The action rises! In this chapter the mystery of the hidden enemy in the jungle deepens and the rescue team begins the race to find Numbuh Five and her recruits before it's too late? Thanks again to Man of cartoons and Ben10 Madness for their supportive, wonderful reviews! Enjoy~!
Time Until the End of the Earth: 4 Days, 19 Hours, 33 minutes
Numbuh Five had already decided that insubordination was top among the problems plaguing her young trainees. Their inability to travel in formation, however, was certainly proving a very close second.
"Angel," she said evenly. A small sound of surprise escaped the smaller girl.
"Y-yes, Ma'am?" she asked. Numbuh Five's response was to come to an abrupt halt, Angel bumping into her not a moment later.
"Three feet, soldier," she said, glancing over her shoulder. Angel nodded fervently as she scrabbled to regain her grip on her oversized weapon. Numbuh Five did her best not to sigh as she turned back around—
Until she caught sight of Zigzag, the boy trailing at the back of the formation, where he was supposed to be keeping an eye on his team's six.
Not the screen of this stupid little video game.
"Zigzag!" she barked. The boy jumped, fumbling his game as he looked around wildly.
"I'm ready, I'm ready," he shouted, trying to grab one of his grenades with the same hand still holding his video game.
"Clearly," Numbuh Five drawled. "The only one here who should be paying any attention to something that runs on batteries is Iggy." She motioned to the aforementioned boy as she spoke.
He didn't even glance up from his tinkering.
Numbuh Five scowled.
"Okay, okay," she said, letting her head fall into her hands. "This ain't working." Sighing, she reexamined the crew she had before her—Angel, who was holding her gun more like an item of comfort than a weapon, Iggy, who was still tinkering, Zigzag, who was eyeing his game, and Grey, who it seemed was ignoring the whole exchange in favor of strumming on her guitar.
"Slim pickin's," she observed dryly.
"What?" Angel asked. Numbuh Five shook her head in dismissal.
"New plan," she then announced. "We reorganizing."
This earned an exasperated sigh from Zigzag.
"Seriously?" he asked. "You took like, an hour getting us organized the first time."
"And if I have to, I'll take another hour now," Numbuh Five said. "Grey, you take point." Grey looked surprised by the decision, which she didn't realize was based mostly on the fact that, of the trainees to pick from, she seemed to have the longest attention span (not that the competition was exactly fierce). "Angel, you're staying put and helping navigate." Without pausing long enough to allow Angel time to freak out about her new responsibility, she continued with, "Iggy, I want you in the middle. Keep working on…whatever you're doing."
"Aye, aye, captain," Iggy muttered, the first sign that he was paying any attention to what was going on around him. Numbuh Five quirked an eyebrow, and then simply shrugged.
"Zigzag, you're bringin' up the rear with me, and if you don't put that video game away Numbuh Five's going to blast it into a million pieces, staring with your thumbs."
Zigzag's head shot up at that and, scowling darkly, he stuffed the game back into one of his pack's side pockets.
Shaking her head, Numbuh Five took up her new position, waiting not-so-patiently as her team shuffled about in a less brisk attempt to follow suit. Once everyone was arranged (again, Numbuh Five noted, not at the kinds of speeds she expected) Numbuh Five gave the signal for their new formation to move out. Unfortunately, it wasn't the most effective positioning in relation to their various skills, but at least it meant Numbuh Five could keep her team a little more under control and focused.
And, as time passed, Numbuh Five found it wasn't exactly solving all their problems.
"Eyes forward, Angel," Numbuh Five commanded as the girl glanced back over her shoulder for what had to be the fiftieth time.
"Y-yes sir, er, ma'am," the girl said, her head whipping back around. Numbuh Five shook her head lightly. She would have thought the stutter was a speech impediment, if not for the fact it only seemed to emerge when the girl was forced to address her commanding officer.
"This is so stupid," Zigzag muttered to Iggy, who glanced back at the boy with only half hearted interest. "I mean, really, what's going to attack us out here? The trees?"
"Maybe," Grey said, frowning over her shoulder. "Or maybe the people who shot us out of the sky."
"It's a possibility," Iggy agreed, moving away from Zigzag. The boy deflated a little, scowling at his teammates' backs. Numbuh Five, while pleased that her subordinates weren't putting up with their comrade's behavior, frowned at the strife beginning to form amongst her team. There was little that put a team at as much risk as soldiers who couldn't work together.
Luckily, the group fell back into silence after that, allowing for some peace and quiet as they continued onward. Numbuh Five saw this as a good chance to test her fledgling team's navigation skills, and left Angel and Grey in charge of directing the group. The girls did everything very by-the-book, which was to be expected—Numbuh Five knew that creativity would come with more experience.
"Are you sure we're going the right way?"
Numbuh Five sighed. So much for peace and quiet.
"Yes, we're sure," Grey said, scowling over her shoulder. Zigzag pulled a face at her, and Grey rolled her eyes back.
"You're annoying," he said. In response, Grey stood straighter, revealing the few inches of height she had over the boy.
"And so are you," she said. "If you haven't noticed, you're the one doing all the complaining." Zigzag sputtered indignantly, glaring at the girl but seemingly unable to formulate some sort of response. Numbuh Five ignored them both, tired of berating them for all of their bickering. Shaking her head, she turned her attention out to the jungle surrounding them.
Which was why she noticed the flash of silver and the bushes parting, giving her just enough time to shout a warning to her team before something massive, robotic, and not on their side crashed through the foliage and charged the group.
"Everyone, get down!" Numbuh Five cried as she threw herself to the ground, Null Void gun raised and aimed before she'd even landed. The gun fired with a bright flash of light, emitting a large ball of energy that slammed into the monster's front leg, obliterating it in an explosion of metal and fusion matter. Bellowing in pain, the monster crumpled forward, falling to its one remaining knee. Acrid black smoke billowed up from the damaged beast, making Numbuh Five's eyes water. Squinting, she struggled to get a good look at the creature. Long, shining horns and an array of satellite dishes identified the Triceraclaw for what it was.
"What is that thing?" Grey demanded, pulling Numbuh Five's attention back to the kids crouched on the ground around her.
"It's one of Fuse's monsters," she shouted back. "Fuse uses them like giant walking radio transmitters."
"Does that mean he knows we're here?" Angel asked, her eyes going wide. Numbuh Five frowned.
"If he didn't, he does now. We gotta destroy that thing then get out of here, fast."
"Leave it to me," Zigzag said, already grabbing one of the grenades hanging around his shoulders. He eyed his right hand for a moment, the one he'd injured in the crash, and then, with a shrug, pulled back his left arm for the toss.
"Zigzag, wait!" Numbuh Five shouted. The monster he was aiming for wasn't that far away—if he threw the grenade now, it would land practically on top of his team; there would be no way they could avoid the blast completely.
Zigzag ignored her, winding up and hurling the grenade with a shout.
"Everyone, get down!" Numbuh Five roared, turning and flinging herself at the closest member of her team—who happened to be Angel—and shoving her flat against the ground. She hoped briefly that the rest of her team had heard her, but the thought was derailed by the grenade's explosion.
With a sound like a sonic boom, the entire area exploded with a flash of light so bright that it blinded Numbuh Five even through her closed eyelids. It was followed a moment later by a wave of super heated air that washed over the group, burning against any exposed skin. It was akin to being in a wind tunnel, the wind roaring loudly as it pulled fiercely at the children, tearing at their clothes and whipping their hair about wildly. All around, the shattered remained of the monster rained down around the group, who could only cover themselves with their hands and hope nothing too big or sharp hit them.
Everyone remained lying still once the chaos had passed, stunned into inaction by the suddenness of it all. It wasn't until someone groaned, the sound soft and pain laced, that Numbuh Five was able to shake off her surprise. Pushing herself up onto her hands and knees, she looked down at the younger girl pinned beneath her.
"You okay?" she asked. Angel was thoroughly windswept, and her eyes were wide as saucers in her face, but she nodded mutely. "Good," Numbuh Five said, before rolling off of the girl. Sitting up on her haunches, she quickly surveyed the rest of her team. Zigzag was sitting a few feet away, propped up on his elbows and staring at the heap of scorched metal that had once been a Triceraclaw. He was bleeding from a few shallow cuts, but otherwise looked fine.
"Numbuh Five!" Grey shouted, redirecting her commander's attention. The blonde was crouched down beside Iggy, who was sprawled on his back, unmoving. Muttering a few of the more vulgar curses she'd picked up from some of the older fighters, Numbuh Five pushed herself to her feet. She stumbled the first few steps until she regained her equilibrium, and then she jogged over to her teammates.
"What happened?" she barked as she dropped to her knees on Iggy's side, across from Grey.
"He was hit by a piece of the, the…whatever it was that attacked us," Grey explained shakily. The girl's cheeks and forehead were red, burned by the grenade's blast, but she looked otherwise unharmed as she stared down at her injured teammate.
"Iggy," Numbuh Five called, leaning over the fallen recruit. "Iggy, can you hear me?" Dark eyes gazed back at her, glazed and uncomprehending, as blood oozed from a wound on the side of the young operative's head. Rummaging through her pack for a first aid kit, Numbuh Five bit her lip, glancing over at the Triceraclaw's smoldering remains as she considered her options. "Grey," she said, glancing up at the blonde girl. "Do you know what happened to the radio Iggy was working on?"
"Uhh," Grey glanced about, trying to spot it among the wreckage. "There!" she shouted when she finally caught sight of it, half hidden beneath half a satellite dish. Jumping up, she retrieved it and brought it back to her commander. "Is it damaged?" she asked worriedly, unable to judge the condition of the tech for herself. Numbuh Five held out a medical kit to the girl, trading her for the radio.
"I don't think so," Numbuh Five said, pushing a button on the radio's side while Grey worked on bandaging Iggy's head. A small red light blinked on, and Numbuh Five began playing with one of the radio's dials. Various levels of static poured from the speakers as she moved through the channels before eventually settling on seven, the channel set aside for universal communications. "Looks like we're just still out of range." She glanced back down at Iggy, whose eyes were slowly drifting shut. "He's not going to be of any use, so it looks like we won't be getting an extended receiving range."
"What does that mean?" Angel asked, coming over to join the group. Numbuh Five sighed.
"Means we'll just have to walk further, no thanks to a certain someone," she added, glancing back at Zigzag.
"Hey!" Zigzag shouted, from where he was still sitting on the ground. "I was protecting my team!"
"By making them collateral damage?" Numbuh Five asked. "I don't know how they're training you at the Academy, but when Numbuh Five was a trainee, she was taught that you don't just blow up everything around you and hope the enemy gets caught in the blast."
"That's not what I—"
"Save it," Numbuh Five snapped. "This training mission just got as real as it gets, and if any of you have plans of getting out of here alive, Numbuh Five suggests you stop acting like trainees and start acting like soldiers." Numbuh Five took in her team's varying expressions, all differing mixtures of determined, petrified, and pissed. At least mildly satisfied by what she saw, she continued, "Now, first things first—we gotta get that communicator somewhere where it'll actually communicate."
"By continuing in the direction we were going originally," Grey said. Numbuh Five nodded.
"It would be quicker to send two people with the communicator, and leave the other two with Iggy, but considering your combined lack of skill, I'm thinking that would be a bad idea."
"So what do we do instead?" Zigzag asked, scowling. Numbuh Five briefly considered throwing something at him.
"We keep going, traveling together and bring Iggy with us. It'll slow us down, more than we already have been," she fixed Zigzag with a pointed look, "but we don't have any other choice."
"Why don't we leave him here?" Zigzag asked. He was not at all prepared for the dark look Numbuh Five fixed him with, yet her voice was controlled when she answered.
"It's Lord Fuse's mission to kill your teammates. Not yours."
A long silence followed Numbuh Five's words. Angel and Grey glanced at one another, surprised by the vehemence in their usually calm and cool leader. Zigzag looked like he wanted so badly for something snide and witty to say, anything to save face in front of his team. One look from Numbuh Five told him that attempting such a feat would not end well for him.
"Zigzag, help Grey carry Iggy. Angel, you're going to have to bring up our rear, while I take point. Can you do that?" Angel nodded in a way that didn't quite seem to say yes as she picked up her disproportionate weapon and hefted it onto her shoulder.
Nodding to herself, Numbuh Five stood, drawing her own weapon. "Good," she nodded, as she turned to examine her entire team one more time. "Come on," she said. "Let's move out."
The engines of the small, sleek Dexlabs recon ship were already roaring to life as the three man rescue team arrived in hanger four. Numbuh Two was there, a mission file in his hands, personally waiting to see them off.
"Hey Numbuh Two," Numbuh Four said, holding out a hand to accept the folder. "You heard, huh?" Numbuh Two nodded.
"The coordinates from Numbuh Five's last transmission are in there, the pilots have a copy as well," Numbuh Two fidgeted once the folder was taken from him, glancing in the direction of the ship's cockpit and the pilot preparing the ship for takeoff. It was clear to Numbuh Four that his teammate would have much preferred that he was the one behind those controls.
"They'll get us there," he assured his friend, clapping the larger boy on the shoulder. "I'll make sure of it." Numbuh Four's expression brokered no arguments, for which Numbuh Two was grateful. If he could count on anyone making sure things got done, it was Numbuh Four. However, even his teammate's assurances could do little to lessen the knot of dread in his stomach, and he could only nod distractedly as he continued to brief them on their mission.
"You're going to be air dropped into the jungle south of Dinosaur pass. It's a thirty minute flight—plenty of time to get your parachutes ready."
"Great," Juniper muttered. "We don't even get time for an in-flight movie." Numbuh Two, always a fan of alleviating tense situations with terrible jokes, smiled briefly.
"Unfortunately, no."
"I guess we'll just have to make do without." Hefting her pack more securely onto her shoulder, Juniper started towards the camper turned airship.
"Good luck guys," Numbuh Two said, waving as Numbuhs Four and Three followed suit and climbed into the transport, the latter waving over her shoulder as she went.
"We won't need it, but thanks," Numbuh Four said, all attitude and bravado masquerading as a confidence Numbuh Two knew his friend was struggling to feel. Juniper rolled her eyes at the boy's blustering anyway, Numbuh Three giggling, albeit a little nervously, as she followed the blond into the ship.
"Needed or not, it's appreciated," Juniper said, remaining by the door a moment longer. She could tell by his fidgeting that there was something more the K.N.D.'s aviation specialist wanted to tell her. He hesitated a moment and then offered a soft,
"Stay safe."
A small smile tugged at Juniper's lips, spurred by a rush of affection towards her fellow warrior.
"I'll keep an eye on them," Juniper promised. Numbuh Two surprised her by shaking his head.
"You too," he added. "All of you."
Juniper swallowed hard. Nodding once, she squared her shoulders, a grin spreading across her face as she slipped back into the role of confident commander. Turning into the airship, she shouted a quick, "See you when we get back!"
And then she climbed inside, the door that shut behind her leaving Numbuh Two alone on the tarmac to watch as the ship containing the Te Xuan Ze and two of his teammates taxied out of the hanger and to the short runway beyond. With a blast of flames, the airship's rockets roared to life as the pilots prepared for take-off. Built to get in and get out quick, it didn't take very long before the aircraft was taking off—it barely needed to go down the runway before it was lifting into the air, quickly gaining altitude. Banking south, the ship arced off to the left, leaving the airstrip in its wake.
Numbuh Two stared after it the ship, following it until it disappeared behind the massive form of the Sector V tree house. His gaze stayed on the giant tree-turned-KND-headquarters-turned-Earth's-home-b ase long after the ship was gone from view.
And then the sound of awkward throat clearing drew his attention to the boy standing a few feet away. The kid, a scrawny blonde with braces he clearly wasn't yet used to, was clutching a clipboard to his chest and staring at Numbuh Two. He started a little when he realized he was being looked at.
"Uh, Numbuh Two, sir?" he fumbled, glancing down at his clipboard in what Numbuh Two recognized was probably a nervous habit. Turning completely towards the technician, Numbuh Two struggled to remember the boy's name as he responded.
"Yes, uhh…" he flailed about mentally for a moment before going with, "Blaster?" Judging by the boy's wide eyes, Numbuh Two figured he'd guessed right.
"Uhm, we're having a problem with one of the, uh, thrusters on the new ship you and Dexter were designing, and, uh," Blaster paused, looking back down at his clipboard, and Numbuh Two thought, not for the first time, the kid would really benefit from a little calming down and thinking before he spoke. "Uh, yeah," the boy continued, still staring pointedly downwards, "We were wondering if you would mind, uh, taking a look at it?"
"Sure," Numbuh Two said, sighing as he held his hand out. It took Blaster a moment, but he soon interpreted the sign language and, with a reluctant look, handed over his clipboard. Numbuh Two perused the notes there for a moment before looking up when he noticed the boy wasn't going anywhere, but simply looking at him.
Numbuh Two raised an eyebrow.
Blaster stared back.
"Oh, uh, right," the boy said with a start, quickly gathering himself and scurrying off. Numbuh Two blinked in surprise at the sudden motion before hurrying after the boy, lest he lose sight of him among all of the other gathered ships, pilots, technicians, and soldiers milling about the airfield. He allowed himself a small sigh and a final glance back over his shoulder at the tree house, watching as it retreated into the distance.
And then they turned down a corridor, and it lost from sight.