Disappearing Doctor

The face on the Kimmunicator was younger, with soft featured and framed in long black hair. However it was the eyes, those ancient-looking blue eyes that bothered Kim as she stared into the small screen. The teenager had expected to see someone different when she had her genius associate set up the call, but this was beyond different. This was unsettling.

“Ah, Ms. Possible,” said the woman on the screen. She pushed the bangs over her eyes aside and looked at Kim with a wide smile. “I had hoped I'd get a chance to talk to you during my tenure here, but I hadn't thought it would have been so soon.”

“Just call me Kim, Director,” said the teen.

“Acting Director, actually, but you can call me Jennifer since we're not going to be dealing with formalities.” The GJ agent nodded slightly but kept her eyes forward. Kim felt she was being analyzed. “As I'm sure your brilliant friend told you, I'm only going have Dr. Director's position until she recovers from her injuries. Probably no more than a few weeks at best.”

“So she will recover,” said Kim. She felt relieved. In that hospital, amidst the chaos, it seemed as though all of GJ was decimated. “I'm glad.”

“We all are. Betty does an excellent job here at headquarters, she always has pleased all of her liaisons.” Jennifer's smile became slightly more natural as she said that, but quickly returned to the wide grin.

“Liaisons?” asked Kim. “What do you mean?”

“Well, naturally, you can't have the sort of infrastructure GJ does around the world without notifying at least a few of the governments in the countries you're setting up listening posts in. GJ has had a long standing relationship with the United States, with the stipulation that there be a military liaison to ensure that the government's best interests are being served.” The Acting Director pointed at herself. “I was one of those liaisons, back when I was a colonel with the Air Force.”

“I was … encouraged to resign my post some time later,” the Acting Director continued, no longer smiling at all. “Betty was kind enough to offer me a position here.” She paused to regain her jovial posture. “But that's neither here nor their. We must return to the matter at hand.”

“Right,” nodded Kim. “Gemini.”

“Indeed,” returned Jennifer. “Naturally GJ wants to see this matter resolved with the utmost haste, but we must be cautious as well. There are still major difficulties being faced here and I don't want to risk any of Betty's people if I don’t have to.”

“I doubt you're going to get a better opportunity than this,” Kim said.

“You are probably right, but there is a slight matter of coordinating the proper amount of people to help you. With our communications network only just recovering now, it could be considerable time until we get anyone to your position. If I can convince you to wait…”

Kim shook her head. “We can't leave Dr. Vedas like that.”

“Then I'm sorry,” shrugged Jennifer. “I'll have agents on their way ASAP, but it could be minutes or it could be hours. I wish it could be better, but it's the best I can do.”

“Thanks,” said Kim, and then pocketed her Kimmunicator. She looked over at her team while they stood beside Shego's jet parked in Kim's front yard. Ron stood confidently with Rufus on his shoulder. Shego leaned, frustrated, against the jet with her arms folded.

Shego shook her head. “I told you that was a waste of time,” she said. “That cycloptic chick said to buzz off last time we saw her too.”

“We could have used the backup,” Ron added. “WWEE is not your average villain. But we've gone up against worse before.”

“Whatever.” Shego waved her hand. “Let's get going so I can kick Drakken's ass.”

Kim nodded and started climbing up into the jet. She moved slightly to sit with Ron (finally!), and waited for Shego to start the engines. Ron said something comforting, and Kim nodded but she wasn't listening.

She had reservations about this plan even though she was the one who had conceived of it. Without Global Justice watching their back, she wondered if they'd be as successful as they usually were. Last time they'd gone up against Gemini, GJ took care of the many henchmen in WWEE leaving only Gemini for Kim to worry about. This time it would be different.

As the slim plane took to the air another thought struck Kim. All the things that had happened recently had been very competently planned. Gemini's kidnapping of Drakken, the assault on GJ, theft of the artifacts, the kidnapping of Dr. Rick. While the last was allowed to happen by Kim, the sonic disrupter was a surprise, and each of the previous parts had been fairly well accomplished. If you took into account the fact that GJ isn't even in a state to retaliate as part of their strategy, WWEE had seriously improved their game since kidnapping Ron to steal the secret of the ‘Ron Factor.’

Gemini must have been brushing up on his villain tactics all this time.

Either that or something else was happening that Kim hadn't even yet considered.

---

Dr. Richard Vedas awoke to find a few eyes staring at him intently. They were small and beady, and one belonged to a short, stocky man with an eyepatch, a beard, and wearing a uniform similar in theme to the men who had grabbed him earlier. The other two belonged to a thinner man with bluish skin -- why his skin was blue was a matter for another time -- with an unsightly scar and dark hair. The latter was staring at him with the same intensity of the former, however he blue man was tied to a chair much like Rick was.

His neck throbbed dully, the remains of a rather forceful hit to his spinal column to knock him out en route to… wherever it was that he'd been taken. He remembered the uniformed soldiers grabbing him, binding his arms and legs, and throwing him into a flying aircraft of some sort. Afterwards they talked to one another about escaping his student's attack, the long trip to the base, and who had been on last night's episode of “Colson's Creek.”

Rick breathed in relief, feeling the slight pressure in his right ear meaning that the small tracking device that Kim had placed there remained. Whether it still worked, was entirely beyond his ability to tell. If the world-class super heroine's plan was working, he'd just have to stall these interrogators long enough for her and the cavalry to arrive. Assuming Global Justice cared at all about his kidnapping anymore.

“Ah, awake are we?” said the blue skinned man. Kim has suspected that this guy -- Drakken, she called him -- would be here. She didn’t indicate anything about ropes, however. Richard suspected there had been some sort of insurrection between him and the unbound one that Kim called ‘Gemini.’

“That's typically how people classify me when I've got my eyes open and talking,” quipped Rick, trying to ignore the pain from his neck. “Except my mother, actually.”

“A jokester,” Gemini said while walking around since he was the only one who could. “That will make this process all the more entertaining.”

“What process?” asked Rick. He glanced around and noticed the tray of surgical instruments nearby as well as the huddled shadows of Gemini's henchmen just beyond the reach of the bright light above Rick's head.

“Of interrogation,” Drakken said sinisterly, slightly hindered by his inability to move more than his head. “You will answer our questions,” he paused, then continued darkly, “one way, or another.”

“You know, I am a teacher,” the brown haired prisoner commented. “I typically answer questions without much coaxing. I also answer my e-mail… well, eventually. I'm usually kind of busy.”

“An e-mail?” said Drakken. “That's no fun.”

“If you're so agreeable,” interrupted Gemini. “Then this will be a quick process and you'll find yourself on your way shortly. No… excessive harm will come to you.”

Rick didn't like how that sounded. “What, uh, what can I help you with, then?”

Unbidden, one of the purple-suited henchmen rolled a cart into the light which held seven aged pieces of clothing made from shaped stone and tattered strips of leather. Rick scanned the pieces quickly, comparing them with his memory of the mantle, and tried to mask his relief that the helm was indeed the replica he'd had made.

“Is that--” Rick started, building an air of false surprise. “Is that the Mantle of Tenoch! It's supposed to be lost! Only the helm was ever found!”

“Indeed, only the helm was known to have been found,” said Gemini walking purposely between Rick and the artifacts. “But they have all existed until this day, intact, and ready for someone to collect them once more.”

“This display is priceless,” continued Rick. “Any museum in the world would kill to have it. There are only stories that remain of Tenoch, nobody knows very much about him.”

“Your scholastic pursuits are noble,” said Gemini. “But I have a slightly different intention.”

“What? You desire the power of a god?” joked Rick.

“Oh, yes,” Drakken said, nodding. “Quite right.”

The teacher's mouth became a thin line. “That's just a legend,” he said, seriously. “There is no proof that the Mantle of Tenoch has any magical ability whatsoever.”

“Ah, but the legends must exist for a reason,” supplied Gemini.

“There are many ways to give tribute to a great warrior or a famous person in ancient times. Telling stories of their power, akin to godhood, is a very common one. It doesn't mean that he really had any power, just that people revered him.”

Drakken frowned and looked at Gemini suspiciously. The latter just nodded reassuringly. “All this is true,” he said, stroking his beard. “But there is more to this legend, and you know it.”

“What do you mean?” Rick frowned. There was something wrong about where this conversation was going.

“Someone else has had the Mantle of Tenoch, after its namesake.” Gemini bent down to look the bound teacher in the eyes. “And before it was distributed across the globe.”

“How do you know that?” Rick said slowly.

Gemini turned to look away and Rick noticed that even Drakken was staring at him intently. “I have my sources,” he said as he stared up at the bank of monitors glowing dimly on a far wall. “What matters, however, is that you know it's true, and that the second person to have the mantle also claimed to have gained extraordinary power from the artifact.”

“You seem very informed,” commented the prisoner. “Why do you need me if you know so much.”

“Because I know only that the Mantle was used,” the mastermind of WWEE said, turning to face Rick again. “But you know the details. You've seen the journals of Cortez!”

Rick paled, this time his reaction was genuine. “I know nothing more than you,” he said in monotone.

Gemini laughed wildly, drawing stares from his two observers. Placing a hand across his belly to stifle the cackling, he moved to the tray of surgical instruments. “Yes, I suspected you would say as much. We will have to know for sure, however.” He picked up a small, glimmering needle.

Rick swallowed. He hoped Kim was close. This had gone far further than planned.

---

The soft sounds of the two uniformed members of WWEE falling to the floor were barely heard in the expansive hanger within the subterranean structure under the Nevada desert. A simple touch from Shego's glowing hands were all it had taken to knock them out, her strange power somehow overloading their nervous systems and rendering them unconscious. Afterwards, Kim and the green thief carefully dragged the bodies away, placing them near the entrance they'd used to sneak into WWEE headquarters. If Kim and Shego's track records were anything to go by, by the time they were done here the whole place would be set to self-destruct.

Ron and Rufus jumped down from the tall ladder into the hangar and landed near to Kim and Shego just as they were arranging the sleeping guards. “Well, that's a better sign than the last headquarters we infiltrated,” Ron said, looking at their handiwork.

“Dr. Rick is here,” said Kim, referencing the locator signal on the Kimmunicator. “Which probably means Gemini and Drakken are too.”

“Well, we know Rickie's ear is here, anyway,” said Shego, kicking one of the guards in spite. “These guys don't even have letters. Must be mercenaries.”

“Or they just ran out of letters,” said Kim, waving the device in her hand. “Wade's scans say there are at least forty people here. Most of them in the center room with Dr. Rick.”

“Naturally,” said Shego, sarcastically. “So, twenty-twenty? You take half the room I'll take the other half?”

“I doubt that even you could handle twenty soldiers at once,” said Kim.

Shego just smirked. “Did you see those GJ thugs that tried to mess with me the other day?”

Kim shivered. She didn't want to think about any of the GJ agents right now, it brought up awful memories of…

“Let's just get going,” Kim said quickly. “See what the sitch is in the center room and get Dr. Rick out of there if we can.” She started running for the doors as Ron followed behind.

Shego looked after her with an arched brow. Then shook her head and followed as well.

The hangar had two doorways leading into the base, one on the far wall length-wise, and another three quarters down the long north wall. The door on the far wall was larger and had a pair of windows on it that looked out into a long wide corridor. Kim stared through the window carefully and watched for guards. A few minutes later she nodded to Ron and they slipped through the door and pressed themselves against the left wall of the corridor.

“Wade says the security station is that way,” Kim pointed towards a smaller branch in the corridor. “Think you and Rufus can do something to make sure we aren't seen?”

“No problem, KP,” said Ron. Rufus poked his head up out of Ron's pocket and cheered in the affirmative. They ran off down the hallway.

“Oh, god,” said Shego, putting a hand to her forehead. “Relying on the doofus and the rodent to deal with the cameras. What's next? Sending the nerdlinger off to handle the fights?”

“Give it a rest, Shego,” whined Kim. “You know Ron is more than capable. You did work for him once, remember?”

“That was when he had Dr. D's evil in him,” snapped Shego. “And I seem to recall him getting dangerously close to defeating you that time as well.”

“Which is why I trust him completely,” said Kim.

“Yeah, right,” Shego shook her head. “I'd maybe believe that more if you weren't periodically locking lips with the buffoon.”

Kim blushed furiously and tried to ignore Shego. “Let's… just get going.”

“Ah, so she does have a soft spot,” mocked the green thief.

Without further banter, they slipped down the wider corridor and came to an intersection between two other angled hallways which all led towards a huge pair of metal doors emblazoned “COMMAND ROOM.” One of the two doors had a small porthole window in it and Kim could see the outline of a guard standing on the other side.

“Well, this won't be stealthy,” said Shego, scanning the ceilings now for a vent or duct that might accommodate her size and weight. “Maybe there's another way in.”

Kim inched her way up to the door and peeked quickly in, past the guard. The glass was tinted and the Command Room was apparently very dark because she couldn't see very much more than the barest hints of other henchmen and a bright light in the center of the room. Kim ducked down beneath the window and looked back at Shego.

“We can't go in this way without making a big mess,” said the teen.

“Eh, why not? Let's just go in guns blazing.” Shego cracked her knuckles in anticipation.

“I don't want Dr. Rick to get caught in the crossfire.” Kim looked back down the corridor and noticed something. “Have you seen any female WWEE soldiers?”

Shego looked to the side. “Not yet.” She crooned her neck, “Why?”

Kim pointed at the sign at the intersection of the corridors. It said “SECURITY - HANGAR - BARRACKS - GALLEY” on it with arrows pointing down each of the corridors.

“Maybe we could play a little dress-up,” said Kim.

“Oh, no way,” Shego held up her hands. “Have you looked at those uniforms? They're the most tacky things I've ever seen. I'd rather just take my chances with the forty guards.”

“We're never going to get close enough unless we blend in,” said Kim. “Come on.”

“Absolutely NOT.”

---

Forty years of records. Thousands of people coming and going through over a hundred different facilities interfaced with countless computer systems and linkages. Somewhere within all the data was a clue, a linkage, that tied a everything that had happened this week with something that started in 1965. It was a grand and complicated mystery indeed.

Which was why Global Justice Agent Vicki Grimes was positively glowing. She loved mysteries, especially ones woven so tightly into a myriad of random facts and tidbits of information. There was even a possibility that the clue was gone and only ghosts or phantoms of the data she sought remained. That was even better, in her opinion.

She had been so bored growing up. Her parents were understanding enough, which is why they let her accelerate her classes, move ahead her studying, and attend college when she was still quite young. She liked to play with her friends, growing up, she wasn't anti-social, but the older she got she realized just how much more she understood, how many more things she saw in the world that they hadn't. She would talk emphatically about topics that few of the kids her age cared about and none could keep up. Even her parents couldn't keep pace with her opinions on social change and her scorn about the growth of consensus science.

Eventually the kids her age had almost nothing in common with her, and she had to look to older peers. So it was a blessing when she went to college and learned physical chemistry, human behavior and psychology. The students were weary of her but the teachers were intriguing. They encouraged her to learn more. Some with unsavory goals, as she learned early, but most were kind and wanted more than to ride her coattails to success. She was still quite inexperienced, after all, and she wouldn't be publishing until she had spent the time developing her knowledge of the fields she yearned to understand.

Then she got bored again, this time with theory. The studying was coming easy and she was starting to come up with opinions of her own again, but she started to doubt the impact her research would have. She could get published one day, and maybe scientists across the world would read about it, but ultimately, it would lead to more research and tests and experiments and if anything came of her work it could possibly be decades after her death. She wanted to see an impact now, or at least within her lifetime, and she was skeptical that it would come on the path she set upon.

So when GJ approached her, she jumped at the chance. She'd never thought of how she could apply her behavioral theories to criminology and she had to admit a perverse fascination with the criminal mind as it tended to buck social laws and traditions in favor or more anti-establishment behavior. Even GJ itself, to a certain degree, worked outside of the common social structure, supplanting the established methods of maintain law and order in the world in favor of a more proactive approach.

But she didn't want to get stuck behind a desk anymore. So she insisted on being a field agent. She wasn't in superb shape, but she hadn't let herself go, and she was still young. It was easy enough to build herself to the athletic standards that GJ demanded. She passed Agent training, got herself assigned to a department, and then got paired with a woman who … didn't like her very much. Not very much at all, really.

Vicki shivered as she tried to make herself not think any more about what happened next.

“Are you cold?” asked Agent Francis Calden beside her, one of the four agents assigned to figuring out the mystery of Gemini's assault on GJ headquarters. “I can make some coffee.”

“No, I'm fine,” Vicki nodded, reassuringly. “I don't like coffee very much anyway.” She looked at her laptop as it processed the 163rd data tape containing archived records of GJ's monitoring during the 1960's. She was searching for something very particular, but she wasn't sure exactly what it was. So she had no choice but to make her filter broad and go through each finding by hand.

“Are you sure that what happened this week had anything to do with this guy?” Francis said after a few moments of silence. He was holding up a manila folder containing a GJ Agent profile they'd both read very carefully.

“Not positive,” the young blonde agent admitted. “But I have a feeling.”

“Well, that's more than what I've got,” he shrugged. “I could probably look through these logs for days and not even get to the correlation even if it existed. If your hunch narrows down the search, then I'm not one to complain.”

“It hasn't narrowed it down enough,” said Vicki, never looking up from the findings listed on her screen. “We just don't have the time to go through everything. If something is wrong, I mean, more wrong than us being attacked, then we have to respond to it sooner rather than later. Or someone else might get attacked.”

“Still,” he started. “This guy used to be a good guy! I mean, look at this record, he was a superhero! Name: Captain Fantastic. Active: 1958-1963. Stopped 38 possible world destroying events, 42 attempts at kidnapping, 65 world domination plots, and returned 18 stolen devices. He only became a GJ agent after getting married and deciding he wanted more of a home life. He disappeared in 1965 under unknown circumstances and was survived by his wife and son.” He put the folder down. “What in that screams ‘terrorist’ to you?”

Vicki shook her head. “I don't know, I just have a feeling.” She tapped on her computer, removing another record that didn't fit what she was looking for. “It's like that a lot for me, I'm not sure really what I'm looking for but I have a feeling when I'm close.”

Francis smiled slightly and shrugged. “Well, you run circles around me here, so I trust you, even if I don't understand.”

“Circles?” asked Vicki, glancing back at him just once. “What do you mean?”

“Your work at GJ,” he said. “I've read some of it, it's all fairly well documented and well in advance of anything I've done. Not to mention you're like, several years younger than me.”

“You've read my work?” The blonde paused, feeling self-concisions all of a sudden.

“I worked on the ‘Ron Factor’ as well. I saw your reports. They were very detailed, and quite well thought out.” Francis looked aside. “You realized conclusions much sooner than the rest of us on the project. I'm almost sorry that the project was closed. I know that you findings were on the positive side. It must have felt like GJ was telling you that you were wrong.”

Vicki grimaced briefly then sighed. “It's not like that,” she said slowly. “Not entirely, anyway. I was very upset at the time, but… I know why the decision was made the way it was. There wasn't really anything particular about Ron by himself that made saving the world easier. I noticed that later when I was going back through my work. GJ was right to pull the plug when they did, we were heading in the wrong direction.” She looked at Francis. “But yeah, it hurt back then. I don't consider myself better than anyone else at GJ, though. Everyone here is quite talented, and many are much more experienced than me.”

“You're still quite talented,” said the red-headed man. “And more than level-headed enough to find the link we're looking for.”

Vicki blushed. “Thanks.”

Francis paused, watching the attractive blonde type erratically for a few seconds, then hesitantly turned back to his laptop. He called up the next batch of exceptions and started studying them.

But stopped on the first one.

“Hang on a minute,” he mused, typing furiously to create another filter to find correlating records to the one he was looking at.

“What is it?” asked Vicki, who'd turned back to face Francis again.

“There's something not right here. It's like… records have been erased.” He looked at the data on his screen as his filter ran. “There are references to Captain Fantastic after his ‘disappearance.’ But they're only passing notes that reference events that aren't recorded.”

“What do you mean?”

“It's like,” Francis tried to articulate what he was quickly concluding had happened. “Like someone quickly erased a whole bunch of records about Fantastic but missed all these small unrelated pieces that connect to them. Like -- uh, tearing out a section of paper and then taping the remaining pieces together. The jagged edges don’t match right. Like--”

“Like something big happened with Captain Fantastic after 1965,” said Vicki. “But nobody is supposed to know about it.”

“Right,” nodded Francis. “Someone has erased this event from history.”

“The question is, then,” said Vicki. “How do we find out what it was, and why was it hidden?”

---

Ron breathed deeply and tried to clear his mind and take in his surroundings. His lungs burned and he felt just a slight tinge of soreness in his palms but it quickly faded. Eventually the security station at Gemini's underground base reasserted himself, as well as the unconscious bodies of the three guards that had operated it. Nearby, Rufus was apparently jumping up and down on keys and buttons at the security station, disabling cameras all over the base.

He had lost himself again.

There was little that Ron could say was ‘normal’ for him during his escapades with Kim. In fact, the words ‘sick and wrong’ have come to his lips more often than any person would probably have ever desired. But it was the life he got himself involved in, for better or for worse, to save the world when it needed saving, by her side.

Still, he never could have suspected that his phobia of monkeys, long ingrained in him since those days at Camp Wannaweep, would not only be overcome in three short years, but that he would come to rely on the strength of Tai Shing Pek Kwar: Monkey Kung Fu. It was almost surreal how his weakness could have been reversed entirely into super-strength.

The problem was that he couldn't exactly control it. While Monkey Fist's Monkey Idol imbued both he and Rufus was mastery of Tai Shing Pek Kwar, Ron had been less than successful at using it reliably. There were ways he could feel the power coming to him at times, when he was fighting, while he was evading. But rarely did it come on command. More often than not it would come at all and Kim or someone would save him.

Then there were other times, like just now, where something would trigger the Monkey Power and Ron himself would seem to just disappear. His technique would take over his body and mind and fight with an incredible ferocity and skill. He would forget nothing, but that didn't mean that he was in control. If he were, there might have been some elements of that ability he could call up in normal situations, but this was not the case.

Strangely, the power seemed to have a sympathetic effect. While Ron rarely felt the power strongly, there was not a time that he'd gone up against Monkey Fist without it coming to his aid. Almost as if the presence of another Tai Shing Pek Kwar master made it easier for Ron to call upon his own mastery. Rufus never demonstrated such limitations, and surely Monkey Fist was persistently using the skill, so has it been so hard for Ron?

Was it his original hate for monkeys that stopped him? Quite possibly. But he'd long since come to grips with his phobia and still his abilities were beyond reach. Even worse, in the last year, there had been only one other time, aside from now, that the mastery manifested at all. The frequency was going down. Ron had speculated that maybe the magic was fading, but there was always Rufus’ ability to consider, and also the strange words of the Master Sensei at the Yamanouchi Ninja School in Japan.

“Stoppable-san,” he had said when Ron asked about the ‘power’ after the Gorilla-DNAmy incident last year. “The Mystical Monkey Power was put upon you at your request, by stepping into the beam of the Monkey Idol. However, your attitude towards all things related to Monkeys has caused it to become separate, disjoint from yourself, and contained in a vessel that you carry wearily. I believe, however, that one day the walls that separate you from it will fall and there will no longer be a difference between the two.”

Ron mused over his Master's words for a long time without coming to a conclusion on the matter.

“Eyah! Kim!” Rufus suddenly said and Ron broke his reverie to look at the few remaining cameras. Ron saw a black-and-white image of Kim and Shego attacking a few WWEE soldiers in what looked like a break room and easily defeating them. Then Kim began looking through the closets and lockers before finally pulling out an unused uniform and starting to pull it on.

“Looks like they're going to sneak into the command center, buddy,” Ron said, then deliberately looking away. While he couldn't feign disinterest in Kim dressing, Shego was an entirely different matter. “Where are the cameras there? So we can check out what they're up against.”

Rufus jumped around a few times again and the screen in the break room went dead and was replaced by a view in the command center. It was a vast room, with a raised platform in the center surrounded by at east two dozen WWEE soldiers. In the center could be seen Gemini and two people died to chairs. One of which was clearly Dr. Drakken and the other, with the long brown hair, Ron assumed was Dr. Rick. It was hard to tell because his head was hanging such that his long hair covered his face.

“Looks like things aren't going so swell,” said Ron to which Rufus emphatically agreed. “Kim better make…”

He trailed off as he saw Gemini approach Rick with a syringe and inject it rather brutally into his arm. Shortly afterwards, the Middleton teacher began twitching slightly. Ron went pale and noticed Dr. Drakken on the screen start to get fidgety as well.

“They may get there too late,” Ron said solemnly. “We have to do something, Rufus!”

---

Dr. Drakken struggled slightly against his ropes. He was quite rather convinced that this was no longer going to be a cooperation and that Gemini would keep whatever powers he gained from the Mantle for himself. That still didn't change his situation however, as he'd never quite gotten the hang of getting out of restraints. That's what he had Shego for.

He looked at the twitching teacher across the raised dais from him and frowned. The young man was resisting the effects of the drug the WWEE leader had given him but he wouldn't last forever. “Say, Gemini,” he said. “I don't think this is all that proper.”

“What do you mean?” asked Gemini, scowling at the ‘doctor.’ “He will tell us what we need to know one way or another. I don't see how there is anything improper with that.”

“It's just not, you know, classy villain enough,” Drakken explained with a nod for reinforcement.

Gemini replaced his scowl with confusion. “What ARE you talking about?”

“Mind control, that's a classy way of getting information,” continued Drakken. “Or a brain vacuum, that's a good one too. These… drugs, they seem … off the level.”

The WWEE mastermind frowned. “You're babbling, aren't you?”

“Not at all,” the blue doctor corrected his posture to appear less wet-noodle-like. “Coercive drugs have hallucinogenic properties, and remove the logical centers of the brain from computation. Illusion or fantasy can be indistinguishable from fact in those situations. You interrogation still might not work.”

Drakken hopped in his chair slightly to face Gemini. “Technology, however, is much more precise. Decisions are made and enforced and utilize higher-brain functions to operate instead of short-circuiting them. We could be sure what he's telling us true.”

“Intriguing,” mused the cyclops. “But I do not have the patience to wait for you to create such a device, this is the fastest way.” He gestured towards the teacher. “I will increase the dosage gradually until he tells us what we need to know.”

Drakken grimaced. If he was in Gemini's shoes there would be no reason to honor a bargain made with someone such as himself. They had the Mantle, and the person to explain how to use it. The blue scientist would have to find another way of being useful or he would never see a drop of power from the artifact.

“Uh--Gemimi?” a voice suddenly echoed in the Command Center. It was a high pitched voice, somewhat nasal, and incredibly familiar to Dr. Drakken. “I mean, Sir, there's a matter in the security … room, that you need to see.”

The stockier man arched his brow. “I'm busy, it can wait.”

“Naw, it's really important, it's… uh-- Kim Possible! Yeah, and Global Justice. They're on their way!”

“Blast it,” Gemini clutched the syringe in his fist tightly. “How did they find us?” His eyes turned towards Drakken. “What foolery did you do?”

“I've been tied to this chair for DAYS!” Drakken yelled. “What could I do from here? I'd say it was that nerdy friend of hers that found you!”

“I still suspect you,” sneered Gemini. “But that is a matter for later. Sound the alarm! We need to buy time for the drugs to work, we don't have another backup base built yet to escape to.”

“You know, I've had my share of secret lairs, believe me,” Drakken noted, calmly. “But I never wasted money having more than one at a time.” HE paused, then added. “Well, except for Bueno Nacho, but that really wasn't costing me money.”

“maybe this wasn't such a good idea,” the voice on the loudspeaker softly said.

“What?” replied Gemini, angry.

“Uh-not-nothing!” the voice said back, stronger. “Sounding alarm now.”

Everyone paused.

“Well?” said Gemini.

“It's ah… a silent alarm,” the voice said. “You know, the nifty one we had put in as a… gift.”

“A gift?” Gemini said, abashed. “For me?”

“Yeah,” the voice sounded proud. “For you.”

“That's awfully nice,” smiled Gemini warmly. “I thought you guys all forgot about my birthday.”

“Uh,” Drakken interrupted. “Crisis going on here?”

“Right,” nodded Gemini. “I'm going to the security station. You handle things here.”

“I'm still TIED TO A CHAIR!” cried Drakken.

“Yes sir,” a voice from behind the captive doctor said then stepped into the light, revealing the Alpha symbol emblazoned on his chest.

Gemini parted the crowd of soldiers as he walked out and pointed to one half. “Come with me,” he scowled, and stormed out of the room with the soldiers in pursuit.

The large doors closed behind them and Drakken craned his neck to look at Alpha. “Funny,” said Drakken. “I don't remember seeing you earlier.”

“Well, doy! You're probably the least observant person I've ever worked with,” said Alpha, in a suddenly higher pitched voice.

Dr. Drakken's eyebrows raised. “That's strange you sound just like--”

Alpha slapped his head and then reached up to pull off his mask, revealing a torrent of long black hair that Drakken couldn't figure how it fit into the seemingly tightly fitted costume. A pair of emerald eyes blinked stared at Drakken. “Get it now?” the definitely womanly voice asked.

“Shego!” yelled Dr. Drakken enthusiastically, then paused and continued in a more reserved voice. “You're looking a little… manly.” He stared at the bulging chest and arm muscles the jumpsuit was showing.

“Hey!” yelled one of the other WWEE soldiers, having noticed the sidekick.

Shego ignored him and grabbed Drakken by his blue labcoat, picking him up chair and all. “If you EVER make a remark like that again I will burn you alive.” The lab coat smokes slightly where Shego was holding it and Drakken felt the heat near to his neck.

“Y-yes, Shego,” stammered the doctor. “Never again.”

“Good,” Shego's eyes narrowed. Tossing Drakken behind her, she squared off against the WWEE soldiers, pausing only to reach into her jumpsuit and begin pulling out clumped towels, causing her ‘buff’ physique to deflate into her normal veldt form.

“All right,” she said, smirking, then motioning with her green glowing fingers. “Who's first?”

---

Gemini stormed through the corridors of his base, looking determined. Behind him at least ten of his men were walking in pace with him. No chances were going to be taken this time, he was close enough to his goal, and he couldn’t risk being stopped now. There was still time, if he could get his base defenses up before his sister arrived with her cavalry.

The door the security room opened and the first thing he saw was that all the monitors on the far wall were showing either static or were completely black. He scowled at this incompetence and looked down to see the single young teen standing by the console with a pink rat perched on his shoulder. He looked smug as Gemini looked down at the three guards on the floor.

“Stoppable,” he said, with venom.

To his credit, the boy didn't cower in fear like he expected. He simply pointed back and smiled. “Don't forget about her,” he said.

Gemini turned just in time to get slugged in the cut and kicked to the ground. As he squirmed slightly in the pain, the WWEE soldier that hit him leapt suddenly over to the boy and reached up for his mask. The purpose suit was pulled back to reveal a long mop of red hair and green eyes looking back. She stood at ready position.

“Don't you think telling him we were here was a little risky, Ron?” asked Kim.

“It was a calculated risk,” nodded Ron, confidently. “It at least split them up.”

“Still, two on ten is pretty big,” started Kim when she was interrupted by a high pitched cough that sounded more like a squeak. She looked over to see Rufus pointing at himself enthusiastically. “Sorry, Rufus. Three on ten.”

“GET THEM!” Gemini caught his breath and hollered.

Trained better to listen to orders than exercise reason, the nine remaining soldiers rushed forward to attack Kim and Ron, trampling Gemini in the process.

---

Shego ducked behind Gemini's command console at his center chair, dragging Drakken's chair, as the WWEE henchmen began firing laser weapons at her. Using her own energy blasts to keep them back and collected on one side of her, she tried to figure out a way to gain an advantage.

Drakken struggled ineffectually behind her.

“You know, Shego,” her employer commented. “You could untie me instead of throwing me all around the room.”

“Quiet, Dr. D,” Shego hushed him. “I'm thinking.”

Peaking out from behind the console, she saw a few henchmen try to creep their way forward ducking behind various turned over tables and by lying prone in front of the dais. Shego generated a ball of energy and flung it to the side, tossing shrapnel at the guy behind the table and causing a large panel television to fall on the guy in front of the dais who screamed like a child in fright.

Shego smirked until she felt the whole ground shift and groan. She looked around and realized they were on a suspended walkway above a larger area of the command center. The walls were shaped like a bubble, sloping down from the top center and leaving a ten foot gap around the edges where Shego supposed the lower level was. The door she and Kim entered from was opposite from her leaving no other exits on this level aside from taking the plunge one story down.

A series of laser shots forced her to duck her head behind the console again and she heard Drakken yelp once. His hair had been singed by a near shot and she roughly pulled further behind the console to keep him from crying.

The ground swayed again and Shego was forced to accept that the level she was on was being severely damaged by the firefight. She looked back over the console and flung another ball of energy to keep the henchmen from advancing. The orb exploded against the ground, blowing a sizable hole in the floor and causing everything to jerk to one side slightly then sway back to level.

“Better not do that again,” she mused then noticed that some of the shrapnel from her shot had struck the long haired teacher Kim and she used as bait and he was now lying on his side. “Dammit, that teacher Kim wanted me to save is still out there.”

“Kim?” said Drakken, looking up from his fabulous view, face-down, of the floor. “Kim Possible? You're working with her?”

“Don't start,” snapped Shego, ducking again. “Two things before you go on some dumb tirade. One, your mother is a real piece of work and I'd thank you very much if you make sure I never see her again. And two, you were kidnapped, who else was I supposed to work with? Duff Killigan?”

“I wasn't kidnapped,” pouted Drakken. “I was contracted.”

“Yeah, okay, right,” nodded Shego, kicking the metal chair Drakken was secured to. “I think you may have wanted to negotiate a better payment plan then. Or at least pay in advance. Gods don't tend to keep their promises.”

“The Mantle!” the blue doctor said suddenly. “We must have it! Then we can get ourselves out of here quick!”

“Yeah, how well did it work when Gemini put it on, huh?” Shego leaned right and fired more energy bolts (carefully avoiding the teacher), striking one henchmen and sending him flying.

“Uh, well,” started Dr. Drakken but Shego didn't bother to let him finish.

“It doesn't work, idiot! It's a fake! Kim and I hid the real seventh piece, you guys just have a cheap knockoff.” Shego looked around, debating whether she should stick her neck out for the teacher. She didn't really care, but she did agree to help and Kim held up her side of the bargain. Then again, Shego was evil, so there was no real obligation to do what she agreed to. Of course, she wasn't in a fabulous sitch…uation right now and might need Kim's help getting out of here. “Not to mention this mystical god stuff seems awfully bogus. It's not your M.O. anyhow.”

“One makes exceptions for godhood,” commented Drakken.

Shego looked at the crumbling floor near to the teacher and made her decision. She grabbed the doctor's chair and flung a large energy ball towards the same place she'd sent the last one. The blackened floor exploded again, throwing chunks of charred tile and metal, creating cover as Shego ran with Drakken in tow towards the teacher.

“What are you doing? SHEGO!” yelled Drakken.

Flinging energy bolts with her free hand until she reached the teacher, she caused monitors, screens, and chunks of ceiling to fall around the WWEE henchmen, keeping them pinned. Once by the tipped man, she grabbed his chair like she had Drakken's and ran towards the blackened hole she'd made in the floor with her two balls of energy. Kicking Drakken's chair down the hole and pulling the teacher's chair behind her they slipped through the rubble and down towards whatever lay below.

Shego glanced down as they were falling. “Oh,” she said. “Not good.”

---

Kim tried to weigh the situation between goods and bads as she ran through the corridors leading out of the security room. On one hand, she and Ron were still alive, several henchmen had been locked in the room thanks to Rufus’ ingenuity, and Gemini was unconscious. On the other, six soldiers were still following them, Gemini was back in the security room, and she expected that running into the command center right now would be akin to a death sentence, regardless of how well Shego was doing in there.

Shego. She hoped things were going well. Kim didn't exactly like the idea of leaving both the rescuing and the handling of the majority of the WWEE henchmen up to her, but the emerald girl was insistent that the teen-hero handle Gemini. Kim wasn't even sure why she trusted Shego, she certainly hadn't been worthy of that earlier than last week, but now… things seemed different. Ever since leaving GJ headquarters there was an earnestly Kim saw in her adversary's eyes that wasn't there before. She wondered if it would last when all this was over.

A nearby wall panel exploding, brought Kim back to reality and she had to add another item to the ‘bad’ column: inside the security room the henchmen had been hesitant to fire their weapons near the computers but out here they were going willy-nilly.

“Kim,” Ron said, slightly out of breath but pushing on. “I have an idea where we could make a stand.”

“You do?” asked Kim. “Where?”

“Come on, I saw it on the security monitors,” he ran along the left hand wall and then turned down an angled corridor. “Aside from security and the command center, there's thankfully no one else in the base.”

“Everyone must have been watching the interrogation,” mused Kim, shaking her head. “I hope Dr. Rick is okay.”

“I think we stopped him before doing anything permanent,” console Ron. The hallway sloped up slightly before ending in single sliding door. A sign glowed at the top of the doorway.

“Galley?” read Kim. “Ron, are you serious?”

The doors swooshed open and Ron ducked inside with Kim close behind. He reached into his pocket and pulled out Rufus, holding him out to the panel next to the doorway. “Hey buddy,” he said. “Think you could slow them down a bit?”

“Eyah! Okay!” said Rufus before diving onto the door panel and unscrewing the plate.

Run turned and ran back to the food preparation area. He paused and looked around at the expansive kitchen. “Ah, industrial strength cookware,” he reveled. “Truly a sight to behold.”

“Ron!” yelled Kim, accusingly. She stood in the dining area turning tables on their ends to create a barrier. “Can we focus?”

“Right, KP, just taking a second to admire something marvelous. I'm done now.” He reached over to a food processor and started pulling it apart. Kim just rolled her eyes.

Outside, banging on the door into the galley echoed into the room. Kim and Ron looked up to see Rufus leaning against the door rubbing his nails against his chest. He paused and gave a thumbs up. “Way to go, Rufus!” said Ron.

“Yah yah,” cheered Rufus before running back towards Ron.

“What are you building?” asked Kim after she'd arranged the dining area to give cover against the laser blasts.

“It's a Citrus Shocker,” said Ron, confidently. Several other appliances had been grafted onto the food processor now. “I'd to find a way to get it to start with the same letter but S-Sitrus just looks strange and C-Shocker would come out sounding ‘chocker,’ which isn't right either.”

“What does it do?” Kim said, trying to get to the point.

He picked up a basket of limes and lemons and dumped them into a catcher he built on top of the machine out of a pair of colanders, then picked up the entire appliance and headed towards Kim behind the barricade. “It uses the natural electrical current in citrus with zinc-copper electrodes (from these galvanized bowls and the copper bottomed pots) to create a mild stun gun.”

Kim blinked.

“Plus the industrial strength food processors will wing these limes out of here at like 90 miles per hour!” added Ron.

Kim raised a brow. “Are you sure you haven't bonked heads with Drakken recently?”

“Just trying to do my part,” said Ron, hefting the gun on his shoulder.

Kim shrugged and smiled.

The door slid partially open and she hunched closer to the barricade, pulling Ron lower so more of his body was covered by the upturned tables. A group of hands reached in an started pulling against the doorway to open it wide enough for the soldiers to get through. Kim put a hand on Ron's shoulder.

“Ready…” she said.

The hands strained against the door mechanism and eventually won out, pushing both halves of the sliding door aside and revealing two henchmen and the hints of more behind them.

“Now!” yelled Kim.

Ron's food processor whirred up, causing the whole device to shake wildly. A lime descended into the chamber and was immediately pureed, causing juice and chunks of lime meat to spit out of the barrel and land a few feet away.

Kim paled. “Ron…”

“No, no,” said Ron, over the increasing noise his apparatus was making. “The first one is just lubrication.”

“Lubri--?”

A sound like a small explosion or distant thunder sounded as a lemon suddenly flew out of the barrel of the ‘gun’ and struck the lead henchman that had entered the room. He took the citrus fruit to the chest and jiggled slightly as a brief shock was delivered then fell onto his back, clutching his chest. The other henchmen stared at their downed comrade for a moment, paralyzed.

The second lime caused another henchman to fall back into the hallway and convulse for a second on the floor. That time, the rest of the soldiers got the idea and started diving for cover and returning fire. Kim pulled Ron down behind the tables, nearly getting struck in the arm by laser fire.

Team Possible put their backs to the tables as laser fire flew over head and Ron checked his ordinance. “How about that?” he said, grinning.

“I have to admit, I'm impressed,” said Kim. “Think you can send a few more out there to give me cover fire?”

“You got it, KP!” replied Ron, getting onto the balls of his feet, ready to rise and fire. Kim edged near the corner of their barricade then nodded back at Ron.

“BOO-YA!” he cried as he stood, apparently setting his contraption on full-auto as he raked the room with alternating green and yellow spots.

Kim cut right to wall opposite of the kitchen and ran along the originally untouched tables before diving to the back of the room and rolling behind the first henchman she saw. The purple uniformed man looked back at her and raised his gun by Kim kicked it out of his hand then entered a crouching defensive position, still ducking to avoid the crossfire of fruit and deadly laser.

The soldier moved first, swinging with his gun hand to slug Kim's head. She dodged back easily and came around with both her hands to his chest, staggering him backwards into the toppled table but failing to cause him to fall. He regained his footing and leap at Kim, getting into a grapple. His large hands held her shoulders to the ground and the teen couldn't possible match the henchman's strength. She did the only thing she could do.

The soldier took the kick rather well, she had to admit, but quickly rolled off of her to clutch his wound. Kim reached into her pocket and pulled out an elastic band and wrapped it around the man's hands and legs. A few seconds later it shrunk considerably and solidified, hog-tying the henchman. Kim silently thanked Wade for all his toys.

Shots overhead flung past her head and she backed against the table for cover again. She was to the right of the rest of the henchmen now so she had fewer tables to give her cover, not to mention the remaining three henchmen were slowly working their way towards her, beneath the tables and below the fire of Ron's Citrus Shocker. Grabbing edge of her cover, she rolled the table to manipulate it to give her better defense against the laser blasts and counting on Ron to not shoot her with fruit.

Keeping her eye on the leading henchmen, she put her hands against the back of the table and positioned it directly between herself and the man. Breathing out, she got on the balls of her feet and swiftly pushed the table forward towards her adversary. The bottom of the table scraped against the floor but the distance was short enough that she was able to surprise the henchman and barrel him over.

Again, the strength difference between the teen cheerleader and the burly henchman made it difficult for Kim to keep him pinned for long. She used the opportunity to grab his gun and toss it aside just before he pushed the table up and allowed it to fall to the side. Kim landed nimbly, then leapt at the straightening soldier. He was ready, however, and flung her over his head and into the wall behind him.

Landing on her side, she felt the world spin slightly from the impact, but recovered just as the henchman grabbed her loose uniform (still packed with towels) and picked her up over his head. Kim wasn't sure if he was going to suplex her or just fling her into the wall again, but didn’t want to take the chance. Pulling out another elastic band she wrapped it around the hands holding and let it shrink, pulling the soldier's wrists together instantly and letting her fall to the ground. A kick to the chest flung him into a series of tables and left him down for the count.

Remembering the firefight, Kim ducked down but paused when she didn't hear firing anymore. She looked for the remaining two WWEE soldiers and saw one had succumb to the power of limon and was unconscious and the other was struggling with Ron over the ‘gun.’ As she started to run she saw the apparatus get tossed to the side and Ron and the henchmen square off.

“Ron!” she called as she ran as fast as she could… which made it easy for the seemingly unconscious henchman to grab her legs as she ran past. Her chin struck the ground hard and she saw spots in her vision but shook them off, pushing herself up on her hands and looking back at the soldier. He did, apparently, get hit many times in the chest and face, as the bruising and lingering fruit juice indicated, but he was just not as easily stopped. Kim kicked her legs free but man had already grabbed her waist and was struggling to hold her down.

Kim glanced back to see Ron trying to fight kung fu-style with the man, and she hoped for the best. If the moons were right or whatever it took to trigger it, his Monkey Kung Fu might save him. She turned her attention back to her situation and started beating on the head of the man clutched to her body. Her punches were as hard as she could make them but she figured that even a lime traveling at 90 mph would feel harder. The aggravating part was that the man seemed to be doing nothing but holding her, probably buying time for someone else to come and finish Kim off.

He was too far down on her body to repeat what she did with the first henchmen she grappled with, and her fists seemed to be doing little. She flailed with her arms for something to use and felt purchase on something smaller and metal. She brought it in front of her face and saw it was one of the laser guns being used by the soldier. She gripped it firmly and tapped it on the man's head that was holding her. He looked up and froze, but didn't leg to.

“Get off,” she tried to say firmly but didn't quite succeed. She was firm with the gun but in her mind she was freaking out. She couldn’t possibly shoot someone with it, that's not something she did. Take a life like that or even seriously injure someone. But if he didn't let go, and Ron was in trouble… could she do it, could she shoot someone so close and not go crazy?

“Make me,” the henchman said, somehow sensing her inner turmoil. He grinned an evil grin, punctuated by black and blue swellings across his cheeks from citrus fruits.

Kim trembled, then quickly adjusted her grip on the gun and struck him across the back of the head with the handle. The man seemed unfazed, and Kim's heart leapt into her throat, but then he crossed his eyes and collapsed. Kim sighed in relief.

“KIIIIIM!” called Ron. The teen's head jerked up and she turned to see Ron getting hit repeatedly by the henchman, and only Ron's strategic sidesteps during beatings kept the uniformed man from getting to a gun.

Kim summoned up her energy and kicked the man on her to the side and tossed the gun away. Only a few short steps and she could help her boyfriend. Her legs burned but she pushed them once more to make the largest steps she could make, trying to end this battle as soon as she could so she could get two seconds to breathe.

Ron got cracked across his face by the much larger man's fist on Kim's first step. His neck craned and he tried to move with the energy but his footing was false and he fell hard to the ground.

He was clearly dazed on Kim's second step, and Kim knew Ron would be no more help until he could clear the dizziness. Thankfully, the henchman was staring at him for another attack and wasn't paying attention to Kim's swift approach. She smiled.

On the third step, Kim's fists balled, ready to deal some hurt. She shifted her weight heavy onto her foot, ready to put all her energy into the first hit. It would be a surefire knockdown and give Ron a chance to recover before they headed into the command center to make sure Dr. Rick was okay.

As Kim started to lunch forward she felt the sharp throbbing in her chest and she felt her muscles across her abdomen spasm, changing her center of gravity and throwing her off course. She struck the henchman awkwardly, not with her fists but with her head and shoulder and deflected to the side, striking the floor with her shoulder and then her head. She smelled something burning, which didn't seem odd, since she was in the kitchen, but it was a truly terrible smell, like nothing she'd ever smelt on fire before.

She tried to move her head but her energy was lost. She managed to look down her body from where she came from and saw the henchmen she was struggling with previously, bleeding across his face, one eye swollen shut, and propped up barely on one arm with a gun in his hand. The gun was slightly steaming and the henchman smiled at her for just a second before collapsing. Kim felt fire spread across her chest and she glanced down once before she felt too tired to keep her eyes open. She held her head up just long enough to see the black charred hole just above her left breast.

Sleep encroached as she closed her eyes. She heard a cry that sounded like Ron's voice, but it was strange, strained. He his cry turned into some sort of howl before finally being replaced by quick sounds of combat.

Then she heard nothing at all.

---

Shego felt strong, but uncertain hands pull her from the pile of broken monitors, tables and reams of paper. She gripped the hand back and let herself be brought to the surface of the wreckage in time to look into the eyes of the tall, long haired teacher. His pupils were dilated and he seemed woozy, but he helped her to her feet.

“Are you alright, Shego?” he asked softly. She nodded absentmindedly as she looked up. It was way further down from the upper platform than she'd expected, and was glad not to be toting a series of broken bones. Somehow the teacher survived the experience intact as well. The remains of his chair lay scattered among the piles of wreckage.

Shego looked around for Drakken and noticed her employer lying on his side nearby, somehow still tied in an undamaged chair. She got to her feet and was about to make an abrasive remark about Dr. D's luck when the teacher suddenly put his finger to his lips. He moved closer to her.

“They're down here now, looking for us,” he whispered. The piles of fallen debris from the upper platform and fallen equipment and filing cabinets from this level had created several piles of garbage large enough for them to hide behind. It appeared that the WWEE henchmen were carefully skulking around each one looking for herself and her two former prisoners.

Shego ignited her green energy experimentally and mentally checked her body for damage. She felt sore all over, but nothing broken or sprained. She could probably take a few henchmen no problem. Peeking her head around the edge of the debris pile they had fallen into she counted six henchmen. Then another six came around a pile and she raised it to twelve. That would be pushing it. Then a third group of four henchmen appeared beside the first and she counted sixteen.

Pulling her head back behind the debris, she tallied up her odds. Yup, she concluded, we're screwed. Time to bail.

And yet, something lingered in her mind. She wanted to turn tail and get out of dodge as soon as her legs could carry her but she felt she couldn't. Not only was her jet too far away and in the wrong direction not to get shot to pieces by WWEE, but somehow, something was different. These guys caused all that carnage at GJ, just because they were a hindrance to their thievery plans. If someone was actively stopping them, who knows what they could do? If they got away today, would they pursue her? Drakken? Kim and Ron? And what about every other ‘good’ organization in the world? What if somehow Team Go got involved?

The bodies of those agents at GJ headquarters returned to her, filling her mind, except this time their faces were not nameless agents she'd never known before. This time they had all new faces. They had Drakken and her own face, Team Possible's faces. They had her brothers’ faces.

Shego swallowed. The world sucked, she knew that, she counted on it, in fact, to get away with what she did. And while she may be eviler than Drakken, Killigan, and Monkey Fist combined, she had her limits.

She looked to the teacher. “I don’t suppose you have some hidden fighting talents that could help us?” She looked stolid at the taller man who just blinked then nodded.

“I am, in fact, rather good at fighting,” he admitted. “But they have guns.”

“Hey, hey, I'll be the one pointing out the grim odds, thank you,” snapped Shego, quietly. “There are about sixteen of them out there, split into three groups. I'll try to lead two of them after me and you can take the last one.”

“What about him?” he gestured to Drakken.

“He's useless in a hand-to-hand fight,” said Shego plainly.

“Hey!” Drakken said, still lying on his side but not conscious.

“I'll take him with me,” she reassured the teacher. Pointed her finger, Shego fired a small bolt of energy that burned the ropes along the back of the chair Drakken was strapped to. He fell out, rather unceremoniously, and then picked himself up just as quick.

“Shego, we're going to have to talk about our employee/employer relationship rules again,” Drakken said, putting his hands on his hips.

“Yeah, whatever, if we survive,” Shego rolled her eyes. “Are you ready?”

“Are you kidding?” asked Drakken. “I'm all cramped from that chair I need to properly stretch before physical exertion.”

“I'm ready,” said Rick.

“Okay, we go,” Shego nodded. Before Drakken could protest, Shego grabbed his collar and yanked on him. They flew into the open and she Shego immediately cut between the two closer groups, using her free hand to strike as many of them as possible with energy blasts. Her shots were wild and as soon as the groups saw her, they started to return fire so she had to persistently dodge to keep from becoming a donut. She got close enough to one group that she got zinged by a shot across her extended arm, but kept running until she'd gotten to the doorway where she risked a look back.

The remaining group had already been engaged by the teacher who had advanced forward much at the same rate as Shego, but stopped to begin performing martial arts on the closer six person group to him. He looked to be using a form she'd never seen before, but was nonetheless, apparently very strong as the one punch she witness flung a henchmen onto his back like he was paper.

“Not bad,” said Shego as she slipped into the corridor sloping upward. She had a pretty good idea where the corridor was going to open into based on Kim and her wanderings earlier. She just hoped that Kim had taken care of her group so she wouldn't have to deal with it.

Drakken complained incessantly at the laser fire coming from behind them but Shego didn't slow her pace. The doctor would cry and moan to her when they got back to his island, but ultimately it was better than ending up a scorch mark on the floor.

It was when they were about twenty yards from the junction with the main corridor that she saw them. Two figures, silhouettes from the high lighting, were standing at the junction looking down at where Shego was. They were too tall to be Kim and Ron, and she had to accept that they were more of Gemini's goons. She moved her hand from firing green energy behind her to focus it in front. One shot to take out both and she should be able to keep her speed.

The ball of energy charged in her hand and she held it at ready. Not wanting to waste it until when she could be sure she would get them both.

Then suddenly a shot rang out from the figures that sounded more like an explosion than the tinny shots from the laser guns the henchmen were using. Something big flew past Shego and impacted on the leading henchman chasing her. The ball-like projectile exploded into a tight net that wrapped itself around the man causing him to fall face first into the tile. Shego paused, unsure of what just happened, if it was luck that she was missed, or that shot was intentional. Shego squinted her eyes to see better.

The two figures resolved themselves into a tall woman with brown hair and muscular black man with a goatee. They were both wearing Global Justice uniforms.

Shego flung her ball of energy behind her and rushed over to the two and recognized the woman immediately.

“Shego, isn't it?” the woman said before Shego could even start. She was smiling oddly, just like she had been on the Kimmunicator. “I'm Acting Director Cartwright. This is Commander Dash Demond from our European Theatre.”

“Uh--” started Shego.

“Dash, you can introduce yourself later,” nodded Cartwright. She motioned behind the green thief. “If you don't mind?”

“Yes, Director,” nodded the large black man who waved over his shoulder and ran past Shego. Seconds later three other burly men and two athletic looking women followed down the corridor, strange net-firing weapons drawn.

“Rick is back there,” Shego said, after getting over the surprise.

Cartwright raised an eyebrow. “We'll make sure he's extracted. What about Kim Possible?”

“I'm not sure,” Shego shook her head. “We got separated during the attack.”

“Very well.” The Acting Director turned step aside. “For your help here and because of Kim Possible's trust in you, we'll let you go right now if you choose, rather than pursuing any attempts at apprehension.”

Shego blinked.

“You do still have an outstanding criminal record,” pointed out the brunette.

“Hey, I won't look a gift horse in the mouth,” shrugged Shego and started to head out. A moment later she felt resistance in her hand. “Dr. D, what is it now?” She looked back.

The GJ Director was holding Drakken's shoulder. “I'm afraid I can't offer the same to your associate here,” Cartwright admitted. “His connection to the bombing of GJ Headquarters means we will at least have to hold him.”

“I was a prisoner!” yelled Drakken, struggling against the Director's surprisingly strong grip. “Just like that other doctor in there!”

“That will have to be proven.” The woman smiled. “Sorry.” She pulled out a pair of strange, square handcuffs and locked them across Drakken's arms.

“Shego!” hollered Drakken.

“Sorry, boss,” Shego said, putting a finger to her brow. “Like I said, I don't look a gift horse in the mouth.” She turned and started strolling away. She could still hear Drakken's rabid calls even when she finally reached the main junction and glanced behind her to look at the chaos beyond the Acting Director.

“Oh well,” shrugged Shego. “I suppose this is as good an end as any.” She started to head towards the hanger.

Then stopped.

She slowly turned to look back down the level corridor to the upper level of the Command Center. It was empty. Everyone was fighting downstairs. Including GJ.

“Well, maybe one more act,” she said with a smirk.

---

Gemini awoke amidst the bodies of his own men in the security station. He could hear chaos going on outside and all sorts of gunfire. He groggily pulled himself to his feet and moved to the console. Pressing a button, he returned control to a few critical security cameras and displayed them on the large composite screen. He could see the fighting in the lower command center, the hallways, as well as the GJ jets parked outside the base and in the hangar. He could see Lipsky in GJ custody and Dr. Vedas being rescued by their agents. There was a swarm of commotion in the galley as well, but the camera seemed to be covered in some gooey substance and he couldn't see exactly what was going on.

Gemini sighed. He'd failed utterly this time. He'd have to escape but one other thing took priority. He pressed a few button on the panel and routed commands from the main center to the security panel and initiated a satellite link.

Moments later, a hardened female face appeared on the screen covered by a black mask that exposed only the mouth and left a pair of slits for eyes. The mask extended past the edge of the face to make a pair of extended triangles flair out at 45 degree angles from the temples. The lips on the woman had a faint red lipstick but couldn't hide the deep wrinkles that extended from the edges of her mouth as if the woman had frowned for the entirely of her life.

“It's fallen apart,” Gemini said, then scowled. “Kim Possible.”

“I warned you,” the woman said, monotone.

“GJ has taken everything, I only have a few minutes to escape before they find me.”

“Everything?” The voice was skeptical. “Where is the Mantle?”

“It was left in the Command Center last I checked, but the cameras don't show it now.”

The woman mouth curled in a thin smile. “It's okay.”

“Okay?” Gemini was confused. “We've lost everything! We're back to square one. We'll have to reclaim all the pieces, from my sister this time, which won't be easy. They may even claim me if you don't intervene!”

“Oh, no, things are actually quite as I'd hoped. I believe your role in this is finished, however,” the woman reassured, still in monotone. “The Mantle was never intended for you. You are just one move in a larger game of checkers.”

“Checkers?” said Gemini. “Not chess?”

“The objective in this game was not to kill the leader,” said the woman. “But to get my piece to the Crownhead and be kinged.”

Gemini narrowed his eye. “You lied to me.”

“Yes,” nodded the woman. The screen went blank immediately afterwards.

Gemini grit his teeth loudly and slammed the button for the emergency escape vessel so hard it broke the panel. A section of the wall slid open revealing a tunnel just large enough for Gemini to slide through.

The door to he hall slide open before Gemini could reach the escape. He dashed forward hoping to dive in before being shot. He was a moment away when he heard the sound.

“Yip, yip!”

Gemini froze, and turned his head slowly towards the doorway. A tall, muscular man with short red hair and wearing a GJ uniform looked at him, holding a small puppy carrier in one hand with a Chihuahua inside. The WWEE eye widened. “Pepe!” he cried.

“Forget something?” the agent asked.

Gemini looked between the exit and Pepe, nervous sweat trickling down his brow. He had only a step to go, but there was little chance he'd get Pepe back if he left now, but if he didn't leave now he'd never leave.

“I can wait all day,” the red-haired man said. “Take your time to decide.”

---

Dr. Rick stood patiently next to Ron Stoppable, his hand on the boy's shoulder. It was hard, sometimes, for people to remember that Kim and Ron were just children. Not even eighteen. They seemed to take on responsibilities that even the eldest of their culture is reluctant to, and do it with pride and humility. But some things, they just didn’t have the experience of yet.

They were both standing in Gemini's base, watching as Global Justice cleaned up the lose ends: arresting the remaining henchmen, collecting data and stolen supplies, and tending to wounds. Some wounds would take longer than others to heal, however.

He felt Ron tremble under his grip and he patted him reassuringly. Before them the GJ crash team was busy working on Kim, trying to patch up the laser wound going through her chest to make her stable enough to move to a surgical hospital nearby in Reno. They had been optimistic, the shot was high enough that all the major organs had been missed, but there was still substantial burning and collateral damage to worry about. She'd still be on thin ice until she'd had surgery performed on her.

Ron hadn't ever had to face this sort of crisis, Rick had supposed. From what he'd read, Kim's adventures had luckily ended up with them almost perfectly fine in the end, if not a little beat up. But actual life-and-death injury, no, Rick was sure this was the first. He tried to talk to Ron a few minutes ago, reassure him of Kim's strength, but it was all on deaf ears. He'd been there when she was shot, and Rick had seen enough people get hurt to know what his first reaction would be.

“It's my fault,” Ron said, almost right on cue.

“As much as you don't believe me, it isn't,” said Rick. “These things are intrinsic dangers of what you do. Surely what you saw at GJ proved that to you.”

“I know there are risks.” Ron looked down. “She was only careless because she was coming to rescue me. She would have been more careful if she was on her own.” He shook his head. “She was only coming to rescue me because I couldn't-- I …”

He shook terribly and balled his fists for strength. “Because I can't summon the power I have. Because I've acted like a spoiled child for years because I think I can get away with it.” Ron breathed deliberately, holding back pent-up rage. Rick could see it tearing at him. “Ha ha,” Ron mocked. “Look at silly Ron, scared of everything that moves. Look at the buffoon, loses his pants every mission! The dumb doofus can't even walk without tripping.”

“Wait, what was that about pants?” asked Rick, confused.

“I'm a joke and I reveled in it.” He looked at the mass of people huddled around Kim. “Look what it gets me. I couldn't even get myself hurt, I get the closest person in the world to me hurt. She's hanging in the balance because I think I can choose to be an idiot most times and only serious when it's convenient.”

“Ron,” Rick said softly. “You're going in circles. It's not like this, you can't help this happening sometimes. Even if you were both at the top of your game, eventually someone would get hurt. Your villains are not letting this stay anymore, they're escalating the violence, which means your risk is escalating as well.”

“If we were both at the top of our game, I could have easily handled the guy who grabbed me. I could have taken on the dozen henchmen by myself.” Ron turned on Rick. “If I was at the top of my game, I wouldn't have to pray for the Mystical Monkey Power to activate, I would just use it.”

“Okay,” a GJ agent suddenly announced. Ron and Rick turned to look. “Lets get her out of here. On three, fellas.” The paramedics counted up and then lifted Kim onto a stretcher and quickly wheeled her away, running.

Rick watched, solemnly. “You should go with her,” he said, pushing gently Ron's back. The blonde boy nodded slowly then jogged behind the gurney.

Acting Director Cartwright stepped up next to Rick to take Ron's place. “This is why Betty didn't want them involved.”

Rick looked plainly at Jennifer. “I've seen a lot of heroes in my life,” he said, sagely. “I've seen a few of them die as well. So please try to understand that what I'm saying is not my opinion, it is a fact.” He paused for effect. “That's not her choice to make. They are true heroes, Kim and Ron, and they won't be deterred simply because bureaucracy tells them to. The only thing you can do is make it easier for them to stay alive.”

He turned after Ron and started walking slowly away.

“There's still one more issue,” the Acting Director called after him. Rick turned. “The Mantle is missing.”

Rick froze.

“It went missing sometime during the fight,” she continued. “We don't have it, and none of the WWEE henchmen got away.”

Rick looked slowly back and forth, turning the last day over and over in his head. Then he realized.

---

Dash Demond stormed the underground vault at the Federal Reserve in New York City, his closest team members, Crash and Burn, were quickly following him. They'd left the WWEE underground base as soon as they heard and flew here immediately, but Dash figured it was already too late before they landed. His fears were confirmed when he got the radio ahead that there'd been a break-in and the police had closed the area down and awaiting orders.

Thankfully, GJ had enough influence to convince the police, FBI and National Guard not to enter the facility until Dash and his team had arrived. But if what Director Cartwright thought was true, then it wouldn't matter in the end at all. Either the target was still there, and had more than enough firepower to take out all of Manhattan, or they were gone, and the waiting was useless. Still, Dash preferred to go by the book, since Global Justice had written quite an extensive and agreeable ‘book.’

“Hey, Dash,” Crash said pointing at the thick metal door that had been melted to slag. Molten steel was still behind as well as a few wisps of colorful energy. “Looks pretty consistent, with her M.O.”

“What isn't consistent,” Burn cut-in. “Is the silence. Why nothing ever since entering? She's not the type.”

“Let's hope that it just didn't work and she's waiting there to be arrested.” Dash nodded. “That would be a nice end to the day.”

The team moved carefully down the long concrete and steel barred corridors towards the back of the vaults. Around them piles of gold glittered in the fluorescent light, completely untouched, while the path of carnage continued onward. The bodies of a few security guards lay strewn across the hall. Crash checked each of them and confirmed they were just unconscious before the team progressed forward again.

At the end of the corridor they saw it. The final vault, the bars melted to slag in a puddle on the floor and the door on the small safe within broken off. Someone was there, wearing the oddest looking headgear and torso covering that Dash had ever seen. But he'd been briefed to on it, so it was recognizable as the Mantle. The person was lying on the floor for some reason, in front of the safe, next to a small stack of gold bars, swaying slightly back and forth. The long mane of black hair peeking out from beneath the headpiece of the mantle identified the target.

Dash and his team pulled out their stun guns, just in case they did something, and advanced forward. Each step agonizingly closer, almost in rhythm with the sways the thief was doing on the floor. Sweat trickled down his dark brow as they reached up to her and pointed their three guns down at her body.

“Shego!” Dash called to no response. He glanced once to Crash and Burn then started to bend down, reaching carefully for her shoulder. He quickly shook it and pulled her onto her back.

She flailed once and started convulsing on the floor. Her eyes were rolled back in her head and she had started to foam at the mouth while her limbs jerked unconsciously.

“She's seizing!” Crash yelled and immediate bent over her, trying to wedge her mouth open and keep her from swallowing her tongue. Dash backed up and pulled out his radio to call for an ambulance as Burn stepped up to Shego to remove the Mantle.

“I need a medical unit stat!” Dash yelled into his radio.

“What the hell?”

Dash turned. “What is it?”

Burn pulled again experimentally and looked up to Dash. “It won't come off!”

---

Dark figures swam across distant shores threatening each moment to consume everything in a pitch blackness but at the last moment retreating. It was tiring and thrilling at the same time. Intrinsically, she knew she should be looking at light and not spots of darkness, but it was all she'd seen since appearing so she had nothing to base her opinion of ‘light’ on. Maybe the soft patches of brighter grays was the light and she just hadn't gotten used to the contrast.

Suddenly, something arrived, different, not made up of grays and blacks, but color. Blues and greens swam around the image as it approached. It felt warm, and soft, like tangible love and it consumed her entirely, filling her with life and identity. This was light, now she knew. And she didn't want to go without it again.

The scenery changed to a grassy hill overlooking long, stretching plains that terminated in the distance by a line of dense trees. The sky above was a bright blue, not like you would see in the real world, but something more alive. The sky shimmered in delight and fought playfully with the intense greens below.

Despite the surrealistic appearance of it all, Kim had to admit that it was quite breathtaking.

“I'm glad you like it,” a soft voice said from behind her. Kim turned slightly, smiling warmly. She recognized the voice.

“Come on, Ron,” she said waving to the glowing figure behind her. “It's a gorgeous view!” Kim giggled. She liked to giggle, right? Yeah, that sounded right.

Ron sort of… was next to Kim. He didn't really move, but suddenly he was closer and looking off over the hill next to his best friend in the whole world. Kim thought it was great. She'd never seen him do that, but most of all, she'd never seen such a clear sky.

“I made it all for you,” Ron said, trying to smile. “It should give your mind something to focus on other than the murky grays you'd been seeing in the last week.”

“Wow, I wish the sky always was this clear,” Kim said, basking in the sun.

“I wish we could talk normally,” Ron continued. Kim was happy to have Ron with her, after all, he was her boyfriend, but wondered why he wasn't happy too.

“Unfortunately, I can't yet create dreams, I can only enter them, which means, ultimately, you won't comprehend my words until you wake. Sensei is helping me modify your existing dream to this landscape.” Ron looked down. “It just seemed so depressing, sitting in the middle of a murky lake as the fog rolled in. I know you didn't want to be there.”

“Look! A flock of doves,” Kim pointed to the sky. “Oh! And a bower by that other hill. Let's check it out!” She jumped playfully down the hill and started casually jogging towards the distant bower. Ron ‘moved’ to keep up with her.

“Wow, you're fast today,” Kim laughed.

“Listen, Kim, I'm… well, I'm already gone. I'm not in Middleton, or even in the US anymore. I've gone back to Yamanouchi. It's my fault you got shot and… well, I can't be a fool anymore. It's already gotten you hurt and it would kill me if it happened again. I'm going to train under Master Sensei and Yori-san until I can reliably use Tai Shing Pek Kwar. I'm not sure how long it will take… I don't even know how this all works, but I'm not going back until I'm no longer a burden.” Ron swallowed, tears forming in his eyes.

“Don't cry,” Kim said.

Ron looked up suddenly at Kim, wide eyed.

“We'll get there soon,” she pointed to the bower. “You don't have to push yourself so hard! It's just for fun.”

Ron rubbed the tears from his eyes. “It's not a game. Not anymore.” He sighed deeply. “Please, Kim, don't ask Wade to find me. I need to do this, and… I just feel too guilty right now.”

Kim reached the bower and laughed, breathing deeply. “That was good. See? You're not as out of shape as you claim.”

“I will miss you deeply,” Ron said putting his arms on Kim. “You're the most important person in my life. Which is why I have to do this, to protect you.”

“Come on, lets look inside,” Kim said, starting to peal away the tarp covering the bower. Ron pulled her slightly away from the lean-to.

“You have to go through there alone,” Ron said, staring into Kim's joyful eyes. He hesitated, then kissed her softly. “Good luck.”

“Let's go!” Kim cheered and reached for Ron's hand. Her hand passed right through Ron's but she didn't notice and entered the darkened bower.

Suddenly winds and forces and pain assaulted her all at once. It as like being inside of a tornado as her body was being pulled desperately apart and pelted with hundreds of tiny pieces of debris all at the same time. She screamed out, hoping someone, anyone could hear her. If only Ron was with her, she'd feel better, somewhat safer…

And then it was gone, and reality returned. Kim gasped, taking in her first breath manually in over a week. She opened her eyes but they weren't used to the light and everything seemed incredibly bright. She covered her eyes with her hand, feeling the slight tug of a tube pull against the nook of her arm. All over her body she felt sore, as if she'd pulled every muscle at once.

She gasped when the pain in her chest reached her brain and she felt that lying still forever might be the best idea she'd ever had. Breathing as shallow as she could to keep the pain from coming back, she slowly opened her eyes again, trying to adjust to the brightness.

“Kimmie?”

The voice was soft, but caring and loving. Kim turned her head slightly and saw love materialized. This time in the form of her parents and brothers, smiling and staring down at her in the hospital bed. Kim smiled slightly and tried to speak but her throat was dry. Her mother gave her a large cup with a straw in it to sip from and Kim did, slowly.

“Hey,” Kim finally croaked. “What're you all doing here?”

“Oh, checking out the food,” her father said. “Your mother insists it's better than the hospital she was in when you were born, but I don't believe it. Cardboard can only be colored up so many ways.”

Kim laughed. “What's been going on? How long has it been?”

“Hiya sweetie,” her mother said. “You've been asleep for a week. They had to keep you under while they repaired the damage, but you're all clear now. They say you'll be as good as new.”

Kim nodded. She looked back and forth. “You're all here, where's Ron?”

Her parents held their breath and looked awkwardly at one another while even the Tweebs frowned sadly. Kim couldn't understand, Ron was with her up until that last fight, and if she survived, Ron couldn't possibly have been in worse shape, could he?

Shapes and figures floated in her mind, like an ideas taunting her from across the ether. She remembered having some sort of strange dream.

“Kimmiecub,” her father said. “Ronald has…” he trailed off. “He's pursuing some new things.”

Kim closed her eyes and tried to remember. It was important, this dream, she had to remember it. It started while she was on a … boat? Yes. In the middle of a dark lake, but then it changed suddenly and she was on a field.

“He said he'd be back,” her mother continued. “But he wasn't sure when.”

Ron was in her dream but he wasn't. He was talking to her as well, but not, in the same way. She couldn't understand then, but some of it was coming together now.

“I think he said he was going to Japan,” Tim offered.

Japan. Yamanouchi. “RON!” Kim suddenly yelled and tried to sit up. Unfortunately a half dozen tubes and needles and straps kept her from going far. The collection of wheeled equipment connected to her clattered together around the bed.

“Kimmie!” her mother yelled and put a hand on her chest, trying to get her to lie down again. “Calm down, you'll hurt yourself.”

“No, Mom!” Kim yelled in a frenzy. “I gotta stop him!”

“It's too - it's too -- Kimmiecub!” Her father rose his voice. “Kimberly Ann! Calm down, before you make yourself worse!”

Kim froze, unused to being scolded by her parents, and let herself be eased back down to the bed. “Ron--”

“He left days ago,” her father continued, in a softer voice now. “There's nobody to stop.”

Kim thought to the dream, and knew he was right. Ron said he'd already left. He said a bunch of other things too. Things that…

Kim started to cry. She'd faced pain before, been hit and thrown, even be gouged mildly once or twice. But Ron… leaving her when she needed him, it was…

She opened her mouth and started to bail. Her tears felt like fire down her cheeks and her whole body started to shake with each sob. She tried to stop, desperately wanted to control herself… but she couldn't. There wasn't anything she could do. She'd convinced herself throughout her whole life that there were always possibilities, that nothing was without a solution that she could perform. But looking at everything in front of her, and what she'd just gone through, there was only one option left.

So she took it, and cried. “Oh Ron,” she said between sobs. “You were never a burden…”

Her parents hugged her as she shook and cried. Then the twins came close to console her, and she cried. Even as her family was ushered away by the nurses, she was crying. Finally she was given a sedative to help her sleep through the night.

It was a sleep filled with an ocean of tears.