Disclaimer: Nope, don't own any of the KP characters from the series. They belong to Disney. A few of the bit players are mine. This epic, along with the rest of my writing career is, unfortunately, a non-profit operation.
MAYDAY IN THE MOUNTAINS
Chapter 1 - Rough Landing
So far the mission was flawless. Wade had disabled the security system protecting the lair. Using stealth and the cover of early morning darkness Team Possible entered the mountain top lair in an old castle. Dementor and most of his henchmen were still asleep. While Kim took out the two guards watching the laboratory entrance, Ron and Rufus slipped inside and recovered the experimental fusion generator stolen the previous day from the Middleton Space Center. With the device safely stowed in Kim's backpack, our heroes made for the exit. They hadn't counted on the dogs.
Dementor's two canine sentries met them as they left the building, loudly voicing the alarm. In seconds the lair was ablaze in light and became a frenzy of activity as henchmen rolled out of bed reacting to the intrusion. As the henchmen poured into the courtyard, Kim and Ron activated their jet packs to escape. Laser fire erupted below them as they flew over the outer walls of the castle-lair. Ron was above and slightly ahead of Kim. He didn't notice when Kim's jet pack began to sputter and lose altitude. Rufus chattered, an unheard warning. When that failed, he nipped Ron's leg to get his attention. Ron looked down to see Rufus pointing behind chattering "Kim!" Ron barely caught a glimpse of her as she dropped into one of the deep valleys below the castle. Ron circled back to a clearing near where he last saw Kim and landed. He activated the kimmunicator.
"Wade, Kim's down. Can you get a fix on her position?"
Working swiftly, Wade first attempted to signal Kim. No response. A few more keystrokes, and a frown covered his face. "Her kimmunicator is out," he told Ron, "but I'm getting a signal from her suit chip. Her vitals appear ok, but slow. I think she's unconscious."
"Where is she?"
"About 3 miles from you and several thousand feet lower," came the response. "What's the weather like there?"
"Colder than Bonnie's heart," Ron replied.
"Her battle suit should have enough power to keep her from freezing for maybe four hours. Beyond that, unless she finds shelter, she could be in big trouble." Wade said.
"You notify search and rescue, I'll get moving and try to find her," Ron replied. "Wade, keep an eye on Dementor's lair and his henchmen. If they saw her go down, they may be out looking too. Keep me posted. Ron, out."
Meanwhile, back in Dementor's lair, a team of henchmen prepared to set out in search of the fallen member of Team Possible. "Recover ze fusion generator," Dementor instructed.
"What about whoever we find?" asked the leader of the henchmen.
"Leave zem to freeze," Dementor replied. "Or better still, bloody zem a lettle so ze wolves vill find zem." Dementor's force boarded snowmobiles and set out into the early morning darkness.
Wade contacted search and rescue, giving them Kim's coordinates. He was not pleased with the response, which he quickly relayed to Ron. "I contacted search and rescue. There's a storm moving in. It already has the helicopters grounded so ground rescue is our only hope. It will take them at least two hours to get to Kim's location if they can stay ahead of the storm. They are mobilizing right now."
"We take what help we can get," Ron replied. "What's Kim's condition?"
"Her vitals indicate she is awake, but not moving. Either she found some cover or she's hurt. I can't tell." Wade replied.
Down the mountain Kim awoke and looked around. She was on a narrow ledge a few feet above a roaring mountain stream. Above her, the pine forest extended to the edge of the cliff. She looked around and saw that the ledge extended some 50 feet in either direction, with no obvious path either up or down. 'At least I didn't land in the water,' she thought. Her jet pack had lasted long enough to get her within a few feet of the ground so she was in relatively good shape. There was blood on her forehead where she hit the rocks behind her on landing. She looked at her wrist and in frustration released a string of adjectives her mother would never allow in the house, all directed at her shattered kimmunicator and the rocks where she landed.
'Amp down, Possible' she told herself. 'What do we have to work with?'
She checked her battle suit and found all systems operating normally. The read-outs told her she had less than four hour's power remaining. 'The suit systems will let Wade know I'm alive and where I am. Ron should already be looking for me, but I need to find some shelter,' she thought. She tried to stand, but quickly leaned against the rocks behind her as she felt a sharp pain in her left knee. Another unladylike tirade followed. She looked around for something to use as a crutch, but found only small branches littering the ledge, buried under a light blanket of snow. 'I guess I'm stuck here,' she thought, as she began to gather wood for a fire.
Dementor's men roared through the forest, heading for the place where they had seen the jetpack begin to sputter and fall. Fortunately for Kim they were directing their efforts several thousand feet up the mountain above the waterfall that fed the stream running beneath her. She was blissfully unaware of this threat as she planned for her survival. She was hungry, so she ate one of the energy bars in her pack and washed it down with a couple handfuls of snow. Then she moved back against the cliff, seeking shelter under a rocky overhang. She gathered some of the fallen branches into a pile to insulate her from the frozen rock, started her fire and sat back to wait, hoping the warmth of the fire would help conserve the battle suit's remaining power. As she sat back to wait, she thought she heard Ron's voice. "Everything is OK. I know where you are and I'm coming." She shook her head and looked around. She saw no one. The only sounds were the rushing water below her and the wind blowing through the trees above.
Meanwhile Ron was working his way down into the valley. It was slow going as the walls of the valley were steep and rocky. The journey was perilous for a lone climber. Fortunately the slope was wooded. Ron quickly adopted a strategy of moving from tree to tree, casting his grapple to a tree below him then working his way down, relying on the grapple as a safety line should he slip. When he reached the end of the grapple line, he would disengage the hook and shoot it into a tree at a lower elevation, then repeat the procedure. After about an hour, he found himself on the valley floor, next to the stream. He stopped to rest, and signaled Wade. "What's happening?" he asked.
Wade reported. "The rescue team started out about 45 minutes ago. So far they are ahead of the weather. If the storm doesn't come in any faster than it has so far, they should get to Kim's location in just over an hour. The weather will probably move in before they can get back out, but at least they carry survival gear.
Kim's signal is still strong and she has moved, but not far. There is nothing to indicate she's hurt, at least not badly.
On the down side, a force of Dementor's men moved out about the same time as the rescue team. Fortunately they're searching above the waterfall and have no easy route down to where you are. I notified GJ and they're sending people to deal with Dementor's goons.
Right now you are about a mile from Kim, but it appears she is on the other side of the stream. I'll download the most recent satellite photos of your area so you can have a better idea of the lay of the land."
"Thanks, Wade," Ron answered. "Let me know if anything changes. Ron out."
Ron brought up the photos on his screen. He was relieved to see that the valley floor appeared reasonably even between where he was and the dot on the screen indicating Kim's position. Fortunately the snow was only a few inches deep so he was able to move with relative ease. It would still be a hard walk, and there was the matter of crossing the stream. It was much too cold to wade, and the photos showed nothing that could be used as a bridge in either direction. 'I'll deal with that when I find her,' Ron thought as he began his trek downstream.
Dementor's search party had covered the area above the falls and was taking a break when one of them looked downstream and saw what appeared to be a light. He directed a pair of high-powered binoculars toward the source of the light and saw a person huddled next to a small fire. The goons quickly mounted their snowmobiles and headed toward the light. Less than five minutes later a Global Justice transport landed at the top of the falls.
Meanwhile, the storm had overtaken the rescue party moving upstream, slowing them to a crawl. It wasn't bad enough yet to force them to stop, but the driver couldn't see well enough to move any faster than walking speed. At this rate it would take them much longer reach Kim's location. They passed this information to Wade, who relayed it to Ron, along with the current positions of Dementor's goons and the GJ team. Dementor's forces were on the same side of the stream as Kim, holding their lead on their GJ pursuers. Taking a deep breath, Ron stepped up his pace. He had to get to Kim before Dementor's goons found her.