So time for the next episode that I could reasonably rewrite with this story-Operation: SITTER. Also, you may have noticed that I have yet to bring up Numbuh 2's crush on Cree. Well…I think it's about time they spend some time together.
"Thanks for the ride dad!" Cree declared to her father as she hopped out of the car, backpack in hand. Normally, babysitting was just about the last odd job Cree could have ever pictured she would have gotten considering that most parents were prone to writing her off for her missing arm. However, Miss Gilligan had a last minute business dinner and, considering she knew about Cree from Numbuh 2 attending school with her sister, she had reached out. Eager for some extra cash, Cree had accepted the job.
"Just remember to give me a call when you need a pick up!" Her dad reminded her. A quick hug and the car pulled off while Cree headed up the door before knocking on it. Miss Gilligan opened the door, relieved to see Cree.
"Hi Miss Gilligan," Cree greeted the other woman.
"Thank you for coming on such short notice," Miss Gilligan thanked the younger girl. "You are a real lifesaver! I tried calling this new babysitting service, but they're all booked!"
"Hey, it's hard enough for me to get a job. I'll keep the kids alive for ya," Cree assured the other woman. With a nod, Miss Gilligan headed for her car as Cree headed inside.
"Hey Cree!" Numbuh 2 greeted her. "Good to see you!"
"Glad to see you too kiddo," Cree replied before sharing a fist bump with the boy. "So, where's your brother?"
"Tommy is up-" Numbuh 2 began, only for him to get cut off by a figure jumping onto the chair.
"It's THE Tommy!" Said younger brother declared as he wrapped his cape around himself before puffing out his chest in an attempt to appear intimidating.
"...Right," Cree decided not to question that. "Listen, I know you two are old enough to behave without me watching you but…" Cree then pulled two bottles of root beer out of her hoodie's pocket. "If you promise to behave really well, there's more where this came from."
"You got a deal!" Numbuh 2 eagerly declared as he and Tommy each took a bottle. "What do you need from us?"
"Just try to keep it down and not break anything. I've got homework to get done for tomorrow," Cree replied. She admittedly knew she should have done it sooner, but she'd been busy with a Teens Next Door assignment. Chad had confirmed there was a Teen Ninja plot going on that night, but he hadn't been told much about it. Cree was annoyed, but maybe she and Numbuh 2 could pull something off if someone else hadn't already sabotaged it.
"No problem!" Tommy declared before heading off. Numbuh 2 was about to do the same, but he then took notice of Cree's prosthetic. Rather than her usual hook pincer thing, it was the Candyman hook she'd worn for Halloween.
"Hey, how come you're still wearing your Halloween costume?" He asked the older girl, prompting her to look down at her hand. Cree sighed.
"My normal one is still busted up," She admitted as she pulled the damaged prosthetic out of her bag, letting Numbuh 2 look over it. "My sister told me what happened when Chad got you all decommissioned. Ran into him later that day and got a little revenge for ya. Of course, I didn't really think about how damaged my stuff would get. My parents wanted to kill me."
"It's not that bad," Numbuh 2 noted as he looked over it. "I could easily fix this!"
"...You mean it?" Cree asked, a desperate look on her face. "Part of the reason I've been trying to get together some money is because I'm trying to pay for repairs."
"Isn't your dad, like, a doctor or something?" Numbuh 2 pointed out.
"They told me to figure it out since I broke it," Cree admitted sheepishly. "I mean, I still think beating the crud out of Chad was worth it after what he did to Abby, but still. It's gonna set me back big time."
"Well, I can do that for free!" Numbuh 2 said before mischievously smiling. "Or rather, I'll do it for some stories about Numbuh 11."
"After I'm done with my homework," Cree promised before the duo shook hands. With that, Numbuh 2 headed off while Cree finally sat down to get some work done.
A couple hours later
"So that's where Numbuh 9 went?" Numbuh 2 asked as Cree finished her tale. True to her promise, once she had finished her homework-which just so happened to be around the time Numbuh 2 finished repairs on her prosthetic arm, having additionally made it far tougher to avoid it breaking again if Cree needed to defend herself-Cree eagerly began to regal him with several more stories from her time in the Kids Next Door, both about her and other famous operatives from the time.
"Yep! He's still looking from what I remember," Cree replied before looking down. "I think his thirteenth birthday is coming up soon…"
"Do you think he'll find the source of the chicken pox?" Numbuh 2 had to ask.
"With his determination? No doubt," Cree assured the younger boy before smirking. Might as well have a little extra fun. "My sister's got the biggest crush on you, you know?"
"HUH!?" Numbuh 2 exclaimed, his cheeks already turning red. "What are you talking about? She barely even likes me as a friend! She thinks all my jokes are dumb!"
"They are!" Tommy yelled in agreement from upstairs.
"NO ONE ASKED YOU!" Numbuh 2 snapped back, causing Cree to burst out laughing, prompting Numbuh 2 to turn his glare on her.
"Sorry, sorry," Cree apologized as she calmed herself down. "But as her older sister and the one who gets all the gossip about her love life…mainly because she claims that Numbuh 3 can't keep a secret, I can promise you that Abby most certainly does have a crush on you. One that she complains about all the time."
"Really?" Numbuh 2 asked, his eyes now having actual hope in them.
"Yep!" Cree declared, popping the P as she did so. "Oh, and for the record, she'll never admit it, but she actually thinks your jokes are funny."
"You're kidding!" Numbuh 2 exclaimed in disbelief.
"She claims that it 'ruins her image'," Cree explained. "But, uh, don't tell her I told you. I don't need her telling you all about my diary."
"You got a deal!" Numbuh 2 giddily declared. Abby liked him! She really liked him!
"And for the record, you have a better chance with her than you do with me," Cree quickly added in, causing Numbuh 2 to go straight back to dumbstruck. "C'mon, you really thought I wouldn't figure it out? You've got a type, little man. Although I think I'm too old for ya right now."
"...I can live with that," Numbuh 2 admitted, still over the moon with the fact Abby may actually like him back.
Cree chuckled a little at that. "Now, I hate to be that person, but I think it's time you got to-" Her next words were cut off, however, by the sound of breaking windows, followed by screaming kids. "What the-!?" Both she and Hoagie rushed to the window, where they found an odd, yet no less worrying sight. The bed's of several children had suddenly come to life, keeping their charges ensnared via the blankets being tightly wrapped around them.
"Where are they taking those kids?!" Numbuh 2 exclaimed.
"I don't know…but I doubt it's good…" Cree declared, having realized what the supposed Teen Ninja plot most likely was. "I know it's late, but do you think you're up for one quick mission with me?"
With a smirk, Numbuh 2 pulled a 2x4 chainsaw out of his robe. "You want one of these?"
"If you've got one," Cree replied with a smirk of her own as she flipped her hood up. Luckily, Numbuh 2 did have an extra that he quickly tossed to her. The duo rushed outside and got straight to work, sawing through the legs of the beds and causing them to wobble and lose balance, freeing the ensnared kids. A few of the kids had rough falls, but considering they weren't being taken who knows where anymore, most of them didn't mind anymore. Cree briefly paused to rip a piece of a bedsheet off to serve as a mask, since she didn't want any teens recognizing her and realizing that she was extremely competent for someone who supposedly got decommissioned, before continuing onwards. Or at least that was the plan, but a kick to the sides blindsided her and knocked her into a tree.
"A teen trying to save kids? Either you came from a parallel universe or you don't understand the natural order of things," The kicker scoffed. Cree grunted. She knew that voice!
"Mallory Blackburn…" She trailed off as she turned to face her attacker. The other girl's face was mostly covered by her headset, but Cree could tell she was smirking under the mask. The girl was a menace, even as a kid. She was never a Kids Next Door operative and instead preferred to cause trouble for the organization. Why she did so, no one really knew, but everyone still took her dangerously seriously, as she was an impressive fighter even back in the day.
"Glad to see even idiots know my name," Mallory smugly bragged.
"Look, I've got no stake in this beyond trying to make sure you jerks don't screw me out of a hundred dollars!" Cree lied.
"Well then your kids would have been safe, since only people who were getting babysat by Teen Ninjas are getting a swirly tonight!" Mallory responded as she pointed down the roads. "We've set up a whirlpool near the center of town and those kids will be helpless to save themselves from some serious bed wetting problems!"
Cree snarled. "If you think I'm letting you do that now, you're cracked!"
"Meh, think what you want," Mallory replied before aiming a blaster at Cree. "But I've got no problems with hurting a teen!" She fired, forcing Cree to dodge out of the way. "Stand still!"
"How about no?" Cree replied before taking a swing at the other girl, who narrowed dodged. Growling, Mallory threw a punch at Cree, who dodged before responding with a strike from her prosthetic, which actually managed to knock the other girl back. Taking a second to look at it, Cree was surprised to find it wasn't actually damaged. "Huh. Kid knows his stuff." This, in turn, got her blasted in the chest by a recovered Mallory.
"Hot tip? Don't let your guard down!" Mallory mocked the other girl before responding with a flurry of attacks that Cree narrowly managed to dodge. Once she had the chance, Cree quickly attempted to retaliate, with neither girl giving the other a chance to get the upper hand. "Just give up! You're already damaged."
"Damaged doesn't mean broken!" Cree replied. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed something coming directly at Mallory. "Also, you may want to duck."
"Like I'm gonna fall for th-" Mallory began, only to be blindsided by a wet bed slamming directly into her, which knocked her into a nearby tree, knocking her out.
"There you are!" Numbuh 2 exclaimed as he rushed over to Cree.
"Got a little held up," She admitted sheepishly. "Gonna assume the bed was your doing?"
"Yep! So, the teens were trying to use the beds to drown all the kids they managed to babysit tonight and they turned the fountain in the middle of town into a massive whirlpool in order to do it!" Numbuh 2 began. Cree didn't feel the need to mention she already knew about that part. "So, I just switched it so that the water shot back out again! Hit a bunch of Teen Ninjas too!"
"I could tell," Cree said as she shot another glance at Mallory, who was still unconscious. "Now, let's make sure everyone gets home okay."
Miss Gilligan mumbled several unrepeatable things under her breath as she pulled into the parking lot of her driveway. Not only was the meeting far longer than it needed to be (several parts should have just been an email!) but the roads had been closed off as well! Apparently, a bunch of teenage punks rigged the fountains to explode out water. Betty truly hoped that the community service they got taught them a lesson. Still, no point dwelling on it now that she was finally home. She stepped inside.
And found a sight that made all her remaining anger vanish.
Cree and Hoagie were fast asleep on the couch, the younger boy using the older girl as a pillow and both bundled under a blanket. Judging by the TV being on, they must have fallen asleep while watching a movie. With a smile now gracing her face, Betty headed off to let Dr. Lincoln know his daughter would be spending the night…and to grab her camera.
Yes I know in canon this episode is a dream but this is fanfiction and I can do whatever I want!