Bagging the Limit
Disclaimer – I don't own Kim Possible.
A/N – Thanks to all my readers and reviewers, you are what make doing this all worthwhile. Note that ~O~O~O~ indicates major shift in time, place and focus. ~o~o~ indicates small shifts in time, place or focus.
My longest chapter yet at just over 9000 words. Kim and Shego take it to GJ, GJ struggles to respond and Ann confronts Nancy.
The nominating period for the 9th annual Fannies ends soon (June 20). This is your chance to honor the authors and stories you love. Go to the Kim Possible Discussion Forum and look for the nomination thread for instructions. Let your favorites know what you think of them. (Note - I am not eligible for any Fannies this year.)
Chapter – 8 – Bagging the Limit
Shego stood on a warehouse rooftop in Tiraspol, Moldova, surveying the warehouse across the street and its adjacent office building. Both buildings looked dilapidated and rundown but observation would show an inordinate amount of traffic entering and leaving both buildings. The same observation would also reveal that most of the people entering and leaving the buildings had a bearing about them that screamed law enforcement to a trained observer such as Shego. Turning from her surveillance, she made her way into the building and descended to the ground level.
"Looks like we are good, princess. The last transfer only left two prisoners in there. They shouldn't receive any new prisoner for a least a day." Kim nodded absently to indicate she heard Shego as she finished packing her mission gear.
After going over the list of Global Justice covert bases they obtained from the listening post in Turkey, Kim and Shego had selected several targets for immediate action. The targets had all been fairly close to their location, had minimal defenses and would cause GJ maximum embarrassment. The first choice, their current target, was an unofficial holding and interrogation facility for super villains disguised as a warehouse in the business district of Tiraspol, Moldova.
The plan was to wait until the prison had a minimum of prisoners and stage a raid. They would attack the offices in order to draw the attention of the local police, while being careful to avoid damaging the actual holding facility under the warehouse or releasing any of the prisoners. Once the police were on the scene, they planned to expose the existence of the prison. According to the data they had taken, the facility was operating without the local government's knowledge or permission, so the revelation of its existence should cause quite an uproar.
Seeing that Kim was ready, Shego opened the door and headed across the street towards the office building holding the prison's offices. With Kim hot on her heals, she didn't even break stride as she used a plasma charged fist to destroy the main door and Kim scattered several smoke grenades around the front of the building. Once inside they quickly disabled the two agents guarding the front door and made their way to the main office located in the basement. As they ran Kim activated a special app on her cell phone that called the local police and delivered a prerecorded message about the attack on the prison. They quickly reached the main control room and entered with a display of force; Shego sending a plasma ball to destroy the communications panel as Kim took out the two guards at the door.
"If you don't want to get hurt just surrender now. The local police have been notified about this base and will be arriving shortly." Shego commanded as Kim finished subduing the agents by the door. The agents glanced around, trying to decide whether to fight or surrender, when the agent who looked to be in charge surprised them by moving rapidly to a console and pressing a large button. Immediately sirens started to sound and recorded emergency warnings advised them to evacuate the building. As the head agent tried to flee, one of the other agents grabbed him by the arm.
"Are you mad? Do you realize what you have done? You can't blow up this base and release two super villains in the middle of a major city. Are you mad?"
He pulled his arm from his underlings grasp. "I am following orders. We are not to allow the existence of this base or its purpose to be exposed. Releasing a few super villains is a small price to pay. Now follow me, we can't have any Global Justice agents on the scene, they could incriminate us."
As the head agent ran off the other four agents exchanged stunned looks before turning to face Kim and Shego, who had equally stunned looks on their face.
"What did that moron do?" Shego emphasized her question with a plasma wreathed hand.
The agents started to move towards the entrance as one yell at the two. "He activated the emergency destruct system. We have two minutes to get out of the building before it is destroyed."
Kim and Shego exchanged a baffled look as they raced after the agents.
"What is a GJ base doing with a self destruct system? That's something I would expect in a super villain lair." Kim demanded when they had reached the street in front of the building.
"It is an emergency measure designed to be used as a last resort if the base was taken. I never expected it to be used so casually." The agent looked like he was about to say more when the agent who had pushed the button emerged from an alley and cut him off.
"That will be enough, Agent Green. You are in violation of regulations for sharing confidential information with wanted fugitives." He turned to face Kim and Shego. "You are under arrest by order of Global Justice. Come quietly and you won't be hurt.
Kim placed a restraining hand on Shego's arm as she stepped forward to challenge him. "What are the charges? And how do we know you are a real Global Justice agent? This base is not on any public list of Global Justice facilities."
The man pulled himself up straighter. "I am Head Agent in Charge Clarence Yarrow Anders. Here is my ID. Now surrender yourselves so we can leave before the local authorities arrive."
An explosion from the warehouse cut off any reply the women had. "It can't be the self-destruct, it still has 25 seconds." One of the agents said in confusion. The answer to everyone's unspoken question appeared when two figures stepped from the smoke around the destroyed warehouse.
The first was a large, ruddy faced blond man in coveralls carrying a large scythe with a glowing blade. Standing next to him was a wiry, dark skinned man clad in while dress pants and white shirt who had a small pouch at his side. They looked at the group with contempt.
"Looks like the GJ boys had to run off and get some girls to help. No matter, they will not be able to stand before the might of Cyrus McCormick, the Reaper." The large man sprang into action, charging the group and swinging his energy scythe at anyone who came near.
The GJ agents scattered to avoid his attack while Kim moved forward. She leapt over his first attack, dropped under his second and, avoiding his third, landed a front kick on his chest knocking him back.
"It's going to take more than a farmer with delusions and an energy sickle to stop me." She taunted, skipping back out of range of his attacks, a smile on her face. Enraged the man charged after her, swinging his scythe wildly.
"It's a scythe not a sickle, little girl. You can't dodge my attacks forever and when I do hit you will find you short life has come to an end."
Kim simply smiled at his threat as she continued to effortlessly dodge his attacks. Her attention was drawn to the sound of a large explosion nearby. As the smoke cleared, she saw Shego struggling to rise to her feet, as the wiry man in white started to run towards her a small ball in his hand. Thinking this was his chance to catch Kim unawares, the Reaper struck at Kim's back with all of his might.
Kim, who had seen him start to move out of the corner of her eye, leapt into the air and came down on the handle of the scythe, driving it into the ground. As the Reaper struggled to pull his weapon free, Kim attacked with a flurry of kicks and punches. Almost immediately, the Reaper fell to the ground unconscious, with four ribs broken by a roundhouse kick, three teeth knocked loose and his jaw broken by a left, right, uppercut combo and a severe concussion from the axe kick that knocked him out.
Seeing that Kim was tackling the mad farmer, Shego moved towards the other escaped prisoner. Seeing her approach he backed up to maintain distance between them as he pulled a ball from the pouch at his waist. He then started to run at Shego, before suddenly stopping and throwing the ball at Shego with an overhand motion. Seeing that it would hit the ground in front of her, Shego smirked.
"Looks like you threw a little short. It's going –." Shego's comment was cut short, as she had to drop to the ground to avoid the ball that had bounced off the ground headed straight for her face.
"It will take more than snappy patter to stop the Spinner. I suggest you let me leave before you get hurt." The man spoke in the clipped accents of upper class British society as he readied another ball.
Brushing dirt from the front of her uniform, Shego snarled at the man. "You caught me by surprise, that's all. You won't do it a second time, no matter what kind of trick throws you use."
The man ran towards her again a scowl on his face. "I do not throw the ball, I bowl it, you ignorant cow."
Shego saw the throw coming and dodged to the side to avoid it, a satisfied smirk on her face. The smirk vanished when, instead of bouncing straight as she had expected, the ball had veered in her direction. She tried frantically to dodge but was still caught in the shoulder by the ball, which exploded on impact. Shego was knocked to the ground stunned and struggled to get back to her feet. The man calmly backed up to give himself space and pulled another ball from his pouch.
"I told you to just let me go. Now it is time to finish this."
The man started running towards her again in preparation for another throw. Unfortunately for him, he was caught in the side by a flying kick from Kim just before he could finish his delivery. The ball sailed into a nearby wall, where it exploded into a mass of sticky stands of fiber. As he rolled on the ground in pain, Kim had raced to Shego's side without bothering to finish him off.
"Sweetie, are you all right. You're not hurt are you?" Kim demanded as she helped Shego to her feet.
Shaking her head to clear it, Shego leaned on Kim for a moment before standing on her own. "I'm fine, Kimmie. He just caught me by surprise. It's no big. What about the bad guy?"
Kim glared to where she had left the villain and saw him struggling to his feet, holding his side. "Don't worry, he is about to surrender if he knows what is good for him."
Seeing Kim and Shego glaring at him, the Spinner raised his hand in surrender. "Just my bloody luck. I get a chance to escape and run smack into a couple of super heroes."
~O~O~O~
As the lights in Dr. Director's office went up, Will and Ken Du turned from the viewscreen to face her desk. They had been stunned into silence by what they had seen. Someone wearing a voice distorted to protect his or her identity had given a guided tour of a top-secret Global Justice listening post. They had shown each of the agents assigned to the base along with copies of their personnel files.
The worst part came when the main control room was shown and close-ups were provided showing the live feed of intercepted traffic from a half dozen nearby nations. The narrator had made several snide comments regarding whether the target nations knew they were being monitored. The video ended with the narrator giving the bases location and boarding a GJ hoverjet.
Dr. Director regarded the two agents for a moment.
"Gentlemen, that video was sent to numerous government agencies in the region as well as news agencies worldwide. It has been posted to the Internet, where it has been viewed by over 25 million people. Six governments, including Turkey, have sent teams to investigate the base. Luckily, they decided to cooperate or this could have sparked a regional war that, given the US presence in the region, could have spread worldwide. Once the base's existence and purpose were confirmed, a formal protest was lodged with the UN. In addition Turkey has formally withdrawn from the agreement authorizing Global Justice to act in their country and given us two days to close all bases and remove all personnel."
The brothers exchanged a worried look. Withdrawal from the agreement was the ultimate sanction a country could level against Global Justice. It made all GJ personnel persona non grata in the country and forbade them from operating the area, even when pursuing a villain. It effectively made the country a haven for criminal and super villains, which is why no country was willing to take that step unless absolutely necessary.
"So far we have been able to mitigate their actions. This time, though, Possible and Shego have hurt us and there is no way we can cover it up. What are your thoughts?"
Will had a thoughtful look on his face for several moments before speaking. "I don't understand why we had a listening post in that. There is no major super villain activity in that area and I know of no UN mandate that authorizes us to be there."
"It's a covert operation for the UN called Sn –." Ken's answer was brusquely cut off by Dr. Director.
"The operation is classified on a need to know basis. The bases purpose is irrelevant to the question at hand. Evidence indicates that while in the base, Possible and Shego downloaded all of the data from the main computer, including a list of classified operations and bases. I want your thoughts on how we should proceed."
Will glanced at Ken and proceeded after receiving his slight nod. "How are we going to handle the UN? Our response will depend on what actions the UN and the oversight committee take."
Dr. Director was about to reply when her secretary activated the intercom to inform her that the oversight committee was on video link demanding to speak to her immediately. Muttering 'Speak of the Devil' under her breath, Dr. Director instructed the secretary to put the committee through. The three turned to face the viewscreen as it flared to life to show the seven members of the United Nations Committee for Oversight of Law Activities. Without preamble the chairman started.
"Dr. Director, in light of the upcoming UN meeting with regards to the incident in Turkey, we would like to hear how you plan on handling the situation. As the official oversight committee for your organization we would be remiss is we did not investigate this to the fullest."
The brothers glanced at Dr. Director, wondering how she would handle the situation, and were surprised to see a predatory smirk reminiscent of Shego on her face. "I am well aware of the problem you gentlemen have and would be happy to offer my advice on how you can deal with it."
The committee members looked confused. "What do you mean our problem? This was obviously a Global Justice operation and you will have to handle it." The committee chairman tried to sound forceful and commanding but came across as petulant instead.
Dr. Director's smirk grew wider. "If the committee insists, I will handle the situation. I will have to testify before the UN and explain that the base was part of a classified operation authorized by the oversight committee. I will probably be compelled to detail its name and purpose in an open hearing. The committee can be certain that I will do my best to justify the actions of Global Justice and the oversight committee."
The faces of the committee members had paled at the thought of Dr. Director testifying about her actions and those of the committee as well. After a brief, whispered consultation, the chairman addressed her. "You don't think you can threaten us do you? It would be a violation of global security to disclose the existence and purpose of that program. If you do disclose it you will be arrested and sent to prison." He blustered.
Dr. Director laughed. "If I do go to prison, I hope I get a cell near yours. Besides, if I inform the General Assembly that I can't testify without breaking global security laws, don't you think they will vote to give me immunity in exchange for my testimony?"
When there was no reply, she continued. "You gentlemen need to face the fact that once again your actions are the cause of the problem. I have cooperated with you in covering up for too long. If you gentlemen don't take care of the problem then you can expect me to handle it in the manner I described."
After cutting off further communications with the committee, she instructed her secretary to refuse all further calls from the committee. She turned back to the face the brothers, the uncharacteristic satisfied smirk on her face. "That, gentlemen, is how I will handle the committee. Now, we need to get back to considering the problem of how to deal with Possible and Shego."
The brothers sat in silence, thinking, for a minute before Ken started thinking aloud. "How is Possible finding and picking targets. The prison was an obvious target, given that she wanted to free Shego. Its existence was an open secret and details of its exact location and defense wouldn't have been too hard to find. The Space Center was another obvious target given Plantain's involvement and her connection to the Center would have made getting information easy, particularly since we know she had hacked the computer system months before they struck.
"But how did she pick the listening post. Less than one hundred people knew about their mission and probably less than five hundred knew of the bases existence. Even if she found out the bases existed how did she know what its purpose was. The video shows they knew of the bases exact purpose and planned to exploit it. Could she have some outside source of information?"
Dr. Director and Will stared at each other shocked.
"Wade!" They almost shouted in unison. Seeing the confused look on Ken's face, Will explained.
"Wade Load. He was Kim's hacker and tech guy. He disappeared shortly after Kim was placed on probation."
Dr. Director picked up the explanation. "He tried to help Kim avoid probation by exposing the truth about what happened in Plantain. We managed to keep him from going public by threatening to charge him with hacking and spying. The NSA decided this was the perfect opportunity to forcibly recruit him. I warned them that was the worst thing they could do but they wouldn't listen. After they threatened Wade and his family, they all disappeared. He ghosted all of them.'
Ken looked puzzled. "Then how come I didn't hear anything about him? He wasn't even mentioned in the information I received on Possible."
Dr. Director gave a short bitter laugh. "When he ghosted his family and himself, he didn't just destroy all electronic record of their existence from every database in the world. He sent false orders that resulted destruction of almost all the hard copy records too."
"Why didn't you recreate the records from information obtained from those who knew him?"
This time Will gave a bitter laugh. "He also planted some sort of virus in every system that automatically destroyed any new records pertaining to him and his family. It apparently alerts him if there is any mention of a hard copy record too. I spent four weeks compiling all of the information we had in a hard copy only report. When I e-mailed Dr. Director that it was ready, his software must have alerted him. It was good thing I was working late that night because I managed to stop one of the records people from destroying the only copy. He had official orders from me, countersigned by Dr. Director to destroy them. Since then all reference to Mr. Load has been strictly off-line"
Ken shook his head in amazement. "No wonder the NSA wanted to recruit him. What can you tell me about him? Could he have hacked our system and found out about the listening post?"
Dr. Director sighed and she nodded. "He used to routinely hack our system and those of everyone else in the world. He would find classified data, re-task satellites, commandeer vehicles, you name it, he did it."
"Do you think Kim got in touch with him?" Ken asked.
Will shook his head. "No, I don't think even Possible could find him. Every intelligence organization in the world has looked and not found a clue."
"But if Possible was looking for information, Wade would know about it. He could have contacted her." Dr. Director added thoughtfully. "I think this is something we will have to consider. I want a review of all potential target made with the assumption that Possible knows as much about our operations as we do. I also want all information related to Possible classified internal, need to know."
The brothers were about to reply when Dr. Director's secretary interrupted, saying they needed to see the latest news reports.
Turning on the viewscreen the three were greeted by a live news broadcast from Moldova. The scene shown was of a burning warehouse with emergency trucks clustered around. At first, the reason they had been told to watch eluded them until a running banner at the bottom of the screen proclaimed the emergence of the new super hero team of Kim Possible and Shego.
The report gave a recap of how they had found an illegal prison operated by Global Justice. Rather than be exposed, Global Justice had freed several super villains they were holding illegally. In the ensuing melee, Possible and Shego managed to capture the villains and turn them over to the local authorities despite the active opposition of the Global Justice agents operating the illegal prison. The report ended with a shot of a global Justice agent being taken into custody as he raved about global security and threatening them all with prison.
Ken had a twisted grin on his face. "I guess we know where they planned on striking next."
~O~O~O~
After the problems in Moldova, Kim and Shego had chosen a target that would draw media attention but would have a low risk of them being seen. The news crews in Moldova had been incessant in their questioning about what had happened. They kept constantly asking if they were a new super hero team, what their future plans were and how they knew of the secret prison. They had only managed to get away when one of the Global Justice agents had been spotted. As he was barraged with questions, they had slipped quietly away.
Once they were safely away from the scene, they rapidly headed to the house they were renting as a temporary base. Once inside they immediately started to pack, intending to be long gone by the time Global Justice started to hunt for them.
"Kimmie, I thought Venice was bad, but those guys just wouldn't let up."
Stuffing clothes into a bag, Kim didn't even look up as she answered. "Tell me about it. At least in Venice we had a good cover story. What were we supposed to tell them this time? That we're on a secret vendetta against Global Justice and planned to expose the hidden prison we found out about when we exposed their illegal listening post. That would have gone over well."
Shego grunted in agreement and continued to pack. As soon as everything was packed and they had removed all trace of their stay, Kim contacted an old acquaintance and arranged a ride for them. Soon they were on their way to an isolated airstrip were a small cargo jet waited to take them to Africa. Once they arrived at their destination, they secured a house to use under an alias and settled in to plan the next attack.
After reviewing the information obtained from the listening post, they narrowed the list of targets down to two. The first was an ammo dump being used to supply rebels that had been disguised as a humanitarian aid mission. The second was a clinic that was using administering vaccinations as a cover to collect genetic samples for screening of potential meta-humans. After reviewing the pros and cons of both targets they decided on the ammo dump, as it would be the less likely to get them personally involved with the media.
~o~o~
Two day later, they were in a room in a rundown hotel, the only accommodations in the area. Shego lay on the bed while Kim slumped in the room's sole chair as both were exhausted from spending the day touring the town and nearby refugee camp. From talking to the locals, they knew the situation was much worse than had been reported on the news. Most of the people were on the brink of starvation, since only about a tenth of the promised food had been delivered. Officially, rebels and insurgents were said to have stolen the food but most of the people seemed to believe the aid workers had actually stolen the food. They pointed out that two barbed wire fences as well as numerous guards protected the area where the food was stored. Given all of that, they asked, how the food could have been stolen without a fight.
"Why would they do it? Why shortchange the locals on the food they promised? It's the whole reason for them being here. I would think they would want to do a great job on the aid so no one would ask questions and find the secret behind what they did. It doesn't make sense." Shego complained to the ceiling.
Wearily lift her head, Kim replied in a tired voice. "Because they're cheap. They figure no one will question what they do no matter what, so they cut spending on non-essential like food so they have more for weapons."
Shego slowly shook her head. "We need to make certain the world knows about this. I may be a villain and may have done some bad things in my life but I have never stooped as low as these people." She spat out the last word as though it were a curse.
Kim gave a tired chuckle. "I have the perfect idea. There will be no way they can deny this one."
~o~o~
The next morning the town was flooded with news crews from around the world, following the lead provided by Kim's anonymous e-mail. After the success of those who followed this sources lead regarding the affair in the desert, the hidden listening post and the illegal prison, every organization that received the e-mail or heard about it had rushed a news crew to the designated spot.
The agents running relief operation had been flooded with questions about the cause of the food shortage and rumors of secret military bases. They had replied with well-practiced answers; claiming the food had been stolen by rebels and insurgents and stating the only military presence in the area was force designated to guard the food supplies. One of the press agents had stated there was so little munitions in the area that 'if it all went up at once it would hardly make good a fireworks display'.
Kim and Shego had shared an evil laugh when they heard that particular reply. Kim had sent a second e-mail around noon instructing those who wanted a great story to have camera and film crews near the area where the food was store at 11 o'clock that night. The pair had then readied their equipment for the night and taken a short nap to insure they were fully rested.
Once the sun had set, they observed with approval a crowd of news crews standing as close to the barbed wire guarding the food as they were allowed. Shouldering their equipment, they set out into the moonless night. Circling around they approached the secure area on the side farthest from town and the gathered news crews. Knowing there were no alarms on the fences, the two easily made their way over them and separated as they entered the camp. Every guard, soldier and agent was quickly and silently rendered unconscious, then bound and gagged. After a quick sweep of the base to insure they had missed no one, they set to work. The first order of business was to transport the bound prisoners to the fence near the spot they had used to enter the base. Once that was accomplished, they placed a number of devices on timers at carefully selected locations and connecting them to various pieces of munitions.
Having finished their business in the base, they made their way to where the prisoners had been left. Cutting openings in both fences, they set about carrying the prisoner out of the camp and placing them on the far side of a small hill, out of sight of the camp. Checking their watches and finding they had ten minutes until the timers went off, Kim and Shego settled down on the side of the hill facing the camp to watch the show.
As 11 o'clock approached, the news crews grew restless, each jockeying to get the best shot of the area behind the fence. The base had been virtually depopulated as the agents on site had been called out to insure the crews maintained the proper distance from the fence. Exactly at the stroke of 11, the first timer activated. The news crew watched, as there was a small explosion in the camp. Many wondered if the was all that would happen, feeling that after the build up the actual result was rather anti-climatic, when there question was answer by another explosion followed in rapid succession by a half dozen more.
Each explosion was bigger than the last, until the final one filled the night sky with fire from a group of rockets that had raced into the heavens before exploding. Most of the news crews simply stared at the sight of the fading light from a few small fires when one of the newsmen spoke.
"If that ain't a good fireworks display I don't know what is."
The assembled news crews burst into laughter, knowing what the lead for their story would be. Within the hour, video of the event was being broadcast all over the world. Most stories feature the unfortunate press agent saying 'if it all went up at once it would hardly make good a fireworks display', followed by shots of the explosions. For the next week, the video dominated the airwaves as citizens groups, charities and governments around the world demanded to know what had happened at the base and where all the food intended for the starving locals had gone.
Kim and Shego had silly grins plastered on their faces during their entire trip home.
~O~O~O~
Ann Possible was glad when her husband left for work at the Space Center and took Jim and Tim with him. When they had been released from the hospital and told to rest for a week, they had initially rebelled against the orders and trying returning to work immediately. They had ignored both parents when they tried to order them to stay home and had only agreed to follow orders when Nan Possible put her foot down. The last week had been trying on everyone, with the twins constant whining and trying to secretly perform what they called minor experiments. Today the house was blissfully quiet, with only her and Nana home.
Her other reason for being glad was that she now had a chance to confront Nancy about what had happened to Kim. That was definitely a conversation she did not want her husband or children overhearing. When the pot of tea was finished brewing she put it on a tray with two cups and, taking a breath to steady herself for the coming confrontation with a woman she still feared, she made her way to the guestroom and knocked.
"Come in, dear. I have been waiting." The old woman's tone was polite enough but Ann knew from experience it hid a will of steel. Entering the room, she placed the tray on the small table.
"I thought we could have a cup of tea and talk about things." Ann glanced around the room surreptitiously; looking for the security measures she knew must be there, as she poured two cups and set one in front of Nancy.
"That's nice dear. You go ahead, I'm not thirsty now. What did you want to talk about?"
Ann's resolve firmed at the woman's calm, know it all attitude and she decide to confront thing head on. "I want to know why you lied to us about what happened to Kim in Plantain? Was it all some plot to remove the grandchild you couldn't control?"
Fancy's face betrayed the faintest hint of annoyance at Ann's question. "I did not lie to you about anything. I love Kim and would never do anything to hurt her. Leave." She rose and started for the door when Ann blocked her path and curtly ordered.
"Sit down. I will say when this conversation is over." A startled look on her face, Nancy swiftly resumed her seat.
"How did you do that? I haven't eaten or drank anything I did not personally check. I am certain you have not slipped me any of your Compliance serum and you don't have the resources to construct an obedience disk without my knowledge."
Ann laughed at her as she pointed at the steaming teapot. "I have improved the serum so that it can be delivered in vapor form. I improved its effects too. I now call it my ACCORD serum, ACCORD for Artificial Cortical Control for Obedience, Respect and Deference. As you breath in more of it, you will find you will vanishing until you become my willing little minion."
She gave an evil grin at the look of worry on Fancy's face. "Don't think about trying to fight the effects. If you struggle too hard I will be forced to use this." She held up a small disk covered in intricate electronics.
Nancy struggled to speak. "What is that? Some sort of new obedience disk? There is no way you could have done all of this without me knowing."
Once again Ann laughed. "You can blame yourself. You have Hench so scared of you, that when I reactivated my account he wasted no time in giving me almost unlimited credit. I used that credit to buy a new base and stock it with modern equipment. The agents you had shadowing me were easy to handle once they got a dose of ACCORD. The device is my improved obedience disk. In addition to ensuring complete control when worn, it also alters the synaptic pathways so that if worn long enough the disk is no longer required for control. I call it my MASTER disk for Modifying and Altering Synaptic Traits to Ensure Rule. If you don't want to wear one for the next couple of days I suggest you do as I say."
Nancy stared at her in horror at the implications of Ann's threat. "You wouldn't. You were never that evil. Someone would stop you."
Ann smirked at her. "You forget that the only reason you caught me was because I was in love with James. You gave me a way out of my old life. This time I am not playing a game like before, this time I am fighting for my children and I will do anything to protect them. Remember that."
Nancy stared into Ann's eyes for a moment, then looked away. "I give up. What do you want to know?"
Ann felt a brief thrill at breaking a woman the rest of the world though was unbreakable. "I want to know why you lied about what happened to Kim in Plantain?"
Nancy sighed. "I already told you, I didn't lie. My contacts in the Agency said that she and Shego interfered in an arrest of a major drug supplier with ties to Islamic terrorists. Shego deliberately took out an Apache attack helicopter piloted by US agents. The deal Betty gave them was the best that could be arranged given that they were wanted for Murder and Terrorism."
Ann shook her head and pulled out a small laptop. Pressing her thumb against the depression on the top, she waited for it to activate and once the In-terror-net logo was displayed, she called up a number of saved documents and a video file. "This document shows that Shego had rented a beach house in Plantain. This is a transcript of the Plantainian Government's request that Kim track Shego and recover a stolen artifact. This inventory report shows the item was never stolen. This is a video of the attack, taken by the one surviving Apache."
Ann clicked on the video and the women watched as the helicopter flew in towards Shego's beach house at tree top level. The saw the unprovoked attack on Kim and Shego as well as Shego's wild response. The saw her attack damage the tail assembly on second Apache and watched as the pilot lost control. The saw the Apache strafe the ground forces before launching several missile, one of which caught the main rotor of the third Apache, sending it plunging into the ground. The video ended with the pilot totally losing control of the second Apache and crashing it into the nearby jungle.
Nancy's face had grown grim as she saw video. "They lied to me. People I called friends, people I trusted with my life, lied to me. About My Granddaughter." The last three words were said with special emphasis.
She looked Ann in the face. "I swear to you, I knew nothing about this. My contacts, people I have known and trusted for decades assured me they had investigated the situation and confirmed the Plantainians account. If I had known this, I can assure you I would never have stood still for Kim being punished. I though Kim was in danger of being corrupted by Shego. They said they would use the probation to get Kim back on the right track. I was told the problems were caused by Kim being uncooperative."
Nancy Possible took a breath to steady herself, as a look that would have frightened whole squads of men came over her face. "Someone will pay for this. If it is the last thing I do before I die, I will track them down and punish them for what they did. I won't be able to do this alone and neither will you. Together we can make whoever did this pay. Will you help me?"
Ann gave her an evil grin. "You couldn't stop me if you tried." Reaching into her pocket, she passed a small vial to Nancy. "Here, take this. It is the antidote to ACCORD."
Nancy quickly downed the contents of the vial and stood up. Looking at Ann, she returned her evil grin with one of her own. "If they though dealing with a Possible and a Van Gogh was hard, wait until they have to deal with a Credible and a Molli. They won't know what hit them."
Gesturing towards the laptop. "Let's see what Jack has that we can use."
~O~O~O~
For a final target, Kim and Shego had picked a location rather low down on their list. Originally, they had decided to pass on it until Kim caught Shego downloading a movie from a torrent site. In the middle of her diatribe about not stealing and how she was hurting the artists who worked on the film, Kim had fallen silent a thoughtful look on her face. Shego had demanded to know what was going on but Kim had ignored her for several minutes until an evil grin formed on her face. After explaining her idea, Shego had agreed it would be the best possible way to get revenge.
Two days after they took out the hidden ammo dump in Africa, they were perched on hill in rural Wisconsin, overlooking a nondescript building surrounded by a chainlink fence. Although the building looked almost abandoned, they knew it had first-class automated security. Once they were certain there were no human guards on the perimeter, they waited until late in the night and made their way toward the building.
They quietly made their way to the fence, where Shego bypassed the sensors, and made their way over. Taking care to avoid motion sensors and tripwires, they approached the rear of the building. Using Kim's grapple gun they ascended to the roof and silently crept to the roof door. Deactivating the alarm, Shego cautiously opened the door and slipped inside, Kim following close behind. They made their way noiselessly down the stairs and into a corridor. After moment spent checking for alarms and sensors they silently passed down the corridor to an unmarked door. Shego disabled the alarms on the door and they passed into the room, shutting the door behind them.
As Shego kept watch, Kim made her way to the main computer console and typed briefly on the keyboard, checking to see if the covert internet link they had installed was functioning properly. Satisfied with what the screen told her, she pulled out a small flash drive and fitted it to the system. Kim again typed on the keyboard for several minutes before removing the flash drive from the computer. After a few more brief keystrokes, Kim rose and motioned to Shego. Retracing their steps the pair was soon on the hill overlooking the building again.
"Princess, how long do you think it will take them to detect the leak?" Shego inquired as they removed all trace of their presence from their temporary base camp.
Kim gave the area final once over. "It's hard to say. I would say at least a day or two, if they are monitoring torrent sites and catch it right away. If they don't find it until word of the leak reaches other sites, it could be as long as a week."
~O~O~O~
Will and Ken Du made their way through Global Justice headquarters, arriving at Dr. Director's office exactly on time for their meeting to update her on their progress in hunting down Possible and Shego. Their teams had finished the advanced hand-to-hand combat course Dr. Director had required and were currently reviewing all known information on Possible, Shego and their associates. Ken and Will, in the mean time, had been jetting around the world dealing with the fallout from Kim and Shego's attacks.
They entered the office and stood at attention in front of Dr. Director's desk, waiting for her to finish her call with the media relations team. Hanging up the phone she surveyed the brothers for a moment.
"Report. How is the situation in Africa?"
Ken spoke first. "The situation has been resolved. Global Justice only sponsored the base but did not staff it, so we were able to have the actual personnel operating the base held responsible. The story is that the supplies were sold on the black market and the proceeds used to fund the rebels. They are in custody pending their trials and the agencies they work for are being required to provide the humanitarian aid that was supposed to be there."
Dr. Director nodded as she made a note in a file. "I am certain the agencies involved will be most cooperative. If not, we will have to give them an incentive to do the right thing. What about the situation with the holding center?"
"Since the holding center was part of the Defense Against Major National and International Terrorism program, the Moldovans have been convinced to not prosecute anyone. The do however insist on all damages being repaired." Will answered crisply.
"What about the prisoner's who escaped? Who were they and why were they there?"
Will continued. "The first, Cyrus McCormick AKA the Reaper, was an extortionist working in Eastern Europe. He would demand that farmers and rural communities pay him off or he would destroy their crops."
Dr. Director looked at him questioningly. "Why was he in our custody? If he was a super villain, he should have been in a normal holding center. I see no reason why he would be classified as a terrorist and sent to that facility."
"He would use the proceeds from his crimes to payoff officials in another country to give him sanctuary, so the local officials convinced Interpol to classify him as a terrorist. That let them turn him over to us once they apprehend him."
Making a note on the pad in front of her, Dr. Director inquired. "What about the second prisoner?"
This time Ken replied. "He was Karamchand Sankar AKA the Spinner, a disgruntled former cricket player. After he was banned from cricket for an illegal action, he vowed revenge on the BCCI, which led the drive to ban him. He obtained a number of trick balls and set off on a crime spree. Most of his crimes involved attacks on cricket matches. He was captured attempting to disrupt the IPL championship game.
"The problem was that the Spinner was a Pakistani national who had been banned at the instigation of the Indian control board. It was thought that keeping him in either Indian or Pakistani custody could exacerbate the existing tension between the countries. To defuse the situation, the two governments got the CIA to claim he had terrorist ties and then turn him over to us."
Dr. Director made another note on her pad. "Very well, have them turned over the correct authorities and make certain they don't find their way back into our custody unless they are classified as super villains. Send the bill for the damages to Interpol and the CIA. What about the agent in charge of the base, Anders, what has happened with him?"
Will and Ken shared a small smile before Will answered. "Agent Anders was on detached duty from the CIA. As such, he was only supposed to be an advisor but convinced the agents on scene that as the senior agent in the field he was in command. We had a memo sent to all agents reminding them that agents on detached duty from other agencies are there as advisors only.
"Since agent Anders acted as a Global Justice agent in making command decisions and communicating with public, I invoked section 109.b subsection 4-2 and had him declared a full Global Justice agent. As such, he is subject to our disciplinary procedures and is current confined awaiting his trial."
Dr. Director favored him with a small smile of her own. "I see your brother is rubbing off on you."
"Nonsense, Dr. Director, I was merely following proper procedures." Will replied stiffly.
"What did the agency have to say about our taking over one of their people?"
Ken smirked. "When they contacted us about releasing him we pointed out that if they claimed jurisdiction over him then we would have to comply. We also pointed out that we would also have to explain to the media why he was being released and who he actually worked for. They decided we could have him."
"Good. What have you heard about Kim and Shego's latest action?" When neither brother spoke, she continued. "A week ago they broke into an archive facility that stored records of joint missions undertaken in cooperation with other agencies. The record covered a ten year period, with the latest dating to five years ago."
The brothers exchanged a worried look as she continued. "After they patched the secure network connecting our facilities into the internet they installed torrent software so the archives files were available for anyone to download. Only redacted summaries were stored on the computer system. The complete reports were stored in locked vaults which were not breached."
Will gave a sigh of relief. "That was lucky for us. If all that was available was redacted summaries, no operational details were released. Therefore, none of our agents or operations should be compromised."
Dr. Director shook her head. "If they had wanted to compromise out current operation they would have. Remember, they entered they entered the facility, planted the software and left without anyone detecting them. If we had not found out about the leaks from our monitoring of the internet we would never have known they were there."
The brothers looked slightly confused. "Then what was the point of their exercise? Were they trying to prove they could do it?" Ken asked.
Dr. Director shook her head. "No. You have to remember what Kim is after. She wants to expose us and via that exposure destroy us. If they had released the full reports, they would have every intelligence and law enforcement group in the world after them. Instead they released the redacted summaries, which had all of the sensitive data removed. Here take a look at this."
She activated the viewscreen and brought to reports up, one heavily redacted. "On the left is a copy of the full report about extracting an undercover agent from a rebel group. On the right is the redacted summary. Notice that the redacted summary has had all reference to the purpose of the mission and any details of the operation removed."
The brothers read in silence for a moment, when Ken exploded. "It reads like a kidnapping and execution. With all of the details removed there is no way to tell the mission wasn't some kind of assassination."
Will had a look of dawning comprehension on his face. "Without the details, there is no context for any of these reports. Someone reading them with a suspicious eye would see innumerable crimes. No wonder Possible and Shego went this route. They can't be accused of leaking secrets because all they made available was the redacted summaries that were meant to be released."
Ken nodded, a look of grudging admiration on his face. "It's diabolical. With all these reports made public, every group that is mentioned is going to be occupied for weeks trying to explain them. And I bet most people won't believe anything they say, figuring it to just be a further cover-up."
"Gentlemen. I won't try to sugar coat things. One or two more blows like this and we will be finished. The only reason we aren't shutdown already is because I have been able to use other groups' involvement in the exposed crimes as blackmail." The brothers were shocked to hear Dr. Director, head of Global Justice, refer to their activities as crimes. "About twelve years ago my predecessor started a policy of close cooperation with other intelligence and law enforcement agencies. When I took command, I continued that policy. That was a mistake."
Dr. Director stood from her desk and strode to the viewscreen. "Every operation that has gotten us in trouble, including the mess that started it all in Plantain, involved another agency. That stops now. I have given orders that effective immediately no further cooperation will be extended to outside agencies without my express prior approval. I have also ordered that all joint operations with outside agencies be terminated immediately."
She turned her gaze to Ken, who look about to ask a question. "The program involving the listening post will either become an internal Global Justice affair or it will be taken over by another agency. We will no longer serve as convenient fronts and dupes for every intelligence bozo in town."
Will and Ken stood in silent shock at her words. Without the cooperation of other agencies, they would have diminished resources to employ. On the other hand, they would no longer be restricted by the requests and demands of those self same agencies.
"Now for your assignment. I want you to bring Kim Possible and Shego in. I do not want them arrested and I particularly do not want either of them seriously injured. Is that understood?"
The brothers nodded as Will asked. "Why not arrested? They have broken multiple laws."
Dr. Director cut him off before he could continue. "If we arrested everyone involved in this that had broken the law, we would all be in jail. I do not want Kim arrested because I think we can still prevent her from becoming a full-blown villain. So far, her actions, while damaging us, have not hurt the general public. Don't forget that on several occasion, such as Venice and Moldova, she went out of her way to protect the public and capture the villain."
Ken nodded shrewdly. "Her not being a villain makes it easier. There are things she won't do."
Dr. Director shook her head. "No, it makes her much more dangerous. Look at how the media is hailing her and Shego as The new super hero team. That reputation makes it much harder to act against her and makes anything she says that much more believable. We need to convince her to stop opposing us soon or we will be destroyed."
She fixed Will with a stare. "I want you do whatever it takes to accomplish your mission. If you fail, you are fired." As he started to protest, she cut him off. "No excuses. If you had done your job of overseeing her probation correctly, we would not be in this situation. Dismissed."
~O~O~O~
A/N – Thanks to only-looking for the improved DAMNIT. Bonus points if you know what Van Gogh is in reference to (hint–it is not the painter). More bonus points if you can figure out what Credible and Molli refer to (Hints–Maiden names. Nancy is not named Jen. Ann's middle name is Olivia). Answers in the next chapter Action and Reaction - 9 - Snark Hunt.