A/N: Okay, so I've gotten a lot of reviews asking about the backstory of this fic, so I have deemed this chapter:
The Reveal chapter!
Well okay, it really isn't that much of a big deal.
But anyway, review responses!
Mimi: I know, but I will get better for Sector V. The story wouldn't be interesting if life was perfect for them, now would it?
Numbuh 166: There is a lot of backstory in this chapter, and, I don't think that soopreme leaders get to keep their memories. I could be wrong though, and I often am. But, hope you enjoy!
Numbuh 43: Hope this chapter brings you back to life!
Read ahead, amigos!
Chapter 13 – Final Frontier
"Numbuh 4! Would you get the heck down!" Though numbuh 5's voice was a mere whisper, something in it told Wally that if she could, she would have shouted it.
"But Ah can't see!" Numbuh 4 retalliated. He was craning his neck out of their hiding place in the bushes to get a better vantage point on the subject all their narrowed eyes were trained on.
"I don't care if you can't see! You're going to get us caught!" Numbuh 1 said, putting the matter to rest.
"So, what're we even doing here again?" Wally asked, bored now that he was doomed to a close-up shot of the leaves of the bush.
"Laying low until the right time comes, then ambushing Dr. Colter and his minions in their hideout and taking element Z2A," Kuki recited.
"You memorised that from the breifing, didn't you?"
"Uh-hu!"
Meanwhile, Hoagie was studying their surroundings through the lenses of a pair of binoculars, with contraptions and attatchments sticking out at odd angles.
"Okay, the heat signatures say there are four of them, but I can see another small one somewhere in the middle.
"Ah. That would be element Z2A. Numbuh 2, is there any way you can zero in on the chemical?" Nigel instructed, taking another peek out from between the thick branches of the bush, before ducking back down.
"Sure! I didn't design this thing to be useless!" Hoagie replied, proceeding to jab at some buttons on the side of the gadget.
"Can we go-o now?" Wally begged, dragging out the syllables and sagging down as if gravity had just increased twofold.
"Numbuh 4, would you quit your whinging? We'll go when we go! We have to make sure we don't move at the wrong time. If we do, we'll end up acting like teens before next week!" Numbuh 5 scolded, already loading a G.L.U.M.B. with a fresh canister of gumballs.
The adult vs. kid war had been going on for almost six weeks, and both sides had begun to wish that it would just end. every one of the Kids Next Door operatives missed their parents. Since the war, every operatieve for tens of miles had to manage to convince their parents they were going on a two month camp as part of a new school program. Holding up that lie wasn't easy, and many tears were shed as the weekly fake letters were written and sent saying how much they were all enjoying the water-skiing course or the rockpool walks in the morning. All of them had to be pretty inventive and detailed in their recounts, making up stories about how one kid ate fifteen pancakes at breakfast or along those lines.
And through this 'get it over' attitude the battlefield had aquired, both sides were now beginning to make more and more drastic and sometimes risky decisions. That led to the capture of three adult villains (plus the toilenator) a mere fifty feet from the entrance to their base. On the opposite side of the scale, a few children had been held hostage by Grandma Stuffum. When the KND refused to meet the demand and surrender on their terms, the three kids had ended up with some horrible, stewed spinach induced stomach aches.
So when that idea didn't work, everyone went all out.
People got mad, and when people get mad, they don't typically want to sit in a grimy trench writing lies to their parents and hoping they don't get shot with a brussels spout blaster in the next two hours.
In the end, a meeting was called, and a battle plan was constructed.
First, sector V, including Abby, would lay low outside the enemy base until there was a clear enough path to get inside undetected. They were aiming for the labratory; chemical Z2A was stored there and it would be less populated than any other location.
From there, they would ambush, hopefully taking down the remaining troops in the lab. After it had gotten around to the adults that the kids were attacking, their troops would hopefully be ordered to attack. But when they got to the KND base, they would be in for a sneaky surprise. See, all the other kidshad taken off into the surrounding bushy area to await further instruction. It was dangerous, but with olny two weeks until they were meant to return home from 'camp,' they were running out of options.
With nearly all of the opposing side absent, it would be easy to go in there and destroy anything and everything in sight.
And the battle would end, leaving the Kids triumphant, and free to live their hard-earned chilhood once more.
Sector V constantly reminded themselves of that, as time passed in the little green hideout and the nerves began to flutter.
"Is that Dr. Colter coming out now?" Numbuh 3 asked, tilting her head and looking unsurely at a tall, wilting man in a white lab coat.
"Yep. Hoagie, have you got a reading on the chemical yet?" Nigel said, not taking his eyes off the scene in front of them. He looked through the gap in the door as Colter exited, catching a glimpse of a white, test tube laden bench before it closed.
"Got it, numbuh 1. It's a strange reading, it- it's different to anything I've ever seen. Even the fact that it has a heat signature is new to me. Wait, hang on a sec. I'm- I'm detecting movement from it." Numbuh 2's face paled a shade. "It was only barely a nanometer, but it was definitely something."
"But, I mean that's gotta be just the vibrations from the people around it, right?" Numbuh 5 said, nervousness bordering her tone.
"No-one in the room is moving." Hoagie's voice was suddenly a lot more serious and concerned.
"Great. Just great. Ah guess at least we can add 'battling evil toxic moving mutantchemical' to our resumes," Wally droned sarcastically.
"We should try talking to it. No-one wants to be bottled up in a teensy test tube all day, maybe he just wants to stretch his legs!" Numbuh 3 suggested, quite a bit more cheery than the other four in the team.
We have to get in there. Is the coast clear yet?" Numbuh 1 inquired.
"Just about. There are only two in the lab at the moment, but in the next room there are five. It could be risky if we make too much noise," Hoagie explained, his eyes still glued to the lenses of his binoculars.
Nigel rubbed his chin in thought.
"Okay, that's a risk we'll have to take. Team, we're going in," Nigel said, reaching the end of his patience and getting into a crouching position.
"But-"
"No buts, numbuh 5. We'll just have to deal with it. We can't afford to wait any longer."
The team then readied their weapons, breathing deeply to keep their nerves from getting the better of them.
"Okay guys, let's go." Though they hadn't moved yet, numbuh 1's voice dropped to a whisper. The others nodded, even Kuki's face drawn in a solemn, focussed stare.
Sector V kept low to the ground as they snuck out of the bush. The two in the lab seemed preoccupied with their coffee break. Adults had been enjoying their caffeine-injected beverages a lot more since the KND's unfortunate failure in trying to destroy it.
Nigel held up his hand, then pointed to a small grate a little way over from the door. Nodding, numbuhs 2 through 5 followed their leader through the tight space.
Abby wasn't the least bit annoyed that Nigel had taken back the role of team leader. It was refreshing to have the weight of every one of your decisions weighing down on you, and have to worry about what they would mean to everyone else. Besides, both of them knew that it was a load Nigel was a lot happier to bear.
The vent was covered in a thick, dusty blanket, and all of the team had to breathe through gritted teeth to avoid having to sneeze. They went silently, knowing that even the sightest noise or one slip of the foot would set off an alarm.
Numbuh 86 tapped her foot, a result of both her low level of patience and a rising level of pressure in the situation. It had never been more critically important that everything go to plan than right now.
"Numbuh 86! We're close to running out of ammunition!" It was a boy's voice, one very familiar to Fanny.
"Numbuh 60!" She said in a raised voice, whirling around to face the dark-haired boy. "How long before we're completely out?"
"If we keep using it at the rate we are now, between three and four hours," Patton stated, frowning a little.
"Well, get some more! We have an extra rations compartment in tunnel 5B. Go get some from there!" She barked, trying to cover up her slight panic at how quickly they had become low on supplies.
"OK, I'll get some troops to bring that back. Uhm, thanks numbuh 86," was numbuh 60's response. He seemed a little embaressed at the last part.
Numbuh 60 and numbuh 86 had always been enemies. No-one knew why, and even they themselves struggled to remember, but it was almost, in a way, a rule that they could not get along. But now, a good five years after they had met, something was changing. Fanny would no longer walk past him in the hall having to clench her jaw just to resist insulting him. She could almost bear being near him. Patton also, had stopped being so insistent on making her miserable. He had stopped daydreaming about ways to lure a group of rats into her office, and that was something, right?
Anyway, the two could actually work together on something, put aside their feud and realise that they had to get the work done, for the greater good of the organisation.
But that didn't keep them from putting curry powder on the other's toothbrush every once in a while.
Meanwhile, sector V was getting close to getting into the laboratory in the adults' base. The two men in lab coats still sat, oblivious, in the corner, reading a two day-old newspaper and eating something.
"Are we going straight in?" Numbuh 5 asked in a whisper.
"Where else would we be going?" Numbuh 2 replied.
"I just.. never mind."
Numbuh 1 turned around to face the other four, something that wasn't easy seeing as they were already cramped as it was.
"Okay team, this shouldn't be too hard. Numbuhs 4 and 5, I want you to take out those henchmen. 2 and 3, you come with me and see how much of that chemical we can get back in one load," he directed, face as serious as anything.
The others nodded soberly, focussing every last bit of their nerves into doing their respective jobs right.
"Guys, we can do this! I know we can. We always pull through, right?" Kuki reassured, taking a rare break from her usually airy demeanour. She tended to do that only when the team really needed it.
"Five!" Abby put out a hand.
"Four!" Wally's hand joined her.
"Three!" Kuki smiled at the team's togetherness.
"Two!" Hoagie slapped his hand on top.
"One." Nigel finished it off. Hetook a deep breath, and, after a few seconds of silence;
"Kids Next Door," Nigel started in a whisper, before raising his voice to shout at the top of his lungs;
"BATTLE STATIONS!"
The team burst out of the vent, leaving the mangled grating lying on the floor, now damaged beyond any further use.
Immediately, the respective members of sector V ran off to complete their assigned jobs. Numbuh 4 and numbuh 5 were quick to start on the men in the corner, taking one each and giving it their all.
Numbuhs 1, 2 and 3 were over at the bench in seconds, examining the test tubes of various liquid and which one was the one they came for. Nigel frantically checked the labels of all the containers of chemical, Hoagie began to disassemble a long line of equipment that seemed to be boiling, then condensing the liquid put into one end, and Kuki was picking up beakers randomly, examining them for a time and putting them back down. Nigel, unable to find the chemical yet, let out a desperate and frustrated 'agh!' and left that bench to check another.
The fight between the two labcoat-donning men and Wally and Abby had ensued, though it was obvious that these two scientists had little experience with hand-to-hand combat. Abby threw a kick at her opponent's right leg, sweeping around so it hit right next to the knee. The man stumbled, but didn't go down. Instead, he attempted a punch right at Abby's face, but missed as she simply ducked down out of the way.
Wally was tearing into his adversary like he had done something to personally harm him, jumping up so his fist was level with the man's face, then striking with all his force.
Suddenly, there was a noise from outside the room. A banging on the door was clearly audible, and everyone, including the men in the corner, now nearing the end of their stength, froze and stared in the direction of the pounding.
"Baker! Johnson! Are you okay in there?" A loud, deep voice yelled. No-one said anything.
"Baker! Johnson!"
The men that numbuhs 4 and 5 were fighting began to say something, only to have their mouths slapped shut by each of their opponents.
"Okay, men. We're coming in. Stay clear of the door!" Came the voice.
Then, the pounding started again, only this time it was sharper, more solid, and much, much harder.
The door could take no more. It gave way with the crrack! of splintering wood and the smash! of the frosted glass shattering.
In a flash there were at least ten more people in the room, headed by an ageing man whose height only accentuated his slouch.
Nigel gasped.
"Colter," he snarled.
"Ah, if it isn't the Kids Next Door. I don't suppose you've come here to announce your surrender?"
"In your dreams, you old jerk," numbuh 4 jutted in, before giving the man he was against a final hit to the head, knocking him unconsious.
"Oh, a little cocky, are we? Well, I'd say there are better times to get a big head than when outnumbered by the enemy," he taunted, gesturing to the troops that had come through the now vacant doorway.
Again, there was silence.
Colter seemed to enjoy this stand-off, but in the end decided that things needed to be taken care of.
"Take them all. Do anything you have to," he instructed calmly. The adults attacked, and a battle ensued. Numbuh 1 sprung off the bench, landing squarely in front of two of the men. They made a grab for him, but he jumped just at the right time, causing the two to crash into each other. Sprinting over to the middle of the room, he surveyed the status of the fight.
Numbuh 3 was, amazingly, dodging every one of the henchmen's attacks, but, as she was running, dropped one of her mini rainbow monkeys in the middle of the floor. She stopped to go back for it, but one of the men had already taken possesion of it.
"Gimme back my No-man-gets-left-behind teensy-tiny rainbow monkey!" She called. The man smirked evily.
"What, this little thing? I don't think so, girly."
Kuki's face hardened, her fists clenched, and she said quietly, through gritted teeth;
"Give. It."
The man just laughed.
That was numbuh 3's breaking point. She went red with anger, her eyes lighting up with a firey fury, and she launched herself at the man.
"GIVE ME BACK MY RAINBOW MONKEY!"
All the while, numbuh 5 had finished with the man she was first against, and was in the process of taking down two others. Punch, kick, dodge, punch. She had a very planned out, thought through way of fighting.
On the other hand, Wally seemed to have a 'play it by ear' technique. If you could even count it as a technique. It was more 'I don't know what's going to happen next but I'll be ready for it.'
Numbuh 2, not being one for much physical fighting, had spotted a computer in the corner and was fiddling around with the password page, his fingers flying across the keyboard.
After making sure that his team was doing okay, Numbuh 1 went back to fighting off the oncoming forces of the adults.
Hoagie had to rack his brain to remember the steps to bypassing a computer's password requirement. Closing his eyes in concentration, he recited to himself;
"Control, tab, F12. Type in 'bypass' and click 'accept.'
Eventually, the desktop screen of the computer was revealed, and numbuh 2 wasted no time in getting into the file listings.
"Let's see, uhm... how about here," he clicked into one folder, then pressed back on finding it the wrong one. He did this again, then again, before finally entering one labelled; 'lab.'
Three files showed up. One called 'Mixtures,' one called 'Formulas,' and one called 'Chemicals.' Hoagie was clueless as to which one the thing he was looking for would be in. so he randomly chose 'Formulas' and hoped for the best.
He was in luck.
What came up on the screen was a list of every chemical the adults had stored in their laboratory, followed by the things needed to make it and the way in which they must be used.
Scrolling down to the Z's, Hoagie found chemical Z2A easily.
But, just as he did, one of the adults turned up behind him, about to strike. Hoagie turned around, only just in time to duck out of his way, but he refused to leave the computer. He cringed as the man lifted his arm to strike again, but numbuh 1 caught him from behind before he could. The man, lay on the floor, awake but in pain. Nigel nodded dutifully to Hoagie, and Hoagie saluted in return.
But the other adult henchmen had noticed that one of the kids had found the computer, and were advancing to take the place of their fallen comnrade.
But with the enemy's movement came sector V's as well. While numbuh 3, still in ragemode, took on the one who was trying to pry numbuh 2 from the computer desk, numbuh 4 was holding two more men from getting closer, striking at them every time they attempted a step closer. Numbuh 1 distracted a few of them, running along the benches, knocking off tubes and beakers and expensive-looking equipment to the floor and watching it break. One man lunged at him, but missed and instead went hurtling into one of the floor-to-ceiling glass pannels that formed one wall of the lab.
Numbuh 5, after taking care of two other men, started on helping numbuh 3 move the mountain of a man standing between the team's tech genius and the computer.
This went on for a few minutes, before the man finally gave in (courtesy of a kick to the side of the foot from Abby) and limped away to avoid being hurt any more.
Immediately, numbuh 2 was back at the keyboard, and before long, he had switched up not only the ingredients to Z2A, but the method as well. His finger hovered above the 'save' button, but yet another disturbance stopped him.
Dr. Colter himself stood, only a few feet behind where numbuhs 2, 3, 4 and 5 were, his glare so harsh they could almost feel it burning into their backs.
"Well done. I honestly didn't think you would make it this far," he said, his voice stark and plain. "But I'm afraid I'll have to cut you short now."
"Not so fast!" Nigel shouted from across the room, jumping off the table and walking over to the rest of his team.
"If you do anything to them, this whole place will go up in flames."
"What the heck are you talking about, kid?" Colter spat impatiently.
"I just riggesd up a small but extremely powerful explosive to this room. If it gets set off, there will be enough power in the explosion to destroy not only you precious lab, but the entire adult base. So I suggest you don't do anything that you might regret later," numbuh 1 recited cockily. Colter's scowl increased to double its intensity.
"You're bluffing."
"Do you want to find out?"
There was a pause.
"You can blow this place up, I don't care. Do you really think we'd make something containing all our most important files unprotected? The computer's fire proof."
Numbuh 1 was unphased.
"You're not," he stated simply.
While the evil man was distracted with numbuh 1's threat, Hoagie pushed the final button, and the overly complex secret to making chemical Z2A was replaced by... something else. Nigel saw this, and raised his eyebrows in question, as if to say, 'Are you ready for this?'
The four others calmed and re-focussed themselves, and nodded slowly.
Nigel pulled out a small electric box with a big red button on it; the detonator.
"Goodbye, Dr. Colter. Until we meet again," he said, before taking a deep breath and pushing the button. A little pannel under the button lit up, displaying in digital numbers; 0:15. It then began counting down.
"RUN!" Numbuh 4 screamed, making a break alongside the entire team for the gap in the wall that had previously held the sheet of glass.
The moment that Colter realised what was happening, he too was sprinting for the door, following the path of the other men fighting sector V who had fled the scene for safety.
Thirteen seconds later, the Adult's base was literally exploded, burning down in flames.
The war was won.
Sector V's plan had worked.
The adults had found out about the attack on their base, and were all immediately sent to the kids' base. And with the destruction of the adults' base, it was only a matter of time before they were all taken down.
It was all over. After weeks and weeks of exhaustion, nerves, and relentless enemy attacks, the Kids Next Door had pulled through.
The chemical that had the power to change a child's loyalties was destroyed along with the base, and kidkind was safe.
But, even as the remains of the lab stood, covered in ash and blackened metal, Colter staggered over to the computer, which had been fireproofed in case something like this happened. He thought he had outsmarted the kids. He turned it on, keyed in his password, and opened the file with the formula. Then...
"NO!" He cried, realising what had been done.
"Those cursed KIDS!"
On that day, Dr. Arthur Colter swore revenge on the Kids Next Door, vowing to piece that formula back together, even if it took him years.
A/N: Hope you liked that! Does it explain enough about the story? Also, I have no idea why I put that bit in with Patton and Fanny.
On another note, I'm going to Sydney on Wednesday, so next chapter might be a little late. Probably not, but maybe.
Okay, that's all from me! Bye!
-xoxo, Numbuh 25
