Fan Fiction ❯ These Dark Days ❯ Hackers Lament ( Chapter 5 )

Tap tap tap...tappity...tap tap...tap...

 

Pale sunlight leaking into the small room attested to the fact it was still early outside, and that Wade, the technical guru of Team Possible, had once again been awake all night. Only Caffine and the all consuming need to help kept him at it.

Bloodshot eyes stared at the screen before him before they screwed shut and his head fell forward.

 

“URG!”

 

SMASH

 

The young mans head lay upon his keyboard, eyes screwed shut in frustration.

 

Wade was seriously worried.....not to mention tired beyond all belief. This was not the first all-nighter he had pulled in the past month.

 

'Where are they!?'

 

He had been out of communication with Kim for almost an entire week now, and he didn't even know if she was alive or dead. Top off the fact that she had taken to turning the Kimmunicator off lately.....well he couldn't really blame her. The Kimmunicator was the reason she had been caught by Ron the first time. He had assumed.

 

Assumption is the mother of all Foul-ups. He had never put much stock into that saying before.

 

Now he understood what it meant.

 

He had under-estimated Ron....because...well...he was RON! So he hadn't set up the triple encrpytion protocols he usually did, and Kim had payed the price for it. Ron's scans had detected the Kimmunicator's frequency, and BAM! Kim was caught almost as soon as she had stepped into his lair. It didn't matter that she had gotten free almost as fast as she had been captured, the fact that Ron had been able trap her so quickly was almost a slap in the face.

 

To say the Wade had been stunned was an understatement.

 

After that incident though, he had over-hauled the Kimmunicator, using burst tansmission instead of microwave's to send and receive data. No WAY Ron had anything sophisticated enough to track that transmission, but Kim had left in such a hurry to track down Ron Wade hadn't been able to give it to her, coupling that with her whirlwind tour of the world that prevented him mailing it to her....and he was effectivly cut off from her for dangerous lengths of time.

 

But that wasn't important right now. What WAS important was finding Kim, and since it was his fault she had been captured in the first place he took this very seriously.

 

Ron had her.

 

And that worried Wade more than anything else.

 

He had seen first hand what this new evil Ron was capable of, and it scared him. First that thing in Africa, then The thing in japan, that still had Wade stumped, I mean why attack a remote mountaintop?....Russia....area-51....THAT had been a bad one. The Pheebis Project had been stored at Area-51, and Ron had completely destroyed it after exposing himself to it. Now Ron had a genius at-least on par with Wade's own, maybe even greater. Rufus had been able to nearly defeat Wade in a battle of wits when he had been exposed to the machine and Rufus was just a Naked mole rat! The fact that Ron was now in command of such a startling intellect made Wade sweat.....though his fear had been put to rest later. Apparantly Rufus had been able to use that gift for so long was BECAUSE he was a naked Mole Rat. The Pheebis effect was, fortunatly in this case, lethal to humans. Though Wade doubted they were rid of Ron that easily. If he had the gunius he could build another, or find a way to remove it before it killed him.

 

'Yeah....things are never that easy.'

 

That also made tracking Ron down THAT much harder. Not to mention the fact that he had seemed to drop off the face of the planet after he nearly killed Kim in that warehouse.

 

Wade hadn't been privy to the entire ordeal, thank god, but he had seen what kind of shape Kim was in, and he nearly puked when he had.

 

-Flash-

 

Wade was busy on his computer, laying out a web of places Ron had been to, scratching his head in confusion. He rolled from one station to another, pulling print-outs together to look at the data scribed onto them.

 

African Sitrep

Situation-Seeming Bio-weapons test

Location-Possible misdirection. The plauge had been in full swing before Agent Possible was notified because the area is always rife with conflict, thus making comminications nigh impossible.

Theft-None

Conclusion-Misdirection, testing for a new weapon.

 

Japan Sitrep

Situation-Unknown

Location-Remote mountaintop in Japan, no artifacts in area. Call for assistance came throught a 'Yori' and tranmission was cut soon after that. Only fact is Ron was responsible for the attack.

Theft-None

Conclusion-Unknown

 

Russia Sitrep

Situation-Possible Robbery

Location-Hench Co Head-Quarters, Russian Division. A Huge sum of money, numbering in the Tens of Billions, was hacked from Hench-Co off shore accounts. Money transferred to unknown account. Why Ronald was in Russia is inconclusive.

Conclusion-Misdirection, Theft.

 

Area-51 Sitrep

Situation-Destruction of Pheebis Project

Location- Area-51

Conclusion-Attempt to augment himself, while denying Team Possible and Global Justice access to said project. Reasons unclear at this time. Further research has proven Project Pheebis unsafe for Human use. No further Data available.

 

Wade glared at the print-outs, rubbing one hand across tired eyes. It had taken him days to compile this data, using every reasource at his command. He threw it aside like so much garbage.

 

There was no pattern here....no overall goal. It was Random! Trying to find any similarites in the attacks had proven fruitless, and trying to predict where Ron would attack next proved to be impossible. The sheer randomness defeating his most exhaustive extrapulations. Maybe that was the overall plan? Just to wear Kim out chasing him all over the world? It was a possibility, one he had been considering more often of late....when he had time. Requests for Kims aid had been piling up, top off the fact that he had been getting next to zero sleep going on 5 weeks...well there was only so much a 10 year old super Genius could take.

 

'Okay, lets assume thats Ron's overall goal. The next question is why?'

 

His hands busied themselves over the nearest keyboard, feeding the possible scenario into the already busy system. A new extrapulation would be ready in under a minute.

 

More serious thinking, thoughtful sips of soda helping to speed the process, as much as keep his frayed nerves under control, and tired eye-lids from succumbing to the siren song of sleep. He couldn't sleep yet, this was far more important.

 

'Because he sees her as a threat to his plans obviously. Wearing Kim out will make it easier to....'

 

Sudden dread coursed through Wades veins, the near simultaneous beep of the programs finishing pulling him away from his thoughts as he hastily ripped the new print-out free, pouring over the data contained on the page.

 

*****WARNING*****WARNING*****WARNING*****

 

Likely hood of attempt on Kim Possibles life exceeding expected norms.

98% chance of fatality when encountering Ronald Dean Stoppable under current conditions.

Suggested action follows: Removal of Kimberly from active status for an extended period of recovery.

Revised Chance of fatality: 54%

 

*****END REPORT*****

 

The report echoed his own fears.

 

'He's gonna KILL HER!'

 

It wouldn't be that hard either, the report being right on the money. Kim was nowhere NEAR her peak right now, Wade could attest to that personally. Chasing Ron all over the world for so long was finally starting to wear on her. She was thinner, borderline malnurished, and her combat skills were starting to suffer from it. She barely slept, and had started to talk to her-self when she thought Wade wasn't listening in. She was losing it.

 

And being in that condition against this Evil-Ron was a sure fire way to get ones self killed in a hurry.

 

In a mad dash Wade rolled himself back to his main system, his hands turning into a blur of activity the moment he was in typing range. He had to contact Kim NOW!

 

He knew Kim would chew him out for activating the Kimmunicator, but this was important. In an instant Wade had sent the emergency activation signal to the Kimmunicator, praying he wasn't to late.

 

Beep beep be-beep.................Beep beep be-beep....

 

“Come on Kim...please pick up!”

 

Wade immediantly brightened when the call was answered, but nearly fell over in shock when it was Ron's face, not Kim's that appeared on his screen. Kim ALWAYS kept the Kimmunicator on her person, usually in one of her pockets. For Ron to have it meant that something very bad had happened.

 

“Oh No...”

 

Wade very slowly moved his fingers down on the keyboard, his left inching towards the panic button he had installed. One press of that button would broadcast the Kimmunicator's location to every emergency personel in the area, even going so far as to send a sit-rep to the areas National guard unit before sending a duplicate message to Global Justice. All the times Kim and Ron had been nearly killed on a few of their more harrowing missions had prompted this feature. He was now immensly glad he had gone through with it. A brief look at Rons slightly disheavled apperance told him Wade all he needed to know.

 

Kim was in Danger.

 

And Wade took Kims safety very seriously. With a burst of speed unseen until then, he slammed his fist over said button, looking at Ron with a glint of satisfaction in his eyes. There would be no escape this time.

 

“Wheres Kim!?”

 

The smirk Ron had been sporting the entire time did not fall though, if anything it simply grew, and with it the doubt spreading through Wades being. Normally Wade was much more composed than this. Intense fear had a way of cracking even the hardest of people.

 

“I'm sorry....Kims unavailable, can I take a message?”

 

Ron gave Wade a slightly amused look then. He knew Wade was secretly contacting any emergency personnel he could think of, probably the bulk of GJ's forces as well.

 

Perfect.

 

“And as to where Kim is...well...a picture is always worth a thousand words.”

 

Ron turned the monitor over towards Kim. He heard Wades sharp intake of breath upon seeing his friend in such condition. A car wreck at 80 miles an hour couldn't have hurt her worse. Limbs twisted at unnatural angles, blood leaking from under closed eyelids, trickling from her ears and mouth. Nasty bruises apparent anyware not covered by clothing. Like someone had worked her over with a bat before doing the finer work with a set of brass knuckles. The only reason you wouldn't call her a corpse was the shuddering motions of her chest slowly rising and falling.

 

“KIM!” What had Ron done to her!?

 

Ron turned the monitor back to face himself, revealing in the torture apparent on Wade's face.

 

“YOU MONSTER!”

 

Ron grinned.

 

“Thats not very nice Wade....I mean come on, I'm still me you know? That hurts my feelings.”

 

His good humor faded quickly thought.

 

“But look on the bright side wade...She IS still alive, and maybe, just maybe, if you can get help here before I start beating on her again she'll live!”

 

Ron's mind was racing as he baited Wade. He knew he only had a few minutes, 5 tops, before this place was swarmed with Global Justice agents. Besides, he had better things to do than talk to a 10 year old. He dropped the Kimmunicator, stomping on it as he did, and cutting off wade in the process. No need to tip off the enemy now was there? 10 years old he may be, but he could still be dangerous when he wanted to be. Scooping up Kims devestated form he quickly made his way out of the warehouse via an underground escape tunnel he had installed earlier. Not a moment to soon either. Cars where screeching to a halt outside, windows already shattering from tear gas being thrown through them.

'Ha...I guess it does pay to be prepared!'

 

As soon as he was clear of the warehouse he turned to face the rapidly filling building, a manaical grin spreading onto his lips. Will Du would be there....after all he WAS Global Justice's top agent. By all rights he was probably the first one inside. He put Kim on the ground for a moment, fishing in his pocket for a small electronic device. Pulling out said device he brought one hand up, making a gun with his hand.

 

“Bang.”

 

Simultaneously he pressed the button on the device.

 

Inside a near phalanx of agents were milling around the dank warehouse, seemingly trying to look busy doing nothing. Many blanched at the large spots of blood that littered the site. Techs were busy analyzing the blood spots, grim faces reporting their findings to Will.

 

“Definatly Possible's blood sir.”

 

In a brief moment of rage Will kicked a small piece of scrape across the floor, sending it crashing into a few pieces of delicate equipment.

 

“DAMNIT....and if Kim was here then Stoppable is definatly here.” Fuming Will turned and walked outside the building muttering curses. Stoppable had to be close by. If Kim had been here then Ron HAD to be someware. He headed towards the GJ mobile command post that was on scene, already calling out orders to the few agents remaining outside.

 

“Listen up people! Stoppable is in the area. I want a 5 mile perimiter set up around this warehouse. No one in or out.”

 

He scowled then.

 

“And lets do it RIGHT this time people. I do not want a repeat of the Area-51 fiasco!”

 

Men saluted.

 

“Sir!”

 

The orders never had a chance to be carried out though. A half second after the salutes went up the warehouse Will had JUST been inside exploded into a very small piece of hell on earth.

 

--FLASH--

 

Wade shook himself away from those memories. No time for that now.

 

His hands again began typing on the Key-board, hacking into satallites and repositioning them, scanning for any kind of oddities across the world. Energy fluctuations, unexplained drains on resources, missing persons, thermal...wait...

 

Wade refocused the scan, isolating a tiny slice of antartica on his main monitor. What was that?

 

He intinsitifed the thermal image he was getting, focusing it down to a point he could see the labels his hat sported. What are people doing in antartica?

 

The man was busy breaking down a small screen. Apparently he was just ending a call, but Wade had seen enough. How did he know he had found Ron? Simple.

 

Wade couldn't decode the message.

 

A grin split his face.

 

“Gotcha.”