Disclaimer: Kim Possible and all characters portrayed and/or implied inside that television animated program belong solely unto Walt Disney Productions.
X-Men, created by Stan Lea and Jack Kirby, and published by Marvel Comics.
A host of other villains appear: Ra's al Ghoul from Batman Series; Tony Stark (Iron Man), Captain America, Thor, and Hawkeye, from Avengers, created by Stan Lea and Jack Kirby, also published by Marvel Comics; Spider-Man, created by Stan Lea and Steve Ditko, and expanded by Brian Michael Bandis, and published by Marvel Comics under The Ultimate Spider-Man, along with Villains, Modok and Doctor Octopus, Otto Octavius.
S.H.I.E.L.D. created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, published by Marvel Comics.
Background
Dr. Director reread the rejection letter. Again. For the sixth time. Still, she couldn't believe her young protégé's unmitigated gall. Where was her loyalty? And gratitude? Forgotten, that's where. Dr. Director huffs loudly, slamming her hand down atop her desk.
Had she really forgotten so soon? Does her protégé realize how many times she interceded to prevent her arrest? Locals extolled her heroics. Authorities interpreted her actions and 'Anything's Possible for a Possible' attitude quite differently. Many debated about arresting and filing various legal charges against this aspiring 'heroine,' mainly over making them look bad in the public's eye.
One local headline comes to mind. The Middleton Tribune read, 'Young Girl Achieves What Local nor Global Authorities Could'. A 14-year-old girl defeats a military-grade laser grid, while rescuing two of this nation's wealthiest men. Two of her best agent might, and that's a big might, be able to achieve what she'd done.
And yet, she did it with such ease. She didn't break a sweat. That article brought the redhead to her attention. G.J. once employed over 8,000 people in the Northern Hemisphere alone. Today? Recruitment dropped off drastically. Fewer young people sought employment within law enforcement. Budget cuts prevent such agencies from competing with Fortune 500 companies.
Making matters worse, while dedicated and intelligent, G.J.'s 'aging' personnel had lost touch with modern issues. Their mindsets over time had become so rigid, locked into a certain way of perceiving whatever they come up against. Dr. Director felt, they unintentionally missed certain clues a younger (more in touch with modern issues) might catch. Together, they'd be unstoppable.
Crime skyrocketing. Few agents on the job. Caseloads increasing every day. Agents overworked and underpaid. Even Dr. Director couldn't deny this reality. G.J., her pride and joy slowly crumbled and she didn't have any foreseeable solutions, until reading that article.
At 16, Kim Possible—an emancipated teen—became G.J.'s savior. A young face, she'd attract other young people to infuse G.J.'s aging workforce with life blood, fresh ideas, and new perspectives.
Reopening Old Wounds
She made Kim Possible G.J.'s 'poster girl'. A symbol of what every young person—male or female—could achieve by joining Global Justice. Their campaign worked. Recruitment steadily rose. For a while, then applications slowly dropped off again.
Several years pass. Dr. Director didn't worry. Pleased, their numbers may not have increased like she hoped, but remained steady. That gave her precious hope, until now. Her eyes drift back towards G.J.'s poster girl's rejection letter.
Word would spread. Inevitably. She could slow but not stop its dissemination. G.J. barely got back onto its feet again, looking healthy on the outside, but very vulnerable inside. Old and new ideas don't always mix so well. As in this case. Fresh ideas infused G.J. with new vitality. However, hiring young blood meant she—as director, no matter how distasteful—had to retire certain older, less vital agents and, in turn, appoint younger, knowledgeable recruits into their positions.
While necessary, this decision sent contentious ripples throughout their ranks. Each agent did his/her job. Workforce tensions were so thick. You could slice it like butter. A single spark could torch everything she'd worked so hard to rebuild. Now this.
Dr. Director couldn't help wondering. Could Possible's letter be this spark? If so, could she put out the resulting flames and minimize the damage. A rejection letter? Who even does that anymore? Or ever? Kim Possible, that's who.
What irked her worst of all. Possible didn't even realize the consequences of her actions. Rejecting her job offer in person would've sent contentious ripples throughout their ranks. Dr. Director could've at least mitigate the damage. Now? Mitigation wasn't even an option anymore. News about her rejection already spread like wildfire. Sixteen younger agents tenured their resignations in the last two weeks.
Dr. Director feared, this was only the beginning. She envisioned G.J.'s decline, only faster than ever this time. She glances up at her wall clock, 2:33 a.m., rubbing he weary, water-logged eyes. Dr. Director was exhausted, mentally, and physically. Her body desired rest more than air itself. And yet, her mind simply wouldn't shut down, no matter how hard she willed it to do so.
Her rejection delivered a decisive blow unto her own reputation. Her enemies mocked her sore enough. Dr. Director didn't pay them much attention. Her superiors exacerbate this whole experience by calling her very reputation into question. All over her protégé rejecting her job offer. By letter. They blamed her recruiting and promoting a fickle teen as G.J.'s new face.
Rejecting her job offer in person would've prevented this indignity. Her superiors would understand and appreciate a junior applicate temporarily putting her career on hold for scholastic aspirations. G.J. had become a laughing stock within the intelligence community.
It Only Gets Worse
Kim Possible enrolled at Yale University, pursuing dual majors in Mechanical Cybernetics and Criminal Justice. Dr. Director resolves, having a brain surgeon and rocket scientist (both intelligent and at the top of their perspective fields), as parents, and living with prodigy twins didn't hurt.
Ron Stoppable—her partner and significant other—enrolled in a nearby culinary school.
Everything seemed legit. Nothing to worry about. Dr Director devised a subtle way she could contain the fires and mitigate the political repercussions over her protégé's careless actions. She sold the board, 'Kim Possible didn't reject my job offer. Not really. She merely postponed joining G.J. to pursue her education. We overreacted and misinterpreted her actions. You know how teenagers are'.
That 'excuse'—because that's what it was, an excuse—appease them enough. The board got off her back. Dr. Director could breathe a little easier. She knew better than lower her guard. Who knew how long that band-aid might hold? This deep wound would eventually reopen, either by itself or with external force. It didn't matter which. There'd be no way to contain the damage by then.
Truth was, she lied. To her superiors. To her subordinates. And especially to her enemies. She didn't have a clue about the redhead's intentions. Neither could she question the young girl. These were volatile times. Her protégé might misinterpret her prying as pressuring. Her questions would also expose her lies. If they learnt the truth, her superiors would seek legal actions against her.
Dr. Director resolves, she should wait and hope for the best. Recent INTEL gave her ample reason to second-guess that decision.
Recently, Agent Possible accepted an internship at Middleton Space Center (MSC), where her dad worked. Sure, it was unexpected, but she saw no reason for alarm. Possible was earning experience in her secondary field of study, cybernetics.
Her attitude changed last week. A DOD contact notified Dr. Director. American DOD had started a top-secret project, code named Project Titan, an actual flying saucer armed with advanced weaponry and capable of hypersonic velocities.
What's more, a rumor around Washington alleges, this project secretly based off a gifted redhead's class project. Rumors are just that, hearsay, and seldom reliable. Dr. Director couldn't discount this new INTEL so easily. She didn't some digging and learnt the truth.
Kim Possible sketched a theoretical, next-generation attack drone. Jeremiah Rhodes, the Director of National Intelligence, intercepted her designs, and conferred with Riley Vaugh, Senior Director of CIA, and Darryl Lyons, Director of DARPA. All three men quickly notified their colleague, Walter Nevans, Secretary of American Defense.
Everything else was pure hearsay. She couldn't confirm or refute the incessant rumors. One fact was abundantly clear. Many within global intelligence now considered Global Justice obsolete. A few leaders advocated G.J. be dissolve entirely. The majority, luckily, disagree, urging they should revamp G.J. and put it under new directorate, or possibly combine it with another agency, like S.H.I.E.L.D.
Getting fired worried Dr. Director enough. The prospect of G.J. combined with S.H.I.E.L.D. turned her stomach. Both agencies had a longstanding rivalry, tracing back to the Cold War. Even both those indignities couldn't top what she learnt next.
Subtle Deviations
DNI Rhodes and Darryl Lyons, DARPA's senior director, were so secret. Projects housed at the most secretive, secure location possible, usually a remote lab or military base. Every aspect within the project so compartmentalized, no one could concretely ascertain what he/she were working on or why.
These men were usually so rigid, always going by procedure and demanding the best. Not yours, but what they consider your best should be. And yet, they deviate this time. Again, she asks. Why now? Why this project? Why not an earlier one? What makes this one so special? Her anxieties only escalate after learning they'd chosen MSC as Project Titan's base of operations.
She had so many questions, inquired about this project. Nevans, however, wasn't forthcoming with answers. What worried her greatest of all, soldiers followed her protégé wherever she went. Even she didn't merit such attentiveness. All evidence seems to suggest a horrifying fate.
G.J.'s days are numbered. Its fate decided last week. As G.J.'s senior director, she hadn't been notified about its doors closing or G.J. being merged with another agency. At least not yet. That gave credence to that third rumor. Global Authorities met last week to fabricate G.J.'s replacement. Possible factors into their secret plans against G.J., somehow.
What'd she do? How gullible could she be? She trained her protégé, always intending she'd take over not tear down and replace G.J. with another abomination.
She'd unintentionally left her door ajar. Will Du walks up outside his boss' office. He distinctly hears her grumbling but couldn't make out what's said. He stands in the doorway, knocking lightly.
Dr. Director turns. Her eye rakes the lanky agent.
Will Du instinctively draws back under her deep-set scowl. He wasn't sure what she'd learnt in the last 4-hours. Whatever it was, it couldn't have been good news.
Dr. Director loses patience snapping, "What do you want, Commander?'
"Ma'am, they're on the move again," he declares pointedly.
"Now?" She couldn't believe the timing of events. G.J.'s crumbling within and without. A condition exacerbated by her protégé's own carelessness. Her superiors unwittingly join the wolves gathering at her doors. Fate didn't think she had enough on her plate already.
Now. Three days ago, to be exact. An ancient prophecy ignited a global arms race, rivaling anything even during the Cold War. This oracle speaks about an ancient weapon of unspeakable power. Whoever possesses it could rule the world. Greed and bloodthirst became a global epidemic.
Multiple agencies within every nation under the sun sent agents to recover this artifact. Enough danger already plagued their mission, facing down opportunistic fortune hunters and underworld armies without having to watch their backs 24/7. However, that's exactly what these agents have endured. Enemies wear many faces. Sometimes, they masquerade as friends, ready to strike when the opportunity's right.
Over thirty agents perished over the last three days alone. Most not killed by enemy agents, but slain by their compatriots. Unscrupulous men and women, who say or do anything to obtain ultimate power. Her gut said, Agent Possible fit into this mix somehow, someway.
And who does Commander Du ask about. "Should I notify Team Possible, Ma'am?"
"Hell, no," Dr. Director snaps, quickly regretting her actions. Such cathartic outbursts made her seem unprofessional, and gave credence unto her enemies' claims. The board should revamp and put G.J. under new directorate.
"What do we do then?"
"For now, we wait".
Will Du recognizes her voice's finality. INTEL regarding this global arms race had been dubious to say the least. Even Global Justice lost several good agents over faulty tips. "I'll verify this information, Ma'am," he leaves her office, heading straight towards G.J. CNC.
"See that you do," Dr. Director shouts on his way out. She prayed, more reliable INTEL might provide some much-needed answers.
There was no deny the facts. Someone was trying to destroy Global Justice. He/she had done a damn good job thus far. They'd predicted and effectively countered her every move. The question remains, was Agent Possible merely a pawn? Or was her protégé working against her?
If against, God help her soul. Dr. Director vows, she'd do everything within her power to crush that backstabbing opportunist. She'd be damned if she wasted all those years building up this young woman's reputation, just to have her turn around and use that same notoriety to tear down something she'd spent a lifetime building up.
There'd be hell to pay!
