Story: Fears and Favors (chapter 5)

Authors: A Markov

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Chapter 5

Title: The Hand that Feeds

The trip out from Go City was brief but full of tension. Neither of them was able to get a hold of Wade and Ron was vocal about how much he disliked the idea of riding in a GJ transport. Kim didn't have the heart to tell him that Betty Director herself was waiting for them at their destination. The FBI investigators had found evidence that suggested the Be-Bes had been involved in the kidnapping. That meant Dr. Drakken was a suspect and Dr. Director was the GJ agent with the most experience dealing with him.

Kim tried to calm Ron’s frayed nerves by explaining that an inquiry had shown that Dr. Director had been held prisoner by Gemini for two full years prior to everything that had gone down last summer and had proved she wasn’t involved in the “training program” that had messed up Kim’s mind and resulted in the deaths of eleven girls. But he was still convinced that the former head of GJ was evil and that somehow she had fooled or corrupted everybody on the investigating committee. So Kim just let it drop and relied on the knowledge that if she said she wanted to dig a hole to hell, Ron would probably go get her a shovel.

Kim exited the GJ jet and ran across the street to her parents with Ron and Rufus right behind. She lost herself for a moment in the comfort of her parents embrace, reassuring herself that they were OK. After a moment, she pulled Ron into the embrace as well and they all leaned on and drew strength from each other. But when Ron heard Dr. Director’s voice, he stiffened and spun around.

“What the hell is she doing here?” He snarled. Rufus gasped and dove into Ron’s deepest pocket.

In the stunned silence that followed, Kim put her hand on his shoulder and tried to calm him. “Ron…” she began

He shook off her hand and spun around to Kim’s parents. “How can you just stand here while that woman is walking around?”

“Ron,” Kim said quietly, but forcefully. “Look at me.”

He turned to her, fists clenched. He looked ready to snap.

“Thank you.” Kim said sincerely. “Thank you for sticking up for me.” She put her hands on his shoulders and looked directly into his eyes. “It means a lot to me that you’re willing to take on the entire world to protect me. But it wasn’t her. It was a clone controlled by someone else.”

“You’re really OK with this KP?” He was confused.

“Yeah, I trust her.”

“Well I don’t.” He turned his head and held up a hand, “Don’t say anything else, I won’t make any trouble, or cause a ruckus but I don’t trust her.” He spun to face the one eyed woman, “And if I even think you’re going to hurt Kim, I’ll kill you.” Rufus poked his head out and gave her a raspberry, before retreating once more to the safety of Ron’s deepest pocket.

Anne started to say something but James’ put his hand on her arm and shook his head.

“Thanks Ron.” Kim said pulling him into another hug. “You too, Rufus.” Ron’s vehement defense, brought tears of gratitude to her eyes. She composed herself and turned to Dr. Director and said, “Now, let’s go get the tweebs.”

“Perhaps we should reconsider the team…” Dr. Director began.

“Sounds good to me.” Ron replied enthusiastically. “You stay here, we’ll go get the tweebs...” he paused, looking over at the Drs. Possible, “Better yet… you go home, and we’ll go get...”

“I'm providing your transportation…”

“You’re not in charge of GJ anymore…”

“I’m in charge of this mission…”

“Kim, tell Dr. High and Mighty that…” Ron glanced over at Kim. She was looking pale, shaken and very angry. “KP…?”

“My brothers are missing and you two are sniping at each other like five year olds. If I hear one more word, I’m pushing you both out of the plane and going after Jim and Tim by myself.” She managed to finish her sentence before her tears started.

Ron was immediately contrite and rushed over to comfort her. Rufus popped out of his pocket and alternated between scolding Ron and comforting Kim, bringing a hesitant smile to her face.

“We’ve got the coordinates ma’am.” One of the GJ agents said to Dr. Director.

“Well, then. Let’s go!”

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Gemini sat before the wide screen and watched as the young brunette took on eight assailants. She moved with strength and grace, never standing still, always turning her momentum into another evasion or attack. It took nearly fifteen minutes, but when it was over the woman stood in the middle of the room, victorious. She wasn’t even breathing hard.

“Have my sisters seen this video yet?” he asked the henchman standing nearby.

“Yes sir.”

“Excellent.” He pet the rat dog in his lap for a few minutes and finally rose. “Inform Lisa that her hunt begins now and begin the media blitz.”

“Yes sir.”

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The hour long flight passed mostly in tense silence; with only the bare essentials of information being exchanged and that in terse sentences. Ron eyed everything Dr. Director handed them with suspicion and treated all information with disdain. For her part, Dr. Director seemed to be going out of her way to antagonize Ron by deliberately ignoring him and Kim’s frustration level was rising. She really wanted to chuck them out of the plane but thought she needed both of them to complete this rescue. There was room for eight on the Jet, so Kim, Ron and Dr. Director were accompanied by one GJ agent and four FBI agents. Apparently, Ron wasn’t the only one concerned about Dr. Director’s loyalties, a fact that he pointed out to Kim several times on the flight.

Free fall is a good place for reflection, and after exiting the plane, Kim took a few moments for herself. She reveled in the sensation of freedom that free fall granted her and concentrated on the warm feeling that Ron’s gallantry had provided. Ron was a true friend to her. Kim’s thoughts turned to Shego. Why had the pale woman abandoned her? Kim knew the thief was not planning to come back; she had taken all of her belongings. She spent several minutes agonizing about the pale thief’s abrupt departure but as the ground came up, Kim tried to push the feeling of insecurity aside and concentrate on calming herself for the upcoming mission.

They made their landing on the roof of the dockside warehouse. There was no way to keep from making noise so they all dropped their chutes immediately and prepared for the assault from below. They didn’t have to wait long, within fifteen seconds of touchdown, goons began pouring out of the roof accesses and the fight was on. Kim, Ron, Dr. Director and agent Johnson made their way to one of the access points while the GJ man and the other three FBI agents provided cover by occupying the forces on the roof. Kim tried to raise Wade one more time before they went in but still got no answer. After they recovered the tweebs, she would have to figure out where he was.

Rufus finished opening the lock and performed a back flip down to the ground and landed with a “Ta-Da!” Ron quickly gave the rodent a high five and opened his pocket so the little guy could climb back in.

“Let’s split up.” Dr. Director said. “Kim and I will...”

“No way!” Interrupted Ron.

“Uhn-uh!” Rufus chimed in, shaking his head.

“What?”

“I stay with Kim.” Ron said forcefully, “You go with Johnson, and if he doesn’t come back in one piece, we’re going to...”

“Ron!” Kim stopped him.

“Whatever.” Dr. Director spat out. “Come on, Johnson.” And she dragged the FBI agent down the hall with her.

Kim wanted to tell Ron off for being so rude but she was moved again by his willingness to stand between her and the world. “Rufus!” She whispered. The naked mole rat popped his head out of Ron's pocket.

“Gawn?” he asked.

“Yeah, buddy. The scary, evil, bi...”

“Ron!” Kim hissed in exasperation.

“I mean, yeah. She's gone.”

“Rufus, I need you to try to find out where the tweebs are being held.”

The rodent stood at attention and threw her a jaunty salute before scampering off into the lair.

Ron looked around and rubbed his neck. “If I were Drakken, I'd put my control room over...” He looked down each passageway and finally pointed, “There!”

“Good choice. Let's go get him.”

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Shego sat in the VIP lounge waiting for her flight to board. Monaco might not be the least expensive place to set up operations, but it had certain tax advantages that made it worth her while. It was also a good place to pass unnoticed; so many people there worked hard to stand out from their fellow the run of the mill billionaires that a person who wanted to stay in the background could do so easily. The attendant who brought her drink had red hair and she was reminded of Kim once more. Everywhere she looked, it seemed Kim popped up. She took it as a sign that she was doing the right thing.

She had left home at the age of thirteen, when her oldest brother tried to rope her into his hero gig. Mike and the twins had eaten it up hook line and sinker and Hector never understood why after only six months, she had turned her back on the whole thing. His condescending comments about “women's problems” and his insistence that she was weak because she didn't want to fight through the pain were probably the reasons why she had such a strong desire for independence. The one time she had tried to demonstrate the full impact of menstrual cramps to him, her mother had scolded her for not acting like a lady. Apparently, fighting criminals was allowable, because Hector wanted it, but twisting his testicles off to make a point wasn't “lady like.”

Shego's mother spent her days as a wife, never allowing herself to be her own woman. If being subservient to a man and his loutish offspring, playing the love sick fool and the doting mother while the men watched sports and ordered her around was being a lady, Shego wanted no part of it. She glanced at her reflection in the floor to ceiling windows of the lounge and snorted softly into her drink. The pale thief allowed her critical eye to rove over the reflection of her finely outfitted frame and spared a side glance at the all but slobbering men perched around the lounge trying to figure out how to approach her and win her favor. The smile she saw in her reflection was not a nice one, but it was dead sexy, and the first sacrificial lamb homed in on her and began his pitch. He was kind of cute and wasn't a red head, so she let him make his sales pitch. But her mind kept wandering back to the cute red haired attendant in the short skirt.

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Kim and Ron sat in the Passenger compartment of the Jet trying to keep the recently freed twins from going into the cockpit and touching anything.

“Does any of this strike you as odd, KP?”

“You mean, college kids flying around the world in supersonic jets saving genius twin brothers from evil mad scientists? Or was there something really bizarre you had in mind?”

“Well...” he started hesitantly, “Drakken was kind of... subdued, doncha' think?”

“Now that you mention it, it was awfully quiet in there during the fight.”

“And he didn't threaten the tweebs, just took 'em and threw 'em in that closet... You know how much he likes to rant.”

She thought back to the fight. There had been eight henchmen, fairly well trained. Drakken's goons were usually pathetic and he almost always kept up a running commentary about his latest doomsday thingy. For some reason she had been expecting a much tougher fight and she couldn't quite put her finger on it right now, but even though the goons were better trained than normal, the fight had been almost too easy. Something was missing...

“Go on...” said an intrigued Kim.

“And that cloning stuff they found in the next room... I don't think it was even hooked up, it was just kind of sitting there.”

“What are you saying?”

“I think it was a set up, Kim.”

“You're not back on this again, are you?” Kim looked at him angrily. “She helped us find the tweebs. She helped us save the tweebs. Drakken is in the custody of GJ...” at Ron's skeptical expression, she let out a frustrated sigh. “She's not evil, Ron.”

“But...”

“I'm not listening to this anymore.” Kim practically yelled. “Get over it!” But he had planted the seed of doubt in her mind. If only she could contact Wade and have him crunch the data for her. She tried to raise him one more time but still got no answer. It had been more than six hours since she had tried to contact him and still nothing. She was really worried. What if Ron was right and there was some massive global conspiracy that she was caught up in but couldn't see? She looked over at him and watched him spin around trying to grab the loose strap of his back pack looking like a dog trying to catch its tail. She must be tired, if she was entertaining one of his hair-brained X-files induced conspiracy fantasies. Still, there had been something missing at Drakken's lair. If she could just think for a moment...

But she wasn't given a chance. Jim and Tim finally figured out how to open the weapons storage locker and she had her hands full preventing them from blowing up the jet and everyone inside of it.

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A brown haired woman wearing a GJ uniform and an eye patch walked into the room where Gemini was watching GNN.

“...ports from across the country confirm at least four terrorist attacks in small towns ranging from northern California to Kansas. Entire communities blinded, or otherwise struck down by an unknown biological agent and government agencies have no information about who is behind it all. We go live now to Fran Banning in Washington... Fran?”

“I'm here, Bob.”

“What can you tell us about these attacks?”

“Well, Bob, only that there have been at least four. California, Idaho, South Dakota and Kansas have all had at least one attack each and the authorities are trying to coordinate with law enforcement agencies around the country to confirm or deny...”

“Let me break in here, Fran. Does any one know who is responsible for the attacks?”

“Nobody seems to know that Bob. And if anyone does know, they're not telling the press.”

“Well, do they know what kind of Biological agent was used?”

“Again, either they don't know or they just won't tell us.”


“I've seen enough. Turn it off.” he stroked Pepe for a moment then asked, “What do you think?”

“Perfect!” came the reply. “We'll strike two cities each week for the three weeks and they'll be begging us to rule them by the end of the month.”

“And Lisa…?”

“Is in motion as we speak.” She started to chuckle and he joined her. Soon they were both laughing; it wasn't a pleasant sort of laughter. When they wound down, she spoke to the henchman waiting nearby. “Dispose of the trash I brought in.” As he left, they started laughing again.

[End notes:

 

Next Time:
Chapter 6- On the Prowl

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