I do NOT own Kim Possible
Synthobots: Dementor's attempt to replicate Drakken's work on synthodrones.
Scalpel: The device made by Ron in an earlier chapter for doing surgery.
Time: One week later.
Dementor,... Jenny,... Sara
Other than the Global Justice jet pilot it was just the three of them on this mission. Him, Shego, and Kim. Back in the days before Drakken scattered cybertronic technology around the world it would have more than enough. Over kill. But that was back in the old days. Ron studied the schematics Wade had displayed on the Kimmunicator. Dementor had never managed to develop Drakken's synthodrones, but the synthobots he had eventually developed were worse. He sighed and looked up. "So how do we handle those?" He asked.
Wade shrugged. "The broadcast power shifts frequency every second. One of the synthobots samples an internal sample of radioactive material and uses it as the key to reset the encryption code for the next transmission and the frequency. With one second to operate in there is no way it can be cracked."
Ron nodded. "Or jammed for that matter." He added. "And the generator supplying the power is a small nuclear reactor buried under a hundred feet of rock. No way to reach it."
"Plus the computers running the synthobots is within the bots themselves." Wade said. "With the cybertronic circuits their capacity is boosted by over three hundred percent."
"And they use a network." Ron sighed. "When one synthobot needs more computing power it just asks for help from the ones that aren't overworked."
"Five times the speed of a normal synthobot, eleven times the armor, plus a small laser." Wade echoed Ron's sigh.
"Nasty." Shego commented.
"Very." Ron agreed with her. "Even their sensor array is altered. They don't use the visible part of the spectrum." He looked at Kim. "So the invisibility feature on your suit won't work." And, he added to himself, they don't use sound other than to take orders from Dementor.
"Don't forget he's learned to make his creations resistant to plasma." Shego added.
"And that." Ron and Wade said together.
The three of them studied the schematics. Though they could only see a small picture of Wade in one corner of the Kimmunicator's display they knew he was doing the same.
"Look on the bright side." Ron said a few minutes later, still staring at the schematics on the Kimmunicator.
"Bright side?" Shego, Kim and Wade asked as one.
"He's using the middle range of the infrared spectrum and methane is opaque to those frequencies." Ron looked around. "Enough methane in the atmosphere will render the sensors useless."
Wade blinked. "There's not enough of it in the atmosphere to affect the signal. But that can be changed."
"Right." Ron agreed. "We just need to carry a few tanks of it with us and boost the levels to maybe two percent. At that level it won't be high enough to explode, but it will block the sensors." He sighed again. "Just one thing worries me."
"What's that?" Wade asked.
"Dementor is using the same technology over and over again. Each time he improves on it. So the next time we need to handle him he will have fixed the sensors to scan a wider range of the spectrum." He looked around. "What will we do then?" He asked.
Wade rubbed his head. "One problem at a time." He answered.
An hour later they had canisters of methane and were ready to enter the lair. The three of them walked together, using the canisters to increase the level of methane in the atmosphere to one percent. The chemicals added to the methane so it could be detected by smell caused them to wrinkle their noses. The sulfuric smell wasn't very pleasant.
Two of the formidable synthobots rounded a corner and turned in their direction. The bots, walking on four legs, had an arm on each side, along with a small laser on their backs. They turned in the direction of the trio.
The three of them froze, ready to run, just in case the methane didn't block the sensors. When the bots made no move, they let out a sigh of relief. They kept the concentration of methane in front of them at a full one percent and slowly walked forward. The bots looked in their direction, but if they were right, then the machines were unable to see them.
They walked right up to the two bots at which point Shego set her gauntlet to ten and hit it. An ordinary synthobot, or synthodrone, would have nearly exploded beneath that force. This synthobot however merely sprung a few small leaks. Kim did the same with the other synthobot. It too just sprung a small leak.
"I hate using weapon." The redhead said. "But maybe next time we should bring something sharp to use on these guys."
The two hit their respective opponents again and the leaks increased. The bots slowly deflated.
"Still, it's enough." Ron commented, looking at the remains of the two bots. "Wonder how many he has."
"We estimate he found around ten Diablos." Shego said.
"So eight left." Kim looked at the remains of her fallen foe. If it had not been blinded she knew she would have had a hard fight on her hands to handle even one of them. A person couldn't land a really hard punch when they had to dodge all the time. It would have taken four or five hits. And it would have been hitting back.
"I'm just glade I don't have to handle them alone." Shego commented. "I would never have thought of methane."
"Wade would have." Ron told her. "Anyway, we better handle the rest."
The three walked forward again. Dr. Betty Director was willing to let the Diablos around the world wait until the Diablo Array was ready before restating large scale collection again. However, that didn't mean they could be allowed to fall into the hands of villains. So, at her request, the three of them had formed a team to collect them from the mad scientists of the world.
They entered the main section of the lair and found Dementor busy at a console.
"Kim Possible." He declared, looking up. "So you are back in the hero business."
"I'm not." The redhead answered. "I'm just working for Global Justice now. No hero stuff any more."
"Still you are here to see the day of my..." He paused. "Wait. I don't have a doomsday device ready to take over the world with. Just why are you here?"
"To collect the dolls you've collected." Shego answered for the redhead.
"Dolls?" Dementor looked puzzled. "Oh. You mean those strange looking pieces of technology I've been finding." He added, as his puzzled expression disappeared.
"Yeah." Shego told him. "Hand them over."
"I don't think so." The mad scientist answered. "Synthobots, capture them." He pointed at the trio.
Shego walked up to one of the synthobots and hit it twice. It sprung leaks and started slumping to the ground. Kim did the same with another one.
Dementor looked confused. "Why aren't they fighting back?" He demanded. He sniffed the air. "And what is that smell?"
Shego and Kim picked another two motionless opponents and went to work once more. Shego switched the battery in her gauntlet.
"What is going on?" Dementor screamed. "Attack them you stupid robots! Attack them." He yelled.
A slight shudder went through the four remaining synthobots and they looked around, but none of them moved from their positions. To them the room was pitch black. They saw no one to attack.
Ron watched his two partners go to work on the rest of the synthobots. They had left the canisters of methane at the entrance to the lab after making sure enough of the gas had flooded the room. Sure the mad scientist would eventually discover why the bots weren't fighting back, but that didn't mean they had to make it easy for him. Looking around he saw several dehumidifier in the room and nearly slapped himself on the forehead. Simple moisture would have blocked the signal too. It made him wonder why Dementor had chosen that frequency. He listened to the infuriated mad scientist rant.
Dementor finished ranting as the last of the synthobots slumped to the floor. He looked around.
"No henchmen?" Ron asked.
"No. I got them all out looking for more of the technology." Came the reluctant answer. The mad scientist made a run for it.
Both Ron and Shego turned as he did and blasted him with plasma. Just enough to render him unconscious for an hour. Shego reached down and grabbed him by the collar. Together the three of them walked back to the Global Justice jet.
Later that evening he sat with Kim, watching Jenny. Mrs. Dr. P was working alongside DNAmy on the girl. Following the separation of the girl from the Lorwardian the geneticist had thrown up her hands and declared that while she may be a genius when it came to genetics brain surgery was something else entirely. At her request Mrs. Dr. P had been asked to help with studying the structures in the girl's brain.
She had come to a conclusion less than two hours after getting the first set of tests she'd requested back. The structures within Jenny's brain were control circuits. In effect, a mind control device that would have allowed the creature to access and control any part of the girl's brain it wanted to. Given further data she'd speculated that there had indeed been two separate brains within the girl. Sections would have been merged but the area that gave a sense of self would have been separated. The alien had, at will, used those circuits to control the girl. It was vastly different from DNAmy creations where everything, including the brain, was merged into one creature.
With the Lorwardian removed there was no one to give the girl orders, but Dr. Betty Director had still refused to allow her to wake up. Until Jenny was a hundred percent human, like Kim, she would remain asleep. And even after she was fully human she would be closely watched.
Surgery was ruled out until Wade introduced Mrs. Dr. P to the Scalpel he and Ron had been working on. Despite being still experimental it would be able to target and destroy the structures without risking further harm to the girl. She had spent the last week using it to slowly target and destroy the control circuits as though they were tumors. She had finished the task just this morning. The girl's brain was now fully human, as was her body. Nothing of the alien remained.
Ron turned to look at Kim. She was staring at the girl. Lately he's been the one going to classes and taking detailed notes. He figured she deserved a break given the way she'd nearly die twice in recent months. She'd preferred to remain here with her mother and reconnect with her. In the evenings they usually sat and went through the day's notes while Mrs. Dr. P worked on Jenny. He was amazed at how the woman could focus on her work when two people where discussing homework just a few feet away.
Dr. Betty Director entered the room. "She's fully human now?" She asked.
"She is. At least on the genetic level." DNAmy answered.
"Her brain is fully human. No control circuits are left." Mrs. Dr. P added.
"What do you believe her reaction will be when wakes up?" The head of Global Justice asked.
"DNAmy shrugged. "Not my field." She simply answered.
"Impossible to tell." Mrs. Dr. P answered. "As far we know she's now human, but she's been under the control of the alien for so long that her reactions can't be determined for certain."
"Opinions?" Dr. Betty Director insisted.
"Given the way she'd been exposed to extreme violence for so long she will be either psychotic herself and aggressive. Or, she might be appalled, horrified, at what she's been used for. There is also the possibility she will be comatose, broken completely by what's happened to her." Mrs. Dr. P paused, thinking. "I would also guess that she won't be able to trust herself. She will be expecting the alien to be there and will always have the fear it will return." She shrugged. "As for what will really be the case we can't tell."
"She's cried a lot when she's been close to waking up." Ron interjected. "I would guess she feels remorse for what she's done. And to her the alien would have been a part of her. It would have been her actions. I don't think she would take the psychotic route and be violent."
The head of Global Justice took a seat and though for a few minutes. "Okay then. Put the restraints on her and wake her up."
DNAmy moved and placed the titanium cuffs on the girl. The thick, metal bands looked huge on her. That done she turned off the IV that had been administering the drug. "It will take a while." She told them. "Maybe an hour for the drug to be eliminated from her system."
They sat back to wait. DNAmy talked with Mrs. Dr. P about the girl. Ron and Kim went over their notes together. Dr. Betty Directory listened to them both, absorbing information, while watching the girl. After a short while tears appeared on the girl cheeks again. Shego arrived and sat beside the Buffoon.
Against her will she was pulled from the darkness, from the comforting sleep where thought didn't exist. For a while she existed in the nightmare of the things she'd done. It felt different. She couldn't feel the something feeding off the pain the nightmares caused her. As she rose close to awakening she wondered at that. It had always been there, enjoying every pain she suffered whether it was from a memory or a stubbed toe. It had drank it all in with glee. But now... Nothing...
She heard a number of voices as she stood at the brink of awakening. Two women were talking in scientific terms that made no sense to her. That she was the subject of discussion was obvious though. Another two were talking about differentials and integration. That made no sense to her either. She tried to force herself to sleep, but the effort of concentrating only drove her to wake up all the faster. She could feel something on her arms and legs and thought they might be restraints. She awoke.
She thought of pretending to be still asleep, but decided against the idea. There was no gain to it, so she opened her eyes and looked around. There were indeed restraints on her arms. From the thickness of the metal she guessed they were pretty strong. Maybe the people who had let her wake up weren't complete idiots after all. Around her were six people. Two of them were wearing lab coats. They were the ones who had been talking about her. They looked to be scientists or doctors. Then there were the three she'd fought in the gym. The woman with the greenish skin was sitting in a chair. Obviously she no longer had a broken neck. That was good. And the redhead, Kim Possible, had also survived her injuries. That was good. Beside the two was the man who had forced her to flee the gym. That was good too. With the three of them there there was no way she could beat them even if she could get free of the restraints. That was good. The sixth woman was sitting in a chair staring back at her.
"How are you feeling?" Dr. Betty Director asked the girl.
Jenny wondered what to say. It had been a long time since she'd talked to someone. Years other than the time she and Kim Possible had discussed aliens. She still found that concept hard to believe. She was just crazy. It was a much simpler explanation. Eventually she asked. "Who are you?"
The person whose agents you maimed a few months back." The head of Global Justice told her. She immediately regretting being so blunt as the girl flinched at the accusation.
"Are you going to kill me?" Jenny asked.
Dr. Betty Director opened her mouth to speak but paused as she realized the way the girl had spoken it was more of a request, a hope. "I didn't go through the trouble of having the most brilliant geneticist, and brain surgeon, in the world treat you just to kill you." She finally said.
Jenny looked at the two people who were standing over her in lab coats.
"That's DNAmy." Ron spoke, pointing at the short woman. "She's the geneticist." He turned to point at Mrs. Dr. P. "That's Dr. Anne Possible. One of the most famous brain surgeons in the world. Also the mother of Kim Possible."
She blinked and looked at the redheaded woman in the lab coat and back at Kim Possible. They looked a lot alike.
"The woman there." Ron pointed at the head of Global Justice. "Is Dr. Betty Director. Head of the organization that captured you a little over seven years ago. It was her agents you hurt in your escape. She's also the one who is in charge of what happens to you now." He turned to point at Shego. "This is Shego. Hurt her again and it won't be just a synthodrone with a few tranq darts that I will use for a trap." He looked at the girl who flinched again, making him regret the words. "As for me. Not sure if there's any point in telling you my name since people just tend to forget it, but it's Ron Stoppable." He rose and took a seat next to her and looked at her. "And you, we know, are Jenny Calworth."
She looked around trying to absorb all the information. It had been a long time since she had had to remember names. "You made that trap?" She finally asked the man with the blonde hair.
Ron nodded. "Figured you would attack her again. So it was pretty simple."
"Thanks!" Jenny said.
Ron blinked. "For?" He asked.
"Stopping me from hurting more people. It would be best if you killed me now." She said. "Please." She added.
"You don't have to hurt people any more now." He told her. "They did the same thing with you as they did with Kim. Though since you weren't a fetus any more the process was a lot harder."
She pondered those words. "From the file she read she knew Kim Possible had been once like her and that she wasn't a killer. If the same procedure had been done on her... She searched her mind for the presence of the something. There was nothing. No sense any longer that it still existed. But still... She thought of all the misery she'd caused over the years. To people and animals alike. It was beyond bearing. "It's best to be safe." She told the man. "It might come back."
"I guess it will be a long time before you can trust your own mind." Ron told her. "Perhaps never." He sighed. "However, we're pretty sure you're alone inside that skull of yours now."
"Hello." Kim spoke from above his shoulder and he moved out of way, taking his original place in the room.
Jenny looked up at the redhead and recalled the way she'd last seen her, lying in a pool of blood from a slashed throat. She gulped and pushed the image away. She wondered what she could say to the person she had nearly killed. "Are you okay?" She asked.
"I am. Was out of the hospital in a week. Though I had to spend another week at this base while those synthodrone that looked like me were walking around. Nearly went stir crazy."
"Nearly?" Shego asked, looking at her friend with a raised eyebrow.
Kim recalled the agents she'd thrown around while sparring. The ones that had quit. "Okay. I actually did go stir crazy." She admitted. She turned back to Jenny. "Just so you know you might not be quite as strong and fast as before. But you're still stronger and faster than normal people. So be careful."
Not as strong and fast. That was good. That meant she could be killed, or captured, more easily if the something came back. Or would the something coming back make her strong and fast again. She thought on that, not knowing what to say to the redhead.
"What was it like." Dr. Betty Director interjected. "Having two people inside your skull?"
Jenny blinked. Two people? There had always been just her. The something had been a part of her. Anything else was crazy. "There was just me." She finally answered.
"No voices? Images?" Mrs. Dr. P asked.
"There was." She admitted. "But that's because I'm crazy."
"What were the voices and images like?" The head of Global Justice asked.
Jenny wondered if the something would stop her from answering, but there was still no sign of it. "Just images. No voices, but when I saw the images I knew what the something was thinking, what the images meant."
"Describe why you hurt people?" Dr. Betty Director commanded.
She thought on that. How to describe the process. "I would see a person and the something would create an image in my mind of how it wanted that person hurt. Sometimes it was just teasing me, making me need to hurt the person, but not so great that I had too. Other times the need would overwhelm me and I would do as it wanted me too."
"It would have been using the control circuits to access her visual functions to create the images and then accessing another to create a compulsion." Mrs. Dr. P said. "Pretty insidious. She would have thought it was she herself doing the hurting." She looked around the room. "Please use alien when referring to the one doing the hurting." She ordered the people present. She stared down Dr. Betty Director who started to speak.
'"Alien?" Jenny asked, curious. The idea was still insane, but she wanted to know more.
"Think of it this way." Ron told her. "Two brains, one body. You would have had control of your body normally. But the two brains were linked so that when it wanted to the alien could have compelled you to do whatever it wanted. I know the idea sounds crazy but those two." He pointed the DNAmy and Mrs. Dr. P. "Have spent a lot of time and effort to first remove the alien's genetic material from your body and then to remove the control structures it had built in your brain to control you with."
She blinked. "You mean my DNA actually was different? And you changed it back? And my brain was different?"
"Your DNA was certainly different." DNAmy answered.
"And you had over two hundred control circuits built into your brain somehow." Mrs. Dr. P added.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
Everyone in the room jumped. Kim pulled out the Kimmunicator.
"Sara Baring was spotted heading towards the astronomy building at Upperton College. No idea what she would want there." Wade spoke.
"Ride?" Kim asked.
"There'll be a Global Justice jet waiting for you at the hangar." Dr. Betty Director said.
"Whose Sara Baring." Jenny asked.
The head of Global Justice looked at her. "You don't know?"
She shook her head.
"She's one of the other girls who escaped with you. The three of you didn't speak?"
"No. For some reason we couldn't. It wasn't allowed. Though..." She paused in thought.
"Though what?" Dr. Betty Director asked.
"The way we climbed when we escaped. It was as though we were speaking, helping each other out. We would have died before we got to the top otherwise. But we, or at least I, didn't hear any voices."
Kim looked back before she left. "From now on you got a choice. When you do something wrong, it will be you. When you do something right, it will be you. Any compulsions from now on will be from you." She smiled at the girl. "You cried each time you hurt someone didn't you. You're a good person and will make the right choices." She turned and ran with the others for the hangar.
Jenny stared after her. She had a choice? Then she could chose to die. It was the right decision. It ensured she would never harm anyone ever again.
It wasn't sure what it was doing. But the sense that something was wrong just wouldn't go away. It stared at the building in front of it. The science of the pests was crude, but if it had five minutes it could configure it to detect a ship. Assuming one was in orbit around this world. Enter the building. It instructed Sara.
The girl moved at a slow run and approached the building she'd been ordered to entered. It didn't look like it was defended. If she had been aware she would have thought it was easy. But then if she'd been aware she would have known such a building wouldn't have a lot of security. She pulled at the door and it opened. It wasn't locked. She entered and waited.
It stared at the equipment arrayed before it. So crude, yet it would work. Several people approached it. Hurt them. It instructed and gave her orders on how it wanted them hurt. Unfortunately time did not allow for too much torture. The two who could wield plasma would know it was here pretty soon. Or so it assumed. It would settle for just hearing their screams as it listened for the ship. A few broken bones. Disappointing, but later it would have its camouflage pick a house and torture those within. It would have fun then.
She moved swiftly and followed the instructions. Striking as she'd been ordered too. Soon the five workers who had been preparing the equipment for an experiment were on the ground, screaming. She let the screams pass through her without registering them. To be aware was to know she was in hell. It wasn't something she could bear. She had long ago chose not to be aware.
It stared at the equipment again. The ship would be cloaked, but no cloak covered all frequencies. It took direct control of the body it wore and started rearranging the settings. It would have to make sure the settings were changed after the scan. It didn't want the pests to know how to detect a ship even if they could never hope to destroy one.
Five minutes later it stood back and waited. The radio antenna scanned the heavens and reported the results to a nearby display. It stood in shock. There was a ship in orbit. But why hadn't the war machines been unleashed on this world as planned. Why hadn't they been collected as planned. It didn't make sense.
"Looking for your ship?"
A voice asked from behind it and it whirled around, to see three figures standing at the entrance. The shock had allowed them to get close without it hearing. "You know about the ship." It asked, using the pest to speak.
The redhead grinned. "I guess you could say that. But I should have said our ship."
It stood disbelieving the words. "There is no way you could have captured the ship." It responded. It didn't know what else to do. The information was insane, it couldn't be real.
"It had two Lorwardians aboard it." Kim spoke. "Greenish skin, about ten feet tall.
The pest knew the name for their species. And the number that would have been aboard it. It was...
"Names of Warhok and Warmonga." Kim added.
Impossible, it thought. frozen in shock.
"Why merge Lorwardians with human fetuses?" Ron asked.
"How could you capture a ship with your technology? You shouldn't have even been able to penetrate the barrier." It asked.
The three stood staring at it and both sides knew they could not give away information. To the humans the Lorwardians were a threat to their species. To the Lorwardian humans were nothing more than pests, but ones that could capture a ship.
"I guess we fight then." Kim said. "Not that it matters. After you there will be one more merged Lorwardian on this world to deal with."
Ron and Shego flared plasma around themselves and charged. Kim flipped back and hit the invisibility option on her suit. She moved around slowly, so she wouldn't be spotted. With the other two making the girl move around she would have opportunities to attack from a blind spot.
It gave control back to the pest it wore as camouflage and ordered. Kill them.
She moved to obey and paused. She wasn't to die. So how could she attack them without getting hurt. Plasma came hurtling towards her and she dodged. The blast hit the floor and created a crater. She dodged again and more plasma came at her. She was entirely on the defensive, but she had been ordered to attack, to kill. How to do that?
"She moves fast." Shego muttered, almost making the words a curse. She threw more plasma and it missed. More small craters appeared in the floor.
"Still it's three against one. We have her this time." Ron answered. He too tossed more plasma. "Or should I say four."
Shego laughed. "My man's a tricky one. If you had been evil we would own this world now, and probably Lorwardia too."
One more it recoiled in shock. They were joking. They were certain they would win this fight. That even Lorwardia would be a trivial matter to conquer.
If she had been aware the shock of the demon inside her would have made her flinch. The plasma would have hit her then. As it was it didn't even register. She moved automatically, dodging and trying to figure out a way to attack. She turned and saw a redheaded woman. Kill. The demon instructed, roaring the compulsion in her head and she moved to obey. The redhead was the only target she could attack. She thought it strange that her opponent moved so slow. That she barely bothered trying to dodge the strike at her throat. If she had been aware she would have been surprised at what happened.
Green goo exploded from the redheaded woman it had ordered the pest to kill. It knew human blood was red. Something was wrong. Then the world around it began to fade. Darkness overcame it as it tried to roar. It had been a trap. It had been defeated by the pests.
"Call in Global Justice to secure her." Kim ordered, looking down at the girl. "And get some medical personnel here." She added looking back up at the five wounded lab workers. Fortunately they didn't seem to be badly maimed. Just a few broken bones. They would heal.
Ron moved to obey. The trap had been a simple one. When he'd made the fake synthodrone Kims to trap Jenny he'd made four and had them wander around the Uppterton College campus. She had destroyed one when it trapped her. When Kim had hit the invisibility feature on her suit they'd waited a while and then introduced one of the three remaining fake Kims into this fight. The same trap had worked twice. He wasn't about to complain.
End of Chapter.
Dementor was making some nice toys with the Diablos. Fortunately the villains always leaves a flaw in the toys. Btw, I have no idea if a one percent concentration of methane in the atmosphere would be enough to block such a sensor. I do know that methane is opaque to those frequencies. But in the KP universe the science is less science and more fantasy. It was the only way I could come up with for our heroes to defeat the synthobots once I had designed them.
Jenny is cured. Will she chose to live or die?
Sara was trapped pretty easy this time. But can they unmerge her. Always that ten percent chance of death.