FicWad

“Impressive, If I do say so myself, Father.”
“Very well. Prepare for a fight, Malcolm.”
“Are you coming with me?”
“Oh yes. I wouldn’t want to miss the looks on their faces when they find out you attacked Numbuh 59 and Numbuh 4.”
“Very well.”


“Lincoln? Dude, where are you?” Ingrid called. “This way” Lincoln called back, his exhausted voice echoing through the hallway.
“Follow that...whatever” Numbuh one said. “Sure. Did you guys detonate the bomb things that Cadel gave you?” Numbuh three asked. “Well, we set them up, sure. We’ve got enough time to find Holly and Wal and get out alive, trust me” Ingrid responded.

Up in the control room, Cadel sank onto a chair, exhausted. Destroying a Childcatcher, including your own, always exhausted you, and gave you a bit of a head rush. “Where’s your Childcatcher, Hoagie?” Cadel asked.
“I dunno. It never showed up, I guess. I guess that they can’t catch me!” Numbuh two responded, and burst into giggles.
“Ha ha ha. Hey, one of the camera’s is back up” Cadel responded.
“What’s on it?”
“Dunno. I can see a person, three or four, actually” Cadel squinted at the fuzzy screen, trying to make out the details.
“Isn’t that Holly and Numbuh four?” Numbuh two asked.
“Where?”
“Right there!” Numbuh two pointed to the bottom right hand corner of the screen.
“Yeah! It totally is! But if that’s them, then would that be...?” Cadel trailed off.
“That’s Father. I’d know that guy anywhere” Numbuh two reached for his 2x4 tech.

“Okay, if that’s Team Beetles, and that’s Father, then who’s tha-Oh No” Cadel opened his eyes in shock.
“What?”
“You Know who that is.”
“Isn’t that that one kid...y’know, the dead one?”
Cadel sighed.
“He’s obviously not dead anymore, is he?” Cadel asked. “No, I guess not” Numbuh two responded. “That was a rhetorical question” Cadel stood up and started to leave. “Hey, where’re you going?” Numbuh two called.
“I’m gonna go help. There’s obviously some next level stuff going on here, and we’re going to need all the Kid Power we can get” Cadel responded.
Numbuh two grinned.
“Let’s go.”


Lincoln finally pulled himself across the walkway. He felt horrible. He felt exhausted, and flat, like he’d been run over by a train.
He stood up, only to be assaulted by Ingrid.
“Hey! I found you. But now we gotta go find Holly and Wal because we gotta stick to the master plan” Ingrid looked exhausted. She still hadn’t changed out of the clothes that she found at the Shock Box, and her pigtails were coming undone.
“You look horrible, Bing”
“You’re looking pretty peachy yourself” Ingrid Retorted.
“Guys! Lookit! Over there! I see something!” Numbuh three called.
“That looks like-” was all Numbuh five managed to say before Lincoln interrupted her.
“HOLLY!” He shouted, sprinting towards her and ignoring his own pain.

Lincoln sprinted forward and then slid on his knees for the last couple of steps.
“Holly, Holly, Are you okay, please please please say something, I love you, can you hear me? Holly? Please say something” Lincoln held onto her and pushed some of her hair out of her face.
Numbuh three had found Numbuh four across the room and was helping him stand up. He wasn’t able to form coherent sentences yet, but he was obviously trying to tell them something.
“Malchau we goo ru hee meean person, Kuki”
“Shh. It’s okay, it’s okay” was all that Numbuh three said.
Lincoln gently shook Holly’s shoulders.
“C’mon, say something, please, please, anything” Lincoln begged her, hoping, wishing, that she would be alive.
“Uhh...” Holly moaned and one of her eyes flickered open.
“You’re okay!” Lincoln exclaimed.

“You....” Holly said slowly.
Lincoln grinned, anticipating her next word.
“....idiot” Holly finished.
Lincoln quit smiling.
“What’d she say?” Numbuh one asked.
“Trap....and you fell for it. Seriously....not...good....” Holly tried to stand up by herself and fell over.
“Trap? What?” Numbuh Five asked.

“Good evening, Kids Next Door.”

Father walked into the room. “You monster! You horrible person! How could you’ve done that...that...surgery? It wasn’t meant to be done! He’s mentally unstable!” Holly screamed at him.
“Oh, be quiet, you annoying little girl. I didn’t think all of you would kill the Childcatchers, but I underestimated you. However, I still have the upper hand” Father announced.
“What upper hand?” Numbuh one asked skeptically.
“Upper hand...Is Malcolm. Father’s got Malcolm” Numbuh four said.
“No way. Malcolm’s dead, remember?” Ingrid explained,
“Did you see him die?” Father asked softly.
“Well...no....” Ingrid responded. She reached behind her back for her Problem stick.
“Put the bat away, Miss Michelson. I ordered the wolves at the Menagerie to kidnap Malcolm and put him on a separate train. The train went directly to Shock General Hospital and Malcolm was...fixed” Father paced back and forth, keeping his eyes on the KND.
“You didn’t fix him! You delightfulized him! You killed him!” Holly screamed
managing to take two steps toward Father before losing her balance.
Father laughed.
“Oh, Numbuh 59, I didn’t kill Malcolm, as you so adorably put it. I made him ...better. However,” Father paused. “Instead of just explaining it to you, I’ll let you see him instead.”

The door closed behind them.
Everybody turned around.
There was Malcolm. His hair was still brown, and it looked like he’d tried to cut it, but given up after half an hour. His glasses were the same, but they looked like they’d been cleaned for the first time in half a century.
He wore a suit and dress shoes, but the suit was rumpled and his shoes were untied. Malcolm’s eyes, which used to be Dark Blue, had lightened with the Delightfulization to an eerie light blue.
“Hello” Malcolm said.
“Whoa” Ingrid responded.

“Kill them all, Malcolm” Father ordered, and left.
“Yes, Father” Malcolm whispered.

“AAH!”
Everybody looked up.
Numbuh two and Cadel had been hiding up in the rafters. Cadel had slipped off and Numbuh two managed to grab his ankle in time.
“Cadel, seriously, why are you so heavy? Did you wake up this morning and decide to eat nothing but rocks?” Numbuh two complained.
“I’m on a strict diet of protein shakes, falcon eggs, and rocks. It’s what makes me so awesome. So either haul me up, or drop me on Malcolm” Cadel said, pulling down his goggles.
“Hello, Cadel Young. I remember you, and now you will suffer” Malcolm said in a monotone, preparing to jump.
“Pssh. You’re a Delightful Brat. You can’t jump that high” Numbuh four said.
“No, wait. That’s not technically true....” Cadel explained, with Numbuh two hauling him back onto the rafter.

Malcolm grinned and jumped. He sprung up into the air and grabbed on to the rafter.
“Malcolm, don’t, man. It’s quite a drop, for us non-splice folk” Cadel said.
Malcolm smiled, and slid out his nails. He cut through the metal rafter in one stroke.
“Look out!” Numbuh five yelled and dived to the side.

“How does that work?” Numbuh one asked.
“Urgg...” Cadel pushed his way out of the metal rubble. “There’s these things in your brain called Perhapsatrons, and the more Perhapsatrons in your brain that are developed, then the more evil you are. When you’re delifulized, then all your perhapsatrons are developed” Numbuh two explained. “Right! But Father combined Malcolm’s Perhapsatrons with his Childcatcher DNA, so now he’s the way he is now!” Cadel further explained, shaking drywall dust out of his hair.
“Wait, but didn’t you say that Childcatchers are, loike, a thingy of all your past mistakes or whatever? How does that work?” Holly asked.
“Well...um....it doesn’t” Cadel said.