Part Two - After Time
- Los Angeles Intl. Airport -
Tuesday – 11:12am (Local)
"…in response to this morning's devastating terrorist attacks, the Federal Aviation Administration has issued an indefinite suspension of all private and commercial air travel within the continental United States. This decision has stranded thousands of travelers all over America, many of whom now find themselves isolated from friends and loved ones during what many people consider their darkest hour…"
Shego was laying across several seats in the airport's VIP Lounge trying desperately to get some sleep. She fought to keep her eyes closed and drown out the noise of the television news report echoing across the quiet room.
"…a short time ago NYPD Commissioner Bernard Kerik gave a brief statement regarding the rescue efforts currently underway at what many officials are now calling 'Ground Zero'. In his announcement, Kerik reiterated that rescue efforts are still underway and that those who had friends or family near the World Trade Center should not give up hope…"
No matter how hard she tried, the morose drawl of the television newscaster continued to drill its way into her head.
"…when asked how long rescue efforts were going to continue, Mayor Giuliani announced that crews would not rest until everyone was absolutely certain all survivors have been located and rescued…"
It was almost unreal to comprehend that the loudest noise she could hear in a major international airport terminal was the television. On a normal day the air would be buzzing with the sounds of travelers coming and going, those annoying pre-recorded messages that always seemed to be playing on a continuous loop, and, of course, the high-pitched whine of planes taking off and landing.
But today was not a normal day…
…at least not anymore.
Shego had almost managed to drown out the noise of the TV when she heard the sound of footsteps approach and stop in front of her seat. She kept her eyes closed in hopes that whomever was in front of her would continue on their way and leave her alone.
She was, of course, mistaken…
"When was the last time you ate anything?" a solemn voice asked.
With a frustrated sigh, Shego opened her eyes and sat up. Ron was standing in front of her with a muffin and a cup of coffee in his hands. Like everyone else in the room, the usually upbeat and goofy teen had a very tired and sober look on his face.
"Why do you care?" Shego asked as she tried to stretch a kink out of her left shoulder.
"Because I'm one of the good guys," Ron answered with a hint of accusation. "It's my job to care, even if I don't want to. Now when was the last time you ate anything?"
"A while ago," she replied nonchalantly.
"Here." He held out his hand and offered her the cellophane-wrapped muffin. "It's not much, but it's better than nothing."
Having had nothing to eat in over eighteen hours, Shego found that her hunger greatly outweighed her sense of modesty. Without hesitating, she snatched the muffin from the teen's hand, tore off the wrapping, and devoured it like a starved animal.
When she finished eating, Ron offered her the cup of coffee. She began to reach for it, but paused. In light of his prank earlier she was understandably wary of accepting drinks from him.
"Relax," Ron stated humorlessly. "I'm not gonna drop it on you."
After a moment of hesitation Shego took the coffee from his hand. As she took a sip from the Styrofoam mug Ron sat down a few seats away from her and glanced up at the television.
"They're saying the death toll is gonna be in the thousands," he noted grimly. "Maybe even as high as five or six."
"Yeah." Shego replied unemotionally before taking another sip of what was quite possibly the worst coffee she had ever tasted.
Ron sighed and glanced across the room to where Kim and Drakken were waiting. Kim was standing in front of the terminal's window and Drakken was quietly watching the news monitor bolted to the ceiling above him. Glancing around at the rest of the lounge, Ron found it hard to believe that things had managed to settle down after what had happened earlier.
Shortly after the second plane had hit the south tower of the World Trade Center the airport had gone on full alert. With one of the flights confirmed to have been bound for Los Angeles, all terminals were systematically evacuated under armed guard from LAX and LAPD officers.
When it came time for their terminal to be evacuated, Kim, Ron, Drakken, and Shego were pulled aside by two airport police officers carrying sub-machineguns and led to an isolated terminal to await further orders from Global Justice…
…that was five hours ago!
Since then the occupancy of the room had grown to a little over a dozen other passengers ranging from off-duty police officers and military personnel, to a pair of federal Marshals who, like Kim and Ron, had been transporting a prisoner back to custody in Seattle.
Though a few people were engaged in hushed conversation, most of them remained quiet; either trying to get some sleep, or just trying to ignore the brutal images that were being re-broadcast on every channel.
After several minutes of silence Ron turned to face Shego again. "So what are you going to do now?"
"I'm not so sure that's up to me right now," Shego replied, holding up her handcuffed wrists for Ron to see.
"That's not what I meant. I was asking-"
"I know what you were asking!" Shego snapped. "You're trying to figure out if I'm still going to be a super-villain, right?"
"Um, yeah…"
"Well let's see," Shego thought out-loud. "Give up a highly lucrative and, let's face it, entertaining job as a super-villain, give up all my money, and lose the respect of the evil community in favor of spending the rest of my life doing… what?"
"Look-" Ron began to explain.
"No wait, I'm not finished," Shego interrupted in a mocking tone. "Let's see; I could become a teacher, or maybe a doctor, or… I know… I could go back to fighting crime with my idiot brothers! I'll bet that would make for a nice Hollywood ending, huh?"
"Y'know what, forget it," Ron groaned. "I actually thought for a minute there that you gave a damn about all of this, but I can see now that this is nothing more than another inconvenience to you. You just don't care about anything, do you?"
Ron began to stand, but Shego grabbed the base of his black mission shirt and pulled him back down. Before the teen could react, he found himself staring into a pair of burning green eyes.
"How dare you!" Shego hissed. "You think just because I'm not willing to change my life over this, that I don't care? I do care! Being a super-villain is who I am, but it doesn't mean I don't care! I may be a villain, but I'm still an American!"
"But how can you watch all of this and still want to conquer the world?" Ron asked, dumbfounded.
"I told you," Shego sighed, releasing the teen from her grasp. "It's just who I am. I can't just change that." She glanced across the terminal toward Kim and Drakken. "You and Kimberly are no different."
"That's not true," Ron said defiantly.
"Oh really? Let's say that tomorrow the government finds out who orchestrated this and where they're hiding. If they ask, are you two gonna pick up a rifle and go after them?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because that's not…" Ron hesitated. "That's not who I am. Neither is Kim."
"Sound familiar?"
Ron sighed and looked away.
"What happened this morning is going to have a lasting effect for years to come. We should mourn it, but we can't let it drastically change our lives. Terrorism isn't a new concept, only this level of sophistication." Shego leaned forward in her seat and glanced up at the news monitor. "Europe's been fighting this war for decades; it's just decided to cross the Atlantic now, that's all. We're going to mourn our dead, and then we're going to go after whoever's responsible."
Ron watched as a single tear began to roll down Shego's cheek before she wiped it away.
"This isn't the last time something like this is going to happen either," she added. "There'll be more attacks in the future, and with them, more deaths. We'll mourn again, and move on again, that's inevitably how it works."
"You make it sound so black-and-white," Ron noted.
"Makes it easier to understand things sometimes," Shego sighed.
"Must be nice…"
Shego was about to say something else when the hollow tap of footsteps drew her and Ron's attention to a man in a dark business suit approaching them.
When he got to where they were sitting, the man glanced down at Ron. "Are you Ronald Stoppable?"
"Yes."
"I'm Richard Lee with the Federal Emergency Management Agency," he announced, extending his hand. "Could I speak with you in private for a few minutes?"
Ron glanced across the lounge toward Kim and then toward Shego before turning back and nodding.
"Follow me please," Lee replied calmly.
---
On the other side of the lounge, Kim was standing in front of one of the large terminal windows looking out over the airport's tarmac.
Ever since she was a little girl, Kim had always been fascinated by planes, especially the big ones. Maybe it was just a trait she inherited from her father, but the physics required to get an object that size into the air was something that had always sparked her interest. Whenever she used to go on long-distance trips with her family, she always loved to stand by the window and watch the large jumbo jets take-off and land.
Today, however, she was observing an eerily different sight…
The tarmac looked more like an aircraft graveyard than an active international airport. Everywhere she looked, there were planes sitting derelict at the terminal gates, on the taxiway, and even on the runway. With all civilian flights cancelled and all non-government planes grounded, the air traffic controllers had simply stacked everyone up like a parking lot.
The sky above them was ominously barren as well. In the half-hour Kim had been standing in front of the window, the only aircraft she had seen pass overhead where a small cluster of Navy fighter jets that had been indefinitely 'loaned' to the California Air National Guard to help conduct combat air patrol maneuvers over downtown Los Angeles.
Kim had overheard one of the other passengers mention that the last time military aircraft had actively patrolled the skies above Southern California the US had been preparing for a massive attack from the Empire of Japan.
That was almost sixty years ago, just after the attack on Pearl Harbor. And now the US was once again preparing for war, or at least that seemed to be the general consensus among most of the other passengers.
Turning away from the window, Kim noticed that Ron was in the far corner of the lounge speaking with a man in a dark suit. The government 'suits' were by no means out of the ordinary, though what they wanted with Ron, she would have to wait and find out.
Stifling a yawn, Kim returned to her seat a few rows down from where Drakken was sitting. The mad scientist was starring up at the news monitor bolted to the ceiling with a look that seemed to waver between anger, shock, and guilt.
Though she had seen Ron talking to Shego earlier, Kim had no desire to carry on any sort of conversation with her arch-enemy. She decided instead to shut her eyes and try to get some sleep…
…it didn't look like they were going anywhere for a while.
As she sat there with her eyes shut, Kim couldn't help but reflect back on what she had seen over the past five hours; the World Trade Center being hit by the second of four hijacked airliners, the gaping holes left in the sides until their ultimate collapse, the images of frightened New Yorkers literally running for their lives as dust and debris swept through the streets like a volcanic cloud, and the haunting images of people jumping to their deaths from the burning towers just in order to escape the fires all flashed through her mind.
The pure thought of that last image made Kim shudder. She couldn't even imagine what it must have felt like to be trapped above the point of impact. The idea of knowing you're going to die and having to choose between staying put and burning alive, or jumping to your death ninety stories below made her feel sick.
Fortunately, she was brought out of that unsettling thought by the familiar ring of her Kimmunicator. Fishing the blue device out of her pocket, Kim turned it on and found herself looking at a very tired and unsettled ten-year-old super genius.
"Hey Wade, I was wondering when I would hear from you," Kim greeted. She had tried contacting her friend several times over the past five hours, but every time the communications grid was either overloaded, or Wade wasn't answering.
"I know, I'm sorry," Wade apologized. "I've been working non-stop for the last four and a half hours over here."
"It's ok, where are you?" Kim asked, noticing that Wade's surroundings were different than his normal room.
"GJ headquarters," the boy replied. "When they hit the Pentagon, all essential command and communications were transferred here. I've been busy running encryption files and re-routing surveillance satellites."
"Re-routing satellites to where?"
"I really can't say," the boy replied apologetically. "They made me sign a lot of non-disclosure paperwork."
"Need to know, right," Kim sighed. "Listen, can you do me a favor and contact my parents? I haven't been able to get in touch with them."
"Already been done," the tech genius assured her. "I spoke to Ron's parents too. They're all upset, but relieved you two are alright."
"Have I ever mentioned you rock Wade?" Kim smiled.
"A couple times, yeah," Wade chuckled.
"Well it goes double today."
"Uh, listen, Kim," Wade said, taking on a serious tone again. "There's actually another reason why I called you."
Kim's smile faded. "What is it?"
"Global Justice is relieving you of your current assignment. The FBI should be there in a few minutes to take Drakken and Shego, though I'm not sure where to."
As he spoke, the door to the lounge opened and several men in blue FBI windbreakers entered the room along with several members of the LAPD SWAT team. Though they all stood off to the side of the room, they made it clear to the other passengers through their gestures that they were there for Team Possible.
"Yeah, they're here now," Kim informed her friend. "What about Ron and me?"
Wade's expression seemed to darken even farther. "Kim… FEMA wants you to assist with rescue efforts in New York." Kim appeared to be at a complete loss for words, so Wade reluctantly continued. "More specifically they want Ron and Rufus," he elaborated. "They're trying to get down into what's left of the subway system, but there's so much damage and destruction none of their cadaver dogs can fit through the cracks. They're hoping Rufus might be able to get down there and gave them a video feed."
Kim looked up and saw that Ron was walking across the lounge toward her with Shego and three FBI agents following close behind. He wore an equally morose expression on his face.
"Look, Kim," Wade continued. "I know this is more than you should have to handle, and I think they'll understand if-"
"No…"
"What?"
Kim looked up at the news monitor for several seconds and then back at Wade. "I made a claim once that I can do anything," she said, giving the ten-year-old a determined glare. "If they need me to help out, I'm not about to shy away."
"I knew you'd say that," Wade smiled. "Look, Kim, I gotta go, but I promise I'll keep in touch and relay messages to your parents for you."
"Thanks Wade."
Ron walked up just as Kim shut off the Kimmunicator and placed it back into her pocket. Behind him, the FBI agents sat Shego down next to Drakken and were speaking to both of them.
"The FBI is here to take Drakken and Shego," Ron nervously informed his partner. "Kim, they want us at Ground Zero."
"I know, Wade just filled me in on the details."
"Are you ok with this?" Ron asked with genuine concern.
"Hey," Kim smiled. "As long as you're here to back me up-"
"Anything is possible for a Possible, right?"
"Actually," Kim said, wrapping her arm across Ron's shoulders. "Anything is possible for Team Possible."
"Y'know, I like the sound of that," Ron grinned.
As two of the agents escorted Drakken and Shego out of the lounge under SWAT escort, the third agent walked over to where the teens were standing.
"Are you two ready to go?" he asked.
Kim and Ron both gave each other reassuring glances before turning toward the agent and nodding.
---
The End...
