Chapter 22

"Long time no see… outsider." Fukushima said with smug smirk on his face. He was excepting the outsider to be in awe… but life is full of surprises.

"Oh, it's you, hey how's it been going?" Ron said casually, dusting himself. "Listen dude, I don't have time for this outsider vendetta right now, so how about we meet next Friday?"

Silence fell on them after Ron's announcement until a large vein popped on Fukushima's forehead. "You dare to mock me?!" The traitorous ninja exclaimed.

"No, seriously, I don't have time for you right now. I need to go back to my friends." Ron raised the Lotus Blade and struck it into the metal floor, piercing it as if it was made of butter, but the Blonde had to instantly draw it out as Fukushima lunged at him drawing his own blade. Ron blocked it fairly easy but there was one thing he wasn't expecting.

The sheer brutal force behind the attack itself was completely overwhelming.

Ron was thrown away, hitting the floor a few meters back. He jumped on his feet instantly with a gob smacked expression on his face, not that anyone could see it.

Fukushima wasn't that strong.

"You thought that I would remain on the same level? Typical outsider arrogance," he sneered, glowing with power. "My Master showed me the depths of power the likes of you can never imagine!"

Ron looked at him warily. Something was wrong with his aura. It was massive yet unnatural at the same time.

"Kill him!" Fukushima ordered while putting his helmet on. His four companions jumped in sync at Ron with the bat-mutant diving at him from above.

'Holy Nacho!' Ron thought and activated his MMP. Only that saved him from gruesome death as his enhanced 3S aka strength, speed and senses kicked into action.

With inhuman speed he jumped out of the place about to counterattack, but he forgot that Fukushima was there too. In the last second he blocked a strike from behind that would've undoubtedly taken his head. The blades collided, creating a waterfall of sparks which surprised Ron.

The Lotus Blade should be able to cut through anything… except magical stuff.

Looking closely at the blade Fukushima was holding, it resembled an ancient Chinese sword. Ron instantly felt that this sword was special. Pushing his opponent back, he noticed that Fukushima's companions had similar ones yet giving way less potent feel.

'That sucks,' Ron thought dryly as they jumped at him again in way too creepy of sync. 'No teamwork should be that good.'

Each time he wanted to go on offensive, the ninja blocked him while other attacked with the bat creature trying to rip off his head every few seconds. Ron's eyes widened. That was it!

If he couldn't take out the team then he had to go for the first odd one, namely the man bat. He waited for the creature's attack, and with a timed jump, landed on its back. Ron then grabbed the bat's furry neck to keep balance as the creature trashed wildly in air trying to shake him off. The blonde raised his blade to strike, but then he noticed a small red light coming from the back of its head.

'So that's how they control it…' Ron eyed the neuro-compliance chip. 'Damn, I thought we were over those.'

Ron swung his blade, and with scalpel like precision, he severed the chip into two parts, freeing the bat from Fukushima's control. Like with the touch of a magic wand, the bat stopped struggling.

"Thanks," it replied with a horribly distorted voice.

"No problem dude, so how about we kick their asses?" Ron asked.

"What do I do?" the prisoner simply asked.

"Fly low and then I'll crash you, and then attack them giving you time to take them from behind." Ron explained.

"… Got it."

The man bat lowered his flight so he was just mere meter above the ground flying towards the group of ninja.

"Sorry..." Ron mumbled, grabbing bat's head and pushing it towards the ground. The flight broke as the mutant's head connected with the ground. The bat started rolling chaotically on the ground, approaching the ninjas like a bowling ball.

Meanwhile Ron was right behind it waiting for the ninjas to spread. Predictably they jumped in all directions.

'Now!' he thought as he lunged for the closest one. He raised Lotus blade high in the air and slashed at the ninja. The man raised his blade horizontally to block the slash but what happened next surely surprised both the fighters.

Ron's blade sliced through his opponent's one with minimal resistance, cutting through the bones and flesh next, almost severing the ninja's right shoulder off.

Ron's eyes widened as the realization of what he did just hit him with… as well as the fountain of blood coming from his enemy artery, and the ninja fell to the ground with gurgle convulsing.

Having MMP and ninja training had a lot of benefits. One of them was an ability to overcome shock in 0.1 second and avoid having your head taken by enraged enemies.

Fukushima's team fell on him like a pack of angry wolfs, forcing him entirely on defensive. Ron noticed that their hits were becoming more ferocious and powerful; also they now seemed to work like a well-oiled machine, even more inhuman than before.

'Something is not right here,' Ron thought as he swept the blade to the side, ducking under another one. But he would have to put those thoughts for later as he currently fought for his life.

Using his power, he stomped, causing the ground to shake and thus throwing the assailants off their balance. Dashing forward, he unleashed a flurry of strikes at the ninja, mindful to not kill this time. He managed to wound the man's arm before he was chased off by his team.

Ron took few steps back, raising his sword in defense. Thee ninja including Fukushima ran at him while the last one took a large jump aiming to attack him from above.

What he wasn't expecting was for the man bat to grab him in mind air and shoot high to the air.

'Finally!' Ron thought with gratitude towards the mutated prisoner. Using the distraction, he engaged the ninja actually forcing them on defensive.

The MMP was flowing through his veins filling him with power. Each of his strikes shook the bones of his enemies as they struggled to keep up with him. Gathering his power in his open palm, he violently pushed it out, creating a power wave that threw his enemies back.

"Booyah! I finally did the Jedi push!" Ron cheered.

"Don't be so happy outsider! You're not the only one with power!" Fukushima's eyes glowed with a sickly purple hue. "We will end you!"

As on cue, a headless body of the man bat fell to the ground with the fourth ninja landing heavily on the ground. He was bleed from multiple wounds as apparently the man bat was able to bit through the armor. Also his left hand was twisted at a weird angle.

"Are you fit to fight?" Fukushima asked.

"Barely, but I will be fine," his solider replied.

"I see…" In one swift motion, Fukushima severed him man head off.

Ron would cry in shock if he hadn't noticed the shift in their aura. The moment the ninja died his aura left his body and split equally between three remaining ninja. There was also the fact that the sword he was holding went missing.

"Those swords… they're the ones that gives you power!" Ron exclaimed, pointing his index finger at Fukushima. "That's why you work so freakishly well!"

"Matters not, outsider, that knowledge won't do you any good since you and your commanders will die here!"

Ron rolled his eyes, could this get any more cliché? But he focused on the three ninja. He created another copy of Lotus Blade now ready to face them.

Without any more words… they clashed in deadly combat.

Underground levels

"Suppressing fire! Push them back!" Du barked as the agents slowly but surely thinned the horde of attackers. The attackers were relentless, no matter how many of them died they kept charging, madly howling with rage and insanity.

After what seemed like eternity, all that was left were the GJ agents and carnage of bodies all around them. The floor turned into a miniature swamp with dead bodies, tube fluids, and blood all mixed in. Everyone was tense for another wave but there was only a silence.

"Status report," Du ordered while reloading his rifle.

"We're down to ten including you sir…"

Du frowned he lost half of his men and they barely reached the half point with eleven more floors before them… just then he noticed a certain redhead bolting towards the doors.

"Agent Possible, what are you doing!?" he exclaimed.

"Ron's in danger! I need to help him." she shouted, not stopping.

"Damn that amateur!" He growled, "Everyone move out!"

Kim felt little bad for abandoning her group but Ron's safety took priority here. She ran out of the lab seeing destroyed synthodrones and more bodies of the prisoners. It seemed that they paid the high price for entering the labs.

BOOM!

Suddenly, a large explosion shook the whole level. Kim's eyes widened when she saw the large hole of melted metal…

"What happened?!" Du asked as he reached her position and froze.

From the melted hole that used to be a pair of steel doors, a being emerged. Its green eyes were glowing fiercely but that glow paled in comparison with the glow that extended from its hands towards the arms.

"Shego?" Kim chocked, unable to take her eyes off her former arch-nemesis, never before has she witnessed such a powerful display from the green skinned woman.

"Who else, Princess?!" she growled with ire in her voice. "I swear, when I get my hands on that creep on the speakers…"

"Agent Shego, what happened to the rest of the squad?" Du asked worryingly.

"The boys are fine; some got roughed up, but nothing that won't heal." Shego shrugged.

"We lost over half of ours…" Kim mumbled.

"Fuck…" Shego cursed. "What happened?"

"We walked into a trap and got tangled into close combat." Du explained. "Some of the mutants were able to break through the armor."

"Good to know… look, we need a change of plans." Shego said. "They got Ron, so we need to find him fast."

"How do you know he's not somewhere?" Du asked, implying things he shouldn't.

"HE'S NOT!" Kim and Shego exclaimed at the same time.

"I agree with Shego, we need to change our tactic or we'll get swarmed again." Kim stated. "If we get to the control room, we can take over the whole facility and clear it, then we'll call for backup."

"We would have to climb then to get there as fast as we could, but then we would be in the open." Du replied.

"Look, I'm going up no matter what, so you can muscle your way from here for all I care." Shego growled.

"I'm in charge of this mission and you will do as I say." Du said frostily.

"Are you sure you can back that up, Agent?" she spat venomously, flaring her hands.

"Guys!" Kim walked between them. "Now is not the time to argue! We need to focus on saving Ron!"

"Agent Stoppable knew the risks, our priority is retaking this facility." Du stated coldly.

"It would be much easier if the facility defenses were on our side. Look, as soon as we get to control room and turn the jammer off, I'll contact Wade and he will hack everything and turn the defenses on the prisoners!" Kim said hotly.

Du pondered on the thought.

"Valid point, we might minimalize our losses that way." He finally agreed, "Everyone, get ready to climb."

"Still would've fried him." Shego mumbled, extinguishing her hands.

"We need to help Ron first…" Kim reasoned. "I hope he's okay."

"Ronnie is very capable, I'm sure he's having the time of his life now…" Shego smirked under her helmet, unaware that the definition of time of his life did not include having your head cut off.

The squad moved towards the railing and shot their grappling hooks towards the higher level, activating their magnetic boots in case the line got cut. Then swiftly the team started to jump up towards the higher levels. With each floor they passed, they could see the commotion as the prisoners seemed try to catch them but they were too slow for the fast moving agents.

It seemed that they have run out of their rubber inmates.

"Incoming!" someone yelled.

Winged mutants descended on the climbing agents. They were a myriad of various avian species such as hawks or vultures.

The team opened fire, not slowing down, yet the mutants were relentless diving at the agents despite the rain of lead.

"GYAAA!" One of the agents screamed as the two mutants ripped him from the wall and dragged up into the air.

"Keep climbing!" Shego growled as she fried the wing of the nearest mutant, making it fall spiraling down to its death. "Just a few more floors to go!"

"SHEGO LOOK OUT!" Kim yelled with panic.

The green skinned ex-villainess looked up, seeing large owl-like mutant descending on her. Before she managed to shoot it down, the prisoner cut her rope. That would not cause much of a problem due to her magnetic boots but the creature yanked her off the wall with a mighty force.

"Let me go!" She punched the owl-man with mighty force, making him drop her. "Oh damn…" which might not be the brightest idea while having a fifteen floor drop. "FUUUUUCCCCCKKKK!"

She screamed as she started to pummel towards her death.

"Grab my hand!" Kim exclaimed, flying towards her Tarzan style. Shego swung her arm trying to grab Kim's had but was a second to slow and missed. So she went for the next thing. "My hand not leg!"

"Beggars can't be choosers!" Shego shot back. bracing herself for the collision with the wall. "OMPF!" she grunted as she hit the wall.

"You're steady?" Kim asked.

"Yeah, thanks for the save, Princess." Shego reattached herself to the wall and took the second grappling hook Kim offered her.

"No big, Shego… it looks like there are no more mutants," she pointed out. Indeed the GJ agents did a splendid job clearing the enemy's swarm.

After a few more minutes of undisturbed climbing, they reached the bridges.

"Finally…" Shego sighed, looking at the exit to the control center. "How's our team status?"

"We lost six more agents; we're down to twenty five ma'am," a random agent informed.

"Let's take over the hub and find Ron before the inmates reach us." Kim suggested.

"And beat the crap of that creepy guy." Shego added.

"Kinky, kinky," as on cue, the host spoke. "But not unwelcome kukukuku! Come on, I'm waiting…" the doors leading to the hub opened with a quiet hiss. "No, it's not a trap. I'm alone… so lonely… I'm mister Lonely! I have nobody for my own!"

"That was horrible." Du asked, earning a wave of nods. "Let us end this forsaken mission already."

The team carefully moved inside the round hub ready for everything, but it seemed that the host was true to his words. The room was quite spacious with four exits leading to the bridges with no one inside.

"Huh…" Shego mussed.

"Yeah…" Kim agreed.

"May I invite the two lovely ladies upstairs?" the host stated in what was supposed be a smooth tone. "But gentlemen, don't worry, I'll keep you entertained too. I'll give you… five minutes to prepare!"

As soon as he said that, a round piece of ceiling moved down, revealing a way upstairs. The disk was spacious enough for four people.

"If we refuse?" Kim asked.

"Then I'll blow this place sky high! Hihihihi"

"Damn it... let's go then, Kimmie."

"Will you guys be okay?" Kim asked worriedly.

"Do not worry agent Possible, we are all prepared to give you as much time as you need." Du said. "But don't take that as a permission to slack off."

"Don't worry; we'll be done with this in five." Shego folded her hands, stepping on the disk with Kim standing right next to her.

"Agents," Du said as the lift moved up. "Set the charges on two bridges, the other two should be able to hold the hub. We will hold until they are able to retake the control room!"

"YES SIR!"

Control room

The duo slowly reached the spacious round room filled with dozens of screens that monitored the whole facility. Everything here was disturbingly white, from chairs to screens. Right in front of their eyes was their host in a polite smile on a horribly marred face was any indication.

He was bald as a knee with multiple operation scars on his face on skull. His eyes were bloody read with no irises or sclera. He was bare foot dressed in loose grey pants and white shirt revealing his scared arms… that were mismatched with one looking disturbingly feminine.

It was almost as he was made of multiple people.

"I see you are quite disturbed by my OUR appearance." He chuckled, completely missing his outburst. "You see, I've been here for quite a while, you can say that I'm one of the first inmates here." He tiled his head to the side. "SO long, SO long, year after year…"

The female duo exchanged disturbed looks… the man was clearly insane.

"My gif... CURSE... is that I hold the power of regeneration. I can take a lot," he grinned, showing his fanged teeth. "Attach an arm to me, it lives… cut out an organ out, it grows back. Cut off my head… and I DIE! HAHAHAHA!" He burst into a fit of maniacal laugher, "Will you kill us?" he asked with an almost pleading voice. "Or will you die by our–my hands?"

"Let's find out, eh?" Shego lit her fists.

"Splendid!" he chipped.

"I go high you go low?" Kim asked taking her stance.

"You've read my mind." Shego grinned.

The two lunged at the host who welcomed their attack with open arms… literally. Confused but undeterred they were almost in hitting range when the host moved with impossible speed, passing through them in a blur and delivering vicious hooks to their jaws.

"Wally West, age 18, orphan and a speedster." Their Host said with melancholy, "Wanted to be a runner…" He patted his legs. "Used for parts in first six months after Genesis facility was established."

Kim and Shego started to approach him again, this time more carefully, but this time the host went on the offensive. He dashed forward with super speed, with one arm up to his elbow turning into ice while the other lit on fire.

Kim activated her shield to take the fire blast while Shego melted the ice javelin he threw at her.

"Beatriz da Costa aka Fire, age 25, Brazilian hero, her dream was to make her home a safer place," he looked at his flaming had. "Robert Drake, aka Icebox, age 16, victim of his powers." This time it was the ice one.

"HIAAAA!" Shego lunged forward, sending a devastating punch to his chest… that did absolutely nothing except for burning off his shit revealing a darker skin tone.

"Luke Cage, aka Power-man, age 32, indestructible body, father of one child." The host's eyes lit with a red glow, and a second, a ray of red energy shoot out of them, blasting Shego way. "Scoot Summers, age 23, university student."

Kim ran to Shego's side.

"Are you alright?" she asked, helping Shego to her feet.

"Yeah, the suit took most of damage," she replied, glaring at the host. "What is your name?"

"My name is Legion," he stated gravely, "For we are many."

"She probably meant your true name," Kim spoke while eyeing him warily.

"That man has no name, it was taken from him. Now we are Legion," he said, creating an ice sword. "Will you join us?"

As soon as those words left his mouth, he jumped forward, attempting to behead both females in one swoop. But Kim stepped forward, morphing her hand into a sword and clashed with Legion. The ice sword was no match for the advanced tech and broke into million pieces, but the man was far from defeated. Creating a ball of fire, he plunged it into Kim's face, blinding her for a moment.

Using his super-fast legs, he started to deliver a series of kicks that looked almost like a blur.

In mere three seconds Kim received thirty nine kicks.

If not for Shego's timely plasma ball, the girl would've probably been knocked out, high tech suit or not. With a battle cry, she continued her furious assault, forcing Legion on the defensive. The man was fast as hell, but the waves of plasma kept him at bay, not to mention she could overpower his flames and melt his ice so the only problem was his ray vision.

"Kimmie, I need some help here!" Shego urged the cheerleader.

"On it!" she jumped in front of her, creating a shield wall. That gave Shego the opportunity to flank Legion and deliver a nasty plasma powered hook to his face. The hit sent him flying into the nearest console, creating a mini explosion of sparks.

The ladies wasted no time and pressed on jumping at the fallen man, only to crash into a wall of ice he created.

An instant later, Legion broke through the wall and elbowed Shego straight in her face place, cracking a bit while at the same time blasting Kim with a fire ball. He then grabbed Shego's face and threw her at stumbling Kim, knocking them both down.

"Not enough… not nearly enough… you have to come at me with the intent to kill, otherwise you will die," he said simply.

The ladies struggled to their feet. The man was simply incredible. They were giving their all yet he was still able to hold them at bay, not to mention that both of them had a nasty feeling that he was holding back.

"New plan, I focus on defense you on offense," Kim said.

"I can take more punishment than you." Shego stated.

"But I can't… fight with the desire to kill…" Kim replied, not looking at Shego.

'You think I can?' Shego thought dryly, not trying to remember how she tried to kill Ron. "Fine."

That man was the last thing that was standing between her and Ron and if taking his life was what took to reach him, then so be it. Shego lit her hands, heating her plasma to lethal levels.

"Oh, how we cry for our lost innocence… how we yearn for those good ol' days." Legion sing sang. "For those stupid easy days…"

Shego lunged forward, not being able to listen to the song much longer. The pure longing is man's voice made it that much harder to kill him.

She threw a punch at his face, but he easily swatted it to the side, right above her flaming wrist. He attempted to knee her solar plexus, but Kim jumped from the side and forced him to retreat a few steps. Shego used the opening and threw a volley of plasma. He raised up an ice wall, but the heated plasma pierced it like a hot knife through butter.

"Interesting…" Legion mumbled, having used his superior speed to close on Shego, engaging her in close combat again as he perceived her as larger threat… bad move.

Because if he wasn't paying enough attention to her, he would've seen that Kim caught one of Shego's plasma blasts and threw it straight at his face. Legion roared in pain as the ball hit him, grabbing his face, and that gave Shego the opening she needed.

Using both of her hands, she created a large plasma ball, and with a growl, she pushed it into Legion's chest. With a painful cry, the man flew backwards, crashing into the console, horribly burnt from the super-heated plasma.

The disgusting stench filled the room, but luckily for them, the air filters cleaned it out.

"Is he dead?" Kim asked, slowly looking at the unmoving form.

"Yes…" Shego replied somewhat submissively. "Let's move on and find Ron."

Both ladies moved to the nearest console, Kim pulled out an USB drive and plugged it into the mainframe.

"With the hacking program Wade made, we should be in the system in…" Kim frowned.

"Finally, I've been going crazy!" Wade's face appeared on the large screen. "Do you have any idea how worried I was?"

"We got in a bit of a sitch." Kim replied.

"What happened–?"

"Always aim for the head, always aim for the head," Legion's voice reached them. They turned back on their heels, gasping in terror.

The man was literally rebuilding himself before their eyes; the burnt skin was falling off, revealing a layer of fresher one. He may still be horribly deformed, but in matter of seconds, the man looked just like at the start of the battle.

"How the hell can you even get a scar with a healing factor like that?!" Shego exclaimed, visibly shaken.

"Push the limits, push the limits they said, let's see more and more! How much can he take, the men in white coats, year after year." He chuckled with an eerie smile, "We–"

BOOOM!

Suddenly, a great tremor shook the whole room, causing the trio to lose their balance and fall on the ground.

"K-Kim…bzzzt!... Ar-… okay?" Wade shouted through the static.

"Hehe, looks like your friends downstairs decided that my entertainment was too much, hihihihihi." he giggled, standing on his feet. "Shall we?"

Both agents took their stances… then Legion disappeared. And not even second later, both ladies were flying in opposite directions.

'When?' passed through their minds.

"Kids gloves off." Legion uttered, standing where they used to stand. "Brace yourselves."

Kim just managed to stand up when Legion's flaming first met her face, making her stumble. Then she got kneeled in the gut, making her bend down, only to be finished with a spinning kick.

If not for her suit, she would most likely be dead. The man hit like a ram, and despite the protection, she painfully felt each and every hit.

'How is this possible?' she thought when she hit the ground. The suit enhanced her way above average skills, even further than before, yet she couldn't do a single thing against a man who was beating her up dressed in a pair of pants.

Her trail of thoughts was interrupted by sudden lack of air as Legion lifted her by the throat with little to no effort.

His iron grip tightened, making her struggle for every breath.

"Kim Possible… teen heroine… such disappointment." He bobbled his head, "Girl that can do anything, we thought even kill us… such a shame."

"Let her go!" Shego shouted from the other side of the room, charging at them with hands ablaze.

"A moment dear," he dropped her to the ground and turned back to the approaching plasma storm.

He then shot the ray out of his eyes, halting Shego's assault. He jumped forward, making an ice claw and slashed Shego across the chest.

The claw broke, but the man was relentless, and he grabbed her face and slammed it into the floor, making a dent in it. But his onslaught hadn't ended there.

H shot his ray, hitting her back almost point blank. The suit protected her from gruesome death, but Legion wasn't stopping.

Shego tried to claw her way out, but the man superhuman strength kept her pinned down as Legion continued to give her back an extreme ray bath. She felt panic raise as the suit started to give her messages about critical shields levels, which meant that soon...

"PRINCESS! NEED A HAND HERE!" Shego screeched, feeling the heat on her back.

Kim managed to get up and ran at Legion, feeling her whole body ache. The man was a force of a nature, without their battle suits, they've would surely been dead by now, that, Kim had no doubts about.

The red head dashed forward, engaging Legion in close combat, thus giving Shego much needed time to recuperate. Namely about two second with him using his superior speed with additional of fire/ ice fists that sent Kim flying at the nearest console. Upon contact, the console exploded, creating sparks and smoke.

As soon as he was done with Kim, he moved upon a stumbling Shego, using his ice claws again. But this time the suit gave upon the pressure and tore like some old rag.

Shego screamed as the cold ice plowed her chest, drawing blood. She stumbled back, clutching the bleeding wound.

Legion used her momentarily distraction and front kicked her straight into the wall, again making a dent in it.

'That's getting boring…' she thought numbly as she slid down, feeling that the powers were leaving her.

"Such disappointment," Legion sighed, creating an ice spear, walking slowly towards her. "So we won't die today, too."

Shego lifted her head, using the last ounce of her strength. Her suit was slowly repairing itself, but it was too slow and the energy was too low, now it was nothing more than a glorified piece of rag.

Legion loomed over her, boring those bloody red eyes straight into her soul.

"So many wasted opportunities, eh?" He mumbled. "So many things you wanted to do, but there wasn't –"

"Fucking shut up! I lived my life!" Shego spat defiantly, managing to keep her voice leveled.

"Ahhh, good then," he tilted his arm back, aiming for the heart. "Then you will die with less regrets!"

Time seemed to slow down for Shego. At the ice spear drew closer to her heart, and she tried to move but her body refused to obey.

She felt a stab of despair. She was going to die in seconds and there was so much more to do! Her boyfriend was most likely fighting for his life a few floors up. She could not leave him like that; she didn't want to leave him like that. Sheila knew that something like that would destroy him, for the buffoon truly loved her.

She grit her teeth, feeling that her eyes water.

'To die in some fucking shit hole… sorry Ronnie, you're on your own… take care of him, Princess…' she closed her eyes, waiting for the finishing blow.

BANG!

And cliffhanger here folk...till next time