Kim Possible and associated characters are © Disney, and used here without permission, for non-profit purposes.
HIDDEN AGENDA
"I came, I saw, and I couldn't believe my own eyes!"
Julius Caesar, according to the adventures of Asterix the Gaul by Goscinny and Uderzo.
Chapter eleven, revealing the hidden agenda and introducing a former ally.
Kim Possible was alive.
At least she thought she was.
She couldn't see anything to tell her where she was, though. Either it was completely and utterly dark, or there was nothing at all to be seen. She also couldn't hear anything helpful. Perhaps a soft hum, like from a ventilation system. Or perhaps that was the sound of her own blood circulation, just the static noises of being alive.
Which brought her back to the conclusion that she was, indeed, among the living. That, and the fact that she was thinking. Cogito, Ergo Sum, as they had talked about in philosophy class. She didn't remember who said that, but she doubted he had needed it to make sense of a mess as big as the one she probably was in. Anyway, she was clearly doing the cogito stuff, so probably she was summing the ergo, too.
She remembered running towards a black helicopter. She remembered getting in, and Shego preparing for lift-off. And then, nothing.
Had they crashed? Was she trapped in a wreck, somewhere? In the middle of the night, perhaps?
Well, in contrast to not getting any input from sight and hearing, she had no trouble experiencing pain. A lot of it. Perhaps that was it, then. They had crashed, and she really needed to get out.
She didn't seem to be able to move, at all, though.
Well, where there's life, there's hope. Or was it time to give up?
==##0##==
A blinding light suddenly stabbed her in the eyes. She averted her head, waiting for her eyes to adjust. There were also an increased level of sound, as if some large system was powering up.
After a minute or two, she was able to squint her eyes and take stock of the situation.
She was definitely not in the wreck of the helicopter. Instead, she was in large, sparsely furnished room. Floodlights like in a theatre illuminated her, and someone beside her – Shego? There was no audience in front of them, however, and they were not on stage. Instead, an ordinary office desk and a chair was placed a few metres before them, partly in the shadows under the ceiling-mounted spotlights.
Kim Possible was sitting in a hard backed chair. A surprising amount of constraints held her in place. Wrists, ankles, elbows, knees, waist and neck; unyielding metal bands locked her in uncomfortable immobility.
She could move her head a bit, however, and could see that it was, indeed, Shego beside her, similarly constrained. In addition to the straps, though, Shego's legs and arms were encased in some shining metallic machinery. It looked as if she had suddenly turned halfway into a robot. The extra constraints were connected to some sort of interface on the wall on Shego's side of the room, and there was a stand with large glass container by her left shoulder.
Shego stirred and her head rose slowly, reacting to the light and the sound. She seemed dazed, though, and gave no immediate signs of recognising Kim.
OK, not still in the wreck. If they had indeed crashed, they must have been captured. They were probably now inside the very same secret base they had tried to find.
==##0##==
"Shego", Kim said some time later. "I'm very sorry to have put you in this predicament. It's all my fault."
"Oh, don't worry, Kimmie!" Shego answered in a hoarse whisper. "I kind of expected something like this to happen."
"You did? ... Why did you come with me, then?"
"That's a good question, Princess", Shego began. After a while, though, it became evident that she wasn't going to continue.
"So ... is there a good answer?" Kim prodded.
"No, just bad ones!" Shego sighed. "Look, you got me away from the hospital. You needn't have done that. So I owed you one."
"So I get you out of the frying pan , and you walk back into the fire?"
"Yeah, smart, huh? Well, there's also something else. … You know that I, too, used to be a teen-age hero, together with my awful brothers? I bet you don't know why I left, though. Well, I won't tell you that story, but I can assure you some really bad things happened there at the end. Things that remind me of what's happening to you, just now. You may not believe me, but I actually know a bit of what you are currently facing... I actually felt you could do with some support."
Kim digested this in silence.
"Well, I'm still sorry I got you into this mess. I did talk you into coming!"
"Yeah, and I always do what you tell me, right?"
==##0##==
As her eyes adjusted, Kim could see that there was a large glass window on the wall behind the desk in front of them. It looked a bit like they were in a recording studio with an adjacent control room full of equipment and mixing tables. Kim didn't feel like singing something, though. Besides, the room behind the glass pane seemed empty.
A door in the wall beside the observation window suddenly opened, however, and a man entered.
He went to stand behind the desk, fixing the captives with a steady gaze. He was dressed in a black uniform, with more badges and insignia on it than the man in the chopper. Some of the badges quite clearly displayed the Global Justice logo. Equally obvious, the man was also someone Kim recognised.
"Agent Du?" she croaked hoarsely. "Will?"
"Commander Du, actually, Ms Possible. Yes. Commander of Covert Operations, Global Justice. The new, much improved Global Justice. Yes. To be sure!"
"What … is going on? Why are we here? And what do you want?"
"Ah. Questions, yes? Well, I might answer a few. Why are you here? Because you are stupid! Yes. Stupid. You have put yourself between Global Justice and the objects of its operations. So stupid! What do I want? Well, you must be removed, of course. Removed from being a hindrance to my work. Put to use, perhaps. Or just removed."
Kim shivered. This was not the way Will Du used to talk. It was far from the soft-spoken but rigid subordinate of Dr. Director that Kim remembered.
"I … don't understand ..."
"Oh, come on. Naïve, perhaps. Irritating, yes. Stupid? Hardly! What is so difficult to understand?"
"We were tracking the black painted jet fighters ..."
"And you found the GJ. Which means?"
"... that they are connected? "
"Yes! Give the girl a teddy bear! Of course we are!"
"But … why?"
"You are expecting the monologue, yes? The rant of every loony villain you have ever fought? Yes. Why not?"
Will Du started walking back and forth behind the desk.
"So, can you imagine that there may be worse things out there than a nutcase in a kilt that wants to plant grass all over the world, yes? That there are more serious threats to the order of society than the comic book baddies you usually play with? Things that undermine the very foundations of western civilisation?
He paused and gave them a contemptous look. "So, why would you be surprised if there is a need for a more … decisive … agency than the GJ of that bungling old fool, Dr. Director?"
Hands on his back, he resumed his pacing, taking a new approach in his explanation. "How many times do you think the police or the security services know someone is a felon? A thief? A terrorist? But he walks, due to lack of evidence or a sneaky lawyer? Well, we don't care! If someone is a threat, the GJ takes them out! If we believe someone may become a threat, we take them out! Even if we are just not sure that someone will not be a liability, we take them out! And the world is a better place!"
He leaned forward, both hands on the desk, and started lecturing. "Do you know your history? Do you have any education at all? Do you remember Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury? Troublesome man. Caused a lot of problems for King Henry II of England, yes? Archbishop. Couldn't be touched. Excommunicated the King, no less! King Henry was understandably pissed, but he couldn't move against a clergyman. He made his feelings known, though. 'Who will rid me of this meddlesome priest', he raged!"
"And four of his most faithful knights did him that service! They travelled to Canterbury in secrecy, and slew the traitor! No order from the King, you see, but still what needed to be done!"
"We, the covert operations of the GJ, we are those knights! We do what needs to be done, without having to be told! We smooth the way for the government, without the presidents and ministers of today having to sully their hands with the sordid details! We are the loyal knights!"
Shego sat up straight. "I seem to remember that story in a slightly different way," she said. "As I recall it, the murder of the Archbishop caused no end of trouble, and brought the wrath of the Pope down on Henry!"
"Oh, a scholar, are we? Yes? Believing the cute little fairy tales your school teacher told you? The point is, Beckett was a traitor! He had to be removed. He was removed. World a better place! End of story! Yes?"
"So ..." Shego speculated, "I need to be removed because I'm like a saint and a bishop? Flattered, I'm sure, but ..."
"Oh, funny girl! A saint? You're a minor irritation, is all. Yes. But why suffer even that, unnecessarily? If you have a grain of sand in your shoe, you remove it. Otherwise you get chafed feet!"
Will Du turned his attention to Kim. "And you, little Ms Hero! You are an unpredictable factor! The joker in the deck! A loose cannon! Much better without the likes of you!"
"So what? 'Off with her head', is that it? And Drakken, too? Does he also have to die?"
"Drakken? Oh, he is mostly harmless and completely deranged. Yes? But useful! We can't tolerate him at large, but we have use for his inventions! And we've got him now! As long as he cooperates, he can live!"
"So, … the Black Jet Ops of the GJ went as far as to shut down the grid of Montana to flush him out, and when somebody noticed, they had to be removed? The official GJ steps in and cleans up?"
"Yes! What did I say? Not stupid! Success! We have Drakken, and we need to get rid of you! Simple. Yes?"
"But, you're a government organisation, right? How can you get away with this? What about … accountability?"
"Oh, please! Who cares, as long as we deliver? Yes! Four faithful knights, remember?"
"Makes sense, I guess," Shego said. "Explains some of the things that have bothered me. Like why that twerp of a lieutenant was so unwilling to believe we were attacked. He knew we were, but also that it couldn't be admitted, right? And when the nurse couldn't take us out, he knew that he had to step in a finish it!"
"I am a bit surprised you didn't figure it out for yourselves. Yes. But know you know!"
"So, that's it? The end of the road?"
"Maybe. Depends. We can always find use for special talent."
"You expect us to do a Drakken? To work for you?"
"Yes. The deal is simple. Kim Possible. If you work for us, you live. As long as you obey all instructions, you stay alive. Stop being useful, and you're dead. Simple. Yes?"
Kim looked at the former subordinate of the highly moral Dr. Director. Will Du, who had always done everything by the book. "I don't believe you!"
"Oh, it's true all right!
"Well, listen to this: I will not be your assassin!"
Will Du shook his head slowly. "Dear little Miss Possible! Just take a moment and think about it! I hope you realise that you will be our operative, or you will not be anything at all. So you had better say yes. Yes?"
"And make no mistake. You will not be able to accept the deal, hoping to fool us , or even escape! You see, we have an easy way to insure your cooperation."
He stood up, reached into his pocket, and held up a small object between his thumb and index finger.
"This will be surgically implanted somewhere in your body. At a remote signal, it will release a pellet of highly efficient poison. So. If you do something we don't like? Go somewhere we think you shouldn't? Or even if we think you're no longer doing your best? We just press the button. Yes? Instant termination."
"And you think that would make me more inclined to accept your deal?" Kim shrieked. "Never, you hear! Never!"
Will Du shrugged. "Like I said, think about it! Now, miss McGowan?"
Shego blinked at the name.
"Oh, come on! 'Shego'? Didn't you think we would know your real name?"
"Doesn't matter, Mr. Dip-Stick! I know your real name well enough!"
Commander Du slapped his hand hard on the desk.
"Less lip from you! Yes? Now, believe it or not, we have a use even for you!"
"And you actually believe that would work? Well, think again, I don't do 'fetch', and I don't do 'sit'! I may be a thief, but I will not kill, and I will not obey a turd like you!"
"Ah, but you might do 'play dead'! Yes? Don't worry, that kind of deal is not for you! No, you may be more useful as a ... demonstration!"
Will Du walked over to Shego, and pointed to the contraption with the glass container at her shoulder. "You see, we suspect little Miss Possible here might not take us seriously enough. You will help show her that we will not hesitate do do what's needed. You will show her that if we have no use for you, you die!"
Commander Du removed what looked like a TV remote from another pocket. "The glass tube here contains the same poison as the device that would be implanted in Miss Possible. It's in solution instead of in pellet form, because it's quicker and easier to administer from the outside. I press this, a needle shoots out, you die! Yes? Possible is convinced"
"YOU FUCKING BASTARD! Do you think killing Shego will make me do as you want? NEVER!!"
"Really?"
Kim hung her head and and hesitated. "Let her go, instead!" she finally said. "Let her go, and I will do what you want!"
Will Du laughed, a slightly deranged, evil laugh that would have scared the pants of Dr. Drakken. "Oh, dear! You think you can bargain with me? Yes? Not a chance! Miss McGowan needs to be removed! And I have one last use for her, to demonstrate to you what happens to anyone who does not meet my approval!"
"YOU FILTHY COWARD! YOU BASTARD! I piss on you and your insane organisation! I will never ..."
"Princess, don't bother! He's made up his mind. And here I am, at his mercy, my legs and feet trapped!"
"Why, so you are! The same technology that is used in experimental fusion reactors. Designed to contain plasma as hot as the sun! Yes! Every spark from your hands or feet will just be absorbed and fed as electricity to our back-up batteries!"
The room was silent except for a low hum of electrical machinery. The spotlights in the roof bathed the prisoners in merciless light, heating the room to an uncomfortable temperature. Will Du sat down on top of the desk before them, the remote in his hand. Tears gathered in the corners of Kim's eyes.
"So, go ahead, then! I will never do your dirty work for you! If that means you kill me, and Shego, it's one more crime on your own head!"
"Hold it right there, Pumpkin!" Shego glared at Commander Du with a truly frightening scowl on her face. Her eyes almost glowed with hatred. "There is one thing wrong with your reasoning, Mr. Weird Dude!"
Almost glowed? No, there really was an eerie green incandescence in her eyes.
"So, you know my name, do you?" she continued. "Big deal. There are clearly more important things about me that you don't know. For instance, you seem to think that I can only generate plasma with my hands? 'Yes'?"
A small green light, like a miniature star, appeared a hand-span in front of Shego's face, growing steadily in size and intensity.
"Your fancy gadgets might work, but I'll let you in on a secret! It doesn't matter! Your ignorance and pride have brought you … to … your … end!"
Will Du stood up, suddenly nervous. His mouth opened, and he started raising the remote in his hand, as if it were a gun.
He never had a chance, though.
The green light in front of Shego's face suddenly made a circuit of her head, like a miniature planet on speed. It came up behind the tube of poison, shattering it like a bullet from a gun, and spraying Will Du with glass shards and liquid. His face and hands were suddenly criss-crossed with bleeding cuts.
"So, oh loyal knight, what did the Pope think of your evil deed? Will you be absolved of sin? How strong was the solution? Will it be all right, do you think? Or will it be enough to kill you?"
Will stared at her in horror Then he rounded the desk, reaching into a drawer, perhaps for a gun, maybe for the switch of an alarm.
It was all in vain, though. The solution was obviously very concentrated, and the poison very fast to take effect.
Had it been a film, he would have staggered around dramatically, perhaps uttering some last, poignant words. He would have dropped slowly to the ground, clutching desperately at the desk for support.
Now, it wasn't a film, and Commander Will Du just fell over. It wasn't more dramatic than someone missing a step on the staircase.
Kim, however, stared slack-yawed at the desk for almost a minute after Will Du had disappeared behind it. Then she looked at Shego.
"That's the second time you save me from someone who tried to kill me!"
"'No big', Princess! Isn't that what you always say?" With that, another ball of green light formed in front of Shego, before slamming down on the metal casing trapping her right arm.
"Now, let's do what we came for, and take these fuckers down!"
==##0##==
A/N. An important part of the story, explaining some of the set-up, and leading to a show-down!
Also going to be kind of important for the future relations between Kim and Shego.
And giving you part of Shego's real name.
Tried giving Will Du a seriously irritating way of speaking, hinting at some degree of obsession, or even madness. Did it work? Or did it just piss you off?
Please read and review!