Mission: Mercenary, a cartoon x-overs fanfic

Previously on Kim Possible (Warning: SPOILERS!)

Kim Possible is a girl who can do anything: stop an avalanche or an evil super villain. She goes to high school with her friend and sidekick, Ron Stoppable (and his pet mole rat Rufus), by day; by night she tackles the baddies that threaten the world. She's helped by a computer genius, Wade, and a network of grateful people that she's helped in the past, who give her free rides all around the planet to where she's needed.

Recently, Kim was hesitant to start a relationship with another boy at school, Nathan "Nate" Porter. Monique and Porter were previously going out, but their relationship ended, making the situation more difficult for Kim. She finally mustered up the courage to ask Nate out, but he was still unsure of her motives. When he found out that they were genuine, he agreed to go out on a date. However, after returning from a faux hunt, Nathan was met by the Weird Sisters, three enchantresses that had manipulated his father once before. They warned that Nathan should quit his romance with Kim immediately or suffer a tragedy.

That prophecy comes to a head today.

"Mission: Mercenary"

by Marvel Man

"It's just the mask, and you'll find I'm even uglier once you get to know me."

Bonnie Rockwaller, an extremely attractive teenager and cheerleader, was between a rock and a hard place: not literally, of course. To be perfectly honest, she was hanging upside down from her ceiling. Her mouth was tied in duct tape, sweat ran down her cheeks, and she uttered muffled cries and whimpers that no one could hear. Well, no one who cared, anyway. She was soon approached by her captor.

He was a tall person, wearing silver armor, although the clothes beneath were black and white. Upon his head and over his face was a helmet, resembling that of someone involved in the recreational activity of paint ball. He was, obviously, not in that sport, but the helmet itself was quite frightening in its simplicity. This person went by a simple name: a name that evoked the very profession he was in.

"You're not going to tell Mommy about this," Mercenary said with a raspy voice, "are you, Bonnie? Oh, of course you are. Things like this don't exactly slip one's mind, do they?"

He touched her chin with his two fingers and pushed her gently, so that she would rock back and forth while hanging. Blood was quickly flowing to her head by now, and she would lose consciousness. The odd thing was that Mercenary, as he was called, never revealed to Bonnie why he was doing this. She had no idea why either. Nevertheless, she was scared stiff and started to cry again.

"Just tell me the truth, Bonnie," he said to her as he paced from one end of the room to the other. "That's all I want: the truth. Don't make me ruin that pretty little face of yours."

Even if Bonnie Rockwaller knew the question, which she didn't, she still couldn't answer because of the duct tape across her lips. Mercenary was toying with her, possibly trying to get her to scream, even though she couldn't. All the things she loved—fashion, makeup, popularity, boys, cheerleading, her hair—it didn't matter anymore. She just wanted to stay alive. But she was home alone, and no one was coming for hours. There was little chance that she would survive.

And Bonnie Rockwaller knew it.

Two weeks ago, Nathan Porter, a boy in his mid to late teens, walked into his room and rested on his white bed. He had a lot to think about. Saving his girlfriend, Kim Possible, was indeed a noble gesture, but there was another part to that story. Nathan Porter was the secret identity of Mercenary, an enforcer and assassin for hire. Meeting Kim had changed much of the way that Nathan thought, but the recent events caused him the most distress.

He had hunted the villainess Shego for a long time; the price on her head listed her as the much ambiguous "Jade Claw." When Mercenary finally caught up to her, Kim interfered, but Shego used this as an opportunity to escape. Knocking Kim off the side of a semi-constructed building, Shego forced Mercenary to chase her or dive after his girlfriend. Doing the latter would make his reputation suffer, but Nathan did it anyway.

Now, he was afraid that his decision had cost him. It seemed for a long time that he was right. Usually, he would be contacted personally by a temporary employer, who would want him to carry out some task: whether it be eliminating a competitor or stealing a new piece of technology. However, Mercenary got no such calls as of late. The word that he had let the Jade Claw escape had leaked out. His rates were lowered.

Nathan sat up instantly: he had to get back in the game. Just because he was dating someone, it didn't mean that he had to completely give up his profession, right? No, he had to keep the Demon on alert. Only if he was known for such ruthlessness would she be afraid of him, and that's exactly what Mercenary wanted. He wanted everyone to fear him. But, that wasn't happening now, was it? Therefore, sacrifices had to be made.

Mercenary did something rare: he checked the public bounty list. These were often cheap, small time bounties that were open to anyone. They weren't asked by anyone specific. Stooping low enough to take up on these would even further the ruining of his reputation, but Mercenary didn't really have a choice. He had to show that he was as ruthless as ever. So, his answer came with someone called "Steel Tony."

Tony was a mobster who had his name on the wanted list for over six months, which meant that no one had caught him yet. Also, the specifications were not for his capture, but for his termination. At first, the bounty said that he was wanted Alive, then it moved to Dead or Alive, and now it was just Dead. This guy must be pretty tough to go up the scale like that in such a short amount of time. Still, nothing Mercenary couldn't handle.

Mercenary descended into Steel Tony's run-down apartment with his jetpack. This was just one of the many features that Mercenary had in his arsenal. Among this were automatic pistols, wrist rockets, force shields on his wrists, and enhanced strength and stamina from his clothes. Oh yeah, constant upgrading had paid off, that's for sure. Mercenary was a one man fighting force, and many people knew that too well.

"Geez," a voice with a New York accent said, "the Great Mercenary is here, eh? Somebody must really want me dead. Well, you can try, but I'm a survivor, all the same."

"Don't make this difficult," Mercenary replied as Tony walked into the light, "for you."

"Can I ask you a question? Is it true that bullets splatter when they hit your armor?"

Mercenary sighed and started walking forward: his patience was seriously running thin. Tony chuckled and pulled out a square pistol from his inside jacket pocket. Mercenary didn't even quiver at the sight of it. Ah, he's just bluffing, Tony thought. He pulled the trigger. The rumors were true: bullets splattered like paint balls upon Mercenary's chest, making Steel Tony suddenly worried.

"What I'm surprised about," Mercenary said, "is that you held off so many assassins on your own." But then Mercenary statement was contradicted as about thirteen mobsters appeared out of the shadows. "Figures," Mercenary said, "they always have the second stringers working in the shadows. Hey guys, how much is Tony here paying you?"

"Kill him!" Steel Tony screamed. Immediately his boys went into action. First the knife-and-pipe guys had to take a swing at him, before Mercenary had broken each of their chins and thrown them back where they came from. Next came the machinegun carriers, but Mercenary didn't take them down. Before the silver hunter could even start to react to the cocking of their guns, each fell with a ninja star lodged into his forehead.

"Oh crap!" Tony cried, looking up, "It's her! It's Sandra!"

A woman dropped down between Mercenary and Steel Tony. She was exceptionally beautiful with a body to match. Upon that figure was a dark blue leather outfit that revealed the arms, legs, and upper chest. Her white hair was tied back in a bun, but one lock of hair managed to still hang down the side of her face. Attached to her belt were two very long Sais, Japanese weapons that resembled a fork. Along her abdomen were lines of ninja stars.

"Hey," Mercenary shouted indignantly, "Rookie!"

Well, she was obviously a rookie. There were, after all, rules to being a mercenary. The biggest one was that you couldn't move in on another hunter's job. It just wasn't done. Her actions showed what a big mistake was making. "You can't take my bounty," he explained, "but if you go away now, I'll spare you."

"You're Mercenary, aren't you?" she said with a beautiful voice, "I've heard that you've gone soft: not a good thing in this business. Besides, I'll take who I want. I'm changing the rules."

"You're making a huge mistake. I will kill you, you know. Just because Tony's a public bounty doesn't mean that everyone can claim him at once. I've already claimed him, so he's mine."

"Then go ahead and kill me, if you think you can."

"Lady, you've got some serious lip. I'm going to cut it off."

Sandra didn't react well to that: she attacked within a breath, throwing one of her Sais from her belt at him. Mercenary's danger readings in his helmet notified him before she even made the movement, so he had already activated his force shields. The Sai bounced off it. Sandra didn't let that stop her: she ran at Mercenary. The thing that was odd was that Sandra didn't make a noise while she attacked; it was completely silent.

Holding her Sai between her fingers, Sandra made several punches toward Mercenary, but he dodged them. She finally landed a hit by jumping off the ground and shoving her foot at his neck. Then she brought her fist to his stomach. It hit him so hard that it made him gag. He had never been hit so hard before! Well, he hadn't since that one time with Mr. Spite. But this was a woman! How could she hit that hard? She did it without even breaking a sweat!

Mercenary tried to get his wind back, but Sandra jumped on top of his back and put his head between her legs. She was choking him in this position. Why wasn't his electric shock defense mechanism working? It was designed to work if someone, if anyone, grabbed him and held him. This was not a good time for his suit to be malfunctioning, he thought. However, his helmet was still working, and it told him that Sandra was about to stab him through the back of the skull… now!

He grabbed it, making Sandra gasp. Boosting with his jetpack, he crashed her into the ceiling, causing her to let go. But Sandra wasn't finished yet. As the two were falling, Sandra took Mercenary's shoulders and threw him down to the ground, and then she used him as a landing platform. He couldn't believe he was taking this much physical abuse from a rookie! It angered him.

Sandra flipped off her foe and picked up her fallen Sai, the one that Mercenary had deflected with his force shield. The woman in the tight blue leather sprinted to Steel Tony and stabbed him in the back. Mercenary groaned in frustration, and as he stood up, he felt something sharp hit him. Looking down at his stomach, he saw that a ninja star had pierced his armor! Bullets couldn't even do that! Sandra laughed as she back-flipped out of the apartment, leaving Mercenary alone and wounded.

"I couldn't believe it, Sara," Mercenary said as he took of his helmet in his lair, thirty minutes later, "she could actually hurt me! Usually, I don't feel a thing, except from Mr. Spite or a rocket launcher. This girl, she socked the wind out of me with her bare fist! I don't get it! Here, check my suit. Maybe it's malfunctioning. The armor shouldn't, but defense mechanisms did."

"There's nothing wrong with it," Sara said in a bewildered tone. "Your electrical output is working fine. And apparently, it did actually release energy when Sandra put you into that lock with her legs. Maybe she absorbed it."

"Look up everything on this Sandra woman. I want to know what we're dealing with."

"One moment, please," Sara said. Blinking twice, she flashed a bunch of text on the screen, along with a face picture of the woman called Sandra. "She's a rookie," Sara went on, "hasn't been at this job for very long: three months, apparently. Her reputation is rising fast, like yours did, but she's hailed as the swiftest killer this year."

"Background," Nathan said, stroking his chin, "all of it."

"Well," Sara responded, blinking again, "she was born in Italy in 1982, trained with expert assassins for ten years, became a courtesan for two, but she wasn't an ordinary courtesan. She would actually kill the men and steal their money, with no regrets. It was revealed later that her assassin organization had assigned her to do this, as a means of gaining experience in the field of murder."

"Sounds fascinating," Nathan replied in a sarcastic tone, "but what is she doing moving in on my claims? She's older than me, for Pete's sake. Why doesn't she continue in that other field of work?"

"She quit her society."

"Does that explain how she kicked my ass? No."

"Sandra's trained in almost every form of killing, so that she can handle every one. She's probably trained her body to deal with the armor of an opponent. As for the absorbing part, I'm quite baffled."

"Oh shoot! I've got a date with Kim!" He said as he started to get undressed, "I've got to be there in, like, two minutes! Well, it's actually more like twenty, but I can't be late! Sara, let me know where Sandra strikes next as soon as you find out. Okay?"

"Deal. Good luck with Kim."

"You're late," Kim Possible said with her arms akimbo.

"No I'm not."

"Yes you are."

"Sorry," Nathan finally admitted, lowering his head.

"C'mon, we're meeting Ron at Bueno Nacho."

"But I thought this was a date," he said as Kim pulled on his arm.

"It is… well, sort of."

"Uh-oh, I don't like the sound of that."

Exactly ten minutes later, Nathan Porter was sitting at a booth in probably the least Mexican restaurant in the world. Sure, it was Mexican-style, but Mexicans themselves would likely barf from inhaling this food. And just because the clerk said, "And have a muy bueno day," it didn't mean this place was Mexican. Nathan wasn't even sure what kind of food this was, if it wasn't Mexican.

Nathan was currently trying to avoid this piece of the food by shaking his head in the same way that an infant does when his or her mom is trying to stuff the spoon into his or her mouth. "Come on," Ron Stoppable pleaded, "just eat it!"

"Ron, there is no way I'm eating that! It looks gross! And your hands have, like, touched it!"

"It's just a naco," Ron said, his eyes glistening.

"See, Ron? It's not appealing to everybody, just you," Kim broke in.

"And about six billion percent of the world," Ron added, trying to sound smart.

"Tell you what, Ron," Nathan said, pushing the 'edible' item away. "If you get me a fresh one, and don't touch it, I'll try the naco."

"You'll be scarred for life," Kim whispered to Nathan as Ron got up.

Minutes later, Ron had brought back the newly ordered naco. Nathan looked at it uneasily; it was supposed to be the combination of nachos and a taco. But the concoction in front of him didn't look like anything. Still, he slowly picked it up and put it to his mouth. Before he bit it, however, he looked across the table at his two hosts. Kim was about to cover her eyes in fright, and Ron was grinning with excitement.

"Now, before I bite this, do you promise not to start making out when my eyes are forced shut from the extremely bad taste? That was your original plan, wasn't it, Ron?"

Ron burst out laughing. Kim looked at the freckled boy and frowned. Is wasn't that funny, was it? Then Kim thought about it for a second and started to giggle. Nathan had made a funny. He smiled and took a bite, making Kim gasp. "Holy crap," Nathan said with his mouth full, "this is… GREAT! It's delicious! I had no idea it tasted so good." He quickly finished off, and Ron cheered.

"Booyah!" he exclaimed, "The Naco claims another victim!"

Nathan looked at Kim, "Should I be worried?"

Kim smiled, "Yes, very."

Days had gone by and Sara still hadn't found anything. Nathan was starting to become increasingly irritated with this Sandra he had encountered. And he became increasingly confused as well. He couldn't figure out how a rookie like her had managed to hurt him so badly. He hadn't felt a punch like that in years. It was almost like it was if the armor wasn't there for a split second. Where did she learn how to do that?

Finally, Mercenary had an opportunity to find out more about her. Sandra had been offered a private job on a crooked FBI agent, but Mercenary wanted to be there first. It didn't matter that he wasn't giving the job, and it didn't even matter that the agent was wanted Alive instead of Dead. Sandra had moved in on Mercenary's job: now it was time for some payback. No one messes with Mercenary.

Sandra slipped into the building to find her bounty lying on the floor in a puddle of blood. She wasn't scared or startled at the sight of it; she was more ticked off than anything. He was meant to be brought in Alive and by her alone. Whoever had done this was going to pay dearly. Still, Sandra had to admit that she was amused to see Mercenary leaning on the wall across the room with his arms folded.

"Are you stupid?" Sandra asked angrily, "Now neither of us can gain a profit on this man!"

"How does it feel to have something stolen from you?"

"You didn't steal anything! You just killed him to spite me?"

"Yeah," Mercenary said, grinning evilly under his helmet, "and now I'm going to teach you a lesson."

"You must have a death wish," Sandra retorted, "Last time I held back. This time I won't." She pulled out two nun-chucks, which had replaced the two Sais in her belt.

"Oh, is it a new weapon every week?" he asked.

"Because you've angered me so much, Mercenary, I'm going to show you something that I haven't shown anyone else." Her hands and arms turned into ice, and her eyes glowed blue, matching the outfit's color. "You see," she went on, "I am the illegitimate daughter of a man called Subzero, and I have all his abilities."

"Who's Subzero?"

"An ancient martial artist and ninja, he freezes things."

"Cool," Mercenary said, making a sarcastic pun.

"Now my blows will hurt twenty times more than last time. Cold pierces all armor, Mercenary. That's why I was able to hurt you so badly, and that's why your electric defense (which I knew about) didn't hurt me at all. This time, your ridiculous force shields will not save you."

"You should have stuck to the Sais: they look way cooler. Oh, I made that pun again."

Sandra ran forward, making the first attack again. She gripped her right nun-chuck hard, making it turn blue like her hand. Then, whipping at Mercenary, she made an icicle fly off it. He yanked out a pistol and shot it before it reached him. Sandra had closed in on Mercenary now, and she could now make melee attacks. Mercenary grabbed one of the nun-chucks as it was whipped at his head, but Sandra let go of it and punched him across the face, knocking him to one knee.

Using the other nun-chuck, Sandra lifted it high above her head and brought it down upon him. He was hit so hard that he lay on the ground now. Sandra scoffed and kicked him in the side of the head. Just as she started to walk away, she turned and spat on him. Mercenary grunted and started to move. Sandra growled angrily and kicked him in his the side when he had gotten to his knees. She struck him again with the nun-chuck. Sandra decided to finish him with a hard kick to his face.

Putting up an arm, Mercenary blocked it. Sandra's foot instead dug into Mercenary's forearm, and it hurt like mad. He quickly got to his and, shouting like a wild man, whipped out a pistol with his free hand and squeezed the trigger as hard as he could. Tons of blue blasts exited the barrel, but Sandra's acrobatics of flipping and sliding allowed her to dodge every one. When she was far enough away, Sandra outstretched a hand at Mercenary.

His body started to turn blue and the shots slowed down to a halt. "I can't move," he cried.

"You're frozen," Sandra replied confidently. Before Mercenary could say another word, Sandra ran at him with all her strength, leapt into the air, and drove her heel into his chest, sending him through the wall into the alley next door. He bounced down the wall and ended up in a dumpster, groaning.

"That's where you belong," Sandra hissed, "with the trash."

She spat at him again and left. Nathan felt like all of his strength was sapped; he could hardly move a finger. What had that woman done to him? Just before he blacked out, Nathan whispered the words, "Sara, help," into his voice box. And Sara heard them.

Nathan woke up in his lair on what seemed like a hospital bed. Apparently, Sara had remotely controlled the airship to pick him up and carry him back to his hideaway. She later told him that he was pretty beaten up, with severe bruises and bumps. He was in bad shape and would have to limp and grunt for the next couple of days. Even though his body was beaten, Nathan's mind (his most powerful ally) was not.

Luckily for him, Middleton had just been let out for Spring Break. Nathan didn't remember what excuse he told Kim, but it was something like he was going away on a trip for the majority of the week off and would probably return sometime before school started back up again. This was a lie fabricated so that Mercenary could focus on getting back at Sandra rather than Nathan focusing on trying out new foods with Kim.

"I need to put this rookie in her place," Nathan grimly told Sara as he pulled out a laptop and started looking for an advantage he could have against Sandra. Sara assured him that she could look up anything that he needed, and Nathan thanked her, asking her to then look for some weakness that her father, Subzero, had. Perhaps that same weakness could be exploited. After hours of searching, Nathan realized that the answer wasn't in exploiting weaknesses but in augmenting strengths.

Sandra had told Mercenary that he had gone soft. That was the key. Kim had somehow made Mercenary less sadistic, and Nathan needed to find something that could release the ruthlessness he had in his subconscious. Sara wasn't sure that this was a good idea, but she didn't understand the full capability of Nathan's plan either. Nathan wasn't pulling this strategy out of the air: he had, in fact, picked up the idea from one of his past experiences.

Having dueled quite often with the Demon, Nathan learned that she was an aficionado in magical items. Sandra had some of that on her side, so it was time to even the playing field. "Wait a minute," Nathan said to Sara, coming upon this realization, "wasn't there something that the Demon always sought? I think her mentor once had it, but he lost it. Oh, what is it? Come on, it passed from several hands and several owners. Oh! I know!"

"What?" Sara inquired, not seeing his logic, "What is it?"

He smiled, as if he just hit a breakthrough, "The Eye of Odin."

"Does that still exist?"

"If the stories are true, it does. Look up everything you can."

After a few minutes of researching, Sara finally produced an answer, "Well, officially, the Eye of Odin doesn't exist anymore. It was destroyed several years ago. However, unofficially, it has been confiscated by the spy organization of Global Justice."

Nathan frowned, "Looks like I'm paying Dr. Director a visit tonight."

That night, Mercenary snuck into the newly construction state-of-the-art complex of the Global Justice Headquarters. The last one had been demolished by, guess who, Mercenary. That action, however, was merely a ploy to convince Global Justice leader Dr. Director that being on bad terms with Mercenary was not a good idea. They eventually gave in to his demands for cash.

Without any freckled goofy sidekick to distract him, Mercenary found entrance to the evidence room quite easy. However, he wondered if it was too easy. Global Justice's security was usually this lax, was it? He guessed right: it was a trap. The eye-patched woman called Dr. Director strolled in with about twenty men, saying, "You really are losing your touch, Mercenary. You walked right in to this one."

"Good evening, Dr. Director," Mercenary replied with a tone of false politeness. "I'm here for the Eye of Odin, just so you know."

"That doesn't exist anymore."

"Really?" he asked as he held up the gold framed eye from a small chain. Dr. Director grumbled: he had discovered it.

"Who wants it?" she inquired, as if ready to jot down notes.

"I do."

"You can't be serious," Dr. Director replied, bewildered, "you know how dangerous that thing is, don't you? You surely don't plan to use it."

"It might be dangerous for you, Dr. Director. For me, it's the key to my victory."

"You've always been a brilliant strategist," she said matter-of-factly, "but I'm afraid I can't let you leave with the Eye of Odin."

"Well, you have two options. One, you can take it from me," he said cruelly as he put the eye-shaped gem to his forehead, making it glow, "or two, you can start running. I'm sure you can guess which one I advise."

There was a flash, followed by a blinding white light and a scream from Mercenary. Dr. Director had to squint to see what was happening to him. The Eye of Odin had attacked his forehead, phasing through the helmet and bonding itself to his head. The light brightened to the point that Dr. Director couldn't see what was going on anymore. She could only hear him screaming, as if in terrible pain.

Mercenary's shriek echoed throughout the complex, but it finally died down. The blinding white light faded away too. The Global Justice officers could see again, but they weren't happy with what they saw. Mercenary was standing there, his body pulsating, and he looked just like he did before, with one exception. A tattoo of light, shaped like the Eye of Odin, had burned through the helmet and appeared on his forehead, signaling its presence.

"We all know what happens now, boys and girls," Mercenary's voice boomed. "I can't hold back even if I wanted to, not that I want to."

"The Eye's bonded to him!" Dr. Director cried, "RUN!"

"Oh, come on," Mercenary said, "don't I get a practice run with my new toy?"

The soldiers with Global Justice initials on their arm ran for their lives, Dr. Director included. Some occasionally turned back and fired off their weapons, but the sound of that was soon overridden with their own screams as Mercenary slaughtered them. "Captain," Dr. Director said to the man running next to her, "We need to know what we're dealing with here. Scan him, now."

The officer did as she commanded, turning around and pulling out a pair of red binoculars. He flicked a switch on them and then put them to his eyes, watching Mercenary approach from a distance. He then handed the binoculars back to an anxious Dr. Director and told her to check the readings for herself. "Amazing," she said as she read them, "no one man has that much evil in his heart!"

She was pulled away by her fellow trooper and told that if she wanted to live, she should bolt. Looking at Mercenary with a hint of sadness, she complied. He wasn't unleashing destruction upon the complex. No, it was more like carnage. Any one person who came within three feet of him was snagged and then either choked, stabbed, broken, or fried. As he exited the complex, Mercenary flexed his muscles and looked at them, laughing with triumph. It worked!

Laughing frantically, Mercenary took off like a bat out of Hell into the night sky. He soared, silhouetting himself against the full moon, and cheering to himself. He had never felt so good. The energy surging through him felt amazing, pleasure he had never experienced before. Now, with this pleasure, he was going to cause some major pain: pain for the one called Sandra. Oh yes, he thought, her time has come. Mercenary was back.

On the rooftop of a building in Tri City, the white haired woman Sandra decided to turn in for the night. She had successfully performed two assassinations, with the bonus of beating up some of the targets' henchmen. It was indeed a good day. What she didn't know was that it was about to turn into a very bad night. Mercenary waited for her by the door that led down into the building. "How was the job? Fun?" he asked.

Sandra was, for the first time in her life, startled. The voice of this person had an unnatural feature to it, like it was not of this world. It actually scared her for a moment, but when she realized it was Mercenary, her fears went away. He wasn't scary: he had gone soft. She kicked the snot out of him twice. This time would be no different, she thought. "What, those two times weren't enough? What is it with you? Honestly, Americans."

"Go ahead," he hissed, "make jokes."

"Do have to teach you some more manners, or are you going to run this time?"

"You're going to be the one running, Sandra."

"Again with the arrogance; oh well, I suppose I can't blame you. Maybe you want a date or something."

Then, he laughed. Mercenary's laugh was cruel, like whatever she said was amusing. It was like he was hearing a dying man's last request and thought it was funny. He laughed like a whore was begging him to kill her. He laughed like the Grim Reaper laughs at the sight of blood. Sandra, however, didn't laugh and definitely did not think her comment was funny.

This time, Sandra made a battle cry (one of true anger) as she charged at Mercenary. He had wanted to hear this for a long time, and now he finally got to. Her fists turned bright blue and she threw a punch at his laughing face. With a smack, Mercenary caught the punch in a steady hand. Sandra was shocked: no one had ever done that before! What happened to Mercenary? What had he become?

"Pathetic," he said coldly.

"I'll show you pathetic!" She yanked back her hand, grabbed her nun-chucks and started whipping them at him. With incredible speed that looked like a blur, Mercenary was dodging them. He was scooting around, squatting, coming back up, and sidestepping. Sandra was shocked again, "How can you move that fast? It's not possible! Get back here! Stop toying with me!"

Mercenary snatched a nun-chuck away and smacked Sandra with it, making her scream cries of pain. He dropped it and moved it, punching her three times across the face with the same fist. Sandra gagged as Mercenary grabbed her face and thrust his knee into it. She was hit so hard that her body flailed backwards, across the rooftop. Bouncing off the floor, it skidded to a halt. Sandra wiped the blood from her beautiful face, the lips.

Her right forearm turned into ice and she outstretched at the approaching Mercenary. Even in the moonlight, Sandra could see that his body was turning blue and slowing down. She was freezing him again. However, the odd thing was that he was still coming, albeit slowly. It's like he was pushing through the frost. She was drawing all the heat out of him, and that was supposed to make him stop. It didn't, and that meant something very bad was coming.

Mercenary slowly reached out and grabbed Sandra's outstretched hand. He was instantly returned to normal speed and separated her forearm of ice from her elbow of flesh. This made her scream terribly. Mercenary chuckled as he held the icy hand and wrist to his face. Nice try, Sandra, he thought. She clutched the half of her arm that was left: the elbow and shoulder.

"You know what they say," Mercenary chanted as he picked up Sandra by the neck, choking her, and holding her off the ground, her feet dangling. "Revenge is a dish best served cold."

Sandra couldn't breathe and, what was worse, she could tell that he was smiling under that helmet. She used her legs to kick at his stomach and chest, kicking madly, trying to faze him, but it didn't work. It was like his body was made of something harder and tougher than steel, she thought. Sandra whimpered as she kicked and kicked, but no attack made him move. She might as well been kicking a statue.

Mercenary didn't want her to die yet, so he turned around and threw Sandra off the roof. With her only remaining hand, Sandra reached for and pulled out a chain that she used to swing into one of the highest floors, crashing through the glass and into an empty dark room. Mercenary looked at his hands and smiled: this power was amazing, but the revenge was better. Sandra had made him look like an amateur and now his mind had led him to a better, stronger attack that she couldn't defend against. The Eye of Odin's effect was everything he had expected.

The quiet of the room was shattered when Mercenary rammed through the door. "Oh Sandra," he sang as he walked through the empty office. Well, it was seemingly empty, but the truth was that Sandra was hiding behind one of the desks, holding onto her bleeding elbow, the one without a hand. She held her breath as he approached, hoping that he wouldn't notice her.

She screamed when she felt him pull her up by her hair. "Silly Sandra," he said calmly, "I have night vision and infrared in this helmet. Did you think I wouldn't find you? Oh, you're so silly." She started to cry as he held her limp body over his head and lobbed her across the room into a line of sharp, wooden chairs. The crash was loud and pleasing to Mercenary.

This was her chance, Sandra thought, to catch him off guard. He was overconfident from beating her up, and that was his mistake. She lay there, pretending to sound apologetic, but created a sharp icicle in her hand. When Mercenary picked her up, Sandra screamed and stabbed him with it. To her fright, Sandra saw that the icicle didn't pierce his stomach's armor. Tears started to flow from her eyes.

"Why, Sandra, I was actually going to let you go. Now I'll have to hurt you some more."

Raising his fists, Mercenary punched her left and right across the face. When she would fall to the ground, he would pull her back up and sock her again. Her cheeks were completely swollen up by now, and Sandra couldn't even make a sound. Mercenary could tell, however, that she was still alive and experiencing all of this. That's what he wanted. He held her up by the back of her hair and drove his foot at her knee, snapping the joint and breaking her leg.

"You were right, Sandra," he said as he ripped off her clothes, "I did want a date." Mercenary then tore a whole in the ceiling and, pulling out a web of wires, put Sandra's head up to it. Her hair became tangled in the wires, and her naked body hung there. Sandra was wheezing for air, but her breathing stopped when Mercenary thrust her own icicle between her breasts.

Mercenary thought he would finish by grabbing a long metal pole and shoving it up between Sandra's legs so that it poked out the top of head. Now, his revenge was complete. Mercenary walked over to one of the office computers, turned it on, and activated the webcam, sending out a message. "Let it be known," he announced, "that anyone who moves in on my claims or thinks that they are better than me will become human shish-kabob like this young woman."

"Oh, my God," Wade breathed as he looked at Sandra's nude corpse, "I don't believe it."

Mercenary didn't even use an airship to return to his hideaway: flying seemed so much more fun. And as he entered the lair, he removed his mask. The Eye of Odin's emblem was still on his forehead, glowing. Sara flickered onscreen, bearing a slightly disturbed countenance. "Did you have to be that graphic?" she asked.

"It had to be done," Nathan explained. "Sandra was the example, Sara. I wanted to show the world that I'm still capable of doing things like that. Did it work?"

"Phones have been ringing off the hook, so to speak. Seems like the public's confidence in you has been restored, although some of your old employers were a little frightened. Your actions might have been too much for them."

"I've never felt so good in my life, Sara," he said to her, "the sense of freedom is exhilarating!"

"But you did things that you'd never do before."

"Exactly," he replied, "once I gave in to the Eye of Odin's influences, I just kept getting stronger and faster and more powerful. I felt so dominant, even though the Eye had somewhat complete control over me. It was like all moral inhibitions went away."

"Don't you think this might be a problem?"

"What do you mean?" he asked plainly.

"Well, won't Kim notice that her boyfriend has a tattoo that looks like an eye on his forehead?"

"It's not a tattoo," Nathan responded, "and besides, the Eye of Odin's influence is only to send a message for this week. Nathan Porter is off on a trip for Spring Break. By the time school has started again, I'll have no need for this trinket. And what does it matter? She loves Nathan, not Mercenary. She'd reject me as soon as she found out who I really was."

"No," Kim denied, "that can't be him. Someone's framing him, that's what. The Mercenary I worked with was never this sadistic. It has to be someone else."

"Believe me, Kim," Wade replied on the kimmunicator, "I want to agree with you, but Global Justice and Dr. Director have confirmed that's really him. I'm sorry."

"What happened?"

"Well," he explained, "when Mercenary lost Shego, he failed to meet the deadline. His reputation suffered greatly. Then this new girl called Sandra came in and was stealing all his claims (the people he was about to capture or kill). According to this record, she defeated him twice, but the third time… well, you know that part."

"No," she corrected, "I mean, how did he get like this?"

"I guess he wanted to defeat Sandra so badly that he wanted to gain an advantage. He stole a mystical item called the Eye of Odin from Global Justice, who had confiscated it."

"The Eye of Odin? What's that?"

Wade narrowed his eyebrows, "Legend has it that the Eye of Odin is actually the left eye of the Norse God Odin. In an effort to remove all of his evil attributes, Odin focused the evil into his left eye and pulled it out. The evil has dissipated over the centuries, but the Eye of Odin itself has become a target for power seekers. You see, the Eye of Odin attaches itself to a person's forehead, exposing and enhancing their darker side."

"What do you mean, 'enhancing'?"

"The Eye of Odin makes you fulfill your deepest, darkest desires. And, depending on the evil in one's heart, uh, it's hard to explain. The more evil you have in your heart, the more strength and power it gives you. And let's just say that Mercenary isn't the nicest guy in the world; he's about twice as strong as Mr. Spite by now."

"Okay, is there any way we can get rid of it?" Kim asked.

"Sorry. Only the wearer can willingly remove it from his or her forehead, which is a very painful procedure. The more you give in to the Eye of Odin, the more pleasure you feel; the more you resist, the more pain you feel."

"Then how did people get rid of it before?"

"They didn't. It killed them. After its wearer is nothing but a corpse, the Eye of Odin burns through the skin and falls off."

"All right," Kim said with determination after taking a deep breath, "I've got work to do. While I get ready, can you look for Mercenary?"

"Actually, he's not that hard to find."

"What do you mean?"

Mercenary was standing in the office of a soon-to-be major employer, who was quite impressed with Mercenary's performance. He said that Mercenary was indeed at the very top of the list and that no one, not even Mr. Spite, could challenge that title for a very long time. Mercenary liked the sound of that. He was untouchable. Well, at least, he thought so.

A young woman, fit and beautiful as the last, had fought her way through the entrance and into the employer's office, demanding to see Mercenary. "You freak!" she cried out as tears streamed down her face, "You killed my sister! I'll kill you for that!"

The silver hunter chuckled at the sight of her. This woman looked exactly like Sandra, except that her hair was black, her skin was tan, and her outfit was dark yellow. "Who are you supposed to be?" Mercenary asked in a mocking tone.

"You faced my sister, Sandra, who was the daughter of Subzero. I am Scorpion, or rather, reincarnated Scorpion."

"Another ancient martial artist?" he guessed. "Am I supposed to know who Scorpion is?"

"You should," the young woman said, wiping her mouth, "Scorpion is your killer! Now, get over here!" Upon the last word, the woman who proclaimed herself to be Scorpion shot out of the palm of her hand what was often referred to as a "Bloody Spear," a rope with a tipped spear at the end (meant to impale the enemy). The thing had a mind of its own, apparently, as it flew at Mercenary snapping like a hungry piranha. He sighed and, with one swift motion, caught the Bloody Spear, it still snapping in his hand.

Mercenary then laughed slowly and loudly as he yanked hard on Scorpion's weapon. The rope was pulled out of her skin, showing that it had indeed been a part of her wrist, making blood spill everywhere. This female Scorpion did not appear to be too affected, however, as she only muttered quiet cries of pain. "You may have defeated my sister," Scorpion snarled, "but she was the second-best. I am the best!"

"Come on then," Mercenary prodded, "prove it!"

He thus allowed Scorpion to make her move, and she did. Running at him full speed, Scorpion slid down then sprang up to the air and swung her leg at Mercenary's head. Lifting one hand was all he needed to stop it. A fierce uppercut met Scorpion's chin, and she was sent into the ceiling, until Mercenary pulled her down. "Didn't you see what happened to your sister from the internet? You obviously want to suffer a similar fate," he chuckled as he tossed her carelessly toward the window.

"Mercenary! Stop!" a young, female voice shouted from the entrance.

"Kim Possible," Mercenary said at last, "I was wondering when you'd show up. Well, now that you have, I can tell you to back off. I mean business this time. I'm not afraid to hold back anymore."

"By subjecting yourself to the Eye of Odin? How sad. I didn't think you were weak enough to be controlled."

Mercenary turned and looked at her. It was obvious that Wade had done his homework. So, she knew about his advantage. And now she was deliberately pushing his buttons. It was the urge to do the right thing, wasn't it? She wanted him to willingly separate himself from the Eye. How sweet.

"Answer me!" Kim screamed, furthering her point, "Mercenary, do you let yourself be a slave?"

Out of the corner of his eye, Mercenary saw that Scorpion was slowly rising to her feet. Kim hadn't taken her eyes off him, and he hadn't taken his off her. It was a stare down, but Mercenary wanted to make it more interesting. Without even looking, Mercenary pointed his right arm at the trembling Scorpion and unleashed a wrist rocket. The projectile hit her square in the stomach, ripping her body into two halves. One half—her stomach and legs—remained in the office, but the other half—her chest, head, and arms—were thrown out the window from the explosion.

"Tell me," Mercenary said cruelly to Kim, "is it slavery when you get what you want?"

Well, there was an interesting point he had brought up. Mercenary did, in fact, obtain what he wanted from the Eye of Odin. It had given him great strength and power, power enough to regain his title as the best mercenary in the world. No one would dare oppose him now. Despite what he had said, Kim gritted her teeth in anger: Mercenary had killed someone right in front of her. He had crossed over the line this time.

Her body started to shake with rage at his smiling complexion. Well, one couldn't actually see a smile because it was under the helmet. But Kim sure could tell that he was smiling. With a yell, Kim sprinted and dove at him. Mercenary caught her in the middle of her dive and heaved her out of the window from his shoulder. As Kim fell, she quickly composed herself and flipped twice so that she gracefully landed on the concrete. However, when she looked up, Mercenary was gone.

…Gone back to his lair, to be precise. However, Nathan was a little irked when he flew through the waterfall and Sara wasn't there to greet him. That was odd, he thought. He landed and deactivated his jetpack, creating an uncomfortable silence throughout the hangar of his hideaway. "Sara?" he called out, but there was no answer. "Sara," he said again, "how come you didn't lift the entrance or turn on any lights? Sara, where are you?"

"So sorry, Nathan Porter," the voice of an enchantress spoke behind him, making all the lights black out, "but your assistant Sara won't be joining us."

"You three, again?"

He folded his arms, turned around, and was met by the triplets known as the Weird Sisters: the blonde Phoebe, the dark haired Selene, and the white haired Luna. Nathan had long considered these three witches a pain in the neck, and they often were. "If you want the Eye of Odin," he said, "I'm done with it."

The three of them smiled evilly in unison, "No, Nathan Porter, we have no need for a magical item below us. We desire you, the person you have become."

"What? I don't understand. I don't work for you anymore." He started to walk away, but then he immediately stopped because he could no longer feel his legs. It was like they stopped working altogether! He grunted, "What is this? What are you doing?"

The Weird Sisters began to circle him, saying consecutively, "You have had your fun, Nathan Porter. You have had your revenge. Now, with the Eye of Odin attached to you, we can control you. You will forever be our servant, without the will to resist."

"What! No!"

"Yes," they went on, "you were a fool to depend on the Eye of Odin, because we can control whoever wears it. You are bound to us now. You will be forced to do our bidding. If you resist, you will feel pain: the same pain you feel if you go against the Eye's influence. Your only choice is to give in."

Nathan struggled to remain standing, but some force was making him get on his knees. He heard one of the Sisters sing, "You have a strong will, Nathan Porter. Yes, indeed. But now, we will take over your mind, and our commands you will heed."

"SHUT UP! I'm slave to no one!"

"No one but your self, and we control the Eye of Odin."

Nathan started screaming in pain as he clutched his head, which was throbbing severely. His body shook as he tried to resist, but the pain spiked higher and higher. Something was attacking him from the inside. "AAH!" he screamed again and again as he held on to the sides of his head, his eyes wide open. He took off his helmet quickly, but that did not alleviate the pain.

"SARA!" he cried out, "HELP ME! THE PAIN IS OVERWHELMING! HELP!"

"If you want the pain to subside," Phoebe said calmly, "you will obey us. To obey us is to obey the Eye of Odin."

"NO! I WILL NOT!"

He started screaming again: the pain was worse than when he first attached the Eye of Odin to his mind. It was like his brain was being electrocuted. The pressure on his head was so intense that he thought he might have been miles underground. He couldn't even concentrate: to do that caused him even more pain. To do nothing caused him pain; to do anything caused him pain; to think caused him pain. Nathan realized he made a terrible mistake.

Then he stopped resisting. He stopped fighting it, and the pain went away, mostly. He didn't think at all. He felt dead. Nathan got to his feet and looked at the Weird Sisters. A strong feeling of hatred had entered Nathan's mind and, with that, a surge of more pain. He was pretending not to hate them, but the Eye of Odin saw all, so to speak. It saw that he was just pretending, so it made his head throb and thus made him drop to floor, scream, and clutch his head madly.

"Now, Nathan Porter," Selene said, approaching him, "as punishment for defying us, everything you love will be destroyed. But you will be the one to do it. You will make the one you love, Kim Possible, hate you so much that you won't be able to sleep at night."

"Really?" he mumbled, "That's what you want me to do? I thought you would want something a little different."

Nathan was referring to their true desire, which was present ever since his father had died. The death of Nathan's father marked the beginning of the Weird Sisters' manipulation of Nathan's life, as they had done with all of the Hunters. What they wanted was Nathan virginity. They had claimed this ideal from every Hunter before Nathan, including his father; it meant that the Hunter was submitting himself (or, in rare cases, herself) to the Weird Sisters' control.

Nathan had been the only one to have ever denied them that. It infuriated them. Here were powerful magical beings, delighted that they could manipulate and control men and women to do their bidding, and now a fourteen-year-old boy had rejected them. It defied everything! They couldn't force him to give it up, but for some odd reason, Nathan refused to have sex with the three of them. They had henceforth had a bitter grudge against the boy.

On one occasion, when he felt that the Weird Sisters were being extra bothersome, he had agreed to it. The three of them smiled and immediately disrobed each other. And as Nathan stood there naked in front of Luna, who had spread her legs and was ready to receive the pleasure from a young man, Nathan grabbed a dagger and stabbed her in the abdomen! He had outsmarted the Weird Sisters.

The triplets felt extremely foolish because they had, for the first time in their existence, let their guard down. Phoebe, Selene, and Luna had actually believed that Nathan had finally given in. However, he told them that it was the only time in their existence that they would make themselves physically vulnerable: he saw that as a major weakness. Any other time they would have been specters or ghosts, but in order to have sex with a human, they would have to become human as well, at least for moment.

A moment was all Nathan needed. Luna had never experienced pain, physical pain, in her entire life, and her scream of agony was felt and shared by the other two Sisters. They had telekinetically shoved Nathan away and looked at him as if he were a monster. Phoebe and Selene tended to the wounded Luna, and Nathan chuckled to himself as he got dressed. "You are exceptionally clever," the Weird Sisters told him the next day, "but we are immortal, and we will heal."

"It was only to send a message," he replied sourly.

Now, years later, they had come to fear Nathan Porter, as he wanted. Though they still desired his virginity, the Weird Sisters knew that he would not give it to them. Besides, they could never trust him again, which was exactly what he wanted. He had become the unattainable, and he wanted them to stay away: his virginity wasn't meant for them. The Weird Sisters instead would punish him over the years for hurting them.

That's what they were doing now. The Eye of Odin couldn't force Nathan to have sex with the Weird Sisters, even if they transformed into the most beautiful creatures. Although he had the Eye's emblem on his forehead, Nathan knew that the Weird Sisters wouldn't tempt him or trust him, even now. The Weird Sisters concluded that if he was thinking about giving his virginity to this human girl, Kim Possible, then they would do everything in their power to prevent it from happening!

Mercenary suited up and went into action again, starting with someone rather ambiguous: Kim's cheerleading rival, Bonnie Rockwaller. Rockwaller had come home after spending a good three hours shopping at the Middleton Mall. She wasn't surprised that none of her family was home to greet her, as that happened often. What didn't happen often was that a sadistic killer had been sitting on her bed and scared the living daylights out of her. He tied Bonnie up and hung her upside-down from her bedroom ceiling, probing with pointless questions.

Hours later, Rockwaller's parents discovered her alone in the house, hanging there unconscious. They were terrified and called the police, who reported the attack to Kim Possible. Kim wasn't sure who would attack Bonnie, being that she didn't like Bonnie much herself and the brunette bimbo surely had enemies. However, none of them would hang the poor girl upside-down from the ceiling. Kim was determined, as she always was, to stay on the lookout for the attacker to strike again.

Though Bonnie Rockwaller was not attacked again, there were several other reports of similar situations. Felix Renton, a handicapped boy who wheeled around, was attacked in his home and tied to the ground by his legs. Felix himself, though, was relatively unhurt, which was good thing. Kim started to become concerned. The next target was a burly man named Steve Barkin, the occasional substitute teacher at Middleton High School, who was stuffed into a high school locker by some unknown culprit.

There were several other targets, and when Kim asked the computer genius, Wade, if he thought there could be any connections between the attacks, he lowered his eyes, saying there were. "Kim," he said sadly, "it's you. All the people that were attacked are somehow linked to you. Bonnie, Felix, Barkin, Mankey, Brick Flagg, and your cousin, Larry; they all know you in one way or another."

"Yeah, but who is attacking them?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

"No," Kim lied.

"Come on, Kim," he said, "just admit it. You know it's Mercenary."

"I don't get it," Kim replied as she walked up to her window and looked out into the night, "why would he attack my friends and school mates? I haven't done anything to him, have I?"

"Well, he blames you for Shego's escape."

"Fine, who's he going to attack next? We have to stop him in his tracks. I want to get to the bottom of this."

"As far as we know, he hasn't attacked anyone out of town, so that eliminates Monique, Nathan, and your grandmother."

"That leaves…?"

Wade was about to answer, but his doorbell rang. His mother called out, telling him to answer the door this instant. "Mom," Wade objected, "do I ever leave my room for anything?" Then he turned to Kim and said onscreen, "I'm sending you my address; get over here as soon as you can. Hurry."

But Kim was already out of her house and sprinting down the sidewalk. Wade hesitatingly walked to the door of his house and opened it. He winced for a second, but when there was no sign of danger, he looked at the person standing there. "Pizza," a delivery boy said enthusiastically.

"Mom?" Wade asked, "Did you order pizza?"

"Yes I did, honey," she answered back.

"Okay," Wade said to the pizza delivery boy, paying him. He smiled, waved the pizza guy goodbye, and took a sniff of the flat, steaming box in his hands. As he closed the door and turned around to return to his computer room, he was face to face with Mercenary.

"Evening, Wade," the silver hunter said, his raspy voice sounding clear, "Did Scooby-Doo sniff out the clues? How's Daphne?"

Wade dropped the pizza box as Mercenary said, "Let's take a walk."

Kim always had a knack for piecing things together, no matter random it seemed. However, with this recent case involving Mercenary, she was somewhat at a loss. Sure, she understood that it was him doing these foul things, but she didn't understand why. Finding Wade later that evening hanging from a street lamp was confusing as anything, but Kim felt that it had to be something more than just that.

She was right. After freeing Wade from his terrified position about Highway 64, Kim returned home. Or rather, she returned to what she thought was home. The house she approached with her address was in flames. She had rushed in, bursting through the now-weakened door, hoping that her family was still alive. Going from room to room, Kim prayed to find her parents and siblings.

Mercenary had apparently followed some sort of trend: for in each room, the family member was hanging from the ceiling, bound tightly, and silenced with a strip of duct tape. Kim's dad had already passed out by the time his daughter entered the master bedroom and freed him, and Kim's mother was practically shell-shocked from the horror of not only seeing that her husband was possibly dead but also that fire was spreading to her position quickly.

Kim Possible successfully freed her parents with the help of her laser lipstick, but she had to return into the home pyre for her brothers, who had yet to be found. Upon re-entering, Kim spotted the villain Mercenary in the kitchen. He was just standing there, as if completely unaffected by the fire. Kim desperately wanted to go over there and punish him, but she recalled that finding her brothers was a more important priority. Mercenary, instead, brought the fight to her, surprising Kim by socking her in the chin just as she turned her head.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" Kim cried as the punch made her drop to one knee, "WHY ARE YOU HURTING MY FAMILY!"

She roared, screamed, and threw what she believed to be her hardest punch at his stomach. It hit him directly there, but did not have an effect. Mercenary grabbed Kim by her neck before she could get away and held her off the ground, making her gag. With one swift and smooth movement of his arm, he threw her into the family room, unleashing his flamethrower right afterwards. The place was already scorched to a crisp, but Mercenary was just making Kim run for cover.

Hiding behind the couch, Kim took a couple of breaths before she was ready to attack again. Mercenary's flamethrower shot over the top of the couch, burning it more. The sofa was already on fire terribly. With a grunt of determination, Kim leapt out from the couch and tackled Mercenary, pushing him through the wall of the family room down into the basement.

As soon as he hit the ground, Mercenary kicked Kim off him. She landed on her hands and sprang off them so that she was back on her feet. Mercenary thrust his right fist upward and, firing off a wrist rocket, brought down the basement's ceiling. Kim was forced to dive to the left and hide under the shelves. Mercenary rocketed himself up, back into the house that was ablaze.

"You're a monster!" Kim screamed as she jumped up after him, "You're no better than Suboto! I swear, you won't get away with this!" She leapt so high that she actually was able to grab onto Mercenary's foot and pull down with everything she had. His flying was somewhat disrupted into a mere hover, but with a flick of his leg, Kim was sent off the silver hunter and back down to the ground of the basement.

Mercenary was just about to leave when Kim's grapple wrapped around his chest six times: she wasn't finished with him. He could see that tears were streaming from her eyes as she held on by the hair dryer. With a grunt, Kim heaved and pulled him down to her. She pounced on Mercenary, punching him in the face several times. He kicked her off again, sending her crashing into the washer and dryer machines.

Kim's body quivered as she struggled to get to her feet. Unfortunately, she never got to. Mercenary walked over to her, grabbed her back, and shoved his knee into her gut, knocking the wind out of her. Kim wouldn't be following him this time. Mercenary watched as she collapsed to the burning floor and gasped for air. His work was done, he thought. Kim lifted a trembling head and jaw as she saw him leave, his form becoming more blurry with each passing second.

And then he left the Possible Home, bursting through the roof and making it crash down. Mercenary then landed on the front lawn, much to the terror of Mr. and Mrs. Possible, who were cowering when they saw him land. Their trembling bodies would have made anyone feel bad. Part of their horror was from the fact that Mercenary had just broken into their home, tortured them, and destroyed it. The other part was from the fact that he exited the burning house and their daughter, who had just run in there minutes ago, did not.

Mercenary didn't hurt them, though, despite their utterly pathetic whimpering and crying. Even he knew that he had done enough. Balling his hand into a fist, Mercenary took off on his jetpack, flying into the night sky and leaving behind a trail of smoke. He speedily returned to his hideaway, seeing looks of pleasure on the countenances of Phoebe, Selene, and Luna, the Weird Sisters.

Kim Possible, however, was in state of much displeasure as she heard herself cough from the increasing amount of smoke. Her home had been under attack before, but it had never been completely destroyed. Still, dealing with the rebuilding of her home was a task for another day. Now all that mattered was finding her brothers, hopefully they were still alive. Mr. and Mrs. Possible cried anxiously as the fire doubled over the next few minutes, still no sign of their children. Had Mercenary taken them away forever?

Holding Jim and Tim close, Kim jumped through the second floor window of their bedroom. Kim's parents rushed to her just as the house collapsed in a heap, sending embers upon embers into the air. Kim laid the two boys on the ground: they were unconscious, burnt at the arms, and ash-faced. However, all that mattered was that the Possible family was alive and well. Mercenary didn't destroy the family, Kim thought, but he sure pissed her off.

Mercenary had his own agenda to take care of, hoping that the Weird Sisters would free him from the Eye of Odin now that he had reluctantly done their bidding. Returning to his homestead and not seeing Sara greet him for the sixth consecutive time, Nathan wasn't alone for long, as he was soon joined by the threesome of magical beings, enchantresses. "I've done it," he said sourly to the three of them, "now let me go."

"We have decided," Selene said eloquently, "that you will stay this way and serve us."

"That wasn't part of…! You can't! RELEASE ME NOW!"

"What was that?" Phoebe asked mockingly, as if she wanted him to ask again foolishly.

"Get yourself another slave boy," he shouted coarsely, "I'm THROUGH!"

"I'm sorry," Luna said as she drifted toward Nathan, who had sunk to his knees from the pain, "I didn't catch that. Magic must build up in our ears."

Nathan screamed in pain as he reached for his pistol and pointed it at Luna, firing a sleek blue blast that went right through her as if she wasn't even there. In the next instant, Nathan dropped the gun and clutched his head again, screaming louder than ever. The Weird Sisters were happy to see him so dominated.

"Are you doing all this for some girl, Nathan Porter?"

"She's different," he explained weakly, "she's an angel, not like any of you."

"Well, any chance you thought you had with her is ruined. You can't possibly have a future with Kim Possible now that Mercenary has burned down her house. She won't forgive you for that. She will see you for the monster you truly are."

With a sudden impulse of anger, Nathan sprang to his feet and ran at Luna wildly. She held up a single hand, which made him fall to the ground and grab his forehead. "Foolish Nathan Porter, you seem to have forgotten…" Luna chanted as she joined her two sisters, the three of them transforming into gigantic demons that resembled winged dragons, "We OWN you!"

Roaring loudly, the Weird Sisters moved in on Nathan as if they were about to devour him. He was holding up one quivering arm as his pain-stricken defense. It wasn't long before he threw himself back on the floor, crying out from the overwhelming pain. There was a flash of light, and the three dragons shrunk back down to beautiful enchantresses, singing, "It's all about power and taking control, breaking the will and raving the soul."

"Did you know," Selene asked, approaching him, "that we were the ones that sent Sandra, and later her sister, Scorpion? They were not actually real people: we made them up. Our magical powers fabricated their existence for the sole reason of getting you to desire the Eye of Odin. We tricked you into using your brilliant skills as a strategist to seek out the Eye, so that we could later control you and make you destroy your relationship with that pathetic redhead."

The blonde haired Phoebe knelt down beside Nathan and rubbed his back. "You see," she said, "if you continue to resist, your freedom will be gone forever. Be wise, Nathan Porter, and do not throw away your life."

"I don't care!" he screamed with his head against the floor, "I'm not going to help you hurt her! NO MORE!"

Nathan Porter jumped to his feet and let out a cry that actually frightened the Weird Sisters. After a few seconds, though, they began to smile from amusement: he was actually defying them, but the painful throbbing would subdue him again. Reaching out to the Heavens, Nathan screamed and screamed, as if praying to God to lift the pain. His mind was burning, and he knew that he wouldn't last if he didn't have help.

"You can't withstand the pain, human," the Weird Sisters said, "no one has done so for a thousand years! Only we can lift the burden! You are lost!"

"I'm not going to Hell alone," Nathan shrieked in rage as his eyes glowed intensely, "I'm taking you with me!"

"He… he can't do that, can he?" Selene asked, turning to Phoebe.

"No, sister," Phoebe answered, "the pain is making him delirious. He'll be silenced in a second."

Nathan felt so much agony that he thought his head was splitting in two. Gritting his teeth and trying not to give in, he strained to see, hear, feel, and think. He had to think his own thoughts. He thought about Kim. The Eye of Odin didn't want him thinking about a girl, or at all. What was he doing? He can't do this! Nathan pushed and pushed, screaming Kim's name as a way to expel the rapidly repeating pain attacking his mind, heart, and soul.

"C'mon, we're meeting Ron at Bueno Nacho," he heard Kim say in his head. He went over that time again and again. "Should I be worried?" "Yes, very." Nathan struggled to think of her beautiful, heavenly face and her piercing, powerful green eyes; red, cascading hair that looked the same every time he saw her. Was it like that when she slept? NO, the Eye of Odin screamed in his head, I have control! Nathan focused harder and harder to hear Kim's voice again, "Do you let yourself be a slave?"

Kim had saved him before, he thought, and she was going to save him now. She was going to save him again. He needed her! "Kim," he sobbed again and again, followed by an agonizing wail. "Do you let yourself be a slave?" she said, her voice echoing over and over, "I'm still here… I'm still here… I'm still here…" Yes! She was still here, in his mind! He might have lost himself, but he hadn't lost her! She was doing it! Yes, Kim!

"Stop resisting!" One of the Weird Sisters screamed. But Nathan didn't care who said it: his focus was no longer on them; it was on Kim Possible. Then, in what seemed like an ambush, the Eye of Odin somehow sent a spiking pain throughout his body, making him lose the sound of Kim's voice. He tried to think of her words, but he could not. The pain was too much this time; not even Kim's voice could bare it. Then Nathan understood: the Eye of Odin was devouring his happy thoughts!

"Now do you understand?" they asked in unison, "There is no pain greater than removing the Eye of Odin. You have lost."

That was the answer: the pain! Nathan struggled once again, frightening and amusing the Weird Sisters at the same time. He was truly a unique person to keep trying through the unbearable pain, they thought. But he won't last: none of them do. There is no pain greater than removing the Eye of Odin, they assured themselves. Nathan Porter was a fool to make this attempt a second time.

Nathan found that the key was not remembering how much he loved Kim. He thrust his head to the ground many times, and the Weird Sisters were confused. He was crying, but they could tell it wasn't from the pain of the Eye of Odin. What was it from? Nathan remembered when he burned down Kim's house. He remembered seeing her face, the expression on it when she entered the burning building to save her family. The look she gave him was astonishing: a look of true sadness and horror, like she was inside a nightmare.

The image was clear in his head. The Eye of Odin couldn't fight this, and Nathan had to push it further. When she looked at him, Nathan remembered, she looked faithfully sorry for what had become of him. It was like a mother seeing her son in prison for murder. It was like a wife seeing her husband being taken away in a police car, with sirens blazing. The tears that streaked down Kim's cheeks, Nathan remembered. He forced himself to remember when he saw her struggling to get up after he threw her into the washing machine.

She was hurt. Nathan started crying now as he memorized the look on her face and the sound of her gasping for air. He memorized that he walked over to her slowly and drove his knee into her gut, as if he didn't care or didn't love her. Her hair was covered in ash then, dirtied from their fight, and he had been the cause of it. The breakthrough struck him like a ton of bricks: he really was a monster. And as soon as he thought of that, the pain went away: gone in a flash. With the metallic tinkle sound of the Eye landing on the floor, Nathan exhaled.

"We do not understand," Luna said as the three of them backed away in terror and bewilderment, "what pain could be worse than removing the Eye of Odin?"

Nathan exhaled again, feeling the true serenity of the room. It was the calm before the storm: the single moment of respite before the warfare. He lowered his head, as if it was unbearable to speak the next words clearly.

"The pain of knowing that I hurt Kim," Nathan answered.

And with the answer provided, the Weird Sisters suddenly realized that they were in the presence a demon. Nathan's body quaked with the anger he had not been able to feel for an excruciating amount of time. "Remember what I said about taking you three to Hell?" he asked, "It still goes." The three enchantresses screamed with fear as Mercenary sprang at them, unleashing his flamethrower and shouting, "TASTE HELL!"

He had cornered Phoebe now, who was creating a magical shield that resembled a bubble around her. Mercenary's flamethrower was piercing through, and Phoebe cried out, asking how a human weapon could break through her magic spell! It was uncanny! Selene and Luna soon came to Phoebe's aid, charging their hands with purple energy before they threw it at Mercenary. He jumped out of the way, though, so the blasts hit the now defenseless Phoebe instead. Magic was the only thing that could hurt them.

Firing off his pistols, Mercenary pushed the Weird Sisters out of his lair. Selene and Luna carried the shivering Phoebe. As her sisters flew away, Selene stayed behind, drifting in Mercenary's sight. He continued to fire off the pistols, and she dodged them with clever evasive movements of flight. "You thought I was mad before, with the Eye controlling me? YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT ANGER IS!"

"You might have escaped us and driven us away," the black-haired enchantress echoed, "but we will return. And I offer this as a warning: do not think that you are free completely; the Eye of Odin's influence has tainted you for life. The tendency to do evil will always be there, Nathan Porter! You are a part of Hell's family now, human! Forever cursed are you!"

And then she was gone, her voice drifting away like the water below. Nathan was able to breathe freely again, and for once, his home was in a state of peaceful silence. With a blip, Sara returned to the screen, her face resembling the Aurora Borealis as it always had. Nathan smiled at her, happy to see a friendly face again. He picked up the Eye of Odin with a steady and determined hand, desiring to never see this thing again. However, Sara informed him that magical items like this could not be destroyed.

He decided to take something of a trip to the Pacific Ocean and, standing on the wing of his airship, Mercenary held the Eye of Odin over the edge. It dangled there on its chain. He remembered the power it gave him, the anger it released. Mercenary had become a force to be reckoned with because of this trinket, but he realized that the price was too great. With no hesitation, Mercenary let go, and the Eye of Odin fell and made a splash in the water, sinking to the bottom.

"Finally," Nathan breathed to himself, "it's over."

"No, Mercenary," the Eye of Odin garbled as it sunk, "it's not."

In the aftermath of their house burning down, the Possible family grew closer together. Dr. James Possible, the father and head of the household, said that even though their place of residential habitation was demolished to an extreme degree, the family remained strong as ever. Kim had to chuckle when she heard her father say that: it was so Dad, she thought. But, on some level, he was right. The demolition of the house didn't mean their lives couldn't go on.

Middleton High School's Spring Break was nearing completion. There were only a few days left before school started up again, but Kim was delighted to see that Nathan had returned from his trip. He seemed oddly shocked at the sight of the smoldering ash of Kim's house, asking, "Oh, Lord! What happened?" She, in turn, told him the whole story, beginning with Mercenary's loss of Shego, stealing of the Eye of Odin, and what a jerk the guy was.

And inside, Nathan still felt the misery of hurting Kim, the images and the experiences were burned into his subconscious. He knew that he would carry that choice with him forever. In an effort to make amends, though only as a high school student like Nathan could, he offered to let Kim and her family stay at his house. It would only temporary, of course, until the family was able to live in their own home again someday. Sara didn't like the idea, however, because she felt that Nathan was getting too close to Kim: experiences which mess with his head.

Kim was astonished at the simplicity of Nathan's house. It wasn't much, but it would do nicely for the time being. He showed them around the kitchen with the brown tile floor and where'd they be sleeping. There were, unfortunately, only two guest rooms, so Nathan proposed that he would sleep downstairs on the couch, and either Kim or the boys could take his room. The twins Jim and Tim didn't really want to share a bed, so they hastily agreed to let Kim have it.

His room surprised her. Kim gazed in wonder at the piles of DVDs and video games, the Playstation 2 and the sleek silver laptop, the counter and the speedstick deodorant (which, of course, was promptly removed by Nathan out of embarrassment), and the simple but warm bed. It was very comfy. Nathan must live under a lot of stress, Kim thought. Speaking of which, Nathan was pulled away by an annoying ringing of his cell phone. Opening it, he listened.

"Do you really think Kim staying in your room is a good idea?" Sara asked in a very irritated tone.

"Hi, Mom!" Nathan replied loud enough from Kim to hear. She chuckled and shook her head.

"You know I hate it when you call me that," Sara said.

"Look, this is the only way I can fix things," he responded in a more hushed tone, "did you make the arrangements?"

Sara sighed, "Yes."

Thirty minutes later, a middle-aged couple showed up at the door. They entered casually, without anyone to open the door for them. When he heard their arrival, Nathan rushed down and introduced them to the Possible family. These were his parents. The man was a pot-bellied Caucasian with a graying mustache and slicked back graying hair. His face was disproportionately rounded and his huge glasses did not fit on the greasy nose between his two small eyes.

The woman who entered obviously colored her hair regularly, but she looked like she had lost a considerable amount of weight after possibly being obese. Her face was round too and little puffy, but the makeup she wore distracted the eyes from that. "Mom, Dad," Nathan said, "These are the Possibles." Immediately, Nathan's mother leaped with excitement at the sight of new guests, offering them anything and everything to drink ("cookies for the boys?"). Dr. James Possible looked Mr. Porter up and down, commenting that he was a rocket scientist. Mr. Porter answered with a nod and the word "attorney."

Kim had to admit that there was a weird resemblance between Nathan and his parents. As much as Nathan looked like his dad, Kim thought, his smile was obviously passed down from his mother. Well, it was finally nice to meet his parents, who were wondrously overjoyed to meet "the girl Nathan's been blabbing about for days upon days." Nathan, in turn, blushed with embarrassment, but Kim smiled upon hearing that. Yes, her parents were embarrassing too. She could relate to this.

After an utterly delicious dinner of spaghetti, the Porters saw the Possibles to their beds. Right then Nathan did something that initially surprised Kim: he appeared out of the small bathroom with glasses. They were thin and narrow, not bulgy nor round. She was startled for an instant, saying, "You wear glasses. I didn't know you wore glasses." But he responded kindly by saying, "I told you that I wore contact lenses. I have to take them out before I go to bed. Do glasses bother you?"

"Not really," Kim replied, rubbing her arm nervously. When there was a substantial amount of awkwardness, Nathan told her goodnight, shocking Kim back to reality. She waved at him as she went up the stairs to his room, shortly changing into her own pajamas afterward. She sniffed sharply when she first placed her head down on the pillow: the smell of a boy's hair imprinted on it was something she wasn't used to. Kim had to sit up for a minute before she could put her head back down to the unfamiliar smell. What kind of shampoo did he use?

About halfway into the night, Kim found herself waking up. She looked around in the pitch black surroundings, not being able to make out any shapes. There was black everywhere. Nathan's window shed some of the half-moonlight on the room, but it wasn't enough to see anything. The room (and the house, for that matter) was quiet, with only the small wheezing sound of one of the parents. Kim felt that she was sweating a bit, making it uncomfortable to be under the covers. She quickly threw them off and stood up on the carpet.

Tiptoeing to the door, Kim decided that she wanted to see Nathan. However, the hallway floor creaked deeply each time she took a step. That was the least of her problems, because her father had set a trap at the top of the stairs in case Nathan came up for some "hanky panky," as Mr. Possible put it. Kim had just tripped the dad-alarm. It wasn't loud or anything, nothing but a string tied to the man's foot and a simple tug was all it took to rouse him into action. Springing forward, Mr. Possible shined on a flashlight on Kim's squinting eyes.

"I just wanted a drink of water, Dad," she explained in a whispered tone, "chill out."

"Well, all right, Kimmie-cub," he said, breathing a sigh of relief. He lazily turned around and returned to the guest bed and his wife.

Kim sighed and stuck out her lower lip to blow away the hair that was draping in front of her eyes. After tiptoeing down to the sink and getting a glass of tap water, Kim gulped it down quietly. She tried to take long enough so that her dad could fall asleep. When she was confident that he had done so, Kim started to move down the next flight of stairs to Nathan asleep on the couch. She nudged his shoulder, whispering his name to get him to wake up.

"Huh?" he whispered sleepily, "What is it, Kim? It's the middle of the night."

"I can't sleep. I'm hot."

"Well, that's a given," he replied quietly, making a joke. "Do you want to talk or something?"

Kim nodded and sat down next to Nathan has he changed his position from that of someone lying down to someone sitting. "Well," he asked, remaining quiet so as not to disturb anyone else, "what is it?"

"I wanted to thank you for taking my family in," she said. Almost right after she uttered those words, Kim lunged at Nathan and started kissing him passionately. He pulled away, though, and said, "No, I can't."

"Why not?"

"Not after what I did to you," he croaked, as if about to sob.

Kim wondered for a while, "C'mon, it's not like it's your fault." Then she thought for a while about what he might be sorry about. It came to her, "Nathan, you don't have to be sorry you weren't there. You couldn't have done anything."

"Yes," he agreed tearfully, "I should have been there! I should have been there!"

What Kim found that was odd was that Nathan was putting an incredible amount of emphasis on the word "I." She gave him a hug and rubbed his back during it. Then he rubbed her back too. He put his arm around her and she rested her head on his shoulder. "Do you believe in miracles?" she asked in a quieter tone than she had spoken for the whole of the night. Nathan's hesitation meant that he was taken aback by the question.

"Depends on your definition of a 'miracle,' Kim," he answered, "if you mean 'do I believe in the unexplainable phenomenon that occur in this world and defy all sense of rationalization, such as people who can fly?' Then the answer is yes. If you mean that whole God-angle, well that's a completely different issue."

"You don't believe in God?"

"I didn't say that," he replied, not changing his facial expression in the slightest. "I'm just not as good a person as I should be. I'm not that heavy on the religion or faith, either: I go to Mass on Sundays, but that's about it. I have asked Him for help (you know, prayed) but now I'm pretty convinced that I'm not worth His time."

Kim blinked as she rested her head, trying to understand, "All I know is that Ron's Jewish, and I know that everyone is worthy of forgiveness, if that's what you mean."

"Not everyone," Nathan responded, a hint of horrifying cold in his deep voice. He was not only referring to himself, but he was also thinking about the Demon and how she killed his father, his real father, those many years ago. However, he quickly tried to change the subject somewhat, so as not to appear vulnerable. Kim had seen him enough like that tonight.

Kim seemed sort of uncomfortable, murmuring, "Um, you just spouted off on a topic that I wasn't getting at. I think you misunderstood me. It's no big, though; I don't mind listening to you, Nathan."

"I do believe in angels," he hummed as he kissed her cheek. "Miracles do happen," he finished. Kim blushed and turned to him, kissing him intensely on the lips. When they broke apart, Nathan smiled at her face in the moonlight and wished her a goodnight as she yawned. She walked back up to her room, not regretting the trip downstairs.

With Kim's insomnia cured, Nathan lay back on the couch; however, he couldn't help but think that he was responsible for Kim's recent tragedy. He would tell himself over and over again that he didn't deserve her, and that if he had sex with her tonight, it would not have solved anything. In fact, it would have made things doubly worse for his mind and his heart. Nathan felt that he was not only abusing Kim because of what he did as Mercenary, but he felt he was using her too. He had to make this right.

And so, two days later, the Possible family were informed that their house was being rebuilt. Someone had made the call to finance it, and Kim guessed it was Nathan. But why didn't he say anything? Mr. Possible gave Nathan a slap on the back as he cheered and thanked the boy for having such a generous family. One thing that confused Kim, though, was that he lived in a home smaller than theirs. How could he have possibly been able to afford the rebuilding of her own home?

Mr. Porter professionally explained that, since he was an attorney, he had legal power to get whatever was needed out of the insurance companies. By talking to the right people, Mr. Porter said they were able to get their house back in no time. It was finished by the end of the week, just in time for school. Nathan was glad to see Kim so happy when she saw the finished product: he felt that he had seriously atoned for the sin of submitting himself to the Eye of Odin. Sara told him that such a gesture was enough, but Nathan disagreed.

"Mercenary is the reason for this," he explained, "and Kim wants to defeat Mercenary. I can't have her spontaneously attack me the next time I see her while I'm in costume."

"So, what are you going to do?"

"Kim's going to face Mercenary," Nathan said with a grin, "and kill him."

To put his plan into action, Nathan decided to wait a couple of days. He wanted to use this time to be with Kim. Plus, school had started up again, and he subtly told himself that the plan could wait. Besides, Nathan didn't want Kim all perturbed with Mercenary during class, which Nathan was already thinking about. He pictured Steve Barkin, the permanent substitute teacher, stroll into the classroom, sit down at the teacher's desk, and explain why the regular teacher wasn't here today.

Barkin would then go on to implement his theme of "Life is Unfair." This could be done in a variety of ways: a pop-quiz, a social exercise, or his personal favorite, a loud lecture. Nathan chuckled as he imagined Barkin being disappointed that he could not choose the next book that they would read in English Class: the regular teacher had already stolen the spotlight in that manner. Where Barkin would have demanded that all students promptly purchase "Times of War and How My Life was Ruined," they would instead have to get something like "Breakfast of Champions."

Nathan realized, sitting in class, that he was only slightly inaccurate. Barkin followed Nathan's prediction almost to the letter, complete with the cued sigh and massaging of his eyebrows in frustration. "In today's English Class," he began with a drill-sergeant's commanding monotone, "I had hoped that we would all have the privilege of reading one of the classics: 'If I Die in a Combat Zone.' However, you all—by order of the regular teacher—must get a copy of 'Revolutionary Road,' by Richard Yates. Book check tomorrow, people."

Barkin's English Class was probably the highlight of the day. Sure, there were some things that could have set it apart from the other days: Mrs. Muggins' meatloaf explosion, for instance. However, the truth was that they were waiting for school to get out; they were missing Spring Break already. Kim was meeting Ron at Bueno Nacho, but there was a more important reason for going there. Kim's parents and brothers had volunteered for a yodeling hike with some of the other parents and Kim, being the lucky girl that she was, was soon pulled into it.

Kim put her hands together flatly, as if the motion of prayer and begging. "Save me," she pleaded to Ron, who was eating a handful of chips and salsa, "Please." Ron raised an eyebrow and smirked, "Sorry, KP, no can do. I'm meeting Jasmine Almanac here for a date."

"Okay, kiddo," Kim's dad announced as he put a hand on her shoulder, "let's go! All aboard the Possible Express!"

Kim's head dropped as if her life was just ruined. But then she noticed a glimmer of hope: Nathan had just walked into Bueno Nacho! She could have wondered how he was here at the exact moment that she needed him, but Kim was more glad to see him than anything. She ran away from her dad up to him as if he was a hero among a bunch of kidnappers. "Nathan," she cried as she embraced him, "Quick! Save me! My dad's going to take me yodeling!"

"Kimmie-cub," Dr. James Possible said sternly as he approached the two of them, "You'll have plenty of time for that later."

"Uh, actually," Nathan objected, "Kim and I, er, have to, um, go to the bookstore."

"Why?" the father asked with a strong hint of suspicion in his voice.

"Well, um, we have to get a school book."

"Oh? And what's this book called?"

"'Revolutionary Road,'" he answered, "Right, Kim?" She nodded exuberantly. Kim's dad sighed and gave them permission to go: disappointed that he could not spend some time with his daughter. Nevertheless, he thought, school came first. He only hoped that Nathan wasn't lying. And after her family had disappeared out of the restaurant, Kim whipped around with a shocked expression on her face before lunging at him with a kiss.

"You're a life-saver!" she cried, holding him tight.

In since he saw that her stress was somewhat alleviated, he led her to the nearest Borders. After purchasing a copy of "Revolutionary Road," Nathan wondered at its content and decided to take a look, while Kim would leave to do whatever she wanted. Nathan found that Yates' writing was remarkable, and the story and characters sucked him into it. He could hardly put the book down. "Geez," Nathan muttered to himself, "this marriage between April and Frank Wheeler sucks. I hope my marriage isn't like this, if I ever get married."

Much later after Kim had asked him "how far have you read," Nathan almost forgot that he had asked Ron to meet him outside the school so that he could give Ron a copy of "Revolutionary Road." As soon as Ron appeared, however, the two boys were surprised by a familiar face. Mercenary had jumped out from the roof of the school building, swooped down, and picked them up. Ron was freaking out mildly, assuring Nathan and himself that Kim would save them or something.

Kim found out about Mercenary's strike on them that night. Wade had informed her through his regular notification of "You got a hit on the site; Mercenary's at it again." Kim then clenched her fists with utter rage: Mercenary had gone too far this time. He had seized both Ron and Nathan at one, an all-time low. Luckily, Mercenary's ego was apparent as ever as he left Kim with an address to find him ("Come to the docks; Warehouse 7A"). Hitching a ride, the teenage heroine was out there in no time.

Dressed in her classic mission clothes, Kim Possible found a sunroof as her focal point of entrance. She wanted to remain as quiet and sneaky and stealthy and secret as possible, noticing that Ron and Nathan were both hanging from chains by their hands over two open tanks of boiling acid on opposite sides of the warehouse. As Kim was making this observation, she felt something hit her in the back and knock her over the side of the rafter she was standing on. Mercenary had shot her.

"Finally," Kim muttered grimly as she clutched her back and stared down Mercenary, "I get to teach you a lesson. You've gone too far this time, Mercenary." The silver hunter, however, only chuckled and pressed a button on his wrist. Immediately, the two chains that held Ron and Nathan started to lower them slowly to the vats of acids. "Uh, Kim! Help," both boys had cried out to her. Kim gasped and sprinted at the two of them, wondering which one to get first.

Her thoughts were disturbed when, as she jumped into the air, Mercenary's whipcord quickly wrapped around her arms and chest, yanking her away from the hostages. "HANG ON!" Kim screamed desperately as she outstretched a hand at them. Mercenary had pulled her so that she faced him, and now her attention was grabbed. He socked her hard across the face, but she sprang to her feet and flipped out of the way of the second punch, still being tied up by the whipcord.

Ron and Nathan were moving closer and closer to the acid, and Kim wanted to help them, but Mercenary wasn't making that easy. When Kim had managed to slip out of the whipcord's snare, she slid down to avoid Mercenary's forward punch and, launching herself upwards, she roundhouse-kicked Mercenary in one swift motion. He seemed mildly unaffected by the attack, however. Mercenary must have new armor, Kim thought.

When Mercenary thrust forward his right fist and sent off a wrist rocket at her, Kim made a sound that resembled both a shriek and a gasp as she dashed for cover. Jumping over a heap of boxes and sliding back against them, Kim exhaled. In the next instant, Mercenary had leapt over the same boxes and was now in front of her. He succeeded in landing an uppercut on Kim's chin from the surprise. Kim found it odd that he had continued the attack: that usually wasn't his style.

As she was pushed into the air from his uppercut, Kim blinked and saw that he activated his force-shields on his wrists and followed her in the air. Kim had to move quickly, glancing over at Ron and Nathan, who were starting to sweat. She whipped out her grapple hair dryer and shot it at the ceiling. When it pulled Kim up, Mercenary missed in his attack. As soon as he landed on his right foot, however, Mercenary had whipped out a pistol, spun it, and shot a single blast without even looking. The blast had sliced through Kim's grapple rope.

"Even if you try to save them," Mercenary muttered as she hit the ground with a thud, "I've rigged a little surprise. You see, the weight on both sides is balanced right now. If you free one of those boys, the other one falls right into the acid. You'll have to make a choice, Kim. However, I'll be there to so you don't have to make a choice at all: they both can die, as far as I'm concerned."

Kim balled her fists and gritted her teeth, getting up and pouncing on the silver hunter Mercenary. She punched him left and right and added another blow by shoving her foot into his gut. He was thrown back. Even though Kim wanted to finish him there, Nathan's cry ("Kim? A little help here!") had made her choose otherwise. She ran as quickly as she could to the two vats, seeing that Ron and Nathan had both their feet to their knees, struggling not to touch the acid. She didn't have time to make a decision, because Mercenary had put his arm around her neck and started choking her.

"You can't save them," he said coldly. Kim struggled to get free, gagging profusely. Mercenary only tightened his grip, and Kim felt that she would pass out. Nathan, in hanging there, was becoming increasingly worried with each passing second. He had hoped that Kim would save them from this, but now he wasn't so sure. The villain seemed too much for her. Still, Nathan couldn't do anything: he was bound by the hands for Pete's sake. So, he simply called out her name in a plea of help: "KIM!"

This seemed to rouse all the adrenaline Kim needed to break loose from Mercenary and throw him over her shoulder into a wall. She leapt up to Ron and hesitated. Was there a way to save them both at the same time? She remembered that Mercenary had said that if she released one, the other would die. Kim started to bite her lip as she sweated with indecisiveness: Ron or Nathan, Ron or Nathan, Ron or Nathan, RON or NATHAN? Kim grabbed her head as if she had a migraine.

They were pretty close to the acid now, even with their legs raised. And this didn't make Kim's choice any simpler: if she freed one, there was no chance of saving the other. She would have to concern herself with that choice some other time, because Mercenary had come to and tackled her, bringing Kim back down to the floor and far away from the hanging boys and vats. She elbowed Mercenary in the face and then crawled away desperately, seeing that she had less than a minute to free Ron and Nathan.

Seeing his opponent crawl away and then start running toward the hostages, Mercenary pulled out his twin pistols and let off the automatic straight rain of blast after blast. Kim shriek-gasped again as she felt one of the blasts zip passed her cheek, making her drop to the ground in cover. She pushed her body to the left with the shove of one leg on the ground. Mercenary's attacks were too calculated, even for him, Kim thought. Still, this was no time to worry about the change (or near change) in Mercenary's style.

In, like, ten seconds, both Ron and Nathan would be swimming corpses in the acid pool. Kim had an idea and prayed that it would work. As she heard the whir of Mercenary's jetpack coming around the boxes she was hiding next to, Kim readied herself. As soon as she spotted him, Kim leapt and kicked him so hard that he was forced to fly across the warehouse and hit Ron, snapping the chains. Instantly, Nathan fell to the acid. He yelped as Kim tackled him in midair a millisecond before he was fried. She had done it: Ron, Nathan, and Kim were all alive.

Ron scrambled off the groaning Mercenary and hobbled to Kim and Nathan. As she was helping Nathan out of his bindings, Ron groaned, signaling that he was still tied up too! Kim laughed a little at his buffoonery and helped him out of his bindings too. Asking Nathan and Ron to stand behind her, Kim stared at Mercenary, who slowly got to his feet. "Well," she inquired, "What are you going to do now? Both of your hostages are freed. Face it, Mercenary: you lost. Just give up."

He chuckled and said, "I never give up."

Kim turned to Ron and Nathan and told them to leave, but Ron had to yell "LOOK OUT" to Kim because Mercenary had already jumped forward and was on top of her. Kim tried to push him off but had no success. Finally, she positioned her foot to where it could shove Mercenary away, but as soon as he was, Mercenary curved back to Kim with a boost of his jetpack. He swung at her, but she dodged, and Mercenary went straight into a metal column, disrupting one of the vats and making it tip over.

Mercenary had rolled back onto his feet, and Kim and Ron and Nathan were already running to the other side of the warehouse as the flood of acid poured out onto the floor. The warehouse began to fall apart. Kim and the others had to climb up some of the boxes, which were soon melted, to gain some high ground. They finally got up to the catwalk and were heading for the sunroof as their focal point of exit.

About half way there, the catwalk broke and became a ramp that the three had to crawl on in order to avoid slipping and sliding down. Ron was the first one out, followed by Nathan. Just as the catwalk broke off completely, Kim jumped and grabbed the ledge of the sunroof's opening, hanging inside the warehouse. She felt something snag her foot and, looking down, saw that it was Mercenary. With an expression of pure disgust, she kicked him in the face with her other foot, knocking him off.

With a yell, Mercenary fell and hit a large barrel attached to the wall. Upon contact, the barrel exploded loudly, sending out such a force that actually pushed Kim out of the warehouse as she tried to climb out. When she glanced back, she saw his fried carcass slide like a rag-doll into the rising pool of acid. Mercenary was dead, at last. Nathan came up to Kim and put an arm around her. Together, they solemnly looked down into the green smoking mire.

"Do you think he's really gone for good?" he asked.

"Believe me, Nathan, I wish it were true," she muttered huskily, squinting her eyes, "but deep inside, I doubt it."

THE END?