Kevin pulled two large hard shelled packs and two duffel bags out of the pickup truck and placed them on the luggage cart. The driver held out a clip board with a receipt and he signed it. He smiled when he saw that the sender on the receipt was Wade Load. Reaching in his pocket, he squeezed his cell phone until it vibrated three short times. Driving the luggage cart towards the cargo air terminals, he was already planning on spending the bonus on taking his girlfriend out for a nice dinner and a chick flick or maybe the Middleton Dinner Theatre and their production of "Hairspray", girls liked stuff like that, right?
Wade Load was good, but even he didn't protect everything. The short range data link used with the jet packs was designed for absolute simplicity and reliability, not security. Kevin's specially modified cell phone started querying a preprogrammed list of short range wireless interfaces. After less than 30 seconds, it found the jet pack electronics. While it didn't have the passwords to change the configuration, it got a copy of the currently loaded configuration and sent it to Dr. Drakken's phone. The cell phone vibrated twice in electronic triumph.
Pulling up to a cargo plane with its engines idling, Kevin handed the packs up to a crewman standing in the side door. Hopping back in the luggage cart, he started back to the cargo office. Seeing a red haired girl with a blond boy hot on her heels racing across the tarmac for the cargo plane, Kevin stopped and snapped a picture of the two getting on the plane making sure to get the plane's tail registration number. Forwarding the picture to Drakken, Kevin grinned and started singing
You can't stop an avalanche
As it races down the hill
You can try to stop the seasons, girl
But ya know you never will
And you can try to stop my dancin' feet
But I just cannot stand still
Cause the world keeps…
Shego was orbiting Middleton in her beloved micro jet waiting for a destination. Changing its color to a light robin's egg blue made it hard to see in the day time and the little jet had enough stealth built into its shape to evade traffic control radar. There was a beep in her headset and a message titled "Kim Possible GPS destination" appeared on her console. Touching the message, it expanded and read "Assuming that the tech geek has preloaded the destination and won't update in flight." Thinking that seemed as good a place as any to start looking, Shego copied the coordinates to her navigation system and headed out.
Starting with the given destination and spiraling out in a low level reconnaissance pattern, Shego shortly heard a warbling sound alerting her to a targeting radar. she immediately switched on her active stealth systems and changed direction and dropped down to tree top altitude to break any lock. Shego slowed for a vertical landing at a small clearing in the trees putting some distance and a hill between her and the radar. Once safely on the ground, she rolled her shoulders and stretched to relieve the stress.
Shego changed her main display from flight to analysis and pulled up the pictures automatically taken by her jet as she had flown over the area plus the data captured about the radar. She was pleased to see that the measured signal strength suggested that the radar did not detect her but was just doing a general sweep of the area. The picture that should shown the radar had a large house, almost a manor that screamed lair. To be fair she thought, it was the ground to air missile radar that really screamed lair. It was about a mile and a half to the west, close enough to walk to but not close enough to worry about a patrol finding her jet. Shego pulled on a black balaclava to make her ninja garb complete. Hopping to the ground, she triggered max stationary stealth and jogged off into the cooling evening as the little jet slowly disappeared from view.
Ron woke to the beeping of his communicator. Digging it out of a pocket, he looked around the cargo bay for Kim who was nowhere to be seen.
"Go Wade", Ron said, stretching a kink out of his back.
"Ron, were you really asleep? Where's Kim"
"Just getting a little marinating in while I can. Kim is probably talking to the pilot thanking him for the ride and hearing about how it's his pleasure since she did something to rescue his butt in the past." Ron said, unclipping the strapping on a bundle of cargo and securing it back in a spot that should provide for more comfort.
"Ron, the local sheriff has filed paperwork which will give you arrest authority for Dementor and cover you and Kim in general for the recovery of the PDVI.", Wade said, pausing to take a sip of his ever present Slurpster. "I haven't been able to do any reconnaissance of the area and all I have are satellite photos that are two weeks old. There is jamming around the lair, so I won't be able to provide support until you shut it off. Coordinates have been loaded into your jet packs. The lair is two miles due north of the landing spot". Wade's eyes scanned back and forth watching multiple screens while typing on a keyboard.
"Two miles Wade?", Ron whined as Kim climbed into Ron's nest among the cargo.
"Just a jog in the park, Mad Dog", Wade continued. "If you can't stop the jamming, I will set up a ride home and other help waiting at about 3 miles to the northeast on Route 1125."
"Hi Wade", said Kim, settling in next to Ron. "Why are we doing drop off and pickup so far away from the lair?"
"Hi Kim, as I was telling Ron, the jamming is keeping me from doing a decent reconnaissance for you guys. Plus I thought I might have detected anti-aircraft radar."
"Really Wade, anti-aircraft radar in the US?", Kim scoffed. "Oh, what's the sitch with legal? I really don't want to call Perkins as my one phone call. Again".
"Consider yourselves deputized. And if anybody asks, you were visiting your mom's aunt's nephew Steve who is the sheriff's significant other."
"Posse comitatus?"
"Yeah Kim, the concept of 'citizens in the neighborhood' is kind of loosely defined in this state. But the county judge knows about this and is happy, so you are good to go."
A crew member waved at them to get their attention, then held up both hands with fingers spread.
"Wade, we go in ten, talk to you on the other side."
"Take care guys." The picture of Wade blinked out on the screen.
Kim and Ron put on their jet packs and checked each other out with the help of Rufus. Ron checked out a bit more of Kim's equipment than just her jet pack but Kim didn't seem to mind, rewarding him with a wiggle of the parts under his inspection. They both matched the status displays on their wrist controls, both showing the same destination "37.751, -97.822".
"Well BF, we might be going to nowhere, but we are going there together", Kim joked as she held out her hand to Ron.
Kim towed Ron to the open side door as Rufus secured himself in Ron's pocket. Standard practice was for him to jump first. Kim positioned Ron at the door and reached over his shoulder to show him five fingers. Ron focused on her hand and not the long drop he was about to make. Kim grinned, eager for the jump.
Kim's comment about "going to nowhere" brought to Ron's mind the poem from a discussion he had with Mr. Barkin:
Turning and turning in the widening gyre;
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Unnoticed by Ron, Kim now held up four fingers.
Was Kim the falcon who could not hear Ron the falconer as she soared to the stars and beyond? Wasn't the true nature of the falcon to soar free, unbound by any ties to someone who would hold her back? Snapping out of his reverie when Kim shoved him out the door, he stifled a scream as now the long drop looked not nearly long enough.
The jet pack's extending wings stopped Ron's tendency to tumble, then the jet pack pulled up into level flight, the engines cutting in just as it slowed to cruising speed. Banking gently to the left, the jet pack headed for its preprogrammed destination. Kim barrel rolled around him, her face bright and alive with the sheer joy of free flight. Checking her GPS, she saw they were going to land in water. Not liking that, she waved at Ron to follow her and they skimmed across the lake, headed for a small clearing by the shore. She gracefully touched down on the grass and turned around expecting to help Ron but was pleased to see him land beside her with only a couple of stumbling steps to get his balance.
Shucking the jet packs, they pulled out their mission utility belts and jogged into the tree line. This was old growth forest and there wasn't a lot of undergrowth to slow them. Kim figured they would be in sight of the lair in 45 minutes and dark would be falling by then.
