Hi everyone! Decimater41 here. I present to you Rose of the Night Chapter 5 in all it's shining glory.
Okay, ridiculous dramatics aside, I hope you enjoy the chapter. Rose is going to run in to Ron, before clashing with an old enemy. Who will win?
Disclamer: I do not own Kim Possible. Disney does.
Mercer, Cathy, and Burton were created by a friend of mine and used with permission. Any other OCs are mine.
Many great thanks to Stormchaser90 for beta reading.
Rose flopped onto the bed, wincing as she bumped her injured arm. Today had been completely wasted. Mercer had taken her on a tour of the cafeteria, auditorium, gymnasium, rec room, and any other useless place you could think of. The only thing she had discovered was the questionable sanity of her guide. He either had a very warped opinion of what was important, or was just trying to annoy her. She looked at the half-rebuilt Kimmunicator on her wrist and sighed.
"I should probably fix Kim's hand, but that would pose a problem for my plans. I'll play it by ear." Tomorrow was Saturday and she figured Kim had till three o'clock before the damage became permanent. All Rose would have to do was call Shego on the ear comm she had built, give her location, and request a pickup.
"No!" she told herself forcefully and shook her head. "Kim is not my friend and I am not going to help her." Frustrated, Rose jumped out of bed and kicked the wall viciously, doing nothing but hurting her foot.
"What did the poor wall ever do to you?" a familiar voice asked. Rose's eyes narrowed when she realized who it belonged to.
Rose growled. "Go away!"
"Hey, I didn't do anything to you either." Mercer replied with his usual mock offense.
"He's right you know."
Rose felt like screaming. "So know you're butting in too," she mentally yelled at her conscience.
"May I use this opportunity to remind you of something?" the conscience asked.
"Just get it over with."
"Kim never did anything to you either, yet you're going to let her live with an awful handicap her whole life. What kind of monster are you?"
"Uh, excuse me," Mercer's voice cut in, sparing Rose from further lecture, "around here, we consider staring at the wall a sign of mental instability. Do I need to conduct you to the psychiatric ward?"
Though it was simply meant as a playful joke, Rose overreacted to the question and threw herself at Mercer. The agent sidestepped, and Rose stumbled out into the hallway, crashing into a tall, dark-haired, female agent.
"What on earth is going on here?" the agent asked, addressing Mercer.
"Rathy, meet Kose." Mercer yanked off his hat and slapped himself in the face with it when he realized his mistake. "Wait... ugh... just introduce yourselves."
Rose peeled herself from the wall she had just crashed into and stuck out her left hand. "The name's Rose. Pardon me for bumping into you, I was trying take his head off." She gestured at Mercer.
The agent shook the proffered hand. "Kathleen Potts. I appreciate your efforts to take his head off; however, we have rules against assault and decapitation." She turned back to Mercer. "On what business is she here, and, more particularly, why does she want your head?"
"Why does she want my head? Why does anybody want my head? Head-wanting is part of my job. She is a refugee... of sorts. I was just being my normal irritating self."
"You got that right," Rose snorted.
"Nobody asked you." Mercer retorted, while fake-glowering.
"I asked myself."
"So about this 'refugee,'" Kathy put in, "is there a particular reason she has been admitted to our top secret base of operations?"
"I didn't see anything useful, if that's what you're worried about," Rose muttered, half under her breath.
"Rush medical issues. She also threatened to leave me on the floor screaming for mercy." Mercer explained.
"And I'm still of mind to do it."
"Let me know when she decides to. I want to be there." Kathy requested.
"Trust me, you'd hear it." Rose replied.
"Violent type, I see. By the way, Miss Rose, outsiders are never shown the more important facilities, be they under the charge of Mercer the Messer-upper or not."
"I expected that, but come on. The most important place is the cafeteria? What kind of idiot is he?"
"I am still here you know." Mercer commented.
Kathy ignored him. "He is an excellent strategist, a good judge of character, and a complete lunatic. And to him, the cafeteria is the most important place. He designed it himself."
"I see. I'll presume that you're not to fond of him."
"Fond of him? He's the only person in the organization besides Boss who can claim to be my superior. Claim, mind you."
"No skills to back it up?"
"He's good in his own right, but he could never beat me up, even in his dreams. I lead the Special Forces, an elite group out from under Mercer's jurisdiction that serves Boss he-himself."
"He-himself?"
"Never mind."
"While we're talking about Special Forces," Mercer butted in, "why is their leader making one of her rare trips into my territory?"
"Boss wanted to have a private interview, not that it's any of your business."
"I used to be the only who got to talk to Boss before we started all this Special Forces stuff."
"Live with it. Anyway, you might want to get her," Kathy motioned to Rose, "out of here by tomorrow morning. You know Boss's policy on outsiders."
"Alright, alright," Mercer grumbled. Throwing a final fake-glare at Kathy, he walked off down the hallway, acting oblivious to the fact that Rose was still standing there.
"And I can now add rudeness to the list of his attributes," the red head muttered.
Kathy looked at her thoughtfully. "You remind me of that teen hero, Kim Possible, I think her name was. Any relation?"
"I'm her clone. Can I ask you a question?"
"Depends on what the question is."
"When Mercer found me at the ruins of Drakken's lair, he called me 'Miss Possible.' After I told him that I wasn't Kim, he recited my full name, without ever giving me a chance to say it. How does he know what my name is?"
"Mercer became interested in Team Possible a couple years ago, after the Diablo incident. He studied every bit of information we had on Kim and Ron, presumably running across your name while doing so."
"But I'm top secret. Very few people even know I exist."
"We have ways of discovering 'top secret' things. Now excuse me, I have a meeting to make."
Rose walked back into the hospital room and lay down on one of the beds.
"Boy is this a strange place."
-KP-
The next morning.
Rose reeled wearily into the hallway outside the medical room, nearly bumping into an agent standing the door, who promptly snapped to attention.
"Agent Burton Potts reporting ma'am," he began in a respectful monotone. "Captain Mercer sends a message for you to meet him directly outside the cafeteria at five o'clock A.M. sharp, with emphasis on the sharp."
Rose looked at the hallway clock and noticed that it read quarter till five. "Wait a minute. Potts? Any relation to Kathy Potts?"
"She is my sister, ma'am." He saluted. "Good day." He then strolled off down the corridor like an obedient robot.
With some difficulty, Rose picked her way to the cafeteria and arrived just as the clock struck five. No Mercer. Two minutes passed. Still no Mercer. A full five minutes later, Kathy Potts walked up.
"Good morning Miss Rose. This way please." Rose followed Kathy, a questioning look on her face. "I must apologize for being late. I was just told a minute ago that you were going to be riding with me. Apparently you've caught Boss's attention."
"I'm not sure if I like that or not."
"For now, it's a good thing." Kathy walked up a console set in the wall and swiped a card in it. A portion of the wall swung open, revealing a cold room packed with frozen goods. Kathy proceeded to a door on the opposite side of the room and opened it. Rose did the same, finding herself in the frozen meat section of grocery store. The customers and staff paid them no attention as they walked through the store, leaving Rose totally befuddled. They exited the the store, walking out onto the street of a fairly small town. Rose looked at a sign reading Welcome to Middle of Nowhere.
"The citizens of this town are quite well aware of what lies below them, and haven't had a problem with us yet. In fact, a lot of the citizens are agents. As the name indicates, this place is cut off from most of the world, making it perfect for our base of operations. The reason this doesn't look familiar is because Mercer brought you in through a different entrance, meant for misleading possible spies." Kathy continued walking towards a small airport set on the outskirts of the town. On it sat a white plane with the Z-boy logo on the tail. They entered and Rose picked a seat by a window. The plane taxied into position and took off, the town soon fading into the distance. Rose glanced down at the passing countryside beneath them.
Kathy strapped herself in and turned to her companion. "I suppose you are wondering how a group of bumbling incompetents like us manages to call in favors from bigwigs like Nakasumi."
"The thought did cross my mind for a brief moment."
"Well, for one thing, I'd better make it clear that we are not all incompetents and that the behavior of the whole organization is not to be judged from the idiocies of Mercer. Nakasumi owes us a very big favor, but don't ask what. It's classified."
"May I dare to ask exactly what you guys are?"
Kathy shrugged. "I suppose. Mercer seems to think you trustworthy, and I am forced to admit that he can analyze character pretty accurately in spite of his silliness. We are a secret agency much like Global Justice, with the difference that we are much more secret, work on a smaller scale, and are not affiliated with any government whatsoever."
"Any connection to the 'all powerful' GJ?"
"Beyond having agents in it, no. Director knows we exist, but can't do anything about us. We put agents in 'The Worldwide Evil Empire' too, but usually we pull them out after a week or two. Too easy to lose agents that way. Anyway, Mercer showed you our useless stuff as another of his strange jokes. We have special laboratories, some top-secret equipment, and some highly advanced training centers. I don't know about regular agents, but the Special Forces people could outmatch Global Justice easily."
"Is there anyone who could best your Special Forces?"
"GJ's Agent Red, possibly. Nobody else that I can think of at the moment. We're not an elite force for nothing."
"What about an ancient mystical power?" Rose asked teasingly.
"I, personally, do not believe in ancient mystical powers. But if there were any, they would follow the normal trend of ancient mystical powers and defeat anything."
"Then how do you explain what Ron Stoppable did during the invasion?"
"Who knows he did anything? There is too little factual evidence for that. What are you trying to get at?"
"Not sure myself. Just another one of my random comments. Where are we going?"
"I have a mission in the vicinity of Middleton. I'll have someone drive you into town."
"Great," Rose drawled sarcastically. "Middleton, the one place I wanted to avoid. How long until we jump?"
Kathy checked an elaborate watch identical to the ones Rose had noticed on the wrists of Mercer and the other Shadow Agents. "We bail in forty-five minutes. Just sit back and relax. I have to plan my mission." She pulled a briefcase out from under her seat, opened it, and yanked out a file folder. She rifled through the contents, leaving Rose to her own devices for the rest of the trip.
-KP-
An hour later.
Ron sat glumly in Middleton Park, lost in his thoughts. For once, the ninjas had actually flown him to his house, rather than making him find his own way home. When he had entered the house, a GJ agent had been waiting to give him a brief summary of Kim's situation. Ron hadn't been told much, but he inferred that someone had defeated Kim and that she was currently in a hidden medical facility. He had been simply flabbergasted. The idea of Kim being defeated seemed, well, impossible.
"It just doesn't seem right," he told Rufus.
The naked mole rat shook his head. "Uh, uh."
"Well, guess I'd better get moving. I should call Wade and see if he can get me in to see Kim," Ron mused as he stood up. "Or maybe I should get a naco. Haven't had one in a while. No, Kim first, naco later. Need to find a phone..." He strolled through the park, searching for a pay phone. When he finally found one, someone was leaning up against it, a newspaper covering her face.
"Uh, excuse me. You're in my way." Ron tapped his foot.
A discontented grunt issued from behind the wall of paper. "Have some patience will you?"
Ron nearly jumped at the voice. "It couldn't be," he thought. "Kim?" he asked aloud.
The newspaper was thrust aside to reveal an angry face that looked like Kim's. However her reply was most unusual.
"How. Many. Times. Do. I. Have. To. Tell. People? I'm not Kim!"
"Uh, KP, is there something wrong with you?"
"Don't give me that Stoppable. I am perfectly fine. I don't know what silly nicknames you call Kim by, but I certainly am not going to stand them. My name is Rose, not Kim. Got that?"
"Are you sure you haven't been memory wiped?" Ron uneasily inquired.
"Yes!" came the irritated reply. "I remember every miserable moment from my creation to this very instant. And to stave off your delightful questions, yes, I am a clone. Now leave me alone." Rose stamped off, leaving a thoroughly confused Ron thinking that he had woken up on the wrong side of the bed that morning.
-KP-
Sighing in frustration, Rose plopped down on a bench, ignoring the person seated next to her. She looked at the now rebuilt Kimmunicator and sighed again.
"Kim probably has about four hours," she thought. "Why am I having all this internal strife? In the past, I always knew what to do. But after meeting Kim two days ago, everything feels so different."
"Uh, Rose? Are you listening?" a voice interrupted.
"Would you just leave me alone you stupid conscience?"
"I'm not your conscience and I've been trying to get your attention for the past minute now."
Rose came out of her trance and looked at the person beside her. She looked to be in her early thirties, and was approximately six feet tall. What struck Rose as both unusual, and surprisingly familiar, was her head of light blue hair.
"Do I know you?"
"My, you must really be out of it. It's me, Reese Ticulate."
"Let me think a minute. Reese Ticulate, where have I heard that name before?" Finally, recognition dawned on her. "Reese!" She threw her arms around the woman. "It's so good to see you again. But how did you know it was me?"
Reese laughed. "You have a certain aura about you."
"That's great to know," Rose replied sarcastically. "How's life been treatin' ya?"
"Good. You?"
"Not so good I'm afraid. I've got a lot on my mind right now."
"I can tell. How 'bout a shopping spree?"
"Sure." Rose snapped her fingers. "That reminds me. I left something of mine with someone at the local Club Banana. Could you direct me there? I found my way the first time, but I'm really messed up right now."
"Sure, you can come with me. I was planning on going there anyway."
"Great. Thanks!"
-KP-
Monique looked up as two people entered the store. The first one looked like some one out of a Japanese anime, having medium length blue hair, and a slightly pale complexion. The other, was either Rose or Kim.
"Welcome to Club Banana. Can I help you with anything?"
"Yeah. I left something of mine with you a couple days ago," Rose replied.
Monique reached behind the counter and lifted out the black jacket. "Here you go." She looked at the mission outfit Rose was wearing. "By the way, for some reason, you do not look right in purple. It may fit Kim, but not you."
"Yeah, I know. I can't seem to find anything I like though."
"Well, then it's good you got me around." Monique reached under the counter again and pulled out a cardboard box. "Here, try them on."
Rose ripped the box open. A smile crossed her face. Reese leaned over to take a look and whistled.
"Great idea, Miss...?"
"Monique Jefferson. And you are?"
"Reese Ticulate. Nice to meet you." Reese shook Monique's hand. "So how do you know Rose?"
"She walked into the store two days ago. Seemed depressed."
Reese waited until Rose had vanished into the restroom, then sighed. "She's always depressed. I've known her for about a year now. She's never been the same since, since..."
"Since what?"
"Are you familiar with the Jupiter Gang?"
Monique nodded. "It's common belief that they're the ones who killed my parents. Rose mentioned that she had been part of them for a bit."
"Apparently Thomas Wilkinson, their leader, was Rose's boyfriend. Then," Reese took a breath, "he killed her best friend. I found her in a back alley all beat up. She was sobbing her head off and kept saying the name Randall over and over again. I took her to my house and heard the whole story on the way. We became good friends and she drops by from time to time. I haven't seen since her the invasion though. She sat down beside me on a park bench about twenty minutes ago and showed no signs of recognition. I was finally able to jog her memory, but something's very wrong with her."
"From what I heard, she did a number on Kim not that long ago. Ron called earlier today to tell me that Kim was in a hospital somewhere. He said he was going to see if he could contact Wade and find out the exact location, but hasn't called back yet."
"Any idea what Rose did to Kim?"
"I'm not sure." Monique frowned. "Ron mentioned that he had been told she was suffering from a serious injury and that they were working on fixing it at the time."
"Rose probably misted her then."
"Misted?"
"Maybe I should let-" Reese stopped as three teens, two boys and a girl, walked into the store. Clothed in black leather, they approached the counter, blank expressions on their faces.
"Welcome to Club Banana. How may I help you?" Monique asked, a bit apprehensively. It was very unusual to see guys in the store, except for when they came to buy stuff for their girlfriends. And these three didn't look like they were interested in buying anything.
The one who appeared to be their leader grinned. "You could kill yourself for us, but something makes me think that you don't want do that." He nodded to the boy on his left. "Blake, she's all yours."
Blake drew a switchblade from his pocket, and flipped it open. "Now just stay nice and quiet and you're the only one that's gonna get hurt."
Reese instinctively stepped in front of Monique. "Why do you want her dead?"
"We're coming back to finish a job we failed," the leader replied. "Kill them both."
Blake grinned, raised his knife, and prepared to strike.
"Come on Rose, where are you?" Reese thought.
In answer, there was a swooshing noise and Blake collapsed against the counter, a knife imbedded in the side of his head. All eyes turned to see an Rose standing twenty feet away, an irate look on her face. She wore a red and black version of Kim's mission gear, with her black leather jacket over top. On her feet were a pair of steel toe work boots.
"I'm impressed," the leader said. "You haven't lost one bit of skill. But there's still no way you can beat me, Rosie."
"And just why not, Tommy," Rose gritted out.
"Because you're scared of me," Thomas replied, still smiling. He turned to the girl at his side. "Elana, tell the boys to get ready to ride. I'll be done here in a minute."
Elana nodded and ran out of the store.
"So after losing me, you find another girl to torment."
"Not so Rosie. Unlike you, Elana understands the way of the gang. You were too nicey-nicey for your own good. She, on the other hand, will be the perfect next leader of the Jupiter Gang."
"Jupiter Gang!" Monique thought. "So these are the guys who killed my parents."
Rose spat at Thomas. "Does that mean you plan on dying any time soon?"
"Unfortunately, no."
"Then allow me."
"Be my guest, if you're fool enough to try. I presume you would protest if I decided to use a weapon?"
Rose's face twisted into a malignant grin. "No, in fact, I'm suggesting that you do use one, if you don't want to die in the first ten seconds." She held her arms down at a forty-five degree angle.
Monique was completely confused. "What does she hope to do by..." she trailed off as a red mist began to drift from Rose's hands. Even Thomas seemed surprised.
"New moves Rosie?"
"No. This is actually quite old. I just never saw any reason to let you know about it."
"So, you do have some smarts after all. I was beginning to think that you were as dumb as your friend Randall."
The evil grin left Rose's face, and was replaced by a look of rage. "You'd better be quick on your feet, or your new girlfriend is gonna know how I felt when you killed Randall."
Thomas pulled out a switchblade, just as Rose lunged at him. He ducked, narrowly avoiding the mist the swing left behind. "Any chance of telling me what that is."
Rose fired a kick at him. "A highly dangerous acid."
"And who came up with that?"
"My creator, Doctor Drakken," Rose replied, creating a mist barrier in front of herself.
Thomas pulled out his pistol and began firing at her. Rose ducked behind a counter. "I hate to do it," she thought, "but it's my only option." She turned on the Kimmunicator. "Wade, I need some help here."
The African-American boy frowned at her. "On one condition."
"What might that be?"
"That you go to GJ headquarters and fix Kim's hand."
Rose cringed as a bullet whistled over her head. "I'm not guaranteeing anything, but I'm probably gonna be dead in minute, and both of us know that won't do Kim any good."
"All right. What do you need?"
"A distraction."
Wade smiled. "One distraction, coming right up."
-KP-
Director looked up as Agent Red entered her office.
"Ma'am, it's that Wade kid again."
"Put him through my private line."
Red nodded, and dashed off. Within seconds, Wade's voice came through the speaker on Director's desk.
"Dr. Director, I've located Rose."
"Where is she?"
"The Middleton Club Banana outlet."
Director activated the P.A. system. "Attention everyone, I need a strike team together in two minutes. Agent Red, you will be in charge, and I want Shego on the team. Meet at the hangar, destination will be announced there. Will Du, get over to my office on the double."
-KP-
Thomas looked up as water rained on his head. "Why are the sprinklers going?" he wondered. He looked back at Rose's hiding spot, only to see the bottom of a boot in his face. He reeled from the impact, the burning pain in his nose indicating that it was probably broken. "Nice one."
"Thank you." Rose pulled her knife out of Blake's head and charged at Thomas. Their knives met with ringing sound, and a modern day sword fight began. Circling each other warily, they jabbed, poked, slashed, and blocked, until Rose slipped on a fallen shirt. Thomas made a quick attack, and Rose held back a shriek of pain as the knife slid along her cheek. Regaining her footing, she glanced at a mirror and saw blood seep out from her slashed cheek. She retaliated and pushed Thomas ever closer to one of the windows. Then, in a classic 80's TV show move, she kicked him out the window.
Thomas landed heavily, a sharp pain shooting though is lower back while Rose landed gracefully on her feet. Attempting to get up, Thomas realized to his horror that he couldn't feel his legs and watched helplessly as Rose crouched next to him, a dark smile on her face.
"This is for Randall." With that, she buried her knife in his heart, extinguishing a life bent on making his fellow men suffer. Rose cleaned off her knife, replacing it in her pocket. "And," she said, talking to no one in particular, "I'll take that." She removed a Desert Eagle with a rose carved in it's hilt from his belt. She slid the gun into the unused equipment pouch on her leg. "I wonder if Kim stores anything in here?" The whirring of helicopter blades drew her attention upward. "Global Justice, eh. Wade probably figured I wouldn't help unless pushed." A UH-60 Black Hawk set down in the middle of the road, throwing the traffic into chaos and attracting the attention of several news cams. The other copter, an AH-64 Apache, remained hovering in the air, it's weapons trained on the street. Rose smiled to herself. "My, Kim is going have some explaining to do."
Shego and a green-haired agent stepped out of the chopper.
"Hey," Rose called out, "I didn't know that it was green day." She grinned at the unintended mention of her favorite band.
Shego frowned. "Why is there blood on your face?"
Rose ran a hand across her cheek, then looked at it. "Ugh. Slipped up a little during the fight with my ex." She gestured at the still figure on the sidewalk behind her.
"I presume you have an explanation for that," Agent Red spoke up.
"Yep. That is, or was, Thomas Wilkinson, head of the Jupiter Gang. Wanted in all forty-eight mainland states, if I'm correct. He and couple others tried picking on some civilians and I decided to get in the way. Broke the guy's back before breaking his heart, but meh that's karma for ya. By the way, there's another gang member dead inside the store."
"Impressive. Shego, get this girl back to headquarters. I'll stay for cleanup."
"Hold one second," Rose said raising her hands, "what makes you think that I want to go with you?"
Shego started to speak, but Red cut her off. "Because, if you don't, I will personally smash your head into the ground until it is unrecognizable."
Rose grinned. "You know what, I like you Red. You know how to get what you want. Fine, I'll go. Hey Reese," she called out.
"What is it?" the woman replied, as she emerged from the store.
"I need you to get all of my gear that's over at your house into one spot. I'll be over in a couple hours to pick it up."
"Gottcha," Reese replied, eyeing Agent Red coldly. Rose looked and saw that Red was returning the look.
"Could they know each other?" She thought. "I'll have to ask Reese some time." Rose stepped into the helicopter, and stood there as it took off, looking down at the ground disappearing below her. She turned to Shego.
"Kim's time is running out fast."
Will Rose be in time to help Kim. How will Ron take to her once he learns the whole story? What will the Possible family think of Rose? And waht does she have planned? Find out in the next chapter.