A/N: Hey! Sorry for the late update/horrible chapter! But check this out, the holidays have just started, and I get SICK! That is SO UNFAIR! Anyways, read on!

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Kids Next Door Mission...

Operation: F.O.R.G.E.T.

Fragments

Of

Recovery

Gradually

Enable

Team

Chapter 10 – Old Enemies

"Children! Come in here at once!" Yelled Father, nearly losing control of his flames. How could his children let this happen? He puts them in charge of one thing, and they can't even do that right.

"Y-yes, Father?" The five delightfuls poked their heads around the corner of the doorframe, too wary of their own safety to give him a bigger target.

"I have a question for you, my children," Father says in a slightly lower voice. Then, without waiting for an answer, he continued.

"Where are the tubes of Z2A that I left in my safe?" He boomed. The children looked bewildered, but also a little confused.

"We thought it was still in the safe... isn't it, Father?" They said in unison.

"Well, why don't you go and check then!" Came the enraged reply. The delightfuls opened their mouths to speak again, eyeing the corridor that lead to Father's highest security safe but were once again cut off.

"It isn't there, you incompetent fools! Why isn't it there?"

Now, the five teenagers' faces changed from nervous anticipation to annoyance, complete with hands on hips.

"Well, we don't know! We didn't give the code to anyone! If someone found it out, it was probably from one of those blabbermouth Ice-cream men of yours!"

An idea came to Father's mind. He should have known. Looking back, it was obvious.

"Your school is next to the Junior high school, isn't it, children?" He questioned.

"Well, yes Father, but I don't see what that has to do with anything," they chorused. Again, they were ignored.

"And there are Kids Next Door agents at that Middle school, correct?"

"If you think that we just gave away the code..." the Delightfuls began, trailing off at the end as they realised that any threats to the villain before them would only be copied and tripled.

"Did you ever discuss the code with any of your little friends at school?" Came the next inquiry in Father's investigation.

"Uh, yes. We did bring it up with some of the teen agents. But they are sworn to secrecy over anything to do with this project."

"No! You were being spyed on by those infernal Kids Next Door! Because of your blabbermouthing, they just waltzed up to the safe and took the carton from right under our noses!" Now Father actually did lose control of his flames, lighting up in fury with an accusing finger pointed in the Delightful Children's direction.

"We are sorry, we will be more careful in future, we promise," they said humbly in their obedient tone. Father just continued to scowl in their direction.

"Enough of your pathetic apologising. Off with you, I need to figure out how to make up for this setback. Thanks to you, the KN-Delinquents may be able to figure out what we are doing to them."

With that, the group left Father's office, muttering under their breath, now more ill-tempered than usual.

~(*)~

"Treehouse! Treehouse! This is numbuh 676, do you copy?"

...

"Come in, treehouse! I repeat, do you copy?"

...

"Numbuh 676? Is that you?" The voice crackled, the connection somehow unstable despite how close they were.

"Numbuh 678! What's happening over there? Are you okay?" Voices on both ends of the reciever grew increasingly loud and desperate.

"We are under attack! It's...we've never seen them before, but they're in the process of hacking our motherboard! You have to get over here now!"

"I'll-" There was uncertainty in her tone before she found it in herself to pull together. "-I'll be there in five minutes. Hang in there numbuh 678!"

Then, the connection faltered altogether, and numbuh 676 was left to think up a way to get out of the High School hallway and back to the treehouse in five minutes.

"Okay, Amanda. Keep calm. In, out, in, out," she coaxed, preparing to leave her stakeout position behind a trashcan. "It's not as if there are actually people out here."

Brrring... Brrring...

"Urrgh!"

Doors flew open and teens practically sprinted out of the classroom, some even shoving past others to get the best position at the lockers and avoid being blocked by another student. Numbuh 676 smiled inwardly.

Some things never change.

Breathing in deeply one final time, Amanda slipped through the gap between the rubbish bin and the wall.

Ready...

A slow cautious step out of the cramped position.

Steady...

Lowering down and setting her eyes on the main door.

GO!

Taking off at top speed, numbuh 676 dodges her way around the teenagers in the corridor. Some are bewildered, others are simply too consumed with texting to do anything but look up, throw a quick glace left and right and continue what they were doing.

Nearing the door, the hideaway agent lets her guard drop, only to run head-on into a raven-haired girl in a red hat.

"Woah, woah woah. Slow down kiddo. Where are you goin'?" She said, taking a gentle hold on each of Amanda's shoulders to calm her down.

"I... I...-" Amanda struggled to think up an alibi for why an eleven year-old sixth grader was doing in the tenth grade hallway, a whole street away from the middle school.

"I was lost," she fibbed. trying her best to look embarressed. The teen above her smiled.

"Aw, well then, I'll show you the way back. Just follow me," se waved her hand in the direction of the door, and numbuh 676 followed obediently. Once the two were out the school gate, the older girl gave the younger directions on how to get to the sixth grade block, though Amanda didn't need any help at all. She just smiled and thanked her cutely, giving an exasperated sigh and thinking to herself; Finally!

Bidding a mental good riddance to the other girl (it wasn't that she didn't like her, but that teen had cost her valuable minutes) she continued her race on foot to her sector's treehouse. Now, she was on the edge of tears. Her teammates were probably lying on the floor, tied up in bundles of rope by now, and their only hope had been caught up and helped against her will by a slightly familiar looking teenager.

Within minutes, Amanda was at the treehouse. It looked strangely normal, but every KND operative knew that looks can be extremely deceiving.

She swung her backpack off one shoulder unzipped it and pulled out her GRAPPLER.

Kids Next Door: GRAPPLER

Great

Rope

Assists

Pulling

People

Legnths

Ensuring

Rescue

Amanda bit her lip, pulling the trigger with her eyes shut tight. The rope caught on the ledge of the outside deck on the highest level of the treehouse. Numbuh 676 gave the end a yank, making sure it would hold her full weight. Swallowing her fear, she flicked the switch marked 'Retract' and held on for dear life as she was hoisted up to the safety rail.

Once inside, Amanda saw only the remains of a battlefeild, and not the actual battle that she expected. Her sector -all four of them- were slumped either against a wall or on the ground. Luckily, none of them seemed hurt to badly.

"Numbuh 676! You're- you're a bit late," numbuh 678, the boy from the call for help, said comically. She ran over to him and the others, apologising over and over.

"Amanda, please stop! You don't have to say sorry, it's okay," numbuh 675 said, getting up slowly. It was then that Amanda noticed something, or rather, something that wasn't there.

"Where's Simon?" She asked suddenly, throwing her eyes left to right repeatedly.

"Relax. Numbuh 679 is fine. In fact, he saved us!"

"Really?"

"Ye-ah..." Came the stuttering and unmistakable voice, from somewhere near the computer.

"What? Simon, are you there?"

"You betcha. Just, it'll take a while for me to be all here," he said, emerging from inside the main computer.

"How...?" Amanda was lost for words.

"I had just finished setting up our mega-safe security system lock on the motherboard, and... well, the teens didn't like that very much."

Numbuh 676 gasped, and the rest of her team smirked ever so slightly.

"So, how did you go? Better than us, I hope," numbuh 680 mused.

"Well, I got the code to Father's safe, but that's nothing," Amanda said casually.

"Really? That's awesome! We have to go now!" Burst Numbuh 678, immediately recovering and jumping to his feet.

~(*)~

"Hey, Abby! How are you? Having a good day?" Kuki beamed at me as I sat down at the bench opposite her.

"I'm doin' just fine, thanks Kuki," I replied, "but the strangest thing happened to me just then. I was walking to my locker when this kid bumped into me!" I emphasised on the word 'kid' not because I disliked kids, but to highlight the fact that there was a child under the age of fourteen in a high school.

"Really? Did you find out what they were there for?" Kuki's eyes widened. It wasn't extremely shocking, but then, in Kuki's eyes, everything seemed to be about ten times more interesting.

"She said she was lost, but I'm not so sure."

"Why?"

"Think about it, it was hardly seconds after the lunch bell, for both the Middle school and our school, and what kind of kid could 'wander' that far away from their classroom in that amount of time without knowing what they're doing?" I said, a frown of deep thought forming on my features. What would a kid want in a High school? Nothing came to mind, and I'd been trying to figure it out since the startled redheaded girl had collided with me in the first place.

"Hm. There's something strange about that," Kuki announced, tapping a finger against her chin.

"I know! I showed her back to the sixth grade block, but she looked as if she- didn't want to go back."

"Well, who wants to go to school?" Kuki retalliated.

"Yeah, I guess not. But still, if you're a lost kid, wouln't you want to get back to any place you recognise? Even if it is school." The logic just didn't add up.

"So, did she look like the kind that would skip school?" Kuki asked, poking her lunch with a plastic fork.

"No, not at all! She seemed distracted. Y'know, like she was worrying about a friend or something. I had to say everything twice just to get her to respond," I pressed. Something was off, just not normal about all this, and I wanted to find out what it was.

"Peer pressure?" Kuki looked up from her plate.

"What?"

"Did she look like she was under the pump about something?" She inquired.

"Come to think of it, she kind of did," I said, my brow creasing further.

"Well, maybe she was bullied into skipping school." That was actually a very possible explanation.

"Kuki, that is one of the smartest things you have ever come up with," I said sincerely. She just smiled back and picked up another spoonful of yogurt.

"I liked that girl. She reminded me of someone. But for the life of me I can't figure out who."

Or what.

A/N: Weird and totally off topic, I know. I'm just happy I got to update without being horribly late.

~Open Dramatic Rant Thingy~

**Clears throat**

I have an announcement to make; as of exactly today, I only have a month of childhood left. As of the 3rd of August, I would no longer be able to be a Kids Next Door operative if the agency exsisted. 31 days left of being able to say; 'I'm still a kid!' when people expect me to do things I can't.

Goodbye childhood! **Falls to the ground dramatically**

That is all.

~Close Dramatic Rant Thingy~