A/N: Shout-out to Tziput13 and Sagittarius12 for leaving their thoughts on the last chapter! The support is appreciated!

Chapter 8

Maurice found himself, once again, camped out a good distance from yet another KND facility in the dead of night, awaiting Cree's return. Sera was decked out in a ghillie suit that perfectly matched the tall grasses that towered over their heads in the field they were hiding in, tapping away at her keyboard. A pair of night vision goggles were propped on her head, the lenses glowing green.

Maurice eyed her, not quite sure what to do or say now that he was alone with her again. Normally, he wouldn't take much of anything Cree had to say all that seriously, but when she'd said Sera had attacked another operative...the aforementioned girl's eyes had widened for just a brief second, showing anger and panic on her face before she'd managed to school it. It made him think that, for once, Cree might have hit the nail on the head. Still...that didn't answer everything.

"Something you want to say?" Sera said, her eyes never leaving her screen. "I can feel you staring."

Maurice shook his head. "Oh, no, just...a little bored, I guess. We don't exactly have much to do out here."

"Well, you should have gone with Cree, then. Considering that I can't track her like last time, it would have been useful to have someone keep a more direct eye on her."

"Oh, n-no, thanks." Maurice held his hands up, making sure to act the part of unsure teen. But he kept his eyes on Sera's face. "I wouldn't want to mess with her, uh, thing. She knows what she's doing. Besides, you've actually got her on a pretty tight leash. To be honest, that's...pretty impressive."

Sera's eyes flicked up to him, sharp as knives, and the two teens traded inquisitive looks before she sighed. "Well, you just have to get ahold of the right kind of leverage. Then again, I'm sure you're already familiar with that, considering that you've been using your status as her boyfriend to get all kinds of juicy info for the KND's secret teen agents."

And with that, Maurice's suspicions were confirmed. To be honest, he wasn't really that surprised. She'd always had a suspicious and calculated look in her eye when she looked at him. "So, you do know about us, then."

"Of course." Sera resumed her typing. "It's been suspected for a long time, but we've technically never had anything that could be seen as actual, definitive proof to go off of. More of an educated speculation thing, to be honest."

"...we?"

"My online conspiracy forum," she said with a dismissive wave. "Made up of theoretically anyone, but also technically no one (there's a strict don't-ask, don't-tell confidentiality agreement), we theorize about everything from how to crack ice cream flavor codes to why you can't wear white after Labor Day. The teen cell's been one of the bigger ones, especially after you were 'decommissioned.' There's quite a few kids out there who just couldn't accept that you were fated to live out your days as an amnesiac, true-blue Teen Ninja. You won't be soon be forgotten by any of them. They finally figured that it didn't make a lot of sense for the KND to just let go of their best operatives without much of a fight. Not if they wanted to have any sort of permanent foothold in this conflict. Of course, I've always suspected, even as far back as my own KND days, and the connections that could prove that have been easier to find in recent years, but only if you're actually looking for it. Like Numbuh 274, for example. Everybody automatically hated his guts for all time after the whole send-Moonbase-into-the-sun thing, so nobody wanted to believe he could possibly be an operative. Which, I'm sure was the actual plan from the start all along, but when you have the likes of Numbuh 274, heralded as the greatest KND operative of all time, consistently losing in increasingly humiliating ways to kids he helped train, when literally the only thing that's changed is that he's a Teen Ninja? Yeah, I was able to connect those dots pretty quickly on that one. Besides, you sure don't act like the ones who weren't lucky enough to make that teen-operative list."

Maurice tilted his head, scrutinizing her. "What do you mean?"

"The kids who were decommissioned just like they were supposed to." Sera said slowly. "After becoming teens, losing their memories, their entire identities...of course they wouldn't be the same after all that. They've lost so many pieces that they'll...they'll never be whole, and you can see that. It's all in their eyes. But as for you secret teen operatives...you've got a different look, one most people wouldn't notice. It's the look that says you have too many secrets, more than you ever would if you'd just been decommissioned. It's the look of a spy...and I'd be an idiot if I didn't know it."

"So, what do you plan to do, then?"

Sera's gaze turned flinty. "Shouldn't I be asking you that? After all, you're the one who went through my stuff, and you know I'm an ex-KND spy. Yes, I have hidden cameras in my own house. It's a little disappointed you didn't think of that." She said, answering Maurice's silent question at how she'd known that. "So, I'm pretty sure I'm the one that should be asking, how much about me do you know?"

"Not much," Maurice reluctantly admitted. "I mean, I only saw you the one time when we were still in the Kids Next Door, and...that was a long time ago. I don't know if you remember, but-"

"I remember." Sera interrupted flatly. "And I'm not surprised you forgot. After all, I was just one of the hundreds, if not thousands, of operatives stationed on Moonbase you were lucky to even catch a glimpse of, and never saw again. Why would you remember me?"

Maurice raised his eyebrow at her tone, but she promptly moved on. "And, anyway, I'm guessing you couldn't get into my KND file, either."

He shook his head, and Sera nodded knowingly, even as her expression flickered.

"Of course, that's no surprise to me," she said. "My file was completely sealed by Numbuh 100 himself. No one but a Supreme Leader can touch it now. However..." she reached into her duffle bag, pulling out a file. Flipping it open, she began to read in a tone that grew more clinical and detached with every word. "...Sera Sage. Formerly Numbuh 221B of the Kids Next Door Intelligence Division. Was arrested and imprisoned on Moonbase after an incident that resulted in her violently attacking another operative with no rationale or reason. The general consensus for such a thing was that she had become increasingly unhinged, psychotic, and just plain loony after a previously failed espionage mission with her team, and was marked for immediate decommissioning soon after the attack. However, she escaped her captors, and stole a ship back to Earth, but she was chased down by the decommissioning squad to the Vinegara Falls, where she fell in, and was swept away by the currents. Efforts to recover her afterward were in vain, and the search was eventually called off by order of Supreme Leader Numbuh 100. Current status: Permanently MIA. At least, that's the official version...from five years ago."

Maurice's eyebrows shot up in surprise and shock. Surprise that she actually read her own file to him, and shock at her status. Permanently MIA status was only used in extreme cases when operatives had met certain fates in the line of duty that, to the KND's knowledge, couldn't be fixed or reversed. Whatever that might be usually varied, but it usually meant they were cut off from the KND in one way or another, effectively ending their time as operatives. In fact, the only other operatives he knew of that had that on their file would have to be the Sector Z kids, who had been permanently turned into the Delightful Children from Down the Lane, with no way to truly reverse the process. For operatives like them, it was the Kids Next Door's way of saying they'd given up on them. It was sort of like being considered dead.

"So, what Cree said about you...that's true, then?" He finally said after taking a moment to collect his thoughts.

"...yes. That...is true." Sera's gaze flicked away from him in a measure of discomfort. "I attacked an operative, just as it says. Just like Cree said."

"And...why did you do that?" Maurice asked, looking at her with a raised eyebrow.

"...it doesn't matter." She finally said, her tone hollow, and her eyes like dark, empty pits.

"Uh, I think it does? I mean, you don't exactly strike me as someone who would just attack another kid without a reason." He pointed out.

"You didn't know me back then." Sera said, eyes glued back to her laptop. "I was impulsive and foolhardy, featherbrained and kooky, melodramatic and...and...hokey. When a squad of Teen Ninjas managed to break into the Moonbase, I practically tore them apart when one of them had the gall to rip the cover off my book, and I landed in the psych ward for a mandatory, two-day evaluation after that. Then, there was the bus hijacking where I managed to crash right into the Annual How-to-Beat-Up-the-Bad-Guys-and-Make-Them-Cry Training Seminar at the Kids Next Door Super Convention Center. Not to mention whenever I was out on a field mission with my partner, the odds of just the two of us managing to cause a ridiculously unnecessary explosion in the process increased by approximately 67.3529%."

"Oh, yeah," Maurice said, rubbing his chin. "You know, I think I actually remember that seminar. Didn't you, like, literally fall out of the sky and crash right in the middle of Numbuh 711's big speech?"

"The old Drill Sergeant Supreme of Arctic Base, yes," Sera rolled her eyes, but her lips twitched in a barely-there smile for just a second. "He just about blew his top for what was, in his words, an extreme level of disrespect and humiliation that he was publically subjected to. Needless to say, it took him a very long time to cool off after that little stunt. He wasn't very happy with either of us then."

"Well, at the very least, you managed to make it way more memorable..."

"Don't act like you're my friend, Numbuh 9." Sera said icily, that ghost of a smile gone, and her narrow-eyed, glinting gaze back. "You forget that I'm just as much a spy as you are, and I know exactly how you operate. You think, 'oh, if I'm nice and understanding, and act like her friend, she's sure to give me whatever I want about her until I don't need her anymore.' Even now, I'm sure you're planning to sic the entire decommissioning squad back on me just as soon as it suits you."

"N-no! No, I'm not!" Maurice said in surprise. "I'm not planning anything like that!"

"Oh, really?" Sera raised her eyebrow suspiciously. "I'm an ex-KND operative who frequently exhibited unstable tendencies for the duration of her career, who (after a violent outburst, mind you) managed to escape decommissioning barely by the skin of her teeth, but not really, because, let's face it, I wasn't exactly thinking straight, and I probably would have been found out and captured by the decom squad long ago, only this time, for keeps. In fact, if it weren't for Numbuh 100, that's definitely what would have happened. If he hadn't called off the order, and basically marked me for dead, AND sealed my file, I would have just become some...some hobo living in my grandma's cellar forever. I would have never even tried going back home if it hadn't been for him. But..." she closed her eyes, inhaling through her nose, "...I guess none of that really matters. Numbuh 362's the Supreme Leader now, Numbuh 100's...gone, and so is anybody else who would have even cared. And the few who do know...they literally can't care less."

"And what about me?" Maurice pointed his thumb at himself. "I mean, I haven't turned you in to the KND or anything, and I don't plan to-"

"And you honestly expect me to just believe you?" Sera said, her tone challenging him. "You're a spy. It's, like, literally your job to lie. Not that I'm one to judge about everything you do for it, of course, but it also means trusting someone like you is...extremely ill-advised. Just being a teen KND operative is enough to prove that."

"And...what exactly is that supposed to mean?"

Sera huffed, starting to look agitated. "It shows you've managed to prove that your loyalty to the KND is not only absolute, but something you'll put above anything or anyone else. Your friends, family, whatever, if push comes to shove, and you have to choose between any of them and the Kids Next Door...I know you'd choose the KND. Every. Single. Time. And for an ex-KND rogue who not only knows of your whole double identity...thing...but also colludes with the second-in-command of the Teen Ninjas on a semi-regular basis, and is able to pull pertinent, secret information straight from the Kids Next Door systems? We both know you can't really take the chance. Your mission can't afford such a clear loose end."

Maurice pressed his lips together, his brow furrowing. "Well, whatever you seem to want to think, I, for one, am not convinced that's necessary. Sure, you've put together this whole script about a whole bunch of stuff that you're practically guaranteeing to happen right now. Didn't it ever occur to you that all that...might not happen? For one thing, you're...not a Teen Ninja. You're not technically my enemy, like Cree."

"I still work with them, if the price is right, and I decide it's worth my time." Sera said pointedly. "And, just because I'm not a part of the Ninjas, doesn't mean I am a part of the KND or your little teen club, or whatever, just by default. Like my file says, I'm still technically considered a traitor. That hasn't changed."

Maurice shook his head at her stubbornness. "I'm...not sure I totally understand your reasoning behind all this, you know."

"Yeah? Well, I don't see how you could. You've never had to deal with operatives who are so completely loyal to the KND that they can barely use their heads for anything except following orders." Sera said flatly. "Sure, they might be some of the most dedicated, efficient operatives in the entire Kids Next Door, with hundreds of successful missions under their belts. But once you step out of line, and that blind, unquestioning loyalty gets turned on you? Before you know it, you're branded a traitor, 100%, no question about it, imprisoned without an investigation, or a trial, or even a phone call. Then, once that decommissioning order comes in...they never bother to check or even ask anyone else about it, they just do it, even if it doesn't make any sense, and goes against all known protocol. And then, then they hunt you down like you're nothing but a rabid animal that needs to be put down, and they even have the audacity to be surprised when you fight back. Again, there are no questions. Not from them, not ever. Even when they're shown to have been wrong, they don't even try to say sorry. And when they're operatives you know? That just makes it all hurt so much more."

Maurice opened his mouth, but Sera went on. "So, no, I won't trust you, but I can make a deal. You don't report me to the Kids Next Door, and I won't be telling Cree about your secret teen operative status. That sounds pretty fair to me."

The teenaged boy's dark eyes widened, before narrowing. "You know, for someone who's convinced I'll try to turn you in at the drop of a hat, you're not exactly doing anything to prove you're not a threat. Especially when you bring out the blackmail. That's not cool."

"Oh, like you weren't thinking of it from the moment you saw me," she said, shaking her head. "I could see the wheels turning the second you realized all the information I could get on the KND."

"Well, just because I thought about it doesn't mean I was going to do it." Maurice crossed his arms over his chest, but Sera just scoffed. "You didn't even give me a chance."

"Well, sorry to offend, but I can't take that risk. No matter what I have to do, I won't be decommissioned. Thanks to the KND, I've lost my squad, my friends, my position, everything. I'm not losing my memories, too. No matter what."

Maurice sighed and shook his head, but Sera's eyes were unyielding. He wasn't going to be able to convince her of anything. Not yet, at least. "Fine, whatever, I guess I'll have to take your deal."

"Good. Then we understand each other just fine." She said, her tone making it clear this should be the end of their discussion. But, there was still one more thing itching at his mind.

"So...your file said a failed mission is what started your whole...thing. What exactly happened?"

Sera's fingers stilled over the keyboard, and the light seemed to leave her eyes. She stayed silent for a few minutes before speaking.

"...like I said. None of it matters. Not anymore."

Maurice raised his eyebrow, but paused when his ears picked up a faint sound in the distance that was steadily getting louder. It sounded like...the whirring of helicopter blades. Looking up, he and Sera watched as a KND 'copter flew above them, the wind rustling the tall grasses around them (but still hiding them). It went on past them, and Maurice's eyes widened when he realized where its path was going. He looked down at Sera, whose face had managed to get even paler than normal as she snapped her laptop shut and stowed it in her bag, flipping her night vision goggles down over her eyes.

"...is that going where I think it is?"

Sera looked up and grimly nodded. "Yeah. Not only that, but, unless I'm mistaken, that is Numbuh 2x4's personal helicopter. So, I have no idea why (that convention was supposed to last the whole weekend), but...for whatever reason, he's decided to come back early. And Cree had better get done and back here soon."

But before either of them could move, there was a distinct crackling sound right behind them...almost like someone stepping through the tall, dry grass. The two teens froze, and there was silence for a moment. Then, several things happened at once.

Sera's head snapped to stare at a point right behind Maurice, he turned his head in response, the grass crackled again, an unsettling hiss like a rattlesnake sounded, along with a distinct snap. Then, he found himself staring down at some sort of thing, coughing and spitting sparks, right by his foot. He could have sworn it was an animal, but it was so small, he couldn't tell of what, exactly. But the glint of the arrow shot right through its metallic skull was unmistakable.

He turned to see Sera holding a crossbow, already prepped with another arrow for firing as she aimed at the creature, her goggles glowing green. Maurice kneeled down to get a closer look at it, prodding the creature. "Is it...a hamster?"

"A prairie dog, actually," Sera corrected as they both examined it. "One of the KND's many droids, meant to capture footage disguised as your average, run-of-the-mill, inconspicuously small and insignificant critter. If it managed to send any footage of us, then I'd say this must be the reason for Numbuh 2x4's abrupt about-face. But..." she drew her brow together, looking distinctly puzzled, "...we're pretty far from the actual facility. I would expect these guys to be running around the perimeter much closer to the facility, and never just one by itself, either. These are supposed to be in large groups, and-"

Maurice spotted a metallic flash behind Sera's head as she spoke, and he quickly blasted the head off another robotic prairie dog as it launched itself at Sera, metallic teeth chomping threateningly. She turned to stare at the new robot, shaking her head. "And these are not supposed to be used for attacks, either. They're espionage tech, meant to be used to covertly gather and report info. Their programming would have had to have been manually overridden to be this hostile, so-"

"Uh, Sera?" Maurice interrupted, his wrist gauntlet blasting another robot. Then another, and another. Then one more... "Maybe you should stop analyzing, and start shooting? Because I think these prairie dogs...are in a large group."

As if to prove his thoughts, the tall grasses surrounding them crackled dangerously, and a sea of prairie dog robots swept out at the two teens, the metallic teeth of each one gnashing menacingly.