I do not own the Disney characters named herein, and am only using them for a nonprofit tale meant to entertain only.
Kim Possible: Rogue
By LJ58
13
"You're saying you think Kim is still alive," one of the twin faces eyeing her suspiciously asked as they held her off with what looked like a TV remote.
Shego, having more than enough experience with science, mad or otherwise, didn't move as the pair with a penchant for destruction aimed that innocuous device her way.
"I do. And Ron thinks he is going to need you to blow this whole scheme wide open, and shut it down before we lose our world."
"Things are already that bad?"
"We all think so. So, ready to join up?"
"Well, that does explain all the kidnapping attempts lately," one of the twins said to the other.
"Someone has tried to grab you already?"
"Well, a few times," they both said, making her grit her teeth as she recalled her own twin brother's tendency to speak in stereo.
"They were obviously amateurs," one of them said, Shego unable to tell which was which even if she had met them several times before now.
"They didn't even bring neural-tasers," the other actually complained.
"They might have been trying to kill you. Some of….our friends have been ambushed lately."
"No. They're trying to take us alive. Which is what gives us the edge," the arrogant pair grinned.
And they were arrogant. Just as arrogant as Kimberly could be at times. Only they didn't quite pull it off with Kim's genuine humility.
"Time is short, guys. In, or out?"
"Oh, we're in. Let's pack," they told each other.
"We don't have time…."
"And we don't need much," one of the boys said, opening a closet to shove clothes aside to open a vault built into the back wall of their dorm room.
"I can just bet that's not school issue."
"Are you kidding? The dean would freak if he knew half of what we keep here," the other twin grinned as his counterpart shoved something into a backpack.
"Hicka bicka boo?"
"Hoo-sha," the other replied as they zipped up the bag, and then both lifted their left wrists, and pressed something on their wrists.
To her astonishment, something silvery exploded out to wrap around them, and then they were both nearly instantly wearing copies of Kim's old battle suit.
"Neat trick," Shego murmured.
"Just something we tossed together. We'll go stealth, and follow you out invisibly. That way, if anyone did see you….."
"They'll never guess we're with you," the other twin grinned as they both pressed buttons, and vanished like they were soap bubbles that just popped.
"Whoa. Very nice trick. Okay, I'm in the black muscle-car parked…."
"We know. Our street cam spotted you the minute you pulled up," a disembodied voice informed her. "Now, let's go grab our folks, and get them out of there."
"It's going to be a long drive," the other said.
"My jet is waiting at the local strip."
"Just get us home. Even mom and dad can't handle this kind of sitch."
"But we can," both spoke as one again.
"Thanks for trusting me, guys. Hopefully, our chances just went up."
"You should have come to us at the start," she heard as the door opened, seemingly of its own will. "Now, let's jet."
KP
"Any luck," Will asked as he walked into the clinic to check on progress.
Yori turned to the man in the blue uniform, and studied him before replying.
"Hai. I have learned the herbs used on Drakken-San. I believe I can reverse the affects, but because it has been so long, I cannot say how swiftly, or even how well, he may recover."
"Just do your best," Will nodded at her. "And its Drew Lipski now. Dr. Drakken retired after helping save this world once."
"Hai, Du-San."
Will merely nodded back, and left the clinic.
"She thinks she can bring him around," he told Dr. Director, who was sitting alone just then. Ron was outside with Hirotaka and Bonnie, going on something he in mind for whatever happened next. "She's not sure how well he'll recover, though."
"We are talking about Lipski," Betty murmured thoughtfully.
"True. He was never that stable to begin with, and….."
"Learn to look beyond appearances," she told her senior commander. "Drew Lipski did not survive half so long as he did by being soft, or fragile. Consider how often he faced, and survived Shego, and tell me again what you think his chances are?"
Will Du paused thoughtfully as he sat down near her on the couch, still uncertain about taking what were, to him, obviously regular seats that the others used. For the old man was always in that chair, which he sat like a throne. Junior and Bonnie were always sitting close on the divan. Stoppable, since he had arrived, always remained standing, as if ready to act in a moment's notice.
Or sooner.
The other ninja stayed close to him, or at the jet.
He wasn't sure Yori had even slept since she had been housed with Ellen and Lipski in the Senior's clinic. Even that gruff, old nurse had sought out a bed, and rest after a time. The young ninja seemed tireless, and continued to work.
"Do you think Shego can safely extract the Possibles?"
"I'm sure she can get to them," Dr. Director told him. "The question is, will they accept her word, or will there be trouble on that end. Then, too, there are the boys."
"Right," Will grimaced. "Them."
He still recalled the first time he finally met them in person.
Sitting in a holding cell, and debating on how long they should wait before they simply broke themselves out so they wouldn't miss a particle accelerator demonstration at the university they wanted to inspect. Not view. Inspect.
There were times when he was pretty sure the entire Possible line was blessed by extreme meta-genetic development. If blessed were the accurate descriptor.
It seemed the twins had a penchant for destruction that had yet to fully blossom. At that time before he had met them, someone in the 'community,' it seemed, had decided that with Kim Possible MIA, their brothers were fair game as means for some vindication. Forty-seven Henches, and one badly maimed super-villain later, the police had the boys in custody for violating no less than nineteen federal laws, and an assortment of misdemeanors.
Cruelty to animals was the least of them.
What they did to DeMenz' mutant Schnauzers was nothing less than horrific even to him.
What they did to DeMenz was worse.
If he survived his current physical therapy, which so far he had, Will had grave doubts the man would be returning to villainy anytime soon. In the meantime, no one had been targeting the far too eager to prove themselves able twin Possibles. Despite Jack's still current bounty, which likely meant nothing with Jack himself gone now, no one now even looked at the Possibles. Not unless they were suicidal.
He still remembered the police chief's reaction to Global Justice bailing the pair out. As well as confirming the two unlikely twin teens really were students at MIT.
"God help us," had been the man's reaction when he realized they were related to that Possible.
Then Will remembered something the twins had said to him on that first and only meeting to date.
"You find Kim yet?"
That had been asked in tandem. A trait, he understood, that many twins shared. He had perversely wondered if Dr. Director had ever been so close to her admittedly fraternal twin. He had never yet acquired the courage to ask.
He had told the twins, however, they were still looking.
"Look harder," the boys had told him. "Or we will."
He remembered shuddering.
Now, they were about to bring those boys in, and share some very troubling knowledge with them.
"Thinking about the twins?"
"How could you tell," he frowned.
"I've seen that expression before. On Kimberly's face."
"If they realize the American military, at least in part, had something to do with Possible vanishing…."
"I know. It's a calculated risk, Commander Du," Betty said with a faintly smug smile. "But just consider their raw talent for unpredictable chaos, and consider our very obviously meticulous plotters having to face them?"
"They would definitely be wild cards."
"To say the least," Ron quipped as he walked in the door at that very moment.
"Ronald, have you heard….?"
"Yori just buzzed me," he said, and headed down the hall toward the clinic. "I thought I'd go see why."
Will and Betty both jumped up, and followed him.
"Do you think she's managed to finally isolate the herbs used to afflict Lipski," Will asked. "If they are the same ones that struck down General Hardcastle….."
"We can worry about that poser later. For now, we need to focus," Ron snapped. "Besides, grabbing Hardcastle now, so soon after Drew getting snatched, would certainly tip our hands. Let them think we're still clutching at straws, and reacting, rather than acting."
He opened the door they had just reached at that point, and even Dr. Director gaped a little when they saw Drew Lipski conscious, sitting up, and looking beyond furious.
"Stoppable! Thank God, someone with…. Well, someone that will listen. You have to find Shego, and Kim Possible. It's urgent I speak with them…."
"Shego is away on a mission. She's headed back as soon as possible after," Ron told him. "Kim vanished over two years ago. In Lilac Valley."
"Lilac….Valley," the man echoed, frowning. "Why does that sound so…..? Oh, no. Oh, no. No, no, no," he moaned, clutching his head. "Snap, it's already started."
"What? What's started, Lipski," Dr. Director demanded.
"The invasion," he blurted out.
"What invasion," Will sputtered. "Our satellites haven't found a single ship in our system since the last Lorwardian incursion."
"Space….? No. You're limiting your view, Madame, which can be tragically dangerous, as I well know. No, it's a dimensional invader I'm speaking of here. And if Possible is gone, it can only mean they are already here!"
"Tell me everything," Dr. Director demanded.
"First, show me your eyes," Drew told him curtly, and added, "Both of them," for Betty.
"What," Will sputtered.
"The invaders have orange-ringed pupils. Why, I cannot say. I did not have time to ask before they tried to kill me!"
"So, I was right. It was an assassination attempt," Dr. Director asked him.
"Do you think I would blow up my own lab," he fumed. Then stopped, eyed them again, and pointed at Ron. "I mean, without him helping."
Dr. Director rolled her good eye, then stepped closer.
"Take a good look, Lipski, and then start talking," he was told as the head of GJ lifted her eye patch to reveal the maimed socket.
The man shuddered, and glanced away, studying Will's steady gaze.
"Good, we're safe. They, the invaders, can make themselves look like anyone. Literally anyone. But they cannot hide those orange-lined pupils. Remember that."
"Just tell us what's going on," Ron asked.
"It began with the Matrix," Drew told them, making them all sigh, "Which you should never let the Army take, by the way. Army Intelligence, indeed. And you call me mad?"
"Focus," Ron snapped, and Drew stared at him.
"Do you know your eyes are glowing? How very peculiar."
"Lipski, time is short. GJ has been forced to shut down. We're all being hunted, and Shego is one step ahead of an assassination squad," Dr. Director told him curtly.
"That is bad," he grimaced. "Very well, let me….."
He paused, then frowned.
"Still," he moaned, a bright yellow array of petals suddenly blooming around his neck.
"Odd. They didn't manifest in the past few years while you were comatose," Will remarked.
"Emotional stimuli. They are fueled by emotion," Ellen Greer declared as she stepped inside. "Or, that's my best guess after studying his charts."
"And who are you, and why do you sound so familiar," he demanded of the stocky, but smiling woman.
"Ms. Greer has been your nurse, and bodyguard in one since I put you in protective custody," Dr. Director told him.
"Nice to see you finally up, and about. And looking so…..invigorated, too."
"Unlikely as that seems," Will remarked.
"Yori, we may need more of that antidote if Fukushima tries using it on anyone else," Ron told her as Ellen stepped forward, and immediately began giving Drew a complete check-over as if used to chaos around her.
"Back to the important aspects of your….resurrection," Dr. Director cut in. "Tell us what you know of these creatures," he was ordered. "And quickly. Time is now of the essence."
"I suspect someone attracted their attention sometime earlier, because I recall detecting an enormous surge of energy that oddly resembled that of a Lorwardian signal burst," Drew told them. "I knew we might be in trouble if they were already coming back, so I immediately tracked it, and to my surprise, the signal came from Global Justice. Fortunately, someone had the foresight to shut down the signal, but I continued to scan for any….activity, when I detected an echo."
"Echo," Will asked.
"Exactly," he said, his dark eyes already regaining some of that former manic fervor they all remembered. "It quite confused me, too, because I would have sworn it was a glitch, since it looked not unlike I was scanning myself."
"You…..were scanning…..yourself?"
"Same origin point. Same equipment. Same organic signature. Well, except for the….ahem, mutagen," Drew muttered in response to Will's query.
"To the point," Dr. Director asked.
"Right. Right. Adjusting my equipment, I realized the scan was coming from a hitherto undiscovered dimensional rift. One opened by that earlier energy burst."
"Oh, no," Ron moaned.
"Oh, no, indeed. I set to work investigating it, and that was when I realized that while now quiet, the Lorwardian signal had attracted these dimensional counterparts to our own world. They were like….moths, drawn to a flare. Or something akin to that," Drew shrugged.
Will sighed, and said, "When are you going to start making sense?"
"I am making sense," Drew huffed. "Don't you get it. We sent that first signal burst that drew their attention. I knew someone would be stupid enough to try toying with that energy matrix again, because, let's face it, it's what people do with curious, new devices. When I realized the Army had it, and that they were looking at Possible since her exposure to Lorwardian tech made her a viable expert with her new degree, so I called to warn her. When they showed up at my place, I called Shego for help, and then tried to reach Kimberly to warn her. Too late, it appeared, and before showed..."
"Why the panic? Shego said you were really worried."
"Worried? You tell me," he quipped. "Why are you here now?"
No one said anything.
"My own machines had detected thousands of life forms gathering around that imperceptible rift, Stoppable. I knew if we dared open it again, even for an instant, they'd flood into our dimension, and do incalculable harm."
"You didn't think they might be…..?"
"Friendly?"
Drew shook his head, and glanced around.
"Think about it. Mongols shoved everyone aside. Then the Ottomans. Greeks. Romans. Our own European ancestors shoved the Natives here aside. Hispanics now try to shove the Americans aside. History is filled with stories of conquest, fueled by a quest for riches and resources that the other side always wants. And the newcomers will take it by force if necessary."
"You're saying, they want our resources."
"Oh, yes. Our world, our resources, our lives. I did say I'd been scanning their dimension. It's a veritable wasteland, Madame. I suspect that while thousands flock to that rift, they likely would have had billions once upon a time before they started dying. They want our world because theirs is dead. If we don't stop them, they will strip our world bare, too, and keep going. They are….parasites. Consuming everything around them, and moving on. We're just the next host. And your idiocy has given them the dinner bell for their next feast," he spat at her.
"We'd better clue Wade in to this," Ron said quietly.
"And Shego," Dr. Director said ominously. "Drew, as soon as you are able, we need you up, and helping, too. We could use your help in our….."
"Where does a man find a decent lab coat around here," he demanded, carrying the sheet with him as he simply rose from the bed, and looked around.
Everyone was stunned.
"The mutagen," Ellen remarked. "That mutagen must have kept his body physically fit, and viable despite being in a coma over two years now."
"Two….years," Drew said, staring at her. "Good God, they must be here in force by now. They must…."
"Lipski," Will frowned as the man backed away from them.
"Don't you see? We're doomed. It's too late. By now they must have gained control of every major military power, and national leader. Likely more. We are too late!"
Ron reached out, grabbed him by the front of the gown, and shook him violently.
"Snap out of it, Drakken," he called him. "Shego's still fighting. We're still fighting. And wherever she went, I know Kim's probably still fighting. Now let's get our heads in the game, and get ready to do some damage. Because I am not going to let anyone, from anywhere, just walk in and grab our planet for any reason."
Drew stared at him.
"Okay, who are you, and where's the real buffoon?"
"I see our friend is awake," a newcomer declared as they all turned to see Senor Senior standing in the door. "Unfortunately, we seem to have a problem."
Behind him, two Henches with sunglasses were standing there with guns aimed at them.
"Let me guess," Drew sighed. "Imposters."
"We prefer Inversers," one of the Henches smirked. "We missed you before, blue man. We will not miss this time. Say your prayers to the deity of your choice."
"You first," Ron growled, as he and Yori lunged in tandem, quickly disarming, and driving them back before they knocked them cold.
"Will, get rope, or something to hold these guys. Yori, warn Hiro, and check out the rest of the staff. Now," he said when she hesitated.
"Hai, Stoppable-San."
"Meh, I see Shego wasn't exaggerating after all. You've stepped up, and become a hero, too," Drew grumbled. "Little wonder I could never accomplish…."
"Drew, look. Is that what you mean," Ron said, pulling off the shades from man's face, and peeling a lid up.
The blue eye had a faint, but unmistakable, orangish ring around the pupil.
"I happen to be a bit of a scientist at heart myself, dear boy," the elder Senior told them as he moved to look down at the men. "Let's strap them onto gurneys, shall we, and roll them into my lab. Just for a...quick look."
"I'll help," Dr. Director told him as Will quickly found rolls of bandages to use as bonds after they dropped the men on two portable gurneys unfolded from the clinic. "And, Will," Dr. Director told him after they secured the men. "Considering the obvious leak here, recheck all security, and communications. We can't take a risk our safety here has been undermined.
"I'll help," Ron said. "After I call Shego, and update her on the infiltrators."
"And….what should I do," Drew asked.
"Help us," Dr. Director told him.
"Get dressed," Ron spat.
Senor Senior merely smiled faintly.
"This certainly has been an eventful day. And it's not even half over."
No one responded to that one.
To Be Continued…