The team zoomed through the sky, their radar closing in on the large mansion below. Numbuh 1 turned to his team with determination. They all froze in their positions awaiting their orders, weapons at the ready.

"Okay team, we parachute down to the roof and split into two groups. Numbuhs' 2 and 5, you will enter though a window at the back of the house and dismantle the security system to track where Jacey is, if she's still has the hidden tracker, she should be easy to locate. Numbuhs' 3 and 4, you're with me, we'll wait for 2 and 5's signal and make our way in through the front and start the mission objective. We'll re-group and take Jacey into custody, leave the other enemies for now, she's a priority." Number 

The all nodded, but he sighed, giving them the impression that he hadn't finished yet. They waited. The boy re-adjusted his shades and pulled at the collar of his jumper. Noticing the still focussed attention he was getting, he cleared his throat and turned away. He continued.

"Just keep in mind team, this is not a search and rescue. This is a search and arrest. Treat it as such."

Numbuh 3 flinched at the harshness of his words. She understood that Jacey was a 'bad-guy' now, but she had been so nice, and she was part of his family. Now that, she couldn't understand, being so cold towards family. It was different with Numbuh 5 and Cree, which had been built up over years, but this... this was so sudden.

"C'mon!" Numbuh 4 cried, tossing a parachute in her direction, "Let's show this cruddy teen whose boss!"

Numbuh 2 switched the hovering vehicle into auto-pilot, keeping it suspended in place and hoisted his parachute over his shoulders, "I hope they don't mind us 'dropping in' like this!"

Numbuh 5 face-palmed and dragged the heavy door open, letting the wind send her plat slithering snake-like behind her. She grabbed Numbuh 2 by the wrist and jumped, pulling him out into the open sky. The others watched as the plummeted towards the ground before releasing the large shower curtains that had been fashioned into parachutes. The two maneuvered through the air and landed gracefully on the roof of the large, gaunt mansion below. Or rather, Abby landed gracefully, Hoagie however skidded a good few feet and tumbled into a forward-roll, the sheet covering him like a shroud.

 Numbuh 5 rolled her eyes and hoisted him to his feet and detached their parachutes. She removed the grappling hook made from a hosepipe tube and the prongs of a garden rake from her waist and attached it to the drainpipe, using the rope to smoothly glide downwards and through window that had carelessly been left open. Numbuh 2 gulped and clenched his eyes shut, following her moves exactly.

Back in the ship, the rest of the team waited. Within minutes, their communicators started flashing, the signal. Their leader nodded determinedly and leapt from the ship, the small boy and the tall girl in close pursuit. Numbuh 3 spread her arms out in glee, giggling at the sensation of flying. They each pulled the strings and released the parachutes. While Kuki giggled louder, Numbuh 4 gritted his teeth and squirmed at the sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.

They landed on the roof and without hesitation, they threw their sheets to the side and sprinted to the front of the house, attaching a grappling hook of their own and lowering down into the house. Once again, a window that had been left unlocked. Numbuh 1 chewed at the inside of his cheek, were his enemies really that careless? Nevertheless, the entered and stalked their way down the corridor and ducked into a large room that was flooded with darkness. From what they could tell, it was a ballroom of some sorts. By the looks of things, it was empty.

"Numbuh 2 and 5, where are your positions?" Numbuh 1 whispered into his communicator.

There was a pause before the connection was made to the smooth voice of Abby, "Security room, we're tracking Jacey's whereabouts now. But, Numbuh 1, Numbuh 5 don't like this one bit. It's like it's too easy."

"I agree, but we need to continue."

Behind him, Numbuh 4 searched the jet darkness hopelessly. He didn't like this, not one bit. He heard a shudder next to him, weapon at the ready, when he relaxed seeing the faint outline of Numbuh 3. 

She was shivering, what was up with her? Oh yeah, he remembered from countless nights of scaring her or hearing her little whimpers in the night... she was afraid of the dark. He shifted uncomfortably and pressed his fist against her shoulder in an awkward attempt at comforting her. She jumped at his touch but then reacted to it swiftly. She quickly leapt behind him and wrapped her arms around his neck, covering her eyes in his hair. He froze, was she really that scared? The young boyish part of him wanted to shove her away and rid himself of the cooties that were no doubt spreading right now, but he held firm. She wasn't really doing anything... bad.

"Easy on the girly crud, okay?" he mumbled, rolling his eyes.

Suddenly, Numbuh 3 was very quiet and very still, her grip on him becoming more fearful that simple seeking comfort. He turned his head to look at what her problem was when a tick and clamped down over his mouth, pulling him into the darkness.

"We've got a location on her tracker.... wait..." Numbuh 2 muttered from the communicator, "Team, is everything okay with you?"

"Yes, why?" Nigel demanded, "Where is she?"

Another pause and Numbuh 5 took over, "According to this scan... Jacey's just behind you."

His eyes widened and he turned on his heel. Where were Kuki and Wally? Everything was deadly silent. He raised his weapon of a chilli-launcher and aimed it at random, trying to focus on a target. Suddenly, the lights burned down upon him, blinding him. He cowered behind his shades and blinked rapidly, trying to regain his sight.

"Hello Nigel, so glad you could join us." A group chanted together.

Numbuh 1 froze, he knew those voices. His eyes still watering, he forced himself to look at them. A group of five children stood before him, smiling sweetly and eyes narrowed down on him. He instinctively took a step back. Out of no-where, a hand swooped down and snatched the weapon from his grasp. He jumped and turned to see two large teenagers standing guard by the door behind him, one crushed the launcher in his fist. On the other side of the room, more teenagers were lined up, two of them had captives in their arms. Numbuh 4 struggled in the grip of a bulky teen while Numbuh 3 was squirming in another's.

"Looking for this?" the Delightful children cooed.

One of the children held out a tracker bug while the others moved their arms in unison to point at it. 

"You were expecting us?" Numbuh 1 sneered.

"Of course, we did. Naturally the brave Nigel Uno and his team would come and save his sister."

"We are not hear to save her! We're here to put her back in KND custody!"

They all pretended to look shocked and said with false disbelief, "Oh my, why would that be? Did she really betray you all that much? Your sister? How could this ever be true?"

The doors opened behind him, he turned and felt his jaw tighten in anger at the sight before him. A tall, slim teen entered the room, holding both arms outwards to avoid the attacks of two struggling children gripped in her fists by the scruff of their shirts.

"Cree." He growled.

"I've gotta say, you all made it in perfect timing." She laughed, throwing Numbuh 5 and Numbuh 2 into the arms of other teen operatives, "Too bad, your sister wasn't here."

"What do you mean? What did you do to her?"

"Nothing. The time we arrive there, she was no longer in prison."

Disbelief, He clenched his fists, his enemies closing in around him, "So what happens now? You tried to rescue your partner  to trick us into coming here, what now?" he tried to sound passive, but the tension in his voice was evident.

The Delightfuls' laughed, "Poor Nigel, you still haven't figured it out yet?"

Cree rolled her eyes, "Jacey was no Teen Ninja, she was never my partner. But I'm flattered by your belief in my acting skills."

Numbuh 1 glared at each of them carefully, "Are you going to explain yourself or just talk in riddles?"

The Delightfuls' folded their arms, "As soon as Father saw the footage of her involve with you all, he did his research, how happy he was when he found out that you two were related. So, he got in contact with the Teen Ninjas." They all paused to smile at Cree and the crowd, "We set her up, Nigel, she was never a spy."

His mind raced back to the transmission he had witnessed. He wanted to kick himself. If Jacey had been a spy, she would never have been careless enough to do this. The way Cree had rushed her words, not giving Jacey a chance to speak. The look of confusion and distain in her eyes. Her last words to him echoed inside his skull, she had been crying, begging him to believe her, and he had turned his back on her. She was innocent.

"Awe, don't feel to bad kid," Cree mocked, "I mean, why trust a teen, right? "

"So you set her up and planted those cameras on her, faked a rescue mission to trap us here, now what?" he cried.

The children pressed their fingers to their lips, "That's a surprise that Father has in store. Call it our... Birthday present."

While they had been mocking him, Numbuh 1was waiting for his moment. Now was that moment. He clicked his heels together activating his rocket shoes. The force sent him flying through the air towards the group of teens, he collided with them head on, knocking the wind out of them and releasing their grip on his teammates. He landed and lunged towards the Delightfuls', they ducked out of the way and prepared themselves for another attack. Cree leapt into action, only to be tripped by Numbuh 5 and pushed to the ground by Numbuh 2.

"Kids Next Door, retreat!"

For a moment, all teammates stared at their leader in shock. He never ordered a retreat! Why now? Nonetheless, their nodded and managed to each give a final attack on their opponents, sending them in a daze before crashing out through the window. They grabbed hold of the window ledge and lower themselves down to the ground without too much trouble. However the teens were quick on their tail.

"Numbuh 1, why are we retreating?" Hoagie gasped as he ran, "Jacey could still in there, she's innocent!"

"We're going back to base to report this, we can't handle this on our own!"

"What?" Numbuh 4 yelled, "What kind of cruddy excuse is that? We can take 'em down!"

"We can't leave Jacey!" added Kuki, seeing the enemy closing in on them

Numbuh 5 looked directly at her leader, "What happened to the Numbuh 1 who didn't need back up, who did what he thought was right without a say so from nobody? Where's that guy?"

He made them stop, directly under their ship that was still hovering above the mansion. For a moment, he smiled and then pressed a small button on his communicator.

"I'm right here."

Just at that moment, four metallic claws plummeted down from the ship and gripped his teammates around the middle. They stared at him in horror before being swiftly hoisted into the air and inside the ship. The door locked and they were left trapped inside. The auto-pilot was locked, turning the ship around and heading back to the base. There was nothing they could do. Nothing but watch in fear and admiration as their leader was dragged back into the mansion. 

Uknownst to them, Jacey was outside the mansion, hiding in the bush, witnessing what she saw before her expression became anger.