TW for mentions of blood and violence

It had been a day since Numbah 1's panic attack and he was doing much better, both mentally and physically. Most of his wounds had healed which meant most of the bandages had come off and he could walk around freely now that his side had healed enough. The scars on his temples still remained though, having turned a dull red colour.

His nightmares were slowly getting less and less common, but he hadn't had another panic attack which was good. Although he'd probbly never admit it aloud, Father was still worried about him. But, it did ease the adult's mind to see his nephew doing much better then he was at the start of all this mess.

"The roads have finally been fixed, or at least the roads that lead to essential stuff." Father said aloud. It was the morning after Numbah 1's panic attack as he sat in the living room and checked his phone. The Delightful Children were sitting on one side of him with Numbah 1 just walking into the room. "So, that means that school's gonna be starting up again?" Numbah 1 asked as he walked over to the couch and sat on the other side of Father. "Probably, but no specific dates have been given out yet." Father said with a shrug. "Speaking of roads, you said Dad was in the hospital? Can we go see him?" Numbah 1 asked, a glimmer of hope in his eyes. "I don't see why not, now that the roads are fixed." Father said causally.

"Also, are you good at sewing?" Numbah 1 asked, causing Father to raise an eyebrow in confusion. "I suppose I'm okay at it. Why do you ask?" Father inquired. Numbah 1 started tugging at the G.K.N.D patches sewed to his sweater. "I'd like these patches off my sweater, the hoodie too. I don't want to associate with the G.K.N.D anymore." Numbah 1 explained, tugging at the patches with a bit more urgency. "Alright, alright. I'll fix it for you. No need to rip up a perfectly good sweater." Father said as he gently swatted Numbah 1's hands away from the patches.

--Ten minutes later--

"And...done! Father said as he put the sowing needle and thread on the side of the bathroom sink before stepping back. Numbah 1 put his arm down and looked himself over in the mirror, it was obvious the sweater had been tampered with but at least he wasn't sporting ties to the G.K.N.D anymore. Since the hoodie had been sown on, all Father had to do was cut it off with scissors. As for the sleeves, they'd been a bit more tricky, as to cut the patches off he had to make a hole in the fabric. So, Father had simply stitched up the area where the patches were cut off with needle and thread.

"What do you think? It might be a little tight around the shoulders, but I did the best I could without ripping the fabric." Father asked. "It's looks much better. Thanks!" Numbah 1 said enthusiastically, turning to get a better look at himself in the mirror. "Father! Now can we go see Uncle Monty? We even made a card for him!" The Delightful Children asked from the parlor where they'd been waiting, impatience present in their voices. "Yes, yes, we'll go see Uncle Monty now. Get in the car, me and Nigel will meet you there." Father announced, followed by the sound of many footsteps getting further and further away.

"Since we're most likely going to be spending more time together because of Dad, what should I call you?" Numbah 1 asked as the two left the bathroom. "Call me whatever you want, I don't care." Father said causally as they walked. He wanted to say: "You can call me Uncle, if you'd like." But he felt that'd be overstepping his bounds, so he didn't even try. He didn't want to risk screwing up whatever truce/relationship Numbah 1 and him had at the moment.

Even though the drive was bumpy and tedious, as well as arriving at the hospital a little later then Father would've liked, Father didn't really care. As long as he was able to see Monty, that was all that mattered to him. As the group walked into the hospital, they passed nurses and doctors scurrying around like their heels were on fire, freinized chatter and PA announcements dominated the air and the waiting room was stuffed to the brim with people. The group walked up to the front desk, the receptionist woman was on the phone, Numbah 1 noticed the bags under her eyes and her peeling nail polish.

"Hello, sir. How can I help you?" The woman asked Father as she put down the phone. "We're here to see Monty Uno? He's my brother, I'm here with my nephew and children." Father calmly explained, taking a moment to geusture to Numbah 1 and The Delightful's. "Of course, sir. He's on the fourth floor, take the right hallway. He's in the last room on the left." The receptionist woman barely had time to finish her sentence before the phone starting ringing again. The group then left the front desk and made their way through the halls and into the nearest elevator.

"You made a card for Dad?" Numbah 1 asked once they were in the elevator, the calm elevator music greatly contrasting the wild chaos of the hospital lobby. "Yes! We signed it and even left a drawing, see?" The Delightful's happily pointed out, showing Numbah 1 the card.

It was made of light blue construction paper that has been folded in half, on the front of the card, the words: "Get well soon, dearest Uncle!" were neatly written in purple marker. On the inside of the card, the left side had a drawing of a happy face and the right side had the words: "Dear Uncle Monty, we hope you recover quickly and we love you very very much. Tell Auntie Mary we love her as well." Was nearly written in purple marker, with each of their names written below.

"How cute! He'll definitely love that." Numbah 1 said, glad to see that the Delightful's had taken the time to make something so thoughtful.

"We're here!" Father said as the elevator came to a stop on the fourth floor. The group stepped off the platform and took the first right hallway just as the receptionist had instructed. As they walked down the hall, Numbah 1 saw someone standing by the doorway of the last room on the left with their arms crossed and a gloomy look on their face. As they got closer, Numbah 1 realized it was his mother!

"Mom?" Numbah 1 asked aloud, picking up the speed of his walk to a jog as he ran in front of the group. Her head lifted up, Mary Uno gasped and covered her mouth with her hands when she saw her son. "Nigel?" Mary asked back as her son broke into a run. "Mom!" Numbah 1 exclaimed, he ran into his mom's arms and hugged her tight. Mary hugged back, held her son in her arms as she did her best to not cry. "Oh, my baby boy!" Mary exclaimed, relief oozing from her voice.

"After you tackled that terrible Numbah Infinity, no one could find you! Then, your Uncle Ben called and told us that he found you injured on the outskirts of town and took you in. Are you in pain? What happened to the side's of your head?" Mary asked question after question, breaking the hug and cupping her son's head in her hands.

Mary was referencing how, after breaking free of the visor's control and giving the rest of Sector V and Father the time to stop the G.K.N.D's ultimate evil plan, Numbah 1 had tackled Numbah Infinity and pushed him into a massive vat of Earth ocean water (Numbah Infinity had once told Numbah 1 that ocean water was like acid to him due to all the salt in it), order to stop him from hurting Monty any further.

"I'm okay, mom! Really, I am! I was hurt before, but now I'm all better." Numbah 1 assured her. Mary then turned her attention to Father and the Delightful's, who had been idly standing behind the two the whole time. "Mary, it's good to see you again. How's Monty?" Father said. "The doctor's in there with him right now, they're doing a check up. If all goes well, he'll be discharged later today." Mary explained.

As if on cue, the doctor walked out the room, looking down at the clipboard in his hands. "How is he, doctor? Can he be discharged today?" Mary asked. "According to our latest tests, yes. He's all set to be discharged today." The doctor said pleasantly as he looked up from his clipboard. Mary then entered the room, with the others following close behind. Monty was sitting on the hospital bed flexing his left arm, which had a bandage wrapped around it from the top of his elbow to the end of his wrist. He also had a few white Band-aid's dotting his face, along with a bandage wrapped around his forehead. Numbah 1 assumed they all were injuries he got while fighting with Numbah Infinity.

Monty's face lit up when he saw his family walk into the room. "Dad!" Numbah 1 cheered, running towards his dad. "Nigel, old bean! How've you been?" Monty asked as he got off the bed and scooped Numbah 1 up in his arms to hug him tight. "I've been doing good. Are you okay?" Numbah 1 asked. "Yes, I'm alright. No need to worry." Monty said causally as he continued to hold his son.

The Delightful Children were the next to step forward, they slipped their homemade card onto the nightstand next to the hospital bed. "We made a card for you, Uncle Monty. We hope you like it." The Delightful's said shyly. "Oh, really? Thank you, kids!" Monty said warmly as he shuffled Numbah 1 out of his arms so that he was sitting on the bed, before picking up the card and reading through it. "Thank you, Delightful's. It's a lovely card." Monty said, still beaming at them. "You're welcome, Uncle Monty!" The Delightful Children replied in a cheerful sync, wearing big pride filled smiles.

"Well, I'm glad your alright, Monty. But there's another reason I wanted to see you in person." Father spoke up, leaning against the wall across from the hospital bed with his arms crossed and a inquirng look on his face. "And what would that be, Ben?" Monty asked, Numbah 1 noticing a glimmer of nervousness in his dad's eyes. "If you don't mind me asking, what happened to your arm? You've been avoiding my question for a while now and I'd like to know in person." Father asked as he stood up and geustured to Monty's bandaged arm, Monty's face paled and his body tensed up. At the same time, Numbah 1 felt something writhe it's way up from the recesses of his mind. Something snapped, reared it's ugly head up and broke loose from it's shackles, sending a dull sting through his brain.

"How I got it doesn't matter, Ben! Really, it doesn't! What matters is that I'm fine now." Monty said pleasantly, anxiety seeping into his voice. Father glared down Monty with a stern, unconvinced look on his face as he took a step closer to Monty. "You're my brother, Monty. I want to know what happened." Father continued, no longer asking but demanding an answer.

Flashes of his nightmare from a yesterday ago burst into the front of Numbah 1's mind as the sting in his head sharpened and stabbed into his mind more intensely, causing him to yelp in pain and throw his hands over his now throbbing temples.

Numbah 1 first saw his father on the ground with a pleading look on his face, Numbah 1 had one foot planted on his chest and the red strings were forcing his clenched, bladed hand to rise.

He then saw a splatter of blood on the ground, he saw crimson staining both his hands, esspically the knuckle blades protruding from his gloves. The red stings made Numbah 1's head look up to see Monty half sitting-half leaning against a wall, clutching his left arm close to his chest. Claw marks that oozed crimson stretched and curled all over his left arm, from the top of his elbow to end of his wrist, Monty looked even more terrifed then before.

Numbah 1 felt like he wanted to scream, wanted to cry, but his expression stayed blank and unfeeling dispite the tornado in his mind. Numbah 1 activated the knuckle blades again before rushing forward, Monty grimaced as he was forced to kick Numbah 1 in the chest to get him away.

Numbah 1 gasped as he snapped back to reality, he nearly fell off the bed but steadied himself just in time. "Nigel? What's wrong?" Mary asked as she hurried over and helped her son off the bed, Numbah 1 had his hands pressed against his temples, his temples were pounding so badly it almost hurt. "My head hurts." Numbah 1 uttered in a strained voice, a deep dark stomach feeling bubbling up from the pit of his stomach.

"Sit down, sit down. You pale as a ghost." Mary instructed, Numbah 1 gladly sat down on the floor with the help of his mother, Mary kneeling down next to him. The dark deep stomach feeling was growing, bubbling more intensely now. "What's wrong? Are you dizzy? Did you hit your head?" Monty asked nervously. "No. For some reason, I keep thinking about the nightmare I had." Numbah 1 explained.

"He had a nightmare?" Mary asked to Father. "Yeah, last night. Dreamt that something was puppeting him and that he was forced to attack Monty. I dunno why I'd pop back into his head now." Father said. Monty's eyes darted down to his shoes and he recoiled slightly at the mention of the nightmare, causing Father to notice and shoot Monty a curious look.

"Dad?" Numbah 1 asked as he stood up, still holding his hands over his throbbing temples. "That nightmare I had last night...it felt so real. But it wasn't real, right? It--it was it just a nightmare, right?" Numbah 1 asked, the dark stomach feeling clawing it's way up his guts and leaping up into his throat to jumble his words.

A look of guilt crept onto Monty's face, he turned his body away from Numbah 1 as his eyes darted away from his son. "I'm afraid not, Nigel." Monty uttered, hanging his head in shame. Numbah 1's eyes went wide and his mouth gaped in slient horror as the room went chillingly quiet.

Now, the deep dark stomach feeling had spread over Numbah 1's entire body, filling him up with terror.

"That's that happened to your arm?! You said one of those evil robot's attacked you!" A shocked Mary said as she stood up and walked over to her husband "That's why you were dodging my question! Monty, what the actual--" Father demanded as he stormed over to Monty, having to cut himself off at the end as to not lose his temper and risk setting the room ablaze.

Numbah 1 slowly backed away from the hospital bed with shaking legs, tears welling up in his eyes and his breath coming out in short, rasping, frantic gasps. "Cousin? Where are you going?" The Delightful's meekly piped up, causing all eyes to fall on the bald boy. "Nigel, I know you didn't mean to hurt me. You were being controlled. Besides, my arm is fine! I'm fine!" Monty pleaded, trying to calm his son down to no avail. "Nigel!" Monty called out as Numbah 1 spun around and bolted out of the room.

Numbah 1 sprinted out of the room as fast as his legs could take him, ignoring his dad's pleas as he ran. He didn't know where he was going, he couldn't see through the tears flooding his eyes. He sprinted down the hallway and turned a corner before running down that hallway as well, even though the floor he was on was relatively quiet, he still managed to barrel into someone. "Ow...sorry. Are you okay?" Numbah 1 mumbled as he picked himself up off the ground, noticing that whoever he'd knocked over was taller then him.

"It's okay, no harm done." A familiar teenage voice replied. Numbah 1 looked up to see Numbah 274, better known as Chad, dressed in a hospital gown and slippers with bandages wrapped around his arms and band aids dotting his face.

Chad looked down and saw Numbah 1, his eyes widened in fear and he took a few hurried, stumbling steps away from Numbah 1. Unlike with his dad, Numbah 1 knew exactly what had happened to the teen. Because he, although unwillingly, was still the one to inflict the wounds that caused Chad to need to be hospitalized. Memories rapid fired back into his brain, things he'd been pushing down and trying to ignore ever since he woke up on the rocky outskirts.

How he'd woken up mid punch, Chad splayed out on the ground with Numbah 1 on top of him, one now ungloved hand around his throat with the other hand forced to rise above his head with his fist clenched.

The pain and terror in Chad's eyes, the bloody cuts and massive dark purple bruises covering his face and arms. And those were only the visible bruises.

How Numbah 1 became a conscious puppet, but still a puppet nonetheless as three words fell out of his mouth like the tears that were overflowing in his eyes. "I'm sorry...Chad."

Chad seemed to remember too. With a look of pure terror on his face, he kept stumbling back and hurriedly shuffled towards a door that Numbah 1 assumed was his room, the teen never took his eyes off of Numbah 1. "Chad!" Numbah 1 was barley able to get one word out, his voice weak but frantic, before Chad rushed back inside his room and slammed the door shut. Tears started to well up in the boy's eyes again, so he started running again. He didn't know where he was running and he didn't care. He just wanted to get away, to get away from the thing's he'd done.

Numbah 1 turned another corner and finally came to a stop, gasping for breath as he squeezed his eyes shut but stubborn tears leaked out anyways. Numbah 1 collapsed against a wall and sank down into a sitting position, the weight of his actions pushing him down. He cupped his shaking hands over his mouth to muffle the guilty whimpers worming up his throat, but it did next to nothing.

He felt numb and sick at the same time. He felt so disgusted, so disgusted at himself. He felt angry and sad and dizzy and guilty and scared, all of the emotions swirling around into a confusing mess in his head. "How could I not remember doing like that?! How could I do something like that to Dad?! What kind of monster hurts their family? What kind of monster am I?" Numbah 1 thought as his heart pounded in his chest like an out of control drum.

It must've been the universe's version of a bad joke, that the things Numbah 1 wanted to remember were forbidden and the one thing he wanted to forget was burned into his memory. A million burning questions flooded his head: Who else had he hurt? Had he hurt his friends? What other terrible things had he done that he didn't remember? Had he crippled someone? Or...even worse then that?

The sound of a door opening from somewhere down the hallway made him jump, followed by a woman's voice with an prominent Irish accent saying: "Wait outside for a moment, kids. I need to be alone with your father." Numbah 1 immediately threw himself upwards and stood up, shoving his sunglasses up on his face to hide his tear-filled eyes.

Numbah 1 looked up to see Numbah 86 standing outside of a now closed hospital room door, along with her two younger brothers, nine year old Numbah 85 (now with re-grown hair in a cut that resembled Shawnie's, just with shorter bangs) and 6 year old Shawnie Fullbright. "Nigel?" Shawnie asked in amazement when he laid eyes on Numbah 1, The other two turned to see Numbah 1 and their faces dropped in suprise. "Nigel!" Shawnie exclaimed happily as he ran over to Numbah 1 and hugged him tight.

"H-hey, Shawnie! It's good to see you, where have you been?" Numbah 1 asked, hugging Shawnie with one arm while using the other arm to keep holding his sunglasses up, trying to keep his voice calm but a nervous tremble in his voice betraying him. "Where have we been? Where have you been, Nigel Uno?! No one's seen or heard from you for four days!" Numbah 86 demanded, both suprised and annoyed as she and Numbah 85 walked over to Numbah 1.

"It's been four days? It felt longer then that..." Numbah 1 muttered. Numbah 85 broke up the hug, taking his little brother by the hands and leading him away from Numbah 1, putting Shawnie behind him. "It's good to see you again, Nigel. Sector V and Rachel are going to be so happy when they know that you're safe, they've been worried sick!" Numbah 85 exclaimed. Although he sounded cheerful, the nervous glint in Numbah 85's eyes and the slight frown that seemed to be glued to him and his sister's face gave Numbah 1 the impression that they were nervous around him.

But why?

"Yeah, you've bet they've been worried!" Numbah 86 continued where Numbah 85 left off. "So the first chance you get, you better get your butt up to the Moonbase and pay 'em a vist!" Numbah 86 ordered as she pointed an accusatory finger at Numbah 1. Before Numbah 1 had a chance to agree with her, Mary came around the corner and Mrs. Fullbright came out of the hospital room, the ginger haired woman wiping a tear from her eye. "There you are! You gave me quite the scare, running off like that." Mary gently scolded as she picked Numbah 1 up and held him in her arms. "Oh, hello Mary. What are you doing here?" Mrs. Fullbright asked as the two mothers noticed each other.

"I'm visiting Monty. He's getting discharged from the hospital today." Mary explained. "Lucky you. They're keeping Gabriel here for at least another day. I know it's for safety reasons and all because of what happened to his arm, but it's still quite stressful." Mrs. Fullbright lamented. "You're always welcome to give me a call if you ever need someome to talk to, Tabitha. I hope everything goes well with your husband." Mary said warmly, before she turned and headed back towards the hospital room where Monty was.

"I'm sorry, mom." Numbah 1 whispered once they were out of earshot of the Fullbright family. "I forgive you, dear. I understand why you ran, I know how much you love your dad." Mary replied. Numbah 1 clung to his mother a little tighter as hot tears started to fill up his eyes again. "Are you mad at me? I didn't mean to--to hurt him. I couldn't...couldn't..." Numbah 1 bit the inside of his cheek and squeezed his eyes shut as he started to quietly cry. "No, no, I'm not mad at you. No one is mad at you, okay? You were being controlled and forced to do it. I know you'd never hurt him on purpose." Mary coaxed rubbing soothing circles on her son's back and holding him close to her as she walked.

"I just didn't want you to be cross with him. It's not his fault!" Monty aruged as Mary and Numbah 1 re-entered the room. "I know it's not his fault! Even still, you shouldn't have hid the truth from me." Father stood in front of Monty, hands on his hips and was scolding his brother while the Delightful's quietly stood off to the side. When Father noticed that Mary and Numbah 1 were back, he stepped off to the side and stood next to the Delightful's, but not before giving Monty one final unimpressed look.

As Monty got up off the bed and walked over to his child, Numbah 1 turned his body away from his dad, too ashamed to look him in the eyes. "I'm sorry, Dad." Was all Numbah 1 could bring himself to say, his voice a feeble whimper. "Don't be sorry, Nigel. What happened to me was out of your control. You're not in trouble." Monty assured him, putting a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"Really? You're not mad at me?" Numbah 1 asked as he turned around. "Yes, son. I'm not upset with you, not at all." Monty reassured. Numbah 1 smiled a little bit, relieved that his dad wasn't angry or scared of him for what happened.

The next few minutes were a blur, the doctor came in and told Monty he was officially discharged from the hospital, Mary put Numbah 1 down so she could help Monty collect up all the stuff they needed before they headed home, then his parents said their goodbyes to Father and the Delightful's before they walked down to the car and headed home.

Numbah 1 was quiet the whole time, Numbah 85 and Numbah 86's words were looping through his head over and over again.

"So the first chance you get, you better get your butt up to the Moonbase and pay 'em a vist!"

"Sector V and Rachel are going to be so happy when they know that you're safe, they've been worried sick!"

Poor Sector V. Numbah 1 couldn't even begin to imagine the worry must've felt, not knowing where he was or if he was safe, or if he was even alive. Numbah 86 was right, he needed to get up to the Moonbase ASAP and let them know he was alright.

"This is Numbah 86 to Moonbase with an urgent message. I repeat, this Numbah 86 calling in to Moonbase with an urgent message, over." Numbah 86 spoke into the walkie-talkie she was holding, now back home in her bedroom. Nothing but crackling static filled the room for a few seconds, until a beep noise slienced the static and confirmed that she'd gotten through to someone.

"This is Supreme Leader Numbah 5. What's going on, Numbah 86? Over." Numbah 5's voice rang out from the other end.

"You're not gonna believe this, but Numbah 1 is alive and well! Over!" Numbah 86 proclaimed.

"WHAT?! He's alive? Is he okay? Where is he?" A now bewildered Numbah 5 asked after a few seconds of stunned silence.

"Yeah, he's fine. I saw him at the hospital earlier today when we went to go visit my dad. He's still wearing the G.K.N.D uniform, but there's no belt, gloves or visor, and it looked like someone cut the patches and hoodie off his sweater! He's also got these triangle looking cuts on the sides of his head, so you might wanna get Numbah 3 to look him over." Numbah 86 explained.

"Oh--oh my gosh! Numbah 5's gotta tell Sector V and Numbah 362! She's gotta tell everybody! Thank you, thank you so much, Numbah 86! Numbah 5 will make an announcement right away!" Numbah 5 said excitedly, before the walkie-talkie clicked off.