Act Four
Kim had hit an all-time low on the depression scale. Sure, her dad cheered her up with the whole heart-to-heart talk, but in truth, Kim didn't feel any better. She felt terrible for wanting Monique and Nathan not to be together. But she felt even worse because she didn't know how to explain her feelings.
What was it exactly that she saw in Nathan? It couldn't have been a physical attraction, that's for sure. Nathan was like cute, but definitely not a "hottie." Why did that even matter? Of course, this is high school, stuff like that always matters. Kim would grumble to herself, "jelling" because she wasn't even sure that Monique liked Nathan. Kim thought Monique was dating him because for once someone asked her out.
Anyway, Kim's paranoia about the President's would-be assassination awakened, and she checked on her kimmunicator to see if he was all right. A strange thing happened, though, because as soon as Kim whipped out her kimmunicator and hit the speed dial for Wade (if there was a speed dial for anything else), she wasn't met by Wade.
"Good morning, Kim," Mercenary said.
"How did you get this frequency!" Kim asked in a rather demanding tone.
"You have a website, don't you? It wasn't hard once I got there. Oh, and relax, I didn't do anything to your little cyber-helper."
Kim sighed, and then she frowned, "So, did you forget about your little hunt on the President?"
"What hunt?" Mercenary responded.
"You told me that your next target was the President… of the United States."
"I lied."
Kim gritted her teeth. She was really angry now. "WHY!"
"I needed you to be preoccupied, Kim," explained Mercenary, "so that I could steal something without… interference. I might go after the President someday, though. It's an interesting thought."
Kim's eyes were blazing. This guy had made her into a stressed maniac, a nervous wreck, and a fool all at the same time. She remembered her promise to Dr. Director: she would get Mercenary. What was worse, Kim thought, was that Mercenary was enjoying this. She could tell that he was smiling under that mask.
"Just thought you'd like to know," Mercenary said softly. And with that, the screen went black.
Kim pressed a few buttons and then said, "Wade."
"You want me to trace the call so you can go after Mercenary at Drakken's fortress?" he asked.
"Please and thank you," Kim replied with a small, forced smile.
---
The teen heroine approached the "secret" lair that Wade had traced Mercenary's call to. It was, unsurprisingly, inside a volcano. Kim sighed, because this motif had been done like a thousand times by villains and was now officially tradition.
Contrary to her decisions in the past, Kim had thought best that Ron sit this one out. He had been injured enough over the last couple of days (and/or weeks). He needed time to recover. It didn't matter: Kim was determined enough to do this on her own. Still, she wished her best friend could accompany her.
Kim inched her way up the side of the volcano, looking for some means of entrance. They were usually easy to spot: Drakken wasn't too bright in this department. The mad scientist had supposed that the molten hot lava would be enough, and there would be no need for security measures. For the most part, he was right.
She, on the other hand, could do anything, and at this particular occasion, was set to strengthen that statement. Kim pressed a small button on the heel of her shoe, activating her "rocket skates," another ingenious invention created by the one-and-only Wade. Kim boosted forward at quite a remarkable speed, hopping over ash and boulders, along with lava streams.
Kim spotted an exhaust value in the side of the volcano – definitely not a natural thing. However, she was already passed it when she saw it, so Kim was forced to whip out her grapple hair dryer and fire a hook at the value. With the correct amount of grace and agility, Kim timed her move perfectly. The grapple yanked her inside just after the exhaust gusted out.
So there she was, sliding down the tube into Drakken's lair, not sure whether to hope for henchmen or not. Usually, being subtle was her first priority, but in this case, she simply wanted someone to pound on.
Meanwhile, Drakken had an eye for Kim Possible at this point, so he noticed her when she sped passed one of the security cameras. After a few seconds of grumbling (because Kim always upset his plans), he turned to Mercenary and said, "Mercenary, take care of her."
Kim ran down a dark hallway, but suddenly, the lights came on. As Ron would say, this seems pretty "trappish." Ignoring that "trappish" is not a word, Kim knew that it was time for a confrontation. Mercenary appeared when a door slid open. He seemed cold, in a ruthless sense: fearless.
"How on Earth did you manage to find this place, Kim?" Mercenary asked sarcastically.
"Cut it out, Mercenary. I won't be fooled again."
"You keep playing into my hand," he said to her, "first you listened to me when I told you about my 'scheme' for the President, now you traced my call just like I wanted."
"This is so annoying!" Kim shouted back and readied herself for attack. She engaged Mercenary, who was simply standing there. He hadn't moved his hands or anything. When Kim threw a punch at him, Mercenary's jetpack carried him into the air and backwards.
Then Kim whipped out the boomerang that Wade had made for her. She pointed at Mercenary and a small red dot appeared on his chest. Next, she threw the boomerang, and it flew at him with incredible velocity. Mercenary activated his force-shields and blocked when the boomerang came at him, making it bounce off.
The boomerang continued its assault after the first strike. It circled Mercenary in midair, and then came at him unexpectedly. It was almost as if the boomerang had a mind of its own. Kim smirked, "Guess that should keep you busy for a while."
Mercenary looked at her, "Don't be so sure." He pointed his arm at the boomerang when it came around for another pass. The force-shield that was on his wrist suddenly slid off it and was shot at the boomerang! Mercenary used his force-shield as a projectile! Kim stood there in utter shock as the red disc sliced through the inorganic matter of Wade's boomerang.
The force-shield disappeared shortly after. A brand new force-shield sprouted from Mercenary's wrist, showing Kim that he wasn't out of ideas yet. Kim Possible mustered up what wind she had left and ran up the wall. She sprung off it and at Mercenary, hoping to land some sort of air kick. Mercenary, however, grabbed her foot before she could land the blow.
He struggled with her there, in midair, for a few seconds. Kim pulled, trying to get her leg free, not really thinking that she was twenty feet off the ground. Mercenary was stronger, though, because his battle suit enhanced his strength ten-fold. He tossed Kim across the room, but she was able to land gracefully and without injury.
Mercenary didn't waste any time: he spun his blasters out of their holsters and fired several shots at Kim. His setting was currently on automatic, so all Mercenary needed to do was hold down the trigger. Blue bolts rained down on Kim Possible, and she sprinted to the right for some cover. She finally found it behind several large metal crates.
Kim hadn't a moment to lose; Mercenary could think of anything, and she had to think quicker. She pulled out her grapple hair dryer and fastened another hook to be fired. Then she peeked out from behind her cover and shot it. The grapple sailed too quickly for Mercenary to react, and the rope wrapped around him before he knew what was going on.
Mercenary soon felt himself being yanked down to the ground. He hit it hard and was soon overtaken by Kim. She ran up to him and kicked him in the face. Then she made to knock him out with a head butt. But when she touched his shoulders, an electric current ran up her arm and shocked her intensely. Kim was shoved back by the voltage.
Not seeing things clearly and in a daze, Kim stumbled to her feet. The electricity must have been some kind of defense measure Mercenary had in case people were to touch him. Not bad, Kim thought. When she finally regained her sight, Kim lost it again because she saw Mercenary launch a force-shield at her, and it hit her square in the face.
After that, she was unconscious. Mercenary had already removed Kim's grapple rope from his person and was now prepared to take his prize to Drakken. He picked up Kim's limp body and slung her over his shoulder, walking into the doctor's main laboratory. Drakken was, obviously, trilled to see Kim Possible in such a state. His eyes were wide as the sea, so to speak.
"You… you defeated Kim Possible! THIS IS HUGE!" he exclaimed to Mercenary.
"That reputation of mine doesn't maintain itself," Mercenary replied. He glanced over at Shego, who was leaning against the wall, frowning and with her arms folded. She scowled at Mercenary.
Kim awoke minutes later bound to a large rock column. Drakken was having a hysteria as he waited eagerly for his arch-foe to wake up so that he could reveal his "master plan" to her.
"Ah-ha!" Drakken voiced upon seeing Kim's eyes open, "So, you are awake, are you? Well, I'm glad, because you're just in time for me to tell you all about how you're going to die!"
Mercenary rolled his eyes and shook his head. Shego did something similar.
"What is it this time, Drakken?" Kim asked in a tired voice.
"I'll tell you what it is, Kim Possible! It… is… your…"
"…doom?" Kim finished.
"I-I wasn't going to say that! Okay, maybe I was, but it doesn't matter." He gestured to a large, mechanical scorpion behind him. "BEHOLD! The Drako-Bot 9000!"
"Drako-Bot 9000? It looks like a giant scorpion."
"Yeah, it totally does," Mercenary added.
"Uh…" Drakken didn't know how to respond to their statements, so he went on, "using the ultra technological circuit board, provided by Mercenary, I was finally able to activate this with a processor that could… process it fast enough!"
"No big," Kim replied, still tied up, "it's a metal scorpion. The worst it can do is shoot a death ray from its tail."
"Er, how did you know that? Um… NEVERMIND! You, Kim Possible, will face the Drako-Bot 9000, and I assure you… you will not win!"
Kim's bindings were suddenly loosened, and the Drako-Bot 9000 was activated, making a loud, echoing hum. The floor that the two stood on descended, becoming something like an arena for Drakken to observe. He laughed evilly.
Kim's eyes narrowed. Seriously, this was no big. I mean, the scorpion was big, but the situation wasn't. The Drako-Bot 9000 did exactly as Kim predicted: it raised its tail, charged, and fired a huge beam of energy at her. Kim jumped and performed a sideways spin, avoiding the blast.
She then ran and kicked one of the Drako-Bot's legs, making it stagger for a second. The tail's laser went off, and the blast almost fried Drakken! Kim hopped on top of the Drako-Bot and sat on the head. She tried to grab it in such a way that would let her have control of it, but to no avail. The tail repositioned to where it was pointing at Kim. The cheerleader grinned, "That's right. Shoot your own head."
However, it did not. Instead, one of the scorpion's metallic claws came up and snatched Kim, surprising her. She gasped as it did, and she tried to get free. The claw held her in front of the Drako-Bot's face, and the other claw transformed into a large buzz saw. Kim began to sweat as the blade drew closer and closer.
Then she had an idea. Kim clicked her heels together and activated her rocket skates. The force from them pushed her out of the claw's grasp. Drakken groaned in frustration, "Grr! Why can't she just lose for once! Mercenary, finish her off!" But then Shego touched his shoulder and said, "Relax, sport. Let your invention do the work." He whimpered and replied, "But I want Mercenary to!"
Suddenly, a gigantic hole in the side of the volcano was formed. Dozens of Global Justice helicopters flew in. Drakken screamed and turned to Mercenary saying, "Attack!" Mercenary boosted upwards and drew his pistols, as if to start assaulting them. However, he abruptly turned away, touched his temple (as if receiving a call), and nodded. Much to Drakken's surprise, Mercenary descended down into the arena with Kim.
Activating his force-shields, Mercenary started making slashes at the Drako-Bot 9000, cutting off its claws and legs.
"What you doing!" Drakken cried out in confusion.
"Sorry, Drakken, but I'm not working for you anymore!" Mercenary responded as he sliced off the scorpion's tail.
He then jet jumped on top of the robot's head and, crouching down, used his force-shields to behead it.
Meanwhile, GJ operatives covered the entire facility, rounding up Drakken's henchmen. Shego had managed to hop on one of Drakken's flying motorcycles and take the back way out. Drakken himself, however, was not so fortunate. He was handcuffed by Dr. Director herself and led to a transport.
Dr. Director turned to Mercenary as he helped Kim out of the pit-like arena. "So, Mercenary, do we have a deal?"
He reached to his utility belt and produced the real Kingston 5000x. "The price is right," he said. Mercenary tossed it to her.
The head of Global Justice smirked, looked at the memory stick, and returned to her helicopter. Kim couldn't understand what was going on, "What? She's not going to arrest you!"
"We had an arrangement," Mercenary explained. "In exchange for the Kingston 5000x and being let off the hook, I would let them follow you to Drakken's lair. Remember the call you traced? I knew Wade would be smart enough to send to help as well, which was just was Global Justice wanted."
"So this whole thing… was just a ploy to get more money!"
"That's right. No one in particular asked for the Kingston 5000x, Kim, but I knew that Global Justice would want it back. And, they would be willing to pay an astronomical price for it once they realized that the Great Kim Possible couldn't retrieve it. I taught them a lesson with the explosion."
Kim lowered her eyes. It was true: GJ would rather pay Mercenary whatever he wanted than risk more casualties.
"Drakken," Mercenary continued, "was a smaller payoff. I simply came to him for a quick five million. Global Justice paid me even more to help you and fight against him, but only when they gave the signal."
"So… whose side are you really on?"
Mercenary didn't answer right away, but after a few long seconds, he finally said, "Mine."
Kim smiled, surprisingly. "You're smarter than I gave you credit for," she admitted. "I'll never underestimate you again."
"Atta girl," he replied.
Mercenary gave Kim a single wave and rocketed himself into the night, leaving her with more questions about a villain than she had ever had before.
---
Ron Stoppable and Rufus were happily snacking on their nacos, the combination of a nacho and a taco (Ron's creation). Rufus played a little bit with the diablo sauce, drawing battle paint all over his naked rodent face. Ron chuckled at that. Fortunately, he was feeling better.
Kim walked in to Bueno Nacho wearing a long-sleeved maroon shirt and tight sweat pants. She noticed Ron and Rufus and sat down next to them. "So, KP," Ron said with a mouth full of tortilla chips and cheese, "how'd the mission go? Did you catch that Mercenary guy or what?"
"I can't figure it, Ron. He just stopped working for Drakken and started helping me. Apparently, Global Justice had the higher bid."
"Mmmph, y'know, that's the mmmph thing with mmmph these big time hired gun dudes. They're like totally running up the mmmph bill on everything." Ron finished chewing and swallowed. Kim was glad: for a while there, it was hard to understand Ron because of the food in his mouth, chewing as he spoke.
"Yeah," Kim replied vaguely to whatever Ron said. "Anyway, it turned out to be a better sitch than I thought. That was seriously one bad day."
"One bad week," Ron added. Then something caught his eye, or rather, someone. Monique was alone outside Bueno Nacho, sitting on the bench, in tears. Kim gasped when she saw Monique. She recognized that emotion, and she remembered what her dad said.
Nathan and Monique broke up.
THE END
Next Story: "Lost Cause"
A/N: If you have finished reading this, I congratulate you! I hope you enjoyed it. My sincerest apologies for the rather inconclusive and poorly written ending, but "For Hire" wasn't meant to be a show stopper. The main purpose of this two-parter was to introduce Mercenary as the newest Kim Possible villain and give a glimpse at how ruthless he can be. Of course, there were some other glimpses in the story too, but I don't have to go into them. I thank you all once again for taking the time to read this, and I would like to know if I should continue with another Mercenary story.
PS- Sorry about the "no links" thing, I tried to put them in, but I cannot. Therefore, I think the quickest and easiest way to get to any of the next (or previous) stories is to click on my profile and go to the story's link.
Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney; Mercenary © J. Stearns.