Spectra's Losing It
"Drakken, you incompetent buffoon! We could have lost more than half of our forces to that one brat!" To say Professor Dementor was upset was more than an understatement, and Spectra truly could relate, but if he spat in her face one more time, regardless of it being a host's, then screw the consequences to the plan, she was going to rip his tongue out.
"Then how about instead of getting up in my face, you coordinate the first aid committee?" Though the need to keep their pawns didn't stop her from ensnaring the man with Drakken's vine and flinging him toward the mentioned group, or relishing in his next scream. Watching him land face first with his butt in the air, practically begging to be kicked, almost made the whole ordeal worth it.
Most of Drakken's thugs involved were either still out cold or nursing notable sprains and swellings. One guy was still struggling to make comprehensible words after being electrocuted. Dementor's deployed guards were all looking more like mummies than henchmen now. The shot they'd taken were heavy enough, but a great deal more damage came from a plethora of thumps and lacerations on their way down the debris. Fukushima declared that he was fine, but he was still walking abnormally. Spectra didn't even need the fact that he was feeding her nicely to know that he was still in pain, or that he was trying to hide his humiliation with bravado. It was written all over him.
Fortunately, Monkey Fist was recovering quickly, as were his monkey ninjas, and Duff was only stunned by his returned attack. Dementor was struggling to use his arm, but it was already deemed nothing serious and Gil didn't take a hit, having only gotten involved at the last second, so that was something.
But still, this went far too wrong, far too quickly. Vlad had promised them serious advantages and yet the boy had dominated the entire fight. All thanks to an ability that Vlad never even mentioned he had. And what an ability it was. The power to manipulate metal, to turn their own destruction and weapons against them. If Bertrand hadn't gotten involved, they never would have stood a chance, even if everyone else had made it to the party.
They had been horribly unprepared for they were facing. To make matters worse, they were unprepared to hold their new prisoner. Which meant that this one boy and Vlad's incompetence had caused multiple significant strikes against the already flimsy confidence the other villains had placed in their plan.
Something the new location was not helping to remedy.
"If you are done throwing help around the room, perhaps you could tell us why we are still here?" Monkey Fist grunted, his eyes forever flickering all around the room. Not that that was new. Spectra had noticed his erratic twitching ever since he realized just how close this mission brought him to his old stone prison. When he wasn't moaning in pain, he was almost forever muttering about the Yono. "If the newest meddling boy wakes up now, there may not be a thing we can do to stop him."
"In his condition? Please, it'd be an easy task to knock him back out." Spectra shrugged it right off. Though that wasn't because she actually believed it, but rather because it was now critical that her associates saw nothing but pure certainty. Dementor was one thing, he was now caught by incriminating evidence, but others were still free to scatter. The new reports were going wild identifying those who made it to the fight before it was over, but they were yet to be confirmed to have assisted in anything worse than they'd done before and could simply scatter back to their hidey holes while the rest were still completely free to disappear. They were only here for a desire to see Kim Possible out of their hair forever and it would only take so many failures on her (meaning Vlad's) end for them to deem it not worth the risk. Such as the one Monkey Fist had just brought up.
It was true after all. If the brat woke up here, her squad could be toast.
At first, it was the perfect location. It was an old factory in the outskirts of the city and their phone line exit was more than five blocks away, more than far enough under the current circumstances, despite Wade no doubt watching their arrival. The place was long abandoned, well rusted and starting to show signs of falling apart. It was, without a doubt, deserted not long after broadband was just becoming a common thing at the earliest and all working equipment had been either cleaned out or left far too damaged to function. Even the lights didn't work. On top of that, the nearest source of wifi was a block away and any gear they'd brought with them was being stashed elsewhere with Motor Ed and the Seniors. It was the perfect place to hold a technopath.
Unfortunately, it was also almost entirely made of weathered and rusting metal, making it a magnetic's playground. Judging from the condition of the place and what she'd seen of his power before, Spectra doubted it would take longer than a few seconds for him to bring the whole place crashing down upon them if he wanted to.
"But don't you need him conscious for something?" Monkey Fist asked, growing a little snappish as he followed Spectra over to the problem child in question. "Wasn't that the point of keeping him alive? I'd assume you need him to give you information."
"For another project, yes. But him being seen taken alive is all we need for our mutual goal." Spectra answered, taking out the silver cutlass as she reached Henry. However, much to the surprise of everyone watching, rather than stab him to death, she bent down and put the glowing blade to the ooze containing him.
"Hey shrimpy, what do you think you're doing?" Gil cried, stomping his way quickly over. "Don't free him! As long as he stays like that-"
"The goop you fired will mutate him, as its source did to you." Spectra interrupted him, freezing him in place as she pointed the blade at him. "And while I don't care about ruining his chances at a Friday night date, I'd rather not risk making him any more powerful than he already is. Besides," She added, turning back to cutting Henry free. "Monkey Fist only broke one gauntlet. He could probably use the other one escape anyway. It has to be removed. Along with a few other things."
Smirking as she finished splitting the cocoon down the front, she immediately pulled him off of it and went to work on the gauntlets, taking care to use her intangibility on him as subtly as she could to remove any remaining goop in the process. It took a few moments to find and manipulate the latches, but they slipped off easily enough. Carelessly tossing the busted left one across the room, she set the other one aside before moving on to unzipping his ripped and tattered vest.
"Ok, not that I'm minding the eye candy, but why are you now stripping him?" Camille Leon asked, raising an eyebrow as Spectra moved on to Henry's shirt, carefully pulling it over his head.
"Because we will need them for the next step of my plan." She answered, moving on to the boy's shoes and socks before rising back up and patting down his legs. A dark smirk grew she hit something hard before reaching into his pocket. Fingers wrapping around cold metal, she pulled it out to find a strangely shaped white device with a green strap at the top and ring around the screen. There was no doubt that this was what Vlad wanted, though why or how you used it was a mystery to her. But whatever. Figuring it out was Vlad's problem, she just had to make sure she got something good before handing it over. After all the crap and tweaks she had to deal with from him alone on this job, her rewards were starting to feel like a rip off.
"So we were to bring him back so people could see him disappear and gather his ragged clothing?" Hank asked, a deep frown crossing his face. "If you wanted rags, we could have just used the one dollar schemer's. Though, I guess the boy's probably smell better." He added, wrinkling his nose in disgust as he pointed his thumb over his shoulder.
"Hey, rude! I'm out of detergent and Smarty Mart's clothing and cleaning sales aren't till next week. Francis Lurmanexclaimed, crossing his arms with a huff.
"While I do agree that Francis should just go rob a store down the road, you missed the point." Spectra stated as she removed their captives pants and gathered everything back up. As she double checked that the noise and movement hadn't stirred him, she took a second to consider taking his underwear too and feed off his embarrassment and humiliation before shrugging the idea off. She was already bursting with the fear, dread and desperation that bathed the city, she wouldn't even notice his mortification amongst it all.
"Then what is the point!" Dementor snapped, glaring daggers at Drakken.
"That grabbing specific clothes is a point of clarification. Especially when someone's just 'miraculously escaped his abductors'." Spectra replied before narrowing her smirk right on the only girl in the conversation. "Authenticity is a major key to fashion and circumstance, particularly when you're pulling off a ruse. Isn't that right, Camille?"
"What? You want me to wear those rags? Um, eww!" Camilleexclaimed, waving her hand in disgust. "That outfit was a travesty before it got sweaty and ruined. Anything with orange is already an immediate reject and he actually matched it up with black and brown? I wouldn't be caught dead in clothes that trashy!"
"You'll do it because you have too." Spectra snarled right in her face, forcing the garments into her arms. "You are going in and destroying any hope Capsule Corp still currently has of stopping us from the inside. Do you understand me?"
"Fine. Whatev's." That was more like it. Spectra never got over bending people to her desires, especially when it upset them. Even if it did take Bertrand momentarily overshadowing her target and putting the thought of conceding into their heads.
"Wait a moment, Drakken!" Dementor cried with a glare. "Why are you sending her to Capsule Corp? We've got the technopath, what more could we possibly need from them to end Kim Possible? What could possibly be worth the risk of going to the front door of the very people that even scared Gemini?"
"Something very special." Spectra replied, turning back to the whole group with a dark smirk showing far more confidence than she had. This was it, the make or break point. The point where they'd either be in until the end or this whole operation fell apart. "The perfect stage for Kim Possible's demise."
….
"Rescue and law enforcement are still searching, however no sign of the team of recognized criminals or the young savior they attacked has been found. Evidence has to come to light, suggesting this very group may have been significantly involved in the mass explosions and have therefore been declared a top priority, however the number of people still trapped in Metro City's disaster zone and the general stability around it has left the police force incapable of finding any leads. As such, the police chief humbly asks for the aid and cooperation of the public."
"We ask that if anyone sees anything suspicious, please call our new crime stoppers hotline immediately. Do not approach; these are highly dangerous people…"
"Please tell me you are having better luck than the police." Said Felix as the news screen showed the mug shots and names of every known villain in the attack. "You have to be doing better. The police out here might as well be running in circles, for all the good they're doing."
"GIYAHHH!"
"Does that answer your question?" Jazz sighed as Wade just kept screaming at his computer.
"That bad, huh?"
"Well, the sink hole's taken out the power to almost half the city, which means security cameras and basically every other technological way of tracking anything is useless, and the phone lines aren't showing any weird activity at all. It's like trying to work in the dark ages!" Wade exclaimed, the vein on his head threatening to explode as he glared at his screen. "It's hopeless! My usefulness here ended the moment I alerted the cops to just who they were looking for and what they'd done. I take it you're not doing any better?"
"Nope. Bird's eye view's just as useless." Felix sighed sadly before a strangled cry had him dropping altitude. "Of course, having to help with the rescue isn't giving me much time to look. The rubble's still shifting out here. New people are getting exposed or placed in more imminent danger every second and I'm one of the very few people who can get in and out easily. I can't just ignore them."
"No one's asking you to." Jazz replied with an understanding nod. "Just do what you can. How's things on your end, Monique?"
"A lot better now that backup's got their keisters in gear." Monique answered, her voice a little muffled as a helicopter flew over her head. While Felix had headed in when he heard what happened to Henry, Monique had stuck to helping people in the less damaged areas. She simply would have been in the way if she went with him, so she chose to hitch a ride with a hover car and kept doing what she could. Still, even out in the relatively stable areas, there was only so much she could do. "Another fleet of helicopters have just arrived and from what I've managed to overhear, evacuations of all the critical risk areas beyond the hole will be covered within the next hour. The only problem is that even out here, they're having a lot of trouble bringing in ground support. We've got a lot of injured people waiting for medical attention and the number's only gonna grow."
"That should clear up soon." Said Bulma with a sigh, putting her phone away as she walked back into the room. "Goten and Trunks got word of what's happening and took off before anyone could stop them. I told Trunks to clear paths. At least now we have another possible way of finding Henry."
"We do?" Monique and Jazz asked.
"Yeah. The Z Fighters can sense people's energy and both the boys have learned that trick. The stronger someone is, the easier they are to track and since they've been around Henry, they know what his energy feels like. Sadly, the fact that Henry looked like he'd used up most of his strength will make his signal fainter and harder to find, but this still should cut down our search area by a lot. They can even do it constantly while moving cars and debris, so we don't have to worry about slowing down any ground efforts in the process."
"Great. Now a seven year old is more useful than I am." Wade muttered, actually turning away from his computer. "All I can do is monitor the phone lines and I've already set up an alert for that. They're right under our noses and I can't do a single thing to find them."
"No, but maybe you can find out how many there are." Felix quickly responded. "We now know that Kim's villains have teamed up and caused this mess. So we should probably figure out just how many have gotten involved so we know what to prepare for. I for one, would like to know if Motor Ed's gonna try to steal my wheels again."
"Or if Hench Co's playing supplier to this nightmare." Monique nodded in agreement. "It'd be real bad for us right now, but it would be good in the long run if we could use this to finally turn law enforcement on the company. Anyway, gotta go. We've reached another group of people trapped in an elevator."
"Oh, an easy job. Lucky you, you don't wanna know what I've just found." Felix groaned, a deep frown crossing his face. "I am gonna need a lot of help. Talk to you later."
"So, what do you think?" Jazz asked as the two video feeds went blank. "Got a way to pull off their idea?"
"That, I think I can do." Wade nodded, spinning his seat back around. "I can find, or at least tell when something's up with most of Kim's enemies. For example, I've already found that the Seniors have not been spending ridiculous amounts of money in the last week and…a notable amount of energy consumption has disappeared in Europe. Translation, they're not home, which means that they're probably involved."
"They're that wasteful?" Jazz cried dramatically, dropping her jaw. "That is…beyond ridiculous! With that kind of money-"
"Yep." Wade cut her off. That rant could have easily ended up as dramatic as the Seniors' splurging. "A lot of Kim's past enemies have tells as obvious as that and I can check up on others pretty easily. This shouldn't take too long."
"And I thought the ghosts were predictable." Jazz muttered exasperatedly, rubbing her temples, only to freeze a moment later. 'Wait. Ghost are predictable…' The thought was barely through her head before she raced to her own computer and opened the ghost file she'd stolen from Danny. They knew a ghost was involved and this sort of thing sounded very familiar.
Global Justice had jumped to Vlad Masters being involved and she could certainly understand that mental route. However, Jazz could think of maybe three actual ghosts that could and would be willing to pull something like this off.
Honestly, this was still a needle in a haystack scenario. New ghosts were coming into being all the time and Danny had hardly faced them all. But Danny's enemies were the most active, so on the off chance it was one of them, she felt it was better to be prepared.
After all, this was the best way she could currently contribute and she needed that feeling too.
….
"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?" Spectra honestly didn't know which person screamed that at the top of their lungs. Maybe it was more than one.
The moment the words had left her lips, the entire factory had exploded in an absolute uproar. Everyone was screaming one thing or another, though what they were all saying was anyone's guess. As much as she tried to settle things down, Spectra couldn't even hear own voice amongst the chaos. In fact, she could do little more than collect her bearings as the cronies whipped her around all over the place screaming incoherent nonsense in her face before someone else took a turn.
'As expected.' She thought moodily, quickly growing red in the face and sprouting another daffodil. It was simple strategy. You don't rile up a fear to get people to do what you want, then openly lead them straight into said fear's open arms. It appeared that she and Gemini had done a wonderful job of instilling terror into the masses, because this level of panic was catastrophic. Again, would be lovely if it wasn't for the fact that she needed these people to work for her, not feed her.
"You fools! Quiet down!" She tried again, using Drakken's vine to push the next set of hands away. "If you keep this up, you might wake…never mind." She finished with an annoyed frown as she found the boy sinking through the floor. That was good, she guessed. Bertrand had stopped one problem. Unfortunately, it also meant that he'd abandoned her to this mess. 'Next time, he's impersonating the buffoon in charge.'
She also considered whipping him for leaving her only a few seconds later as the frenzy continued. The vine was making the crowd keep their distance, but in response, they were somehow getting louder! Restoring order was looking to be impossible. They weren't listening to what came out of their own mouths, forget anyone else's. She wouldn't be surprised if some of them were simply screaming.
That went on for about two more minutes before Spectra snapped.
"YOU. WILL. ALL. SHUT UP!" The mob stopped with a final cry as Drakken's body flew into the air, his eyes glowing blindingly red and his body green, mixing with the blue glow of the silver cutlass he held over his head.
"Wow. How are you-"
"NOT NOW, FRANCIS! For now, you lot are going to listen to me and you're going to listen good! My spies have confirmed a golden situation for us. Almost every Z Fighter is currently out of the country and busy with their own thing. Only the weakest one is anywhere nearby and she will be too busy with the disaster to pay attention to what we're up to at Capsule Corp until it's much too late, at which time, the blame for it will fall on Tech.
"This is the best route to take!" She went on, sneering down at everyone who was about to open their mouths. "We lure Kim Possible in with captured friends. We finish her off. We blow the place up, along with Wade and Bulma, ending the Valour Guardians' greatest sources of information, technology and financial backing once and for all. And in the middle of all this, we ransack the place. With their capsule technology and the various other high tech machines, inventions and schematics, our own arsenals and our wealth will reach all new heights. When the Z Fighters find out what happened, they, like the rest of the world, will blame Tech and search for him. They'll confront his team and with their tempers, will probably attack them. When this is done, we will have turned heroes upon each other, started the beginning of the end for Global Justice, increased our own power and ended Kim Possible and Team Go, without any risk to ourselves. Provided that we settle down, act quickly and do this right. Preferably, WITHOUT THE CONSTANT WHINING!"
Fortunately, that did manage to shut them all up, though none of them looked too happy about it. Most were still glaring right back at her, but all of them seemed to be mulling her words over. That was something at least. She still wasn't sure that they'd be willing to go through with it, but at least they were considering it. Time was still of the essence, but she knew she couldn't push this any further. She'd done all she could for Vlad's plan and way more than she cared to. If this part failed, then too bad. While she admitted that using such a high profile location was the best way to have Kim's death shine amongst the current death and destruction and get the maximum impact, at this point, she was content to off her anywhere.
"So, can I ask how you're flying now?"
"UGH! It's the sword's doing, Lucre!"
….
Everything hurt. That was the very first thing Henry registered as slowly came to. Every inch of his body was at least complaining of a dull ache. More burning pains covered most of his torso and thighs. He wouldn't be surprised if he had a cracked rib and his left wrist was pretty much in the same state. Right, someone had actually hit it hard enough to break his gauntlet. The fight…that had gone bad. That explained everything. He'd taken so many hits, scraped across the ground, used up so much energy after constantly draining his reserves helping people in that mess. That explained why he was so tired, so sore, why he couldn't…wait, why couldn't he move? Where was he? What was going on? Oh, wait, he lost the fight! That would mean…
With a deep groan he simply couldn't stop, Henry slowly forced his heavy eyes open, only to wonder whether he'd actually fail. The place was pitch black, no matter where he looked. Though that was still better than what his other senses were offering him. The place reeked of smoke, it almost had him hacking. His body was sitting upright, but he was both sitting and leaning against what felt like jagged stones and twisted metal. That was possible, likely even. He had been fighting in a disaster zone. But why was he feeling it so…wait, where were his clothes? All he had on was his boxer briefs and…what felt like thick rope around his chest and arms, legs and wrists behind his back. Well, now he knew why he couldn't move.
'Ok, you're caught.' He thought, taking a few deep breaths and trying not to hack on smoke. 'It's not the end of the world. Calm down, think your situation through and try to stay awake.'
"I wouldn't breathe so deeply if I were you." Henry tensed as the voice came out of nowhere, echoing throughout the area. Right before a light flared up right in front of him, revealing the smug face of a pudgy, little man with swept, grey hair and bright green eyes. "There's only so much oxygen down here."