Nigel "Numbah 1" Uno felt butterflies of unease swarm in the pit of his stomach as the car pulled into the driveway of the Delightful Manor. His mind was spinning in a chaotic fishtail at a million miles an hour but his legs were heavy with dread, as though someone had tied invisible blocks of concrete to his ankles. His dad got out of the driver's seat of the family car and walked over to Nigel's door and opened it. Nigel reluctantly hopped out, a chocolate brown backpack hung on his back that held everything he would need for the rest of the day and tomorrow. He had pyjamas for tonight, clothes for tomorrow, his tablet for entertainment, his favorite sky blue Rainbow Monkey and a loaded squirt gun and K.N.D walkie-talkie, just in case. "Dad, are you sure he's going to behave himself?" Nigel asked to his dad as the two walked up to the front door, "Of course he will, I made him promise me in person that he'd be on his best behavior. Your uncle is a man of many things but he keeps his promises." Monty said, Nigel gave him a small smile, he had faith in his dad but the same couldn't be said for his uncle.
The reason Monty and Nigel were even here in the first place was really quite simple. Nigel and his dad were going out into the woods for the rest of the day and tomorrow for some father-son bonding time, that was why Numbah 1 had the backpack. Monty had decided it was a good idea to pop over to his younger brothers house and say hello for a quick minute, that was why they were here.
The father-son duo arrived at the front door, Monty rung the doorbell without hesitation. After a few seconds passed before the door opened to reveal none other then Benedict "Father" Uno standing in the doorway. He was in his black shadow suit, an ebony pipe with a bright red outline sat in his mouth and his burning yellow seemed to peirce straight into your soul. "Hello Ben, how've you been?" Monty asked cheerfully, a big smile on his face and an aura of pleasantness eminating from him while Nigel wanted nothing more then to sink into the ground and evaporate. "Hey Monts, I've been good. Come on in." Benedict said, suprisingly calm for once. He turned around started to walked inside the house, guesturing with his hand for the two to follow him inside. Monty walked in first with Nigel following behind him, his hands gripping the straps of his backpack with tight nervousness. The boy arrived in the kitchen before he knew it, his dad and Benedict were chatting up a storm while Nigel stood off to the side akwardly. His K.N.D instincts told him to run out the door and as far away from the Delightful Manor as possible but he knew he couldn't do that. He couldn't disappoint his dad. This meant a lot to him, Benedict meant a lot to him. Monty meant the world to Nigel, Nigel wanted nothing more then to see his dad happy. If this was what it took to made his dad happy, Nigel just had to grit his teeth and go along for the ride.
It had been four months since Operation: ZERO. Four months since he'd learned four very shocking facts: 1. His dad was once the epic Numbah 0, the most incredible, skilled and courageous operative in the history of the 7th age of the K.N.D. 2. Father, his greatest enemy and most dangerous foe was his dad's younger brother Benedict Uno and therefore his uncle. 3. The Delightful Children, Father's five "adopted" children were technically his adoptive cousins, they were Father's kids after all. 4. Grandfather, the tapioca loving, kid hating tyrant was his...actual grandfather. These four shocks had turned his life topsy tury in a spilt second, in a way he never thought was possible. The first one he was fine with, quite proud of actually. But the other three had haunted him, stalked him from afar like a bloodhound and clung to him like a leech.
At first he'd panicked behind closed doors, wondering who to tell and how much to tell them. In a panic he'd aburptly met up with Fanny "Numbah 86" Fullbright when they both had a minute of free time from their respective K.N.D duites and told her everything at all once, purely on the basis that her dad was Mr. Boss and might understand how he was feeling. To his surprise Numbah 86 didn't screech at him for running around like a chicken with it's head cut off. Instead she'd calmed him down and even sympathized with him, telling him that yes, she'd felt the same way when the first found out. She told him to tell the people he trusted the most first and slowly branch out. She'd also wasn't too suprised when Nigel broke the news of Father being his uncle, as she'd had her suspicions that the two had a deeper connection then meets the eyes because: "In certain ways, you and Father are one and the same." So far, Nigel had made up a mental list of all the people he could and couldn't tell about his villanous family members.
-Any Adult, evil or otherwise? Nope, no, no way. A regular adult wouldn't believe him when he told them that his uncle was actually a fire spewing supervillain and the last thing he needed was an evil adult getting their hands on that information and misusing it.
-Rachel AKA Numbah 362? Also no. She had enough to worry as Supreme Leader, the last thing she needed was to worry about him.
-Chad Dickson? Maybe, not because he didn't trust him, he did. He just didn't want that kind of information to accidentally be overheard by an evil teenager.
Sector V? Also maybe, Although he trusted them with his life he was just afraid that they might think differently of him if they knew what blood ran through his veins. He didn't want to risk losing his best friends, risk being shunned or them being shunned because of him. Then again, if Nigel could survive this ordeal, he could probably survive the reactions of his friends when he told them everything he'd been keeping secret for the last four months.
"No one told us you were coming." A monotone collection of 5 voices speaking in unison came from his left and made Nigel jump. He saw the Delightful Children standing on his left with a confused look on their faces. "Oh, Father-i mean, Ben didn't tell you? We're just stopping by to say hello, then me and dad are going away for a day and a half on a fishing trip." Nigel explained. "Oh, that makes sense. And you thought they were going fishing." One of the Delightful Children, the blonde boy named Bruce, spoke up by himself, giving the red football helmet wearing Delightful, Lenny, a playful elbow in the shoulder. "Yeah yeah, rub it in." Lenny said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "Glad we got to talk, Nigel. We'll be outside playing soccer if you need us." Another Delightful, the one with brown hair and glasses named Constance spoke up by herself, leading the rest of them out of the room and outside into the backyard. "It's weird seeing them not in sync all the time, usually they do and say everything together. Then again they can separate from eachother so I guess it's not that suprising." Nigel thought, remembering Operation Beach where Lenny broke off from the others and spoke on his own perfectly fine. Nigel wondered if they could break off whenever they wanted to but just chose to stay together or perhaps it was uncomfortable for them to be apart so they only separated when absolutely necessary.
"Excuse me Ben, I need to use the restroom. I trust Nigel will be in good hands with you for a minute?" Monty's voice rang out like a tornado siren from the where he was, it filled Nigel with a sense of slient fear. He wasn't fearful of Benedict or the Delightful's, he deafeated them in battle many times. Rather, he was dreading what they would do to him once Monty wasn't around to regulate their behaviour. Monty walked right past Nigel and hurried out of the room, leaving uncle and nephew alone in the kitchen.
Nigel stole a quick glace at Benedict, his back was to the boy and his arms were crossed as he leaned against the counter. Nigel had a sneaky suspicion that he had a scowl on his face, hiding his anger in plain sight. Father quietly scoffed and spun around on his heel looked down at Nigel, sure enough the older man had a scowl on his face. Nigel glared back, one pair of eyes a baby blue and the other pair a furious yellow, both locked in a bitter stalemate.
"Well, well, well, what am I supposed to do with you? Fishing trips aren't really my thing, I get seasick easily, and I can't just dump you in lava or chuck you in a jail cell and be done with you. Monty would never forgive me if I did that." The villanous adult lamented, his voice oozing with annoyance and his hands on his hips. "Whatever." Nigel scoffed back, rolling his eyes and crossing his arms. "Tch, that's it? No snappy one liners or insulting quips? Nothing, nothing at all?" Benedict asked tauntingly, intentionally trying to get under Nigel's skin. "What's wrong nephew? Afriad of your dear old uncle? Fear got you tounge tied?" Benedict asked mockingly, Nigel still didn't respond, still just staring daggers up at Benedict. There was a pause, for a few seconds neither hero or villian spoke. Until at last, Nigel took it upon himself to break the slience. "Listen here, Benedict." Nigel said, his voice filled with anger and resentment. His voice made Benedict stiffen for a spilt second, his yellow orb eyes widening in suprise and his pipe slightly slipping from it's seat in his mouth. "I don't give a Rainbow Monkey's backside what blood runs through your veins. I don't care that you're my uncle. I don't care that you're family. I don't like you, not at all. I'm only doing this because I love my dad and I want to make him happy and if making my dad happy means putting up with you, so be it." Nigel warned.
Benedict just stood there for a moment or two, stunned by what he'd just seen and heard. Then... Benedict regained his composure, letting out a soft chuckle. An ominous, taunting, condescending sound. "Wow! Finally, something the both of us can firmly agree on. I have to say I'm pretty impressed, for half a second you were almost intimidating. Almost." Benedict taunted. He strolled past Nigel, fiddling with the pipe in his mouth as he headed for the his study. "I'm not scared of you Ben!" Nigel called out, his voice filled with confidant assertiveness. "Good! I don't want you to be scared of me!" Benedict said as he walked away, not sarcastic or taunting, he sounded...genuine. Father stopped at the entrance to the kitchen, clapping a hand over his mouth in surprise, as if something locked away deep inside him had suddenly broken free and compelled him to say such a outlandish thing. "You...what? Really?" Nigel asked, but Benedict didn't answer, he rushed out of the kitchen to his study, leaving Nigel standing in the kitchen, incredibly confused. As soon as Benedict left, Monty came back into the kitchen, oblivious to what had just happened.
"Nigel? Where's your uncle?" Monty asked. "I dont know, his study I think?" Nigel muttered.
"Stupid, stupid, stupid! Why did I say that?!" Benedict whisper screamed at himself, he was sitting in his study in his favorite maroon red armchair, still in his pitch black shadow suit, currently taking up one of his lesser known pastimes of smacking a solid object, (usually a book from his study) against his forehead. The reason? He'd said something that in his mind was so outlandish, so dumb, so utterly unbelievable that he wished he'd never learned to speak at all. Everything was going fine at first, he'd been talking and catching up with his older brother, Monty Uno. Once Monty had left he'd done a bit of taunting towards his nephew and arch enemy Nigel "Numbah 1" Uno, it was the status quo between the two.
Everything was going great for Benedict until he'd slipped up and revealed that he actually didn't want Nigel to fear him. What an embarrassing accident for him. Benedict put the book back on the shelf and hunched over in his chair, combing his fingers through his hair. "What was I thinking, why did I have to say that? Benedict thought. "So what if it's the truth? It doesn't matter in the end. That kid is never going to trust me and even if he does he'd only be doing it on Monty's behalf. He'll always see me as a indimidating, uncaring monster. Nothing can change that." Benedict thought dimly, a wave of self pity mixed with regret washing over him.
A knock on the door of study pulled Benedict from his thoughts, he sat up in his chair. "Come in." He said. Ashley, the blonde girl Delightful peeked her head into the room, for some reason her hair and clothes were dripping with water. "Father? There's been an issue outside . Can you come help us out?" She asked. "An issue? What kind of issue?" Benedict asked, already standing up from his armchair, self pity and regret left lying in the seat. "Well, it started raining really really hard all of a sudden and we got soaked. The road is brimming with water so no one can get outside and-" Ashley didn't have to say another word, Benedict was already halfway out the door.
Ashley quickly followed him as Benedict speed walked into the foyer to find the other four Delightful Children standing there soaking wet and Nigel and Monty still in the foyer. Father addressed The Delightful Children first, "Father when will the rain stop?" One of the Delightful's, the tall brunette boy named David asked. "Probably not for the rest of the day. Now go get changed into something dry and get yourselves dried off." Benedict said, "Yes Father." The Delightful Children said, hurrying up the stairs to get changed. Benedict then turned to his brother and nephew.
"Ashley said the road was brimming with water. Im guessing you two aren't leaving anytime soon?" Father asked retorically, "Yep, the road is a mini river at the moment and even if you were able to get to your car it'd be impossible to drive anyway." Monty answered. "Wait, does that mean we're staying the night here?" Nigel asked nervously, hoping that his dad wouldn't say the inevitable. "Well of course, nowhere else to go tonight. I know your sad about the trip being cancelled but don't worry, I'll make it up to you somehow." Monty said. While Nigel was a bit disappointed that the trip had been cancelled before it had even begun, he had bigger worries right now, such as being stuck in a house with his worst enemy.