Disclaimer: I do not own Kim Possible™ or any character, location or event associated with that said show.
Last time on Legend Of A Monkey Master
- Lord Monkey Fist unmasked.
- Team Possible, accompanied by Anne Possible, determined to recover Ron Stoppable.
- Lord Fiske reveals to Kim the legend of the Monkey King.
- Ron and Yori recover the third Yono Idol from Australia.
- Junior trails the Yamanouchi in quest for the final Yono Idol.
Ch 13. Lair of Lord Monkey Fist
"I can't claim to have granted myself the title. Part of my master's charm. It amuses him to leave a hint so you may see the noose as it tightens around your neck," Monty Fiske, alias Monkey Fist, wore a delightful smirk. "A real detective would have pieced it together sooner."
Master of his stage. Changing his façade from remorse to superiority like changing coats. Joe could admire his enemies talent for keeping his audience enthralled whilst mocking them.
Smug bastard.
"Sometimes we all miss what is under our nose."
"YOU…!" Anne had no words rotten enough to describe Fiske. None of the usual adjectives would do. Anne was so angry, she could not sit any longer. She was on her feet with balled fists.
"So. I suppose by convention I am to reveal my master's grand plot to you now, or does that come later in our story? Perhaps the master detective has already pieced that together too, hmm?" Fiske asked the spy.
"Not nearly," Joe graciously admitted. "Where Yamanouchi stand in all this? Why bring in Team Possible? Exactly the nature of the Yono, myth or mastermind. These questions trouble me. The good news is until you tell me I personally am going to have a gas! Refresh some old muscles I haven't worked in a while. Engage in some activities they don't let the C.I.A. engage in anymore."
Being candid, Joe doubted Fiske would give up in crucial details under interrogation. It was all so random! Whoever was running the show, Fiske/Yono/Seth Macfarlane; this entire episode playing out like one long bad joke!
Just for a moment, Fiske's smug smile was replaced with something more animalistic.
"Thirteen days buried in a collapsed monastery. But not alone. Do you think you, a man, have devised a torture which rivals what my master subjected me? You don't even compare."
…
Ancient glyphs, medieval conquests, stories of mysticism; maybe there was a clue within Lord Fiske's archive about the location of the Yamanouchi and their captive, Ron Stoppable, but even with Wade's computer programme sifting through terabytes of data it would take Kim Possible years to sort through it all. Lord Fiske had spent the years! The problem with this method is it would not give her a location on Ron now!
Kim slumped and her mind wondered from the task at hand. Ron's disappearance had been an unreality, she reflected. She had taken Yori's abduction message in her stride as though she honestly believed her friend to be playing an elaborate game of hide and seek. Joe's trickery had hammered home the serious nature of Ron's predicament. Because she was forced to reflect on her own attitude toward her friend of late and accept she had been playing fast and loose with his safety. Cavalier after his traumatizing turn in Laos. Realisation had her return to her mother's lap. Much as she wanted to, Kim supposed she could not hold a grudge against Joe forever, not when she was guilty of the same sin.
She could hold one for a week or two.
All that really mattered now was the return of Ron Stoppable. In that endeavour Kim vowed she would be unstoppable in the return of her stoppable!
If only all these glyphs did not look the same.
Thanks to Lord Fiske, Kim now had a measure of the opponent she was setting herself against. The Yono. An ancient and despicable tyrant with the power to overcome an unprepared mind. And the Yamanouchi. His small army of ninja disciples. With growing impatience, Kim knew with a significant percentage of Fiske's archive committed to Wade's files it was time to pick up her search elsewhere but held no idea where elsewhere may be. She felt adrift on an ocean, desperate to reach her destination but with no compass and no heading. Perhaps Japan where she would quiz every citizen door to door on the Yamanouchi and present day ninja cults if she had to.
"Kim, I don't know what to make of this but – I think we have a hit."
She held her breath and hoped for good news. News they could use.
"You know the location of the final idol?"
"No," Wade admitted. "Maybe. Look, I hadn't even begun to pour over the data Mr Bates has been wiring me. There is something else. This is sketchy but I can give a location for Junior. Possibly Ron."
Wade, tapping in to a resources typically off limits to known hackers thanks to his parents security clearances, had previously set up a global search for information on the Senior family after Team Possible's first encounter with a Senior brand death trap on their luxury island. A search silently sanctioned by Betty Director after Junior Seniors unexpected appearance in Laos, the global security community eager as ever to learn of the Senior's dealings. The search parameters were extended to Ron Stoppable and Yori Toyama once it became clear Ron was abducted.
"Mr Bates!" Kim motioned for the helpful valet so he may hear this and with Rufus they huddled around the Kimmunicator listening for the play.
"Global Justice, among other, many, agencies, keeps tabs on every member of the Senior family and known associates." As an aside, Wade added, "Mom said to pass on Betty says, "Good luck. We want you to find him."
"Tell her thank you, and please continue to pass on any information they have on Junior or Yori."
"When I started this search I wasn't holding my breath. If the top players in underground information trafficking did not know how to cover their tracks, well, they wouldn't be the top players. The Seniors are reclusive. No wild parties to celebrate their wealth. No paparazzi snaps. Home schooling. Seldom set foot off their fortified island fortress that we know of."
"Yah-huh," Kim nodded. Following the logic path Wade was setting out although feigning she wanted to do anything but demand Junior's location now. Sentiments shared by her rodent partner.
"(Cut to the chase, without reminding us how difficult it was.)"
"Y E S"
"(I hate that thing)."
"You have caught them in a slip up, I surmise," Mr Bates offered.
"I don't know if it can be called a slip up if intentional," and Wade elaborated on a flight plan Junior Senior had just logged with the Airservices Australia listing himself, Lord Fiske's former protégé Haley and, "Warhawk the insufferable," as the only passengers. Cargo – one clapping monkey doll – and destination, Riyadh. Saudi Arabia."
"It must be the location of the final Yono idol!" Bates exclaimed.
Thinking of Ron, Kim deduced, "And where there's an idol, there's even odds we'll find the Yamanouchi."
"I shall inform Lord Fiske of this development immediately," Mr Bates declared. "If we leave within the hour we may arrive ahead of Junior Senior and his bandits. Provided we may accompany you?"
"I wouldn't dream of leaving Lord Fiske behind. He won't want to miss this," finding the idols was Lord Fiske's lifelong work, "Please and thank you." The more the merrier. Thinking of inviting more to the party….
"Excuse me, Ms Possible," Mr Bates politely departed to share the good news. To Wade, Kim asked, "Can we call on Betty for any Global Justice support? A chance to nail Junior Senior to the wall, foil an abduction and recover stolen historic artefacts should be an incentive."
Moreover, Kim would rather not encounter Warhawk on her own. Outnumbered by Junior, Haley and the possibility of Yori and her Yamanouchi. It was Warhawk who gave cause for concern envisioning a rematch. They never traded blows during their last encounter but Kim could read in his honed stance and violence in his eyes. The man was a killer. Barely constrained animal.
She had Joe. He did teach her everything she knew about martial arts. Perhaps Kim could count on the aging spy. Kim did not want to put all her eggs in that basket.
"Not right now. I'm sure Dr Director would like to help but she needs us to recover Ron on our own. G.J. manpower is stretched beyond breaking point this past day. If she hadn't already known we were on a personal case she may have bent her rules and asked for aid from us underage amateurs!
"I'm crashing at your place, by the way. Squared with your Dad already. Both my parents were called in with an urgent assignment. No word on when they'll be back. It was an alarmingly emotional goodbye. Something's happening to the world, Kim, its pandemonium. Gemini is on the move and no force can slow him down."
Was it really that bad out in the world? Stepping on a plane in Tri-City Area International Airport the only world crisis's as she was aware was the stock market dipped a few points and she was without her best friend. Nine hours of flight time and half a world away, Kim never thought to purchase a newspaper. She assumed the world would spin on as before her feet left it.
Ill timing or otherwise? Fiske said to Kim the Yono thrives upon chaos and destruction, "to feed his powers and aid in his release. Not so different from the chaos Gemini and World Empire cause today."
Could Yono be gaining strength from Gemini's chaos?
"Lord Fiske predicted chaos if the Yono should be allowed to grow in strength once more," Wade echoed Kim's thinking.
I may be fighting for more than the safe return of Ron, Kim grasped.
"I don't much like the hocus-pocus surrounding our intel. I need facts…."
Kim failed to catch whatever Wade had intended to state. Alerted to danger by Rufus screaming, Kim reacted. Diving from her stool. Rolling and coming up ready for a fight. Behind her the stool was demolished. The handiwork of a heavy, medieval period hammer.
"Bates!"
No time to demand an explanation for this betrayal. Fiske's erstwhile loyal valet lifted the heavy weapon above his head with sinister intention.
Kim had no desire to die a pancake. And Bates had thrown away the vital element of surprise. For its power and reach, Bates weapon of choice was slow. Kim allowed him to swing the weapon in a downward arc to smash the floorboards at her feet. She stepped on the hammer head. Denying Bates the opportunity to heft it once more.
Abandoning the hammer, Bates reached for the next medieval antique adorning halls of Lord Fiske's townhouse. A heavy mace. Kim also thought to arm herself for round two. Eyeing a bronze broad sword behind her and down the hall.
Bates had already erred, squaring his sights solely on Kim whilst giving little thought to the second girl of Team Possible.
Rufus attacked. Bates was distracted and still, retrieving the large mace. Rufus skirted up his trousers leg and did what she did best. Cause total mayhem.
Mr Bates screamed and danced as the rodent in his trousers attacked without mercy. Distressed as he was, he failed to keep a firm grip on the mace and dropped the spiked ball of misery directly on his left foot. The hallway echoed with the scream of feral pain.
Kim advanced. Holding the broad sword threateningly at the valet's throat.
"Where is Ron?!"
Naught in reply but pained grunts and a stare of pure fury.
"Are you working with Haley?"
Bates answered. Not the answered she expected or wanted to hear.
"The Yono will rise."
"I'll be seeing your Yono soon enough."
Unexpectedly, the pained expression left Bates. He ceased grunting, or looking to be in any pain at all though the mace still pinned his foot in place. Mr Bates stood straight and fixed his ruffled clothing. Smirked even.
"A rodent in my pants? Not very original. Smacks of Disney."
Initially, Kim was uncertain about the man's entire change of demeanour. "What are you talking about?
Shockingly, Bates removed a small candy on a stick from a chest pocket and struggled with the plastic wrapping. The tell-tale lollipop.
"Damn things," he resorted to using his teeth to tear the wrapper.
Kim understood. "Yono!" Kim's grip on the broad sword tightened.
The evil Yono used Bate's body to communicate with his foe. The eternal puppet master.
"Speak of the devil and he shall appear. You now have three wishes. Wait, is that how this works?"
"I know what you are now. And I will stop you."
But the Yono passed on Kim's threat nonchalant. "No, you're supposed to sign over your soul. Then you get three wishes. I think I left the contract on my other human slave. Laundry day, you see."
"You've been parading as Lord Fiske's faithful ally while he searched the globe for your idols in an effort to stop you," Kim accused. "You want to be found."
Yono leaned to stare over Mr Bates somewhat plump belly. "You know, if this man doesn't get medical attention soon he may lose his foot."
"Well, he did just attempt to flatten me." Demonstrating how annoyed she felt about said attempt to nail her to the floor with a giant hammer, and Yono barely acknowledging her, Kim ramped up the pressure on the sword tip. Pressing it against Bate's jugular. Drawing a small trail of blood.
"Well now, has the loss of your boyfriend brought out something more entertaining in you?" Yono scrutinised Kim. "No. You're bluffing. Your hero values aren't broken yet. I would like to educate you, I find the morally black and white heroes have the farthest to fall from that high horse, but Warhawk is finally on the trail of the final idol and you have been re-categorised from unwitting ally to nuisance."
Yono would never crack under threat. Probably he would laugh manically through the sputtering blood. There was nothing more violence could achieve. Kim released the possessed Mr Bates and dropped the sword. Her moral worldview still intact, if shaken by his taunt that this experience may re-forge her.
Could she even be sure if Mr Bates was a willing participant? Or had the Yono invaded his mind as he had Ron?
Kim backed down. Yono was pleased. "You know, maybe I should offer Mr Bates a contract. His soul for the restoration of his foot. Feel he would go for it?"
Kim thought back to Lord Fiske's retelling of the Legend of Toshimiru, the Monkey Master. Of Sun Wukong and his evil doppelganger, the Yono. "Someday soon, I will hold your soul in my hands, Yono. That's what the idols are, aren't they? Your soul divided into quarters and spread across the world."
Yono frowned.
"Fiske told me everything. I will hold your soul in my hands and you will beg me for a deal."
Yono sneered. He found the concept repulsive. "Fiske belongs to me, dear. He signed his contract. I reaped his soul a decade ago, Joe is confronting him now in fact. Soon I will hold Mr Stoppable's. In life. Or Death."
"Fiske works for you?"
"Oh, dear. You didn't leave your mother alone with Fiske, did you?"
…
Joe produced a pair of plastic bindings, intent on restraining Fiske. "I'm pleased you like to talk. You can tell me all about your adventure with the Yono in the comfort of a Global Justice safe house."
A cornered rat, Fiske raised his cane. Brandishing it like a melee weapon.
"Now, now," Joe warned. "Come quietly and I won't cripple your other leg."
"Funny. I was about to offer you the same option."
The study had only the one exit of which Joe stood between Fiske and freedom. This said, an unlikely show of physical resistance from the crippled Lord raised the hairs on Joes neck and he now become uncomfortably conscious of the fact Fiske was between Joe and Anne Possible.
Fiske had to be subdued expediently. Hard.
Joe scooped up a tea cup on the coffee table from earlier, launched it at Fiske's head like a baseball, and closed as Fiske swatted the flying object away with his cane. Joe, however, was the one caught off guard by Fiske's skill in the martial arts. He thought the old man would swing the cane like a baseball bat. Most people would. A long wind up and a wide swing which wasted energy. Rather, Fiske struck with lighting strikes seemingly from all angles at once. Joe had to be quicker to block blows on his forearms and shins, forcing the confrontation up close in the lord's face so he could not get momentum enough to break bones.
The conclusion of the brief conflict had never truly been in doubt.
Joe hooked Fiske's left leg with his own and pushed. Fiske's crippled right leg had no show of supporting the lord on its own. Fiske came tumbling down.
Joe stood over his fallen opponent.
"Leg giving you trouble?"
"Bloody thing never has been the same," Fiske lamented.
"Good form, Fiske. In a fair fight, in your prime, you might have had me. Too bad only a fool fights fair."
With exceptionally high spirits, Fiske observed, "There, we happen to agree," while Joe began to experience one of those sinking feelings as he fell under a giant's shadow whilst from Anne escaped a started gasp.
Shockingly silent for such a man, the Sumo Ninja stood at Joe's flank before even Anne realised his presence. A hand large enough to encompass Joe's face clamped down around his skull and lifted him so his feet dangled in mid-air.
Fiske apologised profusely. "I am sorry, how rude of me. This is my associate. Mr Tsuyoshi."
…
Rufus in one hand and Wade in the other, figuratively speaking, Kim sprinted for Fiske's study. Ensuring her mother's safety was top priority. Never mind the Yono's propensity for head gaming, it could not be chanced.
So she was mildly taken aback to meet her mother half the distance to the study. Sprinting in the opposite direction. Kim skidded to a stop on the hallway rug.
"Go, go, go!" Anne gripped Kim's elbow on the way past, pulling her daughter in the opposite direction.
"Wha…?"
An entire wall exploded outward ahead of Kim, behind Anne. Bomb! flashed through Kim's thinking. Instead she was horrified by the spectacle of Joe, school janitor and her (somewhat) trusted mentor, his head encased in a fist, utilised as a battering ram to bulldoze through the building's structural walls.
Such a fist belonged to man who could be mistaken for an elephant walking on its hind legs. A man you would presume may feel more at home in a sumo ring. Almost comical appearing in his stretched robes. Almost – except for the deadly serious, deliberate actions he took in wringing out Joe like wet laundry.
Joe wriggled free of his opponents grasp, bracing one leg on sumo's chest and the other against his fat face. Pushing and kicking to free himself. The sumo let go, for now, as opposed to enduring a battering to his jaw.
With a slight of his hand faster than Kim's could follow, Joe produced an unexpected firearm from an unknown pocket on his person. Kim had not even known the aging international man of mystery was carrying a sidearm! He never declared anything at airport security.
Sumo was quick too. Quicker than anyone could judge by a look at the man. His forearms shoot out like vipers to grip Joe's weapon hand and direct the muzzle away from his body. Then, like a python, he squeezed. Squeezed until the metal and Joe's hand were indistinguishable.
Screaming, truly screaming with ear-piercing agony, the fight left Joe as his knees buckled.
Joe dropped the weapon. Twisted and unusable scrap of metal it now was.
Joe on his knees.
Sumo turned his head, directed his gaze on new prey. Sights set on Kim.
Anne continued to tug on Kim, urging Kim to, "Run!" but Kim stood fixed. Her brief spat with the spy, the certain knowledge Ron needed her help out there, somewhere, how could she leave Joe to this savage man? Kim urgently needed a strategy to topple the behemoth.
Battered and broken. But never one to take your eye off. Joe pulled a small knife from, again, one of his endless pockets. Thrust it into the giant man's calf and twisted. Inflicting maximum harm by keeping the wound from closing.
"Kim, get out!"
A giant fist slammed in to Joe's head like a freight train, cutting off his command. He was knocked senseless. No, truthfully Kim could not even be sure he was still breathing.
Kim allowed her mother's instant pressure to pull her away. Together they ran. From the townhouse. Down the block. They kept running.
…
Clutching the hilt of his cane, Fiske hobbled through the new hole in his study room wall. He stood over the unconscious spy. Nudging the body with his cane reminiscent of a child poking a beached jellyfish with a stick.
"One out of three?" Monkey Fist observed, incredulous. "Having an off day?"
Tsuyoshi knelt to remove the knife from his lower calf. With his enormous girth he had trouble simply leaning over and pulling it out.
"Don't pull that out here. Glue and bandage the wound in my study."
Sumo complied.
"At least he's unlikely to have struck an artery under all that fat."
The large man grunted reply and headed for the study. He hated cracks about his weight.
"I need you on your feet," Fiske said to sumo's back. "Warhawk will soon have the final Yono idol and I'm sure the Yamanouchi will not far behind."
…
The Possible's ran and ran and ran. Out of Monkey Fist's townhouse. Down the street and two blocks over before Kim was satisfied there was no pursuit. Least which she could determine scanning rooftops and vehicular traffic. Motioning Anne to halt, Kim hailed a cab and told the driver to drive. Anywhere. Taking routes at random with no conceivable destination.
Once moving, Kim re-established contact with her Wade.
"Call the London police and report a violent assault," although Kim could not say for sure if her mentor was alive or dead she did not want to think in terms of 'murder' right now, "has taken place at the Monty Fiske residence and that Monty Fiske attempted to keep Mom and myself against our will."
"Tell them the offender is armed," Kim added. Not technically true. Sumo did subdue Joe with his bare hands proving he was undoubtedly dangerous, "They have a critically wounded hostage. Once the police are on their way get me a line to Betty Director. I can explain what is wrong with the world today."
"Oh, and Wade. Fiske. Blacklisted. Burn him."
Burn him. Permissions granted for Wade Load, 'The Ghost In The Machine' of the hacker community, to utilise the information highway to destroy a man.
"You got it," no questions asked. Wade could not say who had been assaulted. He had been briefing Kim on Global Justice problems when a commotion broke out on the other end of the line. The authority Kim spoke with as she barked orders left no doubt swiftness was essential, besides, after the mess on Senor Senior's island Joe bored into Wade's skull the essential knowledge he was the lifeline of the team. There would be occasions Kim would give an order without the luxury of explaining herself. It may be life or death. Half a world removed from the sudden, violent events in the Fiske residence Wade knew only excitement for locating Junior Senior had turned to swift violence.
Wade could be trusted to play his part. Soon Kim would have a line to Global Justice. Now she caught her breath and punished herself.
"I can't believe we left him!"
"Joe told us to go. He made the right call," Anne was certain. "He couldn't lay a hand on that beast!"
Anne reached out to hold her daughter. "Good thinking calling the police. I understand it hurts to leave a friend but now we can return with the assistance we need to make a difference."
…
"yono. yono. yono. yono."
The unnerving babbling of Mr Bates. Sedated and in the care of paramedics. Kim felts cold to the bone as the valet was wheeled past on a stretcher. Escorted by uniformed officers of the London Metropolitan Police Service under whose supervision his injuries would be tended to.
"We found the damage to the interior walls, signs of a multiple violent confrontations and blood spatter all consistent with your version of events, Ms Possible. Unfortunately, no Monty Fiske. No hostage."
The police had been swift to descend on Monty's townhouse, perhaps urged behind the scenes by Betty Director, Kim did not know. Nevertheless, they found an empty abode.
Failure fuelled Kim's frustration and self-recrimination.
"Fiske's face will be all over the six o'clock news. There'll be no hiding."
A photo of the hostage may have been helpful as well. They felt silly being unable to provide the police with one. Odd, after more than a decade of Joe being a close family friend and her marital arts instructor James Possible and the twins could not find one snapshot of him in all the family photo albums.
The Possible's told the police everything they knew– their purpose for visiting Fiske and how the friendly meeting moved into violence. Perhaps withholding knowledge of a secret ninja cult and a mythical evil - thanked them for their efforts and were granted some space.
Wade called with news. The Possible's and Rufus were keen to hear it.
"Global Justice is making locating Monty Fiske and Joe a top priority."
Diverting resources to locate a kidnapped teenager and thwart an ancient prophesy during a global crisis was beyond Betty Director's capability, however sympathetic personally to Kim's cause. Director had the equivalent of a house on fire, a bucket of water and political bosses peeking over her shoulder to ensure she spent her bucket wisely. Joe disappearing alongside Fiske elevated security concerns over the cuckoo monkey lord's activities.
Neither Dr Director nor Joe would ever elaborate on the old spy days, the secrets each must have accumulated over a lifetime or the understanding between them today. It was enough it worked in Kim's favour now. Fiske, or Yori, would crop up on their global network and Kim would be there.
"Junior has updated the destination on his flight plan twice since I last checked in. First to Dubai. Now Istanbul. It's like he's attempting to disguise the destination but why log a flight plan under his name at all? Ground control confirms the plane is real enough, Junior is leaving Australia on a generally north-western heading."
In her head, Kim recounted her previous engagements with the sociopathic billionaire. What was Junior's stake in these events?
"Junior wants me to follow him. This has never been about the Yono for him. It's my attention he craves."
Flattering.
"(Boy has issues)," Rufus commented.
Wade surmised he may want to address the issue of Kim's stalker delicately. "So Junior is leaving a breadcrumb trail, updating the records regularly to say, "I'm here. Come get me?"
"Or he simply doesn't know his final destination yet," Anne postulated. "Could he be following someone else?"
Now Wade looked to be truly awkward. Rubbing his neck and avoiding looking directly at his webcam.
"He may be. One last item you need to see. I received a suspicious e-mail while you were interviewed by the police. I don't know what to make of it. But I've verified the source twenty times by now."
Wade replaced his visage with an Aerial topography map.
"A satellite image," boy genius commentated, "of the Prince Regent Nature Reserve, Western Australia. This is Mt Hann. When I zoom in…."
Scouring the riverbed which circled Mt Hann. Two figures. Almost indecipherable blurs at this level of zoom, they may well have been a random distortion of the picture. A jelly smear on the page. One blond blur and one black-raven on top.
"Ron!" Kim did not require a clue. Seeing evidence of Ron, this distorted bunching of pixels half a world away, Kim felt a charge run through her. The task of retrieving her best friends seemed so much less insurmountable with imagery of his travels to focus on.
Anne observed the blurry image depicting two. "And Yori with him, I expect."
"Yes," Wade verified. "I corroborated this photo with arrival/departure records of the nearest airports during the same time window. A Yamanouchi corporate jet did depart Wyndham airport today. Less than two hours ago. Only some hours distance from Mt Hann by helicopter."
Kim noted the time stamp on the photography.
"Approximately a fourteen hour trip. Pointless to intercept them on the Australian continent."
The girls, Kim and Rufus, could murder Wade for highlighting the obvious. Ron was right there!
"Next came a second satellite image and a message."
A desert. Ancient pyramids in danger of being swallowed in an ocean of sand.
"By the longitude and latitude coordinates I've identified these ruins as the Nubian Pyramids at Meroe. On the banks of the River Nile, Sudan."
The message read, Hey BFF. Sorry MF turned out to be a F. Need you in Africa, ASAP. See you in Khartoum.
HGs&KSs.
Mon
There was an ominous undertone; the familiarity Kim experienced reading the note.
"Who sent this? Junior?"
"Monique…."
"Monique?!"
"Monique," Wade confirmed.
"Like, some other Monique?"
"Privacy laws and Betty Director be dam – ah," Wade noted Mrs Possible over Kim's shoulder, "darned! Monique boarded an Air America indirect flight to the Sudan twenty minutes after your departure to London. In the category of those first to arrive in Sudan…."
"What's the bet we can find a Yono idol at Meroe?"
"I've given up playing the logical bet on this capper," Wade confessed. "It fits the pattern. Toshimiru hid all the idols we know of beyond the fringe of the Mongol Empire. Western Russia. South East Asia. We can assume Australia. Egypt was able to halt the invaders. Toshimiru could then have followed the Nile upriver deeper into the heart of Africa."
Going once. Going twice. Sold.
"Get me on the first plane to Khartoum."
"It so happens, Lord Fiske has an impounded private jet he isn't using. Dr Director ordered it fuelled immediately and the London Metro will see you to the airport. I used the puppy dog eyes."
"Kim out."
On a scale of one to mythical monkey maniac on the weird scale, Team Possible's unlikely tipster was off the chart. A friend. Clearly, Kim knew less about her friends than she might have thought.
Beyond insane. Mon who arrived in time see Kim off. Monique who convinced Anne the benefits of mother and daughter mission bonding. Even helped pack the bags….
Expressing an opinion, "So we're on the same page, I vote this is a trap," Anne said.
"Y E S, Y E S," Rufus fervently agreed.
"What hasn't been? We leave our luggage behind. Everything except the weapons."
"I didn't pack for a warm climates anyway."
"Sure you still up for this?" Kim asked, all seriousness. Thus far the mission had taken more violent turns than either Possible predicted and they had lost their most able ally. Their crutch walking a bad road.
"Don't even think about going this alone," Anne commanded. "I must be out of my mind permitting you to travel to Africa to confront an evil monkey spirit. Lucky, or unlucky, for you I want payback for Joe as much as you."
It was a near certain chance Kim would come to regret dragging her mother toward the danger. She rationalised it would be near impossible to stop the elder Possible – her own unyielding determination undoubtedly came from her mother. Honestly, for her own sanity, Kim infinitely preferred the company.
"I really could use a friend with me. Please and thank you." Anne was grateful to hear it.
If Joe had been present, Kim mused, he would have promised Monique was to find herself in a dark, small room. Blindfolded. Without food though with plentiful water and shrink wrap. And remain under those conditions until he was satisfied with her answers.
But, no. The Yono was correct. Kim had not lost her high hero morals quite yet. Kim would have to step in and protect her friend from Joe's horrifying wrath. She would have answers though. Kim could guarantee Monique that.