A/N: Sorry for the long delay. I have a younger brother in the hospital and just started working again. I'd like to say the delays are over, but I doubt I'll be able to update as often as I used to. I'll try to keep to one chapter a week if I can. Anyway, enjoy!
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The Misfits found themselves surrounded by armed members of the secret children's organization known as the Kids Next Door.
"Okay, no sudden moves now…" Althea warned. Pietro snorted.
"Wait a minute, they're just a bunch of kids. What do we have to be afraid of?" He asked blithely. "What're they gonna do? Whap us with their teddy bears?"
"As a matter of fact…" Numbuh One drawled. "Numbuh Three!"
"Okey-dokey Numbuh One!" A Japanese girl in a giant green sweater grinned as she raised a makeshift gun and fired, launching a teddy bear at Pietro's face at tremendous speed.
"YEEEOWWW!" Pietro shrieked as he grabbed his face.
"Okay, who saw that coming?" Wanda dryly asked. Everyone raised their hands—as much to agree with Wanda as to avoid appearing dangerous to the KND.
"Kids, look. We're not your enemies." Althea reasoned calmly. "You're being manipulated by a group of villains called the Hellfire Club."
"As if!" Numbuh Two—a rotund boy in a flight cap—snorted disdainfully. "Pull the other one sister."
"It's true! I know this club or whatever they've set up seems like a nice place for you kids to hang out but—"
"Club? Set up for us? Girl you've got to be crazy." An African-American girl in a blue shirt and a red hat called Numbuh Five looked askance. "This ain't no club and it wasn't set up by any adults!"
"But—"
"Let's just beat up these creeps and lock them up in the Antarctic Prison." An Australian boy with a blond bowl-cut in a sweater known as Numbuh Four said.
"But I can't go to jail in the arctic!" Todd protested. "I'm an amphibian! I'll freeze!"
"Relax Toad, we're not gonna get imprisoned by a bunch of dumb kids." Shane sighed.
"That's it!" Numbuh Eighty-Six snarled. "Get them!" The KND raised their weapons and fired. Hot condiments—cheese, mustard, ketchup—as well as other dangerous if not lethal objects were launched at the Misfits.
"Duck!" Tabby said as they split up.
"That's enough!" Althea said, getting into the tone she used when trying to control her sisters. "Kids or not, we're not going to let you shoot at us!"
"Try and stop us!" Eighty-Six taunted.
"Split up and try to round them up, but don't hurt them!" Althea instructed.
"Sure don't hurt them…no one mind poor me." Pietro wheezed from his place on the floor.
"That was the plan." Althea agreed as she squared off against Numbuh Five. "I don't like the idea of fighting kids…"
"Then I hope you like the idea of getting your butt whooped by a kid, baby!" Numbuh Five grinned as she leapt at Althea with a flying kick. Althea was impressed, even as she avoided it.
"Where'd you learn that?" Althea blinked as she dropped into a fighting stance. Numbuh Five grinned.
"You didn't think you were the first teenage ninja I've ever fought did you?" Althea was impressed again. First at her statement—she had no reason to disbelieve it and secondly that she recognized Althea's fighting moves. Althea got to thinking that there was more to the Kids Next Door than met the eye.
"Werepoodle!" Another kid shrieked as Rahne transformed.
"Doggy!" Numbuh Three giggled as she wrapped her arms around Rahne's neck and squeezed. "She's so cuddly!"
"Hrrnnn." Rahne whined as she was being choked.
"Ow! Quit it!" Todd shouted as one kid kicked him in the shin. That's when another kid kicked him in the other shin. Then the first kid kicked again, then the second. Soon it became almost like clockwork. "Ow! Quit it! Ow! Quit it! Ow! Quit it!"
"Now that's enough!" Fred growled as he picked up two kids by the backs of their shirts. "That's no way to treat your elders."
"You're right." Fred looked down to see Numbuh Four glaring up at him. "This is how we treat our elders! HYAAH!" Numbuh Four leaped up and latched onto Fred's head, covering his eyes. Fred dropped the two kids as he flailed his arms.
"Someone get this kid offa me!" He cried.
"I'm coming!" Xi said as he suddenly appeared from nowhere.
It was one of the most confusing fights the Misfits had ever been in. For one thing, they had to fight an opponent they really didn't want to hurt—though the KND certainly didn't share that particular sentiment, and for another the KND had some pretty odd technology: gum bombs, condiment blasters, exploding marbles, and more. Besides that, the KND were pretty tough for kids.
But the Misfits slowly—for fear of hurting them—started to make progress, disarming the KND operatives and pinning them down with Todd's slime.
Numbuh Three-Sixty-Two, Supreme Commander of the Kids Next Door—Rachel to her friends—was getting worried. "They're good…even better than Chad and Cree! Numbuh Eighty-Six!"
"Ma'am!" The arrogant Scottish girl saluted.
"We need back-up…where's Sector P?"
"Numbuhs Fifty-One, Two-Eighteen, and Sixty-Five are chasing Princess Moebucks! She escaped from the Antarctic Prison!" Numbuh Eighty-Six answered. (&)
"Numbuh Six Two-Six?" Rachel tried. Eighty-Six shook her head.
"At home in Hawaii, looking after her stupid blue koala or whatever it is." Rachel sighed at the news.
"I was afraid of that." She said. "Call in…Numbuh Ten!"
"Him?" Eighty-Six gasped. "You want me to get that…that…that boy?"
"We have no choice!" Rachel snapped at her. "Just do it Fanny!"
"Aye aye ma'am!" Numbuh Eighty-Six gulped as she pressed a button on her wrist communicator.
Even as she made the call, the Misfits were squaring off against the last remaining KND operatives…Sector V.
"Okay kiddies we can do this the easy way or we can do this the hard way." Althea said.
"Kiddie, this!" Numbuh Five said as she planted her foot on Althea's knee and sprung up to whack her in the face with the side of her feet. Althea caught her leg at the last possible second.
Fred had finally managed to pull Numbuh Four off his face—with a little help from Xi—and proceeded to pry Numbuh Three off Rahne's neck before she suffocated. Numbuh Two was picked up by Wanda.
"Hey beautiful you doing anything Friday night?" Numbuh Two asked in his most suave voice.
"Oh brother." Wanda groaned as Numbuh One was being restrained by Angelica and Shane.
"Finally." Althea sighed. "It's over."
"Think again!" The Misfits spun around as a ten year old boy with green eyes and brown hair leaped into sight.
"Numbuh Ten!" Rachel sighed in relief. Numbuh Ten fiddled with some sort of watch he had on his wrist and smiled.
"Hero time!" Slamming his palm down on the watch, the boy was replaced by a giant white and black alien creature with no neck, but covered in yellow circles. Stunned by this development, the Misfits could only watch in amazement as the alien rolled into a giant ball and hurled itself straight at them!
"I've got it!" Fred said as he squared his feet and crouched down in a position to try to catch it. The ball rammed into Fred so hard that the giant mutant was propelled backwards into the wall.
"He got it all right." Pietro winced. "Step back and let Quicksilver take care of this problem!" Peitro ran after the bouncing ball that was once a ten-year old boy. Suddenly, the ball transformed into another creature, this one green and dinosaur like, in black armor. Oddly enough it had no feet, only a pair of wheels at the end of its legs like a rollerblade.
Within the blink of an eye the creature was accelerating, the Misfits felt their hair whipped around as they were buffeted by the wind the creature caused by its passing. The astonished Pietro had rings run around him. Before he could recover the creature lashed out with his arm, knocking Pietro out.
"This is getting weird." Todd blinked. Growling, Rahne leapt at the creature as it stood still, mouth wide. Numbuh Ten dashed behind some boxes. Still snarling, Rahne followed him. Half a minute later, Rahne ran back out yipping in terror.
"Yipe! Yipe! Yipe!" Rahne whined as she ran. No one could blame her. Chasing her was a giant orange creature. It had no face, just a giant tooth-filled mouth. It ran after her on all fours.
"Enough is enough already!" Todd protested as he spat slime at the beast, giving Rahne time to escape. Though the beast nimbly dodged and changed shape yet again. This time it was a giant green insect with four eye stalks, wings, and four pincer-like legs.
Taken by surprise yet again—giving the variety and number of forms, who could blame them—the insect managed to give Toad a taste of his own medicine dousing him in a foul green slime.
"Aww man, why didn't someone tell me how gross this was?" Todd groaned.
"Karma!" Wanda snickered.
"What's the matter?" Numbuh Ten buzzed. "None of you creeps tough enough to handle me?"
"That's it! No one hurts my toddles!" Althea screamed as she leapt up, tackling the insect in mid-flight. Together, the two of them plunged into a pool that the KND kept for aquatic training.
Althea was in her element. Unfortunately, one shape change later, so Numbuh Ten. Only now he was some sort of fish man. His head resembled that of an anglerfish; with powerful jaws and creepy eyes. His feet were webbed and even as Althea watched, merged to become a giant, powerful tail. Extremely fast and agile, Althea only barely managed to avoid having a bite taken out of her side. Those jaws were really big!
Bursting out of the water, the shape-shifter now took the form of a tall creature made of lava and flame. Given that, it was kind of obvious what it could do, but trust Pyro to try fire anyway. "You've got to be kidding me." It snorted as he redirected Pyro's flame to surround Pyro and Angelica and keep them trapped. It changed form again, becoming a giant being made of green crystals, which it hurled at Xi, Wanda, Tabitha, and Shane.
"Who's next?" Numbuh Ten crowed. "Nobody beats Ben Ten!"
"Is that right?" A trio of girlish voices asked from behind him. Ben gulped.
"Oh no…" He moaned as he turned around. So did Numbuhs 86 and 362.
"Not Numbuh 666!" The Supreme Commander of the Kids Next Door moaned.
"Trinity?" Althea gasped as she emerged from the water.
"Hi sis. I see you met our old teammates." Brittany snickered.
"Not them again!" Numbuh 86 moaned. "I knew we should've erased their memories when we decommissioned them!"
"We might've needed their talents even after they turned thirteen." Numbuh 362 argued. "And besides, how're we supposed to force them?"
"We're ex-KND members." Brittany explained to the confused Misfits.
"Hold up here!" Todd protested as he wiped the slime off him. "How can you girls be a part of a Hellfire Club front group?"
"Simple." Daria said. "We don't."
"The Kids Next Door has nothing to with the Hellfire Club." Quinn agreed. "This whole mission was a set up."
"Can someone please explain just what's going on?" Wanda groaned.
"I'll cover this girls." Numbuh 362 said.
"You're the boss Numbuh 362." Trinity said. Numbuh 362 rolled her eyes. The triplets, instead of giving themselves each a codename, had adopted one number for them all, not unlike the twin brothers who both called themselves Numbuh 44.
"Yes, well…as Numbuh 666 said, they were Kids Next Door Operatives. I'm the leader of the KND, Numbuh 362. As for what the Kids Next Door is," she continued. "It's an organization made up of kids, by kids, for kids to defend their interests and freedoms against adult tyranny."
"Oh…then I guess the odds of you guys working for a bunch of wacky adults in 17th Century clothing is out then?" Angelica asked sheepishly.
"You can say that again sister!" Ben snapped.
"Are you guys all mutants? Like him?" Althea asked Numbuh 362 as she pointed at Ben. The KND leader shook her head.
"We're not and neither is he. He just has some alien watch attached to his wrist that lets him turn into different aliens." She said it in a nonchalant manner.
"Oh, is that all." Shane said sarcastically. "And here I thought it might've been something strange."
"Some KND members are mutants, but we don't look for that in particular when we recruit operatives." Numbuh 362 added.
"Girls, why didn't you ever tell us?" Althea shouted at her sisters.
"What? Tell you that we're a part of a global kids' organization of operatives? Yeah right!" Brittany snorted. Quinn and Daria nodded.
"Adult superheroes are already against the idea of teenage superheroes." Daria added. "It took a lot of effort for the Teen Titans to get legitimacy from the Justice League. They wouldn't hesitate to try to shut down the KND. Especially since most operatives have no special powers."
"Can't say I blame them." Althea said. "I don't like the idea of kids fighting crime and super-villains…"
"Tough." Numbuh One said as he and the rest of Sector V got up. "The Kids Next Door doesn't kowtow to adults, let alone teenagers."
"Look, let's all calm down." Rahne suggested. "We came here because we thought that there were children in danger of being used by the Hellfire Club."
"That clearly isn't the case." Numbuh One said.
"Yeah!" Numbuh Four shouted. "So make like a tree and beat it!" Everyone looked at him oddly.
"For some reason he reminds me of Pyro…" Angelica noted.
"So now what Al?" Todd asked his girlfriend.
"I guess we leave." Althea sighed. "There's no point in sticking around here. For now though, I think it's best if we don't tell the adults about the Kids Next Door. You three however," she whirled on her sisters. "Are in so much trouble! When we get back you three are on diaper duty for Barney and Claudius for a month!"
"Shouldn't we try to take them down?" Numbuh Two whispered. Numbuh 362 shook her head.
"They aren't going to be a problem they have enough stuff on their plate that they won't trouble us. I'm going to go lie down. For some reason, I have a headache."
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(&) A reference to Cyber Commander's KND/Powerpuff Girls crossover: Operation Powerpuff