Chapter 2

The Delightful Children returned to their mansion. They had to announce their failure to Father. Something they were extremely anxious about it. Lately, Father was punishing them harsher than before whenever they failed a mission. They apprehended his reaction. When they arrived in Father's hall, they felt his anger from afar. He was sitting in his armchair, turned back at them. Father already knew. He knew about their defeat. Father's vehicles and places usually had also camera surveillance, to check on everything at all time. The Delightfuls understood he was already aware of what happened.

-"Father...?", the frightened Children dared to ask carefully.

-"I am most... displeased.", Father said in a dangerous calm voice.

To the untrained ears, it seemed that Father was indeed calm, but the Delightful Children were used to it: this so called calm tone was actually hidding his true rage, and one single misplaced word could unleash Father's fury. Carefullness was not enough to get out of this situation unharmed. The Delightfuls got two major pieces of Father's technology destroyed, without counting the birthday cake he made himself that was crushed into smithereens. It really didn't look good for them.

-"You... disappoint me.", Father kept talking by accentuating the hurtful words so that it would sink in his children. -"You weren't able to get rid of those pesky Kids Next Door!"

-"But Father! It wasn't our fault! Nigel Uno was-"

-"ENOUGH!", he thundered by getting up and pushing his armchair on the side so hard it broke upon hitting the wall. -"I have ENOUGH of your pathetic excuses! Whatever that brat did does not undermine your inability to handle a few of them!"

The Delightful Children backed away slowly by holding hands. They wanted to run away, but knew that turning their back on Father was the worst idea possible. They had to endure his wrath in the time being until he would eventually get less angry.

-"To learn your lesson, I'm sending you to a boarding school for the next week. Leave at once, they're waiting for you.", Father ended

They wanted to protest, but didn't want to risk getting a worst punishment. The next week was a whole week of holiday, and they were hoping to have a relaxing time. Now they would have to keep studying the whole time. They left Father alone.

After their departure, Father was rubbing his forehead. He needed some time off on his own. But he needed to finish something first that was in his office from his E.A. Industries headquarters in downtown.

He stayed in his office for a few hours. Father was tired of all of this. Those infernal brats always found ways to undo his evil plan to eradicate them. But this time... He decided to try something different. If brute force wasn't doing anything, he would use subtelty more. What his technology experts were doing for the last weeks and that was now on his personal server and computer in his office, now that could help destroying those snot nosed kids.

There was another issue at hand. Nigel Uno. Father wasn't sure at 100%, but on the surveillance footage, it seemed the young man had finally unlocked the family's genes... Or the camera was too busted and didn't record well what was happening. Bah, no matter. It was something that could be deal with after Father would be back from his vacation. He truely needed some time off away from the Kids Next Door, his children, his company, everything. All he wanted right now, was to fly off to a place where he could get some actual peace and quiet time to himself.

Especially during this time of the year.

As long as he could avoid his regular place and everyone around it, anywhere would do... But the task was difficult since the Kids Next Door were literally everywhere on the planet. Even Antartica was a common place for those brats to stay! Hell, the freaking moon was inhabited by them! Father sighed as he massaged his temples. He guessed he could still think about it the next day. Sleeping on it might be fructiful.

As he was turning his computer off, the door that lead to his personal helicopter's platform got blown away, and Nigel Uno appeared with a very angry expression on his face. Great. Now Father had to deal with another problem immediately. He rolled his eyes. That bratty kid kept getting more and more of an annoyance as days passed.

-"Father.", Nigel dryly said while raising his ridiculous weapon at him.

Father got up, and was going straight for his private lift, without giving the operative any looks.

-"I really don't have time for this, boy.", he groaned exasperately.

Nigel interposed himself in Father's way, determined to not be ignored by the adult.

-"Not so fast! I-", he yelled, before being interrupted when Father used his telekinesis to disarm him.

During Nigel's distraction, Father grabbed him and threw him towards a bookshelf on the side.

-"Like I said: I don't have the time for this.", he repeated but on a much more irritated tone.

Nigel was trying to get up from the fall, and his members were hurting him. He started to feel the same rage when the Delightful Children were taunting him. Except that Father was completely ignoring him, making it more insulting.

-"And I said: NOT SO FAST!", the child screamed louder.

He felt heat coming from his chest and hands, and soon he saw the blackness covering his arms. Flames were swirling around his hands. He looked at Father. He freaking hated that guy. Father had been really active in the adult-kid war only for around a year, but by God did this man had done awful things to the Kids Next Door. Actually... Nigel knew that Father was a long time enemy to the KND, and his crimes against kiddom dated from probably way before he was even born. Worse: Nigel just had a small epiphany. He started to wonder if his kidnapping from three years ago wasn't done randomly after all. The Delightful Children take orders from one person only. That being Father. And Father always knew the connection between himself and Nigel. Thing that just made Nigel even angrier by just thinking about it. The fire in his hands kept getting bigger and bigger. Something that finally caught Father's attention.

-"Well, well, well. It seems you finally reach your true potential, Mister Uno.", the shadowy figure mocked the child.

-"And who's fault is that?", accused Nigel in his most disgusted tone.

Father couldn't believe it. This brat really thought he had something to do with him getting powers. Yes, it was time to go on a vacation, extremely far away from this kid.

-"You are incredibly arrogant to think I would waste my time on you.", he said on a tired tone. He turned his back on his nephew, resoluted to move on, having enough of this crap.

But Nigel didn't come all the way here to leave without anything.

-"I have questions, and YOUwill give me answers!", he roared as he was charging towards Father, hands full of fire.

Except that Father was faster and caught Nigel before he could punch him, then the man pinned to the wall the audacious kid by the neck.

-"You're really looking for a correction, are you, Mister Uno?", menaced Father in a dangerously low tone.

Nigel couldn't breath very well. He was trying to remove Father's fingers around his throat but with no success. His feet were dangling in the air and couldn't reach Father even if he would have tried to kick him. He looked into the villain's eyes. Pure hatred was shining in the yellow eyeballs. This time, Nigel realized he might have gone a little too far by provoking Father, especially without a proper preparation. The evildoer raised his other hand with a fire ball in it. Nigel could sense this fire was much hotter than his own. He grabbed the man's forearms and was starting to get really worried about his fate.

You could teach him a lesson too you know, a quick thought crossed his mind.

Nigel was thinking how easy things would have been if Father didn't have any powers at all. As he had that thought and Father was on the point to crush his head, Nigel's hands glowed brightly. Both Nigel and Father were as confused as the other, and a sudden small explosion occured, repelling Father in a smokey cloud. Nigel could breath again, coughing a little because of his soar throat and of the smoke. He looked up, watching carefully what Father might be up to next, but Nigel was perplexed to see what was right in front of him. His half silhouette suit faded again due to his anger decreasing.

-"Oh, you're gonna PAY for that, brat!", a small voice came from the fog.

Upon hearing his own voice, Father brought his hand to his throat, wondering why it changed. Also, once he got up, he realized the floor was strangely closer than usual. And he wasn't wearing his silhouette suit either. He checked himself and understood it wasn't just his voice that changed: his whole being shrunk to the size of a small kid.

-"...Father...?", wondered Nigel, still bewildered.

-"You did this! I'm gonna-", the now younger man started before being interrupted by two security guards rushing in the office.

-"What's going on here?", asked the first security guard. -"How did you two brats got in this office?"

-"Excuse you", protested Benedict with his thin voice, -"I'm not a brat, I'm Father!"

The two security guards looked at each others and laughed loudly at him. Nigel couldn't refrain from doing the same. Benedict said it on such a convienced tone, but with the appearences it wasn't believable one second.

-"Sure, sure, kid. Now playtime is over. Get out of here!", the second man said by grabbing Nigel by the arm who was too exhausted by his confrontation with Father that he couldn't fight back the security guard. The first man took Benedict who was protesting and shouting some 'LET ME GO!' all the way out of the building.

Once at the bottom, Nigel and Benedict got thrown out on the street. Benedict was fuming, but no powers on sight.

-"Oh, these two are so FIRED!", Benedict screeched by raising his fist at his own skycraper.

Nigel got up and was dusting his arms and legs before saying:

-"Well, too bad that they won't listen to you, eh Father?"

-"YOU!", Benedict screamed while turning towards Nigel, and was running in his direction to strangle him. Nigel was ready to protect himself but Benedict tripped on his own, falling face first on the floor, loosing his huge glasses in the process. Nigel wasn't sure what to think about it so he just stood there, looking down on the rejuvinated man.

-"Mmmrrrmbllgl... Stupid short legs!", mumbled Benedict in pain. He wasn't used to his reajusted size yet.

-"Well, well, well, how the tables have turned.", Nigel ironically stated. -"Now I hope you'll listen to my demand.", he continued on a much more serious tone.

-"Dream on, brat. But you will turn me back to normal at once!", commanded the small being.

Benedict was taping in front of him, looking for his glasses. Nigel couldn't take him seriously like that: despite the imperious tone, Father was now a small child with a high pitched voice, and completely blind who couldn't even reach for his glasses. Really that was laughable. At least one good thing in this awful day.

Nigel picked up the glasses and a thought. He was wondering how blind Father really was. Nigel himself needed prescription glasses, but he could still see pretty much well without them. All he could see was some blurr and wasn't capable of reading road signs from afar or a computer, but he could still put a foot in front of the other to walk properly. He put Benedict's glasses on but took them off immediately.

-"WHOAH! Those are strong lenses! You are so blind!", he commented genuinely.

-"Hey! They're not a toy! Give them back!", Benedict demanded furiously.

Nigel looked at him, and decided to turn everything to his adventage.

-"Nope, not before you're going to listen to me!", he provoked his uncle.

Benedict didn't really have much choice, so he let go a small angry 'fine'. Nigel gave the glasses back to him who immediately put them at their rightful place.

-"I propose you a trade, Father. You're a business man, you should see something that can work for both parties, right?

-"Go on."

-"You want me to return to your normal form, I want to control my powers, but I can't help you if I don't know how my powers work. And for that, I, errr... I need you to teach me all aobut it.", Nigel pondered his words.

Benedict was raising his eyebrow in suspicion.

-"How do I know you won't just throw me in your artic jail the moment I would expect it the least?"

-"Because I really need you to understand how to keep my powers in check, I uuhhh... I have no interest in letting everyone know about my... connection... to you.", Nigel admited at the end of his sentence on a defeated tone.

Benedict had a crooked smile on his face, which was kinda creepy to see a young kid with such an expression.

-"Still not over that, heh? And keeping secrets from your close friends at that, huh.", he mocked.

-"Not like you go screaming that fact on every roof either!", Nigel defended.

-"That's fair.", Benedict said by standing up and removing some dirt on his legs. -"But how can I trust your words?"

-"Well, you're a soopervillain and I'm a KND operative, my words are legitimately worth more than yours!", Nigel replied.

-"Good point. If the situation was reversed, I would have totally lied and tricked you.", Benedict admitted. He pondered his thoughts. -"Alright, I really have no choice.", he conceded flatly.

-"Technically, you do: you can refuse my help and stay on your own in downtown. I'm sure i could train without your help, it would be just more difficult, that's all.", Nigel commented.

-"... That's not exactly a choice, boy.", Benedict retorked.

Nigel ignored that last comment and search for something in his pocket. He beeped on a small controller and soon his R.O.A.D.S.T.A.R. came to him. He made sign to Benedict to get in and after grumbling some unintelligble words he finally climbed on the 2x4 vehicle. Nigel then took off.

Arriving at their destination, Benedict asked to go directly to the mansion: a better place to train Nigel's newfound powers. But they weren't able to land that some laser guns started to show up and shot all of their might at the unwelcomed figures. With his quick reflexes, Nigel redirected his vehicle outside of the mansion's grounds while screaming the whole time. He noticed his passanger did the same.

-"What in the world was that?", Nigel was wondering, still under the shock.

-"Ooooooooh I completely forgot!", Benedict slapped his forehead. -"This morning, I activated my new security system!"

-"Security system?", Nigel repeated.

-"Yeah, uuummm... My... new security system can scan people and if they don't match adults' sizes, it activates itself and shoot on anyone not allowed in its programming."

-"Must be tough for your children, then."

-"No, they're the only ones that I enter in the system, actually."

Nigel understood at Benedict's expression that he didn't put himself in his own system.

-"So that means you locked yourself out of your own house?", Nigel laughed in a smile.

Benedict glared at him. Nigel cleared his throat. It wasn't really time to push his luck.

-"I suppose we have to go in the treehouse.", Nigel proposed.

-"In that dump?", Benedict looked up. -"Not a chance.", he refused.

-"Well, in that case, I'm sure Dad wouldn't mind I'd invite an acquitance home-", Nigel started before being immediately interrupted.

-"Gah- No, wait!", Benedict pleaded. At the mention of his brother, he was ready to accept living in the worst place possible. -"The dump will do.".

Nigel smirked. He destibilized him pretty easily by just referencing his dad. He was starting to like this situation even more, because he was about to tell Benedict something extremely ironic...

-"If you accept to live in my place, you will have to follow my rules."

Benedict was speechless for a few seconds before trying to protest anything.

-"Tututututut!", Nigel kept going. -"My treehouse, my rules! That's what you adults like to say, right?".

Shushing Benedict was so satisfying, more so with his expression on his face.

-"Fine. What are they?", accepted Benedict reluctantly.

-"Firstly, take that pipe off of your mouth: kids don't smoke.", Nigel started and Benedict rolled his eyes before putting his pipe in his pocket. -"Secondly, you must drop the adult vocabulary, so you have to stop calling me or my friends by words like 'brats' or anything that could give your true identity away.", Nigel continued despite Benedict's incomprehensible mumbling. -"And thirdly, do not try to sabotage anything in my treehouse.".

-"Oh please, you think I would try something like that? May I remind you I was supposed to go on a vacation, therefore I don't plan anything villainous this week.", Benedict complained.

Nigel gave him an insistent look.

-"Fine! I promise I will not try to sabotage or destroy anything in your dump. Happy?"

-"Yeah, we just need to do one more thing.", Nigel realized.

-"What now?"

-"We need to come up with a story about your presence for my friends. We have to coordinate it if we want to keep your identity secret."

-"Okay, what do you have in mind?"

-"I don't know for now."

-"Great. Just great.", Benedict sarcastically ranted by clapping his hands.

-"Come on, we still have time to imagine something.", Nigel looked at his W.R.I.S.T.W.A.T.C.H.. -"My friends must still be at their respective homes and won't be back for a few hours before our weekly debriefing.", he ended as he turned his vehicle on again and flew towards the treehouse.

Upon arriving, Nigel invited Benedict to follow him after opening a door.

-"Alright, first thing first, we-"

-"SURPRISE!", a bunch of voices shouted at the same time as their respective head were showinp up behind Nigel.

-"G-guys?", Nigel recognized his friends from Sector V. -"What are you doing here?"

-"We decided to surprise you by being right on time for our weekly debriefing!", Abby proudly announced.

Nigel was caught off guard. All he could say was a small 'Ah?' not really conviencing.

-Well duh! You keep complaining we're always late.", argumented Wally.

Incredible. They just HAD to be right on time, at the wrong moment. Nigel could hear Benedict snickering behind him. He also noted this cruel irony. Upon hearing him, Kuki rushed over the new person.

-"OOOOHHH! Who are you? What's your name? What's your favorite color? Do you like Rainbow Munchies? Where do you come from?", she besetted him with a lot of questions.

Suddenly, he wasn't laughing anymore, as Kuki was turning around him while asking many things, making him a little uncomfortable with this weird proximity.

-"That's uh... Benedict!", Nigel answered instead of the first concerned.

Benedict didn't seem happy to hear his full name and made signs to Nigel to make him come closer. He then whispered to the kid:

-"What do you think you're doing?"

-"Well, that is your first name, right?", Nigel murmured on the same level.

-"... Can't exactly argue with that, but I'm not used to people calling me by first name."

-"Get used to it quickly, then!", Nigel ordered. -"The best way to lie is to use some truth!"

Their whispering conversation was interrupted by Wally who mocked the name.

-"'Benedict'? What kind of lame name is that?", he loudly commented.

-"Well, it's at least better than 'Wallabee'." Benedict replied on a salty tone.

Everyone was speechless. Hoagie asked:

-"Wait, how do you know his name? You just met us!"

-"That's because I know you."

Nigel's stress level rose a little too fast. What were they just agreed on?

-"I know your reputation. You're Sector V."

Nigel really wanted to slap Father. Sure, that was a nice save, since his friends seem to have calmed down, but he was taking some risks Nigel didn't agree with.

-"So, what are you doing with this kid, Numbuh One?", Abby asked her leader.

Nigel's mind was racing. He had to find something to say, and promptly. He opted for a very easy story to tell.

-"I was checking on the Delightful Dorks earlier, and I saw they were picking on Benedict, so I just swoop in and helped him."

That story offended Benedict but he didn't have the time to say anything that Kuki wanted to give him a hug while saying 'Oooohh you poor thing!', thing that he softly brush off mumbling some 'I'm okay'.

-"There's more to it, but he doesn't want to talk about it much.", Nigel concluded towards Abby, hoping no one would ask for more details.

-"Oh...", she understood. -"In that case, should we call the Special Squad? They are more appropriate for these situations, don't you think?"

-"I really don't think it would be a good idea. You see, Benedict doesn't exactly hold the Kids Next Door in his heart. He doesn't trust us.", Nigel explained.

-"But doesn't he trust you for saving him from the Delightful Children?", wondered Hoagie.

-"Well, just because I just happened to be a KND operative it doesn't mean he will start trusting all of us."

-"Why wouldn't he trust us after that?", added Wally.

-"I really don't know.", admitted Nigel. And that was actually the truth. -"But it's best to not push him about it for the time being. He will stay here until I can bring him home."

-"Numbuh Five still thinks we shouldn't do the Squad's job.", doubted Abby. -"But you can still arrange this matter with Numbuh 362 right now."

-"Ah? How's that?", Nigel asked, genuinely surprised.

-"She called for an emergency sector leader meeting half an hour ago. We told her you weren't back yet and that we would transmit the message.", she finished.

That was really bad timing. He wasn't sure if he could leave Father with them right away, but he couldn't ignore direct orders from Moonbase either. Dang it, he recieved too many reprimends from Numbuh 362 lately, so he made his choice quickly. He returned to his R.O.A.D.S.T.A.R.. Benedict took him on the side before he could reach the vehicle.

-"Woah, woah, woah! You're not gonna leave me with these brats just like that?", he whispered in Nigel's ears.

-"I have to go, I can't ignore something as important as a sector leader meeting."

-"What about your weekly debfiefing? Can't you use that to stay longer so that I don't have to make anything up? I'm terrible at improvisation!"

-"Then don't say anything until I get back. It won't take long, hopefully.", Nigel ended the conversation by climbing in his vehicle and leaving for the Moonbase.

Benedict turned around to see the four kids waving at him with a big smile. He tried to do to the same, but he smirked more than anything else.

-"I am so screwed...", he murmured to himself.