The Espers, Book one: Angel and devil

[mekal]

Hiya, KP fans!
This, my friends, is the first part of my first fanfiction about Kim Possible!
It all happens AFTER Graduation.

The tagline:
If every devil is a fallen angel, then every angel is an inner-lighted devil. A traitor in Global Justice threatens the security of the organisation. And an unexpected help appears from Kim's enemies.

Before all, many thanks to VampireNaomi, who gave me the love for KP and company! And they belong to Disney, not to me.

The legacy of the Occurias

Line one: The Espers

Book one: Angel and devil

Prologue: Despair and pep talk

“He looks like a zombie, no, KP?”
Ron Stoppable’s comment to his girlfriend was quite accurate: he ate almost nothing, he didn’t move, he didn’t talk, he did what he was told to do like a robot…
In short, Duff Killigan truly was a living dead.
In Global Justice’s HQ, outside the cell, Kim Possible wondered why the rogue golfer behaved like that.
One month passed since the Invasion, it was full summer vacation, but it didn’t deter the villains to keep doing… well, villainy.
And the most recent hit on Kim’s website was a rescue message from the professor Icari: the mad Scotsman kidnapped him.
The teen heroes rushed at the rescue and entered the castle, ready to fight… and faced a weird scene: the kidnapper immobile, unresponsive, and the kidnapped talking to him and trying to bring him back to his senses.
Killigan didn’t react when he saw Kim and Ron. He didn’t react while Icari explained them how he intended to force him to ameliorate his arsenal, and suddenly felt on a chair like in trance, letting him call for help. He didn’t react when they forced him to get up, to leave the castle. He didn’t react when he entered this cell.
But he had, even now, five days after his capture, an expression of complete, utter and abject despair on his face…
“Maybe we should talk to him,” insisted Ron.
“I agree,” answered Kim. “Dr. Director told me that every of the agents who talked to him had no response. Maybe with us, he will react.”

When the two teens entered the cell, the villain reacted for the first time: he looked at them.
“So, how are you, Duff?” asked in a rather forced cheerful mood Ron.
Stupid question, stupid answer:
“Do I look fine fer yeh, lad?”
Kim tried to be optimistic.
Well, at least he talks.
“Why are you like that?” she asked.
“That’s what I am… I’m nothin’…”
“What?! What do you mean?”
Killigan answered during a long time, like if he was trying to compensate for these five days of silence:
“I love golf since I’m a kid… But my old man was a horrible, perfection-obsessed, heartless man… He forced me to practice, to do it my job instead of my fun… And I was scared of him, and then I obeyed… It was almost torture… With the time, I forgot it, and I became obsessed… When I’ve been banned, I was so obsessed I… Well, yeh know that already…”
“But you still didn’t answer…”
“I’m comin’ to it… When I kidnapped the bug doc, I told him what I wanted… He refused, I threatened, it went on and on… Until he asked me: ‘Why are yeh so obsessed by the golf?’ or somethin’ like that… Then I remembered… And I realized…”
“Realized what?” pressed Kim.
“That everythin’ I did in my life, it was in my father’s shadow… Always unconsciously doin’ what he wanted me to do, not what I wanted to do…”
Suddenly, he began sobbing, and the despair on his face grew more desperate.
“I never did somethin’ by me, fer me…” he managed to say between two sobs. “I did nothin’… I have nothin’… I am nothin’…”
“You don’t have the right to say that!” exclaimed angrily Ron.
Kim and Killigan gasped.
“Look at me, dude! Look at me! I was the goofy sidekick, the high school outcast, treated like a loser, always in Kim’s shadow!”
Kim had a sheepish face at those words.
“Okay, my past’s less horrible than yours, but I was like you think you are now, nothing! And the last month, when I was facing the two psycho aliens, I took a decision, I acted, and I stepped up! I became something!”
There was no answer from the two other people in the cell.
“One action! One decision! And it was far more than enough to change me forever and for the best! If I could do it, you can too!”
Duff was now looking Ron like if he never saw him before, and in a sense, it was the case.
And in his head, a long forgotten voice came back from the nothingness.

He’s right, yeh know…
Grandpa, stop…
What? I’m just sayin’ he’s right. Stop weepin’ and act…
Act? What can I do? Keep bein’ a crazy freak? I’ve been like that fer too long, it’s too late fer me…
It’s never too late!
It can be too late, look at Monkey Fist…
Yeh’re not that monkey psycho! Yeh’re not yer father! Yeh’re yeh!!
…
Yeh forgot what I told yeh?! Yeh forgot the clan’s motto, like the stupid, ungrateful backstabber I had fer son?!
Nay…
Then say it!
…

“Stay upright to yerself…” whispered Duff.
“What?”
“Nay… Nothin’… I…”
A terrible, loud explosion prevented him from completing his sentence.

Prologue over!

[mekal]

Chapter one: Unexpected help

One hour later, it was still complete and utter chaos at the HQ. The bomb destroyed three whole sectors; it was almost a miracle that the base didn’t collapse on itself.
Another miracle was that the three sectors were empty at this moment: there were many injured, but no dead.
Among the injured, the bomber was trapped in a comatose state. He was the closest one of the victims.
And now, on the remains of the sectors, Dr. Director was obtaining and reviewing the few hints she had with Kim, Ron, and some agents.
“Who was the bomber?” she asked.
“We had some security videos,” answered Will Du. “A little thief without caliber, well known from the police. He wasn’t used to this kind of crime, that’s why he got caught within the explosion.”
“That’s not sure: it’s too perfect timing for his silent partner, this clumsiness!” remarked Kim.
Du threw her a glare. Even after the Diablo case and the Invasion, he still looked her as an ‘amateur’. She gave the glare back with the interests.
“The bomb was in the water column he was carrying?” asked Ron.
“Yes. The labs analyzed the remains they found.”
“And?”
“It’s Blue-Moon. An easy find, any little criminal can steal some from a construction site. That won’t help us…”
“Blue-Moon? Don’t make me laugh!”

Every member of this crisis cell turned, surprised, to the one who just spoke: Duff Killigan. Kim noticed the despair on his face was gone, like if he was back to normal.
“What is he doing here?! Isn’t he supposed to be in cell?!” exclaimed furiously Du.
“Wait,” soothed Director. “What do you mean, Killigan?”
“Blue-Moon can’t do such damages. Only one sector would have been destroyed. And look at the metal remains: they’re dry, it means the explosion reached very high temperatures, greater that the ones a Blue-Moon induced explosion could reach.”
“And what experience in explosives do you have?!” replied Du.
Astonished looks turned to him in front of the stupidity of his question.
“Will, shut up,” advised Dash Demond.
“Are you saying, Killigan, that our labs made a mistake?” asked dryly Director.
“I’m sayin’ they didn’t look beyond the obvious. The bomber surely had two explosives liquids in the column: the unknown one, to do the damages, and the Blue-Moon, easy to detect, to hide the first one.”
The suggestion was realistic and logical. But the other people were wary.
“Why would we trust you? And why would you help us?” asked Burn Burmin.
“Well, let’s say someone gave me a lesson I really needed. And he made me remind somethin’ very important I forgot. And, well, it’s never too late to open the eyes and repair the mistakes, nay?”
Kim understood he was referring to Ron’s speech. She couldn’t help but smile.
You’ll always surprise me, Ron…
“We can trust him, Dr. Director. I think he’s sincere.”
“… Let’s say I give him the benefice of the doubt. I’ll ask the labs to make more advanced tests.”

Half an hour later, the labs gave their answer.
“So?” asked Director.
“Killigan’s the cleverest golfer in the world,” answered Crash Cranstin. “They found traces of Tharotex.”
“WHAT?!”
“What’s Tharotex?” asked Ron.
“A very powerful, but rare explosive.”
“It still won’t help us…” sighed Kim.
“Wrong,” smiled Duff.
“What, you have more revelations to give us?” said sarcastically Du.
“Shut yer trap, lad, or I’ll make yeh eat my clubs!”
“Make me!”
“Du, enough!” barked Director. “If you can’t keep your mouth shut, leave this room immediately!”
He resented.
“Thanks. What I was goin’ to say is that the Tharotex is an exclusivity of the European armies.”
“In other words,” guessed Kim, “you can find it on black market only with a specialist of stolen European military equipment?”
“Perfect score, lass! And in the Tri-City area, a guy like that, there’s only one.”
“Then let’s visit him,” smirked Kim.

Chapter 1 over!

[mekal]

Chapter two: Questions…

“A Chinese retailer?” said a surprised Kim.
“The biggest one in Lowerton,” answered Duff. Even if yeh only count the legal stuff.”
“The biggest one? But that shop’s tiny!” commented Ron.
And he was right. The front entrance, in front of which stood the trio, looked like one of these little “Everything at 1 dollar” junk shops.
“Yeh know, the Chinese people are the best fer usin’ efficiently the free space,” smiled Duff.
When they passed the door…
“But that shop’s huge!!” exclaimed Ron.
They were now in what looked like a gigantic warehouse, filled with piles and columns of many stuff and things that reached the ceiling.
“How can they find the needed item?! It’s so not organized!”
“Wrong, it’s organized by alphabetical order. In Chinese.”

“Well, well, look who’s here!” said a Chinese man without particular features, except his huge eyeglasses and his wide grin. Obviously, he knew well Duff.
“Hi, Xiao!”
“What can I do for you, Duff?”
“A meetin’ with Mong Zuwen fer me and the lads.”
Xiao’s grin disappeared, replaced by pure horror.
“WHAT?!”
“Who’s Mong Zuwen? The boss of this place?” asked Kim.
“Aye.”
“It can’t be, Duff!” exclaimed Xiao. “Why did you betray us?!”
“Yeh’re daft?” barked indignantly Duff. “Why yeh say that?!”
“Your new friends here!”
“Oh. Yeh’re right, Xiao, I’m no longer a villain, but I’m no traitor! They’re not here to brin’ the place down!”
“Yeah, we only want a piece of information, dude!” approved Ron. “After that, we’ll leave you alone! After all, you’re like HenchCo, no?”
Xiao calmed down, but stayed nervous.
“You know what Zuwen will do to me if I help you?!”
“I know,” sighed Duff. “But it’s a very serious matter involvin’ Global Justice. If we don’t get the info, they’ll come and get it themselves. And they will brin’ down Zuwen. And he’ll do yeh much worse…”
“In other words, I’m trapped… Fine, follow me…”

The trio followed Xiao to an elevator, which led them underground to the door of a private apartment. But he didn’t open the door
“Don’t make me regret that, Duff!” begged Xiao.
“Heat up some nems, we’ll be back in no time!”
The joke relieved a bit everyone and the Chinese man made no more difficulties to open the door.
“One thing, lass,” warned Duff before they entered. “Yeh and yer boyfriend keep the mouths shut, I do all the talk. I know Zuwen better than yeh, he can be quite dangerous if yeh’re not careful.”

Kim and Ron expected Mong Zuwen to be like Big Daddy Brotherson: morbidly obese. They were wrong: he was slim, almost thin, but there was something in his eyes, in his smile, that made him impressive, even scary.
“Hello, mister Killigan,” he said in a quiet, collected voice. “I see you brought some guests.”
“Hello, Zuwen. Aye, I brought two friends.”
“I am quite surprised you call them ‘friends’. After all, you’ve been enemies for… four years, right?”
“I owe them a lot,” answered simply Duff.
“Hmph. Am I supposed to deduce you’re no longer one of ours?”
“Yeh deduce well. I’m no longer part of this. If we’re here, it’s fer a piece of information.”
“What piece of information?”
“Who bought yeh Tharotex recently?” asked bluntly the golfer.
Zuwen didn’t show any trace of surprise.
“Tharotex? My, you ask a lot in just one time, my dear…”
“Man, can’t he just…” began Ron before Kim kicked him in the leg.
“Shh! Not a word, Ron!” she whispered.
“Look, yeh tell us, or Global Justice will make yeh tell it.”
A hard, cold glare was the black marketer’s answer.
“If this is not betrayal, then I don’t know what it is…” he said coldly.
“My affiliations changed, but I didn’t forget the help yeh gave me many times. I’m givin’ yeh a chance to save yer little business. If yeh collaborate, they’ll leave yeh alone.”
Zuwen didn’t answer immediately. He seemed to meditate for a few minutes.

“You know, Killigan,” he finally spoke. “I don’t really want to help some villain-turned-good-guy and the famous Kim Possible…”
Ron wanted to complain about him being ignored, but he zipped it.
“… But if I don’t help you, I’m doomed by Global Justice. Hmm… Maybe I have an idea.”
“What idea?”
“A riddle contest.”
He received surprised looks.
“I’ll ask three riddles, one to each one of you. If at least one of you doesn’t get his one right, I won’t help you and you won’t release Global Justice on me. If you get the three riddles right, not only I will give you the piece of information, but also any other piece of information you might need in the future. I completely win or you completely win.”
“And if we don’t want to play your silly game?” answered dryly Kim, who was beginning to seriously dislike this man.
“I won’t help you, you’ll go and find Global Justice, but I’ll be far away when they’ll arrive, enjoying my retirement. And you’ll lose what you were looking for forever.”
Kim snarled. They were trapped! They had no other choice but to obey.
“Fine,” she sighed. “Let’s do it.”

“My first riddle will be for this young man.”
Ron cringed.
Mong Zuwen spoke:
“As I was going to the Fog’s Pagoda,
I met a man with seven wives.
Each wife had seven children,
Each child had seven cats,
Each cat had seven kittens.
Kittens, cats, children and wives,
How many are going to the Fog’s Pagoda?”

“My second riddle will be for Miss Possible.”
Kim nodded grimly.
Mong Zuwen spoke:
“Mundi, a young man, faced one day the great Majdar.
Majdar was the wisest man who ever lived, a wisdom which manifested physically: his eyes were like mirrors.
Majdar and Mundi looked each one in the eyes of the other.
Majdar saw Mundi.
What did Mundi see?”

“And my last riddle, Killigan, will be yours.”
“Brin’ it on,” replied Duff.
Mong Zuwen spoke:
“What can run but never walks?
Has a mouth but never talks?
Has a head but never weeps?
Has a bed but never sleeps?”

“Fine,” smirked Zuwen. “Take your time, answer in the order you want, but you’ll have only one chance each.”

[mekal]

Chapter three: …And answers

Kim raised her hand.
“I’m listening, Miss Possible.”
“Mundi saw himself.”
The two boys looked her with surprise.
“What makes you say that?” asked Zuwen.
“You said ‘Majdar and Mundi looked each one in the eyes of the other’. You also said that Majdar’s eyes ‘were like mirrors’. Then Mundi saw his reflection in Majdar’s eyes. He saw himself,” answered the teen hero with a smile.
Zuwen frowned.
“Correct. But don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched, Possible. There’s still two riddles left.”
“Yeh mean one left, I just got mine,” replied Duff.
“And it is?”
“A river. It’s the last verse who made me get it.”
Zuwen’s frown clearly showed that it was the good answer.
But there was still Ron. And he was struggling.
I just have to make the maths. But I’ve never been good in it. darn, Ron, do it! You make the multiplications, you solve the riddle! It’s easy! Wait… It’s too easy… There must be a catch… Let’s check… ‘As I was going to’… That’s it! I got it!
“Only one person.”
Zuwen grimaced.
“Why so?”
“Because the narrator doesn’t say the guy and his family are going to the Pagoda. But he says he is going to. Then, there’s only one person going to the Pagoda.”
“…You won,” sighed Zuwen.
“BOOYAH!!”
“Can we have our piece of information now?” smiled smugly Kim.
“Yes. But before, swear me you’ll make think you obtained that information by force. Otherwise, it could be bad for my business, if you see what I mean.”
“We swear,” answered the three in front of him.
“Fine. I had only one sale of Tharotex in the three last months. It was…”

“…Antonio Mantona, 34 years, trader to Havana,” announced Kim.
Dr. Director, Team Impossible and Will Du were listening intently as Kim showed them the documents Zuwen gave about their new enemy, while Ron was at the same time eating Xiao’s nems.
“Judging by his bank reports, he must be a good one,” commented Burn.
“The question is, where can we find him?” sighed Will. “I made researches, he has many estates in Cuba and…”
The Kimmunicator’s trademarked beep cut him off.
“You found something, Wade?”
“He’s now in Upperton Country Club,” answered the twelve-years-old super-genius. “He’s inscribed there and I contacted the manager, he confirmed he’s there. I asked him to stall our man while we go.”
“Impressive,” said an impressed Dash. “You’re really efficient, kid.”
“And me? I’m a hopeless idiot?” spat indignantly Du.
“I knew yeh’d realize it someday,” smirked Duff.
Kim barely repressed a laugh.

Betty Director sighed. The damages done by the explosion were more crippling than she thought: a whole supercomputer, reserved for the top agents’ databanks, had been destroyed. It would need months to recollect every data.
On the bright side, the injured were healing well, and the bomber was out of coma, but he was still too weak to talk. But uneventfully, it wouldn’t be needed: Possible and Stoppable had left to question Mantona.
She left the place, took the way to her office… and saw Killigan, seated on a bench, lost in his mind.
She stopped. She didn’t understand the Scotsman’s behavior in the few last days, but didn’t have any occasion to ask him some explications.
Now, she had a chance for it.

Kim didn’t have a good opinion about Mong Zuwen?
Well, her opinion about Mantona was worse.
Antonio Mantona was, in appearance, the typical, charismatic latino for who every woman would kill, and was gathering many adjectives from other people such as ‘intelligent’, ‘clever’, ‘nice’, ‘great person’…
And Kim was agreeing a bit…
Until he pulled out a very dirty joke about the red-haired girls.
Then she added a new adjective to the list.
Jerk.

“One cent for your thoughts,” joked Betty when she sat down on the bench.
“Wha… Oh. Very funny.”
“Actually, I was serious.”
Duff looked her with surprise.
“I don’t get it,” she explained. “For four years, you were a psychotic, golf obsessed-madman. During the last week, you were a total wreck. And in just one hour, you get a grip and a conscience? No offense…”
“None taken,” answered Duff. “About my change of mind, yeh can thank the lad.”
“The lad? You mean, Ron Stoppable?”
“Aye. He knocked some sense into me.”
And he repeated the conversation he had with the teens.
“It still doesn’t explain about trying to help us. Even if you decided to turn your back on villainy, you could have tried to do something… normal.”
“Quite right. There again, the la… Ron is behind this, but not intentionally.”
“What do you mean?”
“He reminded me of my grandfather.”

“Mister Mantona?”
The trader turned around and saw Kim.
“Oh, Miss Possible! What an honor!”
He saw Ron.
“You must be new to this club; otherwise you’d know the rules state that the chauffeurs can’t enter.”
A murderous glare was Ron’s answer.
“He is my boyfriend, not my ‘chauffeur’, as you say so charmingly,” answered coldly Kim, her dislike for the man growing even more. “And I’m no member in this club. I have to talk with you for a very serious matter…”
“Then call my office and make a date,” replied Mantona with a flippantly important voice. “I always work with someone, never for someone.”
This time, it was official: Kim hated this man.
“Wrong answer… Ron, can you explain him?”
“With pleasure…” answered grimly the young man before throwing his fist right in Mantona’s face.

“Your grandfather?” repeated Betty.
“An awesome man. My idol. He was the member of the family I loved the most. He loved me too, and tried to preserve me from my father’s – if yeh can call a low imitation of a paternal figure ‘father’ – heartless way of life. Grandpa called him ‘the shame of the clan’. That’s also why I depressed… Because I became the shame of the clan as well. What Ron said reminded me of him, of what he taught me… Of the most important of all those lessons: ‘Stay upright to yerself’, our clan’s motto. When I left my cell, I heard yeh talkin’ about the explosives, and yer mistake about the Blue-Moon. I wanted to tell yeh, but I also wanted to get out and never get involved again in stuff like that. Then I asked myself ‘What would I want to do?’. And here I am.”
Betty didn’t answer.
“I wonder if Grandpa can see me,” sighed Duff. “What he would think of me...” The last was said with sadness.
The former villain felt then something soft and warm on his hand.
He looked it… and saw Betty just laid her hand on his.
“I think he would be proud of you,” she smiled.
He couldn’t help but smile too… and didn’t notice he was blushing.

“A dirty scumbag…” snarled dangerously Ron while he was lifting Mantona from the floor. “Too coward to do the dirty work himself, and too greedy to refuse any money, even stained with blood!”
“What are you talking about?!” tried to protest Mantona.
“I’M TALKING ABOUT THAROTEX AND DOZENS OF PEOPLE WHO COULD HAVE DIED!!!!”
“Miss Possible! Do something!!”
“I’m sorry, mister Mantona,” smiled evilly Kim. “But Ron works with me, not for me. Now, about that matter, I think we’ll let Global Justice’s specialists do all the work.”
“Global Justice?!” exclaimed Mantona. “Zuwen spilled the beans?!”
“We didn’t leave him a choice,” lied Kim to respect Zuwen’s deal. “And you just betrayed yourself.”
Mantona cussed angrily against himself.

[mekal]

Chapter four: Betrayal

Betty was pale with disbelief and anger.
Gregory Nonce.
The best of all the senior agents.
Someone worthy of the title of hero.
The traitor who commissioned the Tharotex attack.

Mantona, completely panicking, made no difficulties to confess everything.
Outside the trading business, he was a sort of mercenary, pulling the strings of his men in the shadows.
Two weeks ago, he received someone who was obviously – but well – disguised. He commissioned the destruction of a Global Justice supercomputer ‘without witnesses’ and make it pass as a terrorist attack.
Mantona explained he put his own detonator in the bomb and activated it while the bomber was still in range.
The agents who went through his office found a security video showing the mystery man. He was disguised and used a synthesizer to modify his voice, but the labs managed to recreate the real voice.
Betty had no difficulties to identify this voice.

“I don’t get it,” sighed Ron. “Why did he want to just destroy a supercomputer?”
“The supercomputer was used for the top agents’ databanks. I bet it contained incriminating files about him… darn, we’ll need months to get them back, it’s far too long…”
“Not if a specialist helps us,” replied Kim while activating the Kimmunicator. “Wade, can you repair and recreate every data contained by a destroyed Global Justice supercomputer in a short amount of time?”
“If I’m directly there, it’ll be done tomorrow morning. I’m coming?”
“ASAP.”

Night had fallen. Except a twelve-years-old kid who was killing his eyes on many computer screens, everyone slept with more or less difficulties.
Everyone but Betty Director.
She couldn’t manage to fall asleep and stayed seated on her bed, lights lit.
You’re lucky to not be here, Nonce. Otherwise, I would have asked for a pin. To kill you very slowly.
Suddenly, she saw her door opening. It was Duff.
“Yeh don’t sleep?” he said with surprise. “I was thirsty, I went for some water, I saw some light…”
“…And you came in, like in the old black-and-white movies,” ended Betty with a little smile.
“Er… Aye. Well, I’ll let yeh… alone… G’ night…”
She couldn’t help but smile as he closed the door. Why was he stuttering like that in front of her? And it was her who didn’t see well, or was he blushing?
She managed at last to sleep.

“All done!” announced with a triumphant expression Wade the next morning. “I repaired every data in the supercomputer!”
“For the millionth time, you rock!” smiled Kim.
“Very impressive,” added Betty. “Let’s see what Nonce wanted to hide.”
Wade typed fastly on the keyboard and a list of files appeared.
The list went on and on, when suddenly…
“Look!” exclaimed Will, showing a file.
Rhodesia.mp3
“Rhodesia! Nonce was assigned to this zone for almost one year!”
“Well, let’s check it out.”
The media player opened and Nonce’s voice resonated. During many minutes, there was nothing but reports, datas, thoughts… when to the end of the file:

“So, mister Golbez, is our deal clear?”
“Of course, mister Nonce. This equipment you stole from Global Justice will be very useful to us. And once our operation is complete, you will have your money and the Materia.”
“Good.”

A deathly silence oppressed the people who heard this.
“But what such a message was doing here?!” exclaimed at last Wade. “He’s dumb or what?!”
“No, the agents have microphones on them. They record and transfer immediately the acts and words in the agent’s databank. He surely realized it too late, panicked, and used the strong-arm tactics to get rid of it.”
“Who’s this Golbez?” asked Kim.
“I heard of him,” answered Dash. “He’s Zemus right arm. Zemus is the leader of a rebel cell who intends to take the control of the Rhodesia and of the neighboring countries. I’d never thought Nonce would join them for money…”
“And for a Materia,” added Ron. “What’s a Materia, BTW?”
No one could answer.
“Well, we’ll discover it first-hand,” said grimly Betty. “Prepare a jet!”

[mekal]

Chapter five: Fight in the museum! The Materia is unleashed!

“Gregory Nonce,” announced Betty’s voice when the screen in Global Justice’s outpost in Harare showed a picture of the traitor.
The fifties, normal build, bony face, grey hair with side whiskers
“You all know that he was one of the best agents ever. His defection is then a disaster. We must capture him before he can do more harm.”
The screen went black.
“Zemus.”
The man that appeared was old, little and thin, bald-headed and a weird tattoo sprawled all over his large forehead. It was some sort of stylized bird.
“Formerly known as professor Christopher ‘Cid’ Idolfas. He was one of the greatest archeologists ever, but he got himself too much carried about a ‘ridiculous mystical project’ and disappeared right after his resignation. He reappeared under the alias of Zemus four months ago, leading this troop of rebels, the ‘Sapientists’, to conquer that part of the Africa without any logical reason.”
Once again, the screen went black.
“Golbez,” continued Betty.
The new man appeared onscreen.
“Wow, he looks exactly like mister Barkin,” commented Ron.
“Because his true name is Clyde Barkin and he is your Barkin’s twin brother.”
“Great. I get rid of my two nemeses and I’m going to meet some clones of them. I already hate that sitch…”
“Thank you for this interruption, I’ll add it to our databank!” spat a fed up Betty.
“My bad…”
There were differences between Clyde and Steve: the former was wearing threadbare blue-jeans and black vest as well as a five o’clock shadow and a blue bandana on his head. He had two weapons: a shotgun and a huge broadsword.
“Nice Claymore,” smirked Duff.
“Golbez is a mercenary who made himself famous by his… unusual way to work.”
“Define ‘unusual’,” requested Kim.
“He’s a mercenary, but he seems more interested in fighting than in money. He often refused well-paid but ‘boring’ offers, and accepted ‘assignments’ which involved some big fight.”
“Well, that’s a whole new bunch of freaks,” commented Kim.
“But how do we find them?” asked Dash.
“I have the answer,” replied Wade, which decided to come on field. “Remember what Nonce wanted?”
“The ‘Materia’?” said Burn.
“Well, look at that. They’re all over the town.”
He showed them a flyer.
The lost civilizations.
Great exhibit at the Harare Museum.
Introducing the great discovery from Peter Arronax: the ‘Materia’.

“Our target is at the Harare Museum. You’ll go with the drones, Golbez.”
The mercenary sighed heavily.
“Disagree?” said coldly Zemus.
“There’s no need for me to go, the drones can do it alone…”
“You know they can’t work if they don’t have one of us with them!”
“Fine. But I’m getting tired of fighting amateurs. I’d like someone who would put up a real fight…”

“For the last time, you must cancel the exhibit!”
Betty was hesitating between punching the idiot she had in front of her or giving up and using the strong-arm tactics to take the Materia in a safe place. She had been wasting thirty minutes trying to convince the curator that the Sapientists would try to steal the Materia, but he refused to listen to her.
“And for the last time, Miss Director, the Materia is perfectly safe!” he spat.
“Are you sure?” Kim said sarcastically. She was holding a golden armor’s chestplate in her hands.
The curator gaped.
“The Ma… How did you… The security…”
“They all sucked. I passed what I wanted when I wanted.”
“Mister, I think the leader of the suckers wants to talk with you,” noticed Du.
“If it’s to warn me about the Materia’s theft, I already know,” sighed the curator.
“Er… no,” replied the security leader. “It’s just to say…”
A violent breaking glass noise distracted them.
They all turned and saw…
“...I was coming?” completed wryly Golbez.

Kim was fast to react.
“Ron! Duff!”
She threw the Materia in the latter’s arms.
“Run! Protect it at all costs! We’ll take care of him!”
“But…” tried to protest Ron.
“GO!”
“DRONES!” roared Golbez.
Twenty weird things entered by crashing the windows as well. They were some sorts of robots crudely assembled, but that was a simple detail compared to the wicked-looking blades they had for hands.
This time, the young man obeyed and scrammed, bringing the golfer with him.
“Five with me, the others, take care of them!”
And before anyone could react, he threw himself to Ron’s heels while the robots, or ‘drones’, attacked Kim and the agents.

“darn it! He’s pursuing us!” spat angrily Duff when he saw the mercenary.
“I’ll stop him! Run, Duff! Run!”
Ron turned back.
But too late to prevent the drones of keeping the pursuit on.
At least, I’ll block the big deal…
“You want to fight, kid?” sneered Golbez.
“If I survived your brother, I can survive you too!” replied angrily Ron.
Clyde Barkin couldn’t repress a surprised exclamation.
“You know Steve?!”
“Far too well.”
“Why do you say th… Oh. I’m sorry.”
Ron was surprised: he looked genuinely sorry.
“Why?”
“I know what you endured with him, because I endured it too. So he’s still a sadistic freak…”
Ron was incredulous. Was this guy truly Barkin’s brother?! And why did he treat him of sadist?!
“I’ll let you a chance. Let me pass, and I’ll leave you unharmed.”
Ron got a grip.
“In your dreams!”
“Fine. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
And he charged, broadsword brandished.

Duff paled. A dead end!!
He tried to turn back and find another way, but the five drones were already in front of him.
Great…
He dropped the armor behind him and took the clubs and balls, ready to put a fight for his life.
Bond with me…
“What?!”
From where did that voice come?! It seemed to resonate directly in his mind…
He shook his head. That wasn’t the moment to have hallucinations!
The drones rushed.

Kim swore under her breath. Those machines looked crummy, but they were deadly fighters. She faced three at the same time, and dodging their claws while kicking them wasn’t easy. The fight brought them to one of the strongboxes with a manual opening.
The drone charged and stroke.
Kin opened the door, blocked the strike with, and managed to punch violently the drone, knocking it out cold.
A second one charged.
She dodged by a very narrow margin and pushed violently the door, that he got right in the face. He collapsed.
One against one… Much better.

Golbez stopped right his charge when he saw Ron’s body turn blue.
What the?!
He didn’t have the time to think more when he suddenly ate a knuckle sandwich, which sent him flying right in a crate.
When he managed to get up, his opponent was now carrying a katana he surely didn’t have a few seconds before.
He smirked.
Okay, note to myself: Never complain again about not having a good opponent. Because I just found one.
He put himself in a fighting stance, awaiting the next attack, which went real fast.
The swords clashed with tremendous violence.

Bond with me…
Duff groaned. That voice again…
He managed to bring down three drones with his explosive balls, and was now facing the two remaining with his clubs.
Bond with me…
Duff was exasperated. That mysterious voice kept harassing him since the beginning of the fight.
But from where it comes, darn?!
A lapse in concentration that cost him dearly: the drones’ attack made him lose his clubs and he took a kick which sent him on the floor.
He entered in contact with the armor.
Bond with me…
He realized with a shock that the voice came from the Materia!
He dodged a strike that could have killed him.
Bond with me…
Duff realized he had no other choice: the clubs were too far and the drones blocked the only way to escape.
I hope I know what I’m doin’… he thought while he put on the armor as fast as he could.

Golbez never had been so thrilled.
Now that’s a fight!!
Ron was somersaulting with a terrifying agility and threw many attacks that Zemus’ right arm dodged or blocked with difficulty.
He managed himself to attack many times, obtaining a break in the onslaught.
Ron was really impressed: Golbez was resisting much better than Warhok, he surely knew how to swordfight!
But the mercenary was beginning to be exhausted, and realized he would lose if the fight kept going.
He then tried to throw his last chance in the battle:
“Zantets…”
And he lamentably failed as two pieces of metal junk were thrown right on him.
Ron, surprised, looked at the direction from where the pieces – that he identified as two completely destroyed drones – came from.
And gaped.

The drone collapsed, struck down by the huge amounts of electricity coming from the ripped-off wire.
Kim sighed with relief and looked the state of the battle.
There were only four drones left. But it didn’t seem to deter them as they all dodged their respective opponents and, bypassing them, charged right on Betty…
“NAY, YEH DON’T!!” roared an easily recognizable Scottish accent as a flesh-colored streak stroke the robots, sending them in the wall.
“Du…” began Kim.
She shut up and gaped, astonished. Like every occupant in the room.
Duff was standing there. But there was quite a difference: he was HUGE!!
He was three meters tall, as wide as he was tall, and his muscles grew to gargantuan proportions. His arms and legs were as thick as tree trunks, and his hands and feet also took gigantic sizes! His head was the only part that didn’t change.
Of course, his kilt didn’t survive the transformation. Luckily, he had pants that did survive.
His upper cloth didn’t survive too, but the Materia was covering his torso, having grown itself to adapt to his new proportions.
“But… How…”
The questions would have to wait, because the drones came back to the offensive.
Or more accurately, to the suicide.
The first one was sprayed in little parts by a backhand strike.
He then grabbed the two next and crushed them as easily as if they were twigs.
The last one was violently stomped and squashed in just one strike.
And then, there was silence.

“Killigan,” finally stammered Betty. “How…”
Suddenly, the giant collapsed.
“DUFF!!” screamed Betty, surprising everyone and prompting them to act.
Everyone came to him, fearing the worst…
When a very loud snore resounded.
The tension broke so suddenly they all laughed nervously.
And they didn’t see that Golbez managed to run away.

[mekal]

Chapter six: A beginning of explanations

One hour later…
“Duff?” asked Ron. “Duff, do you hear me?”
Duff awoke with a groan.
“Aye… Stop yellin’, I have one hell of a headache…”
He managed, slowly, to get from lying down to seated. He then noticed that his body came back to its ordinary proportions and that the armor detached itself from him. And that they were still in the museum.
“Duff, what happened to you?”
“Yeh can’t see it? The Materia did it…”
“The Materia?!” exclaimed Ron.
“Aye. While I protected it, it kept sayin’ me ‘Bond with me’… And I… I put it on because I had no other choice. And… Well, yeh saw…”
“It… talked to you?!”
“Aye. Hey, where are the others?”
“The boys are helping evaluating the damages and gathering the remains of those drones. Kim and Dr. Director are yelling at the curator. They want to see the archeologist who discovered the Materia, and he, furious against us, keeps answering ‘Go to Hell’… In less polite.”
“He’s daft.”
“Yeah. And to top it off, Golbez managed to scram. He’ll warn Nonce, I’m sure of it…”

Nonce was mad with anger.
“How could you fail such an easy task?!” he roared to Golbez. “You and your drones could easily have done it!”
“Not with Global Justice!” replied angrily the mercenary, who didn’t like to be treated like that.
Nonce felt his blood freeze.
“What?! Global Justice?! They were there?!”
“Yeah. With Kim Possible as a bonus.”
They know! They unmasked me!!
“How reassuring,” spat sarcastically the traitor in an attempt to calm down. “You’re not incompetent, just too weak to make yourself respect!”
Clyde wanted to break his interlocutor’s face, but instead spat:
“By the way, you can kiss that Materia goodbye. It already bonded, already chose its master.”
“WHAT?! WHO?!” bellowed Nonce.
“Duff Killigan. Looks like he’s on Global Justice’s side now.”
Nonce seemed ready to burst. His Materia, his key to power, between the hands of an idiotic Scotsman?!
He managed by miracle to get back his self-control.
“This doesn’t bode well for us…”
“Are you saying that you want to drop out our deal?!”
“No. I want a Materia and I’ll have it. But now, I want to deal directly with Zemus himself.”
Clyde’s face hardened and his hand got close to his shotgun.
“I thought we agreed you would NEVER meet Zemus!”
“You haven’t even been capable of stealing that damned Gigas Armor, Golbez! I want now to be sure to deal with the right person!”
“Fine,” conceded Golbez. “You’ll see Zemus. But don’t try your luck too much, Nonce. You could suddenly be short of it…”

“Hey, Duff, on a more light-hearted note, I think you’re in there with Director! She was almost panicking when you fainted! And she called you by your forename!”
The golfer blushed furiously; to such an extent his beard seemed pale. Ron noticed it and hurried to twist the knife deeper.
“Oooooh! Looks like you’re not indifferent to her either!”
“Sh… SHUT UP!!” barked Duff. “Yeh’d better help me find some clothes instead of blatherin’! I’m not goin’ to leave this place with nothin’ else that my boxer shorts and my tam!”
But he couldn’t help but feel delighted at the idea of Betty Director worrying for him.
A quick search later, Duff was wearing some sort of lab coat.
“Still too wee,” he groaned.
“That’s the biggest size I could find!” protested Ron. “It’s not my fault if you have such big arms, even without your new boost!”
And they left with the Materia. Or at least, tried before the curator saw them and began yelling:
“Hey! You don’t have the right to take it! It’s to our museum and…”
“We requisition that armor for the needs of the investigation!” replied Kim.
“You don’t have the right!!”
“As the leader of Global Justice, I perfectly have this right!!” bellowed Betty, overwrought. “Now let me see that archeologist or I order your arrest for hindrance to the justice! UNDERSTOOD?!”
“Un… Understood…” stammered a subdued curator.

“I saw the archeologist, mister Arronax,” said Betty to the others half an hour later. “He told me very interesting things. This artifact is called the Gigas Armor and is a Materia.”
“But what is a Materia?!” exclaimed Will.
“I’m coming to it, Du. Arronax was exploring the ruins of a recently discovered lost civilization, the Occurias. He didn’t find much about them, but that much is enough: in short, their king had some sort of elite guards, called the ‘Espers’, who could use the Materias’ various magical powers. They passed that part for religious nonsense…”
“Looks like they were wrong,” commented Dash.
“A Materia also has some sort of conscience, at least enough to choose a master and grant its power to him, and only him. They called that process ‘Bonding’, which explains the voice Killigan heard.”
“Yeh mean… I’m the only one who can use the Armor?”
“Yes.”
Silence.
“I bet Zemus’ ‘mystical project’ was about those Materias,” said Kim.
“You’d win your bet.”
“Then he’ll try to find the other ones!” exclaimed Wade.
“If it can give him an edge on his plans of conquest, there is no doubt about it. But we have an advantage. Arronax is sure that another Materia is still hidden in the ruins, which are close to the Karida Dam, north from here. We’ll leave tomorrow at dawn; it’s too late by now.”

Duff couldn’t sleep. Too many interrogations were harassing him.
Why did the Materia choose me? Can I do what happened again? Can I keep the control of it? Where will all that brin’ me?
“Killigan?”
He froze.
Her!
“You were agitating. Are you fine?”
“Aye,” he lied.
She looked at him, her eyes piercing. He had the feeling to be passed to X-rays.
“Nay,” he admitted. “I’m scared…”
“Scared?”
“Of the future.”
She sat down on the bed, close to him.
“Of what you could do with what you received?”
“Yeah… I mean, the Materia basically makes me the strongest man on Earth! Anyone could be tempted to do horrors with it.”
Betty’s answer surprised him.
“You won’t allow yourself to go back down there. I’m sure of it.”
“Yeh’re sure?!”
“Yes,” she smiled. “I learned to know you in the last days. I discovered that you were, in truth, a great guy, not a mad jerk as you acted, as you thought you were. I trust you.”
She was so close to him, he could smell her perfume.
God, she smells so good. Vanilla and spices.
That perfume and those words were enough to dispel his fears.
“Thanks,” he smiled. “I feel much better now.”
She left the room.
“You’re welcome. Good night.”
“Aye, g’ night.”
His smile grew wider and he finally fell asleep.

[mekal]

Chapter seven: Two hearts

The next day, at dawn, saw the nine and the professor Arronax in a jeep, going right to the north.
“Ron?”
“Yeah, Dash?”
“Is it me, or didn’t I see your naked mole rat since the beginning of this story?”
“Oh. Rufus caught a cold just before we received Icari’s call. Nothing big, but it was safer for him to stay home.”

A few hours later, they reached the ruins.
“Look at them,” smiled Arronax, old but still hearty, and quite funny with the fact that his beard and his baldness gave his head a distinct round shape. “Aren’t they beautiful?”
From the outside, only an archeologist could find beauty to this accumulation of dirt, stones and broken statues, but the rest of the team humored him.
But from the inside, they could appreciate the incredible quality of the statues: even broken, even all those centuries later, they were still superb.

After a quick lunch, consisting mainly of sandwiches…
“Here is the entry,” said Peter, showing a hole in the floor.

The undergrounds of ruins were in an incredible state of conservation. At the exception of the dust and some occasional broken columns, the temple (it was obvious to the disposition of the place, reminiscent of the ones in Greece and Egypt, that it was some sort of temple) was almost like it was in its golden age.
“Wow, badical!” exclaimed an impressed Ron.
“Thank you,” answered teasingly Arronax. “We’re in a room of preparation for last rites. And look, they had EVERY kind possible: burial, cremation, mummification…”
“Okay, stop, I heard enough…”
“But it’s a proof of their incredibly advanced culture!”
“Don’t forget we’re here for a precise reason,” reminded Betty.
“Oh, right. Follow me…”

“Here. That’s where we found the Armor.”
The place the archeologist pointed at was a wide room, with an altar at its center and many engravings on the walls. They represented a man wearing the Materia and going through various transformations: in addition to the one Duff did at the museum (and they showed that it far from being the biggest volume he could reach), they also showed that the artifact also gave its wearer the power of size-shifting. Some others also showed a man brandishing two swords in three different ways (normal, chained to his arms and fused into one big sword), explaining Peter’s suspicions about the presence of another Materia.
“At least, that’s what they could mean,” commented Dash after Peter’s explanations. “And there’s only one way to see it…”
“NO!!” roared Betty. “Out of question that Duff plays the guinea pig!!”
“I never thought to that!!” protested Dash, astonished by the violence her boss just showed.
He wasn’t the only one, though. Everybody was looking at her with wide eyes… Except Ron, who was smirking.
“What?!” spat Betty.
“I’m saying that and I’m saying nothing… But it looks like you have the hots for our golfer!”
“Excuse me?!” gaped Betty.
“That again?!” barked Duff. “darn, Ron, yeh’re stupid!”
“And both of you MID! Come on! Since a week, you’re redder than a cherry when she’s nice with you, she has a very good effect on your inner peace, your first reflex at the museum was to save her, and it’s obvious you keep thinking to her when you don’t have something more important in mind, like our mission! And you, Doc, are nicer to him than to anyone else – I’m not saying you’re heartless, on the contrary! – and you’re always there for him, you call him by his forename and you were really panicking at the museum, when he fainted!”
“I came to appreciate him, yes, but not to that point!”
“Aye, we’re just friends!”
“Translation: you haven’t kissed yet.”
“SHUT UP!!” bellowed Duff.
“And even if we were an item, that’s not your business!” hissed Betty.
“You’re right, that’s not my business,” answered Ron. His grin grew wider. “And that’s why I’m so morbidly curious.”
If Kim didn’t intervene, Ron Stoppable would have died, throttled by two enraged persons.

Dash’s idea was merely to explore the ruins more in detail, in hope of finding a tablet, a scroll, anything that could give more explanations about what happened to the Occurias. Not a master plan, but it was the best they could find. Before separating and scattering to cover more ground in less time, Arronax told them the most details he could find:
“You already know about the Espers and the Materias. The few other things I know are that their king wore the honorary name of ‘Dynast’, that he ruled a gigantic empire, and that the center of that empire was a city called ‘Ivalice’.”

Betty was too angry to truly look for a clue.
That Stoppable… Who does he think I am? Me, in love with Killigan?! Ha, what a good joke! Okay, he’s very nice, he’s sort of cute, and I think he’d be real hot with other clothes… What the hell am I thinking?!
She bumped into something.
“What the… Oh, great…”

Duff was grumbling every insult he knew – and as a Scotsman, he knew quite a lot of them – to Ron.
That daft moron… Me, in love with that lassie?! He’s drunk or what?! She’s darn hot, aye, even with one eye less, and I quite like her because she’s a very nice woman, but in love?! And… does she love me as… darn, Duff, get a grip!!
He bumped into something.
“What the… Oh, great…”

Ten minutes later…
Will Du still found nothing, and was still outraged by Stoppable’s suggestions.
Dr. Director and that stupid golfer in love?! Yeah, right! The hell will freeze over before that happens!
He suddenly stopped moving and thinking: he heard a weird, faint noise coming from the room far to his right.
He reached the room, got in…
Nothing could have prepared him to the horrible sight that was happening before his very eyes.
He screamed like he never screamed, and passed out.
The others, attired by the scream, got in the room as well…
And froze in utter and complete daze.
Except Ron, who launched a huge ‘BOOYAH!!’.

Ten minutes earlier…
“Hi,” said Duff.
“Yes, hello,” answered Betty.
Uncomfortable silence.
“Yeh know…” began at last Duff, “About what Ron said… That’s completely daft.”
“I perfectly agree.”
“Aye. I mean, us in love? Really daft idea… I mean, I like yeh a lot, like a friend, but I’m not in love with yeh!”
“Me neither! I do have feelings for you, but they have nothing to do with love!”
“Aye, I feel attracted by yeh, but it’s true I love yeh…”
A deathly silence swooped down on them.
“Oh my god!! What I’ve said?! I’m sorry!! I didn’t think it!! My tongue slipped!! It’s Ron’s fault!! Wait until I get my hands on him!!”
While he was babbling, Betty looked at him, lost in her thoughts.
She realized he was really cute and moving in his special way.
She realized he was there for her, as she had been, and that he would always be there for her, as she would be.
She realized that it was now impossible for her to imagine her life without him.
She realized that Ron was right.
“And I…” kept stammering Duff.
And he nothing, because Betty planted squarely her lips on his.
His brain totally froze.
The kiss was broken.
“You talk too much,” she said with a smile.
He stayed petrified a few seconds… Then he smiled too.
They closed their eyes, and their lips came in contact for the second time.
His had the taste a fall evening would have.
Hers had the taste a spring morning would have.
They didn’t hear the scream, neither the ‘thud’ made by Du’s body falling on the floor.
They did, however, hear Ron’s ‘Booyah’ and the others’ cheers.

That's all for the moment!
Read and review, please-and-thank-you!

PS: Thanks also to Screaming Phoenix (it's his fanfiction dot net nickname, I don't know if he's connected here or what is his nickname here).

[mekal]

Chapter eight: The end of a king

“The water, in Africa, there’s either not enough of it or too much of it,” commented Golbez.
He and Nonce, in a small bike, just entered the Sapientists’ HQ, hidden behind a waterfall.
“The trick of the base behind the waterfall is so…” began Nonce.
“Cliché?” smirked Golbez. “Yeah. But the rocks and the water make an excellent protection against the satellites and other things like that.”
They entered a little room.
“Now, wait. I’m going for Zemus.”
“No need to, I’m here,” said grimly the former archeologist.
Dozens of other persons entered the room, a great majority of them clad in a military outfit and with guns of all sort, all sporting the bird-like tattoo on their body. The Sapientists were apparently doing a great meeting.
“I don’t pay you to fail, Golbez.”
“Sorry if the boy is the best fighter I ever met, and if one of them is now an Esper! If you’re displeased, go and do your job yourself!” spat Clyde.
“I will, and I will destroy them easily…”
“Stop being so smug…” said dryly Gregory.
“You don’t have the right to talk to me that way.”
“I’m not a Sapientist!” spat the traitor.
“But you’re a well-paid supplier,” replied coldly Idolfas. “And as such, you’ll do as I say.”
“Without me, you’d have to fight with sticks and stones, Zemus!”
“You’re not the only one to finance us, Nonce. You’re just the most useful. And anyway, you don’t have a choice: You’re hunted by Global Justice and you still don’t have your Materia.”
Nonce snarled.

The night has fallen on the ruins.
After the ‘kiss sitch’, the researches resumed, but they found nothing. They decided to stop for the night and to start again to the dawn.
Everyone (except Du) shared a laugh when Ron made a special lunch to ‘celebrate the weirdest couple in the world’…
“I mean, the second weirdest couple in the world,” he added. “Kim and I are the weirdest one…”
The laughs came back… and stopped when Duff took a bottle of whisky out of his bag.
“Wow!” exclaimed Dash. “Some Johnnie Walker! You have some taste!”
“Yeh want to drink a toast?”
“Sorry, Duff,” answered Betty, “but alcohol is prohibited during a mission. It’s devastator on the reflexes!”
“Come on, boss!” protested Burn. “Our reflexes are perfect! And what happened doesn’t happen everyday!”
The argument seemed to work.
“Fine, I’ll close my eyes. But only this time!”
“Then, toast!” said happily Duff while filling the ten glasses. “Drink all in one gulp!”
The ten drank, and the reactions where mixed.
The older ones (everyone but the Team Possible and Du) savored the taste of the beverage.
Kim and Ron made a face. They didn’t exactly love the alcohol but had to drink sometimes for a mission. It wasn’t too hard for them.
Wade just took a few drops in his soda, but he could feel the taste. He made a little face too.
But Will… He made a really ridiculous face before coughing and sputtering.
“Sorry,” smirked Duff. “I drink that like if it was water, but it seems it’s too stron’ fer yer throat.”
Everyone but the interested one smiled at that cutting remark… But the smiles faded when Du suddenly filled his glass and Duff’s.
“We’ll see who cries for mercy first!” he spat angrily.
“Yeh challenge me to a drinkin’ contest?” answered with an evil smile the golfer. “Fine fer me.”
“Stop it, both of…” began angrily Betty, when Arronax made her a motion to not interfere.
“Wait… He needs a lesson, that little proud…” he said as the two opponents drank.
Five ‘rounds’ later, the bottle was empty, Duff still was on top of form, and Will was completely drunk.
“Yeh know, we should stop… I’m talkin’ fer yer reflexes!”
“My… HIPS! reflexes, they’re still better than… yours… HIPS!” mumbled Will.
He raised his last glass, threw the half of it in his face with a too sudden motion, drank what was left… And collapsed.
“No need to worry, he’s just knocked out,” smiled Peter.
Will spent a very bad night, between his mind who was harassed by the Scotsman and his body who demanded some damages for the overdose of Johnnie Walker.

The next day, when the alarm clock rang, he moaned loudly.
“Well, well,” smirked Crash, “Mister Hangover’s up!”
Will groaned something that nobody understood and took a very cold shower.
“You feel better, or you want me to slap you?” asked jokingly Kim.
“He’d deserve it,” grumbled Betty.

Much later, the good mood was gone. Everyone was frustrated and upset. It was almost the night, they searched since the dawn, but they still found nothing.
“Weird…” said suddenly Wade.
He was looking at a statue. It represented an old man wearing a royal-looking trench-coat and with an air of wisdom on his face.
“I think he was a Dynast,” commented Arronax.
“Look its right arm: it’s cut on the shoulder. Maybe…”
He pulled the arm… which went like a lever.
And a secret passage opened itself in the wall.
“Nice going, kid!”
“So not the drama. Sorry for that theft, Kim.”

The passage led to a room identical to the one where the Armor was discovered.
On the Altar rested the sphere from the engravings.
“Lucky for us that their language is very close of the English,” smiled Peter when he began examining the texts that were engraved.
“Hmmm… This Materia is called… the Weapon Matrix.”
It was magnificent. No rust, no default, it simply seemed… perfect.
“Wait a second… Those words are different… It’s like they’ve been engraved by an amateur…”
“Can you translate them?” asked Betty.
“Yes.”
And he began reading…

I am a murderer.
My advisor betrayed me.
He plotted against me to steal the power of my elite guards.
I fought him, and would have won.
But in an attempt to crush my spirit, he murdered my wife, my love.
Blinded by rage and hatred, I summoned the forbidden spell, Ultima.
I devastated Ivalice and killed everyone.
Except my elite guards, my Espers, the most powerful and most faithful of all.
My empire was doomed.
And by casting this spell, I cursed my soul.
I decided, by shame and fear that their powers would attract the brigands and the evil men, to separate ourselves to hide the Materias, source of these powers, in the remnants of our glorious empire.
I will die here, in this place where were created the two first Materias, the Weapon Matrix and the Gigas Armor.
And my soul, as a punishment, will wander in this world until someone recreates the Order of the Espers.
I pray for they put these tremendous powers in good use.
My name is Raithwall.
I am the last Dynast.
And for the ones I destroyed in my fury, I am sorry.

“Well, well, very moving,” said a voice.
Kim turned over and had merely the time to see the man’s sadistic smile…
Before the darts struck all of them.
And everything went black…

[mekal]

Chapter nine: Big brawl

Kim awoke with difficulties.
“You’re fine, Kim?” asked Wade.
The teen hero looked and bitterly noticed they were all solidly tied in what looked like an old warehouse.
And tied in a weird and cruel way: only their wrists were tied, and those ties were used to hang them up on meat hooks. They weren’t even touching the ground.
“What happened?! The Sapientists?”
“No,” answered grimly Betty. “Some sort of smugglers or raiders. They completely caught us by surprise…”
“No kidding,” groaned Burn. “They gave me a dose for an elephant!”
“And they’re talented for binding human beings,” spat Crash. “They tightened so tightly I can’t even move my hands!”
But if they thought it would deter Kim Possible, they were wrong.
She executed a sort of back flip that allowed her to lean on the girder on which she was hanging up.
From there, it was only a child’s game to take her hands out of the hook and let herself fall on the floor. She then found a machete she used to cut her ties and free the rest of the group.
“Okay, why did they took us?” asked Ron.
“Maybe they wanted to ask a ransom,” suggested Arronax.
“Or maybe they are Sapientists,” groaned Dash, showing a box that contained the Gigas Armor (that was until now in the jeep) and the Weapon Matrix.
And on the box, discreet but visible, the same bird-like symbol that the one on Zemus’ head.
“Great, and now…” began Peter before voices rang out outside.

“I warned Zemus of our catch. We must evacuate now,” ordered one of the thirty Sapientists. “Bring him the Materias.”
“And the prisoners?” asked another one.
“Kill them, and begin with the Esper of the Armor. This way, it’ll have to choose a new master.”

“What do we…” began with panic Ron.
“What the hell are you doing?!” exclaimed suddenly Betty.
Everyone saw with stupefaction Duff undress at top speed, until he had nothing else that the boxer shorts and the tam.
“They want that Armor?!” he spat. “They’ll have it! But in a way they won’t like, yeh can be sure of it!”

The door suddenly opened.
“The prisoners!” roared a Sapientist. “They escaped!”
“Wron’!” replied a voice.
The thirty terrorists turned to see an almost naked guy. And in his hands…
“THE ARMOR!! He’s the Esper!! Don’t let him…”
Too late.

The first time, nobody could see the transformation.
This time, everybody saw it.
And was impressed in spite of, or maybe thanks to, its sobriety.
No ‘special effect’, no smoke, no thunder so specific to some magical manifestation.
They ‘simply’ saw Duff having some sort of fast, disproportionate growth spurt.
In just a few seconds, he reached again the titanic proportions he had at the Museum.
And without wasting a single second more, he threw the Sapientists a huge metallic box.
Prompting them to react and dodge.

“KILL THEM!!” yelled their leader.
They all unsheathed their machetes and charged with fanatical yells.
Duff and the seven others (Wade and Peter stayed behind) rushed also.

“Nine on the others! Everyone else with me on the Esper!”
The Sapientists obeyed.

Two of them (were they cowards or sadists?) slipped through their enemies’ lines and approached Wade and Peter.
Their machetes missed by a narrow margin the two men’s throats and broke a water pipe.
The archeologist and the former agoraphobic screamed with terror.
“Scared, old geezer?” snarled with an evil smile one of the terrorists.
The fear disappeared on Peter’s face.
“Old geezer?!” he exclaimed angrily.
And he reacted with a surprising speed: he caught the pipe and directed the water spray on the attackers’ faces.
The water, made almost boiling by the sun, did everything but good things at the bad guys: they dropped the machetes and began yelling with pain and holding their faces in their hands.
“AAAARRGH!!” bellowed the one who insulted the archeologist. “YOU OL… AAAAAAAAUUUUGH!!!!”
The second scream was due to Arronax, who shot a vicious kick in the foul-mouthed villain’s belly.
The latter doubled up and moaned weakly. He then didn’t see his old opponent take a little wooden box.
“With the compliments of the old geezer!!” spat Peter before breaking the box on the Sapientist’s skull.
Of course, he fainted.

“WHY YOU!!” roared the other one who began taking over his pain.
He took back his machete… and dropped it again when a new pain, much more violent, rushed in his legs.
Before collapsing, he had the time to see Wade, galvanized by Peter’s initiative, brandished the wooden plank he used to strike and beat it down on his head.
Then it was the nothingness.

Ron was fighting for his life.
Still half-groggy from the sedatives, he couldn’t call the Mystical Monkey Power.
And his opponent was almost rabid, striking and striking like a madman.
Luckily, he still could count on his ‘mad running and dodging skills’, the Sapientist was only relying on brute strength and slashing without any strategy, and a machete wasn’t a good weapon for a swordfight, especially compared to a katana.

The Sapientist hid behind a big box, dodging the five colleagues a certain giant threw in his direction.
He cringed when the human projectiles hit the wall and collapsed, knocked out.
The villain really felt the fear invade him. How could you fight an opponent who, when you drove twenty-one machetes into his body (‘drive into’ was an excessive word, they didn’t even go through that wood-hard skin!), had for reaction ‘I’m ticklish’?!
Why the boss told us to distract him while the rest throw another attack on the others?! I…
“FORE!!”
That shout and a beeping noise took him out from his thoughts.
He realized with horror that the noise came from a white little ball with a sort of red, glassy stripe.
Oh no!!

Duff smirked when he saw the criminal getting knocked out by the explosion.
When a noise of blows above him drew his attention.
On the summit of a close pile of boxes, Betty was fighting another Sapientist. She seemed to have the edge, but also to be dangerously close of the fall.
“Watch out up there!” shouted the golfer before shoulder-bashing the lower boxes.
The poor pile valiantly tried to resist, but failed.
And while the Sapientist yelled a Wilhelm scream before trying unsuccessfully to break the floor with his head, Director made a back flip and landed safely in the Scotsman’s arms.
“You know, I could have managed it alone,” she commented with a smile.
“What kind of a boyfriend would I be if I didn’t help yeh?” he answered, smiling too.

The Lotus Blade and the machete clashed again, when the terrorist suddenly felt a violent pain in his mouth, prompting him to put a hand to his jaw.
And to be at Ron’s mercy, who hurried to disarm him and to put the point of the katana close to his opponent’s throat.
“Steel Toe’s vicious hook,” smiled the former high school student. “Visit to the dentist guaranteed!”

“Come on, sucker, come here,” grinned the Sapientist to Will, hidden behind a box.
That Global Justice agent is such an idiot, he thought. He really thought a stupid watch would get me?
A sudden whirr got him out of his thoughts, but before he could react, a black hand holding a chainsaw came in his sight and slaughtered his machete.
“Who’s the sucker now?” smirked Dash while the bad guy hurriedly surrendered, cursing the idiot who brought a chainsaw to this warehouse.

The leader of the Sapientist group was fuming.
“We’re at three against one, and they’re the ones winning!!” he shouted angrily when he saw Kim sending in the coma another one with a roundhouse kick.
“We’re talking about an Esper and Kim Possible, boss!! And Global Justice’s elite too!!” protested another one. “You saw how easily they neutralized the fourteen others?! We should surrender!”
A violent strike in the gut knocked him out cold.
“Say that again and I slit your throat!!” roared the criminal. “We’ll fight until the death!”
“Really?” asked a Scottish voice that was far too close.
Before the terrorist could react, he felt a huge grip hugged tightly his body and lift him out of the floor.
“LET ME GO!!” he bellowed.
“Order yer friends to surrender, lad!” replied Duff. “Or I’ll crush yeh!”
“NEVER!!”
The fanatical yell became a panicked scream when the giant tightened his hand.
“It wasn’t a question…” he snarled in a dangerously low voice.
“Duff, don’t do it!!” exclaimed a horrified Betty.
“That’s not my intention,” he reassured her in a whisper.
Then, to his hostage:
“That’s yer last chance! Or yeh really want to die as yeh said?”
He tightened a little more his hand…
“NO!!” broke down the prisoner. “STOP!! WE SURRENDER!! WE SURRENDER!!”
The remaining Sapientists, hearing that scream, dropped their weapons.
“I prefer that!” smiled Duff while he loosened a little his grip. “Thanks fer yer cooperation.”
The defeated leader threw him a murderous glare.

[mekal]

Chapter ten: On the other side

“You really had to do a remake of ‘The Full Monty’ before using your Materia?” asked Ron.
“Yeh know, woolen cloth isn’t cheap…” answered an panting Duff.
When he went back to normal, he felt again extremely exhausted, but he didn’t collapse and was now getting dressed again.
“Why, it bothered yeh?”
“No. Actually, I’m quite glad that for once, I wasn’t the one in underpants.”
Meanwhile, the rest of the group solidly tied the thirty prisoners…
Under the eye of a camera.

Zemus was mad with anger.
“THOSE IDIOTS!!” he roared angrily. “How could they lose at three against one?!”
“They had to face an Esper, and elite crime fighters, they said it themselves,” commented Nonce. “Zemus, we should renounce to your idea and leave.”
“WHAT?!”
Nonce couldn’t help but shiver in front of this voice and those eyes.
The same expression that the one he had on the meeting, earlier…

In the demented speech Zemus gave, Nonce discovered that the former archeologist was persuaded and persuaded his goons that he was chosen by the Occurias to restore their glorious empire, and was ready to the worst extremities to do it: he ordered, at the end of the speech, to destroy the Karida Dam, in the objective of drowning the ‘traitor to the Espers’ and his friends.
But he didn’t care. Gregory Nonce was a man who loved only two things: power and wealth. And such a murder wouldn’t prevent him to sleep…

“Be realistic!! All your drones are destroyed; thirty of your men are prisoners, and the authorities will learn by them that plot, your true objective, and the location of your base! It’s only a matter of hours before the army gets here! And there is many other Materias to find elsewhere in the world, to keep trying on these ones would be suicidal!”
A few seconds slowly passed.
“You’re right,” finally gave in a calmed down Zemus. “I’ll order the evacuation and the destruction of the base. In one hour, we’ll be out of danger.”
He began leaving when:
“Zemus… What about Golbez?”
The former archeologist frowned.

Zemus just ended his speech with the decision to destroy the dam, and his goons had cruel, fanatical exclamations.
“They want to face us? They’ll regret it!”
“I hope they’re thirsty, because they’ll have a lot to drink!”
“darn right! Ha! ha! ha!”
“ENOUGH!!” bellowed suddenly a voice.
Everyone turned to the one who talked: Golbez.
“THE HATRED MADE YOU ALL INSANE?! DON’T YOU REALIZE YOU’RE GOING TO KILL TWO MILLIONS OF INNOCENTS?!”
“Golbez?!” exclaimed Zemus. “What’s wrong with you?!”
“ARE YOU ALL BLIND?! IF THE DAM IS DESTROYED, HARARE WILL BE COMPLETELY CROSSED OF THE MAP!! CHILDREN, CIVILIANS!! IT’S MONSTROUS!!”
“Every cause has his martyrs, Golbez! Only the success counts!”
“DON’T FEED ME THAT GARBAGE, ZEMUS!!” yelled Clyde. “I’M NOT A SAPIENTIST, I’M A MERCENARY!!”
“A mercenary I paid!” spat the tattooed man. “And in consequence, you must obey me!!”
“I HAVE MY HONOR!! TO FIGHT GUARDS, SOLDIERS AND OTHERS LIKE THAT, OKAY!! BUT TO ATTACK A CIVILIAN, I CALL THAT MURDER!!”
“ENOUGH, GOLBEZ!!” barked Zemus. “Go out and calm your nerves!”
“You won’t shut my trap, Zemus! AND IF YOU DON’T RENOUNCE THIS MADNESS, I’LL GIVE THE ALERT!!”
“SHUT UP, TRAITOR!!” roared a Sapientist before attacking and knocking out the mercenary.

“We’ll bring him. He knows far too much about us. I shouldn’t have trusted him…”
“I don’t think he’ll keep helping us.”
“He will when he’ll understand he doesn’t have a choice…”

One hour later, the empty base was annihilated by bombs, leaving no clues for Global Justice.