-Chapter 2-
Dr. Wade Load, head of the technology and Cognitive Science Division, walked at a quick pace along the long empty corridor leading to the office of Dr. Director. Until moments ago he had been finalising his work on the algorithm of a project called the 'Cerebral code', with which mind control would theoretically be possible. As the doors opened inwards automatically, Wade pulled himself out of his train of thought and walked towards the Director of Global Justice, before awkwardly standing to attention. Seating himself on a chair on the opposite side of the desk when motioned to, Wade was puzzled as to why he had been summoned here, Dr. Director quickly enlightening him to the reason why.
"Dr. Load, I have summoned you here to debrief you on certain aspects, and the incident that occurred on the mission concerning Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable, not only because you have a history with them but also because it could potentially affect your work on numerous projects."
Wade looked on, confused and concerned " I don't understand Dr. Director, I was under the assumption that the mission had been a success. We received the data from the terminal, and-"
"It was a partial success Dr. Load" Dr. Director interjected "Certain events took place and … complications arose."
"I don't understand, complications ma'am?"
"Kim Possible. On the flight back from the mission she exhibited signs of a dormant 'X-gene' awakening. Although this is the first time we have ever caught it on tape with the built in cameras on the Hoverjet it helps us no further in discovering her abilities and threat level to future operations." Dr. Director stated, simply and bluntly.
"Threat level ma'am? I don't think that Kim would pose as a threat to GJ. We've worked with her- I've worked with her for years, I know her, she's not a villain." Wade said, trying to assure the obviously wrong head of GJ.
"She is a mutant, Dr. Load. The X-gene within her is no longer dormant. Whoever you knew her as before, she is no longer the same. She's not even human!" Dr. Director stated, almost with a tone of disgust in her voice.
"I see..." was all that Wade could formulate in his brain, as his mind was attempting to wrestle with this new information. "But if she, as you say, is a mutant, shouldn't we still see some sign of it in her family bloodline? There's no other evidence and curiously enough the gene activated so late…"
"She's definitely a mutant Dr. Load. The first of her bloodline… as far as we know. We'll have to keep a closer eye on her family incase she is not the only case."
Turning to the former third member of Team Possible Dr. Director spoke again "I and some higher agents find it safest if we keep Possible in custody while she recovers from the X-gene activating, until we can discover her full powers, where she stands on the mutant proble- issue, and where her allegiances lie. She could prove to be useful if Project Nemesis was to fail."
"Y-yes ma'am. On the topic of Project Nemesis, what about Subject S and the hiccup? By all calculations and tests we need a mutant, and a powerful one at that, to have the level of success we are aiming to achieve, do we not?" Wade said, unsure of what this meant for all the work he had gone through, and the proverbial bridges he had burnt to achieve success.
"The process will commence as planned, Dr. Load. A closer look at his genetic makeup by our lead 'Mutant Experts' has found that the subject's true X-gene has been suppressed all this time by the powers he wielded." Looking over a file on her table Dr. Director continued, "We will now merely be required to boost these powers using the 'Chemical 14' formula, and if the subject is still salvageable after that Project Nemesis will go ahead as planned."
"Ah, of course ma'am. I understand then that the use of 'Chem 14' has been authorised and is proceeding as we speak?"
"Yes, you are correct." After pausing for a moment Dr. Director looked up from the file in front of her "Dr. Load, I can understand if you do not wish to be a part of the final stages of the project, given your history with-"
"No ma'am, I can do this. I have been on board with the Operation all this time I cannot back down now."
Dr. Director stood up from behind the desk, motioning Wade to follow as they walked to the door leading to the hallway beyond her office, nonverbally signalling that the much-respected Dr. Load was permitted to return to his own work station.
"Excellent choice Dr. Load. You will find the updated details on the subject in your office, once signed off we will begin prepping the mutant for Project Nemesis."
Wade, saying nothing, nodded to one of the most powerful people in the world and began the long walk down the empty corridor. Reaching the elevator he inserted the authorisation key and punched in a code. The elevator, whirring to life, jolted downwards to the lower levels of Global Justice Headquarters. Exiting the elevator Wade made a beeline straight to his pigeon hole, where he grabbed a file that had been placed in there and headed for his own, much smaller office where he sat down and took a closer look at what the contents of the file would give him to work with.
Already knowing what it would be about, he pulled out the small pile of transcript and updated details on the gene enhancement that had occurred not too long ago. With the papers came a memory chip, simply titled 'Subject S, X-gene enhancement procedure'.
Reading through the details of the procedure, Wade paid keen attention to the powers that had been enhanced. "Advanced healing abilities detected… subject believed to have acute hearing, agility and enhanced reflexes… strongly recommend subject for Project Nemesis…"
Placing the papers down, Wade signed placed his signature on the front page and sent the file off through a tube system in the wall. Sighing, he looked at the memory chip on his desk. Knowing what he would have to watch he inserted it into his computer system, muttering "I'm sorry, my old friend" as the recorded footage of the procedure played on his screen.
-Hours earlier-
Ron Stoppable woke up. His eyelids were heavy and he had trouble opening them, as though someone was keeping them shut. Finally, after what felt like a lifetime he managed to open his eyes, only to be greeted by a front row view of a bright fluorescent light in the ceiling, momentarily blinding him again.
"Am I dead? Shit where am I?" He said to himself, in a state of major confusion as he began to regain his sight.
Attempting to move he immediately winced in pain, as the bullet wound brought him fully back to reality. Deciding that moving was not such a great idea for now, Ron looked about himself, getting his bearing as to where exactly he was. On further inspection, he found that he was in a room with a heavily tinted glass wall to his right, a camera in the top left corner, and more worryingly, he was strapped to a table in the middle of the room.
"DESIRED CONSCIOUSNESS LEVEL ACHIEVED" a robotic voice echoes through the room, startling Ron.
"INITIATING 'CHEMICAL 14' INJECTION" came the voice again
"What the-" Ron started to speak, as four robotic arms rose from the tiled floor, each armed with large mean-looking needles filled with what he could only guess was this 'Chemical 14'. Without so much of a warning, the robotic limbs and the needles they carried positioned themselves above his arms and legs, before finding their target areas and plunging the needle tips into his body. A wave of pain ensued as the foreign liquid entered his body.
"SPOOLING UP SUB-CELLULAR ELECTRIC INITIATOR DRONES"
A fifth robotic arm emerged from the tiled floor, this time it positioned itself near Ron's head. The reasonably smaller needle on this robotic limb, housing a grey-silvery substance that could only be the miniature 'drones', almost immediately jabbed into his neck, releasing the substance into his blood stream to do its work.
At this point Ron was battling unconsciousness as the robotic voice started up again. "BEGINNING X-GENE STIMULATION PROCEDURE"
As multiple hidden devices powered up in the room the foreign chemicals and drones injected into his body began to intermingle, jumpstarting Ron's dormant X-gene.
An uncontrollable wave of pain passed over him. All the blonde member of Team Possible could do was scream as he felt as though he was being torn apart on a cellular level as his mutation woke from its dormant state and began to mature at a speed much faster than would occur naturally to a mutant. After an unknown period of time Ron lost the battle with the waves of pain and fell into a state of unconsciousness, the world around him fading to black.
-Global Justice HQ medical ward-
Kim Possible was in a deep sleep. Deep, restless and confusing. In her deep sleep state she continued to play over the mission, where it all went wrong. She could hear the shot that downed Ron, see the net fly though the air at her Fiancé in almost slow motion, yet she could do nothing but watch as it wrapped itself around the blonde and threw him to the floor. As she ran over to him she could smell the rusty smell of blood, then his words echoed in her head "Kim, please… run, go!... I love you". With a gasp of air Kim woke up from what can only be described as one of the worst sleeps she had ever had. Utterly exhausted and sporting a painful but manageable headache the redhead began to take in her immediate surroundings.
"I'm in a hospital room of sorts… bedside table, bare but the thought counts… the air is pretty stale, underground or submarine? … my arms, I can't move them, I'm tied to the bed!" Kim thought as she was brought out of her chaotic train of thoughts by a quick firm knock on the door to her room.
The owner of the knock quickly came in, revealing it to be none other than Dr. Director smiling warmly at the redhead who was confused and still trying to wriggle out of the bindings.
"Dr. Director? I-I… where am I?" Kim started.
"Miss Possible, its quite alright. You're in safe hands." Dr. Director started, assuring Kim to an extent. "You are currently in one of Global Justice HQ's Medical wards, we brought you here after the mission to make sure you are alright."
"The mission! Whe-where's Ron? Do we know where they took him?" Kim began to panic once again, trying to get up out of bed. "Why am I tied to the bed? What is this?"
"For safety Miss Possible." The Director said, in a practically monotone voice.
"Safety? But I'm not a threat to anyone-"
"We don't know that however." All friendliness in the Director's voice was now gone. "To put it simply, Global Justice has not had a good track record when it comes to encounters and working with mutants. Look at Team GO, for example, one of their members has turned into a near unstoppable villain who uses her powers to dominate over others, using their normality against them. And then we are hearing these rumours about another mutant that can turn out own weapons, anything metallic into whatever he feels like! You see miss Possible, we just can't take the risk with you. We must know where you stand."
"Where I stand? What do you mean?" Kim asked only getting more suspicious and confused of the whole situation.
Unbeknownst to the redheaded hero in the bed, she began to reach out with her mind around the room and small objects began to move. This was however not missed by Dr. Director, who pressed a button on a terminal on her wrist, signalling in the two armed guards in the corridor, who then positioned themselves against the wall opposite to Kim's bed, guns at the ready.
"Dr. Director? What-" Kim started.
"We must know where your allegiances lie." The director of Global Justice continued, unfazed by the movement of some of the objects in the room. "Are they with your kind, the mutants, or are they with us?" after not getting a response from Kim she pressed on, annoyed by how long this was taking. "Answer me miss Possible, the safety of Ronald, of your family could hang off this…" too late she realised what a mistake she had made.
"You threaten my family? You threaten Ron?" She started, Dr. Director having evidently hit a nerve. "How dare you, after all that Ron and I have done for you!"
Dr. Director was now paying more attention to the energy in the air in the room and the increased force with which the furniture and loose objects were moving about with.
"Miss Possible, stand down." She tried to order the redhead in bed.
"Wait, how can you threaten Ron's safety when he's been…" She trailed off when her mind started to put things together. "You! You were behind the mission. You, what have you done to Ron?"
Kim Possible began to get angry, and her powers reflected it in turn as the bedside table was crushed by an invisible force, splinters flying everywhere. As this happened the director of Global Justice jumped up and made for the door, panic written all over her face she turned to the nearest guard.
"Shut her down!" was all she said before the guard moved towards the former teen hero and aimed his sidearm.
As Dr. Director left the room she heard a single shot ring out in the Medical ward. Still on a high from the adrenalin rush she keyed into her communicator on her wrist and the face of the head scientist on Project Nemesis popped up on her screen.
"Dr. Director, how can I help you?" Wade Load said, sounding almost bored in the delivery.
"Dr. Load. I am giving Level 9 authorisation to begin Project Nemesis, immediately."
"Immediat- shit- are you sure Dr. Director, shouldn't we wait for Ro- Subject S to recover?"
"No." The director of Global justice said, with no emotion in her voice. "Begin the procedure, prepare the Cerebral code. I will be with you to observe within moments."
"Yes ma'am." Was all that was heard from the genius before the connection was severed.
Dr. Wade Load's office
"Shit, this is all going too fast!" Wade muttered to himself as he brought up the algorithm for the Cerebral code.
"I have to do something, I promised." He entered a password and gained access to altering the algorithm on his monitor. Without hesitating he added a new line of code, enabling a backdoor to be formed to disable the effects of the algorithm.
"Key words… KP, stimulus… written and verbal." Wade muttered to himself, as he closed up the algorithm and stored it onto a portable Hard drive to take to the operation room unofficially dubbed the 'Nemesis chamber'.
"I hope this works, I can't let them do this to Ron, to make him into a monster." He spoke to himself once more, as he made his way to the operation room.
At the same time in the 'Nemesis Chamber'
In the darkness Ron thought he could hear voices, murmuring just quiet enough for him to not hear what they were saying. Suddenly he could hear one voice very loud and clearly. It was a woman's voice. It- it was Kim's voice!
"RON!"
Ron woke with a jolt. Confused and in a minor state of panic, he looked around to find the owner of the voice he'd just heard. Finding nothing he tried to get up, not remembering that he had been strapped to the table. However, this time when he flexed and moved he could feel the straps slowly giving way, almost as if he was stronger. Then he heard them, the other voiced he had heard in the blackness of unconsciousness. He turned his head in the direction from where he believed them to be coming from, the glass wall.
"Subject... Subject has woken up. It is just staring at me. Oh god I think it can hear us." The faceless scientists on the other side of the tinted glass wall began to jot down notes and relayed the data to others in on the upcoming procedure.
At this point the doors into the 'Nemesis Chamber' opened and in walked Dr. Director, Dr. Load and a handful of other scientists, much to Ron's surprise.
"Dr. Director? Where am I? What have you done to me?" Ron started
The director in question however, ignored Ron's questions, walking past him towards the glass wall and began talking to the persons on the other side.
"Note date and time, beginning final stages of Project Nemesis. Use of Cerebral code authorised. Dr. Load?"
"Yes Ma'am?"
"You may begin."
Wade walked towards his bewildered former friend with a definite uneasy look on his face. At this point Ron began to struggle, knowing something was about to happen and that it wouldn't be in his favour either. As Ron was nearing the point of being free from the straps keeping him down he felt a sharp jab in his neck and instantly relaxed into a conscious, but motionless state. As Wade reached Ron's head he brought out a weird looking headpiece and placed it on the blonde, fastening a strap across his chin and beginning to click cables and wiring into it.
As Wade was about to connect the last wire he leant down near Ron's ear and whispered, "I'm sorry, forgive me" before booting up a terminal that had risen from the tiled floor.
Inserting the memory chip he had brought with him, Wade punched in the last authorisation keys and looked one last time at the face of the man who had once been one of his closest friends. He only looked away when the algorithm started up and began wrestling control from the blonde on the table, causing him to jolt and jerk, as though being shocked by tiny amounts of electricity.
As the procedure began Dr. Director turned once more to the glass wall "As was outlined in the description in the file placed before you, Ladies and Gentlemen, Subject S's mutation had been suppressed by a power he had acquired at a previous time, delaying its maturation in the subject. To counter this time gap and to save precious time the use of 'Chemical 14' in co-operation with micro-sized drones was authorised to activate and mature the X-gene in the mutant. The drones will pass out of the system naturally in the next few hours and will pose no hindrance to the Nemesis Project." Dr. Director paused for a moment to look back at Ron on the table, as his thrashing subsided and he remained completely still.
Seeing that the Cerebral code had finished its work she continued "As you can see, the algorithm designed my Dr. Load has now given us full control of the Subject. Side effect of this mind form of mind control however is a theorised 80% Memory loss, which may work in our favour. With it and the subjects new abilities of advanced healing, hearing, reflexes and agility we may even have more success than if we had succeeded in harnessing the mutant known as Deadpool."
All the while this was going on, Wade had begun working his way around the table Ron was strapped to, removing the ties enough for him to be able to move.
"With a weapon such as Nemesis in our hands," Dr. Director continued, "the mutant problem of the world should not be a problem for Global Justice anymore. As proof of the mind control we have I would ask you all to please observe."
Dr. Director looked over to the Blonde on the table. "Nemesis!" Ron pivoted his head to look at her. "Put on this power suit." Ron, a.k.a Nemesis, got up and proceeded to dress himself in a black and red patterned power suit, not too different to Kim's battle suit except for added bits of armour plating along the forearms, shoulders upper back, spine and chest areas (as well as a helmet that could materialise around the wearers head with the press of a button). The suit was a one-of-a-kind piece of hardware, designed by Wade of course, specifically for the Nemesis Project.
Seeing that Nemesis had complied to her command she took a long object out of a case a scientist had brought her. "Good, now take this sword and kill Dr. Load."
"Wait what-" was all that Wade could speak out as Nemesis grasped the sword handed to him and thrust the sharp expertly crafted adamantium blade into his stomach.
Trembling and in shock, Wade collapsed to the floor which was slowly turning red as his blood seeped from the wound.
"Dr. Director, was that really necessary?" one of the scientists asked, whilst clearly trying very hard not to throw up.
"Dr. Load was a traitor to the Global Justice cause, he sympathised with the mutant 'plight' and could no longer be trusted." The head of GJ then turned to her new weapon. "Nemesis, remove his body and place him in the vault with your failed predecessors."
Nemesis complied, moving over to the body and reached down to pick up his former friend. That was when he saw it. Written on the floor in his own blood, Wade had written two letters; K and P, before having succumbed to the fatal wound.
Nemesis stood still, almost frozen in motion as he saw the letters. "K…..P, what does that mean? Where have I seen that before… red? Red hair! KP!"
Ron/Nemesis snapped out of his train of thought, trembling and standing up straight.
"Nemesis!" shouted Dr. Director "I gave you an order."
Nemesis, however wasn't listening. Looking around himself, taking everything in he looked at the director of GJ. "What am I? Who am I?" he asked, his voice sounding unsure and confused. He began to become overwhelmed by the stimuli around him; the voices the bright lights, the body on the floor, the blood, the letters! KP
Nemesis/Ron ran for the door. He didn't know where he was, but he had to get out. Had to find a quiet place, less busy and less people. He had to get fresh air.
"For goodness sake not again!" Dr. Director exclaimed as she saw yet another Mutant slip out of her control. "Shoot him! And when you're done doing that rear him apart and burn him. We cannot have another 'Wolverine incident' on our hands here!"
Her commands and the armed Guards at the door had no chance however at stopping the rampaging mutant, as he charged towards the door, into the corridor knocking and cutting down anyone who tried to stop him. Global Justice HQ was in a state of chaos.
Multiple floors above the 'Nemesis Chamber' 10 minutes before all hell broke loose
Kim Possible opened her eyes. To her shock a bullet was floating, spinning in front of her face, and the bewildered wielder of the gun near the door, staring, staring as he witnessed the young woman stop a bullet mid-flight. Snapping out of her moment of shock and surprise Kim used her powers to snap open the restraints on her bed and rose, sending splinters from her bed side table and miscellaneous shards of metal towards the two guards who had been ordered to kill her, impaling them to the wall in an instant.
Finding her personal belongings at the foot of the bed in a box, Kim quickly got changed out of the paper-thin hospital gown and into her slightly dirty mission clothes. Her engagement ring wasn't in there, but that didn't worry her, she knew she'd left it at her apartment in a safe, as was what she always did when going on missions with her fiancé.
"Ron! I've got to find Ron!" the redhead thought as she opened the door a crack to look out and gauge just how far up shit creek she was without a paddle. As she was about to open the door a little further to look in the other direction of the corridor her room opened up into an alarm began to wail and all the lights switched from the cold hard blue to red. Instantly she knew something was not right.
"Shit! They're coming for me!" Kim thought as countless footsteps could be heard echoing from around the corner.
Instinctively she ducked behind the frame of the door as to not be hit by the frame when it would inevitably be kicked open. To her surprise however, the guards ran right past her room towards the elevators where one door began to open followed by a body falling out causing the guards to stop and take aim at their foe in the elevator.
A figure wearing a black and red armoured power suit walked out of the open elevator. Seeing the arm guards before him he turned to them, activating a switch on his suit that constructed (think Starlord helmet materialising crossed with iron Man) a helmet around much of his head, covering his face, side and back of the head in the same armour plating that was on his suit. Noting that the mutant before them hadn't charged and killed them yet one of the Armed GJ guards spoke up, breaking the silence.
"Orders from Dr. Director: you are to stand down immediately, Nemesis. Or face termination. Do you comply?"
By now Kim had begun to sneak out of her room, wanting to use the confusion to her advantage. Halfway out the door she stopped to look back at just what had caused all the ruckus, which was the exact moment that the helmet began to construct itself around the figures head. She had seen enough though to know who that was that stood there, facing off the GJ guards. "RON! Its you! I've found you!" she thought as she stepped towards the standoff.
Before she could call out to him, or help him with her new found powers however, Ron/Nemesis advanced on the GJ guards who retaliated with a barrage of bullets.
"No! Ron look out!" was all that Kim could shout as Ron charged at the armed men, sword in hand.
Surprisingly enough, Ron seemed to be able to dodge many of the bullets flying past him, the others hitting the armour plating on his suit. Coming within arm's reach Nemesis dove at the guards, sword at the ready. Landing just before the group the sword-wielding mutant slid into the middle of the armed congregation and swung his weapon at his opponents, slicing through their armour like a hot knife through butter. After a short struggle he was the last one standing, blood splattered on the power suit and dripping from the tip of the sword. Sensing/hearing movement behind him he turned to face the new aggressor, only to find a young redheaded woman standing in the open, almost frozen where she stood, a shocked expression on her face. That hair! … Red hair…
"Ron? Is that- is that you?" the owner of the red hair asked, unsure if it was actually her fiancé or if she had imagined it.
"Who is Ron?" Nemesis asked, still confused and somewhat taken aback by the sudden red hair. "I- I don't know who I am, where am I?"
"Ron, its me, Kim. Your KP… We're in GJ HQ, lets just get out of here."
"KP… ok, you're right we have to go, fresh air, less people, less noises." Ron/Nemesis, sensing that the redhead identifying herself as Kim was no threat, deactivated the helmet on the suit, revealing his face to her who could see that he was very stressed and confused.
As they turned to leave all they heard was a single gunshot and Ron stumbled for a second before catching his fall on the wall.
"No no-no-no not again, I cant lose you again" Kim thought as she heard the shot and saw Ron stumble.
In a moment of anger, desperation and fear she turned and saw the wielder of the gun, one of the guards had survived long enough to prop himself up against the wall and take a shot, but it seemed he had died soon after. Death by blood loss or shock most likely. Turning her attention back to Ron she saw him trying to stand upright again.
"Wait, don't move you've been shot!" Kim started as she rushed over to him. As she ran over though she noticed that the wound was getting smaller and the blood had stopped flowing, before the wound finally closed up and the bullet dropped out. "Wait, but how did you do that?"
"I dunno KP, I suppose sidekicks heal quick?" he flashed one of his trademark goofy smiles before it fell off his face, to be replaced by a look of minor confusion, "I don't know why I said that…"
"It's ok Ronnie, lets just get out of here and worry about that later." Kim said.
She could see the confusion and sadness in his eyes, as though he knew that there was something that he had forgotten, and was trying to no avail to remember. The two remaining members of Team Possible ran together along the corridor, determined to find a way out of the underground maze of a base and reach the surface.
-End Chapter 2-