CHAPTER 27 – Prom Night Part 4

Kim

Kim emerged from the ventilation shaft into a small meeting room, with chairs surrounding a coffee table and a door off to the side. The wall directly opposite her had a tinted internal window which reflected an image of her face back at her. Below the window sat a small refrigerator, humming away quietly in the background. She stopped and pressed herself to the wall in the shadows, listening, but all she heard was silence. She had not apparently triggered any alarms but her instincts told her that there were hostiles nearby.

She removed her nail file and laser lipstick from her mission pack and put them in her top pocket. The pack – complete with grappler – she tucked away out of sight underneath a chair, to be retrieved on her way out.

Her attention was drawn to a calendar pinned to the wall beside her. A calendar with today's date circled. And the words Empire Night written alongside.

But what made her blood freeze was the margin note, which read Welcome Fraulein!

Trap-trap indeed.

As if on cue, the door opened and a manlike creature emerged from the passage behind. She recognized it as similar in build to the guards outside: the creature looked intimidating but ponderous. Some sort of robot she assumed.

But the creature was training a pistol at her head.

"Come with me, Miss Possible. The emperor is waiting for you." He waved the pistol in the direction of the door.

Emperor? Dementor has really lost it this time!

Kim appeared to acquiesce as she walked slowly towards the man-monster. But her mind was racing. She would have to engage the creature before it took her into custody.

I've dealt with killer robots before, and this one looks less threatening than the Bebes. Though admittedly the Bebes didn't carry firearms.

Wade had said that Dementor was creating some sort of AI army from what he called synthoplasm and Cyrus Bortel's Mark II Moodulator. This creature, and therefore its fellow guards, looked like it could be one of them. In which case, extreme caution was required: she recalled how berserk she went when controlled by the original moodulator. But if she could find and get the device off the creature before it could react, she should be able to disarm it fairly easily.

The thing was covered in some sort of red body armor covering its head and body. But its face was clear. And she could just make out a dim, intermittent flash on its forehead above its eyes. Just as Ron had described seeing that night after he'd lifted her hair off her neck.

Bingo, she thought. Time to engage.

Kim was acutely aware that a slip now could cost her life. A flicker of doubt about her preparedness for this rescue mission crossed her brow. She had not anticipated firearms. She had been in such a hurry to leave Middleton.

The teen hero appeared to stumble, ducking below the gun. As the man-monster stepped forward, she flung herself off the ground, kicking out at the gun arm as she did so. The creature was too strong and absorbed the impact of her foot, but the distraction gave Kim the opportunity she needed to grab the creature by the neck, rendering it temporarily unable to see to aim and putting her face in line with the flashing modulator.

As her opponent tried to angle the gun towards her, Kim hung on with her left arm and used her right arm to lever her nail file under the moodulator and flip it off: no subtlety like Ron had displayed with her six weeks earlier. Without the moodulator, the man-monster seemed uncoordinated. Kim released her grip on its neck and felt to the ground, wrestling the gun from the creature's hand. Blessing her GJ hand-to-hand combat training course last summer, she rapidly disarmed the creature and removed the cartridge, placing the empty gun on the table. Kim released a breath she had not realized she was holding.

The creature seemed to have lost interest in fighting by the removal of the moodulator. A relief, since Kim hadn't wanted to waste any more time dealing with the thing.

My cover's blown.

Oh well, the sooner I find Dementor the sooner this will be over.

Kim listened at the door before pulling it open and walking through, heading down a corridor towards the heart of the building.

ooOooOoo

"Now that was quite impressive," Drakken observed as he watched the teen hero dispatch the synthodrone through the one-way mirror.

"Showtime," he told Shego. She passed on the message to a pair of synthodrones who were waiting for their cue.

Kim was approaching the end of the corridor when she heard a cry of pain coming from a room on her right. Her heart quickened as she recognized the sound of her boyfriend. There was a glass panel set into the door, but as she looked through into the dimly-lit room she could see nothing in eyeshot. Yet she was certain it was Eric's voice she had heard.

Her only option was to take the incumbents by surprise before they could respond.

Unheeding of the risks, Kim burst through the door, laser in hand, looking across the room and recognizing the setup that greeted her as similar to the photo that Dementor had sent her earlier that evening.

Eric, naked from the waist up, was begging for mercy as another man-monster jabbed him in the side with an electric prod. He was secured by chains to the wall and was unable to avoid the torture weapon. He contorted in agony as the prod made contact. Kim cringed at the sight before turning her attention to his assailant.

"Intruder recognized. Kim Possible! Orders are to kill on sight." The creature turned towards her and advanced with intent, cattle prod raised up.

Dementor, you are so going to pay for this!

"Eric," she called. Her terrified boyfriend spotted her. "Kim! Thank goodness you're here. That madman said he would kill me if you didn't get here soon."

She turned the laser on the creature, targeting between its eyes while avoiding a half-hearted thrust of the cattle prod. A wisp of smoke indicated the demise of the moodulator. As before, the creature seemed to lose interest when no longer moodulated.

With a nagging feeling that this was all a bit too easy, she used her laser lipstick to cut Eric's chains. She caught him as he fell forward, reaching out for her support.

Mission accomplished. All we need to do now is get out of here before Dementor shows up.

Her senses were assailed by his bare torso as he embraced her.

She briefly gave herself to his embrace but then struggled free. "We need to leave before Dementor realizes you've escaped," she urged.

"It can wait a minute," he smiled. "There's something I've been waiting to do for a long time."

A voice was screaming inside her that this was wrong and they needed to move quickly but as Eric's face moved slowly toward hers, his closeness and the frustration of a ruined Prom night sapped her resolve. She lost herself in his amber-colored orbs.

One minute can't hurt …

Her lips parted in anticipation of their first proper kiss. As she felt his breath on her mouth she closed her eyes, a shiver running down her back.

The feel of his warm lips on hers was heaven, just as she had imagined it would be. He pulled her towards him and she gasped as his tongue slipped between her lips. She felt electricity pass between them as he deepened the kiss. Is this what true love means?

Ouch! That hurts!

A second, much more powerful jolt of electricity passed between them.

Her eyes popped open as she grimaced in pain.

What's happening?!

The jolt became a wave of agony. She tried to raise her arms but he was holding her so tightly that she could not move.

Something's wrong. Eric! Help me! I can't breathe!

As her legs gave way and she sank into darkness, Kim Possible heard a familiar voice.

"Good night, cupcake!"

ooOooOoo

As Kim's limp body was hoisted onto a synthodrone's shoulder and carried out of the room, no-one paid any attention to the bound and gagged man who had witnessed the proceedings from the shadows. Steve Barkin had been dumped in there after being apprehended. Unable to intervene, or even make a sound to attract attention, he had watched the charade that had started prior to Kim arriving: Eric joking with his "persecutor" before the scene that was enacted when Kim made her appearance.

He had fumed at his powerlessness and inability to warn his pupil as Kim was stunned into unconsciousness and carried away by one of the man-creatures. It was apparent that this Eric was not what he had appeared, and that far from having been kidnapped, he was part of a plot to trap the girl by apparently using a concealed tazer on her. He feared for her fate after she had been taken away.

Steve Barkin was more than just a teacher though. Before entering the profession he had served his country in some of the toughest fighting since the Second World War, in Afghanistan. A veteran of the Kandahar campaign he had received a Purple Heart for the injury to his leg that had put him out of action and into teaching. Escaping detention was drilled into him.

While being forced to observe Kim's defeat, he had been trying to work his bonds loose. If he could just make a sound he might catch her attention. Though he had failed in that task, he continued his efforts in the empty room. Slowly he got some purchase. It took him several minutes but eventually he was able to move his legs slightly, allowing him to rock a few inches side by side. He paused for breath, hot with effort. If he could roll towards the wall he might be able to lever himself upright and allow gravity to loosen the bonds of his upper body.

It took time, and several pauses for rest, before he felt the wall up against his back. He strained to raise himself off the ground, his legs screaming for relief. Until he lost his balance and fell heavily to one side.

Just as the door opened and a familiar figure entered, looking for the source of the thump.

Ron

Ron had followed a similar path to Kim when he scaled the wall, and twenty minutes after Kim had emerged from the ventilation shaft it was Ron's turn to reach the same point. He looked down and saw that he was above a small meeting room. His attention was immediately drawn to a synthodrone standing in one corner turning its head from side to side.

"Wade," he whispered into the Ronnunicator. "There's a synthodrone here but it doesn't seem to be working properly. He held out the device to the grid so that Wade could see into the room."

"Can you see its eyes?" the techie genius queried.

Ron peered through the grating. Nothing seemed amiss. He told Wade.

"Not a soda attack then. It could be that its moodulator is malfunctioning," the younger boy speculated.

During the short drive from Middleton, Wade had been in touch with Global Justice, who had confirmed that the disabled creatures all had moodulators on their foreheads. That was the reason why decapitating them had proved successful. Elizabeth Director had speculated that their facial skin was thinner to enable the moodulator to be attached there. She had informed him that as soon as they had finished mopping up the remaining attackers she would dispatch forces to Bueno Nacho HQ but it might take another hour. Until then, Ron was on his own.

Elizabeth had also been unsuccessful in securing reinforcements from the US Army – the duty officer had taken it upon himself to dismiss her tale of an AI attack by Drakken as ludicrous. By the time she had threatened the hapless officer with castration the tide had turned. With no outside help, GJ owed its continuing operation to the accidental discovery made by Bonnie Rockwaller.

"Ron, can you see a flashing light between its eyes?"

Ron looked carefully but could see no sign of this.

"So either it's malfunctioning – which is improbable - or Kim has been here before us and disabled the moodulator," Wade concluded. "It looks like you are on the right track."

Fearful of provoking a response from the synthodrones similar to that which had greeted him when he had arrived at the Possibles, Ron was nervous about coming out of cover, but he had no choice if he was to find Kim. He gingerly lowered himself into the room and waited with trepidation for the synthodrone's reaction. To his gratification, it took no notice of him.

Wade must be right. It's been disabled. And only one person would be doing that.

Ron failed to notice the wall calendar that might have confirmed Kim's recent appearance in this room, but he did not miss the refrigerator. With a smile on his face he pulled out two cans of soda and put them in his pocket.

Turning back he saw a familiar backpack under a chair, and an empty gun on the table.

There was now no doubt that Kim had come this way. And that she had not returned.

And that the occupants of Bueno Nacho were carrying firearms.

The closed door, the only exit from the room, beckoned him.

He surely had the element of surprise because they thought he was still stuck in the janitor's cupboard.

He paused. That felt odd. Why hadn't Eric killed him when he had the chance? It had become clear since the discovery in Tibet that Drakken and Shego were no longer constrained by non-lethality.

He shook his head. That was something to think about later, when he had succeeded in his mission.

Meanwhile, with the element of surprise he had a chance of rescuing Kim assuming he could find her.

But if they knew he was there, then walking through that door could be suicide.

"How long is the battery life of this battle-suit?" he asked Wade.

There was a long silence. "I don't know," Wade admitted. "It depends on what you encounter. You'll definitely be okay for ten minutes or so but beyond that I can't make any promises. If you don't use the force field then you should have longer."

"Ten minutes?"

"It's still a prototype," the techie said apologetically. "Kim was going to put it through its paces before I extended the battery life,"

Ron sighed as he prepared to enter the unknown without battle-suit protection. He would have to wait until he had no choice but to use it. And hope for the best.

Kim

The red-headed hero groaned as her eyes flickered open, her temple throbbing as if she had been hit over the head with a baseball bat. Something pulling on her chest prevented her from moving, and she could not feel her hands. Blinking from the bright light, she cautiously cast a glance around her.

She appeared to be in some sort of a storage room, although she could not see a door. Must be behind me. The room was filled with theatre-style props, some of which she recognized as being from last year's Bueno Nacho TV adverts. Most of the room was in deep shadow, only a single spotlight trained on her provided any illumination, and this had the effect of making it almost impossible for her to see anything beyond a few feet in front of her. She was reminded of an interrogation room from an old Cold War spy movie.

She tried to turn but became conscious that she was tied to a pole that was out of her vision. Looking down she realized that her hands were also bound behind her. She experimentally tugged at her bindings but whoever had secured her had done a thorough job: there was no obvious give in the knots and the rope was made of an elasticated material that kept it pressed firmly to her body. She was going to need lots of time to get out of this.

This is not good.

Shaking her head to clear her mind she tried to recall what had happened earlier. The last thing she remembered was kissing Eric before someone had zapped her with what felt like a tazer. She cursed her failure to make a clean getaway while she'd had the chance.

Shego! She remembered hearing the villainess' voice just before she lost consciousness. Someone must have picked her up and secured her in this room after that.

So it was Shego – and presumably therefore Drakken – who were the real villains, and behind Eric's kidnapping and her capture. Not Dementor. She was having some difficulty processing the idea that all her preconceptions about tonight were wrong. And that Drakken could be this organized.

What kind of wacky plan was this anyway? Where were his bombastic claims of world domination?

Kim realized that she had been led into a carefully-constructed trap by her nemesis and his sidekick. And her boyfriend would pay the price as well as her if she didn't get out of it.

She felt scared for her boyfriend. He was in way above his head if he had also been zapped like her, and she felt guilty for giving in to her hormones and allowing him to kiss her, putting them both at risk.

Maybe he got away and has raised the alarm already?

Looks like it's up to me to find a way out of this myself, she thought. Drakken is never that competent, and he's bound to have overlooked something. Better get started on these ties.

Not knowing how much time she had before someone came to check up on her, Kim tried to work the cord away from her body, using every bit of her litheness that was the result of years of cheerleader practice, but to no avail. Behind her back she attempted to slip the rope off her hands, taking advantage of the sweat that ran freely down her arms as she struggled, but she couldn't get any leverage behind the pole. Minutes passed as her frustration grew, with no perceptible effect on the rope.

Engaged in her efforts and dazzled by the light she was unaware of the camera lens set into the wall in front of her, transmitting an image of her struggle to three hidden observers, who were looking delightedly at each other in the main control room.

After perhaps five minutes, Kim stopped wearily. She had made no impact whatsoever on the ropes around her body or her hands. A feeling of dejection filled her, as she realized that she had no choice but to wait for someone to come to her, and play it by ear after that.

Taking a deep breath she lifted her head and tried to calm herself. She had found herself in tough situations before and had always got away. No reason why it should be different this time.

But I've always had Ron to watch my back before.

And I've still got to find Eric.

Her new resolve wavered as she thought of her boyfriend again, fearing the worst if he was in the same situation as her. Tears appeared in her eyes as she thought of what Shego might be doing to someone she knew Kim cared for. Head in the game, Possible, she reprimanded herself but her own helpless state was getting to her.

She heard a sound behind her, someone coming in through the out of sight door. She tried to turn her head but the ropes made it impossible to see who had entered. Were they going to interrogate her? About what? They knew about her already! But why the blinding spotlight and the ropes then?

What is Drakken playing at here?

The new entrant was walking around the room toward her. Kim screwed up her eyes against the blinding light and looked up at the young man standing directly in front of her, with a smile on his face.

"Eric, oh my god, you got away!" Kim could not help her voice rising in joy. He was okay and he had come to rescue her! Now they could finish her mission and get back to the Prom. Her face showed her immense relief as she smiled back at him.

His smile turned to a smirk as two other figures emerged from the shadows behind Eric and flanked him on either side. Kim looked from Drakken to Shego in dismay and she turned back to her boyfriend in alarm.

"Eric, look out!"

He grinned at her, and she looked confused as his companions started to chuckle.

"Actually, around here I'm known as Synthodrone number 901".

And at that moment, Kim Possible's world fell apart.

Ron

As he was making his way to the end of the corridor in the hope of finding some evidence of Kim's location, Ron thought he heard a muffled thump come from a room to his right. He looked through a glass frame set into the door but could see nothing. The room seemed dark, and yet something had made a sound.

He cautiously opened the door and glanced left and right before slipping into the room. As his eyes became accustomed to the dark, he saw something lying on the floor against the back wall. His eyes widened as he recognized the something.

"Mr. Barkin!" he whispered.

The object revealed itself as a bound man. The man shook his head back and forth in frustration.

Ron took a moment to realize that Barkin was gagged and unable to communicate.

"Wait there, Mr. Barkin," he responded, feeling in his pocket.

Of course I'm going to wait here, where else could I go, Stoppable!

Ron triumphantly pulled out a knife. "Hold still sir, I'll have this gag off you in a second."

Barkin cringed as Ron applied the knife to severing the gag. As it slipped off, Barkin heaved a sigh of relief that Ron hadn't slit his throat. He spat out the rag that had been forced into his mouth before the gag had been applied.

"Stoppable, I don't know how you got here but Possible is in grave danger. Her Prom date is working for the enemy." He didn't exactly know who the enemy was but that wasn't his concern.

"I know, Mr. Barkin. Do you know where she is?"

As Barkin described what had happened in the room earlier, Ron grew more concerned. It sounded as though Drakken was playing with Kim in a sadistic game. While Drakken's normal modus operandi usually involved overly-complicated death threats, this felt more like a deliberately evil piece of play-acting. And he feared for the final act.

I know that Drakken is mad, but this time he seems crazy mad.

"Gotta go," he declared, standing up and preparing to leave the room.

"Stoppable, you are not seriously considering leaving me like this are you?" his teacher thundered under his breath.

Ron paused, face reddening. "Of course not, Mr. Barkin. Rufus, you're up."

The naked mole-rat jumped out of Ron's pocket and made his way behind Barkin's back, pulling and tugging on the tight bonds.

As Ron started for the door, he turned and looked back.

"When you're free, bring Rufus. And keep out of sight. These guys are playing for keeps."

"Stoppable, I was fighting the Taliban when you were in short pants. I can look after myself."

Ron looked apologetic. "None of us have fought these synthodrones before, Mister Barkin. And with respect, you're a bit old to be chasing villains."

Fortunately for Ron he had turned back to the door and so did not see Barkin's apoplectic face.

Kim

The three villains stood looking at the girl who was unable to conceal her shock and heart-break at Eric's words. Her face had paled, and she was shivering despite the heat.

"Why?" Kim's mouth was dry, a tear sliding down her right cheek. She looked almost pleadingly at the trio.

"Why? Because that was the way to defeat you utterly." The blue-skinned man came closer to her and took her chin in his hand, forcing her to look him in the eye.

"Because I wanted to keep you out of the picture until it was too late for you to do anything about my plan. Because if Eric was around to keep you distracted, then you wouldn't pay attention to your sidekick. I knew that to succeed, I had to split you and Stoppable up."

Drakken preened himself, to the amusement of his two colleagues.

"And you made it so easy for me, cheer-leader, to do that."

Eric turned to Drakken and smiled at him, then addressed Kim.

"Dad was brilliant, Kim. He figured out exactly what sort of boy would push all your buttons, and made me. You never stood a chance. I could tell from the moment that we met that you were going to fall hard for me."

"Oh and in case you're wondering, the buffoon is dead. Eric killed him at the Prom after drugging him. He was the only one to get close to figuring me out." Drakken looked mock-sympathetically at the girl.

Kim felt a physical pain in her chest. She was unable to hide her anguish as tears rolled down her cheek.

Oh Ron, you died because of me! It was all my fault. I should have stuck to baby-sitting.

Shego smirked at the girl who only half an hour ago was defeating a synthodrone twice her size and armed, albeit instructed to hold back. Now that same girl looked beaten, the signature look of determination in her eyes replaced by something she had never before seen from her foe. A look of defeat and utter misery.

She fought down an unexpected feeling of pity before she remembered how her boss had looked the last time they encountered Team Possible and a smirk came over her face as she saw the same despair overtake her nemesis.

Payback's the sitch!

"Hey, Doctor D, do you want me to finish her off now?" Shego looked hopefully at her boss.

"No, Shego, not yet. I want her to witness our final victory, and to realize the full extent of her failure." The blue-skinned villain laughed evilly at his captive.

"We will parade her on television to show the world that their teen hero is ours. That should nip in the bud any ideas for resistance. After that she's all yours to enjoy before you execute her, Shego".

The villainess smirked at the helpless girl. "Oh I am sooo looking forward to that!" Kim could not conceal a shudder at the look of pure malice in her tormentor's face. Shego reached out and grabbed hold of Kim's chin with her right hand, forcing the girl to look her in the eyes. "We are going to have so much fun, you and me. Well, I'm going to have the fun, Princess. You're going to have the pain – lots of it. I wonder how long you'll last before you beg me to finish you off? Not too quickly I hope!"

She flared up her plasma hands and brushed Kim's forehead with the burning flame. Kim gave a yelp as the flame burnt agonizingly into her skin, leaving an angry welt on her forehead.

"Just a tiny taste, Pumpkin, of what is in store for you."

Kim whimpered. She had endured many torments as a teen hero, but the casual sadism was having the intended effect of stripping away what was left of her self-confidence and exposing the scared seventeen-year-old girl within.

"We're not playing games anymore, Kim Possible," the madman laughed into her face. "You're way out of your depth this time. You lost, and losers don't get a second chance. I will be the master of the world, and you'll be nothing but a dead former hero."

Ron, forgive me. I made the biggest mistake of my life by ignoring you. And now I'll never get the chance to say sorry.

"Then we'll deliver your battered corpse to Global Justice headquarters in exchange for the unconditional surrender of their forces."

Drakken pressed a button and Manfred came in.

"Take her to the studio and prepare for Phase 3. I want global television coverage in five minutes."

Author's Note: The next instalment will be published in two weeks' time.