just finished, they could continue the breadcrumb trail to wherever it led.

Could they really pull it off? Now that Nigel was meeting with the rest of the team at a hidden base. Now that he was aware that there were other like-minded people in the room, he began to get very nervous. This was the tipping point, there was no going back. Once they began to throw light into the dark corners of "powers that were", they would make themselves a target. It was do, or die.

"Ladies and Gents," Rachel started in a loud voice, breaking up the casual conversation, "I want you to meet Nigel Uno. He is going to be the leader of our "boots on the ground" division here in Virginia, designation: Sector V."

Nigel looked around the room and saw about fifteen people, most of whom he didn't know. There was a naturally pretty, freckle faced girl with lush, shock red hair covering half of her face. She was wearing a green sweater, a knee high bright orange skirt and large brown hiking boots. Her lips were pursed together as she seemed to stare through Nigel, clearly not impressed. Rachel decided to start introductions with her.

"Nigel, meet Frances, or Fanny, Fulbright, I know that I've mentioned her before but I guess this is the first time that you've met. Fan' is our Chief Tactician Officer."

Fanny was looking Nigel up and down; her lips were pursed in a skeptical look on her face.

"That's right, I'm the Chief Tactician Officer," she said in a thick, alluring, Irish accent, "Which means it's my job to make sure that the Kids Command of Defense stays a secret organization. Our missions are going to require certain clearances ranging from local police to FBI and CIA, as well as distracting the local news from our exploits…all while remaining in the background, so it's up to me and my department to make sure it stays that way. So….don't make my job harder than it is, or I will give you concussion."

"Won't be too hard to remember that!" he said with a smile, which was not returned.

On the other side of the room stood a broad shouldered boy with thick, jet black hair, wearing a green zip-up jacket and coyote tan cargo pants. He sported an earthy, olive colored ski cap that set comfortably on the crown of his head. His squared jaw was locked into a position of determination; his brown eyes were piercing as they examined the newcomers. He had one hand in his jacket pocket and one holding onto the shoulder strap of his dark orange backpack. He was observing Nigel closely, but he didn't get to say anything.

"I am Herbert, the KCD Chief Communications and Logistics Officer!" said a screeching and whiny voice.

Nigel turned to see a chubby faced, rotund guy wearing all tan dress clothes, thick "coke bottle" glasses and a pocket protector stuffed with pens. Bucked teeth, with braces, calculator watch on one arm, and his shirt tucked in; he certainly seemed like he fit the bill for "logistics".

Nigel shook his hand and noticed that he was wearing a colander on his head.

"Is that a…?"

"Helmet?" The guy responded, "Yes, it is. All officers are required to wear them but present company seems to think they're excluded."

Nigel looked around, there were some colander looking helmets on table in the corner but Herbert was the only one wearing one.

"Well, you're not getting me to wear one, nerd," came a break in the silence from the oldest kid with the ski cap.

Herbert, hands on his fat hips, slowly turned to give the guy a squinty look and then focused his attention back on Nigel.

"As logistics officer, I am responsible for archiving all of the data, evidence, reports, logs, meetings, and making sure that this operation functions within acceptable parameters."

He jammed a huge binder in Nigel's gut.

"Speaking of which, here is your protocol," he said, not hardly stopping to breathe, "You will need to read it and follow it to the letter when filling out paperwork, mission debriefs, requests, transfers, etc. You need to follow it or…"

"You'll give me a concussion…" Nigel interrupted, "I got the drift".

The kid with ski cap happened to be taking a drink from his canteen right when Nigel said that line, and he spit his water everywhere with a choke and a laugh.

Herbert gave another sideways and squinty glare.

Rachel tried to hide her smile as she moved on the next guy who happened to also look like a nerd. He was a shorter averaged sized kid with wild carrot colored hair and a freckled face, he was wearing a purple collared shirt tucked into khaki shorts and also had bucked teeth and braces. He was holding a small tablet computer which he tucked into his long sleeved, white lab coat pocket when Nigel extended his hand.

"Greetings and salutations, Nigel!" the kid said with a smile, his lisp wasn't helping the image.

Nigel looked over at Rachel again, trying to keep from laughing and she looked as though she might kick him.

"My name is Gabe and I'm a science major at Gallagher University, like yourself and most of us here, I have dedicated precious time I could be at the lab or in class to serve the greater good. I am in charge of the R & D department here at the KCD and it is my job to mass produce any technology that we develop for future Sectors as well as analyze any evidence that might require a more…intelligent….approach." he paused as though he was waiting for the kid in the ski cap.

Nigel nodded, "Looking forward to working with you."

Rachel motioned towards a Japanese girl who had long, straight, and shiny black hair and was wearing an oversized green cardigan and black leggings. She sported bright green socks and black and white, classic looking sneakers. She had her sleeves pulled over her hands but she pulled a sleeve up to shake Nigel's hand. She had a soft smile and pleasant demeanor that Nigel felt reassured by.

"Nigel, this is Kuki Sanban and she's actually going to be working with Sector V".

Nigel shook her hand warmly, "It's good to have you on board, Kuki. What are your talents?"

"I've been tasked with being Sector V's Diversionary Operative which means I will mostly keep a bird's eye view on everything taking place in the mission such that I can keep all of us hidden when we need it. I'm a Tech major at Gallagher, so that's where my expertise lies."

Nigel was impressed.

"And let me just say," She continued, escalating in energy, "That I'm SO SUPER excited to be a part of this team," she started making a fanning motion to her face with her sleeved hand, "I'm super excited, I can hardly contain it!"

Nigel chuckled, "Well…I'm glad!"

There was a beeping noise as the door that Nigel and Rachel had entered in from had opened and closed.

"Hey team! What have we got?" yelled a loud and boisterous voice from the doorway.

Nigel turned around to see a tall and thin blond haired, older looking kid wearing football equipment and a jersey with the number "274" imprinted on the front and back. He had a football helmet in his hand and had the iconic black lines marked under his eyes. His wavy blond hair fell right above his eye line which he had to snap back out of his eyes to see clearly. It was the quarterback, Chad Dickson.

His blacked out eyes fell on Nigel who was standing straight and tall, peering through his glassy black shades.

"What the…" the guy said looking around the room, "What is this?"

The rest of the people were looking around and looking back and forth between the newcomer and Nigel. Rachel was looking at the floor.

"So this is the guy Rach?" he said tossing his helmet into an open chair. "He is the guy you've been telling me about?"

Everyone looked at Rachel

"You guys know each other?" she said, not backing down.

"You might say that," Nigel said, without skipping a beat, "We've brushed shoulders before in the halls."

"Brushed shoulders?" Chad smirked, "This kid practically makes a show of himself every time we meet! I can't believe he's the guy you keep raving about."

Rachel started to turn red but Chad didn't stop.

"You always talk about his tenacity, his desire to get into the fray…him? Seriously, Rachel, what do you see in this guy?"

Nigel was fuming mad.

"Well," Nigel said calmly, "I guess we'll find out."

"Yeah," Chad said sarcastically, "I guess so. Mostly because I'm the Supreme Leader of the KCD and I demand a high caliber out of my team. I don't like the headstrong attitude I've seen in you already. I need a team player, can you be that Nigel?"

"Yes sir." Nigel responded humbly, slightly shocked at this new revelation.

"You'd better be," Chad said turned to face his teammates, "because out there you will get eaten alive by the villains we will face. I need to know that you will stand strong, not allowing your personal feelings to get in the way. We need someone who can take control of the endzone, go the whole nine yards and score touchdowns."

Chad had walked over to the helmet table and picked up a samurai style helmet that was towards the back. He placed it on his head and turned to face Nigel.

"I've got nothing personally against you Nigel; I just want you to succeed is all. Failure is not an option. The Samurai are a good example. I look to them for examples in how a life should be led, are you familiar with them?"

Nigel shook his head.

"They would rather take their own life than to suffer defeat, they believed so much in their cause. I would never advocate suicide but I AM advocating that type of devotion. We are talking about liberty versus tyranny here. We are talking about our mission to place ourselves squarely in the line of fire of those who will stop at nothing to consume the world in which we live. There must be unwavering courage and sureness of mission. I'm asking for you to be a true believer, Nigel, to devote it all to the cause we are about to embark on. The Leader of Sector V must be the soul of the team, and I hope you have it. The people in this room are already on track to making sure that there is a division of the KCD in every major country. Kuki, Gabe, and others are already working on getting a spy net up and running so that we are constantly connected. Gabe, you've already got a few satellites launched right?"

Gabe startled at hearing his name out of the blue and he nodded hastily. He started to explain that they were in testing phase but Chad cut him off, not paying attention.

"We've got something big here and this something is going to save the world one fight at a time. Rachel had the dream and I've made it happen by assembling the team you see before you. That's exactly what we are, a team. There are no "one man" operations here and I need you to see this Nigel, to understand that this is no personal crusade or cute societal cause; this is a struggle for survival…maybe even as a human race."

"Well", said a voice from the back, "That's why it's important to be prepared."

Everyone turned to see the older kid in the ski cap move from leaning on the table and walk towards Nigel. When he shook Nigel's hand, Nigel noticed a strong grip.

"The name is Patton…Patton Drilovsky and I'm in charge of recruitment and training. Any new recruits have to go through me and I WILL train them hard. They will be trained in hand to hand combat and they will undergo rigorous survival training in the event that they are stranded or captured. Chad, who certainly is the best at what he does, is here to make spies but I'm here to make soldiers."

The room was quiet.

"You're a fighter Nigel, despite what Chad may think, I know because I can see it in your eyes, straight through those black shades. Now take Rachel, she's solid gold and I would follow her to Hell and back, no question."

Rachel stared at the floor again, the red color leaving her face.

Patton continued, "If she sees potential in you, then it is because you really do have it. Your team though? We'll have to see, but if you are who Rachel believes you are, then your team is probably going to be pretty special."

He shifted his backpack to both shoulders.

"Still, I'm going to have to train them first. The problem is that I'm off to the Artic for a week where I'm scoping out some land I've been looking at for a secret base to use as a training facility and maybe a prison. After all, we're going to need some place to stash these villains until we know what to do with them. So when I get back and you have your team assembled, we're going to hit it hard and fast. Sir, you can count on me to take good care of your team."

Nigel nodded proudly and humbly.

Rachel moved towards Nigel, "Nigel, You'll spend the next week getting a team together; I'm sure you already have some people in mind. Kuki will help you archive everything to help Herbert out in his department and then when Patton returns, you guys will begin intense training. Between now and then, we're going to have an ice breaker mission with your team as soon as we get more information on what we've gathered from the ice cream truck. This will give us a good opportunity to see how well you guys work together. It should be great!"

Patton started to head towards the door. "Nigel, I probably won't be training you personally because of my trip, but I want you to know it's your loss because I can take every single person in this room with the exception of one…"

He laid his eyes on Chad.

Chad perked up, "Yes, Nigel, in his absence, I will be happy to handle your training personally. You will learn to fight like no one else. You will become unstoppable."

"That's very generous of you Chad," Patton said with a smile as he was headed out the door, "but I was referring to Fan'."

Fanny Fulbright's face lit up in a proud smile.