Happy really late New Year! Sorry this took so long, I've been working on and off on this chapter for a long time, part of the reason its taking me so long to work on these is because the story is quickly building to a major point in the plot, one I've been dying to write since I started this story and every time I sit down to write my head gets filled with these ideas that I have to jot down for later. I planned to release this chapter yesterday evening, but the stupid website crashed on me at 8 so I didn't get the chance to finish. Before we start here are the usual review responses from the last chapter:

Jack Cross: Yeah I don't like him that much either, don't worry Fathers gonna be making his debut soon though and we're getting to some of that right now.

AceShadow: Nice to see your looking deeper into this, we won't get back to Chad for a little bit, but I am going a bit more into detail about Kreller in this chapter.

Dominic: I'm glad that your so eager, but jesus christ man could you please stop messaging me! I know I take a long time to get these things out, but they will come out eventually, I'm not going to abandon the story and I do have a tendency to go on unannounced Hiatus's, but please just bear with me.

Now that thats out of the way we have a few newcomers. Thank you's go out to Zingzang14 for the follows and BlackAkatsuki23 for the favorite. Considering how long it took me to finish this chapter I think its only right I take a few seconds to thank each and every one of my reviewers, followers and each you who has favorited my story. When I first started this I never realized how many people would come to enjoy it and its thanks to your support and encouragement that I have had the will to get this far.

We're half way there now, maybe even more, so lets not waste any more time and jump back in.

"Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it."- George Santayana

Temporary US Army Firebase: 10 Miles Outside Stafford, Virginia

Nigel and the others stared dumbfounded at the Toiletnator as he strolled casually into the room, Numbah 60 looked on with an expression of glum animosity. All was silence, none of the operatives could muster any words, until finally... "oh you've got to be kidding me!", exclaimed Numbah 4, "out of all the cruddy villains we've fought over the years, he's the only one that survives!" "Whats wrong with me?!", exclaimed the Toiletnator, "I thought you'd be grateful to have such a power super villain fighting alongside you!" "But. you're. useless!", yelled Numbah 4, "all you do is throw toilet paper around, how is that gonna help us!" The Toiletnator sniffled, "well you don't have to be mean about it."

While the two continued their back and forth, Numbah 1 turned to Patton and asked, "but really, he's the executive?" Patton grimaced, "he's the only one left, on this side of the country at least." Nigel snorted, "figures, I'm guessing thats because he wasn't invited to the convention center, right?" "Yep", admitted Patton, "that and the fact that he hid at his house when the Confederates started bombing the cities, most of the other executives were still at their HQ's when the bombs started falling, they were the first ones to go." "What about those executives who were here earlier, why didn't any of them stay behind?" "So you've heard about that then", Patton grimaced, "yeah there were a couple others here, most of them higher up on the totem pole than this joker, but they all went west in some modified planes, took the majority of the survivors with them too." "Why though", asked Nigel, "whats out west?" Patton shrugged, "some secret adult base, beyond that I don't really know, they didn't tell us much. The Toiletnator wanted to stay behind and see if anyone else had survived, so the others just wrote him off as a lost cause and left him here." "I'm surprised he's in such good shape", noted Nigel, "considering all his, um, 'friends', got blown away in the opening attack." "Yeaah, about that", whispered Patton nervously, "he doesn't actually know the specifics, so he's still hoping. You know he was kinda attached to Mr. Boss..." "Is anyone gonna tell him", asked Rachel. "Not right now of course, maybe later when things have died down a bit", replied Patton, "he's actually done quite a good job as leader so far."

Patton sat down on a nearby crate, "you know we were prisoners when we first got here. Our S.C.A.M.P.E.R. crashed a few miles back and they just happened to come across us on the way out of the city. The other execs had us imprisoned as POWs, but the Toiletnator had us released when they all left. He said at the time that the only way we'd win was by working together, not that we really had a choice, all the adults here are under his command so it was either help or go back to our cells, but..." Patton looked over at the Toiletnator, who was still arguing with Numbah 4, "he's really not a bad guy now that I've had a chance to work with him. Makes me wonder why he was fighting us for all those years." "Simple, he's a groupie", stated Rachel bluntly, "whatever the other villains were doing he just had to get in on it." "He's dedicated I'll give him that", replied Patton, "it hasn't been very long since we got here but he's already started making plans to form a resistance movement." "How", asked Nigel, "the adult forces got steam rolled in the opening attack and there aren't a lot of KND operatives left either, how is he expecting to be successful?" "He's got a bunch of the other operatives we picked up mass manufacturing S.C.A.M.P.P.s for the resistance movement out back, we've managed to scavenge plenty of spare parts from the wreckage around the city, plus he's already got a small undercover cell working out of the occupied zone in Washington."

"Occupied zone? I'm guessing thats the area the Confederates have taken over", questioned Nigel. "Pretty much", confirmed Patton, "the Toiletnator thinks that if we can make life difficult enough for them they'll just leave, but you and I both know that isn't going to happen, not after what we saw at the Arctic Base." "Then why stay", asked Nigel, confused, "why don't you just grab a couple more KND ships and leave for Moscow with the others?" Patton sighed, "because Nigel, to tell you the truth I really don't trust Schmitt or his plans, and I think that I'd be able to do more good for the KND over here than over there." "Thats awfully frank coming from you Patton", remarked Nigel with a smirk. Patton smiled ruefully, "I know, its this war... I wonder if we'll even be able to recognize ourselves by the time it ends." "It's been bothering me too", agreed Nigel, thinking back on his visions, "its hard imagining us being the same kids we were after this." Nigel thought back to the battle for the Arctic Base, "hey wasn't Numbah 86 with you during the battle, what happened to her?" Patton's expression was confusing, mid-way between annoyance and regret, "she made it out with me when the base came down, but she's still kinda traumatized after seeing her father die, so she's been sitting it out back in one of the tents."

Patton looked out the window towards the long lines of tents as he continued, "its strange to see her like this you know, she's always been the strong one, albeit a bit too stubborn at times, but she's always held things together, now, well, I'm no psychologist but I know she's not gonna come out of this alright." "I'm no expert on girls, but I did have a girlfriend", remarked Nigel with a small smile, "even though that didn't turn out so well. I think that you should try talking to her." "And what'll that do", muttered Patton gruffly, "she hates boys and we weren't exactly on the best of terms before this anyway. Plus I can't think of a thing to say that will make her feel any better." "Well...", faltered Nigel, looking over at Rachel, "sometimes its better just to be there for someone when they need it." Patton grunted, "maybe you're right..." "Uhh guys", cut in Rachel, the two looked at her, "I hate to break up your bonding time but we still have a mission going on here." "Mission", Patton interest was piqued, "what mission?" "Look, Patton", explained Nigel, "the reason we came out here was because we don't trust Schmitt either. Now we've got another plan to stop the Confederates, but we need to find Numbah 101, do you know where he is?"

Patton gave Nigel a funny look, "that geek from the museum, sure he's here, the adults picked him up on their way out of the city. He's a historian though, so he's pretty much useless right now, he's mainly just been annoying everyone and complaining about how no one came to protect his museum during the attack." Nigel looked over at Rachel, he could hardly believe their luck. "Send someone to get him", ordered Rachel, "its important that we talk to him as soon as possible." "Of course sir", responded Patton, he pointed to one of the nearby adults, "you, go find the history geek, he should be skulking out back by the mess tent right about now." The soldier nodded and walked out the door. Nigel watched him go, "how have tensions between the KND and the adults been?" Patton grimaced, "pretty high, they're not happy having to take orders from us, but they answer to the Toiletnator and he keeps them in line, so we haven't had any major problems yet." "Thats more than we can say", grumbled Nigel, Patton nodded, "I heard, only one man made it back from the squad of ten we sent out after you, did those 'tensions' have anything to do with it." "Not really", admitted Nigel, "but the adults who rescued us sure weren't happy about it." Patton nodded in agreement, "it'll take more than a war to break down that barrier, its one thing to fight a common enemy, its another to overcome centuries of animosity."

"Speaking of which", cut in Rachel, "I'd like to know more about this secret adult base." She looked over at where the Toiletnator and Numbah 4 were still arguing and yelled, "if you two are quite done I have some questions that need answering!" The Toiletnator glared at Numbah 4 for a few seconds before stomping over to the table, "yes?" "Do you know anything about this secret adult base out west?" "The one where everyone's been going", asked the Toiletnator. Rachel tapped her foot impatiently, "yes that one." "I don't know much, none of the other villains ever talked about it that much and Father was personally in charge of overseeing it, but I heard at a couple of our planning sessions that its a secret command and R&D center somewhere out in Alaska." "Copycats", muttered Numbah 60, Rachel ignored him, "what else can you tell us?" "Not much else, I was never allowed to go there and few of the other villains did either, Father used to tell us thats where all of our latest technology was developed though, everything from the aging rays to the spaceships we used to attack your moon base." Rachel stopped tapping her foot as her eyes widened in realization, "and I'm guessing they also stockpiled everything they built there too, am I right?" "Thats what the other executives were saying before they took off", said the Toiletnator, "ever since Father disappeared, stewardship of the base was handed over to the executive board."

"Wait, am I missing something", spoke up Nigel, "you just said that Father was gone..." Everyone in the room looked at him, then they looked at each other and back to Nigel, "no one ever told you", asked Rachel. "No", exclaimed Nigel, "when did this happen?" Numbah 60 hopped off his crate and gestured to map on the table, "I'm sure you've heard of the Beach War by now?" "Yeah", replied Nigel, "Schmitt gave told me the basics when I first got back, but what does that have to do with Father?" "What Schmitt probably didn't tell you is that the Beach War was Father's last attempt to coarse your location out of us", answered Patton, "he had exhausted all other methods of finding out and resorted to straight up ransom, of course he didn't kill any of the kids, or any of our operatives for that matter, he just maimed them to the point where they would be out of commission for months, but when that failed he just couldn't go any further." "So... what happened", Nigel asked again. Rachel shrugged her shoulders, "he disappeared, at first we thought he'd gone into hiding to plan for his next attack, but after we questioned a couple of the villains at the Arctic Base, we found out that even they didn't know where he'd gone, he just vanished into thin air." "Wait, what about the Delightful Children", continued Nigel, "what happened to them?" Rachel and Patton looked at each other, "they never came back after your fight at the water park Nigel", admitted Rachel, "we assumed that fall did them in for good."

Nigel's mind whirled in confusion, he didn't really know how to feel about either of them, Father was his uncle and the Delightful Children, they had been the greatest KND operatives to ever live, and now he might have actually killed both of them, but then again... He pushed the doubts to the back of his mind and forced himself to concentrate on the problem at hand, "well if they're both gone that means one less thing for us to worry about, what else were you gonna say about the base?" Rachel looked at Nigel with a worried expression, but she continued anyway, "if the adults stockpiled all their weapons and ships at this base, that means it has to be the single most secure adult facility on the planet and..." Nigel caught on, "and that means its the only place where the adults can hold out against the Confederates." Nigel smirked at the Toiletnator, "its nice to see you're not all totally stupid." The Toiletnator bit his lip, "umm, you guys got all that right only the executives said they were going to attack from the base not defend it." Nigel's smile fell, "or maybe not." Rachel gapped at the Toiletnator, "ARE THEY CRAZY! HOW ARE THEY SUPPOSED TO STAND A CHANCE AGAINST THE CONFEDERATES!"

"Listen", chided the Toiletnator, "we adults are a proud people and we just can't stand around and let these things happen while we have a chance to do something, do you know how hard it is for an executive to just sit and watch things happen?" The operatives all stared at the Toiletnator, "why are you guys looking at me like that", he asked. "No reason", replied Nigel, "its just that you fit the description so perfectly", "umm, thanks... I guess." Rachel was shaking her head, "if..", she said, "even if they have enough ships and weapons at that base to outnumber the fleet in orbit, their weapons won't be anymore effective than ours and thanks to Schmitt ours at least were Federation military grade, how do the adults hope to compare?" The Toiletnator shrugged sheepishly, "they're a really dedicated bunch, but they don't always consider the whole picture...", everyone face palmed, "why do you make everyone sound like you!", exclaimed Numbah 60. "Is that a bad thing", asked the Toiletnator innocently. Nigel looked at Rachel, "with the long range radios and communicators jammed we can't warn them and even if we could, I don't think they'd listen." Rachel cradled her head in her hands, "I can't believe this is happening..."

Confederate Occupied Zone #1: Washington D.C.

"Welcome to the first occupied zone sir!" Arthurs shielded his eyes as he stepped off the lander, after so much time spent in space his eyes weren't accustomed to the midday glare of the sun. He nonchalantly snapped off a compulsory salute to the sentry that had greeted him at the bottom of the landing ramp, who then turned and saluted the Commodore who had followed right behind him. Arthurs snapped his fingers at the sentry, "go get us a transport on the double." The sentry saluted again, "of course sir", and walked off towards the vehicle depot on the edge of the landing field. Arthurs blinked a few times as his eyes adjusted, turning to the Commodore, he was amused to see that Imnis could still barely see. "Having trouble there Alek?" "Don't patronize me Vosky", replied the Commodore, "and first names are reserved for conversations between boys on equal terms, you will refer to me only by my last. Do not forget that I still outrank you." Arthurs smirked, "have it your way Imnis."

The two waited on the newly laid tarmac as the sentry to brought over a light recon truck as their transport. The two got in the vehicle, the sentry asked, "where to sirs?" Arthurs waved his hand, "closest POW housing complex, then to the local command post", "of course sir." The sentry hit the gas and began the long drive through the ruins of downtown Washington towards the nearest POW camp. The truck was a VIP model and had built in privacy fields around the back seat that would make it impossible for the driver to hear the words of the rear occupants. Arthurs flicked them on as the truck started rolling, Imnis was still shielding his eyes. "Remind me to bring glare shades next time", remarked Imnis, Arthurs scoffed, "you navy types are all alike, you spend so much time up in space you crack the moment you touch solid ground, such softies." "Hardly", replied the Commodore, "and if I recall, your Grand Admiral spent more than a few tours of duty on the ground during the war." "Not my Grand Admiral", shot back Arthurs, "and those don't count, Schmitt wasn't Navy to begin with, you know the old army saying, once a rifleman, always a rifleman."

"Well then you must know the Navy saying", countered Imnis, "every battle on the ground begins with one in space." Arthurs raised an eyebrow, "you know thats not really true right." "Yes", admitted Imnis, "but it is poetic." Arthurs rolled his eyes and leaned back in his seat, the rest of the trip passed in silence. They pulled up right outside one of various POW camps that had been set up throughout the city. Much of the city had been reduced to ruins following the attack, but a few blocks and scattered buildings had survived and these had been turned into housing complexes for the hundreds of thousands of POWs the Confederacy had captured during the attack and during their conquests of the nearby cities and towns.

The complex was like many, a small, slightly ruined city block, this one composed of three small houses and a four story parking garage. Every level of the garage was overflowing with tents and the smoke of small cooking fires could be seen wafting out of each level. The three houses had each been relatively repaired, besides that there was little off about them. The entire block was closed in by a series of electric fences topped with razor wire, the only access was through a single gate that lead through a heavily fortified security checkpoint. Each corner of the fence held a steel guard tower, topped off with a number of machine gun emplacements and several searchlights. It looked somewhat like the POW camps from the adult's Second World War, just a little... better.

Imnis consulted his data pad, "just over three hundred thousand prisoners distributed between about 30 different camps, only half of the city's original population if these estimates are correct and thats not counting the thousands we captured from surrounding cities, towns and military forces." Arthurs stared uncaringly at the crowded camp, "its a bit stuffed now, but the numbers will go down soon, we plan to have the last of the surviving politicians and military forces executed within a few days." Imnis looked at Arthurs quizzically, "why not just execute them all now and be done with it, you know the orders, we cannot allow the adults to retain any of their former power if we fail." Arthurs shrugged, "simple, we can't dig the graves fast enough, I've got six teams out digging mass graves at the city limits and those are just for the ones who died during the attack, I can't spare the men to dig any more and if we wait the bodies will start to rot, I won't have disease ridden corpses filling the streets and camps."

Over beyond the wire a few dirty prisoners could be seen wandering about in the camp, out of the corner of his eye Imnis saw motion towards the top of the parking garage, "what is that..." Arthurs looked up and groaned, "again?!" A single adult could be seen on top, he had a rope tied around his waist and was standing on the edge of the garage. The rear most corner of the garage was right on the edge of the fence, meaning that a jumper might be able to land just on the outside of the fence if they timed their jump right. "Most don't make it", remarked Arthurs nonchalantly, "lets see if this fellow does." The man made a running start and jumped off the side, the rope was apparently a bungie cord as the man passed the fence and slowed down within inches of the pavement. He quickly slashed the rope and was about to take off when a round from a Confederate sniper took his head off and he dropped to the ground.

Arthurs applauded mockingly, "well thats a first, wire fever's already set in among a lot of them, suburban pansies. Every couple of hours some idiot in each camp comes up with some crazy escape plan, most don't make beyond the electric fences though." Imnis consulted his data-pad, "the work camps are almost finished, once they're up and running we can start using the prisoners to help expand our operations." Arthurs gestured to the corpse as a Confederate truck rolled by to pick up the body, "thats another problem, these morons just can't get it through their heads that they're beaten! Just yesterday a bunch of surviving military and KND forces tried to assault the perimeter. They got cut down half a mile outside the city limits, but still! They've already proven their defiance, I don't see why you think we need their help to expand our operations."

Imnis frowned, "we have a limited supply of soldiers and engineers, who have much better things to do than building infrastructure for prison camps. It is much more practical to have the adults build it themselves, besides its not like we're giving them free reign. They'll be under armed guard the entire time." "I suppose you have a point", grunted Arthurs, "still, I think it would be more prudent to weed out the dissidents now and have them shot rather than wait till later."

"I'm starting to see why you're having a problem", replied Imnis calmly, "brutality alone is not going to subjugate these people, it hasn't worked in the past and it won't work now. However we are still falling behind schedule, you know our time here is limited, we must complete all assigned objectives before withdrawing." Arthurs snorted, "withdrawing, after all this, I have no intention of withdrawing." Imnis' eyes narrowed and his voice took on an edge, "watch what you say Commander, you know High Command's orders, besides do you really think you could stand up to the whole of the Federation?" "Oh don't worry about that", replied Arthurs confidently, "I have a plan for dealing with them." Imnis frowned and went back to looking at his data pad, "it says here that you have been sending out teams on recon missions towards the west coast, near San Francisco, why?" Arthurs shrugged, "recovered intel from the Moon Base confirms that is where Schmitt's 'sector' was before he transferred into naval operations, I was hoping to find something lying around his old stomping grounds."

Imnis eyed Arthurs suspiciously, "and did you?" Arthurs shook his head, "not a thing, bastard must have cleaned house before he left, that or he kept it all somewhere else..." "Its none of your concern anyway", replied Imnis, as the sentry drove past the camp and towards the command post. Arthurs glared at Imnis, "you may be High Commodore but I am still Field Commander here and I will not allow you to restrict my knowledge of the enemy." "I wouldn't dream of that", Imnis replied wholeheartedly, if that is what you were really searching for, he thought.

The sentry pulled up to the command post, which was situated in the ruins of the White House. Arthurs exited the truck and began walking towards the front gate, "coming", he asked over his shoulder. "As a matter of fact no, I'm going to go inspect the rest of the zone, I'll contact you when I'm done." Arthurs shrugged, "suit yourself, theres not much to see", he turned and continued walking towards the command post. Imnis shut the door and turned to the sentry, "special forces barracks and step on it."

Special Forces Barracks: Washington Occupied Zone

Cameron was busy cleaning his weapon when the call came. After failing to capture Uno and his accomplices, he had taken his men and marched back to the Washington occupied zone, it hadn't taken long in power armor and the zone commander, some colonel named Roger, had directed him to a series of flat looking mobile barracks units, which had been landed specially for him and his unit. The accommodations were army level, spartan rooms with clean, neatly folded bunks, lockers and small com stations. Thankfully, as special forces they had each been accorded a separate room, each of which boasted a private bathroom, armor maintenance station and repair bench. Cameron had ordered each of his men to take some time to do maintenance on their armor before getting some rest and had then signed off to go relax in his quarters.

He had changed out of his power armor and placed it in the automated repair station, which was quickly patching the hole left in the breast plate from Nigel's shot. Afterwards, he'd changed into his Confederate fatigues, which were covered with a rust colored camo pattern, and paid a visit to the local medical station, where the resident field doctor had treated his wound before slapping an adhesive patch on it. Not the advanced medical science of the Federation, but it would do and the wound was not all that serious. He had then retired to his quarters and was just in the middle of using the bench to recalibrate his laser rifle when the room's com unit began beeping.

Without looking up, Cameron called over his shoulder, "process call." The unit beeped and let the call through, "Sub Commander this is the Field Commander, I have a mission for you." Cameron stopped working on his weapon and turned around, "activate holographic interface." The unit clicked and a 3D, life size hologram of Arthurs was projected into the room before the unit. The unit only displayed people and the objects they were in direct contact with, so Cameron could not see where Arthurs was, but he was sitting down. Arthurs continued speaking, "I understand that the High Commodore has placed you in charge of finding the traitor and his comrades, however it has already come to my attention that you have failed to do so." Cameron stood at attention, "I apologize sir, but there were..." Arthurs waved his hand dismissively, "it does not matter, I have another task for you."

"And that would be", Cameron questioned. Arthurs folded his hands in his lap, "it has come to my attention that a number of surviving military forces are massing in Alaska, no doubt for some pointless counter offensive, I am moving the majority of our available forces into position to quell them before they can attack, however that means that I will be tied up for quite some time, therefore I need you to pick up on a little personal project of mine." Cameron looked at Arthur's quizzically, "my orders to pursue Uno come directly from the High Commodore himself, I don't believe you have the authority to..." Arthurs slammed his fist down on the arm of the chair, "the High Commodore is irrelevant, I hold tactical command over all ground forces here and last time I checked you and your men are still ground forces." "But the search for Uno...", Cameron protested, "will be carried out by the rest of your unit", cut in Arthurs, "I want you and your squad to focus on this alone."

Cameron shrugged, defeated, "alright then, what is it?" Arthurs grinned devilishly, "my scouts from the west coast have reported a discovery near Schmitt's old sector, a cache of experimental technologies locked away in an old, hidden facility in the headlands..." Arthurs paused, "a Directorate facility." Cameron froze and stared at the screen, "you don't mean..." "After close inspection, I believe...", continued Arthurs, still grinning, "that the technology may have been recovered from the Vault of Site 32." Cameron was horrified, but he tried not to let it show, "that can't be, the Vault is a myth..." Arthurs slammed his fist again and yelled, "do not lie to me Sub Commander! You're a veteran, you were there!" Cameron gritted his teeth, "I was an infantry Colonel, I had nothing to do with the Site 32 team, I don't know anything about the Vault!" "Oh", replied Arthurs maliciously, "but Schmitt is here and if anyone was to know about the Vault it would be he, and if you can recall he disappeared after the fall of the Arctic Base."

"Maybe he died", offered Cameron, "you did hit the base with an orbital bombardment." "I am not allowed to consider what if scenarios", replied Arthurs, "if Schmitt did escape I must assume he resorted to the last possible thing that could help him defeat us." "You don't know him", blurted out Cameron, "I do, I was there! He would never go back there!" Arthurs grinned like a wolf, "oh you know him so well do you? Then how do you explain the Tyr Plateau?" Cameron stopped dead, Arthurs looked amused, "oh you didn't think I'd remember did you, but you forget, I switched sides too and I was there during the Great War. Oh yes, I was at Arxis IV during the siege of the Tyr Sprawl, I know everything that transpired there." Cameron glared at the hologram with undisguised hatred, "you know nothing", he growled. "Whats there to know", replied Arthurs, "its all in the transcripts, during the final days of the siege when the Samteerians were on the brink of reclaiming the system, the Grand Admiral himself personally ordered you and your entire division of 8000 men to flank the enemy lines by assaulting the reported, scarcely defended plateau behind the city, the strategy being you would then turn the artillery emplacements upon the plateau to fire along the forward Samteerian lines. A bold and desperate strategy indeed, but something went wrong and the Sprawl's AA defense grid shot down half of your cloaked dropships before you could even make it to the plateau. When you got there you discovered the intel had been incorrect and the Samteerian defense garrison was five times the size that had been reported. You were caught between the garrison and the city with no way out. Over the next 2 days the remaining 4000 of your men were slowly whittled away by the Samteerian's attacks and still no extraction came."

Cameron dearly wished he could sock Arthurs in the face for making him hear this again, "when you finally did receive any reply it was the evacuation code and the rest of the attack force left for orbit without you, you tried to call for extraction again but the admiral ignored your calls and escaped the system with the rest of the fleet leaving you and the last of your men to be overrun by the Samteerians. It was only the timely arrival of a small Confederate salvage ship that saved you and your remaining men, they picked up your distress calls and sent a dropship down for you and you escaped, and out of those 8000 who marched on the plateau, only you and 20 others survived." Arthurs leaned back in his chair, "and thats how you joined the Confederacy, and I understand you have no love for commanding officers, especially ex-Federation", Arthurs' eyes narrowed, "however, you must remember that we are both on the same side here."

"Maybe now", said Cameron slowly, trying to control his anger, "but as you said, you were at Tyr, I have no more reason to trust you than I do Schmitt." Arthurs waved his hand, "you may hate me for all I care, but that doesn't change the fact that I am ordering you to make it your top priority to seek out the Vault and secure its secrets for the Confederacy, that is all, and one more thing, you are not to tell a word of this to the High Commodore or else." Arthurs cut the transmission and the room faded into silence. Cameron clenched his fist and was just about to slam it against the door, when suddenly it opened.

Standing there was Imnis, he had a disapproving look on his face. Cameron pulled back his fist just before it struck the High Commodore's face and snapped to attention again, "High Commodore, sir!" Imnis stepped into the room and sealed the door behind, turning to Cameron he said, "I heard everything." Cameron was startled, "how?" Imnis smirked, "I am the High Commodore, aren't I? I have access to all Confederate transmissions, even if they are locked and encoded with the highest level of security encryption." Imnis strode over to the other side of the room and pulled up a chair from the bench, he went on talking as he sat down, "you may be seated, we can forgo protocol for now. So... he knows." Cameron sat down on his cot, "it doesn't matter to me, I can deal with him, he's not Schmitt." Imnis frowned, "thats not what I meant, anyone with half a brain could look up your file and understand why you joined the Confederacy, no I'm talking about the Vault." "Oh", said Cameron, a little surprised. His brow creased, "I don't know if he knows anything, suspects more likely, but he can't know for sure."

Imnis crossed his arms, "Arthurs may be delusional, but he's no idiot, if he's found evidence of the Vault then we must assume its real." Imnis tilted his head to look directly at Cameron, "of course you already knew that." Cameron sighed, "I told him the truth, I didn't play any part with the Site 32 team or the Special Forces unit during the Revolution, but I did hear rumors and everyone saw the effects of the weapons they created there." "There are very few veterans remaining after so long", said Imnis regretfully, "and none of the Site 32 scientists survived the end days of the Revolution, if the technology they created is still down there, then we must reclaim it for the Confederacy."

Imnis stared thoughtfully across the room at the inert hologram projector, "Arthurs doesn't know why you are really here and the fact that he has already assigned you this mission makes our job much easier, however..." Imnis trailed off, "however?", asked Cameron. Imnis looked at him matter of factly, "come now, you can't be that blind, you only need to look at him to see the problem, Arthurs is a military commander with delusions of grandeur, those two things never mix well." Imnis frowned again and stared hard at the projector, "he thinks he's at the crux of history, it doesn't help that he's a post born, he barely missed the fall of the Directorate and everyone knows how hard that hit those generations. Now he thinks he has a chance to correct history and be the pinnacle of a new resurrected Directorate, one that will finally finish what the first started."

"That's absurd", spat Cameron vehemently, "hell, its downright stupid! The Directorate lost, WE lost! Those days ended a thousand years ago, and no amount of patriotic bluster or rhetoric will bring them back." Imnis nodded in approval, "I share your sentiment, I am a post born too as you must know, but I had relatives who served in the Revolution, I got the real side of the war, Arthurs is like so many of those wide eyed history junkies, growing up on the embellished reenactments and history vids they produce to glorify the war." Imnis smirked, "he's, as they say, living the dream." "You know he believes in the prophesy, right?" "The prophesy", Cameron raised an eyebrow, "now thats going a bit far." "You must admit though", replied Imnis, "it has been exceedingly accurate, it was predicted that we would exact vengeance upon our ancient enemy and this time it is we who stand victorious in the ruins of the capital." "I admit it has been fairly right on", conceded Cameron, "but it's delusional to believe whole heartedly in such mysticism."

Imnis' eyes narrowed, "you are again correct, however, despite his delusions Arthurs is no fool and that is why we must not allow him to impede the plan, I've told you some of High Command's designs but there is more, so much more and it all hinges on what we find here on Earth, I can't allow Arthur's insane grasp for power to get in the way of that.""Theres always the chance Schmitt will take him out for us", offered Cameron, Imnis nodded, "indeed and that is what worries me the most, Arthurs is playing an exceedingly dangerous game against one of our oldest and most deadly opponents, whether he wins or loses the consequences for the Confederacy will be dire."

"Then shouldn't we remove him", asked Cameron, Imnis shook his head, his brow creasing, "thats the problem, Arthurs is key to this, his grasp of Schmitt's tactics has been invaluable to us so far, however as I've said he is no fool, he knows we are using him for something, he just doesn't know what yet. But he does know that none of this would be possible without our resources, so he'll bide his time until he's sure we're of no use to him anymore." "If he's planning a double-cross then he must have something up his sleeve, even his zealous soldiers would never been foolish enough to turn on their own fleet", mused Cameron. Imnis smiled, "I believe his trump card may be found in the Vault, he is still blind to our true objective, and that is what will be his downfall." Imnis stood and strode to the door, before leaving he turned around and smiled knowingly at Cameron "you have your orders commander, make sure they are carried out." Cameron smirked and went back to cleaning his rifle, "of course sir."

Temporary US Army Firebase: 10 Miles Outside Stafford, Virginia

Nigel, Rachel and the others were still sitting around contemplating the fate of the Alaska base when a soldier walked into the room escorting an especially annoyed looking Numbah 101. "Hey quite shoving", he was saying, "you were the one who interrupted me, I was right in the middle of..." He stopped as he saw who the room's occupants were. "It can't be..", Matt took off his glasses and wiped them on his shirt, "it just can't..." He put them back on, "it is, I can't believe it but it really is!" He ran up to Nigel, "its really you, oh my gosh I can't believe it, you were gone for years!" "Year and a half Matt", mumbled Nigel, uncomfortably, "but still, where did you go! What have you been doing, oh I must know!" Matt whipped out a notepad, "come on tell me everything, I won't tell anyone I swear."

"Matt", Nigel said forcibly, "its... great to see that your still alive, but we really need some help here." "You need my help", exclaimed Matt, "oh tell me this is gonna be just like the zero incident!" Rachel lost her patience, "Numbah 101, could you please stop geeking out and listen to us!" Matt flinched, "oh umm, sorry sir didn't see you there." Rachel rolled her eyes, "listen Numbah 101, we need some information, some historical information." "Well I'll do my best sir", Matt replied, "but I had to leave a lot of my records back at the museum when we evacuated, I may not have what your looking for." Rachel bit her lip, "lets pray that isn't true", she turned to Nigel who produced Schmitt's logbook. Nigel explained, "before we lost the Arctic Base, we scavenged this from the quarters of the Fleet Admiral", "oh", cut in Matt, "I remember him, that grumpy uniformed know it all who used to come stalk around the museum for hours?" Nigel looked at Rachel quizzically, she shrugged, "Schmitt didn't really leave the Moon Base all that often." Nigel sighed and said, "yes that guy, look its a long story but we think we've found something that will help us stop the Confederates."

"Oh thats awesome", said Matt excitedly, "so what do you need me for?" Nigel looked at the book, "well, we think that what we're looking for has something to do with the KND's past, its only mentioned in a few entries here." Nigel opened the book and flipped to the end where the entries on the Lost Legion were, "here read this." Matt took the book and read the indicated entries, "hmm, ahuh, hmmm, what!?" Matt looked up at Nigel and Rachel, "the contents of this book completely contradict the known course of KND history." "How", asked Rachel, impatiently, "well for starters, we've never recovered any technology from the past thats more advanced than what we have now", said Matt. Nigel groaned, "we know all that already, what can you tell us about the Lost Legion."

"Well", said Matt thoughtfully, "nothing of the sort has ever been mentioned in any of our texts or found at any of our dig sites, but..." "But what", pressed Rachel, Matt stroked his chin, "somehow that name is familiar to me, I can't quite put my finger on it... ah!" He snapped his fingers, "that name appears in one of the older entries I've read in the Book of KND!" "The Book of KND...why do you have the book of KND", Nigel exclaimed. "Oh", replied Matt, sheepishly, "you don't know? It was donated the museum after you left." "Was it now", said Nigel as he looked angrily at his teammates. "Well umm", stammered Numbah 4, "you see...", started Numbah 3, "its kinda complicated...", shrugged Numbah 2 nervously. Abby rolled her eyes, "I had it donated after you left, it seemed the right thing to do and it meant that every kid could start writing their story in it, isn't that what Numbah 0 would have wanted?"

Nigel sighed, "yeah, I guess, oh well doesn't matter now", he turned back to Matt, "your saying one of the stories in the Book of KND mentions the Lost Legion?" "Yeah", said Matt thoughtfully, "but I can't really remember how it goes, thankfully the Book was the first thing I grabbed when I left the museum, it's back in my tent, come on!" He hurried out the door with the others in pursuit. "Hey", protested the the Toiletnator, "what about me?" Patton hesitated at the door, "stay here and monitor for incoming reports, we were expecting one from our agents in the city any time now." "OK", said the Toiletnator happily, giving a mock salute, "you can count on me!" Patton hurried out the door, rolling his eyes.

They all ran towards the back of the camp, where the other operatives were billeted. On the way Patton peeled off from the rest of the group and headed over to 86's tent. He threw open the flap and shouted, "Fanny come on I think your gonna wanna see this, Nigel and the others just showed up." Fanny mumbled in her sleep, "do I have to mom?" Patton smiled and walked over to her cot. He gently shook her awake, "hey mom cut that out...you!", Fanny exclaimed as she woke up, "what are you doing in my tent boy!" Patton rolled his eyes, "no time for that now Fanny come on, your gonna wanna see this, I'll explain on the way." "I'm not going anywhere", she exclaimed, "not in my pajamas!" Patton groaned, "well get dressed, Nigel Rachel and the others just arrived at the camp and they think they're onto something big." "Oh", she said with surprise, "I'll make it quick then."

Back at the edge of the camp, Nigel and the others were clustered around Matt's tent as he searched through several piles of books he'd brought from the museum. The few operatives in the camp that were nearby had wandered over, curious and a small crowd was clustered near the tent. Matt finally emerged from his tent, victoriously clutching the Book of KND. "Here it is", he said and immediately flipped towards the back. "Lets see, no not that one, mmmm, ah! Here", he indicated a short entry on one of the very last pages of the book. "This is one of the earliest entries, it mentions what your looking for."

Nigel took the proffered book and read the entry aloud, "This will be quick, I do not have much time. The book is complete, all the necessary instructions are in place, now only one thing is missing, a testament. I do not know what will be left of us after we leave, I assume the adults will wipe away all traces of us, so I must write as much as possible so that we may be remembered in some small way. I cannot believe this day has come, our mighty tree houses lie in ruins and all but the lost 1st Legion have been swept aside like twigs. The capital is all that remains, there we make our stand, but plans are in motion and soon we will leave this forsaken world. It is a testament to our failure as a nation that this defeat comes as a result of our own foolishness, we designed them, we bred them and now they slaughter us in our fields and cities. The war went on for what seemed like an eternity, but now the end has come and we must pass into history. This book will remain behind, to inspire future generations of kids, I pray they do not make the same mistakes as us. They are coming now, I have no more time, this will have to be enough, to whoever may be reading this, goodbye and good luck. Victor Lawson, Guardsman of the 7th Legion."

Nigel looked up, "what is this exactly", he asked Numbah 101. Matt scratched his head, "each of the KND's historians has had a different opinion about this entry, it's not dated, but based upon the rate of decay this was possibly the first entry in the book. Personally I believe it is referring to the legend of the KND's origin and the creation of the adults." "It certainly sounds like it", said Nigel, "but that can't be, if the Lost Legion is as old as the KND itself, how is it supposed to help us now?" Matt's expression was skeptical, "thats what your looking for? The lost 1st Legion? Not even considering the fact that the book doesn't even say how or where the Legion was lost, this is all ancient history, heck its myth and legend, please tell me this is not what we're basing our final hope on."

"Well it's all we've got", said Rachel, "it was on the list of fleet contingency orders drafted by Schmitt, so it has to be something useful." "Hold on", said Nigel, "while we're on the subject." He ran over to the small crowd and, raising his voice, asked, "is anyone here from the fleet?" "I am", one boy raised his hand, he was of middling height and wore plain clothes, but he had a fleet insignia on his eight point cap. He stepped forward, "Numbah 163, I was captain of a small frigate." "Can you tell me anything about these", Nigel flipped open the folder from Schmitt's logbook and handed it too the operative, he examined it, "where did you get this", he asked suspiciously. "Lets just say I found it lying around", said Nigel, "can you tell me anything about the 3rd order?"

Numbah 163 thought to himself, "neither the Admiral nor his command staff ever really talked about the orders, as a captain I was issued a folder, but not much else." "Do you happen to have the secure file its talking about?" "File Delta-0195", Numbah 163 shook his head, "nope, secure files like that were stashed at the Arctic Base or were available on the KND network with the right access codes, which even if I had, we don't have access to." "Great", said Nigel, frustratedly, "can you at least tell me something about this 4th order?" Numbah 163 raised an eyebrow, "4th order?" Nigel showed him, "this can't be", exclaimed Numbah 163, "there were only ever 3 contingency orders, I've never seen this before." "That doesn't make any sense", blurted out Nigel, "if you, a captain in the fleet, weren't meant to see this, who was? Take away the other captains and that only leaves Schmitt and his high commanders." "Maybe it was just for them then", Numbah 163 shrugged, "the Admiral loved to keep secrets, we got the low down on the Confederates and the Federation, but nothing more." Nigel frowned, "thanks for the help", "no problem."

Nigel turned to go but suddenly he turned back and asked, "I have to know, why did you follow him? Why did you keep all this secret from the KND?" Numbah 163 regarded Nigel, then replied carefully, "we kept it secret because he told us that there was no way to be sure that the enemy hadn't already infiltrated the KND. We couldn't risk giving away our plans." "Rule through fear then", said Nigel with disgust, "the more I learn about this guy the less I like." He turned to go but Numbah 163 continued, "he was right you know, about the agents, there were some in the KND. You know who I'm talking about." Nigel stopped and regarded Numbah 163 with suspicion. Finally he turned and walked away, saying over his shoulder, "yeah he was right. He was right about a lot of things." Nigel glared down at the contingency orders and said to himself, "and its becoming a real bad habit."

Nigel trudged back to the others, "well that wasn't very useful, anyone got any ideas." The others scratched their heads and stroked their chins in thought. Finally Matt perked up, "I may have something, its just a little personal project I've been working on but..." "What", asked Nigel quizzically, "what is it?" Matt reached into his coat and pulled out a small folded piece of paper, "you see, when the Book of KND was found in the Treasure Chamber of Coolness during the incident, it got me thinking, we know so little about the KND's past and we have no idea what happened to the KND during the earlier ages, so I decided to try and document everything we know about the earlier ages." He began unfolding the paper, "from our historical records we know that the 6th age of the KND was ended shortly after the Alamode incident, during the US Civil War. The Father during that age, who was British, used the war to wipe out all traces of the KND here and then during the expansion of the British Empire in the following years, proceeded to wipe out the last KND cells throughout the world."

Matt finished unfolding the paper and showed it to the group, it was a map of some kind, nothing more than lines and dots with a few notations and numerations, but it was obviously a map. "We knew from the legends", Matt continued, "that Numbah 0 found the Book of KND in a tree in Great Britain years later, which is where it was hidden after a small group of operatives smuggled it out of the states during the fall of the KND. What we didn't know is where the 6th age kids found the Book of KND at the beginning of their age."

Matt held the map out to the group for the others to see, "when I went back to the chamber to inspect it for evidence about the 6th age, during my inspection I discovered that the 6th agers actually found the book within that chamber, meaning it was built long before the start of their age." "I always thought Numbah 0 built the chamber", said Nigel with surprise. "Well he didn't have time to tell us much", said Rachel with regret, "maybe he would have told us different."

Matt was still speaking, "during my inspection I discovered a network of passages leading out in all directions from the chamber." "I remember those", cut in Nigel, "me and Numbah 0 used one that took us straight under Father's mansion." Matt nodded in assent, "look, I found this map taped to the back of the page in the book that mentioned the Legion, I wasn't sure at first what it was, but after some research I concluded that its a map of that tunnel network." Matt pointed to a single line on the map, "I cross referenced this map with maps of the area around your treehouse today and I discovered that this tunnel, is the same one you took with Numbah 0 to Father's house, which means..." "This is a map of the tunnels", completed Nigel, growing excited, "and if the tunnels corroborate the map that means..." "These tunnels were quite possibly built during the same age as the Lost Legion", finished Matt, "which means if your looking for clues about the Legion, you'll probably find them down there."

"Hold up", said Rachel skeptically, "we have no idea how accurate this map is and we have no idea what we'll find down there!" "She's right", agreed Numbah 2, "I'm starting to question this plan." "Like it or not", said Numbah 5, "its the best we've got and in case you haven't noticed, there aren't anymore leads!" "We have to follow it", said Nigel with conviction, "this is all we have." "Well you have a problem then", spoke up Numbah 60, he and Fanny had been listening in from the edge of the crowd, "come on back to the command center and I'll show you." Patton gestured for the rest of the operatives to disperse and led them back to the command center.

The Toiletnator was still there, busy listening to something on a headset, the group ignored him. Patton led them over to the map table and showed them a large diagram of the area surrounding Washington. Many parts of the city were circled in red and there were numerous small notes and symbols sketched across it. "This map displays the Confederate occupation zone in Washington", Patton explained. "They've also set up many POW camps and small work centers to keep their prisoners busy, those being the people that didn't die or manage to make it out of the city during the attack, as well as numerous housing facilities for their troops." He gestured to the diagram, "we've already managed to recon most of the city, these large red areas show the highest concentration of enemy forces, and the symbols denote various key targets and strategic positions." Nigel studied the map, "the place is like a fortress and I'm guessing that siege walker we saw over the city is there to provide support in case anyone attempts to attack." "Right", replied Patton, with a bit of sadness, "a couple of isolated KND units and some adult forces already tried to assault the city, that thing just shelled them into oblivion, theres no way around it and the Confederates have further fortified the city perimeter since the assault." Patton pointed to a symbol on the map, a green tree, "this here symbolizes the position of your treehouse, its exactly half a mile inside the perimeter."

Patton turned back to the group and put his hands on his hips, "now do you understand what I meant when I said there was a problem?" "There has to be a way through the perimeter", said Nigel, his brow creasing with consternation, "you said you've scouted the city, how did you get past?" Patton folded his arms, "we managed to sneak through during the night, they don't have a good detection net up yet, so there were gaps in the sensors we were able to exploit, however that was before they cracked down after the assault, I'm not sure it would work again."

"What about an airdrop", offered Numbah 2, "at night?" Patton shook his head, "you'd get shot down for sure, the Confederates are no slouches when it comes to AA, we lost quite a few recon ships before we tried ground operations." "But its not like we're going far", argued Hoagie, "give me your fastest bird and I can at least manage a crash landing into the tree house's upper landing bay, then its just a short walk downstairs to the chamber and we'll be gone before they can even get troops to the crash site." Patton looked like he was going to protest but, then he scratched his head and considered it, "it's possible and with you as pilot, I'd rather take my chances than slug it out on the ground with that walker."

"Then its settled", said Nigel, "we leave at nightfall." Turning to his team he gave quick orders, "go around the camp and see if the other operatives can spare any 2x4 tech, theres no telling what will happen if we crash in the wrong place or what we'll find down in those tunnels, weapons and armor are our top priority." The rest of sector V saluted and rushed off to do as he said, Nigel turned to Rachel and was about to give her commands too when she stopped him, "I don't think your in a position to give me commands Nigel, I'll stay here and go over the flight plan with Numbah 2 and Numbah 60." Nigel nodded and went back to stand by the map, "looks like I'm going home after all", he said under his breath.

Well thats that, sorry if it feels like it just cuts off there. Next chapter will hopefully be shorter than this, this is almost 10,000 words, jesus! It probably will exceed that after I start updating it. Well, I'm gonna go rest and watch TV, later!