KP – The Light at the End: Part 10
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This so wasn't happening.
What was it about going on missions without Ron? Fly to Wisconsin without him, Shego gets the drop on me. Go chasing after a mind-controlled Nana and get tied up with knitting yarn by a couple oldsters. Go up against Motor Ed and Drakken without him, end up spending most of the night cleaning red primer out of your hair.
Fly to a lab in North Carolina and get zapped with an immobilization ray.
Actually, the last time that happened to her, Ron was right at her side…actually, he was the one who tried to use the IM ray on Shego and it backfired on the two of them.
That fact wasn't doing anything for her confidence. It seemed any time she went it alone, something bad happened to her. There had to be something to the Ron factor. Yes, he managed to get the two of the captured himself, but somehow that always set up a chain of events that led to their eventual success.
At least this once she wasn't about to be thrown into a pool of molten lava or dropped into a pit full of hungry Florida alligators. If she was lucky and her old classmate was actually still on the side of the angels, then the worst that could happen was that she would be turned over to the authorities, which would prove interesting until everyone's stories could be verified.
Then it occurred to her that she had already seem several technologies at work the young blonde shouldn't have had. "Stealing from Canadian spy agencies now?" Kim asked as she regained control of her mouth.
Danika touched a control on her wrist and the visor and hood of her battle-suit retracted invisibly into the neck. She looked much the same as Kim remembered her from high school, except her hair was much shorter, probably in keeping with wearing the mask if she was indeed back to her old ways trying to play at being a hero, or something worse.
As the beam slowly wore off, she took a white zip-tie from a hidden pocket and bound Kim's hands behind her back. "Wasn't expecting to go up against a Load Mark II Battle-suit tonight, and, no, I haven't been stealing anything from Can-Tel. There's nothing in my Fos-Tech 2000 suit that is stolen."
"Oh, really? What about the suit itself? If nothing else, it's stolen technology."
"Only if you count the inspiration. I built the suit myself, using my own knowledge. That's all beside the point, because you're not preventing me from doing my job this time, Possible."
"Your job? Danika, you're a nineteen year-old college student."
"Hello, Kettle? This here's Pot. News flash, Possible, you were the same thing once. You're not the only person in the world capable of helping people. I just choose to do it in the background instead of grandstanding like you do."
"I don't grandstand. I just don't keep secrets, except when its necessary."
"I deem what I do a necessary secret. Keeps my friends and family out of trouble and it lets me live a normal life when I don't have this suit on."
"I live a normal life." Kim countered. "Now if you don't mind, I'm starting to cramp up."
"What? And have you loose so you can try to take me in, to reveal my secret to the world? Just because you're jealous that somebody else can do this kind of thing?"
"I'm not jealous, I'm only here because I thought you might be involved in the theft of some stolen technology, and it still looks like I might be right. Let me guess, you hacked into Global Justice's systems through your mother's accounts and got the tech for the IM ray there? Did a little industrial espionage with Movement Dynamics for the hyper-speed acceleration tech?"
"I told you, Kim." Danika switched to her first name as she hopped up onto the edge of a handy counter, putting her above her captive. "There's nothing in this suit that is stolen. Yes, I've had some help with certain aspects of the tech in this battle-suit, but it's all legitimate. Wade isn't the only person in the world willing to help people like us, and it sure helps if they don't stay locked up in their room all the time either."
"Wade doesn't stay in his room. In fact, most of the time I talk to him now he's at his job at the Space Center."
Danika chuckled slightly. "Yeah, stealing tech from a twenty-fifth century space-craft. Oh, don't look so shocked, Kim. You live with secrets you start learning how to find out others. Now, am I to suppose you were trying to set up another one of your trademark traps, or were you planning on actually stealing some of the technology here? That would be very interesting if it were true, though I don't think you would stoop to stealing things like the D-Hopper."
"The what?"
"Oh, come on. Unless you've gone over to the other side, you have to be after whoever stole the artifact."
"No, hold on. I'm actually after…something else. What the heck is a D-Hopper?"
"It's a piece of unknown tech that a group of scientists were studying. It's a rod, about so long," She held her hands about nine inches apart, "with a series of concentric rings. Supposedly, if you aligned the rings correctly, you could use it to travel through the dimensions. Dimension Hopper, D-Hopper, get it?"
"Okay, so you're supposedly after something else. That doesn't explain why we have a recording of you at the scene where the tech I'm looking for was stolen."
"At the scene? Okay, Kim, what are you talking about?"
"Cut me loose and I'll show you. There's a shot of you, in that battle-suit trying to disable the security at a research facility in the Rocky Mountains."
"Rockies? Okay, now I know you're off it. I haven't been west of the Mississippi since I left Middleton. There's enough crap going on over here that I don't have to go jetting all over the world, then go hunting for a camera."
Kim shook her head. "You've got an awfully dim view of me being a public figure, don't you? Did you know that I tend to avoid the press when I can?"
"Oh, is that why you sent out a press release when Ron finally popped the question? I'm surprised your picture hasn't been on the cover of every bridal magazine already."
"We're only just starting to plan the wedding, and we only sent out that release to head off one of the tabloids from running as story with a lot of bad information in it."
"Okay, we're getting off the subject here. Bottom line it, Kim…why are you here?"
"Several weeks ago, a device was stolen. The only evidence we have so far is a photo of somebody matching your description almost to a 'T'."
"So, you just can't pick up a phone and call? Just because you've got a shot of somebody wearing a black outfit? News flash, Kim, that's the standard uniform of a burglar since the beginning of time."
"Are all burglars slender, small-chested women about five-three and a hundred pounds?" Kim countered.
"Wow. Couple inches there and you might be describing yourself. Hmmm, what did I see dropping out of that vent a little bit ago. Oh yeah, it was a small-chested, slim girl in a solid black, skin-tight outfit breaking into a supposedly secure facility."
"If you were involved, I couldn't risk tipping you off that we were on to you."
Danika pursed her lips. "Alright. I want your word that if I cut you loose you're not going to try anything."
"I promise."
The blonde former cheerleader shrugged again, pulling a slim-bladed knife from a hidden sheath in her forearm. Kim narrowed her eyes, realizing the young woman's suit was designed with many more offensive capabilities than her own. She might be telling the truth about her lack of involvement, but her exploits were definitely going to bear looking into. It seemed too much like she was playing for keeps.
Sheathing the knife, she nodded to her former captive. "Okay, show me this…evidence."
Kim took a few moments rubbing the feeling back into her wrists. Even after really just a few minutes, those zip-ties tended to cut in, even with the material of her suit and gloves in between it and her skin. Finally, she rolled the edge of her glove back, exposing her wrist Kimmunicator.
Danika spent a few moments examining the picture. "Too bad it isn't in color. I don't think that suit is solid black, though it's only a profile shot and not head on. Close, but it's not my suit. See, there's some exposed skin on the arms, and if I'm right, across the belly as well. Kim, I can see why you might think she looks a bit like me, but it's not. Even the boot line is different." She pointed at her feet. Much like Kim's current suit, it had heavily treaded, protective boots rather than the slim, almost slipper-like feet of the woman in the picture. Despite the dark color, it was much more like the original white super-suit, albeit with the odd missing patches she had not noticed before.
"What did she steal?"
"You've read my older files, do you remember the Pan-Dimensional Vortex Inducer?"
"Oh, tell me she didn't steal that thing again. You sure you're not just dealing with Shego? That could be her if the suit was a little more constricting than that green and black jumpsuit. You know, now that I think about it, that suit vaguely resembles that pattern."
"Somebody seemed to be going out of their way to make it look like Shego was involved, but I don't believe it was her. She has…other thing occupying her right now."
"If you ask me, she should be occupying a jail cell. So, the Pan-whatever is gone again?"
"No. GJ has that thing secured, or at least I hope so. The same scientists were trying to make something that would do the same thing, but be safer to handle. They did succeed in duplicating some of the features, but it turns out the thing is just as dangerous as the PDVI. It's called the Multi-Phasic Portal Generator."
Danika rubbed her slender chin. "You know, if you asked me, that sounds awfully similar to what the D-Hopper is supposed to do. Almost like…"
"..the two thefts could be related. I was thinking the same thing. I…"
The younger woman grabbed her arm suddenly. "Hold on a minute, there, Kim. Don't go thinking just because we may be after the same thing you're going to drag me along as some kind of sidekick. I've got my own investigation to run here, and I don't need you mucking things up by glamming from the spotlight."
"For the last time, Dan, I'm not doing this for attention. I just simply help people, and those scientists asked for my help. Now if you want to get into it, so far all I have is your word that you're not involved with this, and then there's the issue of that suit you're wearing. I haven't seen anything yet that tells me you're not lying about the technology in it."
"Listen, I don't have time to get into that with you. You're just going to have to believe me, or do I have to whup you're old-school wide-load butt again?"
"Danika, I am getting ferociously tired of this chip on your shoulder."
"Chip? You come into my territory accusing me of stealing something that I'd protect if asked to? You try to trap me the same way you did back in Middleton? Come off it, Kim. I've got every reason to be ticked with you. You want to know how I got the hyper-speed tech? Movement Dynamics gave it to me. Let's just say I called in a favor after I helped them with some other industrial espionage problems they had. The self-healing fibers the suit's made of? I figured out how to synthesize them myself. Yeah, that part might be considered intellectual theft, but only if I was trying to sell it for a profit. I can't unlearn what I know and it would be stupid not to use every advantage I've got. As for the IM ray? Yeah, I got it from Global Justice. Maybe you ought to ask your 'good friend' Betty Director about that some time. No, on second thought, that wouldn't do any good. She knows something about keeping secrets."
"I still only have you word for all of that."
"Fine. You can follow up on anything you want to, but if you try to do anything I'm just going to power up and this time I'll just leave you tied up to explain things to the local police in the morning. I've got better things to do, like a test I've got to take in just four hours." She narrowed her eyes as Kim hung her head slightly. "What?"
"Nothing. It's just Ron has a test too, that's why he's not here."
"What's the matter? He finally get a teacher who wouldn't let him run off at the drop of a hat?"
"Actually, yes, and if you remember correctly, we had to deal with that almost the entire senior year."
"Pity you. I've had to deal with that from day one. If I miss something, I miss it and I have to come up with a reason why I did so I can keep my secret."
Kim cocked her head. "That's why I don't like running around in secret. It means lying to people, not just your enemies, but to your friends, people you love. As for having a teacher who won't let you out? Ron drew Doctor Snyder. You remember him, don't you?"
"Barely. Never had any of his classes. They got some other brainiac to come in there after you left, but I never had to deal with them since we moved to Pennsylvania." She hopped back up on the counter. "Look, I'll make a deal with you. Leave the D-Hopper to me, stay out of my way and go back to your little shack-up with Ron."
"How did you?..."
"Uh, hello. Tabloids? Most of those thing may get his name wrong, but it's pretty obvious the two of you are living together now, unless you ran off to Vegas to elope."
"Uh, well, no, we'd never do that, but yes, we have an apartment right off campus."
"Lucky you. I think my Mom is probably spying on my dorm room right now to see if my boyfriend is there. Anyway, you butt out of my investigation and I let you go home. I run across anything about this multi-whatever…"
"Multi-Phasic Portal Generator. We've been calling it the MPG for short."
"That thing, yeah. I find out anything about that, I'll drop you a line. You run across the D-hopper, or find out the thefts are related, you do the same thing. Other than that, we all go home, get forty winks and pretend none of this ever happened."
"Oh, I'll go home alright, but I am going to be verifying your story. You still have a public persona to maintain, so I'll know where to find you if you're lying to me."
"Knock yourself out. Not an issue." Danika challenged. "Since I'm not lying, I couldn't care less what you do, so long as my name isn't dragged through all this mess."
"Deal."
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Danika watched as her one-time cheer squad captain climbed into her little blue Flyer, remaining there, staring into the sky as it accelerated to the west. Once she was sure Kim was gone, she pulled a small hand-held device out of a pouch on her hip. The slim unit looked amazingly like one of Kim's original Kimmunicators, only with a larger screen. She didn't have the holographic technology her one time sort-of mentor employed. Her efforts in designing the suit went more toward its capabilities in actual combat. None of the really interesting weapons had actually come into play that night. The moment her opponent's suit started blazing blue, she knew what was actually happening.
The picture she pulled up on the screen was very similar to the one Kim had. It showed a figure in a dark outfit obviously skulking in a generic looking corridor. Only this picture was in color, showing in fact the suit wasn't just black, but black and dark purple, for some reason having diagonal bare patches on the stomach and arms. It looked…stylish to the fashion-minded young blonde, but not very practical as far as a protective garment went. Why cover the whole head with a hood, mask and visor if other patches of skin would be showing? That just didn't make sense.
When she had seen the picture, Kim Possible was the first person she thought of, with her seeming obsession for wearing clothes that exposed her belly, but she did have to admit the woman in the picture really couldn't be her former class-mate. The legs were too thin, and Possible had those chubby 'boy-legs.'
Danika was a little disgusted with herself for falling for the same trap again. If it hadn't been for the superior combat abilities of her suit, she might have been the one tied up, possibly being exposed while Kim verified her story, something that would be quite hard to do.
She was a little worried that Kim might actually follow through with her threat to corroborate her alibis. It was true she did help Movement Dynamics with some things, but in reality she had helped herself to some of their more poorly guarded secrets. She knew about the time Kim took on the Bebe robots with the Valkyrie 1000 shoes, so she went looking for that tech specifically. As for the IM ray, Kim actually pretty much nailed how she had gotten her hands on that. Her mother was a staff psychiatrist with Global Justice, and even though she had been exposed in the past for hacking into their systems, it was so easy to do it again once they were set up in their new home. If it had been any easier to get the schematics for the ray, they would have handed it to her themselves.
Maybe she was a little more 'ethically challenged' than Kim, but she knew she was doing good. She wasn't profiting by the tech she liberated from others, unless you counted the fact she used it to win. Just so long as she left the bad-guys wrapped up all nice and neat for the cops.
Satisfied with herself, she headed off to her waiting motorcycle, ready to head back to campus, her dorm, and her really cute boyfriend who actually was waiting for her in her room.
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