Opening her eyes, a blinding light from above greets her and she reflexively closes them again as a grimace of pain fills her countenance. She grabs her throbbing head with her hand.
Oh, man. What happened?
As she searches her memory for an answer, she discovers she is lying on a firm mattress. She turns on her side, opens her eyes and looks down at the clean, white fabric underneath her.
A mattress?
Fighting through her headache, which begins to fade, she starts to remember the resent events that occurred a few hours ago.
I was in the warehouse and… Gill!
"Ron!" Kim exclaims as she quickly sits up on the bed. She looks around hoping to see him, but instead, discovers she is in a clean white walled room with no door. She remembers more.
We were separated and I was shot with a dart. And, with the fact I'm in a room I don't remember entering, I'm going to take a stab that it was filled with a tranquiller.
Concern for Ron immediately surfaces.
I hope Ron's all right.
She reassures herself.
Come on Kim. You know Ron's all right. You can feel it. He's taken on Gill without you before and totally spanked him. You have bigger things to worry about, like getting out of here.
Looking up, she sees four vents, one centered per wall, just below the boundary between the walls and the ceiling. Scanning further, she sees a small surveillance camera tucked in the far corner pointing right at her.
Well, at least there isn't some voice speaking to me over a speaker from some other…
Looking right above her, she sees a white speaker embedded in the near wall. Suddenly, a male voice speaks to her through it. "Well, sleeping beauty's finally awake."
A deep sigh escapes her lips. Then a thought occurs to her.
I guess it couldn't hurt. Gee, I sure hope that a hole doesn't form in the far wall over there.
Nothing happens.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Of course I ventured, and gained nothing.
"Ah, hello," the voice speaks, which draws Kim's attention again. "Your captor is speaking here. Usually the captive shows some interest at this point."
"Oh, sorry," Kim says. "It's just that your enthusiasm wanes a little more every time your villains capture you until finally you just find it hard to get in the captive mood sometimes. And this headache sure doesn't help either."
"You're being sassy aren't you?"
"Just a little," replies Kim. "So, are you going to tell me why I'm here? I mean you went to so much trouble to get me in this lovely single room with its stunning décor with all the planning, the luring, the trapping, the distracting, and… oh yeah the shooting… with the tranquiller dart, which was so not cool by the way."
"And the sass just keeps on coming." A small laughter of delight follows before he continues. "You're more than I expected, more than I dreamed, more than I imagined."
"Stop," Kim says in an unimpressed and bored tone, "I'm blushing." She then checks her pant pocket and finds nothing. And why am I not surprised?
"Lose something?" the voice asks feigning concern.
"I seem to have misplaced a few of my things," Kim answers looking at her naked hands and absent belt. "But you probably knew that all ready."
"I couldn't let you just call for help or break out before I even started my little project."
This is getting so old. Kim rolls her eyes. "Look, I have the feeling you're kind of new at this. Usually, the villain does a little small talk and goes right to the gloating. Normally, the small talk I'm fine with but I just got up so… could we move this along."
"It's not like you're in a hurry, but all right. Although, I'm never one to boast of my plans before I start them. I'm more of an actions-speak-louder -than-words kind of guy. So since you want to know my plan and why you're here, instead of telling you I'll just show you and you can draw your own conclusions. How's that sound?"
Kim again looks around her cell. "Sounds fine considering I don't have a choice in the matter."
"As long as you breathe, you always have a choice. That's one of the few certainties in life. Choosing to live a normal life or a heroic one, choosing to remain as best friends or choosing to risk that precious friendship to gain something even more wonderful, choosing to give in or to fight, these are just a few choices one can make. Wait a minute. These are the some of the choices you faced and you chose the latter each time. Hey, would you look at that."
"And you would be getting to the point where you tell me your plan… when?" Kim peevishly asks.
"Since you ask so nicely…" the voice says. Moments later a small panel on the floor slides opens, and a square, wooden table rises up through the opening. A Rubik's Cube sits on it. Kim slowly gets off the bed and carefully makes her way to the table. She slowly reaches for the puzzle and brings it up to her face. She examines it for a few seconds.
"You want me to solve this?" Kim asks as she throws a perplexed look at the camera.
"No, but it holds a two fold purpose. Answer my question and I'll let you go." Suddenly, a small rectangular section in the far wall's center slides open revealing a grey, colored hallway with a lone metal door at its end. "If you answer wrong, then you stay until you answer correctly. During that time, you could try and solve that thing, but I doubt you will be in the mood."
"Answer your question correctly and I walk out of here," a skeptical Kim reaffirms. "You do realize I ferociously mistrust you, don't you?"
"Yes, but that won't stop me from asking my question. So here it is. What do you see?"
"That's your question!" exclaims Kim. "What do I see? I doubt you went to all this trouble to just ask me that. What's the catch?"
"It's a simple question, Miss Possible," says the voice. "Whether I'm genuine or not, what do you have to lose in answering my question? It's not like you have better things to do at the moment."
"Actually," Kim says as she glances at the rectangular opening in the wall, "there is one thing." She drops the Rubik's Cube on the floor and simultaneously makes a mad dash toward the opening but it closes before she can escape through it. Kim pounds on the metal door in frustration. So close.
"I should have seen that one coming, but I'll overlook this little transgression. My offer is still on. Answer the question. What do you see?"
Kim slowly walks back to the Rubik's Cube lying on the floor and picks it up. She remains silent for a few moments. What do I have to lose? I doubt he will keep his word but maybe if I play along then I may be able to find out what this guy wants besides playing twenty questions. Taking a deep breath, Kim gives her answer. "I spy with my little eye, a Rubik's Cube."
"Ooooo, sorry that's not correct!"
Before Kim can protest, a shape, intense pain suddenly floods her body sending mind numbing electricity to her brain. "Ahhhhhhhh," Kim screams as she collapses on the floor applying a death grip on the Rubiks Cube. Just as suddenly as the pain appeared, it fades and all that remains is an indescribable memory. Wide eyed in shock, Kim, still clutching the Rubiks Cube, gingerly crawls to her bed grabbing its edge for support and pulls herself up onto it. She hugs her stomach as it knots and recoils inside her. It takes all she has not to throw up before taking a few deep, quiet breaths as she sits on the bed.
"What happened?" Kim softly asks after a few moments when her breathing returns to normal and her stomach manages to settle down. She notices the soreness in her hand that gripped the Rubik's Cube so tightly in response to the pain. She looks down at it and tries to open her hand but can't. Using her other hand, she pulls out the Rubik's Cube and tosses it onto the floor.
"Did I neglect to mention that while you were sleeping, I injected experimental nanobots into your blood stream? These little beauties were designed to repair organs and tissues without the need for extensive surgery. At least that was their intended purpose. We both know where the road paved with good intentions leads to. Because of their excitement, the scientists failed to see the whole picture. While they can repair organs and tissues, the patient has to be unconscious or sedated. Otherwise…"
"Ahhhhh!" Kim screams as another wave of pain rushes over her. She falls back onto the bed gritting her teeth as the pain slowly intensifies. Then it stops and a huge sigh of relief escapes Kim's lips as she once again takes deep breathes.
"…that happens. What's interesting is that, once activated, the intensity of the pain caused by the nanobots is directly proportional to the frequency of the sound waves used to control them. So, the frequencies used to inflict excruciating pain are well above the range of human hearing. It's a good thing too because I would not be able to hear you scream."
"Ahhhhh!" Kim screams again as an unbearable pain assaults her. She closes her eyes and grits her teeth again as she lies on the bed. The pain, not localized but spread throughout her body, only intensifies slowly as she let's out other sounds of anguish. Then she feels the pain's intensity increasing dramatically. "Ahhhhhh!" she screams again.
In the room where he made his deal with Gill, the brown haired man sits in the dark in front of his multi-screened computer watching and hearing Kim suffer. The light from his monitors dances across his face as he leans back in his chair. He holds a remote in his right hand as he continues to press down on a red button with his thumb. He closes his eyes listening to Kim's screams as though they are a great work of musical composition. "Hmmm, what a lovely voice," remarks the man.
"Welcome back to GJ headquarters, Ron," says Dr. Director as Ron and Agent Du enter the large command room filled with a massive viewscreen. Advanced computers occupy most of the room while scientists and agents perform various duties. Her face offers no smile but a look of concern. "I just wish this was under better circumstances. How are you holding up?"
"Well, other than the fact that one of the most important people in my life is in the clutches of some dangerous person doing who knows what to her, I'm just peachy. Now, who is the Artist?"
Dr. Director takes a deep breath before she tells Ron what she knows. "We do not know his name but we are very acquainted with his work. If you will follow me to the conference room, I'll be able to better explain the situation to you."
She turns to her right and heads for a sliding metal door, which opens. Agent Du nods to Ron and walks over to a computer station, sits down and starts typing on the keyboard. Once and a while he stops and reads the text that appears on the screen before continuing his typing. Ron quickly follows Dr. Director and passes through the opening. Ron sees a large wooden oval table surrounded by swiveling chairs with wheels at their bases and blue colored cushions on their seats and backs. At the table's near end sits a large metallic device, which Dr. Director stands in front of.
"Ron, please take a seat," Dr. Director says as she gestures toward the closest chair to her right. Ron takes that seat while Dr. Director takes the seat in front of the metallic device. Rufus, who still remains roosted upon Ron's shoulder, jumps down onto the table. Dr. Director presses a button on the device and a keyboard slides out from it. A few seconds later, a monitor ascends out of the device in front of her. She adjusts the keyboard and begins to type for a few seconds searching for a file until she finds it. She then presses the enter button on the keyboard and the lights in the room begin to dim. A large white screen drops down from the ceiling at the table's far end and a blue light emanates from the device projecting what appears on the monitor. Dr. Director quickly presses a button and a picture of three GJ agents appears on the screen. One is a young fair skinned female agent with brunette hair and hazel eyes, another is a middle aged black male with a small scar on his forehead, and the last is a blonde haired male in his early thirties with blue eyes and a slightly tanned complexion. A list of stats concerning each agent appears under their pictures.
"Ron, these individuals were some of our top agents," says Dr. Director.
"You mean they're…"
"No, but they will never be quite the same," Dr. Director says with sorrow lacing her voice. "Over a span of three years, each one experienced a horrific ordeal with the individual we call The Artist. One by one, each went missing. Then several months later each reappeared, possibly forever altered."
"What do you mean?" asks Ron. "What happened to them?"
"He tortured them and caused each one to lose a grip on reality. At first, they would not answer simple questions such as 'Do you know who you are?' and 'Do you know where you are?' They experienced vivid hallucinations that they reacted to in varying degrees from violent outbursts to submissive and timid reactions of curling up in a ball and either rocking back and forth or crying until they were out of tears."
"Did they get better?" asks a concerned Ron.
Dr. Director only answers at first with silence as she looks away, unable to look Ron in the eyes. "Somewhat but they are not at the same level of recovery. The hallucinations seemed to be temporary while they started to open up more and more as they progressed into their individual treatments but they never returned to complete normalcy. They hardly talk about what happened to them except that they all say they heard a male voice speak to them while they were tortured. Neither one saw his face and each experienced a different method of torture."
"Why does he call himself The Artist?" asks Ron.
"He doesn't. We named him that based on the printed notes he left on their persons when he released them." Dr. Director highlights the female agent and presses the enter button. A close up of her photo appears on the white screen. "Agent Raven was the first. She disappeared three years ago. When we found her several months later, she had a note on her that read 'Do you like my piece of art?'" She then presses escape bringing back the previous screen and highlights the black male agent, who's enlarged photo takes up the white screen. "Agent Croft was next and disappeared a few months after Agent Raven returned. Again, we found him several months later, and he had a note on him that read 'My latest piece of art.'" She repeats the same motions and the white male agent's enlarged photo appears on the white screen. "Agent Ark was the latest. He disappeared several months ago. We found him just a few days ago. His note was more telling than the others and read 'And yet another piece of art but my next will be my greatest, a masterpiece.'"
Ron ponders about the last note, and the events over the last couple of days. "My next will be my greatest… a masterpiece." Wait, something's coming. I… have it. The real point to this whole "missing Gill" sitch, he wanted Kim to be… but that means… oh-no!
"He's going to make Kim his greatest piece yet!" Ron shouts as he jumps out of his seat. "That's his whole motivation behind everything concerning this Gill mission. He knew that Kim would be involved in recapturing Gill. Oh man, Kim!" Ron reaches down into his pocket and pulls out the kimmunicator. "Wade, Kim's in serious trouble!"
"Tell me something I don't know, Ron," Wade says immediately after he appears on the kimmunicator's screen.
"Okay," replies Ron. "Kim's being held and tortured by some psycho named The Artist. He plans to make her his greatest work of art by torturing her. We have to find her soon. The longer he has her, the worst Kim's chances get."
"Ron, did GJ tell you this?" Wade asks.
"Yes," answers Ron, "Rufus and I are at GJ headquarters."
"How did they suspect Kim was a target and why didn't they warn us?" Wade asks.
"That's a good question," Ron says to Dr. Director.
"Yeah!" exclaims an upset Rufus who stares angrily at the eye patch wearing head of GJ.
"We wanted to keep this within GJ," says Dr. Director. "We investigated every lead, even the smallest, but came up with nothing. At the same time all my agents were tense since we believed The Artist would strike anyone of us. So I made the decision to get outside help in finding and capturing The Artist."
"Kim," Ron says. "You were going to ask Kim for help."
"Since you and she aren't GJ agents, we figured you two would be the logical choice to head this investigation. Our intelligence placed you at a Dr. Shea's lab. So, I sent Agent Du to retrieve you two. When he arrived, you two were long gone. He asked Dr. Shea what you two were doing at the lab and where you went. Unfortunately, Dr. Shea was not very forth coming. We didn't have time to play cloak and dragger so I order Agent Du to use his 'people skills' to convince Dr. Shea to divulge the reason he and his lab contacted you and Kim."
"Agent Du has people skills!" exclaims a skeptical Ron before shaking his head. "Never mind. Go on."
"He threatened to close the lab down. Dr. Shea became more open after that and told him about the Gill incident and the location he was delivered to. Agent Du quickly flew to the abandon airfield and looked in its hanger, but again you were gone. In the meantime, we had begun to put together the information that Agent Du gave us concerning the Gill incident. The subtlety of the whole thing was the key. If whoever staged this wanted Gill so badly, why go the hard way where you did not have complete control? The delivery could have been delayed. Dr. Shea's meeting could have been moved whereby he would have been at the lab when the transport order came. If the delivery men had been more brave and used common sense, they might have not completed the delivery when they saw that they were leaving it inside an abandon hanger."
"In other words," Ron says, "why didn't he just do the standard villain thing and blast his way into the lab in order to steal Gill?"
"Exactly," Dr. Director says. "Subtlety, the same subtlety The Artist used to get to those three agents. Each one lured into a carefully planned trap and captured. I found it strange that some one who expresses himself with art, twisted and sick as it is, would go through lengths not to be known. Even after he completed his 'pieces', he never mentioned a name for us to use."
"That still doesn't answer the not warning us component of my question," Wade says.
"We were not one hundred percent sure that this was his handiwork but if it was then we would capture him when he attempted his pickup. When you contacted the authorities and Dr. Shea's lab that Kim and Ron were engaging Gill, I made certain GJ headed the clean up. Unfortunately, we had miscalculated how fast he was. No doubt he struck at the first opportunity when you two were preoccupied with Gill."
"I get it," Wade says.
"Get what?" asks Ron.
"GJ used Kim as bait to get this guy. That's why they did not warn us."
"You must understand," Dr. Director jumps in. "If he suspected that Kim knew anything about him, he might have abandoned his plans and go back into seclusion. This was an opportunity and we had to take it."
"But you came up short and now he has Kim," Ron says. Anger joins his ever building concern for Kim but he quickly attempts to quash it. Getting angry and blowing up will totally not help Kim. I have to remain calm. He takes a few deep breaths and continues. "Okay, what's done is done and … moving on. We need to find Kim and soon. It's just I don't know how to do that."
"I have an idea," Wade chimes in. "The GPS satellites were focused on the warehouse."
"I thought you said that he could block your scanning?" Ron asks.
"Yes, but I doubt he could hide from plain view. It's a long shot but maybe the satellites pick up a visual of something like a vehicle. It wasn't a busy night. He had to have taken Kim to a planned location. Unless that location was nearby, then I doubt he carried her all the way there, but I'll double check on the scans of the area too. Just in case."
"But it was raining," Ron says, "which means dark, thick clouds that block stuff."
"That's the long shot part. Even if the satellites did get something, I'm going to have to go through every picture frame by frame since I doubt he would have GPS installed in a vehicle, if he used one. This is going to take time."
"All of GJ's resources are at your disposal," Dr. Director says. "Whatever you need."
"It could lessen the time if I had a couple of more sets of eyes," Wade says, "if there is anything to find that is."
"It's all we have," Ron says with a glimmer of hope. "In the meantime, I have to go back to Middleton and tell Kim's parents why she isn't home yet." He looks at his watch. "So pasted her curfew, man they must be totally freaking."
"The tubes will take you back to Middleton," Dr. Director says as she turns off the device in front of her. Instantly, the lights brighten to their previous illumination.
"I'll contact you, Ron, when we find something," Wade says. "I'm going to establish a link to the GJ computers and begin working." He pauses for a minute. "We'll find her Ron," Wade says before he ends his link to the kimmunicator.
Ron stares at the kimmunicator for a few seconds. I know we will, but will she be all right when we do? He places the kimmunicator in his pocket while Rufus climbs up onto his shoulder and gives him a reassuring pat on the cheek while offering a smile. Ron turns to him and weakly smiles back. Ron then walks to the exit where Dr. Director waits for him.
"This way to the tubes," Dr. Director says as she gestures in a direction beyond the doors. She walks along side Ron and escorts him to them.