What is taking so long?
Kim, sitting Indian style on top of a medical bed in GJ's sickbay, waits for the results of her blood work. She sighs as the minutes tick by.
This wouldn't be so bad if I wasn't wearing this gown.
She hears the sounds of approaching footsteps, and her eyes widen with hope and anticipation.
Yes! Soon I'll be home in my own bed and…
The metal doors swing open and weary Ron steps in. With her hopes dashed, she gives a disappointed sigh, and an annoyed, impatient expression fills her countenance. Ron immediately notices Kim's disappointment.
"Well, happy to see you too," Ron jeers. He pulls a metal stool over to her bed and plops down on it. He slumps in the stool barely able to keep his eyes open.
"Sorry," Kim says still sporting her annoyed expression and failing to notice his weary demeanor. "I just want to go home. The doctor said it wouldn't take long to develop the results."
"Maybe, there are other patients?" Ron says while fighting the temptation to sleep. He begins to experience the withdrawal of the adrenalin he has been living on since Kim's abduction. Now, with Kim safe and morning approaching, his body begins to steadily lose its futile battle against the forces of sleep.
"Hello!" Kim yells gesturing to the empty sickbay. Rufus, startled by her yell, jumps out of Ron's pocket and unto the floor while a now wide eyed Ron almost falls off his stool.
"Ah, I'm not deaf KP," Ron says as he readjusts himself on the stool, "at least not before that outburst." Sleep again continues its onslaught on him gaining more ground.
"Yeah," Rufus says glaring at Kim as he climbs up onto the bed.
"Sorry," Kim says once again. "It's just that this night has been nothing but bad. Sure I was in the clutches of a guy who just wants to make me suffer for… whatever. Then I'm asked to come here where I get a free physical. Remind me to thank GJ for that by the way. Then the doctor sticks me, gets my blood, and says it won't take very long."
"How long has it been?" Ron asks barely able to remain conscious.
"An hour and a half," Kim replies. "And to make this night so perfect, I'm sitting here wearing nothing but a hospital gown."
"Really?" Ron asks as sleep breaks his defenses and conquers him. With eyes closed, he drops his head and surrenders peacefully to sleep.
"So, what did your parents say?" Kim asks obvious to the now sleeping Ron.
"Monkey, no touch," Ron mumbles in his sleep.
"Oh that's… Wait! What?" Kim turns to Ron and finds him asleep.
He's been up all night, worried about me. Nice going Kim. Here you are complaining about being kept late while Ron is the one who needs to go home and get some sleep. At least you got some sleep.
She looks down at her mattress and notices Rufus asleep on the bed. She gently lifts Rufus up and places him on top of her pillow and gently stokes Rufus' back, which produces a content sigh from Rufus. Kim then climbs off the bed and lifts Ron onto it, being carefully not to wake him. Once on the bed, Ron turns on his side and continues sleeping. Kim pulls the stool toward the pillow end of the bed and just looks directly into Ron's peaceful face. She gently brushes his hair with her fingers before leaning in and planting a soft kiss on his forehead producing a small smile on Ron's face. Kim then just sits and watches Ron and Rufus sleep while she waits for the test results. Only this time, the peace of Ron's face infects Kim producing a happier and peaceful disposition that replaces her sour one from earlier.
Dr. Director stands outside the doorway watching the two and a small smile forms on her face. She then turns around just in time to see the medical doctor, a black man dressed in black pants, white sneakers, a light blue dress shirt, and white lab coat, walking down the hall toward her and the sickbay.
"Do you have the test results?" Dr. Director asks.
"Yes I do," replies the doctor. "I'm going in to tell her now."
"Good, she has expressed some concerns about getting back home."
"This will only take a few minutes. Then she can go home." He pauses. "I still am worried about the effects of the gas she was exposed to."
"She says her exposure was limited to a few minutes."
"It's just that I found some trace amounts of an unknown substance in her blood. Now it's a cause for some concern but nothing to get worked up about, at least not yet. I say this only because I don't know what the major components of that gas were."
"What about those nanobots?"
"With no active signal, they've shut down and her immune system is taking care of them. She should be nanobot free in a few days."
"Good," Dr. Director says with a nod. "I won't keep you any longer." She then walks up the hall heading back to the command center.
The doctor walks into the sickbay, prepared to tell Kim the same thing he has just told Dr. Director. "Hello, Miss Possible," says the doctor as he walks in. He grabs another metal stool, picks it up, and places it a few feet away from Kim before sitting on it. "Sorry for the wait. I can imagine you want to go home. You had quite an ordeal." He just glances at Ron, who has turned on his back, for an instant before turning his attention back to Kim.
"So what's the sitch?" Kim asks.
"Well, the… sitch is, based on your physical, you are in fine health."
"And the test results?" Kim asks eagerly.
"Almost nothing out of the ordinary," replies the doctor.
"Almost?" Kim asks raising an eyebrow. This can't be good.
"Well, the nanobots in your system are inactive now and your body's natural defenses are taking care of them as we speak. You should be nanobot free in a matter of days."
But wait there's more. "There's more isn't there?" Kim asks knowing the answer.
The doctor gives her the most reassuring smile he can produce. "At this point I'm not very concern, but a small trace of an unknown substance was detected in your blood. Now I can only assume it's from the gas you were exposed to. Without knowing what the gas was specifically, I can't tell you what the after effects might be if there are any. You were only exposed, at least to your knowledge, for a few minutes. The amount is so small that I wouldn't get all jumpy about. However, if you do experience anything such as headaches, or even another hallucination, I want you to get yourself back here so we can monitor the situation."
"I'll do that, Doctor Hart," Kim says offering a weak smile. She rubs her neck with her hand while preparing to ask a crucial question. "Ahmmm… Doctor?"
"Yes," Doctor Hart says leaning forward with concern. "Is your neck hurting you?"
"No," Kim says, "I just want to know if I can have my clothes back. I mean this gown, though lovely and roomy as it is, isn't something I would like to walk home in at…" She looks at the large, rectangular digital clock hanging on the wall. "Three in the morning," she says with a smile before realizing how late it is or early depending on your point of view. "Three in the morning," she says. "Oh wow."
Doctor Hart calms down and readjusts his position on the stool. "Yes… your clothes right." He gets up from the stool. "I'm check if the lab is finished with them. I'll be right back." Doctor Hart quickly walks out through the swinging metal doors and takes a right before disappearing down the hall.
Kim watches him until he disappears. She then turns around and fondly faces a sleeping Ron and Rufus again. A smile crosses her face. My boys, my brave boys. She again reaches over and gently brushes Ron's hair.
"Never leave you, Kim," Ron mumbles in his sleep.
Kim leans forward and brings her lips a few inches from his ear. "Ditto," she quietly whispers before planting another gentle kiss, this time, on his cheek.
Doctor Hart returns carrying a bundle of folded clothes with him. "Here you are Miss Possible." He places the bundle at the foot of a nearby. He then smiles before quietly exiting the sickbay.
"Did they find anything?" Kim asks to the retreating form of Doctor Hart.
He stops and turns around just a foot away from the swinging metal doors. "No," he simply says before exiting the sickbay.
Kim gets up from the stool and quietly makes her to her neatly folded clothes. She unfolds her black shirt and examines it. What do you know? They cleaned it. She smells it. "Mmmm, lemony fresh," Kim quietly says to herself with a surprise expression. She then looks at her sleeping boys.
I'll let them sleep a few more minutes before waking them up. But first, I'll need to get some answers.
She pulls the opaque curtain hanging next to the bed around. Safely behind the curtain, she removes her gown and dresses into her freshly cleaned mission clothes before quietly exiting the sickbay and making her way to the command center.
"Report, Agent Du," Dr. Director orders while facing a real time image of Agent Du appearing on the huge view screen inside the command center.
"The clean up is slow," reports Agent Du, who had returned to the site of the implosion after bringing Kim and Ron to GJ headquarters. "We won't get to what remains of the underground lair until late morning or early afternoon, but I doubt we'll find him here."
"Agreed," replies Doctor Director. "Still, we need to confirm."
"And when we confirm what we already suspect, what then?" asks Agent Du.
"We'll come to that bridge when we cross it, agent. In the meantime, I'm going to place some agents outside Kim's house."
"You think he'll go after her?"
"This is the first time he has failed. He might not take it very well and try to finish what he started. I want all bases covered."
"So, it's true then," a voice says from behind Doctor Director. She turns around and sees a very peeved Kim standing in front of the command center's doors. "Your ears do burn when someone talks about you behind your back," Kim says walking deeper into the command center. "Then again, it might be a side effect of the gas I was exposed to. Maybe if someone warned me about some nut job who tortures people just for kicks, I might not have this burning sensation in my ears. Wait… no I think this burning sensation is due more to my major peevedness that I wasn't warned in the first place." Kim stops a few feet short of Doctor Director crossing her arms and throwing an angry glare at her.
Doctor Director turns to Agent Du's image on the view screen. "I'll call you back." His image clicks off. She then turns back to Kim. "So, Ron told you everything we told him."
"No he didn't," Kim says still glaring a hole into the older woman.
"Wade?" asks Doctor Director.
"No."
"Then, how did you…"
"It doesn't take a genius to know that you're after this guy. Why… I don't know. But you knew he existed and you knew I was his major target. I got that much from overhearing you and Mr. Personality's conversing about little old me just now. I just came down here to ask what you know about this guy." She pauses as a few memories from her ordeal pop into her head, but quickly brushes them away. "Now I'm no longer asking. I'm demanding."
"I understand," Doctor Director says sincerely.
"You understand?" Kim asks offended. "How could you possibly understand what I went through tonight? Were you tortured too?"
"No, I wasn't," replies Doctor Director, "but three of my agents were." She looks Kim right in the eyes. "This isn't just an organization devoted to safeguarding the world and its inhabitants. This is a family." Silence begins to fill the command center as one by one every person halts what they are doing and just watches and listens attentively to their leader. "And when someone threatens any member of this family I'll do whatever it takes to make him or her pay. I'm sorry for what you've been through tonight but be thankful it was only a few hours. All three of my agents spent months with this monster. I knew each of them. And then to see…" She chokes up as her uncovered eye starts to water. She takes a hard shallow before continuing. "Can you understand what it's like to see people you know, you care for get violated the way they were? I wasn't going to have any more of my agents get picked off by this… man and tortured until there's almost nothing left, at least nothing you can recognize. I used you as bait and I am truly sorry, but I saw it as the best chance to capture the Artist."
By now, all eyes present fall onto the two women whose emotional states make them oblivious to this fact.
"I understand about protecting the ones you love," Kim says. Her voice softens but her eyes stay hard. "I understand that and I, too, am sorry, very sorry for what happened to your agents… to this family. I understand why you did what you did, but I can't forgive it… not yet…if ever." She then turns around and heads back to the sickbay.
Doctor Director watches her leave and stares at Kim's retreating back for a few moments before realizing the deafening silence surrounding her. She looks at, one by one, every person in the room. Slowly, everyone returns to their suspended tasks, more determined and zealous than ever to complete them -- not for glory or praise, not for a good mark on their next evaluation, not even for some sense of pride and self justification. They do it for her, and for each other, not wanting to fail both.
Doctor Director addresses a black haired young white man at a nearby computer station, "Agent Reed."
"Yes, Doctor," the agent replies eagerly as he swivels in his chair and stands up at attention.
"I want you and Agent Richards to watch Miss Possible but do it as discretely as you can."
Nodding, Agent Reed quickly goes in search of Agent Richards as another agent quickly takes Agent Reed's place at the vacant computer station. Doctor Director turns to the blank view screen and stares at it while lost in her thoughts.
He's out there somewhere. All we can do is wait. It's still his game and it's his move.
As the night slowly dies giving birth to a new morning, an ordinary white van covered with a few rust spots here and there travels down an empty highway leading into a still sleeping city. The van swerves a little out of its lane as the buckled driver simultaneously tries to read a map and drive.
"Hmmm, let's see. Ah… "
The outlines of a few buildings come into viewing distance but the driver is oblivious to it, as he struggles to make sense of the map.
"North, south… Ahhhh! The heck with this."
He tries to fold the map back up but utterly fails as the van swerves into the other lane. The driver finally throws the map into a lump onto the passenger seat in frustration. He turns his attention back to the road just in time to be blinded by the highlights of an on coming eighteen-wheeler. His eyes grow wide as the honking of the truck's horn fills his ears.
"Ahhhhh!" he screams turning the wheel hard to his right. The van almost tips over as it narrowly evades the barreling eighteen-wheeler and momentarily gets back onto the right lane before veering off the road. "Ahhhh!" he screams hitting the brakes as he sees a large, wooden sign directly in his path. Closing his eyes and gritting his teeth, he feels the impact as his van collides with the sign and runs it over. He drives his foot on the brakes hard, and, eventually, the van comes to a complete stop. After a few seconds, the driver slowly opens his eyes. He sighs and waits for a few moments to collect himself before placing the van in park. He reaches over to his glove box, opens it, and digs out a flashlight. He then slowly climbs out of the van before turning on the flashlight. The van's engine hums in the background as he walks over to check its front end. He sees a few scratches and a hand size dent on the hood. Satisfied and grateful that the damage appears minimal, he walks over to the sign.
The sign, with a painted message in reflective red paint and now noticeable tire tracks on it, lies on the ground. The man walks around it, and he stands over it. Aiming his flashlight at the sign, he reads the message out loud to himself. "Welcome to Middleton."
A smile soon develops on his face. "Looks like I finally arrived."