Chapter 10: Raid on Foxhound Headquarters

Kim waited impatiently for the cargo plane she had rented to unload her car at the Kennedy International Airport in Washington DC. Her credit card was spent on a one way cargo trip; for some reason, there was no favor she could pull that could get her anywhere near South Boston. The Airport worker finally pulled the car around to her and she tossed him as large a tip as she could muster before peeling out of the airport parking lot straight toward South Boston to begin her search.

As the car approached South Boston city limits, Kim's Kimmunicator began to beep. "WHAT?" She snapped, causing Wade to flinch.

"Sorry, but we have a sitch in Washington DC that needs you ASAP, Kim," Wade said defensively.

Kim sighed before looking up toward the heavens, "Do you not want me to find Ron or something?" She glanced down at her Kimmunicator while pulling the handbrake sending the car into a 180 degree spin before slamming the gas again, "Where, what, and who?"

"Washington Monument, Duff Killagan's wanting to use it as a driving range," Wade explained. Kim just rolled her eyes and pushed the car's engine to the max.

----

"Aye, ever-body get out of me way; FORE!" Duff Killagan yelled, launching another exploding golf ball at the Washington Monument.

Kim's car came to a halt and she quickly leapt out and took a dash toward the mad Scottish golfer.

"Kim Possible!" Duff laughed, "Fancy seeing ye 'ere!" He then launched a ball that missed her by inches.

"I don't have time for this shit, skirt boy!" Kim hissed running faster toward him.

"Oh! Such unladylike language, Kimberly!" Duff laughed, "looks like Ah will 'ave te be the one to punish ya!" he said before knocking another explosive golf ball again.

Kim watched the ball's arch and her eyes widened when she saw where it was headed. "NOOOO!" Kim screamed, watching in terror as the ball crashed through the windshield of her baby, her pride and joy, the sports car that she saved and saved and saved and finally was able to buy herself. The car she has loved for the past two years, washed twice daily and after hard work finally paid off two months prior. Then suddenly, her beloved cherry red '97 Dodge Avenger exploded in flames.

"That. Was. My. Car." Kim growled, turning back toward the laughing golfer. "THAT WAS MY GODDAMN CAR, YOU MOTHERFUCKING SON OF A BITCH!" Kim wailed, running as fast as she possibly could while screaming like a rabid animal.

"What?" Duff asked, blinking in confusion, "Wasn't it insured?"

"AHHHHHHHH!" was Kim's only reply as she punched him square in the face, grabbed his golf club, and began to beat him repeatedly with it.

----

Kim sat, chest still heaving, on the bumper of an ambulance, sipping at a bottle of water. She glanced over at the broken remains of her car, and then up at the stretcher rolling past her with Killagan laying face down, moaning in agony with five clubs sticking up around his rump area.

She then sighed and started walking down the street; what was she going to do? She didn't have a car. She didn't have a clue where Ron was. And as she looked around the quiet side street in Washington, she discovered she didn't even know where SHE was.

"CAW!" a black bird called, landing in front of her and looked up at her expectantly.

"What do you want?" Kim asked, not expecting it to answer.

"CAW! CAW!" another called, landing beside it, and staring at her just as the first.

A moment later, immense numbers of them swooped down and Kim quickly found herself surrounded by the jet black birds. "W-What?"

"You wish to find your loved one." A voice from the shadowy alley stated.

"Who are you?" Kim asked, taken aback slightly.

"I am merely a watcher," the voice said as he walked out of the shadows just enough to let the tattoo of a bird on his bald head show. "My job is to make sure your fate comes to pass."

"Fate?"

"You and the boy are meant to be more than pawns. You are both beyond I, beyond Snake, beyond the Patriots." The figure stated. "It will take a great sacrifice, but your destiny is higher than you could possibly imagine."

"Whatever… can you help me find him?" Kim asked impatiently.

"He is below you." The figure said as the tattoo on his forehead began to glow and the ravens took to the air, fluttering around and blinding her.

A moment later, the birds flew off and she found herself before an old barn in the country.

"OOOOkay … this is super freaky," Kim said, looking at the old barn before she heard a vehicle approaching from behind her.

She quickly back flipped behind a large bush and watched as a military jeep pulled up to the barn and two men in uniforms like Ron's got out of the vehicle. "Ok, now this is starting to get interesting," Kim whispered as she silently followed the two men inside.

Kim watched as they entered a stairwell, and ran to catch the hidden door before it closed. She stealthily followed the pair before stopping a safe distance from them, and watching as they walked through a checkpoint. She glanced around and spotted an opened air duct and silently climbed inside, "High security, right …"

Kim crawled past several air vents 'til she found one in a darker corner of the base corridor. The teen silently slithered out of the vent and crouched in the shadows. The young heroine clung to the wall and glanced around the corner before silently padding through the hallways of the base.

Kim finally caught sight of a room labeled 'Security Room', "Should have a map in there," she whispered to herself before she saw an armed guard pacing back and forth along the hallway to the security room's entrance. Kim crouched down like a panther awaiting its pray as the guard slowly approached her hiding place.

She waited in silence 'til he was right beside her. As soon as he turned to pace back down the hall, he had the heel of a size 7 ½ boot slapping the back of his skull.

Kim dragged the KO'ed guard into the security room before she took the time to glance around the large room full of security cameras and a large computer in the corner. Kim sat unceremoniously in the computer chair and went to work at digging through the database. 'Ron was hurt severely, maybe even f-fatally … no, severely,' she thought as she did a search through a digital map of the base. 'Hmmm, the Advanced Medical Level is two levels down. Has to be where he is.' Kim practically leapt from her chair and quietly began her silent trek for the stairwell.

Kim made it down the two levels of stairs, opened the door to the Advanced Medical Level, and was surprised to see seven armed guards standing there waiting for her. "Oh hey, um … are visiting hours over?"

"Get the intruder!" one of the guards barked, firing a tranquilizer dart at the teenaged girl.

Kim dodged the shot and danced around their attacks gracefully before bringing the back of her fist to one soldier's jaw then her steel toed boot to another's crotch. She grabbed one of the downed soldier's trank guns and held it with both hands. "Ok, relax, don't try so hard, take slow, deep breaths, keep one eye open, and gently squeeze trigger …" she whispered as she shot the four other guards, then twirled the gun to hold it by the barrel and hit the last, surprised guard in the face.

Kim grabbed two fully loaded trank guns and eased around the corner, checking for unlocked doors. When she finally found one, she popped through the door with the guns leading her path, but what she saw made her drop her weapons in shock. "Oh Ron …"

She walked up to a large, vertical tank filled with light green, bubbly fluid and Ron floating in it with nothing on save a breathing apparatus. His already scarred body was littered with still healing, large bullet wounds and a large gash on his leg. She walked up and placed her hand on the tank as a single tear slid down her cheek. Her eyes lingered on his face, the only motion from him was the occasional eye moment under their lids and his long hair floating in the fluid.

"Kim Possible, I presume," a woman in a lab coat said, walking into the room with a file folder. She had long, dark brown hair and matching eyes. "I'm Dr. Naomi Hunter, pleasure." she said, extending a hand to the confused girl. "We expected you sooner, Ms. Possible."

"Huh?" Kim asked dumbly, unconsciously taking the older woman's hand. "How do you know who I am?"

"Well other than your well known popularity, Ms. Possible, don't forget we've been around Shadow here enough to hear all about 'KP'," Naomi smiled, "KP usually … KP says … did you know KP could… Everyone here knows almost everything about you."

"Is … is he going to be ok?" Kim asked, turning back to Ron.

"I can't say just yet, Ms. Possible," Naomi said, studying the readings on the monitors of Ron's tank. "We've placed him in a nanomachines tank to aid the physical healing, and it doesn't appear his body will reject his organ replacements. If he is alive after the next forty-eight hours, he has a strong chance of a full recovery."

"O-O-Organ replacement?" Kim stuttered, feeling her blood turn frigid.

"We had to replace his heart, his right lung, a large portion of his left lung, his kidneys, as well as a portion of his spinal cord." Naomi explained, not looking up from the monitor. "A standard human would not survive even the physical damage that was done; he's lucky for his advanced Gene and Nanomachine treatments that we gave him when he was accepted into Foxhound. They're what saved his life."

Kim dropped to her knees, breathing heavily, struggling to fight back the sobs. "Ron …" She finally forced out before a hand came to rest on her shoulder.

"He's strong, Kim," Meryl said, squatting beside the girl.

Kim turned to the older woman, surprised by her presence, and threw her arms around her, sobbing into her shoulder. "It's ok, Kim," Meryl said, stroking her hair, "Ron's going to be fine, ok?"

Kim pulled away and nodded weakly. "I knew you'd feel somewhat better if you saw he was actually still alive; that's why I called you." Meryl smiled lightly.

"That … w-was you?" Kim sniffed, earning a nod from Meryl.

"I wish I could let you stay with him. I know that's what you want," Meryl said sadly, "But you're going to have to go home; this is a military installation after all."

"I know … rules are rules …" she said, not taking her eyes off Ron.

"You can be alone with him for a while though," Meryl smiled weakly before almost literally dragging Naomi out into the hallway.

Kim watched them leave before turning back to Ron. The only sounds in the room were the bubbling fluids and the steady beep from his heart monitor. She walked back up to the tank and rested her hand on the cool glass. "I don't like this, Ron," Kim whispered softly. "Why has this all changed so much? Why did your parents have to die? Why … did you have to become a soldier like this? Why did you … have to get hurt? Why … d-did I have to … fall in love with my very best friend? I was so happy with Josh; I loved Josh. I love Josh. But … I love you too. Damn it, why does life have to be so complicated? Can we go back? You know …" She asked, sniffing slightly as another storm of tears began to form, "Back when we were best friends, and we were heroes, and nothing could touch us? I … I don't like … being scared for you, Ron, I don't. I hate having to worry that if I leave this room, then I'll never s-see you alive again. I just got you back, Ron ... I don't want to lose you again. Ever. So get better and come back to me. We have a lot … more than a lot to talk about, ok, Ron?"

She then glanced down his floating body, and a playful smirk crossed her lips, "By the way, you have Josh beat by at least two inches easy." She then looked back up, "My god, I just … this is your fault, Ron!"

Kim let out a deep sigh and traced his face on the glass. "You're going to be ok," Kim smiled slightly with tears at the corners of her eyes. "I'll … be waiting for you, Ron; hurry home." She then turned and walked out of the room.

Kim walked out to find Dr. Hunter and another woman, who didn't look that much older than her and was of Chinese descent. "You must be Kimberly-kun, it is an honor to meet you. I am Mei Ling." The girl said, bowing to the redhead.

'I know that name … wait … she's … grrr …" Kim thought, remembering this was Ron's ex before her.

"Yes, I have had an intimate relationship with Ron-san," Mei Ling stated, understanding Kim's glare. "There is an old Chinese saying: 'A traveler will find comfort and shelter along their path, but will never cease longing for home.' Kimberly-kun, Ron-san, as much as I cared for him, he always cared for you more. You are his home. Even when he was with me, he was longing for you. You have no reason at all to hold jealousy toward me."

Kim was stunned for a moment before nodding dumbly. "I am here to take you to the airport; we have you on a flight to Upperton Airport in thirty minutes," Mei Ling smiled.

Kim nodded and turned back to see Ron in his tank through the open door. Kim sighed and mouthed 'I love you' before turning and following Mei Ling toward the exit.

---

"So what do you think, Snake?" Meryl asked from the Snake Unit command center.

Solid Snake rubbed his chin, and continued to watch Kim from the monitors, "She's greener than you were when we met, Meryl," Snake stated, "But she does have potential. Do you think she could work with Shadow and have full concentration on their missions, Otacon?"

"I think so; they have for years. I've seen some of the old footage; they're a well oiled machine." Otacon stated, winking at his wife.

"And she passed the test," Meryl pointed out, "She made it to Shadow without being caught. Hell, she almost made it before we even knew she was here!"

"I'll think about it," Snake said bitterly, "Right now we have bigger fish to fry. Any information on that Metal Gear that turned Shadow into Swiss cheese?"

"Not yet, Snake, but I'm digging," Otacon stated, "Whatever that thing is, it's trouble."

"You can say that again." Snake then turned to the redhead, "Meryl, when you contact Possible to tell her how her lover boy's doing, tell her to lay low 'til we can get back there. That MG will make short work of her."

Snake then turned back to Kim's monitor, "Well, Shadow, you've found you a hell of a woman."

To Be Continued.