By The Steel Angel
Chapter Two
Silencing the Truth
Author's Note - A very special thanks goes out to my good friend DragonShadow for his construction of the final scene of this chapter.
Ah, Summer at last.
Four grueling years of Highschool were finally over. Graduation was over. The next time she saw some of her classmates would be at their ten-year reunion. Hopefully, Bonnie was part of that latter group. Now, began the three months of solace before the strains of adulthood began to kick in.
By why worry about that now? It was summer!
She tied her hair back into a long pony-tail, and adjusted her bikini top, making sure it covered everything appropriately. She slid a pair of shorts on, and grabbed a shirt before leaving the bathroom, where she apparently had an audiance.
"Geeze Kim, show a little more skin why don't you?" One of her little brothers, Jim, said.
"I'll bet you'd like that wouldn't you? You little pervert." Kim countered, and pushed past him. Throughout the last few months, she'd noticed a definate change in her little brothers. Where as before, for almost their entire life, it seemed like they shared a brain. A single mind that controlled two seperate bodies. But now, they were starting to seperate. Form their own personalities.
It was a good thing. Jim was more outgoing, expressive, and down right annoying sometimes. Tim, however, had gotten more reclusive. He stayed in his room most of the time now a days, fiddling with his computer, or something else that the two had mutated into an instrument of annoyance.
Honestly, the things that they did sometimes amazed her. They were the prodigy of a brain surgeon and a rocket scientist of course, just like she was. She smirked. Did the Possible's have the strongest genes on the planet? A brain surgeon for a mother, a rocket scientist for a father, two twin boys who were mechanical and computer geniuses, and a teenage daughter who saved the world on a regular basis.
But sometimes... not often, but sometimes... she wondered what her life's profession would be. She couldn't go around saving the world forever. Not if she ever wanted to settle down... get married... start a family...
"...Okay Kim. No thinking about a family now. You're eighteen, not twenty five..." She said to herself.
"Actually, the average age for an American woman to have her first kid is twenty-two." A voice behind her said. Kim spun around, to find her other brother standing behind her. He had two straps around his shoulders, which were connected to a laptop computer, so he could walk around but still have the laptop in front of him.
"...Tweeb! Stop eavesdropping! Didn't mom and dad ever teach you any manners?" Kim demanded. Tim smirked.
"Didn't Mom tell you that talking to yourself is an early symptom of psychosis?" Tim shot back. Kim growled at him. "Hey, chill out. I'm just trying to be helpful. Besides, who would you have kids WITH? Ron?" He asked.
"Maybe. What's it to you?" Kim asked, crossing her arms over her chest.
"...But then you'd have to have sex with...okay, bad mental picture. Very bad mental picture." Tim said, and put a hand to his stomach, acting like the very thought had made him physically ill. Kim chuckled, despite still being slightly ticked at his eavesdropping. She put her shirt on.
"He IS my boyfriend now, you know." She said.
"Are you sure that's a good idea? I mean... if there was a breakup, you couldn't be friends anymore. That's how it works." Tim said. Kim smiled, and put a hand on Tim's head, ruffling his hair."You'll understand when you're older. It just... feels like the right time to do this. I mean... yeah, we've been friends since you tweebs were in diapers. We've been through hell and back together. Missions, dances, dating, even sex-ed." She said. "I guess... I just finally realized that I care about Ron more than I could ever care about any other boy." She said.
"...Touching. I think." Tim said. Kim chuckled.
"Like I said, you'll understand when you get older, and when you fall in love." She said, then turned away from him. "Tell Mom I'm gonna be at the water park with Ron."
"Yeah yeah." Tim said. Kim smiled, and walked downstairs, and grabbed her purse. It had all the essentials she needed. Cell phone. Sun tan lotion. Romance novel. Kimmunicator. She opened the door, to find Ron already standing there. He was wearing an orange bathing suit and a blue T-shirt that had the words "Hang Ten" written in yellow letters. His hair was slicked back, and he had on a pair of way-too-big sunglasses.
"Hey KP. Ready to go catch some rays?" He asked in a mellow, laid back tone.
"Sure thing. But first," She said, and grabbed the bottle of sun screen out of her purse. She squirted a bit in her hand, and started applying it to Ron's face.
"Agh! Cold! Cold!" Ron complained. Kim giggled.
"Oh deal with it. I don't want you to turn into the amazing Lobster-boy again." She said.
"Hey, I told you. I DID put on sun screen that day. We were just under a patch of land that had no ozone layer. Global warming is real, KP. Very, very real." Ron said seriously.
"Ron. We were indoors. You got burnt from a tanning lamp." Kim reminded.
"Well it was set to 'scorch' anyway." Ron said. Kim giggled. It's the one thing Ron had always been able to do. Without fail, he had always been able to make her laugh. "Oh yeah, don't forget Rufus." Ron said. As if on cue, the small naked more rat poked his head out of the pocket of Ron's bathing suit. He was also wearing a small pair of sunglasses.
"Where'd you get sunglasses that small?" Kim asked.
"Malibu Barbi's Beach set." Ron said. Kim just stared at him for a few minutes. "...Don't ask." He said. Rufus climbed out of Ron's pocket, and crawled up to his shoulder, where Kim promptly started to rub his body down with sunscreen. He made a contented "Ahhh" sound.
"NOW, we're ready." Kim said, and took Ron's hand in hers. He smiled, and squeezed her hand lightly, before turning to walk down the sidewalk. Kim arched an eyebrow. "Where's your scooter?"
"Too bulky. Your dad and brothers welded those rockets on. After they ran out of juice, I couldn't get them off." He said. Kim winced.
"Sorry about that." She said.
"No big. Thing was a piece of junk anyway... Hmm... I wonder where Eric had his motorcycle stashed..." He wondered out loud. Kim rolled her eyes.
"Are you going to bring up Eric for the rest of eternity?" She asked.
"Duh. He's a hero." Ron said. Kim blinked.
"Excuse me?" She asked.
"He made me realize how I really felt about you." He said, turning to look at her. Kim really didn't have anything to counter with. She just blushed. Ron leaned over, and kissed her on the cheek. "He made me realize that I love you." Ron said.
"Oh Ron... I love you t-" Kim began, before she was interrupted by the familiar four-toned ring of her Kimmunicator. She sighed, and dug it out of her purse. "You've got the best timing, Wade." She said sarcastically.
"I thought you might want to know this as soon as possible." Wade said, typing a few things into his computer before turning to face Kim. "The Grimway Weapon Research facility was broken into last night." He said.
"Grimway... yeah... is that a name I should know?" Ron asked.
"Grimway is the largest supplier of ammunition and weaponry to the United States millitary." Wade said. "They've got security tighter than the Pentagon."
"Isn't this a job for the FBI?" Kim asked.
"Normally, but the thief didn't leave anything behind. And, it was just ONE person." Wade said.
"How can one person penetrate such a highly sensetive security grid?" Kim asked.
"Experience, I guess. But check this. I got this from one of the video surveilance camera's." Wade, said, and started the video feed. It was focused in a hallway. There was a person dressed in black, and what looked like a girl in a blue uniform. The person in black leapt forward, and easily disabled the girl in blue, knocking her out of the camera's field.
"So the guy in black can fight." Kim said.
"What's worse, is that from what I can tell, he stole some access codes to the lastest Grimway breakthrough. An ozone restoration machine. In the wrong hands, those codes can be used to completely wipe out the Earth's ozone layer." Wade said.
"Any leads?" Kim asked.
"Yeah. Those codes couldn't be stored on a CD or a floppy disk. The thief used a special jump drive to store the codes. And that jump drive is just oozing radio waves. I've triangulated the signal. It's heading south, toward the tip of South America. So dress warm." Wade said.
"Warm? It's June." Ron interjected.
"Southern Hemisphere. Winter. Close to Antarctica." Kim said. "Thanks Wade. We're on it." she said, and put the Kimmunicator away. "Guess the Water Park has to wait for another day."
"Shyeah. Ice-land, here we come." Ron said. Rufus took off the sunglasses he was wearing, and pulled out a pair of earmuffs, fitting them snuggly around his head. "Oh, very funny." Ron added, and turned to follow Kim, who was already jogging down the street.
It was cold in South America. As it would be, in the middle of winter. Snow was falling all around, which was a good thing. Fresh snow always seemed to calm him down. It also gave him time to reflect on what he'd done with his life. Was he evil? No, of course not. Humanity, THAT was the evil being. All of humanity was innately evil.
The destruction of Mother Nature was a human instrument. Only one force would prevail, and he was going to make sure that Mother Nature had the last laugh. Once humanity was gone, then Mother Nature would rebuild itself. Regenerate, the way it was meant to be.
He, on the other hand, would live out the rest of his days in paradise. No more noisy jet liners flying overhead. No more atmospheric polution clogging the air. No more acid rain, chemical waste, or noise pollution. No... he, and his new mercenary would live in solitude. In peace.
The door to his lab swung open with a great creak. He didn't look up. He knew full well who it was.
"They sent WOOHP agents after me." The voice said. Dr. Gelee stood up, and walked over to the person standing before him. His new mercenary. Dressed in black. The ultimate thief. He reached over, and pulled the mask off, gazing into the thief's face.
"We assumed they would. And you came out unscathed." He said. The thief's eyes showed no emotion. They were cold, caluclating, and deadly. The thief pulled out a small cylander.
"These are the codes." The thief said, holding them out to Dr. Gelee with a gloved hand. The doctor reached out to take them, but the thief jerked the hand away. "Not so fast. I want my payment first." The thief said. Dr. Gelee smirked. He'd expected this, and was going to comply. It didn't matter anymore anyway. As soon as his plans were enacted, money would be useless.
He walked back over to his desk, and took out a small bank card. "The funds have already been transfered into this account. Pin number, seven eight three one." he said, and held out the card.
"The amount we agreed upon?" The thief asked.
"Twenty million in change." Dr. Gelee whispered. The thief grinned, and took the card. Dr. Gelee held out his hand politely, to which the thief calmly placed the cylander. The doctor walked over to a large machine, and placed the cylander in the upload compartment.
"Remember our agreement. You said you wouldn't activate that thing for forty-eight hours." The thief reminded.
"Of course. I can't activate it until the Earth, Moon, and Sun are aligned properly. Besides, I'm a man of my word. Though, if you aren't back here within two days... then I'm afraid I'll have no choice but to activate the machine regardless." He said.
"I know the risks." The thief said calmly, and watched Dr. Gelee. "I couldn't steal the machine itself. It was too big. Too heavy."
"We'll simply use the codes and activate the machine from its current position. It won't matter where the beam is fired from, as long as it's fired from the proper angle." Dr. Gelee said, then turned back to the thief. "You know that WOOHP has to be tracking you. That's why they sent a team after you. They''ll no doubt employ their top agents to find you now."
"I'm well aware of that. That's why I've come up with my own solution. Cut off the head, and the body stops moving. Kill the Queen Bee, and the hive dies. I'll take out WOOHP's director. The rest of the agency will crumble." The thief said.
"Then go. I'll be waiting here for you." Dr. Gelee said. The thief nodded, and turned to leave, but the doors swung open again. In stepped a young red-headed girl, wearing a pair of brown pants and a black shirt. Behind her, stood a boy with blond hair, and covered in winter jackets.
"June should be SUMMER!" The boy complained. The thief pulled the mask back on immediately.
"You should really think about getting some storage equipment that doesn't leak radio waves like engine oil." The girl said. Dr. Gelee stood up.
"She's not a WOOHP agent." The thief said. "I can take her."
"I hope you don't plan to use the same stale moves you did on that girl in the blue uniform. Or else you're gonna be in for a world of pain." The red head said, and dropped into a fighting stance.
"Arrogance only gets you killed faster." The thief said, and jumped forward expertly The red headed girl just watched as the thief jumped into the air, and took a swing at the girl. She dodged the blow easily, and slammed her knee up into the thief's stomach. The force of the contact sent the thief sprawling backwards.
"Whoo! Go Kim!" The blond boy from behind her cheered. Kim?
"Kim... Possible?" Dr. Gelee asked.
"You've heard of me. Good. Now why don't we skip all the formalities, and just surrender? It'd save you a lot of pain, and it'd save me a lot of time." Kim said.
"You're right, I have heard of you. Very impressive resume. Pity, though, that none of it will matter in a few days." Dr. Gelee said, with an arrogant smirk on his face. Kim sighed.
"Why do they always want to do this the hard way?" She asked, and began to cartwheel forward, but was stopped with the Thief swung along the ground, an ankle connecting with Kim's wrists as they touched the metal floor. Kim's weight and the force of gravity pulled her down, losing all control of her sense of motion. "Ack!" She yelped before she connected with the ground.
"KP!" The blond boy called from behind her, and rushed forward, only to be greeted by the Thief.
"Going somewhere?" The thief asked.
"Um... actually, yeah... you kinda gave my girlfriend a cheap shot. I really don't want to do this, but..." The boy began, and dropped down into a fighting stance. "Now you're gonna feel the fury of the mystical art of...Hooooowaaaahhhh! Monkey Kung FU! You still want a piece of this!" He demanded, making a come-hither motion with his hand.
"Um, yeah. Duh." The thief replied. Ron's face went pale.
"Yeeeeah..." Ron began, then suddenly leaped up, thrusting his palm forward at the thief's face. The thief grabbed his wrist, and twisted painfully. "Ow ow ow! That's my Bueno Nacho wrist!" Ron screamed. The very mention of Bueno Nacho brought Rufus out of Ron's jacket. He jumped onto the Thief's wrist.
"What the hell?" The thief asked, just before Rufus buried his teeth into the Thief's palm, earing a high pitched scream. The thief let go of Ron's wrist, and stumbled backwards, tripping over Kim's leg and falling hard onto the cold metal deck.
"Go rufus, Go rufus! It's your birthday! Go rufus!" Ron cheered. Kim smiled and patted Rufus' head, and then turned to Dr. Gelee himself. The doctor approached her with his hands behind his back.
"Very impressive, Kim Possible." Dr. Gelee said. "Honestly, I had no idea you were this effective untl now. Stories are just that... stories, compared to the real thing." Gelee said.
"Is this your way of surrendering peacefully?" Kim asked, looking slightly annoyed.
"Surrender? Oh, no. I've been planning this for a long, long time. I have no intention of surrendering." He said, and took a small vial out from behind his back. A dark red liquid was bubbling inside. "Do you know what this is? Dioxyrhyanophosphate. It's a new synthetic chemical that can completely eradicate a building the size of the White House, and everything inside of it." He said.
"So you're going to blow the building up with you and your lackey inside? Are you that stupid?" Kim asked.
"Of course not." he said, and reached down to yank the Thief up. He flipped the vial to Kim, who promptly caught it. "I plan to blow up the building with YOU inside." He said, then bolted for the window. The thief looked a bit stunned for a minute, but quickly caught the idea. The thief followed Gelee.
"Hey!" Kim yelled, then looked down at the vial, which was growing pinker by the second. She yelped, and drew her arm back, and threw the vial as hard as she could at the window. Dr. Gelee leapt toward the window and hit the glass with enough force to shatter it, causing glass shards to rain out from the building. The thief jumped out after him, and caught Gelee by the shoulders. Two wings jutted out from the black suit that the thief wore, and a flame ignited in the back.
"Jet pack..." Kim said, and watched helplessly as the vial she threw exploded in the air, covering the entire sky with dark red smoke.
Dr. Gelee chuckled. This was too perfect. Sure, his lab was gone, but he knew where he could find another one. And, the only fighter who had ever matched Kim Possible blow for blow. All of his plans were going to be realized soon. "Drop me off in the next city. Then, you go take care of what you said you were going to do with WOOHP." He said.
"How will I get back in contact with you?" The thief asked.
"Don't worry. I'll find you." Gelee said, and chuckled lightly, as the two flew off toward the city.
"You possess the knowledge of every psychologist on the planet, GLADIS, and the most intelligent mind on the planet to boot, do you believe in redemption?" Jerry asked curiously, leaning back in his comfortable chair and staring up at the glowing red camera that served as GLADIS' eye. The machine's light blinked slightly, as though pondering the question for a moment. The room was quiet and cold, almost as though it were waiting for something to happen, though nobody knew yet what. Jerry had his suspicions, but he would not act to stop it. He couldn't bring himself to, so he sat and waited, chatting idly with his constantly companion.
"I am a machine Jerry. I do not 'believe' in anything." GLADIS responded coolly.
"Come now, we both know that's not true." Jerry told her softly. GLADIS remained silent, so he spoke again. "So, do you?"
"My database contains information that suggests that, given the motivation and circumstances, a person fallen to greed and pride can indeed become a 'good person' once again." GLADIS replied at last. "Is something the matter Jerry? Do you have something you would wish to speak about?" Jerry remained silent for a moment, then sighed and shook his head.
"No, GLADIS. I would not wish to speak about it." Jerry replied. "Now please, remain silent. I need to think."
"As you wish, Jerry." GLADIS' cold, robotic tone almost sounded upset, though she did indeed fall silent. Jerry leaned back in his seat, putting one hand up to his chest and staring down at the steel floorboards. The room felt cold and oppressive as a tomb, perhaps a forewarning of what he suddenly realized was coming. He slid from his seat, narrowly avoiding the steel spike that plunged straight through the back of the chair, where his heart would have been. He shoved the seat aside and thrust one palm forward, slamming it into his attacker's chest to hurl him across the room, where him skidded across the floor to a stop right in front of the door. Jerry lowered his arm, watching the black-coated figure rise to his feet slowly.
"I must confess, you've grown more skilled than I realized." Jerry said companionably. "I would never have noticed you if not for your hard breath against the mask. I'm actually quite proud of you."
"Don't talk down to me." The figure rose to its feet, bringing its arms up in a defensive posture. "You always were a condescending little man weren't you? Bolstering your own ego at the expense of others."
"You know that isn't true." Jerry replied.
"Shut up." The dark assassin narrowed his eyes.
"Why are you doing this? Why now? After all this time? It doesn't make sense." Jerry asked. "Is it something I did? Did something else happen?"
"I came to my senses. That's all." The assassin stepped forward, dropping into a combat crouch. "I realized what a ridiculous waste of space everything is. You and the rest of humanity. Nothing but untrustworthy, greedy, evil little leeches who see the world as their own personal soft drink to suck dry."
"Aaahhhh." Jerry nodded slowly. "I see. A commendable point, but narrow-sighted."
"Now are you ready to die, or do you want to blather on some more like the senile old man you are?" The assassin asked.
"Senile? Well, I don't know about that. After all, my stall tactics seemed quite effective." Jerry smirked, straightening his tie calmly. The assassin's eyes went wide as the floor panel behind him slid open. He whirled and the massive, seven-foot robotic monster loomed up from the ground behind her, four arms at the ready and samurai helmet glinting in the bright lights. The assassin whirled to rush Jerry before it could catch him, but the four arms shot out and grabbed his arms, hauling him back into the air. He struggled as hard as he could, but the robotic limbs didn't even twitch. Jerry shook his head and approached slowly, his hands in his pockets.
"What made you think attacking me here of all places was a good idea?" Jerry asked.
"Because I can take you anytime, anywhere." The assassin suddenly thrusts his boots forward, slamming them into Jerry's chest to knock him back. Suddenly the heels retracted into a pair of steel drills, which promptly began to turn. He bent his knees and jammed the drills straight into the robot's knee-joints, sparks flashing dangerously as they cut through the steel shell and inner circuitry. Jerry sank to his knees, holding his heart in a pained grasp. That was a Hell of a blow, he wasn't sure how many he could take. He wasn't a young man anymore after all.
The robot's knees began to buckle, and its hands let go as it fell forward. The assassin dropped to the ground on all fours, then leapt forward like a tiger, pushing off with his hands to send the drills hurtling straight at Jerry's chest. Jerry leaned back, flattening himself against the floor as the assassin passed overhead, the drills tearing through the front of his formal jacket. Jerry sat up, his back creaking with every movement. "Oohh. that wasn't a good idea." Jerry grunted. He climbed to his feet and turned around to see the assassin standing victoriously on the table.
"You see, Jerry? Even WOOHP, the thing that protects humanity even from the wrath of nature, is just another dead leaf in the coming hurricane." The assassin told him.
"Is it being a villain that makes you talk so much?" Jerry asked as square holes in the ceiling and floor began to open. "Because that was probably your only chance to finish me off." The assassin looked up to see half a dozen steel tentacles shoot at him from the ceiling, with six more flying up from the floor. He leapt into the air, kicking two aside and whirling off of them, spinning through two more and slamming both feet into another one, bouncing off of it toward the ceiling. They all oriented on him flying through the air, but the assassin caught one in his arm, using it as a rope to spin around and slam his feet into another, kicking off of it to take off in another direction altogether.
He landed on the other side of the room and reached into his outfit, pulling out a small device. It took Jerry a moment to realize what it was, but when he did his eyes went wide. "N...no! Don't!" He stood up quickly.
"Say goodbye to your unnatural companion." The assassin stood up and pressed the activation switch on the EMP Emitter. A single flash was all Jerry saw, and suddenly all the lights in the room blinked out, plunging them into darkness. He could no longer hear the steady hum of WOOHP's electronic surveillance equipment, his computer, nor could he see GLADIS' comforting red eye watching him. A pulse like that... it would be enough to wipe out her main CPU and hard drive... GLADIS was gone...
"You see, Jerry? You see how unreliable humanity is? Everything you create is simply a machine, and any machine can break down. Nature is the only force worth anything in this world... the only reliable entity." The assassin's voice taunted him from the darkness. "And humanity separated from nature a long, long time ago."
"I can't believe you've taken it this far..." Jerry pulled his jacket off of his shoulders and dropped it into the darkness. "But it will go no further." The assassin didn't respond, so Jerry too fell silent, waiting and listening. The darkness was accompanied by oppressive silence, without even a scuffle of footsteps to tell him where his assailant was. But as he'd suspected, he heard the quickening of his breath through the black mask as he moved up behind him, trying to take out the old man in a stealthy maneuver. He heard the rustle of cloth as a fist hurdled toward him.
Jerry whirled and deflected the upcoming punch, pushing it aside and coming back with one of his own. The assassin tried to move away, but Jerry caught his wrist, keeping him from fading into the darkness. A swift kick to the stomach doubled the black-clad assailant over, and Jerry swiftly kicked him in the face, sending him to his back though Jerry still held his wrist. Jerry stepped forward, but he heard the rush of wind as the assailant whirled his feet around, slamming them both straight into his chest. Jerry gasped in pain and stumbled back, clutching his chest as his old heart began to beat harshly at the violent abuse. He stumbled back against the wall, panting for breath.
He heard the fist approaching, and barely had time to move out of the way, grabbing his attacker's wrist and slamming him back against the wall. He clutched his chest and held him there, but his assailant slammed another palm into his heart, sending it into another fit. Jerry groaned in pain and fell back to the ground on a sitting position, gasping for breath. He heard the footsteps of his attacker approach, standing over him. He grabbed the old man by the collar and jerked him upright, holding him up like a ragged doll ready to collapse. "You've been hunting me... and I can't let you stop me. I can't let you stop the rebirth of the world... it sorely needs it before you break it."
"The only thing that's been broken today..."� Jerry said softly, no longer tying to fight. His body felt weak as his heart struggled to keep beating. "Is my heart..."
"Raagh!" The assassin howled as Jerry felt a fist slam into his chest, sending his heart into another fit. He collapsed to his back as it struggled to keep a steady rhythm, but slowly he felt it lose this battle, fading into the darkness like GLADIS before it. He grunted and tried to move, but he couldn't. So he lay on the floor in the darkness, until the door of his office was flung open and several WOOHP Officers poured into the room. Their flashlights shone throughout the room, which was somehow now empty. They spotted Jerry on the floor, and all eyes turned on him. Jerry tried to speak, but he couldn't... even with the lights the officers had brought, he still slipped into the darkness.