I had this idea for a crossover story after watching the movie. It nagged at me for months and I finally decided to go ahead and do it. Obviously I own none of the characters in this story. The Kim Possible characters all belong to Disney and the Titanic characters are from the movie by James Cameron. I know there's another Kim Possible/Titanic crossover story that was recently added to the site, but for the record I had the idea for this story long before that story appeared here, and I have no intention of ripping off any ideas from it.
The Unsinkable Kim Possible
Our story begins in the deep dark crushing depths of the ocean. No light penetrates this deeply from the surface. But two points of light appear, faint at first but rapidly growing brighter. The lights continue to grow, revealing two Deep Submersibles, dropping steadily downwards in a silent plummet towards the oceans floor. Inside the crafts cramped interior the pilot sits at rapt attention, focusing on the controls in front of him. Next to him sits Josh Mankey, a blonde haired man in his late forties, pale blue eyes closed fast in sleep. A natural adventurer at heart, but with a softer poetic side, he is the man in charge of this expedition. Sitting opposite him is Wade Load, the slightly tubby twenty something computer genius, recruited for his technical knowledge, ability to operate advanced robotic equipment and his numerous PhDs. The pilot, taking note of the reading on the sonar, quickly adjusts the ballast settings. The pale moonlike seabed comes into view and with a loud thud the craft hits bottom, jerking both Mankey and Load out of their sleep.
The pilot lets out a small satisfied sigh. "We're here"
A few minutes later the two craft, Mir 1 and 2, were skimming along the ocean floor, the deafening silence of the ocean being broken only by the sound of the sonar equipment and the loud hum of the thrusters. Wade's eyes were fixed on the sonar display, where the outline of a huge wedge shaped object was rapidly filling the screen.
"She's 13 meters dead ahead. You should be able to see it"
Josh already had his face pressed against the tiny forward porthole in anticipation of this moment. Like a ghostly phantom appearing out of the gloom, the bow of a ship came into view, its tip ploughed roughly into soft sediment, partly buried. The RMS Titanic. Or what little of it remains after its long slumber at the bottom of the sea.
"Ok" said Josh. "Take us up and over the bow rail"
Mir 1 lifted, raising up and gliding over the intact, but rust covered bow railings. Josh picked up a video camcorder, thumbing on the record button and aiming it to view outside, more of the ships rusted exterior coming into view. Josh's voice was soft as he spoke
"It still gets me every time. To see the sad ruin of the great ship sitting here, where she landed at 2.30 in the morning, April 15, 1912, after her long fall from the world above"
Wade chuckled and covered his mouth with his hand.
"Still the high school poet at heart, eh boss?"
Josh grinned back and motioned for him to be quiet. Outside, Mir 2 drives aft down the starboard side, while Mir 1 continues on over the seemingly never-ending forecastle deck.
"This is dive number six" Josh continued. "Here we are again on the deck of the titanic. Two and a half miles below the surface. The pressure outside is three and a half tons per square inch" His fingers rapped lightly on the porthole glass. "These windows are nine inches thick and if they go, it's sayonara in two microseconds"
The pilot and Wade exchanged a look, but quickly went back to work. A short time later Mir 2 landed on the boat deck, next to the ruins of what were once the Officer's Quarters. Mir 1 landed nearby.
"Ok lets get to work." said Josh.
Wade grinned and cracked his knuckles, slipping a pair of sophisticated 3-D goggles over his eyes and pulling a complex control mechanism into his lap, a joystick and numerous labelled buttons.
"Launching Rufus now!"
A small bright red robotic drone detached from the craft, attached by a strong cable that steadily played out like a long umbilical cord. Mounted at its front, twin digital-video cameras swivel back and forth like eyes. The drone descended through the open shaft into what was once the opulent First Class Grand Staircase. Rufus sank down several decks before moving into the First Class Reception Room. Viewed through several monitors, Rufus's cameras display the cavernous interior of the room. The rotten remains of the ornate woodwork become visible through the drone's floodlights. A chandelier, still hanging from the ceiling by its wire glitters faintly as Rufus moved around it. The floodlights pass along the floor, revealing a clutter of discarded items. A champagne bottle, several pieces of White Star Line china, a cracked pair of spectacles, and suddenly, gleaming white, a small white face.
Wade let out a small screech and almost lost control of the drone, only saved by Josh's hand grasping his and steadying the controls.
"Amp down buddy" He said calmly, though with a hint of amusement.
Wade gulped and stared more intently at the site before him. What he had took for a face was in fact no more than the porcelain head of a child's doll. Chuckling sheepishly he urged the drone onwards and the eerie face disappeared from view. Continuing down a corridor, the craft turned and slipped through an open doorway into room B-52, their target destination for the day. It was the sitting room of a "promenade suite", making it one of the most luxurious staterooms on the whole ship. Glinting in the lights were the brass fixtures of an almost perfectly preserved fireplace. A small crab scuttled over it. Rufus crossed the ruined room towards another door, barely wide enough to allow the drone space to pass through it.
"Ok head into the bedroom" Josh urged, a slight tremor in his voice. "Stay off the floor, we don't wanna kick up too much debris"
"I got it boss" Wade assured.
The drone pushed its way into the bedroom, its lights falling on the shattered remains of a canopy bed. Virtually every piece of furniture in the room had been broken, almost beyond recognition. Josh's eyes focused on the bed.
"That's Lipsky's bed. That's where the old S.O.B slept!"
Through a partially collapsed wall, a bathroom could be seen. The porcelain bathtub looks almost brand new, seemingly undamaged. Wade let out a small laugh.
"I think someone left the water running"
Josh ignored the pun and focused on the large remains of a wardrobe, its collapsed frame obscuring part of the room from their view.
"Move that wardrobe door out of the way" he said sharply. "I got a feeling in my gut"
Wade said nothing in return, but hit a control, causing the drone to deploy two robotic arms. Grasping two hand panels, he began to swivel them, the drone's arms matching his movements. Urging the drove forward he gripped the wardrobe door that was lying at an odd angle, and pulled upwards. The door moved reluctantly, kicking up a small cloud of silt.
"Keep going! Force it over!"
The door finally gives up the fight and pitched over, falling away to the side. As the silt clears, a dark object slowly comes into view. Josh's eyes light up in sheer delight as he realised what it is. A safe.
"Oh baby!" exclaimed Wade in delight. "Are you seeing what I'm seeing?"
A wide grin forms on Josh's face, looking for all the world like the man who just found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
"Its payday boys!"
The Safe, still dripping wet in the blazing afternoon sun, was slowly lowered onto the deck of a ship by a winch cable. The ship was the Russian research Vessel, the Keldysh. A large cheering crowd has gathered on deck, including most of the ships crew, the entire sub crew and a documentary video crew that was hired by Josh Mankey to cover the defining moment of his career. Josh, having just exited from his sub craft, bounded over to where the safe was being unloaded, an excited Wade running behind him and jumping onto his back.
"Who's the best? Who's the best? Tell me!"
Josh grinned. "You are Wade"
Wade whooped with Joy and planted a cheeky kiss on Josh's cheek as a technician began cutting into the safe hinges with a saw. Behind Josh, someone popped open a bottle of champagne and began spraying it around. The saw, halted only a moment by the spray, finished its job and the technician moved aside, letting another loop a hook around the safe door. With a heave several men pulled on the metal chain attached to the hook, easily pulling the door away from its hinges. A deluge of brown water issued forth, revealing a filthy interior caked in mud. Josh leapt forward, kneeling down and feeling through the interiors. His hand entered and left several times, discarding wads of ruined money and handfuls of mud. He pulled out a well-preserved folder of some sort and hastily discarded it. His hand probed desperately through the remaining compartments and came away empty. The sound of murmuring filled the air as Josh's face fell.
The technician who had cut away the hinges spoke up with a heavy Russian accent.
"No diamond?"
Josh remained silent, unable to think of anything to say. Wade, feeling the need to lighten the suddenly heavy atmosphere, ventured to speak.
"You know boss, the same thing happened to Geraldo and his career was never the same again."
Viewed through the documentary crews camera, Josh rose heavily to his feet and turned towards the offending item with a glare. His hand quickly covered the lens.
"Turn that damn camera off!"
In one of the ships many research labs several specialists were busily removing papers from the safe and placing them into shallow trays of water where they could be separated out and cleaned without risk of further damage. Nearby, others were sorting through other artefacts gathered from the stateroom and preparing them for preservation. Josh stood off to one side, trying and failing to not look too dejected by this most recent failure. His train of thought was interrupted when Wade walked into the room, talking into a satellite phone that was balanced against his ear. Seeing Josh, he took the phone and covered the mouthpiece.
"Josh? The partners would very much like to know how things are going"
Josh sighed internally and took the phone, trying to force a tone of cheerful optimism into his voice as he spoke.
"Dave? Barry? Listen it wasn't in the safe after all" He paused and listened to the voice on the other end "No! Listen, don't worry! There's still a number of other places we still have to look" Another tiny pause. "Hell yes! It could be among the floor debris in the bedroom, in the mothers room, the purser's safe on C deck.."
"Jimmy Hoffa's briefcase?" said Wade in a low tone.
Josh mock glared at him, but his rebuke was silenced as his eyes were drawn to where one of the techs were working. The white coated young man had just carefully washed away the lair of dirt covering a sheet of paper, revealing a pencil drawing of a young woman.
"Hang on a minute guys" Josh said, hitting the mute button and walking over the table, his eyes fixed intently on the drawing. It was in remarkably good condition, only the edges of the sheet showing some signs of deteriation. The woman in the drawing was beautiful, looking to be in her late teens or very early twenties. She was nude, although posed in manner that seemed to convey a sense of casual modesty. She was laying across an Empire divan, her hands draped comfertably near her head, long hair flowing down to below her shoulders. In the lower right corner of the sheet, the date April 14 1912 was written in a slighty messy script, along with the initials RS. Josh felt his mouth go dry as he stared at the picture. The defining feature of the picture, in his eyes at least, was the diamond necklace draped around the womans neck, a large dark stone hanging from its centre. Snatching up one of the reference photo's from the lab table, his eyes quickly scanned back and forth. The photo was a black and white shot of a diamond necklace, draped across a jewelers display stand. Hanging from it was a large exquisitly cut gemstone cut into the shape of heart. There was absolutely no doubt in Josh's mind. The necklace in the drawing and the one in the photo were one and the same.
"Well I'll be god damned!"
In a comfortable and well furnished home in California, a young blonde haired woman was busying herself with some household chores, a small Pomeranian yipping and running around her feet.
"Its alright" she admonished the dog. "I'll feed you in a minute"
On a small portable television a live report was coming through from the research ship Keldysh, intercut with shots of an anchorwoman at the CNN studio.
"Former acclaimed writer and self styled treasure hunter, Josh Mankey is best known for finding Spanish gold in several sunken galleons in the Caribbean" came the announcers voice from the TV. "Now he is leading an expedition to the most famous shipwreck of all, the Titanic"
The woman paid little heed to the television, almost tuning it out entirely as the woman carried on the interview. In an adjoining glassed-in studio however, someone had taken notice, her ears perking up at the mention of the doomed liner. The woman was incredibly old, wrinkled hands working at a potter's wheel and deftly manipulating the red clay into the form of a pot. Long silver hair spilled over a body that was shapeless and shrunken with age, but that could still move with remarkable strength and grace for one so old.
"Your expedition is currently at the centre of controversy" said the anchorwoman. "There are those who have accused you of grave robbing"
The old woman's clear green eyes rose towards the screen at this comment and she raised herself to her feet, supporting her weight with a walking stick and moving quickly into the living room.
"Well nobody ever called the recovery of the artefacts from Kings Tuts tomb an act of grave robbing…." the mans voice was saying in a mildly defensive tone.
The blonde haired woman noticed the older woman approaching and wrinkled her forehead in concern.
"What's wrong?"
"Turn that up for me dear" urged the older woman
The younger woman blinked, but quickly turned and raised the volume on the small television. The man was still talking.
"And we are taking the utmost care to ensure that these relics are being preserved and catalogued properly. For example, take a look at this drawing that was recently recovered"
The image on the screen swivelled from Josh's face down to a tray of water, where a hand drawn picture of a young naked woman was resting.
"A piece of paper that's been underwater for more than eighty years, but my team was able to recover it and preserve it intact. Should this have really been left to rot at the bottom of the ocean?"
The old woman's eyes, still as clear and bright as they had been in her youth, widened in shock as she took in the sight of the picture, the heart shaped gemstone seeming even more prominent than any other part of the drawing. She drew in a shaky breath.
"Well I'll be god dammed!"
Late evening aboard the Keldysh, the Mir subs were being prepared for yet another launch. Mir 2 was already floating nearby and Josh was preparing to climb aboard Mir 1 when Bobby Buell, the ships communications officer ran up and grabbed his arm.
"There's a satellite call for you!"
Josh frowned and motioned towards the submersible craft. "Bobby, we're launching. I don't have time to take any calls right now. Take a message for me"
Bobby shook his head frantically. "No trust me on this one. You want to take this call!"
Josh sighed and took the phone from the man, hitting the blinking indicator and holding it up to his ear.
"This is Josh Mankey. What can I do for you Mrs…?" He gave a questioning look to the man beside him.
"Kim Calvert" offered Bobby.
"Mrs Calvert" finished Josh.
Sitting in the kitchen of her home, filled with various pottery, knick knacks and souveniers of someone who's' lived a long and full life, Kim Calvert held the phone to her ear, a small smile playing across her lips as she watched her granddaughter sitting opposite her.
"I was just wondering if you had found the Heart of the Ocean yet Mr Mankey" she said, her tone light and bemused.
Josh's eyes went wide and he almost dropped the phone as he whirled around to stare at the man beside him.
"Told you so, didn't I?" said Bobby
Josh cleared his throat and forced himself to calm down. He was a professional and he was determined to act like it.
"All right Mrs Calvert, you have my attention" he said briskly. "Do you know who the woman in the picture is?"
"Oh yes" said Kim, letting out a small laugh. "The woman in the picture is me"
A large helicopter thundered its way across the ocean, closing in on the research ship in the near distance. Sitting calmly at one of the windows, Kim and her granddaughter stared out at the calm seas below them, the small dog nestled in the old woman's lap.
Aboard the Keldysh, Josh was making his way towards the ship landing pad, an irate Wade stalking behind him.
"She's a liar!" Wade exclaimed in annoyance. "Some cook looking for money or publicity. Its like the Anastasia thing all over again!"
"Their inbound!" came the voice of one of the nearby crewmen, pointing towards the approaching helicopter. Josh nodded and continued along the deck, weaving between stacks of equipment and machinery.
"Kimberly Anne Possible died on the Titanic at the age of seventeen" insisted Wade. "If she had survived she would be over one hundred years old by now!"
"A hundred and one next month" said Josh matter of factly.
Wade threw his hands up in frustration. "So she's a very old liar! I did some research on her. Managed to trace her all he way back to the twenties when she worked in some crime fighting team. Her name was Kim Stoppable back then. Then she married some guy named Calvert, moved out to Cedar Rapids and popped out a couple of kids. Her husband died about ten years ago and she's been living with her granddaughter ever since"
Josh stopped abruptly at the edge of the helipad, looking back over his shoulder.
"And everyone who knows about the diamond is supposed to be dead or here on this boat" he said loudly over the sound of the choppers engines. "But she knows! And I wanna know what she knows!"
The helicopter came in smoothly and touched down onto the pad, its engines quickly dying down. Wade and Josh watched in bemused wonder as a large amount of luggage was unpacked, followed by the blonde haired woman and Kim, sitting in a wheelchair with her dog held tightly on her lap.
"Doesn't exactly believe in travelling light, does she?" quipped Wade.
A short while later, after the introductions had been put out of the way and their guests had been shown to their staterooms, Josh decided it was time to get the matter over with. Taking Wade in tow he made his way along to their room, knocking softly on the door and letting himself in. He found the old woman arranging a series of framed photographs on the sitting table beside her bed. They depicted several family scenes, obviously her and her husband, as well as shots of her children and grandchildren.
"Is your stateroom alright?" Josh asked politely.
"Oh yes" said Kim with a smile. "Very nice thank you. Have you met my granddaughter Tara? She takes care of me"
The blonde woman smiled patiently and glanced between them. "We met, just a little while ago, up on deck. Remember nana?"
Kim gave a small shrug and made a waving gesture towards her head, suggesting that she in fact did not remember at all. Wade glanced at Josh and rolled his eyes. The woman had failed to recall a meeting after less than an hour, but was supposed to remember details of events that took place over half a century ago? Josh remained silent as he watched Kim finish arranging her pictures, her thumb caressing over the face in the one nearest her.
"There now, that's nice" she said happily. "I have to have my pictures with me when I travel"
Josh gave his own patient smile. "Is there anything you need or would like?"
Kim thought about it a moment and then nodded her head. "Yes actually. I would like to see my drawing"
Kim found herself looking down into the tray of water, her eyes taking in a sight that they had not seen for over 84 years. She stares at it for several long moments and then closes her eyes tight, a memory flashing into her minds eye. A masculine hand holding an artists pencil, the pencil working swiftly across a sheet of paper where the image of a woman is slowly taking shape. The image is swiftly replaced with another. A pair of hazel eyes staring at her, soft yet piercing with their gaze, a frame of blonde curls partially obscuring them. The sound of Josh's voice brings her back to the present and her eyes open reluctantly.
"Louie the Sixteenth wore a fabulous stone called the Blue Diamond the Crown, which disappeared in 1792, which was the same time old Louie lost everything from the neck up" said Josh. "The popular theory goes that the crown diamond was chopped as well, being recut into a heart-like shape" He held up the reference picture he had looked at earlier for his guests to see. "It was known as the Heart of the Ocean. If it were found today it would be worth more than the Hope Diamond"
Kim laughed lightly and regarded the picture again. "It was a dreadful heavy thing. I only ever wore it this one time"
Tara leaned over her shoulder and studied the picture as well. "Do you really think this is you nana?"
Kim smirked. "It certainly is me dear!" Her smirk deepened. "Wasn't I a dish?"
They shared a laugh as Josh pulled out several legal looking documents and placed them down on the table.
"We tracked it down through insurance records. An old claim that was settled under terms of absolute secrecy. Can you tell me who made the claim Kim?"
Kim tapped a finger against her chin and took a moment to act as though she were pondering the question.
"I imagine that would have been someone named Lipsky?"
Josh grinned in triumph and stared up at Wade, who had the decency to look amazed and slightly embarrassed for calling the woman a liar without hearing her story first.
"Nathan Lipsky, that's right. A Pittsburgh steel tycoon, with numerous criminal and underworld connections that didn't come out till after his death. He bought the diamond for his son Drew to give to his fiancé" He paused and nodded his head towards Kim, who nodded back. "The claim was filed right after the ship sank. Which means that the diamond must have gone down with the ship"
Kim's eyes suddenly narrowed slightly and her face took on a slightly shrewd expression, but she was forestalled by speaking by Josh, who was pointing at the picture.
"See the date?"
Tara leaned closer and squinted to better make out the slightly smudged ink. "April 14th, 1912?"
Which means that if your grandmother is who she claims to be" piped up Wade. "It means she was wearing the diamond the night that Titanic sank."
"And that" grinned Josh. "Would make you my new best friend."
A few minutes later the group were looking over a collection of items that had been recovered from Miss Possible's stateroom. Many pieces of jewellery and other adornments litter the table. Kim's eyes fall on an old silver hand mirror, slightly tarnished but otherwise intact. Her hand slowly lifts it, her free hand caressing over the smooth back.
"This was mine. It looks almost exactly the same as when I last saw it" she said, her voice soft in wonderment. Slowly the mirror revolved, revealing the glass to be cracked in several places. Her eyes take in her reflection, her ancient and wrinkled face not matching the memory she had of looking at this same mirror so many years before. "The reflection has changed a bit" she said briefly.
Placing the mirror aside, she carefully picks up a delicate hair comb, the handle crafted into the style of a jade butterfly. She turns it slowly over in her hands; her eyes welling up with unshed tears as a wash of memories come rushing back to her. Josh's hand comes to rest on her shoulder in an attempt to be comforting.
"Are you ready to go back to Titanic?"
On a computer monitor, a virtual simulation of the Titanic comes into view, cruising directly into the path of a huge iceberg. The action plays out as Wade provides a running commentary.
"The ship hits the berg on the starboard side and it sort of bumps along, punching holes in the hull kind of like Morse code" He makes stabbing motions with his fingers. "Dit dit dit! Along the side and below the water line"
As he speaks, the simulation shows the ship filling up with water, the water rising to the same level each time before spilling into the next compartment.
"The forward compartments flood quickly. Now unfortunately the watertight bulkheads don't go any higher than E deck, so as the water rises it spills into the next compartment along, in sequence. Now as the bow sinks, the stern rises up. Slowly at first, but getting faster and faster. Until finally she's got her entire stern in the air, maybe twenty or thirty thousand tons. Now the hull wasn't designed to deal with that kind of pressure. So what happens? She splits!"
As though obliging him, the simulated Titanic suddenly splits down the middle.
"Now as the bow sinks it pulls the stern back level, then pulls it vertical and finally detaches" The bow section disappears completely beneath the water line and the stern section now hangs suspended in the water. "The stern bobs around like a cork for a minute or so, then floods and finally sinks at 2.20am, two hours and forty minutes after the collision took place"
The simulation now follows the bow section as it drops through the ocean, pieces of it tearing away as it drops.
"The bow section sinks rapidly, landing around half a mile away, going at around twenty to thirty knots when it hits the ocean floor" He grinned at the simulation he had made himself and looked at Kim. "Pretty cool stuff eh?"
Kim, who had sat through the entire simulation with an entirely emotionless expression, regarded the young man with a slightly cold gaze.
"Thank you for that fine…forensic analysis Mr Load. Of course the experience of it was…. somewhat different."
Wade looked slightly abashed but said nothing in reply, for there was certainly no argument for that statement.
"Will you share it with us?" Josh asked softly.
Kim rose slowly to her feet, slowly turning to regard the numerous monitors set up, each one playing back footage taken from previous dives. Her eyes glanced at one showing a shadowy corridor before turning to look at another showing a desiccated ornate doorway. Her eyes grew cloudy with tears and she gasps as another memory flashes unbidden through her mind. The same doorway, shining new and intact as two uniformed men bow there heads and pull open the door. In an instant the vision is gone again and Kim lets out a pained whimper, her hands covering her eyes. In an instant Tara was by her side, gently holding her by the arm.
"I'm taking her to rest" she said.
"NO!"
Kim's voice was remarkably strong and sharp for a woman of such advanced age. Tara sighed softly, but immediately relented. Although she had rarely heard her grandmother use that tone of voice, it was one she knew to mean there would be no argument brooked on the subject. As Kim retook her seat Josh quickly pulled out a tape recorder, turning it on and sitting it on the table beside him.
"Tell us Kim" he urged.
Kim sighed and closed her eyes.
"It's been 84 years…"
"It's ok" Josh said. "Just try to remember anything at all"
Kim opened her eyes and shot him a look that was a mixture of amusement and annoyance, like a grandmother admonishing a small child who had interrupted a bedtime story.
"Do you want to hear this story or not Mr Mankey?"
Wade laughed into his hands and Josh grinned in embarrassment, motioning with his hand for her to continue. With her eyes open this time, she began again.
"It's been 84 years. And I can still smell the fresh paint. The china had never been used. The sheets had never been slept in" Her eyes seemed to focus inwards, disappearing into a world of long forgotten memories. "Titanic was called the Ship of Dreams. And it was. It really was…"