Well…you all knew it was coming sooner than later. No reason to beat around the bush. Let's begin.

In spite of…everything, Cree Lincoln, formerly known as Numbuh 11, was feeling pretty good.

Like everyone does, she had turned the big thirteen and was supposed to be scheduled for decommissioning. Unlike everyone around her, though, Cree wasn't content to just go with losing her memories. So, even though she never liked the idea of taking the coward's way out, she ran the night before her thirteenth birthday. In truth, she had no idea what exactly to do after that, but all she knew was that she was not planning to face the decommissioning chamber ever.

And then she got an offer.

Apparently, Numbuh 100 (Steve now, Cree internally reminded herself) remembered enough to seek her out to join the Teen Ninjas, of which he was rapidly moving up the ranks. While the idea of turning to the same group that hurt her and her friends so many times was still making her gut churn somewhat, the protection she'd get was still too much to overlook. And hey! The Kids Next Door maybe deserved to be taken down a peg. It was their fault after all. It wasn't like she would have turned evil if they just let her keep her memory. So she started running missions and found that it wasn't much different from being in the Kids Next Door. She'd already been in the Teen Ninjas for a few weeks at this point and was feeling pretty good.

Which brought her to today.

Using her memory of the KND's train routes, she was leading a squad of Teen Ninjas to intercept a trainload full of ice cream they'd raided from Tasty Taste. She had no idea why it was so important to the boss (not the leader of the Teens, whoever they answered too), but she wasn't turning down a chance to prove her worth. The Kids Next Door's anti air defenses blasted away at Cree's new team and, much to her dismay, managed to blast a good majority out of the sky.

"Looks like I have to do everything myself as a teenager too," Cree snarked to herself as she took advantage of the chaos to get close to the train. Deciding that landing near the back would be the safest option, she quickly landed. Before she could get moving, however, she took notice of just what she'd landed on-something very sticky. "Oh gross! What even is-"

SPLAT!

Cree growled as she tried to escape the sticky substance that now entrapped her. But try as she might, she couldn't pull away.

"Well what do you know? I know the saying is that you attract more flies with honey than vinegar, but I guess it's just as good as catching traitorous rats,"

"No no no no no no!" Cree internally panicked. How did she not figure out that she'd be on this mission!? "Anyone but her!"

"No words, eh?" Numbuh 451 declared as she came into view, having been leaning against the back of the door to the roof of the car in front of Cree, rifle loaded and aimed directly. Even with her face mask on, Cree could see the hurt in her face.

"Firecracker please!" Cree begged. "You don't understand-"

"Don't understand what exactly?" Numbuh 451 snarled out. "That you stabbed us all in the back? That Numbuh 5 is currently blaming herself for doing something wrong that made you betray us? That you, one of the best operatives of our time, ran like a little bitch?"

"I…" Cree took a minute to consider her words. "Abby is blaming herself for this?"

"No shit she is! Have you even spoken to her since you ran right into the arms of the Teen Ninjas!?" Numbuh 451 snapped. "Or were you too busy getting in good with the same people who tried to give Numbuh 9 the Chicken Pox? The people who did give it to Numbuhs 8a and 8b. Oh, and speaking of them, they tried to run too. Guess you're still inspiring people, huh?"

"No…I didn't…" Cree trailed off. That was two more of her friends with no memory of her or anything they'd done. "...Well maybe if there wasn't any decommissioning, none of this would have happened!"

"Oh so that's the card you're playing!?" Numbuh 451 fired back. "Newsflash Cree, no one fucking likes decommissioning! But this is why we do it! To keep information from falling into the wrong hands! Hands like the Teen Ninjas! Or the adults! It took you less than a day to start handing over all of our information to some of our worst enemies!"

"At least the teens don't wipe the minds of people who were loyal to them!" Cree challenged. Numbuh 451 snarled, but any rebuttal she had was paused by her quickly taking the time to blast two other Teen Ninjas out of the sky.

"Don't need anyone interrupting our little conversation," She replied as she took the chance to jump onto the train car Cree was currently stuck too. "Or was this whole thing a chance for you to blindside me again?"

"Firecracker please don't do this," Cree all but begged. She could feel tears beginning to form. "You don't have to lose your memory either! They take people who are close to their thirteenth birthday. Just let me go and I'll put in a good word for you."

"So…that's the game you're gonna play, huh?" Numbuh 451 replied before letting out a bitter chuckle. "Drag me down to your level? And here I was thinking you couldn't sink any lower. Looks like I was wrong about that…kinda like how I was clearly wrong about you being my friend."

"Please don't say that!" Cree was getting hysterical now. "I'm your friend! We've been best friends for years! I couldn't lose my memories of you and Abby! I…I couldn't lose you two to this…" Numbuh 451 looked shocked at that, but the scowl quickly returned to her face.

"Well congrats!" Numbuh 451 said, the bitterness now completely taking over her voice. "You did anyways." Cree gasped before looking down. "Do me a favor. If our friendship was actually real to you, you'll keep me out of the Teen Ninjas. Sound good?"

"Firecracker…" Cree trailed off, openly sobbing. Firecracker then put a hand to her ear, seemingly completely uncaring at her friend's emotions

"Did you get everyone to the front of the train?" She spoke into it. Cree couldn't hear what was being said, but judging by Firecracker's smirk, it was clear that everyone had, indeed, moved up the train. "Understood. I'll handle the rest." She then turned back to Cree before jumping onto the next train car and aiming her rifle at the chain holding the two train cars together. "Consider this my last act as your friend that I'm not dragging you in for decommissioning." With that, she took aim and fired, separating the two train cars and Cree watched as her friend became smaller and smaller in the distance.

Once she was sure that she was out of the Teen Ninjas' eyesight, Firecracker let out an anguished cry and collapsed to the roof of the train car, not even bothering to fight her own tears at this point. She was so stupid to think she could talk Cree into coming back! What was the old saying? Once a traitor, always a traitor. But Numbuh 5 had begged her to at least try. She was still too hurt to consider trying to talk to her older sister and thought that, since Firecracker was older, maybe she could try.

"Stupid! Fucking! Bitch!" Firecracker screamed as she punched the roof of the train with each word, barely even caring at how her knuckles began to throb with each punch. After a couple minutes of that, Firecracker finally grabbed her rifle, scratched a quick tally mark into it and climbed back inside. Almost instantly, a medical operative rushed over and many others were left gawking at the sight of her bloody hands. Most began shouting over each other, asking how that had happened. But Firecracker only had one thought on her mind.

"I can't wait to get decommissioned so I can forget all about her!"

Sonia peeked into her older sister's room, seeing Firecracker staring up at the ceiling and sometimes sipping from a bottle of soda. She was used to Firecracker coming home late, usually smelling of soda, but tonight was…different. She seemed so…sad. Angry. Sonia didn't like it when Firecracker was sad. She'd actually been like that a lot lately.

"Who's that?" Firecracker slurred out as she picked her head up. "Sonia? That you?"

"Yeah…" Sonia nervously said, taking it as a cue she could come in. "Are…are you okay? You've been really sad lately."

"Nothing gets past you, huh?" Firecracker said as she managed to sit up. Sonia could see her eyes were red, but didn't say anything. "Listen, sorry you have to see me like this. It's just…a friend hurt me really bad today."

"Do you need a band-aid?" Sonia asked, prompting Firecracker to chuckle.

"Not that kind of hurt," Firecracker admitted. "More like…hurting my feelings. I don't really want to talk about it though."

"Is there anything I could do?" Sonia asked as she climbed onto the bed.

"Just…just stay here, okay?" Firecracker replied as she set the soda bottle onto her nightstand. "I…I don't want to be alone." Sonia didn't need to be told anything else, merely wrapping her hands around her big sister's waist as they both laid down. Sonia fell asleep first, leaving Firecracker to stew in her own thoughts a bit longer.

"At least I still have you."

This one hurt to write out. It really did. But you all knew it was coming. Next time…Firecracker's decommissioning. See you then.