My renewed thanks to everyone who's following along. We have reached the point where things diverge more substantially from So The Drama.
Chapter 5 - Never Tear Us Apart
"I feel like people are staring at us, KP…"
"Amp down, Ron, we're just sitting at a different table, so not the drama."
"Next thing you know, we may find someone else sitting in our booth! Can you imagine the horror?"
Kim rolled her eyes, but she did agree with the basic premise – it felt weird not to be sitting at the usual table. Wade had received a mysterious message asking for a meeting at Bueno Nacho, which noted that six people were expected. Six friends might be able to share the booth in a pinch, but sharing it with four strangers seemed like a bad idea all around. So a larger table was in order. Adding to the weirdness, Ron was not sitting across from her, but to her right – she was not sure that it was a first, but it definitely felt like it. A lot more intimate…
Don't go there, Possible, we've been through this. Don't make it weird for him.
"Hey," Ron interjected, "isn't that Team Impossible who just walked in?"
Kim turned her head to check, the garish blue and yellow uniforms were hard to mistake for anything else. Burn, Crash and Dash, all three seemed rather lost, as if looking for someone. The group – hard to tell which one, exactly – spotted the two teens at the large table and moved to join them.
"I didn't expect them to be meeting us," Kim commented quietly.
Ron greeted them as they approached, "I take it from your awkward silence that you did not send the invitation…"
Crash Cranston, the group's tech guy, replied, "Yeah, when we got here and saw you two kids looking like you were expecting someone, we figured you'd called us."
The group sat down, joining Kim and Ron.
"So," Crash continued, "any idea who sent the invite?"
"I think our answer just walked through the door," Kim answered.
Dr. Betty Director, head of Global Justice, had just entered the establishment and was heading in the group's direction. She sat down silently, then said, "Thank you all for coming. If anyone asks, we're celebrating Ron's streak of 20 missions with no loss of pants."
Ron was not amused, he was doing his 'serious face' as he called it. Dr. Director picked up on this and added, "The ideal cover story repels interest and cannot be checked for veracity. I assume you don't log your incidents…"
Ron continued to give her a skeptical look, so Kim asked the question that was in the room, "But why the secrecy, Dr. Director?"
"I think GJ has been compromised," she answered simply and was met with uncomfortable silence.
"No offense," Ron said to break the tension, "but if Will Du is a top agent of yours, your problem might be more of a…"
Kim filled in where Ron hesitated in choosing his words, "Overconfidence sitch."
"Agent Du is a pompous ass," Betty responded to the shock of both Kim and Ron, "but he is more competent than you think. Killigan was just too unhinged for his by-the-book attitude, but for each crazed golfer with a penchant for explosives, the world has a hundred terrorists, slavers, wannabe dictators… GJ, and Will Du in particular, is pretty damn good at dealing with those sorts of threats."
Burn interrupted with what must have been on everyone's mind, "I sense there's a 'but' coming…"
"However," she continued with extra emphasis, "little things have been going wrong a lot more frequently than I would have expected. When Drakken and Shego escaped from their lair the other day, they clearly were onto us before we even got close. Some people were quick to accuse the two of you – not Agent Du," Dr. Director added in response to Ron's accusatory look, "but such accusations just did not hold up to scrutiny.
No, I'm sure they had to have been tipped off. They had minimal surveillance equipment at the lair, the whole place was a glorified warehouse carved into the mountain, not a high-tech installation with air surveillance radars. The nine guys operating consoles in the hangar – who even does that, without even wearing hearing protection it would take a complete moron to design an installation like that, have th–"
"Doc, you might want to get on with it and let the local authorities deal with workplace safety concerns," Dash Damond, the group's surveillance and recon specialist interjected.
The head of Global Justice took a deep breath and continued, "Sorry. I was saying, nine guys. Two had previous experience as taxi dispatchers, six only knew how to open Solitaire and two were illiterate."
"Uhh, that's ten," Ron said.
"One of the taxi dispatchers was illiterate, believe it or not. This crowd could not detect a flying barn to save their lives. And again, there was just no equipment that would allow them to do so."
Kim asked the obvious follow-up question, "But who would have tipped them off? And why so late? They couldn't even evacuate the synthodrones…"
Burn commented, "Well, I can think of a million reasons for the tardiness…"
"Excuse me everyone," Ron said, "but I think we're all missing the point…"
Everyone at the table seemed to give Ron a rather confused look before he continued.
"Why are we here?" He concluded, motioning with his hands to include the whole group in his question.
However simplistic the question might have seemed, Betty Director seemed pleased, Kim could swear she saw a smile.
"I have a proposal. I need an off-the-books infiltration mission to follow up on some leads…" She theatrically retrieved an unlabeled CD in a paper liner from one of her pockets and placed it on the table, dragging it to the center. "Drakken was carrying his playbook for the synthodrone operation when we got lucky and managed to arrest him and Shego."
Kim felt more than a little slighted by the apparent dismissal of her role in Drakken's arrest. "Excuse me, that took a lot of skill on our part."
"You misunderstand me, Kim. We, GJ, got lucky. We would not have made it to the casino in time, but you two did.
"Now, this has a bit of a personal edge for you, Kim, even though we did not really understand how a synthodrone boyfriend would have accomplished anything – except that now we do. The plan was twofold - sabotage you with a robotic boyfriend to distract, humiliate, whatever; at the same time, acquire cutting edge materials research to produce and distribute weapons of mass destruction disguised as toys in children's meals sold at Bueno Nacho."
The members of Team Impossible were all shocked by the ridiculous plan. "I can't believe it, Stoppable was right on the money," Burn said.
"Hey, don't act so surprised," Ron answered in an offended tone, Rufus backed him up with his own vocalizations.
Doctor Director continued, "You're also as qualified a team of agents as we can get for an undercover mission." She turned to the members of Team Impossible, "Forgive me gentlemen, but you three are the antithesis of subtle. I have a bit of a parallel budget earmarked for 'Miscellaneous expenditures'. Traditionally that means paper clips, badge holders, assorted stationery, coffee for the brewer. You'd be shocked at how expensive descaling solution is when the office espresso machine requires a special brand."
"Secret slush fund…" Ron wondered aloud. "I can work with that. Question: How much –"
"Should be plenty to cover your expenses on this trip. I'll also get you fake ID and cover stories, Global Justice produces so many that nobody will notice an extra order or two."
Kim was concerned, this was sounding much more complex than a typical mission. "Uhm, Doctor Director… I have to ask, just where do you need us to go and for how long?"
Dash added on his own question, "While we're at it, what's our role? Because I'm not seeing it."
"Let me start with the second one," Betty said, "Team Possible would require substantial support. We're talking about a prolonged operation several time zones away with minimal local support."
Even Ron seemed somewhat taken aback at the scale of the proposed mission, he gave Betty Director a look that asked without words 'how many time zones'.
"As for the second part," she continued as she tapped the CD with her finger, "all the details about what we know are in there. The short version is that we analyzed the synthodrones' gelatinous filling – it's not something you can just buy, it's not even special order at any producer we're aware of. We couldn't chemically trace it anywhere specific, either. The paper trail yielded more interesting results, the synthogoo – if you'll pardon the nickname our team came up with – was imported by the US branch of GECC, the chemical giant. Now, I expect them to have zero useful paperwork over in their New York offices, but they are guaranteed to have something at their headquarters in Brussels.
"So, your mission would be to travel to Brussels, obtain the data, and investigate from there. I expect it won't take more than a few days, and if things get too complex or otherwise unpalatable, we can just extract you – blowing your cover in the process, of course, so it's a one-time thing."
Kim voiced the question that rose above all those about the mission in her mind, "Do you think someone else is going to try to make more synthodrones?"
"Not off the table, but that's not even the technology I'm most concerned about…"
"You mean my father's research?"
"Indeed. For context, gentlemen, Doctor Possible is at the forefront of cybertronic research. Doctor Drakken acquired this information, and we believe he was going to act on it to steal said research. Going back a bit to the distribution of weapons of mass destruction via Bueno Nacho, our understanding is that he intended to distribute toys that would turn into, and I quote, 'giant killer robots of doom', end quote."
"Well, he got that info from Big Daddy Brotherson, what are you going to do about him?" Ron inquired.
"Our top agent is bringing Mr. Brotherson in for… A little chat. This is also why I wanted to bring in Team Impossible. Dr. Possible could use an extra pair or three of eyes, but we need to keep things discreet."
Things are sounding worse by the minute, Kim thought, but she tried to present an unflappable image. "Do you think he's in danger?"
"It's mostly a precaution," Dr. Director answered, "we're not aware of any specific threats at this time. But we don't know who else might have been in on at least part of this plan, so I'd prefer to play things safe, in particular because we're confident that Dr. Drakken intended to act on Brotherson's intel and kidnap Dr. Possible to steal his research…"
Kim instinctively reached for Ron's left hand, seeking a small measure of comfort. She quickly regretted it, thinking that she was making things weird – again. However, before she could back out of it, she felt Ron squeeze her hand reassuringly. From the corner of her eye, she saw not the skeptical expression that Ron had worn for the whole meeting, but a discreet smile. It told her, 'I've got your back, KP' and gave her the strength to once again save the world.
"We'll do it, Dr. Director."
"Good," she answered. A glance at Ron seemed to confirm to her that he was on board, backing up Kim's words. "Gentlemen, can we count on your support? I believe all your talents will be useful to us, as they have already been in stopping Drakken's plot before it went into full swing."
The trio of Team Impossible huddled together, whispering. A few scattered words could be discerned, before they moved back to their previous positions and Crash announced for the group, "We're in."
"Excellent. I have already spoken with Mr. Lode, he will be in charge of overall coordination, and you gentlemen will deal directly with him."
Instantly, the faces of Team Impossible were filled with terror and regret. Who knew a young boy could terrorize three grown men so easily?
"Don't worry fellas," Ron said somewhat mockingly, "Wade won't bite. He'll just destroy your systems and drag your name through the mud if you mess with his things."
"Don't worry, we'll put in a good word on your behalf," Kim piled on.
Anyone else struggle with the canonical spelling of certain names? I mostly defer to the Disney+ subtitles when there is nothing more authoritative.
For this week's reading recommendation, I have The New Kid, by AnAccountThatIsNotUsed. A different take on the usually boring "Competent, Evil Ron" genre.