"Whenever I'm asked what caused the biggest change towards the end of the 07 year, I can't say it was the Dominion, I couldn't say it was aftereffects of the first lorwardian attack or that aggressive reconnaissance stunt of Warhok's buddies in December... the biggest answer had to be the vulnari. When they came, an already deteriorating situation just got worse... and a seemingly nightmarish situation can give evil all it needs to take control. History will always repeat itself, the smart guy learns to anticipate that."
- Kim Possible, reflecting on the changes that began to take place towards the end of 2007, as recorded in her Liber Memoriarum
"These laser weapons are not a bad thing, sir. The stun setting is extremely useful for usage by police or when needed for non-lethal takedowns. However, the GJA has a large number of fundamental flaws from its original purpose as GJ's weapon of choice when translated for usage by the United States Armed Forces, Marine Corps, and other armed divisions. The main issue being the relatively large design of its ammunition, with a lack of the many gadgets of modern military also missing. If the batteries were compacted down to the scale of, as an example, the M-16's clip, it could be a viable weapon to arm our soldiers with in the near future. But until it's practical to carry more or required to arm all our forces with these energy weapons due to say, the increasing presence of supers with powers able to deal with lead rounds, older tech will do us better at this scale."
- Captain Edwin Barkin, giving his statement on the GJA-13 rifle to a US Department of Defense agent, and the statement was later used to begin the M-16 Mark II program to design a workable yet practical energy rifle to use against targets resistant to lead bullets.
Chapter 21: Arrival
August 9th, 2007
Doctor Drakken's Caribbean Lair
Drakken frowned as he looked through the telescope. "Those fragments are headed right towards us," she said with a frown. "At least, one of them are."
Shego nodded, "Any idea what they are?"
"No," Drakken answered as he rubbed his chin, "But I think it's time to kick some new production in before they arrive. Walk with me, talk with me, want to show you what I've got now."
They walked down from the small observatory Drakken had set up and he lead her down to one of the larger lab rooms. Drakken had really stepped up what they were making; he wasn't leaving it to any one type of minion, just like they planned. And that would hopefully become a strong point of the plan; Kim would be hit with multiple types of opponents at once. She was good, but even she had difficulty with that. This lab was the weapons lab, Drakken had decided to make a separate one to work on henchmen level weapons for the scheme because of how many things he had started trying. It was disturbing, sometimes, how he would be all over one project for a short while then become obsessed with another one... if anything good came from it, he usually just used scrap to test the theories and then often used lessoned learned in other places. Drakken grunted as he pulled out a laser cannon and attached it to the center turret base he'd set up in the testing place for actually firing the test weapons.
"This," he said with a pant as he attached it, "Is going to be put onto Destructobots. It's been upgraded with some of the Project Patton designs and should easily threaten a tank now, though probably more through deforming the armor then straight out overpowering it." He moved around it as he explained, hooking the cannon into the turret base and taking a step back. Shego grabbed some safety goggles and stood behind the reinforced observation bunker as Drakken moved up a target and joined her, pressing the button. With a single blast the cannon fired a bolt of plasma, partially deforming the armor and smoke rose from the melting metal.
"Nice," she commented. "What else do you have?"
"One of our agents got me parts, I could probably make those disc grenades that Dementor has developed for our drones." He glanced over as Perkins and Lucre walked in.
"Those discs are too fancy," Lucre was arguing with Perkins.
"But they are effective when used."
"If you're going to use a handheld thrown, use a pineapple. Cheaper and smaller."
"Less range and bang, though." Drakken said, "Besides, I don't think drones are smart enough to pull a pin without throwing it rather than the actual explosive. Disc grenades are just pushing a button and holding it for a few seconds until you throw it, and it arms once in flight."
Lucre shrugged, "Your choice, but you could probably use some cheaper compounds."
"Probably," Hank admitted. "But if they're not good enough they'll cost more than what we save."
"Well, the design seems sound enough. What else?" Shego asked.
"Not much, really," Drakken admitted. "I've got a few upgrades for the blade drones, but they're still a long ways away from being the heavy blitzing bots I wanted them to be."
"Dementor's armor?"
"Yes, that armor. Only real thing I can see as a way to get it would be to beat up a bunch of Dementor's henchmen and salvage samples."
"Something to have our henchmen work on, then," she said. "Well, you know your tech better. What do you think?"
"I'm figuring we should start small, for once. Get the basic drones up since they're what we're manufacturing the most of. The discs should give them some better bunch and ought to help deal with GJ's Telthor mechs, but the discs are too costly to give to every drone, so they'll be the heavy drone accompanying the regular fodder."
"Yeah, those are going to rip the drones a new one. Heck, they'd rip everything that isn't a tank up quickly," Lucre commented.
"Yes, by the time they're ready the Destructobots ought to be enough to match and wipe them out, but until then we need to have some drones." Drakken said with a shrug. "Really, that's one of the hard things about being a villain, picking what you give the henchmen."
"Speaking of which, I've been running some seminars with the new ones we ought after the breakout from Cell Block D, lot of them seem really into joining you."
"Good, soon as they're ready we can start getting some backup lairs made and staffed." Shego said, "Rather not be stuck in any one place when we're playing around with stuff that's beyond most humans…"
"Hey, it's not my fault that the mutant termites kicked us out to the time share lair for two weeks." Drakken said sourly, "Besides, they shouldn't of gotten out of their containers."
"Whatever, I just think it'd be better to have a backup or two. Like the one you had in the Alps."
"Right, well, I think we're in agreement to get the discs and new blade modifications ready?"
XXXX
Possible Residence
Middleton, Colorado
"So Wade, what's the sitch on the fragments?" Kim asked, pacing around her desk where Wade had set up a connection from his room.
"Still incoming, but the larger chunks are being targeted by Global Justice. They're setting up firing solution and acting as a middle ground to make sure there's no accidents, not that many like GJ overseeing it."
"Don't blame them," Kim answered. "They haven't really inspired confidence from the army. What else is going on?"
"Simms sent you a memo, you got it?"
"Yup," she answered, holding the small letter that had thanked her for the crystal that Archanus had given her and that they were doing some tests. So far it was looking like they could maybe extract the data for a more technological method… though the letter was again bare bones and had been delivered at night by what she assumed was one of Simms' agents. "Hopefully he'll get something useful by the time we have another smack down with aliens."
"Yeah, but if they really hit us hard we're in for it. Maybe if the world was at the tech level of GJ or the mad science hanging around we'd be able to, but not with old gunpowder."
"Anything else?"
"Not really. Did some modifications to the battle suit if you want to give it a spin, but otherwise there isn't much to do but be handy if something goes really wrong with the incoming impacts."
"Not a problem. Anyways, you got that new ShadowTraining module you've been dying to test up?"
"Yeah. Think you'll find it useful."
"I'll be over soon." She paused as she remembered what she wanted to ask. "Oh, Wade, could you dig up something on those 404 guys? The ones that were chasing Gill?"
"No problem. They're one of Malta's efforts."
"Malta, huh?" Kim said with a frown. "Haven't had to work with him for a while. What was the last time we did, the Magocracy lair we busted?"
XXX
Yamanouchi, Japan
"Again."
Ron closed his eyes, focusing and letting the magical energy build up as he held his hands tightly. He was working on a technique that was meant as some sort of burst, and as it finished building up (or what he felt was finishing), he released it and instinctively threw his arms to the side as the ring of blue magical energy expanded with the usual simian echo that accompanied the magic he used. Man that's getting annoying, he finally decided, I need to learn a silent version of this, or any heavy magic I use is going to get me spotted faster than Captain America running through a Hydra camp at night with his shield on his back…
He glanced around, "Did I get it that time?"
"Close," Sensei said as he walked up to one of the small incense burners which were releasing a colored smoke, putting a hand through it and a ghostly monkey glowing green materialized, bound in chains. "But you haven't managed to properly repel them."
"This technique's really hard to build for, how am I supposed to use it in a fight?" Ron asked. "Not trying to be rude, but it's one of those thing were I'd need Kim covering me three-sixty to use."
He nodded slowly, "The charging energy will help shield you from the vulnari that your turning is meant to repel, but you are correct, it does leave you vulnerable. With time you will learn to force the charge quicker, but for now you must at least have the basic technique."
"So that's what it's for, fighting vulnari?" Ron asked. "Huh. Mighta been handy a while ago. Why wasn't I shown earlier?"
"The most complex of edifices are built upon the basics of its foundation. You must master more basic techniques first." He explained calmly.
Ron nodded, "Alright, let's give it another go."
Sensei nodded and waving his hand through the control smoke the vulnari appeared again, howling at him. Ron closed his eyes and built up the magic, trying to speed it up this time before he released it with a grunt. The circular burst of energy expanded from his midsection and cut into the vulnari, which howled in pain before exploding into dust and vanishing. Sensei nodded slowly. "You have completed the technique."
"Where did it come from, anyways?" Ron asked as he started picking up the containers to store them for later use. "This more than any of the ones I've learned really feels like it's out of Fortress and D&D."
"It was devised during the end of the Magocracy. It was a signature ability belonging to a specialized sect of magic users which focused on combining magic and blade, often hunting down loose vulnari to keep their presence low. They became known as…"
"Paladins? Seems like one of their types of abilities. Thought I was NG…" Ron smirked briefly as Sensei raised an eyebrow. "Sorry. Gamer joke."
"The amount of magical abilities you draw the analogy of this video based fiction in order to understand is sometimes disturbing," Sensei commented with a faint hint of amusement. Ron paused, rubbing the back of his neck uncomfortably.
"Have I really been doing that?"
"Yes… but if it helps you understand the early phases, then I will not contest it. All that remains to be seen is the wisdom of seeing the difference of reality and fiction." He paused briefly, "But wisdom comes in all forms, does it not, when used appropriately."
XXX
XXX
XXX
Kim nodded as she came to her senses. She was wearing the battle suit this time, though it was powered down for round one. "Good to go Wade, let's run it. What're you calling it again?"
"Hulk Smash, version one." Wade answered, echoing through the off-white cubic field suspended in a black abyss.
A figure materialized ahead, and it didn't take Kim long to realized what it was a simulation off. The large, green skinned humanoid enemy was clad in a medium maroon armor, carrying a dark purple colored staff weapon. He looked at her and charged. Kim ran towards him, diving around as he swung his weapon at her and came up behind him, kicking him in the back. He grunted and shrugged the hit off before he whirled around, catching her in the shoulder with the pole of his staff weapon. Grunting as she hit the ground as rolled clear as he stabbed it into the ground, static buzzing in the cube her opponent had struck. She rolled back onto her feet as he pulled it out and stared at her briefly.
Kim sprang out of the way as he leveled the staff weapon at her and started firing bolts of plasma energy from it, avoiding the incoming attacks as she tried to find a way to close in on him without exposing herself to his strength. He's really got an edge here, she thought pragmatically, No gadgets or battle suit, and he's more built for a melee brawl than I am. Still, I might be able to abuse that size…
He stopped firing as she began to move closer and the two collided. He effectively just bitch slapped her back, sending her tumbling away with a grunt each time she hit the ground and rolled. He charged at her, roaring like a warrior as he swept his staff low. Kim leapt over it and kicked him in the face as she back flipped onto her feet. He grunted from the blow before the follow up attack caught her as she tried to jump away, spearing her through the chest and blinding her with pain…
XXX
Kim inhaled sharply as she was knocked out of the virtual reality. The helmet came off quickly and the clamps released. Instinctively reaching for her chest and pulling her shirt up to make sure she wasn't actually speared through the stomach, she was relieved to find her skin unbroken except for the cuts she had from crashing the Sloth. I'll never get used to how… good the simulator is.
Wade stepped down from his room, "You okay, Kim?" he asked.
"Fine. Just kind of surprised how I lost that one. How'd you duplicate one I've never fought anyways?"
"Simms." Wade explained, "He asked me to start compiling simulations of lorwardian warriors, and he had managed to salvage some data from the parts of Warhok's ship that survived. Figured you'd be the first to try it out and help me evaluate it."
"Well, it's looking like we can check normal hand-to-hand off the list unless we're that desperate," she commented. "I'm going to give it another go, but if I can't beat one in hand-to-hand combat without any juice in the battle suit there's no way anyone can short of superpowers and guns."
"Yeah," Wade said with a nod, "Though he had his weapon. I wasn't able to recreate any non-weapon combat techniques because we lacked information on it. The bitch slap he did was pretty much from what Drakken mentioned in his GJ debriefing after your first fight on how Warmonga started slapping Shego around."
Kim nodded, stepping back onto the rack. "Alright, Wade, hook me in. I want to try some other techniques, see if I can't find some methods that don't resort to guns and knives." She left the pragmatic colliery unsaid, though. Humans just aren't able to compare to them, too small and weak. So how do we deal with it non tech/magic wise short of evolution, which we don't have a few million years to wait on?
XXX
GJ Firebase Alternate-1
Upperton, Colorado
Paul looked down the new ACOG sight that had been added to his GJA-13, taking shots down the range as he did so. "So, we got a new guy coming in?" he asked.
"Yes, Jordanian everyone's calling 'Wire'. Demolitions expert." Church answered as he lifted his modified GJA-21 up.
"Demo expert, eh? Wonder how the rag head learned that…" Paul muttered bitterly as he loaded the under slung grenade launcher add on that his GJA-13 had been modified with, shooting the practice grenade down the range where it exploded into white powder.
"Don't be so sure, he was apparently PBD for a while, before the fold in."
"Yeah, well, I'll believe it when I see it." He put the safety on and unloaded the rifle, making sure it was still set to stun. "Where we picking him up?"
"We're going after some Big Daddy Brotherson fellow as he tries to do a deal in Cyprus. We'll be picking up Wire there."
"When we leaving?"
"Hour or so."
XXX
Global Justice Headquarters
Somewhere under the Tri City Area, Middleton, Colorado
Doctor Director frowned. "So, Innocents for Public Safety have recovered from the drop after Kim's heroics and are again pushing for overly intrusive legislation?"
"That's correct, ma'am," Agent Talleyrand said calmly. "They've recently been attempting to get votes in the Colorado state legislature in order to repeal the Authorized Vigilante Act."
"Repeal it? And reopen a legal option to be used by villains to target heroes like Possible?" she asked in amazement, shaking her head and closing her good eye. "Keep an eye on it. We need countermeasures in place to make sure that no villains take advantage of it."
"Yes ma'am. Agent Du has also sent his report on his thoughts of Taskforce 404 so far."
She nodded, "I'll read that in my office. Next?"
"Gemini has recently sent another list of demands to..."
"Rodegan," she answered automatically. Gemini, while lowering the tempo of his operations there, still didn't like losing even without GJ presence. "Is their defense force still active?"
"Yes ma'am, it expanded from fifty fighting men to sixty and have recently begun getting some training from a few French officers."
"Still a small number, but then again their population is only about..." she tried to remember, glancing at the console at her seat in the briefing room and dialing up the information, "Three hundred fifty... most of their soldiers being only part time in nature."
"Correct. Should we intervene again?"
"No, Gemini isn't gaining any ground anytime soon there, and we have more pressing matters to deal with. Rodegan can wait. What's the status on the asteroid fragments?"
"Inbound on schedule, and firing solutions are being ratified and checked from our launch facility to prevent the larger impacts from hitting cities."
"Good." She tapped her fingers on the table. She wasn't sure half of the people that they were working with to make sure it all went smoothly liked Global Justice, but at least they seemed willing enough to have UN oversight, even if it was GJ representing it. "Now all we have to do is wait, and be on standby to acquire the fragments as they land. Word on Stoppable?"
"Affirmative, we've managed to narrow down the region he's within. Team Possible remains completely unaware of Operation Pound."
She paused briefly, holding back a laugh before saying, "We really need to rename that operation. I understand he was the mascot for almost four years, but..." She left the implication to hang. "Well, knowing just what Stoppable is up to will help. If it has something to do with magic, it may connect to this Conclave/Magocracy thing we keep finding."
"Yes ma'am."
XXX
Evil Test Range
Doctor Drakken's Caribbean Lair
"Alright... Disc Drones, engage target one!" Drakken ordered. The five disc grenadier drones drew an explosive disc from their large backpacks, which were designed to slide another disc to the pull slot at the end of them where the drones easily grabbed them before bending like a discus thrower and hurling their discs at the target barrel (built to the proportions of a tank) and hit the barrel, blasting into the targets painted onto it. Drakken nodded as he checked the readings. "Good... engage targets two to twenty-one!"
The drones turned towards a long line of combat dummies marked in GJ blue wearing mock up uniforms roughly on par with GJ standard. The discs flew into the targets and blasted the group apart with repeated throws. Drakken nodded again, smiling as the tests kept coming in positive. He had something, and maybe something to finally allow synthodrones to match GJ agents with more than just huge numbers. He smiled and pointed down a larger range designed to test the limits of their range. "Eliminate all targets!"
That turned out to be a mistake, the drones were throwing discs left and right at random. Drakken dove out of the way as a disc grenade flew towards where he was standing and it sailed over, exploding onto the reinforced walls harmlessly. He crawled forward to avoid being spotted as he realized there was a glitch in the system, trying to find where he'd dropped the remote as the drones started blowing up anything that looked remotely like a target. He dove to the left as a disc skidded off the ground next to where he was and sailed away, realizing he was getting boxed in between the wall and an explosive.
Several shock stave blasts suddenly came in from above and Drakken looked up, a few henchmen had come down in one of the hover cars Drakken had. He sighed, "Thanks for that. Bob, right?"
"Yes sir!"
"Consider you and your boys a pay grade higher... nice shooting."
"Thanks, boss. Anything else?"
"No, that'll be all for now."
XXX
Evil Rec Room
Dr. Drakken's Caribbean Lair
"So, how was your evil scheming back then?" Lucre asked in the lair's recreational room, mostly just tables and a (looted) Pac Man machine. He and Hank were on lunch break, and were discussing their previous exploits with Drakken.
"Well, originally I was pulled in as a temp for a temp, some Ray-X device that Drakken had stolen." Hank explained as he sipped his coffee. "Everyone was catching the common cold, so it went from Possible's brothers getting sick, to her herself getting sick, to Shego, to the sidekick, to Drakken, to Killigan, and then it all ended with the original sick being better and Ray-X being trashed. I almost managed to get the twins, though."
"Wow. I helped with the Stock Bot caper, got him the MCD… then Smarty's son stole it to safe some otters."
"Well, wasting otters would be a waste of cute, wouldn't it?" he commented unabashed.
"Oh yeah. So, you do anything more? The Ray X heist doesn't seem like something that'd get you a permanent rec."
"Nah, it wasn't that. You remember Hank's?"
"That overcharging rip-off joint?" Lucre scowled, tightening his grip on his cup's handle. "Just 'cause you add 'gourmet' to the cupcake doesn't mean you can charge more than your competitors and still get all the customers!"
"It worked, and helped cover up the energy signatures of the Atmosfrezer with the rest of humanity's squandering. And the cupcakes were good."
"Never tried them, but I'll take your word for it. Still too costly, though."
"Funds for the bad guy." Hank shrugged. "And legitimately earned, for once."
"Probably earned more than me just asking for a dollar from everyone. Everyone laughed, but the scale! A dollar for everyone and we're starting to inch towards getting seven billion people! Even if I only counted the threat for developed countries, I'd still be making a mint! And all I needed was a can of expired Vienna sausages."
Hank fought back the urge to throw up at the thought. There was getting stuff for a bargain… and then there was being flat out gross.
XXX
Elevator 2A
Doctor Drakken's Caribbean Lair
"So Bob, how much a raise we get out of that deal?"
"About 50%."
"Not much considering we get paid what… minimum wage?"
"Better than nothing, and we don't pay income tax."
"True."
XXX
Load Residence
Middleton, Colorado
Kim shook her head. "Alright, that sim is tough." She'd gotten taken out again in the simulator. She was able to threaten them, there was no doubt about it, but the techniques she was using made her suspect that they only worked because it was an incomplete recreation. The armor was tough, but she was naturally capable of knocking one down with a leg sweep. But an actual finishing move became tough without a weapon because of how tough they were.
"Yeah, not a surprise. Even the weakest of them would give the strongest human a run for his money." Wade answered, scanning the battle suit as he talked and checking the readings. "Anyways, battle suit is ready for another whirl. I've added a new tech weave into it… it should help block kill magic if it's being used on you."
"Spankin', can you weave it into my other gear?"
"Sure, but it'll take a while. I also got the file you wanted."
"404?"
"Yep. They're Malta's boys." Wade explained as he walked over to his computer and handed her the papers. "I borrowed the GJ file on them. They're basically Malta's attempt to create an elite strike force. The only real GJ recruit he picked up was Will Du, and that was at Doctor Director's insistence. Everyone else is pulled from some non-GJ military. Their main officer is from the British SAS, they got a French GIGN heavy weapons and diplomatic specialist… oh, and get this, they picked up a US marine for their group. The marine also has regenerative superpowers."
"Nice," Kim commented. "Sounds like he'd be something you'd be aware of." It took Wade a moment to realize what she just did.
"Wait, you actually know something about CoD?" Wade asked in surprise. "I thought you didn't…"
"I saw the Tweebs playing it the one time they weren't using video games for parts. One of them commented about some Soap guy being able to take a serious beating."
"Oh."
XXX
Doctor Drakken's Caribbean Lair
"I'm interested in this General Duran fellow," Shego commented as they were going over the dossiers of the GJ and ex-PBD officers that they'd eventually need to neutralize. They were planning on neutralizing one of them to kick up some more street cred and put GJ on the defensive. "Guy's involved with DNAmy level mad science…"
"Recruited her, even," Drakken interjected.
"Recruited DNAmy, had a run in with Kimmie, and seems like a total maverick." Shego finished. "Let's not take him out. If anything we might be able to turn him."
"I dunno," Lucre commented, "His spat with Possible was about the fact she was a freelancer. I don't think he'll be sympathetic to well, you."
Shego paused, then shrugged. "Well, maybe we can manipulate him against her, get some infighting going on. Meshing PBD into GJ couldn't have gone completely smooth."
"Get some tension going, then take him out to set it off?" Drakken offered.
"Sounds like a plan, if we get anyone on the inside who can start getting us info to get it going. Let's move onto the next item… what's our next target?" Perkins asked.
"Global Justice supply base in the Alps." Shego said as she booted up the hologram of the planet, which focused on the area. "Apparently it was built on an old WEE listening post taken out in June. They got a shipment of Telthors coming in for storage and later on, distribution. I'm thinking we hit it hard, lay waste, steal everything, and then see GJ's reaction."
"We can probably salvage some good materials and getting GJ weapons opens up very interesting possibilities…" Drakken grinned villainously and his fingers were like a tent as he leaned forward.
XXX
Airspace of Global Justice Firebase Med-3
Cyprus
"Oh you gotta be bloody kidding me!" Ghast exclaimed as the GJ Hovercraft came into sight of the base... and it was on fire. He immediately hit his radio; "Command, we got a problem!"
"Copy, what's your situation?" a GJ Battlefield Control operative responded over the radio.
"The bloody base is being attacked you useless twit! What the hell's going on?"
"Med-3 is under attack by unidentified forces, armed with small arms and shock staves. Base is holding but they need assistance..."
Malta cut in suddenly, "404, we're going to need to help the base. Get down there, clean out the attackers, and find Wire."
"Affirmative, sir," Ghast responded before flipping the radio off and glancing to the rest of the taskforce. "Alright boys and girl, lock and load. Reggie, you got point once we hit the ground."
"Yes sir," Paul answered as he pulled out his GJA-13 and loaded it, grenade launcher and all before standing and holding onto the railing next to the drop bay, glancing at Hoover who seemed a little seasick. "What, haven't had a drop before?" he asked the spotter.
"No, just a bad case of nausea." Hoover answered. Giles smirked faintly as he finished assembling his GJA-19. The hovercraft began to descend and the pilot warned that things might get bumpy.
"Church, what do ya see down there?" Ghast asked, as Church was standing near one of the side windows on the craft.
"Full base under attack; looks like they're holding the main command center but the armory's been torched!"
"Bloody brilliant, if the Telthors weren't manned or blown up they'll be online in use by the baddies by now." Ghast muttered, "If you see a Telthor that's shooting at us, hit it."
"Yes sir." Church answered as he charged his modified GJA-21.
The hovercraft shook violently with a cloud of smoke passing by the window, and Hoover suddenly began to puke as Paul nearly hit the wall, but his grip on the roof railings held. Just like amphibious training, he mused briefly, recalling the training beachheads they'd done. "Holy shit! Taking triple-A, hold on back there!" The hovercraft began to shift and turn quickly as they sped down to earth, more explosions and sharp turns jostling the passengers. An explosion hit the side of the hovercraft and blew the engine off, causing the pilot to shout "What the fuck are henchmen doing with rocket launchers!"
The hovercraft's remaining engine fired off desperately, slowing the fall down enough that they could land somewhat safely. The entire 404 were thrown around in the landing, landing roughly and Paul's vision became a blur as he tried to figure out what was going on. He groaned, rolling over as the craft came to a stop and shook his head, feeling cuts already starting to mend. He pushed himself up and nodded to Ghast, who'd also managed to survive the crash. "I'll check on the pilot," Ghast said and moved to the front while Paul turned Hoover over. Hoover coughed up dust as Paul offered his hand.
"Come on, we gotta get up and get moving!" he said and turned. Church was up, and Sara was reaching for her medical kit. Will Du had already grabbed his rifle and had taken up position at the blown-open door, checking for hostiles moving towards the craft.
"Where's Giles?" Hoover asked. Paul looked around; he didn't see the sniper anywhere. Ghast came in, looking tired.
"Pilot's bleeding like mad beyond what I can do. The landing hit nose first and he's got bits of the window in him. Sara, get on it!"
"Yes sir!" she said as she hurried up. Ghast glanced around, doing a silent head count.
"We better find Giles. Let's move it!"
They noticed one of the doors was open and moved out through it. Dust and smoke had clogged the air as they came out as fast as they were able. The GJ base was ablaze with gun fire and energy shots crisscrossing the area, explosions going off from grenades and a rocket launcher being used on the heavily armored GJ command center, which was looking like a bunker ready to fall apart. Paul spotted the first of the enemy attackers, a henchman wearing a Kevlar chest piece and under that street clothes and carrying an AK-47 with iron sights. He lined up his rifle with the enemy and took the shot, stun rounds sailing into him and knocking him down. He grunted as a sharp pain came from some of his wounds, causing him to miss subsequent shots at other enemy mercenaries. Damn it, didn't heal right!
"Who the hell was supposed to be in that mech?" a GJ soldier shouted over the radio as a Telthor became visible from the wreckage of the armory, marching towards the command center. The attackers hadn't noticed the 404 yet, and were made mostly of what seemed to be henchmen and thugs from the street given half decent equipment, mostly bits of Kevlar body armor and a mix of AK-47 and Belgian-made FN FAL rifles. The Telthor was spinning up its guns and shooting energy rounds towards the windows of the command center. The 404 had opened fire, but in the smoke and confusion the henchmen hadn't noticed them yet.
"I found Giles!" Church shouted. Paul glanced over to see the sniper groaning on the ground, a short blood trail indicating he had pulled himself into cover after somehow being ejected from the hovercraft.
"Great work!" Ghast shouted as he reloaded and ducked behind cover and making sure his radio was on, "Sara, we found Giles! He's out here. The pilot alright?"
"He'll live as long as he isn't hit in the cross, I'm pulling him out now." she answered.
"Copy that. Taskforce, covering fire!"
Church pulled his GJA-21 up and fired a shot which hit the Telthor, blasting into the left side of it and causing it to stumble and the left gun to fizzle out as its power was disrupted. The mech turned and the henchmen finally noticed as Sara hurried to Giles, getting to work with her medical tools to stop the bleeding. Paul fired the grenade launcher add-on to his rifle, the grenade sailing over and on impact detonated, sending a pair of henchmen flying away with their rifles clattering onto the ground. A bullet nicked his shoulder as one of the henchmen got a hit and he spotted his attacker, gunning him down with a quick burst before he ducked back down into cover. Will came up next to him as Church was busy reloading, the Telthor turning towards them and activated his stun watch as a henchman charged with some sort of blade with a glow, shouting as the electricity shot through him and Paul finished him with a quick shot to center mass, which knocked him back.
"Super?" Will asked as the two ducked down into cover.
"Probably; dunno anyone else dumb enough to bring a knife to a gun fight! 'cept maybe an Arabian military..."
Will curled his lip as a rocket sailed over and blew a piece of the wrecked hovercraft's tail off. "How diplomatic." he commented before the two returned to taking down the henchmen, who were now adjusting to their exposed flank when Church took a stray hit from the Telthor, grunting as he collapsed into cover.
"Man down!" Ghast shouted, "Will, get on that 21 and take out that mech, now! Reggie, cover him!"
"Yes sir!" he answered as he took up Will's position and laid down covering fire while the GJ agent hurried to where Church had fallen. He seemed to be alive, and Sara had managed to patch Giles up enough that Hoover had tossed him his sniper rifle and the British man was, from a propped up position making some surprising shots. Starting to see what Malta saw in him, Paul briefly mused as he picked off another mercenary as another rocket sailed over their position. Will had grabbed the GJA-21 and set up it on the rocks they were using for cover like a mounted machine gun; he wasn't strong enough to lift it like Church was. He lined up the shot and pulled the trigger, the recoil shaking him off of it and the GJA-21 spun until it pointed up, but the energy shell hit the Telthor to the viewport and broke into it, the mech collapsing backwards with one dead henchman pilot inside.
"Nice shot, Will!" Ghast complimented as he reloaded again, "We're low on mags; any word on how many of these blighters are left command?"
"Most of them have stormed the command center," the battlefield control operator responded. "Corporal Juhziz is suggesting you stay where you are and not attempt to counter-storm. Repeat, do not attempt a counter-storm."
"Sir?"
Another voice came onto the radio, sounding vaguely Arabian to Paul as he picked off another henchman with a shock staff, "This is Juhziz; fire in the center. Repeat, fire in the hole at the command center! Detonating in five..."
Sara had finished tending to the wounds and had started adding her own GJA-13 fire to the engagement, tossing out clips to the others as they were running out of ammo due to having used none of hers.
"...four, three..."
Hoover ducked quickly as bullets ricocheted off the concrete slab he was using as cover, dropping the clip he was trying to reload.
"Two... one... Kaboom."
Suddenly, fire came from the command center. Explosive shockwaves rippled from the ground floor windows, and out of it came the bodies of henchmen who had tried to storm the building, burning and dead before they hit the ground. The surviving henchmen on the outside were drawn to look at the flames, leaving them exposed as the 404 quickly stunned the lot with a mix of flash bangs and GJA shots. The 404 moved up as the smoke began to die down as automatic fire extinguishers in the command center activated.
XXX
Global Justice Supply Base Alpine-8
German Alps
Shego nodded to Drakken as they watched the cargo hovercraft take off. The outpost had just been resupplied with Telthor mechs, which they were going to steal... by taking out the entire base roster and then calling the henchmen in. And they were going to pull it off alone, no synthodrone help. It helped a lot that the base was only three dozen strong, and their laser auto-turrets had had an unfortunate 'accident' that resulted in one overloading and another nearly tearing an agent to pieces with energy rounds, so were shut down (Drakken was surprised that it worked at all, but he took what he could). They were both wearing winter gear to deal with the cold, and Shego adjusted her gloves. "So what's the new mode, Doc?" she asked.
"Well, you've gotten a grappling hook mode and can pull someone in, so I figured I'd use that for a little mechanized mayhem." Drakken explained casually before taking a chug of hot Coco Moo from his thermos "The gloves can allow you to pretty much do a miniaturized electromagnetic pulse, and I've done some quick redesign of our stuff to avoid being damaged by it. So if you run into a Telthor or a bunch of rogue synthodrones... shut 'em down."
She nodded, looking down at the base from their hiding place high in the mountain as Drakken put the thermos back into his (surprisingly large) pockets, and they secured the rappel lines they were using. Once they were secure, the two nodded to each other and rappelled down the mountain side, landing behind the supply base's main structure and hurrying to the rear vent, which Drakken opened with a few vines forcefully applied to the bolts, and they crept in.
"This is how Kim Possible always got in?" Drakken asked in surprise. "No wonder the Super Fortress lair failed!"
"Yeah, you'd think people would use a lot smaller vents after the first few incidents, but no, everyone uses freaking six footers..." Shego snarkily responded. "Well, add that to the list of things to correct once we take over the world. All evil buildings use vents no larger than two feet in width and less than one foot tall..."
"Yeah, might be a good idea." Drakken said, rubbing his chin briefly as the flowers popped out and he was briefly stuck until he could rip them out. Shego glanced down as they came over the control center, a GJ agent manning a console and glancing up.
"Hey, someone check the vents lately?" the agent asked.
"You worry too much;" another one answered, "Who the heck would want to come all the way out here?"
"Well, Agent Du and that Specter did..." the first agent responded as Shego began to cut the vent open so she could drop down.
"Yeah well... look, just stop worrying. The only way to get in undetected would be to like, drop in from the mountain top and open a vent or something..." The vent's base fell open and Shego dropped down after it. The piece of metal clattered just before she landed and she kept her plasma lit, smirking.
"Good guess," she said before blasting the overconfident agent with a plasma bolt, knocking him out of his chair on his face. Drakken dropped out behind her as she leapt to the agent manning the console as he drew a GJ energy pistol, but she knocked it away with a quick kick before taking the agent down with several swift strikes to the chest and keeling him over the console.
"Intruder Alert! Intruder Alert!" went an automated alarm across the base.
"No SHIT!" a GJ agent with a shotgun exclaimed as he pumped it and took a shot, catching Shego in the chest and knocking her back into the other console. Good thing that wasn't lead or I'd probably be dead, she bitterly thought as the pain stung. She growled and rolled away as a second stun blast followed, Drakken turning from the agent he was flinging towards the main door and one of his vines grabbed the agents shotgun, taking it away from him before smacking him in the face with the stock and throwing it to the ground. Shego looked up towards the catwalks as more agents came out with GJA-13 energy rifles and leapt up towards them, swinging up and around on a lower railing and kicking an agent off the catwalk as she landed on it. The agents turned towards her rather than taking shots at Drakken as he brawled with more Global Justice agents, and the one closest to her activated the rifle's energy bayonet. Shego simply smirked and activated the EMP in the gloves, leaping up and landing between the agents, the EMP burst shorting out the energy bayonet before she backhanded the agent who had it over the railing.
"Okay, screw this!" an agent towards the back of the line shouted as Shego began to tear through the agents, "I'm going back to McDonalds!" The smart agent (or cowardly, take your pick) vaulted over the catwalk before landing with a splat ten feet below. She could respect that he had enough intelligence to avoid him... and was disapointed that he chickened out as she tore through the rest of squad, avoiding the energy bayonets that were still active and attempted stock strikes. As she knocked the last agent against the railing and dropped her to the catwalk floor, she looked down at Drakken.
"How we doing, Doctor D?"
"We're doing good!" Drakken answered with a smile as he used his vines to flip a nearly spherical (albeit muscular) GJ agent over and crashing him into the steel flooring hard enough to leave a crater. "Keep it up and this'll be too easy!"
"Too bad," Shego commented as she vaulted down and landed gracefully, "I'm not even warmed up yet."
The door to the main sleeping quarters opened and a GJ agent came out, holding his right hand in a grip and drawing a blade from his back. It was of an industrial design with four lines of some sort of emitter, which glowed yellow. The agent closed his eyes and when he opened his eyes again they glowed too. "Then prepare to be defeated." he said simply, before taking a leap at her and bringing the blade down, cutting partway through a console with a hum that sounded like it came from a Sci-Fi movie as the blade was swung. Shego leaned away from his follow up strikes and dodged his assault. Great, a super who has a lightsaber. Go figures... She saw an opening as he tried a harder swing and took the chance, hitting him in the chest with a plasma charged punch and knocked him back. Then, to her surprise, he did a back flip up to the catwalk and landed easily, before holding the blade to the side and using his other hand to taunt her with a simple gesture.
Shego obliged, leaping to the catwalk and swinging up from below. The super had brought his blade up and had she gone straight to the top she probably would have been cut in two, but she swung up again and hit him from behind, knocking the blade into the ceiling. Shaking his head and recovering from the blow, he took a stance she recognized as belonging to Mantis Kung Fu. She smirked, realizing he might be a bit more of a challenge than she originally thought. She made the first move, hitting him in the chest but he rebounded from the blow and returned the favor, catching her in the shoulder and it felt like there would be a small bruise left behind. The two struggled briefly as they locked before Shego knocking him against the railing and kicked him in the chest, making him stumble back into the already subdued GJ agents. She charged her plasma again to put some power behind it before blasting him square in the chest, knocking him out and adding him to the pile. Guess he wasn't that tough, she mused, realizing that if he hadn't taken the moment to ham it up like a villain, he might of gotten the drop on her.
Drakken was working on the console when she got back down and nodded to her, "I managed to rig the self destruct. Once we've taken care of anything I can activate it without issue. Turns out they missed a router in the firewall you could only get into from here. Sloppy, but it was there since Gemini's goons ran this place."
"Good, that oughta annoy Doctor Director. Let's call the henchmen in and loot the place dry."
XXX
GJ Firebase Med-3
"So you're Wire, eh?" Ghast said as he folded his arms, looking at the Jordanian man in Global Justice uniform. He was relatively slim, but the amount of explosive tools such as wires strapped onto various tactical belts told him that this man was no dabbler, even if he didn't have a single explosive on his person at the moment.
"Yes sir, Corporal Yasir "Wire" Juhziz. I was told I'd be assigned to your taskforce."
"That's correct." He offered a hand, "Welcome to the 404."
"Thank you, Lieutenant. What's our first assignment?"
"General Malta is going to brief us." he explained, "Base's briefing room still intact?"
"No, but the communications suite is. We holed up in there when I set the explosions off."
"That'll do." He activated his radio; "Reggie, Du, Hoover, Cleaver, meet me in the communications suite so we can contact Malta for brief." He got a chorus of affirmatives and switched off.
In the briefing room, Ghast noticed that Reggie was giving Wire a suspicious, almost dirty, look. Wonder what that's about, he thought briefly as he nodded to them. "Wire, meet the 404. 404, meet Wire."
"A pleasure," Sara said with a nod. Reggie just grunted while Will simply nodded.
"So," Reggie asked, "Where'd you learn the fireworks?"
Ghast almost stopped dead in his tracks, about to make a comment about tact when Wire answered for him. "I used to work in a quarry as a demolitions expert for blasting rock too tough to carve. When the aliens hit, the quarry was destroyed and I decided to ply my experience with Global Justice. Their munitions are fairly similar to what I worked with, just a little more advanced and in a lot of cases more exotic, but surprisingly malleable. The explosion which cleared the command center was actually a series of GJD-03 Anti-Personal Mines manipulated to fire off together and with some incendiary charges thrown in. We knew we couldn't hold them, so Colonel Garza had me set up a series of explosions to flush them out. It'll take time to repair, but we weren't expecting help in time and she wanted us to take any measure possible to survive."
"I... see." Reggie answered, deflated. Ghast knew the warning sign, though. Ah, 'course. His old unit got destroyed by suicide bombers, and he's probably falling into the trap of regional misses. He'd let it lie, for now, but he made a mental note to have several methods of confrontation ready if needed to keep order in the Taskforce. He dialed up Malta, and the general appeared.
"General Malta, sir. We've recruited Wire, but Church and Watcher are going to need medical attention."
Malta sighed, "Understood. I hoped for better, but we'll just make due. The mission is still a go, however, you'll be deploying north where Big Daddy Brotherson is going to conduct the deal with WEE."
"The Worldwide Evil Empire?" Will asked, looking up. Of course the veteran GJ agent caught that, Ghast noted with amusement. He still found the set up between GJ and WEE amusing, it was like someone tried a cheap knock off of James Bond. Least they're a lot more predictable than pretty much every country's Special Forces...
"Affirmative. Brotherson has been trying to make dents into Jack Hench's territory. The both did similar services, though Brotherson tended to stick to more conventional equipment. They're currently doing a deal on a stash of NATO chambered munitions. We suspect the attack was arranged by Gemini as a distraction."
"Any procedural orders given we won't have our heavy weapons and diplomatic expert with us, nor sniper support?"
"Yes. Set a series of smoke charges and sonic charges in the area for distraction purposes, it'll have to do. Agent Du, you're most knowledgeable of the squad with Brotherson, so you'll be advising."
Will gulped briefly before nodding. "Yes sir."
"Bringing Brotherson in is a secondary objective, however, your main goal is to break up the deal and seize Gemini's end of it." Malta paused a moment before adding, "Doctor Director wants to neutralize Gemini for good, and needs the evidence to help locate his new lair."
"Understood, sir. When's the deal occurring?"
"Tomorrow. Get some rest tonight, and be on the move to the area at dawn." Malta explained. "Malta out." With that, the transmission cut.
XXX
August 10th, 2007
Global Justice Headquarters
Somewhere under the Tri-City Area
"Strikes inbound on sectors Alpha, Omega, Beta, Gamma, and Tau!" Agent Talleyrand shouted from his console.
"As expected. Clear Eagle, Bear, and Dragon to fire and begin tracking immediately." Doctor Director ordered.
"Multiple missile launches detected. Eagle has fired their volley. Missiles are on course and are not deviating. Bear has fired theirs with Dragon's following… Most of Eagle's missiles have hit and blasted the target to dust. Most of the debris will go into the atmosphere as small chunks. Eagle missed target 3, however, but nearby explosions is propelling it into grid CO-9."
"Get Possible on the horn then, and get a team ready to clear the area. Track where it'll land."
"Yes ma'am!"
"One of Dragon's is deviating course!" another Agent howled loudly, "Tracking now…"
"Confirmed to be targeting solution error! Missile is going into deep space and will self destruct. They're aiming to set it off next to an asteroid." Another agent said.
"Copy, tracking now."
The command room was tense as reports of missile hits continued to cycle. They were able to get most of the hits, a few misses but most at least detonated close enough to break up the larger fragments. Thank God we don't need to use more nuclear warheads this time, Doctor Director thought as she watched. One nuke is too much, even if it is a far more noble use of the weapon mankind should never have discovered.
"We've had a general effectiveness, but targets AS-8, AS-0, E-5, E-8, AF-3, NA-3, NA-9, NA-1, SA-6, SA-4, and AU-2 have remained primarily intact due to detonations not occurring at the maximum area." Talleyrand reported as the final results came in.
"Confirm locations."
"All of them are the impacts which will occur in backwater areas mostly uninhabited baring NA-3, which is going into grid CO-9, and E-8, which will land north of Sarajevo."
"Evacuation in progress?"
"The endangered area has been evacuated. The fragment was mostly broken, however, so return should be possible once the area is swept and confirmed to be safe again."
"Hang on, we got some additional fragmentation. Looks like it's a natural spread from reentry heat!"
"Track it all as much as possible." Doctor Director snapped at the officer, "and get every team on alert."
XXX
Yamanouchi, Japan
"Sensei?" Ron asked, blinking as he yawned, "What is it?"
"You should see this." Sensei explained sagely. Frowning, Ron pushed himself up and walked out, Rufus following behind him before crawling up onto his shoulder. Outside in the early morning hours, several students were pointing towards the sky where a series of comet like trail were visible, almost a rainbow glow to it. I wonder if we'll get some new heroes, he mused as he recalled Team Go.
"It's beautiful," Ron commented, appreciating the natural beauty of it.
"Indeed," Sensei said sadly, "It is tragic how such beauty will only lead to suffering."
"Huh?" Ron asked.
"The ritual which you helped disrupt was of vulnari summoning." Sensei explained (again), "And now, what had succeeded of it has reached Earth. Taken from the nearest source, the magic has created catalyst crystal which would hold the vulnari."
"Wait, by the looks of the thing it looks like it should be Team Go's stuff..."
"It is possible that the origin of their powers came from a place with similar crystal. Likely, even, from what you have described of them."
"So these vulnari have traits of Team Go?"
"No... but it is possible again that the crystal medium may have some common ancestry. You made a wise connection, but even the most brilliant scholar can think too much."
"There's a contradiction, considering some people..." Ron commented with a hint of bitterness as he thought of some of the stupid he'd read about online. Several other trails were now speeding up to the incoming comet trail, and he saw flashes in the night. Sensei exhaled softly.
"Come," he said, "The nations of the world have managed to further minimize and maximize the damages. By shattering what remained intact of the original asteroid into even smaller pieces, the vulnari will take even longer to reform when the impacts happen, and will be far more spread out."
"But in the process made them harder to contain?" he asked worriedly as the two began to walk back inside.
"In some ways, but in the early phases limited resistance will give him to shift resources towards dealing with the problem. However, the spread of ground now means that it will take longer to get to each place and there is even more places to guard. Even the swiftest of warriors cannot be everywhere at once." He looked to him as the two stopped. "Now, however, you must prepare. The Conclave will send small strike teams to various locations to cleanse infestations, and Yamanouchi has been asked to begin containment in areas nearby."
Ron bowed briefly. "I won't let you down, Sensei."
"No, Stoppable-san," Yori said as she walked up behind him, "You shall not, nor shall any of us."
XX
Possible Residence
Middleton, Colorado
"Talk to me, Wade," Kim said as she pulled her gloves on and knelt next to the footlocker with her other mission gear, putting her hand on the scanner lock.
"Kim, Doctor Director wants you down south in a place called Small Town, USA..." Wade caught himself with a cough, "Colorado. GJ's sending a few teams to investigate the debris crash site there, but she'd like you present as it's a relatively intact chunk and they've gotten a large number of strange readings from it, some of which are spreading."
Kim nodded as she pulled the battle suit out and started putting it on, stepping into the leggings. "Tell her I'll be down there, and I'm bringing the battle suit. Any idea what it is?"
"Yeah, they match the readings from Russia. This was definitely caused by whatever ritual you busted there was."
"Any hits in Japan?" Kim asked as she zipped the boots that went with the battle suit.
"Several shards landed in Japan, one near Y." Wade didn't say Yamanouchi aloud; both of them knew that GJ might of put bugs there, and even then the rest of Kim's family wasn't in on the secret ninja school.
"Alright; tell me if anything crazy happens there. What else do we know?" She finished buckling the tool belt and was holstering her other gear; EMS, grappling hook, shock stick, all of it.
"Not much, but they're already getting people away from the shard site."
Kim nodded as Wade transferred to her wrist Kimmunicator; "Alright then, I'm going to the Sloth now."
"Good luck out there. Wade out."
XX
Doctor Drakken's' Caribbean Lair
"Alright Bob, fire up the mech!" Lucre said to the henchman inside. The henchman began activating the mech, and with a hum and an engine's roar, the mech stood to its full height and the torso turned slightly, guns turning as he tried the aim.
"It's working!" Bob answered.
"Good," Drakken said, walking up behind Lucre. "I was hoping we'd be able to use these. Nothing more ironic then turning the technology of good guys against them... and it's a classic method."
"Wow, so we're like, doing it the right way?" Lucre said with excitement at the prospect of repeating villainous tradition right and at a bargain.
"Indeed. I've already come up with some modifications for the design, and with the few we designated for reserve engineering, it shouldn't be hard to replicate it."
Shego leaned out from the observation window above the range, "And about time too, we got incoming!"
"What is it?" Drakken asked.
"GJ was overseeing a bunch of missile launches at some incoming meteors or whatever; they fragmented and one of them coming for us!"
Drakken cursed, "If nothing bad from those happens, then GJ will probably be coming here to investigate the impact zone!" He grit his teeth. "Alright then, let's lock the lair down for a fight. This isn't Possible, so we can win. I'm sure of it."
XX
Yamanouchi, Japan
Ron was almost ready. He'd worn his mission gear for this, and the sheathe for the Lotus Blade as it felt most appropriate given what he was about to be involved with. He buckled the his belt on and the last of his gear to it, and sheathed the Lotus Blade to the back-mounted sheath. He turned, nodding to Rufus who gave him a quick thumbs up, and stepped out of his room.
"Stoppable-san, you should know this." Sensei said, coming down the hall. "The Conclave is sending a team to Colorado, where Kim is bound."
Ron blinked a moment before it clicked and he felt a tug at his heart; "Are they going to try and pin her into that prophecy stuff?"
"They have been ordered not to begin any violence or act with closed fists, but the leader is prideful, and in his pride may take actions not reflecting high moral character. I do not foresee problems for Kim, for if battle came I am confident that she would prevail, but you deserve to know."
Ron nodded, "Thank you, Sensei. Pass along that if they hurt her, nothing is going to save them, alright? They've nearly killed her once, I won't let that happen again without consequence."
Sensei returned the nod. "We are of one mind, then." He pulled a small scroll from his sleeve and gave it to Ron, "This is the location of where the impact will happen. Go there, and clear the area. Remember what you have been taught."
Ron looked it over briefly, seeing that it was relatively close to the volcano that he'd rescued Yori from two years ago, and closed it.
XX
Doctor Drakken's Caribbean Lair
Drakken folded his arms as he watched through the monitor. "Are those shields working?"
"No, Doctor Drakken, your prototype power source is not working and the lorwardian shield technology has not been fully adapted to our systems yet."
He sighed. Oh well, I'll figure it out later. "Then get everyone inside and brace for impact. Laser turrets ready?"
"Yes sir, lasers charged and ready!" another henchman answered from across the makeshift control center that had been established. Some of the henchmen jokingly called it 'The Bridge' because it looked like the bridge of a ship.
"Very well. Shego, how are things on the ground?"
"Everyone's ready and the drones are charged. Sure those science drones of yours will work?"
"As long as they don't try to charge into combat they should be able to collect some samples safely. If GJ is going to lock down the area we need to get some samples while we can..."
"Impact imminent!" a henchman shouted loudly, cutting them off. Drakken looked out the window as the flaming piece of rock sped by in a dazzle of color. He blinked, swearing he'd seen something like that before.
"Shego?" he asked as the impact seemed to be landing just south of them, on a nearby island. "Is that looking like..."
"Yeah, it does..." Shego slowly answered. "You don't think?..."
"I hope not." Drakken said as the ground shook, nearly collapsing as the impact was finalized. He looked out and nodded. "Alright Shego, go ahead. I'll keep scanning for GJ response teams."
"Got it, Doctor D. Be back soon..."
XX
Southern Island
Shego nodded to the science synthodrones, "Alright, get to work you lazy robots."
"Yes sir." the drone answered. Shego smirked; Drakken still hadn't fixed that bug in the new synthodrone AI program. It only used 'sir', and never used ma'am. The impact looked like a meteor, but it glowed a mix of colors. But yet, despite the rainbow mix very much like the comet that had given her the powers she now had, she didn't get the same vibe. First, this one had survived the impact while the original comet had fallen into powder after it crashed. Second, the radiation readings were distinctly different according to Drakken, but didn't seem harmful. Third, there was something malevolent about it, while the powers themselves never had that feel until she gave them that meaning.
Suddenly, there was a loud, earsplitting roar that reminded her of a monkey, a ghostly one, and there was an explosion of color from the asteroid and whips of color began to form into solid looking forms... animal ones.
"We got incoming!" Shego shouted as she took a short leap backwards and lit her plasma, ready to start clawing into whatever freaks came from the impact.
XXX
XXX
XXX
End Chapter
*Happy New Years, everyone. For some of you it's after midnight, but for me its before. Either way, I'm celebrating this new year with a new chapter.
* I'm not sure if I explained this before, but when I designed the vulnari, I had a few inspirations. Primarily were the ghost monkeys used in What's the Switch?, with splashes of zerg (Starcraft), monstrous ghosts/ghost likes (a number of sources, including but not limited to D&D and Danny Phantom), and Shivians (City of Heroes/Villains) I originally designed them as a monster enemy when I was playing around with the Neverwinter Nights toolset, and eventually figured that they'd mesh pretty well here for multiple purposes. First of all, a guilt-free summon for even good guy magic users. Hey, when you summon that badger, boar, or dire wolverine to your side, aren't you yanking it from its day to day life to fight for you? Second of all, the idea in the original design was a monster where it wasn't hitting it with the biggest stick, but hitting it with enough sticks. So an explosion (or at least the initial burst) would do just as much to a vulnari as a bullet through the ectoplasm would, and you need multiple 'hits' to do so. I think that in the end I like how they came out as a foe; they're something that technology of all ages can fight (Which helps mesh Conclave and regular military operations against them), but they're infinite enough that I never run out. Besides, vulnari running rampant on top of all the stuff that's happened before really lets a good villain like Shego manipulate people, doesn't it? It's how a lot of dictators in history came to power. They offered a solution where there was none.
* The simulation of the lorwardian warrior was me testing the waters a bit. Its incomplete because Wade didn't have a full data spectrum to work from, but I also wanted to show how a theoretical fight could go. Now, do I expect Kim to get impaled in every fight? No, I actually attribute that more to the fact that since it was a simulator I could get away with impaling her than her skill, but could a lorwardian defeat her? Definitely, and for reasons explained above. Lorwardians may be the Mandos, Klingons, Predators, what have you of KP, but they're also probably among the least developed villains in the later seasons of the series.
* Wire was, from the start, meant to be a bit of a 'screw you' to stereotypes. His character name is a shout out to another bomb-making crazy from every Generals' fan's favorite brand of scum, but the idea was he's an average guy who's going to wind up having to deal with the stereotype all because he happened to work in a quarry and was an expert at using explosives. Nothing fishy about it, just how he made his living. The fact he happened to join GJ was more as a set up for how he'd become part of the 404. Sort of a foil to Paul ("Reggie" as his nickname is because he can regenerate) and how he's a deconstruction of a COD character's ability to regenerate.
* Also, if there's any TOR shout outs that slip in, that's probably going to be because I've been rolling a Vanguard on it the last two weeks...
-=In-Universe Document: Sensei=-
Source: Global Justice Databanks
File: OPP-03
(Date updated: 9/3/07)
Subject: Name Unknown
Alias: "Sensei"
Gender: Male
DOB: Unknown, suspected to be pre-World War I
Classification: Magic User; type unknown
Origin: Magic
Affiliation: Yamanouchi School
Citizenship: Unknown, but suspected to possess Japanese citizenship under his real name
History:
- The figure known as "Sensei" is one that is still a mystery to Global Justice. What is known of him is that he is, to some degree, part of the Conclave, leads the (previously secret) Yamanouchi Ninja School and that he has had regular contacts with Team Possible. These contacts have been kept secret from Global Justice, and have only been brought to light recently due to the conclusion of Operation Pound. What has been divulged is that he is a master of Tai Sheng Pek Kwar, has been instructing Ron Stoppable on usage of the little-known magical area of said martial art, and has contacted the Team on several matters of magic. This includes the recent operations involving the 'Magocracy' (see files GAR-13 and RMC-01), where he played an advisory role. His involvement with incident GAR-13 in Australia was providing, through the actions of Ron Stoppable, information to Kim Possible on the ancient site. His relation in RMC-01 was to send Ron Stoppable to the Magocracy base during the same time Global Justice deployed Kim Possible to the scene.
- Discovery of Sensei's identity came during a conflict in Japan that was part of Operation Pound. Forward Scout Squadron JST-02 was trailing Ron Stoppable after a successful operation against the vulnari, but were detected and attacked by the party he was accompanying. At Stoppable's insistence, they were allowed to leave. Further scout teams managed to trail him, again accompanying the mysterious squads of ninjas. When Kim Possible was confronted about Ron's actions, she affirmed that she could provide no information to Global Justice on them, only that Ron had gone to Japan to hone his magical abilities... a truth, in retrospect and discovery of the secrecy oaths, but subsequent tapping of Team Possible's communications and a lucky bug which made it into Wade Load's room revealed when she warned Wade of Operation Pound's progress.
- Following this, Operation Pound initiated an effort into the Yamanouchi area, during which full conflict came with the students of Yamanouchi. While Stoppable was not present, Sensei proved to be a potent defender, stunning all GJ agents deployed near the school before they could verify its location into actionable intelligence. He has made claims that Yamanouchi simply wishes to remain hidden, and bears no ill intent, but Global Justice must be wary. While Team Possible may trust them, Sensei and Yamanouchi as a whole have ties, possibly deep, with an organization that has been behind a series of criminal actions including a break-in of the Tri-City Museum and subsequent kidnapping of Tara Strong (see file MMI-63), of which Sensei knew the criminal's identities and motivations but did not forward to Global Justice or permit Ron Stoppable to forward such information.
- While Operation Pound's conclusion has seen a peace of sorts between Global Justice and Yamanouchi, GJ is keeping a close eye on this Sensei's actions. However friendly he may seem, past actions and secrecy means that GJ cannot be ignorant of his actions in the future.
Combat Style:
- What has been gathered on this Sensei's style is that he is a powerful magic user, but unlike many he shows remarkable restraint. He has willingly tapped into magic, and reportedly used large amounts during the training of Ron Stoppable, but in actual combat he uses it as a last resort. His primary arsenal is an arsenal of mastered kung fu tactics. While primarily he uses the basic forms, his advanced mastery of them means that he is a dangerous foe not to be fought in close quarters if at all possible.
- When he does deploy magic, however, it is usually in short bursts. He has been confirmed to have an energy blast ability which manifests as a lotus flower before blasting a target, and has been rating to disable and (with lethal intent) presumably obliterate a Telthor mech. However, this ability is sparingly used and if used at full power would presumably tire him based on extrapolation of previous magical encounters. The other primary form of magic he has been seen using is magical shielding, creating barriers which stop GJA energy rounds from striking him. This seems to be a relatively subconsciously used ability as the aura protecting him is faint until impact is achieved.
Weakness:
- If Sensei has any weakness, it is care for his students and Ron Stoppable. He believes that Ron Stoppable is a 'monkey master' of some sorts. While the details are unknown, it has been concluded from available evidence that this is some form of mastery of form than leadership. His other weakness is his own system of honor. If he can be fooled into believing magic is unnecessary, a brief window opens to hit him below his full strength. However, this window is short and requires expert feints or disguise, something which he is adept at discovering from long years of experience.
Conclusion:
- Sensei, despite his rocky relationship with Global Justice, unfortunately represents Global Justice's best contact in the world of the Conclave and magic in general. While he is willing to share knowledge, including the nature of the vulnari, he refuses to share other information with Global Justice, preferring to contact Team Possible. How much he has impacted Ron Stoppable is to be monitored closely, as comparisons of before and after could yield a very interesting insight into his influence on Team Possible. However, regardless of what occurs, Global Justice must watch him and his school as closely as it can. We do not know his true motives or allegiances, even if Team Possible trusts him.
-=End Document=-