Yay, chapter three! I didn't base the soldier characters off of any FusionFall players in particular (but if I used you name by accident then welcome to the story!). Got Mandy in there because people in this fandom seem to really like her (and why not, her show is rather fantastic). As always, comments, critique, and suggestions are always welcome! Enjoy~
Time Until the End of the Earth: 4 Days,20 Hours, 09 minutes
Warm, sticky air gusted faintly through the trees, providing little relief from the humidity and carrying with it wafts of the chemical smelling smoke spilling out of the mangled wreck that had once been their transport. Numbuh Five sighed, gazing up at the wreckage. Tugging lightly on the brim of her cap to block the bright, jungle sun, she turned her gaze to where the rest of her current team was regrouping. To avoid lumping the entirety of the sector V team into a single mission and limit the number of commanders available, Numbuh Five had been assigned four young, freshly trained recruits to accompany her on what was intended to be a simple reconnaissance mission.
Of course, when you're at war with an entire plant soldiers are a much needed commodity, and getting them out of training and onto the battlefield meant that training wasn't always as thorough as a commander like Numbuh Five would have liked. Freshly trained could be equivalent to handed-a-gun-and-sent-on-their-way. Which seemed to describe Numbuh Five's current group rather precisely. Toting weapons Numbuh Five was certain they weren't qualified to carry and clothed in a mishmash of armor, the kids under the older K.N.D.'s command seemed less than confident in their battle skills. Combined with their almost awkward and whimsical names, they looked a lot less like soldiers and a lot more like children playing make believe.
"Angel," Numbuh Five called, focusing her gaze on one of the recruits. The young girl, a few years younger than Numbuh Five, blinked in surprise at being addressed, and actually glanced around herself quickly, as if to check that there wasn't another person standing behind her. Numbuh Five frowned at her reaction. "Angel Lightningbug," she repeated tersely, motioning for the girl to join her. After another anxious look over her shoulder, the girl hurried over to her commanding officer.
Peeking out from below scruffy red bangs, Angel stared up at Numbuh Five with a look akin to awe as she nervously fingered one of the switches along the side of her large weapon. Numbuh Five thought, not for the first time since meeting the girl, that such a massive weapon seemed just a little too large and lethal for someone of her level of training.
"Uh, y-yes Numbuh Five?" Angel asked, wincing when she stuttered.
"Report," Numbuh Five barked. Angel gaped a little, clearly struggling to decide what, exactly, Numbuh five was asking for. The older girl swallowed a sigh, deciding to give the girl a nudge in the right direction. "Is anyone hurt?" she asked. "What were we able to salvage from the wreck? Did you contact the tree house?"
"Zigzag sprained his wrist and it looks like Grey has a concussion, but everyone else is alright. The only weapons and supplies that survived were the ones we were carrying when we crashed." Angel paused, looking away from Numbuh Five. "And we can't get a hold of Headquarters."
"Great, just what Numbuh Five needs," Numbuh Five muttered, frowning. It was lucky that they'd sustained so few injuries, but the lack of supplies was worrying. "Is the radio broken?" she asked. Angel shook her head.
"Just out of range," she said. Numbuh Five sighed in relief. Out of range was good. Out of range, they could fix. They'd been in radio contact shortly before they were shot down, so if they headed back the way they'd come, they were sure to come across an area of reception. As long as they stayed clear of whatever it was that had brought them out of the sky, of course.
Hefting her weapon, a Dexlabs produced null-void gun, Numbuh Five turned and marched away from Angel, the little red head scrambling to follow as her commander made her way over to the rest of her team. One boy, who was draped in two crisscrossing sashes loaded with plasma grenades, was clutching at his wrist sullenly, while a blonde girl with what appeared to be a guitar affixed to her back sat with her head in her hands. Another boy sat between them, ignoring them both in favor of fiddling wildly the team's remaining radio transmitter. Other than the array of tools he carried on his person, he seemed to be unarmed.
"Okay team, here's what we're gonna do," Numbuh Five announced. Her new subordinates looked up with mixed levels of interest.
"Before you start," the boy with the injured wrist, Zigzag, said, "tell me this—does this plan of yours involve a lot of waiting around to be rescued? Because if it doesn't, I don't want any part of it." Numbuh Five gaped at the boy, her train of thought momentarily derailed by his unabashed insubordination. What kind of soft handed training were these kids receiving back at the Academy?
"Zigzag, take that back!" Angel gasped. "That's no way to talk to your commanding officer."
"Our commanding officer is the one who got us into this mess in the first place!" Zigzag shot back. "So I think I can talk to her however I see fit."
"Could you keep it down?" the blonde, Grey asked, lifting her head just enough to glower at her teammates.
"Oh, sorry," Zigzag responded scathingly, "didn't mean to be so loud. After all, even though we are stuck out in the middle of nowhere, with enemies all around, I really should still be mindful of your stupid headache."
"Jerk," Grey muttered.
"You really are a jerk," Angel agreed.
"And you're both annoying," Zigzag told them. "Girls are so stupid," he continued, "I can't believe I have to be on a team with three of them."
"That's it," Numbuh Five said, interrupting the trio's fighting before it could get any louder. Storming over to Zigzag, Numbuh five grabbed the front of his shirt, lifting the boy bodily up.
"Hey, watch it!" he squeaked, clutching his wrist close.
"Do you want to get us all killed?" she demanded, shaking the boy slightly. "Because Numbuh Five thinks that's what's gonna happen if you don't shut your mouth." Dropping the boy, Numbuh Five whirled on the girls in her party. "You and you," she said, pointing to each in turn, "stop fighting with him. And you," she added, turning to point at the boy crouched over the radio. A looked up from his work, raising an eyebrow when he noticed his commander pointing at him.
"Yeah?" he asked slowly, wondering what he'd missed.
"….What are you doing?" Numbuh Five asked.
"I'm trying to increase the range of this transmitter," he said, motioning to the object in question. He had one of the panels pried off, a tangle of wires spilled out before him. Numbuh Five nodded, satisfied that at least one of her team was doing something productive.
"What's your name?" she asked him. The boy pointed to the plastic button pinned to his sleeve.
"Iggy," he said, rattling off the name he displayed. Numbuh Five pointed to the half disemboweled transmitter he carried.
"Can you work on that while we're moving?" she asked him. Iggy smirked up at her.
"Sure can."
"Good, because you're gonna to have to. Team!" she barked, once more addressing the group at large.
"What?" Zigzag huffed. Numbuh Five threw him a dirty look, but otherwise ignored him.
"Gather up all your weapons and supplies. If you don't need it, don't bring it. We're moving." This announcement earned a sigh from Zigzag, and an unsure look from Angel, but Grey and Iggy simply gathered their things quietly and stood, prepared to move.
This mission was as much for reconnaissance as it was these recruits' first field test, and Numbuh Five had been reminded before she left that she would be expected to report on which of the young operatives she thought were ready for combat and which she thought needed a little more training. Already she knew which of her numbers where getting the rave reviews, and who she would be recommending be sent all the way back to basic.
"We ready?" she asked, after enough time had passed for everyone to get themselves organized. She allowed herself the silent observation that her usual team would have been ready in less than half the time these kids were taking.
"Ready," Angel announced, echoed by Iggy. Grey nodded her agreement. Zigzag simply huffed.
"Good," Numbuh Five said. Shifting her weapon, Numbuh Five did a quick visual check of her team, making sure they had all of their equipment properly secured. Satisfied by what she saw—at least they'd learned something in training—she turned to face the direction they'd originally flown from. With a wave of her hand she started forward. "Let's move."
Mandy scowled down at the report she was reading, one of Juniper's backlog, doing her best to ignore the person currently standing beside her, ranting angrily about a late shipment of…something. Mandy hadn't even listened long enough to learn why it was the war's chief scientist was standing in the middle of their make-shift war room, shouting and griping.
"—and if I don't have them here within the week, something Double D is aware of I'm sure, I won't be able to begin mass production of the new laser cannons, and without them we—are you even listening to what I am saying?"
"No, Dexter, I'm not," Mandy replied honestly. "I'm trying to tune you out so that I can continue working because, if you hadn't noticed, I'm a little busier than usual. I had hoped that with your vast IQ, you would have noticed and left on your own." Glancing up from her paperwork, Mandy was pleased to see that her response had, at least momentarily, left the red headed scientist speechless. As it were, he was now simply gaping at her, one purple gloved finger pointed at her as he struggled to come up with something to say.
"But—" he started, only for Mandy to quickly cut him off.
"But nothing, Dexter," she told him. "In case you haven't noticed, and with how little you leave that lab of yours I wouldn't be surprised if you haven't, we're in the middle of a war. Supply convoys are a target of the enemy, and have a habit of being delayed in their arrival because of it. Not only that, but I'm not the person you need to be talking to anyway. That person is busy personally escorting you shipment, something you don't seem to be very grateful for. Don't interrupt," she said quickly, as Dexter opened his mouth to do just that, "I'm not finished. As I was saying, war causes unexpected delays in supply shipments. It is your job to accept that, and learn to work around it."
"Are you finished?" Dexter asked, scowling at the girl sitting across from him. Mandy frowned right back.
"Yes."
"First of all," Dexter said, using her affirmation as the launching pad for his rebuttal, "I am very aware of the war, and would prefer you not talk to me as if I am not. I am, after all, helping produce the weapons that are intended to stop it. Second of all, I understand that delays happen. But when the delay involves the kind of highly sensitive proto-core components I require, it is rather difficult for me to simply, as you put it, 'work around it'." Dexter made air quotes as he said the last bit, his expression disgruntled. For a long moment Mandy stared at Dexter, her expression calculating as she slowly leaned her elbows against the table, resting her chin on folded hands.
Across the large table Gwen and Numbuh One looked up from the maps spread out before them, Gwen's sentence about access routes trailing off as she picked up on the subtle shift in the room. Noticing Mandy's collected expression and Dexter's frustrated one, she sighed.
"This'll be good," she muttered. This wasn't the first time commanders had butted heads, but it was the first time Dexter and Mandy, the loudest and the most scathing of the leaders, respectfully, had verbally sparred . Numbuh One nodded his agreement as they turned back to their maps, each with an ear now attuned to the feuding pair. Mandy ignored their attentions, still sizing up the boy before her.
"You're right, Dexter," she said finally, surprising the young scientist.
"I…I am?" he asked, thrown by the sudden agreement. Mandy nodded.
"You are," she told him. "It really is ridiculous that you have to wait to receive your parts. What do you suggest I do about it?" Dexter blinked, confused by her last question.
"Uh, what?" he asked.
"Well, seeing that you've stormed in here to complain about the delays, it clearly means you've come up with some sort of way to remedy them," Mandy explained patiently. "Otherwise, why would you come here at all? Certainly not only to waste both our time and complain uselessly." Although her tone spoke of understanding, Dexter realized that Mandy had, very cunningly, verbally backed him against a wall, and that hidden behind that placating tone was a cold and unforgiving anger at being harassed.
"I, uh," Dexter fumbled, for he had not, in fact, come up with any way to fix the problem he had come to complain about. He was used to griping at his scientific underlings and then having them scramble to fix the problem for him while Juniper, used to his complaints, was adept at ignoring him. It had never occurred to his vast intellect that Mandy wouldn't be quite so accommodating. "You should provide the supply trucks with more protection," he offered weakly.
"I see," Mandy said slowly. "So you believe that Juniper Lee, director of the entire war effort's suppl transportation, and a dozen highly trained operatives, K.N.D. among them, are not enough of a protective force for your supplies?"
"Uh, that's not quite what I—"
"You believe," Mandy continued, cutting the boy off, "that sending out twelve well trained and combat ready field operatives, of which we have few too many, and one of our commanders, of which we also have few too many, is not enough manpower to put into such a task? Maybe I should pull Grim or Buttercup back from the field, where they are reclaiming territory from the Fusion and protecting key sources of much needed supplies, and put them on guard duty for you as well, shall I?"
"Er," Dexter muttered, looking away from his fellow war leader. "No." Mandy glowered darkly at the scientist.
"That's what I thought," she told him. "Now if I were you, I would get back down to your lab and—" before Mandy could finish her sentence with something rude and most likely painful, the radio on the table hissed with static. Scowling at Dexter with a look that said 'don't go anywhere, I'm not done with you,' Mandy snatched up the device. "What?" she barked.
"Juniper Lee reporting from the loading bay," announced the army's Te-xuan-ze. "All supplies safe and accounted for."
"Good," Mandy said, still staring at Dexter, who was struggling to not look ecstatic. "Your paperwork will be waiting for you when you get upstairs."
"Yes Ma'am," Juniper said, her tone suggesting a playful salute. "Over and out."
"Well?" Mandy said expectantly, frowning at Dexter. He looked at her in confusion.
"Well, what?" he asked. Mandy rolled her eyes.
"What are you still doing in the command center?" she snapped. "You heard the woman. You have your supplies, go get to work!" With a final imperial glare, if only to save face, Dexter spun on his heel and, with a billowing sweep of his lab coat, marched out of the room. Mandy shook her head as the command center's door swung back shut. The boy was a genius, sure, but not for the first time those assembled wondered if all of the space in his brain was so taken up with robotic brilliance that he'd run out of room for any other thought processes.
Shaking her head lightly, Mandy returned her attention to the reports in front of her, obviously pleased to be gathering up Juniper's work load to be handed back to its rightful owner. She didn't fail to notice Gwen and Numbuh One exchanging badly hidden grins as they too refocused on their work.
For five minutes the room had peace once more as she Mandy returned to her own duties. Across the table Numbuh One continued to poor over his maps, while Gwen idly picked though a report about a routine patrol conducted by a group of Bean Scouts and imaginary friends.
And then the door slammed back open, earning un-amused looks from all assembled. They frowned at the open door, confused when there was no one for them to direct their annoyance at. Then an excited yapping sound directed her gaze downward.
"Hello, Courage," Gwen greeted, staring at the little pink dog as it jumped about, waving its arms around excitedly in the direction of Blossom's empty chair. Courage paused in his actions when he realized Blossom herself was nowhere to be found. "Blossom is out leading a mission," Gwen said, getting the little dog's attention. "I'm in charge of her paperwork while she's gone." That was good enough for Courage, who scrambled up onto the table, depositing a note atop Gwen's half read report.
"Do you need a response?" Gwen asked. Courage nodded vigorously, motioning to the message. Looking down at the piece of paper, Gwen unfolded it to read the message within. It was from the flight control room, where a squadron of mixed soldiers, Dexlabs techs, and KND monitored the twenty-four hour operation of all airships being used by Earth's army. Eyes narrowed, Gwen read over the message twice while two pairs of eyes watched her closely from round the table.
"That's not good," she murmured, setting the note down. It explained that the alarm signaling a hull breach on one of the ships currently in use by a reconnaissance team had gone off. When one of the radio controllers tried to contact the ship, they received a brief, terrified affirmation that the ship was under enemy fire moments before radio contact was lost. She didn't need to check her reports to match the flight number to a ship—she's only sent them out this morning, aftera ll.
"Of all the teams," she muttered. Gwen had purposely sent Numbuh Five and her team to an area that was reported as low activity due to the team's insufficient level of combat experience. It just figured that it would be them who stumbled across hidden enemy activity. Gwen sighed. She was going to have to send in a rescue team with more experience than she would have usually preferred, so as to balance things out.
"Courage," she said, getting the dog's attention as she quickly tore herself two pieces of scrap paper from her open report. Scribbling down her orders, she handed both papers over to her furry messenger. "I want you to take the first message to Juniper Lee. She just arrived, so check the infirmary and the cafeteria. Give the second message to Mac; he should be sitting in the reception area, waiting for something to do. I want him to gather any members of the Kids Next Door's Sector V team that are off duty and send them to me. Do you understand?"
The pink dog nodded enthusiastically, yapping his understanding as he leapt down and hurried back out of the room. Beside her a chair clattered to one side as Numbuh One jumped up. Gwen sighed, catching Mandy's narrowed gaze before turning to Numbuh One.
"The airship carrying Numbuh Five and her team was shot down. I'll brief you and the team on their new mission once everyone arrives." Nigel Uno sunk slowly back into his chair. The leader in him kept him from any emotional outburst, but even he couldn't remain stoic in the face of such news, the furrows creasing his brow giving away his anxiety. Gwen rested a comforting hand on his shoulder. The expressions on all those gathered echoed with the same thought.
This was going to be a long day.