Bad Hand

By mkusenagi2

The story concept © 5-19-2006
All Marvel characters are © Marvel Comics.
Kim Possible and other characters
from the show are © Disney Co.
I don't own Dark Horse Comics'
characters either.

Part XI

9-25-2006
Rome, Italy
The Lido Di Ostia Coast
LogosCorp's BioResearch
Division
0915 hrs

Team Bad Hand exited the portal into a building inside a city of chrome, glass, and white granite that extended along the Lido Di Ostia portion of the Italian coast adjacent to Rome.

"So where are we exactly?" Kim asked.

"Right on target." A man's voice said.

Team Bad Hand turned to the source of the voice and was… STUNNED!

The last time Team Possible had seen Thornton Paisley he had been, 5', balding (with what little brown hair he'd had left), 50ish, wealthy, and had weighed 300 lbs.

The man that the stunned team faced in the futuristic Main Lab Building's lobby was still balding and wealthy… and that's where it ended.

Paisley had lost 150 lbs, 20 years and was still balding… just not so much.

In fact he was seething with energy it seemed!

"Ah Ms Possible! It's ALWAYS a pleasure," he said as he shook Kim's hand, "And it's a pleasure to meet Bad Hand and Shego… are you here to protect the crinoids? These crinoids ARE the flower of Gilgamesh. That's why I look so young. They're even better than a flamingoat, and the flamingoat's the best and rarest of the Cuddlebuddies…"

"Since they only made ten!" Paisley and Kim chimed.

You could hear a pin drop. Shego and Bad Hand stared at Kim. "What? I still collect them… they're a good investment!" Kim said.

"Hrrm… So it's real? The effect?" Bad Hand asked.

"Yes… Quite amazing really!" Paisley said. "But there's a…"

"Catch." A musical voice said. A petite, slender Asian woman 5' tall, with Agate eyes, dressed in a cobalt blue silk business suit, and matching heels, with her hair done up in a French Braid walked up. "Hello I'm Anna Ji, Mr. Paisley's Number Two." She said to Kim as she shook her hand. Ms Ji proceeded to hug Shego and kiss Ron on the cheek. "It's good to see you." She whispered to Bad Hand. "You too." He whispered back. "Thanks for the tips on the HYDRA and Hand cases."

'Get your hands OFF, bitch!' Kim thought. Ms Ji looked at Kim and winked!

"Mr. Paisley got stung by the crinoid's pod, it's the 1st time we've seen such a mechanism in an organism's egg case…" she said as she pulled out a datapad from her pocket and pulled up a hologram of a wrinkly mass the size of a football to show to Bad Hand and his partners. "The venom caused Mr. Paisley's tissues to regenerate… however…" Ms Ji told the team as they walked towards an elevator.

"It's toxic to most human's, right?" Bad Hand said as he studied Ms Ji's link.

"Yes. It seems to be leveling off in his case, but we do know that the toxin's bonded with his cells and isn't being flushed out of his system." Ms Ji said,

"So where are the crinoids now?" Shego asked.

"We moved them to Lab 5. The only pod we've been able to harvest is in the cryovault in sublevel 2." Paisley said as he took Ms Ji's pad and popped up a holo of the cryocase.

"Ok. My team needs to know two things, your security deployment (which Shego can handle)…" Bad Hand said as the came to the elevators and pressed the call.

"And the other thing?" Ms Ji asked.

"Where's your kitchen? I've got a taste for Caesar Salad." Bad Hand said.

"R… OW!" Kim replied as Shego kicked Kim's shin. "Hand, this isn't the time. Varnae's going to attack this place SOON. Besides we just ate."

"That's true Ms Possible, but I'm very hungry now." Hand looked at Paisley and winked.

"Right this way Sir." Paisley said as they walked off, "Say could you give me the recipe for Seven Layer's of…" Paisley said as they went around the corner.

Kim turned and Looked at Ms Ji while they waited for the elevator. "Hmmm, I KNOW… You worked for MNN… YOU WERE THERE WHEN RON AND I FOUGHT THE HULK!"

"Guilty as charged Ms Possible… So how are you and Mr. Stoppable getting along? I know it's been a while…"

"uh Ron? Oh uh…" Kim sputtered.

"Don't worry… your secret's safe with me. I may be a journalist but I know when and where to draw the line. So does Mr. Paisley." Ms Ji placed her hand on Kim's shoulder, "And about what happened with Drakken, let it go." She said as a minute flash of light passed from her hand to Kim's shoulder. Shego started. Ms Ji turned and smiled at her. "When the time comes Kim, fight with ALL your heart. The future depends on it." Anna said.

'What was that, who is she REALLY?' Shego asked herself. 'I don't know how… but she just healed Kim's heart. Why does she feel like she's my Mom?'

"Huh?" Confused Kim.

---

One hour later…

Kim and Shego passed the time with the 50 LogosCorp security troops making preparations in the cryovault bay while Bad Hand was making his salad.

"OHHH! I can't believe this… He's even worse than before in some ways! How…" Kim ranted.

"Hello Ms Possible." Bad Hand said as he walked through a portal, set the cryocase on the floor, and scared everyone but Shego half to death in the process. "Did I miss anything?" he said as he surveyed the assembled troops.

"Where HAVE YOU BEEN?" she hissed.

"I was placing special wards around the facility… Hiding Paisley, and talking to my Ace in the Hole. There's only one angle of attack for them to use."

"Oh. Sorry." Chagrined Kim said. "So what's the plan?"

"We wait." Bad Hand said. "Sheila are your guys in position?"

"Yes. We've withdrawn all personnel and replaced them with security troops."

"Ok guys… we'll do what we can then."

---

Slim Possible had mastered the art of astral projection just in time…

"Thet Varmint's goin' after Kimberley Anne, gotta warn 'er!" he thought as Varnae rested on his throne.

Slim thought about Kim and popped up in front of her!

"Kim!" he cried.

"Uh guys," Shego said, "You see that right?"

"Yeah… Hey! That's Kim's uncle!" Hand said.

"Uncle Slim! We're…" Kim started.

"Hon I ain't got time ta chitchat… Varnae's guys are a comin'! Git ready!" He disappeared.

"WHHHEEEOOOO… BOOOM!" The doors at the far end of the cryovault bay flew off their hinges and slammed into the troops arrayed between them and the vault door!

The cause: An AIM Gorgon hypervelocity drop pod had rammed its armored frame into the building! Troops poured out of the pod and began to shoot at the remaining Logos troops with heavy plasma fire!

"Kim, get the wounded to safety! We'll cover ya!" Hand exclaimed as he and Shego jumped into the fray! 'AIM! I gotta admit their targeting's on the money though! After this is over…'

"Gotcha!" Kim flipped forward and dragged the injured over to the vault door while providing covering fire for the troops that were still able to fight.

"How ya doin'?" Hand asked Shego over the link as they mowed down the AIM troopers. "Peachy! You?" Shego said as she blasted several out of their boots. "Fine!" Hand roared back as he pasted several hits via head and gut shots from his Eldritch Blaster in Gatling-mode.

"Hand we need to get these guys out of here! I count an easy 20 wounded!" Kim said over her link.

"Copy! Hold on!" Hand conjured a seal and threw it behind him, "Hurry it won't hold for long!" "I'm on it!" Kim replied as she dragged/threw troopers into the portal while men on the other side started treating the wounded.

"BLAM!" finally the last AIM trooper was dead…

"That should do it, right?" Kim said as she walked over and stood next to Hand and Shego.

"No." said a voice behind them. "You need to back away from the pod… something's PUSHING through…"

Bad Hand and Co. backed away from the pod and saw a new figure had emerged from the portal.

It was a 6' masked Asian woman dressed in an Emerald and Jet body hugging… Armor. She held an ornate Chinese saber that had a Red Dragon and Green Phoenix wrestling on the hand guard.

"I'm sorry do we know you?" Kim bristled.

"I'm a friend… for now you may call me Kuan. Be ready, It comes now!" she said as a redwood sized 'tendril' of the Ogdru Jahad 'poked through' the Space/Time fabric, bowled them over, and SNATCHED up the case.

"NO!" Kwan Yin roared as she hacked boulder sized chunks off the tendril with her blade.

"SCREEEE!" the tendril shrieked, "ZZSHWUMP!" and was gone.

"NO!" Kim cried, "They got the case!"

"Yeah… Yeah they did." Bad Hand said before he and Kuan left the chamber.

'…! …?' Kim and Shego thought.

---

1 hour later…

After the wounded had been tended to Bad Hand talked to his Ace and went into 'Ron' mode while Kim and Sheila rested in Paisley's lounge…

"Anybody want some fruit salad?" Ron cheerily asked as he wheeled a linen covered cart with a bowl of fruit salad and several plates on it into Paisley's lounge, while Kuan Yin walked in and curled up on the couch.

"!" "Ron, how can you think about eating at a time like this?" Kim hissed. Kuan smiled.

"Like what?" he replied with a grin as he helped himself. "MMMM! Cantaloupe!"

"Princess is right…" Sheila peered at Ron. 'Uh oh.' "No. … You did something… DIDN'T YOU?"

"Maybe (munch, munch)." Ron said with a twinkle in his eye. Kuan grew a shark toothed grin as she helped herself to the salad and sat next to Sheila.

"What'd you do?" Kim.

"Guess." He said as he pulled a case from the cart and placed it on the lab table.

Both women stared at the case…

"Go ahead… open it." Ron.

Kim hesitantly reached forward and popped open the case…

To reveal…

The crinoid pod!

"How? They took the pod… How's it here?" Confused Kim.

"Mmmm. Love that cantaloupe. C'mon KP, Sheila have some."

"Wait… HE SWITCHED THEM!" Sheila said.

"Yeah. How?" Ron.

"You… let's see… put a spell on a cantaloupe… to make it look like the pod…" Sheila.

"Yeah." Ron replied as Kim watched.

"… A glamour?" Sheila.

"Yeah… Over the 'pod' and the base to fuzz things up… That's part of what took so long, but that's not the fun part." Ron said with a sly grin.

"…" A puzzled Kim and Sheila looked at each other…

"Ok… Spill!" Kim.

"Well when they take the pod to Varnae…" Ron began.

---

Varnae's minion brought the cryocase to his master while he waited in the Roxxon Boardroom…

"Excellent!" he hissed.

He activated a control and a wall opened to reveal a room furnished somewhat like a cross between an Aztec and Mayan Temple.

Varnae and his minion entered.

"Place the pod on the altar." He hissed.

"Yes Lord Varnae." The thrall complied with his wishes.

Varnae opened his copy of the Ebontome and began to read the Vampiric Verses.

He grabbed his dagger and plunged it into the crinoid pod's flesh…

Fluids geysered out of the pod and splashed on Varnae…

He began to scream as it began to burn his flesh…

---

"YOU DID WHAT?" Sheila and Kim Roared.

"Calm down… I put a simple teleport spell on the 'pod'… It's a weak spell… He won't notice till it's too late… Think about the look on his face… IF he survives…"

"You put a spell on a 'glamoured' cantaloupe that will…"

"Flood his HQ with waters from the Pope's fountain in the Vatican… If it doesn't destroy him… It'll at LEAST give us some time to figure out a way to STOP him."

"…" "!" The girls began to smile. "What about her?" Kim asked as she pointed at Kuan.

"Ladies…" Ron said as he walked over and bowed to Kuan, "I introduce the latest avatar of the Goddess Kuan Yin and the Matriarch of Shego's Bloodline," he said as she removed her Jade helm, "Anna Ji."

"…" "no." Sheila said as she turned to face Anna. "You're the Avatar of HER?"

"Yes. I'm sorry about how you've had to deal with what's happened with your family and powers…" Kuan Yin said.

"BITCH YOU DON'T KNOW THE HALF OF IT! OUR FOLKS DIED BECAUSE OF…"

"You will be quiet and SEE!" Kuan Yin said as she sent a pulse of white light into Sheila, healed her and embraced her. "I wept when you and you sister accidentally killed your family and all those people… but I didn't cause it Chthon did. He pushed those boys into attacking you two that day…"

Sheila wept into Anna's shoulder. "I thought what Bruttenholm said about me and Sis was Bullshit… Now I find out that it's real? Where were you? We needed you."

"I had to wait… there are rules in place. ESPECIALLY now…" Anna said with tears in her eyes.

"Well they suck!" Sheila.

"I agree, but we have to take the battle to the enemy FIRST. I promise we'll talk later." Anna said as she wiped Sheila's tears away.

---

Meanwhile at Varnae's Lair…

"That… I will show the BOY the error of toying with me." Varnae hissed as he rested on top of the stone altar. "Masters Hear Me! I Am WILLING To Pay THE Price."

Silence.

Then a slithering…

"very well."

The screaming began.

---

9-25-2006
The Mano Malo
Bermondsey Docks
Bermondsey Parish
London, England
2210 hrs

While Sheila was carousing with her Sis and Hellboy, Ron and Kim were lounging in the Kitchen…

"zzt!" "KP you hear something?" Ron asked.

"No Hon." Kim said as she sipped her tea and squeezed his hand.

'Hair's going up… Ahh probably noth…' Ron started.

"ZZTTZ!" A hole in space appeared!

"Kim Get Downstairs, NOW!" Bad Hand Roared as 'Varnae' writhed through the hole in space while he blasted him with the Light of Agamotto!

It was a Varnae that had been fused with the writhing flesh of Chthon and the Ogdru!

'Why isn't it working? The Light's burning him but he's not even flinching! He broke through the wards… HOW?' Bad Hand wondered as he fired up his Blaster.

Varnae shot a tentacle out of his body and snagged Kim's legs as she made a break for it, and knocked her unconscious.

"BAM!" the front door slammed open as Sheila kicked it off its hinges and ran into the kitchen.

"This is the price you'll pay BOY!" Varnae hissed as he blocked their line of fire with Kim's unconscious form, leered at them and vanished.

"KIM! NOOOOOOO!" Ron cried.

"Hon… We'll get her back." Sheila said as she hugged him to her. Bad Hand pushed her away. "IF IT COMES TO IT… I'LL KILL HER UNDERSTAND?" he said.

"yeah." She wept.

"GOOD LET'S GET TO WORK!"

---

Bad Hand and Shego called Liz and Hellboy…

And filled them in.

They of course agreed to help.

After they arrived Bad Hand cast a portal outside Strange's house.

"LET'S GO." Hand said before they entered.

Strange was waiting for them.

"SEND OUT THE CALL. IT'S TIME." Hand ordered Strange.

"No… not until you listen." Strange said. "This happened because you got cocky. Your luck's run out RON. Time for you to grow up and begin your path to becoming what you should be… SILVER ARM. Varnae's become a Demigod because you've been playing around… And Kim's paid the price."

Ron struggled to the surface… and wept. "Please help me save her."

"Ok. I'll help… But you'll have to make the call." Strange said.

Ron went up stairs to the Sanctum to begin.

30 minutes later, it was done.

Ron came downstairs to receive the rest of the chewing that Strange had started. "Just because you're a living conduit for Magics doesn't mean you can goof around with them or…"

"Really Stephen, quit being a stick and help him!" Said a woman from the head of the stairs in the foyer.

All of them looked up to see Strange's consort Clea of the Faltine frowning at her husband.

"She's right you know." Kuan Yin said as she entered from the kitchen. "Besides the Gods have a stake in this too."

"As do I." Said Namor as he came through the front door with several others behind him. "The spawn's been the cause of the Destruction of Atlantis."

"And I." Said Vlad Tepes aka Dracula.

"And I." Hannibal King.

"I'm in." Blade.

"The frail's ok. Anyone that stands toe to toe with the Hulk's ok in my book." Wolverine.

"Watch it." Banner Hulk.

"So am I." Said the armored vigilante known as The Mauler aka Sam Bismarck.

"So will I Son." Captain America said as he clasped Ron's shoulder.

"And I Amigo." Said the Conquistador, Armored Hero of South and Central America aka Dr. P.J. Ramiro.

"P.J.?" Ron asked. He nodded.

"Hey guys. Can I sign up? I just got the Exorcist upgraded." Said Dracula's only living pure blood relative, Frank Drake.

End Part XI

Next: Endgame