Kim Poss1ble::Butterfly's W1ngs
Disclaimer: The following is a non-profit fan work. Kim Possible and all associated characters are the property of Walt Disney and Buena Vista Television.
Chapter 3 - Phoenix
LOCATION: St. Petersburg, Russia
TIME: September 3rd, 2009. 0600 Hours.
A black Global Justice helicopter flew low across the devastated city of St. Petersburg. It was one of the first cities to fall after of the Moscow Incident, turning it into a hollowed out rat's nest of tech-enhanced villains and more recently, various splinter cells of the Worldwide Evil Empire. Global Justice had spent over a year pushing back the ravaging hordes of 'tech infested' people who had gone mad with what the experts had called 'Human Degradation Psychosis' into the eastern areas of Europe. The United Nations followed suit by declaring nearly a quarter of Russia and most nations beyond Poland to be an international NML or No Man's Land. No law, no military, and no escape. The 'Wall' - a barricade of fence, concrete, guard stations, and automated turrets - was built around the entire U.N. Eurasian NML to keep the undesirables from flooding out again.
"Raven to Command. Come in command," the pilot said over the radio, "We have reached the destination, but the ground is crawling with WEEnies. Cannot establish an LZ."
"Copy that, Raven. No need for an LZ. Agent can handle it," a male voice radioed back.
The pilot looked around outside his windows. They were below RADAR elevation to avoid detection but that was still a ways down.,"Uh… are you sure, Command? At our elevation I'm pretty sure tha-"
"Confirmed, Raven. Agent Phoenix will handle her own landing zone," the radio cut him off.
The pilot turned his head to try and catch a glimpse of what was behind him through the small window in the metal wall that separated him from the rest of the vehicle, "Phoenix? Is that who's back there? Oh this I got to see."
In the rear of the helicopter, an agent in a white and blue battle suit was getting geared up. The suit was sleek in design, but was clearly modified with additional armor across the chest, shoulders, and a helmet with a built in breathing apparatus that covered the face.
"Remember, this isn't a training simulation Phoenix," the voice of Global Justice's leader, Doctor Director, came over the headset built into the agent's helmet.
"I know, Betty," Agent Phoenix replied in a dry almost snippy tone like she was being lectured by a mother.
"It's Director when you're on duty."
"Oh please. Like this counts as 'on-duty'. Break in, swipe the data, don't get caught. So not the drama." Phoenix strapped a harness around her and slid a handgun designed to fire tranquilizer darts into the side holster then snapped the strap over it to hold it in place.
"Don't get SEEN, Phoenix. The last thing we need is Gemini figuring out that we're closing in. It took a lot to just find this window. I know you're excited being back on the field, but keep it cool and perform within parameters," Betty's voice was dripping was stress and worry. Granted, the Director was sending a rookie agent on a top secret infiltration deep within enemy territory, but she was a 'rookie' only in the sense of GJ mission's completed. Not to mention top marks at the academy, ace-ing every scenario test, and of course all of the "on board features" as her Dad liked to say.
"So why is this place empty for 20 whole minutes anyway?" Phoenix glanced over to the last thing in her mission kit - Desert Eagle with .50 caliber rounds. Standard GJ equipment for missions dealing with Techs. She had used it hundreds of times on the range. Always had to use her right hand though, the kick was downright painful and even sprained her wrist once if she used her left. She reached out to pick up the gun, hesitating for a moment before forcing herself to take the firearm into her hand and slide it into the holster on her back side.
"It's not empty. It's just occupied. Some big gathering in the assembly area. Our mole didn't specify as to what, but it leaves the rest of the building open with minimal guard presence for us."
"Seems like it should be quick and easy. At least they left some to play with," Phoenix muttered with a hint of mischief in her voice. She slid the side door of the helicopter open and looked down at the target - a massive abandoned manufacturing plant, "Going in. Commence Operation Rebirth."
The radio crackled one final message as Phoenix slid off the helmet exposing her short red hair that tapered off around her chin line, the bangs slightly obscuring the bright green glow of her right eye but if you were close enough you could notice the indents of scar lines on her face to indicate where the implants and synthoskin were attached, "Good luck, Kim."
Kim Possible tossed the helmet onto the seat of the helicopter, "Don't need it when you're good." She then turned around with her back to the door and let herself fall off the side.
"Hooo-lee shit!" The pilot exclaimed as he watched the agent back dive off the vehicle, holding up a small smartphone that recorded the whole thing, "They are going to love this back at the motor pool."
Kim's red hair flew about in the air as she dived head first toward the ground. It had been years since she had felt this and she beamed with a grin at being able to experience it again. It was worth the year of Global Justice training to get to experience all this again. She spread her arms out and starting flipping through the air. A flash of yellow appeared in her glowing right eye, which from Kim's point of view appeared as a very clear "Elevation Warning" in the center of her field of vision.
The heads up display in her cybertronic eye was usually helpful with its vital stats readouts, target analysis, thermographic and low light vision, and a clock - but this time it was kind of being a buzzkill. She flexed the muscle under her eye slightly, sending a mental signal to dismiss the warning. She didn't need a warning. She could do anything.
On the ground, a pair of W.E.E. henchmen wearing heavy wool turtlenecks bearing the symbol 'Sigma' on the shoulders stood guard. Guard in a figurative sense. They were leaning up against the exterior wall of the factory, one on each side of a gateway. One was checking his phone and the other repeatedly throwing his knife into the ground.
"So what's the deal with this meeting?" the phone wielding guard asked.
The knife thrower picked his blade up from the dirt and dusted it off, "Ya got me. I heard the boss brought in some big shot merc to lend a hand. Big announcement. Team building, morale boosting or some shit."
"S'pose we didn't need our morale boosted," the other guard said as he pushed the screen on a device and a music video started playing.
"No, I'd say you two are pretty much the best," a third female voice spoke up.
The two guards slowly turned to find a young woman with red hair levitating off the ground by about thirty centimeters. She appeared to be suspended by a pair of glowing circles sticking out of her back.
"The hell?" The knife throwing guard uttered. The only response he received was a smile from the woman before she launched a kick to the side of his face, which crushed his head into the concrete wall, and rendering him unconscious.
As the woman kicked his partner, the other guard dropped his phone and reached for his gun. Looking down quickly at his belt to check which side he holstered it on, he finally grabbed it and raised the weapon to find an awaiting fist.
As the second goon fell, Kim dusted her hands off and deactivated the anti-grav engines causing the two circles to lose their glow and lower themselves into a pair of sockets on her back. As her feet descended to the ground she shook her head at her so-called 'opposition'. Maybe HenchCo was too busy with their new consumer products and military weapons divisions to bother with properly training programs these days.
Another flash in Kim's eye, as a scrolling message of text appeared along the bottom of her field of vision: [YOU TOOK OFF YOUR HELMET. DD IS GONNA BE MAAAAD.]
Kim frowned and responded using her communications package implant: [she can contact me via head radio. besides you know she hates it when non-gj peeps contact me during official missions.]
[OH DID YOU WANT TO HACK THE WEE SERVER YOURSELF? I CAN GO.]
Kim rolled her eyes and started scaling the wall of the factory towards a window, [snark does not suit you wade. were you able to scope a floor-plan?]
[EASILY. STILL SURPRISED YOU DONT ASK GJ DO THIS.]
Kim slid open the window and slinked into the long upper hallway of the factory's offices, she lifted her right arm and turned it to face her wrist as a small holographic projection of the floor plan sprang to life. A small red dot pulsed about 40 yards north east of her location several offices over, [youre my tech guy. still dont know why you dont want to sign on with gj]
[DONT THINK THEY NEED A WEB DESIGNER. BESIDES BIG BROTHER TYPES ALWAYS RUBBED ME THE WRONG WAY.]
Kim moved slowly through the halls, sliding her back against the wall and taking extra care to avoid making any unnecessary sounds. She could hear the noisy racket from somewhere below. Various hoots and hollers, a big booming voice announcing something over what sounded like a stack of massive blown out speakers. It was almost painful really. Kim almost felt bad for the people having to listen head on.
[big brother types? conspiracy nut much?]
[OH SO THEY DIDN'T INSTALL A FIRMWARE LOCK ON HALF OF YOUR ENHANCEMENTS WHEN YOU JOINED?]
As Kim turned the corner, she spotted a guard patrolling the halls. He was walking around with his weapon drawn, back straight, routinely checking his three, nine and six. Someone moderately competent at least. Kim wasn't leaving this one to chance. She quietly popped the button on the strap over her tranq gun and slid it out of its holster. Kim lined up the sights of the dart gun and aimed directly at the small area of exposed skin between the guard's black wool turtleneck and his helmet. Her vision filled with targeting reticules, calculations for aiming to get an optimal strike, and chances of success.
'Just like in training. It's just a tranq dart,' the young woman reminded herself. Taking a deep breath, Kim slowly squeezed the trigger. Despite her meditative preparations to fire the weapon at a real live person, she still flinched slightly as the gun fired the dart. However the aiming software built into her augmentations took effect and kept her hand straight and in-line with the established target. The dart plunged into the guard's neck and a second later he was unconscious on the floor. Kim let out a slow breath and smiled.
Kim grabbed the unconscious man and dragged him with her into the office that was marked on her map as the room with the terminal in it. She stuffed her new 'friend' in the corner on a chair only to have him slouch over. She pushed him back up, but he slouched over again. Kim bit her lip in thought for a moment then pushed him back one more time, this time leaning his head over the top of the chair to compensate. To complete the image, Kim found an empty can of beer next to the computer and put it in the unconscious guard's hand. Her masterpiece of deception was complete. Ron would have approved, Kim thought with a smile.
Kim turned her attention to the computer terminal. It was an older model, something from way before the Moscow Incident, but it still had the jacks she needed. She brushed back her hair from behind her ear to reveal a pair of small connecting cables sticking out from her synthetic skin. Grabbing one, she pulled out the small cord and attached it to the computer, [alright. your show wade.]
The terminals screen flashed and came to life as windows opened and closed at a rapid rate, command lines would spread like spider-webs across the colorful surface, and progress bars would quickly fill as data was transferred to Kim's on-board memory device. Blueprints of weapon designs, express trains, battle suits, and dozens of other experimental technologies flashed on screen. Kim knelt near the computer and waited patiently for her friend to finish his work when she noticed a blinking green phone icon in the corner of her vision, [you got this wade? betty's calling.]
[SURE THING KIM. DONT LET HER CHEW YOU OUT TO BAD.]
Kim shrugged with a smirk despite knowing that her hacker compatriot couldn't see her. She reached up and touched a small button near the data cables and pressed it -
"Why did you remove your helmet, Agent Phoenix? That is expressly forbidden by Safety Protocol 605.11 of the Global Justice SOP!" the voice felt like it was screeching into Kim's ear. She might have to ask her Dad to turn down the volume a notch the next time she visited Middlteton.
"Well, hello to you too, Doctor Director. Why yes, the data transfer is going fine," Kim replied sarcastically.
"How exactly is that being done, Phoenix, when Rogers is sitting right here waiting for you to connect to our servers to begin the hack?"
Kim gave an audible gulp, "I uh… utilized my own resources to… er… minimize risk of Global Justice involvement?"
"KIMBERLY!" Kim's cybertronic spine straightened at the sound of her commanding officer using her real name, "You did NOT use that criminal for an official mission, did you?"
Kim's breaths began getting heavy and her pulse quickened, "N-no!"
"The monitors show that you are lying to me, Kimberly."
"Well, okay, FINE. Yes, I asked for Wade's help. But he is not a criminal! The FBI was never able to find any evidence."
"He de-lete-ed the evidence, Phoenix. Your webmaster," Kim could hear the air quotes, "has been poking around Global Justice's systems for years. He is a risk even when we are not simply handing him the keys. Regardless of your past working relationship, Wade is not trustworthy in my eye. We will be discussing this on your return."
Kim rolled her eyes. Another lecture incoming, "Was their some other purpose to breaking radio silence, ma'am?"
Doctor Director's voice returned to its normal tone, "Yes. We've noticed an increase of satellite communication in the area since your time window opened. While we are still checking the signal, early analysis leads us to believe that the Sigma Cell is being contacted by Gemini directly. Your secondary objective is to find a concealed location to view and broadcast the meeting once the data transfer is complete."
"Sounds more entertaining than a copy & paste job at least. I'll got right on-"
"Alexei? Where are you, bratan?" Kim was interrupted by a man's voice with a thick Russian accent, "We have a possible situation on the top floor. Send all available to my location."
Kim gave a sharp inhale through her teeth, "Got to go, DD."
"It's Director when you ar-," Kim cut the radio call and opened another text communication with Wade, [We done?]
[16 SECONDS] was the response she received. Kim could already see the circles of light from the flashlight attachments on the guns of the guards flickering through the halls outside the doorway.
[10 SECONDS]
Kim's eyes darted around looking for some place to hide as she heard the footsteps of the guards approaching, "Alexei? This is his patrol area. Alexei!"
Some desks, a chair, the computer terminal, some small cabinets - Shit! Nothing. The steps got louder as they neared the door. Judging by the number of lights, there were four of them looking.
[5 SECONDS]
A guard turned the corner into the room with Kim. He was similarly geared to the others but wore what looked to be a paintball face mask. His eyes went wide at seeing the young woman hunched down next to the computer. He raised his gun, "Hey you-"
Kim grabbed the computer and threw it at the guard. The machine crashed into his face and sent him falling backward into the hallway. Kim dashed and did a flip through the air, her hands coming down over the man's face mask and driving his head into the ground with a crack. The HUD in Kim's eye registered the probable mortality rate at mere 36%, it was more likely a concussion.
She launched herself off the guard's head and continued the flip down the hallway, drawing her tranq gun on the second spring up through the air. While upside down and mid-air, Kim passed the second perpendicular hallway to find two more guards. She let the targeting software do its job and fire two quick shots in succession, nailing both guards in the jugular. There was no flinching this time. Pure adrenaline took care of that.
Finally, she landed on her feet and did a quick roll to the third and final perpendicular hallway to find the fourth guard turning the corner. He was obviously responding to the sound of the first guard but was only greeted with a fast uppercut to the jaw that left him flat on his ass and knocked out.
Kim dragged them back to the computer room and stacked them in the corner, [how was the data transfer wade?]
[BAD, KIM. YOU PULLED OUT A SECOND TOO EARLY. TRANSFER WAS ONLY 98% COMPLETE]
[still an A-grade job. thanks for the assist wade.] Kim smiled as she began to make her way through the upper floors of the factory toward the booming sound of the gathering further in.
The lower floor of the factory was packed with people. Many wore the same sigma-embroidered turtlenecks, but others donned lab coats, heavy armor, or W.E.E. uniforms. They were all standing in a massive open space in front of a massive stage that spanned the width of the whole factory floor where a man in a W.E.E. commander's uniform stood. Above the stage was an equally overly large screen with the leader of the W.E.E. - Gemini - displayed at a podium addressing the room, "And naturally, the Worldwide Evil Empire insurance plan will cover the PATCH and upgrade to the latest version at no cost to our loyal subordinates. Thus ensuring that each of you can-not's will become cybertronically enhanced can-do's. The process will begin with Task Force Alpha in Volgograd, and will procede down the line until the entirety of the Empire within the ENML is prepared for Phase Two. Which brings me to the actual reason for this call."
Kim slid up against a walled railing on the top floor that opened up to an exposed area overlook the factory floor where the meeting was happening. She inched around the edge until she found an opening in the walled part of the rail and then activated the broadcast back to headquarters using her cybertronic eye as a camera.
The camera focused on Gemini zoomed in close, his face now filling the gargantuan screen that was set up on the factory floor, "Task Force Sigma, YOU HAVE FAILED ME!" His voice grew so loud and angry that the foundations of the building shook slightly, "Your assigned task was due to be completed six months ago. Since then I have heard nothing but complaints about how the both the PATCH'ed and un-PATCH'ed masses have given you a hard time. Even after the update signal rendered them nothing more than mindless animals. I've provided you with weapons, improved guards, machinery to perform this task optimally but you still have failed to deliver. In four years, we are no closer to breaching Moscow. This is unacceptable and thus I have hired external help to keep you both safe enough to complete your task, and to ensure proper punishment in the event of failure. Commander! Introduce your new overlord." With that nervous whispers spread across the floor.
The middle-aged man with spiked back hair and a receding hair line in the commander's uniform took center stage. Kim hadn't recognized him at first since her focus was on Gemini, but she did now, "Frugal Lucre?"
"Well, is that not a great speech from our glorious leader? New implants are coming, we can finally start punching back at some of those GJ goons, am I right? Not to mention all those freaky feral techs that are wandering around the Russian country side, despoiling the property value, and increasing the price of goods and ser-," the crowd stared blankly, "You know what, never mind. Things are looking up for us. We got this guy here that's gonna take care of all our problems. Handl'em good. Please let me introduce - Mr. Kosch!"
The crowd starts clapping but it starts to slow as the echoing sounds of foot steps rang out across the hall. The noise was a deep slamming noise of metal on metal, followed by another, and another. Each one rang out and reverberated in the factory like the sound of a large beast stalking its prey. From behind the stage emerged what appeared to be a man. It was at least seven feet tall from Kim's estimate, covered in heavy metallic plating and thick rubber tubing. Its hands appeared to mechanical gauntlets with small gears and pistons powering their movement, at the end of each digit was a sharp claw-like blade. It's head was a metal gas mask, the eyes emitting a slight red glow and the re-breather apparatus slowly pumping air in and out of the facial portion of the helmet, on the rear of the helmet was a series of cables and cords that extended down the back like some kind of electronic dreadlocks.
As if the creature's appearance wasn't bad enough, the noises it made could make your blood run cold. A series of animalistic snarls, gurgling noises, and mechanical clicks were all that was being emitted from the nightmarish figure. Kim watched closely as her HUD's heart monitor speed up from the 'green' to the 'yellow' range. The small icon of the phone appeared again, but Kim didn't notice. Her eyes fixated on the 'thing' that just walked on the stage.
"Welcome Kosch to Task Force Sigma," Lucre said proudly as he extended his hand to shake, "I think you'll find that I run a firm but fair and fun operation. That's the Lucre Three F guaren-blugh?" the words never finished coming out of his mouth. Instead, a stream of blood starting dribbling out. Kosch had foregone the handshake and instead plunged its bladed hand into Frugal Lucre's stomach.
Kosch lowered its head and peered directly into Lucre's eyes, then came the voice. It was a barely a whisper but with a deep bass that seemed to rumble, "Problem taken care of." Kosch retracted his arm and Lucre's quickly turning pale body collapsed to the stage. The room was silent for only a moment before Gemini's howling laughter burst forth.
Kim had her hand over her mouth and eyes wide as a deer in headlights. Death was still something that she hadn't come to grips with seeing yet. While yes, she was technically present when Drakken and the others had died, she didn't actually see it happen. In fact, she had never seen anyone get killed with her own two eyes before. There was a distinct visceral difference between watching sand pour out of a training dummy you just shot full of holes, and watching a man bleed out on a stage.
Suddenly, Kim's HUD glitched for a second that sent everything in her sight into a blurry mess for a moment and caused a stinging sensation of an acute migraine spiking through her head. Before she had a chance to even wonder why that had happened, a voice spoke, "Phoenix. It's the Director. You didn't answer and this is crucial so we had to use our override to access you directly."
Kim slid back from the edge of the wall to give herself a second to catch her breath from the sudden shock of pain as Dr. Director continued, "That man on stage. Kosch. We've had dealings with him in the past. In the past two months, he has murdered no less than fifteen Global Justice agents and could be responsible for many more listed as missing. No one has ever SEEN him and reported back alive."
Kim's breathing became erratic. She knew what she was about to be asked. She was just praying that it wasn't the - "Phoenix… Kim. We need you to take him out." Kim clenched her teeth and lowered her head, mentally swearing about being asked to kill. Heroes don't kill. Heroes find solutions. Heroes can do any-
"Phoenix, that is an order."
Kim punched the ground quietly and murmured, "God damn it, Betty."
"That's Director. This isn't the junior leagues anymore, Phoenix. This isn't after school playtime. This is a terrorist cell. Those men will and have killed innocent people before. This is an order: Eliminate the target."
Kim drew the pistol from behind her back and held it in her hands. It was heavy. Heavier than the tranq gun, and way heavier than anything Wade had ever given her. She wrapped her hand around the grip, and turned around to the edge of the wall and took aim.
Her targeting software once again sprung into action and handled most of the work, calculating trajectories and distance. Kim instead focused on trying to keep her breathing steady. Within fractions of a second, the software had established the perfect kill shot for Kim. She took one last deep breath, closed her eyes to keep the hint of tears from escaping, and pulled the trigger.
The blast of the gun was deafening in the echoey chamber. The .50 caliber bullet ripped from the barrel and flew across the crowd below directly toward Kosch's head. Despite Kim using the augmented arm to pull the trigger the force still knocked her back on her rear. As the echo subsided the room went dead silent. Everyone stopped looking around to see where the shot came from and turned to Kosch.
Kim scrambled back to her feet and looked back out from her hiding spot only to have her jaw drop. Standing on the stage was Kosch, his hand outstretched, with a bullet half embedded in the palm of the gauntlet. The hulking creature's eyes were dead fixed on her position.
"An intruder? This far into the ENML? IMPOSSIBLE!" Gemini screamed from his screen.
Kosch let out a sickening snarl followed by a series of clicks, "Kiiiiim Possssssible."
Gemini glanced down from the screen at Kosch, "Deal with her." With that the screen went black, the room full of guards raised up their automatic rifles and starting spraying the upper area with bullets.
Kim scrambled backward down one of the halls as bullets shredded her cover, "D-director! I've been compromised. Need evac! Like, NOW."
A male voice responded, likely one of the bridge team back at headquarters, "Raven inbound, Phoenix. They can get you on the roof."
Kim nodded to herself, "Roof. Right." She began looking around for anything she could use to get upstairs. Her eyes ultimately finding a small glass window just above the masses firing at her, "I can do roof."
Kim climbed to her feet, took one more deep breath and began doing a series of flips that had made her a star back in high school. As soon as she reached the railing, she leapt up and spring-boarded off the railing, simultaneously activating her bubble shield on the battle armor. The bullets' kinetic energy was absorbed into the bubble causing the hunks of lead to harmless drop back to the ground.
Kosch watched as the Global Justice agent performed admirably. He followed her leap from the railing and spotted the small window. Snarling, the man-like beast hopped down from the stage and started positioning himself right beneath the window.
Soon as Kim's leap started to descend she activated her anti-grav boosters from her back and engaged the thrust, shooting her upward to the window. A flashing light in her HUD warned her 'Internal Batteries Low'. She pushed the thrust harder. She knew the next thing her tech would do would be to taper off the internal power going to the battle suit to help boost the thrusters and that meant no bubble shield. Kim crossed her arms in front of her head, as the bubble started failing and she burst through the glass to the awaiting Raven helicopter awaiting her above.
The Raven's side door slid open as Kim reached up and grabbed the ledge just as her HUD informed her that all internal reserves were drained and only necessary augmentations would be receiving power. She hoisted herself up as the pilot's voice came across the Raven's speakers, "You okay?" Kim just nodded and slammed her fist twice on the wall separating her from the pilot, "We'll getcha home, Phoe- THE HELL IS THAT?"
From below the shattered window, burst through part of the roof was Kosch. Not powered by any sort of jet, like something out of a nightmare the beast had simply leapt from the ground floor and through the roof with its claws extended and coming after Kim. The bestial roar sent chills down Kim's spine. She grabbed on to anything she could as the Raven swerved into evasive maneuvers to avoid the large dark figure.
Despite the moving target, Kosch was able to grab on to the edge of the side door and dig its fingers into the helicopter to hold on. Kim shouted, "SHUT THE DOOR!," and began slamming her heel down on Kosch's fingers to no avail. The Raven's side door slid shut, but got stuck on Kosch's fingers. Kim let loose a scream, charging up her battle suit's claw, that was normally used to deflect energy attacks, and ripped out the hunk of metal that Kosch had dug into. The metal and Kosch flew off and as the door slid shut, Kim could see the monster land feet first on the roof creating a large impact crater.
Kim collapsed on her back. Activated the claw had drawn a bit too much power from her. It would take time to recharge without any sort of external means. Luckily, she had plenty on the long flight back the HQ. She let her breathing slow, her vision go dark, and Agent Phoenix fell unconscious.
Next Chapter: Headquarters