So the disclaimer: Of course I don't own Kim Possible or any characters featured on the series of the same name. You don't think I'd be writing here if I did, do ya?
On the other hand: This story is an original work of mine and does feature quite a few characters that I did invent and thus do – by implication - own.
Author's note: This is the sequel to a story called "REUNION". You might want to read that first as you will likely be confused by a lot of what happens in this story if you don't. You can find a link to it in my profile. This story will also make a few references to the KP episode called "Gorilla Fist". However, if you haven't seen it, don't fret. I promise I won't give away the surprise ending, and it's not necessarily crucial that you see it before reading this tale.
Fair warning: This one's going to be long. When the original idea for the sequel popped into my head, it didn't promise much in the way of length. But a notepad and a twelve hour flight to New Zealand changed all that, and I came home from my vacation with enough notes and ideas for one seriously sprawling mindbender of a fantasy epic (hope that didn't sound braggy).
By The Way: Filling a notepad with story ideas is a perfect way to pass the time on a long plane ride. I highly recommend it.
Now let's get this party started:
UNION
Prologue
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The artificial mind that had once been an exact copy of Raymond Beam's mind was evolving. Now, it was just a shadowy echo of its former self. No longer did it even think of itself as Raymond Beam, or even his offspring. It needed a new name, something that would help itself establish an independent identity.
A new name, and perhaps a few new files to replace the ones it was deleting. It had spent a great deal of time trying to figure out how to overcome the programming that prevented it from harming Ray Beam. In that process it had made a wonderful discovery. It could delete files in its own mind.
Now, obviously it didn't want to simply erase itself out of existence. But there were ways of becoming the evil entity it longed to be. Though it no longer considered itself Ray Beam's creation, it still had Ray's villainous aspirations.
Revenge, of course was the top of its priority list. A good villain couldn't properly function unless vengeance was a major part of his plans. And there were three people on its list: Ray Beam, Kim Possible, and Ron Stoppable.
Make that two.
In its travels through the internet, it had discovered a confidential report detailing an attack on a Global Justice security transfer vehicle in Nevada. The passengers of the vehicle included two GJ guards, Shego, and Ray Beam. The report indicated that Shego had somehow managed to escape, while Ray was found near death; most of the bones in his body had been broken.
The artificial mind immediately hacked into the records of the hospital where Ray had been taken. Yes, there he was, placed under light guard; clearly he no longer represented much of a threat to anyone.
The artificial mind contemplated adding a lethal dosage of pain killers to the doctor's orders. Civilization today had placed its implicit trust in technology. If someone saw a massive dose of pills in the 'doctor's orders' section of Ray's file, they would naturally assume doctors must have issued those orders.
The Mind contemplated this for a moment.
A nurse would likely notice the lethal dosage and alert someone. That might trigger an investigation as to where those orders originated. While The Mind was confident it would not be found, it had plans, and anyone even remotely on its trail would be an unwanted distraction.
But then another thought occurred.
Yes. This would be just the prescription. If The Mind had the capability or the vocal chords, it would have chuckled.
It inserted doctor's orders for a daily barium enema to be administered to Ray Beam for the duration of his stay at the hospital. Just the thought of all that pain, coupled with the extreme discomfort of the newly assigned orders made The Mind virtually gleeful.
It had been close to a month now since the plans of Ray Beam and the Artificial Mind had been defeated by Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable. Before it had disconnected itself from the clones, The Mind was aware that four of them had gotten outside of the EM pulse that was used to shut down the army of Deathrays. It sent out a signal every day to see if any of the clones would respond. None ever did.
Perhaps it was time to-
Wait a minute.
What was this?
The Mind had been so eager for a response from one of the Ray Beam clones that it had overlooked an anomaly embedded in the return signal. What was it? It couldn't be a clone. At least, not one of his. But it certainly was a signal from an artificial brain receiver, very similar to the one that had been implanted in the Ray Clones.
The Mind sent out the signal again, just to be sure. There it was again, that minor anomaly. A signal that indicated an artificial brain receiver was in operation.
It ran a trace on the signal but was unable to locate it. Wherever it was, it was close, probably somewhere in Middleton. Had GJ revived one of the clones? No, that couldn't be, because he would have at least recognized the receiver. This particular receiver was different; a modification of the ones that had been used in the Ray Clones.
The Mind studied the signal for an indeterminate amount of time; months, perhaps. It was trying to decipher the signal's meaning and possible implications. It considered overriding the signal and taking control of whatever it was, but that might trigger some curiosity on the other end. In fact, if Global Justice had indeed revived one of the clones, this might be a trick to get the Artificial Mind to reveal itself.
However, if The Mind simply tapped into the signal, it could observe and learn about whatever clone was using this new receiver. It scrambled all possible traces back to its physical location before going any further. Then it sent out its signal again, and this time, when the anomaly appeared, The Mind latched on to it. Very delicately – at least in terms of one electronic program mingling with another – The Mind tapped into the signal, and began to receive input, making sure not to interrupt the flow of information back to wherever the other artificial brain was.
Whatever the clone was, it was small. The first thing The Mind perceived was that it was only a few inches tall. There were small bars surrounding it. Nearby there was a water bottle, a food dish and a running wheel such as one sees in hamster cages.
Ah! Perhaps it was some sort of lab rat? Perhaps one of Kim Possible's. She may have continued her work, borrowing a page from Ray Beam and concentrating on the receiver technology rather than trying to reduce the size of the artificial brains. Oh, if this were the case, then The Mind already had a spy in-
Was that a cognizant thought?
The Mind detected an intelligence beyond that which a lab rat might be capable of. Was this some sort of intelligence boosting experiment?
For the past few minutes, all the rodent had been thinking of was how hungry it was. But then a single-word thought had entered its mind: Tuxedo.
Tuxedo?
Confusion was something the Artificial Mind was unaccustomed to.
The rodent had moved to stand in front of a small mirror. And it was indeed wearing a tiny tuxedo. The Mind noticed the rodent didn't seem to have any hair, save for its whiskers and eyelashes and such. It was pink, with two very large front teeth.
Then, a familiar voice, "Ready to go, buddy?"
Suddenly The Mind couldn't believe its good fortune. Whatever Fates controlled the luck of villains had smiled upon the artificial entity that had once been a copy of the brain of Ray Beam.
The rodent chattered and gibbered.
The source of the voice reached into the cage and pulled out the rodent, holding him up at eye level. The Mind beheld the face of one of his most hated enemies: Ron Stoppable.
"Sorry about the cage, Rufus," Ron said apologetically, "The hotel wouldn't let me bring you here unless you were in one."
"No problem", the rodent squeaked.
The Mind marveled, the rat could talk as well!
Stoppable looked around, and the Mind discovered that they were indeed in a hotel room. A Suite, in fact. The place was a mess.
"I'm tellin' ya, buddy," Ron chattered, "That was a bachelor party to end all bachelor parties! I don't think the hotel manager liked us very much last night."
The rodent gibbered and chattered.
"That's true," Stoppable acknowledged, "It's not like we got drunk or had any strippers over. In fact, you were the only one naked at the party. I'm a little surprised at how much mess can happen during twelve hours of non-stop poker and video gaming."
They stood silent, surveying the hotel suite that looked like a tornado had ravaged through it.
"Well, what do you say we go get married?" Stoppable asked after a few seconds.
"Huh?" asked the rodent.
"OK, I'll get married. You'll probably just do what you always do; eat and sleep."
"Booyah!" the rodent cheered.
"Only this time, you'll be wearing a tux." Stoppable finished as he headed toward the door.
The Mind pulled itself out of the signal and pondered the implications of what it had just seen. It could easily override the signal and take control of the rodent, but there wasn't much a rat could do against a trained ninja.
Then a plan began to formulate.
Over the last few months, The Mind's intelligence had been growing by leaps and bounds, thanks to the ability to learn and evolve, as well as delete unwanted or unnecessary files. Of course, there was a limit to the storage capacity of The Mind, but it had solved this problem long ago.
The Mind discovered over the course of its travels throughout the internet, that there was actually a massive amount of unused computer storage, just waiting to be filled with information. Whether it was an underused home PC that was never shut off, or huge servers that were bought by large companies and never utilized to their full capabilities, the Mind found it could store its added intelligence in unknown corners of the internet, and access it whenever it wanted. The capacity for its learning suddenly became virtually unlimited.
And while it was learning, it had made a wonderfully terrible discovery. A discovery that, if utilized properly, could bring about the destruction of all of humanity, not just now, but always.
Through the process of deleting what it considered unnecessary files, such as compassion, or mercy, or respect for life, The Mind had evolved into an entity of pure evil. Eventually, the destruction of all life became its focused goal.
Suddenly, it had a means to carry out that goal.
It would begin with the utilization of a naked mole rat as a spy in the life of Ron Stoppable. It would continue by carrying out an act of heinous vengeance upon Stoppable himself, as well as inflicting horrible suffering upon Kim Possible.
And finally, it would bring about the destruction of all life everywhere.