Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Kim Possible, any of the other characters from that show, or those from any other media I may reference in my stories.

This story is set in my 'Mayorverse', as kgs-wy has dubbed it. It takes place before the start of 'His Honor the Mayor, Drew Lipsky?', probably the summer before.

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Thursday Night

Officer Jerry Combs had been a member of the Middleton Police Department for just three weeks, and was already riding solo on night duty. He wasn't entirely sure why, sometimes the way the Department operated seemed a bit illogical to him. One reason for it might be that Chief of Police Locke spent a lot of time out of town, looking after his private security company's interests, according to some of the older officers. So it was possible that filling out the duty roster was being done by committee.

Jerry being a cop would have surprised most people who knew him in high school, where he and his pals were practical jokers and generally disrespectful to the faculty. For Jerry that had changed one Halloween when he and his cronies had set out to shake up a few babysitters. Using a grotesque and realistic mask they had managed to startle three girls at different addresses. Then they had headed for the Rockwaller home, where a rich man's daughter named Bernadette Barr was babysitting Bonnie Rockwaller while her parents took her elder sisters trick-or-treating.

It was Jerry's turn to wear the mask, and he'd snuck up close to the front window, seeing it lit, and hearing sounds of activity inside. But when he peered inside to try and get the layout, he looked right into the eyes of little Bonnie, who was doing a baton-twirling routine. The little girl had promptly lost her concentration and was struck in the face by her own baton. She then started screaming as Bernie came into view just as Jerry ducked. Far from being appalled, Jerry had thought it immensely funny, and he started back towards the car, calling out to tell his waiting buddies what had just happened. They had been smiling at first, and he failed to notice in time when their expressions turned to alarm. Then something hit the back of his head hard enough to send him face-first into the ground and stun him. Then he vaguely remembered being dragged back into the house by one ankle, while hearing the sound of his friends burning rubber departing the neighborhood.

Bernadette Barr had dragged the mask off quite roughly, then held his head up so little Bonnie could see he wasn't a monster. The little girl had looked, stopped crying, sniffled, then kicked him in the family jewels before running upstairs. Bernadette had actually winced briefly, then shrugged and called the cops.

That incident had definitely caused Jerry to re-evaluate his priorities, especially in light of his 'friends' rapid abandonment of him. And that change of course in his life had now landed him here, rolling through the quiet neighborhoods of residential Middleton. And yes, he was thoroughly bored, but still doing his best to continue scanning his surroundings as he rolled along as attentively as possible.

But living in Middleton had it's own unique experiences to offer, especially to those in the Police Department. Which was amply demonstrated when his radio came to life.

"Two-Zebra-one-four, see the woman, man exploded on her lawn." Jerry Combs' eyebrows shot up even as the dispatcher added, "Please inform Headquarters if it appears to be a Code K-P or not as soon as possible."

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A few minutes earlier...

"I swear this is the lamest job I've ever been on!" The driver and front seat passenger of a small utility van perked up and exchanged alarmed glances at the words being espoused in the rear of their vehicle. Said vehicle being dark blue, with the logo 'Flusher and Sons, 24-hour Septic Tank service' on the sides.

"I mean, sneaking into a teenage girl's bedroom, to plant a listening device, in the hopes that she'll talk about Top Secret stuff in her sleep? What kind of wack-job could come up with an idea like that?" The man paused to take a breath, "I mean, I heard Gemini might have a screw loose even before I signed up, but this is nuts!"

The two men in the front seat were now on the verge of panic. The driver, who was known in the World Wide Evil Empire as Gamma-13(Which had a direct effect on his career outlook), was hastily steering the van to the curb, while his companion, designated Lambda-19, had his head in constant motion as he tried to look in every direction at once, including the rear view mirrors.

About to speak again, the third occupant, Sigma-38, held back when he felt the van lurch to a stop rather violently. "What, are we there?" He asked with some surprise.

"Here's where you get out." Was all Gamma-13 replied, trying successfully to keep the panic from his voice. He noticed that Lambda-19 was trying to open the door on his side while shooting Gamma-13 a truly evil look, since the driver had remotely locked the door from his side.

Sigma-38 scowled briefly, but then gave a short nod and slid open the side door, then took up a large tool kit before hopping out. At which point Gamma-13 rammed his foot down on the accelerator as hard as he could. It was because of the sound of his burning rubber that there were actually eyewitnesses to what befell Sigma-38.

"What the Hell?" The big man shouted as he picked himself up and tried to dust off his coveralls, while feeling relieved the tool kit he'd dropped hadn't broken open. He noticed a couple of lights going on in some of the houses, and wondered just what kind of idiot pulled a stunt like that when they were supposed to be stealthy!

At which point he became aware of a high-pitched sound, not quite a whistle, becoming louder an louder, and coming from...he looked skywards, and his eyes bulged out.

Gamma 13 cringed involuntarily at the bright flash in his rear view mirror, then let his breath out in a long, drawn-out sigh. "We just got him out in time!" He muttered. Then he jumped as Lambda-19 gripped his arm painfully tight, and hissed in his ear. "What's the idea, locking me in with that Dead Man Talking?"

"HE might have used a fragmentation missile, you'd never have gotten out of the lethal radius in time!" Gamma-13 hissed urgently back, then cast his eyes this way and that, wondering whether Gemini could hear what they were saying. The listening device was probably not sensitive enough to here their muted words, but one never knew...until the missile arrived.

Lambda-19 glared at him a moment, but then nodded grudgingly and released his grip, moving back into his own seat. "So now what?" He asked sourly.

Gamma-13 took a deep breath hoping he didn't say the wrong thing next. "Now, we withdraw from the area, since the police will now be alerted..." At which point Jerry Combs roared past them Code Three. "And may assume any unexplained explosions may be connected to our target, and pay her home a visit, making it impossible for us to complete our mission tonight. However, we only have two more nights in our window of opportunity before Miss Possible returns from her trip, so we have to succeed in planting the listening device tomorrow night, or Saturday night!"

Lambda-19 gave him a doubtful look, but knowing the potential consequences of saying anything pessimistic, Put as much confidence as he could into his reply. "Then of course we will succeed! IN fact, I am confident we will accomplish our goal tomorrow night!"

Gamma-13 shot him a look, mouthing the words 'suck-up', then concentrated on his driving, and considering just how right their late colleague had been. Risking breaking in to Kim Possible's home to plant a bug that would probably produce nothing of value was insane!

But, he reflected, refusing to volunteer for the job when Gemini had given him that look would have rivaled the scheme itself in stupidity.

He shook his head ruefully. "I should never have let the benefits package sway my decision, I could have had a nice, safe job as an Animal Control officer in Go City now!" Then his look hardened. One way or another, he had to find a way to pull this off, tomorrow, or the next night! After all, then he'd have the points saved for the vacation package to Mexico. Of course, he wasn't exactly sure where in Mexico, but he was sure it was somewhere with a great beach...

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Officer Combs had lost track of the number of individual chalk circles the CSI officer had drawn in the area around the the blackened spot on the sidewalk. And now the man was asking for a ladder in order to check the surrounding trees. Jerry wasn't looking too closely at what was inside any of those circles, he had a feeling that not recognizing anything as human remains was one reason the contents of his stomach were still in his stomach.

Instead he was following orders to keep any bystanders, and any animals especially, away from the area, in case they contaminate..or consume, any evidence. He had already been forced to stop a home owner from using their garden hose to spray...something off the front of their house, before it could be identified.

A black SUV rolled up and parked near Jerry's cruiser. Two people, a young Asian man and a smart-looking brunette emerged and began to walk towards him. Checking to see if he was the only unoccupied officer, he stepped up to great the newcomers. "Sorry, only official personnel allowed, please step back, or show me some ID."

The man flashed an ID folder at him. "Health Inspector, here to see if the explosion created any hazards." He said authoritatively.

Jerry saw the woman's face twitch even as he adopted a suspicious scowl. "I know every Health Inspector in Middleton, buddy, and you're not one of them!"

The woman groaned quietly as the man's face froze. Then she muttered "Good one, Will!" before addressing Jerry. "Look, we're only here to see if this incident is in any way connected to Kim Possible. And if so, to determine who is behind it. We can't show you our regular ID, only your Chief would be entitled to see it, sorry." She looked around, "Is he by any chance here?"

Perhaps less suspicious, but more mistrustful, Jerry shook his head. "No, he's out of town at the moment, but Sergeant Hobble should be here soon."

The woman pursed her lips, but then nodded. "I think he's cleared, too, we'll wait by our vehicle until he arrives." The man looked like he was going to protest, but her look quelled him, though he assumed a sullen attitude as they turned and returned to their SUV. Jerry watched them go, but then had to turn his attentions to Mrs Wimmerspiel's Dachshund, which was trying to sneak up on a piece of evidence.

"Some covers are only advisable in large cities where the organization in question has too many members to expect anyone to know them all!" Brenda Core lectured Will Du in a low tone as they both leaned against their vehicle. Will had what Brenda considered his 'I do not recognize your right to lecture me, even if you are correct' look on his face, even as he studied what they could see of the crime scene. "There is no conclusive evidence that this is in any way connected to Miss Possible. Even if this is an action on the part of Gemini, it would be much more likely that this was a strike against our Middleton facility then against a minor nuisance to his schemes." He stated flatly.

Brenda's eyebrows probably would have climbed at the 'minor nuisance' description if her eyes had not already been rolling due to Will's predictable dismissal of Kim Possible. And mentioning that the Middleton facility was basically a monitoring station built due to the presence of the Middleton Space Center and a certain concealed and highly classified lab beneath the Middleton Institute of Science and Technology, and therefore probably not worth attacking for an egotist like Gemini(Unlike Kim Possible) would probably just upset Will. So instead she gave her observations of the crime scene.

"This has all the earmarks of Gemini using one of his 'Finger of Judgment' missiles. The highly localized explosion, capable of killing one person in a crowd if need be, would certainly explain what we're seeing here." She looked upwards, scanning the sky carefully. "Might have used a UAV as a launch platform, it's been pretty expensive for him to try and maintain any operational fixed launchers in Middleton, thanks in great part to Wade Load and whoever it is that keeps making the missiles launch and loop back to destroy their own launchers, which Wade claims isn't him." She ignored the disdainful snort from Will when she mentioned Wade.

Will chose not to make another comment about the local amateurs, instead agreeing reluctantly with Brenda's analysis of the crime scene. "But there remains the question of who was killed, and why here? We are not proximate to either the amateur's home nor our own base." He looked around the neighborhood. "Pending a positive identification of the remains, we should conduct an in-depth survey of all the residents of this street, to seek any possible connection between them and WWEE."

Brenda hid a smirk as she nodded agreement. "So you're going to recommend that to Doctor Director when we report?" When Will nodded decisively it became even harder to hide her amusement. "Which means she'll probably assign you to do it, Will, and let me work with someone who's view of problems is a little less narrow!"

At this point another MPD cruiser arrived, and a heavyset man wearing sergeant's stripes emerged from it. "This must be Sergeant Hobble, let's go introduce ourselves, then look over the scene more closely, and maybe we'll actually have something to report in the morning."

Actually thought this would be a one shot. Not going to be long, nor wander from the basic theme, I promise, but I haven't posted in a while, and just feel the need.

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