So this is admittedly a bit of a filler chapter, but I also wanted to show off some more of Firecracker's non fireworks related personality. Yes, you know she's a gamer, but I also feel like everyone has that interest that, at first glance, you wouldn't see them enjoying. Here's hers!
Firecracker was known for a lot of things. Her Kids Next Door work was the big one and many also knew her work with fireworks and explosives, especially considering they went hand in hand. Less, although still a fairly large amount of people also knew about her love of video games and her ability to kick just about anyone's butt in most of them.
However, a lot less knew about her love of music.
While writing music was never something she'd be good at (and she knew that), singing and especially listening to music was one of her favorite pastimes, especially since she could usually do it when doing other things. She didn't have a favorite genre (she'd jokingly said it was the shuffle button once when asked), but she certainly enjoyed more than others. Working on homework? Time to plug in the speakers and blast some tunes. Tinkering with her explosives? Headphones in and music was blasting. Most people would call it a distraction but Firecracker actually found she focused better without any outside noises to distract her.
The fact it would also help block out the annoying classical music that they insisted on blasting in the morning at school definitely helped. Today was no different, with Firecracker just assuming it was more of the same. Of course, she was already wearing her headphones on the bus anyways
"No one other than old people likes classical music!...And don't get me started on opera!" Firecracker internally moaned to herself. The fact most adult villains seemed to like it only worsened her opinion of it. Once she got inside, Firecracker decided to see if she could catch Cree in the hallway, only to notice something was…off.
Or rather, several things seemed to be off.
First, all the other kids seemed to be standing around like zombies. Everyone seemed to be in a daze.
Second, all of the teachers were wearing weird musical note costumes and grabbing at any kid who had visible headphones on.
And third?
Well there was a weird smell. Firecracker wasn't quite sure what it was, but it was making her skin crawl.
Quickly ducking into a nearby closet, Firecracker lowered the volume on her headphones to see if she could hear what was being played and was shocked to discover it was the same classical music as always.
"But this is what they play every morning!" Firecracker protested to no one as she began to pace back and forth. "Why is it only brainwashing everyone now?! I need to get in contact with global com-" Firecracker's plotting was interrupted by the sound of the school's loudspeaker blaring to life.
"Attention, my newest fans!" A snobby sounding French accent declared. "Please report to the gym for my greatest concert yet!"
"Who is THAT!?" Firecracker exclaimed as she peaked outside. She watched as everyone began to march towards the gym and, while she still didn't see any of her friends, she had a feeling they were under this musical spell. Her mind made up, Firecracker quickly snuck into the crowd of kids, keeping her head down to avoid any of those goons spotting her with her headphones on. Once she saw her chance, she quickly ducked into a nearby classroom and hopped out the window, rushing towards the playground. Once she was certain she was out of range of the music, she pulled her headphones off and pulled out a communicator.
"Numbuh 451? Are you okay?" The operative on the other end asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine," She responded. "But I'm pretty sure Sector V has been compromised, along with several other operatives."
"What happened?" The unmistakable voice of Numbuh 100 asked.
"Not sure, admittedly, " Numbuh 451 revealed. "When I arrived at school this morning, everyone was in a trance. All the teachers were wearing these weird, musical note costumes and it smelled funny. Then this weird french guy told everyone to go to the gym for some concert thing?"
"But that sounds like…no…" Numbuh 100 trailed off, confusing Numbuh 451 further.
"Like what?!" Numbuh 451 all but demanded. She quickly realized her mistake. "Er…sorry sir."
"It's fine. But how much do you know about Numbuh 11's older brother and what he did before he got decommissioned?" Numbuh 100 asked.
"Numbuh 1789?" Numbuh 451 clarified. "A bit, mostly from what Numbuh 11 told me. Why? He fight this guy?"
"Many times, back when he was still living in France, if what you are saying is correct," Numbuh 100 revealed. "Your foe seems to be Monsieur Musque. He was a former classical music and opera star who hated how little respect people, especially kids, had for his preferred style of music. He learned how to control people with his music-namely, by playing a special type of song that contains a hypnotic suggestion to go into a trance whenever one smells a certain scent."
"I must have not gotten brainwashed because I kept my headphones on the whole time!" Numbuh 451 realized. "Even when I turned the volume down, the lyrics from the other song must have blocked everything out!"
"That would check out," Numbuh 100 agreed. "When you go in, keep your headphones on until you can kill the music or the scent. However, in order to snap everyone out of their trance, you're going to need to override their brainwashing with a performance of a song all about rebelling."
"Heh, shouldn't be too hard," Numbuh 451 smugly declared as she looked at her music player, where one playlist was literally marked as "songs I will blast when I rebel".
"You're going to need to hurry," Numbuh 100 warned her. "Chances are the reason he picked here after resurfacing is because, which Numbuh 1789 decommissioned, NUMBUH 11 is his next best chance for revenge." THAT got Numbuh 451 to freak out a little. While she knew her best friend could handle herself, this brainwashing would likely make Cree a lot easier to defeat or worse…
Steeling herself, Numbuh 451 took another look at her music player and saw the PERFECT song. "This music guy won't know what hit him. Numbuh 451 out." With that, she signed off, threw her headphones back on and hurried back towards the school, hoping that none of the brainwashed teachers were near any of the vent systems.
Monsieur Musque let out a triumphant cackle as he looked into the crowd of brainwashed kids. Sure, the smell of his perfume had died down, but it didn't matter! At long last, he'd come to get his revenge on that meddlesome Numbuh 1789, who kept thwarting his plans. Too long, as the boy had long since been decommissioned and was getting ready for college last time he'd heard and taking revenge on someone who was pretty much a different person wouldn't make much sense or be all that satisfying.
So instead, he settled on revenge by proxy.
He knew well that Numbuh 1789 had told his little sister all about him and likely framed him as an idiotic moron who liked "outdated" music. So let's see how he liked it when he made said little sister dance to the beat of his tunes!
And die to that same beat.
"Are you ready for your big debut, madam?" Monsieur Musque asked his captive. He'd made sure to leave Numbuh 11 unbrainwashed, if only so she would be able to feel all the fear of her final performance. He'd even given her a nice dress to wear because he felt that she deserved to die wearing something nice and not the horrible rags that kids nowadays seem to prefer dressing in.
"To quote a good friend of mine, go fuck yourself," Numbuh 11, who was currently dangling from a large set of marionette strings, snarled at the adult villain who her brother had defeated many times before.
"Oh what a mean little girl you are. Luckily, the world won't have to deal with you for much longer!" Monsieur Musque declared as he took a seat at his piano. He then signaled to a brainwashed teacher, serving as a stagehand to rise up the curtains. Numbuh 11 looked at the brainwashed masses and saw none of her friends, just brainwashed statues. Before she could brace herself, her body was forced to begin a mocking dance. No one seemed to react other than the villain who captured her, but Cree refused to give him the satisfaction of being afraid. Still, the villain played on and the dance dragged on as well. However, just when it seemed like he was getting ready to bring the show to an end, the piano suddenly cut off.
"What is the meaning of this!?" He snapped as he began pounding on the keys. Nothing came out. Suddenly, a few notes of what was clearly identifiable as a rock song began to blare.
"~When the world has screwed you
And crushed you in its fist~"
"Firecracker!?" Numbuh 11 exclaimed as she and Monsieur Musque began to look around. Neither of them could see the explosives expert anywhere.
"~When the way you're treated
Has got you good and pissed
There's been one solution
Since the world began~"
"Where is that miserable-GAH!" Monsieur Musque began, only to get cut off by Numbuh 451 swinging down from the top of the stage, slamming into him with a kick. From her position on top of him, she continued to sing, a smug grin plastered on her face.
"~Don't just sit and take it
Stick it to the man!~"
Delivering another kick to the villain's face, Numbuh 451 danced her way over to the ropes that were holding Numbuh 11 up and keeping her from joining in. As she began to lower her friend down, Numbuh 451 contributed to sing
"~Rant and rave and scream and shout
Get all of your aggression out
They try to stop you let 'em know
Exactly where they all could go
And do it just as loudly as you can
Stick it to the man!~"
"~Parents overwork ya?~"
Once Cree was free, she barely had a second to breathe before Firecracker shoved a second microphone into her hand. Luckily, she remembered Beau's stories, as well as the lyrics to the song, well enough to realize what she needed to do.
"Stick it to the man~!"
Firecracker, ever both the goofball and eager to perform, couldn't help but begin a somewhat goofy version of a waltz that Cree was dragged into. Both knew their parts. Firecracker gave the questions. Cree gave the answers.
"~Hate the way they jerk ya?"
"~Stick it to the man~"
"~Tired of the system?~"
"~Stick it to the man~"
~Rise up and resist them!~"
"Stick it to the man~"
Monsieur Musque, seeing he was beginning to lose his control, moved to charge the girls, only to instead catch a series of punches and kicks to the gut as both girls sang the next part of the lyrics together.
~Break the rules, ignore the signs
And color way outside the lines
Go off the script, do what you like
They hate it, they can take a hike
Why live your life to someone else's plan?
Stick it to the man!~"
"If you know the words, get on up here and help us out!" Firecracker called out into the crowd as the song's guitar solo kicked in. Now that the brainwashing was gone, the reaction of both the kids and the students was to cheer as people began to make their way to the stage.
~Piss the politicians!~" Chad sang as he joined the girls on stage, bashing Monsieur Musque over the head with a S.P.A.N.K.L.E.R as he did.
"~Stick it to the man!~"
"~Had it with the hipsters?~" Maurice questioned as he made his own way to the stage, stepping over Monsieur Musque to do so.
"~Stick it to the man~"
"~Sick of corporate culture?~" Ricky and Mickey sang as both of them blindsided Monsieur Musque from different sides. Firecracker was pretty sure she was going to tear her cheeks open from how big her smile had gotten.
"~Stick it to the man
Get up off your iPad
And stick it to the man
Rock the house and make a scene
And crank the amps to 17
And scream until their ears are shot
They all can kiss your you-know-what
Do everything they ever tried to ban
Stick it to the man~"
Monsieur Musque snarled. How did he miss this girl!? Either way, it didn't matter. As long as he got control over things again, he could win. However, the kids clearly knew this as well as they all quickly began tearing apart the speaker that had been playing his music as they sang, now joined by even more kids from the crowd, even those that weren't singing.
"~When the world has screwed you
And crushed you in its fist
When the way you're treated
Has got you good and pissed
There's been one solution
Since the world began
Don't just sit and take it
Stick it to the man
Rant and rave and scream and shout
And stick your middle finger out
And wreck your room and rip your jeans
And show 'em what rebellion means
Why march to someone else's caravan?
Especially those you're so much cooler than
It's time to throw some shit against the fan~"
As the song reached its end, Firecracker slowly climbed to the top of the newly created wreckage, ready to bring this performance to a close. Looking directly at Monsieur Musque, she pulled out her trusty rifle and aimed right at the villain.
"~There's no way you can stop
The School of Rock~"
And with that, the final lyric was punctuated by the sound of fireworks going off.
"~Stick it to the man!~"
"Welp, looks like I'm gonna need something new for the talent show this year!" Firecracker joked. Once things had finally settled down, she'd called for the thoroughly humiliated and beaten Monsieur Musque to be shipped to the Arctic Prison.
"You know, I didn't know you could sing that well," Cree complimented her friend.
"Heh, never really comes up," Firecracker replied with the wave of her hand. "Most people assume all there is to me is explosions."
"Well those people are stupid," Cree replied as she gave her friend a hug. "I'm gonna go get changed. I'm burning this dress." With that, Cree headed off.
And completely missed the way Firecracker's face lit up.
This is something I wanted to reveal in the Candygirl. But yes, Firecracker is a music fan! Like she said, favorite genre is the shuffle button and she's just as into musicals. Also, since it's the month of pride, I thought I would officially confirm that, yes, she IS on the LGTB+ spectrum! Personally, I'm picturing her as pansexual. As for her feelings towards Cree, she did have a small crush, but nothing super serious. She didn't want to ruin the friendship they had and thought it would be too weird. But Cree is nice to look at and she will not be ashamed for thinking that. Anyways, see you…eventually because I'm still debating how much longer I want to keep Firecracker at age 11 versus getting to 12 because a LOT happens when she's twelve.