Cold Reception
is a Codename: Kids Next Door Fanfic by noted author Numbuh Phenon.
Almost three years after the events of Operation: I.N.T.E.R.V.I.E.W.S., a Teens Next Door operative goes rogue and threatens to expose the GKND. Nigel Uno, now a decorated GKND operative, is sent back to Earth on a mission to stop them. What at first seems like a blessing in disguise and a bittersweet chance to catch up on all he's missed back home quickly turns into a nightmare as Nigel learns of just how much things have really changed—and just who he has been sent to hunt down.
Tropes:
- Big Sister Instinct: Rachel is very protective over her younger brother Harvey. It was Harvey's early decommissioning at Abby's hands that finally drove her to turn against the KND.
- Bond Breaker: Nigel's promotion to the GKND shattered the rest of Sector V. According to Rachel, after he was gone all his team did was mope around their treehouse barely doing any missions. To make them productive operatives again, she broke the team up and forced promotions on all of them, much to their protest. When speaking of it to Nigel, Abby admits that as much she might resent Rachel for her decision, it was the right choice and did a lot of good for the organization.
- Cerebus Retcon:
- Harvey's decommissioning is played far more tragically than it was in the show. He was under immense stress and pressure due to being treated as a pariah over his sister's (faked) betrayal right before her thirteenth birthday. It all came to a head during the attack on the Medical Boo-Boo Grove, where, in a rage, he almost threw Sonia off a balcony for touching him. Lee was able to catch her before she could fall, but that proved to be the last straw for Abby, who had him decommissioned for his own good.
- One for "Operation I.T.". Rachel's flashback reveals that in addition to the heavy workload and responsibilities that were overloading her at the time, one of the things that drove Rachel over the edge and led to her temporarily giving up being Soopreme Leaduh is learning that one of her operatives, a newly-graduated cadet, had been KIA.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Rachel is a subtle example. Even though they were never actually a couple, she could be very possessive of Nigel—she had a lot of resentment for Abby for how close she was to her leader, and deliberately scheduled the investigation of Herbie on the day Nigel was supposed to be Lizzie's date for her sister's wedding in hopes of driving a wedge between them.
- Deconstruction Fic: This story deconstructs the overall premise of the Kids Next Door and its purported mission. Contrary to the humorous and fantastical elements of the show, this story shows that several children and adults have died in the never-ending war between the KND and adult tyranny, a fact that is glossed over and ignored by all except the higher-ups of the organization. Additionally, service to the KND can be physically and emotionally taxing, which, compounded with the knowledge that the operative will ultimately get nothing in return, can grind down even the most devoted operatives.
- Defecting for Love: Inverted in the case of Wally. The TND has a policy that only two operatives per sector generation are allowed to become teen operatives, with the rest being honorably decommissioned. Sector V is no exception; with Abby having already claimed one of the spots for their team, Nigel in space, and Hoagie out of the running, it came down to Kuki and Wally over who would be the next TND operative. When Kuki became Soopreme Leaduh, the spot went to her, so Wally defected before his thirteenth birthday and became a free agent so he wouldn't forget about her.
- End of an Age: When explaining why she's matured to Nigel, Kuki declares herself the last of the Seventh Age, with everyone else from her generation having already aged up and moved on with their lives. The fact that she's due for her own "decommissioning" soon only adds to the honest solemness of her statement.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Father's ruthless attack on the Medical Boo-Boo Grove horrified so many of his fellow villains that they broke ranks and started helping the KND protect and save several of the children that were being treated there.
- Fake Defector: Rachel was supposed to have an honorable "decommissioning" like Maurice before transitioning to the Teens Next Door, but a combination of the former Numbuh 206 infiltrating the Moonbase and a stressful confrontation with Abby caused her to snap and follow Chad's example and "betray" the KND instead. She did eventually turn traitor for real, but that was over a year after her thirteenth birthday.
- Foil: Chad and the traitor, Rachel, as lampshaded by Chad himself. Both lost everything to the Kids Next Door and got nothing in return, and felt no little amount of resentment for it. But whereas Chad can recognize Vengeance Feels Empty, accept that chapter of his life was over, and move on, the traitor isn't and is willing to do anything to spite the KND in revenge for the perceived betrayal, no matter how much collateral damage they leave in their wake.
- Forgiven, but Not Forgotten: Nigel and Chad prove that time does not heal all wounds when they reunite and find they still can't get along. While they do come to something of an understanding at the end of their conversation, it's clear that their relationship will never go back to the easy friendship they had when they were kids.
- Frame-Up: Upon their reunion, Rachel briefly convinces Nigel that Abby is the traitor. It lasts up until Abby herself catches up to them and reveals the truth, whereupon Nigel goes into an immediate Heroic BSoD.
- Heroic BSoD: Nigel completely shuts down when he realizes Rachel is the real traitor, not Abby.
- Irony: Harvey suffered the Sins of Our Fathers treatment for Rachel's (fake) betrayal, the stress of which eventually caused him to lash out and led to his early decommissioning. It is this early decommissioning that led to Rachel betraying the KND for real.
- Loved I Not Honor More: Nigel genuinely loves Rachel, but no matter how much he loves her, he loves the KND more. This realization does nothing to negate the grief and anguish Rachel feels, and instead only furthers her resentment of the KND."This was her fault. All her fault for falling in love with a Kids Next Door operative who was never supposed to grow up."
- Living Emotional Crutch: It's gradually revealed through Rachel's flashback that Nigel was the person she leaned on the most during her time as a Kids Next Door operative. He was always there for her whenever she needed a shoulder to cry on and pumped her up whenever she needed a confidence boost. After he left for the GKND and literally disappeared off the face of the earth, it didn't take long for Rachel to slowly and surely fall apart. When Rachel reflects on everything the KND has taken from her, she lists Nigel as last, showing it was his loss that hurt the most.
- Love-Interest Traitor: Rachel T. McKenzie, the former Numbuh 362 and the girl Nigel loves, is the TND traitor he's been sent to hunt down.
- Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: Chad, in his poignant conversation with Nigel, acknowledges that what drives many former KND operatives (including the rogue operative Nigel is chasing down) to betray the organization is the realization that they've given up everything to the KND, and will get nothing in return.
- Nepotism: The KND, much like many real-life organizations, could be heavily nepotistic when recruiting new operatives. Many cadets with older siblings already in the KND had a leg up over their peers, usually with better training that allowed them to pass the evaluations more easily. Rachel is shown to have heavily resented this preferential treatment when she was a cadet, but that didn't stop her from using it to try and justify allowing Harvey to pass his cadet training, even though his personality profile showed him to be completely unfit to be an operative.
- Noodle Incident: Subverted. For most of the story, Hoagie is alluded to having some sort of an "accident" while Nigel was gone that ended both his career as a KND operative and broke the rest of Sector V down further. Eventually, it's revealed what happened: he had been captured by Father and forcibly Delightfulized—the KND had to decommission him to preserve whatever was left of his original personality.
- Official Couple: Sometime after Nigel's departure, Wally and Kuki finally made it past the Unresolved Sexual Tension stage of their relationship and became a couple. Their relationship is what drove Wally to defect from the KND and become a free agent—he didn't want to forget about Kuki.
- Older and Wiser: While all of Sector V has matured significantly from when they were kids, Kuki is the one who has changed the most, having become Soopreme Leaduh of the Kids Next Door. Nigel is put off-kilter by seeing her act so responsibly.
- Prison Riot: As part of their plan to break Wally out of D-Block, Nigel and Kuki trigger a riot as a distraction.
- Rank Up:
- After Nigel left for the GKND, Rachel forced promotions on the rest of Sector V to get them out of their funk: Hoagie joined the Deep Sea Research Lab, Kuki was made the Head Nurse at the Medical Grove, Wally was made the head drill sergeant at the Arctic Base (replacing Patton), and Abby became Soopreme Leaduh. Later, after Abby was "decommissioned", Kuki became the next Soopreme Leaduh, a position she still holds upon Nigel's temporary return to Earth.
- Rachel's flashback shows her own rise through the ranks of the KND, from her time as a Cadet, to her graduation and enrollment into Sector Q, to joining Moonbase Covert Operations, and finally becoming Soopreme Leaduh.
- Rejected Apology: Abby reveals to Nigel that after she was "decommissioned", Cree tried to reach out to her and reconcile their relationship. It didn't work, as Abby could never be certain whether or not her sister was sincerely sorry for everything she did or just saw her chance to have a relationship with Abby now that she had "forgotten" all the terrible things Cree had done.
- The Resenter: During her flashback, it's revealed that Rachel heavily resented Abby during their KND careers due to the latter's comparatively easier entry into the KND and her close relationship with Nigel. This resentment reached its highest point after Abby had Harvey decommissioned, whereupon Rachel came to see her as the embodiment of the Kids Next Door and everything it took from her.
- Retired Badass: Chad has retired completely from the Teens Next Door and is now living a normal life. Nonetheless, he still has contacts within the KND and briefly comes out of retirement to wreck Nigel and Wally's mission on Kuki's behest, so Nigel can stay on Earth longer.
- Sanity Slippage: Father lost his mind after Nigel left for the GKND, having never gotten over his nephew stealing his pipe and getting away with it.
- Sins of Our Fathers: After Rachel pulled a Chad and faked betraying the KND to make her transition into the TND, Harvey suffered the brunt of the KND's ire for her betrayal due to being her brother and trying to preserve her legacy. This eventually culminated in his decommissioning after the stress became too much and he nearly killed Sonia by accident after she touched him.
- Start of Darkness: Half of Chapter 21 is a flashback showing the entirety of Rachel's KND career, depicting her gradual decline from bright-eyed cadet to disillusioned, TND traitor.
- Stranger in a Familiar Land: What heavily taints Nigel's return to Earth is the gradual realization that everything has changed—his team has completely fallen apart, his parents no longer remember him, and the girl he loves is a traitor who has turned her back on everything they both once believed in. Eventually, his frustration boils over during a conversation with Rachel (the aforementioned traitor, who has tricked him into believing Abby is the rogue operative he's after, who is not impressed."In reality, it's no different from every other situation I've dealt with since I've gotten back. Hoagie out of commission permanently, Abby lowering herself to the title of traitor. They've changed. Everyone's different now! I sound like a whiny brat, but I don't care! I'm just so sick of it! Why can't everything be like it used to be?"
