Any other day Ron Stoppable would be in heaven, he was at Global Justice headquarters and he had two Nacos in front of him, but today he felt like he was in hell and he wanted out. He slid his hand across the wooden table as if trying to prove it wasn't real but quickly put his hands In his lap when the door opened and Will Du stepped in.
"Is she okay?" Ron asked desperately.
"She's unconscious and we have her hooked up to a breathing machine and IV fluids; Dr. Director will brief you." The Senior Agent replied.
Ron didn't like Du, he remembered the agent's ego, but he was willing to do whatever it took to rescue Kim like she had done whatever it took to rescue him when he'd been in danger. Du led him to the main room where Dr. Director was studying a large computer screen with what looked like gibberish to Ron.
"Mr. Stoppable." came the directors voice.
"How is she?"
"Okay, straight to business then. We discovered a stream of nanites in her blood stream, heading for her brain and other major organs, we've slowed them down with a EMP pulse but I'm afraid they're adapting to it, we don't have much time."
The blonde boy didn't understand half of what she said, but he got the gist of it, they were running out of time. "What do I need to do?"
"We have reports that my brother has been working with a new scientist, we're still sketchy on the details but we have reports that he's a expert on Nanotechnology... The kind that is currently killing Kim."
"So I need to go after him?"
"It would seem so, we've got two of our best agents out gathering intel."
"I thought Will was your best."
"He is, but he has his own ongoing investigation."
"How long do we have?"
"We have a bit longer than you had, we have a day or two... Three at the most."
Ron brushed his hand through his hair, his heart was beating rapidly, "T-That's all?"
"I'm afraid so."
I can't do this.. Ron thought. I'm not smart and fast and... I'm not Kim.
But you have me Ronald Stoppable Came a voice from his subconscious.
The blond boy looked around confused "Did you hear that?"
"Hear what?"
"...Nothing." he muttered.
They can't hear my Ronald, only you can.
Ron closed his eyes and took a deep breath Who are you?
You don't remember me because there's been a wall built between us, but I guess you can just call me your dark side. The voice was his, he would recognize it anywhere, but it didn't talk like he did.
Zorpox! He realized. Kim had told him about when he'd been affected by the Attitudinator. You'te not real, just something made by a machine.
Oh am I? Or was I there all along, waiting to be released until finally that helmet did the job. The voice replied.
Doubt crept into Ron's mind, did he always have the potential to be one of the best, or worst depending on the point of view, villain the world had ever seen. "I refuse to believe that!" Ron told himself harshly. He looked up at Dr. Director with a serious look "give me a job to do or something... I can't just sit here, I'm going insane."
"Go be with her, we'll contact you when we have something."
"Fine." he muttered impatiently as Agent Du stepped up and led Ron to the medical wing.
There, on the first bed, lay his redheaded best friend turned girlfriend Kim Possible. "KP" he said softly as he sat down and took one of her gloved hands in his. "This is all my fault." he muttered, "I failed to protect you Kim... But I promise you I will do whatever it takes to save you. " His vision got blurry and he realized tears were building up in his eyes.
Wiping away his tears he leaned up and kissed her forehead "I swear next time I see you we'll be laughing and hugging and...what ever normal couples do."
The next hour went by slowly for the blonde side kick, his evil half had gone quiet so he was stuck alone, Rufus was at his house, with nothing to distract him from his depressing thoughts.
The door slid open and Dr. Director slid walked in "Stoppable."
"Dr. Director."
"We found him, the scientist, are you ready to save her?"
He stood up anxiously and nodded "I've been ready since she got injured."
They walked into a large room, obviously used to brief agents, on the giant screen was a man with short red hair and hazel eyes "This is Dr. Murphy." Began Agent Du. "He's an expert on nano bot technology and we're ninety percent sure he's the one who invented the technology that's killing your girlfriend."
Ron took a moment to study the image, the man didn't look harmful, Dr. Murphy was tall and thin "He doesn't look like a threat."
"No he doesn't, but this man does." she said as the image of Murphy was replaced with an image of a man with short dark hair and brown eyes. He was at least six feet tall and looked like he could tear you apart without even trying.
"Who is he?" Ron asked, taking a nervous breath.
"We have no idea."
"You don't know a lot it seems."
"We're trying Stoppable, but this information is very hard to get. We do know that as our agents were sending us this information they were torn to shreds by this man, and he wasn't even trying."
Ron gulped "Alright, I'm ready to find this bastard."
"We're not sending you in without tools. Agent Burke will lead you to the armory."
An older man stepped up, his hair was dyed black but it was obvious he was beginning to gray, "Stoppable."
"Um, hello?" the blond teen said shyly, "Wow you look tough."
The older man led him to a large room with white shelves full of technology and other things that looked to advanced for Ron to understand. Burke picked up a small black pen and handed it to him. "This is a laser, it's hot enough to melt through ropes and in some cases metal."
"It's a pen... Little cliché ain't it?" Ron asked.
Burke didn't respond, instead he handed him a gun.
"Woah, woah woah, what is this?" Ron asked, looking at the gun with fear.
"Nine millimeter handgun."
"It's a gun! I don't use guns!"
"You do now."
The blond teen fearfully grabbed the gun by it's handle and stared at it "I.. I don't want this."
"I'm afraid I have to insist." Came a voice from behind him.
"Director, I don't know how to use a gun!" he said, almost whining.
"We'll put you out on the range before we send you after Dr. Murphy."
"There isn't time for that, every second we waste here is one second less for Kim!"
The brown haired woman's face softened and she nodded "I know." she said, "But I can't send you alone untrained."
Ron's shoulders slumped, he knew when he had been beaten, "Fine... But I'm not using it... I refuse to use it."
"That's your choice." The director said calmly, "Follow me."
The next hour Ron reloaded, shot, and cleaned his weapon until he was adept enough to use it properly. Finally he was ready to go, the doctor he was looking for was currently hiding in a small South American village. "Seems your brother wasn't in need of him anymore, so he's hiding."
"You're probably right Stoppable."
The teen sidekick stepped into the plane and glanced back at her "I'm not coming back until I've succeeded, or it's to late.."
"I wouldn't expect anything less."
As the door shut Ron grimaced "Take care of her... "
Whatever the director was going to say in response was drown out by the engine and the door closing. The ride was slow and Ron became bored quickly. What's wrong Ronald? Bored? Came the amused voice of Zorpox He closed his eyes and sighed softly.
Leave me alone! Ron thought angrily, You're not real, I'm just imagining you because I'm upset.
Are you? Or have I been here all along, waiting for the right moment to reveal myself to you? The voice was taunting him, making him doubt himself.
Shut up! You don't know me.
"Oh but I do Stoppable, I know how you feel inferior to Kim, how you fear she'll leave you, You're not good enough for her boy... She needs a man like me.
Stop it! Ron mentally screamed. Leave me alone!
Oh you want me to go away? Want me to leave Ronnie boy alone so he can be the shining knight for the damsel in distress? You're pathetic, you can't do anything because you know just as I know that you have no skills.
Ron clenched his fists I am not, I will save her and then I'm going to laugh in your face.
Will you? Because I'm going to laugh at you when you fail like I know you will you little shit.
Ron's eyes snapped open and gasped, he had broken out in a cold sweat while he'd been having his chat with Zorpox. The villain had known exactly where to push to get to Ron, and he hated that... Hated that a villain could know him so well, or perhaps it was the fact that the very villain Ron was currently being haunted by was himself.
He slipped on his parachute and shook his head; he hated jumping out of air planes, especially alone but the fact that it was for Kim kept him focused. The gun on his hip, as ordered by the Director herself, felt like a led weight pulling him down, his hand drifted down to the gun and he shivered as his skin touched the cool metal of the weapon he was forced to carry. For a moment he felt like he was going to be sick but he steeled his nerves as the back door opened. The wind in his face was familiarly bitter and he jumped, adrenaline coursing through his veins Please let the chute work he pleaded mentally.
He landed without a problem and pulled out the GPS device provided by Global Justice and began walking, it only took him five minutes to find the village Thank you Global Justice He thought dryly as he put the device away. Unfortunately not one of the villagers spoke a word of English so simply asking where the doctor was hiding was out of the question.
The town square was full of desperate merchants eager to sell something and eager people needing to buy the merchant's products and, luckily for Ron, the very man the teen sidekick was looking for was standing at one of the merchant stalls "Dr. Murphy!" he called out.
The scientist turned and, as if he knew who Ron was and what Ron wanted with him, he bolted.
"Damn." Ron muttered, he rarely cursed but he was in a very bad mood, and took off after him. The nanite expert led him through town, and Ron had to applaud his running skills, until they wound up in a dead section of town. A trap the blond teen realized, and I fell for it.
"Well Mr. Stoppable, Yes I know who you are and why you're here, I'm afraid we'll have to cut this meeting a little short... See I have someone to take care of problems like you." The scientist's accent was hard to place, but he was definitely American. From the shadows stepped the giant man the Director had warned him about. "Mr. Stoppable if I may, meet my latest and greatest creation, Subject87!"
"Wait, that's the best you could come up with?" Ron asked.
"He's the Eighty-Seventh subject in my experiments on Nanite technology... If you want to cure little Miss Possible I suggest you get past him."
Ron gulped, "No big, I deal with Super Villains all the time."
"Not like this one you don't."
Before Ron could blink Eighty-Seven was moving, faster than he could keep up with, and had him pinned to the ground.
"He can't speak, so I'll do it for him, Goodnight Mr. Stoppable."
The giant experiment cocked his arm back and hit Ron, right in the temple, and Ron's world went black.