The Middleton Police Department's parking garage was silent as Zorpox, whose skin was changing from a whitish-pink to light blue, ran about in a seemingly random pattern. He stopped by one support pillar for less than a minute before running off to a car thirty yards away. Another minute of crouching by the front tire and he was gone, running to another point while giggling like a kid at Christmas. All the while the duffel bag strapped to his back flopped around crazily as it's contents were removed. Minutes passed as Zorpox continued his mission. Occasionally, he broke up the giggling and silence by whistling the beginning strains to If I Were A Rich Man, but he always reverted back to giggling before the second verse.
The man whose skin was growing bluer by the second sprinted up to a parked car and pulled out his final block of C4. He smiled at the tiny explosive in his hands as he held the detonator up to the block and pushed a button lightly until a secondary light planted in the C4 glowed back.
"Oh, I always did like a good fireworks display," Zorpox said to himself as he gave the plastic explosive a tiny kiss before affixing the charge to the undercarriage of the car. He murmured to himself incoherently for several moments before stopping and peering at the block of C4 in amazement, "What was that?"
He was silent for several seconds before pushing it in place, "Oh I know my darling, you want to prove yourself to me. Just let me get a good seat and then you can show off for your new master. Is that all right?"
He was silent for another few seconds, "Of course I'll still love you after this...respect you too. Just remember, you're the message. When we get in the real big leagues, I'll need a few of your cousins."
Silence reigned in the parking garage as Zorpox ran and did a final check on the blocks, "Don't give me that look," he said to one block under a truck, "if you do your job perfectly, and it only takes one to do that," he laughed crazily at another, "if you do your job like you're supposed to, the world will soon be ours," he patted a final one affectionately, "All thanks to you."
He stopped running and stopped in the middle of the row between all the parked cars before bowing in the silence, to imaginary applause, "I know...I know you all love me," he held a finger to his lips, "Please stop clapping, you're only going to alert the police."
He laughed a final time before ducking out of the parking garage and deeper into the heart of Middleton Police Department.
Pachink
Ann ducked into the fetal position and let out a tiny scream as the phone next to her head erupted in sparks and fell to the ground with a plastic crunch.
She pulled her head out of her knees and looked at the crumpled phone as Yori put the gun on the counter behind her without even blinking.
"Why did you do that?!" Ann asked angrily as she stood back up and brushed off her knee length skirt.
Yori shrugged, "That way you won't call anyone while you're here and you won't 'accidentally'," she held up one bloody hand to make a quote sign, "leave the phone off the hook to alert the operator," she then pointed to Ann's pocket, "and I'm going to need your cell phone as well Possible-San."
Ann pulled out her cell phone and handed it to Yori who disassembled it with the bloody hand and threw the pieces near the pillow. Ann looked at Yori with compassion on her face and she gestured to the enormous cut on her side.
"How did you get that?" she asked as she hung her coat up on the door and walked to Yori while rolling up her sleeves.
Yori's eyes widened and she reached for the gun. Ann saw this and held up her hands disarmingly, "Easy there, I'm just going to patch you up, that's all."
Yori's eyes narrowed and she hissed through her pain, "Thank you but I'll do it myself."
Ann nodded and took a step back as the needle went in too deeply and Yori gasped in pain again, "Now you see," Ann said as she stepped forward and pulled the needle out swiftly without Yori feeling a thing, "The tricky thing about sewing someone up is that you can't go to deep," she placed the needle on the bed and walked over to a sink to wash her hands, "keep pressure on that. Please and thank you."
Yori nodded cautiously as Ann finished washing and put gloves over her hands, "Much better," the brain surgeon said as she came back over.
Yori pulled away from Ann and asked, "What are you doing?"
Ann held up her hands disarmingly for the second time that night, "I'm under the Hippocratic oath, to 'Do no Harm'," she explained, "that includes crazy women who tried to shoot you in the head and missed."
Yori laughed weakly but it ended up as a raspy cough, "I may be missing a bit of blood but I can still hit a five yen at 30 feet."
Ann smiled to calm Yori down and pulled out a bench from the bed to sit upon. Sitting on it, Ann looked up to Yori and ordered gently, "I'm sure you can, now lift up your arm."
Yori tried to do, but could only lift halfway before the pain grew too much, "That's all I can do," she gasped weakly from the pain.
Ann nodded and dabbed at Yori's side with a cotton ball and some antiseptic, "Do you have a name?"
Yori was silent through the pain, "Yes, my name is Yorishiko Hanako Yamanouchi..." she paused before hesitantly adding, "but you may call me Yori."
"Yamanuchi," Ann pondered, "isn't that the name of that school Ron went to last year?"
Yori smiled at the memory, "Stoppable-San was our esteemed guest that week," she let out a sigh in remembrance of that week.
Ann smiled and pulled out a clean needle and thread from a drawer behind her head, "So how did you get this?" she asked as she sewed her first stitch.
Yori looked away distantly as she lied, "I got in a fight with a surgeon and lost."
Ann had to laugh at that joke, "All right, so you meet a surgeon, get a bit burned," she gestured to Yori's chin where a black smudge rested, "wind up outside my office with a gun trying to sew yourself up. Without any painkillers I might add," she made another stitch, "My question is 'why'?"
Yori lowered her arm and looked down at Ann, "Possible-San, I know all about you and the less you know about me means that I won't have to kill you when you're finished."
Ann looked back, her blue eyes never faltering, "that doesn't give me much motivation to finish now does it?"
Yori smiled, "If we talk about something else, I'll let you live, even call the police," she added hastily as she raised her arm again, "all I ask is that you give me a five minute head start."
Ann went back to work patching Yori up, "All right," she said cautiously, "so we're not talking about you..." she pursed her lips, "how about...what brings you to Middleton?"
Yori smiled and shook her head, "Your daughter was a lot like you, you know that?"
Ann's needle faltered and she looked up at Yori, "not knowing you, I don't know if that's an insult or a compliment."
Yori smiled genuinely, "I had the privilege of working with your daughter once. It wasn't for long, but I see much of her in you."
Ann frowned as she remembered something Kim had told her previously, "You wouldn't happen to know anything about a 'Lotus Blade', would you?"
Yori stiffened and asked cautiously, "What about the Sacred Blade?"
"Then you did know my daughter," Ann smiled.
A look of confusion crossed Yori's face, "I am not sure what you mean."
Ann nodded and continued dabbing, "According to my daughter, you're the crazy Asian hussy that's stealing her Ron."
Yori smiled at the memory off her mission with Kim, "Yes, that does sound like Possible-San."
Ann's smile disappeared, "I have to ask Yori, would you have really tried to take Ron from Kim?"
Yori nodded without thinking, "If he would only stretch out his hand, I would gladly take it and be by his side."
The room was silent as Ann continued to stitch. Finally, after several minutes Ann took a deep breath, "Yori?" she asked, afraid to know the answer as Yori looked down, "would you kill Kim to get to Ron?"
Yori didn't answer but looked straight ahead, "She was not meant to have him."
"You didn't answer my question," Ann said angrily as she pulled the needle away from Yori and waited for the Japanese woman to look down, "Would you kill Kim to get Ron?"
Yori sighed and started to ramble in Japanese for several seconds before Ann held up a hand, "Care to explain that?" Ann said as she resumed her stitching of the wound.
"For generations," Yori began, "the Owner of the Mystical Monkey Energy has ruled the Yamanouchi school."
"Ok," Ann said as she resumed stitching.
"Stoppable-San is currently the only one in control of the power," Yori explained, "He alone can rule the school."
"But Kimmie said that some guy named Monkey Fist had that power as well," Ann said as she dabbed at Yori's side with some gauze, "Couldn't he rule the school as well?"
Yori shook her head, "Monkey Fist does not control the full measure," she paused and cocked her head, "and for that matter, neither does Stoppable-San," she gasped as Ann made a deep stitch, "however Monkey Fist is an impure vessel and as such, will be destroyed should he ever face his counterpart in battle," Yori shook her head lightly as she saw stars suddenly appear in her vision, "For this reason, Monkey Fist refuses to rule Yamanouchi. To do so would mean his death should Stoppable-San challenge him for power."
Ann nodded, "So Ron needs to rule the school?"
"It is Stoppable-San's destiny to rule that school as it's master with me by his side," Yori said in an almost dreamy tone.
"Any particular reason it's supposed to be you?" Ann asked as she made another stitch, "Or just because you love Ron?"
Yori giggled, "Every girl in Yamanouchi longs to be chosen by the Master of the Power. It is...how do you say it...a collective fantasy?"
"We just call them day dreams over here," Ann explained. She stopped after the next stitch, "And Kim was holding Ron back?"
Yori nodded, "She keeps him from realizing his true potential. He is incredibly powerful but if he is with anyone other than a Yamanouchi child," she recited from memory, "the owner of the power will lead the world into darkness."
"That's all just your legend, right?" Ann asked sarcastically.
Yori shook her head, "Why do you think the dark ages were dark?"
The needle plunged back into Yori's skin as Ann went back to work, "Is that why you were here in Middleton? To make sure Ronald goes back with you?"
Yori was silent before answering, "Yes," she murmured, "however someone murdered Kim and the Middleton Police Department brought me in to accuse me of her murder," she said a few words in Japanese.
"What was that?" Ann asked.
"Bad words, Ann-Chan...bad words," Yori said with a smile, "there are many people in this world that I would kill for the greater good," she felt the sewing stop and she looked down, "Your daughter is not one of those people."
The sewing continued, "And who is on that list?"
Silence
"I make the judgment calls while on missions," Yori answered honestly, "Everyone that has died by my hand brought it upon themselves."
"Tell me the truth Yori," Ann said and stood Yori in the eye, "Did you kill Kim?"
Yori looked Ann in the eye and shook her head, "When you call the police, they're going to say some things about me, some of them are true and some of them aren't," she paused as she collected her thoughts, "Ann-Chan, I did not kill your daughter. Right now I would actually prefer to have Kim on my side."
Ann nodded and sat back down to resume sewing, "Why?" she asked.
Yori's head turned, "Why what?"
Ann shrugged, she was halfway finished, "Why would you want my daughter's help right now?"
Yori sighed, "I work for someone. Someone unlike anyone that I've ever worked for. She's all powerful, can topple entire governments and can make it so you never existed," she grimaced in pain, "I agreed to work for her several weeks ago but now she has me doing things that I never signed up for."
Ann continued sewing, "so why don't you quit?"
Yori chuckled, "to quit would mean certain death. This woman..." she paused, "she doesn't like loose ends. Everything must have an end and that end cannot lead to her."
"So why Kimmie's help?" Ann prodded.
"I have seen Kim Possible do many great things in her lifetime, from stopping villains that belong in comic books to stealing the man I love," she looked away sadly, "if anyone could stop this woman, it is-was your daughter Possible-San."
Ann smiled knowingly but was silent as Yori continued, her voice nearly a whisper, "she can truly do anything and what I wouldn't give to have her back."
Ann finished her final stitch and smiled to Yori, "All finished."
"Ann-Chan?" Yori asked slowly.
Ann walked to the sink and washed her hands, "Yes Yori?"
"Why is it that I just said all those things to you?" Yori asked, concerned by her lack of concern.
Ann shrugged and toweled her hands dry, "It could be any number of things," Ann looked up distantly as she struggled to remember her medical training, "It could be that you're feeling guilty about something you did recently. It could be the fact that you are deeply in love with Ronald and need someone to talk to who isn't in love with him as well," she thought deeply for a few seconds before adding, "but right now, I'd have to say blood loss," Ann saw Yori's face snap to attention for a moment before she got a tired look on her face, "right now, you don't have nearly enough blood to maintain your inhibitors."
Yori stared at Ann with half open eyes, "huh?"
Ann smiled and patted Yori on the shoulder, "the lying portion of your brain can't lie because you lost a lot of blood," she took a breath and flashed a light in Yori's eyes to see the pupils dilate, "Youre body has been running on adrenalin for the last few hours and about ten minutes ago, it was flushed out of your system. That's why you're feeling tired all of a sudden."
Yori nodded sloppily, and reached for her shirt, "great," she muttered sarcastically, "now I can't even lie..." she trailed off into Japanese ramblings.
Ann smiled and helped Yori get her shirt on, "Yori I'm going to take you into my office and you're going to take a little nap. When that is over, you're going to have some sugary things to get you moving. I'll make sure you have fresh blood being pumped in so you don't have to worry about that problem."
Yori looked on quizzically as Ann picked up Yori's gun, the remains of her cell phone and a spare packet of blood from a fridge in the corner, "Now my office is just down the hall. If anyone asks, you're Karen Oshikowa under observation here tonight."
Yori nodded as Ann opened the door and scanned the hallway for anyone. Not seeing anything, she opened the door wider and guided Yori into her office where she helped Yori onto the couch gently.
Yori's eyes fluttered as she fought sleep, "Why?" she asked in an effort to stay awake.
Ann looked down at the sleeping woman as she changed out her blood bag, "why what?"
Yori brushed at her eyes as sleep was upon her, "Why...why are you helping me after," she yawned, "after all that I've done?"
Ann finished changing the bag but saw that Yori was fast asleep. She stared at the still form of Yori for several minutes thinking about that question before she walked into the hallway and reassembled her phone. Powering it up, she called her home and waited for James to pick up.
"Ann?" he asked over the line, "The boys are asleep, but how are you holding up?"
She leaned against the wall and held her hands over her eyes, "I've been better," she paused and knew James was waiting, "I talked to someone down here and I'm feeling better."
"Are you coming home soon?" he asked, concern and fear for his wife in his voice.
She nodded, "Yes, I'll be back in about an half an hour. I just need to take care of a few things down here."
She prayed James would forgive her for lying but something Yori had said stuck out to her, "All right, just don't spend all night. We need you back here," came the reply.
Ann didn't say a word but instead hung up the phone and tried to place it back in her pocket. She tried again but missed. After her fourth attempt at putting the phone in her pocket, Ann screamed before she slammed the cell phone into the wall multiple times, shattering it and casting the pieces to the floor in maternal anger. Finally, she kicked the remains on the floor down the hall where they slid to a stop in front of the stairwell door.
Ann's scream of fury transformed into sobs and she sank against the wall, holding herself and crying as she slid to the ground. Uncaring of anyone or anything in the hallway.
Zorpox patted his new S.W.A.T uniform affectionately as he pulled out of the police parking garage in a large black van with S.W.A.T. written in bold white letters on the side. He checked the clock mounted on the dashboard, "9:03 P.M." he announced to the empty van.
He checked the back of the van and made sure he saw the metallic glint of the weapons and explosives, "Oh my babies, we have so many things to do tonight," he said affectionately and patted the first bag which had the label Claymores written on the side, "and not a lot of time to do them."
He smiled and pulled into the waning traffic, "9:03 P.M. Friday, 2005," he let out a sigh of relief, "the day that I escaped."
He drove in silence for several minutes before pulling onto the highway that ran through Middleton. Whistling a happy tune, he checked the clock again and counted down the seconds until the numbers switched. When he grew bored of that, he counted off the signs that sat alongside the highway. So intent was he upon seeing the next sign that he almost missed his exit. Taking the turn off, Zorpox slowed to a stop in front of a large sign that read Middleton General Hospital 5 miles.
He looked at the sign of directions and after several second of contemplation, turned left towards the hospital. Several minutes later he had pulled into the parking garage and was parked on the third level twenty feet away from a noisy air conditioning vent.
He shut the van off and turned in his seat to the full van, "All right," he pulled a .45 caliber handgun from a bag and cocked it with a bored expression, "Now we wait."
The door to Ann's office opened softly and Ann walked back into her office in silence. She glanced at her wall mounted clock that read 9:25, before she silently pulled a chair away from her desk and sat it next to the sleeping form of Yori.
"I didn't know how to answer you before but now, I think I do," she whispered at the still form, "I know that you've done some terrible things in your life. Things that you should be punished for," she took a deep breath, "However I also know that the tough girl act you put up is just that, an act. You're nothing more than a little girl looking to love and be loved back."
She paused as Yori stirred in her sleep, but continued once Yori settled down, "I know that I'm probably going to regret doing this when I hear what you did, but like you said, 'All for the greater good.'"
She stopped and thought back to her conversation on the elevator, "I wasn't ready to lose Kimmy, no parent is never ready to lose their first born or any child for that matter, but when I see you, I see a bit of Kim."
"Her defiance, her stubornness, her sense of honor," she wiped her eyes, "I know you did some bad things to get to this point tonight, but I know that like Kim, you'll do the right thing, maybe not all the time, maybe not tonight but when the time's right at the end, you'll make the right choice."
"You have to make the right choice."
Disclaimer: I do not own Kim Possible. I just write about it.
Author's Notes: I know it seems like I changed my mind about killing Ann, but I have always intended to keep her alive through this story. I know that this chapter isn't as action packed as the previous chapters but think of it as the calm before the storm. Special thanks to Warper, LTAOZFAN, Stubbs101, Sacred White Phoenix, The Enduring Man-Child, Donteatacowman, xyzisme, Sentinel103, Captain Deadpool and Befread. You all made my week with your reviews and ideas. Thanks to all of you who have read this and still continue to read this.
