Chapter 3

Nigel arrived at the Moonbase. He looked at the time. He was able to make it pretty quickly. He saw others operatives swarming the entrence. He asked a few of them if the meeting already begun, but they answered him that not all sector leaders were there yet. Some still were on a mission that they couldn't cancel to come right away. Nigel was relieved. He hated being late, or people being late. It always messed with the flow! And speaking of being on time and not late... Nigel recognized one sector leader from afar. She was known to despise late people as well. She was speaking loudly and holding a few paperworks. He approached her.

-"Numéro Nonante-et-Un Virgule Douze!", he greeted her by putting his hand on her shoulder. -"How are you?", he finished the salutation with a big smile.

-"Numéro Un! It's been a while!", she shouted happily.

Numéro Nonante-et-Un Virgule Douze, or Numbuh 91.12, was a light brown haired girl with heterochromic eyes, blue and green. She was the leader of Sector CH, the swiss sector.

-"I see you're speaking again. That's wonderful!", he congratulated her.

A year ago, more or less, Nigel and his teammates were on a diplomatic mission with Sector F. They recieved a distress signal from around the place and since Sector V were only there to help Sector F as back up, it was them who went to investigate the S.O.S.. Nigel and his friends found a girl in a children's home who was good at 2x4 technology for having built a small KND radio. Kids of the world know about the Kids Next Door, and the organization always leaves some clues and hints of 2x4 tech in all places kids could be: that way, if any of them needed help fromt the KND, they could still contact them. Numbuh 91.12, only known as Gabrielle at the time, desperately needed to be saved by the Kids Next Door.

She wasn't asking much. She only wanted to go back to her mother with her sisters. Her parents were divorcing and things were not going well. The father was a violant man and the mother left one day the familial home with her three daughter to escape from their situation. The problem was that the social services considered at some point the mother as 'unfit' to raise her children, so they took the custody of the three girls away from their mom. Gabrielle explained that one day a lady came to her school to take her and her sisters to this current place. She wasn't even able to contact her mom! It was forbidden for her. Her only hope was the Kids Next Door, because they save kids, that's what she heard they were doing.

Sector V checked the mother's records, and all they could see was a very nice woman who did everything to get her vanished daughters back. So Nigel and his friends messed with the social services' and lawyers' paperwork and made it possible for the mom to get the custody of her girls once more, even if it was only temporary for the moment. The children's home was a terrible experience for Gabrielle, she closed on herself and lost her voice for a while. She still wanted to join the Kids Next Door, because her own battle against adult tyranny wasn't done just yet. She also wanted to make sure that what happened to her wouldn't happen to any other kid ever again, something that Nigel could relate to. He heard she was able to climb up the ranks to become a sector leader, and that being with the KND she was feeling more comfortable into speaking once more. That's why he was genuinely happy for her.

-"Merci, Numéro Un.", she answered. -"It's nice to see you again."

Nigel agreed. And felt a little guilty for not checking on her lately. As sector leader, it wasn't his job to do a follow up with every kid he was helping, that was more of the Special Squad's task, but he did support and recommend her to become a KND operative. He felt responsible for her.

-"Do you need some help with it?", Nigel asked while pointing her paperwork.

-"Thank you, but I'm fine. It is just some late minute reports I have to submit.", she politely declined. She then looked at her watch. -"After this and the meeting, I'm finally free to go on a vacation with my family!"

Nigel didn't need a reminder of why he was doing his job. But seeing how happy a kid he saved was always filled him with pride and joy.

-"Where are you going, if it's not too indiscreet to ask?"

-"We are going in a small village in the Valais, in the south of the country.", she giddily answered. -"It feels kinda lame, because after going to the moon, anywhere else on earth feels like overrated!", she joked.

-"That is true!", Nigel followed her on her tone.

Then her big smile faded slightly.

-"Well, the destination doesn't really matter... As long as we're the four together.", she almost whispered.

Nigel patted her back in sympathy. The social services had the plot of separating the three sisters and put them in different places of the country. One was supposed to go in the swiss-german part, another one in the south and the last one somewhere in the north. They really avoided the worst. Thinking about her sisters, Nigel remembered 91.12 was the middle child, so he said:

-"You know, if your teenage sister is picking on you or anything like that, don't hesitate to call the Kids Next Door! You might never know when they can plot something against us."

-"I'm gonna be fine, it's the holiday: we're on a truce. And besides, I'm always prepared, I have my KND emergency kit with me at all times. You don't need to worry about me.", she reassured him. -"But what about you? You have something planned for the week?"

Nigel was caught a little off-guard, and reminding of the recent events, he quickly answered:

-"Oh, uh, a last minute little something came up, and I won't be able to take some time for myself."

She shook her head in negation.

-"Numéro Un, you have to take some time off, otherwise you will end up all wrinkled before you're 13!", she scolded him on a facetious manner.

-"Yeah I know, you're not the first one to tell me that.", Nigel acknowledged on a salty tone. Everybody was telling him that when he was taking too much KND work when it wasn't that necessary.

Nigel then spotted Numbuh 10 in the crowd. He politely excused himself from Numbuh 91.12 and wished her the best for the next week. She did the same, and he was able to greet his cousin.

-"Lauren! I'm so glad to see you!", he shouted in relief as he was hugging her. She hugged him back.

Nigel wasn't a hug person. He didn't like hugs that much. Except that right now, seeing his maternal cousin was giving him life. He was never the type to jealous someone for having brothers and sisters, but he was still wondering what it was like to have siblings. Sure, he could see it with his friends. Wally usually didn't care much about his little brother but when Joey was in real danger, he would become fiercely overprotective of him. Kuki and Mushi had their own thing going on, Nigel wasn't sure what to make of it. After his father left, Hoagie was the only one that Tommy could look up to. It wasn't something Nigel had. No matter how much annoying Tommy could be and how much annoyed Hoagie was of his younger brother, they still cared deeply about each other.

And then there was Abby and Cree. Nigel loathed Cree for betraying the Kids Next Door, but more importantly betraying Abby. Everyone knew about the teenager's traitorous actions, but Nigel still remembered a time when she was known as Numbuh 11. After Abby saved him from the Delightful Children, and Nigel showed interest in joining the KND, Abby would tell him so many stories about how great her big sister was. He could see the pride and joy in her eyes whenever she was talking about Cree. How happy she was to have her hero in her family, and despite all the things she has done, Nigel had to admit Cree used to be a good sector leader. His predecessor, no less. Cree was a special person for Abby : someone she could look up to. Another thing Nigel didn't have. The closest thing to it would be Numbuh 274, one of the best KND operatives, a living legend in Nigel's eyes. But after his betrayal, everything changed. Chad was just like any other teenagers hating kids. It was still painful for Nigel to have lost a friend, but it was easier for him to get some distance with it because they weren't related. He couldn't say the same thing for Abby and Cree. They had to see each other at their own home on a daily basis, and while homes were usually a neutral place for KND operatives and their teenagers brothers and sisters, it still didn't take away the sisters' personal grudge against each other.

Nigel could feel relaxed for real whenever he was with Lauren. He didn't need to keep a serious demeanor with her. She was the closest thing to a sister for Nigel and didn't want to lose that. Finding out he had an extended family was one of the coolest things that happened to him. Well... extended family on his maternal side at least. Because Nigel absolutely hated the other discovery. As a result of that, he felt the need to see Lauren more and more. And was glad to learn it was the same for her. They would spend hours talking about gossips in the Kids Next Door. As the leader of the Kids Nightly News, Numbuh 10 had a lot of juicy stories on a lot of topics. It was one of Nigel's guilty pleasure, and whenever he was with her, he could forget about his other relatives and have a good time. Thinking about that made him squish her tighter.

After their greetings, Lauren told him:

-"You must have had a bad day, am I right?"

-"You have no idea.", Nigel replied.

-"Well, I did hear about the cake mission.", she mentioned.

-"The news already spread, huh.", Nigel concluded.

She noded affirmatively. Gossips and hearsays were exceptionally fast in the Kids Next Door. She reassured him that it was okay if he didn't get the cake, there was always a next time. While Nigel agreed with her, he was still more worried for the other thing. They continued talking about a lot of other topics. They joked, laughed and were having a general good time until they heard a high pitched voice from the side. It was Numbuh 363, who, obviously, was still getting on people's nerves. Harvey was a little pretentious kid, thinking that just because he had a perfect record on his mission rates it meant he could look down on the other operatives. Not only that, but he was also the little brother of Numbuh 362, and that was going too much to his head. He would take advantage sometimes of this position, as the other KND didn't dare to tell him to behave better by fear of being reprimended by the Soopreme Leader. While Rachel wasn't the kind to use nepotism, she did follow the rules and would lecture any operative if she deemed it was necessary. The KND just didn't like that Harvey was a pretentious taleteller.

-"Harvey McKenzie is over there.", Nigel fakely noticed on the moment.

-""Fat piece of crud.", Numbuh 10 started, annoyed.

-"Freaking rat, butt licking..."

-"Scumbag."

-"Garbage pail.", Nigel completed. -"Let's go say hi!", he said on a sarcastic jovial tone.

It was better to be the first to be -somewhat- polite towards Harver, rather than leting him coming with a reproach...

-"Hey, if it isn't Numbuh 'I-fail-every-of-my-missions'!", the younger kid said with a smug expression.

...Or not. Harvey had a second nature for being so annoying and looking down on others. Nigel clenched his fist. He wasn't having a good day and Harvey had to rub salt in the wound.

-"Hey, some respect for others wouldn't hurt you, you know.", Nigel hissed through his teeth.

-"Leave him be, Nigel.", Numbuh 10 stopped her cousin. -"He's not worth it."

Nigel fixed Harvey, still not happy about his overconfidence, then just left. The meeting was about to start so they all went to the auditorium. Nigel noticed that Numbuh 86 wasn't part of the higher ranked operatives and was wondering where she was. They all sat down and Numbuh 362 spoke up.

-"Alright everybody! Things are serious.", she started. -"Some of our top classified information got leaked to the villains. Our experts suspect there is a mole in the KND."

A big round of whispers started into the assembly, everyone was looking at each other in disbelief. Nigel felt tense, that was indeed a serious matter.

-"Keep quite, people!", Rachel ordered. -"For now, we canno say for sure who the mole might be, but I advise you to watch out for operatives with known relatives on the enemy side. They are our prime suspects."

Nigel felt tense again, but for another reason, and obviously he felt aimed by this reveal. Rachel answered a few questions about the procedures then dismissed the meeting. Upon leaving, Nigel was stopped by Rachel who wanted to see him privately. His heartbeat accelerated. He started to sweat. He was afraid his secret mihg have been revealed in some way.

After the Grandfather Crisis, when Nigel discovered his true roots, he never told anyone aobut his evil relatives. Everyone were brainwashed and didn't remember everything that transpired that day. Especially this disturbing fact. All the KND knew was that Numbuh 0 really did exist and was Nigel's dad. Nothing in the KND archives indicated the relationship between the founder of the 7th age and the evil adult from the tapioca factory. And Nigel wanted to keep it that way.

In Rachel's office, Harvey was sitting next to his sister with the same smug attitude, which got on Nigel's nerves.

-"With all due respect, Numbuh 362" , he looked at her while blatantly ignoring Harvey's presence. -"But what is he doing here?" he asked vehemently. -"I highly doubt what you need to tell me has something to do with Sector W."

-He's not here as Sector W leader but as Global Tactical Officer", she explained.

Nigel was astonished. He wasn't expecting that.

-"But what about Numbuh 86? That's her role, right?" he asked in stupefaction.

He wasn't holding Fanny in his herat, but he had to admit she was doing her job well, even if sometimes she was getting carried away by her passion. Nigel guessed she wasn't there because of the problem at hand.

-"Our spies suspect a KND operative with a relative in the villain high in their hierarchy, and Numbuh 86's dad is Mr Boss, so I had to suspend her." Rachel explained.

-"And Harvey has her position because...?", Nigel impatiently asked.

-"I have the best record of all the organization, of course.", Harvey pointed out pompously. -"And because I also warned the authorities that one member of my team could be the mole, Numbuh 85! Because he's 86's brother and therefore Mr Boss's son too!"

Nigel couldn't believe it. Harvey had no shame to say he 'sold' one of his teammates for a better position. He really wanted to punch the small kid, but had to control himself again because his sister was just there.

-"But that was a fact you already knew, right, Numbuh One?", Harvey snarked Nigel who wasn't sure how to respond.

-"Well, yes, I learned that fact some time ago during a mission. Wait, that's the reason you wanted to see me?", Nigel asked towards Rachel.

-"No, I don't blame you for not saying anything.", she reassured him. -"I want to talk about your teammates. We need to suspend them."

-"Wait what? Why!?"

-"They are obviously extremely suspicious because of their families.", Harvey answered in his sister's place.

-"Harvey, enough." Rachel shushed her brother, which gave Nigel a satisfaction that he was fine showing sneeringly. -"What I mean is that your sector has the highest number of operatives having evil relatives and that is concerning."

-"Seriously? You thing my team could betray us?"

-"They sure can! Some of them are way too cozy with their relatives!", Harvey shouted.

If Nigel had knives instead of eyes, he would have stabbed Harvey a thousand times already.

-"Harvey, for the last time.", Rachel warned. -"What I'm saying, Numbuh One, is that your team can still be used by their relatives in some way."

Nigel had to admit that argument was holding pretty well but he was still unsure if that was the case.

-"Sure, like Mushi for exemple?", Nigel sstarted to be really pissed off. -"She mostly has a personal history with Numbuh Two, I can hardly say she cuold be a threat to the KND."

-"She still allied herself with that King Sandy boy, and can be bothersome to kids who just want to relax on the beach. And there is the Toiletnator who is more worrying than Mushi."

-"Oh please! Numbuh Four despises his uncle and it's reciprocal. There's no way Numbuh Four could give him information: he wouldn't know how to anyway. And you seriously consider the Toiletnator to be an actual threat?"

-"He migh tnot be a real threat but he is still a villain, and so could still deliver intel to the rest of them."

-"Then what? You think Numbuh Two's grandma might be up to something? SHe isn't a nice person yes, but she didn't do any anti-kid thing lately."

-"Perhaps, but we all know what a mean senior citizen with a liking for tapioca and an opportunity to destroy us could do.", Rachel said on a severe tone.

With that obvious reference to Grandfather, Nigel calmed down a little bit. He sensed that same feeling of guilt for not telling his secret when remembering about his own relatives. All he could answered was a defeated 'Right' and let Rachel continue.

-"Moreover, Numbuh Five is the most suspicious of all."

-"No, impossible.", Nigel shook his head. -"Numbuh Five is extremely loyal to the Kids Next Door. She would never do something like betrayal, I promise!"

-"She might not be a conscious leak, that's all I'm saying. Cree could steal information without Numbuh Five knowing it."

Nigel didn't know what else to say.

-"Please, don't suspend them. I swear they're innocent!"

Rachel thought for a moment.

-"In that case I'll put them under investigation. Until our experts' report, you will have to communicate your team's behaviour directly to Global Command."

Both Nigel and Harvey were surprised by this decision.

-"You want me to spy on my team?", Nigel ask incredulous after a few seconds, to be sure he understood what he just heard.

-"It's either that, or they're suspended.", Rachel commanded. -"You will have to put them aside if you're going on a mission that might have something to do with their relatives."

Nigel grumbled a few words before accepting the lesser evil. Rachel then dismissed the small meeting. Harvey left visibly not happy about the second option Rachel gave Nigel. Before leaving, he complained:

-"I can't believe you're asking me this.", he said still angry at this idea.

-"Trust me, I don't like it either. I'm under pressure, I need to find what's going and make sure our informations won't leak again."

-"Maybe there is no mole, and some operatives just suck at their job. That's possible.", Nigel dryly said.

-"Perhaps, but as Soopreme Leader, I cannot ignore every possibilities."

Nigel couldn't argue with that. He knew that Rachel had much more responsabilities than he could have.

-"And I'm sure you can handle watching over your friends, Nigel. I have no worries, if you see something strange, I know you will informed me immediately. After all, being the son of Numbuh 0 makes you the most upstanding operative of all!", she gleefuly noted.

Nigel felt even worse after hearing these words. He was feeling more ashamed about his secret.

-"Uuumm... Numbuh 362? There's something I need to tell you... You see...", Nigel started carefully.

He was looking at her in the eyes. It was probably his best chance to come clean to her. He could hear his heartbeat getting louder. He felt his torso and back getting all sweaty.

-"... There's this kid I saved earlier from the Delightful Children From Down The Lane and I was thinking if he could stay in my treehouse the time I find a way to bring him home.", Nigel finally said. He cursed himself for not being able to tell the truth. He reassured himself that he still needed to talk about the new "kid" who was going to stay in a KND base for a few days.

-"That should be a job for the Special Squad, no?", Rachel asked.

-"You see, he isn't very trustful of the Kids Next Door and doesn't talk much, so I think it's best if he stays with the operative who helped him: me.", Nigel argued.

-"Mmmmmhhh... That could be preferable, indeed.", she wondered herself. -"Alright, you have my permission, Numbuh One."

-"Thank you."

-"But, you need to promise you won't get this civilian kid in trouble, it's the rules, okay? Keep him away from missions and , and if you have to go on mission with half of your team, the other half could watch over him too. That's perfect!"

-"Definitely. Thank you again."

With this last exchange, Nigel saluted his Soopreme Leader and left. He wasn't feeling that great, because he missed one opportunity to tell the truth. At least to her. She would have probably udnerstood. But Nigel wasn't sure at 100% of her reaction, and the mention of him being the son of Numbuh 0 made him back away from his decision. He walked across the Moonbase, and fell on a group of cadets near the Zero Hall, where a statue of his dad was standing. He came closer to the visitors.

-"...And here you have Numbuh 0, the founder of the 7th age of the Kids Next Door, dear cadets!", the guide shouted so that everyone could hear him. -"He defeated Grandfather all those years ago, built the first Moonbase ever, and inspired thousands of kids around the world to follow our ideology!"

-"Hey, one question, Mister Tour Guide? What does that quote on the golden plate here mean?", a young boy asked, pointing out the bottom of the statue.

-"Oh, the line 'If you're scared in the night, remember: there will always be a light that shines through the darkness' ? Well, I'm not sure... I'm no expert on the matter..."

-"It's the 'Light in the Night' quote!", Nigel intervened. Everyone turned towards him. -"It's a reference to the moon: it's the only light that you can see in the night, and it represents hope.", Nigel explained. -"We might get our lights away from people, but the moon will always shines no matter what. It's a reminder of why Global Command was built on the moon, because the moon doesn't belong to anyone! Or if it does, it belongs to all kids of the world! Just like hope!"

A wave of 'ooooohhs' ran through the assembly. A young girl recognized Nigel.

-"Wait, you are Numbuh One, right?", she asked cheerfully.

He noded and before he could confirm it out loud, another boy gasped:

-"You're Numbuh 0's son! That is so coooooool!"

While Nigel was proud of his father, being recognized only as 'the son of Numbuh 0' wasn't exactly... well... that great anymore. Nigel had his personal achievements and battles under his belt, he didn't like to be famous because his dad was famous in his own time. And besides, it was also another reminder that Monty was decomissioned, therefore Nigel couldn't talk about KND stuff with him. Everytime he tried to speak with his dad, Nigel finally saw the effects of decomissioning under another light. He never truely thought about it, since he didn't have anyone in his family to have gone through the processus before finding out about Numbuh 0 was in fact his father. The little girl corrected the boy:

-"He's not just Numbuh 0's son, silly!"

Nigel was happy to hear this.

-"He's also the son of Numbuh 999!"

... And that happy feeling was gone immediately. He felt disappointed but didn't want to show it in front of the cadets.

Indeed, his mother was none other than Numbuh 999, the first girl operative of the 7th age of the Kids Next Door. Nigel was a huge nerd of the 7th age's first generations. He learned a lot about Numbuh 0's team and other operatives who marked this era. There was Numbuh 33, the spy specialist and right hand to Numbuh 0; Numbuh 24.24, the creator of the Super Big Computermabob amongst other things; Numbuh 117, the head of medic; and there was Numbuh 308, the fight specialist who traveled the world to learn all fighting styles and then taught them to the KND. Unfortunately, he was also infamous for being the first operative to go rogue. Stories said that he was never cought to this day.

And then, there was Numbuh 999, a true rebel according to her own legend. She apparently had a lot of issues with her hierarchy, especially with the boys. She was impuslive and liked going solo a lot. Most of the reasons was because she felt the need to prove herself to the rest of the KND, said the stories about her. The more he was thinking about it, the more Nigel understood where he got his own brash impuslivity. Numbuh 999 was the original Numbuh 86 who admired her a lot. After the Numbuh 0 reveal, Numbuh 86 wanted to find her idol. One day, Nigel was helping his mom doing the groceries when Fanny interrupted them. She was following a lead that brought her right to... Nigel's mom. They were both surprised but Numbuh 86 was more upset and found it was unfair Nigel had both of his parents to be KND legends. Nigel of course honored of having her as her mom. But once again, thinking about it again made him sadder. He still couldn't talked about something interesting with his mom because she was also decomissioned.

Seeing his parents so... normal despite all the cool stuff they accomplished in their youth and not being able to speak about it wasn't really comforting. He wanted to talk with them, to share his day in a way they would understand... but the decomissioning made it impossible for them to get what Nigel was saying. He really tried, it was still not enough to bring the trio together once more. Everything was going above their heads. Nigel couldn't talk about his worries with them anymore.

He zoned off for these few seconds then decided to leave the group of cadets. He didn't want to show his pain in front of them. And he had a much more urgent task to accomplish. He needed to learn controlling his powers with the help of Father.