Note to readers: I don't own the Kids Next Door, but you knew that already.
This fanfic contains references to violence, brief nudity, and rainbow
monkeys! But mostly rainbow monkeys, the horror!
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[Now Loading:]- [Kids Next Door Mission:]
Operation: M.O.V.I.E.S
Movies
Often
Verify
Irrational
Extreme
Scardiness
~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~
Multicolored smiling faces beamed warmly at the open room. A glowing light above them read, "Now playing: Rainbow Monkeys, The Movie. Hug the rainbow." A crowd of many little girls clinging to the arms of their parents was clustered in the lobby joyfully exclaiming this was the movie they wanted to see before dragging the aforementioned mother or father to the ticket booth. Amid the sea of screaming girls a sleeve covered hand pointed to the glossy poster.
"I wanna see this one!" Numbuh 3 jumped up and down excitedly. "Can we see the Rainbow Monkey movie? Can we? Can we?!"
Numbuh 4 watched her gleeful display with a disgusted look.
"That stuff's fa girly babies. The only way you'd eva' see me in a theater showin' Rainbow Monkeys is if somebody conked me on the head, dragged my sorry carcass in, chained me to the seat an' super glued my eyes open. An' if anyone eva' tried---" He balled his fists and snarled low, the thought irked him. Numbuh 3 crossed her arms with a huff.
"You just don't understand the charm of Rainbow Monkeys."
"What charm? They're stupid monkeys?"
"*Ahem *" The duo turned to face their leader standing behind them, Numbuh 5 at his side.
"Numbuh 5 and I have secured the tickets. Has Numbuh 2 returned from obtaining the snacks?"
"Right here!" Numbuh 2 waddled over, balancing a high piled stack of popcorn bags, boxes of candy, sodas and some nachos with cheese. He maneuvered the load to better see his teammates. "Movie snack bars have the best food!"
"Good, now that we're all here," Numbuh 1 began, "Let's get down to business."
"Rainbow Monkey movie! Rainbow Monkey movie!" Numbuh 3 shouted, bouncing again.
"We're not seein' that stupid Rainbow Monkey movie!" Numbuh 4 yelled at her. "We're not, are we Numbuh 1?"
"No Numbuh 4, tonight we're going into what was up until now considered forbidden territory for kids." He pulled a rolled up page of newspaper from his back pocket. "What I'm talking about, is an R rated movie."
He unfurled the paper to the group showing them an ad for a movie entitled, "Blood Town" which was a sinister picture of some teens standing in a row with a shadowy figure with a knife looming behind them. The youngsters ogled the spooky poster.
"OOOOOhhhh---"
" 'Ooh', indeed." Numbuh 1 rolled the paper back up. "For too long adults have lead us to believe that kids aren't capable of handling the content of any movie over PG. Well, I believe it's time to prove them wrong. This censorship is a heavily used tool by the grown ups, for all we know they could be using these movies to send each other instructions on how to further suppress the youth."
"That or they think it'll be too scary for us." Numbuh 2 added.
"All right! This is gonna be great!" Numbuh 4 shouted smiling. "This gonna be way betta' then any cruddy girl movie!"
"Dunno, Numbuh 5 just hope this don't end up like the time we hacked through those child locks on the Internet."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
~Flashback, Sometime maybe a month or two earlier the quintet had gathered around a computer in their base. Numbuh 5 was quietly typing away as Numbuh 1 supervised. The remaining teammates stood behind them waiting.
"We are through." The dark skinned girl announced.
"Good." Numbuh 1 began, "Now let's see what those adults are hiding. Bring up the first sight."
She nodded and typed again, a few seconds later the entire group looked at the screen and let out a shocked gasp.
"They're naked!" Numbuh 3 exclaimed, her voice filled with surprise.
Numbuh 1 quickly covered her eyes; she was far too innocent to be seeing this sort of thing.
"What are they doing?!" Numbuh 2 was very confused.
"Ah, gross!" Numbuh 4 shouted.
"What? What's going on?" Numbuh 3 tried to peek over Numbuh 1's hand to see. He quickly maneuvered to keep her peepers covered.
"Trust me Numbuh 3, you don't want to see this!"
"Ugh, I'm gonna be sick!" Numbuh 4 dry heaved, covered his mouth and ran off. His friends could hear him vomiting out the nearest window.
Numbuh 2 held his palms clasped tightly over his goggles, his eyes squeezed shut.
"Make it stop! MAKE IT STOP!!!" He pleaded urgently.
"Numbuh 5, Abort the mission! ABORT!" Numbuh 1 ordered, averting his eyes from the grotesque images on the screen.
Numbuh 5, who did nothing to hide her disgusted expression, quickly pounded the "escape" key on the keypad causing the computer to go blank.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Numbuh 1 thought back to that disaster with a look of embarrassed horror on his face. Shaking the foul memory from his head he regained himself.
"Well, yes." He cleared his throat. "There are a few things I'll admit we aren't ready to handle. But I've done enough research on this movie to know that it is free from such," he shuddered. "vulgarity."
"But how are we going to get past the usher?" Numbuh 2 questioned, eyeing the disheveled teen checking tickets only a few yards away.
"By utilizing a tactic perfected by college students and kids alike--- theater hopping."
+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+
They approached the pimply male in the bad polyester tuxedo casually, smiling innocently to dissuade any notions they were here for any rebellious deeds. Numbuh 5 handed him the tickets and patiently waited for him to hand her back the stubs.
"You guys here for the Rainbow Monkey movie?" The teen looked down at them, a little surprised. "Haven't seen many boys line up for this one."
The young male trio chuckled nervously. Numbuh 4 gave Numbuh 1 a glare, not happy about the fact that the ticket taker believed this little tough guy was going to spend his evening watching a girl movie. Numbuh 1 blinked back tensely, planning to explain later that this was the only G rated movie starting at the same time as their prime target.
"Here you go, have fun."
Stubs back in hand the group passed the usher quickly, then glanced back to see his distracted by another patron. The coast clear they veered direction away from the toddler crowded Rainbow Monkey Theater and snuck their way to the darker, more alien one. Except for Numbuh 3 who wandered opposite her friends for the animated feature until Numbuh 4 grabbed her arm and dragged her back to them.
They fanned out into the blanked room, ducking behind rows of seats, avoiding the vision of the many adults filtering in. As the theater filled the intruding youths located an empty row and claimed it for themselves. The last of the trailers flickered off the wide glimmering screen, snacks were passed out between the friends, Numbuh 4 kicked the seat in front of him as a message to the lady in the big hat to move her fat butt someplace else. Numbuh 1 glanced around, double- checking to ensure himself that no adults had seen them. Under the cover of dark, phase one of the plan had gone off successfully. Only when the opening credits unrolled on the screen did he allow himself to relax, although he did not touch his popcorn once for the entire film. Numbuh 2 on the other hand had already made a significant dent in his jumbo-sized tub of popcorn.
"This is going to be so cool!" He exclaimed quietly, voice muffled by the mass of popped kernels stuffed within.
Numbuh 3 fiddled in her seat, anxiously fingering the box of candy in her hands as the blood red list of names finished their morbid dance on the canvas before her. She thought back to the times before when she and the others had watched scary movies together in the tree house. The spooky zombies and silly looking monsters in those movies weren't scary at all. In fact some reminded her of her toys with their rubber faces, big googly eyes and visible zippers. But something about this movie felt different, like she could tell it wasn't going to be fun scary. She shrank away into her seat anticipating an answer. Right now the movie was kind of boring; just some teenagers in a dusty old library talking. She timidly nibbled her Skittles as the boys bordering her munched away on popcorn and soda staring intensely on the screen, eagerly awaiting the first blood of the film.
It came suddenly and spurting, a knife though a bookcase into the torso of a young man.
Numbuh 3 shrieked nearly jumping from her seat, candy flying from her box, colorful bite sized pieces raining down on everyone around her. She received some angered glances from her friends, but it wasn't the annoyed gleam in their eyes that bothered her. That knife looked real, that blood looked real. What happened to the rubber and ketchup she was used to? The look on that boys face as his life was so suddenly ripped away. She leaned back in her seat whimpering softly.
~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~
"Ooh girl, don't go in there!" Numbuh 5 warned the fictitious woman running into an abandoned house.
"Man, how stupid can ya get? That's the first place 'e'll look!" Numbuh 4 threw some popcorn at the screen.
A raising scream filled the theater followed by a sickening thud of a blunt object piercing flesh.
"I didn't know you could do that with a spoon." Numbuh 2 mused, his eyes glued straight ahead.
Other eyes at the moment were hidden by hands overlapped in green cloth. Curled up in the red velvet cushions, shivering, her lower lip quivering as she whimpered,
"Is it over yet?"
"Ah, ca'mon Numbuh 3, this can't possibly be scarin' ya."
Numbuh 4 look at her, dissatisfied as she shook, leaf-like next to him. She lowered her hands. Her eyes were shimmering in the film light with tears threatening to flow. She sniffled and blubbered,
"But it's scary! It's so scary." She hugged her knees burying her face in them.
His eyes softened ever so slightly, but his face remained stern and criticizing. Leaning back in his seat he resumed watching the movie, which had just started a high- speed motorcycle chase between one of the protagonists and the mysterious bloodthirsty slasher.
When the hero on the screen narrowly escaped a head-on collision with a truck, Numbuh 4 felt a gentle weight on his hand. Looking over, a warmth rushed to his face. Numbuh 3 was holding his hand. He let her take it; thankful his features where hidden in the dark, less his blushing cheeks betray him. Her grip was shaking, soft but tight. Her eyes were practically fused shut with fear, clutching the boys fingers in her own as if for dear life. She squeezed his hand tighter, he slowly began to squeeze back.
"Um, Numbuh 3 --- could you let go of my hand? You're cutting off the circulation."
Love hazed eyes suddenly snapped back to reality. Looking passed the terrified girl, the Aussie saw that in her terror she had also grasped the hand of Numbuh 2.
She only let out a little groan releasing the pudgy hand from her own which quickly found its way back into popcorn.
"Ya such a scardy cat Numbuh 3." Numbuh 4 yanked his appendage away from her grasp, his thumping heart reverting to its stone cold ways.
"But it's scary." She moaned, eyes still clamped shut.
"It's not scary!" He protested. "It's just a movie! There's not even anything scary happening right now!"
She slowly opened her eyes and cautiously looked up at the glowing screen. --- Just in time to see a man get decapitated.
"Now there is---" Numbuhs 5 and 2 said simultaneously.
Frightened tears flowed like Niagara, her voice wailing loudly throughout the theater, annoying many patrons in the process. Numbuh 3 cried like any little girl would when scared out of her innocent little mind. Numbuh 4 slumped down in his seat; that heat in his face again, a small lump of guilt in the pit of his gut.
"What?" he turned to Numbuh 5's narrowed eyes, "Like I knew that was gonna 'appen?!"
A light coming from the aisle suddenly blinded the group. A tall figure standing over them was shining a flashlight in their eyes.
"What are you kids doing in here without a parent?" Squeaking voice yelled.
It was the usher, looming over the five youngsters, scanning them over with his flashlight, pausing momentarily on the sobbing girl sitting in the middle. He had been called over by a group of theater- goers complaining about the noise.
Having prepared for this situation in full, Numbuh 1 confidently turned to the geeky teen.
"Our chaperone is in the bathroom at the moment." He lied, flashing an assuring grin.
"Oh, okay." The clueless highschooler accepted the falsehood. "But you kids better keep it down." He gave them one more look over. The chubby kid was at the moment trying to shush the crying girl and the two others at the end were giving him nasty looks.
As the usher left Numbuh 1 breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed in his seat. But before the sensation of comfort could sink in, the spot light had returned.
"Hey! This isn't your theater!"
So the geek had a memory after all. But this wasn't the concern now.
"Kids Next Door! Retreat!"
To buy them some escape time the young Brit dumped Numbuh 2's empty popcorn tub over the teenager's head. Whatever unpopped kernels lingering at the bottom now falling to the floor. Blinded by the overturned vessel so abruptly slammed on his head, the usher tottered about madly trying to nab the fleeing children.
"I'm calling my manager!" He threatened failingly.
They escaped the mad usher and the multiplex in tact and they kept running until it was long out of sight.
~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+
The door to the tree house flung open as the Kids Next Door returned to their HQ. Numbuh 1 stalked in silently, hands folded behind his back.
"Man, we didn't even get to see the end of the movie." Numbuh 2 complained.
"We should be fortunate we saw as much as we did." Numbuh 1 said, "Imagine what might have happened had it been a school night."
"Looks like we gonna have to wait fo' it to come out on video." Numbuh 5 sighed.
"It's not the same." The chubby boy whined.
"It was still betta' then seeing Rainbow Monkeys." Numbuh 4 concluded, dragging Numbuh 3 behind him. She had stopped crying but still had yet to uncover her eyes forcing him to lead her about like a seeing- eye dog for the entire walk home. She squeaked walking into the doorframe on her way in.
"Numbuh 3, you can open your eyes now. We left the theater an hour ago." Their leader told her calmly.
"Are you sure it's safe?" She quivered.
"Yes, I'm pretty sure it's safe now."
Slowly she lowered her hand and lets the light seep past her lids.
"That movie was scary!" She wailed at the top of her lungs, half still terrified and half angry with Numbuh 1 for taking them to such a film. "I wanted to see Rainbow Monkeys! But no, you had to take us to that gory thing!"
"Hey remember when the slasher pushed that guy into the wood chipper?" Numbuh 2 waxed short-term memory nostalgia.
"Aw yeah, an' the eye ball flew up an' 'it the window." Numbuh 4 joined in, "That was awesome!"
"Ew, you guys are gross." The Asian stuck out her tongue in protest. The boys ignored her.
"An' what about that chase on the motorcycles? When the slasha' 'ad 'is knife out like this---"
"Yeah, the guy drives by and you think nothing happened, but then his head rolled off!"
The two placed their hands protectively over their throats and shuttered, then laughed despite the morbidity of the situation.
"How could you think that was cool?" Numbuh 3 tapped her foot, looking the boys over with an upset expression.
"Boys are just inta that gross gory stuff." Numbuh 5 explained, "It's one a them laws a nature or somethang."
"I still think it was scary."
"Relax, it was just a movie. Stuff like that couldn't happen in real life."
"Are you sure?"
"C'mon girl. Yo really think yo could make the slasher come afta' everybody you know just by sayin' 'Bloody Vengeance' three times in a row? Pu-leeze."
"It could happen." The timid girl said meekly.
In a moment of playful malice, Numbuh 4 crept steadily over to Numbuh 3.
"Aw, ya scared the slasha's gonna come an' get ya?" He teased, "Let um come. I could take 'im. In fact, I bet I could take 'im on right now." He smiled wickedly. "Bloody Vengeance."
Numbuh 3's eyes widened.
"Don't say that!" She screamed.
"Bloody Vengeance---"
"Cut it out Numbuh 4! Numbuh 1, make him stop!"
"Bloody Vengeance!"
She squealed and covered her eyes. When nothing seemed to have happened she carefully let herself see that nothing had changed. Everyone was still alive and there was no sign that there was a crazy killer on the loose. Although Numbuh 4 wasn't standing were he was a moment ago---
"BOO!"
A pair of hands clamped down on her shoulders. She screamed and spun around giving the orange figure behind her a karate kick to the side, felling him to the ground.
"Ow! Numbuh 3, I was only jokin'!"
She glared down at the small blond as he righted himself off the floor, shooting daggers with her eyes.
"That was mean Numbuh 4!"
"Ah, lighten up Numbuh 3. I didn't mean any 'arm."
She continued her glare. Eyes filled with a mix of anger and fear.
"But the slasher is gonna come and get us now!"
He cocked his eye at her, shaggy hair obscuring his view.
"There is no slasha'!" He shouted, "You'd be able ta fig-ya' that out if ya'd stop bein' such a stupid girl about it!"
She pulled his hood up and yanked it over his eyes, forcing him down into a painful crouch.
"You mean!" She whined, pushing on his head as he failed about, trying to get free.
"Oi! Ge' offa me! Leggo!" He punched air, aiming to scare her into giving him some distance. She released his clothes and stormed off huffing to herself to some random region of the tree house. Numbuh 4 adjusted himself and found his face greeted with the angry glares of his teammates.
"What?!" he demanded, "I was just tryin' ta stop 'er from bein' such a baby."
"That was a bit out of line Numbuh 4." Numbuh 1 commented.
"Eh, ya know I was only jokin'." 4 looked at their disappointed faces. "Right?"
Numbuh 2 was leering with distain, Numbuh 5 shook her head, clucking her tongue. The blond crossed his arms frowning and grumbled,
"She's probly gonna fa'get about all this in five minutes anyway."
Numbuh 1 looked to his watch with a sigh, then cleared his throat to disrupt the awkward vibe in the air.
"Well, it's getting late. Perhaps we should all turn in for the night?"
"Whateva'." Numbuh 4 let his arms fall stiffly to his sides and stalked off to his room.
The remaining kids nodded, muttering and retreated to their own rooms. They prepared for bed in the regular fashion, unaware of the thunderstorm rolling in outside.
[TO BE CONTINUED]
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[Now Loading:]- [Kids Next Door Mission:]
Operation: M.O.V.I.E.S
Movies
Often
Verify
Irrational
Extreme
Scardiness
~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~
Multicolored smiling faces beamed warmly at the open room. A glowing light above them read, "Now playing: Rainbow Monkeys, The Movie. Hug the rainbow." A crowd of many little girls clinging to the arms of their parents was clustered in the lobby joyfully exclaiming this was the movie they wanted to see before dragging the aforementioned mother or father to the ticket booth. Amid the sea of screaming girls a sleeve covered hand pointed to the glossy poster.
"I wanna see this one!" Numbuh 3 jumped up and down excitedly. "Can we see the Rainbow Monkey movie? Can we? Can we?!"
Numbuh 4 watched her gleeful display with a disgusted look.
"That stuff's fa girly babies. The only way you'd eva' see me in a theater showin' Rainbow Monkeys is if somebody conked me on the head, dragged my sorry carcass in, chained me to the seat an' super glued my eyes open. An' if anyone eva' tried---" He balled his fists and snarled low, the thought irked him. Numbuh 3 crossed her arms with a huff.
"You just don't understand the charm of Rainbow Monkeys."
"What charm? They're stupid monkeys?"
"*Ahem *" The duo turned to face their leader standing behind them, Numbuh 5 at his side.
"Numbuh 5 and I have secured the tickets. Has Numbuh 2 returned from obtaining the snacks?"
"Right here!" Numbuh 2 waddled over, balancing a high piled stack of popcorn bags, boxes of candy, sodas and some nachos with cheese. He maneuvered the load to better see his teammates. "Movie snack bars have the best food!"
"Good, now that we're all here," Numbuh 1 began, "Let's get down to business."
"Rainbow Monkey movie! Rainbow Monkey movie!" Numbuh 3 shouted, bouncing again.
"We're not seein' that stupid Rainbow Monkey movie!" Numbuh 4 yelled at her. "We're not, are we Numbuh 1?"
"No Numbuh 4, tonight we're going into what was up until now considered forbidden territory for kids." He pulled a rolled up page of newspaper from his back pocket. "What I'm talking about, is an R rated movie."
He unfurled the paper to the group showing them an ad for a movie entitled, "Blood Town" which was a sinister picture of some teens standing in a row with a shadowy figure with a knife looming behind them. The youngsters ogled the spooky poster.
"OOOOOhhhh---"
" 'Ooh', indeed." Numbuh 1 rolled the paper back up. "For too long adults have lead us to believe that kids aren't capable of handling the content of any movie over PG. Well, I believe it's time to prove them wrong. This censorship is a heavily used tool by the grown ups, for all we know they could be using these movies to send each other instructions on how to further suppress the youth."
"That or they think it'll be too scary for us." Numbuh 2 added.
"All right! This is gonna be great!" Numbuh 4 shouted smiling. "This gonna be way betta' then any cruddy girl movie!"
"Dunno, Numbuh 5 just hope this don't end up like the time we hacked through those child locks on the Internet."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
~Flashback, Sometime maybe a month or two earlier the quintet had gathered around a computer in their base. Numbuh 5 was quietly typing away as Numbuh 1 supervised. The remaining teammates stood behind them waiting.
"We are through." The dark skinned girl announced.
"Good." Numbuh 1 began, "Now let's see what those adults are hiding. Bring up the first sight."
She nodded and typed again, a few seconds later the entire group looked at the screen and let out a shocked gasp.
"They're naked!" Numbuh 3 exclaimed, her voice filled with surprise.
Numbuh 1 quickly covered her eyes; she was far too innocent to be seeing this sort of thing.
"What are they doing?!" Numbuh 2 was very confused.
"Ah, gross!" Numbuh 4 shouted.
"What? What's going on?" Numbuh 3 tried to peek over Numbuh 1's hand to see. He quickly maneuvered to keep her peepers covered.
"Trust me Numbuh 3, you don't want to see this!"
"Ugh, I'm gonna be sick!" Numbuh 4 dry heaved, covered his mouth and ran off. His friends could hear him vomiting out the nearest window.
Numbuh 2 held his palms clasped tightly over his goggles, his eyes squeezed shut.
"Make it stop! MAKE IT STOP!!!" He pleaded urgently.
"Numbuh 5, Abort the mission! ABORT!" Numbuh 1 ordered, averting his eyes from the grotesque images on the screen.
Numbuh 5, who did nothing to hide her disgusted expression, quickly pounded the "escape" key on the keypad causing the computer to go blank.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Numbuh 1 thought back to that disaster with a look of embarrassed horror on his face. Shaking the foul memory from his head he regained himself.
"Well, yes." He cleared his throat. "There are a few things I'll admit we aren't ready to handle. But I've done enough research on this movie to know that it is free from such," he shuddered. "vulgarity."
"But how are we going to get past the usher?" Numbuh 2 questioned, eyeing the disheveled teen checking tickets only a few yards away.
"By utilizing a tactic perfected by college students and kids alike--- theater hopping."
+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+
They approached the pimply male in the bad polyester tuxedo casually, smiling innocently to dissuade any notions they were here for any rebellious deeds. Numbuh 5 handed him the tickets and patiently waited for him to hand her back the stubs.
"You guys here for the Rainbow Monkey movie?" The teen looked down at them, a little surprised. "Haven't seen many boys line up for this one."
The young male trio chuckled nervously. Numbuh 4 gave Numbuh 1 a glare, not happy about the fact that the ticket taker believed this little tough guy was going to spend his evening watching a girl movie. Numbuh 1 blinked back tensely, planning to explain later that this was the only G rated movie starting at the same time as their prime target.
"Here you go, have fun."
Stubs back in hand the group passed the usher quickly, then glanced back to see his distracted by another patron. The coast clear they veered direction away from the toddler crowded Rainbow Monkey Theater and snuck their way to the darker, more alien one. Except for Numbuh 3 who wandered opposite her friends for the animated feature until Numbuh 4 grabbed her arm and dragged her back to them.
They fanned out into the blanked room, ducking behind rows of seats, avoiding the vision of the many adults filtering in. As the theater filled the intruding youths located an empty row and claimed it for themselves. The last of the trailers flickered off the wide glimmering screen, snacks were passed out between the friends, Numbuh 4 kicked the seat in front of him as a message to the lady in the big hat to move her fat butt someplace else. Numbuh 1 glanced around, double- checking to ensure himself that no adults had seen them. Under the cover of dark, phase one of the plan had gone off successfully. Only when the opening credits unrolled on the screen did he allow himself to relax, although he did not touch his popcorn once for the entire film. Numbuh 2 on the other hand had already made a significant dent in his jumbo-sized tub of popcorn.
"This is going to be so cool!" He exclaimed quietly, voice muffled by the mass of popped kernels stuffed within.
Numbuh 3 fiddled in her seat, anxiously fingering the box of candy in her hands as the blood red list of names finished their morbid dance on the canvas before her. She thought back to the times before when she and the others had watched scary movies together in the tree house. The spooky zombies and silly looking monsters in those movies weren't scary at all. In fact some reminded her of her toys with their rubber faces, big googly eyes and visible zippers. But something about this movie felt different, like she could tell it wasn't going to be fun scary. She shrank away into her seat anticipating an answer. Right now the movie was kind of boring; just some teenagers in a dusty old library talking. She timidly nibbled her Skittles as the boys bordering her munched away on popcorn and soda staring intensely on the screen, eagerly awaiting the first blood of the film.
It came suddenly and spurting, a knife though a bookcase into the torso of a young man.
Numbuh 3 shrieked nearly jumping from her seat, candy flying from her box, colorful bite sized pieces raining down on everyone around her. She received some angered glances from her friends, but it wasn't the annoyed gleam in their eyes that bothered her. That knife looked real, that blood looked real. What happened to the rubber and ketchup she was used to? The look on that boys face as his life was so suddenly ripped away. She leaned back in her seat whimpering softly.
~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~
"Ooh girl, don't go in there!" Numbuh 5 warned the fictitious woman running into an abandoned house.
"Man, how stupid can ya get? That's the first place 'e'll look!" Numbuh 4 threw some popcorn at the screen.
A raising scream filled the theater followed by a sickening thud of a blunt object piercing flesh.
"I didn't know you could do that with a spoon." Numbuh 2 mused, his eyes glued straight ahead.
Other eyes at the moment were hidden by hands overlapped in green cloth. Curled up in the red velvet cushions, shivering, her lower lip quivering as she whimpered,
"Is it over yet?"
"Ah, ca'mon Numbuh 3, this can't possibly be scarin' ya."
Numbuh 4 look at her, dissatisfied as she shook, leaf-like next to him. She lowered her hands. Her eyes were shimmering in the film light with tears threatening to flow. She sniffled and blubbered,
"But it's scary! It's so scary." She hugged her knees burying her face in them.
His eyes softened ever so slightly, but his face remained stern and criticizing. Leaning back in his seat he resumed watching the movie, which had just started a high- speed motorcycle chase between one of the protagonists and the mysterious bloodthirsty slasher.
When the hero on the screen narrowly escaped a head-on collision with a truck, Numbuh 4 felt a gentle weight on his hand. Looking over, a warmth rushed to his face. Numbuh 3 was holding his hand. He let her take it; thankful his features where hidden in the dark, less his blushing cheeks betray him. Her grip was shaking, soft but tight. Her eyes were practically fused shut with fear, clutching the boys fingers in her own as if for dear life. She squeezed his hand tighter, he slowly began to squeeze back.
"Um, Numbuh 3 --- could you let go of my hand? You're cutting off the circulation."
Love hazed eyes suddenly snapped back to reality. Looking passed the terrified girl, the Aussie saw that in her terror she had also grasped the hand of Numbuh 2.
She only let out a little groan releasing the pudgy hand from her own which quickly found its way back into popcorn.
"Ya such a scardy cat Numbuh 3." Numbuh 4 yanked his appendage away from her grasp, his thumping heart reverting to its stone cold ways.
"But it's scary." She moaned, eyes still clamped shut.
"It's not scary!" He protested. "It's just a movie! There's not even anything scary happening right now!"
She slowly opened her eyes and cautiously looked up at the glowing screen. --- Just in time to see a man get decapitated.
"Now there is---" Numbuhs 5 and 2 said simultaneously.
Frightened tears flowed like Niagara, her voice wailing loudly throughout the theater, annoying many patrons in the process. Numbuh 3 cried like any little girl would when scared out of her innocent little mind. Numbuh 4 slumped down in his seat; that heat in his face again, a small lump of guilt in the pit of his gut.
"What?" he turned to Numbuh 5's narrowed eyes, "Like I knew that was gonna 'appen?!"
A light coming from the aisle suddenly blinded the group. A tall figure standing over them was shining a flashlight in their eyes.
"What are you kids doing in here without a parent?" Squeaking voice yelled.
It was the usher, looming over the five youngsters, scanning them over with his flashlight, pausing momentarily on the sobbing girl sitting in the middle. He had been called over by a group of theater- goers complaining about the noise.
Having prepared for this situation in full, Numbuh 1 confidently turned to the geeky teen.
"Our chaperone is in the bathroom at the moment." He lied, flashing an assuring grin.
"Oh, okay." The clueless highschooler accepted the falsehood. "But you kids better keep it down." He gave them one more look over. The chubby kid was at the moment trying to shush the crying girl and the two others at the end were giving him nasty looks.
As the usher left Numbuh 1 breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed in his seat. But before the sensation of comfort could sink in, the spot light had returned.
"Hey! This isn't your theater!"
So the geek had a memory after all. But this wasn't the concern now.
"Kids Next Door! Retreat!"
To buy them some escape time the young Brit dumped Numbuh 2's empty popcorn tub over the teenager's head. Whatever unpopped kernels lingering at the bottom now falling to the floor. Blinded by the overturned vessel so abruptly slammed on his head, the usher tottered about madly trying to nab the fleeing children.
"I'm calling my manager!" He threatened failingly.
They escaped the mad usher and the multiplex in tact and they kept running until it was long out of sight.
~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+
The door to the tree house flung open as the Kids Next Door returned to their HQ. Numbuh 1 stalked in silently, hands folded behind his back.
"Man, we didn't even get to see the end of the movie." Numbuh 2 complained.
"We should be fortunate we saw as much as we did." Numbuh 1 said, "Imagine what might have happened had it been a school night."
"Looks like we gonna have to wait fo' it to come out on video." Numbuh 5 sighed.
"It's not the same." The chubby boy whined.
"It was still betta' then seeing Rainbow Monkeys." Numbuh 4 concluded, dragging Numbuh 3 behind him. She had stopped crying but still had yet to uncover her eyes forcing him to lead her about like a seeing- eye dog for the entire walk home. She squeaked walking into the doorframe on her way in.
"Numbuh 3, you can open your eyes now. We left the theater an hour ago." Their leader told her calmly.
"Are you sure it's safe?" She quivered.
"Yes, I'm pretty sure it's safe now."
Slowly she lowered her hand and lets the light seep past her lids.
"That movie was scary!" She wailed at the top of her lungs, half still terrified and half angry with Numbuh 1 for taking them to such a film. "I wanted to see Rainbow Monkeys! But no, you had to take us to that gory thing!"
"Hey remember when the slasher pushed that guy into the wood chipper?" Numbuh 2 waxed short-term memory nostalgia.
"Aw yeah, an' the eye ball flew up an' 'it the window." Numbuh 4 joined in, "That was awesome!"
"Ew, you guys are gross." The Asian stuck out her tongue in protest. The boys ignored her.
"An' what about that chase on the motorcycles? When the slasha' 'ad 'is knife out like this---"
"Yeah, the guy drives by and you think nothing happened, but then his head rolled off!"
The two placed their hands protectively over their throats and shuttered, then laughed despite the morbidity of the situation.
"How could you think that was cool?" Numbuh 3 tapped her foot, looking the boys over with an upset expression.
"Boys are just inta that gross gory stuff." Numbuh 5 explained, "It's one a them laws a nature or somethang."
"I still think it was scary."
"Relax, it was just a movie. Stuff like that couldn't happen in real life."
"Are you sure?"
"C'mon girl. Yo really think yo could make the slasher come afta' everybody you know just by sayin' 'Bloody Vengeance' three times in a row? Pu-leeze."
"It could happen." The timid girl said meekly.
In a moment of playful malice, Numbuh 4 crept steadily over to Numbuh 3.
"Aw, ya scared the slasha's gonna come an' get ya?" He teased, "Let um come. I could take 'im. In fact, I bet I could take 'im on right now." He smiled wickedly. "Bloody Vengeance."
Numbuh 3's eyes widened.
"Don't say that!" She screamed.
"Bloody Vengeance---"
"Cut it out Numbuh 4! Numbuh 1, make him stop!"
"Bloody Vengeance!"
She squealed and covered her eyes. When nothing seemed to have happened she carefully let herself see that nothing had changed. Everyone was still alive and there was no sign that there was a crazy killer on the loose. Although Numbuh 4 wasn't standing were he was a moment ago---
"BOO!"
A pair of hands clamped down on her shoulders. She screamed and spun around giving the orange figure behind her a karate kick to the side, felling him to the ground.
"Ow! Numbuh 3, I was only jokin'!"
She glared down at the small blond as he righted himself off the floor, shooting daggers with her eyes.
"That was mean Numbuh 4!"
"Ah, lighten up Numbuh 3. I didn't mean any 'arm."
She continued her glare. Eyes filled with a mix of anger and fear.
"But the slasher is gonna come and get us now!"
He cocked his eye at her, shaggy hair obscuring his view.
"There is no slasha'!" He shouted, "You'd be able ta fig-ya' that out if ya'd stop bein' such a stupid girl about it!"
She pulled his hood up and yanked it over his eyes, forcing him down into a painful crouch.
"You mean!" She whined, pushing on his head as he failed about, trying to get free.
"Oi! Ge' offa me! Leggo!" He punched air, aiming to scare her into giving him some distance. She released his clothes and stormed off huffing to herself to some random region of the tree house. Numbuh 4 adjusted himself and found his face greeted with the angry glares of his teammates.
"What?!" he demanded, "I was just tryin' ta stop 'er from bein' such a baby."
"That was a bit out of line Numbuh 4." Numbuh 1 commented.
"Eh, ya know I was only jokin'." 4 looked at their disappointed faces. "Right?"
Numbuh 2 was leering with distain, Numbuh 5 shook her head, clucking her tongue. The blond crossed his arms frowning and grumbled,
"She's probly gonna fa'get about all this in five minutes anyway."
Numbuh 1 looked to his watch with a sigh, then cleared his throat to disrupt the awkward vibe in the air.
"Well, it's getting late. Perhaps we should all turn in for the night?"
"Whateva'." Numbuh 4 let his arms fall stiffly to his sides and stalked off to his room.
The remaining kids nodded, muttering and retreated to their own rooms. They prepared for bed in the regular fashion, unaware of the thunderstorm rolling in outside.
[TO BE CONTINUED]