Bonnie screamed in agony as the liquid fire seared through her veins, she expected it to hurt she expected a pain unlike any she experienced before but nothing could have prepared her for what she endured just then. Drakken held her hand through it all, she could feel the bones of his hand grind under the pressure of her grip and for that, she was sorry. He had warned her, tried to talk her out of it but she refused to listen and now she was accepting the price of that refusal. The trillions of nanoscopic machines he injected into her bloodstream were rapidly rewriting the very code of her body, every cell every nerve every aspect of the body and being that was Bonnie Rockwaller was being redefined and there was nothing to do save endure. She tried to keep Kims face at the focus of her thoughts but the redheaded visage flowed like quicksilver across the tortured landscape of her minds eye. The only thing keeping her anchored throughout that agony was the firm grip of the hand holding hers.
Ron placed a hand on Drakkens shoulder and offered the blue genius a heartfelt smile, he tried talking them both out of this but Bonnie insisted and Drakken would not refuse her even after she ignored all the warnings he gave her that she would likely face this exact situation. When Drakken nodded and turned back to the woman he was responsible for, Ron went to the nearby sink and drew a bowl of cold water. With a deliberate and gentle hand, he soaked a small towel and gently wiped it across the womans forehead. She was burning up as her body tried to reject the modifications being forcibly imposed upon it, every time they asked her if they could stop the treatment she focused long enough to tell them to fuck off. It was enough to know that her hot-tempered nature was not lost to the fire burning within. He had been amazed at the speed Drakken worked once Bonnie asked him to do this, he spent a day pouring over the scans but it only took him four hours to actually complete the reformat on his nanite drones and resequence of a DNA sample of Bonnies retrofitting it with altered genes. “She’s a tough one Drakken she’ll pull through.” He hoped he sounded more convincing than he felt.
Staring through the monitor monocle, he waited and watched, it was a birth of sorts he was witness to. The monocle showed the explosive growth of the nanite injection as it rippled throughout Bonnies system. He watched in awe as each overlapping structure in her was reformatted, nerves replaced with silicate replicas blood replaced with a carrier fluid feeding the nanites muscle replaced with polymers. If she could endure the time it took for the nanites to complete their task she would be something unprecedented. If her mind remained intact. If, he feared, she were lost to that agony he may have created a nightmare unlike any other in recorded history. He felt the familiar sensation of bones grinding together in his hand, Bonnie tensed and fought and he hoped that her grip meant she was still in it. Another few minutes and they would know, the nanites were already past the critical threshold and from that point on, they were replacing material no longer needed. When her heart monitor flat lined he felt a furiously cold sweat break out, she was still thrashing slightly but the flat line started the real countdown.
She was not sure when the pain subsided if it in fact actually had, she could feel so much now she couldn’t sort most of it out. Her ears ached with the constant droning of noise, she thought it was noise at least, until she focused on hearing. After a fraction of a second she began picking out individual voices, Drakken, Ron, those were the closest but she could also hear the Starmaker host. The instant she placed a face to his name her minds eye lit up, she started with seeing one image, one frame that synchronized with the dialogue she was hearing once the synch was perfect the frame exploded displaying hundreds of the same image each synchronized to a different spoken language. She focused on the noise she could still hear to escape the overload, in the noise she could examine what she had just experienced. She had no idea how such vivid imagery got inside her head or if she was even in her own head anymore, her perceptions expanded across so wide a spectrum she could not find a suitable description for it. Every sense she probed from the noise expanded out into a universe of wonders that overwhelmed her into a hasty retreat, back to the noise. It was terribly confusing and she got scared, it was too much for her and she panicked. Her fear triggered an instinctive flight, her mind fled the tremendous power she felt in the noise and escaped into a comforting darkness.
Drakken stared at the display stupefied over the paradox he bore witness to. The nanite construct he saw overlaying itself atop Bonnies form was collapsing at a faster rate than it had formed. All the agony the woman endured would be for nothing if the reformat did not stick. He nearly jumped out of his skin as he saw the display of her heart twitch then compress as it restarted, the heart monitor returned to the rhythmic beeping denoting her pulse. He felt her hand slip from his as she reached to her head clutching at her temples, the monocle showed she was once again just human. “I’m sorry Bonnie.” Her eyes opened and locked on him, for a moment, she appeared dazed but as she focused, he could see her working through the fog and not being terribly happy with what she was realizing. If she asked he would refuse, they would not go through this again. Before she could fully regain herself Drakken stood and left, he needed to understand what went wrong so he could use that information to prevent her from trying again.
It was the second day after her return home that Kim found herself faced with a dilemma she had been hoping to avoid, she was bored. Her mind had always been of the hyperactive variety though she hid it well, her parents accepted that she was one of those always on the go types encouraging her to expand her horizons at every chance, which was the greater part of her growing frustration. If she was not running around saving the world or buried under her studies and volunteer caseload she occupied herself with conversations with Monique or Ron or even Bonnie though she had not seen the former cheerleader or the fashion diva since graduation. She broke down shortly after her chat with Shego and dug out her texts, fifteen minutes later she realized she had already finished the entire course she had access to. With only a week to go before the college closed for the holidays she sent an email requesting what she would need for the next semester, two minutes later she was back to being bored. Sitting on the edge of her bed, she looked to the telescope and wondered if Shego was up yet. Trading jabs even in Morse with the villainess would at least take her mind off the absolute nothing she had planned for the rest of the day. Her S.O.S. fired up to the window Shego liked to peak out of and for several minutes she sat waiting as nothing happened, back to boredom again.
She decided if she were to retain her sanity, she would need to do something that burned off the excess of energy she was building up. Spending the next few minutes rearranging her room Kim cleared out a large enough space to run through her stances. Knowing sixteen styles of kung fu meant nothing if you did not practice at least several times a week to keep the skills finely honed, up to this point she had Shego and Bonnie alternately to practice on. The duels with Shego factored in heavily on her decision to accept Bonnie as her student. Bonnie showed an interest in the stances the day they spent bound together at the butt, neither girl was likely to forget that long day. Bonnie drug her all over the place when she allowed, mostly out of a need to show her better side but when it came time for her to spend the hour going through each of the sets she found herself forced to teach Bonnie just so the girl wouldn’t trip her up and break either her neck or their backs.
She was duly impressed with the brunettes sense of balance and coordination, apparently her thirteen years of ballet had taught her how to learn as she watched and to do so fairly well. They worked well as a team though Bonnie refused to acknowledge this fact publicly. Thinking about the fighting they did their first session together Kim smiled but lost her place in the sequences and with the extra-added weight of the awk-weird cast ended up tipping over. Reacting on instinct she threw both hands out to check her fall, she knew it was a mistake the moment she realized the cast would not help her now. She spent the next half hour silently running through every swear word she had ever heard including a few Ron made up while she waited for a double dose of the pain med to kick in. Predictably, the phone sounded off when she was least able to answer it and by the time she got there, it went silent just as she lifted it from the recharge cradle. The caller I.D. did not list an address but it did give a name, S. Li.
Shego blinked loudly as the phone in her hand melted spitting rude sparks and barking odd noises. In her panic to contact Kim after seeing the girl fall she dialed the number she had for the Possible residence only to panic further when she realized it would likely not be Kim who answered seeing as the girl was still laid out on the floor. She did not do well when she let her emotions run terribly wild as the molten phone attested. Her eye caught movement in Kims room, she was reaching for her phone but stopped. Obviously the call had been terminated just before she got to it, Shego looked at the cell phone again making a note to find out where Drakken got the thing, anything durable enough to actually connect while being reduced to slag was worth further investigation. Knowing her plasma hand signals would likely go unnoticed by the redhead Shego went to her arsenal vault and dug out the laser scope she kept on her tranq-gun, a few quick twists of the lock down bolts and the thing was freed from its bracket and ready for repurposing. When she got back to the window she could see Kim looking her direction and nearly cussed herself hoarse, returning the scope to its mount would be a much more difficult affair as she would need at least three shots to be sure the scope was sited true to the barrel again. “Possible you better not let me see you pull another stupid stunt like that again!” Morse did not convey anger or emotion very well but the look on Kims face did not need subtitles, the curtain she usually kept open was drawn shut in a blink.
Rufus Prime watched curiously as his muscular descendant assembled the strange contraption, it appeared to be some form of cloning chamber with growth accelerators decades more advanced than even DNAmys best. Rufus three thousand worked tirelessly on the device once they found a suitable place to set up their base, a timeshare lair was not the most opulent of resources but they didn’t need opulence they needed a place to work undisturbed. The time traveling rodent made good use of his knowledge of history to provide them funding for the project and within a few short hours they would be producing the first battalion of disposable heroes. Rufus Prime made mental notes of every detail including a few of the money making tips Rufus three thousand offered, he didn’t really need to put that information to use as he already amassed a stunning fortune in the tech sector. Most modern electronics where built around chipsets and circuits he designed then licensed out to various c.p.u. producers. His plans continued to evolve as he learned more of the war to come, everyone was bracing for it save the two the war would be fought over and he had yet to decide how to deal with the problem they presented. For the moment, he would continue providing assistance to the future evo of his species, his contact with the few humans he trusted limited to burst transmissions dumped into the data-stream he was tasked with controlling. So far, they had managed to evade the ever-vigilant eyes of the powers that be but that could not last forever, it didn’t have to though, they only needed a few weeks to prepare.
‘Agents Will and Kahn Du report to ops for reassignment, Agents Will and Kahn Du report to ops for reassignment.’ Will arched an eyebrow to his sister who returned the look with equal confusion. They had not been assigned anything in days, for the last week the world at large fell silent as every manner of criminal they normally dealt with just vanished. Tension at the agency was jacking up with each passing hour; the longer things went without some form of security issue the worse it would be when whatever was holding those elements at bay let them loose. Will and Kahn slipped into their respective uniforms after the fitting session with the lab techs was complete and hurried to the directors office. They spent years training under the best director the group had on record being groomed for some future role that was hinted at with increasing regularity, Will remained the level headed arrogant prick he always had been and Kahn the confident older sister who wanted nothing more than a cup of coffee and a crossword puzzle. For all their apparent differences, they were remarkably similar, both could cite chapter and verse directly from the hero’s rulebook both were consummate fighters and both had the arrogance, if overstated or muted as the respective case may be, necessary to lead the agency yet neither wanted the task. “Agents Du reporting as ordered Dr. Director.”
Dr. Betty Director kept her stony faced mask on as the agents snapped to attention in front of her desk, she considered both to be very wet behind the ears when it came to the roles they would be forced to take up but things were in motion that threatened that future and everything else. There would be no more time to pussyfoot around with the pair. “We have a situation, Will Du you are hereby ordered to put this pair under gamma level observation. It has come to my attention that the pair have made arrangements outside the rules, they have orchestrated the current quiet time we are experiencing but to what end we can not be sure.” She looked at the dossier spread out on the glossy desk before her and scowled, of all the people on either side of the line this pair were the most dangerous to have as enemies. “There are other parties, also working outside the rules, who have put plans in motion and you will need to pay some heed to the potential for action from unexpected angles.” The molerat activities were hard to follow but they were earth based which meant they could be monitored to some degree but the renegades at the l-four site were a different matter entirely. They were still in earthspace but they existed outside the rules governing the planet as was within their rights. One simply does not tell six million people they do not have the right to leave the planet, all at the same time. One also does not attempt to impose themselves upon said six million people, pissing off a bunch of rock tossing space miners was tantamount to suicide.
Gemini watched covertly as his sister informed the duo groomed to replace both Betty and himself with a great deal of pride. They had been chosen from the moment of their birth for their roles and the cold calculating gaze in Will Du’s eyes draw instant attention. The young man thought everything through with a meticulous precision, granted his plans did not always measure up to Gemini’s standards but the man was still under the thumb of G.J. Until that changed, and it would change soon enough, all he could do was wait and watch. He had his plans already in place for the coming conflict, in the end either the pair forcing this game forward would fall or they would be split apart. There was no room for allies of their nature on this world. It would destroy the balance the order had maintained for the last two hundred thousand years, undoing all that effort would destroy the world and he was not about to let them, what fun would there be in trying to conquer a planet turned barbeque briquette? “Zeta prepare my ship, we sail for Port Otaku in an hour.” The nondescript henchwoman snapped to attention nodded in her acceptance of her orders and raced out of the room to carry them out. Gemini almost pouted, he wanted to use the ‘make them go by-by’ tube one last time, he had hoped the rookie would forget some minor detail in the standard response to a direct order. Apparently Hench was following through on the ‘building a better thug’ promotional.
Wade could only smile as he listened to Monique ramble on, the woman hadn’t stopped talking since she called an hour ago, not that he minded. When Kim asked him to track her down it actually took him a day to pull off, in his world a full day was an eternity and for someone who claimed to be effectively clueless about the workings of the net Monique managed to shed all but the hard line traces using cash left behind. If she had thought ahead enough to visit the currency exchange at the airport she departed from he may well never have tracked her down. He admired the woman as much as he looked up to Kim, there were few people capable of handling Kim when the fiery redhead got on a tear and Monique was one of those he could actually talk to. He was not looking forward to telling Mo, as she insisted he call her, what was going on with Kim and Shego but he would not be able to refuse. Kim didn’t want to face her just yet but had ok’d him answering any questions she might ask and said he could keep her up to date, if she asked. He promised Mo he wouldn’t mention that he had regular contact with her after that initial chat, she was afraid to return because she didn’t know what she would say to Kim. He could understand that fully since he was one of the few who knew she and Kim had become closer than most suspected.
‘He looks nervous, wonder what’s going on?’ Monique thought as she finished dishing a ladle full of soup out for her dinner. ‘Getting cute too.’ They spent several hours talking every few weeks and she learned to read his expressions like a book. She missed the gang but she still needed to work out how to deal with Kim, she wanted to be with the girl but knew it would never work. At least that was what she told herself every time she thought about their last year together. She noticed early on that Kim had eyes for both genders when it came to her heart, she watched the girl deal with Bonnie time after time and noticed that while the pair fought like fire and ice there was more to it than the outside world could see. It wasn’t until she stumbled across them in the gym after the pivotal football of their last season that she discovered just how much more. “Ok I’ve done enough talking I need to inhale this food so you fill in the dead air ‘k Wade?” It was a gamble but she needed to eat and talking was not complimentary to soup, especially not when the soup was only good hot. A quick glance up from the bowl confirmed her suspicions he was as nervous as a long tailed cat in a rocking chair convention. She completely forgot about the soup as she heard him swallow before muttering the next words ‘Kim has been … hurt …’
She had a right to know, he told himself, it was clear Monique was still hung up on Kim but he never expected her to react quite as she did. “It’s not bad Mo, just a broken wrist. She …” He had to swallow again Moniques face went from sickly pale to furious red as his words reached her. “She had a big throw-down with Shego a week ago and came in pretty banged up, but if you want to hear the rest you need to put down the skillet, smashing your Kimmunicator won’t help.” He waited for her to calm down and set the cast iron pan aside before he continued, it took a few minutes so he went for another soda. “Kim and Shego made some kind of deal, from what I saw Kim thrashed Shego as bad as Shego beat her, Kim made me post a ‘temporarily out of action’ notice on her site then contact … some other people, who needed to know that for the next month she would be on the sidelines. She got out of the hospital the other day and is stuck at home for the rest of the year.” He saw that get past her fear and concern to score a direct hit on her sense of humour. They both knew what happened when Kim was stuck home and got bored. Even her twin brothers avoided her on those occasions.
Ron looked over the books he had been keeping from the start of his venture with Drakken a week plus change ago, they were nearly to the point of exhausting the funds Drakken was able to provide and he naco royalties weren’t coming in fast enough cover the expenses that were piling up. Math was never a strong suit of his but even he could see that the drain on the funds would put the plan in jeopardy if something wasn’t done and soon. Drakken and Bonnie would have to be consulted, mostly Bonnie as it was her pay check and training needs that put the largest strain on their budget. He was not looking forward to that meeting so he decided to speak with Drakken first, perhaps the blue doof could explain how he got all the money it took to build all of his crazy inventions as well as pay Shego along with the hundreds of henchmen he occasionally employed. “Dr. D. could I have a word.” He really enjoyed the toys Drakken installed in his lairs but the intercom was one of the rarely used ones. They spent nearly every day within feet of each other so the need for the thing was pretty much null. His fun was fully upset when the door opened and both Drakken and Bonnie entered. “Err …”
Drakken simply shrugged, Ron would have to accept that Bonnie was nosier than ever and after recovering from the nanite infusion refused to leave Drakken alone until he explained what went wrong. He had a good idea of what Ron was wanting to discuss considering the last three requisition forms tallied up over a half million dollars in new equipment, all specifically intended to answer Bonnies question. He knew Bonnie knew as well, she mentioned that as long as Drakken did not stop her from breaking one of Rons arms she wouldn’t quit, apparently she knew a lot more about their venture than he expected of her considering her part in it. “What do you want Stoppable? I have work to do if we’re to understand what happened with Bonnie.” He wanted to return to the days when he couldn’t remember Rons name because he didn’t need to but those days were over, the union had already cancelled his membership and revoked his access to the in-terror-net. Somehow, the bet between them got out and was associated with the bet between Kim and Shego though Ron seemed to be receiving a number of interesting contacts.
“I know your union membership has been torched Dr. D but I need you to help me with something … new.” He decided to deal with Bonnie later, she was in as deep as they were and money or no she had nowhere else to go. “I received a funny letter back when I had the ‘Z’ period and I think you know what it means.” He flicked his wrist sending the hard envelope zipping across the room directly at Drakkens face. To the amazement of all three Bonnie stopped the shuriken like projectile between two fingers an instant before it would have connected with the
Drakken scowled and huffed a bit before he took the black envelope from Bonnie and opened it. Inside was a single card with a logo he knew from his admission into the union. The logo was unmistakable and he was sure it was still a valid invitation, if they recalled the invite it would have burned to ash on command; it would likely have killed Ron in the process as well. “I thought you said you wanted to do this legitimately Stoppable.”
Ron smiled happily and leaned back in his chair, now was as good a time to break it to them as any. “Not true Drakken, I said you would go legit and I would show you how to take over the world the right way did I not?” His composure never wavered as Bonnie charged him, she was much faster than she had been the last time they fought, if it had not been for the years of experience he had she might have actually connected with the punch aimed at his face. “Relax BonBomb I have no intentions of breaking a single law,” He held her fist where he caught it, inches from his nose. “There’s no need to break laws to do it you just have to have the right plan and the funds to pay for it all. That’s where that little card comes in handy isn’t it Drakken.” Drakken nodded confirming his suspicions about the card. “So D. how did you get the ‘legal’ money you used to build all of this?” his hand waved around the room but he was indicating the entire complex. It was a multi million dollar facility, was as in before Shego and Kim tore it up in the process of tearing each other up. Before Drakken could respond one of the few things Ron insisted on installing decided to sound off and remind them what time it was, Drakken and Bonnie jumped as the shift change siren sounded declaring the end of the workweek.
Drakken smiled cruelly as he turned to Ron, “It’s Friday?” Ron swallowed nervously and nodded, the rest of the meeting would have to wait. “I’ll explain everything at the club Ron, Come Bonnie we must prepare for tonight is the devils night, tonight we Karaoke!” He all but skipped out of the room dragging the bewildered woman in his wake. The skipping was tolerable, barely, but the laughter, that was terrifying. Maddening in fact.