I counted the seconds until Global Justice arrived. I'd already changed into my mission gear, and stood, foot tapping, watching the clock. At exactly 91 seconds, the roaring of jet engines appeared overhead. Sprinting downstairs, I front-flipped over the tweebs as they came up with another boy. Landing on my feet, I glanced back to see the boy pale slightly before getting back into conversation.
I didn't know that the tweebs had the mental capacity to hang around other people not as smart as them. It truly is sad, but, so far, it's been nothing but true. The only exception was Ron, who they sometimes played videogames and watched movies with.
I shook it off, kissed Mom, who was making dinner, and ran out into the backyard.
The jet was suspended in midair, the thrusters pointed toward the ground. A rope ladder hit the ground as I ran out. Someone stood at the open bay door and saluted my approach. Snatching the rope, I climbed in and the bay door closed behind me.
"Kim Possible," the man said, shaking my hand purposefully. "I am Ben Ross, the pilot. Where to?"
His grip was strong. I already liked this guy. Like a friend. He was right to the point. "Draken's place. But, first, let's pick up Ron. It's down the street." I followed him to the cockpit where I sat in the co-pilot's seat, him in the pilot's. After a stop at Ron's and quite a struggle to get him onboard, we were off to Draken's lair.
On our hour-long flight, Ron napped for half the way, Rufus in his pocket doing the same. Yes, Global Justice really does fly that quickly. Very convenient. I was doing homework. Don't ever take algebra. It melts your brain. After getting stuck for a while, I put it away and started on writing that essay for English class. This is how I pass time. I stay busy. It didn't take long after that for us to get there.
Ben signaled with his fingers that it was a go for us to parachute out. I thanked him for the ride and took two parachutes from beside the bay doors. Ron put his on with some struggle, but, with Rufus' expert help, everything worked out. I had to drag Ron out, though, to keep him from chickening out.
As we were falling toward Draken's base, I rang Wade up for any updates. But, he never picked up. Weird, but whatever it is, he can handle it, I thought, stowing my Kimmuncator away inside my pocket and grabbed the parachute straps, without pulling them. Ron wasn't doing too hot. Screaming his head off. It's a habit whenever we "chute" out of airplanes. I waved at him to get his attention and pointed to a landing spot on the roof of the lair. It was a pretty tight landing, but, unless we wanted to go through the front doors on the ground, this was our only option. I pulled my chute and flew straight into Ron behind me.
"Guess we won't be needing my chute after all," he said, clinging to my parachute bag and looking down. The first rule of parachuting: don't look down unless you plan on landing.
I watched for the perfect moment to drop Ron and release the parachute. It came closer and closer. 3…2…1…
"Go now!" I told him quickly, just before the place was below us. The speed would keep him moving forward just enough to clear the landing. With the parachutes steering cords, I swung back around and released the chute just as I hit the ground.
He pointed toward the floor. "Ventilation shaft."
I looked over and just barely saw the dark outline of the grating. "Good eye. Let's go." Opening my cargo pants' side pocket, I pulled out my maroon lipstick.
"Is now really the time for makeup, KP?" Ron asked, crossing his arms.
I smiled knowingly, took off the cap, and pressed a button on the bottom. A short, red laser shot out the lipstick end. "Laser lipstick," I commented smartly, before applying it around the edges of the shaft. Ron lifted the grating as I slid down through the ventilation tubing. I landed cat-like when I hit the bottom, silent, giving Ron a look when he slammed into the bottom like a large rock hitting concrete.
After a few minutes navigating with my Kimmuncator, Rufus jumped out of Ron's pocket, sniffed the air, and chittered something that sounded a lot like "uh-oh." I barely registered before he took off down the shafting, nose leading the way. We lost him at a 4-way intersection. His chittering echoed around, making it impossible to tell which direction he'd gone.
"Rufus!" Ron hissed, cupping his jean hand around his mouth. His voice rebounded as well.
"He'll be okay," I whispered to him, following my GPS. After a few more moments of turning corners, I paused and glanced down through a grated shaft into Draken's main lab area. The room alone looked about as big as Middleton High School's gymnasium. Rufus scampered across the floor and hid behind a table's leg. Shego had her feet up on the same table, leaning back in an office chair, buffing her nails contentedly. Draken was in one corner with a clipboard, excitedly taking notes, and a brightly glowing gem on another table in front of him.
"That must be a chaos emerald," I said quietly. "How many does he have?"
"Chaos Spear!" shouted a voice. A gold light appeared, and the ventilation shafting we were sitting in exploded beneath us. I had just enough orientation to land on my feet, but my head was killing me.
"Kim Possible!" declared Draken, raising his hands with clipboard triumphantly. He clapped excitedly. "Meet my new minion!"
I glanced around for Ron but didn't see him.
"KP!" Ron was straining against a headlock. But, it wasn't Shego. It was…
"Shadow?!" My shock paused me in my tracks.
His brown eyes glowed red. There was a tiny black square on his forehead.
His eyes narrowed, as he raised his open palm in my direction. "Chaos Spear!" A gold arrow-like energy beam shot towards me, barely leaving enough time to dodge. Suddenly, he vanished.
Draken glanced around, slightly nervous. Shego's hand glowed green in preparation for a surprise attack. I took a single step forward—a regretful move. Shadow reappeared in front of me, launching a fist to my face. I had no time to dodge that!
"Shadow!" called Draken, apparently not knowing that Shadow was already there. As if by a miracle, his punch stopped dead a centimeter from my nose.
I jumped away to recover for a moment, my heart racing. If something at that speed had collided with my head, I'd be completely done for! I'd never seen someone so fast before. This was entirely new territory. And, where was Ron?
Shadow looked back to Draken over his shoulder, his expression slacking. "Yes, Dr. Draken?"
I swear I thought I saw Shadow's eyebrow twitch in fury.
"I still want her to watch as I take over the world," Draken finished, triumphantly crossing his arms.
"Watch as I rip this place to shreds!" Shadow hissed back, his eye color flickering back to brown. He reached up to his forehead toward the black square, seemingly straining against a force trying to stop him.
Draken fumbled for a remote in his pocket and slammed his palm onto the red button. Shadow paused and glared harshly at him, breathing rate increasing. Draken hit the button several more times. And, Shadow's hand dropped to his side.
"Excellent!" Draken exclaimed, shoving away the remote. "Now, do whatever you have to in order to retrieve the rest of the chaos emeralds, and bring them to me!"
A maniacal grin crossed Shadow's face. "Yes, Dr. Draken."
In a split second, he disappeared and reappeared at my shoulder, snatching my arm. Before I could react, he raised a gem to eye level. "Chaos Control!" he yelled, and everything went dark.