Blue Eyes, Shining 9: Reality Happens
Disclaimer/Author's Notes: Kim Possible and all the characters of the show are owned by the Disney Company. The original lyrics to the songs referenced in this story and the music are the property of the respective authors, artists and labels. All other characters can be blamed on the author (he, however, is not responsible for all of their actions at all times, being barely responsible for himself most of the time).
This is a strictly not-for-profit, just-for-fun work.
Enjoy! Please read and review.
A/N Forward:
They wanted to graduate from high school, but a spaceship and things falling from the sky seem to have other ideas….
Chapter 1 was the guys (Ron, Felix, Mike, and Chip).
Chapter 2 was the ladies (Kim, Monique, Justine, Sarah, and Bonnie).
Chapter 3 was about the ones who aren't graduating this year, or who have already graduated, some multiple times: Wade, Jocelyn, Slim, Betty, Arnold, Rebecca Jane, Warhok and Warmonga, Becky and Jennifer, Fletcher and Stephen, and Nana.
Chapter 4 began to bring all of these people to their convergences, all centered on Graduation at Middleton High School.
Chapter 5 continued to bring all of these people to their convergences, all centered on Graduation at Middleton High School.
Chapter 6 brought players together at multiple convergence points: Graduation at Middleton High School, Yamanouchi, and the Bunker at the Lazy C Ranch in Montana, and the first hammer falls.
Chapter 7 brought Kim and Dr. Drakken together on the Lowardian vessel. The Bunker and Yamanouchi are both under attack, along with the rest of the planet: James Possible is left standing, and Ron takes Shego, literally…that could leave a mark. Some people decide to fight back...
Chapter 8 brought Hope to see the real Tim, the local planetary insurgent teams in action (Steve/Justine, Esther/Monique/Sarah, Commander Adams and the Bunker team), Anne and Jim back in the Space Center, Yori, Ned, Nancy, and lots of others in various roles….
Chapter 9 brings shows the local planetary insurgent teams in action (Steve/Justine, Esther/Monique/Sarah and some help, Commander Adams and the Bunker team, along with some surprising helpers of his own), Anne and Jim find Fredrick, Hope sees her hero off, Yori and Catherine cross the ocean, Ned, Nancy, and others in various roles….
Details are here, in chapter Nine of Reality Happens: Operation Kick: Three…
Thanks again for reading, and please review.
--
Chapter 9: Operation Kick: Three…
--
"T-1, you're with Will; T-2, C. P.; T-3, Lindsey, and I'll ride T-4," Joss commanded, and she reached into the cabinet for an extra power wands for each of them. "Tornado can carry these in their saddlebags, and they recharge in there, too.
"Now, I want you to stay here," C. P. said to Joss, "I'm taking the east point, and we'll attack on my mark."
"Yes, sir," she smiled, and C. P. rode off.
Joss sat still for only a moment, and then she pulled out the power wand from the right saddlebag.
"They are both fully charged, Miss Possible," T-4 stated, and Joss snorted.
"Joss, please, Tornado: you should know better than that."
"I know," T-4 chuckled, "but I gain a small amount of pleasure in, as your uncle is so fond of saying, 'grinding your beans," and Joss barely managed to choke in the laugh.
Her PosComm vibrated, and she looked at the screen.
Gjmaddoc: Everyone: I am in position. Reply with K if you are ready.
GJdu: K
CmdrPetersonUSN: K.
AJPossible: K.
Gjmaddoc: Good. Clockwise assault, from me, by the fives. AJP: that means you fire 5 seconds after I fire. Understand? Reply with K
GJdu: K.
CmdrPetersonUSN: K.
AJPossible: K.
Gjmaddoc: Excellent. We go in 50 seconds: you have the counters on your screens.
A countdown clock appeared on Joss' PosComm screen, and she gulped.
Gjmaddoc: AJP, this is SOP when attacking an unknown enemy: determine its capabilities, strengths, and defenses. Good hunting, everyone, and let's make Betty proud.
GJdu: K
CmdrPetersonUSN: K.
AJPossible: Will Du (LOL!).
GJdu: old joke, but 'berry' funny, AJP: lol
AJPossible: ouch.
Joss smiled.
Will Du made a joke!
'He's loosening up around me…finally,' she thought. She looked at the countdown clock on her PosComm: it had split into four windows, with firing times for each.
The counter for GJMADDOC read:
6.
5.
4.
3.
2.
1.
0.
Joss felt the ground shake as C. P fired off the first volley and it struck its target: the energy discharge against the creature transferred through the ground.
2.
1.
0.
Joss rose to her knees and fired the wand directly at the nearest target: the creature's leg, closest to her. The green energy struck the leg and began to spread up and down it. Joss saw that C. P.'s shot was hitting at the junction between the head and the body, and the green energy was crawling up the head and down the body.
The next beam came from her left, and Joss glanced over and saw Lindsey, kneeling and firing as if she'd used this weapon for her entire life.
The final blast came from Will, and that hit the head dead-on.
The head exploded, and they all ducked as pieces flew everywhere.
Joss felt the heat as fragments flew overhead, and she heard C. P. yell "EVERYBODY: STAY DOWN!"
She felt several hit the berm in front of her, and she was glad that they'd set her up here. 'This was no accident,' she thought: 'they made sure I was safe, they accounted for all the 'possibilities,'' she laughed inside.
"SNAP!" C. P. yelled. "They're on the move, and they're moving this way," he shouted, and Joss realized that the fragments flights had been cancelled. She lifted her head a bit, and she saw all three of them standing. She stood up and looked at the damage-
The head was gone, and the body had major holes in it. The leg, where she had hit, had a burned hole through it.
"Commander: they're maneuvering as well, sir," Lindsey remarked, and Joss looked at her PosComm: the dots had separated and appeared to be coming at them, but in a roundabout manner, not leaving themselves open for the consolidated assault that had just occurred.
"Need a hand?" Joss heard a very familiar voice behind her, and she laughed as she turned.
"Jennifer, what in the Sam Hill are you doing…out…here?" Joss' voice trailed off as she stared.
--
The Yamanouchi jet sliced through the skies, heading east towards the North American continent.
Yori watched Cathryn sleep restlessly, the young woman struggling to remain still in her sleep.
'She has had so much pain,' Yori thought as she watched the young woman's face contort as the nightmares continued.
She thought about what she had left back in Japan, the destruction of much of the compound visible from the air as they took off from the hidden runway, deep inside the mountain.
She tried again to reach out.
'Ned-san, I am coming. Please, hold on for me, my love,' she thought, and she thought that she felt a response.
She smiled: he was alive, and he knew she was coming.
She was certain that he wasn't seriously hurt, but she wasn't certain just how much he was hurt, or how long he would last….
Cathryn tossed and turned and dreamed: she dreamed none of it had happened, that her brother was still alive, and then she saw the blood start to grow on the front of his shirt...she wanted to scream, but she couldn't.
"You will be fine, Cathryn," she looked up and saw a slender blond-haired young man standing next to Yori. "Your family misses you, but they wish you well and will be watching over you."
Cathryn smiled, and her angst left her. She relaxed, and she slept soundly the rest of the way across the ocean.
--
Hirotaka brushed the dirt from his face as he sat and stared.
"Wade-san will not be happy," he mused, and the thought made him laugh: Dr. Load, upset at an alien invasion.
That's what these things had to be, he realized: from another planet. Where and why, he neither knew nor cared. What he did care about was the result:
Over one-half of the students at Yamanouchi had perished, along with a good quarter of the teachers. Master Lunch Lady had cried for a few moments when she saw the remains of the kitchen, but she dug through and found several old cooking utensils from prior to the rebuild that Dr. Load's contractors had just completed, after Yono.
The healthy were outnumbered by the injured, but most of the injuries were minor. Those that were not minor were the psychological ones: the injuries that occur when you witness a classmate, speared like a piece of meat, by something not of this world. Those will be the most difficult to heal, Hirotaka concluded, and he grinned: Sensei was, indeed, rubbing off on him, he realized
'Through your thick skull, I have reached, my son,' he heard Sensei's voice with a chuckle, and he smiled in spite of himself.
They had collected their dead, young and old, and were preparing them for the next life. Those who weren't involved in that task were recovering anything that they could from the ruins of the school and moving them into the few remaining undamaged buildings on campus. Sensei had supervised the moving of Cathryn's family to a separate area for safe-keeping.
He remembered seeing Yori, the shape of the panther forming around her, and he realized that she was the one. He saw the spear, and he was certain.
She was Called, and he smiled at the thought.
He thought about calling Kim-sama and even flipped open his cell, but he had no signal.
"Snap," he said.
Sensei, and those around him, heard something totally unexpected:
Hirotaka, giggling.
--
Nancy wished, for the millionth time, that her parents hadn't run out of town so fast.
Now, they were driving back, and the roads were chock-full of people, driving all different directions. She had managed to have over half of the food that Ned had given her remaining, and she and her family ate Nacos, cold cheese, and chips.
Nancy pulled out her cell, once again, and pressed his picture.
The call went through, and she sucked wind.
Three rings, and she reached Ned's voicemail, but it wasn't his message: it was a generic message that the person at the number was not available.
"Ned, it's Nancy, from work. We're coming back to town. I hope you're ok. Call me, please?" and she hung up, smiling.
She hadn't talked to him, but a message was just as good.
Welcome to Middleton, the city limits sign announced.
--
Her tears started again when her eyes met the plaque on the wall that showed what she had named this machine. And that made her think, one last time, about the wonderful man for whom the MiCo-One was named.
"Tell them, for me, the story about Big Mike's girl" Justine said as she tried to calculate her chances of survival as the first of the pods fired at long range, and the beam struck the command console with a shudder.
She quickly checked the spun titanium shielding: no damage.
'Good,' she thought as she tapped the transmission tower in her open hand, tapping it like a gang member from a movie.
Taking just a moment Justine looked around and noticed a number of spools that had some high-voltage cable wrapped on them, lying scattered in the area near where she had ripped up the tower.
She reached down and picked up one of the spools and grinned.
"Batt-errrrrrrrrrr, up!" she called, tossed the spool into the air, and swung.
CRACK! went the tower, and the spool went flying at the nearest of the four pods. She struck it in the leg, and some of the cable, unraveling as it flew, wrapped around the nearest tower.
The pod pulled free easily, and Justine would have sworn that she heard it laugh at her. She quickly jabbed the tower into the ground, grabbed another spool that was about half empty and a second spool that was empty. She quickly unraveled a portion of the cable from one spool and tied it to the empty one, fashioning a set of bolos.
"Brazilian dinner, anyone?" she asked as she twirled the spools above the MiCo-One like a set of bolos and flung it with all MiCo-One's might. The pair whizzed through the air and wrapped around the legs and body of the same pod.
The pod wasn't as lucky this time. The cable ensnared its legs, and the pod wavered as it vainly attempted to free itself. It came tumbling forward and crashed, the head exploding into millions of pieces.
"Score one for the pretty lady!" Justine shouted, but the remaining pods reacted-
She saw beams fire from all three at the same time, all coming for her, and she grabbed onto the panic bars just as the beams struck.
The temperature inside jumped at least 25 degrees almost immediately, and she heard the circuit breakers reset as the power flickered inside. She watched the computers reset, and she was glad that she had worked with Wade on those: the reset was almost instantaneous, and the damage shown scared her.
She moved her right hand backward, and it struck something hard: the bottle that her father had given her, still amazingly standing in the recessed holder. Seeing it made her think of Steve, and she hoped that he had made it to the plant.
"MiCo-One, this is Barker, over," and she almost cried when she touched her ear bud.
"Barker, MiCo-One, over. Steve, you made it!" she shouted, and she heard him chuckle.
"No foreign metal object is taking out Barker, Justine," and Justine smiled. "What's your sitch?"
"One down and three to go. Kinda low on ammo, though: how about you?"
"Got one left, MICO-ONE," and Justine smiled as she saw the next beams firing.
"Just a sec, Barker: incoming," she said calmly, and the beams struck again, but with more intensity. She realized that the pods were closer: 'well, d'uh, Justine!'
"Justine! How bad?" Steve yelled, and Justine looked down at the readings and came to a conclusion.
"Two more, and I'm done for, Steve," she said calmly, and she heard words from Steve's mouth that she had never heard from a teacher before.
Words that would hurt whomever they were directed to, and she was glad that they weren't directed at her.
Silence, then-
"Justine, I want you to do something for me."
"What, Steve?"
"Play dead. Cut your power to minimal levels, and just stand there."
"WHAT? Steve, are you insane!?"
"There are three remaining, right?"
"Yes."
"Play dead: I'll be there with a gift in about five minutes."
"Steve, they are four minutes out."
"Well," he chuckled, "I guess I'll have to move faster, then," she heard him grunt, and she could tell that his next words were a struggle to get out. "Can you get to a spot where a ramp is between where I left and you, heading up in your direction?"
"Yes, why?"
"Can you do an emergency collapse on the legs, Justine?"
"Well, d'oi," she snarked, and he laughed.
'That's my girl,' he thought. "Good. Get to the ramp position, and get ready to drop on my command. Once you're in position, cut power to minimal. Got it?"
"Got it, Steve, but what are you going to do?"
"Find out if the Possible boys are as smart as I think they are," he laughed. "Now, move it, little lady!"
"Yes, Sir!" Justine saluted, and she giggled as she moved to the back of the warehouse that had the loading ramp at the front.
--
Ron saw Warhok fling Kim like she was the remains of a Naco special platter, and his heart collapsed as he saw her fall to the ground, motionless. Then, he looked up, faced Warhok, and launched a surprising flying drop kick that pushed Warhok back a bit.
Warhok and Warmonga looked at each other and smiled. She knew what he was thinking: 'finally, a worthy opponent,' and he was looking forward to destroying this young child fighter.
Then, Ron surprised him by assuming a defensive stance, staring intently at his enemy, and waving Warhok to come after him…if he dared.
--
Ned was dreaming, again, of his Asian vision, and he heard her voice in his dream:
Ned-san, I am coming. Please, hold on for me, my love,' she called to him
'I am waiting, my Asian beauty,' he responded, and he smiled.
He had managed to pull a trash container over before the lemonade had all drained out of the dispenser, and he had captured much of the remaining fluid in it. He was down to his last inch, though, and he was a bit concerned.
He still had chips remaining: amazingly enough, he had seen no 'little creatures' coming after the food. "Maybe the big creatures scared them all off," he laughed, but he knew that it was only a matter of time before they came back.
No rain, but no protection from the sun, either. He had not heard a bird since before he's started that last shift. And, machinery: he missed the incessant whirr of the machines in the background.
He had been able to move his legs enough to keep them from locking down, but he wasn't able to free himself. The counter weighed too much for him to move by himself.
"I will make it, if for no reason but to thank that young woman for giving me hope," he said as he began to exercise his legs again.
After he finished, he took one more small drink and had two more chips before he closed his eyes. 'I hope my team made it,' he thought once again just before exhaustion and the constant pain of everything pushed him over the edge, and he fell asleep almost immediately...
--
"Dr. Possible, you never told me how beautiful your wife was."
James laughed as Anne blushed at Fredrick's compliment.
"Down, Fredrick," James laughed, and he took Fredrick's hand. "Let's get back to the school, and you can get some real food."
"A fresh banana and a kumquat: I would be in the heavens, once again," Fredrick said, and then he thought for a moment.
"Where are Kim and Ron?"
James and Anne both pointed upward, and Fredrick grimaced.
"The ship is coming down, Dr. Possible: I hope that they got off in time," Fredrick replied, and Anne stumbled into James at Fredrick's words: the idea of losing her daughter was almost the last straw that could penetrate the Possible mother's veneer.
"It's ok, Anne: I've got you," James whispered as he realized what had happened.
"But James: who has Kimmie?" She asked with big, pleading eyes.
"Ronald has her, Anne, and so does He," he whispered and kissed her cheek. "That's more than any of us could have ever hoped for."
--
Hope and Tim made heads turn when they walked out, hand-in-hand, from the sleeping area.
"I've gotta go, Hope: need to spell Wade on his monitoring," Tim smiled.
"All right, baby," she giggled and Hope pulled him into her arms and kissed him in a way that made him wonder 'where he was going, again?'
"I'll see you at dinner, Tim," she slipped her hand from his as he stepped away. "I love you," she added, and he blew her a kiss.
"Hope?" Hope turned to a smiling and perplexed Anne Possible. "Is there something you need to tell me, dear?"
"You mean, besides the fact that your son owns my heart so much that I seriously considered changing schools?" Hope asked innocently, and she giggled when James Possible's face went into total shock.
"Well, Hope, those Possible men do have their ways with all women's hearts," Anne smiled, and James blushed.
"We'll see, if we all make it out of this," Anne added, and Hope shook her head 'no.'
"No, Ma'am: it's 'when,' not 'if,' especially if my Tim is on the case," Hope said confidently. "He's like his big sister Kim: he can do anything!"
"Booyah," came from a small voice, and James laughed as Hope looked on, shocked, as she saw a chimp, wearing a spacesuit, eating a kumquat, Ron's favorite word having come from him.
--
Wade had slaved the school's computer network to his PosComm, and that was linked back to the servers at his house, so he had plenty of computer power and communications. He still, however, hadn't been able to get through to the Bunker or to Global Justice.
He wasn't surprised about Tim and Hope. Of course, Tim had already told him, and he had congratulated his friend. Tim had come and spelled him for four hours this morning while Wade had managed to take a quick nap, grab a bite to eat (cafeteria food, but no mystery meat, thank the stars: it was powering the school), and take care of his 'biologicals.' Hope came by just after Wade returned, and he realized that he had never seen her in person: she was a pretty girl, but she practically glowed in Tim's presence. 'Here we go, again,' Wade laughed inside: at least, this time, they both knew how each of them felt.
Wade shooed them away after getting a thank-you kiss on the cheek from Hope and a high-five from Tim.
'I hope Joss is ok,' he thought, and the thought put him into a small funk as he contemplated what he would say to her if he ever saw her again…
Beep-beep...beep-beep.
The twin beeps shocked him back to full awareness: Kim's wrist Kimmunicator, and Ron's tracking chip, were now in…Middleton? He quickly scanned his records, and he found where they were. He checked: there was a series of security cameras installed in the area (he had installed them this past year for some friends), so he tapped into the monitoring network. Only two cameras came up:
"Oh, no," he saw the two gigantic aliens facing Ron, but Kim was no where in sight. He moved the other camera, and he was shocked to see Kim…lying motionless on the ground.
He got up, locked the door, and then locked the feed of the images to his monitor and PosComm only, just in time to see Ron take a defensive stance and motion to Warhok.
--
Olivia was stunned. She now had a new set of idols, even equal to Wade ('but, nowhere near as cute!' she thought, and she shook her head).
She watched Nana choreograph the dance of destruction, and Sarah and Monique were the prima ballerinas in the dance, moving like music as they fought, dodged, and fired their way through more and more of the creatures.
Nana took out her share, but the other two seemed to want to protect her just as much as they protected Olivia; for that, Olivia was grateful.
After another five hours of almost-non-stop combat, the creatures seemed to be filling the streets, like so many branches after a massive windstorm. Monique and Sarah, Nana thought, looked like they had been 'rode hard, and put up wet.'
"How much ammo's left, Mon?" Sarah took several quick deep breaths; that finally slowed her breathing down.
"Less than half a bag, Sarah," Monique checked and was shocked to realize just how low they had gotten. "We have barely enough for four more attacks. We need to head back toward Wade's house for the rest."
Monique divided up the remainder of the ammo between the three of them. They loaded silently, and the two young women looked at each other, fighting to hold back tears.
"I love you, Monique," Sarah finally said it, and she held open her arms.
Monique didn't waste a second: she ran into Sarah's arms, hugging her and crying.
"What's happening, Nana?" Olivia asked.
"Friends, scared for themselves and each other, and finally admitting it out loud," Esther replied, but her eyes grew huge, and she pushed Olivia, hard, to the ground:
"DOWN!" Esther yelled, firing at the same time that Sarah yelled as she pushed Monique to the ground and also fired at the pod that had just come around the corner and fired.
The pod started to respond, but it froze in mid-motion, making it an easy target for the shots that killed it.
"MONIQUE!" Olivia was the first to see the blood coming from Monique's shirt, and she got up and ran to her, ripping off her own blouse.
"I'm fine, Olivia – ouch," Monique grimaced as she reached down and touched the spot where the blood originated, and Olivia pushed the blouse to Monique's hands.
"Here," she commanded, and Monique obeyed, surprised at the response of the young woman.
"SARAH!" Esther had run to Sarah's side when she saw Sarah fall to the ground. Sarah put her hand on her side and brought it up: it was bloody, but not a mass of blood.
"This thing's easier than fighting Shego," she laughed, and Esther ripped her shirt and found that the wound was a glancing blow that had cracked the scars that Sarah had received when she fought Shego only weeks before: Esther was able to bandage it with the materials in their kit.
"Are you all right, Sarah?" Esther asked.
"Fine, Esther," Sarah replied, and her eyes rolled back. Esther caught her as her head fell backward, before she hit the ground.
"Monique, are you all right?" Olivia asked, and Monique nodded.
"A grazing shot, Olivia; thanks. But, your shirt!"
"I always wear double tees: I like the layered look," she giggled. "Looks like a good time to have done it, too: right, Monique?"
Esther pulled the smelling salts from the med kit and passed it under Sarah's nose. Sarah coughed and opened her eyes quickly, then grinned.
"Well, that wasn't fun," she said straight-faced, and she and Esther laughed.
"Monique, why did the pod stop?" Olivia asked, and Esther and Sarah looked at her in shock.
--
"Need a hand?" Joss heard a very familiar voice behind her, and she laughed as she turned.
"Jennifer, what in the Sam Hill are you doing…out…here?" Joss' voice trailed off as she stared.
Jennifer Battle, Joss Possible's BFGF, was sitting in the passenger seat of a two-person ATV, and Stephen Michael Lopez, her BFBF, was driving. Over both their shoulders were insulated hoses, and Joss followed the hoses back to the huge, steaming tank strapped to the back of their ATV.
The twin vehicle was piloted by Rebecca Barlow, and Fletcher Benge sat in the passenger seat. Both had the same hoses over their shoulder and a steaming tank strapped to the back of their ATV.
"We decided to see if you were having the same fun that everyone else was; I guess we were right," Jennifer replied with a grin.
"Young lady, does that tank contain what I think it does?" C. P. had ridden up, and he was shocked to see anyone out, let alone four young people in ATVs.
"Liquid nitrogen: you bet'cha," Jennifer replied. "We've frozen a few of the beasties in town, and I wanted to see if my BFGF was all right."
C. P. looked at Jennifer, and then looked at Joss, and he wondered where these amazing young women had been, 35 years ago.
More beeps got his attention, and he looked at his unit.
"You brought company with you," he pointed behind them. They turned and saw four pods in the distance, moving rapidly toward them.
"Snap," Becky whispered.
"Let's go," Stephen yelled, and he floored the ATV and twisted, turning the vehicle 180 degrees in a matter of seconds. His maneuver was mirrored by Becky, and the two vehicles took off toward the pods.
"WILL!" C. P. shouted. "Go with them, and keep in contact!" And Will took off in a very nervous gallop on T-1, leaving C. P., Joss, and Lindsey, who had joined them, to chuckle at his riding.
"He may be a klutz on a horse, but he certainly isn't one-"
"Lindsey," C. P. interrupted, but Joss-
"So, you're a-sayin' that Will Du isn't a member of the Klan, huh?"
"WHAT?" Lindsey looked mortified, and C. P. got ready to bust a gut. "Of course he's not, Joss: why would you ever think a thing like that?"
"Ah figgered he wasn't, but ah also figgered that Du 'Du' just fine, so he must be a wizard between the sheets, huh, Lindsey?" Joss grinned, and Lindsey blushed while C. P. roared with laughter.
"Andrea Jocelyn! What would your father say to that?" Lindsey, by now, was past the embarrassment and the thoughts that had, after popping into her head, made her blush even more. She was laughing along with them.
"Well, he's say, 'Sweet Tea, you've been talkin' to Wade, agin',' she mimicked her father' voice perfectly, and C. P. chuckled at Lindsey's guffaw.
--
'That's my girl,' Steve thought. "Good. Get to the ramp position, and get ready to drop on my command. Once you're in position, power to minimal. Got it?"
"Got it, Steve, but what are you going to do?"
"Find out if the Possible boys are as smart as I think they are," he laughed. "Now, move it, little lady!"
Steve gunned the bike even harder. He laughed inside: the road was clear, now, especially since had cleared it on the way in. He could still feel the heat, dissipating, from the acetylene plant explosion, and he heard more explosions going off behind him.
"That's gonna be a bear to clean up," he laughed. 'No surprises, either,' he thought as he popped the hill from the backside at over 140 MPH.
"Where's the timer?" Steve asked jokingly, and a holographic digital countdown appeared on the bike's windshield:
1:30.
Steve hit the breaks gently (well, as gently as one can at 140 MPH), and made the turn in a gigantic arc back onto the road that led to Justine and the MiCo-One. He could see the three pods coming toward her, and he had guessed right: they had stopped firing when they read the drop in power.
"Stupid AIs" he chuckled, and then he saw the target:
There was a ramp in front of the building, near the side, but there was a truck parked in it.
'Snap' Steve thought as he slowed to a stop. Holding the clutch in, he kept the bike's engine revved up to a high rate using the vibrations has a guide along with the ever-increasing smell of Mystery Meat. Then Steve had an evil smile appear on his face as an equally evil thought crossed his mind at what he saw: the mother-load was next to the building.
There was a two-way ramp built for side-unloading, and the ramp had a drop on each end toward the loading area in the center: he could gain additional speed before he launched.
He changed the grappler beam control from push to pull. He then reached into his jacket pocket, pulled out the C-4 and the remaining grenade that Justine had given him, and he quickly molded them together into a single charge. He tied the pin to a piece of wire and looped the wire on the handlebars.
He looked up: the pods were now moving to encircle Justine on three sides.
Grinning, he said a final, silent good-bye to Justine and yelled:
"JUSTINE: DROP! NOW!" and he took off for his first and last big jump.
--
Justine watched as the pods came closer and closer, and she was amazed at the construction of the devices and scared at the same time.
She had moved from her standing position to the command chair. She had laughed when Wade suggested to her that she put one in.
"This is not 'Captain Constellation,' Wade," she joked, but he was adamant.
"Justine, you never know when you're going to find yourself in a sitch that will require the emergency drop: you can't take that standing up," he reminded her, and she slapped her forehead and ordered the chair he recommended.
Now, she was glad that she'd listened to him: the chair was well-padded, and she had just finished snapping closed all four-points on the emergency harness, strapping her into the chair, 'just in case,' she thought. She was glad that she had the controls placed in the arm rest, too, and she flipped open the cover, exposing the emergency drop button.
'For AIs that have been pretty smart so far, this doesn't make any sense: why wouldn't they just blast me?'
"JUSTINE: DROP! NOW!" She slammed the button, and the MiCo-One dropped like a stone, the legs telescoping into themselves as they collapsed.
Justine had never screamed so loud and so long in her entire life.
--
"FOR MY KIDS!" Steve yelled as he went from 0 to 150 in under four seconds and hit the downward ramp. He took the flat in mere moments, and he hit the upward ramp and gunned the engine.
Steve went airborne almost immediately, from the ramp. He saw Justine and the MiCo-One dropping, and she was almost on the ground now. The three pods were in a triangle around her.
'Perfect' he thought as he flew over Justine, between the pods, released the C-4 charge, and hit the grappler beam. The pods began to move slightly toward each other as Steve, literally, flew between them, leaving a gift.
He gunned the engine one more time. "HIT THE PURPLE BUTTON!" Jim Possible's voice yelled, and Steve saw a purple button appear on the handlebars. He pushed it, and he was slammed back even harder as he shot out and away from them at a speed he'd never experienced except in simulators.
"AAAA PLUUUUSSSSSSSSSSS!" He yelled as he flew over Justine and the pods, pushed by the rocket engine that Jim and Tim Possible had installed on the SIS-001…powered, of course, by mystery meat.
He was still airborne and blocks away when he heard the explosion.
--
"Let's take the one on the right, first, Joss," Lindsey whispered. C. P. had ridden to the right and forward in an attempt to flank the pods, and Lindsey and Joss were behind a hastily-formed stone, earth, and wood bunker, the Tornados behind them and hidden in the woods.
The barely-audible 'beep' meant that he was in position and that Lindsey should move to her position and be in place in 60 seconds, then beep an acknowledgement. She nodded a 'good luck' to Joss and took off, almost silently, through the brush.
55 seconds later, a 'beep beep' signaled that she was in place.
15 seconds later, C. P. fired both of his power wands, full-strength, at the head of the pod nearest him. Lindsey and Joss fired within seconds at the same target, and the creature exploded.
Unfortunately, the other two pods were AIs, and they both proceeded to fire at C. P.'s position with full bursts. Flames shot from the ignited trees and grasses, and smoke filled the air between C. P. and the pods, almost immediately
Joss fired both of her power wands at the pod nearest her, and the return fire hit in front of her into the berm and over her head. She felt the heat of the beam over her head. The heat was almost unbearable, and the smoke from the fires started in front of her choked her.
"Miss Joss, you might need this," a nudge in her back, and T-4 handed her an A-B-C protection mask, courtesy of Dr. Wade Load. She mumbled her thanks and slipped it on clumsily with her left hand while continuing to fire with her right.
A beam from another direction flew over her head, heating the air above her another 20 degrees. 'Snap! Any more, and it'll burn the air,' she thought. She grabbed the other power wand and began to fire both of them again.
The smoke cleared for a moment, and she could see both pods, still firing, but both had sustained visible damage. Two wand streams were only coming from one direction: Lindsey's. She picked a target and aimed both wands at it.
She saw the pod turn slightly and stop.
She fired.
--
Will caught up with the ATVs.
"What the heck are you doing?" he yelled.
"Taking care of business," Steven replied, nonchalantly.
"Are you insane?"
"Of course we are: we're high school students," Jennifer replied, and Steven laughed as he slammed on the brakes. He and Jennifer both reached over their shoulders and grabbed the hoses, and there was a huge nozzle on each. Will realized that they both had heavy gloves on.
"What are you doing?" Will asked, and they pointed:
The first pod had moved quicker, getting ahead of the others, and was powering up to fire.
"GET DOWN!" Will yelled, grabbed both power wands from the saddlebags, rode quickly in front of the ATV, and fired at the underbelly of the beast at the same time it fired at him.
Both hit their targets.
--
The pod didn't fire back, and Joss' shot hit a hole in the body.
Sparks flew, she smelled burning electrical components, and the pod visibly shuddered and fell backward.
"SPANKIN'!" Joss yelled, and she turned to the other pod.
It wasn't moving or firing, so she aimed both wands and fired, aiming at the same spot that Lindsey's fire streams were hitting, and a short, quick explosion dispatched the final pod.
"Good shooting, Joss," Lindsey called, and she came through the smoke, leading T-3. Both were covered in dirt and smoke.
"Commander Adams?" Joss asked.
"I'm fine," C. P. replied, leading T-2. "I'm afraid that he's not doing as well," C. P. pointed, and Joss gasped.
T-2's right side was burned away, and the mechanical skeleton was singed.
"I'm shutting down, Commander Adams: it was a pleasure, serv-" the light went out of T-2's eyes.
--
"WILL!" Jennifer screamed as both shots struck.
Will and T-1 both went flying through the air, and the hole in the underbelly of the pod was now flooded with liquid nitrogen by Stephen and Jennifer. The pod froze from the inside out, and Rebecca fired a single shot, shattering the giant ice structure.
Fletcher had jumped out and ran to Will, med-kit in hand. Will lay on the ground for a few moments, and then he lifted his head and stared at T-1.
"Why?" He asked.
"It's my job, sir," T-1 replied, and the light went out of T-1's eyes while the moisture began to form in Will's.
"Are you all right?" Fletcher asked, and Will looked up at the young man with surprise.
"I am medically trained: I could help you," Fletcher grinned.
"I'm fine," Will replied, "just a few scrapes – owww," Will grimaced, and Fletcher knelt down and saw the blood on Will's right side. He deftly cut away the material, smiled, and pulled out a large alcohol wipe and slammed it on the massive scrape.
"That's gonna leave a mark," Fletcher grinned as he wiped and Will grimaced. Fletcher pulled the wipe away and smiled, cutting the rest of the shirt away and proceeding to wrap Will's chest after placing a large sterile bandage over the wound.
"Fish in a barrel!" Will heard a decidedly female voice yell, and he looked up. The three remaining pods were frozen solid, and the three young people were standing in front of their ATVs with grins on their faces.
"'I ain't 'fraid of no pods,'" Jennifer laughed, and Stephen kissed her cheek.
"You're good to go, sir," Fletcher announced, and Will looked down. The bandaging was as good as anything he'd seen in GJ triage.
"Thank you," he said with a smile.
"'No big,' Agent Du," Fletcher grinned.
"You've got bigger problems, though," Rebecca added, pointing at the stilled robotic horse.
Will tried to think of what he would tell Joss and Dr. Possible, but he couldn't think of any way to explain that T-1 had saved his life by twisting in mid-air and taking the blast, protecting Will from the majority of the shot.
"Oh, snap," was all he could say, and Rebecca giggled.
--
Coming next:
Details are coming in chapter ten, the final chapter of Reality Happens: Reality…unrated, and the close of the Blue Eyes, Shining arc.
Thanks for coming along with me on this ride, and please review.
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A huge thank you to my betas, both up to their eyebsalls with their own works and real life sitches: they turned this around in record time and with their usual quality. ja, for your verbal comments, kt and StarEva01, for your written and verbal ones:
You ROCK!
A+.
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