I do not own any Disney characters named herein, and am only borrowing them to tell a nonprofit tale meant for entertainment purposes only.
Kim Possible: Impossibilities
By LJ58
4
Kim stepped off the aircraft to a cheering crowd as Will, and her new escort followed her toward the waiting sedan.
Anti-Tazakistahn signs were held up by some of those present, and not surprisingly, quite a few anti-America signs were among them.
"Guess nothing much has changed here," she muttered to Will, who merely nodded as she approached the sedan, and one of the waiting agents opened the door for them.
Will climbed into the back with her, and the lead agent slid back behind the wheel as her escort got into the front seat.
Another agent climbed in on the other side of the back seat, and then they left the airport, heading for the local GJ HQ before her appointment with the head of the U.N. Security Council.
"I suggest we don't make any public statements regarding the locals who aided us," Will told her. "The Premier might seek them out, and punish them. Or anyone he already disfavors."
"Duh comes to mind," Kim glared at him. "I'm not that stupid," she informed him.
"I never suggested you were. Just impulsive," he declared as blandly as ever.
Her green eyes narrowed on him, and the agent beside her cleared his throat uncomfortably before he cut in to say, "Dr. Director said she would meet you when she arrives, but may be delayed, as she's inbound from another operation in Canada just now. I've been asked to take you to HQ, and let you write up your initial reports there."
"Already done," they both said as one, Kim patting her new briefcase as she spoke.
She glared at him anew, but did not even think of shouting, "Jinx," as she once did with her friends.
"Dare I remark about great minds thinking alike," the driver teased.
"Only if you wish to be hurt," Kim growled.
"Or reprimanded for unprofessional behavior," Will deadpanned very seriously.
"Well, I see your little adventure hasn't relaxed you two much," the driver declared. "Guess I win that bet."
"What bet," Kim and Will demanded to know.
There was a lot of throat-clearing, and awkward glances, but the driver just chortled, and declared, "Someone suggested a wager that you two would finally learn to get along after you had to spend nearly two weeks keeping each other company."
"As if," Kim shot, glancing at Will without blushing by now.
"A proper agent always maintains his professional edge even in the most extreme environs. It's a hallmark of efficiency, and effectiveness."
"Yes, and I bet on that out of you two, which is why I won," the driver chortled.
Both of them glared.
"Just what is your name, agent," Will demanded.
The man glanced back briefly, and Kim gaped, only then getting a good look at him.
"Hirotaka-San," the young ninja told them as Kim only then recognized him. "I am, as they say, on loan as a favor for Stoppable-San, who could not make it due to….prior commitments. It is good to see you are well, Possible-San, but I never doubted that."
"And why are you here," Kim asked, "Not that it's not great to see you again, Hiro," she smiled now.
"As I said, a favor for Stoppable-San. We have word that assassins may still be targeting you. As Stoppable-San is occupied at the moment, he sent me to help watch you."
"And did Stoppable-San forget I can take care of myself," she grumbled, thinking it ironic that Ron had gotten more protective since parting ways, than he had been before. Or so it seemed to her at times. Because this wasn't the first time she had discovered she had ninja watching her. It was just the first time they were open about it.
"What can I say, Possible-San. The monkey-master is who he is."
"Indeed," Will grumbled.
"Still, I won the wager, because I know who you are, too."
Kim muttered inaudibly, and glanced out the window.
"So, Dr. Director will be delayed," Will turned to ask the other agent who had been with the driver.
The man glanced back from the front seat, and nodded.
"Yes, sir. She did want you both to drop by medical to be checked out prior to her arrival, though. S.O.P., you understand?"
"I am well aware of the procedural manuals, agent. As is Miss Possible," he added, glancing her way. "Even if she does occasionally…..lapse in her observation of certain regulations….."
"Watch it, Du," she grumbled again, but continued to look out the window without looking back his way.
She couldn't.
She knew she was back to blushing as the idea of one lapse in particular now came back to haunt her.
Even she never would have thought that she and Will would have…..bonded. Slightly. In the sitch they faced, it wasn't unusual for stress to make two people cling to one another, and yet she was still surprised they had stepped over an undeclared line she would have sworn was impenetrable for both of them.
She almost smiled at the thought of just how nice it had been, though.
In spite of running for their lives at the time.
"So, just how long will Dr. Director be delayed?"
"Only she can say that, Ms. Possible," the agent that replied informed her as they pulled up in front of a large office building.
"Did they finally open this branch?"
"We are unofficially using the top three floors," the agent in the back with them told her. "Officially, we are housed in the basement."
"And," Will asked.
"We actually only use the supply closet, that opens up to a vacuum tube to the actual offices," the man told her. "I'll show you the way," he told them as he climbed out even as Hirotaka did, the ninja agent about to turn toward Kim's door.
"Down," the ninja shouted, even as he slammed his own door, but stayed low. At the same time, the agent about to step away to let Will out went down, a bloody wound in his left side, and Will threw himself over Kim's body as another shoot thundered, and a high velocity round ricocheted off Kim's window.
"You okay," Will shouted at the man half slumped in the open door.
"Shooter's….nine o'clock, four floors up. Center window. Saw the….flash," he rasped, and slid out of the car to land sprawling on the sidewalk as pedestrians screamed anew, and those that had not fled, now ducked for any available cover as another round ricocheted off the rear fender.
"They're trying to blow the tank," the agent in the front seat exclaimed.
"Not this car," Will told him. "It's our new reinforced armor. Thankfully, they got the windows right, too," he said, seeing the scorch mark on the glass, but noted it had not even cracked.
"We can't set here. We might be safe enough, but people are going to get hurt if that freak decides to start taking out civilians to get to us," Kim said, pushing him aside. "How's the...?"
"He's still alive," another agent that had run out of the building just then to duck beside the man. "We called in backup, but….."
"Hiro," Kim rasped, shoving Will aside even more to sit up, and look outside. "Where….?"
The man in GJ livery leapt down from somewhere above to land on the ground across the street, and then walked casually over to open her door.
"The coward has fled. He left behind a very powerful firearm. It would have taken him at least an hour to set up. Someone, Possible-San, knew you were coming."
The agent checking the wounded looked up, and scowled.
"Only our office, Dr. Director, and the mayor knew."
"Good God, man, the mayor's office has more leaks than the Titanic," the agent climbing out of the front seat moaned. "Who let that idiot know anything?"
"I….don't know. But I will find out," the other man assured him as sirens now filled the air.
"The paramedics can handle this," Will declared. "You, stay on scene, and manage the authorities. If anyone asks about Miss Possible, 'No comment,' is all you will reply. That, and only that," he stressed to the man who looked new to the job, and the obvious dangers from the way his face paled when he had tried to check the downed man's wound.
"And keep pressure on that wound," Kim shot, climbing out behind Will rather than risking stepping out on her side.
Just in case.
The man looked grim, but kept his hands pressed down on the man's bloody side.
"He will not last long," Hirotaka told them as they all rushed to the door, keeping Kim inside their covering bodies.
"Maybe the paramedics…"
"Not Agent Saunders," Will cut her off. "I think he means the newbie who just about vomited when he saw Saunders' blood."
"Indeed, Du-San. He is not possessed of the character to endure the realities a warrior must face in daily battle. He will not last long."
"Oh. Thank God," Kim rasped, glancing back to the door as they rushed down a hall after Will waved an ID toward two of the approaching security guards who were also GJ. "I thought you meant that poor man that….."
Kim paused, and frowned.
"Armor-piercing, high velocity rounds in a weapon that took an hour to set up? That's not just planning, Hiro. That's overkill. Someone wants us dead."
"Indeed," the ninja replied.
"Did we see something that bad," she asked Will. "I mean, what we saw in the city was bad enough, but…."
Will frowned.
"I suspect we need to revisit our report, and go over every detail. Apparently, even we're missing something if someone, and I believe we know whom, is willing to go to these lengths."
"Agreed," she told Will as she lifted her left wrist. "And I should download the footage from the images I took with my Kimmunicator."
"Again," Hiro chortled, "I win a wager."
"What wager," Kim scowled now as she glanced back at him as one of the agents opened a closet, and then walked in to shove a rack aside that opened a door with a digital lock.
"Stoppable-San wagered that even you would have stopped calling your device by that name, but Yori felt you would still be using it. I agreed."
"Why would he think….?"
"Well, Possible," Will drawled blandly as ever. "It is a rather childish appellation, and self-centered, as well. Frankly, a professional, a mature professional, would be above…."
"I should have left you dangling on that cliff," Kim growled, and walked into the lift that went down to a series of vacuum tubes.
Will only smiled faintly. So faintly not even Hiro noticed.
"Cliff," one of the other agents that followed them into the lift asked.
"Long story," Will declared.
"Stupid story," Kim muttered. "Wonderboy here ran right over the edge of a cliff."
"In my defense, we were being chased. In the fog. Dark fog."
"Over a cliff," Kim echoed, and all three agents, even Hiro, sniggered.
Will only sighed as the lift began to go up.
"I thought we were going to the basement," Kim remarked, watching the indicator.
"Why," Hiro asked. "The transport tubes are on the top floor."
"The….top?"
"Last place anyone would think to look for them," one of the agents remarked.
Kim had nothing to say to that.
KP
"Think of anything?"
Kim looked up at Will as he walked into the room where she was conferring with Wade over the careful examination of the images she had taken during their seemingly casual stroll around the royal city. The one the Premier had apparently not wanted them to see.
The urbanized, and developed center near his palace had been quite impressive.
Until you left it behind, and saw all the poverty and squalor that seemed to fill most of the rest of the crowded city that all but overrun with military guards, and grim looking police in riot gear. Then they had walked into the middle of a genuine slave auction, which apparently offended someone, because suddenly men were shouting, and all the military and police vanished as they allowed a mob to literally chase them out of the city, and into the countryside.
"We did find something interesting," Will was told. "Take a look at this," she told him, and held out her wrist to show the Kimmunicator. "Remember when things first changed?"
"It was hard to miss. Men were suddenly chasing us with ill intent."
"Ill intent," Kim rolled her eyes as Wade's background chortle could be heard. "I swear, some day you really need to take that stick….."
"Evidence, Miss Possible," Will drawled, showing no indication that they had gotten intimate in the near two weeks they had spent running for their lives.
"Right. Here. Just before the mob turned on us, they were dragging girls up to the dais for the next auction. Remember?"
"Yes, I was appalled. Premier al Javier had assured us that slavery was not being practiced by his province, and yet…"
"Focus beyond the obvious hypocrisy," she told him. "Look at the third girl on the coffle."
Will studied the small image, and Kim told Wade, "Blow it up for him."
The face increased size to fill the small screen, and Will made a soft whistle.
"This…..could be troubling."
"No, you think," Will was told by the sardonic redhead. "Will, unless I'm wrong, and I don't think I am….."
"Bonita Senior," he told her before she finished. "She vanished during a tour in a nearby tourist trap recently, and the Seniors have been offering very big rewards, or very big threats, for anyone that returns her," he remarked.
"And since Senior has the economic clout of a major nation these days, and still has ties to the villainous community, if he finds out Bonnie was taken by Tazakistahni slavers, then things just went way past diplomacy. I still remember what he did to Paris for insulting his family by arresting Junior and Bonnie on their honeymoon on old warrants."
"Well, they did manage to finally repair the Eifel Tower," Wade grimaced as he replaced he image.
"I take it you know what we just learned," Dr. Director walked into the room just then, and noted their grim expressions.
Hirotaka glanced into the windowless room behind her, nodded, and then closed the door again.
"Wade just confirmed it. Bonnie was in that auction, and someone is going to be in a lot of trouble if the Seniors find out."
"We suspect she was likely taken purposely just for that cause."
"What….cause," Will asked as he frowned at the pair of them.
"It's obvious," Kim told him. "Either someone wants Senior to go off on Tazakistahn, or, that is incidental, and they intend to use her apparent safety as a club against the old man's cooperation with some scheme. Whatever it is, it can't be good."
"And it might be both," Dr. Director pointed out. "Recall, while we might leery of the Premier just now, he's still sitting on a lot of wealth and power out there. He's also holding one side of a very major trade route through the region that all sides want. Not something to overlook."
Kim scowled.
"How did Bonnie get taken at all? Junior may be a bit careless, but since they got married, the old man has the best security, and bodyguards money can buy," Kim pointed out.
"Yes, that is a curious lapse. Unless said bodyguards were bought off."
"Suggest that one to the old man," Will remarked.
"I wager he's already checking on them," Dr. Director remarked. "Kim, we need you to go back into Tazakistahn."
"I was planning on it anyway."
"Not like you think," Betty Director cut her off. "You're our distraction."
"Distraction," Kim sputtered.
"Yes. You continue the role of diplomat, and envoy. Buy whatever excuses al Javier gives you, and then buy us time to get in, look around, and find Bonita Senior before Roberto Senior starts a major war."
"With Tazakistahn?"
"With the nations that crooked Premier has already allied himself with over the past few weeks."
Kim scowled.
"I guess I'm supposed to just smile, and play nice."
"Of course."
"I can't kick him? Just once?"
Will merely arched a brow as he eyed he redhead.
"That is hardly a professional reaction, Miss Possible. Even if you aren't technically an agent any longer, you should…."
"And, Will. You'll be staying with her as her bodyguard, and escort."
Will almost choked.
"You have issue with my order, Agent Du? You were cleared with medical, and ready for duty. So, you have no issue with my orders, do you?"
"No, ma'am," he tried not to choke. "Of course not. It's just…. I felt that after our….experience, you'd want a fresher man on point to….."
"As I said, I just read your reports, and your med exams. You're both good, and I need you back on a jet, and headed for Tazakistahn with a full, military escort. Now."
Will resisted the urge to groan.
"I will, or course, follow your orders, Dr. Director. Miss Possible?"
Kim was looking conflicted.
"I can't even punch him," Kim almost whined, and just then, Will wasn't sure who she was talking about as she glanced his way.
"Kimberly," Dr. Director barked. "Remember what is at stake. Now, I have to go arrange to get you back to the airport, alive. Then I need to diffuse Roberto before that crazy old man decides to unleash everything he has on the idiots in power. Will, need I say, keep our diplomat alive."
"I'll be going in with eyes fully open," he nodded.
"And fully armed," Kim said, and glanced to her Kimmunicator again. "Wade. I want the Roth. Fully packed."
"On the way, Kim," the young genius still helping her told her before the screen finally went dark.
"Kimberly," Dr. Director started to growl. Then eyed her. "Just remember what's important."
"Oh, I do. Stopping that jerk, and getting Bonnie back. And I never thought I would be trying to save her. Well, again," she said, rolling her eyes. "Jeez, now that I think about it, she's almost as flighty as Junior. No wonder they get along."
"I thought you were going to say Stoppable," Will remarked as Betty turned to the door.
"Watch it, Du. I can always drop you back over that cliff. And leave you!"
"Try to get along a little longer, children," Betty Director quipped before leaving them.
Kim eyed Will as they now stood alone in the room, and the agent started to speak.
"Not. One. Word. Ever," she snapped.
"That is….likely wise," he declared dryly. "I should visit the armory, and reequip myself. I'll meet you in operations for briefing."
"You do that," Kim muttered sourly as they both walked out of the room, and headed for their mutual destinations; Hiro gliding along silently behind them.
To Be Continued….