Drop in Reality
Chapter 13: The Third Incursion
A flash and lightning crashed through the black roiling clouds with a thunderous echo. The air trembled, filled with the scent of rain to come. Below stood a forest of pine trees. Amid this sea of green was a barren blemish, cleared clean of all life. The cancer at its center was an older lumber mill, its roofing in disrepair, tiles hanging askew with many bald patches. The windows and entrances were boarded up though light shone like a beacon from the north corner. Far, far in the distance were city lights that twinkled under the darkened sky.
A crash momentarily disrupted the savage winds. Just beyond the tree line revealed a crater that had been absent a moment ago. Smoked billowed out of the twisted bits of metal that had once been a functional bi-plane. Some were ablaze, the wind causing them to sway and flare. A flash of lightning revealed a propeller stabbed deep into the base of a tree.
Scorch marks littered the area, and a few trees smoldered. The pine needles flicked together in time with the winds. A crack echoed as a branch broke off to slam into the ground. It hopped once on the rebound before flaring to life, enveloped by a ball of lightning.
A flash of emerald eyes vanished from a tree only a few feet from the spectacle. The owner's, Kim Possible, heart raced. One minute everything was fine. A rather loud conversation with her ride about a new venture and the next, she was in freefall. It was sheer luck she had her parachute as they approached her target. She chanced another glance, spotting a long thin metal pole sticking out of the ground in the center of the clearing. It could have stood in for a flag pole aside from the flares of electricity that licked at the ground. Beyond it, she spotted the lumber mill. The surreal glow emanating from the rickety frame gave her a shiver
Kim reached down, picking up a mangled steering yoke. Without a noise, she lobbed it into the clearing. It arced high above, its flight unimpeded. There was a dull thud on landing only for it to become slag as the rage of the gods descended on it.
Kim frowned before glancing back and up to one of the larger trees. She zeroed in on a large strip of fabric flapping unheard in the gusting wind. She caught flashes of someone stuck there. Taking another glance at the pole only to shield her eyes as a lightning bolt slammed into it, leaving even more arcs to crawl along its length. She backed away, feet very careful to avoid detritus, her eyes never leaving that pole for any signs of activity. It had demonstrated its power well enough for her.
She only turned when she had circled the thick tree that had captured the pilot. With a spring, she caught the branch several meters above. Using it as a bar, she flipped herself up and onto it. Quickly, she hopped from branch to branch until she reached the fluttering cloth. She shifted it away to reveal a large woman, the sleeves of her tweed shirt cut away.
"Shhh," Kim hushed, her finger up to her mouth as she pointed at the arcs, not a hundred meters distant. The woman stilled, eyes widening as they locked onto it. She nodded, pointing up to the parachute caught just outside her reach. Kim nodded. She pantomimed the branch below her, pointing at the woman's feet, and then lowered to meet them both. She got a nod in return.
Kim took hold of the chute, noticing it wasn't knotted as she had feared, simply wrapped around the branch. She braced her feet, carefully pulling up the line. It tried to zip out of her hands to freedom, but she kept it still, slowly feeding it one hand over the other. The woman lowered, coming to rest on the branch. She steadied herself with a hand on the trunk next to her, raising the other in a thumbs up.
Kim released the chute and dropped next to the woman. Her dexterous fingers went to work unbuckling the chute, letting it flutter in the air. She pointed down and received a nod in response.
A few strenuous minutes later, they returned to the ground keeping the tree between them and the threat. Kim glanced out to make sure nothing had changed. She circled back to the woman who now leaned against the tree, her breaths coming in restrained gasps.
Kim came as close as she could before whispering, "I'm sorry, Bernice." The words had hardly left her lips before there was a boom followed by a sizzle. Turning, they both grew pale at the searing hole in the tree mere inches from the woman. Terror filled eyes lifted at the close call, shaky hands lifting to her lips. They both nodded.
Kim pointed to herself and back towards the tower of lightning then at Bernice, two fingers moving very slowly along her other palm and back away from where they were.
The woman's eyes grew wide, looking at the hole and then at Kim before shaking her head, pointing between the two, and away from the tower.
Kim closed her eyes before shaking her head. She placed her hands on her collarbone and then raised them in two thumbs up. She then turned towards the crash site and back, placing her two hands flat against each other and raising them as if in prayer before bowing her head. She paused when she felt a rough hand rubbing her head. An unexpected sensation. When Kim peaked, she found Bernice shaking her head, pantomiming a sigh before nodding towards the tower. She placed her two hands on Kim's shoulders and shook them, giving a final nod. She looked at the ruined biplane before shrugging her shoulders and creeping away carefully.
Kim carefully retraced her steps to her original hiding spot. She slowly and carefully stretched her limbs, eyes studying the terrain. A few minutes later, she was sprinting, landing, and leaped, never a sound above the howl of the rolling storm above.
Beep, beep, beep.
Kim tumbled with a roll behind a large bolder. Her eyes were nearly blinded as her every action played back to her in rabid arcs of lightning. They didn't stop, strike after strike pummeled the boulder. Chunks of it whistled past her wide eyes.
She silently groaned before pulling out a cobbled-together Kimmunicator.
"Hey Kim, I hadn't heard from you so thought I would check how things were going," Wade's voice slowed to a stop, his eyes locked on the arcs of electricity doing their best to knock her head off. "What… is going on?" He finished hesitantly.
"There have been a few problems," she hissed
"What? It's really loud on your side," Wade yelled.
A streak of lightning sailed right past the screen, small arcs zipping back and forth across the device's antenna.
Wade blinked at the finger pressed against Kim's lips. He slowly nodded in response, typing at his computer for a little while before shaking his head in an apology. The screen went blank.
Kim sighed as another rock whizzed past her left cheek. A glance back showed a pitted mess of a bolder, far smaller than when she had first hunkered down. Arcs of lightning licked around the bolder splashing only a few feet away and quickly zeroing in on her.
With a will of steel, she concentrated, ready to make a break for it. Her muscles tensed, remembering the hole bored straight into the tree was all the encouragement she needed to make this work.
"One, two, three… ahhhhh,"
A yelp escaped as the grass beneath her gave way. There was a rush of falling air only to finish with a splat as she landed.
"What the?" Kim asked looking up, she could see the outline of the hole she fell through, arcs of lightning continued to pound the area, and some probed along the edges as if sniffing after her scent.
She nearly gagged as her nose drew her attention to the nauseous assault of the surrounding stench.
"What the. That smells like…" Kim trailed off as she realized she wasn't standing in water. She jumped with a squelch, her feet neatly landing on the edges of the rusted pipe that creaked at the unexpected load. The lightning revealed the puke-colored filth ooze into the two temporary holes before meandering past its brief blockage.
"I guess up is out of the question." She glanced back at the lightning that still licked with greedy tendrils along the hole. she held her stomach as she lowered her gaze. "Which leaves…blah… this way."
She pulled out the Kimmunicator, its screen glowed to reveal a scene that caused her stomach to roll. A half-eaten bagel with white frosting bobbed below her. At least she hoped it was white wriggling frosting. Turning, she realized she was in a rusted-out sewage pipe. At the edges of her limited lighting gleamed sharp eyes watching her before dipping out of sight. Not quite to her liking, but... a glance up at the nonexistent rock let her know it was safer here. Stifling a gasp, Kim almost added a 'barely' to that last statement.
"Kim?"
"Wade?" Kim gagged as the smell continued to assault her senses. She turned the screen to face her.
"What happened to…" he trailed off, eyeing her up and down. "Never mind. What should I call you?" he asked.
Kim carefully held her rebellious stomach with the opposite hand.
"What did the others choose?" she managed after a few tense seconds.
"Kim Alpha and Kim1," Wade responded, already typing as if his mind were elsewhere.
"Just call me Kim then."
The typing paused as he returned his attention to her. "Wait, that's just your name? How will I keep you all straight if they aren't unique?"
"It is unique, no one else is using it."
Wade sat there for a moment before slapping his palm to his face. "Yeah, I guess no one thought of that. Anything I can help with…oops, Kim1 needs help."
With a beep, he was gone leaving Kim blinking. She glanced back at the tunnel and sighed, almost making a deposit to the steaming stream of nightmare fuel below.
"Guess there really wasn't much he could help with right now anyway."
Stretching her hands to the sides of the pipe, Kim shimmied her way above the sludge that slowly burbled below her. Occasionally a rat would squeak indignantly, giving her a piece of its mind as she passed above, but aside from that, the going was painfully boring and stank.
It felt like hours as she slowly made her way along the pipe before her Kimmunicator beeped.
She paused, bringing it up to her face while balanced with two feet and just one hand above her.
"Hey, Kim… Do you have a second?" Kim glanced around at the bubbling ooze. A tube connected to the larger issued a shriek, and a rat the size of a chihuahua popped out, dropping amidst the muck to resurface with something that gleamed a little too white. It crawled back up to its perch and glared at her with a hiss that would have made a cat envious. When she didn't respond, it started to eat its find, studying her.
"…I'm not going anywhere for a second. What's up?"
"I was just curious what you'd do if, say, a threat to the world was happening and there was a chance you couldn't handle it on your own."
Kim blinked. "Did Ron make a move?" Kim asked, the zaps and billowing wind had long since faded, but who knew just how below ground she was?
"What? No, no. This is… purely hypothetical."
"Right, I guess I'd call for some backup if it was available," Kim responded, waving a warning finger when the rat dropped its find, lowering its haunches, its eyes glittering at her neck.
"DOWN!" she growled. The thing squeaked, aborting its leap and dumping itself into the sewage.
"Down what, Kim?" Wade asked, confused.
"It was…" the sewage exploded as the thing flew at her, yellow teeth bared. With a leap, Kim flicked her foot and the rat slammed into the pipe it had come from. Its limbs scurried around it, gaining purchase before burrowing away. The tunk, tunk, tunk of its exit echoed for long seconds.
"…nothing," Kim finished, her legs firmly planted once more.
"…Right. Thanks, Kim!"
With a shake of her head, she took another step. She didn't have all the time in the world after all.
The gleam of the Kimmunicator caught some broken holes in the old piping. She carefully lowered her foot to avoid one such hole just above the filth. She raised her hand for stability only for it to go through empty air. She was toppling, the sewage coming straight for her. She paused in her aborted fall, flicking a glance up to see she had caught hold of an edge. Tilting the Kimmunicator up revealed a horizontal tube about a meter in diameter. Panning around, her smile grew as she found a rusted metal ladder extending out of sight. With relief, she pulled herself up, counting the small collection of spider webs she had to go through as far better than where she had been.
She realized she must have traveled deep into the earth as the ladder continued to go up and up, far further than she had fallen.
"Ouch," Kim stifled a yelp as she, or rather her head, found the end of the web-filled tunnel.
She gave an experimental shove, finding that it didn't budge much. She swatted a few spiders away from the side of the old tunnel, resting her back against it and freeing up her hands to check through her pack.
"Let's see, knockout gas, grappling hair dryer, ah laser lipstick," Kim said, pulling out the tube. She carefully aimed before removing the cap. When nothing happened, she brought the tube closer to the light of her Kimmunicator. "Oh shoot, I grabbed the wrong tube."
Bringing the Kimmunicator up, she touched another button, Wade appeared in the view, his image jittering back and forth with static filling the gaps. "Wade, I've got a lid that needs popping and don't have the laser lipstick with me. Any ideas?" Kim asked the boy genius. She helped by tilting the device towards the obstacle.
"Hmm, maybe. Does it have any give?" He asked.
Kim leveraged her back into it, the lid raising a few centimeters before stopping.
"Ah, this is perfect. I added a new invention hoping it would come in handy," Wade said, offering a smile Kim found a little disturbing.
"What would that be?" Kim asked
"If you check, you should find something that looks like a piece of paper.
Raising an eyebrow, she found it at the very bottom of the pack. Pulling it up, she examined the gray sheet. It smelled like rubber and a quick rub of her fingers reminded her of the texture of a studded tennis shoe.
"Found it."
"All you have to do is slide that underneath the lid and press the button on the side. In five seconds, it will activate on its own."
Putting action to words, Kim leveraged her shoulder back into the manhole cover and shimmied the thin device under the loose lid easily.
"Be sure to step away..."
BAM!
Kim lost her grip, sliding down the tunnel. She pressed her hands and feet against the sides screeching to a stop just a few feet down. With a sigh, she leveraged one hand and then the next back onto the rungs.
She shook her head, ears ringing. She blinked as the cause of her abrupt fall innocently floated back down coming to a stop on her head. She carefully tucked it away, avoiding the activation button.
"Was that a reusable bomb?" she asked, one finger to her ear as in rang.
"Bomb? No, it's something new that expands explosively when a specific current runs through it. Far better than a bomb. It resets once the current stops."
"Ah, so there is a chance of rain with a possibility of explosions on my back." Kim scowled as she reviewed just how close some of that lightning had come while she flipped.
"No, no, no. It's very specific. It would be the least of your worries if lightning struck you."
"So very comforting." Kim paused, glancing up at the clear path.
"So, it popped the lid off. In the future, could you give me a warning before I flew into a thunderstorm?" Kim murmured, shaking her head.
"I tried to," Wade responded with a shrug. "Oh, Kim is calling... I mean the other Kim... no... oh you know what I mean." Wade finally gave up, his image disappearing.
'Guess it's back to just me,' Kim thought, climbing the last few rungs to pop her head up. There was no lighting to give her an idea of where she ended up. With a sigh, Kim lifted the Kimmunicator up at a creaking above her. She blinked to find a furnace. Its sides were coated in thick layers of rust and decay. Two loading points and a vent gave it the appearance of a face. A little more important for her continued health, it was tipped on its side with a distinctive disk-like mark branded on its side. The creaking was coming from it as it slowly righted itself… her way.
"Oh boy."
Kim whispered, rolling as it crashed back into place with a loud bong. She coughed as dust billowed up and around her, stinging her eyes and throat.
"Way to go, Possible," she grouched, bending down and snatching the Kimmunicator from where it had fallen. She panned the device around, happy that there was at least no movement. Instead, she discovered many old tools such as a grinding stone, a vice, a bench with a leather pouch with holes holding a hammer, pliers, chisel, and the like. Next to them were statues carved into blocks of wood. Eagles mid-flight, a feeding buffalo, even a few wolves on the hunt of something just outside of the carving. Each was exquisitely maintained by some kind of glossy treatment. A few half-finished ones were cracked with bits and pieces surrounding them. The long years have taken a heavy toll on them.
Swiveling around, she found that the furnace had knocked a pile of rotted wood on its side, several disintegrating into dust.
She glanced down with a sigh, wiping off the dirt and the thick soot that had dislodged from the falling furnace.
Edging around the statues on the bench, she came across a set of stairs. Going up them, she tentatively opened the squeaky door with a cringe. Peeking out, she found more stairs except, she felt she had just jumped through history. The walls Incrementally shifted from old cement to white granite. What was odd is she had no use for the Kimmunicator as they issued a soft white light all their own. Shaking her head, she continued up, the light leaving no shadows which unnerved her a bit. Eventually, she came to a smooth wall slightly dimmer than the panels around it.
She took a step forward, reaching out and touching the smooth surface. It rippled under her finger like still water. The ripples expanded, the surface becoming thinner and thinner before parting away to allow metallic air to blow directly into her. Kim gagged, pulling a strip of her shirt away to cover her face. Noticing the edges start to close, she hastily entered, double-blinking as another workshop was revealed. Only this one came straight out of a sci-fi novel. Before her stood a bench made of more of that glowing material. On top of it was a blinding light focused on a half-formed metallic Rufus by all appearances. The light illuminated everything, its stomach was opened and lined with a shimmering material that seemed to flow in waves under the light. She was sure it was a robot of some kind, but there were no motors. Just a hollow statue
She tried to spy the rest of the room but even shielding her eyes and squinting, the glare was just too much.
'God that is so bright, I can't see anything.'
She sighed, the steady pulse from the light droned out her own footsteps. It raised her heckles that there were some definite clunking sounds, but she just couldn't see what was causing it.
'No point worrying about it now, just have to get on with it.'
She crept around the table, cursing when her foot struck something on the floor. She paused and glanced down when that same something hissed. There was another half-formed Rufus smoking under her shadow, its paws frantically waving until it toppled over, latched onto the ground, and scurried back into the light. The sizzle stopped, the thing's one exposed eye closed, mouth hanging open as it sighed.
Kim gawked at the sight. 'Ok…that is akweird to the max,' she thought, passing her hand above it to see the scene replay once more. After a few panicked struggles, it waddled around the corner on its own, its one eye staring at her accusingly.
'What exactly has Ron been doing here? Creating robots that have to stay in blinding light to survive?'
She gulped as she noticed the thing hadn't just vanished around the corner. She could make out it was tracking her from its new cover. She gave it a wide berth and finally rounded the table. With the light at her back, she could finally make out the rest of the room and the mysterious noise. She groaned as she came face to faces with hundreds of similar mechanical Rufus littering the area. Some were patched together like stitched stuffed animals made of a multitude of colored plates. Others were made of steel, aluminum, and one suspiciously of bright gold. Some were as small as the original while others were as tall as herself and sloughed against the walls. Most of them were in a blur of motion.
She settled into a stance but frowned as she realized that while they were moving, they weren't moving toward her. Most bumped into walls before turning around and repeating the process. Others bumped into each other with those distinctive periodic clangs just noticeable above the lights. She nearly lost her lunch as one collision didn't bounce off. Instead, they stuck together like two globs of mercury. Four sets of limbs struggled to disconnect their heads but lost as, like a rubber band, they snapped into a single blob that pulsated along its length. A minute later, four limbs elongated with the head and tail forming a larger Rufus. The being seemed confused about its new stature, head wagging around until it spotted a wall and began its favorite pastime. As it picked up speed, the shimmering skin hardened, becoming an amalgamation of the original two's patterns.
She couldn't quite turn away from the odd behavior but was relieved when a few ran closer to her only to hiss and grind to a halt, turn around and continue the ongoing game of demented bumper cars. All this with no indication they knew she was there. She gulped as she tried to remain quiet. The hair on the nape of her neck prickled. The eyeless big ones just sat there, but she couldn't help but feel their heads swivel to track her when she wasn't watching them.
Fortunately, none of the little things changed their movement when she crept out. Turning away, she found a shimmering door. Unlike her entrance, it did not shift away under her touch. The walls themselves did ripple, but the 'door' absorbed the waves and reformed. She tried to press harder and power through. It stretched around her fingers like a velvet-covered rubber band. At the edges of her fingertips, the material scrunched inward causing little pricks all over the exposed skin, and then she was on her backside, staring up at the ceiling, the waves returning to stillness.
Sitting up, she shook her head at the abrupt whiplash. It was then she heard a buzzing and static similar to a radio. Drawing closer to the unyielding panel, she heard a faint voice.
"Bwhahahahaha. She even chose the wrong location. Such a silly girl."
Kim froze at the ominous laughter, one she recognized. "Ron," she whispered. He was here, really here. She shook her head; she didn't have time to act sentimental. Ron in his current state was a force to be reckoned with. She would need all of her wits to get the jump on him.
She glanced around the enclosure, tracing the wall as it led to about where she thought she had heard him, but there was nothing aside from the unusual workbench and robots. She frowned. There didn't seem to be an obvious way through.
Kim flipped out her Kimmunicator.
"Wade, I think I'm going to need a little… help…" Her whispered words faltered as all activity in the room cut off. Every single head swiveled in her direction.
"What's the problem, Kim?" Wade's voice asked.
There was a buzz of chittering as the things bobbed their heads at each other before turning back to her.
"I think I may have drawn their attention."
"Whose…" Kim turned the Kimmunicator around, showcasing the little beasts all creeping toward her. Far creepier than their once random rat race.
"Let me scan them and… what…what are these?" At Wade's voice, their head bob, and titters grew more agitated as they inched closer.
A big one hefted itself up with a slurp, leaving a mishmash of multicolored patterns along the wall that bled in. It took one oozing step after ponderous goopy step. Each left a blob that resolved into four mini-Rufus that scurried along behind it. One of its brethren didn't spot the danger and was stepped on. Neither seemed concerned as it grew a little larger as they joined.
Kim jumped as one of the small ones leaped at her.
She dodged by flipping over the crowd and landed with a meaty crunch on one. Her next step nearly slid out from under her, stubbing her toe on the table.
"Ouch!" she glanced down to find a puncture in her shoe, a familiar half-formed vindictive Rufous rushing around the table. Its one eye appeared, and a small rodent grin spread in self-satisfaction. Kim shook off the slight tingle from the bite. She hopped on top of the workbench with her good leg just missing more of the lunging things. She sighed as she examined the small sea of them. The backmost hesitant, but still crossed the point they once avoided. She groaned as the tall ones were starting to gain momentum and mass amidst the crowded workbench.
"These shouldn't exist. It's a completely different type of life. It's like nothing I've ever seen before." Wade commented, enthralled with whatever he was reading.
"Right… Wade, kinda need a way to stop them. Wait." Kim's head panned up to the blinding light. "These things need the light! They evaporate without it!" Kim kicked off with her good leg, slamming the other straight into the light source. It blinked once, twice, and turned off. She could hardly see anything as the light emanating from the walls was dull in comparison. Only, there was a slight problem. Her foot wasn't coming down. She glanced up to find the once slick glop on her shoe had become sticky, keeping her firmly attached.
"NO! It's a completely new form of life! You can't just destroy it!"
Wade's voice was drowned out by the sounds of a thousand squeals echoing in the room. She glanced up in time to see a wave of miasma issue from the beasts like a fog. She coughed even through her impromptu mask, the metallic wave overwhelming.
A thump drew her attention to the larger one that shrank by the moment. Unlike the smaller ones running around in circles and squeaking in distress, it advanced. She brought up her hands to block, but with her foot well out of place, it was poor and its paw smashed through and straight into her. She slammed against the far wall, left gasping for breath as she clutched her stomach.
"Ouch," Kim whispered only for her support to drop away from behind. She rolled backward, instinctively coming to her feet before hissing as pain radiated from her stomach at the jostling. She braced for another attack only to find the wall regrowing where she had fallen. The material of it was oddly shiny on this side though it didn't generate its own light. More important, her last look was that of the giant beast smashing a very familiar device against the table.
Her eyes drew up in horror as she searched and found herself missing a Kimmunicator.
Ripping her mask away, she dashed towards the entrance, hand slamming against the now firm membrane. "Damn it! Looks like I'm really on my own now," Kim whispered, at least relishing the fresh air after her brief confinement.
With a last bwomp and jiggle, the wall retook its original form.
"Could have been a lot worse. I'll live." She stepped away, taking a few more deep breaths before glancing around to find that she was back in the old wood mill. There was a large saw with a platform to funnel wood across it. She ignored it, walking around the artificial cube that dominated the room. She was very careful not to get too close. The damage to the Kimmunicator was done. No reason to go back in there now.
Above the rumbling storm outside, she just barely heard Ron's mutterings. Following them led her straight to a brick wall. Its pristine white was a contradiction to the old wooden construction, likely installed in the past few days. There was no way through unless she counted the door in the cube. The army of gooey Rufus with a chip on their shoulder made that way, not an option.
As her mind wandered over the possibilities, Kim glanced up only to pause. There was tubing directly above her going through the wall. 'An air duct?' Kim thought. She followed it until it dived into another machine. She noticed a little maintenance latch and her smile bloomed.
"Guess you can catch a break every now and again," she murmured before lightly leaping up to the cover. Using her feet against the machine with her back to the wall for balance, her hands unlatched and opened the cover. It was tight, but she slid in gently and, more importantly, silently. Once within, she relatched the vent and crawled forward. It turned one way and then the other. She slowed as the laughter grew more pronounced.
Ahead, she saw light coming from another vent. She carefully hovered above it, her eyes peeking into the room below. She had to cover her mouth lest it betray her. He was there, his hands gliding across a console with a large screen of the world projected before him. Three dots blinked rapidly at the locations he had challenged her to stop.
"Now, how to get the drop... ahhh," Kim squeaked as she was unceremoniously dumped onto the floor with a thump.
"Ouch," this had not been a good day for drops.
"Ah, Kimberly Ann Possible." Kim groaned. She tentatively opened her eyes, finding Ron towering over her with a smirk.
"You of all people should have realized that the old infiltration by vent wouldn't work on me. After all, how many times did we discuss how inane it was that villains continuously left those avenues available for us to just drop in?" Ron asked.
She finally got a good look at him now that he was so close. He wore a faded gray t-shirt and jeans. In her opinion a vast improvement over the original Zorpox costume.
With a burst of strength, Kim lurched at Ron. 'Please let this catch him off guard. Just a few more inches and…'
Tunk
"Ouch," Kim managed as she held one hand to her smarting forehead as she crumpled to the floor.
"Ah, did I forget to mention I discovered a new synthetic plastic? It is completely transparent and, as a bonus, nearly indestructible. At least by any human that has ever lived." Ron asked, lightly knocking the glass from his side as he watched her rub her throbbing skull. She returned a sour expression.
"That reminds me. Better safe than sorry," he smirked and pressed a button. The plastic illuminated itself in a pale orange.
Beep, Beep, Beep
Ron frowned at the interruption, looking back to his console.
"Wait, you are not supposed to be here. You are in the reactor with Shego. Also, the startup point had some interruption." Ron pressed several more keys. A few moments later, twenty screens flashed into existence. They detailed unfamiliar landscapes that, she assumed, were of the other locations. They remained blank as he tapped one button until he paused. Two of the screens grew larger, the others fading into the background. One showed Kim on a rooftop with her laser lipstick slicing into an awning. The other was a frozen frame of Kim fighting one of those Rufus robots in the middle of a jungle. She frowned as she realized it didn't quite match the ones she had escaped.
'No, this one wasn't in that odd light and it shimmered under the sunlight. Maybe a prototype?' she pondered.
"You are here, but you are there," he commented, his finger shifting between the two screens. Slowly a grin spread wide across his face.
Bwhahahahahahahahaha.
Kim blinked as the boy laughed. She expected him to mock her, but the laughter didn't stop. Minutes stretched. It was like he had been told the funniest joke imaginable and just couldn't contain the boiling laughter. Her brow furrowed as his cheeks became red with the strain.
"Ron, Are you all right?" Kim asked hesitantly.
When she didn't get a response, she carefully pulled her pack around. Digging through the various tools.
'Grappling hair dryer won't be of much use here.' She continued to sift until a compact cropped up.
'Exploding makeup?' She eyed the glow of her cage and then back at the still-laughing boy. 'If this keeps up, it just might fit the bill.' Kim thought, quietly flipping open the compact, applying the blush to the brush, and reaching out to apply it to the container. As the tip drew closer, the glow flickered and fuzzed. Just as the brush made contact, a bolt leaped to her hand sending her bonelessly to the ground. All feeling in her limbs was gone.
"Do watch out, the energy not only makes it nearly indestructible, but it also gives a bit of a zap if you touch it."
Kim groaned as she regained control of her body, realizing that the laughter had finally stopped.
"I will commend you, Kimberly. You did something I did not expect. You went through the holey unnecessary process of cloning yourself to try and meet my challenge. I'm honored." He dipped an exaggerated bow, one hand across his chest, the other flaring out behind him.
"How else was I supposed to stop you?" She managed through the tremors running through her body.
Ron quirked an eyebrow. "By fully conquering any one of the three bases, of course. Even if you were too dimwitted to realize, Wade should have discovered they are all linked. If any one of them went down before they completed their purpose, the others would not have been able to do anything."
"Wait, but you said that all three had to be taken down?!" Kim demanded, her fists fidgeted, just held back from punching the energy shield.
He blinked before shrugging. "Your misinterpretation is none of my business, Kimberly."
Dismissing her, he glanced at one of the screens showing a subterranean room. Kim was fighting… Shego? Kim shook her head. That didn't make sense. Did Ron and Drakken team up? Bolts of plasma were flying through the air. Two were caught by Kim and slammed into a tower laying on the ground.
Kim smirked at that little win before another chuckle escaped Ron.
"Kimberly, Kimberly, Kimberly, always trying the brute force method. Little do you know it was a diversion the entire time." So saying, he pressed a button on his console. The earth shook causing Kim to drop to her hands and knees lest she tumbles into the forcefield.
She glanced up to another screen showcasing the evergreens outside the base. Sixteen holes opened spewing smoke. Another button and the shaking really started as objects obscured by the gasses lifted off. They blasted through the obstruction appearing more like smaller versions of the metallic cubes she had encountered the Rufus in. Her hope grew as they stalled only a few hundred feet in the air. That hope was dashed as lightning covered them in a surreal glow that fluctuated violently. One moment they frantically shook in place and the next they disappeared. There were no holes in the clouds or dust trails. They were just gone.
Ron laughed as the screen of the other Kim's fight became the focus just in time to catch the countdown go to zero.
"You see, Kimberly, you've failed every single challenge. I've accomplished all of my goals."
Kim found Ron above her. His eyes were fixated and intense as if trying to memorize her response.
It didn't take long.
"You cheated; Kim Alpha still had time," Kim shouted, one finger pointing at him from her prone position.
"Kim Alpha? Pretentious much. All the same, I certainly did not cheat. Her time ran out long ago. She simply believed she had more because a screen said she did. You see, if you want the best result, you have to wait until the moment is just right."
She found him towering over her with that ever-present smirk, just staring.
"And with that comes the time I have been working so hard for."
He leaned down, his smirk a mere few inches from her face.
"I. Win."
Kim's eyes widened as she fell back at the import of the words. All of her searching, all of her desperation, and she had…lost. The words seemed to repeat in her mind, sending shivers through her body. She collapsed to her knees, staring sightlessly at the ground. Her heart pounded and her scalp itched. No, more like a fuzzy feeling of static electricity had zipped through it. She raised a palm to her temple as it throbbed. It grew stronger by the moment. Morphing from distracting to a ragged dull blade plunging into her mind. Rhythmically, in and out. Each left an open wound as they penetrated over and over. 'What…what is this?" she thought as fire raced across her mind.
She screamed.
She was no longer in the base but surrounded by a black void. The pain became manifest in the barbed wire winding around her. She struggled to fight it when a tong sound echoed. A flash and then the image of Ron handing her a hotcake when they were young bloomed before her like a slow-moving video. The joy of acceptance radiated from the image, the colors bright and vibrant. Only, something was wrong. Those colors were fading into a sickly green, the edges forming holes as more of that hideous wire appeared, burning everything it touched like a cigarette had been put out on them. She reached out, desperate to hold the image together, only to dissolve under her fingertips. Her heart froze as everywhere she could see were thousands, millions of memories all of which were smoldering. The pain was excruciating, she squirmed as more loops wrapped around her waist, tearing into her flesh. She thrashed despite the pain, fighting for everything she held dear. Her arms snatched at one last image and held it close against the barbed touch racing around her. It was of Ron walking next to her going to school. Such a simple thing, but it was the last as the world grew darker and darker.
And then the pain was gone.
She was gone.
Author's Notes:
I guess I'd best start with an apology. I've done something wrong in the story. Too slow, too fast, not enough detail, too much, not interesting. I'm not sure what, but no one seems interested enough to leave a review or help with beta testing.
That's just the nature of fanfiction. There is no guarantee of anything. I still have ideas that I would like to implement for this story. One more chapter and we'll finally get out of the Ron Challenge arc which will showcase the results. Those should be fun to play with. As I'm kind of writing in a vacuum at the moment, updates will probably be coming out further apart as other interests have been taking priority.
brindani