"Hello! How are you feeling now?" Numbah 3 asked cheerfully. Father shrugged and let out a noncommittal groan. "Fine, I guess." He grumbled, getting annoyed because he could feel a headache coming on. Numbah 3 paused for a moment before continuing, "Well, that's better then being sick as a dog so I'll take it!" She replied. Numbah 3 made her way over to Father, she checked his bandages and then his forehead once the bandages were confirmed to be holding fine. "Hmm, your forehead is a little warm. I'll have to give you some medicine for it." She said, before reaching into her sleeve and pulling out a medicine bottle and a spoon. He begrudgingly accepting the medicine, after that he remained slient as Numbah 3 cleaned up the room a bit.
"How do you stay so positive all the time?" He broke the silence with a question. "It's not always an easy job, but someone has to keep the teams spirits up. I just try to think of a good outcome no matter what and always follow what I think is right." She replied, turning around to face him. Father raised a questioning, unconvinced eyebrow. "But why? Why spend so much time and energy on other people when you could be focusing on self-preservation? No one is forcing you to be happy, are they?" Father asked another question, it was a rare moment of genuine curiosity from him.
This time Numbah 3 thought about it for a moment with a hand on her chin. "Well..." She started to say after a longer moment. "You're right, no one is forcing me to be happy. But I still want to be, because people deserve to feel good about themselves. My friends deserve to feel good about, everyone does! It's might not always be the best thing to do but it's the right thing to do." Numbah 3 proudly stated.
"And what should you do if they break your trust and abuse your kindness?" Father kept prying but the girl's positivity did not waver. "Then I'll treat them the way they treated and me and be nice to the next person. It's not right to be mean to everyone just because of one bad apple." She continued. Numbah 4's voice rang out from somewhere in the treehouse, calling for her. She bid him a quick farewell and then left the room, leaving Father alone with his thoughts once again.
"Does that child have no survival instincts whatsoever?" He thought, both utterly confused and suprised at her complete lack of natural distrust in others. Growing up, he learned that trust was something to be earned, not given. And few people earned his trust, most kids were quick to turn on each other if it made their survival a bit easier and they were especially happy to rat out the child of their tormentor. So someone with no walls held up to protect themselves, no apprehension towards other's potential motives and an immense amount of trust that was dished out so freely instead of like the rare commodity it was...
It was so confusing and conflicting! It was such an alien concept to Father. He still didn't fully understand her logic, but a little bit of knowledge was still useful. He scoffed, she should consider herself lucky that she wasn't born in his time, her kindness would result in her becoming a doormat quite quickly.
For some reason, people taking advantage of Numbah 3's kindness struck a cord of...pity in his heart. He brushed it off as nothing. "These brats attitudes must be rubbing off on me. All the more reason to get out of here soon." Father thought, continuing to dismiss the pity in his heart.
A few minutes later, Numbah 5 and Numbah 1 walked in, they went over to the computer at the far right side of the room and started to type on it. Father leaned over on the couch to try and see what they were doing but the computer was too far away. "What are you doing? Making more messes for me to clean up?" He asked sarcastically, but neither responded to him. After a few minutes Numbah 5 stepped away from the computer but Numbah 1 remained. "That stuff should be printed off now, I'll stay here to make sure everything's running smoothly." Numbah 1 said, Numbah 5 nodded and left the room.
"What was that all about, Numbah 1?" Father tried prompting a conversation but his nephew remained slient, keeping his front to the computer as he pretended to be busy. Father hesitated for a moment, scanning the room to make sure that they were alone before he spoke. "Nigel, about what happened earlier-"
"No." Numbah 1 said firmly, his shoulders tensed up when Father used his real name. "There is nothing to be said between us. I don't want to talk to you. Not now, not ever." That was all Numbah 1 said, after that he stayed quiet despite Father calling out his codename and real name a few more times. Eventually, Father fell slient too. Numbah 5 walked in, handed Numbah 1 something, then he left but the girl remained. "How is she?" Numbah 5 asked. "Pardon?" Father was confused, who was she referring to? "Cree. How is she?" Numbah 5 clarified. "Oh, she's fine." Father answered. "Is she safe? Is she happy with herself?" Numbah 5 continued to inquire. "Yes, she's very safe. And yes, as far as I can tell, she's content with herself." Numbah 5's face perked up in suprise, then dropped in bitterness.
"Why do you ask? Is something wrong with her?" Father commented. "Nothing's wrong, we just don't really talk to each other anymore." With a bitter smile, she crossed her arms against her chest in frustration. "Glad she's having fun, leaving Numbah 5 behind in the dust." She hissed loathingly. Father could see where this was going, he sat up on the couch. "She talks about you quite a bit, y'know. And it's almost always good things." Father revealed, Numbah 5 looked at him like he had three heads and a squirrel tail. "She's always talking about how you've gotten stronger over time, how tough of an adversary you are, things like that. I'd say she still cares for you, albeit in her own way."
"You really think that?" Numbah 5 asked curiously. "Maybe. That's what I think, ultimately it's your choice." Father said, he seemed wary for a moment, but only a moment before he was neutral again. "Don't cut off or lose your relationship with a sibling. It's one of the worst mistakes you can make." The way Father was speaking, Numbah 5 thought, it sounded like he knew what he was talking about. He seemed regretful, like he'd been through the loss of a sibling and now hated himself for it. "It wouldn't be out of the question for Father to have siblings, the K.N.D knows so little about him that anything's a possibility." Numbah 5 thought. "Do you have siblings? You sound sincere." Numbah 5 went for more answers, but Father scoffed and slunk down on the couch again. "I know what it feels like to lose one, I'll say that." He said sternly, an air of finality in his words.
Getting the feeling that she wouldn't be getting anything out of him, Numbah 5 shrugged and walked out of the room. Father let out a deep, long, frustrated sigh, laying down with his eyes wandering towards the ceiling. "They're getting to you. You're revealing too much. If they find out anything else about you then Nigel and Monty will get thrown into the line of fire." He scolded himself, pinching his arm to drive the point home.
He liked being shrouded in mystery and the unknown. For one thing he found it hilarious for these kids to squirm and writhe trying desperately to figure him out, secondly it kept him safe and ultimately kept his family safe from those who would exploit any information on him that they could find.
"The scans all show that Father is getting healthier by the hour. For the safety of my team and myself, we can't wait any longer." Numbah 1 urged Numbah 362, who he was in a video call with. "Agreed. It's time for Father to go where he belongs, the Artic Prison." Numbah 362 agreed with him, then she started pressing buttons on the keyboard in front of her. "I'm sending a team down now to retrieve him. They'll arrive in half and hour." She said.
Unbeknownst to them, something else was listening in on their call. "We must move now. Send all the teams you like, Numbah 362, but we'll be long gone by the time they arrive." Five synchronized voices hissed, bitter and vengeful as they continued listening in on the call.