The trans-Atlantic airliner landed in Fiumicino Airport shortly after night had fallen over the ancient city of Rome. As the landing gear of the plane extended from its wings, two figures appeared on the right wheel. When they were but a few meters from the ground, both leapt from the wheel and rolled as they landed.
Having no other light than the runway illumination and the glow from the moon the ninja softly crept from the landing strip to the chain link fence. The taller figure cupped his hands as the smaller took a sprint at him. When there was less than a foot between them, the shorter figure jumped, placing her foot in the man's hands and together they launched her over the fence. Landing with hardly a sound, the woman kept an eye out as the man took a running jump over.
Both slinked over to an obvious rental vehicle. The Peugeot 206's brown finish was rapidly turning into a more rustic one. It hardly looked safe enough to get into, much less drive in for any considerable distance, yet the two ninja quietly got seated. Once inside, the man reached up and removed his mask revealing messy blond hair. "Well, Yori, looks like Doctor D actually can do some things right," Ron commented.
Yori mimicked Ron and took off her own mask. Shaking her head to loosen out her brunette hair, she agreed, "Yes, Draken-sama appears to have gotten the vehicle in the right place, but I was expecting it to be… in better shape." As she spoke, her hands moved to a nearly invisible pocket on her right leg. Opening it, she pulled out the strange device the mad scientist had given Ron, those few short months ago.
While Yori was retrieving the communicator, Ron let Rufus out of his own leg pocket. When the small, pink face appeared, the blond smiled. "Hey, little buddy. Plane ride's over."
Yawning and stretching, the tiny rodent got free of the confining pocket and moved to settle on the dashboard. Both watched Yori as she turned on the device and waited for Draken's face to appear. After a few minutes, the blue doctor stumbled in front of the screen, wearing a night cap and yawning. "Do you people know what time it is?" he asked.
"Yeah, somewhere around ten your time, right?" Ron retorted over the brunette's shoulder.
"Yes, and I was happily asleep, thank you," Draken said as he glared at the buffoon.
"Dude, it's ten. Even I get up at ten."
"Enough of this," Yori interrupted. "We need more details on where Shego-hikoku (1) placed her jet."
Noticing the woman was glaring at him as though she wanted to hurt him, Draken decided it would be best to find where the green-skinned thief landed, quickly. Turning to his computer, he hit a few keys and soon a green dot was blinking on a screen that showed a map of Rome, Italy. "It looks like Shego landed in an old coliseum that she's upgraded to act as a hanger. If I remember right, its security is probably better than most of the lairs I've used."
Sighing once more, Yori asked, "Where is it?" Emphasizing where.
"Oh, yes. It should just be a few miles northeast of where you are. Nothing else is around it for quite a distance," Draken said.
"That is all we need. Thank you, Draken-sama." Yori turned of the communicator and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Infuriating man."
"Yeah, Doctor D does have a way with getting to people," Ron agreed. "So, think we should head out?"
"Yes, the sooner we get there, the sooner we can speak with Shego-hikoku."
Nodding, the blond started up the rental and the three were off to the ancient structure. After having left the airport behind only a few minutes ago, the scenery rapidly changed to large, empty fields. "I think we're almost there. We should continue on foot from here," Ron suggested as he came to a stop and turned off the vehicle.
Yori nodded her head and donned her mask again. Getting out of the car the three silently made their way through the wild fields. Continuing on for another half hour, the ninja finally spotted what looked like the ruins of an ancient coliseum. Its tall stone walls were still standing, as though in testament against everything time had thrown at them; weather, wars, even the worst humanity had to offer. However, unlike its powerful walls the gate had not held up as well. It had collapsed ages ago, keeping anyone from entering the ruin.
Sneaking up to the wall, Ron motioned for them to go up and over it. Reaching for their belts, the two ninja removed hand claws that were meant for scaling walls. Once he got the gloves tightly strapped onto his hands, Ron tested to see if the wall would be able to support his weight. Only a foot off the ground, the ninja could tell that this was not going to be difficult. The claws easily dug into the old mortar and stones offering good holds. Once Ron got started on the climb, the naked mole rat scampered out of his pocket and scurried on ahead to act as scout. Yori swiftly followed and soon all three were atop the old ruin without a single sound.
Rufus shook his head, indicating that there were no monitoring devices anywhere. Ron shrugged his shoulders, and nodded for Yori to go. Quickly sliding down into what had once been the spectator stands, the female ninja ran as silently as she could through them to get to the edge of the actual arena. Taking one more glance around she quietly dropped to the arena floor. Still having not tripped any alarms, she signaled back to her waiting partners to come. Following in Yori's steps, the other two covered the distance rapidly to catch up with her.
Once all three were down on the arena floor, they made their way over to where the old gladiatorial entrance stood. It was large enough to fit two men abreast and nearly tall enough for Ron and Yori to stand on each other's shoulders and pass under. Noticing there was no handle or any other means of opening the door, Yori started feeling around it. After testing a few bricks she finally found one that was actually a false front. At last the trio found evidence that the modern world had tampered with the old place. Under the false front there was a number pad.
Ron swiftly took out a small device while Rufus used his claws to unscrew the pad from the wall. Once it was loose enough, Ron was able to get at the wires behind and pulled them out far enough so the breaker could connect to them. Once the device was connected, he switched it on, letting it do the work of cracking the code. After a few moments, the door slid down into the ground with a soft hiss. Retracting the tool, the two ninja slipped inside while the rat screwed the pad back into place. With all three inside, they pressed inward.
Their path led them down at an angle till it came to an intersection, allowing them to only turn left or right. Taking the right passageway the trio crept along the bending path till they came to a doorway that looked out into a large and darkened room. Yori whispered, "This seems too easy."
Not having any better ideas, they snuck into the room, keeping to its walls. There in the center of the room was Shego's jet. There was no mistaking its black and green color scheme.
"Almost like all of the security is off," Ron answered back in a hushed tone.
"That's because it is," an English accented voice said. As soon as the words were out, the lights in the underground hanger came to life, momentarily blinding the three. Even blinded, they immediately moved into battle stances. When their vision cleared, they were surrounded by black garbed men holding guns. "We took the liberty of disarming this facility's defenses, granting you two swifter access to here."
Ron growled out, "Draken set us up!"
"You do not need to worry if Doctor Lipsky betrayed you. Simply put, he didn't." The manner that the black garbed man was speaking to the two teens seemed to indicate some sort of armed service training. "We've been tracking you since you arrived tonight in Fiumicino Airport."
The blond squinted through his mask at the armed man who was talking. "You're not GJ are you." It was more of a statement than a question.
"No. We are in fact allies of a sort. We have mutual friends, friends that would like to meet with you. In a show of good will, my men and I will lower our weapons, if you choose to accompany us."
Not seeing a better choice, the trio let themselves be directed by their new found 'allies'. Soon everyone was up in the arena grounds, just waiting. Right before Ron was about to open his mouth, there was the sound of helicopter blades. Looking up into the sky, they could make out a black helicopter making its way towards them. When it landed, the leader of the armed men went over to the side door and opened it and helped Yori get in, saying, "Ladies first." Ron simply glared at the action from behind his mask as he followed.
When everyone was on and ready to go, the helicopter took off, heading due east. After a few minutes of silence Ron asked, "Where are we headed?"
"You'll find out when we get there," the pilot answered, "Should be there soon."
True to the pilot's words, their destination appeared only moments later. Dawn was beginning to crest over the horizon, throwing beams of sunlight to elegantly reflect off the majestic dome of Saint Peter's Basilica. The light gleamed from the dome, splaying across the basilica grounds highlighting the greenery. The plants seemed to stretch heavenward, as though welcoming the new arrivals.
The helicopter moved in to land in front of the building that stood behind the Basilica. The structure appeared miniscule next to the immensity of Saint Peter's Basilica, but it was large in its own right. The building was primarily used for governmental and political events, so bringing two non citizens here wasn't incredibly surprising. Everyone silently piled out and walked into the building. Ron and Yori followed behind the soldier that was obviously the one in command of the unit. After passing through the twisting hallways, the soldier opened a door and stood beside it at attention. The ninja looked behind them to discover the other guards had at sometime disappeared.
Shrugging, the blond walked into the recently opened room. The back of an extravagant chair blocked the majority of Ron's view. A fireplace could be seen behind the only person visible. It was an elderly man wearing clothes of the clergy, sitting across from the chair that took up a large portion of space. His old face split into a friendly smile as he greeted the newcomers, "Hello, I'm Cardinal Vladimir Augustus. I'm certain you know Betty Director." The old man nodded his head towards the chair before him. Standing from the chair was a tall brunette. Turning to face the two, her one eye took them both in, and a small smile threatened to sneak out. It really was none other than Doctor Director herself.
"Ronald, I'm glad you could make it." Betty extended her hand to shake his. "And Yori as well." She bowed her head in acknowledgement.
Yori responded in kind before her soft voice asked, "I am to guess that you are the 'mutual friend' our helpful guard informed us of?"
"Yes, I am one of your allies. The other would be standing behind you, skulking in the shadows," the one eyed woman said.
Amazingly enough, a figure did emerge from the darkened corner. The woman's green and black cat suit was what first caught the ninja's eyes, causing them to gasp in surprise. Her green tinted skin and raven black hair only further confirmed the lurker's identity as a smirk formed across Shego's black lips. "Hello, kiddies," her sultry voice called out.
A/N: Well there's 8. Sorry Shego didn't show up until the very end but things took longer than I expected them to. Yeah… I'm not Catholic so if I did anything stupid or misnamed a part of the Vatican City go ahead and tell me.
(1) –hikoku: title used for a criminal