A/N: Once again, I
have churned out another chapter. Because of my new position within
my company, I've had trouble focusing outside of work, but I still
tried to make this chapter the best I could. My girlfriend,
nachonaco, was going to write a scene herself but ran out of time.
SHe did draft one scene but then since it didn't quite fit, we didn't
use it. Anyways, I hope you like.
"It is by no means an irrational fancy that, in a future existence, we shall look upon what we think our present existence, as a dream." – Edgar Allan Poe
"Everything's blue/Everything's blue in this world/The deepest shade of mushroom blue/All fuzzy/Spinning out of my head." – Trent Reznor, "The Downward Spiral"
Kim's mind traveled to yet another nightmare. She found herself in a deserted wasteland, the ground a collection of black dirt and jagged cracks, the horizon littered with twisting mountains, and the sky a swirling mass of fire and jet black smoke. She wondered what could have happened to this world or where she was, but her instinct told her to try to move.
She walked for what felt like hours across the dry land, the fiery void still flying overhead. The air was dry, and the heat felt like knives against her pores. She wondered where this place was and where she was going, but it seemed like this realm of waste was never going to end.
Where was Ron? Where was Sophia? Where was Shego? Did they even exist anymore in this new world of death and decay?
That's when she saw them, the large, pointed structures in the distance that made her realize where she was. They were coned in nature and angled at four corners. These were the pyramids of the Giza Necropolis, and this world was her own. The sand had now become the hard, compact rock she now wandered across aimlessly.
What had become of it? Where was the sand? Where was the sun? It did not matter anymore. The Old Ones had taken it all and twisted it for their own.
Just then, out of the top of the Pyramid of Khufu came a large, mountainous figure looming over all. This beast must have stood 90 feet tall, and where its head would have been was an enormous tentacle. Its long arms terminated into large, three pronged claws, and its ominous presence against the blood soaked skies of dead stars caused Kim's mind to reel to and fro within her skull.
"Welcome, Kim," the demon before her said in a booming voice, "We've been expecting you."
She heard something behind her; it was the resonating sound of heavy breathing.
Kim spun around to face it, only to wish she had not.
It was a ten foot bloated, yellow figure with no head. It held out its hands to reveal to Kim a sharp toothed mouth on each of the palms of its hands. The word "Y'Golonac" flashed through her mind as the beast threw its hands at her.
……
Kim awoke to find herself nearing her destination. The evening sun hung low on the horizon, but its light now shined not on the pleasantries of what was Rio de Janeiro but upon its ruin. She had lost radio contact with the city's police force hours ago and fell asleep in preparation for the evening that was soon to come.
The Sparks song "Armies of the Night" was playing over the radio now, but she still was not paying it any mind; she had to focus.
The helicopter flew past the towering Christ the Redeemer statue, another sight of wondrous awe that greatly clashed with the ruins of the crumbled stones that at one time were large offices, hotels, and uptown homes. She prepared her parachute, ready to drop in the middle of the city. It would be hard to sneak around if she were to land the Firemoth there; the autopilot would lead it to Ipanema Beach.
Kim looked out of the side of the helicopter and into the streets. Though the light of the sun still remained over what was left of the rooftops, the streetlights had not yet illuminated, flooding the streets with shadow. She then leapt at the perfect angle to keep her from slamming into the sides of the buildings and pulled the ripcord, releasing the parachute and letting her fall to the safety of an alleyway.
Regaining her bearings, she detached the chute and ducked to the side of the building to peer around the corner, readying the MKIII. A few doors down, she saw two of the hooded men holding Kalashnikovs in their hands. It seemed like they were rotating here and there, checking for any more passers by that would cross their paths. She waited patiently there in the shadows, the angle of the evening sun combined with the alley giving the perfect cover. As soon as the furthest one turned around, Kim fired one of the darts straight into his neck, causing him to keel over asleep. No sooner had he fallen than the other hooded soldier turned to see him asleep, and a wave of panic washed over Kim as she struggled to load another dart.
The standing one then swiveled what looked like an almost disembodied head in Kim's direction, as if knowing all along where the shot had come from. She could then see underneath the hood that the cultist was wearing what looked like a white porcelain mask, as if trying to mask the emptiness of his soul. Finally loading a dart, the gun shook in Kim's hands as she pointed it upwards and shot straight into the mask's mouth, causing the figure to fall over and his head to fall back to its natural position. Shaking in every limb and without seeing anyone further in the area, Kim ran from the alley down the street until she found another alley with the cover of shadow, which happened to be about five feet from the now sleeping guards.
"Kim," Ron's voice came from the communicator on Kim's belt, "are you okay?"
"Yeah," Kim said, picking it up off of her belt and holding it to her, "I think I'm alright."
"We saw that you encountered some hostiles," Ron said, concern in his eyes on the screen.
"Well," Kim said, "it looked like they were long overdue for some sleep…I'm guessing anyway. They're not showing their faces too well."
"It seems like a weird place to put guards," Ron said, "because it seems these cultists are all gathered on the other side of the hill."
"I guess it wouldn't have been a good landing spot anyways," Kim said, "I'll try and make my way around it."
"Just be careful, dear," Ron said, "This seems to be a little weirder than a lot of the other things you've fought with before."
"It's okay, Ron," Kim said, "I'll be fine. I know you wish you were here with me, but I can take care of myself."
Just then, Kim heard some bright dinging noise behind her. She turned to see a bright light coming from the foreheads of the two sleeping cultists. The lights began to get bigger until the covered the entire skulls of the 'men.'
"I'll contact you later," Kim said.
"Be careful," Ron said with some resignation in his voice, only to exacerbate the signs of his desire to be there, fighting the good fight as they did in the past years, and hung up.
As Kim holstered the communicator, she edged closer to see what was happening with the blue patches of light on the heads of the guards. She thought she could hear other sounds coming from these light blue holes, the sounds of growls, screams, and whispers. Suddenly, a jagged claw came from the nearest one, nearly scratching Kim's nose. She backed away from the blue, glowing arm and allowed the rest of the creature to emerge from the large hole. It looked like a blue, glowing yeti with two more arms coming from the elbows on each of its original arms, and its sharp-toothed mouth came not from the center where one would have expected its face but rather from the top of its head down to its chin, although its light blue eyes were still where one would have expected, deep and menacing. Out of the other hole came what looked like a large, six eyed alligator, but its jaw was shaped slightly unnaturally, and its body seemed to emanate an aura of dread. The back half of its body began to evaporate in a large blue mass of smoke.
Soon, other creatures beyond description emerged from the glowing portals to join the others. Kim began to back further away, to flee the madness that was tearing her mind apart. Still, she mustered her courageous nature to pull out the SOCOM pistol and fire at the beasts, only to find the shots traveling through them like a mist. The beast with the split head then leaned over and roared at Kim with the terrifying resonance of so many dead worlds. Shaking in every limb, Kim turned and ran down the streets, still trying to find a way around Corcovado Hill but more focused on escaping the terrible things behind her. Could these creatures hurt her or were they illusions? She did not want to bother to find out. All she knew is that they were following her in such a fast pace that made every muscle in her harms and legs feel like they would bleed internally.
She ducked into a narrow alley and hoped she could throw them off track. Unfortunately, the creatures bent and twisted in order continue their relentless pursuit, some of which seemed to be quite accustomed to penetrating such crevices.
Just as one of creatures lunged its mouth for the back of Kim's head, an outstretched arm grabbed her from the side and pulled her into a small shack off to the side. It was of what looked like a muscular BOPE officer who then flung her to the ground as he quickly swiveled around to barricade the door of the shack. Unfortunately, the creatures began prying at the boarded windows, making an effort to get in. The man then grabbed his assault rifle and began firing at the creatures, only to find that his shots went straight through them. He then rolled his eyes and picked up a tarnished dry erase board and magic marker, drawing a crude looking sketch of a star with an eye in the center, a small flame shape coming out of the pupil. The officer then held it up to the window, causing the creatures to revolt from the window and run screeching down the alley the way they came.
Kim was wondering who this person was and if there were any more like him around, but for now, she decided to express her gratitude.
"Thanks for saving me back there," Kim said, attempting to sit up. The officer, however, then picked up his rifle and aimed it at her.
"Quem são você," the officer said, "É você com aqueles bastardos?"
"I'm sorry," Kim said, startled that the first friendly face she would have seen in hours would now be pointing a gun at her, "I don't speak Portuguese."
"Hmm," the officer said, lowering his weapon, "you don't look like you could be one of them." He then walked over and sat at a nearby table. "Did you find one of them sleeping or something?"
"Yeah," Kim said, "I shot one with a tranquilizer gun." She looked at the officer, who looked like he was in his fifties but still fit for his age.
"Bad idea," the officer said, "When they dream, their nightmares become real. So are you the Global Justice specialist that was coming to help us?"
"Yes," Kim said with minor agitation at his attitude, "My name is Kim Possible."
"Captian Nascimento," the officer said, "and I think this is something not even Global Justice can handle. Whatever this doomsday cult is doing, it's bigger than all of us. There were small signs of this in the earlier month. Violent crimes of what looked like ritualistic slayings became more frequent, all of which seemed be based around some anarchic group. The suspects we did catch did not look quite human but had this air of undeath around them, all of whom were relentless in their assault and continued to babble something about the Great Old Ones. The only thing we could do was sedate them with tranquilizers, only to find that their minds were gateways to some nightmare world no human being could imagine."
"And where have they all gone now?" Kim asked.
"Along the southern portion of Corcovado Hill," Nascimento said, "I believe I overheard one of them saying that they were using that super terrorist Drakken's body as a vessel for some ritual around that area. Supposedly, underneath that hill lies this big place of power that they want to harness, and they need a highly advanced male brain to do it. Granted, I think they're all crackpots, but with all I've seen recently, anything's possible. I just don't know what's real and what's fake anymore."
"Either way," Kim said, "that's where I'm headed. Perhaps you could come along with me? Two heads would be better than one in fighting these things."
"No," Nascimento said, "I think I'm going to stay here. With as incapacitated as I am, I'd just get in the way. I've got my machine gun to keep me safe if anyone of those freaks come back." Kim looked at him and realized it might be for the better. She began walking for the door.
"Okay," she said, "But take care of yourself."
"One more thing," Nascimento said, holding up the erase board again, "this is what one of our history and occult experts calls the Elder Sign. I just know it as a weapon that works. I'm not sure how well it works against real monsters, but it should keep away those blue illusions. Also, don't be afraid to shoot these guys with that real gun I saw you have. They may look human and may have been at one time, but whatever's going on has turned them into something else. You'd be doing them a favor by putting them out of their misery. "
"Got it," Kim said, "Thanks." And with that, she headed down the street towards the southern tip of Corcovado Hill, ducking through alleys in order to avoid any guards or whatever those things were that chased her from earlier.
Along the way, she found the former inhabitance of the city dead along the ground. The weird thing about them was that they all seemed to be laying face down and in a uniform fashion, their heads all pointed in the same direction. Kim realized that this was where she needed to go and used the dead as markers until she found what she was looking for.
Out from the alley she was in, she could see the robed figures all in a circle around the floating body of an expressionless Dr. Drakken. Behind him was what Kim could only assume was the group's leader, wearing a tentacle covered mask and holding his arms in the air. Drakken began to get a red glowing aura around him as the group chanted something that sounded like "Ia! Nyarlathotep! Ia! Azathoth! Ia! Ia! Cthulhu fhtagn!"
Kim knew what she had to do but was still hesitant to do it. She had killed before in the past but never enjoyed it. Here, would she even be killing her own kind? If these people were already undead, how could she kill them again? She held up her SOCOM and tried to aim as steady as she could. She wished she had brought some diazepam in order to keep her nerves in line, but her sharp eye would have to suffice. In a panic, the gun went off twice in her hand.
The first shot knocked the mask off of the leader's face, revealing the unhealthy patches of his decayed face and his jaw hanging off its hinges and swinging to his chest. The second went straight into his forehead, causing him to fall from the platform he had been standing on and Drakken to stop glowing and slowly move back down to the ground. What was then unfortunate was that the rest of the cult turned and saw where the shots were fired from, despite the silencer. The ones with assault rifles began firing at Kim, while the others held out their hands and fired unseen pulses of energy, knocking over cars and pieces of street asphalt.
Kim ducked and ran for the cover of a nearby car. Once she stopped, she put her gun over the front end and fired wildly in the air. She shot one of the cultists, but the others paid it no mind and continued their relentless attack. A shockwave blasted the car over her head and slammed it into a nearby building, giving Kim only a moment to react and run across the street towards them. She then jumped over more flying debris and threw a spinning kick in the air, knocking one of the psychic cultists to the ground. Upon landing, she punched one of the riflemen in the gut and threw a back kick at another in the face. One of them tried to butt her with the end of his machine gun, but Kim grabbed him and threw him into the crowd of minions.
All Drakken did was stand and watch, his vacant expression not giving any sign of interest or awareness.
All of the sudden, of the psychics leapt into the air and fired a blast of energy that shot Kim to the ground. She laid there in the concrete, too weak to move as the minions gathered around her.
"You may have stopped the ritual from taking place," one of them said in a gravely voice.
"Only our elder could have enough energy to have performed that," another said in a more booming voice.
"But soon you will see what it is we sought here," the first one continued, "You will now see what lies beneath the surface of this wretched city." And with that, he fired another blast of psychic energy that shot Kim through the ground, past the sewer and past the subway, all the way down into what seemed like an endless dark pit. Kim thought she would fall forever after focusing through the pain of her battle until finally she landed on hard ground.
Every bone in her body ached as though they would turn to dust any second. She attempted to raise her head, only to be met by darkness. Her eyes could just barely see through the low light what looked like small buildings, but her vision failed as she closed her eyes and passed out.
