Every eye in the chamber was on Hank Perkins or, more to the point, on the screen he wore on his chest. The image of Drew Lipsky was looking incredibly uncomfortable.

"You ordered me to distract her!" He protested. "You told me that you wanted her to be romantically distracted! How else was I supposed to do it?"

"You see, Kim," Dr. Director turned her eye on the redhead. "Dr. Drakken really isn't that nice. Not only did he put a sexual predator into a super-powered body and send him to seduce you, you see what happened later. Mr. Eric Entice is gone, when your companion's naked mole rat bit the synthodrone, it destroyed Mr. Entice's mind. His body is now an empty shell."

"You would have killed me if I hadn't done this!" Drakken roared.

"Silence, everyone!" Senator Forewind demanded of all parties.

Dr. Director," he then said, once he had the silence he demanded. "You seem quite eager to discuss Mr...Entice's condition. Perhaps you would be so kind as to detail what happened rather than just yell at Mr. Lipsky."

"Very well," the one-eyed woman nodded. "When Mr. Lipsky reported that he would be unable to have a synthodrone programmed to emulate human behavior on schedule, he offered this alternative. Mr. Entice's mind, including his memories, experiences and knowledge were in the synthodrone when it was destroyed. At this time, his body is perfectly healthy, but has absolutely no mind in the brain. It has only the reflexes a newborn has...flinching from pain, swallowing, those sorts of skills. It cannot walk, feed itself or carry on a conversation. We have been unable to teach it any of these behaviors."

"You say that Mr. Lipsky offered this as an alternative," the senator observed. "Did you approve his actions?"

"I told him to do whatever he needed to meet the intent of the plan," Dr. Director told her questioner. "If you want to interpret that as my approval, so be it."

"I understand that you wanted to prompt Miss Possible and Mr. Stoppable to form a romantic attachment," the senator continued. "What was the ultimate goal of this?"

"I was hoping that they would eventually produce children," she shrugged. "Children that would have potential enhancements, who I could mold into operatives."

"So that's all I was?" Kim snapped from the witness stand. "A breeding machine?"

"No!" Betty confronted the younger woman. "I invested a great deal of time and effort to groom you as a hero. I didn't force you into the life, you went there yourself. All the missions against Fiske, Dementor, Killigan...everyone but Drakken was real. You performed real heroics."

"But you were ready to compel me to become pregnant," Kim countered. "You were willing to play the lot of us, my family, Team Go, Ron. You were ready to act like a breeding master with the lot of us!"

"I was prepared to do what I had to do!" Dr. Director countered. "But I wasn't going to be harsh with it!"

"So tell me," Kim demanded. "Were you going to try to get Ron and I to have a baby?"

"Yes, eventually," Dr. Director admitted. "But only if you didn't go that way yourself."

"So you admit that the whole Eric thing was to get us together?"

"Yes," she admitted. "The Eric aspect; of a very complex, multi-faceted operation, was to do this."

"So how much did you have to play with our emotions to put us together?" Kim demanded. "Is there some scale that measures the effects of those damned moodulators? How high of a setting?"

"None!" The one-eyed woman snapped back. "I didn't do anything with your emotions! The two of you got together with no interference!"

Kim stared at her, wide-eyed for a full minute. For a moment, the redhead and a blonde, young man looked at each other, then Kim confronted Dr. Director again.

"Tell me, when were you going to compel Ron and I to have the baby?"

"I was going to give you until your twenty-third birthday." Betty told her. "I you hadn't reproduced at that time, I was going to provide discreet encouragement with your moodulators. That, or if you had suffered an injury that took you out of the hero business temporarily, it was my intent to make use of your down time."

"Make use of my down time?" Kim leapt to her feet. "Who are you to make use of me in that way?"

"I'm the one who has to answer to the world!" Betty snapped back.

"So I was a brood mare," Kim concluded. "Tell me, once I and Ron had reproduced, what then? Were you going to break us up and pair me with someone else?"

"Eventually," Betty shrugged. "I needed to keep all the genetic lines viable and experiment with crossing them in as many ways as I could."

"Well, it couldn't have been my brothers or my father, could it?" Kim growled. "So tell me, which member of Team Go was going to breed me next, and how were you going to do it?"

"I would have influenced events to put you and Mego in regular contact," Betty answered, meeting her gaze without flinching. "I would have influenced your emotions to feel happier when you were with him, and irritable when you were with Mr. Stoppable."

"What!" Senator Forewind broke into the conversation. "You were going to use people as breeding stock, weren't you?"

"I had no choice!" Betty argued. "You've seen my reports! The only way to reliably deal with technovillains is with enhanced humans! Currently, I know of eight! Of those eight, two have enhanced intelligence, which is not applicable to these operations. I need more enhanced humans and the only way to get them is to encourage those who exist to reproduce."

"And how long were you going to keep breeding me off?" Kim demanded.

"Until your second child," Betty's lack of guilt enraged Kim even more. "Once you had reproduced both with Stoppable and with Mego, my intent was to allow you to live the rest of your life free of the moodulators' influence. At that time, if you re-established yourself with Stoppable, stayed with Mego, found someone else or went through life alone, it would have been your business."

"How about the rest of the enhanced?" Senator Forewind asked. "What was your plans for all of them?"

"As Lipsky guessed, I initially intended to have Shego reproduce with Dr. James Possible," Dr. Director told her questioner. "After that, I would have nudged her towards an encounter with Stoppable. Again, after she had produced two children, I would have removed such influence and allowed her to live the rest of her life free of outside, emotional manipulation."

"You're missing something with that," Kim pointed out. "My father is already married."

"The marriage would have proven to be an obstacle," Dr. Director answered. "This is why I had Dr. Anne Possible chipped, as well. I would have had to eliminate the marriage in order to establish a relationship between Shego and James Possible." She paused for a moment. "Again, it wouldn't have garnered a great deal of attention; two very hard working professionals...the competing stresses must make a marriage difficult, so not many are going to question a divorce."

"And my brothers?" Kim prompted.

"They are young enough that I was planning on keeping an eye on them. They would have eventually wound up with girlfriends, even wives, and I would encourage any such relationships to produce children."

"Not what I was asking!" Kim snarled. "My parents love each other! They built a happy home, a happy life to raise their children! You were going to tear that up, destroy that family! You were going to deny my brothers the loving and supportive home that my parents worked so hard to create for them!"

"Sacrifices must be made for the greater good," Dr. Director pointed out.

"Who's sacrifice?" Kim demanded. "My parents? My brothers? Don't they get any say in their sacrifice? What have you sacrificed? What were you prepared to give for this grand venture?"

"I had already established contact with Hego," Dr. Director pointed out. "If my plans had gone as scheduled, if this board had not been called, I would probably be pregnant with his child by now." Her steady look turned into a satisfied smirk. "You see Kim, I'm not the uncaring, unfeeling puppet master, am I? I was fully ready to invest myself into this project. I was fully prepared to perform the same acts I was compelling others to perform."

"The difference is, you made your choice but our actions would have been without our knowledge," Kim shot back. "Were you going to let Shego and I know that we were going to have to sacrifice our relationships for the greater good? Were you going to actually give us a choice?"

"That wasn't necessary," Dr. Director shrugged.

"Maybe we should hear from someone who isn't enhanced, but still subject to these schemes." Senator Forewind said, before any more interaction could occur. "Miss Possible, please return to your seat. I would like Mr. Ron Stoppable to come to the stand."

The redhead got up and returned to her original seat, passing a blonde young man. The two looked at each other briefly, expressions of sadness and regret on their faces.

"Please state your name and occupation, for the record," Senator Forewind instructed the young man, once he was behind the witness stand.

"My name is Ronald Stoppable, I'm a college student," was the reply.

"Please tell me your relationship with Miss Possible."

"Currently, there is none," Ron looked down while he said this. "Prior to this, we were boyfriend and girlfriend. Before that, we were best friends."

"I know that this might be painful," the senator continued. "Please tell us what prompted the change in status from best friends to boyfriend and girlfriend."

"I had...a romantic interest...in Kim for a long time before the diablo invasion," Ron couldn't look up, couldn't bring himself to risk meeting a certain pair of green eyes. "Ever since she had the moodulator on her...when she kissed me..."

"Please continue," the senator asked, after a couple of minutes had passed. His voice, however, was gentle.

"I didn't think it could ever happen," Ron shrugged. "So I never acted on it. Then Amy kidnapped Sensei and framed Fiske. I went on a mission with...with a friend from a secret institution. Kim followed and seemed really interested in me...romantically. When we won and headed home, she seemed open to us being more than friends."

"I'm saying this looking back on it," he continued, now looking up but being careful to not look at his former girlfriend. "Of course, at the time I had no clue what to do; no clue that she actually wanted me to let her know I was interested in her in that way. Then Eric showed up and she didn't have time for me anymore. Of course, I couldn't let her be alone on missions so I decided that I could still be her friend, even though it was tearing me up inside. The night of the prom, I was going to show up solo and I wanted to tell her how I felt but I saw her and him and she was so happy that...I just couldn't." His face was down again.

"Then came the attack and we thought Drakken had kidnapped Eric. Of course I went with her to rescue him. When he revealed himself, betrayed her..." He looked up and faced Drakken's visage. "I was ready to tear him apart for what he had done to her."

"Eric or Lipsky?" The senator asked.

"Both," Ron told him. "But, well, facing a worldwide invasion made me realize that I could tell her. Of course, I did it in a just hinting kind of way. Anyway, that kicked off our time as boyfriend and girlfriend."

"How do you recall that period of time?" Forewind asked.

"The happiest of my life," Ron murmured.

"How much prompting would it have taken you to try to take your relationship with her to an...intimate level?" The senator asked him.

"Not very much," Ron glared at his questioner. "I mean, I was a teenage boy and just look at her. Of course I wanted to go farther but I just didn't know if she wanted..." He clamped his jaw shut.

"I think I understand," the senator decided not to press the issue.

"What is your opinion of Shego?"

"She's as scary as a runaway freight train on fire," Ron answered, without hesitation.

"Would you consider a romantic relationship with her?"

"Are you kidding?" Ron glared at the man. "She'd either fry me or gut me if I tried!"

"And what if you were compelled, as much as she was?"

"What has to happen for that to start?" Ron snarled, now looking at Dr. Director. "What about any relationship that she might have...that I might have at the time? Relationships don't come easy for me, what if I finally found someone and we were happy together, would I just get broken up with no say in the matter? What if she found someone, does she get manipulated into breaking things off?"

"What about afterwards?" Ron's temper was clearly up and he was now glaring at Dr. Director. "When you had what you wanted, what would happen to the two of us then? Would you just turn off the manipulation? What if she resented me, would you just let her rip me apart? Would you help me get my life back in order? Or would you just let me go, because you had what you wanted and I was of no further use? Would I have even known what I had done for you?"

"What! Shego? Ouch!" Drakken's voice sounded from the screen on Perkins' chest, interrupting Dr. Director's answer. Suddenly, Shego's image took it's place on the screen.

"Okay, you damned cyclops," the green tinted woman snarled. "Answer the buffoon's question, then I have some for you!"

"No, you would have never known," Dr. Director told Ron. "You would have done your duty and moved on."

"His duty!?" Shego was clearly outraged. "My duty!? It wasn't enough that you were leading me by the nose while I was growing up?"

"You were unfortunate to be the first," Dr. Director answered her. "I didn't know how to handle an enhanced girl. The mistakes I made with you allowed me to do better managing Possible."

"Handle?" Shego demanded. "Manage? How about manipulate and coerce? How about take away any chance for a normal life! At least you were sort of honest with me, you formed us into a superhero team and made us toe the line you drew. Managed Possible? Try led her into the same life you forced me into!"

"Possible's choice was her own," Director answered. "I didn't force her."

"Sure you didn't," Shego smirked. "You got her to do what you wanted with a little subtle nudging! What would you have done if she hadn't toed your line? Would you have just let her do her own thing or would you have gotten more persuasive?"

"I would have taken such steps necessary to put her on the proper path," Dr. Director replied.

"The proper path or your path?" Shego snarled. "Let's cut all the bull, shall we? Once you decided she was going to live the hero's life, she was stuck either living it or completely rebelling from everything she knew, wasn't she?"

"Yes," Dr. Director couldn't lie.

"Perkins, point me at Possible," Shego ordered. Once her image faced her rival, Shego addressed her. "Princess, I don't like you. I'd like nothing more than to lock it up and beat you down but I have to admit that we have something in common; being manipulated and screwed over by the cyclops. Neither of us deserved it."

Kim nodded, having nothing to say.

"Hank, look at the chairman," Shego commanded. Once her eyes were on her quarry, she addressed him.

"Senator Longwind."

"Forewind."

"Whatever," Shego rolled her eyes. "I think we just heard Dr. Director admit that she was both coercing Possible into a course of action, as well as prepared to go further. I don't know the exact legal terms, but that sure seems some form of crime."

"It is," the senator, still trying to decide if her earlier name for him was an honest mistake or an insult, answered. "These are high crimes, clearly violating the trust we placed in her by putting her in this high position. She should be convicted, much less removed from her position of authority."

He looked at Dr. Director. "Doctor Betty Director, unless any member of this board has any objection, this board will demand that the U.N. Not only remove you as head of Global Justice and remove you from it's ranks, leaving you with no immunity from legal prosecution in those nations where you have performed such actions that we have uncovered. Of course, we cannot actually compel the U.N. To take these actions, but we will recommend that the U.S. Government remove all funding for Global Justice, should you remain as head and a member."

He looked back at his fellow board members. All members nodded their support to him.

"Everyone here would be enslaved, or worse if I didn't do what I did," Dr. Director snarled in return. "Everyone here will be enslaved, or worse, if the next head isn't ready to do what I was. Since this is turning into a firing squad, what say you people give me a say?"

"I think that's appropriate," the senator agreed.

"If everyone's finished with the sidekick," Ron asked, pointedly. "Is it okay if I just disappear again? I'd hate for anyone important to be distracted by my being here."

"Oh!" Senator Forewind looked very uncomfortable. "My apologies. Yes, please return to your seat."

"That's what we sidekicks do best," Ron grumbled, stalking off.

"Dr. Director," Senator Forewind addressed her. "The floor is yours. You may assume the witness stand, if you wish."

"Right here is just fine," the one-eyed woman replied, rising to her feet. "Everyone is here judging me, and that's just fine, isn't it?" She sneered at her accusers. "Senator Forewind, you've never been a cop or a soldier, so what do you know about preparing to face a violent enemy? Members of the board, two of you were former military, so how can you sit there and accuse me when you know what it's like to be the one in charge, the one responsible; and the one everyone else can take time and second guess?"

"Mr. Drew Lipsky," she continued. "Created powerful robots, capable of independent thought, when he was a college student. Not a college graduate, a student. These robots later became powerful and antagonistic. Not only that, but while he was under my control, he created a series of inventions that could have brought entire nations to their knees. He did this working from a series of lairs that were little more than caves. This is the reality that I had to face."

"An unfriendly associate of his, known as Professor Dementor, has experimented with alternate realities," Dr. Director continued. "He has created small devices that can suck something as large as a house into a completely different universe. This is the reality that I had to face."

"A master of monkey kung-fu, Lord Montgomery Fiske, accessed some sort of unworldly power." She added. "The same power that allowed Mr. Stoppable to overcome the Lowardian Invasion. He also unleashed a demon on the world...don't laugh, such things exist. The British Government is reluctant to enforce international laws upon him, due to his noble status. This is the reality that I had to face."

"A brilliant geneticist built a laboratory in what was little more than a hole in the ground and started to combine creatures' genetics, making creations of almost unbelievable power and utmost loyalty to her. Some could burrow through solid stone as fast as you can walk. Some were bulletproof. Some could easily overpower a dozen strong men. She could produce these creations as fast as you could fold a paper airplane. This is the reality that I had to face."

"A spoiled heiress received experimental plastic surgery and can now mimic others, right down to their voices and fingerprints, even their scent. She can easily fool police and other law enforcement agencies. For all we know, she's here at this time, mimicking one of you. This is the reality that I had to face."

"A bird-obsessed man has managed to create a device that can steal a super-powered human's enhancements and transfer them to himself. He understands powers far beyond anyone else and wants to take them for his own. This is the reality that I had to face."

"A brilliant mathematician has the ability to actually subtract things, and people, from existence," she kept on. "He has managed to weaponize the very math behind reality itself..."

"Hey, his hat is cool!" A certain blonde, young man shouted.

"But this is the reality that I had to face." Dr. Director glared at Ron for his distraction. "A very rich father and son..."

"I think we all get the point!" Senator Forewind interrupted. "You had a rough job."

"And so will my successor!" Dr. Director stared at her chief tormentor. "You stand their and criticize me, but could you do a better job? These were the villains I had to combat and the only way I found that I could do so was to apply enhanced humans. If I tried standard, law enforcement methods, I sustained completely unacceptable casualties. If I used overwhelming firepower, not only was the collateral damage unacceptable, there was risk of civilian casualties and the political entities that found themselves host to the conflict were well beyond upset."

"Do you understand this, as a politician?" Dr. Director's smile, directed towards Senator Forewind, was pure false-honey. "Local, state and national governments don't like it when and outside force comes in and shoots up the place, even when that force is shooting up a villain. This is the reality that I had to face."

"The only acceptable method I had to combat the technovillain, that was acceptable to all parties, was to use enhanced humans." She continued. "Any national government would complain loud and long if a strike aircraft were to deliver ordinance onto a technovillain lair in the countryside, much less on a lair inside a densely populated area. The same government would also complain if I inserted a battalion of armed military operatives in the same area. Of course, anything less than this would mean the law enforcement party would get chewed up by the lair's defenses."

"That's why my best solution was the enhanced human, the super human," she concluded. "One who has hyper-strength, or can shrink to an insignificant size, or fire plasma, or reproduce himself, or even just has the maximum human potential in strength, agility and endurance. Take a team centered around one or more of these super humans and the lair's defenses can be either overwhelmed or avoided. The villain himself, with any assistants, can be apprehended without serious casualties. Do this, and the host nation, or state, or municipality has no objection...at least not publicly. Do this and it's business as usual for everyone."

"My problem, and the one my successor will face, is simple mathematics," she told her audience. "Technovillains are emerging at a rate faster than enhanced humans. The only way to get more such super humans is to have the current ones produce them, but there's no sign of that happening. None of the current members of Team Go have so much as a girlfriend. Shego has no romantic attachments and Miss Possible is currently single, as well. Tell me, in twenty years, as the current super humans age, will there be heroes available to face the growing threat?"

"That's why I did what I did," Dr. Director's eye was challenging to every member of the board. "Global Justice's best efforts have found no super humans outside of Team Go and Kim Possible. How many nerdy geniuses are being bullied and tormented even as we speak? How many of them will realize that the world is never going to appreciate them? How many of them will decide to make the world pay for ostracizing them? How many of them will have the willpower and the sheer genius to become the next Drakken, or Dementor, or even Hall?

"And how many enhanced humans will there be to face this threat?" Dr. Director now turned her eye on Senator Forewind, her chief tormentor. "That's why I couldn't define the exact threat...I don't know who's going to become the next technovillain but as sure as I know the sun will rise tomorrow, I know that the next one is out there right now, nursing his grudges, either real or imagined. I know that the world hasn't changed, that human nature hasn't changed. There will always be those who seek to elevate their own pride by humiliating others. There will always be those who seek revenge. Because of this, there will always be the need for those who combat this, when the revenge gets out of hand."

Now, Dr. Director stood tall and proud. "Hate my methods all you want! Hate me all you want! Just admit that you need someone like me, willing to do the dirty, nasty details that you don't want to admit exist, and be willing to be punished for bowing to necessity. I'm out as the head of Global Justice, I can accept that. I'm probably going to prison, I can accept that as well. The one thing I will not accept, that no matter how hard you try, it won't affect me, is your scorn and outrage for performing my duties, as I saw them. I only hope that when my successor watches the next plot blow up with major casualties, you all will have the honesty to look at yourselves and ask if my way was better."

For several minutes, silence reigned in the room. Finally, a voice sounded from the seating area.

"I was going to say how your methods were so close to those of the Nazis of World War Two," Ron said, rising to his feet. "Treating people as livestock. But it isn't, really. They viewed others as less than human, while you did something worse, you acknowledge that your subjects are human, but you're willing to treat them like livestock, anyway."

"What I did..." Dr. Director's voice sounded weary, but Ron interrupted her.

"A very wise man once said 'those who are willing to sacrifice freedom for safety deserve neither'," Ron told her. "I never really understood it until now. I guess I have you to thank for that, don't I? I don't know about anyone else, but if we're willing to let people like you select who's going to become livestock for the good of everyone else, I don't think we deserve to be safe. I'd rather take my chances against the next technovillain than stoop to the level you want me to."

"Very well put, Mr. Stoppable." Senator Forewind took the floor. "I'm going to say that we are done here. Dr. Director, this is fair warning, the United Nations will shortly be informed that the United States will withhold all funding until you are both relieved of your command and turned over to the United States for criminal prosecution. I suggest you use such time at your disposal, wisely."

"Everyone is dismissed," he stated, before adding. "Miss Possible, could I have a few words, off of the record?"

Kim nodded and approached him.

"Hey, Drakken, what's gotten in to you?" Shego's voice sounded over the screen on Perkins' chest.

"I need to speak to Possible and Stoppable," the mad scientist insisted. "Perkins, go speak to Stoppable. Shego, let me have the camera."

"Mr. Stoppable," the blue man, imposed on the young man, addressed the blonde man. "I would like to have a word with you...as I've probably caused some of your problems right now."

"Go ahead," Ron shrugged. "I don't really have anywhere I need to be, or anyone who really wants to see me anyway."

"When you and Possible were on the island, you were practically joined at the hip," the blue man pointed out. "It's only been about six months and now you're on the outs? What happened?"

"I got tired of being the buffoon," Ron shrugged, unable to not tell the truth. "We reported what you told us, there were quick investigations and we faced a whole lot of questions. The questions were all the same; Kim would you even be looking at him if it weren't for the moodulators? Kim would you even be with him if it wasn't for the synthodrone?"

"She actually argued a few times, saying she wanted to be with me and that Eric didn't make any difference," he sighed. "Then she quit arguing and I asked her if she really wanted to be with me."

He shook his head, "I didn't much care for the answer, she didn't much care for my response and we haven't been together since."

"How do you feel about her?" Drakken asked.

"I miss her," Ron admitted.

"As a friend or as a girlfriend?"

"Both," Ron looked to the ground.

"Stay here, please," Drakken asked him. "Perkins, turn around."

"Let's go have a word with the Senator," Drakken told Perkins. Hank dutifully approached the man, who was still speaking with Possible.

"Mr. Senator," Drakken addressed the chairman. "I was wondering if you could request a word with both Possible and Stoppable. It's important and I don't think these two young people will listen to me."

"Okay, Lipsky, I'll play along," the senator looked at the remote man with a subdued distaste. "Mr. Stoppable, could you come hear for a moment, please?"

With a pained glance at Kim, Ron complied. The two young adults pointedly avoided eye contact.

"What do you need with them, Lipsky?" He asked.

"Oh, just a couple of questions," Drakken looked a little nervous. "Kim, do you miss Ron?"

"Yes," she answered, unable to lie. "What's this about?" She demanded.

"Something important," Drakken answered, also under the effect of the truth ray. He quickly continued. "Do you miss him as a friend or as a boyfriend?"

"Both." She answered, now looking angry at Drakken.

"Ron, do you miss her the same way?" Drakken quickly asked, before anyone could react.

"Yes." He immediately answered. Then, the two young people stared at each other.

"That's all I needed," Drakken told the senator. "Hank, let's give these kids some privacy."

"You said it was important!" The chairman protested, following the young man with the screen on his chest.

"It was to me," Drakken told him. "After all I've put the two of them through, I want to give them an honest chance with each other." He smirked from far away. "Now that they're still under the truth ray's effects, maybe the false pride won't get in the way."

The senator looked back over his shoulder and saw Stoppable reach up and wipe a tear away from Possible's eye. Possible then caught the hand in hers and looked like she never intended to let it go.

After a moment, Senator Forewind was forced to agree with Lipsky. At the end of the day, after all those two had gone through, those questions were kind of important, after all.

finis:

A/N: First off, thanks to Sentinel103 for comparing Dr. Director's attitude towards experimentation with super-humans to the nazi attitude towards genetics.

Secondly, thanks to Joe Stoppinghem for beta reading.

Folks, I wanted to give some closure to "The Agent". I know this was short, but at least everyone knows that Dr. Director didn't get away with it. As for Kim and Ron...well, I always like to leave a little something to the reader's imagination.

Thanks for reading. Please, I'd love to hear from you so let me know what you think.

Until next we meet, best wishes to all.

daccu65