Chapter - 5

The faculty of V.I.L.E. were going over the building plans and found the had a problem. The two most useful operatives, Crakel and Eel were no longer "active" members. The city itself seems to be on Global Justice's radar, and as if to just pour salt into the wound. With the exception of during scheduled deliveries and normal business hours, the place was kept magnetically sealed.

From what little they could gather, there was no way for them to sneak in after hours. Another hindrance was the fact that only, The Troll, Paper Star, and Tigress were available. Coach Brunt tried to calm everyone down by saying, "Perhaps were over thinking this. It's not a bank or a lab people, it's just a restaurant. Let's have those three go in scout it out and see what kind of plan they come up with." Due to a lack of a better plan, the other three agreed.

/////

A certain flying saucer was hovering over a prison. Controlling it was the Happy Man. When he first found it, his instinct was to destroy it. However, he decided to keep it, and he was glad he did.

The prison was simple, it didn't house any threats to the world or the general population. However, there was one individual of note. Adrena Lynn, former reality tv star was currently incarcerated for kidnapping and reckless endangerment.

She has been something of a "model" prisoner, mostly because she is too much of a coward to cause trouble. H.M. made the approach after he hacked the network. The cameras were set to hide his presence, and the doors were set to let him through without pause.

He made his way through without incident. Since Adrena was in a minimal security wing, H.M. didn't have too much to deal with. He found her cell easy enough, and she was sound asleep. He took out the device he created for this moment. After he entered, he collected what he needed and then he placed the device on her forehead and activated it.

Two things happened. The first was the desired effect, the device created a perfect copy of Adrena's neurol patterns. Effectively saving everything from her memories to her behavior and transferred it to the storage device next to the bio-fabricator machine back at Freddy's.

The second thing was not desired. The energy used to do everything created a feedback loop. Moment the transfer was complete, Adrena's body burst into flames.

H.M. had already made his way back to the hover ship, while the transfer was ongoing. The device on her head was a disposable piece meant to break apart when finished. Not that it mattered. H.M. reviewed what happened while in route back to Freddy's.

Now it was easy to assume that the device was the thing to catch on fire, however, this was not the case. His scans revealed the fire started within Adrena's chest, he couldn't explain why, only that is what happened.

'The potential is there, but for some reason both methods are fatal to the original host. It's fine ultimately, it just means some prep work is needed for any individual that might be missed. A cleansing flame has its uses, but if it will need a believable excuse.'

H.M. thought for a moment, creating, and sending a Drone to collect the sample and install the device would be a simple matter for him. However, if there are multiple targets together in the same building then he would have to collect all of them simultaneously.

'Before I start committing to such potential headaches and exposure, I should probably see if it's possible to remove the lethal problems. Before I start planning to incorporate them.'

As H.M. made his way back, he realized that if he wasn't careful and somebody saw him outside of Freddy's, then things would become very complicated. After all he's supposed to protect the place, if anything happens while he is gone, his exposure would all but guaranteed. Which means for now, no more field trips.

/////

Betty Director was an accomplished agent; she had many missions under her belt where her intelligence helped saved the world. But here she was, stumped, by a report of spontaneous human combustion.

As she looked over the file again, it still didn't make any sense. The victim was Adrena Lynn, a former celebrity, she hasn't been in the limelight in years, not since it was revealed how she faked her extreme stunts. No active enemies, no one had any reason to go after her.

But someone did, while the local police were out of their depth. GJ had more resources while using tools and going over the footage they found the smallest amount of trace evidence that someone had digitally altered the footage. However, when they tried to look deeper into it, the file and any attached copies self-deleted. Her experts say it was a virus set to go off if anyone attempted to retrieve the original footage.

Part of her wanted to ask Kim Possible to help, but due to her past involvement with Adrena's incarceration, it was against the rules. Betty let out a sigh, she would simply have to take a hands-on approach. A smiled formed as she realized that while she couldn't have Kim help, she could ask for advice, and if Kim figures out for herself, then it is out of her hands.

/////

Kim was sitting in the food court of the mall. She had two different meetings set for today. The first was with a thief. After convincing Wade, he connected her to a hacker called Player, and connected her to a trustworthy thief called Carmen Sandiego. He told her she would be wearing red.

Kim thought the food court at her mall would provide decent cover, but ever sense Freddy's opened this place doesn't really have a crowd. A girl in a red hoodie sat across from her. They introduced themselves and Carmen suggested the move to a different location.

They met up again at the target location and Carmen was surprised to learn the security features here. Carmen's plan was to simply advise, but that changed when she saw her former classmates casing the place. Kim's other contact was going to be meeting with her soon, so they agreed to meet back up later. As Kim left to make her meeting, Carmen stayed behind to observe the V.I.L.E operatives.

/////

Tigress was sitting at a table. To her left was Paper Star, a loose cannon she was loathe to work with again. To her right was The Troll, beyond arrogant, would throw a fit any time somebody didn't add "the" in front of troll. So, she was slightly satisfied when he had his head pressed against the table in defeat.

Evidently, the digital security was advanced for its time but now it's a dinosaur. When they first arrived, Troll was so confident that he didn't need them, but as they got closer to the actual building, he learned an unfortunate truth. While the building had an internet connection, it didn't use it itself. 

Paper Star tired of Troll's moping, asked, "Can you explain to me, why you can't deliver on all that bragging earlier?" Troll lifted his head and said, "Like I said earlier, this place is analog the only network here is the one shared by the entertainers, and while I have found that network, it's so old, my equipment can't connect. My only choice is to connect directly to one of the animatronics, but there is no way to do that without getting caught."

Paper Star smiled and said, "So, basically, you're useless." Troll stood up and said, "I don't need this, you scrubs can just get wreck." Troll left in a huff, Tigress looked at Paper Star and said, "I take it to mean you have a plan." Paper Star continued to smile.

/////

Betty Director was back in her office, looking at a file. Her visit with Kim was not as productive as she hoped. Kim was distracted by a gut feeling she had on the restaurant in her town.

Betty decided to humor her by checking their records. The result was not what she expected. It seems her predecessor did have a file on the place. There was a series of disappearances tied to the brand. Her predecessor noted the issues because the local police were making zero progress, but it appears that even her predecessor failed to capture the culprit. However, one name, one lead appeared over and over again.

Betty arranged for another meeting with Kim. While what she had wasn't enough to authorize an operation, it was something to work with. Betty thought about the one Kim called, "The Happy Man" if it was half as intelligent as Kim claimed then it could have the answers.

After communicating with Kim's tech guy Wade Load, Betty learned that Kim was actually going to be booked solid for the week. They could meet up again next Saturday.

/////

The last official customer of the day left. However, there was still two living souls hiding. Tigress and Paper Star, it was decided that until they knew what their after-hours security was really like, they could do nothing but spin their wheels.

Actually, Paper Star's plan was to wreck the place in broad daylight, but Tigress pulled seniority and remained her it was a stealth mission. So, they decided to stay the night, wait for the Happy Man to shut down, and grab it.

The first part proved easier than expected, it was almost like the staff was actually ignoring them. No alarms went off when the found the rather large air vent. In about ten minutes after closing, they found a way to the basement.

Once inside, Tigress used the night vision attached to her mask. Paper Star used a more obvious pair. In the first half it looked like a typical repair room, but on the other half away from the elevator and staircase it was another story. Tigress noticed that this half seemed to be more elaborate.

Computers, and a chair that was similar to the one you find in dental office. There was also a metal case, roughly the size of a coffin. Then suddenly a bright light activated, temporarily blinding them. A moment later, Tigress lost consciousness.

...

Tigress awoken on the floor of the workshop, her gear missing, and a collar around her neck. She found she wasn't tied up, so she tried to stand up. But as she did, Tigress noticed Paper Star strapped to the chair, wires connected her to that metal box.

She then heard a voice say, "Oh, you're awake already. I'll have to make a note of that. Please, wait for a moment, your friend her is almost done."

Tigress wanted to do many things in that moment, run away, attack her mysterious assailant, or even face them. However, she found herself unable to move. Her eyes were locked on the last thing she was looking at.

The metal box began to glow, then it opened to reveal, Paper Star. Tigress was confused. Then the mysterious man stood in front of the box. Tigress immediately recognized him as their target. The Happy Man, then started to move Paper Star's original body.

That was when Tigress noticed something, the Happy Man had stepped in front of the new Paper Star, after he stepped away, she now had a collar around her neck, just like herself. Tigress then used all the willpower she had to see what the Happy Man was doing next.

The Happy Man took Paper Star's old body and tossed it to the side. That was when she saw it, her missing gear, still on her now, very dead body.

The Happy Man turned to her and said, "Before I would've given you the dignity of believing that you were still you, but I don't need to waste my time with such things." Tigress felt her world was collapsing, she didn't even notice when she was placed in a cell. But she did hear her captor say, "I'll be back after I clean up the mess."