DECEMBER 21ST
The sun rising was not the blessing it had felt like just the morning before. Even as the sun's rays pushed through the clouds, reflected off the gently falling snow, and blanketed the earth in golden rays, Kim was frantically praying it would just go back down again. The sun coming up meant it was a new day, and a new day meant it wasn't the previous night, and if it wasn't the previous night, it meant the Tweebs hadn't come back to sleep at all.
And that meant that they might really have been kidnapped.
Kim paced endlessly on the front porch of her house while Shego sat nearby and watched. Kim couldn't stop moving for a number of reasons. She couldn’t go inside or else it would mean her searching all night had ended in failure. Sure, it wasn't night anymore but if she went through that door it would mean the she was giving up on her search and she couldn't do that. Pacing also helped keep her mind from imagining what terrible things could be happening to her brothers, once she stopped her mind tended to go into overdrive and she couldn't take that.
Additionally, she was tired and freezing, the combination of which would mean the moment she stopped she'd probably get hypothermia and collapse from exhaustion and she had to keep looking.
Shego was sitting on a bench nearby with her hands in her coat and silently following Kim's pacing back and forth with her head. She wasn't nearly as frantic as Kim, which irritated the hell out of her. Why didn't she realize how serious a situation this was? Did she not care about Kim's feelings? Or just her family?
“Why are you just sitting there?!” Kim finally exploded. Then paused, realizing that nothing she'd just thought she had said out loud.
“Because you haven't told me to do anything else?” offered Shego. “Also, pacing is not really my style.”
“Don’t you care? My family is missing!”
“Of course,” said Shego, somewhat flippantly. “But we checked their usual hang-outs, called their university, talked to Ben and Carl to see if they saw anything, and even had the nerdlinger try to locate them. I'm fresh out of ideas that don't involve illegality.”
“Don't call Wade 'nerdlinger!'” Kim lashed out, desperate to feel some control. “He's the only person at GJ actually doing anything.”
“Not even the police will do anything at this point, Princess,” said Shego, frowning. “Missing persons aren't missing persons until 24 hours have passed. Which wouldn't be until 3pm today.”
“We can't just wait around for the police to realize someone missing has been kidnapped! They could be in trouble right now!”
“We don't know that,” rationalized Shego. “They could just be out on some other super secret project and forgot to call in.”
“How can you just… sit there?” Kim yelled. She felt like her skin was crawling all over her body.
“There's nothing else I can do which will help them,” said Shego. “Unless you want me to start talking to some of my villain contacts and put out a bounty on their capture or something.” Shego grimaced. “They might get into more trouble that way, though. And even then we probably wouldn't get results for day or two.”
“You're just… too calm,” sighed Kim. “It's bothering me.”
“You're usually more rational than this,” Shego pointed out. “That's bothering me. I don’t recall you getting this worked up when I was captured.” She pouted.
“I didn't know you were captured,” said Kim. “You ran away.”
“Same difference.”
“No, it's not the same.” Kim clenched her hands into fists then released them. “I know you can take care of yourself.”
“But you don't think your brothers can?”
“They're…” Kim struggled. She moved over and plopped down next to Shego on the bench and sighed. “They just kids. They shouldn't be mixed up in my troubles.”
“You were just a kid when you started,” said Shego. “Everyone has to grow up sometime.”
“Nobody should have to face Allucinere, though,” said Kim. “I don't want to think about worst case scenarios, but I after what Junior said, I have to believe she could be behind this. And if she has them…” She just shivered.
Shego held Kim's hand softly and was silent for several moments. Then softly, she said, “What's a PH device?”
Kim looked up at Shego's face, which was oddly expressive. She seemed caught between hurt and determined, as if she wasn't sure which one was right. “You're ready to know?” Shego nodded. Kim sighed again. “Hell.”
“Hell?” asked Shego. “What do you mean?”
“It's your worst fears come to life,” said Kim. “Fears you didn't even know you had, twisted and come alive to torture you.” She hung her head and shook it. “It will ruin you.”
“And maybe those around you too.”
Kim looked up suddenly and saw Ron standing on the porch, his hands in his pockets, standing casually. He was wearing a large winter coat with a knitted cap and glanced once at Kim and Shego's hands before looking uncomfortably away.
“Ron,” said Kim, feeling relieved that he came back.
Then the wheels in her head flew off the axel.
“What did you do?” Kim suddenly growled, her expression darkening.
“Huh?” Ron's eyes went wide and he looked back and forth between Kim and Shego. “What?”
“You showed up right before the Tweebs went missing,” Kim said, standing with her fists at her sides.
“The Tweebs are missing?” asked Ron, surprised.
“You did something to them,” announced Kim, stepping slowly towards Ron.
Shego stood up suddenly and moved beside her. “Woah, hold off there, Pumpkin,” she said. “You don’t know what you're saying.”
“Who are you?!” yelled Kim.
“Wha? I-I'm me! I'm Ron!” The blonde stepped back cautiously. “What happened to Jim and Tim?”
“You're tired, princess,” Shego said. “You're not thinking straight. Tragedy is the time when you need friends, not enem--”
“Give them BACK!” yelled Kim as she lunged at Ron. The two fell back onto the lawn sending a cloud of snow up into the air as they struggled.
“Hay, wait! KP!!” yelled Ron as they grappled. Kim had managed to grip him by the collar of his coat and was holding him aggressively.
“Where did you take my brothers?” screamed Kim.
“I don't have your brothers!” cried Ron.
“Liar!” Kim wound up to slam Ron into the ground when suddenly a pair of strong arms grabbed her from behind, pinning her own arms to her sides. Kim struggled as she lost her grip on Ron who fell to the ground on his butt.
“Let me go!” yelled Kim, flailing around wildly.
“This is for your own good princess,” said Shego, tightening her grip.
“Kim,” said Ron getting up and approaching them. “It's me, I'm not Allucinere.”
But Kim was too far gone to listen and kept struggling wildly.
“Kim, how can I prove--UGK!”
Kim's foot randomly connected with Ron's chin and knocked him down and into unconsciousness.
Kim looked down at his still form, suddenly sobering.
“Ron?”
( KP )
Kim's mother held an icepack wrapped in a towel against Ron's jaw inside the Possible kitchen. “Just like that,” she said.
Ron raised his hand to hold the pack in place as Judy removed her hand. He flinched as it moved slightly against his skin, rubbing against the bruise. He looked up at the crowd.
Kim was standing on the other side of the kitchen, looking down and generally ashamed while her Nana sat nearby and Shego stood beside Judy, studying the wound. She could hear her father on the phone in the living room.
“She clocked you pretty good,” said Shego, putting a hand to her chin. “I thought you had, like, monkey ninja powers.”
“It's not very reliable,” said Ron, slightly muffled, then winced. “Ow…”
“Ever get any formal training on it?” asked Shego. Ron shrugged and then shook his head. “Hmm…”
“Kimmie, dear,” said Kim's father. “I don't suppose you want to come over here and apologize to Ronald, do you?”
Kim slowly forced herself to walk across the kitchen and move beside Ron. He watched her suspiciously and tried not to show his muscles tensing in anticipation of another strike. Kim noticed his reaction and felt a hundred times worse.
“I'm so sorry, Ron,” Kim pleaded. “I… I don't know what got over me.”
Ron looked at her carefully, frowning. Kim continued. “I'm really worried about the Tweebs and… I haven't slept since I found out they were missing. I'm not very trustworthy at the moment. I shouldn't have taken it out on you though. It was really stupid of me.”
Ron hesitated for a moment then looked downwards, nodding. “Aohm noh, hobong ha goo wek.”
“What?” asked Kim.
Ron removed the ice pack and tried to talk more deliberately around the swelling. “I'm not having a good week,” he managed to enunciate.
Kim weakly smiled. “Tell me about it.”
Kim's father walked in. “I just got off the phone with the police,” he said. “They agreed to put Jim and Timothy on the missing persons list early, but the warned me that if they're hiding in the attic again he'll arrest them this time.” Her father paused, mid-step. “Speaking of which…” He turned and left the kitchen again.
Kim shook her head.
“What happened?” asked Ron, having removed the ice pack again. Judy 'tsk'ed and moved his hand back to Ron's jaw.
“It'll minimize the swelling,” Judy said.
“Iff noth healp'ng mooch,” complained Ron.
“We're not sure,” said Kim, answering Ron's earlier question. “Jim and Timothy were supposed to be meeting Wade at a workplace in Middleton but they never got there. Nobody's seen them since yesterday afternoon and Shego and I turned the workplace inside out for clues and came up empty.”
“Their car is missing too,” said Shego. “Which is just about the only traceable thing we've got. The nerdli-- uh, Wade is working on trying to find it on the traffic and intersection cameras. But he said it could take many more hours before he's through.”
“And if their car was dumped or they drove on side streets it won't show up at all,” added Kim.
“Yuuf t'ink ish Maya?” asked Ron.
Kim nodded. “I don't want it to be her, but she broke out of her GJ hospital room last month and we just heard from Junior yesterday that it's possible she stole a great deal of money from him. It's possible she's trying to repeat what she did two years ago.”
“What did she try to do last time?” asked Shego.
“Take over all of GJ,” answered Kim.
“…”
“Yeah, she didn’t set her sights low,” said Kim. “You'd be more stunned if you knew how close she got.”
“Did she try and kidnap you or your family last time?” asked Shego.
Kim shook her head. “No, not last time. But she was still kind of… worshipping me right up until the end.” Kim frowned. “At least, I think she was.”
“Is it likely that she really has your brothers then?”
Kim looked pained and glanced at her mother who appeared uncomfortable as well. “I can't say,” said Kim. “I have a lot of enemies, but, as far as I can remember, the only one to ever kidnap a member of my family before was Drakken.” Kim looked at Shego. “He's not around, is he?”
Shego shrugged. “I'm sure he'd try to contact me if he was up to something. He's still probably crying to his death rays. Although that kidnapping thing was done without me, if we're thinking about the same thing.” Shego looked thoughtful for a moment. “I'll try and find him, just in case.”
Kim nodded. “That might not be a bad idea.” Shego turned to go.
“Wait,” Nana said, rather suddenly. Everyone turned to her. “You should set up a passphrase.”
“Paafraines?” asked Ron.
“It's a simple but generally effective means of routing out impostors,” explained Nana. “You see it in old spy movies all the time.”
“Oh, like, 'The dove flies at dawn,' or 'the rooster crows three times?” asked Shego.
“Something like that,” said Nana. “For your purposes, you'd best stick with a single, obscure word.”
Shego rubbed her chin. “Paradigm,” she said.
Kim nodded. “Paradigm.”
“Remember to change the word next time you meet,” Nana said as Shego headed out of the room. She looked to Kim. “Avoid related words, too. Too easy to guess.”
“Gotcha,” said Kim. She looked up for a second then turned to look out the window towards the street where a large blue SUV with tinted windows was parked. “I better set up a passphrase with Ben and Carl.”
“Hoo?” asked Ron.
“Oh, right,” said Kim. “My two bodyguards. Shego arranged for them from HenchCo.”
“Henf Bo?” said Ron, wide eyed.
“Shego works for them now,” explained Kim. “I didn't mention that before?”
Ron shook his head enthusiastically.
“Well, she works for Hench Co,” shrugged Kim.
Ron sighed.
Nana sipped the rest of her tea from her cup and then stood. “I might know some people who can help,” she said. “Let me make some calls.”
“Thanks Nana,” said Kim.
“Thanks nothing,” Nana replied. “You're all my grandchildren.”
Kim smiled.
“I'll go get your father from the attic,” said Judy, patting Kim on the shoulder. “Then we'll call around the neighborhood.”
Kim nodded. “Oh, wait,” she said suddenly. She pointed at her mother. “Er… 'purloin.'”
Her mother raised an eyebrow curiously but nodded all the same. Kim looked to her Nana. “Savant,” Kim said. Her Nana approved.
Kim looked to Ron as the two older women left. “Caliper,” she said. Ron nodded.
“Whaf ka--” Ron started then removed the ice pack again. “What can I do?” he asked.
Kim opened her mouth then stopped herself and sat down opposite Ron at the table. “Talk to me,” she said.
Ron blinked. “That could be hard,” he said, pointing at his cheek.
“I'm really sorry about that,” she said.
Ron nodded. “What do you want to talk about?”
“You came back,” Kim said, softly.
Ron nodded, looking to the side for a few moments. Kim reached over and took his hand, the one not holding the ice pack.
“Hey,” she said. She leaned to the side to see his face.
Ron eventually looked up at his and Kim's hands then up at her face again. “I--I didn't handle that well, did I?” he said.
“I sort of ambushed you with it,” Kim said with a crooked smile. “At least that's how Shego described it.”
“Shego,” Ron repeated, looking back down at their hands. “You really … do care about her, right?”
Kim nodded.
“And she really has feelings for you…?” Ron asked.
Again, Kim answered in the affirmative.
“She's not just playing you or something to trick you into lowering you guard so she could unleash an army of zombie mutant bulldogs on the world, right?”
“Ron,” Kim said, sounding disappointed in him.
“I just gotta check these things,” explained Ron. “Or no one else will.”
Kim sighed. “It's all real, Ron. Me and Shego. It probably seems completely impossible, and I would have agreed just a year ago but today…” she trailed off.
“Love?” asked Ron weakly.
Slowly, Kim nodded. “Yeah, I love her.” She looked at Ron's painful expression. “But you're important to me too! You'll always be my best friend in the whole world, Ron. You gotta believe that.”
Ron nodded.
“And I'll always love you like a brother,” she added.
“Like family,” Ron said.
“Yeah,” agreed Kim. “Family.”
Ron hung his head for a minute, saying nothing while Kim just held his hand and worried he'd run again.
After that minute, though, he picked his head up and smiled warmly at her. “On that day, when you came back from what Maya did to you,” he said. “I thought I'd lost you forever.” He changed his grip to hold Kim's hand tightly. “I'm just thankful we can still be friends.”
Kim quickly embraced him in a hug. “Forever,” said Kim, cheerfully. She felt relieved that in this terrible, terrible day, at least one thing was looking up.
( KP )
The large figure loomed in the doorway, almost entirely blocking the light from the midday sun. Kim blinked at first as the contrast from the light streaming in from the corners made it impossible to see more than a shadow of person but as she adjusted to the brightness, she saw a more recognizable figure.
“What's wrong, Ben?” asked Kim as she motioned for him to come in. He did so and she closed the door behind him. “Where's Carl?”
The HenchCo security guard reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a handful of small metal clips. He held them out to Kim.
“These are high range electronic tags,” he said deliberately. “Shego asked me to get them.”
“Tags?” asked Kim, confused.
“Tracers,” clarified Ben. “If someone else goes missing we can use these to find them.”
Kim was conflicted whether she should feel angry that she'd hadn't had access to these before people went missing or happy that at least this way they can keep anyone else from danger. She chose the latter, for Ben's sake.
“Thank you,” she said with a smile. “Oh, we should set a passphrase while you're here.”
Ben frowned then looked thoughtful. “Polyester,” he said.
“Polyester?” asked Kim. For some reason Kim didn't think the word fit with Ben, but she realized she didn't know him at all really apart from his job. “All right,” she finally agreed.
“The FBI are here,” Ben said as headed back towards the door and opened it.
“FBI?” asked Kim. She ran to the window and looked out. Sure enough, a black sedan was out front next to Ben's SUV. A suited man was getting out of the car. “How do you know he's FBI?”
“They always drive those ugly cars,” said Ben. “Call if you need help, we're always watching.”
Kim thought that sounded kinda creepy but it was the intention that counted. “Thanks.”
Ben left through the front door just moments before the agent finally came up the walk. Kim stared at the man as he approached. He was wearing a simple black suit with a white shirt and grey tie and stood about six feet tall, enough to tower over Kim much like Ben. But while Ben had a rough appearance, the man drawing near was much more chiseled with a slight 5 o'clock shadow, a squat nose and cool blue eyes beneath very short brown hair. He looked to be in his mid forties.
“Ms. Possible,” said the man reaching the door. He held out a small leather holder with his FBI badge inside. The small print identified the man as Elliot Gibson, to which he introduced himself as.
“I'm Special Agent Gibson, with the FBI Missing Persons unit,” said Agent Gibson. “I'd like to help out anyway I can.”
Kim smiled and held out her hand. “Thanks for coming,” said Kim. Elliot shook her hand firmly then released after exactly five seconds. “Please come in,” Kim waved.
The man nodded and entered. He took a few steps into the house then paused entirely. Kim looked at him like he was a jigsaw puzzle then leaned to see past him to see her Nana standing in the room facing him.
“Elliot!” said Nana. She held out a hand as she walked up to him.
“Captain,” Agent Gibson said, stiffening. He moved to salute then stopped and shook Nana's hand. “Sorry. Old habit.”
“I know,” smiled Nana. “I'm glad you could come.”
“Nana?” asked Kim. “What's… going on?”
“Dear me, sorry, Kim.” Nana motioned towards the FBI agent. “This is Elliot, he was a private, first class, when I was a captain in the marines.” She looked at the agent with an arched brow. “He was great kid but nearly got us killed in Cyprus during the pull out.”
“That wasn't my fault,” said Elliot. “We were ordered directly into that firefight, I just followed navigation.”
“I know,” said Nana, slapping him on the back. “I you know I wouldn't have traded you in Cambodia for anyone. Cleanest shot in the whole unit.”
“Not better than you,” Gibson said modestly.
“But… you're FBI?” asked Kim.
He nodded. “I joined the FBI after leaving the marines. Captain Possible kept in touch after she retired.”
“Just call me Leslie, dear,” Nana said.
“Leslie,” Elliot repeated with a nod. “She knows I work in Missing Persons, and asked if I could give my opinion on your situation.”
“Wow,” said Kim. “Do you know a lot of FBI agents, Nana?”
“Not many,” shrugged Nana. “Although I do know the current--”
“Captain,” said Elliot, hastily.
“It's classified,” Nana said.
“Oh, come on, I work with Global Justice!” said Kim.
“Actually, that's why I can't take this case on officially,” said Elliot, looking to Nana. “The FBI has a strict hands-off policy when it comes to Global Justice and anyone related to them.” He turned to Kim. “I'm afraid we don’t particularly condone espionage agencies.”
“Well, I don't really like them right now either,” she agreed. “So, what's your take on this?”
“I haven't had time to look around yet,” said Elliot. “ I'll do my best to help out the local police in their search, but I have to say -- and I mean no offense -- you have too many enemies, Ms. Possible.”
“You're telling me,” said Kim.
“I mean, it will take some time to narrow down a list of suspects to investigate, and even then, if this is someone specific to your brothers, we'll have little to go on until we find hard trace evidence.”
Kim slumped. “I figured.” She looked up. “Thanks for your help though.”
“Anything for my old captain,” said Elliot.
“Ahem,” sounded Nana.
“Leslie,” added the agent.
( KP )
As the sun lowered in the sky, Kim stared at the clock. Three o'clock. The arbitrary twenty-four hour mark, not that it mattered much anymore since her father and Agent Gibson got everyone moving early. Still, Kim felt the weight of the hour. For a whole day her brothers had not been seen nor heard from. It crushed her.
“KP,” Ron said softly, standing on the staircase into her room.
Kim looked away from the digital display and turned to look at Ron. “What's going on?” she asked.
“Agent Gibson and your parents are going to the police station to make statements, they wanted to know if we were going to come.”
Kim closed her eyes. “Things were so much simpler when villains only tried to take over the world.”
“Things were simpler when our villains were petty,” added Ron, walking over to sit on the bed. “Not like any of Drakken's plans were overly complex either, stealing heavily guarded gizmos by busting in and destroying everything in sight. Leaves an easy trail to follow.”
Kim nodded. “I'd better stay here, in case Shego comes back. If you want…”
“It's better we stay in groups,” said Ron, shaking his head. “Harder to infiltrate and kidnap that way.” He stood up again. I'll go let the 'rents know.”
“Thanks.”
Ron descended the stairs again, leaving Kim with nothing save the clock to look at. 3:05, it read.
The phone rang, breaking Kim from her trance. She ran over to her desk and grabbed it. “Hello?” she said, urgently.
“Kim? This is Shego,” the voice on the other end said. After a moment she added, “Paradigm.” The codeword. Kim could trust it was her.
“Shego! Where are you? You've been gone all day!” asked Kim.
“It's not like Drakken left me a forwarding address!” snapped Shego. “I had to find him first. Actually, no, first I had to find a jet, then I had to find him.”
“A jet?” asked Kim.
“Drakken has a few lairs lying around, mostly destroyed, but the one in Middleton had my jet in it. After that I checked for any of the hideouts that still had equipment that could receive a call. That's how I found him.”
Kim blinked. “So you found Drakken?”
“…”
“Shego?”
“Sort of,” she said softly.
“What's wrong? Where are you?” Kim felt nervous.
“I'm at a hospital.”
Kim's stomach turned. “A h-hospital? Are you okay?” Her voice turned urgent.
“I'm fine,” assured Shego. “It's Drakken.” She paused. “Something's happened to him. He's been attacked. Some sort of device was attached to his eyes.”
“A device…” Kim repeated, her voice hollow.
“I pulled it off him but the damage had been done. He looks like he's been … mind wiped or something,” said Shego. “Traumatized.”
“Do you have the device?” asked Kim, almost too afraid to hear the answer.
“Sort of,” said Shego. “The damn thing came after me when I pulled it off Drakken so I had to… melt it a little.”
“Come home,” Kim said quickly. “Come home now.”
“I'm okay, princess, it's Drakken that's in bad shape.”
“Come home,” Kim repeated, urgently.
“…”
“Sheeg?” Kim held the phone tight against her face. “Please?”
“I'm on my way,” said Shego. She established a new passphrase and then hung up.
Kim looked at the phone, willing her hand to stop shaking. She was stronger than this, she would have to be.
Or it would end worse than last time.
( KP )
“Okay, you're going to have to explain this to me nerdlinger--”
“Shego,” Kim warned Shego again, for like, the tenth time today.
“--Wade, because I don’t get how GJ loses one of it's own during a lockdown.”
Kim had removed her K-link and now Shego, Kim, and Ron were staring around it while it sat on Kim's desk in her room. Shego had just gotten back a few minutes earlier, just after dusk, and had had been in a mood ever since.
“Dr. Director wasn't part of the lockdown,” said Wade, looking evasive.
“How could that be?” asked Kim. “She was the one Allucinere impersonated, would she be the one under the most investigation?”
“To be honest, I'm not really privy to those sorts of decisions,” said Wade. “I'm not even a field agent, I just work in research. I can only tell you what I've heard from the other scientists here.”
“Well that's convenient,” said Shego, frustrated. “I don't suppose you want to tell us how you were working with Kim's brothers while under lockdown either, huh?”
“Actually, I was only virtually there,” said Wade. “Jim has some pretty good volumetric holographic technology himself. Not on par with Allucinere but good for working on a team.”
“Wade,” asked Ron, having said little since Wade called a few minutes earlier. “Why Dr. Director? And why Dr. Drakken? Does Maya have something against people with doctorates?”
“I seriously doubt that, Ron,” said Wade. “And I'm not sure Dr. Director has really been kidnapped, just that she's missing. But I think it's more to do with people being close to Kim or related to Allucinere's earlier downfall.” Wade sighed. “I'm sorry Kim, but it seems like she has it out for you this time.”
“I can't keep my family locked up here AND search for my brothers,” said Kim. “You have to give me something. Some means of protecting us.”
“I've been working on something here, with just a few of the other researchers,” Wade said quietly. “It might be able to disrupt a personal luminocodec when finished.”
“When is it gonna be finished, then?” asked Shego.
“We're still testing it now,” said Wade. “Once we get it calibrated right, I'll find a way to send you a couple. It's a very specific harmonic signal that affects the Luminocodec, we've been at it for days with little success.”
“Isn't GJ going to do anything about these missing people?” asked Ron.
“It's complicated, Ron. I don't what the details are, but I think GJ is worried that while Allucinere was here, she arranged for the disruption of a lot of the European offices' surveillance infrastructure. It could mean she's somewhere there, or it could just be a decoy. Only a couple hundred GJ agents worldwide have been cleared to return to duty and they're stretched thin trying to restore operations in the Western theatre.”
“Europe?” asked Kim. She stood up and ran to her dresser, picking up a small piece of paper and returning. “I forgot in all the chaos yesterday, we ran into Junior and he gave us these swiss bank numbers.” Kim held up the paper for the watch, which briefly emitted a green light. “Junior thinks that Allucinere was the one who transferred the money, if you can trace the money, we might find out where she went.”
Wade looked off the edge of the screen on the watch as he typed. “I'll see what I can find out, but our computer network is mostly down which means my typical methods of tracing bank records is out. I might be able to pull some strings and get one of the cleared agents to do it though. I'll let you know.”
“Thanks, Wade,” said Kim.
The screen on the K-link went dark and then returned with the time.
“That device he was talking about will be good to root out spies and misinformation,” said Shego. “But your family needs protection.”
“I don't think I'll ever convince them to carry weapons, Sheeg,” said Kim.
“Not enough time to learn kung-fu, either,” said Ron.
“I'll call Hench, see if I can arrange some more protection for the area,” Shego said. “Aside from the people living in this house, who else do you know that we should look out for?”
“Maybe Ron's family?” said Kim. She looked at Ron. “It's possible if she can't get to you she'll try for your folks, like she did with my brothers.”
“Okay, the Stoppables,” nodded Shego. “Who else?”
“Who qualifies?” asks Kim. “The whole city knows me in one way or another.”
Shego sighed. “Just tell me who you would worry about most if they were kidnapped. That seems to be the easiest way to narrow this down.”
“Around here, all I can think of Monique, I suppose,” said Kim. “Assuming--” She hesitated, then her eyes went wide. “Oh god,” she said, putting a hand to her mouth.
“What?” asked Shego.
“KP?” chimed Ron.
“Monique!” Kim cried. “I haven't heard from her since were supposed to meet at the mall!” Kim ran to the phone and began dialing.
Monique's mom answered the phone. “Monique!? Is that you, baby?”
Kim's heart fell. The rest of the conversation was merely procedural.
( KP )
Kim sat in silence at the dining room table of her parent's house. She wanted to burst out screaming at how unfair this all was and why the hell does she get all the bad luck, but it wasn't the time for being cranky. People were in trouble, and even if being a hero was a life behind her, she hadn't forgotten her roots.
It helped more that Ron was here. She hated to admit it, but even his schmaltzy mannerisms were comforting in a nostalgic sort of way. She and him had been through great dangers together and it was hard to ignore the feeling his presence gave her when facing danger.
Of course, Shego's presence gave her comforting feelings too, but they were inappropriate at this moment.
“I just got off the phone with Hench,” Shego announced, striding into the dinner room turned conference room with Kim's family, Ron, and the newcomer, Special Agent Gibson. “He's sent some people out to watch over Beth and see if Monique's face turns up anywhere, but he had some other news as well.”
“What kinda news?” asked Ron. “'cause I'd say we could use a dose of the good.”
“Can't promise that, sorry,” sighed Shego. “He said that someone's been putting pressure on his 'legitimate' business, and I hope you realize I've just put quotes around legitimate.”
“I thought he was entirely legitimate,” asked Kim, eyeing Shego.
“Well, there's a certain degree of interpretation in that statement,” said Shego.
“Really?” asked Agent Gibson. “Do tell.” He looked less than amused.
“Hrm, uh, anyway, he said that it's not the normal sort of pressure he's used to,” continued Shego. “Not like other people trying to steal his business or territory. It was more like vigilantism. Strange people walking in and leaving hints that he should clean up his act 'or else.'”
“Vigilantes?” asked Kim. “I don't get it.”
“Word in his circles says that some of his customers have been getting pressured too,” said Shego. “Pretty much all of his customers actually.”
“So, somebody's telling everyone they need to go good?” asked Ron. “I don't get it, what's the bad side of this?”
“It's the 'or else' that's bad,” said Agent Gibson. “Vigilantes are not typically any better than the people they pit themselves against.” He pulled on the lapels of his jacket absentmindedly. “It's not my specialty, the BAU might help more, but it almost fits your girl's M.O.”
“That's what I was thinking,” said Shego. She looked to Kim. “Pumpkin, you said last time Allucinere was around she tried to create a better agency of 'justice' than Global Justice, right?”
“Yes,” nodded Kim. “She felt GJ compromised too much and wasn't staffed with appropriately 'perfect' agents. She wanted to make things more black and white.”
“That could be what we're looking at here,” said Agent Gibson. “Or you could all be reading into it too much because she's on your mind.”
“Well, then what do you think?” asked Shego, leaning on the table.
Agent Gibson looked around the table and paused on Kim. “There's more than a passing chance it's true,” he finally said. “I'll call back to Langley and see if there's someone looking into it yet.” He got up and pulled out a cell phone as he left the room.
“What did the police say?” asked Ron, looking to Kim's parents.
“They're going to post alerts,” said Judy hopefully, then sighed. “But they're not going to get any more priority than normal runaways or missing persons. Elliot was a big help getting them to even pay attention to us. Apparently there are a large number of missing children reported every month.”
“I can't believe this,” Kim shook her head. “I've never had this much trouble finding a villain.”
“You have to admit,” said Ron. “She did a pretty good job cutting off your normal avenues of finding people. Wade, GJ, your website,” he counted on his fingers.
“Then we need to find new avenues,” said Kim. “Junior is even trying to help us, there has got to be others we can talk to.”
“Hench is already tapping the villainous community,” said Shego. “But to be honest, this Allucinere's polarizing attitude towards good and evil probably means we'd have more luck in the hero community.”
Kim thought about that for a second, then rose her head and looked at Shego.
“I don't know if there are any hero newsletters, though,” continued Shego, looking off. “Maybe some heroic forum or something. I'm not sure who would know, though.”
Ron blinked then looked at Shego incredulously.
“You're pretty much the only hero I really came up against when I was a villain,” said Shego. “Do you know any other heroes we might be able to ask?”
Shego looked at the rest of the table, who were all staring at her like she'd grown a second head.
“What?”
“Um,” said Ron. “Weren't YOU a hero?”
Shego paused. Then frowned. “Oh, fine, so for once I look dumb.” She grumbled. “Don’t get used to it.”