Hey guys! So it's time to actually show Numbuh 451 actually bonding with Sector Z since they are supposed to be pretty close to her. Also, about a year has passed again, so Numbuh 451 is around nine now and Sector Z are all about six. Let's begin!
"Firecracker! You're back!" Bruce, now known as Numbuh 0.1, cheered as she returned to their treehouse. After finishing in the Arctic Base, he and his friends all became members of Sector Z and given a treehouse near their new orphanage. While they were a little nervous about going to a new one, they were assured that it was trustworthy and from what they gathered, it was true. Or at the very least, nothing bad happened to them while they were staying there.
"Well this place beats the Deep Sea Lab, there's for sure," Firecracker said as she set down her trademark weaponry before pulling Bruce into a hug. As Firecracker never worked in a sector, she never got to really visit any tree houses outside of the Deep Sea Lab and hangouts weren't really allowed there. Thus, she began making regular visits to Sector Z's treehouse, to the point where they even set aside a guest room for her. "So where is everyone?"
"Not sure," Bruce admitted with a shrug. "If you wanna go look for them, feel free. I have some mission reports to write out."
"Just make sure you take a break, alright?" Firecracker requested her young friend, who merely nodded as he headed off. Firecracker couldn't help but shake her head at Bruce trying to act so serious. She knew that, as much as he liked to put up a serious front, the kid was actually quite the goofball on his off time. Still, she was eager to see how everyone else was doing. It had been a while since she got to see the sector she had a hand in building.
Alessandra, Numbuh 0.3 now, was the first person Firecracker happened to stumble across. The girl was practicing her strikes with her weapon of choice, a 2x4 enhanced umbrella.
"Nice form," Firecracker commended the younger girl as she leaned against the wall. Alessandra broke into a big grin when she saw Firecracker.
"Thanks…but I'm having trouble with instant knockouts," Alessandra admitted as she slung her umbrella over her shoulder. "Like, I know I'm putting the power I need into it, but I just can't get people knocked out without a couple strikes. Really makes spy missions tough since I really have to make sure no one shows up."
"Can I see where you're hitting people?" Firecracker asked. "I'm not someone who usually fights psychically, but I might be able to see where you're lacking."
"Well…usually I aim for their chest and head." Alessandra explained.
"Where on the head?" Firecracker continued, figuring she knew where this was going.
"Uh…anywhere?" Alessandra offered up.
"Try to aim for either the temple or the jaw," Firecracker offered, pointing to the two respective spots she was talking about. "Also, try to thrust the umbrella into the throat if you have the chance. From what some of the other spies tell me, those are the best spots. Of course, I'm also the person that just blows everything up, so what do I know?" Alessandra couldn't help but laugh at that.
"But blowing them up is so distant!" Alessandra jokingly protested. "When you get up close, you get to see them get knocked out!"
"Okay that's fair," Firecracker admitted, thinking back to that satisfying 'thump' whenever she cracked someone across the head with the butt of her rifle. "But explosions are just so…fun to me! Fire is fascinating to me! Also it's fun watching the adults' plans burn with their hopes and dreams!"
"But beating up adults is just as fun!" Alessandra protested.
"Well no matter what, defeating them is just fun no matter how you do it," Firecracker replied as she laced her hands behind her head. She then smirked again before reaching into her pocket and pulling out a 2x4 music player. "Speaking of beating adults, recently sabotaged someone who was trying to destroy all types of music other than classic and managed to snag some music I think you and I should rock out too."
Almost instantly, Alessandra's eyes were filled with stars. "How loud do you think we can play it before someone comes and yells at us!?"
"Let's find out!" Firecracker declared with a mischievous grin.
After about a half an hour, Bruce coming in to yell at both girls and then getting sucked into the rock party, Firecracker finally left Alessandra to her own devices and decided to keep looking for her friends. The smell of something good from the kitchen, however, led to her instead opting to head there. Constance ended up being in there anyways, so things worked out in terms of both goals.
"Smells good, Constance!" Firecracker declared as she walked in. "You know, most adults would be jealous of your skills!"
"...Thank you," Constance said. Firecracker smiled at this. Sector Z had told her that Constance had to really, really trust someone in order to speak even a few words to them. Needless to say, Firecracker was flattered when Constance first spoke to her, even if it did take her a second to realize it.
"So whatcha working on?" She asked. Firecracker merely stepped aside, letting Firecracker see the pan. "Bacon huh? No wonder it smelled so good!" Constance merely held the pain out, offering to let Firecracker try some. "You sure?" A nod was the only reply she got. "Alright!" Firecracker then moved to grab a piece, only to promptly burn two of her fingers. "Fuck ow!" Constance couldn't help but laugh.
"That…was dumb," She had to say.
"Yeah yeah," Firecracker grumbled as she dug a roll of bandages and burn cream out of her pocket. At this point in her KND career, Firecracker had long since realized that she was going to have moments where she couldn't get away from a blast in time and, thus, always now made sure she had something to bandage any burns she got, at least until she could get them looked at. As she wrapped the bandages around her fingers, Constance grabbed a plate and put a few pieces down for Firecracker. Once she was finished (and waited for the bacon to actually cool this time), Firecracker popped a piece into her mouth. "Wow this is great! Seriously! This is way better than the stuff they serve in the cafeteria!...Just don't tell them that."
"...Thanks," Constance looked away shyly, but Firecracker could see the smile and blush on her face.
"You want me to call the others in?" Firecracker offered. Constance nodded, prompting Firecracker to stand up and stick her head out the door.
"GUYS! Lunch!" She called out before returning to her chair. Almost instantly, the other four rushed in.
"This looks awesome! Thanks Constance!" Lenny gushed as he piled up the bacon on his plate.
"Hey! Share!" Alessandra snapped as she slapped Lenny's hands away.
"Can you two not do this now?" Bruce grumbled as he began to rub his temples. Alessandra and Lenny, the two most bloodthirsty operatives of the sector, seemed to fight over every little thing nowadays.
"Sorry sir…." Lenny trailed off. Alessandra just glared, but didn't comment.
"So, been hearing you guys have an insane mission success rate?" Firecracker asked as she tossed another piece of bacon into her mouth.
"Yeah! Just like you!" Lenny piped up, only for Firecracker to burst out laughing.
"I can promise you that my mission success rate is nowhere near as good as yours," Firecracker replied with a fond smile. "I just tell you guys about the successes. Believe me, I'm not perfect. Heck, last week I botched up a mission pretty badly. I was supposed to stop a satellite launch that was going to block all cartoons from airing. I got caught and barely managed to escape but the satellite ended up launching. The moonbase had to send out ships to blast it down for me."
"So you have failed?" David nervously asked. But Firecracker couldn't fail! She was the Red Eyed Bomber! She was the bestest operative ever!...Right?
"Look, just because I screw up…sometimes doesn't mean I'm not awesome!" Firecracker assured the kids once she saw the looks on their faces. "Everyone fails. Even the sectors with the best missions success rates screw up once and a while. And it's not always a bad thing."
"How is screwing up not bad?" Lenny couldn't help but ask. "Like…isn't screwing up a bad thing?"
"You'd think that, but no," Firecracker said as she bit into another piece of bacon. "You learn things when you fail. You think I got all my explosives perfected on the first go?"
"...Maybe? You do make a lot of them," David said as he nervously pressed his fingers together.
"First off, thank you for thinking so highly of me," Firecracker replied as she puffed her chest out. "But no. I've made mistakes. A lot of them. Sometimes, I can record and sometimes, I can't and I have to get someone else to fix my mistakes. If there's one lesson they don't tell you, it's that you should never get too cocky. We might be the most awesome kids on the planet…but nobody is perfect."
"...I didn't think about it that way," Bruce admitted, even if he still wasn't sure about it. Failure could be good? But if they failed, that meant that kids would suffer!
"Man this is getting sad!" Alessandra whined. "Can we talk about something cool instead?"
"On that topic, check this out!" Firecracker boasted as she pulled out a bag of marbles from her pocket.
"What are those?" David, ever the 2x4 geek, asked in awe as he looked over the bag.
"My newest explosives!...or at least they will be once I work out all the kinks," Firecracker sheepishly admitted. "Sometimes, they don't go off and sometimes they'll just randomly blow up. But I've made explosives from so many different things that I can take care of that one easy!"
"Can we be the first to try them out when you finish them?" Lenny asked.
"As a matter of fact, I was wondering if you guys wanted to help me test this batch," Firecracker offered, a playful smile on her face.
She got five very loud "YES!"s very quickly and wouldn't have traded it away for the world.
Next couple chapters will probably just be Firecracker bonding with Sector Z. But I think you'll all enjoy what I have in mind.