Boilerplate Disclaimer: The various characters from the Kim Possible series are all owned by Disney. All registered trade names property of their respective owners. Cheap shots at celebrities constitute fair usage.
The Awful Truth, Part II
Monique did not speak to Kim for a nearly a week after the 'incident'. Kim knew Monique could not have posed the action figures on earlier occasions. The black woman's story, that she had come in to see Will and merely stopped at Kim's cubicle and picked up the figure out of curiosity, made sense. And Mon had always been someone Kim trusted.
Because it ruined the romantic evening Will had planned with Monique he refused to speak with Kim for more than a week. At least something good came out of the 'incident'.
And various versions of the story traveled through headquarters, departing further and further from the truth at each retelling. When it reached the ears of Betty Director it had almost reached the status of urban legend and she called Kim in for a coherent account.
Kim reflected that the scolding she received from Betty Director might have been the worst part of the sticky Shego incident. Then she corrected that in her mind. Having to explain why she had sprayed the adhesive on the Shego figure had been the worst.
Betty took the position that, while Kim was correct in asserting other people should keep their hands off her desk, the public nature of the cubicle invited people to look in, and the action figures attracted attention. Monique had simply responded with natural curiosity.
"Yeah, but what about the fact someone keeps posing the figures in… ah… compromising positions?"
"You've never done that yourself?"
"Well, maybe a couple times."
"More importantly, can you first understand how someone else might want to do the same thing?"
Kim bit her tongue and didn't admit she had done it with Hego and Mego figures on Agent Markov's desk.
"Second, the sad fact is that your reaction, like the 'don't touch' notes, only encouraged the joker or jokers unknown."
Kim acknowledged that with a nod of her head.
"And third, I hope you realize you excite jealousy around here. You got promoted fast and will be the youngest person to get an office - even a small one. Maybe it's someone's way of handling their jealousy… Do you really think this is more than a joke?"
"No," Kim grudgingly admitted.
"Okay then, laugh and ignore it."
"I'll try. At least in a week I'll have an office and can keep it locked when I'm not in."
"Good. I'd hate to see this get blown out of proportion… Any further out of proportion."
Two weeks later, with Kim ensconced in her new office, Betty Director called her in for an update. "Are you over your concern about your action figures now?"
Kim hesitated before answering. "Honestly? I'm not sure. I'm almost hoping someone tries something."
Betty gave Kim a look of disgust. "After the problems you tell me it caused I'm now hearing you're hoping someone poses the damn things?"
The redhead shifted uncomfortably, but decided to stay with the truth. "Well, I had Wade build a miniature digital camera. It's designed to look like a paperweight and has a little motion detector built in. If anyone touches the Shego figure I'll have a record of it… I've even left my door unlocked."
Dr. Director shook her head sadly, "Be careful what you wish for. And if your hunt for the poser interferes with your work in any way, and I mean any way, I'll have Will draft a directive about acceptable work space decorations. Is that clear?"
Kim sighed and shook her head yes.
"And you will not try and catch anyone with flypaper again?"
"I promise I won't use that again."
Betty dismissed Kim with a, "Congratulations on the promotion. You deserved it."
The head of GJ's warning proved true the next week. Kim returned to her office to find the figures posed in a not terribly original, but definitely provocative, fashion. Kim excitedly plugged one end of a USB cord into her computer, and a second into what appeared to be a rock on her desk.
The tightly focused motion detector had not taken a picture of the person who entered the office. It contained a dark picture from when a cloth or paper was placed over it, and a picture with no one in it after the cover was removed.
Kim allowed for the possibility that the innocuous looking paperweight had been covered by accident and repositioned it and adjusted the motion detector. The next week the figures had been moved again, with the perp Kim had begun to mentally label the Phantom Poser using the same technique.
Kim called Wade for a more sophisticated camera and motion detector.
The failure of his next devices stung Wade's pride, and he began to take a more active role in suggesting methods to discover the Poser's identity.
Kim began locking her door when away from the office, which did not seem to stop the Poser. That Global Justice had employees who knew how to pick locks seemed more unusual to Kim than it should have.
Wade designed a new lock for Kim's door. When the first failed to stop the Poser Kim almost broke down and asked Shego to locate her old locksmith teacher, the Pickman.
Kim maintained her faith in Wade, and didn't allow the game of wits to interfere with her missions. Wade would figure out a way to catch the Poser eventually. She almost felt a little guilty about taking him away from other work - but he was now more dedicated to the unmasking than Kim.
One evening a lithe figure clad in green and black, whose head was concealed beneath a black hood, carefully crawled through the narrow space between the bottom of the floor above and the suspended ceiling. The thin aluminum frames holding the suspended ceiling were too flimsy to support a person's weight, but the water pipes and electrical conduits offered a wealth of handholds.
Nearing the space over Kim's office the intruder took out a communication device, "Leader One to Team Gremlin. Can you scan the area over Kim's office for bugs?"
"This is Gremlin Two," a voice crackled back. Finding a frequency outside the standard bandwidth Global Justice monitored provided for poor reception. "I'm starting the scan." Fifty seconds later the report came back, "All clear, Leader One. Someone is getting mighty sloppy if the crawl space isn't being monitored."
Leader One almost pulled off the hood. It was a bit surprising and rather disappointing that Kim hadn't rigged anything above her office yet
"Of course not everyone has the strength to crawl along the pipes," the intruder thought, moving into position above Kim's office. Once in position, hooks on heavy straps were placed on the overhead pipes, allowing the intruder to twist over and face the top of the false ceiling. "Gremlin Two, am in position over office. Please scan this ceiling panel to see if there is monitoring it."
"Negative on that, Leader One."
Careful removal of the ceiling panel, so that no dust or debris fell into the room, allowed the gremlin free access for a complete scan of the office below.
"I've got two motion detectors and a weight detector tied in with two cameras," the tech support reported.
"Locations?"
"Motion detectors focused on doorway and the Shego figure on desk. Kim figure is on a pressure pad, if it is lifted up or another figure is placed on top of it the camera is triggered."
"This is Gremlin One," a second voice broke in. "Perfect night to use the wide spectrum flare. Put on your safety goggles, drop it down, and you've got forty-five seconds where the film for any picture is hopelessly fogged."
"I'll save that for another night," Leader One told them. "Are the motion and weight detectors on the building's circuits or batteries?"
"Motion detectors on building's power, pressure pad on battery."
"Piece of cake," Gremlin One chuckled, "nothing since the last raid. We've got Wade whipped and he knows it."
"No way José! Hold on, Leader One," Gremlin Two ordered, "the idiot thinks Wade threw in the towel. I'm going to monitor a wider spectrum band and see if I get anything."
"You're wasting time!" the second complained.
"Remember who we're dealing with!"
"I'll wait," Leader One confirmed.
Some thirty seconds later Gremlin One let out a whistle, "Man alive, I think that's an electric eye grid on the floor, but he's way outside normal ranges."
"Will we need to abort mission for more analysis?" Leader One asked.
"Just got the floor covered, go down on the desk and you'll be fine."
"I'm betting his next effort will attempt to pick up our monitoring devices," Gremlin One suggested.
"Nice save," Two said ironically, "not even going to mention you screwed up on your call about Wade giving up?"
Leader one pulled out a small remote and threw a switch, cutting off the current to Kim's office, "I'll use your jammer to get around the pressure pad."
"Give me a sec," Gremlin Two requested. "Her tech support could have a battery back-up on those motion sensors." A few seconds later a triumphant voice crackled over the transponder, "I was right, you can't sell Wade short he put in two new things this time."
"Use the EMP disruptor," Gremlin One suggested.
"Too risky," Leader One reported. "I don't want to damage infrastructure."
"It's safe!"
"This isn't your building, and you told me you hadn't tested range completely. What are my options?"
"You can try his wide spectrum flare," number Two reported. "But you can ignore the door sensor and simply disable the cameras. Then you can position the figures, reconnect the wires, and no picture has been taken."
"I'll go with that," Leader One responded. "Let's leave the flare for another night – and can the EMP disruptor be designed with a tight focus?"
"Don't see how," Gremlin Two said off the top of his head.
Gremlin One sounded excited, "But if we could figure out how to do it… Think of the potential uses!"
"We could try shielding it with—"
"Will you two try and create your next weapon later? Right now I want to know where the wires are for the camera."
Gremlin Two gave directions; then predicted that Wade would probably employ a wireless connection to the camera next time.
Mission accomplished, Leader One scrambled up the line to the crawl space, put the ceiling panel back in place and cautiously crawled back to the opening above an unassigned office on the same floor.
A few minutes later Leader One stood in front of Kim's door, carefully examining each edge. A small piece of tape over the door and frame served to warn Kim if the door had been opened. Leader One smiled and broke the tape. Breaking the tape meant Kim would assume the security measures on the door had been breached and keep her attention, and Wade's, focused there for a while longer. A straight pin was used to put a couple scratches on the lock, a second clue pointing towards the lock being picked on the door.
"Deception and misdirection," Leader One thought with a smile. "Keep them focused on the door and the crawl space remains unmonitored."
Twenty minutes later, after a change from the green and black, Dr. Betty Director left headquarters.
"You're working late tonight," the woman at the door told her.
She didn't need to make the comment, the head of Global Justice obviously knew she was working late, but the agent on security detail made the remark to be friendly. Betty smiled, "Security project."
"Did agent Du miss something a couple years ago?"
"Security is everyone's concern," the director reminded her. "But I want my own assessment of conditions. Someone else might find something I've missed."
As she walked across the parking lot she wondered how much of her conversation with the agent at the security desk had been truth and how much rationalization. She had already found several holes in Will Du's earlier report and took more pride in the discovery than she should. But Will Du remained an overly precise prig and finding any flaw in his report gave her pleasure.
And there was the equal thrill in challenging GJ's top field agent to a game of wits. Betty Director hated being chained to her desk and enjoyed the thrill of beating Kim, even in a small way. She hoped Kim would rule Will out as a suspect and bring him in on the hunt for the action figure bandit – beating them both in head to head action would be a rare pleasure.
She felt bad about using Destruction Inc. for the security assessment without paying them. But Jim and Tim seemed to get as much thrill from the challenge as she did, tweaking the nose of their sister and testing themselves against Wade.
Their idea of a focused EMP disruptor sounded promising. She made a mental note to follow up with them on their progress as she turned the key in the ignition and drove out of the Global Justice parking lot.