One chapter so long it was split into two. I apologize if it's disappointing, but the next chapter will be here before the end of the week. Very soon. It was going to be a double upload, but I'm finding myself rushing with the end of the next one. Not good. Since that's almost done, expect that one very very soon.
Chapter 20: Departure to a Cold Fate
Rain. Thunder. Nothing else could be heard in the jungle around the lodge. Kim just couldn't get her mind off of it.
She had been dead silent for at least an hour now. She hadn't spoken since the end of the fight, one she felt like she didn't win. Ron had been put out of commission and was being kept in an unconscious state thanks to a device Valia placed on his neck, but she didn't feel as if she 'won' the fight.
Yori and Val completely understood the feeling. Fights weren't always about proving yourself to be better, stronger, and/ or wiser than your opponent. As hard as she tried to fight and outsmart Ron, Kim didn't prove herself to be better than the cursed master one bit.
The important thing was that Ron was stopped. That's all that mattered no matter how it was done.
And considering all the injuries Kim suffered; cuts and bruises all over, not to mention a new haircut, she was grateful she suffered no serious injuries, although some of those cuts needed treatment and soon. The problem was that Kim left all of her emergency equipment in her bag, which was in a hollow tree on the other side of the jungle several miles away, along with Val's.
He chose to retrieve their equipment, in case he ran into Uso on the way over or back. Yori stayed with Kim in case anything happened. She actually had a few healing herbs handy on her and wanted to use them on Kim, but it was difficult to tell exactly where Kim's injuries were with all her camo paint on her arms, shoulders, neck and face. It didn't come off so easily, either, and the lodge had no electricity or water.
There was a small shower outside that Kim used to bathe herself, and the rain provided more than enough water to cleanse the camo paint and blood. Afterward, Yori lent Kim a regular outfit to wear, what some Yamanuchi students wore under their shokuzu/ uniform. As comfortable as the camo outfit was, it was ripped, covered in mud and stained with blood. Yori was then able to apply some herbs to make some of Kim's injuries heal faster. Val soon came back with both their bags, no success in finding his target. Kim quickly got what she needed out of her bag to treat her injuries. Val also let her use whatever medical supplies and treatment he had since he didn't suffer any injuries from earlier.
But the entire time, she was silent with her mind filled with thoughts. She wasn't bothered by the thought of not truly defeating Ron, not from her injuries or her new haircut. It was the discovery after the fight that had her baffled and vexed.
The moodulator, a device created by Dr. Cyrus Bortel that could actually control one's emotions with a push of a button. Only two were ever made, and the one on Kim's neck had short-circuited from a combination of being overpowered due to Drakken's electrical amplifier and a bug that had the device caught in an infinite loop. After taking pickle boy home, Kim assumed that the other one on Shego's neck suffered the same outcome, and that was the end of it.
And here it was, placed on the back of Ron's neck by Uso right before the fight. And the only reason the small girl would have had it on her is if she got it from Drakken and Shego directly. She had to have been working for them. Although she might have just been in allegiance with them instead, and there was the possibility she stole the device and had nothing to do with the two, Kim told herself otherwise. Drakken was definitely involved.
The moodulator could be used as a weapon; that was one of the realizations Bortel made after the incident with Kim and Shego. The invention was a success, but it was far too dangerous when in the wrong hands. Kim knew this first hand, and knew of its effects as well. It was part of this knowledge that was bothering her.
The device amplified feelings toward something or someone, and as Kim would later discover, it would do more if the feelings were hidden or kept secret. For many, this meant that Kim might have had hidden feelings for Ron the whole time, maybe not realizing it or downright denying it, at least based on what happened when she had the device on her neck. But at the same time, she realized; this might have meant that Ron had ill feeling toward her deep inside long before all of this, now let loose because of the small device on his own neck.
Although Bortel asked Kim to destroy the other moodulator if she ever came across it, that wasn't the reason why she did. Realizing that Drakken had something to do with all of this, all those six months of loneliness and suffering, playing with her heart again, saying 'pissed off' was putting it lightly, worse than what the moodulator could bring out in her.
She wanted revenge all right.
But not now.
She didn't want to go after Drakken until she figured out what he was up really up to, and so many thoughts engulfed her mind about the situation laying in front of her. Returning Ron to his original state was priority number one.
When Kim first stepped foot in the lodge, she laid Ron down on the floor in one of the bigger rooms, and one of the first things she did was check his neck. With so many circular puncture marks all over, it was clear the moodulator was placed there numerous times by Melissa.
Ron's cursed powers were definitely the reason he turned into a worse person. She remembered the times when he showed severe change; how heartless he was when she broke her ribs and arm, how depressed and lifeless he was at work to the point where she found a new and unopened bottle of rum in the fridge, and the way he was almost always angry. But was the moodulator directly responsible for Ron's maniacal hatred for her? Was it the same device that turned Kim into a lovebird that turned Ron evil and insane?
Rufus' verdict?
Not even close.
For the last several months, he witnessed first-hand as his owner slowly mutated from a lovable and silly human being into a hateful and arrogant animal.
Right after Ron had fled from Middleton to Hong Kong, he already expressed extreme hatred for the girl he left behind, morbidly proud that he was away and "free" from a life he grew to hate. Rufus tried his best to urge him to go back and seek help or something, but Ron couldn't be reasoned with. This was long before Melissa arrived on the scene, and she only made things worse. Although she told Ron why she was there and what her mission was, she was extremely secretive about everything else. She wouldn't reveal who she worked for, why she accepted her assignment or anything about her past.
When she told Kim and Val that she didn't remember most of it, that she was a thief who had her mind wiped, it was the first time Ron heard anything of the sort.
But Ron only allowed her to stay around him under one condition, to do whatever she could to keep Kim away, and she did… by starting with the mole rat. Rufus had attempted just about everything to get in contact with Kim, Wade, any of their allies or rides, and even enemies. But Melissa was a quick one, catching Rufus just as he got near anything that resembled a communications device, stalking him unmercifully.
Ron grew irritated of Rufus' numerous escape attempts, and demanded he be kept in a cage. Melissa fed him only once or twice a day with small leftovers, and he lost a lot of weight as a result. Finally speaking, Kim urged Val to lend Rufus some food from his fruit bag from Kowloon, minus the knockout fruits. Rufus finished the entire thing in minutes. Val didn't seem to care, really. Bueno Nacho or not, the mole rat needed it.
Even though he was kept in a cage, Ron demanded that he always stay in close proximity even when he trained. Rufus and the girl watched as he destroyed all kinds of workout equipment, and sometimes Melissa herself sparred with him. But because she was somewhat an ally, Ron found himself holding back against a girl, and the only thoughts that ran through his mind as he trained was destroying Kim in a fight, to finally overpower her, to finally prove that he was no longer inferior to her. He didn't seem to notice or care that he was growing hair all over his face and hands. But if he wanted to achieve that goal, he needed to find a way to avoid holding back. Although Melissa had nothing to do with Ron's hatred toward Kim, neither condoning nor condemning it, she had an idea. From her pocket, she pulled out a moodulator.
But Rufus had separate thoughts about it than Kim. He thought that Bortel, despite showing grief in realizing the device could be dangerous, would still make more anyway, and that Melissa had gotten her hands on one. Ron had used that to amplify his fighting skills, believing that his hatred made his fighting abilities ten times stronger. The conclusion both Ron and Melissa came up with was that without emotion, without a heart to hold you back, you were unstoppable in a duel. Your conscience and beliefs wouldn't interfere with seriously injuring your opponent or killing them, a concept Valia used against Team Possible in the past. That's the only role the moodulator played.
All of the maniacal hatred he had for Kim; that was all the cursed powers' doing.
But Rufus wasn't really sure Drakken was involved in any of this. He never heard Melissa make any kind of direct communication with him or Shego, and even though he tried to spy on her just as much as she spied on him, he found no reason to believe that he was behind any of this. And after hearing Kim's story about the black suits and Sean, when she explained everything that happened in the last week, he found even more reason to believe she wasn't in league with Drakken, especially since the girl attacked Kim just when Sean and the black suits made their move. She had to have been working for someone else, someone who wanted her to keep close and watch over Ron Stoppable and prevent Kim Possible from finding him.
And there was another fact that Rufus revealed that Kim wasn't too happy to discover.
Melissa often tried to seduce her Ron, from talking in a sexy voice, wearing revealing outfits only in his presence, and the girl even had the audacity to wander around their apartment in nothing but leather underwear. Although she was just as old as he was, nineteen, she had the assets to easily seduce anyone without even trying. Some would say her figure was in fact, perfect. Everything done right. She made the other girls in Hong Kong instantly jealous, and despite her strange purple hair, eyes, and the X-shaped scar between them, her innocent face often had boys walking into poles or moving traffic.
Kim wasn't the only girl in the lodge who found herself irritated by learning this, though.
But Ron was completely immune to the girl's spell. He was far more concerned with himself and his growing abilities to even notice or care. Melissa soon changed herself into a typical damsel-in-distress so Ron would feel like the superior one of the two, and he fell for it hook, line and sinker. He became her protector, only when showing his face against anyone who dared to lay a finger on her, and quickly became obsessed with it. There were times where it seemed like he could no longer resist her charms, but it was always pretend just to get a reaction out of her, and he made her look like a fool and made fun of her for it. Sometimes they were friendly, but often they were not. Contrary to what Ron said, they never got into a relationship. He never showed any kind of feelings toward her, and she never got too close to hug or kiss him. He never let her.
But Rufus didn't think Drakken was involved. Who else could have she been working for?
It was something Valia had hoped to get out of her, but didn't. He came back with the two swords she wielded, named "Love" and "Lust", and with what he considered interesting information regarding her: She was at the exact same level he was at when it came to both hand-to-hand combat and weapons-based fighting. Kim wasn't surprised; after all, the girl nearly sliced her clothes off in their first encounter near Middleton.
Although Val and Melissa shared dialogue to get information and mock the other, they couldn't get a move in on the other when they engaged in combat. Punches and kicks never made contact, counterattacks and throws were evaded; they just couldn't touch each other. Val's skills in hand-to-hand need no explanation, but his skills with swords were superhuman, period.
And he couldn't scratch her. He was actually equipped with two swords to counter hers, but metal hit nothing but metal. Most of the time she played bait or tried to escape, and he was in violent pursuit. It ended when the part of the jungle came to an abrupt end, and she nearly jumped off a cliff with a good thousand-or-so foot drop into a huge waterfall and river. Val had her cornered, but she showed no fear. Before she went over the edge, she had something to say to him.
"You have learned so much since the last time we met, V… You have no idea how proud I am of you. I'm just sorry I wasn't able to teach you the last thing I wanted for you to learn."
Val didn't lower his guard. "And what would that be?"
She chuckled. "Resurrection. A fine but dying art, wouldn't you agree?"
And only one person on earth referred to Val as 'V'; Enya, his mentor. After winking and smacking her lips at him, she leaned back and fell off the cliff, spreading her arms gracefully as she fell. Val went in right after her, and the two hit the water at the same time. But when he pulled his head from the water, she was gone without a trace. He quickly stormed the entire area, but he couldn't find her. She was gone.
Just when Kim thought she'd get some answers, she got more questions instead. But she wasn't going to dwell on it for long. The sleep device on Ron's neck had a minute over 23 hours remaining on it. The four Jade Monkey statues were retrieved, Ron was incapacitated and would stay that way for a while, Rufus was safe and had no objections to losing his powers if it meant saving Ron, leaving one more. Monkey Fist, and he'd rather be dead than give up his powers.
But Ron destroyed Kim's communicator, only leaving her Kimmunicator to contact Wade. But everyone knew the black suits were just waiting for the moment for the signal to go live. Without Wade to assist them, they had no idea where Fist could be hiding.
Well, not all of them, anyway.
Rufus also had cursed powers in his body. Although he didn't turn evil like Ron, it did affect him. He had the strength of a bodybuilder although his size prevented him from destroying bigger things. He moved at an incredible speed that put those speed shoes to shame, not to mention he had full control this time. He also spoke in small sentences as opposed to a few syllables. His fighting abilities had also tremendously improved, but there was also the downfall: his hair. All that hair on his head, and he hated it.
But there was another ability he just realized: he could also detect other cursed masters, namely Monty. Like it was another sense, he felt a dark presence south of where they were.
"A Monkey Temple in the Amazon," he quickly said.
Kim rolled her eyes. "The Amazon? Again?" Just how many times had she been there? She was starting to get a little bored of it.
Yori brought up a problem, though. "But Possible-san, we cannot set foot in the populated areas here."
"Let me guess…" Kim said with a groan, "When you were messing with Sean and his boys, they said something about black suits being all over the city and looking for me."
"Every city in the country, actually," Yori replied. "I really don't wish to travel all the way down there by foot, but…"
Val had a smile on his face. "You two don't know, do you?"
"Know what?" Kim asked.
"There's actually a railroad not too far from here that goes from this jungle to the one in the Amazon. It's actually a mile out back."
Considering Kim was familiar with the area and saw no such thing, she was skeptical. "News to me…" Come to think of it, she hadn't explored much of the area out back. "But why would there be a railroad in the middle of two jungles?"
"Drug trafficking," Val plainly answered. "Apparently the railroad itself stays away from populated areas, avoiding public eye and attention. It was discovered some time ago and many were arrested, but it hasn't been used since, and as a result no one's kept an eye on it. You might be able to get across without detection, unless you set off a big and loud explosive."
"An ex-drug train to the Amazon…" Kim said in thought.
"Chances are the black suits know we're in the country and are looking hard for anyone resembling us and through disguises…" Val mentioned.
"That, and someone at luggage security is bound to notice beast boy here," Kim said, leaning her head toward Ron. "So I guess it's the train, then. If we leave now we can get there by tomorrow, hopefully before the timer runs out. Let's move."
Without a moment to spare, they all grabbed their gear (and Ron) and headed out.
Just when Wade had something really important to tell Kim, his means of communication with her were completely lost.
None of it was about Ron's condition, Melissa or Dr. Drakken for that matter.
It had to do with the black suits and the justice organizations going after Kim. He learned that many members of justice organizations were actually disobeying direct orders to capture Kim, namely Global Justice, to seek the truth themselves. But they just couldn't get past the computers that addressed the orders, and contact with the heads of all of the orgs were lost.
Although many were on the hunt, the one who was the most hell-bent on capturing or killing Kim was Sean Hanteren, a commanding officer in Hard Police, an organization known for its more brutal tactics against criminals. "Take away the rights of the innocent; we could care less about your rights as a human being."
But looking into Hard Police's database, he found out something big. But he couldn't contact Kim, and she needed to know this now.
Hoping the signal wouldn't be traced, he opened up a communications window with someone on his laptop.
"I need you to do me a favor…" he said.
"Name it," a voice responded on the other end.
"Wow, so there's actually a train here." Kim seemed impressed.
Indeed, there was a working train in the middle of the stormy jungle, but it was disguised as a passenger train with ten cars, still in excellent condition. Kim quickly put her bag and Ron in the front car. Yori and Rufus hopped on right after.
"Think you can handle that?" Val asked Kim from outside.
"No big," she calmly answered. "I've operated trains before, Val."
"Oh, right… well, I guess this is it, then…" he said quietly, wrapping his jacket over his shoulders, ready to turn the other direction.
Kim quickly hopped off the door. "Wait, you're not coming?"
He shook his head. "You've got what you needed out of me. Ron's been found and he's no longer a threat. My services are no longer required…" That's what the deal was. He said he'd help her find Ron and he did. "I have other quarrels to attend to. I'm sure you'll be fine with Yori should anything come up."
"You're going to try to find Melissa, aren't you? You don't suppose…"
"She looks exactly like Enya, but I'm just not certain why. She has her looks and her exact skills, sans the joints…"
"You really don't think what she said was true, do you? I mean, about resurrection and all?" Kim definitely didn't believe in it, but she had seen a lot of things on this journey that shouldn't have existed in the first place.
"Hard to say," he said quietly. "One of the things I stumbled upon in search of these…" he held up the necklace with the relics on it, "were many ancient records of sorts. Among them was this one: During a war between two tribes, the son of a shaman was killed in battle, but he wasn't ready to die. The shaman didn't bury his son. Instead, he spread his ashes out to sea. After days of prayer, ritual dance and magic, his son walked out of the ocean, fully alive and well. The same day he returned to the battlefield and emerged victorious."
Real or not, Kim knew why he mentioned this. "And you told me that you spread Enya's ashes over the ocean after she died…"
"Makes you wonder… but I'm going to get to the bottom of this. She might have kept you away from Ron, but she's my problem. Don't get in the way."
And she wouldn't. The last person they both had a quarrel with was Senator Brown, and both said they'd handle it. But it was personal for Val, and it was he who poisoned her. If Kim decided she'd find Melissa, Val would see to it that he'd get to her first.
"I understand," she said, "but if it's not too hard to ask, if you find out anything, mind dropping a line?"
He seemed hesitant at first, but, "After you saved my life back in Kowloon, I suppose it's the least I can do…"
Suddenly, his heart stopped. His body was still, his nerves frozen. Everything went dead in his body, and for one reason.
He found Kim's arms wrapped around him. She was actually hugging him.
"Thank you so much for everything…" Kim said with no ounce of dishonesty in her voice. "You have no idea how much I appreciate everything you've done to help me find and save Ron."
She let him go, but like the time she thanked him in Kowloon, he had a confused and vexed look on his face, having a hard time comprehending what just happened. Instead of saying something directly to her, he turned around, hiding his face.
"D… D-Don't mention it…" he stammered. "I-It's n… nothing…"
Kim noticed like before, but assumed that Val wasn't used to that kind of gesture, and decided not to say anything. With his back facing her, he started to walk off. Kim could hear a lot of irritated grunts and confused groans as he waved his right hand with two fingers outward, his usual goodbye.
"Val! Listen!" she hollered. "One of these days, I'm going to repay you. I promise!"
"Don't worry about it…" he mumbled, not stopping. The rain got louder and the fog thicker, and it wasn't long before he was consumed by it.
"Good luck," Kim said quietly as she turned back to the train. She intended to keep that promise. Through that dark shell was some light, and she knew how to expose it, or at least had an idea.
After he was gone, she got on the train and started it up. With Yori, Rufus and Ron on board, they were off.
But Val wasn't far, watching the train disappear into the mist of the storm. He had a glum look on his face, feeling extremely conflicted about something.
"It's just not enough…"
It was going to be a twenty hour trip without stopping for gas or food. It was the only reason Kim didn't wait for her injuries to heal at the lodge or get sleep. She was going to get it here, and twenty hours was plenty of time.
It had only been twenty minutes, and it felt like three hours had gone by, at least, to the only one awake. Kim was already asleep within a few minutes of starting the train, as was Rufus, and of course Ron. Although Yori didn't intend to stay awake, she couldn't sleep and chose to stay by everyone's side, while looking out the window to see leaves, trees and raindrops fly past her. It was extremely quiet, and strangely, rather peaceful.
Although Yori had been in on this for three days, she wasn't really able to take a moment and see what everyone had gone through. Although the physical changes were obvious, from Kim's short hair, Rufus' hair, and Ron's cursed mutation, her thoughts went deeper than that. Just by analyzing their faces, their closed eyes, she could almost see the pain they all suffered for the last year or so. The hidden sorrow in Kim's eyes, the anguish in Rufus', almost still in disbelief that his days as a caged rodent were no more, and the bitter hatred in Ron's closed eyes.
And he was the one she paid most attention to, still in complete disbelief that this was the transformation Kim talked about. Absolutely none of his physical features were recognizable. Yori thought that maybe the shape of his face would be the same, the shape of his eyes, his ears, or even his freckles. But not a single feature she remembered him for was there.
Although Kim somehow recognized him, Yori could not. But just by looking what he became, it was heartbreaking for her. She never imagined a day where Ron lost everything that made him Ron. Not just physically, but she did overhear the vocal confrontation he and Kim had prior to their duel. His choice of words, his deep and grave voice, no humor or laughter, and he spoke with so much hatred. Just the thoughts of so many changes was too much for her, and had to turn away. She could only imagine what Kim felt.
Even though she told Kim she wanted to help her out, and to make up for what happened in the Bay City crisis, there was another reason she decided to come on board. It was all about Ron. She tried to deny it herself, but she just couldn't live in a world where Ron was completely evil. But it was far from too late, and he could be saved. She would do anything to help him out, to keep him from danger and to ensure his safety.
She would always love him.
Somewhat depressed at these thoughts, she decided to rest, just gazing out the window and seeing what the rest of the jungle had to offer. It wasn't long before she had fallen asleep, too.
Something was wrong.
Even in her sleep Kim felt it, and was awake in an instant. But she wasn't the only one. Yori woke up the exact moment she did, on guard before she could get on her feet. The tip of the sun had just come over the horizon of the desert, but the sunlight wasn't what woke them. They both kept silent, trying to hear for anything unusual. The noise of the train impaired their hearing of anything, though.
"Did you feel it as well? Yori asked.
"Yeah…" Kim answered quietly.
A minute passed but neither of them noticed anything. The train was still moving at full speed like it was when they fell asleep. Everything seemed normal.
Kim couldn't shake the feeling. "Hmm… Something's just no-"
All of a sudden, the train shook violently, knocking both girls to the front. Kim took a heavier blow though, flying straight into the cockpit with Yori inadvertently flying into her shortly after. Yori quickly helped Kim onto her feet after she got on her own.
"That wasn't the track," Kim said. "Something slammed right into us!"
Yori looked out the sides of both windows, but no part of the train was derailed. She didn't see anything either. However, both girls noticed something humming.
But again, the train suddenly shook accompanied with a loud bang from out back. Kim and Yori were able to grab onto the controls to avoid flying or falling. Something from above or close behind was causing this. Before the train was shaken again, they both ran toward the back of the front car to get on top of the train from outside. Kim reluctantly left Ron behind, but since the shake woke Rufus up, he'd keep watch. She also grabbed whatever weapons and equipment she had from her bag. Yori had already opened the door when Kim was done, and she quickly followed.
Kim was nearly knocked off the train from the sudden winds when she got onto the roof of the train, but normally the wind doesn't blow in two directions. Lo and behold, the girls hadn't come across undetected.
They were being ambushed by a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter.
Yori was about to say the obvious, that they were spotted, but for that reason alone she didn't. She had a hand ready on her sword and the other near one of her fans. Kim just glared at the machine, frustrated from both detection and woken up so abruptly.
"KIM!" someone from inside yelled through a loudspeaker, "YOU'RE NOT GOING ANY FARTHER!"
The look on Kim's face was solid as she recognized the voice. "Sean…"
The helicopter increased its speed so that it was able to get closer to the two girls. It turned sideways when it was close enough, and its right door opened, revealing Sean, smoking a cig and sitting down comfortably on a stool. With how close he was, Kim could have easily grabbed him by the collar and yanked him off, if not for the M60 machine gun that stood between them.
"We're not done yet!" Sean yelled, briefly taking the cig from his mouth.
Kim wanted answers. "Sean, why are you doing this? What do you really want? There's more to this than just some stupid obsession!"
Sean only chuckled. "And what if it's just that? I have my orders to capture you dead or alive. We could have done this the easy way, but there's not a girl alive who dares says no to me!" The same garbage as usual. "But I'm not going to ask you if you'll consider dating me this time around! This journey has no destination, Kim!" But then, he noticed the girl behind Kim. "YOU'RE STILL ALIVE?" Just when he thought he killed the real Yori in the jungle, it turned out to be the last decoy. It just didn't expire and show its true form until after he left.
Yori briefly smiled at him.
"No matter!" he yelled. "The more the merrier! Just by pulling the trigger I could end your life in an instant, Kim… but no… we're going to have some fun. It ends here!"
"I couldn't have said it better myself, Sean…" she said, "This was old before it even began…"
Sean laughed at Kim's intimidation attempt. "You? You're going to take on a Night Hawk? With what?"
Kim really didn't have a direct answer. Most of her weapons weren't exactly made to shoot down helicopters, but she wasn't interested in that anyway. Sean was the only problem, but the helicopter was filled with boys and piloted by one of them. They were only following orders, not interested on hurting the girls. Kim needed to find a way to just stop Sean. She only smirked at him with no answer. She wasn't going to give him the details.
Sean merely scoffed. "Just as I thought."
The helicopter then slowed down so that it was at a fair distance from the girls, and high enough so that neither one would attempt to jump onto the machine. Sean tossed his cigarette out the door as he aimed the M60 right at Kim's heart. A cocky smile quickly turned into a serious face, filled with hateful determination. Kim's serious face was no different. They were both ready to finish this.
"You're mine, Kimberly Anne Possible!"
And so it began.
Sean began by firing the gun at the two girls. One of the things that had Kim and Yori at a severe disadvantage was the lack of room to move around, namely the sides. But that didn't force them to cower and just stand there. Instead, the girls actually ran toward the back of the train, which wasn't the opposite direction of the bullets. It threw off the way he was aiming at them, and the bullets weren't hitting their intended targets. The plane itself had to back up so that the girls couldn't run directly under it.
"Take her to the left!" Sean ordered.
The plane went parallel to the left side of the train, putting Sean in a perfect position to fire. But his intention wasn't to aim and fire. Instead, he sprayed the entire train with bullets in random directions, laughing maniacally as the girls were forced to evade in opposite directions; Yori toward the front and Kim to the back. Yori had pulled out her sword, swinging as she ran in efforts to deflect any oncoming bullets, but she was too fast on foot (besides, the rounds were armor-piercing). Kim had a harder time only because with the way he was firing, she didn't know whether or not anything was coming her way.
Unknownst to the girls, a bullet actually flew right past Rufus, not once but twice.
Kim pulled out her laser lipstick, hoping she might be able to get a shot with that. Unfortunately, the helicopter didn't stay in one place, and even if it did, she could have shot right past Sean and hit one of his boys. Other than the one piloting, they weren't doing anything to assist him. They only watched.
"Hit and run!" he then ordered.
The helicopter then moved to the left of the train to the opposite side. But Sean never let go of the trigger, firing at the girls as the helicopter moved. But just as the helicopter stopped, it moved back to the left side with Sean doing the same thing, and so on until the helicopter passed Kim.
Unfortunately for Kim, she was put in a position where all she could do was evade, and Yori was put in the same position. Well, sort of. After Sean sprayed the top of the train with bullets, the helicopter was placed at the very end of the train, with Sean facing the back. The helicopter stopped and turned counterclockwise, and Yori used this chance to throw a smoke bomb, hoping to blind the pilot. But it turned rather fast, allowing Sean to shoot the projectile before it got too close. Unfortunately for him, because of the direction the train and the helicopter were heading, the smoke still flew right at him, blinding him for only a second. It wasn't enough to give Kim or Yori an opening.
"Charge!" he yelled once he got his vision back.
The hawk then turned so that the nose was facing to the train's left. From there, it moved to its right, flying straight to the front of the train as Sean fired bullets upon bullets on the girls. This time, Kim and Yori didn't bother to move. The bullets went flying right past them, some not even close to hitting them. Sean didn't understand why this was, yelling with fury, but it was clear to the girls. He was too excited from the thrill of firing a machine gun in a moving helicopter. He was wasting bullets, thinking that one was bound to easily hit the girls with so many. But he lacked focus and patience, not taking his time to carefully aim at two targets and not paying attention to the recoil of the gun. Because it was lightweight, the recoil heavily affected Sean's aim. It was clear that this was his first time using the weapon.
But Kim knew something Sean didn't about the weapon he was using, developing a plan without even trying. With the way he was firing the gun and with all the dirt in the air thanks to the helicopter, all she had to do was do her best to evade and let the situation handle itself.
"Circle around!" Sean commanded.
Probably the easiest technique to maneuver, the helicopter went in a clockwise loop around the train, letting Sean continue to spray the top even more. Not only was he not bothering to aim carefully at the girls, but he didn't care for which one he aimed at. The best strategy for him would be to focus on one, aim carefully and fire when the time was right, at least against Kim since she didn't have any defense against the bullets except for her own evasive maneuvers. But he aimed at whatever girl he pleased. With a machine gun you could just instantly shoot anyone, right?
Then it happened. The gun stopped firing and he couldn't pull the trigger.
The gun jammed on him.
It was one of the many known problems with the M60 machine gun; it was prone to jamming. Kim completely anticipated this, though. When she and Ron had gone to Belize to save the jungle trainees who had gotten lost, among them was an officer, a Vietnam War vet. To kill the time before the helicopter arrived to pick them up, he decided to tell Kim some stories. One of his stories just happened to be about his experience with the M60, in which the soldiers he worked with complained about the gun. Jamming was just one thing.
And all this time later, Kim remembered. Expectedly, Sean let out an enraged yell. But he didn't bother with fixing it. Instead he kicked the gun out the door and closed the hatch, but not before yelling something to the pilot.
"Get out of the way! I'm taking over!" And once he took over the controls, he yelled something from the loudspeaker. "Oh, have I got a nasty surprise for you, ladies! BRACE YOURSELF!"
From the back of the train, Sean turned the helicopter forward and lowered it to the side. The actual vehicle was right next to the rear car, and it soon went flying to the front at full speed. This was nearly suicide, as the rotor blades were less than a few feet from hitting the surface of the train. Any lower and that was it for him. But this left the blades flying at Kim and Yori, and they wouldn't be able to jump over it.
But Sean wasn't low enough, well aware of the risks if the blades hit or got stuck in the train. Kim and Yori had to lay as completely flat as they could to avoid being torn apart, which they did, and the helicopter blades flew right past them. But they didn't get up, both knowing that Sean was about to do it again from the front and he did, intended to be a surprise attack. But the girls weren't harmed.
Again with the helicopter at the rear end, Sean was growing tired of this. The fight hadn't gone anywhere, and wasn't going to.
"Screw it!" he yelled on the loudspeaker. "Let's just get down and dirty!"
What he did was slam the side of the hawk into the rear car, shaking it and the entire train. Although it was just inches away from derailing, it didn't, but it was enough to have Kim and Yori grabbing what they could, in this case slipping their fingers into bullet holes. But Sean did this repeatedly, enjoying the girl's reactions and having more fun with that than simply slamming the hawk as hard as he could into the train and completely derailing it.
Yori got on her feet and pulled out her sword. She wasn't holding it in the usual manner, and this got Kim afraid.
"I have to take it down!" Yori yelled.
"You can't!" Kim cried.
"I know! I don't wish to hurt all of them, but it's either them or us!"
She was extremely hesitant of what she was about to do, but had to do it. Like Kim, she wasn't interested in hurting the others, especially since they showed concern with the 'death' or her decoy in the jungle, and only wished they would forgive her. She took a brief moment to analyze the situation, and then threw her sword right above the cockpit, attempting to jam the rotor that spun the blades and immobilize the helicopter. Unfortunately, the result would be disastrous and perhaps fatal.
But Sean saw what she was doing and turned the helicopter aside. Instead, the sword hit the rotating blades, and Yori actually found the sword right back in front of her feet, slicing the surface wide open. Awkwardly convenient.
But there was another problem on the girls' hands that didn't make life any easier.
There was another Black Hawk approaching from behind Sean. Perhaps this was probably the 'nasty surprise' he mentioned.
"I don't remember calling for backup!" Sean yelled from the loudspeaker. "Stay out of this! She's MINE!"
Apparently, the answer from the other hawk wasn't a nice one; it actually rammed into the hawk that Sean was piloting, which was also suicide. But the other hawk's nose just hit the back of Sean's; any closer and it would have hit the rotor blades.
"Knock knock!" the pilot of the other hawk yelled upon impact.
Or perhaps not. Kim instantly recognized the voice, and out of pure disbelief she completely smiled, almost bursting into laughter. Yori recognized it as well with a reaction that was no less enthusiastic.
Sean was anything but, trying to get the plane back under control, forcing to move out of the way. "Who are you and what the hell do you think you're doing?"
"I'm not letting you hurt anyone anymore, Sean!" the pilot from the other hawk yelled. "Stop the plane right now and get out of here! We can do this the easy way or the hard way!"
Sean wasn't intimidated. "I'll meddle with you later! Don't interfere!"
But if Kim thought the voice of the pilot was a surprise, it wasn't over. The right door of the second hawk opened up. A blonde-haired girl with blue eyes stepped out, just enough for Kim and Yori to see her. She whistled at the two and waved one of her hands.
"Hi!" she yelled to Kim and Yori. "Long time no see!"
Kim was just in disbelief. "Jen and Nev? What are they doing here?"
But Sean wouldn't allow for the happiest reunion. "That's it! You asked for it!" Realizing the hawk or its occupants weren't one of his, he tried to do exactly what Nev did to him. He quickly backed up and tried to slam the nose of his plane into the rear wing of Nev's.
"Hang on!" Nev yelled to Jen, who then grabbed onto something hard.
Before Sean's plane got close to his, Nev quickly maneuvered the plane sideways to avoid getting hit. Just as Sean's plane was supposedly going to hit his, he then raised the plane upward and flew to the train's left side, with Sean's on the right. Jen peeked her head back out the door again, showing Kim and Yori that she was armed with a handgun. In the back, Kim could see that there was a sniper rifle and some kind of modified assault rifle, along with a week's worth of food.
"We'll handle him!" Jen yelled to the girls.
"Jen!" Kim yelled. "Sean's the only problem! Not his boys! Don't shoot down their plane!"
"It's all right!" Jen yelled. "They're not as inexperienced as you think! They've been trained to survive things like that! Just get to the front of the train!"
Before Kim could protest, Yori grabbed her shoulder. "Believe me, Possible-san, I don't recall a moment where she didn't know what she was doing. And she won't kill anyone if you ask her not to."
Knowing that Yori worked with Jen for a year, Kim had to take her word for it. "Right…"
She then went to the front of the train with Yori, letting Sean and Nev duke it out airborne style. But their fight didn't last long, nothing but Sean trying to slam into Nev's plane and Killbourne showing off his new piloting skills with evasive maneuvers. Sean grew irritated that he wasn't clashing the way he wanted, but it soon came clear that Nev wasn't trying to just evade. He was trying to keep to the left of Sean's plane. Kim saw that Jen tried to take a sniper position in the plane, aiming as carefully as she could to take down Sean's hawk with one shot. She had the same idea Yori had, with taking out the rotor that spun the blades, sort of. Always one for a challenge, Jen wanted to try something different; she wanted to jam the rotors with one bullet.
Two things prevented this from happening. One, she couldn't get in a comfortable position to fire, and two, the fact that Sean's plane wouldn't stay in one position. Sean kept trying to crash his plane into the one she was in, and Nev fought to keep to his left. Sean was smart though, and fought to keep to Nev's left, preventing Jen from getting in a good shot.
Kim's own opinion of the girl. On one end, she was extremely serious and determined at what she tried to do, but at the same time, the girl was sometimes goofy, clumsy, and those who knew her questioned her sanity (including Nev), jumping from calm to serious and back in seconds.
"I'm getting in a better position!" Jen yelled as she witnessed Sean's plane fly in front of theirs and toward the left. She couldn't see it.
But if Kim thought she was crazy before, she hadn't seen anything yet.
Jen actually leapt off of the plane to attempt to grab onto the landing gear for a shot. But the Black Hawk didn't have landing rails as its landing gear. The closest thing resembling landing gear was the plane's wheels, the front one located right next to the door. Jen had quickly gone for that, and actually managed to wrap her legs around it, hanging upside down from the helicopter with her gun still handy.
"Take her up!" she yelled.
Kim was in disbelief, never thinking that Jen would do such a thing. "Man, she better not have gotten that from me!" she cried. "If she gets herself killed I am so blaming myself!"
"What? Did you say something?" Jen asked oh so calmly.
Kim shook her head and rubbed her face. "She's crazy…" Sweet irony.
Yori grabbed her shoulder again. "You have no idea, Possible-san. You have no idea…"
"Do I even want to ask?" Kim replied.
Yori shook her head. "I'll only mention these three things: A hot dog eating contest, a lot of Tabasco sauce, and several gallons of root beer. I will say no more."
Jen wouldn't stay fearless for long, as Sean realized he was being aimed at. He quickly shifted position from the left to the right side of the train, but he intended to go right under Nev's plane, catching the gunfighter in its path.
"Nev! PulluppulluppulluppullupPULLUP!"
But Sean heard it too, pulling his plane up the same time Nev did. Jen quickly saw that the spinning blades were headed straight toward her, but she didn't have much but a wheel to grab onto.
"CRAP!"
She cried and yelped as the blades flung her hair all over the place, but she was unhurt. Once the helicopter was on the other side, she quickly pulled her gun back out and let out an irritated battle cry as she aimed the gun.
"JACKASS!" she yelled. But she realized that she was actually in a better position, almost instantly having the gun aimed right where she wanted it.
And in seeing this, Sean's boys actually opened up the left hatch of the helicopter and jumped out and onto the train.
Now it was just Jen and Sean.
"This is where you fall down!" she yelled. She then pulled the trigger.
But the bullet didn't hit its intended target. In a way it did, but in a way, it didn't. The bullet actually hit the top of the plane, only a few inches away from the spinning rotors. However, the bullet bounced right off the armor and actually jammed the rotors just as she planned.
"The easy way…" Jen said quietly.
But the instant before that, Sean, realizing he was pretty much screwed, made with a last-ditch attempt to slam his plane into Nev's, but flew right under it, almost catching the girl with its blades again.
"KKKIIIIIIIIIMMMMMMM!" he yelled just seconds before the helicopter crashed.
But just as scraps of metal were sent flying all over the desert, both Jen and Nev felt a slight jolt on their plane. Looking to the other wheel, Jen saw what appeared to be a grappling hook.
It was Sean.
He actually opened the cockpit and fired a grappling gun at the hawk, being pulled out of the helicopter before impact. Jen quickly went back inside the plane, and Sean had released himself, landing on the train right between his boys and Kim.
"I'm not finished yet!" he yelled at the two girls, which soon became three.
Jen leapt from the helicopter and landed on the train right in front of him, armed with a scythe.
"Say herro to my widdle fwiend!" she exclaimed.
She swung and spun the weapon around wildly in an almost superhuman manner; almost similar in the fashion Ron did with his spear. It was as if the girl had gone through some ninja training.
Kim quickly turned to Yori with a smirk. "You didn't…"
Yori shrugged her shoulders. "She asked…"
When Jen was done showing off, she held the weapon behind her with bitter eyes at Sean. "Oh no you don't! I'm not…" She paused with a shocked expression on her face, staring at the boy in front of her. "Holy crap, it's you!"
Sean got pig-headed with the girl looking at him, recognizing her. "Hmm… I didn't think you'd forget my face. Who could?"
Jen dropped her weapon, turning around to Kim. "You didn't tell me this was Sean!"
"Wait, you two actually know each other?" Kim asked, even in more disbelief than before.
Jen was the one to answer. "Remember that time I called you and told you about the douchebag with bad credit who tried to come onto me at the pizza place?"
"'Douchebag'?" Sean asked, insulted.
Kim remembered. "You told me the day he betrayed me. The one you broke a chandelier over his head? That's the same guy?"
"Yeah!" Jen claimed. "At least I got a free meal out of it, but still! That's him!"
"But wait, you knew his name," Kim said. "I told you about Sean before he betrayed me and you said he was bad road."
"Yeah, but you didn't say his name was Sean Hanteren!" Jen responded. "Had I known at first… ah, forget it. The past is the past."
"I knew," Nev said, suddenly standing between Sean and his boys. He actually landed the helicopter out back. He had a trenchcoat wrapped around his waist.
"Why didn't you say anything?" Jen whined.
"Uh… You… um… never asked," he said nervously before putting his attention to the one in front of him. "So much for 'no girl ever says no to me', huh Sean?"
"Screw you!" Sean yelled as he turned around, ready to pull out a gun, but Jen swung the scythe and knocked the weapon out of his hands from behind.
"Don't you DARE touch him!" she yelled as she leveled the weapon to Sean's neck. "Rest easy, Kim, he is so friggin' mine!"
But just as Jen was ready to take her weapon back out, she suddenly collapsed backward. Yori quickly grabbed her before she fell. Apparently Jen had been upside down for too long and the blood rush kicked in.
"Jen? Are you all right?" Kim quickly asked.
Jen let out a weak groan before answering. "…this wizard… needs food badly…"
"She's fine," both Yori and Nev said in unison. If she wasn't being serious, she was fine.
"Hey…" Jen said with a somewhat irritated tone, "How come stuff like that never happens to you, Kim? You hang from outside helicopters all the time!"
"I usually don't hang upside down, and when I do it's not for long periods of time," Kim plainly answered, making sound as simple as turning on a VCR.
Jen blew her hair upward, disappointed in herself. "Oh…"
"You did great, though, but don't worry about him," Kim said. "This is between me and him."
Now that Sean was standing right in front of her, it was just the two of them. Kim and Sean. But he had other ideas.
"Lest, Aeren, Veren, Sven, Ren! Shoot them!"
His boys were all armed with assault rifles, but they kept perfectly still.
"That is a direct order!" Sean yelled. "I said shoot them!"
But they didn't, and with Nev in front of them, they didn't bother to take him hostage. He merely stepped aside. Sean got even more furious when they all lowered their weapons and put them back on their belts.
"Not this time," Aeren said.
"Fight like a man for once," Lest told him.
"Really," Veren said with disappointment. "How about instead of making us grab people from behind and let you beat the helpless thing, why don't you do it alone for a change?"
Ren shook his head. "If you're supposed to be our commander, a so-called master of close quarters combat, prove it."
"You're not doing this the cheap way," Sven told his commander, "You're doing this fair, mono e mono."
"Fine!" Sean yelled furiously, "I don't need your help anyway!" he then turned back to his opponent. "Ready for some more, Kim?"
Kim cracked her knuckles as she got into a fighting stance. "I'm fine, but I can't say I'm so sure about you."
The train's journey seemed endless. But it was time to finish it. Kim and Sean, mono e mono, with both of their colleagues watching.
Sean mimicked what Kim did, cracking his knuckles. "You're mine, Kimberly Anne Possible!"