Originally, this story was just to give a quick little battle, action over what happened with GJ on the night of the Diablos. It's ballooned out from that, into a three chapter story, instead of the one shot I was planning, exploring what happened during and after, and the choices the Director was forced to wrestle with, considering everything that happened.
I'll admit, none of this was planned from the start, but I realized, that after what happened here, Dr Director would probably have her own questions about what she could have done better, what she should have done, how she should have protected people.
Note: This assumes you're at least familiar with So the Drama, so if you haven't see it, check it out, this'll wait-and it'll make more sense, too.
And thanks to Eddy13 for beta checking.
The attack started at 10:58 pm.
"What the heck is that thing?"
"Back up, back up! It's coming this way!"
"Johnson is down, he's down, someone get him!"
"Forget Johnson, open fire!" Agent Dawes motioned his agents backwards, away from the giant machine, quickly pulling his service sidearm and opening fire. The first few laser blasts bounced off, and soon a handful of other shots joined it. The weapon fire didn't penetrate the black and red chasis of the robot, but it did cause it to stagger backwards a few steps. At the pause, Dawes moved forwards, firing another burst of shots, looking to his left.
"Manfriti! Get Johnson, we'll cover you." He pumped another three shots into the machine's head, finally causing it to fall backwards with a room shaking thud. At the same time, the female agent leapt forward, getting her hands on her fellow agent's leg, pulling him out of the room. Dawes motioned the rest of the agents out of the room, still firing as the thing got to its feet.
Agent Dawes cursed, quickly flipping a switch on his sidearm, then tossing it into the room. He dived sideways out of the doorway, and barely two second later, the weapon exploded, destroying everything in the room.
Or nearly everything. As the agents in the hallway started to get to their feet, they watched in horror as the machine stepped out of the doorway, dark black smoke pouring out after it. The robot was now almost completely black, scorches running over its head and chest. Dawes crawled to his feet, taking a few staggering steps down the hallway until he made it to a small wall mounted door. He reached to the side, opening a panel that he rapidly typed in a pass code. The door to his left immediately opened, and he reached in, pulling out a large energy rifle. He turned, flipped the power to high, and fired a blast.
The shot rang out through the hallway, much louder than the alarms that had begun blaring after the explosion. This time there was a noticeable effect; the shot impacted the robot in the chest, and the machine staggered backwards, a smoking hole in its center. Dawes fired a second shot, destroying its head just to be sure. Finally the robot fizzled and stopped.
Dawes leaned against the wall, the rifle still dangling in his hand, pointed to the floor. At nearly the same time, Dr Director came running around the corner, a half dozen agents accompanying her, armed to the teeth. She immediately took in the scene, then moved over to stand next to Dawes supporting him. "Report, what happened?"
The agents in the hallway struggled to come to attention, but the director waved them off. Dawes gave a small smirk at that, and shook his head before explaining. "I don't know. We were just going through some of the training exercises when that...thing seemed to appear out of nowhere and start attacking." He got his feet under him, finally shaking off the effects of the explosion in the confined area. He followed the director forward as she looked at the charred chassis of the robot, then looking at him.
Dawes was a man of middle age, not that you could tell by his looks. Only a slight graying around his temples let anyone know the man was anything other than in his prime. Standing at almost six food exactly, he didn't tower over people by any means, but his sheer presence drew everyone's attention. He wore a close cut Van Dyke beard, and more than one of his trainees had mention he looked like he would be more home in WWEE than in GJ. Some had voiced that assessment louder after being put through his training.
Agent Dawes was the armed and unarmed combat instructor at Global Justice. While technically the director of combat and weaponry, Dawes preferred a more relaxed stance on titles, wanting to be referred to as agent, or simply Dawes. He said that it allowed him to still feel useful-especially since he still occasionally liked to go on missions for GJ. Despite his rather lax feel on titles, Dawes was the strictest instructor at Global Justice, and his agents loved him all the more for it. He would willingly give his all for them, and they would do no less for him.
His results spoke for themselves, as well. Nearly every GJ agent had been trained by Dawes as some point in their career, even the Director herself. She was unsure how long he had been serving in GJ, but she knew that he had been an agent long before she had taken her own position as chief director. At least, that's about all his records said, after the previous director had deleted nearly all the information about him stored in the base computers.
Finally the director turned her attention back to the training room.
She turned and gave him a brief smile. "Is this your way of telling me we need to upgrade our equipment?"
As he joined her in looking in the room, he chuckled. "I've been telling you we need some upgrades. Never figured I'd get my wish this soon." Turning serious, he looked at the Director. "I'm not sure what happened, I was out on the mat, maybe I missed something. Lets see if anyone else saw something." Dr Director nodded back, moving back to her agents in the hall.
The two quickly queried the rest of the agents; most of them had no idea what happened, but finally one of them spoke up.
"I don't know if it means anything, but that thing sort of looked like a bigger version of the Diablos my son got at Bueno Nacho. He got an extra one and gave it to me, so I had it sitting in my locker. Hadn't had time to put it on my desk yet."
Betty Director smiled at that, knowing her own problems with getting everything done that she wanted. She started to turn back around, to inspect the room, when she heard a sound from the radio at her hip. She pulled it off the clip, listening. "Director, this is Agent Du. You'd better get up here, Ma'am, we've got a problem."
She turned and shared a look with Dawes, a feeling of dread running through her. She quickly took off running down the hall, Dawes right behind her.
X X X X
They made it to the command center in record time, both agents bursting through the doors just as Will Du came to his feet. Waving off the agent's attempt at proper protocol, Dr Director quickly reached the center of the room.
Du started explaining. "We've got all sorts of activity across the board in Middleton, something's going on. Reports of some sort of red and black robots terrorizing around the city. We've got cameras confirming it now." He nodded to a technician nearby, and soon a number of images appeared on the screen.
Dawes nodded and pointed. "That's it. That's the thing that attacked us. Du?"
Will nodded, looking over some reports. "We've gotten reports that this thing seemed to be some sort of bigger version of the little Diablos being given out from Bueno Nacho. They seem to be loaded with all sorts of weaponry. So far, no list of casualties, they primarily seem to be converging on these two areas of the city."
Dr Director's eyes got wide and she cursed. "That's Kim Possible's house." She tapped the other screen. "And Wade Load lives here. Get me everything you can on her activities over the last few days."
"On it, Director." Dawes quickly took a seat, going through what information he could. Another agent interrupted Betty before she could say anything else.
"I've pinpointed a command signal, Director, it seems to be coming from the Bueno Nacho in town. No, wait." She put a hand to her ear, listening. "It's stopped."
Du was listening as well, and he turned. "The Diablos seem to have been disabled, Ma'am, I'm getting reports that they've been reduced to small size."
The Director paused for half a second in thought, before she stood up. "All right, we've got a window people, let's use it. Since they're disabled, it sounds like Kim and Ron have managed to stop these little Diablos-but I'll bet my job that this isn't over yet. Du, get down to the armory, and get every agent you can get you hands on. Get to the hoverjets. I'll be down in ten minutes." He nodded and was out of the room in seconds, tossing his headset to the table.
Dr Director turned back to Dawes, noting he was already focused on her. He quickly filled the director in on the past few days, noting all of Kim's activities. They both mulled things over. "Dr Drakken?"
He nodded back. "Definitely. It sounds like he was using Bueno Nacho to put them out."
Betty Director grimaced. "This isn't good. If he's been sending them all out as toys, he could have millions of these things ready to attack." She thought back to the single Diablo a few floors down, and what it had taken to stop it. "He could succeed this time."
Dawes shook his head. "They'll stop him, you know. They always do."
She nodded back. "I hope you're right, for the world's sake. But I can't just sit and do nothing, either."
He grinned. "Of course not." His smile disappeared. "But even if you can get a hundred agents equipped, that won't be enough to stop them all."
She turned, making her way to the door. Betty paused long enough to flash him a small, rogueish smile. "Maybe not, but we can try. Dawes, you're in command until I get back."
The Director left before he ever had a chance to acknowledge her order.
X X X X
Betty Director reached the hanger just a few seconds shy of her ten minute deadline. She quickly suited up, joining the rest of the group in her hoverjet. She made her way to the cockpit, noting that Du was already in the pilot's seat. She joined him as copilot, then signaled the operator to open the hanger door. Within seconds, the four hoverjets were in the air, filled to the brim with GJ agents.
The lead hoverjet quickly received a call from the command center. "Director, this is Dawes, those things are operational again. Whatever Kim and Ron did, it didn't last. You called that one."
She spoke back into her microphone. "We both knew this wasn't over yet. Give me a sit rep."
He nodded, although she couldn't see the motion, and gave her the situation report. "The signal's coming from somewhere about a hundred miles west of here-nearest I can pinpoint, it looks like Bueno Nacho HQ." Neither one of them was surprised.
"What about the Diablos?"
"Back on their rampage. I'm receiving hundreds of reports, across the globe now. There's no way you're going to be able to stop them worldwide."
The Director's eyes set. "Well then what about just in Middleton?"
"For a resistance HQ? My thought's exactly. I see four major sites we need to protect, Director. First the power grid-we need to protect the powerplant. We could use the backup generators here at the HQ, but trying to power the entire city would put a strain on things. The city's already lost a few power lines, but things still seem to be running pretty well."
He continued, running down his checklist. "Second, the hospital. Whatever happens in the next few hours and days, we're going to need all the medical supplies we can get our hands on-and qualified doctors will be a bonus."
"Third, I think we should get a detail in the heart of the city, to try and disrupt those robots as much as they can. They should also focus on locating Wade Load, the Possibles, and the Stoppables and securing their houses. Between all their skills, they could be a real asset to our activities; and if Kim and Ron don't succeed, and don't return, we'll need all the help we can get."
He check his diagrams, tapped the screen twice, then spoke again. "Last is the space center. Worst case scenario, we might be able to use the shuttles and aircraft there to retreat to the space station or some other location. There's also a lot of technology there that we might be able to use to interrupt or even disable the Diablos' signal."
She nodded, agreeing with his assessment, giving each of the hoverjets their missions. She turned to Du last, then looked at the radar. "Du, get us to the space center as quickly as you can." Betty sat back, musing over her choices. She could try and make a run to Bueno Nacho HQ, but she knew that the odds were against them. It was quite a distance, and with the number of Diablos active now, she knew that they would be lucky to make it to the space center.
X X X X
Lucky indeed.
Dr Director brushed some hair out of her face, wincing at the small burn across her cheek. That last attack had come too close.
The Director and her team had been forced down almost six blocks from the Middleton Space Center. It might as well have been six miles for all the headway they were making. Once grounded, the Diablos had swarmed the GJ agents. The agents had responded together, as a team, and had quickly made their way outside the downed craft, into a nearby building. Now they were firing out from the windows, the Diablos returning fire from the street. A few had attempted to force their way inside, by stairways, and most recently the windows. The latter had caused the director her injuries.
A medic stepped forward to try and attend to her, but she waved the man off. They couldn't worry about something as simple as burns at a time like this. She fired off a few more quick shots, then looked at Du, the agent across the window from her. "Any bright ideas?"
He shook his head, leaning out and fired a few times as well, coolly dispatching two of the robots. They had quickly learned that a service pistol, set on high energy disrupt, seemed to disable the Diablos. The machines had quickly learned as well, and had begun carting off their disabled brethren, returning them to operational within a few minutes. The attacks would fry their electronics, but the Hephaestus project allowed them to regenerate with the help of other Diablos.
The director had only recently made the connection about the project, after getting in contact with Wade. The other GJ teams were faring much better; the hospital and powerplant were secured, and after a fierce fight, Wade, the Possibles, and the Stoppables had all been located. They had all been evacuated back to GJ headquarters, in the hopes that the location could be protected much better. Instead, the Diablos had followed, and they were now attacking GJ HQ.
Fortunately, Dawes was up to the task, and GJ was safe for now, so that was one less problem for Dr Director. "Come on, Du, follow me to the roof." She had one of the other agents take charge, and quickly climbed up. Once on the top of the building, the two looked around, trying to figure out some way of getting off the roof, and towards their target, but they were stumped. The director heard a burst of static, then a voice came over her head set. She looked towards Du in surprise.
"Dr Director, this Wade Load. I think I've got a way for you to get out of there. Check out the bottom floor of the building, in the basement. I've got a diagram that shows there is supposed to be a small holdout shelter there, it's got access to the buildings next to it, and you should be able to make your way about half the way to the Space Center underground. Then you'll have to cross the rest of the way above ground, on foot."
"Got it Wade." By this point, they were already at the basement, and were working on the door. Du grunted, finally getting the door to break loose, and they stood at the entrance. "Dawes, we might lose contact for a few minutes." The director paused, then frowned, feeling a pit in her stomach. "Dawes?"
Wade's voice came back. "Sorry, Director, he's rather busy."
X X X X
Agent Dawes slid under the Diablos feet, quickly rolling and coming up, firing a shot that took the robot in the side, disabling it. He spun as another, smaller one made a grab at him. It staggered forward, and he placed his sidearm against the back of its head, then pulled the trigger. It stuttered a step, then fell forward, out of commission.
The man looked down the hall, gauging his agents, as well as the robots attacking. They had managed to lock down GJ's main doors, and stay barricaded inside, but now the Diablos had forced their way into the complex. The hallway entrance was lined with GJ agents, and they had kept the robots back for a time. Now, however, the Diablos had attacked in force, and the Global Justice agents were retreating.
Dawes himself stayed towards the front, shepherding everyone behind him, back towards the command center. He kept them moving, firing at the Diablos, making a strategic withdraw; he hoped that they could gather in the command center, and use the armored room as a safe location. They had nearly reached the command center when one of the agents had called out in alarm.
Agent Dawes turned, quickly spotting the problem. They had been cut off from the other side, just in front of the doors to the command center. The man heard the stomping of metallic feet from behind him, knowing they were about to attacked from both sides. He set his feet, preparing for the attack, when a shot hit one of the Diablos blocking their way. A second and third blast caused the robots to spin. Seeing the opportunity, Dawes motioned his people forward.
As the weapons director moved in, he caught sight of two young boys, quickly realizing that the twin Possible sons had come to their rescue. Not looking a gift horse in the mouth, he herded the last of the agents towards the command center, then turned to look back, dodging a high swinging arm that intended to take off his head. He watched the buzzsaw spin uselessly against the ceiling. At the same time, he lowered his weapon, firing a blast into the Diablo's leg. The limb shattered, tipping the machine forward.
As Dawes stood over the robot, he grumbled to himself. "Leaving me in charge...Never again, Betty. I'm getting too old for this." He fired again into the robot, ensure it was disabled.
X X X X
Dawes quickly entered the command center, spotting Wade and Mr Dr Possible working in the center of the room. They were bent over a computer screen, and as he neared, Dawes realized that they were talking with the Director. The weapons director took inventory of what they had in the room, then approached the two geniuses. "What've we got?"
"Problems." Wade shook his head. "I've lost all contact with Kim. On top of that, Dr Possible and I have been trying to hack into the signal from Bueno Nacho. No luck, Drakken seems to have hardwired everything into that tower-there's really no computer system we can hack into here-it's basically off the grid."
He nodded. "What was the last you heard from Kim and Ron?"
The genius winced. "They were inside, but something happened after that. The Kimmunicator is being jammed, so I've got no feed from inside. I hacked into a few cameras in some of the buildings nearby; I was able to get some shots of this large window near the top of the building." He dipped his head a bit. "I caught a number of green flashes. I'd say Kim and Shego were fighting. Nothing since then, and it's been almost a half an hour."
The Director's voice piped over the headset Dawes had recently acquired. "Sounds like Kim and Ron have failed. Time for Plan B."
"We're all ears, Director."