Chapter 18
If there was one word that could describe the Earth month after the infamous G-day, that word would be chaos.
The planet now resembled one large construction site/battlefield/graveyard. Most of word's governments were gone, leaving only a handful of them intact. And they were barely keeping their countries together with their decimated military and police force.
The countries of the so called west were undoubtedly in the best shape, managing to quickly restore a semblance of order, albeit the Western Europe were on the verge of civil war due to the influx of refugees from all around the world, flooding their borders and clashing with the locals.
Northern America was currently the most stable place in the whole world, mostly due to the timely intervention of US forces in Mexico before the leaderless country fell into a bloody cartel war.
Asia and South America were plagued by a series of minor conflicts. The thing that prevented one large free for all, were main regional players like China, India, and Japan while in Asia and Brazil handled things in South America. Yet due to their own losses, they couldn't prevent all the conflicts.
Bloody war between both Koreas erupted three days after the aliens were repelled. Pakistani and India jumped at each other as soon as the governments were reestablished, with the latter pushing the former with its numerical advantage. The situation became even worse when Pakistani threatened to nuke Indian soldiers' positions and the Indian government replied that they would kill all the Muslims within their borders.
But the worst of all was Africa and the Middle East. If a place on Earth could be labeled as hell, it was there. Any illusion that someone was having any shred of control over the situation there was shattered within the week.
Centuries of grudges, conflict, and hate erupted in one large total war in the whole area. Various tyrants and warlord jumped at the occasion to grab some power for themselves, shattering the always weak order in the area. Religious, ethnical, and race massacres were on daily basis.
The situation in Russia was dramatic too despite the claim from the Russian government that they controlled all their territory. But in reality, their control barely reached the Ural Mountains. Beyond them, the situation was similar to the one in Africa and Middle East with the difference that those warlords having access to hundreds of nuclear missiles.
So it was no wonder that Director Betty was unable to sleep longer than hour or two a day... at the most.
She rubbed her tired eyes, trying to ignore the horrible exhaustion she was feeling.
"Betty? Are you listening?" Sheldon aka Gemini asked. After the invasion, he approached his sister with what remained of his organization, and proposed a merge between them, bolstering the decimated GJ personnel. Asked by the reasons of his sudden change, he always replied that he intended to honor his deceased mother wish and reconcile with his sister. So now he was currently acting as second in command of GJ.
"Pardon me... I just got lost in my thoughts," Betty rubbed her temples. She was currently holding a meeting that either would bring world peace or put her in front of a firing squad. She along with her brother, Drew Lipsky, Ron Stoppable, Sheila Go, teen heroine Kim Possible, and agent Will Du. They were sitting at the round table in the meeting room reconstructed at GJ HQ in New York.
In the middle of the table was a holographic projector that was showing the numbers of the death toll thus as far.
"Eh, as I said with the newest reports coming from Africa and Middle East, the total death toll since G-day is now around one-billion, two-hundred million deaths worldwide," he said with a sigh. The initial death toll oscillated around seven hundred million dead and grew. In a month since the fighting between humans, the numbers have almost doubled.
"Good Lord," Kim mumbled.
"That's not all, my men reported that a new warlord have arisen from the ruins of the former republic of Kongo."
"Great! Just what we needed! Another psychopath with an overblown ego," Shego spat. She read a few reports from there and felt like puking just from lecture of savagery that was taking place.
"Well that person seems... different." Gemini rubbed his bread, "Righteous I would dare to say, yes he/ she is brutal towards those that oppose him/her, yet at the same time, there are no massacres on civilians. Also he/she have seemed to reestablish a net of healthcare and food production. What's more, they seem to burn all bodies they find so the risk of an epidemic lessens. The laws that were set punish most offenses by death, but now I can say that that place is the safest one on the whole continent. My men are working on establishing a friendly contact with that person."
"We can't work with murderers!" Kim protested.
"Out of all of them, that person might be a saint incarnated." Gemini said grimly, pressing a button on his console. A visage of a hooded figure wearing black robes that obscured shapes, appeared on the screen. The person was also wearing a plain white mask with two holes for the eyes.
"I reckon that this person is using voice modulator too?" Ron asked.
"You guess is correct, we might need his or her help in restoring order in central Africa." Gemini stated.
"I still disagree with that we can't lower ourselves to working with such sort of people no matter how good they seem." Kim stated firmly, folding her arms.
"That's why I have come up with a plan that Betty agreed too as well," Drakken said calmly.
"Betty?" the gathered thought in unison.
"So what's the plan Dr. D?" Shego said with smile, seeing the old glimmer in her former employer... maybe possibly a surrogate father's eyes.
"I'm glad you asked, Shego!" He gave her small smile reminding her of the better days, "We're going to take over the world... in a sense."
A silence fell on the group after his statement.
"Huh?" Ron asked intelligently.
"We're going to reactivate the Diablos robots, Ron." Betty answered.
"I'm the only one who knows how, but... well after I received a message from GJ that if I pull a stunt like that one more time, it will be my last one... I decided to drop the matter." Drakken chuckled quietly.
"So that's why you never wanted to do it again!" Shego realized, giving Betty a venomous stare.
"Sure beat the suggestions that I should put the Doctor down, Shego." The head of GJ replied, "The Diablos can destroy most of the warlords' heavy weaponry considerably, lowering the bloodshed, not to mention the sting option give us a way to solve conflict without any more deaths."
"With all due respect, Director, you don't have the authori-!" Agent Du started.
"Till now, we shot down twenty three nuclear missiles, two in the few hours before this meeting," she stated coldly, shocking the occupants, except Gemini. "I won't allow the world to be turned into nuclear wastelands under my watch, that's why I agreed to Drew's plan."
Drew's plan? Since when they are on first name basis?
"OK, that's some serious stuff there Dr. Director, but why did you call us then? We mostly do grunts work." Ron pointed out. "That matter is for the higher ups."
"Indeed it is, but the four of you are now considered world saviors, and the people will need your support for this plan to even function," she stated. "Unless of course if you oppose of it?"
"What is the guarantee that Drakken won't try to really conquer the world?" Will Du asked.
"I gave over half of my codes to Betty and allowed her to change it to a code I don't know, without this, I cannot order the Diablos to do anything and vice versa." Drakken explained.
"But would it suffice? Many of the Diablos got destroyed when we took down that tower?" Kim asked.
"Yes, but we collected the rest since that technology was too valuable to simply destroy. We gathered almost all of them and deemed that they will suffice. We don't have the whole world to cover, so we should be able to stop the most dangerous conflicts. So will you support me?"
"If you can pull this off, then I'm in," Shego said instantly, earning a grateful nod from Drakken.
"Yup! Me too! That plan sounds badical," Ron agreed.
"If it will stop this nightmare... then I will agree too." Kim nodded. "But I'll be keeping my eyes on you, Drakken."
"Given our history, I'm not even offended."
"You are aware of the possible consequences of doing it without world's leaders consent?" Agent Du asked.
"Yes," she said firmly, looking him straight into the eyes.
"Then I will support you as well ma'am."
"Good! This meeting is adjourned, I need to go contact the world leaders, get ready for tomorrow's press conference."
She stood up, leaving the room, followed by Agent Du and Gemini.
"Well, I'll be taking my leave too; I have a lot of work to do." Drakken said, standing from his seat. "It was good seeing you all."
The trio followed him all the way to the exit. Shego looked after him with anxiousness mixed with a small beacon of hope.
"I can say that he looks way better than a few weeks ago." Ron said, putting his hand on her lap.
"Don't remind me..." Shego sighed, recalling the state she had seen him just a week after they got their orders.
One week after G-day
"Sheila! Wait up!" Ron shouted after his girlfriend. They were currently in one of Drakken's old lairs that somehow managed to survive the alien invasion.
"Something is wrong! I know it!" she replied hotly, looking from room to room. "He was all weird ever since the banquet after the victory. Then he disappears without saying anything and I get a message saying, thank you for everything! Tell me that that doesn't sound bad?"
"Okay… you have a point there," Ron admitted. "Let me try."
He extended his senses throughout the lair, looking for any living soul.
"OK! Got him," seeing the impatience on Shego's face, they jogged towards the opposite side of the lair.
Shego snapped the door open ready to bad mouth the hell out of her former employer, but any retort died on her mouth when the picture before her hit her.
The smell of alcohol was almost revolting, filling the room from the floor to the ceiling. The bottles were scattered all across the room, a few of them even shattered.
But that might as well not exist since Shego's eyes were glued to one thing.
A laser gun!
In Drakken's hand!
Pressed to his temple!
Not even thinking, she shot her plasma right at his hand, knocking the gun out of it. Drakken yelped started by the sudden green bolt, but he didn't even had time to realize who shot it because he found himself pressed to the wall.
"What the fuck do you think you were doing!?" Shego growled furiously, "ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR GOD DAMN MIND?!"
The room fell silent after her outburst. Drakken stubbornly refused to meet Shego's piercing gaze with a painful expression written all over his face.
"Say something," Shego said in tone that was demanding and pleading at the same time.
"It's all my fault," he finally rasped, his voice hoarse from all the alcohol he drank. "It's all my fault…"
"Drew? What are you talking about?" Shego asked, genuinely puzzled.
"All those people died… because of me!" he exclaimed with tears rolling down his cheeks. "If I didn't lie to Warmonga, they would've never come here!"
Shego was so shocked by his outburst that she let him go, allowing him to fall to his knees.
Ron looked at the sobbing man with pity. When he put it like that, he was the reason that the aliens got interested in this planet in first place.
"All my life I've been a failure, all I ever wanted was a bit of respect… and my selfishness dragged everyone to hell."
Shego looked at Ron unsure on how even begin to comfort him. The weight the man was bearing on his shoulder must have been unbearable. Ron couldn't even imagine was Drakken was going through. He himself still couldn't get over that he killed an actual living being, alien or not.
But it was one being, the young blonde dreaded to even imagine being a factor in the deaths of millions.
'What to do? How can I help him?' he mussed, looking at the broken man. Then he got enlightened. He recalled one of Sensei's teachings.
'To mend a broken soul, you have to give it a new purpose.' Sensei's voice sounded confident in his skull. Not actually his Sensei's voice sound you, but it might have been as well since they keep in constant contact nowadays.
Ron made his way to Drakken and kneeled by his side. Then he put his hand on his shoulder.
"I can't even begin to image how you feel Drakken... but if you want to atone for all the lives that were lost... partially because of you, then use your intellect to save as many lives as possible. You are regarded as hero now, so devote your life to helping people and making their lives better, that way you can atone and maybe find some comfort."
"You really think so?" Drakken asked weakly.
"I'm certain." Ron wasn't even a bit certain, but Drakken didn't need to know that. "I'll leave you two together, you need to speak privately."
Ron left the room, leaving them alone in very awkward silence.
"Drew... why didn't you tell me?" Shego asked, sitting next to him.
"I didn't want to ruin your happiness with the Stoppable boy... I saw how happy you are, and I decided to just... disappear."
"Didn't it occur to you that your..." she paused, suddenly finding a lump in her throat, "death, might kind off dampen my mood for a while?"
He just hung his head again.
"I'm sorry... it was just too much to bear," he mumbled.
Shego had to really restrain herself from slapping him out of his depression. She hated to see this arrogant, stupid, loud, obnoxious man like this.
"Okay, enough mopping around," she said, standing, then she offered her hand to Drew, "We will fix everything, OK? But first, go take a shower and get yourself into something presentable."
"Why?"
"I have an idea on how exactly you can start to make things up."
She offered him a sly smile, but this time it was filled with rare warmth.
After they took Drakken to GJ, Ron and begrudgingly, Shego, decided to include Kim in their little secret. They looked after Drakken in shifts, ensuring that he didn't try to take his life again.
"Still... Betty and Drakken," Ron said what the rest were thinking. "I mean... seriously?"
"Nah! With Drakken, it's really hard to keep the formalities. Besides, she's tired too; she probably doesn't even care what he calls her?" Shego reasoned.
"Well they spent a lot of time together." Kim pointed out. "Still Dr. Director and Drakken..."
None of them could believe that, so they dismissed those thoughts.
"So how about some Bueno Nacho? My treat." Ron offered graciously.
Kim and Shego shared a glance. Due to the post invasion chaos, they really didn't have time for chat, but they made a silent agreed to not fight in Ron's presence since he made it crystal clear that both of them were important for him.
So just for his sake, they haven't been ripping each other to shreds... unless they got a convenient excuse to train at the GJ gym.
Anyway, a convenient jet trip later, they were sitting in Bueno Nacho. One of first building that was rebuilt for some reason.
"Ned! All the good stuff! Make it triple!" Ron exclaimed upon entry.
"Right away, Mr. World Saver," the manager replied with a smile.
The trio sat at their usual table, waiting undoubtedly for healthy and nutrient food.
"Can you actually believe that? Nukes are already flying around?" Kim said.
"I miss the old days were everything was easy... a death ray, global warming machine, or retarded racer." Ron said with nostalgia.
"Yeah, not wannabe war lords and mass murderers, just pesky teen heroes." Shego added with a sly smile. "Good days."
"I wonder if the things will ever be the same." Ron mussed.
"Nope... they won't," Shego said instantly, one-hundred percent serious.
"How are you so certain?" Kim asked, narrowing her eyes.
"From my own personal experience," Shego said casually.
"You mean-?" Kim began.
"Yes, that's what I mean," she replied with venom. "Now multiple that scale by few hundreds millions, things might get better, but also they might get worse... but the same? Not happening."
"Then let's hope that the things are going to get better." The food was served. "Just like now..." Ron said with little bit of drool.
"Just wait till we get some alone time, then the things will start to get really good," Shego purred, causing the poor blonde to choke on the very first bite of his delicious Naco.
"Ewww," Kim gaged.
"A virgin like yourself won't understand," Shego smirked, causing Kim to blush. "We had so much fun after the official celebrations. Didn't we, Ronnie?"
The called boy blushed fiercely, but couldn't deny her statement. The very moment the party ended, she kidnapped him to her secret lair and kept him there until she got that message from Drakken.
Ron sometimes wondered if the Doctor saved his life... still.
Best. Week. Ever.
"Looks like someone is having a good flashback," Shego said discreetly, putting her hand on his thigh, slowly moving north.
"I don't know what you are talking about," Ron said, trying to calm his nerves. Yeah, his nerves, that's totally what he's trying to calm down.
"You have such short memory; I could've swore that yesterday you exactly knew what I was talking about," she smirked when her fingers trailed over certain area, instantly feeling the response.
"Maybe I'll need to have it refreshed?" Ron decided to play the game. "You know, so I don't totally forget everything."
"My, looks like someone is feeling confident today." Shego said, raising her eyebrow.
"Well, I guess you should do something with that." Ron replied cheekily.
The duo continued to banter, ignoring Kim who put all her effort into devouring the meal. She wondered if Ron felt the same awkwardness when she flirted with her numerous boyfriends in the past?
She had to admit that it sucked to see her former, yes former, love interest that she got totally over in the hands of her FORMER arch-nemesis, having a very suggestive conversation. Not to mention, she noticed how Shego moved her hand towards Ron and did... whatever she was doing now.
Kim decided to finish her meal before her stomach made a violent turn.
"Well I'll be going guys," Kim said, moving from the table. "I got stuff to do. See ya, Ron... Shego," she addressed the latter with way less warmth than the former. Then she left the restaurant.
"Aww... princess got embarrassed," Shego chuckled.
"Well... I would be uncomfortable too," Ron added.
"And why would that be?" Shego gave him a squeeze.
"S-Sheila, not here," he rasped, blushing.
"Then what are we waiting for? Pack this crap up and let's move to my place." She stood up with a Cheshire grin on her face. They left the restaurant and hopped on the hovercraft.
"Sheila! Seriously! Not a whole week this time, we have a lot of responsibilities!"
"Now your only responsibility is to release me from this," she pointed at her jump suit. "The craft is on auto pilot."
Never is his life has Ron fulfilled his duties so thoroughly as of now.
Go City
A man stood on the cliff looking at Go City, staring at the G.O tower where the local heroes dwelled. He felt a smile form on his face. If one could see his smile, they would describe it as sick, twisted, and cruel or something along those lines.
He would have his revenge against those who humiliated and wronged him in the past. He would take everything they care about and destroy it before their very eyes.
Yet the man wasn't alone, for behind him were his allies that shared a similar, evil goal.
"Is everything ready?"
"Yes, my Lord."
DUN DUN DUN!Guess who's back in action! Yep that's right ME! Get ready for another awesome ARC of the New Beginning! Come forth my loyal reviewers! Tell me how much you missed this story!
Also don't forget to give Imyoshi a cookie for his awesome beta reading skillz!