AN – Thanks to all my reviewers so far. I've got a few personal responses at the bottom, but for now, thanks to raven vixen, gargoylesama, Captein Amelia, and darkbusterracncher. Keep reviewing and I'll keep writing.

"Right." General Braddock said, getting up from his chair. He started pacing like a tiger in a circus cage. "This facility is something like the Area 51 of newly created weapons. Area 51 is full of things we've found and are trying to understand. This place, Manhattan Central, is full of the crazy things we've thought up ourselves."

"Manhattan Central?" Kim broke in. "You mean this is where the atomic bomb was developed?"

"More or less. The buildings used for that project are now obsolete and only used for storage. We also designed the Black Bird back in the 70's, and then held onto it for a while before announcing to the Pentagon brass it was ready. Our new pet project is something one of our brainstormers got from his son. Have you ever heard of the anime show 'Gundum Wing'? Or Mech Warrior?"

Seeing nods all around, he continued. "Well, he got the idea of coming up with our own version of a mobile suit. The prototype had a few glitches in it, but nothing that couldn't be solved in a couple months. The biggest problem we had was when the pilot thought about something like sneezing the guns would go…"

"Ahem." A subtle cough from Masau reminded Braddock to return his attention to the young heroes.

"Excuse me. Being a scientist for years has me sometimes getting distracted when I talk about a project. The system was designed to be more than a one-person tank. We wanted a suit that could neurally interface with the pilot's brain to the point that the pilot could make his suit tap dance. Several things were done to the suits to make them beyond anything used today in modern combat. They were space worthy, for one. We managed to create a new kind of propulsion system that required far less fuel to reach orbit. It would act like a magnetic train using the air as it running track, effectively pushing itself a little bit at a time off of each molecule of air. Once it was in space the suit would have to resort to normal rockets, but it would have nearly its entire fuel payload by the time it got there."

"I suppose we don't have the time to explain all of the other advances we made to it right now, so I'll just cut to the meat of it. This suit has heavy-duty machine guns, long range and short range missiles, a cutting laser that could be turned into a weapon, and a long distance semi-automatic rifle that's rather hard to aim. We had three prototypes built, and all three of them were stolen, along with the original schematics. The three pilots who did the only active testing were with their suits during the attack and died when they were forcibly removed from their helmets."

"They died because they lost their helmets?" Ron asked in a confused voice. "Why's that?"

"The neural interface. The pilot's mind is so connected to the suits computer that removing the helmet without properly shutting down the system has the effect of completely shutting down half the brain."

"That sounds like what happened with the emersion caps, remember, Ron?"

The general looked sternly at the two teens. "I shouldn't have to tell you what someone could do with enough of these suits. Imagine an army whose units could pack more firepower than a tank battalion, fly faster than an F-16, have more effective range than a sniper, and be as agile as a gymnast. Make an army of mobile suits, and you could rule the world."

At this Masau cut in. "Fortunately for us, the materials for building an army of suits is limited and expensive, so most of our enemies can't afford it. Hell, America can barely afford it. Unfortunately for us, the man in charge of the raid here has the money and power to do whatever he bloody well wants to."

"Who's that?" Kim asked. "If America can barely afford it, who could?"

"A man by the name of Norman Duval. He is the International Grandmaster of the Illuminati."

"The Illuminati? Isn't that the secret organization that supposedly controls the rulers of the world?"

"That's the rumor. But ask yourselves why someone who already ruled the world would have to do something this explosive to get these suits? They could simply arrange for a transfer so that an Illuminatist is in charge of the installation. Thankfully, the Illuminati does not control vary many governments at all. What it does control, however, is the business world. They have complete control over sixty percent of the major businesses in the world, with heavy influences in another fifteen. Of course, they don't control Dragon Research," Masau finished with a shark-like grin.

"But isn't that one of the largest international corporations there is? Why wouldn't they control it?"

"Because its ours. How do you think the Legions have managed to fund a world wide policing venture, not to mention funding for people like you. And did you expect that five thousand years of getting people out of tight spots would leave us unrewarded? We've gotten so large the Illuminati can't kill us. Hurt us a little, maybe, but not finish us off."

"But how did Drakken and Professor Dementor get mixed up in this? I mean, it sounds like this guy can get the top minds in the world."

"Well, Dementor actually makes sense. He is one of the leading scientific authorities when it comes to the human brain. Duval would have gotten the professor who invented the moodulators and the mind control chips, but Dragon Research had just added him to the payroll and he turned down the job. Drakken is the one we don't really understand. We know that he does have the intelligence to be a genius, but for whatever reason, he never fully exerted himself when it came to take over the world schemes. The only thing we can assume is that Duval wanted him for his history of working with large scale weapons."

"And Shego…?"

"As far as we can tell, she's just an added benefit. Duval already has experts to train his units, and you saw as you came in what they're capable of. Our main concern right now is this: how do we get the two of you trained for this mission before the suits are fully tested and ready for production?"

"What do mean trained?" Kim said rather loudly. "I thought you wanted us because we were good enough. For that matter, what do you even need us for? You're the one with an island full of people like me."

Masau looked unperturbed as he shook the ashes from his pipe. "Yes, I have an island full of good people, but this mission requires a very small team, and the majority of our troops are used to something of a larger scale. Now, the Royal families could handle it just fine, and they're almost all on leave right now, but we don't know where Duval is keeping the suits yet. By the time we expect our spies to report anything, I'll be the only one not on assignment. Which is why I'll be going with you."

"Well, thanks for the offer, Lord Masau, but we work better alone."

"Yes, as I said, I've seen you both in action. Or rather, I've seen you in action with Ron as the bumbling distraction. No offense, mate."

Ron was just glaring at the lord muttering something that sounded like "None taken, lord."

"However, you cannot afford any mistakes with this man. He is like a shark: as soon as he thinks you have a weakness, he's on it like ticks on a hound."

"Then why did you want us?" Kim asked.

"Because I think you could be very, very good. Here is what I propose: you and your families come with me to New Borlea for the weekend. There is an annual feast tomorrow at the High Castle. There I will go over with your parents the offer I just made you. Take a day or so to decide what you plan to do. Oh, Mr. Load is also invited with his parents. The offer extends to him, as well."

"You could get Wade to come? We could actually see him in person? Who should make him the offer?"

"Oh, I don't think any of us need to. I'm almost certain that he's been hacked into our security system for most of the meeting. Isn't the right, Mr. Load?" He finished with a dramatic wave to the security camera Kim hadn't even noticed.

BEEP BEEP BEEP-BEEP.

Kim dug her Kimmunicator out of her pocket. "I take it he was right?" she asked the techno genius.

"Yep. Though I'd really like to know how he knew I'd be there."

"Quite simple, Mr. Load, if you think about it. I know how you think. You're a computer nerd, which means you like to know everything you can about everything you can, and these are your friends, which means you want to make sure they're as safe as you can keep them."

"So Wade, what do you think?"

Wade seemed to really be mulling the offer over in his head. It took him nearly a minute before he said, "I think I like it. We can go to this feast and spring the idea on our parents. We'll take on this mission and see how they operate, and once its over we can decide if we want to stay or not. And I gotta admit, sponsorship like that sounds good. It would mean I could make new gadgets for you out of better things than lipstick and hairdryers."

"But I love the hairdryer grappling hook," Kim protested.

"I know, and its kind of become your trademark gadget, but do you have any idea how nervous I was when I first gave you that thing?"

"Ok, Ok, we'll go to the feast and take the mission before we decide to sign up."

"Excellent, Ms. Possible. Unfortunately we'll have to wait for our spies to contact us before we can move, but I have an excellent idea on how to pass the time."

gargoylesama - yeah, I know. I've seen some people get crazy when their story includes themselves. However, this is a bit different. Masau is actually the main character in a story series my ex-girlfriend and I have been working on for the past three or four years, and the final character of that story (which is the Masau you're seeing here) is almost nothing like me.

Ok, fair point on Shego's power's (did they actually clarify that in the series?), fortunately it doesn't have much bearing on the story and should be easy to fix later on. What's LDD?

darkbusterrancher – gimme a break, I'm not used to uploading to I still have to play around and see what it'll take, and what it'll kill in the upload. And if you think that the first chapter had a slightly different writing style than 2 and 3, that's because 2 and 3 are the whole reason I started this fic, but I couldn't jump into it. I had to come up with some filler. And soon we'll find out if I'm any good at fight scenes ;)

Till next I write, and keep reviewing,

BlackDragon