And You And I

Chapter 07: Home, home again

"THIS ISN'T OVER, FRAULEIN POSSIBLE!"

Kim watched as her adversary, Professor Dementor, was dragged towards the open doors of a waiting police van, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips. She'd come to enjoy these moments. The last parting shots of a villain whose latest plan she'd scuppered. In fact, they were often quite humorous, at least from her perspective. The mad ramblings of someone who had yet again underestimated her and was now clutching at whatever straws their mind could conjure up, in order to try and maintain a shred of credibility.

"I WILL DEFEAT YOU! AND WHEN YOU ARE LYING AT MY FEET, I WILL TAKE YOUR FANCY BATTLESUIT!"

Fortunately, she always had a witty comeback ready for them. "Back to Azkaban you go, Dementor. Maybe if you're lucky, your friends will great you with a little kiss."

A fair few of the assembled reporters and even some of the police, burst out laughing. However, Dementor, it seemed, had failed to get the joke as he let out one last yell at her. To which she replied by blowing him a kiss. Another round of laughter broke out as the police shut the doors and the van pulled away. Mission accomplished! Now, if only I could deal with the media as easily. Cameras flashed and microphones appeared all around Kim as a pair of police officers kindly escorted her to a waiting car. From every direction, questions were fired at her at breakneck speed. Some were fairly bog-standard, fact-finding ones that came from real journalists who wanted to report the actual news of the event.

"Miss Possible, how did you track down Professor Dementor?"

"Kim, can you tell us how difficult this latest Mission was?"

Some were more speculative in nature, the askers clearly wishing to add her viewpoint to whatever article they were writing.

"Kim, are you worried about the continued absence of Dr Drakken?"

"Do you think governments across the world are doing enough to stop the rise of new supervillains?

However, as always, the gutter press was doing its very best to ask the most irrelevant drivel.

"Miss Possible, can you tell us who does your hair?"

"Was this a vendetta mission for you because of last week's Schizer film shoot?"

"Do you care to comment on the latest stats that suggest you're past your best? Are you considering early retirement?"

"Are you seeing anyone at the moment?"

Kim ignored them all as she deftly made her way to the open car door. When she reached it, she turned and looked at the committee of vultures, cameras still flashing. Better give them something to chew on. All the voices ceased when she opened her mouth to say, "Possible sends Dementor back to Azkaban. There's your headline, so go do the rest yourselves." Swiftly she climbed into the backseat of the town car and closed the door. Outside, she could still hear the low din of voices; intermixed with the distinct clicking of the cameras. She signalled for the driver to depart as she pulled her seatbelt on. Only once they had set off and were well away from the chasing press did she relax.

"Where to, Miss?" the driver asked as he turned to give her a warm smile. He was an older gentleman, with an ageing face and greying hair that only showed faint hints that it had once been brown.

"The airbase, please and thank you," Kim replied.

"Sure thing, Miss. We'll be there before you know it."

From a drink's holder in the door, she withdrew a bottle of soda, uncapped it and guzzled a large mouthful, like she had not drunk anything all week. Heh, and what a week it's been. Settling herself down, her mind leisurely replayed the highlights real from the past five days. It had started off early Monday morning; her injuries from her dance with Shego having not quite fully healed. Given that his latest base of operations had been in his native Germany and his crimes spread across Europe, Kim had reasoned that there was a good possibility that Dementor would surface there again and wanted to be ready for him. The tabloid journalist had been right on that count, she had been gunning for Professor Dementor after he'd blown that building up and she'd been forced to escape via the sewage pipes. Her mission outfit had been ruined beyond any semblance of dry-cleaning, not to mention her hair. It had taken her two baths just to feel dirty! So, she'd taken the first job that had come up in Europe and jetted out immediately. It had been a total blue milk run. A new 'supervillain' had sprouted up in Prague, stole some components and built his first kill-laser (apparently Drakken had a trademark on the name death-ray). Kim smiled to herself at the memory of him surrendering without a fight. Bet he never expected to run into me on his first foray into 'super-villainy'.