Kim, Ron, Bonnie and Monique ran as hard as they could. Sounds of destruction and mayhem followed them and a cloud of dust engulfed the group as they burst from the lair. Coughing and sneezing they stopped about a hundred yards from where they had exited Dr. Drakken’s latest lair. Dust and small debris covered the area immediately in front of the exit now.
“Ron, I’m so sorry…” Panted Kim.
“Kim, I’m so sorry…” Panted Ron at the same time, and they both broke out in grins.
“Me first…” they overlapped again, followed by giggles. With a twinkle in her eyes, Kim timed her next outburst by carefully watching Ron. “Ok, you first…” they said in perfect synchronization. This time it was too much and they both burst out laughing.
Bonnie wasn’t amused and didn’t understand why they found it so funny either. They had just been almost killed in a collapsing building, and she didn’t even want to think back to the four hour long uncomfortable ride in the belly of a C4 cargo plane culminating in an air drop outside of civilization in Canada for god’s sake! She opened her mouth to give them a piece of her mind but stopped when she felt Monique’s gentle hand on her arm.
The Dark skinned girl motioned that they should give the two some room and her expression held a promise of an explanation. The cheerleader rolled her eyes but consented to being led a short distance away. She crossed her arms and testily said “What?”
“Just give them a few minutes.” Monique entreated, “Yesterday, he chose you over her and she needs to be reassured that she still matters.”
“He wouldn’t be here now if I hadn’t told him to come.” Bonnie bitched.
“And I’m sure he’ll let her know that too.”
Bonnie spent several uncomfortable minutes watching Ron and Kim touching each other and talking quietly. She glared at Monique but the dark skinned girl just stared back impassively. After what seemed like an eternity of hell the couple hugged and the knot in Bonnie’s stomach untied itself. That was definitely not the embrace of lovers and when the brief hug was over, Ron came directly to her and draped his arm around her shoulders.
Kim contacted Wade. “Hey Kim,” the computer guru greeted her reservedly.
“Did you get all the data I had Uncle Slim forward to my mother?”
“Are you implying that I eavesdrop on private conversations between members of your family?” He asked in a hurt voice.
“Well, don’t you?”
The freckled teen rolled his eyes, “Yeah,” he admitted sheepishly, “and now I see why you need that nano-tech processor.” He typed for a minute, “Your mom is preparing an O.R. for your arrival and your ride should be to you in about five minutes.”
“It’s no good Wade,” Kim sighed, “I don’t have the processor…” her voice trailed off and she straightened up, remembering Shego’s odd phrase: I also have something you’ve been looking for.
“Or do I?” Kim snatched the grappling gun out of her pouch, “Wade, scan this for the processor chip!”
Kim looked at Bonnie sitting across from her in the helicopter. “Bonnie?” she said tentatively, “Ron told me that you were the one who insisted that he come to help me, I…”
“Ach! You’re not going to go all mushy on me right now are you?” the acerbic brunette asked.
Kim smiled, “No,” she said, “but I might later.”
“Ladies,” Ron broke in self-importantly, “There’s enough of the Ronster to go around.”
“Ego much?”
“As if!”
“I’ll take that as a…” the blonde paused and turned to Monique, “hey, what do I take that as?”
Her answer was lost because the pilot broke in to tell them they were arriving at the hospital. Mrs. Dr. Possible was waiting for them on the roof and when Kim disembarked; her mother swept her into her arms and held her tightly until they were forced to part so they could move away from the chopper as it took off. Once inside, the elder possible took Kim aside for a moment.
“Don’t say anything right now, Kimmie.” Her blue eyes were brimming with tears. “I’ve gone over the data you sent me and I have contacted all three institutions, they’ll each have an expert available to me during the entire operation. I also called in a few friends who are top in the pharmacology field, they’ll be assisting also.”
Kim didn’t know what to say. She felt guilty for keeping this secret from her mom and wanted to ask forgiveness for everything, but she didn’t know where to start. “Mom… I…” her voice faltered.
“Shhh.” Her mom interrupted, “I love you too.”
Mr. and Mrs. Dr. Possible stood outside the operating room leaning on one another. The surgery would last several hours and while indications were that it would be successful, the full results wouldn’t be known for several days. The sheer number of people who were willing to help Kim with no questions asked and asking nothing in return had surprised the neurosurgeon. She was quite proud that her daughter meant so much to so many people. Their quiet revere was broken by Ron’s strident shout.
“What the hell are you doing here!?!”
She turned to see Betty Director walking toward her flanked by half a dozen agents.
Kim drifted. At first there was no detail but slowly her surroundings began to take on attributes. The sky became blue and clouds began to form in it, then the water became a greenish blue and the surface took on the texture of waves with an occasional whitecap. And now she wasn’t drifting, she was flying, flying toward a familiar beach. She saw the Turner’s hotel and flew past it and headed for a remote beachhead.
There was a helicopter flying toward her, as it passed, she caught sight of the pilot in deep concentration and the fear lined faces of three teenaged girls. She continued on drawn inexorably toward a destination and memories that she wanted to avoid. Swooping down, she heard herself gasp as she discovered Jenny’s body and tried to shut her eyes but ghosts don’t have eyelids so she was forced to witness it all over again. She watched herself run through the jungle toward the sounds of the Chief’s shrill scream, “Where are they?” and the sickening thuds of a closed fist repeatedly striking flesh.
Kimmie didn’t even break stride, her momentum drove her into the Chief and the older woman fell back. The girl’s arms pummeled like pistons and her legs propelled her ever forward into the Chief, but it was no contest; the Chief caught her easily and tossed her aside. “…completely out of control…” The words came from nowhere, drifting surreally across the scene. The Chief went after her younger self now, scrambling through the underbrush as Kimmie tried desperately to get away. “…flew into a mindless rage for no reason…” The Chief’s eyes were manic, there was nothing human in them and her pursuit was unremitting. “…suddenly killing everything she sees…”
Kim’s perspective changed and she could see the entire scene. The man Chief had called Gemini was standing a few feet away talking animatedly on a cell phone. “…told me she’d be stable!” He shouted. She drifted toward him, behind her; Kimmie spotted the man and ran toward him. “I’ll have to terminate her.” He picked up a branch and as her pursuer ran past him he tripped the older woman and began beating her while she lay on the ground. The branch rose and fell over and over again; finally he drove it into the Chief’s skull. “Prepare number seven and get me a clean-up crew out here pronto!” He shouted into his phone.
The large man walked carefully over to where the young red head stood unsteadily. “She was supposed to be an improvement, you see, the perfect little sister.” He said, somewhat out of breath, “Unfortunately, this isn’t an exact science and she had to be put down. I’m sure the next one will be better.” Gemini removed a syringe from his brief case. “This won’t hurt you; just fog your memories a bit. I can’t have you telling the authorities what happened here.”
The Chief’s crushed faced grinned at her maniacally, her right eye twinkling. The blood-spattered man inserted the needle into Kimmie’s neck and the world’s details faded away.
“Kimmie, wake up.”
“Mom?” Kim’s head ached.
“Of course dear, wake up.” A tender hand wiped Kim’s forehead with a cool towel.
“Mom!” Ignoring the throbbing in her head, Kim sat up and hugged her mom. She was afraid to ask the question that was torturing her so she just closed her eyes and held onto her mom.
“You’re OK, honey.”
“Oh! Mom!” tears began to fall from her eyes, “I was so scared.”
“You don’t have to be scared anymore, Kimmie. Everything is going to be fine.” Her voice sounded a little odd. Kim pulled back from the embrace a bit and looked at her mom, noticing the glassed over expression for the first time.
“Mom…? Are you OK?” She was suddenly very scared, she reached for the phone but her arms wouldn’t move. Her body stopped responding to her will and she fell back onto the bed paralyzed. Her mom rose stiffly and went to the door, “Everything is going to be fine.” She said woodenly. “Right Betty?”
The door to her recovery room opened and the Chief walked in.
“That’s right, Kimmie,” the Chief said triumphantly, “Everything is going to be fine! I had your mom install a remote control receiver in your head while she was doing the surgery.”
Kim couldn’t move any part of her body other than her eyes, she looked on in horror as her mom went over to the Chief and handed her a remote. Devastated she tried to look away but her eyes fell on Ron and Bonnie making out in the corner. “I’d like to help you, Kim.” Ron was saying, “but I got this new partner now and well, you never liked me anyway… did you, whore?” She tried to respond, to tell him how much she loved him, how much he meant to her but the Chief was pointing the remote at her and she felt herself jerking up and lurching toward the door.
Outside of her room, Monique was talking to Wade on the Kimmunicator, “You did a great job Minister of Silly Walks!” she said saluting, “That dumb girl fell for it, hook line and sinker.” They both dissolved into laughter.
“I get a turn with my kitten, right?” Out of the corner of her eye, Kim saw Shego walking up to the Chief holding out her hand. “You said that if I gave her the wrong chip, I would get to play with her.” An evil smile spread across the pale thief’s face, “it’s time to blow something up!”
Kim felt herself being jerked in several directions at once while the Chief and Shego fought over control of the remote. Finally the Chief grabbed Shego’s head and gave it a sharp twist. As the pale woman fell to the floor, she grabbed at the Chief’s face and pulled off the left half. The Chief held out her arms and advanced, the red head rolled her eyes in horror. “What’s wrong, Kimmie? Don’t you like what I’ve done with my face?” the Chief stood facing Kim scant inches away, “You did this to me and I’m going to make you pay... You remember Jenny and her friends don’t you?”
A body rose from a nearby gurney and began to lurch toward her, she recognized the decomposing face of Jenny and when she looked past the zombie she could see eighteen more girls coming down the hallway. “Because they remember you.”
Finally, she could scream.
“Kimmie, wake up.”
“Mom?” Kim’s head ached.
“Of course dear, wake up.” A tender hand wiped Kim’s forehead with a cool towel.
“Mom!” Kim sat up and hugged her mom. She was afraid to ask the question that was torturing her so she just closed her eyes and held onto her mom.
“You’re OK, honey.”
“Oh! Mom!” tears began to fall from her eyes, “I was so scared.”
“You don’t have to be scared anymore, Kimmie. Everything is going to be fine.” Her voice sounded a little odd. Kim pulled back from the embrace a bit and looked at her mom; she noticed the syringe in her mom’s hand.
“What’s that for?” she asked, her voice quaking.
“Oh, it’s nothing, really.” The elder Possible walked over to the door and opened it, Kim saw herself walk in holding Ron’s hand. “You see, we’ve improved on the original design and you’re obsolete now.” The doctor motioned with the needle, “This is to put you out of our misery…”
“Ron…!” she cried, “Ron! Help me!”
“No can do, KP.” He said with a grin, “I like this one better; she doesn’t act like an obsessive bitch.” He turned to the brunette standing behind him, “isn’t that right Bon-Bon?”
“Oh, yes! The cheerleader hissed. “Watch this! Possible… lick my feet.”
“Anything you say Bonnie” Kim’s wooden voice came from the automaton.
“So you see, honey.” Mrs. Dr. Possible loomed in front of her, “it’s time for you to be replaced.” Kim’s arms and legs wouldn’t move and the needle kept coming closer and closer. Ron and Bonnie were laughing and the other Kim was on her knees licking Bonnie’s feet. She tried to scream but nothing came out.
“Kimmie, wake up.”
“Mom?” Kim’s head ached.
“Of course dear, wake up.” A tender hand wiped Kim’s forehead with a cool towel.
“Mom!” Kim sat up and hugged her mom. She was afraid to ask the question that was torturing her so she just closed her eyes and held onto her mom.
“You’re OK, honey.”
“Oh! Mom!” tears began to fall from her eyes, “I was so scared.”
“You don’t have to be scared anymore, Kimmie. Everything is going to be fine.” Her voice sounded a little odd…