Kim Possible: Final Masquerade

Mystery of the Black Lotus

Kim's setup was a bit different than it had been in previous years. Her room was nearly identical, except a few things moved here and there. But her desktop setup was completely changed. It was the same work desk she had over the years, now with dozens of wires, cords and other bits of power cords hanging off every side. The computer monitor itself was now spanned across three monitors, all connected to one large computer unit on the top shelf.

One keyboard, one mouse and a few other small trinkets were connected to the entire setup. Over the years she had slowly been adding to it, to create a small version of a supercomputer. Nowadays, a normal teenage setup wasn't gonna cut it. Since she was her own hero and her own team now she needed something next level.

She sat in her computer chair in the darkness in her room—the only light being the moonlight through her window and the bright screen illuminating on her face.

She reached up to the screen, and swiped to the side to continue reading a news article.

'Teen Hero Ron Stoppable Leads Rebuilding of Yamanouchi'

She grazed over the title multiple times. Seeing the name of the one person she loved, gave her mixed emotions. It was an old news clipping, from about a month or so after she had last see him. The cover photo, was Ronald himself with Rufus standing on his shoulder. They both had matching construction uniforms, with a yellow helmet.

He had that bright ear-to-ear smile that nearly melted her heart. The picture was black and white, but what gave it color was his happiness. She loved seeing him so happy. Even with the spot they were in now. Surely he was missing her as much as she did him. But why hasn't he tried to contact her? Was he still upset? Or were they both simply just too proud to say something first? But, she knew the only way to fix a problem was to take it head on.

She spent another hour doing research on the current state of Yamanouchi's restoration. She not only wanted to see how much progress Ron had made, but was desperate to find an interview or video or something of him. She had to hear his voice. She just had to.

But one other question remained: Where in all of China is Ron Stoppable?

She knew he was more than likely living in Yamanouchi, or definitely somewhere close. Her best bet was to start in the city and work her way out. But to find a bigger clue, she needed to do some detective work. Hardcore digging into Yamanouchi. She typed in the Google bar, 'Yamanouchi estates'. At least here she knew there were homes she could check first.

When the first page came up, there was a recent story as the first link. It was from FOX News. There was a small square picture of a black figure with glowing white eyes. The title next to it read:
'New sighting of Mysterious Black Lotus in China'

"Black Lotus?" She questioned out loud. Curious and clearly distracted from her current mission, she clicked in the link. She gazed through multiple interviews, reports and news videos of said man. The most recent however, showed a man strung up by his legs and hands. He looked badly beaten, but the girl didn't care. She didn't care simply because she immediately recognized him.

He was a drug trafficker that had only been a small blip on her radar. She had better things to worry about at the time of his huge scandal.

The next photo she saw was an enlarged version of the thumbnail. It was still an amateur photo, but it was a much more clear version. This picture was in color. They only way she could tell, was the glowing sword he held in his hand. The rest of the photo was black and white due to the darkness of the night and his black costume.

She paid closer attention to the blade he grasped. She knew she had seen it somewhere. But when it finally clicked in her head, she gasped loudly with big eyes.