Disclaimer: Kim Possible and all associated characters portrayed and/or implied inside this fanfict belong solely unto Walt Disney Productions.
Being Dead Really Isn't So Bad
Shego awoke a couple hours later. She immediately realizes she wasn't still on the island or back home inside the lair. This damn mattress was too lumpy. Her Serta I-Comfort Smart Support Hybrid mattress specifically contours to match her unique curves.
She quietly slides off the small cot. Who knew who or what she was up against here, or even where she was. And she wasn't exactly in shape to defend herself. Her arms and legs scream with soreness. She barely gets halfway across the room.
"Ah, you're awake," a voice startled her behind.
Shego twirls around in shock. Pain ripples through her body exceeding even her tolerance threshold. She arches her back screaming in mortal agony, as her world starts to grow brighter and bright twirling roundabout her.
A tender set of hands catches the thief keeping her from falling slap on her face. "Here you go," a soothing voice assures the shaken mercenary.
'That voice! No, it can't be! What was she be doing here?" Shego dismisses whose voice she thought she heard.
"Let me help you back onto your cot," the same good Samaritan helps the mercenary hobble back towards her cot.
Shego heard the same voice again, certain she knew who spoke. Her mind races with doubt. Shego asks the burning question. Why would Dr. Possible be here, treating her? Vision blurry. She wills herself to focus harder. Watery eyes peering towards her human staff.
Focusing made her head hurt worse. She couldn't ignore the pain. And yet, neither could she stop herself. Curiosity driving her actions. This Good Samaritan's face comes into clearer focus. A single look was all it took. Shego knew who'd been so nice to her and why. She still couldn't understand one thing, "Anne, what the hell are you doing here?"
Kim didn't give her mom a chance to answer. She couldn't chance her mom may say the wrong thing and alienate the green thief before Kim could recruit her help in the madness. "Mala Angitia Quinn Go, please settle down," a stern voice demands her compliance.
Her eyes bulge wide open, surprised not only hearing her full name, but recognizing the speaker's voice. No, it couldn't be. She's dead, too. Shego whips her head around ignoring her rippling pain, numbed only by raw rage imbuing her heart and mind. Her Princess stood before her alive and well, leaving her to mourn alone.
Anne notices the abrupt change in her patient's demeanor. She barely backpedals in times.
Hurt, anger, and raw rage fuels her cynical nature. She felt no pain. "No, you're dead," she screams in bitter tears. Plasma imbued her head to toe. Shego attacks in blind rage.
Kim easily evades her disorganized attack grabbing and holding her infused palms.
Shego drops her guard in pure shock.
Kim discerns doubts distracting her adversary. She seizes her opening, powers up her own plasma, and blasts her adversary's mid-section, just enough to get her undivided attention.
Shego soars back across the room slamming against the far wall. Even rage couldn't deaden this much pain rippling through her ailing body. She screams in pain beating her fists against the marble floor. She glares back with icy daggers venting, "Oh, great, more bruises on top of those I already have".
Anne glares speechlessly at her daughter. Never did she expect this. "Kimmie...?"
"Princess?" Shego cuts off the older redhead mirroring her concern.
Kim crouches at eye level but keeps her distance, "Care to listen now, Emmie? Or do you require a little more softening up?"
"I'll listen," she douses her glow and holds up both hands. She surrendered more in curiosity than fear. "You'd best start by explaining how you're wielding my plasma?"
Anne helps Shego onto her feet. Shego leans against the older doctor's shoulders and hobbles back towards her lumpy cot. It was comfortable. At least it was better than nothing. Shego crosses her arms in open defiance, "Well? You can start anytime, Princess. How do you have my plasma powers?"
Kim stimulates their curiosity deadpanning, "You gave me these powers, Shego".
"I gave you...my plasma power? My mortal enemy?" She scoffs, embittered, "I don't think so. Try..."
"Oh, don't get me wrong," Kim sympathized with her doubts. "You didn't simply transfer your very impressive powers, at least not intentionally".
Shego started to lose patience again. She cracks her knuckles urging her longtime rival, "What are you talking about now, Princess?"
Kim jars a memory Shego would probably forget reminding her, "Remember Mandrake Bio-Research, Inc.?"
"How could I forget?" She groans in disgust. She'd planned that operation in explicit detail. She didn't leave anything detail to chance. "Drakken couldn't do one simple thing right. He only needed to hit you and the buffoon with the knockout gas. Authorities would have found you both at our crime scene. I'd planted forged financial documents leading to overseas bank accounts in your names, along with various other evidence.
Global Justice would have assume you'd joined the villain community, becoming our secret informants. That's how we'd stay one-step ahead of their operations over the past few years. You'd be locked up and out of our hair. But, noooo! That Idiot! Drakken! He had to screw everything up...!" Shego realizes she'd said too much already, clamping her mouth shut. Now wasn't the time to piss off her new protectors and employer.
Kim didn't take her rant personal. Shego was a criminal. And her nemesis. She'd, in fact, worry more if Shego hadn't tried at least something to remove her team, where they couldn't interrupt their future plans. She wipes away Shego's smirk revealing just how deep Drakken betrayed both of their trusts, "Don't see him short, Shego. Drakken didn't screw up anything. In fact, he did exactly what he intended to start with".
"You know something I don't then," Shego glowers, cutting her eyes and shaking her head, not believing a single word.
"I know I do," Kim's certitude grabs her attention immediately.
Shego couldn't ignore a mystery.
"Tell me, Shego," Kim gets her thinking alone the right lines, "did your boss acquire any new partners lately, say within the last 6-months?"
Again, Shego didn't answer.
"Oh, don't worry, Shego. This isn't an interrogation. I don't expect answers. I already have them," she eases the green thief's overactive mind, beaming with so much suspicion about right now. "I'm asking rhetorical questions, meant to get you thinking along the right lines and open your eyes unto a few things".
Shego couldn't help but notice. Princess acted as though she already knew the answers. She only needed her to think along the right line. But why? She probes this question asking, "About what?"
"Her," Kim shows her Gama Rose's photo.
Shego eyes her replacement's picture uncomfortably, "Why her?"
"Simple. Gama Rose tried to kill you back on Coco-Keeling's South Island". Kim sits a computer on her cot pressing play. A video pops up displaying what transpired outside the hut, up until it blew up. The camera switches angles zooming upon Will Du's team racing towards her location.
Shego reads between the lines guessing, "Global Justice, Drakken, my brothers, everyone thinks I'm dead, like you, don't they, Princess".
"It really isn't so bad?" She plays down her own betrayal.
Who's Crossing Who
"Princess," Shego derails her evasion, "how'd you wind up with my powers. And how does that relate unto Drakken double-crossing me?"
"Drakken didn't purposely double-cross you," Kim closes the South Island video bringing up the one outside The Karaoke Lounge, near Gladstone Park, Chicago.
Shego listens in petulant silence. She couldn't believe her ears. Someone else was guiding this blue idiot to safety. She waits til he's inside the cab. Shego punches the space bar stopping the video, "That's my job. Who is this?"
"Diamonique Rose, a.k.a. Gama Rose," Kim names the green thief's rival.
"Nique?" Shego glares towards the computer screen. "When did she take my job?"
"Just right before my contamination, Shego," Kim gives the timeline.
Shego drops her head cursing profusely, "I threatened to quit over how royally he screwed up during our last heist, right before he contaminated you, almost contaminating us as well. What does Dr. Dimwit do? He hires the first idiot he could find to replace me. Is that why she wanted me dead?"
"Partially," Kim dodges her question without revealing too much.
Shego lets her dodge pass. She'd skirted the redhead's first questions. Shego guesses, Princess had the same right at least once. She could always get her own answers later, when she beats them from Gama Rose and Drakken. Shego moves onto the next question, "And who saved me?"
"I did," Kim preens.
"You beat an assassin?" Shego didn't buy her story. This whole convoluted story sounded like another of Dr. Director mind games to extract intel from an uncooperative suspect.
Kim guarantees her. This isn't a game. "I beat ten outside Bueno Nacho and anther ten outside Team Possible's Middleton Mountain base. Why should my beating Gama Rose shock you?"
Shego ignores her rival's boast. Missing Drakken's double cross hurt bad enough. Gama Rose taking her job without her even noticing then using that very job to arrange her kidnapping added insult to injury. Her nemesis, a teenage do-gooder, having to save her neck made this whole experience unbearable.
"Anyway," Kim senses her wounded pride proceeding, "Drakken grew concerned because you were becoming more discontent working for him, a habitual looser. He feared you may quit one day, and he only desired to redeem himself in your eyes. That's when he came up with the perfect plan".
Shego deduces the obvious, what Dr. Dimwit raved about all the time, "By eliminating you?"
"Now you're catching onto his lunacy," Kim teases her lightly. "He knew he couldn't do this alone. Drakken met Bassett-Hound-666 on HenchCo's Dark Web. She helped him bring his plan to fruition".
"Am I understanding you correctly?" Shego adds two and two. "Gama Rose set up Drakken?"
"She did," Kim confirms her suspicions. "Gama Rose works for Arlin Helion, head honcho of Necros".
"Oh, hell! Let me guess. Necros hired her to feed Drakken's paranoia," Shego contemns she didn't catch onto Gama Rose's agenda sooner.
"Yes," Kim nods.
Shego accepts this much truth. She simply couldn't quite understand, "How does this factor into what transpired at Mandrake Bio-Research Inc.?"
"Necros rebooted its super soldier research again. They're trying to develop the world's first super soldier serum. And their xeno geneticists deemed your blood their key".
"Is Cyclops behind this?" Shego starts to have déjà vu, back when Global Justice locked away her and her brothers to 'ensure they weren't a danger to society'.
"Not that I'm aware," Kim realizes Shego noticed something she'd missed. "Why would she be?"
"Oh, she hasn't told you? The truth, I mean?" Shego laughs contemptibly, "Global Justice started Necros".
"What!" Kim could barely believe this revelation. She'd worked with Global Justice for many years. Kim believed in its vision. Never did she imagine them involved with starting terrorist organizations.
"It's true," Shego reassures the doubtful redhead. "Cyclops was upset that Global Justice didn't have a pipeline within the villain community. Hence, the SSC authorized her to use G.J.'s discretionary fund to start Necros.
Her brother learnt about her plan. Gemini feared their pet organization could supplant WEE. He killed their puppet taking his chair under the alias, Arlin Helion. Necros is a subsidiary of WEE. Cyclops already had her eye on me. I guess her brother shares her infatuation. Is that how you wound up with my powers, Princess?"
"It isn't quite that simple," Shego," Kim cautions her against jumping to any hasty conclusion. Several factors came into play to explain how she would up with her powers. "Gama Rose tricked Drakken into modifying your plan slightly. He mixed Necros' super serum into an Emmeo-7 mutagen vial as she instructed him. He should've only thrown that vial. Instead, he…"
"...say no more," Shego condescends, having worked for the man too long, "Dr. Dimwit panicked and doused you with every vial at once".
"Yes, he did," Kim nods. "He didn't just screw up your plan but Necros', too. You see, I was to be their latest super soldier guinea pig. If this serum succeeded, I would've been their first superpowered super soldier.
Only, I wouldn't have my own will. Necros' xeno-scientists infused their serum with mind-controlling nanobots. If your plasma hadn't shorted these nanobots, Gemini could keep or eliminate me simply by pushing a button".
"Which he would've probably done anyway, since you interfered once too often in their plans," Shego deduces what Gemini would liable do next.
"Probably," Kim couldn't deny this obvious. "But, that wasn't my point. My creation would have meant Gemini could sell this revolutionary super soldier formula unto the highest bidder all over the world. Then, again, if I'd died during experimentation, I couldn't interfere in his business again. Plus, their doctors working inside the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases in Fort Detrick, Maryland facility could collect invaluable data to refine their next serum, possibly guaranteeing their next success.
Also, their doctors could deflect blame off their organization by blaming Drakken for dousing me with unstable chemicals. By dousing me with everything, however, Drakken invalidated their 'controlled experiment'. Wade's dug up more than one-hundred other people Necros illegally abducted and experimented upon, just like me, only reaping worse results. I'm the only patient to survive longer than 24-hours.
I don't know their serum's chemical composition. I only know, when Drakken doused me, their newest serum mixed with this multiple mutagenic compounds and your blood. Beaker shards cuts my skin. Your contaminated blood seeped into my fresh wounds. The serum, chemicals, viral agents, pathogens, and various mutagenic compounds all mixed together with your blood, before getting absorbed into my bloodstream. I told Dr. Director that Dr. Tomlin and his nurse synthesized an antidote. That was why Gama Rose murdered them. The truth is, I don't know why Gama Rose murdered Dr. Tomlin or his nurse. They didn't cure me. Your blood did".
"My blood?" Shego eyes Kim uneasily.
"I know how it sounds, Shego," Kim shared how she initially harbored the same skepticism. "I can't explain how, but your blood infused with Drakken's mutagenic compound neutralized the pathogens in my bloodstream, saving my life, while also infusing me with your plasma powers, accelerated healing, enhanced agility, even your strength, and increased reflexes and speed, so far".
Shego again considers the possibility asking, "Is that why Cyclops and Gemini went after your family and friends so hard?"
"I don't know if they know I inherited your powers, Shego," Kim shrugs. "The experiment was over. They'd learnt everything they possibly could. I become a liability. Plus, my mom is a neurosurgeon, but also knows plenty about genetics. Gemini knew she'd never drop this case. She'd study my blood until she uncovered the truth, which could expose his operation.
He couldn't take any chances. If he did, and she exposed his operations, his backers would blame and possibly eliminate Dr. Director and him. It may also shock you to learn something else. I was never truly contaminated, at least now in the way Global Justice led the world to believe. If that came out, other federal agencies would join my mom in asking some serious though-provoking questions. A single drop of my blood could expose their research leading authorities straight to G.J. and Necros' front door. That's why they marked my family for death. Kim Possible had to die, along with anyone else threatening their secret op".
Shego buys why Dr. Director and Gemini wanted Princess dead. She couldn't quite understand, "Why are you so sure Drakken didn't betray me?"
"This," she closes the current video and plays the recording between Colonel Bradford and Gama Rose. The assassin openly admits double-crossing the blue idiot.
'After' Life Reunion
Trust didn't come easy. Her parents died in a freak meteor accident. Given, that wasn't their fault. Their deaths, nevertheless, put her in the most vulnerable position she'd ever been through. Hego, her daft older brother, became her sole guardian. He treated her like shit, always harking about everything she did wrong, never congratulating her on what she did right.
Next, she put her trust in Drakken. Even she wasn't sure why, maybe desperation? What hurt? Simply hiring another replacement wasn't enough. He capitalizes his treachery by selling her into enemy hands, too. Now that very replacement, was double-crossing him serves the moron right. That eased betrayal's sting, some. Shego slings he computer across the room shattering it against the far back wall. The people in her life always use and lose you.
People only help when they want something. "Princess, what do you want from me? Why'd you really save me?"
"Let gets one thing straight. I didn't save you because I want something from you..."
"No, wait, don't tell me," Shego scoffs with condescending laughter. "You want for me, right?"
Kim knew for and from denote the same in her nemesis' book. "Wrong," she defies her expectations again. "I don't want anything. You do".
That answer takes Shego by surprise. Then, again, Princess was like others. She always was shrewder. That's why she could take her down when no one else could. That just left one question, "And what would I want so desperately, Cupcake?"
"Revenge," she deadpans.
"Kimmie, I don't think..."
"It's okay, Anne," Shego calms the older redhead's concerns. "I think I discern Princess' intentions behind this little intervention".
She turns her attention back towards her rival, "I'm supposed to help you, because, together, we can expose Cyclops and her brother, or whoever else is behind this, and save Dr. D, all without letting authorities or our enemies know we're alive".
"Bravo, Shego," Kim claps. "I knew I couldn't slip anything past you. That's why I posed it straight on. I knew you either would or wouldn't help. That choice is yours".
"Say I do, who'll help us against Necros. It's a very powerful organization".
"Grimmorea will," she proposes.
"Dark Starr runs that organization. She'll never help a do-gooder like you," Shego shakes her head over how naive Princess could be sometimes, always so gung-ho to trust anyone who'll offer a helping hand. "And besides, she'll never trust a lying thief like me".
"I wouldn't be so sure about that, Shego," Kim activates her hard particle emitter.
Very little shocked Shego. Even she never expected this one. A bright light passes over Princess. She transforms from Kim Possible into, "Princess, you're Isabella Trinity Rose, a.k.a. Dark Starr?"
Kim didn't respond.
Shego considers the possibility. She discerns a striking resemblance. She wasn't sure why she didn't see it sooner. Her heart still couldn't accept, "Princess, she's murdered 16 people".
Kim's smirks, clapping her hands.
Anne was never so confused. Her daughter was dead. Now, she's alive again. Only now, she'd become a ruthless assassin, accredited with slaying 16 people and running an international terrorist organization, rivaling even WEE. Her mind could barely grasp the plot twists in her daughter's life lately.
A side wall slides back revealing a dark room. "Come," Kim beckons them inside. She steps across the threshold. Motion sensors activate the overhead light.
Shego gasps in shock. Her eyes spot some of those very sixteen still alive. Senor, Junior, Bonnie, Dementor, Electronique, DNAmy, and half a dozen more of the villain community's sharpest minds, all seated around the same table working under Princess.
"What the hell!" Shego backpedals with palms ignited.
"An afterlife reunion, Shego," Kim jokes to lighten the mood. She takes the head chair gesturing her to take a seat next to hers.
"Welcome to the Dark Side, Emmy," she cracks a sinister smile.
"What the hell's going on here, Princess?" Shego takes a chair opposite hers. "And you'd damn well better have a good explanation for scaring precious years off my life!"
"Necros isn't merely a cover anymore," Senor defends Kim deception, speaking for every grateful villain there. She'd saved theirs and their families' lives. "It's become Gemini's own private assassin army. He's gone too far this time. He makes an alliance, achieves his one or more core objectives, and then murders his latest ally, sometimes their families, too".
Shego considers what the eccentric billionaire's confession deducing, "And that's what happened with all of you?"
"Yes," each confirms.
"You trusted Gemini," Shego cracks up laughing.
"Wez zidn't knowz we wuz workzing furz him, Zhego," Elecrtonique resented her condescension.
"I could've told you..."
"Yea, you could have," Senor Senor admits the obvious. "That's why he saved you for last, Shego".
"Why's that old man?" She couldn't believe Senor Senor could be so easily deceived. He was a very shrewd businessman with connections in nearly every major city on every continent.
Senor Senor discerns her shock over his predicament. "He knew you could expose him. And he's had his sights set on you since your early days with your brothers in Go City. Your becoming a criminal only delayed his plans".
Joint Cause
Shego sighs heavily, processing what she'd been told thus far. Her mind still couldn't reconcile one fact, as her eyes lock upon the wily redhead, asking, "How'd you wind up Queen Bee over a terrorist organization, Princess?"
"Senor Senor founded Grimmorea. I became its enforcer, under the alias Trinity Rose, Gama Rose's resurrected twin sister. She's wanted on six continents, encompassing one hundred and thirty-eight nations for various crimes, including stealing, extortion, bribery, numbers/racketeering, even contract killings. Hell, I even hold a contract over Gama Rose's life, issued by her own boss, not that she'd ever believe me...yet".
Bonnie discerns Shego's trust shaken over learning about Kim's past criminal activities. She tries to ease the blow revealing, "Kim saved all our lives, Shego".
Anne gauges her daughter's micro expression. She'd grown harder to read over the past year. And what's worse? Now she learns her daughter heads a major criminal intelligence network and saved all these people.
"Miss Possible," meaning Kim, "executed Necros' contacts against us and our families, but secretly saved our lives, and used our bounties to help build up Grimmorea," Senor answers Anne's most probing question. "We have helped her ever since. Necros must fall, along with Gemini and Betty Director".
Shego knew what she needed to know. Now, it was time. Shego must decide her own fate, "Will you join our crusade, Shego".
And there it was. The sales pitch she'd expected since crossing that threshold. She was momentarily back inside the lair. She remembers worrying about this perky little redhead's welfare. Even Drakken's betrayal, her brothers' mental, verbal, and physical abuse, and parents' untimely deaths didn't compare with learning about the perky little redhead's death, or joy she felt upon learning she was really alive. She vowed she'd never join the hero business again.
She concedes, she could no longer keep that promise, if she wanted to stay alive. "I'll join, Princess. I owe you that much. After all, you saved my life when you didn't have to".
Kim discerns Shego's internal conflict. Her pride was already wounded deep enough. She'd been betrayed by her closest family, even law enforcement, the very people who'd pledge to protect the weak and defenseless.
Now, an enemy saved her life. Shego contemned this position. She'd lived by a code of ethics her whole life. This same code dictates she help he savior in some way, until she'd repaid this debt. Kim knew she could force Shego's compliance.
Kim may be young. Even she realized this action's consequences. Forcing Shego to help with her crusade against Necros would only guarantee she'd become resentful and betray her trust quicker. Shego was a criminal by trade.
Realizing Shego's temperament exposes why she asked this particular question. Her response would assist Shego in gauging Kim's intentions. Why did she really want her help? Was she a pawn in her private war with Gemini?
Her response would also dictate how soon, if ever, Shego betrayed her trust. Kim decides against forcing this honor debt. She does what her longtime rival least expected anyone in her position to do, "You don't owe me anything, Emmy".
Kim's response relieves Shego. Princess forgave her debt honor. And yet, Shego knew human nature. Everyone wants something. She simply hadn't figured out Princess' angle yet. "Fine," she accepts back her freedom. "What do I want for myself, since you seem to know me so damn well, Princess? Oh, and I make one request, too".
Now that sounded more like Shego. Kim realizes her secret intent behind this 'innocent' question and firm demand. She was testing the boundaries of their tentative partnership. "I know enough about you to know this, Shego. You don't want someone nagging you about what, when, where, or how you do something. That's why you really left Team Go. If I seek your help, I trust you'll accomplish your assigned task without my oversight. What's your demand, Emmy? Let's meet in the middle".
Now that was her Princess. Always logical, but compassionate. "I refuse to stay dead".
"Good," Kim shocks everyone there. She meets the green mercenary's demand. "I never intended on you staying dead".
Shego smirks, more comfortable in this relationship, especially upon discerning. Princess had grown more devious since taking over Old Man Senor's organization. She intended on using her as live bait to goad the enemy into acting in haste. She liked this scenario. It promised she'd see center action and be by Princess' side.
"Annie, transfer yourself into the Bugatti Vision Gran Turismo," Kim activates hers and Shego's ride.
"Sheva, assume controls over base defenses," she fortifies base defenses.
"Sapphire, hook into and block Ron's kimmunicator signal. I don't need him arriving at his parents," she isolates Ron. The Monkey Master rejoining her in the field too soon would only get more people killed faster. Of course, he'd mean well. She diffuses the situation before it starts.
"C'mon, Shego, we have a run to make," she leads her new partner towards the base's hangar.
Backroom Politics
Back at Global Justice.
Will Du reflected upon current events. First, he lets a wanted felon escape in Chicago. Next, G.J. loses an agent, again, under his watch. Capitalizing his incompetency, he not only loses Shego, but he even lets two hired guns escape, who knew something about their 'Poster Girl's' murder.
His career would be over now, except the Field Action Review Committee blamed Dr. Director, rather than him. He knew he could be condolent, and he was in his own way, but he couldn't help feeling this strange sense of relief. For now, he waits to learn his boss' fate. At least she couldn't fire him yet.
Dr. Director waltzes into the committee's chamber. Each step taken with greater trepidation. She'd appeared numerous times before this very committee during her illustrious career. Seldom had all the evidence been so stacked against her.
"Ah, Dr. Director," the chairman condescends, "so nice of you to finally join us".
"Sorry, I'm late..."
"Late? Who'd notice? Let's see," he glances mockingly at his watch, "you're only 35-minutes late. We hardly notice small things like that".
His sarcastic tone and piercing eyes conveyed his sore displeasure. "Chairman Kalmar, I got caught in an auto accident. I..."
"Excuses! Excuses! I've seen and heard them all before," he brushes aside everything she said.
"Excuses, Sir?" She seethes over his cavalier attitude towards her years of loyalty. "I have here," she holds up a file folder, "an incident report and signed affidavits..."
"Be honesty, Director, you could've easily arranged a convenient fender bender and coerced a cop or two into dummying up a few pedestrian eyewitnesses to sign your affidavit, Director, couldn't you?"
"I'd never..." Dr. Director falls silent realizing his tactic. Get her riled enough, she'd feel compelled to defend herself. Maybe she'd incriminate herself with every word spoken? "What do you have, Sir". She sneers, letting him know, she'd figured his initial ploy and bring on his next tact.
"Direct and not easily deceived. That's what we've always admired about you, Director".
"...until recently," Victoria Rivera amends the chairman's statement.
"Did you recently spend $75,000 setting up a false identity to get a senior agent undercover within HenchCo, Inc.?" Alyssa Morales starts this proceeding.
"I did," she couldn't deny her decision. It was a matter of public record.
Juan Medina opposed G.J. planting an undercover agent within HenchCo. He felt, it was too dangerous an assignment and a colossal waste of G.J. resources and manpower. He endeavors to gain support by forcing even Dr. Director to admit just that by asking, "What'd you learn? From him, specifically?"
"Crimson Fox forewarned us about Drakken and Shego breaking into Mandrake Bio-Research, Inc.".
"A tip, which inadvertently costed an agent's life, did it not, Director?" He couldn't let this go so easily. He'd long said this infiltration tactic was a mistake. Now, he had proof.
Dr. Director suspected Km may be alive. She doubted her best agent would go down that easily. Nor did she intend on sharing this insight with her closeminded superiors. "Please define inadvertently clearer, Councilman Salazar. My agent survived initial exposure inside that lab".
Core Grievance
Her agent may have survival initial exposure. The chemicals still compromised her mental faculties. "Alright, I will," he clarifies his point. "Everyone here knows, you made a colossal mistake in ever setting up Necros. I say..."
"Wait right there, Sir," she wouldn't let that accusation stand. "I didn't found that accursed organization. SSC Chairman Octavius Franklin..."
She wouldn't hear him out. He wouldn't her. "Lies! Lies! All lies! We have signed affidavits proving..."
"Oh, I see, my y affidavits are garbage, but yours are legit?" She uses an earlier argument against him. Dr. Director smirks condescendingly over the man's deep glower.
He couldn't discredit her affidavits now without discrediting his own. What else could he do but stay quiet. "Yes, they are," Councilwoman Rivera defends her tongue-tied colleague's defense. "His signed affidavits are from verified, credible witnesses, unlike yours, Dr. Director".
"Maybe so," Dr. Director subverts the woman's counterargument. She couldn't discredit witnesses she had never met or interviewed. "Your affidavits still prove nothing but what Councilman Medina wanted,". she glares around the chamber.
No one spoke up to refute her claim. Every man and woman presence silently agreed with her subtle argument. They'd never met or interviewed these 'witnesses'. Nor would they put their careers on the line for 'credible witnesses,' who may or may not exist. Medina was known for fabricating evidence to support his cases at times.
"Now," Dr. Director builds upon this decisive foundation, "let's get something else straight. Necros is beyond this council's legal purview. Doubt my word, call U.N.'s Special Securities Commission Chairman, Octavius Franklin. Here's his personal cell phone number". She offers it solely to Chairman Kalamr. "He'll reinforce the same thing. The SSC is already probing Necros' origins and its recent rise to criminal prominence within the villain community".
Council members exchange querying glances, then glare towards their chairman, 'What now?'
"Fine," Chairman Kalmar couldn't refute her argument's legality. "We won't debate who started Necros, but why it was started. The Appropriations Committee's financial records gives us our first real clue. These documents prove irrefutably Global Justice fronted Necros' startup expenses. We found certain other things connected with this 'pet project' equally disconcerting, Director".
"Such as?"
"Certain information crossed my desk yesterday," Chairman Kalmar hoped this would prevent her from hiding any longer behind the SSC's veil of secrecy. "These documents purposely set up Colonel Jacob Stillwater for stealing classified intel, just so OPM would find him guilty.
He escapes prosecution but ends up losing his G.J. credentials. OPM orders he must repay $200,000 in restitution. He allegedly gets so disgruntled over being unjustly fired. He steals classified G.J. INTEL and funds before disappearing to start Necros".
"And what the problem?" Dr. Director doesn't deny this part of the SSC's plans. That doesn't implicate her in the least. In fact, it exonerates her guilt. She followed Chairman Franklin of the SSC's orders in even starting this bloody organization.
Alyssa Morales discerns then shreds this defense, where she could hide behind the SSC any longer. "Here an SSC document recovered by one of our investigators," she presents their first piece of hard evidence. "This document also reveals, even after his dismissal, you appointed Colonel Stillwater as head over your pet project. This document even bears your signature, Director, yours!"
She knew she couldn't deny the truth. And, while this wasn't public record, they'd somehow acquired a copy and entered it into record. Dr. Director recites the same excuse, "I cannot comment..."
"Save it," Chairman Kalmar discerns her defense. She almost refused to answer their question on the grounds her answer, no matter how cleverly worded, could potentially undermine an on-going operation. "We're not the least bit interested in this operation, only you, Director. And you personally".
"In what way?" She gauges what extent they go to achieve this objective.
"Well," Greta Brandt builds the next aspect of their case, "your connection with Sheldon Director, a.k.a. Gemini".
Dr. Director almost cracks up laughing right there inside chambers. It took her full control to resist the urge. "He's my brother. So, what!" She couldn't deny public record, again.
"He used to work for G.J., too. Didn't he?"
Again, that was common knowledge, though the SSC still hadn't declassified most of his missions. "He quit, long before I became Senior Director over Global Justice, but, Yes, Ma'am, he worked for us. Why do you ask, Councilwoman Rivera?"
"We think it's strange," Chairman Kalmar states their accusation plainly.
"You know what they say, Chairman," Dr. Director condescends their accusations. "You can pick your friends, but you have no choice in your family. Well, it's true".
"True," he uses her own argument against her. "But, they also say, blood run thicker than water".
Dr. Director discerns he'd brought this back to his earlier statement, "What's so strange about family, Mr. Chairman?"
"The strange part relates unto the circumstances surrounding your brother and Colonel Stillwater's betrayals. Both men betrayed Global Justice claiming they'd been set up. Your brother started WEE, but it'd began to falter and would've gone under within a year ago, about the same time you started Necros with G.J. funds about..."
"I cannot..."
"We're not debating the legality or asking the specifics behind your actions," Albert Salazar ameliorates where they stand. "Fact is, we can prove you started this organization. We don't really care if you started it with the SSC's permission or not. Do you think your SSC superiors will admit they ever gave their seal of approval after what Necros has done across this globe? Of course, not.
Well, that forces us to draw certain parallels between these two cases, Director. Colonel Stillwater's cover gets blown. By who? We still don't know. We know, however, your brother murdered him 24-hours later and assumed full control over Necros. And no one has challenged him since. Not even you".
Dr. Director didn't need a lawyer to see where this was leading. The SSC coerced this appropriations board to pressure her into finding a way to mitigate the damage Necros caused unto Global Justice's precious reputation. If not, they'll throw her under the bus. She tests this assumption by snipping, "What's your point, Councilman Salazar?"
"We pulled your financials, Director," Juan Medine relished wiping away her smirk. You owed $500,000 in debt, before this. And yet, you miraculously paid off all your debts within 3-years. Plus, our forensic accountants uncovered six overseas accounts with nearly $200,000 in assets under various aliases. Money we can tie directly with Necros and Colonel Stillwater's murder".
"Tell us, Director," Councilwoman Morales builds upon her colleague's case, "if you're estranged from your brother, why'd he pay off your mortgage, and still put funds into secret overseas accounts..."
Circumstantial Conviction
"Can you prove I ever set up or accessed any of those alleged accounts even once from my office or on the go?"
"No," each council member admits begrudgingly, one-by-one.
"My home PC?" She backs them farther into a corner.
Again, everyone shakes his/her head, 'No'.
"Alright, let me ask you all a question. If anyone can answer my next inquiry, I'll claim those accounts as mine, though they aren't".
"What's your question, Director?"
"Just this, Councilwoman Brandt," she presents her most thought-provoking question yet. "Have your forensic accounts ever located my brother's nefarious gains?"
"Never," Chairman Kalmar answers for the rest.
"What about linking suspected accounts directly and/or indirectly unto WEE?"
"Never," he sulks, she'd shredded their case too easily.
"So, basically, you have nothing," she gloats, sure, these proceedings were over.
"I wouldn't say nothing exactly," Chairman Kalmar preens. "It's true, we don't have solid evidence against you. We can, however, cast enough circumstantial doubt over your claims of innocence. The SSC would revoke your chair based upon our suspicions alone. Hell, they'd rather have your errand boy as their next director than you, by the time we're done with your pathetic reputation".
She couldn't believe this. She'd never been so wrong. She expected they'd rest their case. Instead, they had one more hand to play. "What circumstantial evidence do you have, Mr. Chairman?" She inquires about their hand.
"Incident reports from Cocos-Keeling's South Island..."
"I knew we'd get there sooner or later," Dr. Director huffs over her superiors deception. "I couldn't help Shego..."
"Cool it, Director," Councilwoman Brandt hushes her aimless ramblings. "We know about and don't blame you over Shego. We're more interested in this other assassin".
"You mean, Isabella Trinity Rose, a.k.a. Dark Starr?"
"Are you positive it was her?" Councilwoman Rivera seeks verification.
"I can't be absolutely positive without a DNA sample. My teams couldn't get close enough. I can say, whoever she was, she favored Diamonique 'Gama' Rose. Even Gama Rose called her sister".
"That's what worries us," Juan Medina shares the councilwoman's concerns. "Trinity Rose can easily expose Global Justice".
"If our involvement in this fiasco ever came public," Councilwoman Morales expounds their legal position, "it'd violate our charter. Member nations within the United Nations could petition the GSC to have us disbanded, Director".
"Is that what this 'cloak and dagger' case against me is all about?"
"You are a woman of many secrets, Director," Chairman Kalmar explains what they expected but without directly ordering her to break the law. "You reveal partial truths all the time, while hiding its full essence. Quite honestly, we needed to make sure you knew you had just as much to lose as us. That way, you'd take this threat seriously".
"Before asking me to do what, Mr. Chairman?"
"Tell me, does Stoppable's ninja clan have any ties with Gama Rose, Director?"
Dr. Director grew uneasy replying, "Not that I'm aware of, Sir".
"Where's Stoppable now?"
"At Yamanouchi. Back in Japan, Sir," she gives them a straight answer.
"His family?"
Her danger sense kicks into full gear. It was him asking about Agent Stoppable's family, but his sinister undertone and that pernicious glint in his eyes. Her job, though, required she answer, "They're renting a house in Middleton. The army blew up theirs. What are you driving at, Sir?"
Again, he doesn't order her to do anything. Chairman Kalmar really didn't think he needed to. She harbored a strong sense of duty. Make her realize what's at stake here. And she'd do whatever's necessary for global security. "My point is simple, Director. Maybe Agent Stoppable can bring these assassins to justice, where we've consistently failed?"
Dr. Director could believe what his suggestion, "Chairman, are you asking me to leak his family's whereabouts?"
"We didn't say that?" Chairman Kalmar swaps sneers with his colleagues.
"Not directly, nor are you denying it; which implies, you're indirectly ordering me," she tries to back him into a corner.
She'd long suspected someone else present inside the chamber, only hiding amidst the shadows. SSC Chairman Octavius Franklin steps out from the shadows cinching, "Interpret these orders anyway you like, Director". He turns and walks out without another word.
Dr. Direct perceives three things right off. First, refuse these orders, she may avoid prosecution, because their evidence is only circumstantial. A prolonged trial and lingering, unanswered questions would guarantee she never worked in law enforcement again.
Second, leak the Stoppables' whereabout and this evidence never sees the light of day. She holds onto her chair. Thirdly, they'd only recruit a less moralistic agent to find and expose their location, achieving the same objective, only at a later date.
"I'll do it," she willingly incriminates herself. That way, she could at least warn the blonde ninja. Her bosses are using his family as live bait. She didn't want him coming after her or her family.
"That's all we wanted to hear, Director," Chairman Kalmar and the others get up and file outside the chamber.
SSC Chairman Octavius Franklin didn't follow his companions out until deadpanning, "Be careful, Director, we'll be watching you". He turns and walks out without another word.