Middleton was not ready, but then again, no place ever was. There was no way to get ready as far as most people were concerned. After all, one never truly knew the nature of the threat blowing into town. At least with natural disasters, there was a type and a category and a general idea of what people could do to get ready. That was not so with what was coming to town now.
The force entered calmly, as if belonging in Middleton. Despite all of the security around the town, nothing went off. The problem crept deeper into the peaceful burg, molesting not a soul, surprisingly enough. No one was even aware that meteoric trouble was casually wandering their streets. After all, how was one supposed to know that a possible plague might have just entered the town? Illness was silent when it first showed up. The sun was still shinning and the birds were still singing; there was no sign that it might be the end of the world. Darkness had not covered the land as a warning, the ground had not cracked open to the core, and animals were not fleeing in terror…yet anyway.
When the impeding doom reached the Global Justice main building, things were a little different. Suddenly, the sickness inflicting the quiet town made its presence known like a volcanic explosion. The alarms blared loudly and everyone took their battle stations, which did not help much. Doctor Director was pulled from her desk and a mountain of paperwork thanks to the warning systems going off as if it was the coming of the apocalypse. She wondered what was going on, especially when the alarm changed from a simple breach of the building to a total red-alert. Apparently, according to the alarm change, it was the coming of the apocalypse.
“What’s going on?” Doctor Director demanded to know as she stormed into the command center of the building.
“The building’s been compromised,” the answer came while everyone worked fervently at their stations to neutralize the threat.
“By whom?” Doctor Director said. Who the hell would know to come in Middleton and head right for their headquarters? Was it a WEE agent? Was her brother still plotting, even though he was located away in a place natural sunlight did not even make it to?
“We don’t know just yet, sir. We’re getting reports that it might be two kids.”
“Two kids?” Doctor Director echoed in a puzzled tone while turning her attention to the huge monitor in front of the room. She was hoping to get a visual idea of what was going on, but it seemed like all of their cameras were going out before any threat came into view.
“That’s the reports coming in, sir. It’s two kids and they’ve got superpowers.”
“What the hell do you mean by kids? Actual children? What?” Doctor Director demanded to know.
“No, not children. They’re adults, but they’re really young.”
“Where are they going? What do they want?” Doctor Director was more wondering aloud than anything else. She scanned the monitors around the room, but was not seeing a visual of any intruders.
“So far, we don’t know where they’re going or what they want.”
“Mobilize whatever agents we have in here and then call on outside agents to secure the perimeter of the building. If we don’t get them within a minute, tell the agents outside to storm inside,” the brunette leader ordered.
The commands were carried out, but the alarming was still going off. Apparently, the threat was still alive and kicking, kicking GJ ass to be more specific. It was becoming more evident where the pair was going as time passed thanks to reports of where they were located. The intruders still were not coming up on any monitors, though, mostly because cameras around the building were being destroyed by them long before they got into view of them.
“Doctor Director, they’re heading here!” an agent informed the boss.
“To the command center?” Doctor Director inquired in disbelief. What the hell was going on? Who knew where the command center was anyway? That knowledge was only open to top agents.
“Yes and they’re coming at a steady speed.”
“Are the agents outside coming in?” Doctor Director asked. How were her agents getting beaten by two people? It was not real.
“They’re moving in, but it’s not really doing anything.”
“Damn it! Call in the level-one agents,” Doctor Director ordered. She was pretty sure that once she got a couple of level-one agents into the mix, those two intruders would be stopped in their tracks.
“Yes, sir.”
The call did not go out fast enough from what they could tell because only seconds later, thanks to the tracking devices through out the building that survived the duo, who seemed to have a knack for destroying even hidden surveillance equipment. Everyone turned their attention to the front doors as they were informed by the alert system that the threat was right outside. They liked to think that no one could get in through that door without the code. It had been built to withstand bomb strikes, after all. It had been tested against many of their super-strong agents and still stood.
“Set off the defenses outside,” Doctor Director commanded. She would like to see those intruders do whatever it was that they had come to do after they were destroyed by all of the weapons and traps outside of the room.
An agent hit a button which unleashed the defenses outside of the room. They all stared at the door as they heard the command post’s protection go off. There was noise for almost a minute and then there was silence, eerie silence, like that of a foggy graveyard. They wondered what happened, but they could not get a picture of what was occurring outside because the cameras were out, just like everywhere else the threat had been. But, after nearly a minute of silence, they were rather certain that the intruders were neutralized. And then, they learned otherwise.
“What the hell is that?” an agent wondered as the door seemed to crystallize.
“Ice,” Doctor Director realized.
Before they could do anything about that, the door was blown up; debris flew everywhere and had the edge of shrapnel to it. Everyone in the room took cover to avoid being struck by the projectiles and then turned their attention back to the door to see what was about to happen. They also pulled out weapons, ready to blast the intruders as soon as they stepped in.
“See, toldja that would work,” a male voice that was familiar to Doctor Director boasted.
“I don’t recall arguing that it wouldn’t,” a female voice replied dryly. It was also familiar to Doctor Director.
“No, no, no. What the hell are they doing here?” Doctor Director wondered as the pair entered the room and they were covered in red dots from the weapons aimed at them. She wished that it was anyone else but them. “Hold your fire,” the boss commanded her employees.
The agents were confused as to why they were being given such orders, but they obeyed. Doctor Director stood up and approached the intruders; she appeared quite cross, but more irritated than the fury of a commander whose who fortress had just been breached. The pair were two young people, but obviously adults. A male subject and a female subject; the female subject was wearing glasses and was slightly taller than the male. The female was a pale, graceful-looking, blue-eyed, blonde and the male was an Asian looking, ebony-haired, brown-eyed fellow that was built like an athlete.
“Shin and Trin Toriyama, what sin have I committed to be punished with your presence?” Doctor Director asked the destructive duo as she stood before them, looking tired already. She would rather beat herself in the head with a hammer than having to put up with them.
“We are not exactly sure,” the young man, Shin answered with a proud grin. Apparently, he liked the fact that he had no clue why he and his harpy were in Middleton. The boss was not surprised by that as he took pride in the strangest things.
“Of course. Trin?” Doctor Director asked, hoping that the sociopath of the duo had all the answers while the psychopath of the pair just did not touch anything while he was there.
“We weren’t told as to why we’re being sent here exactly, but we were sent with this,” Trin replied while handing the boss a plain, yellow folder.
Doctor Director took the folder without a word and glanced inside of it, reading the first page, which she knew would hold the gist of why she was being cursed with their presence. She glanced up at them when she was done with her quick scan. She could not help wondering if they honestly did not know why they were there.
“You two didn’t open this file?” Doctor Director inquired, eyeing them rather suspiciously. She did not get the sense that they were lying to her about opening the file, but they were who they were, so she would not put it passed them.
“Why, I do believe you don’t trust us,” Shin remarked, poorly mimicking an American Southern accent and batting his eyes like some innocent, coy maiden. Doctor Director did not even pay him any mind since they all knew that was the case. She kept her onyx eye trained on the blonde, who would at least do her the favor of not being silly.
“No, she told us it would be our asses if we did and we try to believe her most of the time,” Trin reported in her typically calm, cold voice. Sometimes, frosty mist could actually be seen coming from her mouth.
“And I like my ass,” Shin remarked with a smile. “And everyone else likes Trin’s,” he added and he slapped the aforementioned fleshy area on the blonde, causing her to yelp, which she did not take kindly to.
“I’m going to kill you when this over,” Trin seemed to seriously promise him. How dare he violate her person in the presence of so many people!
“Hey, we got called in. Everything all right?” Shego inquired as she and Kim suddenly came into command center. The couple looked around as the boss and guests turned their attention to the newcomers.
“Looks like you guys had some trouble,” Kim commented considering how everything looked on the way to the center and the way the outside looked. She had seen worse destruction, but never in the town and she never would have expected to see it in the main building of the organization. She would not have believed it if she had not seen it with her own eyes.
“Unless this is the new redecorating scheme you’re going for, Bets,” Shego quipped with an amused smirk.
“Everything’s fine, but it’s funny for you two to show up right now,” the leader stated, turning her attention to her agents, but automatically keeping half of her mind focused on Shin and Trin.
“Why’s that funny?” Shego asked suspiciously. She hated it when her remarks did not get to the boss as much as she would like them to. It was down right wrong when it seemed like their leader was actually happy to see her.
“Come with me to my office,” Betty ordered the four of them. “And everyone clean up this place,” she added to the agents in the command center. “Although I should make the smartass twins clean it up.”
“I don’t do cleaning,” Shin commented with a scoff. He would sooner blow the whole place sky high than pick something up off of the floor.
“I’m sure that explains why you look and smell like that,” Trin chimed in, her tone almost bored, but her words biting like a mad dog. Shin was wearing a long, black leather jacket that went to his ankles and the sleeves had been torn off. Underneath that he had on a white, short-sleeve compression shirt that had the image of a smiley face on that looked demented and had fangs. Then there was the fact that he was wearing tan cargo shorts and scuffed up, black boots that were not laced up.
“And what’s your excuse for looking like a reject Mad Hatter?” he countered. She was wearing a pink three-piece suit with a powder blue shirt on underneath and a yellow tie. What got to him was that she had the nerve to have a matching pink fedora-style hat on with all of that.
“I live with you.”
“You two,” Doctor Director huffed, not wanting to have to put up with them going back and forth with each other because she knew that once one of them ran out of insults a physical fight could easily erupt and explode into something that rivaled nuclear fusion.
Kim and Shego were confused about the two newcomers to Middleton; between the exchange and the outfits, they did not know what to make of them. They all did follow Doctor Director out of the command center and walked to her office without asking any questions about the arguing duo, figuring things would be explained soon enough. The brunette leader went to her desk and dropped the folder down. Shin and Shego took the seats that were in front of the desk and they both kicked their feet up on the boss’ table. Trin and Kim rolled their eyes to such actions. Doctor Director sighed, but made a mental note to return the favor that had been bestowed up her sometime in the future. Sometime in the very near future if Shego and Shin did any other mirroring behavior.
“Before I get started, let me introduce everyone to each other. Kim, Shego, meet Shin and Trin Toriyama,” Doctor Director introduced them all to each other. The only one among them to show any sign of caring was Kim, which was expected. The other three did not even bother with looking at each other.
“You know, I don’t like how you always give him top billing when addressing the both of us,” Trin commented, speaking to the boss.
“Why shouldn’t she? I’m way hotter than you,” Shin stated, quite seriously. Everything about him was better than his sister in his not-so-humble opinion.
“The hell you are,” Trin argued in her usual monotone voice. As if a goofball like Shin was better than she was in any way, shape, or form. She believed that she was the better one in their duo and therefore, her name should be mentioned first in her opinion.
“You two,” Doctor Director said in a tone that gave away her patience was already being worn thin thanks to the duo. It seemed like they would argue over any stupid thing and were typically serious about it to the point that it was annoying as hell. She wanted to be rid of them already.
“I’m just saying, I think I should be addressed before him,” Trin replied.
“And who the hell are you? I’ll beat your ass right in this place,” Shin declared, looking at her by leaning his head over the back of the chair that he was sitting in since she was behind him.
“Do you really wish to try your luck, brother?” Trin inquired while putting a hand to her glasses, as if she planned to remove them, which was her signal for being ready to brawl, although she often fought with them on.
“You two,” Doctor Director growled in anger. She was not going to get through anything if those two kept yammering on about nothing in her opinion.
“Fine,” Trin said as if things did not matter to her. She dismissed the whole situation with a wave of her hand.
“What the hell are we doing here anyway?” Shego inquired, not that she was not entertained with the two clowns in the room; hey, with the way Trin and Shin were dressed, they had to be clowns in her opinion. She just would rather spend her time at home with Kimmie than anything else while they had free time.
“The short version is that Trin and Shin are here to fight you two,” Doctor Director informed everyone.
“Is that what the file said? I walked all the way here for a fight against two girls!” Shin complained while throwing his hands up as if he was really outraged. Honestly, Shin believed that girls were just as capable as guys in almost everything; he had to think that considering who his sister and mother were, but he liked being a smartass in any way that he could.
“Hey, if you want me to just kick your ass right now I will and I’ll help you get home by kicking you in the ass out of the city,” Shego declared while making a fist and frowning in the young man’s direction.
“Does it say why?” Trin asked curiously. She wanted a damn good reason behind the fact that she was being sent across an ocean at a very critical time in her life.
“Only a training exercise. I’m going to assume you two are prepared for this because the file says I should do the incredibly stupid thing of letting you wander the city until Kim and Shego are ready for this,” Doctor Director replied. She was could not believe that she was being asked to trust those two to behave for a week on their own in her town. She would prefer to chain them to a pipe in the basement until her agents were ready for the training exercise.
“I’m ready now! I’ll beat this kid’s ass right now,” Shego proclaimed, pointing at Shin. She was very serious too; she did not like him already. There was just something about the smug look on his tanned face that rubbed her the wrong way.
“Please do try. We get this over with and I can be home in time for dinner,” Shin replied with a devilish smile on his face. Trin was behind him on that one. She would love nothing more than to be able to get home as soon as possible.
“You two aren’t brawling in my office. It’s a civilized training exercise, so shut up. Now, you two walking disaster-areas, your orders are to ‘act like you have some damn sense and you were raised right. Don’t wreck the city or that’s your asses.’ I think that says it all,” Doctor Director commented. Hmm, maybe it would be safe to have them walking around if it was their asses if they acted out.
“Why is it always our asses?” Shin wondered aloud, gazing at the ceiling with his hands raised to the plaster as if that would give him answers. He actually looked a little worried about things, which was why Doctor Director assumed the standing penalty of things being their asses might keep them in line. They were not in the habit of tempting their director when she gave out that promise.
“She knows what’ll keep you in line. So, you two get out while I brief these two on the exercise,” the leader ordered.
“What the hell, man?” Shin said just for the simple fact that he liked talking. He pulled himself up and started toward the door, but stopped before he and Trin exited the office. “Did she give a specific punishment?” he asked curiously.
“No, it just said ‘that’s your asses,’” Doctor Director informed him.
“Damn it,” he muttered with a bit of an attitude.
“Yeah, so don’t do anything stupid,” Trin said to him as they exited the office and shut the door behind them.
“Who the hell are they and do they do children’s parties?” Shego remarked while pointing her thumb at the door, referring to the departing pair. She looked ready to burst into a fit of laughter. How was she supposed to taking fighting them serious when they looked like that? They might actually defeat her due to the fact that she would laugh until she passed out, she thought.
“I’m a little shocked you haven’t run into them before, Shego. They were around when you worked for WEE,” Doctor Director commented. It seemed a bit odd, but there was always the fact that Shego rarely involved herself in something that those two would be sent in for. After all, Shin and Trin would probably eat someone like Drakken alive and not think twice about it.
“Obviously they weren’t good enough to come after me. They’re GJ agents?” the green-skinned female inquired, sounding just a bit incredulous. Apparently, they just let anyone join secret law enforcement agencies now, she thought.
“Yeah, they’re a part of our Japan branch,” the boss informed them.
“Japan branch?” Kim echoed. She was unaware that there was a branch of Global Justice operating in Japan.
“Yes, let me just give you a brief overlay of who they are. Agents Shin and Trin Toriyama. They’re both twenty-four years old and they’re brother and sister—” the brunette leader was interrupted before she got a chance to finish.
“Whoa? They’re brother and sister? He was clearly Asian and she was whiter than I am,” Shego remarked.
“Yeah, simple version is that Trin’s adopted. Shin’s parents found her when she was a toddler, but that’s not really important. They’re top agents, only given espionage missions and black ops. They never work with teams. This ‘training exercise’ probably has something to do with the fact that a month ago they blew up a building when they were only supposed to destroy some records. They’re affectionately known by the code name ‘the evil twins.’ The idea is just to see what this branch’s top agents could do against that branch’s top agents. This way we know how to deal with them if something goes wrong and they know how to deal with us if something goes wrong,” Doctor Director explained.
“You think we’ll turn on you?” Kim asked curiously, hiding the fact that she was insulted by the insinuation. Part of her thought that Doctor Director might still be worrying about her dragon powers raging out of control. She had everything well in hand thanks to all of her training with her aunt.
“No, that’s not it. I don’t think you’ll turn on me any more than the director of their division thinks they’d turn on her and believe me when I say they’ll kill themselves long before they turn on their director. Still, it’ll do you all good to see what kind of things you could possibly one day face if some agents do go rogue,” the boss answered.
“All right, those brats just need a spanking from us and then we can move on. Let’s get it over with,” Shego declared with a devilish glint in her eye.
“No, it’s been suggested that I give you two a week to prepare for this thing. I’m guessing that those two know you guys a lot better than they pretended. So, first, we’ll get you familiar with their powers and fighting styles. With luck, we’ll get you to understand how they think, not that anyone understands how they think, to make sure you do when this thing that you whip them like they need to be whipped,” Doctor Director said.
In the file, it had requested that there be no chance for Trin and Shin to win. She could only wonder what they had actually done to work their director into putting such a punishment on them as to look for a way to shake their eternal confidence. Doctor Director was not sure if she could deliver on the “no chance” clause considering how slippery Shin and Trin were. She had never seen anyone beat Kim and the only person to ever come close was Shego, but she was willing to bet if anyone could pull off an unwanted upset it would be Shin or Trin. They were annoying in that regard.
“What are their powers? They can fit about twenty of them into a tiny car?” Shego remarked, cracking herself up. Oh, she was going to have a ball taunting those two.
“Don’t take them lightly,” Doctor Director warned her agents while turning to her computer. She did some quick typing and then turned the screen to Kim and Shego.
“Ah, she’s damn elemental,” Shego commented after a moment of scanning the monitor. They were looking at Trin and Shin’s stat line. It went through name, age, blood type, agent level, powers, number of missions given, number of missions completed, specialties, physical attributes, and several other things.
“These guys have completed that many missions,” Kim said in awe when she saw their numbers. They had never gotten a mission that they did not complete.
“Big deal. I could do that if I felt like it,” Shego replied and she was not being boastful really. They all had no doubt that she could do it, if she felt like it, but she hardly felt like doing most of the missions that she did have. There was no way that she would take on more.
“Yeah, they do it and they don’t feel like it, though,” Doctor Director remarked. She imagined that they were even more belligerent than Shego was when they got missions, though. She could only wonder what it was like to give those two a mission that they really did not want to do. Shin probably whined for hours on end while shamelessly throwing a temper tantrum like a baby.
“Okay, what’s up with her powers? It’s just listed as ice,” Shego said in a puzzled tone while motioning to the computer monitor. She had never heard of anything like that.
“That’s what she does,” the brown-haired woman answered as if it was obvious because it was. Her powers were listed as “ice” because Trin dealt in ice.
“Ice? Don’t you mean water?” Shego inquired. The elemental based powers typically dealt with broad things like water, wind, earth, lightning, fire, and things like that. Ice usually came when a water elemental learned how to control her powers more precisely.
“No, Trin only does ice,” Doctor Director answered and Shego burst out laughing.
“This is a joke! What a wimp!” the pale woman declared. Never had she ever heard of such a limited elemental. Her powers were based on the elemental level to a degree and there were all kinds of things that she could do with her powers now that she had become stronger. So, she could only gather that Trin was truly a weakling to be so limited in what she could do as an elemental.
“How can she only do ice?” Kim asked curiously while Shego continued laughing, long and loud. The redhead was confused by that because she knew how elemental powers should work too.
“It’s no laughing matter. When you see what she does with that ice, you’ll see she doesn’t really look at it as being the only thing she can do. As far as why, no one really knows. They thought as she trained harder and got older, she’d be able to control water or something, but that never came. Her powers are limited to ice,” the boss explained as best she could. She figured when she showed them some footage of Trin, they would better understand just why she was nothing to laugh at.
“And what’s an ifrit?” Shego inquired, now looking at Shin’s powers. She had never ever heard of an “ifrit,” but that was what he was listed as. What was the deal with the weirdo duo and their bootleg powers?
“I can’t really explain what it is. You’ll see when I show you some footage of the two for you to know just what you’re going to be fighting. Kim, call your aunt too and tell her to come along, so we can figure this all out within the week that we have,” Doctor Director stated.
“Yes, sir,” Kim answered. Shego rolled her eyes; she did not think that the duo awaiting them would be all that.
Next time: battle preparations and the start of the fighting.