Tian Cai

By mkusenagi2

The story concept © 5-19-2006
All Marvel characters are © Marvel Comics.
Kim Possible and other Disney characters
are © Disney Co.

Level 4: Jian (Mage)

Part II

From Kimberley Ann Possible's Log…

That day…

That detail…

Started pretty well…

We got to meet someone Mom grudgingly respected…

And I got my eyes opened once again…

About Ron…

And what I'd missed for years…

---

05-06-2006
Princeton Plainsboro Hospital
The Outpatient Clinic
Princeton, NJ
1200 hrs

The Specialist and Dum Dum Dugan turned as they heard footsteps clattering toward their position, while 20 Guardsmen stood their ground.

Maj. Ronald Dean Stoppable and Capt. Kimberley Anne Possible were running up the hall.

In full SHIELD kit.

"'Bout Time you Two Showed Up!" The Specialist growled at Kim and Ron as they ran up the hall doubletime to assist in The Director's guard detail.

Dum Dum Dugan grinned at them from behind his back.

"Sorry, Sir!" Kim panted. "My Fault… 'PUFF!' Training Issues." 'Jeez.' "Rufus is scouting… Sir."

The Specialist looked Kim over. "Noted. How'd ya do? Pass or Fail?"

"Uh…" (Ron Winked Encouragement.) "'Gasp.' Pass Sir." 'Here It Comes…'

The Specialist stood before Kim…

Glared into her eyes…

And said.

"Good Job. I'll let the Director know. Stand guard here 'til the exam's done." He said as he clicked on his stealth field, slipped on his hood and vanished.

"MAN! Never gonna get used to that!" Ron echoed Kim's thoughts.

"Yeah. Know what you mean. Ron… You ever wonder who he is; The Director?" Kim asked.

"Uh…" 'DON'T LIE!' "Yeah." Dugan glared at them. "But I've Figured out one thing Kim."

"What's that?" she asked as they began to inspect the area.

"He's one tough SOB… and he… loves…" Heavily Shielded. ('Uh Oh!') she turned to him and looked into his eyes.

"Loves What?"

"The World… and all of us slobs… that are trying to uh…" he looked at the floor.

Dugan crept up and listened…

"Do our best." Ron finished.

"Yeah. You're right." She peered at Ron. "You wouldn't be hiding something… would you Ron? There's a part of you that's walled off… I noticed it when we were… y'know…"

"uh KP… It's nothin'. Xavier said there's parts of us that're like that…" ('God KP BACK OFF!')

"Possible! Stoppable!" Dugan cried.

"SIR! YES SIR!"

"ENOUGH chitchat! Back to work, or your next detail'll be worse than what I gave the last troopers I found goofing off."

"YES SIR!" They scurried up the hall.

'that's TOO close for comfort… Gonna have to tell Nick… She's sharp… TOO Sharp…' Dugan thought as he clicked on his stealth and went hunting.

---

The Specialist made an important call…

"I need you to watch the world markets… Follow the Money trail… Yeah I'm goin' in now… Easy for you ta say… Anyway let me know what ya find out, start with the Swiss and the Caribbean an' North African Banks… Gotta GO!" he groused as he cut the link.

He smiled.

"Kids."

---

Tech Room 12
Next to Clinic Room 11
Princeton Plainsboro Hospital
Princeton, NJ
1210 hrs

"Hello Captain Possible," A slender brunette in a lab coat said as she toyed with items in her pockets, "Welcome to Princeton Plainsboro. I'm Dr. Lisa Cuddy, Dean of Medicine and Hospital Administrator. We'll be handling telemetry from here as Dr. House conducts his exam."

Ron formed a grin. "Heh. Hey KP, say that 5x fast. Princeton Plainsboro…" Kim Glared. The staff smiled. "What?"

"She means she's House's Keeper…" A tall blonde male with a Brit accent said as he stepped forward to shake Kim and Sheila's hands. "Dr. Robert Chase at your service Ms. Possible, Ms. Goble. I'm a fan."

"Hmph!" Ron groused.

"I like him. Good Judge of character." Another doctor, an African American said as he shook Ron's. "Major Stoppable, I'm Dr. Eric Foreman," he pushed a pixie of a blushing Doc forward, "And this lady is one of your biggest fans, Dr. Allison Cameron…"

Ron Techie Smiled.

"COOLIO! I've always wanted to meet you! Loved your paper on the proper use of linezolid class antibiotics in sepsis. It was fascinating… I especially liked your pictures…" he said with another techie smile.

"Ron…" Kim muttered. Sheila smirked.

"Molecular diagrams, Kim." He said to Pulsar's amusement. "She constructed some cool animations of the drug process… anyway they were Badical!"

"I'm flattered you read the article… I heard that you'd written a fantastic paper on the structure of Carbonadium from Dr. Richards…" she gushed, "have you made any progress?"

Kim grit her teeth.

Sheila smiled. 'C'mon. He's finally found something he's really good at besides cooking… You know he won't leave us.' She sent to Kim.

'Yeah. It's just the way she's looking at… the way they're both looking at him that gets me. Gotta admit I get the award for ignoring what was under my nose…'

'KP. It's cool. Relax.' He sent. 'I Love BOTH of you.'

"Kinda… working on a way to simulate the effects in the alloy." He said. "It's classified." He said to her in a stage whisper.

Cameron smiled. 'He's cute. Wonder what he's gonna look like when he fills out?'

The sound of boulders breaking filled the room.

"What's that?" Chase asked with a smirk.

"Oh that's KP… she's does that from time to time… Hey Kim ya might wanna get that jaw thingie checked. Just Sayin'." Ron said as he drew a diagram on a scrap of paper while Cameron watched and made suggestions.

Heavily Shielded. ('I'll get him checked.') she thought.

"So who's doing the diagnosin'?" Ron asked as he pocketed his doodle.

"Oh…" Cuddy looked at her staff. "That's Dr. House's area of expertise… next to your Mom Kim…" Cuddy started checking equipment along with her staff. "He's the best in this field. How's she doing?"

'Hmmm. They keep avoiding questions about Dr. House…' Kim thought, "Oh she's fine. Still working at Middleton Med Center… and doing research when she's not chasing the Tweebs…"

"Ma'am? How'd you get The Director… to y'know… get a physical? From what I've heard… he's difficult to…" Kim asked Cuddy.

"Simple. I challenged him. He's never been able to back down from one… then or now… and he owed me…" Cuddy said.

"They dated while she was in med school." Dr James Wilson said as he entered the room. "Had an adventure or two as well if I recall correctly… Hi James Wilson at your service." He nodded to Team Possible.

Cuddy blushed.

Everyone stared at her.

"It was a long time ago…" she shrugged and dove into the equipment fiddling with cables, connections and buttons. "He got hurt on a mission… I helped him… he took me out to dinner… a couple of times… afterwards…" she said while hurriedly checking the console.

'Hmm. She knows what he looks like…' Kim mused.

"It must have been some wound…" Foreman chipped in.

"Well we know who got her over her breakup with House…" Wilson said. "Looks like he's not over you though… The Director that is. Access to SHIELD's medical technology, budget, and medico-legals for five years… and taking care of our patient load while we monitor the exam… that's gratitude for you…"

"Indeed." Chase said with a speculative glint.

"DON'T YOU PEOPLE HAVE SOMETHING TO DO?" she yelled.

The Red Sea had nothing on them…

---

Pulsar was in stealth mode in her armor on the clinic roof…

'This is great. Just tanks 'like Ron would say' that using my powers dim the effect… maybe Stark could figure out something…'

She knelt and thought about Kim.

'She's starting to figure things out… I can feel it gelling… Got a hunch about 'Smith', gonna have to check it out quietly. Nick's got eyes everywhere…' "Hi Dum Dum." She said as he walked up on her six.

"Hi. How'd…?" he said.

"The same way Ron saw the Key on the Thanos Mission…" she picked up a handful of pebbles and flicked them a four o' clock. "The same way I see Gabe." 'I've been using a shadow of this when I was just 'Shego'… Glad I came back… Glad Ron's here…Kim too…'

"OW!" Gabe Jones cried from Four.

"I'm gonna check on 'our guy' and his docs. You guys got this?" she asked.

"Yeah. Great view. Carrier's in 'Mode' too. We're ready for anything…" Gabe said.

"You Hope." Pulsar said as she walked away.

"Yeah." They said, sweat running down their backs.

---

The finest diagnostic team in the US watched as Team Possible went through their routine as the Director waited for his physical.

"I'm going next door. Standing post." Pulsar said to her partners as she walked over to the door.

"Coolio!" Ron exclaimed.

"Ok. We'll keep an eye on things here…!" Kim said.

"Beep Beep BeDeep!"

Kim answered her Kimmunicator, "What's the sitch W…Mom?"

"Hi Kids!" Anne said from her office. "I just called to see how you're doing Kimmie…"

"Uh, fine Mom. We're on a detail at Princeton Plainsboro Hospital. What's up?" Kim asked as Ron leaned over her shoulder and waved.

"I heard. Kim… Have you met… Greg yet?" Anne asked with a frown.

"Uh Greg, Mom?" she asked, 'Uh Oh.'

Team House smiled.

"Greg House. He's an excellent diagnostician… In fact he's the best I've ever seen… But… well Kim… he's an ass." Anne said matter-of-factly.

"MOM!" Kim cried.

"Sorry sweetie, but it's true. His team's great… it's just that Greg's a SOB when it comes to people… he's always been that way. I just called to let you know. Love ya. Bye Kids." Anne cut the link.

'Oh Boy.' Kim and Ron thought as they looked at each other.

---

Foreman clicked on the telemetry while Cuddy talked about the procedure…

"What were reading guys are the various medical signatures that The Director has that are unique to his physiology when he plugs into his suit telemetry; each suit's fitted to its owner individually. If there's a shift from the last time he was examined 'til now House will find it."

"So what you're saying is that you're looking at his suit bioscans and all his data to verify he's really there… without us seeing his face." Kim said.

"Yes. Dr House should be able to tell by looking him over and checking the profiles stored in the SHIELD datacore…" Cuddy said.

"It's hard to believe that this guy's still alive…" Foreman said to Wilson.

"House thinks his body's able to turn any trauma into a healing event… He's on highly tuned permanent anabolic build up…" Chase said to Cameron.

"I'd heard the Nazis tried to perfect the process… on a guy… what was his name…" Cameron said.

Ron began to sweat. SHIELDED 'Oh no, no, no, no, no!'

"Nick… Died years ago… Fury?" she finished. "Worked for the UN… CIA? Ever since they've kept the new guy under wraps."

Cuddy stared at Cameron. "Sorry Ma'am." She replied as she resumed calibrating the equipment.

Ron lurched and bumped into a cup of coffee on the console…

"Yahhh! Zzzt!"

Lights out.

"RON!"

"Heh. Sorry."

---

House and The Director looked around as the lights shut off then flickered back on.

"Everybody Lies." House growled to his newest patient, one Nicholas J. Fury.

He didn't want to admit it, but it unnerved him to see The Director as a headless trunk…

And he admired his spirit. The guy was a tough act. A good man.

"Yeah, that's true, but I get PAID ta do it." He pointed at his 'head'. "The mask stays 'til this mess' over." He growled back, "Yer just upset 'cause yer a gimp. The brain's obviously workin' else I wouldn't be here ta see ya. So. Did ya have an infarct in yer BRAIN too, or are ya gonna shut the hell up an' get on with it?"

"Oooo! I'm SO scared of the BIG, Bad Supersoldier… It gives me chills in my spleen. Get up on the table." House hissed as he hobbled over to his console and began his scans.

So began The Director's physical.

---

Meanwhile Rufus was hanging out with Steve McQueen…

Greg's pet rat.

And had learned something scary.

HYDRA had moved through the north woods a day earlier.

They had quietly scanned the area, killed something and left!

HYDRA securing The Director's exam site?

Rufus ran off to tell his partners.

---

From Kimberley Ann Possible's Log…

Ron showed me some kindly steel that day…

Welll all of us actually…

When he helped an ass…

---

Kim and the crew watched a Greg finished his exam and groused at the headless man before him.

"Ok. We're done here. You get a gold star." 'Damned Cuddy…'

"What, that's it?" The Director groused.

"Yep. What do you want from me, a lollipop too? Why don't you run along now and arrest someone…" House scowled at his patient. "Like those pencil pushers in DC that spend all that money on $2000 hammers and a nickel on affordable healthcare…"

"Believe me I've tried." He grinned back.

---

"Why's he so nasty?" Kim asked Cuddy.

"House… has a condition… constant pain… I can't say anymore." She said. "This tech's amazing… harnessing the ambient magnetic fields to perform an MRI at low energy cost…"

"Hmmm." Ron mused. 'Let's see…'

He 'dove' into the Dream… a bit.

---

'Hon? What are you doing?' Pulsar asked as he looked at Greg's 'pattern'.

'Nothing yet… tryin' to help someone…' he sent back.

'Dr House?' Kim sent.

'Yeah. He's hurting…' Ron snagged a 'tangle' and straightened it. 'That should do it.'

---

The effect was immediate.

"YAH!" House howled as his pain disappeared.

"What's wrong now?" Cuddy said over the link as The Director rushed over and helped him sit.

Greg smiled. Really.

"Ron." Kim asked.

"Shh. Watch KP."

"It's gone. The Pain." They heard.

"Ron."

"Coolio. Don't worry Kim. I 'fixed' it kinda. Just like Stick showed us." He grinned.

"I want to see whoever did this to me NOW!" House roared as he turned the scanners onto his legs.

Team House grinned.

---

"Did I ask you to heal me?" he growled at Ron as he sat in his office.

"No. 'beep' Hold on a sec. Yeah buddy whatcha got?" he said into his link.

"Who's he talking to?" House growled at Kim.

"Our quartermaster. Don't ask." She growled back.

"Gotcha buddy. Great job. 2 wheels of Colby." Ron said. 'Kim. HYDRA was here.'

'What!'

'That's not the 'fun' part. They cleansed the area from some sort of infestation in the woods north of here. Rufus' bud told him.'

'Sheila?' Ron to Pulsar.

'On it.' Pulsar told Jones and Dugan. Teams were dispatched.

"Ok Dude here's how it works." A glow formed around Ron. "You're supposed to be this hotshot doc. The junkie days are over. When you make a mistake it'll be you. Not the drugs. Just you. It's over. Finito. Capise? Note the Serious Face." 'Why's an ass like this gotta sit in Leather and Chrome? It's like a poor man's Bond set in here…'

Everyone stared at Ron as it intensified…

"What gives you the right…" House was stunned that Ron had scared him.

"When you're gonna look after my boss I have every right to make sure he's safe."

Hanuman's features formed over Ron's…

'Hon? You Ok?' Kim sent.

'Yeah KP why?'

"Major Stoppable… Ron, you need to take a look… in the mirror." Cameron said as she passed him her compact while the others began to take note.

Ron took a peek.

"Coolio!" he said as they faded away.

"Ron?" Kim asked.

"Ok dude. We're done here. Ashcan the grumpy doc bit." He said as he headed for the door. He looked at Kim over his shoulder.

"Right behind ya." 'You sure you're ok?'

'Yeah. It's just guys like that get on my nerves…' he smirked.

'What's funny?' She asked.

'Oh I left him a little something to remember me by… nothing harmful. Promise.'

"Hey! Come back here Mister! HEY! OW!" Greg House grunted as a cramp seized his leg.

"Only when you learn to be nicer to people. Then the cramps'll stop." Ron shot back as they tore out of his office. 'Or not.'

---

Meanwhile…

Pulsar was receiving confirmation that two of their foes were still alive.

"You're sure? It's his? Zola's?" she asked a tech as they surveyed the burn site. 'Hmmm. They used plasma here…'

"Yes Ma'am. But it's been warped… the cell samples we got are different. Tampered with…"

'Guys. Drakken's alive. So's Zola.' She sent as she piped her data over her link.

'Great.' They replied.

---

05-06-2006
Condor 1/SHIELD Helicarrier flagship
Enroute to Triskelion HQ
Special Agent Al Evan's
Quarters
1800 hrs

Ron was in geek heaven.

He was sitting in a vsim booth that Al had created from bits and pieces of tech he'd scavenged over the years.

Skrull. Spartoi. Sh'iar. Gallifreyan. And others…

His Bud.

Al Evans.

6'4", 185 lbs of good natured, slightly gray, lean an' lantern jawed, easygoin' fun; an Ebony Dude with a Good Heart and dazzling smile.

With a mind that had managed to startle a few men at times.

Men like Reed Richards, Hank Pym, and Nick Fury.

When Kim had met him she'd stammered. Blushed even.

5 minutes earlier…

Outside Al's quarters.

All it took was… He stuck his hand out and shook. "Hi Kim. Call me Al." Grin.

"Uh H…hi. So you're Al." (Brilliant! Gush much?)

"Yeah. Just do maintenance stuff here and there… y'know tinkering." Grin.

('Big hands…! BAD KIM!') Beetroot.

('Aren't they though?') Sheila sent as she stepped forward and shook. "Nice to see you again Evans. Been a while. Staying in practice?"

Al blushed. "When I can. Glad to see you're doin' ok Ma'am. Sorry guys, pressed for time…" He turned to Ron. "Got that module installed… wanna try it?"

"3D?" Ron crowed.

'Shape?' Kim to Sheila. 'Yeah. He's different to fight… kinda like Stick and then some.'

"Yeah. Better than what the Practice Room has to offer. Tuned it myself."

"Coolio!" Ron turned to Kim.

"Go ahead." She grinned as he kissed her. "It's cool."

---

Ron was a bit worried. 'Man I'm lucky he's not our age… KP'd go bonkers for him fer sure… Nicer than Monkey… poor bastard… gonna have to see how he's doin'.'

---

'Ron is sooo lucky!' she sent to Sheila while they checked their gear.

'Don't I know it. He's kinda cute. Yum! … Kinda strange though…' she sent back.

'How's that?' Kim asked.

'He's a bit of a loner. Good guy. Files 'restricted'. Perfect record. Wild fighter… but like I said a nice guy… let's get packing Princess. I've got to get back home. Jenkins found a lead. Cold War BS.'

'Ok. 'RON!'' Kim sent as they entered their quarters and finished packing.

'YOW! Kim!' he sent as he and Al fragged some of the Leader's 'driods. ''Sup?'

'Sorry Hon. We're just about finished here. You ready? Packed?' she sent as she hurriedly checked her duffle.

'Yeah. I sent it ahead. Diplomatic courier. Al's idea. YOW! KP gotta GO! The Super Skrull's comin' on the next level.'

Kim grinned and shook her head.

Boys and their toys…

End Part II