Kim Possible
Fear and Robots in Las Vegas
Obligatory disclaimer: Kim Possible and all related characters are still the intellectual property of the Disney Corporation, and we're not about to let them forget that in any particular hurry. Now, on with our story...
Prologue:
Amongst the wreckage of the sophisticated production line, the hive-mind of the Bebe robot army still functioned. A hundred cold, analytical computer minds all working as one, fixated on the final subconscious desires of a vain and opinionated teenage girl. "Don't worry, Bonnie! Uh, Kim's doin' something. I think…" The hive mind had not paid any attention to this typical human male before, but it was Bonnie Rockwaller's final command before the link was severed. She glared at the freckle-faced young man and thought "Ugh! Why must this always happen to me? You should be stuck here instead of me, Stoppable." In an instant, the decision was made. The Bebes would find this Stoppable and serve him, whether he liked it or not.
O'Hare International Airport, departure lounge:
"Oh yeah, I like it!" The voice of Ronald Kevin Stoppable erupted from behind the mouthful of deep-fried tortilla, mashed pinto beans, ground beef and processed cheese product that had just passed his lips. Wiping his chin with a napkin, Ron turned to his lifelong best friend and ceremoniously presented it to her, like Salome being presented with the head of John the Baptist. Given the sort of things that passed for acceptable nutrition in Ron's mind and the expression on Kim Possible's face, a severed head would have been infinitely preferable to the unquantifiable mass under her nose.
"Come on, KP! Just one Jumbo Taquirito isn't going to kill anybody!" Ron protested while Kim rolled her eyes and groaned in frustration.
"Ron, it was on the news last night, remember? It happened in Go City… Three people were hospitalized with serious injuries and massive colonic haemorrhaging?" Kim tried not to think about it, but the Jumbo Taquirito was there, staring her right in the face and taunting her.
"That was Go City, Kim. Their Bueno Nacho is a shoddy operation, all flash and no substance." Agreeing with Ron, Rufus poked his whiskery little head from the recesses of his owner's sleeve and nodded vigorously, chattering "Uh-huh! No Naco." Before swiping the potentially deadly snack treat from Ron's hand and devouring the last bite. Taking their tickets in hand, Kim and Ron gathered their hand-luggage together from beneath their stools and made their way to the boarding gate. "Hi! Is the captain available at all? We'd really like to talk to him, and I'm sure he would like to talk to us about something." Kim coughed discreetly and looked the desk clerk in the eyes confidently.
"I'm sorry, Miss. Boarding time's not for another fifteen minutes yet, and the captain doesn't talk to passengers."
Glaring daggers at the snotty clerk, Kim narrowed her eyes and repeated her request with added emphasis. "Would you please inform the captain that Kim Possible would like to speak with him?" Presenting passports and boarding passes, Ron safely tucked Rufus back into his pants pocket while Kim engaged herself in a battle of wills with this terribly rude and ignorant clerk. "That's Kim Possible, international freelance agent. We helped get Captain Belsen and his plane down at JFK during those blizzards in New York. It was only three weeks ago…" Helpfully, Ron added, "And she was wearing this really nice suede jacket lined with fake fur too!" The clerk didn't even look at Ron, and certainly didn't seem interested in the totally amazing jacket that Kim had on that day. He was… Oh, the indignity! He was actually ignoring Ron! Luckily, Captain Belsen had just arrived at that very moment. His craggy middle-European features split into a wide grin at the sight of the two teenagers and he rushed to shake Kim's hand in gratitude. "I can not thank you and your funny little friend enough, Miss Possible. Thanks to you, the U.N. was saved from disaster!" Modestly, Kim batted her eyelashes at the desk-monkey and made sure he could hear her speaking. "Really, Sven, it was no big… That tribunal just couldn't re-schedule in time. It's just what we do…" With her sweetest smile still firmly in place, Kim flashed her boarding card at the disinterested desk clerk one last time before taking Ron's arm and sashaying past him to get on the plane.
"Rufus, don't go to sleep in the little paper sack this time, okay?" Ron patted his pocket and warned his little pal while Kim smiled dreamily and gazed out of the window. "Ron? Suddenly I'm afraid." She looked over at his freckled, smiling face and cheered up just a little as he tried to reassure her. "Well, me too. But we have Rufus with us…"
Ushered into first class to avoid any unpleasant incidents, Ron could barely believe his eyes. The carpet was so thick underneath his feet here in first class. Here in first class, he could comfortably sit in seat 3-E with no annoying European tourists pushing a seat back into his lap while his tray table was still folded down. He carefully pushed his hand luggage to the back of the overhead compartment, leaving Kim some space to stow her own things before sitting down in his seat and checking everything with a familiar sense of panic. "Ron, please. You're acting like a Jewish mother…" Kim chided him before she suddenly gasped and put her hand over her mouth until Ron pulled it away to tell her, "Don't apologize, Kim. You know, there's a reason why it's a stereotype and that reason IS my mom." She didn't know why, but Kim just giggled at this little joke. Like she'd never laughed at something Ron said before, or really even looked at his face. In a rare moment of self-conscious introspection, Kim bit her lip while Ron read her expression a little wrongly, perhaps on purpose… Still consumed with the excitement of first class, he held up a miniature bottle and peered at the label curiously. "Mimosa? Ooh! Says here that it's champagne, do you want some?" The playful slap on his hand was something new, but Ron soon steered his conversational train of thought back to an earlier exchange. "You remember Go City, right? And how they had super-heroes there…" Helping Rufus to put back the little safety leaflet after making sure he had thoroughly read and understood it, Kim nodded softly.
"You told me this one before. Super-heroes are impeding the natural human order by being better than us." Again, she rolled her eyes while Ron fidgeted with his seat-belt. "Well, they are. The Mexi-Mushroom Wrap is a slap in the face of every non-super powered individual on this planet. I will never forgive Team Go for their most heinous crime against peace and freedom." He didn't even look at Kim's expression, but somehow he just knew to add "Okay, second most heinous", until Kim sighed happily. Again, that sigh was something different. Kim was definitely changing, in Ron's estimation. She had never quite recovered from having her emotions toyed with, and her feelings for him being brought to the surface and displayed for all of Middleton to see.
Lost in their own private world with only each other for company, Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable barely noticed the flight attendants demonstrating how to operate the oxygen masks and life-jackets. Only a familiar voice, deep and rich with subtle tones of a Mediterranean upbringing, jolted both of them back to reality. "Bah! You call this a Mimosa? Dear lady, I demand that whoever spat in this shampoo bottle and decided to pass it off as a Mimosa should be brought to me immediately!" Senor Signor Senior (for it was he) had regained his composure by the time the attendant had moved down the aisle to explain how that was going to be very difficult. But Kim just kept her head down and watched the clouds streaming past while Ron and Rufus were reading the SkyMall catalogue and picking out gifts for family, friends and just a little something for themselves… "Monogrammed bathrobes don't come in pet sizes, Rufus. Kim, do you think they might?" As she was brought out of her little bout of reverie, Kim glanced at Rufus pointing to the white towel robes with a naked little paw. "What? Oh, Rufus wants a bathrobe. Aw, that would be so cute!" Tickling Rufus affectionately, Kim chuckled and watched the scene unfolding across the aisle from their window seats.
"But, father! I am enjoying my Mimosa, and besides, it is only complimentary." The swarthy youth beside Signor Sr. had become indignant at an unheard request from his father, the old man giving him a kindly, encouraging look. "Junior, I am asking you as your father to do as I say. Remember? The violent outburst of anger is a villainous trademark." Relenting, as if his heart wasn't truly in it, Junior eased his muscular bulk from the seat and proceeded to drink both complimentary bottles of barely-alcoholic champagne and orange juice. "Very good, my son. Now, like we practised with the butlers at home..." The young man's cheeks bulged ominously and he proceeded to spray his Mimosa all over the young flight attendant's face. Something inside of Ron just snapped, and he adopted a ridiculous-looking Kung-Fu stance as he leapt to his feet. "Kim, you just sit there with Rufus and find something nice for your mom and dad. I'll take care of this..." And, with that, the young sidekick sprang across the aisle to throw shadow-boxing punches in the Signor's general direction and try to goad them into a confrontation. Waved to one side by Signor Senior, Ron listened in awe as the villainous gentleman calmly talked him down. "Young man, if you do not mind? I believe we have made our point. And now, we wish to watch the in-flight movie..." Sometimes, Ron wondered if he and Kim were really the only moderately sane people in the world, and he sat back down to try and get the movie to work on the little plasma screen embedded in the bulkhead in front of himself and Kim. She had already started on her Mimosa, drinking in moderation and quite enjoying this opportunity to loosen up and catch some rare "Kim Time", and she would never refuse a good movie. "So, Ron. If you've finished handing out your brand of justice for one day, what's this afternoon's movie presentation?" Greeted with the sight of the Daredevil sequel/spin-off movie Elektra, Kim leaned forward and switched the screen off in mild annoyance. "Ugh! If I wanted to see that sort of thing..." Ron chimed in, "You'd have stayed at home", as he and Kim both inclined themselves closer to each other like a couple singing a duet. As their hands clasped together, Ron nervously looked deep into Kim's beautiful bottle-green eyes and smiled weakly. "Ron, what is it?" "Kim, uh, how can I put this? It's just that look you were giving me." Uncertain, Ron began to look down at his shoes and began to wonder if he should take them off. "I kinda liked it..." Maybe it was the Mimosa talking, but Kim just blurted it straight out. "Yeah? Well, I liked it too."
That would be a pretty heavy thing to lay on a guy about a quarter of the way into a flight to Las Vegas, but Ron seemed to take it with his usual good-natured cheerfulness. The only thing that any of them was worried about right now was the plane running out of pretzels, at least at the rate that Rufus kept eating them. "I really did say that to you just now, didn't I?" Reclining his seat back, Ron's attention was split between Kim and the overhead compartment, where a familiar warning beep was broadcasting. Panicked flight attendants raced to the overhead storage locker and began to search Kim and Ron's bags while they both snapped out of this second brief distraction.
"Hey, whoa... 'scuse me, but what do you think you're doin'?" Ron asked as the tall brunette pulled the Kim-municator from inside Kim's backpack. "Is this device safe to use during commercial flights, Miss Possible? You know, the rules of our society still apply to you, and that also means no pets allowed..." Before she could grab Rufus, Ron snatched his little buddy up first and held him safely away from the attendant's manicured fingers, explaining, "Rufus isn't a pet. His boarding card says he's our co-dependant..." The Kim-municator flashed into life and the pleasant, smiling face of Wade appeared in front of the crew. "Hi! Don't worry; these transmissions have absolutely no effect on any of your plane's systems. Could you please put Kim and Ron on now?" Handed back to Kim, the small PDA's screen changed to a map displaying their precise location as Wade explained. "The red dot is your plane, and the green dot beside it is somebody following you." Shuffling around and staring out of the window to his right, Ron groaned and began to worry until Wade told him to calm down. "It's all taken care of, Wade. Signor Senior and Junior are on this flight, they don't appear to be planning anything." Kim turned the screen toward the villains until Ron interjected. "What's that he's holding? My God, Senor Signor Senior is gonna destroy Las Vegas with..." Craning his neck to spy on Signor, Ron continued, "No. No, nothing to worry about. Just a portion of non-dairy creamer. Sorry." Allowing Wade to finish explaining, Ron pulled out his tray table and gestured between himself and Kim. "Uh, she'll have the low-carb option and I requested the kosher meal?" Rufus peered quizzically at the Kim-municator and turned on the movie screen to switch to the flight path for a comparison, Kim nodding appreciatively. "Thanks, Rufus. So, somebody's matching our exact course?"
"And speed", Wade commented. "On the ground, though? That has got to be one monster engine..." Lifting the lid off his bagel and proceeding to spread it with cream cheese, Ron gave the two screens a cursory glance. "Could be that mullet guy from Jersey? Driver's Ed or something, I think he was called..." Kim replied, "No, that was Motor Ed. And right now the only car parts he's making are license plates. Wade, are there any fuel emissions from whatever's on our tail?" Taking her mid-morning snack from the attendant, Kim opened the little block of cheese and passed it to Rufus happily. Sipping her bottled water, she was surprised to hear Wade reply "Nothing. All I'm picking up are weird high-frequency signals, just like..." Wade's eyes widened in shock as he looked at Kim, utterly horrified. She matched his look and Ron and Rufus just blinked and stared at one another for a second or two. "Like what? Kim? Hello..." Sneakily, Rufus moved to pick the little portion of grape jelly from Kim's tray but a soft tap with a plastic spoon caught him entirely unawares. "Ron, I was totally afraid something like this would happen..." Taking Rufus back to his side of the trays, Ron leaned over and checked out the green dot following their flight path, thinking out loud, "No fuel emission, huh? So, whoever it is, they're moving on foot. And what moves fast enough to follow a 747 heading west to Las Vegas, on foot?" Kim looked at him expectantly, picking at her bran muffin. Rufus squealed and started to tremble, chattering "Uh-oh! Bebes. Eep..." "It looks like we have a new Bebe hive to deal with, guys. Sorry to spoil your vacation", Wade sighed before ending the transmission and going back to his computers to plot the estimated flight plan of Kim and Ron's plane. Better to be safe than sorry, he told himself before picking up a phone and heading outside to sit on the front porch of his house.
Middleton Medical Centre, Department of Neurosurgery.
Andrea Possible laid her empty cup on the glass-topped surface of her desk, swallowing down the burning semi-solid pellet of molten lead that passed for vending-machine coffee and grimacing as it hit her hard. "Congratulations, Andie", she thought to herself, "That one didn't even touch the sides." Suddenly, her phone flashed into life and she snatched up the receiver to take the call. "Hi, honey! Slow day at work today?" Jonathan never called her at work unless something was really wrong. "Sweetheart, you didn't just call me out of the blue like this because you felt like it. Did you, Jonathan?" "Well, no. Of course not, I've just had a call here at the Institute from Kimberly's young friend Wade." That worst possible scenario never even touched down in Andrea's mind. "They're not in any danger, are they? Oh, but this is their first vacation without us..." Any other parent would have been scared of this thought alone, but both Kim and Ron could always be trusted. They really were the best kids a parent could ask for. "As it turns out, they do have something on their tail. He's not quite sure yet, but it could be robots..." "Those things that your so-called friend Drew designed and built?" The Possibles shared a sigh, reminded of their daughter's arch-foe. Jonathan knew that Lipsky, now known as Doctor Drakken, was currently at large, but posed no significant threat. "Now, what would you say to a trip across to Las Vegas yourself? Just to be sure..." Jonathan told himself he worried too much, but Kimberly was only just turning 18, facing the big wide world. "Jon, you know who she's with." Andrea laughed softly.