#i'm aware any incompetence or general oversight we see from the squad is mostly due to like

[numbuh]

Do you think the decommissioning squad has a way to make sure people don’t just. Write down somewhere that they were in the KND

great question! i think, even if an operative did that, they wouldn't understand it? like, if you just wrote "you were in the knd. you were numbuh [#]" it would read like gibberish. in operation end, the way post-decom numbuhs 2 to 5 reacted to nigel claiming they were kids next door was disastrous. even if you wrote a long, elaborate explanation of what the knd is/does and claimed they wiped your memories... would you believe it? would you leave some kind of evidence to convince yourself?

if yes, what would you do with that information? the memories aren't coming back. you can't interact with your old sector/knd friends because it's not allowed. if there's no other evidence, you'd have to rely on what little your parents and other friends knew to confirm you were really an operative. you don't even remember how to fight (sure, maybe some reflex stuff or only if provoked a certain way, ie. numbuh 4 punching chad right in the face) so it'd be setting yourself up for failure/missing a life you can't get back to. snooping around for secrets or trying to play rogue tnd (without even knowing about it) will only put you and other operatives at risk.

on the other hand, it could backfire from the very start: you believe it, but you don't care. you're a teenager now. why should you care? those little kids fighting supervillains aren't your problem. the squad may consider that outcome more often than not because that's how it's supposed to be. being indifferent or cynical about kids and just living your life as if nothing happened. you also might join the evil teens despite any indifference. that, and you betrayed the knd by purposely writing down all that info for your post-decom self to begin with. what if someone else finds it? if you're quiet about it, no one has to find out. good or bad.

regardless, i feel there would be some sort of effort to get rid of knd stuff at home before getting decommissioned. maybe it's another honesty/loyalty thing and you would hand over all your 2x4 tech and such to your sector leader the night before (if you're not the leader, that is)... traitors would hide things and lie that they've given everything they've got. majority of stuff should be in the treehouse anyway. or maybe the squad checks the house when they bring the operative back (or while someone else brings them back, like 5 did for maurice,) which is really jarring if they're aware of it. these weird kids are going through their stuff LOL. most parents would be oblivious. the squad could miss anything hidden super well like a paper. they're not there to waste time looking through every nook and cranny of your home unless it's urgent, if they go through it at all. certain things can stay. anything with your numbuh on it that's not gear will just look like a random favorite number after decom. really depends on what you think: would they even bother to check houses for things like that? is it the standard or is it just something they do at random/when an operative is suspicious or important?

i have the belief that it's surprisingly easy to become a fugitive and stay one for a short while— as long as you know what you're doing. most kids wouldn't have the idea to pull wires out of a g.o.g.e.t.t.e.r. (in space no less??) or chad's idea to attach his mp3 player to the speaker in one to cause a crash, even if those were both arguably reckless examples (nigel was 100% correct that he and chad could've died.) i would imagine that mayyybe some things get overlooked by 86 and the squad and, in retrospect, really shouldn't have been. things that might get them an earful from their supreme leader later.