A Loss of Innocence: Redux
By: recon228
Synopsis: Kim's father has been kidnapped and the FBI has taken control of the investigation. Despite their warnings, Kim decides to carry out her own investigation and soon finds that this enemy is like nothing Team Possible has ever experienced. With help from some unusual sources, Kim and Ron set out to rescue her father. What she doesn't know, however, is that this mission will eventually force her to choose between her father's safety and her own moral beliefs.
Disclaimer: Kim Possible, Ron Stoppable, and all related characters are property of Disney.
Chapter One
"Then, of course, came the mopping-up period, when the last of the non-White bands were hunted down and exterminated, followed by the final purge of undesirable racial elements among the remaining White population ... But it was in the year 1999, according to the chronology of the Old Era — just 110 years after the birth of the Great One — that the dream of a White world finally became a certainty." - The Turner Diaries
– Middleton High School –
(Middleton, Colorado – June 2 16:08)
Eighteen-year-old Kim Possible let out a frustrated groan as she yanked her locker door open and shoved a small bundle of textbooks into her backpack. She was so preoccupied, she didn't even notice her best friend, Ron Stoppable, standing next to her until she slammed her locker shut and nearly bumped right into him.
"Hey, KP, what's up?" asked Ron, noticing his friend's tweaked attitude.
It was more of a rhetorical question than anything else. Considering they had both just finished cheer practice, Ron already had a pretty good idea what, or rather who, was on his friend's mind.
"It's Bonnie again," Kim replied, flinging her backpack over her shoulder. "Did you see how she dropped the entire pyramid back there? That was so on purpose!"
"Well she did have to take a phone call," Ron said sarcastically.
"I just don't understand how someone can be so… so…" Kim sighed and shook her head. "Oh, never mind. I kinda feel like getting something to eat, you up for Bueno Nacho on the way home?"
"Ooh, I don't know," Ron replied hesitantly. "I'd better check with my Naco Wingman before I make a commitment like that." He opened the flap of his cargo pocket and pulled out Rufus, his pet naked molerat. "What do you think about a trip to Bueno Nacho, buddy?"
The small pink rodent pretended to think it over for a few moments before raising his paw and cheering, "Naco!"
Placing his pet back into his pocket, Ron grinned and gave Kim a thumbs-up. "That's a big ten-four on Bueno Nacho, KP."
---
They were just leaving the school when the familiar beep of the Kimmunicator sounded from inside Kim's backpack. She snatched it out of her pack and turned it on to find Wade staring back at her on the other end.
No matter how rough the situation was, Wade always seemed to be in an upbeat mood. In the three years that the thirteen-year-old super genius had been running her website, Kim had only seen him upset once; and that was when his entire computer system had gotten fried by a virus.
As soon as she saw the grim expression on the boy's face, Kim's cheerful attitude disappeared.
"Wade, what's wrong?"
Hearing Kim's sudden change in tone, Ron stopped walking and looked back apprehensively at his friend.
"Kim, you need to get home right now," said Wade. His urgent tone sent a sudden chill down both teens' spines. "Your mom just called. She says something's happened to your dad."
The chill suddenly turned into a cold sweat for Kim as she found herself thinking the worst. Her dad was a rocket scientist after all, and it was fairly common for him to work with volatile and hazardous materials. She had always known there was a slight chance that something could go wrong, but she had never made a point of thinking about it before that moment.
Seeing the shocked expression on her face, Ron decided to take the initiative.
"What do you mean something's happened to her dad?" he asked, peering down at the Kimmunicator in Kim's hands. "What happened? Is he alright?"
With a pained look on his face, Wade shrugged his shoulders and shook his head slowly.
"I don't know, Ron, her mom was really upset and I didn't want to pry too much info out of her."
Ron looked over at Kim, who appeared to be in a state of shock.
"Her family's waiting for her at home," Wade reminded them. "You should drive her home, Ron."
With that, Wade cut the transmission, leaving the two teens in shocked silence.
"I-I always knew his job was dangerous," Kim said, on the verge of tears, "b-but I never… I never thought anything would actually happen–"
"Don't even think like that, Kim!" Ron interrupted. "I'm sure it's nothing bad." He tried to sound convincing, but after seeing Wade's grim expression, his imagination wasn't much brighter than Kim's.
"Y-yeah, you're probably right," Kim replied, giving her friend a weak smile.
Ron could see from the look in her eyes, however, that she was still expecting the worst.
"He probably just hurt his leg again coaching the Tweebs," he reassured her as they climbed onto his scooter. "The sooner we get you home, the sooner you'll see that this is nothing to get upset about."
He had no idea how wrong he was…
---
Ten minutes later Ron turned his small gas-powered bike onto Kim's street. As they rounded the corner, he glanced back to check on Kim and found that she had a look of absolute terror on her face. Looking forward again, he observed a sight that caused his stomach to tighten…
The normally quiet street in front of the Possible residence was packed with police and rescue vehicles. It was an overwhelming scene: there were two black-and-white Middleton Police Department cruisers pulled up in her driveway, a large bus-like vehicle with the words Mobile Incident Command Unit printed on it sitting with its right side parked on her lawn, and two unmarked sedans––which pretty much screamed 'police car'––parked along the curb behind the command unit. While one of the sedans had standard Colorado license plates, the other vehicle's plates had US Government written across the top of them. There was also an ambulance parked across the street, though the paramedics were nowhere to be seen.
Ron hadn't even stopped the bike before Kim jumped off onto her front lawn and ran up toward the door. He parked the scooter and followed, reaching her just as a uniformed police officer stopped her on the front porch.
"Sorry ma'am, family only beyond this point," the officer calmly stated.
"B-but I am family!" Kim all but screamed at the cop. "My name's Kim Possible, I-I was told that my dad…"
Kim's voice trailed off as the officer looked over his shoulder for approval from someone inside. Whoever he was looking at seemed to give him approval, because he quickly moved aside and let her pass.
As Ron followed after her, the officer blocked his path.
"And you are?" he inquired suspiciously.
"It's ok, he's with me!" Kim shouted back.
The officer once again moved aside, though with slightly more reluctance than he had for Kim.
---
– Possible Residence –
The scene inside the house was just as crowded and hectic as it was outside. There were people everywhere: some of them in uniform, and some in regular clothes. The first thing Kim saw when she entered the front hallway was the destruction in her living room.
The couch was lying on its back next to the coffee table, which had been knocked over and broken. The TV was also destroyed and there was a large blackened circle in the center of the carpet where it looked like something had been burned. The entire room was roped off with yellow tape, which had the words Crime Scene Do Not Cross repeated over-and-over.
Beyond the rope-line, two crime lab technicians in white protective jumpsuits were slowly moving around the room. As Kim watched in captivated horror, one of the technicians snapped a photograph of an object lying in the center of the burned area before the other one picked it up and placed it into a small clear-plastic bag labeled Evidence.
Seeing no one else in the living room, Kim continued down the hall into the kitchen where she found her mom sitting at the table. She was surrounded by two paramedics and holding a blood-soaked bandage against the right side of her head while a detective stood over her, jotting notes onto a small leather notepad.
"Mom, what happened?" Kim gasped. She ran up to her mother and knelt down beside her. "Oh my god, are you alright? What happened here? Where's Daddy?"
Dr. Ann Possible looked over at her daughter and fought to hold back her tears.
"Oh, Kimmie… t-t-they… they took him away!" she whimpered.
"W-who took him away? Is he alright?" Kim choked out, herself on the verge of tears. Her mom was a skilled neurosurgeon; she wasn't the type of woman who easily lost control of her emotions. Seeing her upset was almost too much for Kim to handle.
Andrea shook her head and grabbed a tissue offered by one of the paramedics.
"I-I don't know! It all happened so fast and… and…" Before she could finish her sentence she finally broke down into uncontrollable sobs.
Before Kim could further comfort her crying mother, someone behind her cleared their throat. Turning around, Kim discovered a man in a dark business suit standing patiently behind her near the entryway. He looked to be just under six feet tall, and had short dark-brown hair that was neatly combed forward. She assumed he was a detective, though from his conservative appearance he looked more like an investment banker or a salesman than a cop.
Without waiting for a formal response from her, the man reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a leather billfold. He opened the billfold, revealing a small gold badge and a set of credentials.
"I'm Special Agent Pollard," he announced. "I'm with the FBI's Kidnapping Task Force."
"Kidnapping Task Force?" Ron called out from the kitchen doorway. "What's the FBI doing here?"
He adopted a look of confusion as everyone in the room, including Mrs. Possible, shot him an angry glare.
"What?" the teen asked defensively.
Poking out of Ron's pocket, Rufus slapped his forehead and shook his head before mumbling something unintelligible.
"Miss Possible," Special Agent Pollard continued, "would it be alright if I speak to you in private?"
Kim stood up, took a moment to compose herself, and nodded. Agent Pollard motioned for her to follow and headed toward the hallway.
"What about me?" Ron asked as Kim walked past him. "What do you want me to do?"
"Stay with my mom and make sure she's alright," Kim replied as she was led out of the room.
"You got it, Kim."
Ron immediately knelt down next to Andrea and placing his arm around her shoulder, while Rufus hopped out of his pocket and went to retrieve a box of tissue from the counter. Despite his sometimes-childlike attitude, Ron had a gift for helping Kim in her times of need. He was also considered by the Possibles to be an unofficial member of the family. Kim knew he could help comfort her mom while she was gone.
---
"Feel free to sit down if you want, Miss Possible," Special Agent Pollard offered, gesturing casually towards Kim's bed as he leaned back against her dresser and crossed his arms.
"Uh, thanks."
"So, is it Kimberly? Or do you prefer Kim?" the agent asked once she had taken a seat on the edge of her bed.
"Kim's fine," she replied. Her voice was calm and steady, having been given a few moments to collect her emotions.
"Okay, well personally, I prefer Sean rather than Agent Pollard. I don't know, it just makes me feel too old when people refer to me by that title. Anyway, I'm sure this is of no comfort to you, but I'm truly sorry for what you're going through," Sean said in a clear and comforting voice that seemed to relax her slightly.
"I appreciate your concern, Sean, but could you please tell me exactly what happened here?" Kim replied.
It was more of a demand than a question.
"Sure," Sean said, clearing his throat before continuing. "From what your mother told us, she and your father were watching television in the living room when the attack happened. Now, we're not exactly sure how or where the kidnappers gained access, but we think it was through an unlocked back door. After they got inside, the first thing they did was throw this into the room."
Sean handed Kim a small clear evidence bag, which contained an object roughly the size and shape of a coke can. It was the same item she had seen the two lab techs collect from the burn mark in her living room. She gasped when she recognized the item as a partially destroyed hand grenade.
"Don't worry, that's called a flash-bang grenade," the FBI agent reassured her. "See, flash-bangs are designed to cause a bright flash and loud bang in order to stun and confuse whoever they're thrown at. The effects are completely non-lethal and only last a few seconds."
Kim breathed a sigh of relief and nodded for him to continue.
"Anyway, as soon as the flash-bang went off, three heavily armed, masked gunmen entered the room. One of the gunmen pushed your mother to the floor while the other two grabbed your father. Your mom got a pretty good look at her captor before he hit her in the head with the butt of his rifle. According to her report, he wasn't wearing gloves. Our crime scene technicians have managed to recover several latent fingerprints from the area, but unfortunately most of them have already been matched to your family members.
"Now, the good news is that these people seem to be well organized. Normally this would be a bad thing, but with kidnappings it usually means the captors will exercise restraint. They know that if their hostage is harmed they'll have nothing to trade for."
"What do you mean trade?" Kim asked.
"You see, Kim, this type of thing is all about money. Your father's very important to the space center and there are a lot of people who would be willing to pay good money to get him back," Sean explained.
"So this is a kidnapping-for-ransom kind of thing?" she asked optimistically.
"That's what I'm bettin' on."
"Well, have they called with a demand yet?"
"No," he replied hesitantly, "but it's very common for them to go as long as a week before contacting the family. They tend to get their money faster if the family has grown desperate." He shrugged apologetically. "Sorry, but that's just how it tends to work out."
"But he'll be ok… right?" Kim asked, looking up at him with pleading eyes.
"They know that if they hurt him they won't get their money," Sean replied. "Your father's gonna to be just fine. They'll contact us soon, and in the meantime we've got some of the best law enforcement personnel in the country working to get him back as quickly and as safely as possible."
Kim took a deep breath and, for the first time since receiving Wade's message, began to feel better.
"Thank you, Sean," she sighed, smiling up at the federal agent whom, she noticed, looked a lot younger than she had first thought. "Do you mind if I go see how my mom is doing?"
"Of course not, go ahead."
Kim stood and began to leave, but as she reached the door Sean spoke up once more.
"Oh and, Possible?" he called-out.
Kim turned back towards the young FBI agent only to be met with a hardened stare.
"I am well aware of your reputation as a teen-hero crime fighter, as well as your past work with Global Justice. This is, however, a federal investigation and will be handled by professionals only," Sean announced, taking a few steps towards Kim and looking her straight in the eyes. "These are not the type of people you're used do dealing with, and any attempt by you or anyone else to interfere with our investigation, good intentions or not, will be met with severe consequences. Do I make myself clear?"
Kim stared back at him with a look of surprise and hatred before silently turning and leaving the room.
- To be continued...
Author's Note: Alright, here's the deal. The title should pretty much tell you all you need to know about this; it's a remake of my very first fanfiction, A Loss of Innocence. If Hollywood can do it, then why not me, right? Those of you who have read the original have probably noticed some minor changes in the narration and dialogue. While the main plot of this story is not going to change, I am going to be adding some additional depth to the storyline and characters, changing some elements that I came to dislike in the original, and giving it an entirely new ending to better suit its stand-alone status (K/R fans rejoice!). If you haven't read the original version of this story, don't worry; you'll probably enjoy it even more if it's all new to you.