It Happened One Heist

The Underground

Monkey Fist chose to brief Maggie on the mission elsewhere, away from where others could potentially see or hear them. Despite his public status as "deceased" he still harbored the notion that anyone could be watching him. He retrieved a particular ancient scroll that he had among his research, and motioned Maggie to follow him.

He brought her back down into the parlor and stopped in front of the fireplace. He glanced at Maggie over his shoulder with an intense flare in his eyes.

Maggie knew that kind of look. He wanted to know that he could trust her to the fullest with what he was about to share with her. She had been involved in crimes ranging from grand larceny to attempted hostile takeovers. She returned the serious look and lightly nodded. He had her loyalty as expected from any reliable partner in crime.

Monkey Fist turned to the wall-mounted candelabra, fashioned to look like it was being held aloft by the firm grip of a chimpanzee. He pulled down the stone arm by its wrist and the fireplace lowered itself below the floor with a sound like a slow, low growl, revealing a darkened set of stone stairs.

Monkey Fist then descended on all fours in a most urgent manner with Maggie not far behind, her heart racing with excitement. She wasn't at all surprised that the evil genius had his own secret lair in his home. That was just tradition. But that he had one that was like something out of a Cocteau film; a gal could get used to this.

At the foot of the stairs they came to the entrance of his dojo. The Japanese-style furnishings in the yellow lamplight made for a stark contrast to the cool-hued European Gothic above them.

Monkey Fist and Maggie stepped onto a wooden platform where below them on a large mat of woven reeds the monkey ninjas were paired up and heavily engaged in their combat training. Their master made his way to a far corner of the platform where he had his computer installed. He sat down in a lotus position and Maggie kneeled in front of him.

Monkey Fist cleared his throat as he set the scroll down before her. "Some time ago I had attempted to obtain the power of the Monkey King through the Monkey King Amulet."

Maggie laughed. "Creative naming there."

Monkey Fist scowled. "Please. At the time my goal was to achieve full simian form, but thanks to Kim Possible it not only eluded my grasp once more, but it has since been returned to the Palace Museum in the Forbidden City under tighter security than before."

"So you want me to help you get it back?" Maggie presumed as she leaned forward, assuming that was going to be the image in the scroll.

"No, that isn't quite what I had in mind."

Monkey Fist unfurled the ancient yellowed paper. It was a chart laying out a list of many colorful objects, and below a symbol of a monkey emitting a mystical blue energy.

"Achieving full monkey-osity is only half of the puzzle..." he explained. "You see, Sun Wukong the Monkey King had a myriad of abilities. It wasn't just a title for him, after all. When Kim Possible merged with the amulet's powers she was unaware of what she was truly capable of."

He thought back to that encounter, when she had managed to throw a considerably heavy weight with her newly-formed tail. Monkey Fist rubbed at his chest where he remembered the weight colliding with him. Immense physical strength had been one of Sun Wukong's many talents, and fortunately for him she had not thought to fully utilize it.

"Many of these items have since disappeared," Monkey Fist continued, his hand brushing across the image, "however there are three artifacts that are still within our grasp." He rapped his finger on the aged paper, pointing to an ink painting of what looked to be a thin, ornate vase. "The first item on the list should be the easiest. An ancient container of a supposedly celestial wine that has been left unopened for hundreds of years."