ANOMALY
Written by fulwiz
Beta by Wirenfeldt Jr
Disclaimer: I don't own Kim Possible, Disney does. References to real life persons, places, things and events are used in a fictitious manner. I'm not making a single cent from this. Please don't sue me. Original characters come from my own twisted mind.
Warning: This story contains profanity, sexual situations, mature themes and violence.
CHAPTER 01: You're Only Human.
Snow plows and salt trucks were the only things moving through the pre dawn streets of Go City. In the waterfront district the streets were still blanketed in over a foot of snow. Recent economic downturns were taking their toll on the city's shipping industry. Clearing streets that led mostly to empty warehouses and abandoned tenements of crumbling brick wasn't a high priority. The mayor had been promising for months to revitalize the area by attracting new businesses.
So far in this frozen February of 1983, there was little to show for all his promises. Only one new business had taken up residence in the past year. It hadn't done much for the local economy except employ a few construction workers to retrofit a warehouse for it's use. All of the people who worked for NeuGenetics came from out of town. Nobody knew much about what went on there. Nor did they know why a leading edge research company would want to be located in an area where it's neighbors were mostly the homeless and street gangs.
In the NeuGenetics lobby it was quiet. A lone security guard sat behind a U-shaped desk. His hard, dark eyes moved vigilantly between his monitors and the large plate glass windows, which had taken the place of the old loading dock doors. Movement on the street caught his attention. A gray haired, middle aged woman was struggling to push an overloaded shopping cart through a snow drift near the buildings entrance ramp.
He watched her carefully as she labored to make her burden move. The cart was filled with an odd assortment of mostly broken items, obviously some other persons discards. That, along with her threadbare overcoat and overly large rubber boots, was clear indication of her homeless status. It was a more than common sight in this area. He returned his attention to the security monitors. When he looked back out the window a minute later, he saw something unusual. Instead of continuing down the street, the woman was pulling her cart up the ramp.
Normally he had no problems with the street people. Apparently tonight was going to be an exception. He stood and walked toward the main door just a she was reaching the top of the ramp. To get her attention, he rapped his knuckles on the glass. She jumped at the sound and looked at him. He began slowly shaking his head left and right. That, along with the frown on his face, ought to be enough to make her leave.
Surprisingly it didn't. She turned away from him and began digging through her cart. He sighed as he watched her pull out a filthy blanket. Her intention to camp right on the doorstep was clear. His key ring jangled as he unfastened it from his belt. By the time he'd deactivated the security alarm and unlocked the door, she was already settling down with the blanket wrapped around her.
He shoved the door open and growled. "Look lady, you can't sleep here. Now beat it!"
The woman pulled the blanket tighter around her her body. She let out a fearful whimper as she edged closer to the wall.
He took a menacing step toward her. "I mean it. If I have to, I'll toss your sorry..."
She surprised him by flinging her blanket off her shoulders. Her right arm came up and pointed directly at him. Her left hand slapped down on the hightech looking watch on her now exposed wrist. A small object that trailed a thin wire shot out of the watch and struck him in the chest. A painful jolt of electricity coursed through him. In moments he was face down in the snow, unconscious.
The woman stood up as the wire automatically retracted into her watch. A determined smile appeared on her face. With her other hand she dug in her coat pocket. She pulled out a walkie-talkie and thumbed the transmit button. "This is Agent Possible. Entry is secure. Move in."
A low rumble of engines rolled over the snow shrouded silence. Four large black vans converged on the building. By the time she'd shrugged off the coat and rubber boots, Global Justice troopers were pouring out the back of the vans. Like her, they were all wearing bluish gray fatigues and combat boots. The only difference was their black helmets, body armor and stun rifles. Half of them moved to surround the building, while the rest followed her into the lobby.
In a voice used to giving commands, she addressed the two, six man squads. "Listen close people. Beyond this point our intelligence is sketchy. I want you in two man teams. Keep your eyes and ears open. We have no idea how many more guards are in here. Due to the nature of the threat, we also don't know what else may be awaiting us." She knew now was the time to drive home the seriousness of the situation. "I don't want what happened in Arizona to happen here. Stay on your toes."
More than half of the troopers shuddered at the mention of Arizona. They were the ones that had been there. Many of their fellow troopers had died in that battle. Their bodies impaled or torn apart by the giant mutated scorpions. As they moved out, all of them hoped nothing as bad or worse lay before them.
Agent Nancy Possible moved to the security desk. She watched on the monitors as her troopers moved through the hallways, offices and laboratories of NeuGenetics. They didn't encounter guards or anything else in the areas that made up the companies public facade. Numerous government and local inspectors had visited this place in the year it had been in business. They too had found nothing.
The intelligence that lead to this operation came from an outside source. A shipping clerk from a chemical supply company. He'd noticed a discrepancy in an order for NeuGenetics. Being new with the company, he was unsure of proper procedure. He'd checked the order himself instead of reporting the error to his boss like he was supposed to. What he found was an extra crate containing a highly illegal mutagenic compound.
Rightfully suspecting his boss was involved, he took the information directly to his local police. They in turn passed it to the Feds. As much as they would love to have handled it themselves, the Feds knew this kind of thing was beyond their scope. They sent the information on to Global Justice.
Undercover agents were quickly dispatched. One went to the chemical supplier with the task of finding out who was creating the mutagen and using the supplier to distribute it. The other, posing as an inspector, came here. Nothing was found at NeuGenetics to even hint they'd ever received any of the compound. The other agent had better luck. Through surveillance of the clerk's boss, they managed to find the chemical engineer who was making the stuff.
Right now another team was taking him and the others in the supply chain into custody. As a senior agent, she would normally be leading the other team. A gut feeling made her decide this was the place she really needed to be. She placed great respect in her intuition. It served her well as a pilot and during her years in the Navy. She relied on it even more in the ten years since she'd been recruited into Global Justice.
She knew there was something here. Something well hidden. Something very bad. One by one her teams began checking in. As she suspected, they'd found nothing.
Then the last team called on the radio. "Agent Possible. I think we have something here."
She felt a surge of adrenaline as she grabbed up her radio. "Report!"
The troopers voice came back. "It looks like a concealed door of some kind. Shall we attempt to open it?"
She stood and started moving at a ground eating pace down the buildings main hallway. "Negative. Give me your location and stand fast until I get there."
The office was small, but well appointed and extremely neat. On the door was a nameplate that read, 'Prof. Nathan Fernall, Head of Research.'
One of the troopers pointed to a bookcase as she entered. "I've never seen one outside of a movie, but it looks like there is a hidden hinge along the right side."
Agent Possible studied it for a few moments. "I would guess it works like the ones in the movies too. No convenient wall sconces. The mechanism must be triggered by one of the books."
The troopers hand reached out. She grabbed his arm before he could touch any of the books. "The wrong book could be a trap too. Lets try reasoning first."
Thoroughly abashed, the trooper stepped away from the case. She studied the books. Most were medical and scientific journals. Mixed in were works of fiction, mostly golden age science fiction. There were some religious texts and what looked like personal journals. Each and every one was hardbound. All of them were also perfectly aligned. Nothing she could see distinguished any one in particular.
The other trooper cleared his throat. "Ma'am? I think I know which one it is."
At her inquiring look, he pointed at the nameplate on the door, then at a large volume on the top shelf. She smiled as she too made the connection. "I believe you're right. Lets not take any chances though. You two step out in the hall, just in case."
Both men considered protesting that they should take the risk. Neither did. They knew her well enough to know she'd always put her subordinates safety before her own. They left the room.
She waited until her men were clear. Gingerly she reached up and pulled on the book with a finger. Dante's most well known work tilted freely and a click was heard. The bookcase swung slowly away from the wall. She quickly stepped toward the door. The last thing she wanted was to be right in front of the dark opening. When nothing or nobody appeared, she motioned for the troopers to rejoin her.
She whispered to them. "Set your stun rifles to their highest setting. Keep right on my heels."
The three of them stepped through the wall. On the other side was a staircase leading to a lower level. They descended. At the bottom a short hallway led to a door. Light shone from the gap under the door. It proved to be unlocked. Behind it was a laboratory. It was larger and more complex than any in the building above. None of them could see any sign of anyone being there. She motioned for the men to circle around while she went up the middle of the room.
Not being a scientist, she had no idea what most of the equipment was for. The smell of chemicals, most of which she couldn't identify, permeated the room. Her gut was telling her everything she needed to know. The bad feeling was back and stronger than ever. At the far wall she faced another door. From behind it came the sound of someone talking. It only sounded like one person. She couldn't make out the words.
As the troopers approached, she stepped away from the door and motioned them to follow. Once she felt they were far enough away, she told them in a hurried whisper about the voice. One of the troopers also had news.
He leaned in close and whispered in her ear. "There's a sealed enclosure, made of thick plastic, on that side of the room. There's someone laying in one of those hospital type beds inside. They're wired up to all kinds of equipment and monitors."
Nancy Possible didn't like that information one bit. Too many times she'd been witness to the horrors that could be perpetrated on one human being by another in the name of science. She was torn. Her heart called for her to immediately rescue the poor victim. Her head demanded she take down the one who was behind it all first. Her head won.
She nodded toward the door. "We're going to storm that room. Hopefully we'll have surprise on our side. Lets move."
They rushed the door. As one, they swung booted feet. The door crashed inward. She was the first through. Inside was another office. This one was different from the previous one upstairs in two ways. First, it was a mess. Clutter abounded. The second was that it was occupied. A man sat in a large chair facing the door. He was younger than her by more than a decade. He wore a rumpled and stained business suit. His dark hair was uncombed and the expression on his face was one of pure madness.
They all stopped short as he began to laugh. All of them had seen such madness before. That wasn't what gave them pause. The smell of alcohol permeated the room. Not the kind you drink, the kind used by the gallon in labs worldwide. The entire floor was drenched in it and the laughing man was holding a sheaf of burning papers in his hand.
His eyes sparkled with amusement. His voice was a sing-song that hinted of hysteria. "Too late. Yes indeed. My work is done and so am I. Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye."
They quickly backed away as he dropped the burning papers. There was a loud Whoosh as the man was engulfed in bright blue and yellow flames. They could still hear his laughing as they ran out of the room.
An hour later Agent Possible stood looking into the plastic enclosure. Fernall was a charred husk. His clandestine office gutted by the fire. The laboratory was intact for the most part. Only the efforts of most of her team, armed with fire extinguishers, had managed to save it. Now there was only one consideration on her mind. Her trooper neglected to mention one detail when he'd told her about the person she was looking at. The person in the bed, surrounded by machines, was a child.
It was a little girl. She lay naked in the bed. Her body was covered by small round pads. Each one held a wire to her skin. The wires ran to machines that beeped and whirred. The girls bald head was partially covered by a kind of plastic helmet. Wires ran from it to even more machines. Nancy Possible had three children. Two boys and a girl. This little girl looked about the same age as her own daughter. Around 11 or 12 years old.
Every fiber of her being screamed at her to bust down the plastic door. Begged her to gather the sleeping child in her arms. Demanded she take the young girl as far as she could from this awful place. She fought her instincts. A medical team was already on it's way. Her self appointed job was to guard and watch over the child until they arrived. It would be their job to do the rescuing. So too would it fall to them to determine what that madman had done.
She leaned forward, resting her forehead on the plastic door. Her eyes squeezed shut and she spoke from the heart. "Don't worry little one. We'll help you. Take care of you. And if anythings wrong, we'll fix you. I won't let the world look at you like you're some kind of anomaly."
The feeling of a close presence made her open her eyes. She found herself staring into eyes of vivid blue. The girl was mere inches away, standing right on the other side of the door. Wires dangled from her body and lay along the floor. Most were disconnected from the machines. It took a few moments for Nancy to realize that alarms were sounding all around her.
A clipped recorded voice rang out from the buildings intercom system. "Project bio-signs unstable. Initiating containment protocols. Auto destruct enabled. All personnel have one minute to reach safe distance."
The girl gave her a curious look. She then reached out and pushed on the plastic door. The latch snapped and the door flew open. Nancy stumbled back. Her foot caught on something and she fell. She felt her head impact the floor. Everything went fuzzy as she lost consciousness.
An unknown time later she awoke to the contradictory sensations of hot and cold. She was laying in the snow, while much too close for comfort, what was left of the NeuGenetics building burned. A GJ doctor was crouched over her. Nancy reached out and grabbed the mans arm. She shot a question at him in what was only a ghost of her usual commanding voice. "Did everyone make it out?"
The doctor took her hand. "All your troopers made it out. There are a few with burns, but they are mostly minor."
She sighed in relief. A moment later she remembered. "The child? Where is she?"
With a negative shake of his head, the doctor replied. "There was no sign of any child when I arrived."
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(Two years later...)
More than a hundred teenagers filled the foldout bleachers of the gymnasium. Most of them were dressed identically. The boys wore royal blue slacks, white shirts with red buttons and blazers with a rich golden yellow piping. Girls wore short pleated skirts, white blouses and blazers in the same royal blue. All wore red socks and matching red and yellow striped ties. Banners in the same color scheme were hung from the walls.
One spelled out, Middleton High School. Another read, Welcome Freshmen. The last proudly proclaimed, Go Mad Dogs! In the middle of the gym's wood floor was the painted visage of a bulldog. This same image was repeated in the large red buttons on all the students blazers.
Spaced around the floor were tables. Each represented a different sport, activity or club. They were manned by upperclassmen. Directly in front of the bleachers stood a portable podium. A large man wearing a three piece suit, also in the school colors, was attempting to plug in the podiums built in microphone. There was a loud pop and squeal of feedback. All the students covered their ears.
The man sheepishly adjusted the microphones angle and cleared his throat loudly. "Settle down people! Settle down!" He waited impatiently as the students reluctantly gave him their attention. "Welcome to freshman orientation. I'm Vice Principal Frank Barkin." A smattering of jeers and boo's came from the bleachers. A couple came from the table area as well. The derision was from students that had older siblings who'd warned them about the man.
Barkin continued, unfazed. "This year our school has implemented a uniform policy." Incredulous stares at his statement of the obvious abounded. "I believe this will lead to a more wholesome and productive learning environment." He pulled a thick pile of papers from under the podium. "Lets get started with our school rules..."
Forty minutes later, groups of students were milling around the tables. The ones not interested in signing up for school activities were already out exploring the school and trying to locate their classrooms. A group, composed mostly of girls, approached a table that bore a sign that read Cheerleaders!!! Behind the table stood a blonde senior. She was pretty, but seemed to be wearing just a bit too much makeup. Instead of a blouse and blazer she wore a sleeveless vest type top, emblazoned with a giant M. The inner panels of her pleated skirt were yellow, along with her knee high socks.
She watched the girls come close, taking particular interest in a tall girl with a shoulder length bob of red hair. Unlike most of the others, in her opinion, this girl looked like she had what it took to be an asset to the squad. She began her peppy pitch to the group. "Hi girls! My names Summer Gale. I'm the Captain of our regional championship winning cheerleading team! We're all about school spirit and we have fun, Fun, FUN!" She reached down and pushed a paper across the table until it was right in front of the redhead. "Who wants to sign up for tomorrows tryouts?"
The redheaded girl looked down at the sign-up sheet. A moment later, she stepped aside as a couple other girls rushed forward to put their names down.
Slightly miffed, but not letting it show on her face, Summer addressed the girl directly. "What about you? Wouldn't you like to be a cheerleader? It's the path to popularity!"
Amusement shone in the girls bright blue eyes as she shook her head. "No thank you. I don't think it's the thing for me."
Summer Gale watched the girl move on to the next table. The look in her eyes was anything but friendly.
A girl with dark hair in a Princess Di pageboy cut caught up with the redhead. "Like wow. You like totally pissed her off."
The redhead stopped in front of an unattended table. She looked at the other girl. "I did?"
The girl stuck a piece of gum in her mouth. "Fur sure! My names Liz by the way, well Elizabeth, but I go by Liz or Lizzie or Beth, anything but Betty. I hate Betty. Whats yours?"
She smiled at the girls exuberant nature. "Mines Anne, Anne O'Malley." She looked over at the cheerleading table, but couldn't see Summer through the crowd. "I didn't mean to make her mad or anything."
Liz shrugged. She opened her mouth to reply, but a gruff voice cut her off.
"Are you ladies interested in Gymnastics?"
They turned to see the Vice Principal standing on the other side of the table. Sure enough the sign on the table read Gymnastics. Anne looked at the blank sign-up sheet. She'd actually been interested in cheerleading, but Summer's fake happy attitude had put her off. She smiled. Maybe this would be just as good.
Anne grabbed a pen from the table and put down her name on the sheet. "I think I am."
Liz gave her a surprised look. "Like, I guess you are." With another shrug, she plucked the pen from Anne's fingers. She added her name to the sheet. "What the hey. It could be like totally fun and stuff."
Anne smiled at her new friend. Ahead lay the perfectly normal life she dreamed of having. Today she was putting her past behind her. She just hoped it stayed there.
