Chapter 10
Sarah had no idea what she was going to do, in her mind, she had no hopes of breaking a deal with GJ, and it was not like she was hard to point out in a crowed. She was now in inner Middleton hiding, she figured that in a city with millions of people, and with all the activity, she may not be hard to find, and she could disappear quickly if needed. Another thing she liked about being in the city was that GJ could not easily get air support. They have probably learned that ground units are pretty much useless against her, and would probably try using something a bit more powerful. She figured that if they wanted to get her in the city, they would have to come by ground, and that would give her the advantage.
She was sitting in an alleyway, about 6 stories up in a fire escape. She watched as hundreds of people walked by the alley not even aware that they were only feet away from one of the most wanted people on the planet. She knew that she needed to get Drew Lipski out of the hospital, but she also knew that it would be one of the most heavily guarded places on earth right now, and would only be if Drew were still there. Chances were that GJ had him moved after the encounter the previous night.
Sarah looked down at herself, and she did not like what she saw. She was in a bloodied, ripped apart tactical vest, and GJ issue pants that were in the same condition. She let out a sigh as she thought about how to fix this problem. It was starting to get cold outside, so she could probably get away with wearing winter clothing. This, she figured, would go great lengths in helping her hide. The thick material would cover most of her body, and with a pair of sunglasses and a hood over her head, she thought she could stay hidden pretty well.
There was one problem with this however, if she needed to use her power for anything, the clothing would burn away leaving her naked. Not the worst thing in the world, but it was something to be avoided if at all possible. She needed to find a way to get her hands on another suit like the one Lipski gave her to wear underneath her clothing. For all she knew though, the only one in existence was just blown to bits by GJ firepower.
She patently waited for the sun to set before she moved from her perch. She figured that it would be easiest to hide at night, when her obvious green skin could be hidden. She moved down the streets as quietly as she could, they were far from empty, but they were nowhere near as packed as they had been an hour or two ago. Where once thousands of people walked on each side of the side of the street, only dozens remained. She stuck to the shadows, and whenever possible she stayed off ground level.
She moved along like a shadow, making no noise and bounding across city streets as if they were cracks in the sidewalk. Then in the darkness out of some deserted alleyway, she heard a faint noise. She stopped and listened closely to see if she could pinpoint what was going on. As she listened, she heard the sounds of a woman screaming and at least two men laughing. Then she distinctly heard the woman cry out a single word.
"Rape!" The word ripped through Sarah's consciousness like a bullet. She did not want to get involved, but if she let a woman get rapped when she could stop it, it would be like giving what was left of her humanity away. It did not take her long to make up her mind, she needed to redeem herself for killing all of those agents the other night, and this was a good place to start.
She followed the noise along different rooftops and fire escapes until she found a back alley with five people in it. One woman was surrounded by four men, two of them were Caucasian, one was Hispanic, and the last was African-American. The woman had a can of pepper spray, but the men did not seem to care. Her clothing was a bit torn, and her purse was lying on the ground about 25 feet from her. Sarah was about 20 stories above them, she could jump down and scare them, but that might make too big of a scene. She needed to do this as quietly as possible.
Sarah quickly found an adjacent, deserted alleyway and looked at the building across from her. The alley was about 30 feet across, perfect for what she wanted to do. She jumped from her building across the alley, and right before she made contact with the building opposite, she raised her feet. When she got close enough, she planted her feet firmly against the wall and pushed off. As she flew through the air, she did a graceful back flip and landed with her feet firmly on the ground.
She then turned her attentions to the muggers in the alley next to her. She quickly made her way through a narrow passageway in-between two buildings to reach the area she had seen beforehand. When she finally got back to the first alley, she found that the woman was on the ground, kicking and fighting the men away. It would only be a few more seconds before she would be violated. When Sarah saw this she lost her temper.
"What the fuck do you assholes think you're doing!?" She shouted. The men all stopped and looked over at Sarah. Two of them started to laugh when they saw what she was wearing. Most of them just assumed that she was just some random homeless woman. One of them however, noticed something a bit off.
"What's wrong with this chick?" He said to his buddies. "Look at her skin, it's like diseased or something." They all stared for a few moments then another one of them spoke up.
"Yah man, that's some messed up shit, it's like, green or some shit." The all laughed and turned their attentions back to the woman they were attacking. This caused Sarah's blood to boil over.
She did not want to give them any warning, instead she just walked up to them and grabbed the closest one to her and lifted him in the air. The man let out a yelp as his feet left the ground, getting the attention of his friends. They all turned and watched in disbelief as Sarah lifted the man high above her head.
"Hold up bitch, what you doing!?" One of them yelled as he pulled out a knife from his coat. The others followed suit, pulling crude handmade weapons out from various hiding places. Sarah responded by throwing the man she was holding clear across to the other side of the alley into a large metal dumpster. Everyone watched as the man made contact with the dumpster with such force that its front crumpled inwards causing trash to fly out. Sarah then looked at the others with a grin.
"Let's start over." She said calmly. "What the fuck do you assholes think you're doing?" She looked at each of them with an expression that said more than any amount of words could.
"We was just leaving." One of them spoke up quickly. "No need to get all like that, we'll go." Then Sarah interrupted.
"No! You see! That is what pisses me off most of all! You think that because you're going to stop, I can just look past what you were doing. No, you all need to be held accountable for what you did tonight." The Hispanic man started to laugh, Sarah could tell that this man was the leader of the group.
"Hey, we is just havin' some fun. We wasn't going to hurt no one." As the leader said this, Sarah punched him in the mouth, not only knocking out all of his teeth, but dislocating his jaw and collapsing his throat. He dropped to the ground immediately, in a matter of moments he was going to die. The other two men started to walk backwards away from Sarah, not really sure what to do.
"You two are just as guilty as these asses." Sarah said simply, "and if either of you take one more step you are both going to end up like your friends here." Then Sarah looked down at the woman, who seemed to be in shock. She was sitting up, with her back against the wall watching as Sarah slowly took care of her assaulters.
"Look, we just wanna'e go home." One of the remaining men said in a scared voice.
"Well, that's just not going to happen tonight." Sarah said as she walked closer to them. "Let me guess, you guys are part of some gang right, and you think that you can just walk around and do whatever the fuck you want?"
"Hey!" One of the men shouted, "We own these streets!" When Sarah heard this, she started to laugh.
"You two seem way too pussy to own anything, much less an entire street." Sarah was now dangerously close to them. "Tell you what, you go back and tell whoever it is that orders your little group around that he is no longer welcome here."
"Fuck you bitch, you can't tell us what to do!"
Sarah responded by punching the building next to her. Her fist went straight through the brick forming a hole.
"I can tell you to do whatever the hell I want." She then brushed her hands together to get the dust off them. "Tell your boss that if I see any of you around here again, I'll kill him, then the rest of your little gang. You are going to stop what it is that you're doing, and turn yourself in to the authorities."
"I'm not telling my boss nothing." One of the remaining men told Sarah. "So fuck off." Sarah let out a sigh and ran up to the closer man and grabbed him. Neither of the gang members has ever seen someone move so quickly in their lives.
"Get the fuck out of here before I get angry enough to kill everyone in your little club house." Sarah dropped him on the ground with a thud. The man was angry, he did not like being thrown around by a girl, and he definitely did not like being told what to do. He got back to his feet and threw a punch at Sarah. Sarah nonchalantly dodged the punch and grabbed the man's arm and broke it at the elbow. He dropped to the ground and started to scream.
Sarah, now scared the man was starting a scene, kicked him as hard as she could. Her foot landed solidly on the man's sternum, causing him to fly across the alley and into the wall of the building on the opposite side. The wall that he collided with cracked and broke from the impact, and the man was dead. His chest was almost completely collapsed, all of his ribs were broken, and his sternum had exploded with the impact. It looked as if he was slammed into the wall with a wrecking ball. Sarah stared at him silently for a moment, having not expected him to fly so fast across the alley. After she got her wits back, Sarah looked at the last man.
"So, are you going to pass that message along for me then?" The man just ran away as fast as he could. Sarah let out a deep breath after he disappeared into the darkness, and then turned her attentions back to the woman. Sarah found her purse and picked it up and walked over to her. She then sat down next to her and handed her the bag.
"Did they hurt you?" Sarah asked. The woman just stared blankly across the alley at the man who Sarah threw into the dumpster. "Are you okay?" Sarah asked again, and then Sarah noticed that the woman was bleeding from a wound above her right eye.
"Thank you." The woman said almost inaudibly. Then, to Sarah's surprise the woman turned to her and embraced her. Sarah was not very good at showing affection, so she just sat there with her hands up as the woman hugged her.
"It's okay, their gone now." Sarah managed to say when the shock of getting hugged wore off.
"Is there anything I could do for you?" The woman said as she broke the embrace. "I owe you everything." Sarah did not know what to say, she needed some food and water. Not to mention that a set of clothing would be nice. She would also love to sleep in a nice warm bed again. However, this would be too much to ask for considering that she was being hunted by one of the largest organizations in the world. Then the woman interrupted Sarah's thoughts.
"You look like you could use a shower and a place to sleep, not to mention some clothes. Please come to my place, you can stay the night." Sarah opened her mouth to protest, but the woman shook her head. "I insist. My name is Jenny."
"Uh, I'm S…" Sarah thought for a moment, and then decided that a fake name would be best. "I'm Sandra, nice to meet you." Sarah helped Jenny to her feet then rubbed the back of her neck, thinking of how to phrase what she had to say. "Look," She started, "I would like to take you up on your offer, but I can't. Don't think of me as ungrateful, I just can't right now." Jenny's looked at Sarah with a look of shock.
"Well, you have to let me do something for you. You saved me, you're a hero!"
"Don't call me that!" Sarah yelled, as Jenney recoiled in fear. Sarah then tried to calm down, trying not to scare the woman any more than she already was. "I guess, if you really need to do something you could get me a set of clothing." Sarah then looked at the woman in front of her and sized her up. "You look about my size. Anything other than that though, I am going to have to decline."
Jenney nodded hugged Sarah again. "Thank you for everything, I will be right back with a set of clothing and food. I only live a few blocks away, I will be right back."
Sarah followed Jenny to the street to watch and make sure that the last remaining gang member did not try anything stupid. Sarah thought about how the woman acted so calmly when confronted by a green woman who could throw a grown man around like a toy. Something was a bit off, but Sarah could not figure out what. All she knew was that she was moments away from getting her hands on a fresh set of clothing.
It was getting late at GJHQ, and Kim was getting tired. Her Father, Mother, and Ron all watched as she ran test after test at the order of Dr. Director. All the muscles in Kim's body ached like never before, and if the battle suit were to stop helping her, she would probably just fall to the ground. She had done dozens of tests, and passed every one of them with flying colors.
She ran The Gauntlet, an obstacle course built by GJ to ensure physical endurance in their agents in less than 1/100th of the time it took the average agent to do it. The suit was tested for its resistance to bullets, and the found that anything smaller than cannon fire was useless against the magnetic fields. Even anti-aircraft fire was no use against the battle suit's awesome technology. They actually could not find a single problem with the suit, it performed exactly how it was expected to, and in some cases even beyond.
As the Sun set on the obstacle course, Dr. Director pulled Mr. Possible aside from the rest of the group. Kim, no longer left with any energy, sat motionless in a small metal chair off to the side, Mrs. Possible and Ron both were talking to her quietly. Dr. Director looked Mr. Possible in the eyes to let him know that what she was about to say needed his full attention.
"Mr. Possible," She started quietly. "Have you made up your mind on whether or not your daughter can join us?"
"I have." He said after a moment's pause. "I am going to let her join, but as soon as I think that she is not being treated like she should, she is out. Also, if her grades slip even the slightest bit I'm pulling the plug on this whole thing."
"I understand, her studies must come first." Dr. Director said in a serious tone that caught Mr. Possible off guard. It actually sounded like she was agreeing with him. Then Dr. Director continued, "I do have some more questions for you, they are important so I need answers now."
"Of course, I am happy to help any way that I can." Mr. Possible responded.
"First, I need to know if you can share the technology for you funnel system that you have protecting your lab with GJ." This surprised Mr. Possible.
"How do you know about that? That project had nothing to do with GJ."
"I have my ways Mr. Possible, do you really think that anything that big would just go unnoticed by us?" Dr. Director watched as Mr. Possible fidgeted a bit at the thought, and then continued. "I am going to share something with you, something that would make a lot of people angry if they knew I was telling you."
"And…and what would that be Dr. Director?" Mr. Possible asked.
"You know about the disaster at Lipski Inc. correct?" She watched as Mr. Possible nodded. "But what you don't know is that Project Ego was a success. It worked, actually it worked too well. It was actually the test subject that destroyed the building."
"Where is this person now?" Mr. Possible asked scratching his head.
"We don't know, she went rogue and ran off. We confronted her once, and let's just say that it ended poorly for GJ."
"Excuse me Dr., but what does this have to do with my funnel system?"
"You see, she had an unexpected side effect, she seems to be able to somehow create energy fields, heat up the air to incredible temperatures." Dr. Director was at a loss, she really had no idea how to explain what Sarah could do to someone who has not witnessed it for themselves.
"I think I see where this is going, you want to build a prison for her." Mr. Possible said as he rubbed his chin.
"That's why you're the best Mr. Possible, you're always one step ahead. If what I read is accurate about your funnel system, we should be able to contain her in a prison made of similar material. We would also like to make a set of handcuffs for her." Dr. Director sat silently waiting for a response from Mr. Possible.
"I guess it could be done, and I am assuming that price is not an obstacle?" He watched as Dr. Director shook her head. "I think I can pull this off. Where would you like me to build it?"
"That's the hard part, we have a site picked out near what used to be called Verkhoyansk. It was a city in Siberia before it was destroyed in the last World War."
"Yah, I know about it." Mr. Possible scratched his head again in thought. "The average temperature there for a year is in the negatives, and it's downright dangerous in the winter."
"I know, that is why I chose it for my prison. It offers natural defense, and with the military presence we will have there, it will be unbreakable. Not to mention that it's built out of the alloy that you created, she will not be able to use her new power to break out."
"Just what did you do to this woman to make her so dangerous?" Mr. Possible asked, "You seem a bit worried about it."
"All I am going to tell you is that we have lost well over one hundred men in our hunt for her so far. You can figure out the rest from there." Mr. Possible looked down at the ground, then a thought entered his mind that he did not like.
"That's why you want my daughter!" he yelled loud enough for everyone to hear. "You want to put her up against some monster, and after I told you that it was going to be dangerous to go through with Drew's plan! How dare you!" Dr. Director got angry and took a step towards Mr. Possible and poked him in the chest.
"Remember where you are Mr. Possible, you will show me respect here. I had no intentions of putting your daughter up against Project Ego! Not only is she untrained and unqualified, but I have something completely different in mind for your daughter!" Dr. Director seemed to calm down a bit. Her face softened and her posture straightened. "Project Ego is my mess, and I am fully aware that you warned me not to go through with it. That is why I am planning on leaving your family out of this mess as best I can." Mr. Possible took a step back, she was right, he jumped the gun and shot off his mouth.
"I'm sorry." He managed to squeak out after a bit. "I'll see what I can do about building your prison. In the mean time, why don't we get back to my daughter? I will sign whatever you need me to sign."
"Good." Dr. Director said simply as she walked back to the rest of the group. She approached Kim, who stood up off of the chair she was in, and took her hand and shook it.
"Kimberly Ann Possible, I hereby appoint you an official Archangel of Global Justice." Kim cocked her head slightly to side when she heard this.
"Archangel, what does that mean? Is it some sort of rank?" Kim asked as Dr. Director nodded.
"Here at GJ, we do not follow the standard ranks of world military groups. We follow what is called the Hierarchy of Celestial Beings." At this point Ron interrupted.
"In English Doc?" He said sarcastically as he got a cold stare from Dr. Director that told him it was time to shut up.
"Well, it goes like this," She started. "Angels are the lowest ranking members of GJ, they have minimal combat training, and are mostly used as nonviolent foreign aid. Bringing food to disaster struck areas and so on. Next up on the list are the Archangels, They also have minimal combat training, but are trained to be soldiers. They are trained in weapons use, hand to hand combat, and basic survival techniques." Dr. Director then pointed at Kim with a grin. "All things you are going to be learning about in the near future."
"Then the list goes up like a military ranking system would." Dr. Director continued. "You move from being an Archangel to a Principality. After Principalities come the Powers, then the Virtues, and then finally Dominations. After that, point you reach the top ring of agents. Starting with the Thrones, these are elite agents that have seen at least 10 years of service and have seen active combat many times. Then you have the Cherubim, the second in command of the GJ military, there is only one at any given time and they are next in line to take over for the top spot. Right now, Agent Du is the Cherubim of GJ. Then you have the Seraphim of GJ, it's like the president to the United States Military, accept they have to have at least 15 years of active service in GJ to even be considered for the job. I was appointed by the Union of Civil Nations three years ago as the Seraphim of GJ." By this point Kim got the general idea, but she had one question that needed to be asked.
"Why make it different from the standard military ranking system? It all just seems to be more complicated."
"It is because we are not a normal military organization. We are protectors of the peace. We watch over the world and do everything we can to make it as safe for people to live in as possible." Kim smiled when she heard this.
"I like it," She said. "I like the idea of making people safe." At this point Kim noticed something was a bit off, her knees were wobbling, and her hand was shaking. It seemed that all at once all the energy in her body was completely gone. She was tired before, but right now she was exhausted. Mrs. Possible noticed this right away and grabbed Kim's shoulders and stabilized her, sitting her down in the chair again. After Kim was sitting, she turned to Dr. Director.
"I'm afraid I am going to have to insist on stopping for the day. We don't know what kind of physical drain this suit has on people yet, and I would prefer we do not hurt my daughter on the first day." Mrs. Possible then placed her hand on Kim's forehead and felt for a fever.
"I understand." Dr. Director responded. "You are free to go whenever you wish. I would like to see Kim again soon however. She has much more to learn. I would like to give her basic weapons training and field survival training within the next week. From what I hear however, she will not need any hand to hand combat training." When Kim heard this she smiled.
"Nope, I am a black belt in 16 different styles of martial arts. I have been studying them since I was 5 years old."
"I know, I ran a background check. It's very impressive, and I noticed that you put those skills to great use on the gauntlet today." Then Dr. Director looked at the group as a whole. "Well, since Kim has refused to accept any sort of income for joining GJ, I guess we are done here." When Mr. and Mrs. Possible heard this, their heads shot back to stare at Kim.
"You what!?" They both said in unison, before her mother continued.
"Kim, you should probably accept the money. It would help you get through college without any debt." Then Dr. Director interrupted.
"Kim will not have to pay one penny for college, it is a standard benefit for anyone who is part of GJ. She will be able to attend any school that will take her, and come out on the other end free of debt. And looking at your Daughters grades, it seems she will not have any trouble getting into a nice school." Then Kim spoke up.
"Just out of curiosity, how much were you going to pay me to work for you?" Dr. Director smiled.
"Are you sure you want to know, it might change your mind."
"Yah, tell me." Kim closed her eyes and waited for the answer. She only hoped it would not be too large.
"Well, I was told to offer you $690,000 a year salary, but I was given the wiggle room to give you up to a $720,000 a year." Dr. Director watched as all of the Possible's, plus Ron's, mouths dropped. "We figured that, given the circumstances of her joining us, it was only fair she be handsomely rewarded." Then she paused. "Kim, this is your last chance, do you want the money?"
Kim thought for a moment, it was a lot of money. More than she would get working anywhere else, that was for sure. But she did not feel that she could accept it. Then she came to a decision.
"Could you possibly give it to my Mom and Dad for their research? I think they would be able to spend it on more worthwhile causes than me." Dr. Director just blinked a few times silently.
"I guess, what do I care where the money goes in the end. Consider it done." Dr. Director then turned to Mr. Possible. "We will open up a new account in your name and transfer the money immediately." Both of Kim's parents stared at their daughter, they did not know whether to be angry with her, or grateful. Mr. Possible was the first one to try and put his feelings into words.
"Kimmycub…" He was interrupted almost immediately by Kim.
"I owe it to you, consider it payment for breaking into your lab and starting this whole mess." Kim then stood up off the chair and gave her Parents a hug. "It's no big, just take the money and do some good with it."
While all of this was going on, Ron just stood silently watching in disbelief. Kim could buy a new house every other year with that kind of money, and she was just giving it away. Part of him knew what she was thinking, but he still found it amazing. After a moment he decided to speak up.
"Well, that was totally unexpected of you." He said as he rubbed the back of his neck. "But I guess that it's pretty cool, wanting to help your folks like that." Kim just smiled at him.
Fiske sat silently staring at the entrance to the Egyptian tomb that Doug Pine had just uncovered. He did not move, he did not speak, he just starred. It was like he was trying to look beyond what the tomb had to offer, like he was trying to look into the soul of the tomb. After a while the others with him started to get antsy, and then one of them got up the courage to speak.
"Why don't you just go inside master?" Fiske did not move, it was like he was made of stone. "Master, can you hear me?"
"I can hear you." He finally said, "I just think that I shouldn't have to hear you." Then Fiske stood up. "I do not go inside readily because it is sacred ground. The gods live here, and this was their sanctuary. Now some bumbling scientist has disturbed it. He released them and now they are angry." Fiske walked up to the entrance and touched the door with his right hand. "I can hear them if I listen, and with you speaking to me that becomes very difficult." The person talking to him took a bow.
"I am sorry master, it won't happen again."
"See to that, will you." Fiske walked backwards a few feet and sat back down. He did not say anything for move for several more hours. He sat out in the sun of the desert motionless. Sweat poured down from his face and drenched the clothing that he wore. Then, as the sun was setting he stood up.
"I think I am ready now." Fiske said plainly, and then he took off his shoes and slowly entered the tomb. When he got inside he walked up to the altar, the archeologist was right, there was nothing left. He was hoping that the man was lying, or just did not know what to look for, but it was indeed empty.
Fiske clenched his fists and shivered a bit as rage ripped through his body. His entire life was spent looking for this one place, his entire life spent trying to learn the secret of this tomb, and when he finally gets there he is greeted with only emptiness. Too many times in his life had he been teased with the promise of what once rested in this place.
Ever since he was a child, Fiske was told stories of the great emperors and kings of the world, and he had always dreamed of joining them in history. In order to do that however, he would need to obtain the artifact that was kept in this place, especially now that Project Ego had not gone the way he had expected.
After a while he slowly walked back out of the tomb. The others with him did not say a word, they were scared, and rightfully so. In all the time they had known Fiske, they have never seen him once hesitate to kill someone. He did it like it was the most natural thing in the world. It was like breathing, or sleeping.
"Someone has taken it." Fiske said after a long pause. "I think I know who." Then one brave soul decided to ask a question.
"And who would that be Master?"
"It's time I pay Gemini a visit. I think he may have what I'm looking for."
Sarah was overlooking Upperton South Hospital. She was right with her hunch that it would be completely surrounded by armed guards. They were standing shoulder to shoulder all around the building armed with heavy assault rifles. That however, was not all that GJ had done to prepare for Sarah's arrival. They also mounted rail guns all the way around the hospital along the roof.
This was both good news and bad news, the good news was that this meant that Drew was probably still inside, the bad news was that she had no idea how she was going to get in without hurting anyone. She made a promise to the man that told her where to find Drew, he told her, and so she was not going o kill anyone in extracting him. Normally she would not think much of keeping a promise, but the fact was that she really did not want anyone else to die.
Sarah was standing on top of massive skyscraper, several stories higher than the top of the hospital. She had made her way up the building without ever even setting foot inside. She was able to scale the building from the outside in a matter of minutes, she hated to admit it to herself, but she liked the benefits that Project Ego had given her. If she was not green, and running from GJ, it would all be worth it. She felt indestructible, like she could fight off the entire world and come out on top.
It was broad daylight, not the best time to make a grab for Drew, now it was just a matter of playing the waiting game. She would wait for ether GJ to move Drew, the security to be relaxed, or for him to be released from the hospital. She figured these would be prime moments of attack.
So she waited, and in the mean time looked over the clothing that Jenny had left her. She was wearing a thick black hooded sweatshirt, Sarah actually liked the way it looked. The only problem was that if she would have to use her powers, it would evaporate to nothing in an instant. She also had on a pair of blue jeans. They probably would have fit rather loosely on Jenny, but Sarah had slightly more muscular legs and wider hips that made them fit snugly. They were not uncomfortable, just a bit restricting. Jenny had also given Sarah a pair of camping boots and socks. They boots were just a bit loose, but fit better than expected. All in all she looked a bit mismatched, but it was functional, warm, and one hell of a lot better than a ripped up GJ vest and pants.
Jenny had also given her some canned food in a small backpack. Not ideal for the average person on the run, but with Sarah's abilities, she could heat up the food without even starting a fire. Just open the can a bit, hold it, and heat up her hand. Sometimes if she was not careful the bits around the edges of the can would get burned, but it worked. She now had a full belly, and with it, a new sense of confidence. All she needed now was the good doctor, and she would be back to normal in no time. Then GJ could leave her alone, and she could get her life back on track.
Inside of the hospital, Drew's two attending doctors, Matt and Bill, were still watching him very carefully. Drew was on and off as far as consciousness went, and sometimes he would wake up acting crazy, and other times he would wake up not remembering anything. Each period of consciousness would last about an hour, and then he would fall to the ground comatose. No one had even the slightest idea what could possibly be happening to him.
The Hospital had him hidden away, they did not need the entire world knowing that they had one of the wealthiest people in the world staying at their facility, especially if he was not getting better. The added stress put on by the increased GJ agents at the hospital was also a good indicator that this was supposed to stay under the rug.
Matt and Bill just sat in the room with Drew. They were on one end of one-way mirror, observing Drew in his slumber. Bill had noticed that he seemed to go comatose in patterns. He would always black out for, according to Bills theory, 55 minutes. Then he would wake up for the exact same amount of time. If he was right, Drew was going to wake up in just over two minutes. He had no idea what was causing the loss of consciousness, but it was a start.
Matt watched all of Drew's vital signs quietly waiting for any kind of irregularities. He noticed something right before it was time for Drew to wake up, his brain activity shot off the chart and his heart rate sped way up. He was living at a level that would kill any normal human being instantly. Right after the spikes, he noticed that Drew shot out of his bed and started rambling in short random phrases.
Matt and Bill both watched as Drew grabbed a marker that they had left on a table next to his bed and started to write on the window. He was muttering to himself in a quiet voice that neither Matt nor Bill could hear. They noticed that he always started right where he left off with his equations, it was like he did not even know that he was losing consciousness every hour or so. They watched him for about 35 minutes, and then something completely unexpected happened. Drew stopped writing. He just dropped the marker and looked over his equation with a wide grin. He then turned to his doctors.
"I'm done." He said calmly. Both Matt and Bill stared at each other, how did Drew know they were watching him? They were on the opposite end of one-way glass. "Doctors, you don't need to hide from me, I assure you I am quite sane."
Matt looked at the brain scans and noticed that the machine did not even have a number that it could assign to Drew. He was thinking so sporadically and quickly that the computer could not even begin to keep up with him. Bill looked at Matt and held out his fist.
"Rock, paper, scissors. Best three out of five, loser goes in, winner stays to monitor the scans." Matt just shook his head at Bill.
"Don't worry about it, I'll just go in." He stood up and opened the door and walked in to talk to Drew.
"Hello Good Doctor." Drew said calmly. "How am I doing today, can I go home now. You see, I've finished my work here, and now I need to go test my findings." Matt took a deep breath then began.
"Mr. Lipski, you cannot go home until we find out what is wrong with you. You are…" He was cut off.
"I am passing out every 55 minutes, my skin is blue, my brain is racing, and my tissue is healing much faster than it should." Matt looked shocked. "You see Doctor, not only am I aware of everything that is happening to me, but I also know how to fix it. You see, all my problems are related, my body shuts down because if it didn't, I would die. My brain is racing so quickly that it tires itself out, and it needs the down time. I think a standard downer pill would do the trick to fix this. I would need a large dose, about 200 milligrams twice a day should do it."
"That's suicide, a dosage like that would kill you instantly." Matt protested. "I can't, in good conscience, prescribe a lethal dose of drugs."
"You see Good Doctor, my body will be able to handle it because I'm healing faster than the average person." Drew laughed. "It seems that I should be able to take my medication, and you should be able to keep your conscience clean." Matt stared at Drew for a while, not sure what to think of him.
"That maybe so, but I can't release you. GJ gave us strict orders not to let you go, apparently it's dangerous for you to be out of the hospital right now." Matt leaned against the wall. "You seem to be doing better? Do you feel dizzy, or nauseous?"
"I feel everything Doctor." Drew responded. "I feel everything, I see everything, and I now understand everything. My mind is now open in impossible ways!" Drew ran up to Matt and grabbed him by the face with both hands and shook him. "I can see the thoughts of everyone in this place, I can feel the pain of the person who used to be in the room next to us, and I understand what needs to happen in order to complete my life's work! But first I need to get out of this place!"
Bill was watching from behind the glass. He watched as Drew's vital signs caused the machines to show error signals as they failed keep up with him. Drew twitched and fidgeted as electrical impulses tore through his body. It was not going to be much longer until Drew lost consciousness again.
Drew let go of Matt's face and turned back to his equation and looked it over one more time.
"Good Doctor, I do believe that I am not going to last much longer before I pass out again. If you could be so kind as to get me some medication, I would be very appreciative." Matt just stared with a dumbfounded expression on his face, unable to do anything. His patent was in obvious need of psychological help. After a while Matt tried to regain his composure and slowly straightened himself out.
"I will get you your pills Mr. Lipski, but 400 milligrams per day is a bit steep, I can't give that to you right off the bat. Why don't we start a bit lower and work our way up, see how your body adjusts." When Drew heard this he was immediately enraged.
"I need the medication now!" He shouted. "I know what I'm doing, just give it to me!" Drew fell to his knees and pounded on the ground. "I need it now, I need it now!" He shouted. Matt did not know how to respond, Drew was acting like a spoiled child in a toy store. He just looked at the glass in the room and yelled.
"Bill, call security, tell them we need tranquilizer now!" As Matt finished giving the order he felt a sharp pain in his right calf. He looked down to find that Drew was grabbing on to him and squeezing as hard as he could. Matt screamed as Drew's fingers broke his skin and started to draw blood. He tried to kick at Drew, but he was too strong. Drew just held his leg in place.
At this point Bill ran into the room to try and subdue Drew, but as he tried to separate the two men Drew started screaming.
"I need to get out of here! He is going to find me here! He is going to find me!" Drew let go of Matt, and tears streamed down his face, Matt's blood covered his hands, and his muscles were so tense that veins were starting to show through his skin, which was becoming darker and darker. "I need to hide!" Bill grabbed Drew from behind and tried to get him to his bed.
Drew was too strong for Bill however, and fought free of him. As Bill backed away Drew grabbed on to him and lifted him in the air. Then Drew ran over to the window and launched Bill right through it. Matt, now with severe damage to his leg, was powerless to stop anything that was happening. All he could do was watch as one of his friends was thrown to his death. He just watched as the glass shattered and Bill disappeared into the outside.
Sarah was sitting outside watching the hospital from above. She was getting tired and impatient, and she was starting to think about just marching in there and grabbing Drew, She rarely won at the waiting game. Then something caught her attention. It was the noise of glass shattering and a man screaming. She quickly located the source of the noise to find that a doctor was falling from the eighth story of the hospital and was about to land in the parking lot below. She cringed as he landed with a thud against the blacktop.
At this point she turned her attentions back to the window that he had fallen from. She tried to make out the person that was standing in the window, but he was too far away. Then she noticed that two other people appeared behind him who seemed to be putting him in restraints. The man was screaming a bunch of things that were indiscernible from where Sarah was watching.
Sarah then felt a sharp pain in her left shoulder followed by the loud cracking sound of a high caliber sniper rifle. It seems that in all the excitement she had stood straight up, giving GJ a clear view of her. Her cover was blown, and she needed to get out of dodge quickly. She dropped to the roof to take cover, but it would not last long, she figured that by now GJ probably had dozens of agents making their way up the building.
The truth was actually far worse for Sarah, there was not only agents making their way up the inside of the building, but also four helicopter gunships making their way up the outside of the building. These helicopters were not like normal however, but special ones built for urban combat. They had superb maneuverability, and were remote controlled from GJHQ. Their small hulls allowed them to weave into narrow alleyways at high speeds, and the lack of a cockpit allowed them to be built with aerodynamics being the only thing in mind. The only thing that was large about the crafts was their quad 50 caliber machineguns mounted in ball sockets on all four of their sides.
As Sarah watched the door to gain access to the roof, she slowly became aware of loud humming noise surrounding her, she turned to see that she had been completely surrounded by the small urban crafts. She froze for a moment, not having the slightest idea what to do in this situation. All she knew was that she needed to find a way to get a hold on Drew Lipski, and that that was probably going to hurt her a lot.
She looked over the helicopters carefully, she knew that there was no way an agent could be sitting inside, they were only about nine feet long, and five feet wide. She also got a good look at the guns, they were all set up with rotating barrels. The way that they floated around suggested that they had great speed, and maneuverability. They reminded Sarah of insects, darting around, making sudden turns, and stopping again on a dime.
After a few moments a voice came over a set of speakers on one of the ships. Sarah did not recognize it, but she did not really care who it was, by this point she already had a plan of action in mind. Besides, she figured it was too late for her to turn herself in, it was too late for that the moment she ran from the hospital on the night of Project Ego.
"We have you surrounded! Give up now, or we will open fire on you!" Sarah exhaled audibly when she heard this, she was sick of listening to the same ultimatums over and over. You would think they would try a different approach by this point. Their plan of action was clearly not working, and their persistence was becoming a bit of an annoyance to Sarah.
"I think I have a better idea!" She shouted back at the helicopter. "How about we see how good you are at driving those overpriced piles of shit!" Sarah lit up her right hand and launched a beam of concentrated energy at the nearest chopper, it dodged it without a problem and then once again began to hover in place.
"One more chance, or we will open fire!" Sarah didn't hesitate for one more second, she just ran towards the side of the roof closest to the hospital and leapt off, the gunships in hot pursuit.
Kim was trying to concentrate, She was in Middleton labs running tests with the Battle Suit. She had still not fully recovered from the previous day's activities, but her stubborn determination kept her going. It was five o'clock in the evening, and the sun was starting to go down on the horizon. She had been testing out the suit for eleven hours now, much to the dismay of her father. Despite all of his worrying and warnings, Kim kept at what she was doing.
At this time however, she was starting to wish she had taken it a bit easier. She had been running through the obstacle course in Middleton Labs over and over again. She seemed to have peaked about four hours ago, and had been on a steady decline since then. Her times, still unimaginably faster than any normal human could manage, were getting longer and longer, and her exhaustion was becoming extreme.
She was standing at the bottom of a massive warped wall, sweat was pouring down her face and she was breathing heavily. Every single muscle in her body was screaming in agony, and she felt like she was going to collapse on the spot.
"Just a bit longer." She whispered to herself, "I can do this, just one more run through." She took in a deep breath and began to run up the warped wall. It stood about 45 feet tall, which was no problem for her in the morning, but was now becoming a bit of a burden. When she first started she could just leap to the top, but now she found that she had to plant a foot about half way up and push off to get all the way up.
After she reached the top, she overlooked the next obstacle. It was a series of fifteen pillars reaching from the floor to the same level that she was standing. Each of the pillars was about eight feet apart, and only about one foot wide at the top. The object was to accurately jump from one pillar to the next and make it across a wide pit in the room.
When she was refreshed this was easy, she could clear the entire pit in one bound. Now however, she had to carefully leap her way from pillar to pillar. Her calf muscles tensed up and began to cramp every time she landed on one of the small platforms. As she landed on the ninth pillar, her legs gave out and she fell 45 feet to the ground. Her body was not as strong as her mind and was forcing her to take a brake.
Kim just lay on the ground motionless, too exhausted to even stand up. She had been beaten, and it was time for her to accept that and go home. Her Father came out of the observation room and came to his daughter's side. He had a worried look in his eyes, and was determined to stop Kim from trying the course again.
"Are you okay?" He asked on the verge of panic.
"Yah Dad, no big." Kim said without moving. "I am just really, really tired."
"Well, I am taking you home, I don't need you to hurt yourself." As Mr. Possible said this, Kim pressed the button on her helmet and the visor seemed to melt away to nothing. She then took it off her head and smiled at her Dad.
"I would like nothing more than to go home." Mr. Possible helped Kim off the ground. He was still on his crutches, so this was not an easy feat for him. After Kim steadied herself on her own feet, he wrapped his arm around her shoulder.
"We can help each other get out of here." He said as Kim grabbed on to his arm. They both started to limp there way out of the lab and to the car, supporting each other's weight. About half way to the car, Kim noticed a grim look on her Father's face.
"What's wrong? You look worried." Kim stopped right before the door of the lab, not letting her Dad go any further. It took a while for her Dad to respond, but he eventually opened up.
"Are you sure you want to do this? I'm starting to have second thoughts, I don't know if I want you do be in such a dangerous position."
"Dad, I'll be fine." Kim said, "It's just standard police work at first."
"Yah, but that's not what worries me! What about after that? What about after you're 18 and they don't need my permission to send you to God knows where?" Kim looked down at her feet.
"Tell me Dad, is it me, or the suit that you don't trust?" Mr. Possible was silent. He never intended his concern to sound like a lack of trust for Kim. However, it was true. He was not sure if Kim would be able to handle what GJ was throwing at her, he could not tell her that though, it would crush her.
"Just forget that I said anything Kim. It's just the jitters, I'm a bit nervous is all. Normal parental stuff, you'll understand someday." Kim looked at her Dad with a piercing stare.
"Okay." Kim said slowly, unsure whether to believe him or not. Then she tried to dump the thought from her mind and continued to walk to the car with her Dad. When Kim entered the car and sat in the passengers seat she closed her eyes, and before she knew it, She was sound asleep.
Sarah was in freefall off the side of the building. She had caught the operators of the helicopters by surprise, but after a few moments they were after her. Diving straight down to the ground, following their target. They could get a lock on Sarah's considerable body heat for more accurate shots, but the threat of civilian casualties was always a big factor in urban combat.
Sarah tried to steer herself so that she was falling right above crowded pockets of people, this would keep the gunships off of her back until she hit the ground. She also decided that while they could not fire at her, it would be the perfect time to attack. She turned around in mid air, her back shoulders now facing the ground, her legs slightly higher up than the rest of her. She put her hands out and started to charge up a blast of plasma.
The gunships saw what was happening and started to take evasive action, but it was too late. Sarah's elbows buckled slightly from the force as the blast of plasma left her hands. The glass windows all along the side of the building shattered as the blast traveled up its side. Two of the four gunships could not get out of the way in time and were disintegrated instantly by the heat. The other's instruments went haywire as the blast streaked past.
The force of the blast caused Sarah's speed to increase dramatically as she fell. When she hit the ground, it was with so much force that the road shattered beneath her, and she fell through to the sewers below. Filthy water rushed over her as she hit the bottom of the sewage tunnel. She did not have much time, so she swallowed her pride and stood up as fast as she could. She looked up to see that the remaining two gunships where still in pursuit after her, and now that she was in a sewer they could fire without the worry of hitting any civilians.
The gunships acquired a lock on their target and opened fire, the 50 caliber bullets whizzed down to the streets and smattered the entire area around Sarah. Disgusting, foul smelling liquid splattered up into the air as the massive rounds plummeted into the darkness of the sewer tunnel. Sarah let out a scream of agony and frustration as several of them ripped into her taking large chunks of flesh and cloth with them. Luckily, the gunships could only manage to hit her three times in the barrage.
Sarah took off down the tunnel in the direction of the hospital to avoid getting hit with any more bullets. Her body was healing, but her new clothing was starting to fall apart, not to mention they were full of blood and sewage. She had no idea where she was, or how far away the hospital was, all she knew was that she needed to get there as quickly as possible.
The gunships quickly noticed that Sarah had disappeared into the tunnels, it was not a problem for them however, because they could follow her heat signature from the air. They just dashed through the city, following Sarah's every movement and waiting for her to emerge. After a minute or so, they noticed that the heat signature came to a stop. Sarah must have been lost in the labyrinth down below.
That was not all however, what was even better for the gunships, was the fact that she stopped on the opposite end of the parameter that GJ had set up. She was trapped, and now they just needed to wait for her to make her move.
Sarah sat quietly in the sewer system trying to come up with a plan. She had some idea of where she was, but without an exact location, it was hard for her to know what to do. She looked around for a storm drain to see if she could get a better understanding of her surroundings. It did not take too long for her to locate one, and she jumped up and grabbed a hold of the grating from below. She could hear the humming of the two remaining gunships, along with the sound of dozens of boots hitting the pavement around her. Then she caught a glimpse of her target. She was only about 200 yards from the hospital, and if she could only get inside, GJ would not be able to fire on her anymore.
She knew she did not have much time to think, she needed to come up with a plan fast, and she did not care if it was a particularly good one. She just needed to get out of this situation as fast as possible. She decided that she needed to go with some shock and awe. She needed to buy herself enough time to escape once she had her hands on Drew, and she figured that if everyone was scared of her, she just might be able to get away with it.
Sarah lit up her hands, causing her sweatshirt to burn away up to her elbows as she readied the blast. Outside the gunships noticed a large spike of energy coming from beneath the ground, and issued an order for all ground units to clear the immediate area. They had no idea what was going to happen, but based on the temperature spikes below them, they knew it was going to be big.
Sarah was now ready to unleash her blast from below the city streets. The heat from her hands evaporated all of the water on her skin, and left only a foul smelling residue. She reached her hands into the air, and let the blast go, it shot up into the top of the sewage tunnel and effortlessly burst through to the surface. From the outside, it looked as if a volcano had erupted in the middle of the city streets spewing forth a plethora of green fire. The gunships dodged the display easily, and the ground agents had long ago cleared the area, but Sarah had won. She had created a substantial amount of fear in her opponents.
GJ agents watched in horror as Sarah's blast shot into the sky. Every metallic object in the area stated to gradually get sucked into the center of the blast, including objects as large as cars. Guns were ripped out of the agent's hands as they were sucked into the heart of the massive blast. The gunships where forced to retreat as they started to get sucked in as well. By the time the blast had cleared the city, everyone was too afraid to do anything. Sarah could make her move, and get out of there before anyone could get their senses back.
She quickly jumped up through the hole that she had just created in the road and started to run towards the hospital. By now the two gunships were hot on her tail, and firing their massive chain guns at her. For all their shooting however, they could not hit the rapidly accelerating Sarah. The ground units were still unnerved by her display, but the operators of the attack helicopters were still at the top of their game.
Sarah did not have to get very far before she would be inside of the hospital, and to safety. As she got closer to the front doors, the amount of people firing at her increased dramatically as the agents got a handle on themselves. Still, no one seemed to be able to get off a good shot at her as she shot past them like a speeding bullet.
As she got closer to the hospital she leapt into the air and curled herself into a ball, she was moving so quickly that the force of her flying through the air was enough to send her smashing right through the front door. Glass shattered everywhere as she burst into the lobby, finally hitting the ground about 30 feet inside the door. That is when she slowly came to the realization that her pain had come to an abrupt end, and the noise of hundreds of guns died down almost immediately after she entered the hospital. She then heard a similar but different noise, and one that was equally as unwelcome. She heard the sound of hundreds of riffles being readied and loaded.
When she looked up she realized that she was lying in the middle of about 300 GJ agents, all of whom where pointing their guns at her. She had gone and put herself right were they wanted her to. It had been a trap from the beginning, and she played her part perfectly. The lobby of the hospital was in three stories overlooking the entrance, each one of them had a spread of 100 GJ agents, all of them ready to fire on the slightest notice.
"Aw fuck!" She screamed. "Can't I catch a break!? Do you bastards have any idea how much it hurts to get shot!?" Sarah waited for one of them to give some kind of ultimatum, or for someone just to speak up at all. It took a while, but eventually her waiting paid off.
"Ms. Harris." A man's voice said after what seemed to be an eternity. "We have you completely surrounded, there is absolutely no escape. Outside of this place, we have hundreds of gunships in the air. Most of which have been outfitted with railguns just for you." Sarah was getting angry, more at the fact that she did not see this coming than the fact that she had hundreds of guns pointed at her.
"Look!" She screamed. "You guys can't win, I thought I proved that to you a few nights ago. Just get the fuck out of here before I turn this entire city block into cinders." She lit up her hands to put a bit more emphasis on her point. This caused some of the agents to recoil in terror while others tightened their grip on their weapons, ready to pull the trigger on a moments notice.
"No need for that Ms. Harris." The man said. "Let me introduce myself, my name is Agent Du, we met briefly the night of Project Ego." Sarah looked around and pinpointed the man speaking. He did look familiar. "We don't want anyone to get hurt, and I suspect that you feel the same."
"You don't seem to be leaving me much of a choice in the matter!" Sarah yelled.
"Just calm down and we can talk about this, give me five minutes." Agent Du looked Sarah in the eyes.
"Why should I, you do realize that your little toys outside just tried to turn me into a fine powder! To tell you the truth, you haven't given me any reason to trust you!" Sarah tensed up, and the fire around her hands intensified.
"All I want is 5 minutes, after that, you decide. Despite what you think, we have your best interests at heart. Our gunships didn't have to miss."
"Fuck off!" Sarah yelled. "All you care about is making sure that no one knows that you fucked up!"
"That's not true, and to prove it, if you come with me right now, I will tell the world that we screwed up. Both of us want the same thing, you just need to give us a chance."
"Yah, is that so. Then tell me, what is it that I want!" Sarah relaxed just a bit, the fire around her hands slowly getting smaller.
"You want to be left alone." Sarah stared at Du for over a minute without saying a word or moving a muscle. She was trying to gauge whether or not the man was telling her the truth, and the longer she stared at him, the more certain that she was that he was being honest.
"Alright shoot!" Sarah yelled as she extinguished her hands. "You have five minutes to prove that turning you into ash isn't in my best interest."
"Can I talk to you alone Ms. Harris?" Agent Du motioned with his hands towards a door to Sarah's right.
"You're going to trust me to talk to you alone?!" Sarah was surprised. "Don't you think that that would be a bit dumb on your part?"
"Please, if we could skip the part where you mock me and just get on with this." Agent Du started to walk towards the room he had pointed to earlier. "Follow me." Sarah didn't know what to make of this situation. It seems that GJ had gone through a lot of trouble just to get to talk to her in private.
They entered a small room that looked like it was used for meetings. A large glass table took up most of the room, and in its center there was a small projector. Along the wall opposite of the projector there was a large screen, and several billboards set up. Sarah decided to start the conversation.
"I hope luring me into a hospital full of patents wasn't the brightest idea you've ever had." Sarah smiled at Du. "That almost got real bad out there. You took a big risk bringing me here."
"Don't worry, I'm not that dense. Only one patent and his doctors, or is should say… doctor remain. Seeing as how he saw fit to throw one of them through the eighth story window." Agent Du then turned to Sarah and stared her right in the eyes. "I know what I'm doing Ms. Harris. If I don't come out of this room in one piece, Mr. Lipski will die, and you will never get a normal life back. I made the mistake of underestimating how effective Project Ego was a few nights ago, that's not going to happen again."
"Well, you sure have a funny way of showing it. If I didn't know better, I would have thought that you wanted to start a war with me."
"That would be stupid now wouldn't it?" Agent Du sat down in one of the chairs at the table. "I know that I probably can't beat you in a straight up fight. However, when you have as much money as we do, you always find a way to win."
"I'm not scared of you." Sarah narrowed her gaze at Agent Du. "All you've done so far was prove to me that you don't know how to handle me." Sarah then got in real close to Agent Du, to the point that their noses were almost touching. "You've taken away my fear Agent Du, if you thought I was dangerous before, just try me now. Make me angry, see how that fucking works out for ya'!"
"I don't intend to make you angry Ms. Harris." Agent Du backed up his chair a bit to get away from Sarah. "Let me tell you why I brought you back here. I want to make you a deal."
"What kind of deal?" Sarah took a few steps back from Du, but never brook her eye contact.
"We have Drew Lipski here in the hospital. We have even talked to him. It seems that he has a way to fix you, to make you normal again. We want to make that happen."
"What makes you think that I want to be fixed?"
"Why else would you be looking for Drew?"
"Okay then, what's the catch?"
"Give us a year to figure out what makes," Du paused for a moment to come up with the proper wording for what he was going to say, "your powers work."
"No." Sarah answered so quickly and surely that it took Du by surprise.
"What do you mean no?"
"No, I am not going to be a lab rat for a whole damn year. Forget it." Sarah was starting to tense up again. "Why can't you just leave me alone!? Why can't you just let me be?"
"Because you're dangerous Ms. Har…" Du was cut off.
"You are the one who's dangerous! I wasn't the one who started the fight the other night! You're men fired first! When I woke up in the fucking hospital and no one would talk to me, it was your men who pulled a fucking gun on me! Don't you dare try to put the blame on me! I was there, I was the one getting fucking shot from all sides, don't you dare tell me that I am the one who is dangerous!"
"You're right." Agent Du stood up again. "But that doesn't erase the fact that you're a walking bomb. We just want you to give us one year, by then everyone will have forgotten about the hospital, and the general public has no idea you even exist, so we will be able to release you. Not only that, but you will be cured of all your problems."
Sarah was done listening to this man talk like she was some kind of lab rat, or like she was some piece of lab equipment. She did not want to be thought of as something that could just be molded to everyone else's agenda. So without warning she grabbed Du by the neck and lifted him into the air and slammed him against the wall.
"Now you listen to me, I am leaving here with Drew Lipski. No one is going to shoot at me, no one is going to even look at me! Then I am going to have him cure me without your help!" Du tried to talk, but Sarah's hand was too tight around his throat. "I'm going back outside, and if anyone tries to stop me from leaving with Mr. Lipski, you know as well as I do what I am capable of. I will burn this entire city to the ground, and take your entire fucking army with it." Sarah then threw Du on the ground with a thud.
"I can't let you do that." He said rubbing his neck.
"Then you better start running." Sarah gave him a kick to the side and sent Du back into the wall, cracking the drywall. "Now go outside and tell your little gang that I'm leaving with Mr. Lipski." Sarah picked Du up with one arm and set him on his feet.
Du slowly exited the room, he was sure that he had at least one broken rib. He was having trouble breathing and his neck was sore. He was starting to think that he was definitely the wrong person for this job. He slowly opened the door and walked back into the main lobby were all of his agents were awaiting his further instruction.
"Ms. Harris is leaving with Drew!" He yelled. "None of you are going to fire a single shot, none of you are even going to look at her! Understood!" He was meet with confirmation from all of his agents, as they all lowered their weapons and looked down in defeat. Then Sarah exited the room behind Du and patted him on the back.
"That's more like it." She said. "You know, I want one other thing now that I have your attention." Agent Du let out a low growl at the thought of helping Sarah at this point. "The night I first saw you, you had a folder that had the word S-H-EGO on it. I want that folder."
"I don't have it with me." Agent Du growled. "Why would you want that anyway?"
"Curiosity mostly." Sarah let out a chuckle. "Besides, I think it has a nice ring to it, Shego. It's catchy, sounds like some kind of cartoon villain."
"Fuck off!" Agent Du yelled, getting frustrated with Sarah's overwhelming cockiness.
"Alright, I'm going. But I am going to get that file one way or the other." She then patted Du on the back. "Thanks for the chat, and just remember. If anyone attacks me or follows me, I wont hesitate." As she started to walk away she looked back at the defeated man in front of her. "You know, if you would have tried this first, it would have worked. A few days ago, I was scared of you, now, all I see is a coward hiding behind an army."
"I'm not a coward!" Agent Du screamed. "I just need to think of a way to bring you down." When Sarah heard this she walked back up to Du and crouched down in front of him.
"If you're not a coward, then prove it. Order your men to open fire on me. Try to kill me." Sarah watched as Agent Du lowered his head in defeat. "No, didn't think so. You know that I would kill every one of them, and then you." Sarah stood back up. "Now, where is Drew Lipski?"
Mr. Possible looked at Kim as they entered their driveway. She had fallen asleep almost immediately after they left Middleton Labs, and has not so much as twitched since. He almost felt sorry for having to wake her up as they finally got back to their home. After she regained consciousness, she slowly got out of the car and stumbled into the house. The first place she went to was the kitchen, where her Mother had a hot meal waiting for her.
Kim sat down to eat, but did not have much of an apatite. The day's activities have, more than anything, given her stomach an upset feeling, this plus her brother's complete lack of any kind of table manners. Nonetheless, she managed to dump several forkfulls into her stomach before deciding it was time to go to her room.
When she got there, she closed the door and fell onto her bed. She was still wearing the battle suit, and she knew that she should probably shower before falling asleep, but she was so tired that she was willing to forget these things for now. It would have worked too if her phone had not gone off. She looked at the caller ID to see that it was Ron. She slowly answered it.
"hello." She said half asleep.
"KP, I'm coming over, I need help on my homework." Ron sounded worried.
"Ron, first of all, your parents won't let you. Remember we are both grounded for breaking into the lab the other night. Second, can't it wait? I don't think I have ever been this tired in my entire life." Kim just wanted to hang up and let sleep take her, but something told her that Ron might actually need help.
"KP!" The boy yelled. "I'm serious! My Mom is going to give me a ride over to make sure that I am really going to your house this time. I need to pass my history exam tomorrow!"
"Fine, you can come over, but give me a little bit to take a shower."
"Aw, can't I be there for…." Kim hung up on Ron before he had time to finish his thought. She then got up off her bed and stumbled her way over to her bathroom. When she entered, she took off the battle suit and turned on the shower. As she waited for the water to heat up she took a look in the mirror.
She had only spent a few days in the battle suit, but she was already starting to notice a slight difference in her appearance. She was starting to gain a bit more muscle tone, nothing too extravagant, but there was definitely a bit of definition. She patted her belly, it felt a bit more sturdy than it usually did. She looked like she had been on a diet for the past few weeks. She smiled as she tensed up her stomach muscles and noticed a slight hint of muscle tone.
"I could get used to this." She whispered to herself. Kim was never really too self conscious about her appearance, but now she had to admit that she looked really good. If she did not look like she was going to fall over any moment from exhaustion, she would have looked better than she ever had. After a bit of posing in the mirror, she got into the shower. She exhaled deeply as the hot water washed over her. Her muscles began to relax, and she could feel the stress of her day wash down the drain.
After a while Ron knocked on Kim's bedroom door, when he did not hear a response he put his ear up to it. He could hear the shower running and a devious grin slipped onto his face. He slowly opened the door and snuck inside, he then quietly tiptoed across the room and sat at Kim's desk. From this spot, Kim would not be able to see him as she exited her bathroom. It would probably take an entire minute for Kim to realize that he was even in the room with her, so it was here that he lay in wait.
As the minutes went by, his conscience started to nag at him however. He knew that by going through with his plan, he would only succeed in three things. One, he would make his best friend mad at him, two, he would be branded a pervert, and third and least importantly, Kim would probably refuse to help him with his history.
"Aw, dang it." He whispered to himself after a bit of internal arguing. Then he finally stood up with a huff and exited Kim's bedroom. He was actually a bit angry that such a underhanded thought would enter his head, as he left into the hallway he slammed his forehead into the wall. It was like he was trying to banish the unclean thoughts from his mind.
After about five minutes he heard the sound of Kim's shower turning off. He gave her another few minutes to get dressed before he knocked on her door again. This time it swung open, Kim standing on the other end. She was wearing her pajamas, a baggy white t-shirt with old black worn out sweatpants. Her wet, red hair looked wash shining in the glow of the lights in her room.
"Hey Ron, come on in." She said as the blond boy entered the room for the second time that night. "What do you need help with?" Kim sounded tired, and she looked infinitely more so.
"KP, you look exhausted." Ron said as he took a closer look at his best friend. "Maybe I should leave, you don't look so good."
"No Ron, you're already here, we might as well get you ready for your test tomorrow." Kim Sat down on her bed, and leaned against the headboard. "It's no big, what part don't you get?"
"The whole part about Black Georgia, I just…." His voice trailed off as he looked into Kim's bathroom. "Is that the battle suit?" He said.
"Ron, don't get off topic." Kim took a deep breath.
"Seriously KP, It's just sitting in your room, is that a good idea? The other night a bunch of terrorists were trying to steel it."
"Yah, it's cool. Remember what happened to them, I can take care of myself."
"Well, what I remember is that it shook you up pretty good." Ron looked at Kim with concern as she rubbed the back of her neck and looked at her feet. Then he tried to change the subject. "What were you doing with it anyway?"
"Dad taught me more about the W.A.D.E. system, he taught me how to use it to communicate with the authorities, and how to use it combat. I also ran the obstacle course about 200 times." Kim got even more tired just thinking about it.
"Wade system, that's lame." Ron said as he returned his attentions to the battle suit from Kim. "You should call it the Kimmunicator."
"Ron, that's corny. It sounds like a comic book gadget, or something James Bond would use."
"Yah, but it's corny in a good way. And you say that like having a James Bond gadget is a bad thing." The boy responded. "I like it." Kim thought about it for a while then smiled.
"I like it too, it's corny in a good way." The two stared at each other for a minute before Kim decided it was time to get down to business. "So what don't you get about Black Georgia?"
"A lot of things, but lets start with the biggest question. I know why they call it Black Georgia, I just don't know why." Kim looked at Ron and scratched her head.
"Ron, that sentence made less than no sense." Ron took a deep breath and tried to explain again.
"I know that it's called Black Georgia because the entire state had a power failure, but I can't find the why in the textbook. Why did it black out?" Kim nodded her head to show that she understood his question now.
"Well, that's not an easy question to answer." Kim thought about how to counter. "It started with the Harris family, they owned all of the power plants on the entire coast. They still own most of them as a matter of fact."
"So they just cut the power?" Ron did not see where Kim was going.
"Ron, maybe you should spend less time drawing in history, and pay attention."
"Less preaching, more teaching." The blond said in a serious tone.
"Okay, it started when the Georgia State Government tried to shut down the Harris family, they accused them of monopolizing. So in order to do that, they hiked the taxes up on everyone who used Harris power."
"Go on, I think I'm learning." Ron was furiously taking notes in a small notebook.
"Well, the Harris family didn't like that at all, so they just shut the power down to everyone. The entire state went dark accept a few counties on the western edge where Harris Power wasn't used." Kim then tapped her chin with her index finger as she tried to recall what happened next. "They did it to show who was really in control of the situation."
"Is that when the fighting started?" Ron asked quietly, absolutely sure that he was wrong.
"I think so." Kim replied to the boy's surprise. "How do you remember that?"
"The fighting is way more interesting than the other stuff."
"I see, well I think that you're right. The Citizens rebelled and stormed the Georgia State capital, no one was killed but a lot of people got hurt. This eventually led to the tax being repealed, and the power turned back on." Ron still looked a little confused. He had many other questions about the event, and he knew that he and Kim were in for a long night, whether Kim liked it or not.
Dr. Director sat at her desk trying to ready herself for her meeting with the Union of Civil Nations. They were displeased with the progress of capturing and containing Project Ego, and they were going to intervene directly. After taking a deep breath she opened up the video chat on her computer.
The image showed three men sitting at a large table. Their names were Hector, Vince, and Jack. They were the three chairmen in charge of the UCN. They all looked angry, and all of them looked like they where fed up with the endless failures to capture Sarah. Dr. Director decided to get the ball rolling.
"So, why did you need to talk to me?"
Writers Comments: Well, it's been a little while hasn't it? Hope none of you thought that I bailed on this, because nothing could be further from the truth. I have just been slammed with all sorts of distractions lately. It all started with my relatives from a different state living at my house for almost a week. Plus working full time, mixed with trying to get my transfer to Green Bay in order, finding housing, picking classes, going to all there little appointments, finding what I need to do for my major, getting my lone squared away, the list could go on for five more pages, but I think you get the picture. So this chapter was written completely during my lunch hours at work over the past weeks. Hope you liked it, and I hope to post the next one shortly.
