Disclaimer: I do not own Codename: Kids Next Door and I never will.
Hullo there! I was actually planning on writing more for this chapter, but I decided it was best not to. In other news, I have a poll on my profile! I wanna know who your favourite character is in this story. No reason for it, just interested. I got one vote so far, so Celeste is leading at the moment. Okay, enjoy!
Chapter 13: Distract and Target
Melissa pressed the buttons on the machine and stepped back in line with the others. They closed their eyes and a tingling sensation filled their bodies. They opened their eyes to look at each other and, by their expressions, knew they were all experiencing the same thing. Anne-Marie's machine essentially had the same buttons as Melissa's, but there were a few things different. The strange feeling was one of them.
They blinked and they were in the cloudy area again. However, instead of just floating, they were flying and top speed through the sky. Or, at least, what they thought was the sky. Their eyes watered from the wind pushing itself on their faces.
"This sucks!" Thomas yelled over the harsh wind.
"Oh, shut up, crud-face!" Harry shouted, attempting to turn his head, but the wind wouldn't let him.
The wind increased in speed so much that it came to the point where they couldn't talk anymore. Not that any of them wanted to; they were too busy trying to keep their faces from being blown off. Kellie and Celeste were holding their skirts down, praying they weren't pushed in front of the boys.
Eventually, the gale softened so they were just hovering. The wind was no longer strong enough to help them along, so they had to find a way themselves. They paddled with their hands until they saw a circular opening. Feeling a surge of enthusiasm, they forced themselves to go the remaining distance.
A few metres away from their exit, they heard a sound familiar to a vacuum cleaner. Without any further warning, they were sucked into the opening, which had now become an archway. They screamed and flailed their arms as they attempted to beat the current, but they couldn't. They could just hope the other side was safe.
The pulling came to an abrupt halt and they were on the ground, which was metal. Resting for a bit, they managed to see where they were. It was a dimly lit room, and all the light in the room was pointing to one thing: four seats with plungers above them. They had never been to this place in person, but had seen enough pictures to know it.
"We're in the Decommissioning Chamber," Harry whispered.
Even though he was quiet, his voice echoed around the room as if he was shouting. The air was suddenly chilly and they all shivered. Thankfully, the whole place was deserted, so no one saw them land.
"Come on, to the chamber!"
The six operatives almost jumped three metres in the air when they heard the voice from outside the door. They didn't recognise it at first, but when they stopped being surprised, they realised who it was.
"Hide!" Harry ordered, diving behind a pile of weapons.
Melissa and Thomas hid underneath a large basket, all the while wondering what it was doing there. Celeste and Kellie concealed themselves with a curtain near the other entrance and pointed at an old machine for Truman to hide behind. He accepted the suggestion at once. They all held their breath and watched the doorway.
Fanny walked in with her normal, firm look. At least, from a glance, it looked normal. If someone studied her eyes very closely, they could tell there was sadness amongst the authority. She turned to the doorway where two boys were leading someone in. Considering the circumstances, the future Sector V presumed it was an operative who had just become thirteen.
"You stupid boys! Can't you move any faster?" she screamed.
The boys shared a look of pure terror and immediately picked up the pace. Following them was a dark skinned girl with a red cap. Her face was downwards and her arms were neatly folded against her chest.
"Mum?"
Thomas nudged Melissa in the ribs to stop her from making any more noise, but she ignored it. Her eyes were filled with tears and she had to hide her face so no one would see. She couldn't believe she was going to watch her mother getting decommissioned. No, she couldn't believe that she would be the one to do it.
As Abby was instructed to sit on the nearest chair, a younger operative burst into the room. She rested against the doorframe to regain her composure. Abby stared at her curiously, but the Decommissioning Squad exchanged knowing looks.
"Numbuh 86," greeted the girl, "I have some information."
Fanny nodded and strolled over to the girl, not showing any signs of being irritated at all. On the contrary, she seemed to be keeping down a smile. She bent over and let the operative whisper into her ear. Abby and the Decommissioning Squad were all watching, their eyes averted from the hiding places.
Harry closed his left eye and pretended to throw a tiny pistol from the weapon pile. If he tried really hard, he couldn't miss...
'Clunk!'
In the blink of an eye, the plunger directly above Abby dropped right onto the surprised operative's face. The computer, which Sector V hadn't seen, produced static on its screen. The plunger began moving to and fro, removing all evidence of the Kids Next Door from Abby. She started struggling a lot at first, but as more of her memory was erased, her wriggling subsided before stopping altogether.
"Numbuh 5!" Fanny screeched, horrified. She'd seen over a hundred operatives in the same position, but none of them had been accepted into the Teens Next Door.
The sound of rushing wind distracted Sector V from the sad spectacle. The "vacuum" was back and better than ever. Even though the wind was everywhere, it didn't seem to affect the Decommissioning Squad as they led Abby out of the chamber. Either they were pre-occupied to notice it or it was only a treat for the time-travellers, who were left the same way they came in.
Even without the help of the loud wind, they couldn't speak. Melissa was too busy sobbing for her mother, and no one knew what to say. Kellie was crying too, being the emotional girl she was. The others were standing their ground and refusing to cry, but it was hard. None of them wanted to go through seeing their parents lose their memories. It only reminded them of the day when one of them would turn thirteen.
"So... Who's next?" Thomas wondered aloud.
None of them wanted to think about the next decommissioning. It could easily be one of their parents and they didn't want that. On the other hand, they still wanted to speed up the process. They wanted everything to be over and done with, something to put behind them.
"I don't know," Celeste answered, tears threatening to roll down her cheeks as she thought about her parents with plungers on their face.
They held their breath when they spotted the archway ahead of them.
Hope you all enjoyed that! Remember to vote on the poll, pretty please? Review! Bye!