Chapter One: We Now Return You to Your Regularly Scheduled Programming, Already in Progress
Just about says it all,
Doesn't it?
Drakken's lair...
"Well, Kim Possible," shouted Dr. Drakken smugly, "I present to you my greatest invention ever!" He turned to face Kim and threw up his arms as the curtain lifted, revealing a giant display presenting a children's cartoon.
"Your greatest invention is a giant television? And why are you shouting?" Kim asked, with a skeptical scowl on her face.
"I always shout when I'm announcing my plans," he replied crossly, lowering his arms.
Kim turned toward Ron, who said, "He's got a point."
"Thank you, um," he said, pausing. "Ah! Roy!"
"Ron," Ron replied, thoroughly torqued. "Ron Stoppable. Is it really that hard to remember?"
"I'm not good with names," Drakken said. "And it's not the screen; it's what's on it!"
"Uh, Dr. D?" Shego asked, pointing to the screen. He turned to look at it for the first time since the unveiling and started grumbling to himself. He pulled a remote from his pocket and pressed a button, snapping it from the cartoon to his creation. The screen said simply "Oracle," slowly fading in and out.
"Good afternoon, Oracle," Dr. Drakken said as clearly as possible.
The image on the screen faded out, and in its place faded in a single horizontal line. "Good afternoon, Drew," a voice said, the line modulating as it spoke. "How may I help you?"
"I'm just showing you off," he replied smugly.
"What are you showing off, exactly?" Ron asked.
"I am Oracle," the voice said again. "I am a sentient artificial being created by Drew Lipsky to investigate the failures of his attempts to conquer the world."
"Oracle, please determine the cause of my failure involving Planty," he said.
"I do not believe you would want me to answer that for you," Oracle replied. "I doubt you'd like the answer."
"Just answer it," Dr. Drakken insisted.
"I was unable to determine a root cause of failure for your experiments with Planty, as you call it, as I was unable to determine any possible course of action which would lead to anything considered success in any form approximating your definition, except for the eventual outcome of the events which actually transpired," Oracle said. "Furthermore, I have taken the liberty to examine your other schemes, and I have concluded that your inherent flaw is that you lack the mental wherewithal to think of anything more threatening than that of a child's cartoon. Simply put, your shortsightedness and abundance of creativity eventually lead to your inevitable downfall."
Drakken stared at the monitor in stunned silence. "An-and a solution?" he stammered.
"Either acquire a means by which to comprehend the outcomes of scenarios, or quit while you're ahead," Oracle said.
Shego laughed under her breath. Drakken turned to her and snapped, "What about Shego? Could she do any better?"
Oracle hesitated for a moment. "Drew, Shego could conquer the world with one arm tied behind her back and no super powers," it said.
Shego busted into laugher. "Ok, ok," she said, "what about Kim?"
"What about Kim?" Oracle asked. "Are you wondering if Ms. Possible could take over the world?"
"No, I couldn't-" Kim began.
"Yeah, that's exactly what I'm asking," Shego said.
"The probability of Kim Possible taking over the world is negligible, as her history and every other resource to which I am privy suggests that her code of ethics strongly prohibits such actions," Oracle replied. "However, if Ms. Possible were to make a serious attempt, there is every indication that she, with the assistance of Wade and Ron, could take over the planet overnight."
"What about me?" Ron asked.
"Mr. Stoppable," Oracle began, "even if, by some miracle, you were to attain any position of power in the political arena, and I am not convinced that such a powerful miracle could exist, you would be laughed out of office before you could make your first order. Moving on; Kim, is there anything you would like to know?"
"No," Kim said.
"Yes, there is," Oracle replied. "I can see it in your body language. There's something that I think you want to know more than anything else, but you're afraid to even acknowledge the fact that you want it. Ron? Your parents? Shego? Origa? Your children?" It fell silent for a few moments. "I see. You're wondering… First? Second?" It fell silent again. "I'm sorry, Kimberly, but that's a question I can't answer; I simply do not know."
"I think I should be going," Kim said.
"Yeah, kids are probably getting hungry," Shego said.
As the other two started to walk away, Ron walked up to Dr. Drakken and said, slowly and methodically, "My name is Ron Stoppable. It's not that hard!" He turned around and walked off, following Kim and Shego.
"Kim, wait," Oracle said. "I can't know for sure, but no, I don't think so; there would have been hell to pay, but you already knew that."
Kim and Shego's Apartment...
Shego walked between Kim and the television and said, "We need to talk. What was Oracle talking about?"
"It's not over, is it?" Kim asked. "It's been months now, and nothing's happened. Aside from Global Justice, nobody's even looked into what he was doing."
Shego sighed and sat on the couch next to Kim. "No, it's not over," she said. "The fact that there was no retaliation against us means that the CIA already had what it wanted from him, and everyone we took out was expendable. I got a call from Betty today. She said that the CIA has finished its investigation, and that they 'have determined that it was a rogue organization', to use her words. They're still out there, Kim, and we have to stop them. I wanted to give you more downtime before we started again, but I don't think we have that option anymore. Betty wants us to come down and see her later today; we'll talk about this more then."
Global Justice Headquarters...
The lobby was empty as Kim and Shego walked in. They exchanged concerned glances before walking deeper into the building, following the halls until they came across a gathered crowd. "What's going on?" Kim asked as they approached.
"It's Dr. Director," said one of the agents. "She's been standing in the middle of the room with her gun to her head for an hour. She said she was waiting for you two, but she'd shoot if we tried to stop her."
Shego shoved her way through the crowd, Kim following close after. "What the hell are you doing, Betty?" Shego demanded as she reached the front of the group.
Dr. Director pulled the trigger. The left side of her head exploded. Half the room screamed; the other half gasped. Shego stood aghast, and Kim dropped to her knees.
"This facility is officially in lockdown," Ron said as he pushed his way forward. "Everyone not part of internal affairs is to go to your designated coordination point. As personal understudy to the director, I am hereby taking control of Global Justice."
The crowd continued to gawk at the scene. "What the fuck are you staring at?" Shego screamed. "Get out of here!" They ignored her, and she threw a fireball at the ceiling, scorching it. Most backed away slowly before moving toward the exits, the rest walking over to Ron.
Ron pulled off his uniform jacket and laid it over Dr. Director's head. "Scan her," he said.
One of the men walked over to Dr. Director's body and waved a device over her. He looked at the device, then over to Ron, shaking his head.
The agents breathed a sign of relief. "What?" Shego demanded.
Author's Notes:
And thus begins the second journey into the pit. With Dr. Director dead, Ron takes command of Global Justice. With the CIA's rogue organization having begun its retaliation, all that's left now is war.