Disclaimer: I do not own Kim Possible or any of its characters except for the ones I made up. Now, that being said, let the story commence!
Chapter 9
She stared at the giant TV screen in front of her which had just gone blank.
This wasn't some hare-brained scheme of Drakken's or some ancient Simian ritual by Monkey…this was a full blown terrorist attack.
And she was caught right in the middle.
She looked over at the three figures beside her, two of them were just regaining consciousness and one of them wore an expression so grave Kim feared he might croak at any second.
Finding her voice, Kim spoke:
"Dr. Bortel" she asked "How big of a sitch are we in right now?"
He turned to face her, his expression unchanged.
"The biggest you could possibly imagine."
Kim gulped. She was afraid of that.
"What's the big deal?" She go asked, rubbing the side of her cranium, "Before you know it Uncle Sam will be here with his fancy jets and take this thing out of the sky. Derout will be in the hooscow before you can 'double-cross'"
Dr. Bortel shook his head.
"It's not that simple, I'm afraid" he said, "Once Project Pegasus has been activated there is no off switch. The only way to shut it down is internally" He sighed. "I'm afraid, for the time being, Mr. Derout is the most powerful man on the planet."
The entire holding cell was quiet. There wasn't much you could say to a comment like that.
No one spoke for several moments. It was so quiet you could hear everyone's heart beating to a nervous, paranoid tune.
Finally, it was Dr. Drakken who broke the silence.
"He was right."
All eyes swiveled over to the villain. He sat there, propped against the wall, a vacant sexpression on his face.
Shego raised an eyebrow.
"What's up, Doc?" she asked.
Drakken's expression didn't change.
'Oh Shego, even your generous throwbacks to popular culture won't save us this time. Derout had the perfect plan. He used the two of us to do his dirty work for him and now where we're back where we always are...in the dark blue ocean of defeat"
He was right, of course. Dead on. He couldn't have found a more pathetic villain on the planet. I mean look at me…I'm the color of blueberries for God's sake! I can't even invent my own doomsday devices…let's face it, I'm a failure."
Drakken hung his head…and said no more.
Kim stared at the megalomaniac. Even though they had done battle countless times in the past and they we're the perfect examples of the "archfoe" relationship, she couldn't help but feel a deep sense of pity for him. No one, not even Dr. Drakken, deserves to be backstabbed and be called utterly useless all in the same five minute time slot.
Kim felt so bad, in fact, that she was actually prepared to put a comforting arm around her worst enemies shoulder and tell him to cheer up and it would be ok…
…the problem was…someone already beat her to the punch.
"Hey…don't say things like that Dr. D" she said. "You are by far the most evil mad scientist I've ever worked for."
Drakken looked up at her.
"I'm the only mad scientist you've ever worked for."
Shego winced just a little. He had a point.
"Ok" she said, recovering "so you may not be the most succesful or diabolical villain in the world but you have other perks."
Drakken raised an eyebrow. "Such as?"
Shego winced again.
Damn it. I didn't know there would be a quiz!
"Um…well…uh…you certainly are the most charismatic of all the evil geniuses."
"How so?"
"Well…you've kept me around all this time…and Lord knows, you certainly don't pay handsomely."
Drakken's face seemed to lift a little at this.
"Yes well" he said "I suppose I do have certain sense of debonair that exudes from every orifice."
Shego rolled her eyes internally, while at the back room Kim and Dr. Bortel made no attempt to hide the same action.
"Of course you do." Shego said through clenched teeth. "Not to mention all the exotic places we get to go to. The Amazon rainforest, Egypt, Italy…you know, if the whole 'taking over the world thing doesn't work out you would make a great travel agent."
Drakken sat up, smiling a bit.
"Yes…Yes we do see very exciting places don't we? I bet other super villains don't go have the places we do."
Shego nodded. "Exactly. Not to mention all the attention Princess here gives you."
They both turned to stare at Kim.
"Think about it" Shego continued, "She's there to bust you every time you start some new nefarious plot. The government must have made you her special case or something…they must be terrified of you."
Drakken grinned big and rose to his feet.
'You're right , Shego. Kim Possible is usually at the scene only minutes after I make the first move. The government probably has me wire tapped or something."
He walked over to the front of the window and spread his arms wide in a swooping guesture.
"You've messed with the wrong evil genius, Mr. Derout" he said, a evil triumphant grin on his face, "prepare to feel the almighty wrath of Dr. Drakken!"
Shego rose to her feet and, on what could only be described as the most sudden of impulses, went and hugged the grinning villain. Although he was surprised at first, Drakken returned the hug with a gentle smile on his face.
Immediately, a wave of awkward tension flushed over the group.
The two villains immediately released one another and backed up several feet, their faces absolutely glowing red.
"Yeah, erm, well, good to have you back Dr. D" Shego said, rubbing her arm.
"Yes, well, erh, it's good to be back, Shego"
Both of them stood there for a moment, apparently transfixed by what had just happened.
"Uh yes…well we had better start forming a plan to get out of here, hm?" Drakken said.
"Oh yeah!" She go agreed "Right, right, the plan…for our escape…yeah, yeah that plan."
They both walked forward in a straight line until they bumped into each other. The both apologized sheepishly before they made their way to separate sides of the holding cell.
Kim and Dr. Bortel shared a knowing glance.
"Remember what I told you about how the Moodulator enhances emotions?"
Kim nodded, smiling. She remembered.
Well I may be being held hostage by an insane man who plans to blow up the world…
…but at least have my own private soap opera to watch in the mean time.
II
Derout turned off the motherboard Herschel had programmed to hack into the entire worlds telecommunications and reclined back in his chair.
That went well
By now he imagined, the world was in a heightened state of panic. They would be looting, pillaging, killing…all the violent things people will do if you get them scared enough.
Everything was going according to plan.
His relaxation was disturbed however when the face of Greg Herschel loomed over in his line of vision.
Ooooh. He looks mad.
Derout turned to face him.
"Something bothering you, Gregory?"
Herschel puffed out his chest.
"Damn straight" he said "You said you plan to blow everyone up."
"Ahh" Derout said, smiling, "So you were paying attention?"
"Cut the crap," Herschel demanded, drawing a sidearm from his pocket, "You told me that the plan was to blackmail Washington and the other world governments…you said we would make a fortune."
Derout chuckled. "And now you've found out that lying is yet another one of my vices. You'll find that I have plenty of them."
Herschel drew the gun up to Derout's face.
"I should shoot you where you stand."
Derout smiled.
"Yes you should…but I know for a fact that you will not. Not without first receiving your payment."
Herschel raised his eyebrow.
"Payment?"
Derout nodded. "I may have been a little dishonest about the amount of money you would be receiving but I am good to my word that you will be receiving a substantial amount of money."
Dr. Hershel didn't lower the gun.
And why should I trust you now?"
Derout reached into his pocket and produced a large manila envelope.
"Seeing is believing, Gregory"
Hershel snatched the envelope from his hand and clutched it to his chest.
"OK you've bought yourself your life back" he said "now you have five seconds to get me off this little craft of yours."
Derout nodded and motioned over to a empty pod in the back of the room.
"That will take you off of this ship and to a safe house in Tuscon, Arizona."
Herschel looked at him warily.
"How do I know that you won't blow me up, the second I land?"
Derout smiled again.
"Gregory I promise you that, where you're going, you won't have to worry about my missiles at all."
Hershel grinned an ran over to the pod bay and shut the door behind him.
"Well?" he called to Derout, "What are you waiting for? Get me off of this thing."
Derout smiled wickedly and nodded to his cohort.
"As you wish, Gregory."
III
Greg Hershel waited excitedly in the pod bay to be released from Derout's presence.
Finally…working for that lunatic paid off.
He eagerly gripped the envelope in his hands. It was heavy! He could see himself now…lying on a beach in Majorca for the rest of his life, eating at expensive restaurants every night, meeting beautiful and exotic women…
He couldn't take it anymore, he had to see his prize for himself.
He ripped open the envelope and peered inside…
Amidst all the heaps of confetti and printing press ink there was a single dollar lying at the bottom with a message printed on it in red ink.
Herschel picked it up and read what was written there:
I'm always true to my word, Gregory.
Herschel looked up just in time to see a smiling Derout press a button on his right before the floor beneath him opened and he was ejected from the airship into the troposphere leaving a bright trail of confetti behind him.
IV
Derout smiled to himself as he left the room to go and make some tea for himself and his guests.
It's amazing how some of the brightest men, Derout thought to himself, will fall for the simplest ploy.
And with that Derout exited the room and went into the kitchen for a snack.
V
To say Ron Stoppable was nervous would be an understatement.
He was currently being strapped (by a man who could only be described as the inspiration for Jack Nicholson's character in A Few Good Men) into a rocket that he could barely fit into with the responsibility of saving the entire world on his shoulders.
Needless to say, anxiety had stopped by for a visit.
General Gedden had just finished strapping Ron into the machine when Rufus tried to jump in next to him.
General Gedden's face immediately went hard.
"Not a chance, son." He said, picking Rufus out of the rocket, "This thing will barely accommodate you…I'm afraid your little mouse thing has to stay here."
Rufus chattered at the military man in defiance, but Ron shook his head.
"It's ok buddy" he said, "you can stay here and keep all these army types in line."
Rufus looked hurt for a second, but then quickly recovered with a full military salute.
General Gedden closed the door of the rocket and peered into the horrified face of its teenage occupant.
"Here's how it's going to go down son" he began "This rocket is specifically designed to repair the hull of the air ship so it can only dock on the outside. That means as soon as you land you will have to crawl along the outside of the ship so you can enter it through an air duct."
If it was at all possible...Ron Stoppable's face grew even whiter.
"Once your inside you'll have to make your way through the air duct to the engine room. When you're there either myself or McClinsky will radio information to you about how disable the engine so we can regain control of it. Do you understand everything so far?"
Ron was much too terrified to speak.
"Good" said Gedden, as he walked over to a control panel. Once there he positioned his hand on a lever and turned to face Ron.
"Do you have any questions before you take on this matter of national security?"
With a face as white as paste and his stomach so full of butterflies it was almost a pavilion, Ron Stoppable nodded."
General Gedden nodded, and gave Ron a standard military salute.
"Godspeed, Stoppable."
And then he pushed the lever down launching upwards, where destiny was already waiting for him.
To Be Continued:
Hello everyone…I would like to introduce you to Chapter Nine of the Things I Never Knew.
Chapter Nine, this is everyone…
While you all get acquainted let me again apologize for the long delay in chapters, However I can promise you that this story will be finished before the flowers bloom in spring or my name isn't Everhere Everthere!
Oh and by the way, Chapter Nine told me that if you don't read and review him he's going to write all sorts of nasty things about you on his Myspace page.
(Between you and me, I think he's going a little overboard but you know those literary segments… they are such diva's.)
All the best,
Everhere Everthere
