KP – One Oh One : Part XIV – The Monkey and the Condor
"Wade, have you got anything yet?" Kim picked up the black wig, wrinkling her nose at it.
"Not a thing. As long as he's got his suit on full stealth mode, he's not going to show up, not even his locator chip. The suit is masking the signal."
Kim had pulled out the stops. She was in her own suit, with the glider pack attached to her back. Even though Ron was taking pains not to be seen, he was certainly not covering his tracks. The ripped open box containing his Fearless Ferret version two point O was still out in the middle of the treehouse. Kim pretty much figured what he wanted out of there, though she still could not reconcile that with the Ron she knew.
The super-suit combined with the razor claws of the Ferret suit would be a potent weapon. Just the fact he sought them out concerned her. Actually, it more than concerned her. There was a voice inside her screaming she had to do something. The sun was about to come up on a day where Ron was either going to be a murderer or dead. She was still realistic enough to know both could happen.
Outwardly she was calm. Mission mode could do that for her. The moment she zipped the suit shut on her lean body, she went from Kimmie, the weeping, distraught girl to Kim Possible, Teen Superhero. Frenetic crying was not going to save Ron either from Carrion or from himself. Calm, intelligent, rational thought was the key.
"I've got something, Kim." She had left the line open, but had clipped the Kimmunicator to her equipment belt while she looked for clues in the nearly empty apartment.
"Go, Wade."
"A call was placed using the telephone in that apartment. It only lasted a couple minutes, but get this…it was to a small airport just this side of Lowerton. Ring any bells?"
"That crop dusting guy! The one who flew me to Wisconsin when Drakken had the laser hidden in the World's Largest Cheese Wheel."
"I thought you already spent that particular favor."
She thought for a moment. "I did, but that doesn't mean he couldn't ask again. If he's going where I think he is, they would be there in no time. Patch me through to GJ."
"Already there." He touched his keyboard. Doctor Director appears almost instantly. As usual, her hair and makeup were immaculate, even though it was just dawn. When did that woman actually sleep?
"I need transport to the WWEE Rocky Mountain hideout ten minutes ago." Kim said directly, without any further explanation.
"You are under strict orders not to interfere with the ongoing operations there."
A touch of anger slipped through her professional demeanor. "I don't care what your orders say. Ron's going after Carrion."
"Carrion? What does he have to…"
"Look, I don't know how he got out or why I haven't heard about it from anyone, but Carrion is Agent Alpha. That's why they have been targeting me."
"You said Ron was going after him?"
Kim sighed. "We had a fight, okay, and I think he's made his mind up that everything is Carrion's fault. I'm afraid he's either going to end up getting hurt, or he's going to do something he's going to regret the rest of his life."
Betty stepped away from the pickup to confer with at least one of her agents. Kim could hear them whispering, but couldn't make out what they were saying. If she had another line to Wade, she could probably have him juice the audio enough, but there was no time for niceties like that.
"Very well, Kim, a two-seater will be there in three minutes. I don't want to hear any complaints about the pilot, as he's the only one I have on standby at the moment. Will that suffice?"
"Please and thank you." Kim said automatically. She walked out onto the open balcony and tucked her hair up into the hood of her suit.
Betty Director spun on her heel to face the operator as the view screen shut off. "I want to know precisely why I have not been informed that Cary On is not still in custody and I want to know before the echo of my voice dies down in here."
The operator hastened to comply. Rarely had they ever seen her so livid. Whenever she had gone after her brother and his gang of criminals before, there was determination and drive there, but never outright anger. All of that remained bottled up inside. Nobody knew it, but she had been postponing required visits with the base psychiatric staff for more than a year now, citing conflicts in her schedule.
It only took a couple minutes, but he quickly read the report. "The facility where he was incarcerated only lists one escapee at large, and the Federal Marshal service is tracking him in Chicago at the moment." He scanned down the list of data on his screen. "That's odd. He's not even listed as a prisoner."
"What are you talking about?"
"That's just it, I don't understand this. I followed the standard research protocol, starting with his trail and his prison assignment. All of that checks out, but the prison itself does not list him."
"Let me see that." She leaned over the console, scanning the lists her man was reading from. Sure enough, there was the conviction, then the assignment. He was flagged as a violent offender, but due to space constraints he was assigned to a medium security facility, with special notations that he was not eligible for work release or prison gang details. "Damned, foolish, incompetent."
She paced back and forth for a minute. He was supposed to be doing time for kidnapping and assault and it appeared he was being treated just as any other convict on that basis. Only it appeared the justice system once again had no idea how to handle a super-villain. They just thought he was some run-of-the-mill criminal, not a genius capable of extremely complex plots and the inventor of a nefarious technology her own people referred to as 'Soul-Stealers."
Betty touched another control on her console. Wade Load appeared on a secondary screen. "Wade, I'm uploading some data to you. I need for you to run a trace on it."
"What am I looking for?"
"The first part is the court record of Cary On's conviction. The next is the prisoner list for the camp he was housed in. I want to know if somebody has been altering the records. Apparently he escaped and nobody seems to know that he did."
"I'm on it." Something obviously caught his attention. His eyes shot open wide. "Oh my Gosh! I've got a lock on Ron!"
"What?"
"He's been using a super-suit on full stealth mode. I can't track him at all with it that way, but he just lit up the screen like a road flare."
"What is going on, what happened?"
"He just switched his suit to full battle mode!"
Ron side-stepped the first blast easily. If he had not been anticipating something of the sort, it would have caught him square in the chest. Cary's aim was good, but apparently he was far more accustomed to slower, even stationary targets.
He thought furiously, trying to recall details on how his crystals worked. He watched first hand as the original shot out its beam, freezing Hego in place. It would have transferred his Blue Go Team Glow to Aviarius if Kim hadn't jumped right in the beam.
They were held fast. Somehow there was some type of immobilization ray built into the blast, allowing the weilder the chance to drain the powers of their victim. That was important to know. Even if he were hit, there might be time to break free before any powers or abilities were leached from him.
Carrion gritted his teeth and fired again with his other hand. He dodged that easily as well, though the chance of him getting hit increased exponentially as he covered the distance between him and his target.
What had Kim put in her after-action report when she fought him before? How long would the crystals take to recharge? If it were anything like his father's original staff, it wouldn't be long at all. He seemed to fire it repeatedly like a weapon as Kim and Shego dodged the blasts.
Aviarius' words rang in his head. He caught the two of them in the beam while they were distracted bringing down his giant robotic Flamingo of Doom. "You ladies talk too much."
He wasn't going to make that mistake. His jaw was set. He wasn't going to talk Carrion into submission, he had something else in mind.
Carrion started firing wildly. Ron simply twisted his body this way and that, dancing through the oncoming attack, not with the grace of a dancer, but with odd, flailing movements like a monkey swinging between the trees. When he was one stride away from his opponent, he fired the suit's defense screens.
The power bands flared brighter, creating a sphere of glowing yellow energy around him. It was designed to both protect his body and to force anyone grappling with him away. One of their previous opponents discovered another use for the screens using a stolen battle-suit. It could not only force an attacker away, the force it generated could be directed downward. Timing a leap perfectly, it sent him rocketing forward like a canon-shot.
Ron twisted his body in mid-flight, dodging a desperate counter-punch. He felt his closed fist connect with Carrion's face. A wicked smile crossed his own features as he felt the rigid internal gauntlet of his Ferret-gloves smash into soft flesh and the bone underneath.
The momentum of his attack carried both of them to the concrete floor. Carrion was knocked onto his back and sent sliding across the floor, smashing into one of the supports holding up the central platform. Ron simply rolled up onto his feet and readied himself for another assault.
He was a second too slow. Carrion raised a fist and fired point blank. He could see the white flash of the crystal and almost panicked. Sensing his distress, the suit reacted for him, firing the protective screens once more.
The brilliant white light splashed over the screen with surprising force, stopping him in his tracks. He could feel the field it generated trying to gain purchase on the flaring sphere of amber light. There was definitely something at work designed to hold the victims helpless.
His boot found purchase on the floor and muscles started pushing against the beam. It was light fighting against somebody using a fireman's hose to fend him off.
Then the crystal was spent. Before he could bring the other to bear Ron rushed him again, this time tackling him with open arms, bearing him down once more.
He was too close for Carrion to use his weapons, but his enemy was far from helpless without them. An elbow came around, crashing into Ron's jaw, sending him flailing sideways. Instinctively he rolled aside just as another beam of white light slammed into the hard surface he had been on moments ago.
Ron kicked off, somersaulting backwards, dodging yet another beam. This time he struck again with a closed fist, firing the screens right as he connected.
Carrion was already learning from his assault. He couldn't dodge the suit-enhanced punch so he simply rolled with it, coming up on his feet mere yards away from him. Using both the force screen and the suit's built-in speed and strength enhancements, Ron sprung directly upwards, coming down feet first. His heels joined together as he smashed into the bastard's head.
Ron let his knees buckle, vaulting right off of Carrion's face, just as he had seen Kim do to Erik in the fight at Bueno Nacho headquarters. He sailed up into the air, landing catlike on the raised platform.
Growling, the tall, blonde haired teen fired both beams at the black-clad wraith. Ron jumped once more, vaulting over the control desk in the middle of the platform. Pointing his fist upwards, He fired the grappler cable on the back of his wrist. The tip ripped right out a special slit in the glove, which was itself designed to work with the nearly identical Ferret hook.
The cup attached itself to an overhead pipe. The cable pulled him up and away just as Carrion got in the clear for another shot. Halfway through the flight, he released the cup. He spun in midair as the cable snaked back into the back of his arm, landing on his feet right behind him. He punched him in the back of the neck.
That didn't work as well as he anticipated. Carrion must have been wearing some kind of body armor under the Agent Alpha suit, that or it was built directly into the uniform. It felt like he was punching a brick wall and if not for two layers of gloves his hand would have been severely bruised or perhaps even broken.
Carrion spun around, gripping Ron by the throat. He twisted out of the grip but stumbled sideways, slightly off balance.
His opponent took full advantage, though his attack was a more conventional punch. Apparently his smaller crystals did not work in close quarters combat. That or he simply did not have enough experience using them in a hand-to-hand battle.
The fist crashed into Ron's jaw, rattling his teeth and his brain. Another roundhouse punch caught him from the other direction. In desperation, he flared the defense screens just as Carrion tried a spinning kick. The force of the blow sent them both flying apart.
He shook his head, trying to clear his vision. Despite the suit, the bird-boy freak managed to land some solid hits on him. It was time to take this to the next level.
Carrion tackled him before he could get fully to his feet. They tumbled together, his leather clad hands around Ron's neck. Not knowing what else to do, he head-butted him right in the middle of the face.
He stumbled backwards, holding both hands over his now-broken nose, blood streaming from it. Ron roared, feeling something surging through his body. He brought one fist down on the floor with a resounding thunderclap. The floor cracked and split, sending Carrion off his feet and onto his backside. Screaming like a howler monkey with its tail on fire, Ron leaped at his downed quarry, blue fire flaring from his fists.
Desperately, Carrion rolled onto his back, kicking upwards. He caught Ron right in his midsection, sending him flying upwards and away. He slammed into the concrete on his back and only a quick roll to the left saved him from a brilliant shaft of colorless light.
His enemy was upon him again, grabbing him by the collar. Carrion brought his knee up into Ron's chin, rattling him as it snapped his neck back. Only the cybernetic enhancements of the suit kept his spine intact.
Carrion pressed his advantage, bringing an elbow down on the back of his head, smashing him down to the ground. He had a glimpse of a booted foot coming down as he rolled aside. His ninja-school training and months of full-contact sparring with Kim were all functioning on autopilot now. He was too rattled to think coherently any more. It was no longer a fight of smarts, only of instinct and brutality.
Cary grinned wickedly. Stoppable was definitely much more dangerous than he had given him credit for being. When they fought in the warehouse almost a year earlier, Ron had taken him unawares. His attack was swift and brutal, but lacking in form or technique. If he had seen it coming he could have easily blocked with the staff he was armed with then. Still, there was one distinct advantage he had over his foe. Team Possible always fought to subdue. In fact, most of their enemies, even Shego herself, only wanted to put them down for the count.
He had no compunctions about putting Ron Stoppable down permanently, even if that meant missing his opportunity to steal his Mystical Monkey Power. He brought his fist down to smash his head back into the rock-hard floor.
Faster than the eye could follow, Ron grabbed his wrist with both hand, wrenching him sideways. With all the force his lean body could produce, along with the boost his battle-suit gave him, he slammed the back of Carrion's hand down into the concrete. There was a sudden flash of light as the crystal splintered, embedding small fragments in his flesh.
He backed away, howling, gripping his injured hand. As Ron staggered to his feet, he ripped the glove off and pulled the largest of the fragments out with his teeth.
"I'm going to enjoy ripping your powers out of your body before I tear your head off, Stoppable." He spat, circling his opponent.
Ron was spitting blood himself. He knew Carrion was going to fight to the finish with him. He knew going in his opponent would kill him before letting himself bet beaten once again. He also knew he would only be expecting him to fight fair. Ron Stoppable of Team Possible was the good-guy, after all.
What his enemy did not expect was that particular Ron was left in a bedroom back in Middleton.
Carrion leaped at him again, his remaining gloved fist drawn back for a full-body twisting roundhouse blow. Ron's hand flew out.
Razor claws extended from his fingertips. They weren't designed as weapons, only as tools. He used them once before to slash his way out of the ropes White Stripe had used to bind him to the Tri-City convention center's framework, then to cut the ferret claw line away, setting the skunk balloon free.
Weapon or not, they were capable of cutting through thousand pound test cable like a hot knife through butter. They encountered significantly less resistance when they met flesh.
Carrion stumbled backwards, howling in rage and pain. The cuts were not deep or life-threatening, but fresh blood joined what was already crusting under his nose. Then, snarling like an enraged jungle cat, he sprung forwards. His attack was so fast, so furious it caught Ron off-guard. A gloved hand clamped around his neck.
White light surged around the glove. Ron felt his whole body go rigid. Desperately, he tried firing the defense screens, but the yellow sphere only flickered for a moment, then disappeared. Little blue lightning bolts danced all over the suit as its power systems shorted out, overwhelmed and spent trying to ward off Carrion's attack.
The monkey howling started again in his head. He could feel the power then, knowing it was fully active in his body, yet nothing was happening. He could not move. His ruined face a mask of rage, Carrion lifted him by his neck, holding his limp body aloft.
The screaming of a thousand monkeys filled his head, joined by his own screaming as the white-hot power surged though his limbs. He could feel what it was doing. The power of Tai Xing Pek Kwar was bonded to his very soul, yet here was a power that seemed to be ripping it clear away from him. When he first gained the power, he thought it was tied to the four jade statues Monkey Fist collected, and even the monkey-crazed Englishman thought that power was lost when they were destroyed. It was only later that he learned the transfer was permanent, that it had actually become a part of him.
Carrion's power was to strip away an enemy's greatest ability. There was no question that the Monkey Power was his. He was not a gifted athlete like Kim, a genius like Wade or anything like that. All he really had to bring to the table was that power, and now it was being torn from him.
It was tied to his soul, and that could not be torn free. If he was successful stealing the power, then it would take Ron's life as well. He tried to fight, but to no avail. The power of the crystal held him fast, draining him of energy just as it was draining him of his very life essence.
Carrion bared his teeth in a horrible caricature of a smile. He could sense what was happening. The power was becoming his! And it was far more than he could have ever imagined. No wonder Montgomery Fiske was so enthralled with it!
Ron could feel himself fading. He had come here to stop Carrion once and for all, to remove him from Kim's life, to protect her from him. Now he was going to be more powerful than ever!
His failure was complete.
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