Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to Kim Possible. Disney does. As for themes from any other shows, I don't own them either. I don't own any fictional material period.
The Prometheus Files Chapter 4: Dreams, Shopping, and the Truth
The next day, Kim woke up groggily, wishing she could go back to her dream. All she really remembered was that they had just defeated some villain, and then Ron had taken them to a very romantic dinner in Paris. Thinking as hard as she could, she also remembered that Ron had proposed to her after dinner. She turned to look at her clock, but quickly realized she was in a sleeping bag in a tent. Kim finally remembered that her house was still being repaired, and they were sleeping in the back yard in tents. Groaning, Kim reached for her kimmunicator watch to check the time. It was 10:00 A.M.
"What the, how did I sleep so late? I never sleep in like this. Then again, I never had such nice dreams about Ron before either. When did I get to bed? Right, after walking in the park for hours, I guess, I came home around 6:00 P.M. At that point I was starving, since I had completely neglected breakfast or lunch. My dad ordered Chinese take-out, and after eating I set up my tent and went straight to sleep. That couldn't have been later than 8 or 9. Did I really sleep for fourteen hours?!?" "Snap out of it Possible. You have a meeting in 4 hours, and need to get some breakfast and probably lunch too." "But I'm still tired and would love to go back to sleep and continue my dream." "No, it's too late as is, get up Kim!"
"Kim, you okay in there?" Ron's voice asked in a concerned tone.
Unlike Kim, Ron did not have pleasant dreams. They were fighting a villain, he couldn't remember who. All he really remembered was that he had been fighting some robots using his mystical monkey power while Kim was fighting the villain. But just as he destroyed the last one, he was knocked out by a falling support beam. When he came to, the villain was dead. Judging by the body's position and orientation, he appeared to have been mere inches away from stabbing Ron with a knife before he died. He had a piece of shrapnel embedded in the side of his head. It was covered in blood around the entrance wound, but there was also blood on a sharp spot several inches from the wound. That blood couldn't be from the impact splatter or post-puncture bleeding. Ron then noticed Kim in a corner sobbing uncontrollably. Her hand was bleeding, and Ron rushed over to her. He noticed that Kim's hand had large gash in it. A gash that matched the blood spots on the shrapnel. Suddenly it made sense to him. Kim had killed this villain to save his life. Ron woke up screaming.
When Ron's mother and father heard the scream, they were still in bed. Ron had woken up screaming before, but nothing like this, not even close. They had both shot out of bed and made a beeline for the attic. When they burst in, they found Ron sitting up in bed with his hands covering his face. "Son, what on earth happened?" his father gently asked. Ron didn't make any move to respond, he had a look of horror on his face.
"Ron have bad dream?" squeaked a small voice that the whole family quickly recognized as Hannah's.
Ron picked up his baby sister and hugged her, earning a giggle. "Yeah Han, Yeah. It was just a bad dream."
Han hugged her big brother back.
"Ron, are you okay?" the family matriarch asked.
"Yeah. I'll be fine. It was probably the worst nightmare I've ever had, but I'll be fine." Ron stuttered for a moment, as he realized that Hannah had just spoken her first sentence. "Hey, Han that was your first sentence wasn't it?"
"You're right, it was." Ron's father excitedly replied.
"I never expected a nightmare and a scream to bring out her first sentence." Ron's mother said as she picked up Hannah from Ron's arms. "That was your first sentence wasn't it Han, yes it was, yes it was." Her voice had taken on an impossibly cutesy tone.
Ron momentarily wondered how Han, a baby girl, had been able to read him so well, and then speak cohesively enough to show that she did. In the end, he concluded that it was probably due to the mystical monkey power. "I might as well get ready for the day," Ron stated as he looked at the clock. It was only 6:00 A.M. but he had no desire to go back to sleep. It was just a dream, he told himself, but it was still one he did not want to re-enter.
His parents had taken Hannah and gone back to bed. After getting some breakfast, Ron went out into the backyard and tried to meditate some. He never had any luck when he was at the Yamanouchi School, but now he could easily access his powers. He sat cross-legged, closed his eyes, and placed his arms along his legs, palms up with his thumbs curled and index fingers extended, just like he learned at Yamanouchi. He was able to summon his power, but didn't feel like he was getting anything out of this meditation. Then inspiration hit him. Without opening his eyes, he moved his hands up, flattened his palms, and placed his hands together in front of his face. This time when he tried to focus, he was able to instantly tell a difference. It was like he could explore his own mind. He left the memories of his dream, and instead went to happier memories. Memories of Kim, like their first kiss, their first date. He felt relaxed, and was able to completely forget about the dream, at least for now. When he opened his eyes, his power was visible around him, and he was floating several feet off of the ground. He checked his watch, and it was 9:58 A.M. "I should head over to Kim's," he said to the clouds as he took off flying towards her house.
When Ron arrived at his girlfriend's house, he saw that about half of the house was partially built, while the other half was rubble. Jim and Tim were operating robots that were rebuilding the house. Just as he was about to land, one of the new walls began to fall over, directly onto Jim and Tim. Ron darted down and caught the wall, while saying, "Morning guys, need a hand?"
"Cooooool!" Jim and Tim said in tandem as they looked up and saw that Ron had just saved their lives, or at least a trip to the hospital.
"That must be - " Jim started.
"The power than Kim told us about," Tim finished.
Ron pushed the wall back into place while saying, "uhh, little help guys?"
"Ohh, sure," Jim responded while quickly ordering a robot to brace and re-nail the wall.
Ron landed and disengaged his power. Turing to James and Anne, who were walking over, he asked, "So, where's Kim?"
"She's not up yet" Said Tim.
"But she was moaning your name in her sleep this morning." Jim added.
"Ohhhhh" the both said as they began to make kissing noises.
"Alright alright, I get it." Ron was about to make an insulting remark toward the two twins when he heard Kim's frantic voice coming from her tent. Ron rushed over and asked, "Kim, you okay in there?"
Kim had no idea that anyone was listening to her, let alone Ron. She was just glad that she hadn't said anything about her dream out loud. "Eh, I'm, I'll be out in a moment." Kim quickly got dressed, although she had to dress in her mission outfit, since that was all that had survived the destruction, aside from the clothes she had worn to graduation and the party afterward.
"Morning, KP. Do we have another mission already? We've got an appointment with GJ in like 4 hours!" Ron complained before giving her a quick kiss on the cheek.
Kim responded, "No, this is just all that survived our home's destruction. Even the Battlesuit was destroyed." She was very happy to see Ron, but noticed a pained look on his face. "Is something wrong?" she questioned.
"No, err, I just had a bad dream. You got hurt and I…." he mumbled, thinking that this was close enough to the truth. She had been hurt in the dream, just emotionally, not physically. "I guess I hadn't shoved the dream out of my mind as much as I thought."
Kim cut him off, saying, "Ron, it was just a dream. As you can see, I'm just fine. I had a great dream last night."
Slightly reassured, but still worried, Ron asked, "About what?"
"About you," Kim stated as she leaned in to kiss Ron again.
"Oh," Ron said happily.
"Let's go shopping before our appointment."
"Shopping, shopping for what, I don't know what you're talking about!" Ron said almost panicking. He had instantly remembered yesterday's events. He had spent all day going to different jewelry stores looking at engagement rings. While he found several he liked and thought that Kim would like, he hadn't bought one. First he didn't have any money, yet. Second, he still wasn't sure he wanted to propose yet. But the whole time, he hadn't even tried to hide his identity, despite being somewhat famous. He was now very worried that Kim had found out.
"I'm talking about going to the mall so I can shop for replacement clothes at Club B. Why are you acting so suspicious?" Kim asked, eyeing Ron carefully.
"He, he, uhh, nothing, um, don't you want to get some breakfast first?" Ron responded trying to regain his composure.
"I'll get something at the ma-," Kim's sentence was cut off when she started yawning. She was still groggy, and still quite tired. "Maybe you should drive."
"Sure, let's go Kim."
After getting some breakfast at the mall, Kim and Ron went to Club Banana where Monique greeted them.
"Hey Kim, Ron, how are things?"
"Mixed, bright side, Ron and I got into the same college, dark side," Kim paused for effect at this point and lowered her voice. "My entire wardrobe was destroyed."
"That's, that's horrible. You should beat the snot out of those Lorwardians for that if they aren't already dea-." Monique quickly stopped, realizing that if they were indeed dead, Ron would have been the one who killed them.
Ron was looking down at his feet, brooding.
"Ron, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to imply-."
"It's fine Monique. Besides, those two were pretty tough. They probably survived and are plotting revenge again right now." Ron insisted, albeit weakly. Inside, Ron believed that if they had survived, they would have immediately come after him again. Also, he didn't see how they could have possibly survived. Then his dream came back to him again. He began to worry that maybe, just maybe, he had killed two living, sentient people. It took everything he had to not break down.
"Great, just what we need: more enemies." Kim groaned.
"Well, hey KP. We're down a couple. Monkey Fist is out of it, probably permanently. And at this point, it quite likely that Drakken and Shego will leave villainy behind."
"Yeah, but those Lorwardians are by far the most dangerous people we know."
"I don't think so, KP. I think that John is probably the most dangerous villain we know. Though, I'll admit we don't really know him, but still, he seems like the most dangerous."
Kim thought for a moment, not wanting to remember John. "I agree, but he hasn't tried anything serious, yet."
"Yeah, but he could have very easily killed us back in that bunker."
"True, but he didn't, and plenty of our foes have had a chance to kill us, but they always let us live to 'see their ultimate victory'."
"Yeah."
"Who's John?" Monique interrupted.
"Oh, sorry Monique. John is some new guy we tried to capture yesterday. He had broken into a GJ outpost. They asked us to investigate." Kim paused at this point. "I don't think a villain has ever gotten away so quickly, scared us so much, or for that matter, left so few clues."
"Wow. But maybe you were just tired from that last incident. You know, off your game and whatnot."
"Not really Monique," Ron cut in. "First, this guy escaped the instant he tried to get away. Second, this was the first villain we ever faced that had both brains and common sense. Third, this guy carries, and uses, firearms. Fourth, he left absolutely no clues behind what so ever. This guy is on a whole other level."
"Oh, sound serious. But back to more important matters: Kim's wardrobe."
"Yeah," Kim said sullenly. "Problem is, even with my CB employee discount, I can't currently afford more than a few outfits. I spent most of my money on getting my dress repaired for graduation."
"Repaired?" asked Monique.
"After the Diablo incident at Junior Prom." Kim replied.
"Oh, right."
"Uh, Kim, I might have a solution. Can I borrow your kimmunicator?"
"Suuure," As Kim handed it to him, she asked, "Whatever you're doing IS legal and moral, right Ron?
"Yeah, just wait and see. Wade, were you able to find out how much is in my Naco account."
After typing for a moment, Wade went wide-eyed. "Before I tell you Ron, promise me you won't go crazy."
"Okay"
Wade was still hesitant, but continued, "Fifty."
"Thousand?"
"No, million."
Ron's eye twitched for a moment. Kim, while wondering what exactly they were talking about, became very worried.
"Okay Ron, you promised yourself yesterday that you wouldn't screw up like last time if it was a whole lot of money. I also promised Wade just now. Kim wouldn't break up with me if I went crazy again, but she would also not take me seriously if I proposed.
"Okay Wade, could you transfer two million into my checking account please?"
"Sure Ron. Done."
"Thanks Wade, by the way, is there anything big and expensive that you want for your birthday?"
"Not currently, but if I find anything, I'll let you know. See ya." Wade was smiling brightly as he signed off. Both because Ron hadn't lost it, and because he was probably going to get some pretty cool and expensive stuff from Ron in the future.
"Okay, boyfriend, just what is your Naco account?"
"A Swiss bank account that I had Wade auto deposit all my Naco royalty checks in after that first one. I learned my lesson, and vowed that I wouldn't take any money from it until after graduation. I also promised myself that money would never change me again. So, Kim, get whatever you want, I'm buying." Ron smiled as he pulled out his check card and handed it to Monique.
"Oh, Ron. I'm so proud of you. And thank you." Kim said as she hugged and kissed him. "He has matured a lot," Kim thought to herself.
"Hey, Ron, uhh, there are these new pants that just came in and-" Monique started to say before Ron cut her off.
"Sure Monique, go ahead," Ron replied, slightly rolling his eyes.
They all laughed.
Come 2:00, Kim and Ron arrived at the Bueno Nacho parking lot both wearing new outfits. While Ron had never bought anything from Club Banana before, Kim insisted that he buy at least one nice outfit. He bought the cheapest khakis and polo shirt he could find in the store. Kim, on the other hand, spent almost $4,000 on clothing. Ron rolled his eyes many times, but he had no complaints about paying for all of it. He even paid to have it shipped directly to Kim's home without being asked.
Looking out over the area, they saw that most of the damage had been repaired, and unmarked GJ personnel were currently finishing repaving the parking lot.
"Hnh, Naco!" Rufus said as he popped out of Ron's pocket.
"Sorry buddy, we don't have time. We're going to be late as is."
A GJ operative standing guard at the site walked over and said, "Ah, Ms. Possible, Mr. Stoppable, the transport tube went off line just now, it will take about 4 minutes to recharge it."
"Okay, I guess we do have time for a Naco, at least to go," Kim said to Rufus.
"Hnh, Naco, Yum, Hnh"
When Kim and Ron arrived at GJ headquarters, they were quickly escorted to a conference room. A moment later, Dr. Betty Director walked in, talking with Wade, in person.
"Wade, I thought you would be here remotely," Kim said astonished.
"Yeah, well, GJ offered to let me work out of an office here. I'd have funding, direct access to all of their equipment and satellite networks, and you'd always have GJ support on missions. I don't have to do anything at all for them."
"What prompted this all of a sudden, Dr.?" Kim questioned.
"I'll get to that later. There's a lot to explain, and you'll understand when I'm done. But before my brother arrives, I think I should tell you some things we discovered. First, about that John guy: We weren't able to get any info on him or pick up any trace of him. But we do know that IF he did steal any data, not only has he not yet done anything with it, but there isn't any real harm he could do with the data he could have acquired in such a short time. As for the melted weapons, we know it was focused energy of some sort, but we don't know anything else. We sent out an APB from the description Wade provided. The National Guard and Police brought in three people. They were all our own agents that were also searching for him. We have abandoned the search, and despite his obvious skills, his actions have prompted us to classify him as a minimal threat. That will, of course, change should he try anything else." Betty pause for a solid twenty seconds to organize her thoughts, and during that time, neither Kim or Ron said anything. "Good," she thought, "Those two actually do know that sometimes, if rarely, giving up is the best choice."
"The second thing directly pertains to you Ron. We've collected all the wreckage from the Lorwardian ship. I don't know anyway to say this gently, so I'll just come out and say it. Ron, you now have two confirmed kills on you record. Warmonga and Warhawk are dead. We found what was left of their corpses. It wasn't much, but it was enough to confirm that they're dead." Seeing the look on Ron's face, she continued, "I'm sorry."
The look on Ron's face could only be described as lifeless. Then he dropped his head down to the table and muttered, "I killed someone, they're dead, THEY'RE DEAD!"
Kim quickly hugged him and in her most consoling voice said, "Ron, you did it to save me, to save the world. If you hadn't, who knows what might have happened. At the very least, you didn't mean to kill them. Don't blame yourself; it's not your fault."
"Yes, it is Kim." Ron started crying. "I could have knocked them out and thrown rubble into the ship to destroy it. And as for not meaning to kill them, I'm not sure that's true. When I saw you helpless like that, I, I almost lost myself then."
Betty cut in at this point. "I won't say don't blame yourself, though it isn't your fault. I can, however, be justified in saying that you will feel better about it eventually. I know from, eh, personal experience. Another thing is, they weren't killed when they hit the ship, but their hitting the ship did trigger a core meltdown. The resulting explosion is what killed them. It wasn't directly your doing."
Ron started to feel a little better, partially from what Betty had said, but mostly from thinking, "At least it was me, and not Kim who did it. I don't know what I'd do if that dream ever came true." Ron raised his head and had a slight frown, but wasn't crying anymore
"You feeling better Ron?" Kim asked.
"Yeah, let's continue. I guess that death was an inevitable part of this job. Besides, we have important things to discuss." Ron affirmed, although he was still sniffling.
"Yes we do. Come in Sheldon."
"Good afternoon, Ron, Kim. Oh, by the way Betty, team 4 managed to locate that object."
"That object?" Kim asked.
"We'll get to that later, Kim. First about Sheldon and WEE. The truth of the matter is, WEE is not a criminal organization. It never was. It was always part of GJ, though it has been completely disbanded at this point. Sheldon's official position is field commander, while mine is base director. His combat and stealth abilities have always exceeded mine, while my organizational and management skills surpass his. Shortly after Sheldon and I took over from our predecessors in GJ about 20 years ago, we decided to break a chunk of the organization off. Sheldon would take the smaller portion of it, and turn it into a fake criminal organization. The purpose of this was two-fold. One, we could easily and constantly arrange combat scenarios that were, for all intents and purposes, quite real. These provided excellent training to keep our operatives in shape. Plus we would change operatives around between sides. Sheldon always had a bit of a villainous streak, so he could act like a villain, and give our operatives a taste of what their opponents dealt with. Understanding your enemy is critical to defeating them. Two, this would place a loyal chunk of GJ operatives square in the middle of the criminal underworld. The molecular transducer was not the only dangerous weapon developed by Jack Hench's people. WEE has purchased many such devices over the years, only to turn them over to GJ science teams." Betty exhaled, indicating she was finished.
Kim and Ron had dumbfounded looks on their faces.
"I can see you don't really believe this," Sheldon chimed in. "Think about it. WEE never tried to take over the world. We never tried to steal anything. In fact, the only two times you heard from us were A, when Ron was being studied by GJ, and B, when you stole the molecular transducer. The thing with Ron was initially a misunderstanding, but after it began, we had to keep it up to maintain appearances. Until recently, we couldn't trust you with this information, because honestly, we couldn't even trust everyone inside GJ either. This exercise also served as a great method of locating traitors. However, now it is irrelevant, because this long-term tactical exercise is complete." Frowning, Sheldon continued, "We got caught with our pants down, even though we knew it was going to happen. Had we not been divided like we were, we would have defeated the Lorwardians before their assault robots even landed on the planet."
Betty continued, "We made a mistake, a mistake about you Ron. That's what this is all about really."
Still quite shocked, Ron managed to say, "What?"
"The origin of GJ, The Prometheus Project."
A/N: All right, that last chapter was an information overload, I know. So the next chapter is going to be pure, raw action. After that chapter, I might have another interlude before Betty explains just what the hell is going on, but maybe not. If nothing else, there will never be this much info distributed at once again.
