Kim Possible, Shego, Wade, Ron, Yori, and other characters from Kim Possible are property of Disney. Some characters are original. Kim Possible: Altered Destines is series of stories based off the events of Old Family Ties and New Beginnings, PRISM Predicament, and Awakenings.

Kim Possible: Altered Destinies

Old Friends

Chapter 2

Kim smiled as she told Shego of the mission that led to her first meeting with the Silver Phantom. "It was about two years ago, Professor Dementor was planning to sell a seismic generator to a crime boss here in Nearburg. The hit came from the boss's own daughter, she was afraid daddy would ruin her tenth birthday if he set off an earthquake in the city. By the time I got to Nearburg, Dementor was long gone so I had to settle with stopping his client. Funny thing was, me and Ron didn't know anything about Nearburg having it's own masked crime fighter until we bumped into him, literally, in the rafters."

The hooded figure chuckled and shook his head. "I was staking out this old abandoned factory because, suddenly, it got pretty busy in the last two days. I knew something had to be up. I was sitting there, completely invisible, just focusing on what it was they were bringing in when Ron, the klutz, trips over me. So, I'm hanging on to a rafter, Ron's hanging on to my cape, and the only reason we weren't swiss cheese at this point was because, to the goons, it looked like Ron was floating in midair. Well, that was until the clasp on my cloak gave way and Ron goes flying, floating to be more accurate, down to the ground, somehow using my cloak as a parachute."

"So I'm looking down and I see Phantom, this guy, probably as scrawny as Ron, decked in this weird silver jumpsuit and a cowl over his head, just dangling there. I look down to see if Ron's okay but I can only make out his legs because he's got himself wrapped up in the cloak before he hit the ground. By this time, the thugs figured out they've been raided and start pulling out their weapons. So, I grab on to Phantom, shoot my grappling hook, and swing us both to the ground behind some wooden boxes while all these bullets just whiz past us."

"Yeah, yeah, we land there, we both kind of look at each other. I wanted to ask who she was, what was she doing here, and I knew she wanted to ask the same thing but we both sort of reached some silent agreement to throw down first and ask questions later. I reach into my belt and toss out a few flash bombs over the box we were taking cover behind, they go blind for a while, and Kim just pops out from around the corner and shoots this elastic thing from her lipstick and ties them all up with it."

"Oh, and remember what happened after that? The crime boss stood on top of the seismic generator and made this whole monologue about he'd rather level the whole city then let a couple of punk kids stop him. Whatever, I couldn't remember exactly what he said but Ron, still trapped under the cloak, stumbled right into the back of the machine and, get this, he hit the self destruct button!"

Shego let out a groan and slapped her palm against her forehead. "Oh, dear god. Why? Why do all mad scientists put a self destruct button on their doomsday machines?"

Kim laughed. "Oh, I don't know but leave it to Ron to just ram himself into it by accident. Anyway, he does that, the machine starts counting down from twenty and Phantom freaks. He screams to Ron, 'You idiot! You're going to get us all kill!' He grabs Ron, flings him over his shoulder and we race out of there, even the boss who was five steps behind us. The whole thing explodes, the henchmen got through it well enough since my lipstick elastic absorbed most of the blast and the boss was knocked out cold because he was close enough to the explosion to get knocked over by it."

The Phantom nodded. "And... that was about it. With all the action behind us, we made our formal introductions, waited for the police, and then we went our separate ways. Got to say Kim, didn't think I'd see you back in my neck of the woods, especially with Shego."

Shego turned to the local superhero and gave him a quick glare. "And what is that suppose to mean?"

Kim tried to diffuse the situation and pulled Shego back a step. "Phantom, I know Shego's had a... less than stellar reputation but I can vouch for her, she's completely changed."

The Silver Phantom took a cautious step back, trying not to agitate the situation further. "Well... of course, I mean you're always seen with Ron. I mean, I turn on the news, it's you and Ron, I'm just surprised with this sudden change of pace is all."

Shego broke free from Kim and made her way toward the house. "Whatever, let's just get on with this."

Kim sighed in relief and followed her along with Phantom. She turned to her one time ally, curious to see if he had any local knowledge of Dr. Chordate. "You're the local hero around here, what do you know about the good doctor?"

Phantom kept walking but faced Kim. "Dr. Chordate? Recluse, supposed genius, conducts her lectures through a closed circuit television and internet classrooms. Other than that, I only know what everyone else in the city knows about her."

"And what's that?"

"That she's a freaky fish lady."

Shego turned around and snapped her finger. "Hey, Kim, if you and the halloweenie are done with your pow wow, maybe we can get this over with."

Kim let out a quite huff, annoyed by Shego's obnoxious behavior but suppressed it, reminding herself again to be professional and to be patient with Shego. She knocked on the door. "Dr. Chordate, it's me, Kim Possible. I came in response-"

Before Kim could finish, a loud buzz scratched out from behind the door, the sound of locks coming undone prompted Shego to gently push the door open. "Obviously a security freak," she said, looking down at Kim for a moment. Once inside, the room felt moist and sticky, like they just walked through a sheet of dirty water. Look around, the house seemed to have been made with metal floors, aqua painted walls, a constant buzz of cheap florescent lights, and various displays and pictures of fish and other aquatic animals proper up on the walls and standing on various tables and shelves. "...I guess she's just a freak in general."

"I heard that!" They all jumped, the sharp voice caught them by surprise. Now coming toward them, Kim could finally place a strange face along with the strange person. What wasn't covered in a tightly closed lab coat, buttoned completely around the neck, gloves, and rubber boats was a narrow, pasty face with extremely thin, almost non-existent lips, greased, shining hair worn back, and ears stuck right against her head. It was strange, even her eyes were concealed behind a pair of thin sun glasses. "Now, if you 'heroes' are done critiquing my home, I believe you're here to actually be useful."

She was definitely rude and a bit blunt but it wasn't Kim's place to judge. "Yes, I'm curious to why you called us. You never said what your problem actually is."

"Of course not, I didn't want to risk my work being plagiarized," she said coldly, her lips moved as little as possible, as if she was consciously hiding her teeth. "Two months ago, I began breeding a new type of piranha that consumed human waste and released them into the sewers."

Shego processed that for a moment and then cringed. "Wait... you made piranha... that live on... oh that is sick and wrong."

"It's a service to the community, my piranha can consume waste faster and more efficiently than the city can process it. However, beginning a week ago, I've noticed that they've been dying in large groups."

Shego chimed in with her own brand of useful insight. "Maybe because they weren't meant to eat a bunch of-"

Kim cut her off. "Shego, hush up!"

Chordate waited for them to finish before continuing. "I've personally gone down there to inspect the situation. They're being eaten, I know it! Something is in the sewers eating my piranhas. So, I need you to go down there and hunt it down before it consumes my entire school."

Kim cringed at the thought. "Wait... you want us... to go down..."

Chordate advanced toward the three. "Yes, yes, into the sewer, find whatever is killing my fish and kill it! Now go, go, go!" she shouted, pushing all three of them out the door with curious ease and locking it firmly behind them.

All three of them stood there stunned, stunned by the request, stunned by the fact that all three of them were so easily shoved out by a sickly looking person like Chordate, and just stunned by the whole situation in general. "What did I tell you girls... freaky fish lady."

"So, we're really going to do this?" Phantom asked as he slowly lifted the manhole cover up from the ground, exposing the entrance into the city's underbelly. "I mean... she's obviously doing something illegal with those fish swimming around the sewers. You need a permit for that... I think."

Kim tweaked with her watch until one of it's knob shined out a strong beam of light like a fog light. "I don't like it any more than you do Phantom, but if something is eating the piranhas, it won't be long until it gets hungry for something a bit meatier, like people."

Shego let out a defeated sigh. "I guess that's your way of saying we have no other choice. Alright, I know I'll regret asking this, but what's the plan Possible?"

Kim went over to Shego and turned on the flashlight on her watch. "We split up, look for clues, call in if you find anything. That's all I can think of for now."

Shego looked back at Chordate's house then back down at the gapping hole in the street. Phantom just shook his head and clicked something on the side of his visor, causing two green spots to appear over where his eyes would be. "Great, well Kim, if I end up as lunch, I'm taking you off my Christmas card list this year," he grumbled before making his decent downward.

Kim began climbing down the imbedded ladder leading to the sewers until she noticed Shego looking back at Chordate's house. "Come on Shego!"

Shego nodded and looked back at Kim. "Sorry, I was just thinking of something. Let's do this."

Once down below, the three heroes split up and started exploring the sewers. After smelling Shego's sweat stink, it wasn't to bad for Kim to get around as she shone her light over every possible inch of the tunnel to find any clues. Silver Phantom, on the other hand, was doing his best to keep his mouth shut to keep from tasting whatever putrid vapor was hanging around him. Shego wasn't concerned with the smell or with her assignment to search for clues, she was following the sewers as best she could to head back toward Chordate's place. Sure enough, after some time weaving around the tunnels and corridors, she found a door at a dead end that would have been directly under Chordate's home. "Alright flounder face, let's see what you're keeping from us."

After about an hour of searching, Kim took out her Kimmunicator and contacted Wade. "Wade, connect me with Phantom. I want to know if the friendly ghost has found anything yet."

It didn't take long for Wade to hook Kim up to Phantom's communicator, sewn into the ear of his cowl. Hearing the incoming beep, he pressed his finger onto it to open the line. "Yes, I'm here."

"Did you find anything yet?"

"Nothing, I've tried night vision, ultra violet, infrared, but nothing comes up. All I've been able to find is scraps of bones and scales. I can say is the hunch Chordate had about her fish getting eaten was accurate enough... wait, I think I found something."

"What is it?"

"Just caught it on the infrared. It looks like a clump of matted fur caught on a drainage vent. It's quite a chunk, more than a handful, still warm too."

"Can you pull it out and take a closer look at it?"

"What? Are you crazy? I'm not sticking my hand in that water!"

Kim ended the call right there and tried to communicate with Shego. "Shego, any luck?" No response. "Shego, do you read me?" This time, the line went dead altogether, Shego's watch simply vanished from the Kimmunicator's network. "Shego? Damn it... where are you?"

Shego pocketed the battery into her jumpsuit and strapped her watch back on. "Sorry Kimmie, but you're a little to noisy for breaking and entering." The door in the sewers lead into a private laboratory underneath Chordate's home, obviously this was where she bred and later released her fecal feasting fishes. The first thing Shego noticed was something buzzing in the corner. At first it looked like an AC unit but when Shego took a closer look, it was actually a giant humidifier hooked into the central air vents. "So that's why it's so damn moist in here."

Besides the standard assortment of glass tubes, beakers, fluids and miscellaneous equipment, Shego noticed that most of the drawers and cupboards were filled with boxes of fish food. Moving on to the refrigerator, Shego slowly opened the door and gagged from the initial smell. The sewer might have been bad, but the fridge was infinitely worse; pots and containers filled with rotting meat. There was a jar of water but it seemed odd somehow. Shego dipped her finger into it and tasted it, recoiled by it's bitterness. "Salt water, figures."

Shego stepped away from the horror show that was hidden in the ice box and finally found something wroth her time; a laptop. With a sly grin, Shego booted it up and got to work. "Alright chum breath, let's see what you're hiding."

Silver Phantom and Kim regrouped with nothing to show for their hard work. "Well, besides the fur, I found nothing. What about you, Kim?" Phantom asked.

Kim sighed and shook her head. "Nothing, I even lost track of Shego. I hope she's ok," she said with genuine concern.

"I'm sure she's fine," he said to reassure Kim. Suddenly, a realization fell upon Phantom. "... Say, this thing is eating piranhas, right?"

Kim slowly nodded. "Right."

With a smirk, Phantom pulled out a pocket knife. "If there's one thing I know about piranhas, it's that they share a common trait with sharks." He pushed the blade down against his index finger and sliced through his glove and his skin to start a blood flow. "They can both smell blood in the water." He pinched his opening hard enough to force a few drops into the sewage. "Once those swimming garbage disposals catch a whiff of this, they'll all come looking for their free meal. And when they do that, our mystery monster won't be far behind."

"Nice plan, except when you take into account that this particular breed of piranha aren't attracted to the smell of blood, they're attracted by the smell of something else that comes out of the body."

Phantom slowly put away his knife, trying to hide his shame. "Oh... I guess you have a good point there Kim..." Just then, something caught Phantom's attention, something moving in the corner of his infrared vision. He turned toward it and tried to magnify his visor for a closer look. "Kim, something's coming... uh oh."

"What, what is it?"

"Well... it's certainly not a piranha... we better hustle back topside."

Kim could just make out the back of the creature breaking the surface of the water before she started making her way up the handholds toward the surface. "Common Casper, move it!" she shouted, offering her hand.

"Alright, I'm coming but don't call me Casper!" he protested as he grabbed on to her. With a jump from him and a pull from her, he was able to clear the manhole and roll onto the street. A moment later, the ground violently quaked, sending the two tumbling back. They slowly regained composure and stood back up on their feet, amazed at the strength of whatever it was they just fled from. The ground around the manhole was dented upward, the asphalt cracked like a pie crust. Slowly, Phantom turned toward Kim. "Well, you're used to this kind of crazy stuff Possible, what's your plan?"

Kim looked at him with a mix of confusion and offended shock. "Me? You're the local hero, don't you have any idea on how to save you're city?"

Just as they were arguing, another quake rocked the ground but this time it was accompanied by the earth splitting asunder and the beast from down below roaring up into the night sky behind a cloud of dust and debris as the two heroes watched in fear. "Well... so far Kim... the only thing I can think of... is to buy me a change of pants..."