"Of Friends and Foes"
Chapter 5: The Doppelganger Conflict
After a short ride they arrived at GJHQ, Dr. Director led Kim and Ron into the main control room. "What is so important that Wade couldn't tell me?" asked Kim.
"Tell me something first," said Dr. Director, "Have you been contacted by anyone recently?"
"No, not since that letter from T two months ago," replied Kim.
"T contacted you? The young man who died in that explosion?"
"Yeah, apparently he had it set up to be sent if something happened to him. An automatic e-mail was sent after a week with the location of the letter. This was with it," Kim reached into her pocket, pulled out the ID card and handed it to Dr. Director. "Ron has one too." Ron pulled out his and handed it over. Dr. Director looked over the cards carefully then held them to the light. Slowly the image of a squared off G in a diamond appeared in the center.
"Incredible," she said, handing them back to the teens. "They are authentic, I figured you would have got those after I saw the medallion."
"Do you know what it is?" asked Kim.
Dr. Director nodded, "Yes, a few people are given the knowledge of the Guardian. The medallion is like an officer's badge. It is the symbol of rank for an HDPD member."
"That letter was signed Guardian T Kim," said Ron.
"That's right, is the Guardian rank high Dr. Director?" asked Kim.
"According to rumor it is, not much is really known about the HDPD. The last known appearance in the US by a Guardian, was in the late seventeen hundreds. The last time someone was given an A class card in the world was more than a hundred years ago. The events that happened then have been erased. That seems to be the way they work, behind the scenes, not in the limelight."
"That does sound like the way T worked when we met," said Kim as she wandered into thought. "What was the reason for T giving us these cards?" thought Kim. "Dr. Director, did something happen last night?"
'Yes, that is why I asked you to come here. I just wanted to confirm that piece of information before I told you." Dr. Director motioned to a man at a control deck, he pressed a button and a couple of chairs appeared out of the floor. "Please, have a seat. I have a feeling you might need them." Kim and Ron sat down in the chairs, both of them were beginning to get nervous now. "I am sure you know about the drop in the crime rate, correct?" Kim and Ron nodded. "For the last two weeks everything has been dead, nothing happening whatsoever. That is until last night when there were several robberies committed across the continental US."
"You want us to find who the thieves are, right?" asked Kim.
"We already know who they are," said Dr. Director, "They wanted us to see them. We just don't know why they did what they did."
"If you know who they are then why did you want us here?" asked Kim.
"See for yourself." Dr. Director nodded to the man at the control deck again. "This is taken from the surveillance camera at the Gold Reserve in New York." An image of a vault door came on the main screen, Kim and Ron stared in shock as they watched a red headed girl and a blonde haired boy take out the guards and begin to empty the vault.
"It can't be!" exclaimed Kim. "That's us! There's no way we could have done that, we were at home all night."
"That's right, just ask Rufus," said Ron as he opened his pocket.
Rufus scrambled out and climbed up onto Ron's shoulder. "Uh huh, uh huh, uh huh."
Dr. Director smiled at the two, "I believe you, but others might not be so understanding."
"You believe us?" asked Ron.
The screen split into four images, "This should clear things up a bit." Dr. Director turned toward the screen. 'The image on the top left is the one you just saw. The other three are from other robberies across the States, the last one being from California."
Kim watched the videos looking for something off to prove that it was not her and Ron. "Wait a minute, four o'clock, three o'clock, two o'clock and one o'clock. These all happened at the same time."
"How could they have happened at the same time if they are an hour apart Kim?' asked Ron.
"Because of the time difference between New York and California Ron," said Kim. "When it is four o'clock in New York, it is one o'clock in California."
"She's right," said Dr. Director, "They all happened at the same time. That is how I know you did not do it, I'm just not sure why it was done. Someone went to a lot of trouble to frame you two for those crimes."
"You know, I bet it was Drakken. I mean he has made clones of us before," said Ron.
"Maybe," said Kim, "but this doesn't seem like something he would do. He's more of the 'take over the world' kind of guy, not the 'make a bunch of clones to steal for me' kind."
The Kimmunicator's beeping stopped everyone's talking. Kim pulled it out and answered it, "What's up Wade?"
"Your not going to believe this Kim, but somebody's sent you a challenge," said Wade.
"A challenge? Who?" asked Kim.
"I don't know who he is, but you can see the message for yourself." Wade disappeared from the screen to be replaced by the image of a man sitting in what appeared to be a throne, surrounded by shadows.
"Greetings Miss Possible," spoke the man. "I am sure by now you have witnessed the deeds performed by my . . . doppelgangers, shall we call them? I do hope you were impressed by them, I am sure the people they pilfered from were. I am sure your young friend will have told you the nature of this call before you see it so let's get down to it. As good as my doppelgangers are, one still poses the question as to who is better. The doppelgangers or the originals? Tonight at twenty one hundred hours my doppelgangers will break into your town's largest bank. I of course, expect you to be there to try to stop them. Your local news crews shall be there as well, seeing as I shall invite them to watch as you battle your counterparts. Should you lose they shall watch as the bank is emptied and then as every establishment in the area is done likewise. No one shall be able to stop me then, and I shall crush the governments and rule all. Let that be an extra incentive for you to win the battle tonight Miss Possible. Remember, twenty one hundred hours, tonight. Do please be on time."
Wade came back on the screen. "That's all there was, I tried to track where it came from, but all I came up with was a bunch of dummy locations from around the world. This guy is good."
"Thanks Wade, good try. Looks like I'll have to accept his challenge if I want to stop him. Let me know if anything else comes up." Kim turned off the Kimmunicator and put it away. "Well, our mystery villain has made himself known, uh sort of. He's another of the 'rule the world' kind of bad guy."
"He certainly didn't waste any time on eliminating the competition," said Dr. Director. "I'd even say he was the cause for the drop in crime."
"Well he made a mistake in challenging Kim. His criminal career will be over before it begins, right Kim?' asked Ron.
"Yeah," said Kim, "But something seems different about this one."
Dr. Director stood across the street from the bank. Global Justice vehicles were parked around the perimeter and as promised by the mystery man, news vans were beginning to show up. A light rain began to fall as lightning flashed across the sky and was followed by a low rumble of thunder. She looked at her watch, "Fifteen minutes to go," she said to herself. Inside the bank Kim and Ron waited for the hour to strike. The rumble of thunder echoed through the building.
"Sounds like the storm is here," said Ron. "Hey Kim, be extra careful on this mission, okay." Kim looked at her friend and could see that he was worried. She usually saw fear and concern on his face during a mission, particularly when it involved monkeys or Wannaweep, but this time she noticed it was a different look.
"I'm always careful Ron, this shouldn't be any different from when Drakken made clones of us. There is just going to one clone this time though."
"That's what I'm talking about. You can get over confident sometimes. You should be careful with this one, I get the feeling this guy is out for more than just blood," Ron replied. "I don't want to see you get hurt again."
Kim placed her hand on his shoulder. "I'll be careful Ron, I promise. Hey, is that what your dream was about when you called this morning?"
Ron nodded slowly, "Yeah. It was."
Kim's watch beeped, "It's time," she said.
"Whaa!" Ron pointed out onto the floor. Out in the center of the floor stood the doppelgangers, dressed in mission clothes they looked exactly like Kim and Ron. Rufus stuck his head out of Ron's pocket to take a look, a pink head appeared out of the pocket of Ron's doppelganger too. "Even Rufus!" exclaimed Ron.
The eyes of the doppelgangers flashed red for a brief second then the Kim doppelganger spoke, "The Master wishes for us to dispose of you counterpart, what The Master wants, The Master gets." In the blink of an eye the doppelganger rushed at Kim with a punch. Kim barely had time to block the attack and was pushed back by the blow.
"They're fast, and strong," she thought to herself. Kim threw a punch, her hand was caught and she felt a coarse pain in her side as the doppelganger kicked her. She went sliding across the floor to the front of the building. Kim stood up, leaning on the window for support. This definitely was nothing like Drakken's clones. This one was smarter than they were.
"Kim!" Ron yelled, Kim looked up in time to dodge the foot coming at her head. The glass shattered and both of them went falling into the parking lot. "Kim!' Ron yelled out again.
"You should worry about yourself, Monkey Master."
Ron turned to face his doppelganger, it stood there holding a sword with the mole rat sitting on the end. "Down," he said, the mole rat jumped off the sword onto the floor where it began to call to Rufus.
Rufus jumped out of Ron's pocket onto the floor in response to the challenge, "You okay with this buddy?" asked Ron. Rufus gave him a thumbs up and the two mole rats began what looked like a race around the building.
"Call the Lotus Blade," the doppelganger spoke.
"How do you know about that?" asked Ron.
"If one has a pure heart, the Lotus Blade will be able to find its way home. So call it Monkey Master and let our dual begin," the doppelganger spoke again.
Ron closed his eyes and held out his hand, moments later the Lotus Blade appeared in his hand. "You asked for it, well here it is," said Ron. The two leapt at each other with swords drawn.
It was pouring now and the rain beat down on Kim's face. She sat up and shook her head. She had dodged in time to avoid the main blow, but was hit anyway. She slowly got up on her feet, the glass crunching underneath. Inside she could hear the sound of metal clashing. She looked to see two figures moving with blinding speed in a graceful dance, "A dance of death," she thought. "Ron, when did you get that good?" she asked to herself.
"You should not be worried about them, I am your opponent," said a voice from behind. Kim turned to see her doppelganger standing about ten feet behind her. She stood there staring at Kim with burning red eyes that was rather unsettling. Kim could see the lights of the news crews across the street, as the lightning flash lit up the shadows she could see that there were more people than Global Justice agents and reporters watching. The doppelganger charged at Kim again, but this time she was ready. As the doppelganger punched, Kim ducked and gave one of her own and connected. Kim heard the doppelganger gasp as her fist went into its abdomen. The shock didn't last long and Kim was kicked away.
"She kicks like a mule," Kim thought as she watched the doppelganger jump into the air. She rolled out of the way as the doppelganger came down where she was just lying. Quickly she spun herself around knocking the feet out from underneath the doppelganger. Kim heard a crack as the doppelganger's head hit the ground. The crowd erupted into cheers as Kim got back up on her feet. She looked down at the doppelganger, it moaned and opened its eyes. Slowly it got up, "She's injured, that fall affected her," thought Kim. Her sides ached from having been kicked, she didn't think she could take another hit like that. "I'll have to take her down now if I want to walk away from this fight."
Kim rushed at the doppelganger and leapt into the air with a kick. The doppelganger caught her leg and twisted it around. Kim screamed out in pain as she fell to the ground. As the doppelganger looked down at Kim, its eyes glowed red again. "I'm sorry Ron, I wasn't able to keep my promise," said Kim. The doppelganger suddenly screamed out in pain, it reached behind its head pulling out a small pink animal that was clawing and biting its neck. "Rufus!" Kim called out. The doppelganger raised its arm to throw Rufus onto the ground. Kim quickly took the opportunity and with all her might she stood on her hands pushing herself up to kick the doppelganger with her good foot. She connected just under the chin and the doppelganger's head flew back. Kim fell back to the ground. She looked up the doppelganger wondering what was going to happen. For a moment nothing happened, then slowly the hand holding Rufus released him and he fell to the ground. The doppelganger slowly fell backward hitting the ground with a thud. Kim sat up and picked up Rufus, "Thanks for the assist back there Rufus," said Kim. Kim quickly looked around the lot, "Where's Ron?" she asked. "Kim!" a voice called out from the bank.
Ron came limping out of the broken window, his shirt cut in several places. "I see you won your fight too," he said. He limped over to Kim and held out his hand. Kim took it and he pulled her up off the ground. "You know you're liable to catch your death sitting on the cold wet ground during a rainstorm," he joked. The crowd burst into cheers again as the two teens began walking toward the road. Global Justice agents began moving in to take the doppelgangers into custody.
Kim heard a faint thunk, "What was that? Ron!" Ron began to sink to his knees, Kim tried to hold him up the best she could. "Ron, what's wrong?" she asked, then she saw what made the noise. A small metal rod was barely sticking out of his back. "No, Ron!" she screamed.
"A hollow victory, isn't it Miss Possible." Kim looked in the direction the voice came. Standing on top of the bank was a man. With bright lights in behind of him all anyone could see was his silhouette, and orange glowing eyes. He raised his hand in the air and grabbed something. He quickly flew into the air, as the lightning flashed again the shape of an enormous ship was seen high in the air.
Kim looked down at her best friend lying in her lap. The lightning flashed and the thunder roared, the rain beat down on her but she didn't care. She stroked his hair and he smiled at her. "Don't cry on my account Kim, it will all turn out okay." He closed his eyes and dropped limp.
"Ron?" Kim spoke, "Ron, speak to me!" Tears formed in her eyes and she pulled Ron's body close. The crowd was silent as they watched Kim. The reporters shut off their cameras and the Global Justice agents kept their distance. The sky itself seemed to react as well and the rain began to fall even fiercer. The roar of the rain was the only sound that was heard save for the sound of a lone girl crying.