Author's Note: This is the second part to Raging Hearts. Most can be read and understood without reading the first part, but reading this earlier work can clarify critical plot points.
Disclaimer: Kim Possible and all characters portrayed and/or implied inside that television animated program belong solely unto Walt Disney Productions.
Ramifications
The music seemed to only get louder. Jack deduces, the lair's computers may be wrecked. The coms were very much intact and functional. The BeeBees must've tapped into them leaving behind an I-pod or something blasting this dreadful noise. What's worse, the damn thing could be anywhere inside this place and, given their compact size, nearly impossible to find.
Who knew his guards' fate? They could be dead for all he knew. Hench didn't dare venture outside this lair. Who knew his own fate? Jack couldn't ignore one fate. A few BeeBees could still be lurking about. Who knew? They could have orders to kill him.
Jack locates the lair's infirmary grabbing the medical kit. He stints and wraps his broken wrist as best he could. His head hurt worse than his wrist. Both wouldn't quit throbbing. This infernal noise assailed him from all sides at once.
He'd timed three cycles, even knew every chorus by heart. The song played 3-minutes and 33-seconds, followed by 3-6 seconds of blissful silence, only to start back over. He could surely activate his acoustic bubble. And it'd give him 1-hour tops of peace and quiet, then what? He'd rather save his power for when his sanity couldn't take it any longer. He feels his cell phone vibe in his pocket.
He didn't recognize the Caller-ID. But knew, few people had his private number. He didn't get those pesky marketing calls, like most people did. This must be important. He activates his soundproof isolation bubble and answers his call, "Hello".
"Boss, it's Iverson".
"Iverson, where are you calling me from?"
"My old phone quit working. IT couldn't determine why. So, the techs activated me a new phone isolating our auxiliary systems, Sir".
Hench averts his eyes resting a free hand over his stomach, nauseated over the stench emanating off Brannigan's severed, decomposing head. "What happened to our primary systems, Iverson?" He tries to distract himself and probe why they activated the auxiliary systems.
HenchCo's auxiliary system was reliable in a pinch, but didn't have the same grade encryption software and other safety countermeasures the primary communications network did. He paled over the ramifications, should the wrong people overhear this conversation. There's no telling what he/she could do unto him and/or his company.
"Strangest thing happened, Sir," Iverson stammers, unsure how to say it but plain. "Boys in IT can't explain how..." He waves a second then blurts, "Someone hi-jacked our Dark Net network, Sir".
"How's that even possible?"
"`We aren't sure, but thought you may know the answer".
"Me? I'm an executive, not a technician. That's why I hired you". All he could think, this breach will bankrupt my business, if investors, stockholders, especially their his clientele learn about this.
"Sir, we checked your plane's logs. You arrived at your current location roughly 2-hours ago. Not only did this breach occur about then, our Level-4 Admin Techs backtracked it unto your location".
"Oh, this is great! You idiots can back trace but couldn't detect the hack? Why? Give me one good reason I shouldn't fire the whole lot of you," he shouts in growing frustration. His overpaid IT experts were the best in their perspective fields. And yet, they couldn't prevent this. What good were they?
Iverson detect his boss' emanating choler. And knew his next answer would only make him madder, which wasn't conducive unto their continued good health. "Quite honestly, Sir," he wavers, not wishing to sound accusatory. "We doubt one person could've pulled off something this grand. Those responsible somehow acquired your Alpha Level-10 Clearance and simply bypass our security measures".
"Are you blaming this on me?" Hench socks his bubble's invisible barrier. The reverberations split his knuckles open. Blood oozed down his bubble.
"No, Sir. We..."
"Wait," a grim reality settles into his mind. No one would need that level access, unless...
Hench pales, even considering the repercussions.. He kept a special repository, designated Omega-T. A top secret database cataloging HenchCo's 300 most prominent clientele's family and friends bios, their banking information, tax records, and secret dealings going back 10-years, secret lovers, along with other vital information. "What'd they acquire?" He asks with his eyes shut tight.
"Omega-T, Sir". Iverson awaits the inevitable explosion or breakdown, whatever comes first.
We're Not Alone
"Noooo!" Hench whines ready to explode.
"Sir, if it's any consolation, we weren't the only outfit hit tonight".
"Who else did they hit?"
"Global Justice," Inverson deadpans.
Jack Hench's heart flutters over pondering one question, "Why would someone hit my company and Global Justice together? We're enemies".
Iverson misses his boss' rhetorical undertone replying, "Someone sent Dr. Director another care package in Possible's name".
"What was inside this time?"
"A psycho-Annabelle doll brandishing a knife, Sir. Jacobson, a lab tech inside G.J.'s HMU, said the damn thing sang the same song over and over, 'Public Enemy No.1' (Megadeth, 2nd tract on their 13th album Th1rt3en, released on Nov. 1, 2011 by Roadrunner Records)'".
"I can relate," Hench comments offhandedly, given his current predicament. "How does that relate with who stole my database?"
"G.J.'s internal security's down, just like ours. In fact, I contacted MacAvoy in cyber crimes and Cyrus in Internal Security. Our breaches coincided with Dr. Director opening her latest care package. She showed Cyrus a card with the gifter's instructions. Pass her right palm over the box's top and it'd open. She did. Front and back panels slid open showing a timer counting down. She and her shadow hit the ground..."
"Thinking it was a bomb?"
"Initially, except it never detonated. Dr. Director peeked over her desk. Still nothing. She braved to draw closer unto the doll. A white light scanned her facial features. A psycho-Annabelle doll popped outside the box".
"I'd loved to have seen that old hag's face".
"Done, Sir," he tries to earn favor. "I have a surveillance snapshot, taken just moments before G.J.'s security network went down. She contacted HMU. Dr. Carson Pomeroy, its departmental director, sent a Level-4 Certified THRU team to retrieve the doll. And what they uncovered will really sheds some light on theirs and our security breaches".
"And what did they uncover, Iverson?" Iverson sparked Jack's curiosity. He couldn't imagine what enemies his company and Global Justice shared in common.
Ana-Hell
Iverson knew, his boss would never believe the rest. Words alone could never adequately describe what transpired next. He inserts a micro-SD card into his computer's slot activating the video feed.
The video started inside Dr. Director's office. G.J. took this threat so serious. Upper management evacuated her entire division. A THRU team wearing full bio-safety level-4 suits amble into the office. Two team members immediately spray Dr. Director and the commander as precaution, before leading them towards the decontamination showers then the medical bay.
Two specialists photograph the doll from various angles. A second tech collects blood samples, while three others wearing BSL-4 hazmat suits sweep her office interior for any biological airborne particles.
Clearing the doll, two techs immediately store it inside a lead lined container transporting it down to HMU's main lab for a battery of tests.
Dr. Pomeroy studies each high-res image with growing anticipation, only to have his hopes crushed and curiosity piqued. Frustration fueled his ironclad determination. He runs an ultrasound, PET, and MRI, but didn't achieve any better results. He pounds his fists against the examination table. "What the hell's going on here?" He glares around his lab expecting answers.
"Sir," his quantum physicist sheds some light here, "I'm detecting axial chromatic aberrations..."
"Meaning what, Dr. Waston?" Dr. Pomeroy grumbles, suppressing his bubbling temper.
"Simply put, most x-rays have a wavelength between 0.01 to 10 nanometers, corresponding in the range of 30 petahertz to 30 exahertz, and produces energies around 100 eV to 100 keV. Hard X-rays produce energies above 5-10 keV, but below 0.2-0.1 nanometer wavelengths. Hard x-rays can usually penetrate objection with ease".
"Are you telling me this voodoo doll's magically blocking our scans?"
"Pamela's right, Sir, just not explaining her point very well," Dr. Hugo Mardens tries to settle the issue at hand. A ophthalmologist, he studied the anatomy, function, and diseases of the eye. That includes how light reacts upon entering the eye's retina at various angles. "That doll isn't magic. Nor is it blocking our scans, per se".
"Then why aren't our scans picking something up, Doctor?"
"I speculate the doll's generating an EM..."
"Ah, c'mon, Doctor!" Dr. Pomeroy rejects such wild speculations, "We tested this doll. It's nothing but plastic and stuffing".
"No, Sir," Dr. Marsden respectfully disagrees. "That's what our crypto-scanners told us. And we've grown so depended upon technology. We didn't second guess its readings. What if this doll's erecting some kind of distortion field distorting our scans".
Dr. Harvey Amos, an electrical engineer, tests his colleague's theory correcting, "Sir, I'm detecting a multi-layered oscillating SHF electromagnetic radiation field ranging from 5 to 40 GHz, depending on what scan my crypto-scanner runs".
Dr. Amelia Salem, a specialist in theoretical quantum mechanics and chemistry, expounds upon her colleagues' findings, "I think Dr. Marsden's partially right, except that doll can't possibly be what's generating that oscillating field. It's scientifically impossible. It'd need, servo-motors, nano-composite filimer wire, a working Q-bit processor, and other specialty equipment.
We know, Kim Possible's battle suit has such capabilities. And look at what this doll's wearing. It can't be a mere coincidence. I'll bet this doll's not constructed with traditional plastics but an electrical-spun nano-composite polymer, which would amplify this suit's distortion field consistently fooling our instruments. Non-invasive method won't work. We must get inside this thing starting with that suit".
"Do it," Dr. Pomeroy orders.
Dr. Salem grabs a surgical scalpel starting towards the examination table. "First step," she details her intentions, "I intend on removing this miniature battle suit. Maybe it can yield some insight into Kim Possible's old suit, and explain this distortion field". She rests the scalpel's tip near the suit's neckline. Her incision goes a little too deep puncturing the doll's neck.
Fresh blood starts to ooze from its wound pooling beneath the doll. Annabelle's eyes shoot open. Her retinas and whites of her eyes turn charcoal black. She shrieks like a doomed soul descending into hell's lowest depths.
Dr. Salem drops her scalpel backpedaling. She screams frantically fleeing in terror. She runs slaps into the farthest wall sliding down. She curls up into a ball crying uncontrollably and couldn't stop.
Annabelle leaps back onto her feet. Hands clenched and feet slightly apart. Her 'wound' seemingly heals before the scientists' eyes. Even then, they couldn't believe what they'd seen. The doll scampers the full length, somersaults off the examination table, and plows her way through a solid concrete wall, leaving nothing but a gaping whole behind.
The video ends there.
What's New
"What'd that prove, Iverson?"
"Just this, Sir. Dr. Marsden was right. That doll was animatronic. We believe, its battle suit acted as its control matrix, storing the doll's A.I.".
"That can only mean, their security wasn't really down but being jammed. And this doll was simply a diversion, while this suits A.I. bypassed internal security downloading G.J.'s subterranean vault".
"How'd the hackers get inside G.J.'s vault? Only six people have access unto its network".
"Easy, Sir," Iverson compares these breaches. "These hackers hit G.J. pretty much the same way they acquired HenchCo's Omega-T database. The Level-4 Certified THRU team cleared that section of G.J. That doll kept security and HMU busy, while its A.I. hacked the director's cell phone, hooked into G.J.'s wireless net, and seemingly overloaded then collapsing their internal security, while readily isolating G.J.'s full bandwidth to download their vault faster and back-hack HenchCo, too".
Few things rattled him. This was an exception. His clients would surely kill him, and possibly blow up his company, should they learn about this breach of trust. Who knows these hackers' intentions? "Are you saying my Omega-T clients' personal profiles, which I'm not supposed to have by the way, may reside somewhere within G.J.'s internal networks?"
"We don't think so, if that's any consolation, Sir," Iverson tries to ease his worries some. "Possible or whoever really sent this care package hit them hardest. He/she wiped their whole network clean, even swiped every shred of the SSC and OPM's top secret data of internal investigations into G.J.".
"What do you mean 'whoever really sent that care package'?"
"Dr. Director, of course, insists Kim Possible sent the package. G.J.'s graphologists examined the gifter's signature. All six concluded without doubt. Kim Possible didn't sign that card. The box blew up mere minutes after the doll's escape. G.J.'s EOD specialists examined its remains thoroughly. The doll's design didn't match any equipment she used on missions, before or after her dip in that vat. The lab boys couldn't find her DNA on the card, package, wrapping paper, or adhesive tape".
"Who do they suspects behind these attacks?"
"Foolishness aside, Commander Du and the SSC suspects Drakken behind this doll. This matches his style. And authorities know he destroyed Darkwater's breaking out Stillwater and Gemini. In fact, Russian GRU discovered snytho-goo near the prison's ruins. Timur Yozlov, Director of Russian GRU, dispatched their best agents to deal with these men's treachery. Drakken's so caught up in his delusions. He doesn't realize Shego's dead".
Before tonight, he would've agreed in a heartbeat. Now? He wasn't so sure. Either Shego or a clone led those BeeBees earlier. But, if a clone, why would the redhead need mind control?
"Thank you, Iverson. I'll be back in touch within 12-hours. Have the network back up and running by then. Whatever you do, keep this breach within our Level-4 personnel only," Hench hangs up, the matter settled, but his mind working overtime.
Metal Clues
Jack checks battery's his power supply. He had 38-minutes left. He drops his isolation field saving his reserves. His eyes move instinctively back towards the captain's severed head. He quits ignoring, but starts to analyze this song's hidden message.
He notices right off. The song's written in first person, "I..." Second, Shego wasn't the speaker, only the messenger. That led him unto a third conclusion. Possible sent his message, like Dr. Director's, boasting how she was beaten black and blue, but survived that plasmatic blast. The redhead's back and now craves vengeance against those responsible for murdering her father and husband.
The next line really fascinates the older entrepreneur. Throughout this song, the redhead attests how she's done running and hiding, and getting ready for the final battle. The stakes are blood; one lives, and one dies. Possible intends on killing her family's murderers. Shego's chip starts to make sense now. She'd never willingly support such a vindictive crusade.
The wayward hero was so lost in inconsolable grief. Simply killing her enemies wasn't enough. She needed them to suffer what she did. They'd taste death many times over before embracing its euphoric deliverance. If they try to escape, she'd catch and drag them right back starting their torment afresh. That way, she'd wipe away their smirks by breaking them in every way possible. They'd learn there's no place they can hide. She'll see this through no matter how long this quest takes.
Fear will consume them, til each loses his/her mind and start to scream in unabated terror. Only then would she swoop in and claim her ultimate prize, their lives. She, not they, decides when their true misery stops. Their cries of terror will become the bugle that commences the final battle. A battle, where only the strong survive.
He sighs with relief. She didn't outright threaten, but warned, him. These joint breaches started to make sense. The redhead used her old mentor's clearance codes to access G.J.'s network, wipe their vault servers clean and back-hack stealing his Omega-T database as well. That way, should he ignore her warning, she could bring him down without damaging HenchCo.
Simply release Omega-T's data and his own clientele would handle him easy enough. No amount of security measures would stop them til they'd achieved their goal, killing him. The irascible redhead then would simply continue her crusade against her enemies, unabated. His gut said, she didn't intend on doing this. No, she had other plans for him, or possibly even protecting her own interests.
Shego did say, Possible made billions off his company. That could only mean, she or an ally was a major investor holding majority stocks. If so, their names and inversely her new alias, too, would've been listed in his Omega-T database. That'd also explain this breach and Shego's ominous warning. She couldn't possibly blackmail him without exposing herself, too.
Possible, or whoever she was now, didn't like his newest partnership. She'd done everything in her power to sever their relations. Hench knew, she wasn't petty and planned every move minutely. That was how Team Possible lasted so long, even against him. He starts to rethink her orphic warning. What if there's more there than he initially thought?
Beyond Reason
Jack never trusted anyone implicitly. He now trusted his newest partners far less. After all, they're all criminals, start to finish. And what do criminals do best? Double cross one another. He considers each in a new light of suspicion.
Captain Charles Brannigan was an enigma in every sense. The man was shifty, always vying for an angle. G.J. allegedly fired him over malicious damage of private property, excessive brutality, and violating a suspect's civil rights. That wouldn't be the first time G.J. 'fired' an agent trying to embed him inside HenchCo's operations. Management, however, had never resorted to murdering an innocent woman to achieve this objective. Brannigan killed the reporter right before his eyes, not even counting his botched attempt on Anne Possible's life.
His actions succeeded in getting his attention. A dedicated employee was hard to find. Such people are willing to do anything and take any hit for their team. He'd shown this type of initiative. So, Hench gave the man a chance, but wisely put him on a short leash. And he'd hung himself good and proper shortly thereafter. He couldn't initially imagine why Brannigan attacked Anne Possible? Or why he'd recruited an active Special Division agent?
He could've simply pitched his idea. Drakken would've acquired HenchCo's help. The job would've been done quickly and professionally without drawing unnecessary attention. Drive by shootings are so amateur and create public outcry. Politicians and police respond by making examples. Now, he's allegedly killed moments after severely wounding Anne Possible.
The older redhead's hit didn't accomplish two things. First, it'd draw Dr. Director's latest obsession, Kim Possible, back into the open. His murder also added a new twist unto this operation. If Brannigan was expendable, that could only mean G.J. already has more reliable spies buried amidst HenchCo, possibly in this very operation. His death would shield them against suspicions.
Colonel Jacob Stillwater initially seemed like the next obvious choice. He was an international traitor, an SX-7 spy, who denounced his patriotism long ago. Hench detected one gaping hole in his cover story. Dr. Director sided with her enemy—Possible—testifying against her friend at his ICJ trial. And yet, he still only lived to serve and protect that vile organization.
Gemini would seem the next choice. He and Dr. Director are siblings. And blood is thicker than water. He also couldn't ignore the man's past. He'd pretended being a criminal over 20-years. And yet, he served as SX-7's triple agent the whole time. Much of what G.J. currently knew about his criminal operations they learnt from him. He's a adept spy, only burnt. Stillwater and he worked closely together and could be doing so again pulling their strings behind the scenes.
Both men are adept at such 'cloak and dagger' politics. How else could SX-7 escape detection so long? An organization he didn't even know existed, until a mere junior agent exposed them, doing something his entire criminal network couldn't. If true, that'd support his earlier theory. Dr. Director's pulling their strings, while Stillwater and Gemini shifts blame onto Drakken and him. That way, they could usurp HenchCo's criminal network replacing SX-7's Possible stole. She warned him protecting her own life and on-going investment in his company.
Drakken was by far the best candidate. He'd make the perfect undercover spy. The man lacked any former ties with G.J. He'd cheer over the organization burnt out husk without shedding a single tear. He did, however, have one exploitable weakness. What if Possible really was dead? And G.J. chipped Shego to used against him? Drakken would betray him over possibly getting her back alive. That would explain Dr. Director's obsession, as well as her willingness to even sacrifice her coveted directorate.
Jack couldn't exclude himself either. First, everyone there had legitimate reasons to hate Kim Possible. She'd caused them nothing but grief, some more than others. Second, each person had ulterior motives for forging this partnership. He initially wanted revenge over costing him $600,000. Lately, he'd started to question her guilt. Third, such a partnership breeds conspiratorial divisions. Each would work with the others but only to achieve his own objectives.
What Jack didn't know. He wasn't alone inside that lair, either.
I wanted to say a special thank you unto my reviewers. I still haven't gotten as many as I'd hoped, but appreciative for reviewers who have shared their points of views. Please share more.