Post by CCACorn26 on Apr 14, 2008 21:25:19 GMT -5
Okay... I guess that didn't really work the last time. (clearing throat soberly) No doubt certain pieces of the puzzle behind the evil responsible for the Great New York City Airplane Massacre might have been revealed... but now, here's the story that starts this premonitory nightmare... from no less than the perspective of Wallabee Beetles and Kuki Sanban, with Nigel Uno and Rachel McKenzie providing the grim details.:
“Nightmares… or Premonitions of Chaos?”
“Man, Kuki. What a weird nightmare that was last night.”
“I know, Wally… but I don’t even know what that man wanted.”
Wallabee Beetles and Kuki Sanban walked uncertainly down a corridor on the Kids Next Door Moonbase, their minds focused on a strange dream that had left their thoughts and emotions thoroughly unsettled, each occurrence of said dream more disturbing than the last. In it, a large crowd had gathered in an open area in front of a large building to hear -- and cheer -- someone engaged in a very strange tirade about an “Islamic Revolution” that would destroy with absolute hatred anyone who opposed his vision. As it turned out, Kuki first began having this dream three days ago, and when Wally, as Wallabee was often called, offered to let Kuki sleep in his room in case the dream scared her any further, it entered his mind, as well.
“I can’t for the life of me figure out what the crud he meant in that stupid speech of his,” Wally complained openly, most likely just for Kuki to hear.
“Me, neither. I never heard anything like that three weeks ago,” Kuki pointed out, looking down at her shorter companion.
Wally smiled mentally and grimly at Kuki’s reference to that point in time. His sector leader had teamed up with the KND Supreme Commander, who was also said sector leader’s girlfriend, to organize a play based on a romantic drama written by this William Shakespeare guy. “Operation Romeo and Juliet” was the designated codename for this project, with the apparent objective of getting him and Kuki to admit their feelings for each other. Needless to say, his immediate reaction was one of unmitigated disgust and shock, and his two other Sector V comrades made fun of him tirelessly for the inevitable romantic interactions he and Kuki would have. In the end, however, the two really did do just that, sharing their first official kiss as a couple right in front of the entire Moonbase. In the days that followed, Wally developed a habit of offering a knuckle sandwich to anyone who didn’t realize immediately that he and Kuki were a couple now, but everyone pretty much cheered and fawned whenever those two interacted in a particularly friendly way, namely whenever Kuki gave him a hug. Nevertheless, this nightmare had left them both bewildered.
“Believe me, Kuki, neither did I,” Wally spoke up and turned his head upward at Kuki after thinking silently for a few moments. “At least the rec room near Numbuh 362’s office can give us one more chance to… take our minds off that dream.”
“Maybe you’re right, Wally,” Kuki said affirmatively. “I just hope she lets us play video games in there.”
Wally nodded in agreement as the two continued walking toward their destination. As the rec room drew ever closer, however, their ears began to detect strange sounds from inside, inaudible to them at first. Finally, Wally and Kuki arrived at the doorway to the rec room and passed through it curiously. Sure enough, when they looked in a certain direction, their eyes confirmed what their ears initially detected: they had company. More specifically, Nigel Uno, a.k.a. Numbuh One, Wally and Kuki’s sector leader, was sitting on the couch next to Rachel McKenzie, a.k.a. Numbuh 362, the Supreme Commander of the Kids Next Door. Both were watching something on the television Wally and Kuki were intending to use to play video games. Upon perceiving Nigel and Rachel more closely, one would have noted that this more “commanding” couple in the Kids Next Door had strikingly sterner demeanors about their faces than they normally did.
“Hi there, Nigel and Rachel!!” Kuki greeted the prominent couple as happily as she always did upon seeing any of her friends on the Moonbase. “Ooh, are you guys watching a movie? Can Wally and I join you?”
“I’m afraid we’re not watching a movie, Numbuh Three,” Nigel addressed Kuki by her KND identity somewhat more sharply and directly than he usually did for his team, which didn’t really seem like much, given some of their past missions.
“Eh? What do you mean, mate?” Wally inquired, now even more confused than he already was.
Rachel sighed in exasperation -- more likely at the television than at this “most adorable couple in the Kids Next Door,” as the Moonbase proclaimed Wally and Kuki after Wallabee and Kuki -- before addressing the male half of said couple by his KND identity, precisely as her boyfriend did the female half. “Nigel’s right, Numbuh Four. Iranian President Ali Muhammad Teherani is delivering some wacky diatribe in front of that global assembly in New York City.”
At that new piece of information, Wally and Kuki turned their heads toward the television, then moved toward the couch and sat down, their eyes and ears intent on figuring out what this odd man was saying. It was immediately obvious to Sector V’s, nay, the Kids Next Door’s most talked-about couple that… they did not understand his message at all. He was rambling about what he called “American tyranny,” citing a few examples of its supposed interference in fulfillment of what he described as “the Law of Submission to Allah.” Yet, such harsh rhetoric could have contradicted whatever was visible of Teherani's amicably grayish-white business outfit.
“So, what do you know about this guy, Numbuhs One and 362?” Wally questioned his two superiors, his face furrowed purposefully at how evil Teherani could possibly be.
Nigel snorted as he recalled the information his girlfriend and Supreme Commander had shared with him starting a couple of weeks ago. “Enough to make my blood boil in a matter of nanoseconds, which are much shorter than a regular second, if I recall.”
“And my blood, as well,” Rachel added gravely. “Anyway, to start, Teherani was and still is a member of an organization that calls itself the ‘Guardians of the Islamic Revolution,’ which is evidently a military division, a business and political enterprise, and a cult all in one.”
Kuki’s head immediately jolted in Nigel and Rachel’s direction, as did Wally’s, before both asked in unison, “What did you just say, Rachel/Numbuh 362?” While Kuki used her real first name, Wally used her Kids Next Door identity, but both had almost instantly caught the last two words in the name of that organization.
“The ‘Guardians of the Islamic Revolution,’” Rachel continued, brushing her interruption by Wally and Kuki aside. “According to Kids Next Door News Network, these Guardians have targeted and taken out individuals and entire groups of people both inside Iran and all around the world simply because those people don’t share their perverse vision of a one-world utopia, or I should say dystopia, led by their ‘Hidden Imam,’ and they don’t care if their targets are adults, teens, or even kids.”
As Rachel finished initially describing the activities of this new evil organization -- not trying to hide her fury at its capabilities and results -- Wally and Kuki had turned back toward the television in mounting disbelief. Teherani was still speaking, but there was now something ominously familiar about the words he was using: “corruption,” “injustice,” the “inherent bankruptcy of the global system.” Where had they heard those words before?
“Wait a second…” Wally muttered deliberately as he leaned a bit closer toward the television, then jumped back slightly and slowly pointed at it. “Kuki… Isn’t that…?”
Kuki nodded in stark realization while wrapping her arms tightly around Wally in terror. “He’s the guy from our nightmare… but how did that happen…?”
After registering what Wally and Kuki were saying, Nigel steadily turned his head to face them, an eyebrow raised inquisitively. “What are you two talking about?”
Wally and Kuki looked at each other hesitantly, clearly worried that their two friends and superiors would find their nightmare unhelpful… before Wally turned back to face them. “Sorry, Nigel. Kuki’s been havin’ this odd dream in which a man was speaking in front of this gihugic crowd about something or other. I don’t know. She told me that the man was saying that in three months, ‘all will end, and everything will begin again under the rule of the Great Hidden Imam.’”
Rachel had by now joined Nigel in staring at Wally and Kuki in dread at the last piece of information that Wally had relayed to them, and it was her turn to query them. “Hold on a moment. What are you saying?”
Kuki nodded in total agreement, still clutching Wally as if her life depended on it. “It was scary, Rachel… I wanted to sleep next to Wally so I could think happy thoughts and forget about this nightmare… but this morning, he told me he had the dream, too.”
Wally would add the linchpin in this increasingly real nightmare. “And, uh… you know this Ali Muhammad Teherani you guys are angry about? Well… he’s the man from our dream.”
“What??!!” Nigel exclaimed in astonishment before quickly turning his head back to Rachel. “Rachel, do you realize what this could mean?”
Rachel sighed before looking at the television once again, where Teherani was still ranting coldly against America and its friends and allies, before her eyes returned to facing her three companions. “It sounds like too much of a coincidence, Nigel. At any rate, Numbuhs Four and Three, you wouldn’t believe how directly involved he and the Guardians were in a certain recent attack on the United States.”
“Wh-what happened?” Wally and Kuki asked reflexively yet reluctantly.
Rachel exhaled in comprehensive indignation and disgust before responding, “KNDNN's sources informed them -- with personal corroboration to me by the British, German, Russian, Israeli, and Egyptian Kids Next Door -- that the President of Iran and the leader of the Base of Jihad personally attended a meeting where this geezer known as 'Supreme Jurist Hashemi Reza Mesbahi,' who happens to be Teherani’s mentor on the Hidden Imam, directly blessed his authorization of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution commanding general to dispatch GIR agents to finance and train the BJ specifically for that horrendous airplane strike."
The outrage in Wally's eyes began to mount as he realized exactly what that meant, further emphasized by the deliberately slow but steady pace of his next question. “Wait a minute. Are you saying that this guy” -- he pointed almost accusatorily at the television -- “was responsible for the Great New York City Airplane Massacre three months ago?!?!”
“In a manner of speaking, yes,” Nigel said bluntly, growling with slight fury as he continued, “Which makes Khalid Tariq Saif a willing scapegoat… and that fiend's thankfully rejected request to lay a wreath commemorating that double airplane attack at the site where those twin skyscrapers collapsed three months ago obscene[/i][/u].”
The anguish visible in Kuki's now-large eyes would be just as audible in her voice. "He… he wanted to celebrate the destruction he ordered? Wh-wh-what kinda meaniehead would do that?!"
Rachel exhaled and closed her eyes, then opened them again, her loyal boyfriend and his two Sector V comrades in front of her, as utterly despondent as she was at the horrific irrationality of the atrocity that she would reveal. “Apparently, a meaniehead who can also do what Nigel told me before we started watching this speech.” The ensuing pause only heightened Wally and Kuki's terror intermixed with outrage. “Before Teherani left Iran’s capital to attend that assembly… he announced a decree from Mesbahi banning Rainbow Monkeys and Yipper Cards all over Iran because they ‘violate the promise of Allah through the Sharia and the Revolution…’ and vowed that anyone possessing even a single Rainbow Monkey or Yipper Card would pay for defying that decree with his or her life… to the most severely painful extent possible.”
“So you see, Wally and Kuki, all that and then some have led the two of us to the conclusion that Iranian President Ali Muhammad Teherani will, in all probability, end up exceeding my grandfather as the World’s Most Ultimate Evil. He not only has the blood of two of the Kids Next Door’s best spies on his hands, but also wants Yipper Cards and Rainbow Monkeys completely out of Iran, the United States of America and its friends and allies wiped off the map, and finally, as Rachel informed me before the two of us arrived at this rec room -- after we told Numbuh 60 about Teherani's speech -- a weapon capable of incinerating an entire city in seconds bolstering his arsenal against us,” Nigel concluded, remembering all too darkly how his grandfather, known simply as Grandfather, unleashed his age-ification abilities on everything and everyone to remake the world in his own ancient image… then sighed with furious resignation. “It’s even more frightening since that weapon might be connected to his belief in the appearance of that Hidden Imam he admires so much.”
By now, Kuki had learned more than she could possibly take of Teherani's mind-boggling evil, and her reaction could only be torrentially familiar:
“WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How cruel and mean can this guy get!?!?!?!? WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!…”
Wally could only pat Kuki’s arms cautiously, leaving her even tighter squeeze around and waterfall of tears on him to themselves for now. “Is the President of Iran just ASKING for a lifetime supply of knuckle sandwiches?!?! If so, I’ll only be too happy to give them to him… to the most severely painful extent possible.”
Nigel could only chuckle wryly. “Trust me. I completely understand, and I'd really like to do the exact same thing.”
During that last explanation by Nigel and the instant reaction from Wally and Kuki just after the news about that nasty decree, Rachel had turned her eyes back toward the television once more just in time to catch the newest archvillain in her and Nigel’s lexicon as Kids Next Door operatives begin to conclude his speech. He was now promising that the “age of American darkness” was now over and done with. What caught Rachel’s ear, however, was a pledge that the rage of his vision would explode to clear the way for “perfection and equality in the Sacred Law…” in a matter of months. What lingered in her mind were her past experiences up to this point in time. As the Supreme Commander of the Kids Next Door, she was responsible for keeping track of any challenges to kids’ ability to live as ordinary kids, be they from teens, adults, or even other kids. After Numbuh Zero decommissioned Grandfather once and for all, any and all adversaries who provided the aforementioned challenges continued their previous activities to oppose the Kids Next Door, yet conspicuously more hesitantly than before, mostly having been the first victims of Grandfather’s eventually global Senior Citizombification. Now, however, none of them mattered to the KND anymore: with that double airplane massacre and their subsequent apocalyptic pronouncements, the President of Iran and the leader of the Base of Jihad had taken evil to a whole new level, a level that Count Spankulot, the Dodgeball Wizard, the Crazy Old Cat Lady, Stickybeard, Knightbrace, Heinrich von Marzipan, Chester, Robin Food, and even Father -- the one whom Grandfather ordered to scram upon his usurpation of leadership of the villainous community -- all realized they were not capable of. To Rachel and Nigel, as prominent Kids Next Door operatives, it was therefore entirely understandable that these and all their other previous enemies would stop every activity against the Kids Next Door as an organization, separate sectors, or individual operatives as they had for two days short of three full months now. These observations would inform Rachel’s thinking as she turned back to face Nigel, Wally, and Kuki to offer a possible conclusion to this clash, one more explosively powerful than knuckle sandwiches.
“Well, Nigel, I wouldn’t worry too much about packing a punchy picnic and offering it to Teherani soon,” Rachel began, diverting her companions’ attention back to her, even as Kuki began rubbing her still-watery eyes with her oversized green sweater sleeve while still hugging Wally.
“Why would that be, Rachel?” Nigel wondered.
A small smile began to creep onto Rachel’s face. “The news anchors covering this visit of his just got word that rumors have surfaced of some carrier strike groups redeploying to the entrance to the Persian Gulf, just one of many options the United States and its allies might implement against Iran and the BJ. To think this comes after President Kenneth Robert Sherman restricted Teherani’s travel schedule to that assembly, his hotel, and Kennedy International Airport and authorized Secretary of State Michelle Haruna to label the Guardians ‘specially designated global terrorists,’ which should, among other things, make their profits and financial reserves much easier targets for total isolation from international business. Who knew some of the things Numbuh 86's dad talks about would prove useful?”
Nigel nodded in approval. “Excellent news, if true. I’d say it’s about time this diabolical dictator got the pulverization of his life, and I mean pulverization in many more ways than one.”
“You said it!! It’s definitely poundin’ time for that guy,” Wally jumped in enthusiastically... even if, thinking to himself, he didn’t quite get that part about “total isolation from international business.”
“I just hope none of you guys get hurt... especially you, Wally,” Kuki cautioned innocently, her arms still wrapped around the boy of her dreams. “Uh, Nigel, Rachel... do you both think Wally and I can play video games now?”
The Kids Next Door’s most “commanding” couple simply stared blankly at its most talked-about couple. Evidently, all this information about the undeniably cataclysmic evil that Teherani and Saif sought to unleash on their beloved planet had absorbed their focus so that they’d completely forgotten why Wally and Kuki had shown up in the first place. Nigel and Rachel could only smile in resignation at each other and nod before Nigel got up and proceeded to set the television to game mode and retrieve two of the game consoles lying just in front of the screen. He tossed them to Wally and Kuki, who caught it expertly, and sat down next to Rachel just as the game started up.
“Hey, Numbuh One, you and Numbuh 362 wanna join us?” Wally offered while beginning to maneuver the various buttons and controls on his console. “Come on... take that! Hyah!!...”
“Yeah, you two, come on!!! Games are always more fun with a lot more people involved,” Kuki chirped while doing the same thing on her console, finally back to her normally cheerful self. “Oh, I’m gonna get you for that!!... Go! Over there! Now... take this!!!...”
Nigel leaned back, his left arm now pulling Rachel closer to him so she could rest her head on his shoulder, and replied, “You know what, Numbuhs Four and Three? I’m afraid video games aren’t really our strong point. I think Rachel and I are gonna be fine sitting this one out.”
“Mm-hmm... Nigel’s right, you two,” Rachel said softly as she nuzzled her cheek against Nigel’s shoulder as affectionately and silently as she did exactly three months ago. “Just go on with your game.”
“Eh...” Wally laughed nervously at what he sensed was the... excessively friendly tone his sector leader and his Supreme Commander were assuming in their voices, then cleared his throat before regaining his focus. “Right. Now, Kuki... it’s ambush time!!! HAH!!...”
“Okie-dokie, Nigie and Rachie!!!” Kuki giggled innocently before regaining her focus. “Ooh, you’re not gonna beat me that easily, Wally! HYAH!!!! And... there we go! All right, take that and this!! That one looks good...”
“Nigie and Rachie” chuckled mentally at Kuki’s seemingly boundless enthusiasm for her friends under any circumstances whatsoever. No doubt that was why she and Wally were so popular among their fellow Kids Next Door operatives. Yes, everyone simply acknowledged Nigel and Rachel as a couple, as was commonly demonstrated whenever somebody greeted the two of them together, “Hey, Numbuhs One and 362,” “Have a nice day, Numbuhs 362 and One, sirs,” or even “What’s up, Nigel and Rachel?”. However, nobody was really crazy about recognizing the commander of Sector V and the Supreme Leader of the Kids Next Door as a couple. Even after Wallabee and Kuki, the Moonbase applauded Nigel and Rachel primarily because their coordination of that project had inspired two other couples to find love. Thus, here said prominent couple sat peacefully as Wally and Kuki continued to try beating each other in something as profoundly trivial as a game requiring at least two consoles for its multiplayer function.
“Why do I never get tired of this?” Nigel mused a bit openly, most likely for Rachel’s ears.
“I don’t know, but thanks, Nigie. You really know how to cheer me up,” Rachel answered warmly.
Nigel looked down just as warmly at his girlfriend and Supreme Commander, her shoulder-length golden hair mere inches from his sunglass-cloaked eyes, one of his eyebrows raised as thoughtfully as ever. “Oh? What do you mean by that, Rachie?”
Rachel giggled in her own affectionate way. “Just look around you. Our friends are enjoying themselves at their activity, and so are we at ours. No paperwork, no major attacks, nothing. Just you and me, with those two having fun at whatever game they’re playing. We really need more moments like this, don’t you think?”
Nigel could only smile at Rachel’s observations as they cuddled even closer to each other and looked on at Wally and Kuki, who appeared to be trying as hard as they could to beat a particularly difficult level on that video game of theirs. They were using their own free will, their freedom to think, to conquer any challenges the various levels of that video game threw at them. The game was certainly a way to simply cool down after an extremely rough and tough day, or even an extremely rough and tough morning. Yet, this morning may have been challenging in a way others were not. Ali Muhammad Teherani, the extraordinarily infernal President of Iran, and his extraordinarily senile Supreme Jurist deployed a radically new set of rules that Grandfather would envy when they gave the green light for the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution to assist the Great New York City Airplane Massacre, with Khalid Tariq Saif, the global leader of the Base of Jihad, publicly broadcasting their murderous motivations and virulent vision two days later. Would the BJ and the Guardians actually try to target the Kids Next Door for rejecting their vision? Would the two prominent KND operatives meet Teherani and/or Mesbahi face-to-face? At this point, one fact was clear above everything else: the Islamic Revolution was a perilous threat to kids, teens, and adults of all types on all continents. Whatever their individual perspectives, Nigel Uno and Rachel McKenzie would lead and Wallabee Beetles and Kuki Sanban would inspire the rest of the Kids Next Door against these new villains, for knowing themselves and these enemies would be crucial now much more than ever.
THE END
So there we have it: an archvillain who could easily outdo Grandfather in villainy. Please comment as you wish.
“Nightmares… or Premonitions of Chaos?”
“Man, Kuki. What a weird nightmare that was last night.”
“I know, Wally… but I don’t even know what that man wanted.”
Wallabee Beetles and Kuki Sanban walked uncertainly down a corridor on the Kids Next Door Moonbase, their minds focused on a strange dream that had left their thoughts and emotions thoroughly unsettled, each occurrence of said dream more disturbing than the last. In it, a large crowd had gathered in an open area in front of a large building to hear -- and cheer -- someone engaged in a very strange tirade about an “Islamic Revolution” that would destroy with absolute hatred anyone who opposed his vision. As it turned out, Kuki first began having this dream three days ago, and when Wally, as Wallabee was often called, offered to let Kuki sleep in his room in case the dream scared her any further, it entered his mind, as well.
“I can’t for the life of me figure out what the crud he meant in that stupid speech of his,” Wally complained openly, most likely just for Kuki to hear.
“Me, neither. I never heard anything like that three weeks ago,” Kuki pointed out, looking down at her shorter companion.
Wally smiled mentally and grimly at Kuki’s reference to that point in time. His sector leader had teamed up with the KND Supreme Commander, who was also said sector leader’s girlfriend, to organize a play based on a romantic drama written by this William Shakespeare guy. “Operation Romeo and Juliet” was the designated codename for this project, with the apparent objective of getting him and Kuki to admit their feelings for each other. Needless to say, his immediate reaction was one of unmitigated disgust and shock, and his two other Sector V comrades made fun of him tirelessly for the inevitable romantic interactions he and Kuki would have. In the end, however, the two really did do just that, sharing their first official kiss as a couple right in front of the entire Moonbase. In the days that followed, Wally developed a habit of offering a knuckle sandwich to anyone who didn’t realize immediately that he and Kuki were a couple now, but everyone pretty much cheered and fawned whenever those two interacted in a particularly friendly way, namely whenever Kuki gave him a hug. Nevertheless, this nightmare had left them both bewildered.
“Believe me, Kuki, neither did I,” Wally spoke up and turned his head upward at Kuki after thinking silently for a few moments. “At least the rec room near Numbuh 362’s office can give us one more chance to… take our minds off that dream.”
“Maybe you’re right, Wally,” Kuki said affirmatively. “I just hope she lets us play video games in there.”
Wally nodded in agreement as the two continued walking toward their destination. As the rec room drew ever closer, however, their ears began to detect strange sounds from inside, inaudible to them at first. Finally, Wally and Kuki arrived at the doorway to the rec room and passed through it curiously. Sure enough, when they looked in a certain direction, their eyes confirmed what their ears initially detected: they had company. More specifically, Nigel Uno, a.k.a. Numbuh One, Wally and Kuki’s sector leader, was sitting on the couch next to Rachel McKenzie, a.k.a. Numbuh 362, the Supreme Commander of the Kids Next Door. Both were watching something on the television Wally and Kuki were intending to use to play video games. Upon perceiving Nigel and Rachel more closely, one would have noted that this more “commanding” couple in the Kids Next Door had strikingly sterner demeanors about their faces than they normally did.
“Hi there, Nigel and Rachel!!” Kuki greeted the prominent couple as happily as she always did upon seeing any of her friends on the Moonbase. “Ooh, are you guys watching a movie? Can Wally and I join you?”
“I’m afraid we’re not watching a movie, Numbuh Three,” Nigel addressed Kuki by her KND identity somewhat more sharply and directly than he usually did for his team, which didn’t really seem like much, given some of their past missions.
“Eh? What do you mean, mate?” Wally inquired, now even more confused than he already was.
Rachel sighed in exasperation -- more likely at the television than at this “most adorable couple in the Kids Next Door,” as the Moonbase proclaimed Wally and Kuki after Wallabee and Kuki -- before addressing the male half of said couple by his KND identity, precisely as her boyfriend did the female half. “Nigel’s right, Numbuh Four. Iranian President Ali Muhammad Teherani is delivering some wacky diatribe in front of that global assembly in New York City.”
At that new piece of information, Wally and Kuki turned their heads toward the television, then moved toward the couch and sat down, their eyes and ears intent on figuring out what this odd man was saying. It was immediately obvious to Sector V’s, nay, the Kids Next Door’s most talked-about couple that… they did not understand his message at all. He was rambling about what he called “American tyranny,” citing a few examples of its supposed interference in fulfillment of what he described as “the Law of Submission to Allah.” Yet, such harsh rhetoric could have contradicted whatever was visible of Teherani's amicably grayish-white business outfit.
“So, what do you know about this guy, Numbuhs One and 362?” Wally questioned his two superiors, his face furrowed purposefully at how evil Teherani could possibly be.
Nigel snorted as he recalled the information his girlfriend and Supreme Commander had shared with him starting a couple of weeks ago. “Enough to make my blood boil in a matter of nanoseconds, which are much shorter than a regular second, if I recall.”
“And my blood, as well,” Rachel added gravely. “Anyway, to start, Teherani was and still is a member of an organization that calls itself the ‘Guardians of the Islamic Revolution,’ which is evidently a military division, a business and political enterprise, and a cult all in one.”
Kuki’s head immediately jolted in Nigel and Rachel’s direction, as did Wally’s, before both asked in unison, “What did you just say, Rachel/Numbuh 362?” While Kuki used her real first name, Wally used her Kids Next Door identity, but both had almost instantly caught the last two words in the name of that organization.
“The ‘Guardians of the Islamic Revolution,’” Rachel continued, brushing her interruption by Wally and Kuki aside. “According to Kids Next Door News Network, these Guardians have targeted and taken out individuals and entire groups of people both inside Iran and all around the world simply because those people don’t share their perverse vision of a one-world utopia, or I should say dystopia, led by their ‘Hidden Imam,’ and they don’t care if their targets are adults, teens, or even kids.”
As Rachel finished initially describing the activities of this new evil organization -- not trying to hide her fury at its capabilities and results -- Wally and Kuki had turned back toward the television in mounting disbelief. Teherani was still speaking, but there was now something ominously familiar about the words he was using: “corruption,” “injustice,” the “inherent bankruptcy of the global system.” Where had they heard those words before?
“Wait a second…” Wally muttered deliberately as he leaned a bit closer toward the television, then jumped back slightly and slowly pointed at it. “Kuki… Isn’t that…?”
Kuki nodded in stark realization while wrapping her arms tightly around Wally in terror. “He’s the guy from our nightmare… but how did that happen…?”
After registering what Wally and Kuki were saying, Nigel steadily turned his head to face them, an eyebrow raised inquisitively. “What are you two talking about?”
Wally and Kuki looked at each other hesitantly, clearly worried that their two friends and superiors would find their nightmare unhelpful… before Wally turned back to face them. “Sorry, Nigel. Kuki’s been havin’ this odd dream in which a man was speaking in front of this gihugic crowd about something or other. I don’t know. She told me that the man was saying that in three months, ‘all will end, and everything will begin again under the rule of the Great Hidden Imam.’”
Rachel had by now joined Nigel in staring at Wally and Kuki in dread at the last piece of information that Wally had relayed to them, and it was her turn to query them. “Hold on a moment. What are you saying?”
Kuki nodded in total agreement, still clutching Wally as if her life depended on it. “It was scary, Rachel… I wanted to sleep next to Wally so I could think happy thoughts and forget about this nightmare… but this morning, he told me he had the dream, too.”
Wally would add the linchpin in this increasingly real nightmare. “And, uh… you know this Ali Muhammad Teherani you guys are angry about? Well… he’s the man from our dream.”
“What??!!” Nigel exclaimed in astonishment before quickly turning his head back to Rachel. “Rachel, do you realize what this could mean?”
Rachel sighed before looking at the television once again, where Teherani was still ranting coldly against America and its friends and allies, before her eyes returned to facing her three companions. “It sounds like too much of a coincidence, Nigel. At any rate, Numbuhs Four and Three, you wouldn’t believe how directly involved he and the Guardians were in a certain recent attack on the United States.”
“Wh-what happened?” Wally and Kuki asked reflexively yet reluctantly.
Rachel exhaled in comprehensive indignation and disgust before responding, “KNDNN's sources informed them -- with personal corroboration to me by the British, German, Russian, Israeli, and Egyptian Kids Next Door -- that the President of Iran and the leader of the Base of Jihad personally attended a meeting where this geezer known as 'Supreme Jurist Hashemi Reza Mesbahi,' who happens to be Teherani’s mentor on the Hidden Imam, directly blessed his authorization of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution commanding general to dispatch GIR agents to finance and train the BJ specifically for that horrendous airplane strike."
The outrage in Wally's eyes began to mount as he realized exactly what that meant, further emphasized by the deliberately slow but steady pace of his next question. “Wait a minute. Are you saying that this guy” -- he pointed almost accusatorily at the television -- “was responsible for the Great New York City Airplane Massacre three months ago?!?!”
“In a manner of speaking, yes,” Nigel said bluntly, growling with slight fury as he continued, “Which makes Khalid Tariq Saif a willing scapegoat… and that fiend's thankfully rejected request to lay a wreath commemorating that double airplane attack at the site where those twin skyscrapers collapsed three months ago obscene[/i][/u].”
The anguish visible in Kuki's now-large eyes would be just as audible in her voice. "He… he wanted to celebrate the destruction he ordered? Wh-wh-what kinda meaniehead would do that?!"
Rachel exhaled and closed her eyes, then opened them again, her loyal boyfriend and his two Sector V comrades in front of her, as utterly despondent as she was at the horrific irrationality of the atrocity that she would reveal. “Apparently, a meaniehead who can also do what Nigel told me before we started watching this speech.” The ensuing pause only heightened Wally and Kuki's terror intermixed with outrage. “Before Teherani left Iran’s capital to attend that assembly… he announced a decree from Mesbahi banning Rainbow Monkeys and Yipper Cards all over Iran because they ‘violate the promise of Allah through the Sharia and the Revolution…’ and vowed that anyone possessing even a single Rainbow Monkey or Yipper Card would pay for defying that decree with his or her life… to the most severely painful extent possible.”
“So you see, Wally and Kuki, all that and then some have led the two of us to the conclusion that Iranian President Ali Muhammad Teherani will, in all probability, end up exceeding my grandfather as the World’s Most Ultimate Evil. He not only has the blood of two of the Kids Next Door’s best spies on his hands, but also wants Yipper Cards and Rainbow Monkeys completely out of Iran, the United States of America and its friends and allies wiped off the map, and finally, as Rachel informed me before the two of us arrived at this rec room -- after we told Numbuh 60 about Teherani's speech -- a weapon capable of incinerating an entire city in seconds bolstering his arsenal against us,” Nigel concluded, remembering all too darkly how his grandfather, known simply as Grandfather, unleashed his age-ification abilities on everything and everyone to remake the world in his own ancient image… then sighed with furious resignation. “It’s even more frightening since that weapon might be connected to his belief in the appearance of that Hidden Imam he admires so much.”
By now, Kuki had learned more than she could possibly take of Teherani's mind-boggling evil, and her reaction could only be torrentially familiar:
“WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How cruel and mean can this guy get!?!?!?!? WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!…”
Wally could only pat Kuki’s arms cautiously, leaving her even tighter squeeze around and waterfall of tears on him to themselves for now. “Is the President of Iran just ASKING for a lifetime supply of knuckle sandwiches?!?! If so, I’ll only be too happy to give them to him… to the most severely painful extent possible.”
Nigel could only chuckle wryly. “Trust me. I completely understand, and I'd really like to do the exact same thing.”
During that last explanation by Nigel and the instant reaction from Wally and Kuki just after the news about that nasty decree, Rachel had turned her eyes back toward the television once more just in time to catch the newest archvillain in her and Nigel’s lexicon as Kids Next Door operatives begin to conclude his speech. He was now promising that the “age of American darkness” was now over and done with. What caught Rachel’s ear, however, was a pledge that the rage of his vision would explode to clear the way for “perfection and equality in the Sacred Law…” in a matter of months. What lingered in her mind were her past experiences up to this point in time. As the Supreme Commander of the Kids Next Door, she was responsible for keeping track of any challenges to kids’ ability to live as ordinary kids, be they from teens, adults, or even other kids. After Numbuh Zero decommissioned Grandfather once and for all, any and all adversaries who provided the aforementioned challenges continued their previous activities to oppose the Kids Next Door, yet conspicuously more hesitantly than before, mostly having been the first victims of Grandfather’s eventually global Senior Citizombification. Now, however, none of them mattered to the KND anymore: with that double airplane massacre and their subsequent apocalyptic pronouncements, the President of Iran and the leader of the Base of Jihad had taken evil to a whole new level, a level that Count Spankulot, the Dodgeball Wizard, the Crazy Old Cat Lady, Stickybeard, Knightbrace, Heinrich von Marzipan, Chester, Robin Food, and even Father -- the one whom Grandfather ordered to scram upon his usurpation of leadership of the villainous community -- all realized they were not capable of. To Rachel and Nigel, as prominent Kids Next Door operatives, it was therefore entirely understandable that these and all their other previous enemies would stop every activity against the Kids Next Door as an organization, separate sectors, or individual operatives as they had for two days short of three full months now. These observations would inform Rachel’s thinking as she turned back to face Nigel, Wally, and Kuki to offer a possible conclusion to this clash, one more explosively powerful than knuckle sandwiches.
“Well, Nigel, I wouldn’t worry too much about packing a punchy picnic and offering it to Teherani soon,” Rachel began, diverting her companions’ attention back to her, even as Kuki began rubbing her still-watery eyes with her oversized green sweater sleeve while still hugging Wally.
“Why would that be, Rachel?” Nigel wondered.
A small smile began to creep onto Rachel’s face. “The news anchors covering this visit of his just got word that rumors have surfaced of some carrier strike groups redeploying to the entrance to the Persian Gulf, just one of many options the United States and its allies might implement against Iran and the BJ. To think this comes after President Kenneth Robert Sherman restricted Teherani’s travel schedule to that assembly, his hotel, and Kennedy International Airport and authorized Secretary of State Michelle Haruna to label the Guardians ‘specially designated global terrorists,’ which should, among other things, make their profits and financial reserves much easier targets for total isolation from international business. Who knew some of the things Numbuh 86's dad talks about would prove useful?”
Nigel nodded in approval. “Excellent news, if true. I’d say it’s about time this diabolical dictator got the pulverization of his life, and I mean pulverization in many more ways than one.”
“You said it!! It’s definitely poundin’ time for that guy,” Wally jumped in enthusiastically... even if, thinking to himself, he didn’t quite get that part about “total isolation from international business.”
“I just hope none of you guys get hurt... especially you, Wally,” Kuki cautioned innocently, her arms still wrapped around the boy of her dreams. “Uh, Nigel, Rachel... do you both think Wally and I can play video games now?”
The Kids Next Door’s most “commanding” couple simply stared blankly at its most talked-about couple. Evidently, all this information about the undeniably cataclysmic evil that Teherani and Saif sought to unleash on their beloved planet had absorbed their focus so that they’d completely forgotten why Wally and Kuki had shown up in the first place. Nigel and Rachel could only smile in resignation at each other and nod before Nigel got up and proceeded to set the television to game mode and retrieve two of the game consoles lying just in front of the screen. He tossed them to Wally and Kuki, who caught it expertly, and sat down next to Rachel just as the game started up.
“Hey, Numbuh One, you and Numbuh 362 wanna join us?” Wally offered while beginning to maneuver the various buttons and controls on his console. “Come on... take that! Hyah!!...”
“Yeah, you two, come on!!! Games are always more fun with a lot more people involved,” Kuki chirped while doing the same thing on her console, finally back to her normally cheerful self. “Oh, I’m gonna get you for that!!... Go! Over there! Now... take this!!!...”
Nigel leaned back, his left arm now pulling Rachel closer to him so she could rest her head on his shoulder, and replied, “You know what, Numbuhs Four and Three? I’m afraid video games aren’t really our strong point. I think Rachel and I are gonna be fine sitting this one out.”
“Mm-hmm... Nigel’s right, you two,” Rachel said softly as she nuzzled her cheek against Nigel’s shoulder as affectionately and silently as she did exactly three months ago. “Just go on with your game.”
“Eh...” Wally laughed nervously at what he sensed was the... excessively friendly tone his sector leader and his Supreme Commander were assuming in their voices, then cleared his throat before regaining his focus. “Right. Now, Kuki... it’s ambush time!!! HAH!!...”
“Okie-dokie, Nigie and Rachie!!!” Kuki giggled innocently before regaining her focus. “Ooh, you’re not gonna beat me that easily, Wally! HYAH!!!! And... there we go! All right, take that and this!! That one looks good...”
“Nigie and Rachie” chuckled mentally at Kuki’s seemingly boundless enthusiasm for her friends under any circumstances whatsoever. No doubt that was why she and Wally were so popular among their fellow Kids Next Door operatives. Yes, everyone simply acknowledged Nigel and Rachel as a couple, as was commonly demonstrated whenever somebody greeted the two of them together, “Hey, Numbuhs One and 362,” “Have a nice day, Numbuhs 362 and One, sirs,” or even “What’s up, Nigel and Rachel?”. However, nobody was really crazy about recognizing the commander of Sector V and the Supreme Leader of the Kids Next Door as a couple. Even after Wallabee and Kuki, the Moonbase applauded Nigel and Rachel primarily because their coordination of that project had inspired two other couples to find love. Thus, here said prominent couple sat peacefully as Wally and Kuki continued to try beating each other in something as profoundly trivial as a game requiring at least two consoles for its multiplayer function.
“Why do I never get tired of this?” Nigel mused a bit openly, most likely for Rachel’s ears.
“I don’t know, but thanks, Nigie. You really know how to cheer me up,” Rachel answered warmly.
Nigel looked down just as warmly at his girlfriend and Supreme Commander, her shoulder-length golden hair mere inches from his sunglass-cloaked eyes, one of his eyebrows raised as thoughtfully as ever. “Oh? What do you mean by that, Rachie?”
Rachel giggled in her own affectionate way. “Just look around you. Our friends are enjoying themselves at their activity, and so are we at ours. No paperwork, no major attacks, nothing. Just you and me, with those two having fun at whatever game they’re playing. We really need more moments like this, don’t you think?”
Nigel could only smile at Rachel’s observations as they cuddled even closer to each other and looked on at Wally and Kuki, who appeared to be trying as hard as they could to beat a particularly difficult level on that video game of theirs. They were using their own free will, their freedom to think, to conquer any challenges the various levels of that video game threw at them. The game was certainly a way to simply cool down after an extremely rough and tough day, or even an extremely rough and tough morning. Yet, this morning may have been challenging in a way others were not. Ali Muhammad Teherani, the extraordinarily infernal President of Iran, and his extraordinarily senile Supreme Jurist deployed a radically new set of rules that Grandfather would envy when they gave the green light for the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution to assist the Great New York City Airplane Massacre, with Khalid Tariq Saif, the global leader of the Base of Jihad, publicly broadcasting their murderous motivations and virulent vision two days later. Would the BJ and the Guardians actually try to target the Kids Next Door for rejecting their vision? Would the two prominent KND operatives meet Teherani and/or Mesbahi face-to-face? At this point, one fact was clear above everything else: the Islamic Revolution was a perilous threat to kids, teens, and adults of all types on all continents. Whatever their individual perspectives, Nigel Uno and Rachel McKenzie would lead and Wallabee Beetles and Kuki Sanban would inspire the rest of the Kids Next Door against these new villains, for knowing themselves and these enemies would be crucial now much more than ever.
THE END
So there we have it: an archvillain who could easily outdo Grandfather in villainy. Please comment as you wish.
