After arriving home, things settled back into the normal routine for the Uno Household. Well, as normal as they could be after everything that happened. His parents stayed downstairs to watch TV and talk, while Numbah 1 headed upstairs to his bedroom and flopped down on the bed, staring up at the ceiling.
The longer he stared, the longer his thoughts collided inside his brain. He knew he wanted to see his friends again, to assure them that he was alive and well. But, after remembering what he'd done to Chad and his father, he dreaded going near them. What if he'd harmed his friends as well?
He also didn't want to go as himself, if that made any sense. He glanced down at his sweater, at the stitch lines where those traitorus patches used to be. Remembering how even his clothes were defiled by Numbah Infinity made him feel unclean, gross, like he wanted to take the sweater off and burn it to get rid of the invisible filth. The boy's eyes wandered towards his closet, maybe the solution to his sweater problem was something a bit less drastic then the 'burn it with fire' approach.
Numbah 1 walked over to his closet and opened it up, looking over all the different clothes inside. His fluffy winter coat, his black tux, the blue denim jacket he'd kept after the fiasco at the school play, his pyjamas, none of them caught his eye as something new. Then his eyes fell on the dark red hoodie tucked into the corner. It was a gift from a few Christmases back, when he changed into it he was pleasantly surprised to find that it fit him like a glove and it was comfortable, his mother was right when he said that he'd grow into it. He then changed into his regular grey shorts and brown lace up shoes, the familiarity giving him some peace of mind.
Numbah 1 then went to the bathroom and looked himself over, the hoodie was enough of a change for him the clothing department. But what about his looks? At the thought of his looks, he immediately checked the scars on the sides of his head. They were still a dull red colour, Numbah 2 had expected them to start shrinking as he healed but they were still the same size as before.
The scars were just small enough so that it wasn't an overly obvious feature, but also big enough to be noticeable. A constant reminder of his mistakes and maybe one that he deserved. Numbah 1 pushed his sunglasses up on his nose and inhaled his feelings away. "Enough dwelling on the past, Nigel." He scolded himself. It was time to reunite with his friends.
Numbah 2 paced back and forth anxiously, all of them waited in Numbah 5's Supreme Leader office in the K.N.D Moonbase as they waited for news on Numbah 1. It has been a couple of hours since Numbah 5 had relayed Numbah 86's message to Sector V that Numbah 1 was alive and had apparently been walking around undetected for the past four days. Numbah 2 was still racking his brain on how someone as important as his friend could fly under the radar so easily.
Numbah 5 sat at her chair, looking over and sorting through some paperwork, Numbah 3 was sitting on a chair placed at the side of the room with a rare look of gloominess look on her face while Numbah 4 sat next to her and held her hand in silence. A thick dread hung in the air, pressing down on all of them. While Numbah 1 being alive was a joy to all of them, it also left mixed feelings swirling around inside of them all.
The whole of the K.N.D was still reeling from their beloved and most loyal operative to date being twisted and used for evil, Sector V especially as they'd endured the brunt of his wrath. Numbah 4's broken nose had mostly healed by now, but bruises in various stages of healing dotted his nose and the skin around it.
Numbah 2 did his best to not pick at the bandages wrapped around his arms, his arms itched terribly from the onitment the nurses had slathered his then bleeding and clawed up arms in after the gashes had been stitched up days ago.
Numbah 3 cried almost every night, wracked by neither sadness over the loss of her friend or nightmares, usually needing to be soothed by Numbah 4 or 5. Many a time, Numbah 4 had put aside his distaste for the 'girly' things that Numbah 3 enjoyed and cuddled her to sleep, surrounded by plushies galore.
Speaking of Numbah 5, once the battles was over, the death ray was deactivated and the dust of the Galactic Invasion had settled, she'd she had dived headfirst into her work and barley spoken to any of Sector V. Numbah 362, now a proud member of Sector V and Numbah 86, who had a lot more free time due to capturing teenaged operatives not being a top priority for the time being, had helped Numbah 5 out where they could but it was still a lot on her plate.
Their was a sudden exclamation from the outside hallway, followed by another and then another as the voices of dozens of children joined together in an angry cacophony of noise. Numbah 2 stepped outside of the office, his mouth gaping in suprise to see Numbah 1 awkwardly standing in the middle of the foyer with Numbah 363 standing in front of him to keep the unruly crowd surrounding them at bay, but the mob payed the blonde little attention as they jeered and accused Numbah 1.
"Go back to the G.K.N.D!" A voice booed.
"You dont deserve to be here after what you've done!" Another voice joined in as someone pushed Numbah 1 from behind, the British boy nearly fell over from the force of the push but caught himself just in time.
"Traitor!" A third voice snarled, followed by a crumpled up soda can being thrown at Numbah 1's head but missing.
"Settle down, folks! Settle down!" Numbah 2 ordered as he finally made himself known, taking a few more steps into the room. The room quieted and the crowd stilled upon Numbah 2's declaration, Numbah 1's eyes lit up when he saw his best friend. "All of you get outta here, I'll take care of all this." Numbah 2 said firmly, his eyes scanning the room for any signs of a suprise attack but their was none as the riled up crowd finally dispersed, although several kids shot Numbah 1 dirty looks as the horde of operatives trickled back to their duties.
"O-oh! Numbah 2, I'm so glad you came when you did!" Numbah 363 stamered with immense gratitude as he ran over to Numbah 2. "When Numbah 1 first showed up, I greeted him and walked him over to Rach-Numbah 5's office since I figured you guys would want to see him. But when he took his hood down to get through a security checkpoint that's when things went crazy." Numbah 363 explained. "Thanks for the help, Harvey. I'm gonna talk to Numbah 1." Numbah 2 said as he tipped his hat to Harvey before walking over to his friend.
He had to do a double take as he walked, it was like a weird variant of deja vu. He knew it was Numbah 1, but he just looked different somehow (and not just because of the wardrobe change and scars). The way he kept glancing over his shoulder, the uneasy but relieved glint in his eyes, it seemed so familiar but so off at the same time.
"Hey, Numbah 2. It's been a while, hasn't it?" Was all Numbah 1 could think to say, a nervous half grin on his face as he shrugged. Numbah 2 opened his mouth to speak, he stopped and started again but only a broken, raspy: "Nigel." came out before the kid genius threw himself into his friends arms and started to bawl like a newborn baby. Numbah 1's body relaxed instantly and he returned the hug. "Where were--we couldn't--after you--where have you been?" Numbah 2 whimpered out, Numbah 1 felt fear rip through in his chest at the mention of where he'd been for the past four days.
He wanted to tell his friend the truth, that he'd been saved by Father (who was also his uncle) and had been crashing at his place for the past little while. But that would bring up questions, questions Numbah 1 was not ready to answer and answers that his friends weren't prepared for. All he'd told them before he left for space was that his parents were once the legendary K.N.D Operatives Numbah 0 and Numbah 999 and that the missing Sector Z and the Delightful Children were one and the same, back then he was too frightened of their reactions to the other stuff to tell them.
Now it appeared that some things would stay secret, lest he omit the truth and land himself in even hotter water then he suspected he was in already. "I was resting at home. My parents didn't want me getting into the treehouse and risking another injury." Numbah 1 lied, relieved when Numbah 2 just nodded, a happy smile on his face as he kept crying.
"What's going on out--" Numbah 3 started to say but then gasped as she presumably saw Numbah 1. Another pair of footsteps, followed by another as Numbah 4 and 5 walked out into the hallway. Numbah 3 started to tear up, Numbah 4 just stood their gaping with his eyes wide as could be, while Numbah 5 took a few tentative steps forward. "Abby...you're Supreme Leader now?" Numbah 1 asked, feeling just as suprised as she looked. Numbah 5 paused to collect herself before speaking. "Yeah, a lot's changed since you went away." She said, making it seem like she was reminiscing about the past.
"Nigel! I missed you so much!' Numbah 3 cried out as she burst into tears and ran towards Numbah 3, tackling him with a hug and causing all three of them to barrel to the ground. "It's you! You're you again!" Numbah 4 bawled as he also burst into tears and tackle-hugged Numbah 1. Numbah 5 let a few happy tears stream down her face as she walked over to the cuddle pile and joined in on the hugging.
After a few minutes of crying and hugging, the cuddle pile spilt as the kids all pulled themselves to their feet, still wiping stray tears from their eyes. "Numbah 5's gotta know, where have you been all this time? It had to be a pretty secure place to fly under the K.N.D's radar." Numbah 5 said, even though she was joking it still struck a string of fear in the balds boy's heart. "Oh, he was at home resting." Numbah 2 stated and Numbah 1 nodded his head in agreement.
Footsteps from behind made Numbah 1 whirl around, dreading it to be another kid who was mad at him for some reason. Instead it was Numbah 362, in her samurai outfit from Operation: Z.E.R.O and having traded her helmet for a pair of communicational headphones that were currently sitting around her neck. Numbah 1 stood up slowly, both parties looking each other over for a moment. "Hey, Rachel. What's up?" Numbah 1 awkwardly muttered, Numbah 362's face dropped in suprise for a moment before she started to laugh.
"Pfft-haha! 'What's up?' That's the first thing you say after being gone all this time?" Numbah 362 asked jokingly as her laughter calmed as quickly as it came. "Well, what was I supposed to say?" Numbah 1 rebutted lightheartedly. "I see what's going on here. We'll leave you two alone for a little bit." Numbah 2 said as he nudged and gave Numbah 1 a little nod towards Numbah 362, making Numbah 1's cheek flush red from embarrassment. "Meet me in the Medbay when you're done, Numbah 1. I need you for something important." Numbah 2 said before Sector V dispersed in different directions.
"I suppose we both had the same idea with a wardrobe change." Numbah 1 brought up as he gestured to both of their new outfits. "Oh yeah! I think it was for the best, during the Galactic Invasion I had to wear amour all the time, guess I just got used to it. A hoodie looks better on you anyway." Numbah 362 said, brushing a stray bit of hair out of her face as an excuse to briefly cover her starting-to-turn-red face. "Yeah, same with your hair. It looks nicer when it's uncovered, more natural if that makes any sense." Numbah 1 commented, both of their faces blushed a hit of red at his statement but they didn't have long to dwell on it before Numbah 362 popped the question he was praying she wouldn't ask. "I've been wondering, where have you been the past four days? If it was a K.N.D safehouse, we would've gotten an update way sooner. What happened?"
Numbah 1 felt his blood chill, his heart rate spike and his throat dry up as he wracked his brain for the words to formulate and organize in his brain. "I was at home, resting. Due to my injuries, I was too out of it to contact you guys for a while." Numbah 1 fell back on what he told Numbah 2 and relying on that, wanting to keep his story straight to arouse as little suspicion as possible. Numbah 362 stilled for a moment as she processed his information, before she smiled and said: "Okay, just curious. Good to see you, Nigel. Bye!" Then she turned and walked away, leaving Numbah 1 standing alone in his hidden guilt.
Numbah 1 had always hated lying, even if it was for a noble cause. Now he hated it even more because he'd lied to his friends. But, it was for their own good. They were better off living in bliss then knowing the ugly truth, there was no way they could handle having another bomshell dropped on their heads all after the craziness they'd just gone through. Besides, little white lies never hurt anyone, right?
Right?