Numbuh One didn't leave for one minute that Benedict already wanted to punch the rest of Sector V. They were waving at him, with big smiles on their faces. These brats were being so familiar with him and he hated that. Benedict was already tired of this.

-"Soooo... Benedict, was it?", asked Abby curiusly. "Where are you from?"

-"It's none of your business.", he replied dryly.

Abby wasn't hurt by that answer, she had known other kids with a big temper, but Wally was having none of it:

-"Hey mate! She was just trying to be nice!"

-"Yeah, no need to be so cranky, We want to help you!", added Hoagie.

Ben looked down on them angrlily. They really were trying to be buddy buddy with him by being helpful. HA. 'Helpful'. If those bratty Kids Next Door were truely helpful, he would have been the first to know that, especially after what happened all those years ago... Ben stopped his thoughts for a moment. He was surprised he was thinking about it after all this time. Usually he let the past in the past and was focused on the present. He hated his past, his time before becoming Father. Thus far, he was able to ignore it but suddenly it was like he was brought back in that place and the feeling of hopelessness that went with it. He brushed away all of that.

Abby was sensing the atmosphere becoming a bit too much tense and she remembered what Nigel said about not pushing the new kid, so she changed the subject:

-"Okay, so it seems you're going to stay here for a little while. What do you say we give you a tour of the Treehouse, huh?"

At first, Ben wanted to piss her off, but something clicked in his evil mind. Sure, he 'promised' Numbuh One to not do anything to the place but... that was only counting for the time he was staying there. Ben could still do some scouting and notice the flaws of the treehouse and prepare an attack later, when he would get his body and powers back. Nothing in his deal with the Sector V leader said anything about that loophole. He chuckled a little, not to loud so that the brats wouldn't hear it. He could still make some good out of this situation. He accepted the little Lincoln girl's offer, with a convincing faked enthusiasm that they totally bought. Kids, they are so gullible.

Ben had to admit it, this place was huge. Though granted, that was probably because he was short again that gave him this feeling. These brats had two kind of living rooms, one that was next to Numbuh One's bedroom, another one that was bigger and the ceiling was made of glass (he wasn't sure), multiple corridors that looked alike and others that were just bridges between the tree branches. Ben was glad he didn't have vertigo, because that was a safety hazard for sure. Each member of Sector V was happy to show off some of their favorite places and tried to get a reaction from Ben, but he always answered with a small unimpressed 'hmpf' everytime they talked to him, something that was going on Wally's nerves. Back to where they started, they were near the security system panel, Ben took the opportunity to look more into it. Knowing how it works would come in handy for later evil schemes. But the more he was looking at it, the more he became uneasy with all the mismatching buttons and keyboards. Ben knew that those brats were reycling their technology or whatever, but this was ridiculous.

-"Why is there a sandwich in the middle of ... this?", he asked genuinely confused by pointing the object in question.

-"Oh, this is the emergency emergency button.", Numbuh Two answered. "It's for the extreme case of emergency."

-"But why is it a sandwich? Won't it mold or soemthing?"

-"We have plenty of those to refill the spot." the fat boy replied as if it was the most normal thing to think.

-"This is so..." Ben started almost speachless.

-"Genius?" hoped Hoagie.

-"Gross!" Ben exploded. "And what's with the missing keys here? There is a 'down' button, but no right or left ones!"

Hoagie felt a little dejected by Ben's sudden outburst, it was like he was the target of those rants. Kuki, not caring about her new friend's anger, simply answered him with glee:

-"That's because they're on each side of the panel control. And the up button is up there!" she indicated the location of said button.

-"What it is doing up there?"

-"Because it's for up there, silly!" the young girl ended happily.

Now Ben was really speechless. He was astonished about this nonsensical 'logic' of theirs. Trying to pirate their 2x4 technology was going to be more complicated than he anticipated. He might as well just give up this idea because it was giving him headaches. Hell, by just standing in this damn place near them made him lose his braincells. He wanted to argue, but he realized this conversation would just turn in circles.

-"This is the dumbest of all the stupid explaination I have ever heard in my life...", Ben sighed by massaging between his eyes, which was difficult with his glasses on his nose, thing he kept forgetting for not being used to it anymore.

That line was the last straw for Wally. This kid was rude to his best friend and now he practically insulted Kuki.

-"You think you're soooo great, do ya?", Wally grabbed him by his shirt. He tried to be the most intimidating he could possibly be, but the height difference didn't impress Benedict in the slightest.

-"Back off, you twerp!", Ben exclaimed as he brushes the smaller kid's arms off of him.

By doing so, Wally had to take a few steps back, which only made him angrier. He pushed Benedict harder in return who fell and lost his glasses in the process. Wally decided to take the glasses to mess with him.

-"Hey, look at me! I'm a big nerd with big glasses and a big mouth!", he yelled mockingly.

Abby tried to stop her friend when Ben got up.

-"Oh you're so dead, kid." he muttered hainously but couldn't do much because all he saw was a blurr.

Wally took it as a challenge and then ran off to the bigger living room, teasing Benedict to follow him and inviting his friends to a game of catch the glasses. Hoagie and Kuki joined in gladly, but Abby only shook her head and facepalm at the situation. Ben was too angry to care about his sight so he just ran towards Wally, but not before running in the wall first, which made the group chuckle. Hearing the laughs of those brats just made him even angrier. If he had his powers, he would have scorched them without a second thought. He almost reached the blond kid but he wasn't fast nor precise enough that the glasses already flew over Numbuh Three.

-"Why is your glasses slightly yellow?", she asked while inspecting the glasses further.

-"My eyes are really sensible!", Ben answered, even tho he didn't want to. He was so caught up in the moment, he didn't really care about what he was saying. He was almost near the girl when he heard a swoosh above his head. His glasses changed hands again .

-"Why don't you use sunglasses then?", Wally taunted the boy as he caught them again.

-"I'd rather die than wearing sunglasses.", Benedict spat between his teeth with pure disgust.

Hoagie was waving his arms, asking for the glasses to be thrown at him and Wally gladly launch them towards his friend. But Abby caught the glasses before they could reach Hoagie and scolded her friends:

-"Enough you guys! This is not how we should treat Benedict. He's our guest, for crying out loud!"

Hoagie and Kuki felt a little embarassed, but Wally didn't give a crud about it, Abby was just ruining his fun.

-"Apologize all to him, we should try to get along, okay?"

-"Whatever.", Ben cut her off and walked toward her voice.

-"Um, you should watch for the-", she started to warn him, but he was a bit faster, tripped over the steps and fell down face straight to the floor. -"... steps..." she finished her sentence.

The others had a small chuckle at this fall, Abby simply gave them a disapproval look and asked Benedict if he was okay, since he didn't move. She asked lauder to make sure he wasn't unconscious but he slammed his fist on the ground as he replied:

-"Do I look I'm okay to you?", he raised his head, revealing a bleeding nose.

The three operatives stopped their mischievous attitude, though for Wally it was mostly because he couldn't stand the sight of blood.

-"Do you need help for-", Abby gave him his glasses back and tried to get him up.

He only responded by grabbing his belonging with a muffled 'forget it'. Ben stormed out of the living room, mumbling cursed words to himself. The smell and taste of blood wasn't new to him but it's been a while since he was actually this injured. Usually he would get some slight bruises that just faded away in a few hours. Being a child again wasn't actually the worse thing about this whole situation. It was the fact he didn't have his powers unlocked, therefore not his ability to heal quickly. As Father, he was so used to never bleed again that he now forgot the slightest cut or hit would do real damages to him. He was really missing his silhouette suit. He was walking for over five minutes and ... he still didn't find the bathroom... He looked back. Did he take the wrong turn at the last path? He was walking fast, angry at those brats that he didn't realize where he was actually going. Ben was feeling extremely stupid for not remembering anything in this dump. The place was a maze, he didn't know how those brats could just find themselves at ease. There was no logical passageway to go to point A to point B. They had to go up three times and turn left then right, then left again to only take the stairs down, or something. It was more confusing than the panel control! Ben still had his hand on his nose, but the bleeding was too much to handle it started to flow down on his sleeve. He kept going, trying to make sense of where he was.

And... He couldn't.

Damn, he really WAS lost.

Ben sat down, leaning his back on the wall and sighed. What a terrible, terrible day. It has just been a roller coaster of bullshit happening after another. And there he thought he could have been on a plane, leaving for an ideal vacation spot, away from all of that KND crap. He didn't notice the time passed, and then heard a, unfortunately, familiar voice.

-"Father?", asked Numbuh One to wake him up from torpor.

Ben wasn't sure if he should be happy or angry to see his nephew. One thing for sure is that he couldn't use violence with him even if he wanted to, because Numbuh One could still easily break their deal. He was after all outnumbered, so he couldn't afford to make the wrong decision based on impulse.

-"Your friends are jerks." he said as he stood up. -"You know that?"

-"Numbuh Five filled me when I came back a few minutes ago." his nephew replied completely ignoring his spiteful tone.

After hearing what happened, Nigel did scold his friends for their behavior but deep down he was also proud of them. Obviously he couldn't show it, he had to keep the appearances. They messed with Father, and that was enough to make the day worthwhile for the leader of Sector V. He was enjoying this little revenge on the sooper villain.

-"We were looking for you since you weren't in the bathroom. What are you doing here anyway?"

-"Huh? Oh uuh... I was just doing some... Sightseeing... On my own...", Benedict replied trying to sound casual but he apparently wasn't.

-"Father? Did you... get lost?" Nigel asked carefully.

-"NO!", Ben answered quickly as he crossed his arms and looked away from Numbuh One.

The heavy silence between them turned awkward after a few seconds.

-"I may have... Taken the wrong... path or something..." he nervously admitted.

Another few seconds of silence passed before it was broken by Nigel's laud laugh, which just made Ben even more embarassed.

-"HEY! Stop laughing at me!"

-"Sorry-" Nigel tried to contain his laugh, -"But you've got to admit this is pretty hilarious! Pffffffft!"

-"To you, maybe!"

-"Okay, okay, I'll stop", he half promised, still laughing. This was too funny. -"Come on, I'll bring you to my room, I have what you need to patch you up."

Ben let the boy had his fun. He was definitely going to take revenge on him later. Nigel brought Ben to his room, where he kept the first aid kit for emergencies. He gave it to his bleeding uncle, still giggling about the situation. Ben grabbed fiercly the kit, and went to Numbuh One's restroom to clean himself up.

-"So now what?" Benedict said across the door. -"Do you want to start training with your powers?", he asked, because he was really impatient to regain his body and powers.

-"No, it's too late for that. We could start tomorrow. I already told everyone else to go to sleep, we should do the same. It was a long day."

-"Tell me about it..." Ben whispered in agreement. He stopped the nose bleeding and finished cleaning his forearm that recieved some blood, then got out of the restroom.

Only he wasn't expecting Nigel to keep an eye closely on him when he opened the door, so he rolled down his sleeve pretty quickly, hoping the kid didn't see anything.

Nigel got intrigued by this strange behavior, this action was too fast for him to notice anything.

-"What are you hiding? A tattoo or something?", he teased.

-"No." Ben simply cut him off. -"By the way, where am I going to sleep? Your sofas don't look exactly comfy." he asked, trying to not bring more attention to his forearm.

-"You can still use my other bed downstairs." Nigel offered after a few seconds of silence. It was clear Benedict didn't want to talk about what he was hiding, so Nigel just let it slide this time.

But he couldn't shake off the feeling that Father was indeed hiding something under his sleeve, and he needed to find out what that was.