Chapter 19 : Cicada Strategy
"If you three thought that building a vax ray was such a HORRIBLE idea, why didn't you say something during the meeting ?" Kim asked after a few moments of staring out the gaping hole in the wall, "We could have prevented this whole mess !"
"We told Dr Director that building a vax ray was a very bad idea days ago !" Vina replied, "What happened ? Did she not tell you ? Or did Wade just blow her off because he 'knew' better than every other expert on the planet ?"
"Yes, Mister Load, why DID you build that device ?" Dr Director asked coldly, "I warned you of the potential risks of its use personally."
Wade shifted his eyes, subconsciously looking for a place to hide. "Well, technically, you didn't forbid me from building it !" he finally replied, "You just said it was an extremely bad idea. I weighed the risk of going with the slow consensus plan against my more efficient idea of curing everyone quickly, and decided the vax ray was the better idea."
"Well, you obviously guessed wrong this time !" Director fired back, "Did you not think of the legal ramifications of zapping people with a weird, untested ray without their knowledge or consent ? Or the consequences if something unexpected went wrong ?"
"Well, no." Wade replied quietly, "I almost never guess wrong. And the few times that something unexpected has happened before, I was able to fix the problem with no one being the wiser. I just assumed that once we saved the world, you'd overlook the questionable legality of our actions like you always have before !"
Dr Director fixed a baleful glare on him for a few tense moments before she rubbed the bridge of her nose and groaned to herself. "Well, I suppose this is mostly my fault for letting things get this bad ..." she mused to herself before addressing Wade.
"There is no way to overlook this Mr Load !" she finally stated, "People in very high places are going to ask questions, and I'll need to give them some very good answers. We are going to have a long talk about accountability, teamwork, and taking people for granted when all this is over !"
"We'll fix everything in time, Dr Director ! We always have before !" Kim stated, "But we'll need Wade's help to solve this sitch !"
"But this sitch is mostly his fault !" Nina countered, "Thanks to his self-absorbed arrogance, the Unity now has a high tech device they never would have had otherwise !"
"It's not all bad news !" Wade defended, "The vax ray gives off an easily detectable EM signature while it charges up, and that generator they stole with it isn't shielded ! I can triangulate their position within three seconds once the Unity tries to fire it up, then hack in and tell it to self-destruct before they'll ever get a chance to fire it !"
"Really ?" Nina mused, "In that case, they're not going to fire it up ! The Unity's only chance at ultimate success is to remain hidden for as long as they can. Given they know as much about your vax ray as you do, they'd know that using it would give away their position, and so will not bother to use it."
"So they went through all the trouble of stealing a device they'll never use ?" Kim interjected, "Well, if they're so into efficiency, WHY would they do that ?"
"To keep you from using it to cure the Omega virus that is still out there." Nina replied, "And to strip it for parts of course. Much easier to steal the half a dozen nanotronium capacitors from Wade's ray than from the labs he ordered them from."
"Well, that does make sense ... what ? Wait : how did you know I used nanotronium capacitors ?" Wade asked suspiciously.
"You are not the only one who can invent things Wade." Nina replied primly, "For the amount of coverage you wanted, and with the power available, the only logical choice was to use nanotronium capacitors."
"Uhm, so what could the Unity do with those capacitor thingies ? Something we should be worried about ?" Ron asked after a moment of tense silence.
"You know how the Elite can only use their super powers for about two minutes at a stretch before needing a recharge ?" Nina replied before adjusting her glasses, "Well, a nanotronium capacitor would allow them to use their super powers for two WEEKS at a stretch before they'd need recharging."
"Ouch !" Ron winced when the full impact of what that meant hit him.
"And you didn't tell us that WHY ?" Kim asked.
"I didn't believe anyone would be foolhardy enough to actually BUILD a vax ray, much less use it !" Nina replied with a shrug, "Especially after you were warned about what could happen !"
"Oh please ! We have far more experience dealing with uber-tech than you ever had !" Kim retorted, "Me, Ron and Wade have saved this world from it more times than we can count ! We've had a perfect record so far ! A few years ago we recovered the Pan Dimensional Vortex Inducer - a device that twists time, space and reality into a vortex of absolute chaos that could have destroyed the state of Nevada. Local, federal and international authorities were on the case, yet only WE were able to recover it !
In fact, if we hadn't stumbled across it while on another mission, Professor Dementor would probably still have it ! So, as you can see, we have a pretty good idea of what is actually best !"
"If she only knew what was really going on !" Vina smirked to herself.
"And it is your belief that you 'know what is actually best' that is the whole problem." Nina replied to Kim, "The Unity has a copy of your mind. Not only can it predict your every move, it can use your own drives to manipulate you. The harder you try to save the world by your usual methods, the worse things get. As demonstrated by this whole 'vax ray' fiasco. You are, in many respects, the WORST person imaginable to deal with the Unity. Perhaps it is time to try a 'Plan B'."
"But Nina, there is no 'Plan B'." Vina said to her eldest sister to maintain The Great Lie : "Never has been. Never will be. If you have infallible demigods like Kim Perfect and her Inner Circle to solve all your problems for you, why would you possibly need a 'Plan B' ?"
"You know, I'm getting sick and tired of your constantly harping at me !" Kim glowered at Vina before trying for a cheap victory with "I saved your life ! Doesn't that mean anything to you ?"
"Of course it does !" Vina shot back, "But gratitude only goes so far - I am getting sick and tired of the way you are treating us ! My being grateful for your 'heroic' actions does NOT give you the right to abuse and denigrate me and my sisters ! Do you REALLY expect us to be your willing punching bags for all eternity because you saved my life ?"
Kim wanted to rage back and put Vina in her place, but considering that recent 'unpleasantness' with Nina, decided to back off. For now.
"If the Unity has a copy of my and Kim's minds, WHY can't they be more heroic ?" Ron interjected to divert tensions, "Kim's a hero ! Shego used to be one ! So why won't the Unity act that way ?"
That reminded Nina of a line from Dracula : "Oh ! if such an one was to come from God, and not the Devil, what a force for good might he not be in this old world of ours." Her cybernetic race had great potential, but seemed intent on wasting it all on so pointless and irrational a goal as taking over the world.
"Ron figured it out. Even humans a century ago realized that the most efficient way to use superhuman powers is to make the world a better place for everyone, since anything else is a waste or ultimately self-defeating foolishness !" Nina sullenly groused to herself.
"From their point of view, they are being heroic Ron." Tina offered, "If this situation was reversed, would you and Kim do things much differently ? And when, against incredible odds, you single-handedly defeated an entire planet of enemies, would you not be considered heroes by the people you were fighting for ?"
"Great ! What hope do we have then ?" Ron groused, "They have Team Go's superpowers ! Perfect logic ! Unbending focus ! Kim's 'I can do ANYTHING !' attitude and abilities ! Shego's infiltration skills and underworld contacts !"
"And your devotion and loyalty." Vina stated, "That by itself is more worrisome than any mystical or martial arts skills or talent for evil they may have copied from you Ron. One Elite on a mission is bad news; one Elite backed up by another with your level of loyalty is too terrifying to contemplate."
"'Terrifying' is putting it mildly !" Kim shuddered once she tried to imagine such a thing, "Wait ! Did she just compliment Ron ?"
"Well, THAT idea certainly makes me feel better ! NOT !" Ron replied to Vina's observation, "How is anybody supposed to defeat something like that ?"
"By using resources the Unity does not have, of course." Dr Director stated, "They have only their numbers to draw upon to take over the world, while we already have most the world to call upon for help. We only need to ask."
Scene : Later that evening, at GJ press conference :
"So, Miss Possible, you expect us to believe that this current outbreak of 'hemolytic flu' was designed and spread by a race of genocidal robots ?" a reporter asked after checking his notes, as all other microphones and cameras were turned towards Kim, "And that there is a far more dangerous disease - this 'Omega virus' - still out there to worry about ?"
"As that is the truth, then yes." Kim replied, "The Unity robots are extremely dangerous. They stole data for the Omega virus bioweapon, and managed to develop it and get it out into the populace a few months ago. But me, Ron and Wade discovered their plot and informed Global Justice. They pooled the talents of every biogeneticist in the world to figure out a way to limit its spread and develop a test for it. Labs all over the world are currently producing a vaccine, and we can get it developed and distributed in time to prevent major losses of life.
Health organizations from all over the world have developed a plan, and we will need compliance from the world's population for it to work." she continued, motioning to the big screen behind her that outlined the consensus plan.
"But that will take months !" a different reporter noted, "Why can't you just use some sort of ray to heal a lot of people quickly ?"
Kim cringed. "We were working on such a device, but the Unity stole it, and modified it for their use." she answered, shading the truth as far as she could without turning it into a lie, "That is what caused the hemolytic flu outbreaks all over the world. The ray fused the Omega virus to a cold virus in people that were infected with both.
According to the doctors, hemolytic flu has gross symptoms, but is not overly lethal. There is over a ninety nine percent chance that someone that has it will survive. Its spread can be contained by simply wearing gloves and a mask, and the scariest symptoms - the bleeding from sweat glands - is the least contagious phase. Victims will take a month or two to regain full strength and health, but they will most likely live."
"If these Unity robots are trying to kill the human race, why tip their hand by releasing something as relatively weak as the hemolytic flu ?" a reporter inquired.
"Hey, endangering innocent bystanders is standard supervillain procedure." Ron piped in confidently, earning a nodding response from the crowd, "They got a lot of people sick, and those people need to be cared for. Puts a drain on our resources, and gets a lot of people too scared to think straight. Besides, creating the hemo-flu was just a way of poking at us for foiling their main Omega virus plot."
"Speaking of genocidal robots, can you confirm the rumors that there are millions of robots disguised as humans, waiting to strike as seen on the Middleton news months ago ?" an overweight man in a badly fitting suit inquired, earning groans from every other reporter present.
"Erm, well, there are three robots that have been living as humans for over a year." Kim replied, "Lavinia - Vina - Rossum, and her two older sisters Nina and Tina. They defected to our side a bit before that video of Vina being disassembled was released. And a bit after the Unity tried to retrieve them for 'recycling'. Their defection helped us find the Unity's bases, and uncover the Omega virus plot."
"Wait - you're saying Vina Rossum really is a robot ?" a female reporter chimed in, "That broadcast wasn't just a viral marketing campaign for the Artificial Souls miniseries ?"
"Ahm, yes to both ?" Kim replied, trying to unwend that compound question.
Watching backstage, Nina was confused. "I expected that broadcast to start a crippling wave of paranoia !" she stated to Vina, "Turn the humans against us and their own robotics experts ! Why didn't that happen ?"
"That broadcast was only supposed to lure Kim to Japan so the Unity could rob a factory in San Francisco." Vina replied, "Only the Middleton network ran those tapes, and my disassembly was the only thing the Unity had that the humans would be interested in airing. A massive wave of paranoia against us would have gone off IF the Unity had done something very public and very evil a few days afterwards. But they must have gotten distracted, or decided it wasn't worth the effort. Especially after the Lorwardian invasion - that sort of made anything the Unity could do pale into insignificance.
Plus the fact that it takes quite a bit to scare people used to dealing with bizarre supervillain plots every week !" she continued, "Things have changed in the forty plus years since that episode of The Twilight Zone aired ! The aliens were able to isolate the entire town in a time of rampant paranoia; conditions are different now. The Unity had so many balls in the air they had to drop at least one."
Nina thought for a moment. "And any success beyond luring Kim to Japan was merely a bonus instead of a major goal. So they lost nothing if their tertiary plots didn't come to fruition, but gained a little if they did. The Unity didn't use much of the data they downloaded from you, did they ?"
"Of course not !" Vina replied, "If they had, or truly considered us a threat, they would've done something truly horrible - like invade a packed stadium and slaughter the entire audience live on international television - and THEN broadcast my disassembly on every TV on Earth ! I suppose the fact that human reactions are difficult to predict with much precision led them to assume my data was untrustworthy, and so fortunately didn't use it."
Back at the press conference, things were getting wiggy :
"But Miss Possible, can you PROVE there aren't millions of other robots out there, ready to rise up and harvest our brains ?" he continued for some reason.
"Where are you getting this stuff ?" Kim asked, "Do you work for the National Inquisitor or something ?"
"Do you admit there COULD be millions more out there or not ?" the Inquisitor's 'reporter' pressed onward.
Kim wasn't exactly sure about how to answer that question, but tried her best anyway. "I can't prove a negative - that there aren't millions of disguised Bebebots out there. As far as we know, the Unity only made three disguised Bebes - the Rossums - to gather data on what normal humans were like. I suppose they could have made more, but they really don't like humans, and I can't see them wasting the time or material making so many 'inferior' models."
That response earned an ugly glare from most everyone there.
"Hey ! I don't think humans are inferior ! But the Unity Bebebots most certainly do !" Kim replied with a placating gesture, "I've fought their drones ! They make the Grand Wizard of the KKK look tolerant ! The Elite models are even worse ! You don't even want to know what their Core was like !"
"Ah yes, the elite models 'Legion', 'Facade', and 'Spanner', was it ?" an unusually young reporter inquired, "What's up with their names ?"
"The Unity attacked Team Go to steal samples of their DNA." Kim replied, "Legion has the Wego's power to duplicate. Facade has Shego's plasma powers, and a novel holographic disguise capability. Spanner has Mego's shrinking powers, and is their infiltration, computer ace and sabotage expert.
Those three are dangerous with a capital DANGER." Kim continued, "Slightly modified drones were able to defeat Team Go in a matter of seconds; we figure that a single Elite is easily the match of a dozen drones. And that's the least effective fighter of the three !"
The rest of the conference went off without a hitch - even with the National Inquisitor's reporter present.
"Well, it looks like the Omega virus sitch has been dealt with !" Kim stated to Dr Director after the conference concluded, "Now if we can just track down WWEE to save them from the Unity ! The last thing we need is for them to gain control of the resources of an established criminal organization !"
"Don't say things like that Kim !" Ron exclaimed, "They're bad enough as it is ! But how do we find WWEE this time KP ? You haven't seen any of those 'Fly-On-The-Wall' cams flying around, have you ? And I doubt they'd rebuild any base we've been to."
"GJ has other resources Ronald." Dr Director stated, "Gemini goes through henchmen like popcorn. He has the habit of 'killing' them when they fail him. Fortunately, WWEE has something like a recycling program - when an agent disappears down a chute, he isn't killed. He just gets his letter replaced and a transfer to a different WWEE base. This little stunt works because all hirelings look alike to Gemini !"
"And all you need to get a mole inside WWEE is to offer a 'dead' agent a lucrative incentive program !" Ron noted, recalling the time he pretended to be one of Drakken's red jumpsuited henchmen to rescue Kim and Wade.
"A simple plane ticket to someplace else to start over is usually enough." Director replied, "But, essentially yes. It's easy to get agents in, but they're limited to the lower tiers - no one can please Gemini long enough to gain seniority. As a result, we may not know exactly what Gemini is up to, but we can track his movements in a rough fashion, and get some hints when something is up.
In fact, one of our moles reported moving a lot of crates full of equipment from the airport in Mexico City onto trucks just yesterday." Dr Director continued while looking at a display on her desk, "That would imply a WWEE base must be nearby."
"Me and Ron can look for that base while GJ keeps the world to the plan !" Kim said, "If all goes well, we should be able to find it within a week !"
During that week, thanks to GJ's efforts and Kim's charisma and trustworthiness, the world knew what was going on. And what to do about it.
Kim was pleasantly surprised that the massive panic she 'knew' would happen never came to pass - apparently average and normal people were capable of acting heroically when they knew the score.
"Looks like that tip from Gustavo's cousin's best friend's nephew the truck driver paid off KP !" Ron noted as they carefully snuck through a clearing in the jungle outside Teotihuacan, "There's tire tracks all over the place ! And I'm pretty sure the ancient Aztecs didn't use trucks !"
"Well, if you help enough people, someone will know something !" Kim replied, "Even if it is third or fourth hand information."
"Hidden under a pyramid in a forgotten Aztec ruin !" Ron groused in the heat, "Got to give the G dude props though : he knows how to select hidden lairs !"
"Yep. Probably knows how to booby-trap them as well Ron !" Kim replied as she wiped sweat from her brow before calling Wade.
"Find something Kim ?" he asked.
"We're standing outside an Aztec pyramid Wade." she replied, "Any way to get a tech-scan of this place ?"
"Working on it." he answered before typing frantically. "Sorry Kim. Can't get a good signal through all that thick stone."
"Figured as much. Thanks anyway." Kim replied before signing off and looking for a torch. "Looks like we do this old school Ron."
"Right behind you KP !" Ron replied, peering into the shadows. "This is just like Zombie Smasher 7 : Mayan Mayhem ! A little TOO much like it !" he thought.
After nearly half an hour of carefully edging down corridors and peeking around corners, they had encountered nothing more threatening than a nest of irate vampire bats. But while running in circles and waving his arms to shoo away the bats, Ron stepped on a trip plate, which opened a secret panel in the wall before them !
"Why am I always a target for flying vermin ?" he groused to Kim, "First crows hiding in the Sloth ! TWICE ! And now those flying rats ?"
"Must be the downside for having a way with animals Ron." Kim replied as she snuck closer to the opening, "It's mission time !"
"Oh ! Right !" he answered, getting quite serious and focused.
Kim's weirdar was going off as they edged down the corridor - it looked like every other corridor in a high tech lair. Even down to the yellow emergency lighting providing the only pale illumination besides Kim's torch.
"Where is everybody KP ?" Ron whispered to her, expecting squads of goons to emerge from the shadows at any moment, "Did they already abandon this base for another one ? Or was GJ's intel a little off ?"
"Hard to say just yet Ron." Kim replied, starting to get edgy, "But there's a really big room ahead. Look for a light switch so we don't have to search in the dark."
"On it KP !" he replied before looking for a switch or a panel or something concerned with turning the lights on.
Once Ron turned the lights on, Kim realized they were standing in a loading bay. The room was massive, with a thirty foot high ceiling, six exits on the lowest floor, and a catwalk one story up with four exits up there. But completely empty !
"I think something really bad happened in here KP !" Ron stated, pointing to a series of burn marks on the closest wall. Kim looked for more, and found them : every wall has several blast marks on them, and splatters of what she suspected was dried blood. There were about two dozen or more large dried pools on the floor. Looking at the clear angular shapes in a few of the pools, Kim deduced there used to be a lot of crates in here that were later removed.
"I think we got here too late Ron !" Kim stated while trying to keep her lunch down, "Looks like Legion was here, killed everyone in the base and stole everything they could haul away."
"Might be best to look around anyway KP." Ron replied, "There might be some survivors hiding in a closet somewhere. Or maybe we can find some clues, or the security tapes and see what really happened here."
"Good plan Ron." Kim stated after a moment of thought. "You look for survivors, I'll find the security room. Meet back here in half an hour, and call if you find anything."
"On it KP !" Ron answered before heading down the nearest corridor.
After a few minutes, Kim found the security room - but there was nothing but a few blast marks on the walls, three large pools of dried blood, an oversized desk partly driven into a wall, two broken chairs, and torn wires dangling from the walls and ceiling.
"The Bebes STOLE the whole security system ?" Kim groused to herself, "Well, that's certainly new !"
She took a few moments to compose herself before calling Wade. "Got some bad news Wade. Looks like the Unity got here first. Killed everyone in the base. Stole everything - even the security system !"
"Well, that's novel." he replied somberly, "So no tapes to see what happened. Bummer ! Not to sound crude or anything Kim, but how many bodybags should GJ have on hand for the crime scene cleanup ?"
Kim was about to answer when she realized something : THERE WERE NO BODIES IN THE BASE !
"I haven't seen any bodies Wade !" Kim answered, "There are splatters of blood and huge pools of blood all over the place, but no actual bodies !"
"Well, that's creepy." Wade replied, "Are you sure those splatters and pools actually are blood and not something else ?"
"Well, no. But it is the only idea that makes sense." Kim answered, "Why would anyone go through all the effort of planting all that evidence ?"
"Maybe the Unity learned how effective fear can be, and just set the scene to scare you and Ron." Wade noted, "But, then again, no bodies is only a little scarier than mutilated bodies lying about. If the Unity wanted to scare you, they'd go all out. And if you're already there to see it, generating fear would be pointless now. Can you scan one of those pools for me Kim ?"
"No problem Wade." she answered, activating her wrist Kimmunicator to scan one of the many large stains on the floor.
"Well, that's human blood alright Kim." Wade replied somberly after a few moments to analyze the data, "Going by the estimated volume, whoever it was from would not have survived the loss for more than five minutes tops."
"Then where is he ?" Kim asked, "There's no sign the body was dragged off ! And there are DOZENS of those pools around here ! And what would a bunch of robots want with human corpses ?"
"Maybe they're trying to come up with a new biological terror and need tissue samples to test it on ?" Wade offered, "The Unity is so non-human I have no idea of how they think ! But at least we know a few people that might be helpful."
"Yeah, I suppose so. Talk to you later Wade." Kim groused before signing off. "I wonder if Ron is having any better luck ?" she thought to herself before activating the Kimmunicator. "Find anything Ron ?" she asked once he appeared on the screen.
"No. No one is here KP !" he answered, looking about nervously, "I've checked in every room so far ! There is no place to hide in here - when the power went down, all doors opened. So there was no way to hide, no way to barricade or even lock the doors ! This place is freaking me out ! I've seen horror movies that aren't as creepy as this base !"
"You're telling me !" she replied. "Does it look like there is a lot of missing equipment ?"
"Definitely !" he answered, "There's a lot of torn wires all over the place, and scuff marks on the floor. And did you notice there's a lot of mounts for security cameras but no cameras ?"
"That part I didn't notice." Kim replied, "But I did find the security center. The Bebes stole all the equipment ! Looks like they stripped this place for every piece of available tech !"
"They stole the security system ?" Ron asked, "Either they really need parts, or they need to install a security system. They do have the habit of just stealing what they need from local sources. Like that satellite dish in Japan they stole along their way from a base in China !"
Kim recalled that mission that was ultimately just a diversion. "A WWEE base would have some prime equipment. Say Ron - did you find any bodies anywhere in the base ?"
"No. And it's creeping me out !" Ron replied semi-hysterically, "This whole sitch is right out of Brunch of the Dead, Part i - i - i ! They lost contact with an Army base, so they sent a whole squad of operatives in. They found the base in exactly the same state as this lair ! Turns out they were doing biogenetic research at the base, and developed something that got away from them ! All the missing soldiers and researchers had become brain-eating zombies hiding throughout the base, and picked off the team one by one ! In all sorts of gruesome ways ! Each one more wrongsick than the last !"
"Get a grip Ron !" Kim scolded as she reluctantly called Wade to call Nina. "So, N ? What would the Unity want with a whole bunch of human bodies ?"
The line was quiet for a few seconds.
"Uhm, could you provide a little background and context for that question Miss Possible ?" she finally inquired, "There are many options, but I can't determine which is most likely without some more data."
"Oh, right." Kim replied, "We found a WWEE base. Many pools of blood, and massive splatters on the walls, but no bodies. It looks like the Unity stole every piece of tech in the base when they were done with the slaughter. I figure the Unity needs the tech to make more Bebes and bolster their Hive's defenses, but what would they want with human corpses ?"
"They're going to use the muck from Lake Wannaweep to turn them into zombies !" Ron interjected on the other line, "First, they kill everyone in the base, THEN they re-animate them as zombies to labor for them ! Recycling taken to its most wrongsick extremes !"
"Well, that is certainly one of the most gruesome and twisted things I've heard in quite some time Ronald." Nina replied after a few moments, "But extremely unlikely ! Do you, Kim or Shego know where to find a large quantity of that muck ?"
"No. There isn't any left !" Kim replied, "Lake Wannaweep was cleaned up long ago !"
"Perhaps. But the most sensible thing to do with large quantities of muck with such unusual properties would be to store it somewhere secure, until a way to safely neutralize it could be found." Nina replied, "So that animating muck is most likely in a laboratory somewhere. But since neither you, Ron, nor Shego knows where it is, the Unity doesn't know either.
Factor in that they'd have to experiment with it to figure out the proper dose, most likely build some control systems so the zombies do what the Unity wants instead of what the zombies want, plus the fact that they'd have to carry the stuff to the WWEE base, Ron's idea is just not worth the effort. I suspect Legion just dumped the bodies nearby so they wouldn't trip over them while looting the base.
Not everything is a complicated plot centered around you, Miss Possible."
Kim mulled that over for a bit. "Okay, now THAT makes sense !" she finally replied, "You said Legion could only use its duplication power for about two minutes at a stretch, right ?"
"Yes. Why ?" Nina asked.
"This base is huge." Kim replied, "If Legion duplicated, it couldn't get into all needed positions to take over before its powers failed. They'd have to attack all at once from everywhere, or else Gemini's troops would have been able to fight them off."
"Did the base have a generator ?" Nina asked, "Legion only had two minutes of reserve power on board; it could have tapped into base power to maintain its duplicates for as long as it needed."
Kim thought for a moment. "I got it now ! Legion snuck into the generator room and diverted all power into itself ! The base defenses go down without power, and Legion duplicates to form a swarm to take over the now crippled base ! It used the enemy's resources to further its own goals !"
"It is more likely it tapped into the power grid and formed a swarm before attacking the base, then killed base power." Nina answered, "The Unity prefers to NOT draw attention to itself until the time is right."
"Yeah, whatever." Kim sniped back, annoyed at being upstaged, "But how would Legion have found the generator room in the first place ? Scanners don't work very well under all this stone, and WWEE isn't prone to making their bases easy for outsiders to navigate !"
"Does the base have drop ceilings ?" Nina asked, "If Legion could cling to walls and ceilings, it could just get up in there and scout out the entire base without anyone ever seeing it. That stunt worked quite well for the xenomorphs in Aliens."
Kim looked up while rolling her eyes. "Gad ! She's as bad as Ron or cousin Larry !" she groused to herself as she shut off the link to Nina.
Then she noted that the ceiling was standard acoustic tile. Just to be thorough (but still feeling kind of silly), Kim got up on the desk and carefully lifted a tile up.
And, just like in the movie, there was plenty of room for someone to crawl around in there IF they could stick to the actual ceiling.
"And the Bebes can stick to walls ! At least the earliest models could !" Kim recalled from when they went after Dr Chen years ago.
Once she jumped off the desk, she heard something fall into one of its drawers. She slowly opened the top drawer, then noticed a flash drive with a piece of two-sided tape on it.
"GJ's mole must have made a copy of WWEE's data while he was here, and hid it to use as a bargaining chip later !" Kim realized with a grin, "My moving on the desk must have knocked it loose !"
"Hey Wade ! I think I just found something important !"
Scene : Kim and Ron's usual booth at Bueno Nacho
"It's a copy of the security tapes !" Wade stated through the Kimmunicator, "Everything recorded by every camera in the base is here !"
"Someone up there must really like us KP !" Ron noted once he returned with his standard order, "A copy of exactly what we wanted almost falls right into your hands !
But, why are we viewing this here, instead of at GJ ?" he asked once he swallowed his nacos.
"A simple security measure Ron." Kim replied as dozens of holographic screens stabilized above her Kimmunicator, "The Unity 'bots may have encoded a signal to take control of the Rossums."
"Or sent them a signal to betray us !" Kim thought to herself.
"I've seen this recording Kim. Its pretty gruesome." Wade stated, "You sure you want to see all of it ?"
"We have to know what happened there Wade, so yes." Kim replied, steeling herself for the worst as the playback began.
For about ten minutes, nothing out of the ordinary happened.
Then, exactly eleven minutes fourteen point sixty seven seconds in, base power went down. Upon that signal, over two dozen Legion duplicates dropped through the ceiling at key locations in the base.
In the faint yellow light of the emergency lighting, the Legions capered about acrobatically, rolling and bouncing off the walls while slashing and blasting at will.
Gemini's troops were dropped by single hit kills : blade strikes to the neck, head or chest, or having fist-sized holes blasted through their heads or chests.
"Wade ? How many people were in that base ?" Kim asked as Ron stopped eating.
"By a rough count, about eighty seven." Wade replied, "But against twenty six Legions, they were all dead in less than five minutes !"
"All those poor henchmen !" Kim stated listlessly, "They didn't even have a chance to fight back !"
"Did you see all those strange rolls and acrobatics KP ? That was Monkey Kung Fu !" Ron stated in a cold rage as a blue aura flickered about him for a moment, "Those things are using the Monkey Kung Fu they stole from me to kill people !"
"And if you think that's bad Ron," Wade stated as he brought one screen up larger than the others, "Check out what they did to Gemini !"
The scene showed Gemini at his desk a moment before a backpack wearing Legion duplicate dropped from the ceiling in front of him.
Gemini, of course, fired off the missiles from his hand. Before they could strike, Legion was surrounded by a red glow, and then there were three Legions.
One duplicate got a shield up to protect itself and the original, but the other was vaporized. The original opened fire from behind the shielding duplicate, crippling all of Gemini's limbs.
"Do you think you frighten me, you xerox assassins ?" he spat at the Legions walking towards him, "I've suffered worse ! Torture me all you want ! WWEE is mine ! I will tell you nothing !"
"Your opinions are irrelevant, Sheldon Director." the closest Legion stated as it retrieved a metal full-length glove from its backpack and put it on its right hand.
Then it tensed its fingers, and long needle-like claws extended from the gloves fingertips.
"All you knew, we shall know. All that you had, will be ours. Commencing cerebral download." Legion stated as it clamped its right hand onto Gemini's head and squeezed. Wade had been kind enough to mute the resulting screams.
"WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT ?" Ron exclaimed, trying to keep his lunch down.
"I'm guessing the crudest of brain-tap devices." Kim replied, starting to regret eating before watching this, "Since Legion kept it in it's backpack, I guess it's not
one of it's standard abilities."
"Like that makes things any better ?" Ron retorted as the screens shifted a bit.
The base lights went back on as power returned. The Legions in the security center watched the now working security monitors to direct the actions of the other duplicates - mainly hunting down and eliminating the few survivors from the initial attack. Perversely enough, tired of having agents skulking about for hours before his henchmen stumbled upon them, Gemini had ordered the cameras to be set up to ensure there was nowhere to hide from them.
The Legion with the brain tap gauntlet put its freshly stolen knowledge to use transferring all of WWEE's assets into a few secure bank accounts.
Once WWEE's accounts were cleaned out a few minutes later, the Legions began removing bodies from the base and stacking them outside in the same clearing Kim and Ron had walked through earlier.
Three Legions held hands, then the outermost pair aimed a palm at the pile of corpses. The air shimmered as they fired off an infrasonic blast.
One moment, there were corpses; the next, just a huge cloud of blood colored mist that drifted away in the jungle breezes.
"Well, that explains where all the bodies went." Kim thought to herself while clenching her teeth in suppressed rage.
Once the mist cleared, the Legions started stacking crates and equipment outside, where they 'disappeared' as the hyperspeed drones picked them up and carried them back to their Hive. The playback went black a minute later.
"That must be when they scrapped the security system or the generator." Wade stated solemnly, "Nothing more after that."
"The Unity drained Gemini's brain and took over WWEE ?" Ron managed to speak, "Now they know where all their hidden bases are AND have all of WWEE's resources at their disposal !"
"That attack was about a week ago Ron." Wade stated, "There's no telling how many bases they've managed to overrun by now ! Or what they've been up to since then !"
"I think we'd better get to GJ and fast !" Kim exclaimed, "Did you send Dr Director a copy of those files Wade ? She needs to know what's going on."
"And what happened to her brother." Ron added, "I know they're on opposite sides of the law and all, but still !"
"Way ahead of you. I sent GJ a copy once it was scanned for viruses." Wade replied, "She got it about an hour ago."
[few minutes later, GJ base under Middleton] :
"Is there anything we can do to help, Dr Director ?" Kim asked, "About anything ?"
"Your concern is appreciated, but unnecessary." she replied distantly, "There was always a chance something like this would happen to him. He knew it too. No matter how many precautions villains take, getting taken down by an ambitious outsider is always a possibility."
Red lights started flashing and a klaxon started sounding. "Report !" Director shouted into the intercom, "What is going on ?"
"Multiple rocket launches sir !" came the reply, "From over fifty locations all over the Earth !"
"The Unity used WWEE's resources to build missiles !" Ron exclaimed, "And they're launching from all their hidden bases at once !"
"Looks that way." Director replied as she checked her computer screen before asking "Can somebody tell me when and where those birds are coming down first ?"
"They're not coming down sir." was the answer, "All rockets are on escape vectors."
"The Unity is leaving Earth ? Why ?" Ron wondered aloud, "Do they know something we don't ? Oh no ! The Lorwardians are coming back, and the Unity is bailing like rats off a sinking ship !"
"I don't think so Ron !" Kim replied, "Everyone's been watching the skies with every piece of tech they could scrounge together. A baseball couldn't approach Earth without half the planet seeing it !"
"Then why the heck is Unity abandoning the Earth ?" Ron asked, "And where are they going ?"
"They are not abandoning Earth, Ronald." Nina stated plainly as she looked at the screen, "They are engaged in a tactical withdrawal."
"So they're running away before we can kick their cans for good ?" Kim stated in a disturbingly elated tone, "Makes sense ! I wonder what convinced them to make a run for it now ?"
Nina sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "A tactical withdrawal is not 'running away', Miss Possible. They can't win on this battlefield, so they are regrouping elsewhere to shore up their numbers before trying again. I suspect they are heading for the asteroid belt."
"What the heck is out there except rocks and space ?" Ron asked.
"Not all asteroids are rocks, Ronald." she replied, "Some are composed of metals. The asteroid belt was formed because ices and dust failed to coalesce into a planet. There is just as much iron and minerals out there as on the entire Earth. Possibly more."
"And no one out there to stop them !" Kim exclaimed once she figured it out, "They can build an army of unbelievable size, then storm back here when they're ready !"
"Precisely." Nina replied, "Given the resources of an entire planet and no one to bother them, they could build at least fifty trillion Bebes. About ten thousand Bebes for every man, woman and child on Earth !
There is no point in trying to go out there to look for them - given the sheer size of the belt, it would take millenia for Earth forces to search it for them. And the Unity would see a launch from Earth long before they were in range to do anything.
But there is a bit of good news." she continued, "Even given the most efficient furnaces and equipment imaginable, it will take quite some time for them to build up enough troops to risk an invasion."
"How much time ?" Kim asked.
"About two or three hundred years." Nina replied plainly.
"Two. Or three. HUNDRED. years ?" Ron squeaked, "They won't try anything for over two hundred years ?"
"Correct." Nina replied, "The Unity is very risk-adversive. Like Kim, they are perfectionists, so they won't attack unless they have over a ninety nine point nine nine nine nine five percent chance of victory. Otherwise, they'll wait for a better opportunity while building up their capabilities even more."
"That's a pretty silly plan !" Ron replied, "Hide and wait for a really, really, REALLY long time ? I've heard of long term planning, but THAT is ridiculous !"
"What is two or three hundred years to a race of immortals ?" Nina answered back, "If waiting gives them a better shot at victory, they'll do it."
Kim mulled that over for a bit. "I know why they didn't try that earlier - they lacked the resources to build and launch so many rockets. But if they were willing to try to slug it out here on Earth before, what convinced them to leave now ?"
"Actually, the main reason they didn't leave Earth to try this strategy before was because it was far easier to outwit three people than to overpower an entire world." Vina chipped in.
"What are you talking about V ? What three people ?" Kim asked, sure she didn't really want to know.
"You, Ron and Wade of course." Vina replied, "The Unity knew a grandstanding, glorywhoring thug like yourself would NOT ONLY try to stop them single-handedly, but also prevent anyone else from even trying ! As a result, they weren't fighting the combined power of the entire world - they were only contending against you, since the other few people that knew what was going on would never do anything !
All the Unity had to do to win is outwit you, since you won't let anyone help you and get a share of the glory of saving the world ! 'Cause, you know, single-handedly saving the world is a glory only Kim Perfect and Kim Perfect ALONE is worthy of !"
Ron noted Kim's eye was twitching, so decided to stand well back.
"All the world's armies and spy agencies and populations and resources ? IRRELEVANT !" Vina continued, "If they tried to help you or, god forbid, tried to save the world on their own without your permission, your messianic complex would compel you to stop them. Rendering the world's vastly overwhelming resources meaningless.
But, by swallowing your Hindenburg-sized ego and going along with the consensus plan, you did something the Unity never expected you to do !" Vina continued, "Now that everyone knows what is going on, you increased the number of people trying to thwart them from three to billions ! You cannot hide from an entire world for long ! Which is why the Unity had to move out to the stars for a little while now, instead of before.
It may take some time, but I'm sure you'll get over the humiliation of having to SHARE some of the credit and glory from saving the world K. But there is a spot of good news." Vina yammered on with a malevolent smirk, "The Elite are still on Earth. And now that Core is elsewhere, even you may be able to figure out what they're up to."
"Why would the Elite still be on Earth ?" Ron asked (since Kim was struggling to get her temper under control).
"Since there is no one to fight out in the asteroid belt, the Elite's incredible abilities would be wasted out there." Nina replied, "And the Unity hates waste. The best use the Unity could make of the Elite's abilities would be to leave them on Earth. That way, they can try to take over the world on their own so the Unity will have less trouble when they invade centuries from now.
But, as Vina stated, they don't have Core to plot for them anymore. They're limited to their own inventiveness now."
"And just how inventive are they really ?" Dr Director asked.
"I would put them roughly on par with Gemini." Nina replied, "Maybe a bit higher."
"Oh, that we can handle !" Kim retorted while glaring at Vina.
"I doubt that." Vina snarked back.
"What ?" Kim answered, tensing up.
"You didn't even figure out that Legion left that flashdrive for you to find." Vina replied in a condescending tone, "After all, it displayed what was going on long after all the humans were dead."
"Hey ! That's right !" Ron interrupted in a moment of realization, "Legion stole all the equipment after it eliminated everyone in the base ! Wait - that means GJ's mole was recording security cam traffic before the attack, but didn't have a chance to unplug his flashdrive ! Legion must have found it when it was looting the base ! But why hide it for us to find ?"
"What's the point of being great if you can't show off ?" Vina replied, "If you recall, the Elites have a bit of Kim Perfect's drives, motives and personality in their cognitive matrices.
Intentionally leaving that flashdrive is Legion's way of showing just how little a threat it thinks you are." Vina continued, "That, or to get you too emotional to think straight. You are quite easy to tweak into a mindless rage, Miss Possible. I'm sure the Elite will use that to their advantage in the decades to come."
Kim and Vina glared at each other silently for a few awkward moments.
"So, did we win or not ?" Ron asked to break the tension.
"You won this battle, for what that's worth Ron." Nina replied, "But the war is still going on."
