Disclaimer: I don't own these Disney's Kim Possible characters. They're not mine, I'm not making any money so don't ask for any. Ben Dun however is my creation.

Chapter Six: That Shadowy Gray Area

The cargo bay of GJ jet 045 was a strange quiet. Kim studies the Kim-municator, Ron is busy laying back and ex-agent Ben Dun finishes changing clothes behind a stack of crates. He emerges from the crate-screen encased in the grey colored jumpsuit Kim had seen in his holographic file photo. He adjusts his gloves then picks up his grappling gun, twirling it like a cowboy and deftly holsters it on his side. Ron sits up, bored.

"Uh Mister Dun?"

"Just make it Dun Ron."

"Okay…so….you got any family?"

"…Ron, let me ask you something. You do like breathing don't you?" Dun glares.

"Um…yes…I'm going to see what Wade's up to." Ron quickly crosses to Kim.

Kim looks over with a disapproving face. "Dun, what did DD—err—Doctor Director call your suit?" She asks to change the subject.

"It's called Shadow Blend, watch." Ben Dun crouches down, engulfing himself into the large crates deep shadows. His outline became less defined and difficult to see.

"Now check this." Ben activated a button on his left wrist and a slight hum arose. It quickly dissipated and Ben's body was now completely invisible to Ron's and Kim's eyes.

"It uses light sensors and ultra-absorbing materials to make the suit undetectable in low-light conditions." Wade explains from the Kim-municator.

Ben steps forward, his body becoming visible again in the bay's overhead lights. "That's right," he says as he shuts the suit off. "It's completely useless in full light, so it's only a real advantage for something stealthy," he adds as he dons his leather jacket. "Any luck on finding the information?"

"Nope," Wade sighs, "which means you guys will just have to get it the old fashioned way."

"And that's talking to the kingpin of backroom deals," Kim answers. "You're sure he's still in Morocco?"

"Definitely, he'll be there."

The GJ jet scatters the discarded refuse of the deserted Moroccan street as it drops the trio off. Kim takes the lead as they navigate the darkened alleys until they arrive at a familiar seedy establishment. They enter and she halts, gesturing to the fat man disappearing behind a curtain to a back room, "that's Big Daddy."

"He's the black market guy?" Dun asks.

"Doy. He's got a hand in every shady deal."

"And those are big hands," Ron adds.

Ben glances at the curtain then notes a small seemingly forgotten open toolbox on a ladder in one of the room's darker corners.

"Hmm, must be doing maintenance…" he muses as he crosses to it.

The other two give one another confused looks, then follow.

"What are you doing?" Kim asks as Dun makes a small ruckus sifting through the discarded screwdrivers, small wrenches and assorted implements.

"On-site procurement," he calmly replies holding up a small roll of duct tape.

"What are you going to do with that?" Kim questions.

"KP, it's duct tape. What can't you do with it?" Ron quips.

"Well said," Dun interjects. "Big Daddy's behind that curtain?" He gestures, placing the roll into one of his jacket pockets, while transferring his grappling gun from its conspicuous holster to another jacket pocket.

"Yes…" Kim replies.

"Fine, wait here. This shouldn't take long." He strides towards the backroom.

"Oh…wait a second!" Ron calls to the fleeing figure, "think we should have warned him about 'thud'?" He asks Kim.

"I'm sure a highly trained GJ agent like him will figure it out pretty quick," she answers smugly, crossing her arms while leaning back to the wall.

Ben Dun enters the lavish backroom to find a very fat man sitting on a pillow behind a very low table. He crosses and stops in front the fat man.

"You Big Daddy?"

"Possibly."

"You've got information on a Hench Co. shipment. I want it and you're going to give it to me."

"I think not."

"Fine," Ben says as he pulls out his hand from his pocket, revealing a wad of cash. He tosses it on the table. Big Daddy seems quite amused.

"My dear boy, I don't reveal confidential secrets, its poor business policy, not even for…" He counts the singles again, "twelve dollars."

Ben lowers his head and squeezes the bridge of his nose. "Look, I'm really not up for games," he replies as he raises his head again, covertly tapping the hidden grappling gun.

"Pity, I should like to play my favorite game now. I call it 'thud.'"

"Thud?"

Big Daddy softly claps his hands and a behemoth of a man appears behind Ben. His frame towers over Ben's compact figure. Ben turns scowling, his eyes tilting upward from the man's chest to his face. His face then becomes quite surprised, which then grows into a devious grin of recognition.

"Hello Turk."

The larger man's menacing expression instantly melts into a twisted mass of intimidated fear. Ben turns back to Big Daddy's surprised expression.

"On second thought…there are a few games I know…" he smiles.

Kim and Ron hear a loud "THUD!" form the back room. Kim seems rather shocked to find that the noise was not followed by Ben Dun sailing through the air into the room and crashing into another table.

Ron looks nervously toward the curtain. "It's awful quiet in there for a game of 'thud.'" Rufus nods in agreement.

"Too quiet. Let's go," Kim returns as she tugs at Ron's arm.

The two teens burst through the curtain…to find a very large man cowering in a corner with his hands duct-taped together while Big Daddy was up on the small table, one hand on his left ear while the other on his head, his mouth duct-taped and standing on one leg. Ben was standing in front of him, casually pointing his grappling gun's barbed tip at Big Daddy's stomach. He glances at them calmly then back at Bid Daddy.

"Oh hey Red…Ron. I'm just about done here."

Kim and Ron look at each other puzzled, "Uh…okay." Big Daddy looks at them and puts both feet back on the table. While still looking at the teens, Ben cocks the grappling gun. "Uh-uh-uh. Simon didn't say stop." Big Daddy reluctantly, but quickly, lifts his leg again. Ben turns back to him, hopping onto the table and bringing the grappling barb to Big Daddy's neck.

"Dun!" Kim worriedly exclaims.

"Relax Red, I'm just leaving Big Daddy with some guest service advise," Ben smiles handsomely back as he grabs Big Daddy's collar. His face goes stern as he turns back to Big Daddy, "now the next time I come back here I expect you to hand over whatever information I want in a prompt and courteous manner. Simon says nod." Big Daddy quickly nods his profusely sweating brow.

"Good. Now Simon says don't move until we're out the door and you see us walk past that window," Ben gestures across the room with the grappling gun, "that goes for you too Turk." The cowering muscle man rapidly nods his head.

"Good. We're done here," Ben states to the teens as he holsters the grappling gun and hops off the table. As the teens go through the curtain Ben pivots back to the two men. "I had fun time fellas, next time let's play blind man's bluff. See you around." The two men whimper.

"You didn't have to do that you know," Kim says as they head for the door.

"Didn't have to do what?" Dun asks

"Threaten Big Daddy; he would have given us the information for a milk chocolate candy bar."

"I didn't have a candy bar but I'll try to remember my black-market-crime-boss etiquette next time. Wade, I've got a memory stick for you."

"Down loading now. Hmm, looks like the amplifier is scheduled for the train. I'll set up a ride."

"Please and thank you," Kim replies.

Dun puts his left hand into his jacket, then remembering the duct tape as he touches it. He pulls it out and studies it for a moment before tossing it to Ron.

"Here kid, might come in handy later."

"Umm…Dun? Aren't we going the wrong way?" Ron asks, as he juggle catches the tape. "Big Daddy's window is that way," he points.

"Let them sweat. Big Daddy likes to play games; he'll play one of mine for a while."

Ron and Kim give each other another worried glance.

-------A rickety cargo plane lazily cruises through the sky.

"Thanks for the ride Captain," Kim says.

"After you've saved my plane in that blackout? It's the least I could Do Ms. Possible!"

"Oh no big, anybody could have landed the plane in pitch dark with a flashlight…"

"Yeah but I was the one who stand on the runway," Ron adds.

"You almost dropped the flashlight," she counters.

"You try keeping a flashlight steady while a plane is coming right at you!" Ron complains.

"Oh it stopped with a whole three feet in front of you," Kim teases.

"You could have at least given me a yard!" He answers, slumping back down and turning up the sound of his walkman.

Kim rolls her eyes. "What's the ETA Captain?"

"We've got still got about four hours to go Ms. Possible."

"So I'd suggest trying to get a little rest, it's going to be a very big morning," Dun states as he heads aft, "we've got 6 hours till the train rendezvous."

"If we already know where the amply-thingy is why don't we just get it from Hench Co?" Ron questions, pulling his headphones off.

"Too many variables, Hench Co.'s facility is literally crawling with Henchmen and security measures. With a train we can choose where and when to engage and the close quarters on the train logistically means less security," Dun replies studying his communicator intently.

"What are you looking at?" Kim asks.

Dun turns his hand showing a video file of Shego fighting. "Good to know what I'm up against," he says. "And I mean it about that rest. Everyone needs to be sharp." He turns back towards the aft of the aircraft, smiling at the communicator screen while pulling out a set of headphones.

"Hmm. Wonder what he listens to…" Ron muses.

"Somehow I don't think he's an O-Boyz fan," Kim smirks.

"My guess is a recording of 'white noise,'" Wade answers.

"Why do you say that?" Ron asks.

"I finally decoded most of Ben Dun's file. Mostly it talks about his medical records. It seems Mr. Dun has trouble falling asleep without it. When he can't listen to that, it's suggested that he immerse himself in water."

"Huh," Kim says as she looks back at the motionless Dun a few yards behind her.

"Okay…why?" Ron asks.

"Ron do you remember than VR gear you were hooked up to Everlot?"

"Ah, Zita…"

"…Yeah anyway the original design came from Global Justice, and Ben was one of the first test subjects. Something called Project Shadow Run."

"So his training was done mostly in VR?" Kim asks.

"Right, but…"

"What?" Kim questions.

"The project…how they taught him…It's intense."

"Intense how?"

Wade rubs a hand over his mouth and chin before answering. "The human brain can react and process stimuli like a supercomputer can. The programs he was subjected to were forced feed directly to his brain at 500 relatively normal speeds. They did this non-stop 24 hours a day."

"For how long?" Kim demands.

"Almost two years."

"…"

Wade goes silent for a pregnant moment, and then continues. "He couldn't sleep for two years Kim. Global Justice striped Ben Dun down to a bio-chemical wetware experiment for two years. That's why he can't sleep without the white noise and…"

"What?" Ron now asks, dreading whatever was coming.

"You don't go two years of this kind of brain stimulus and come out intact. He's got to have some serious mental issues."

"Oh you think?" Kim says.

"There are a few other things you should know about…"

"What?" Ron and Kim reply in unison.

"Ben Dun…volunteered to for the project. He was 12 at the time."

"12? But, GJ would have never…"

"Look at his family history."

The Kim-municator popped up a GJ medical file, Kim scrolls.

"They're gone…they're all gone," Kim realizes.

"He didn't want to talk about his family..." Ron mutters.

"All except for one. His sister Jessie. her files are missing except a cross-reference to Project Aurora."

"The suspended-ani-what-cha-ma-call-it thingy?" Ron answers.

"Suspended animation, right."

"What does his sister have to do with suspended animation?" Kim ponders.

"I don't know, but I have a theory," Wade says solemnly.

The Kim-municator chimes, showing two incoming messages.

"One of them is Doctor Director," Wade tells Kim.

"It's about time we get some real answers," she replies, her thumb reaching for the "receive" button…