Story: Don't Do Me Any Favors (all chapters)

“Would you like this gift-wrapped miss?” The clerk asked.

“Please and thank you.” Replied the slender, green-eyed teen. She was dressed casually in a pink tank top and denim Capri pants. Her long red hair was pulled back from her face by a simple black elastic band but still managed to fall over and cover part it. She had matching bands on her throat and left bicep. As the clerk turned to wrap her purchase, she activated the throat mike hidden in her choker and sub-vocalized: “What’s the sitch, Wade?”

“Two cameras cover the display floor.” Wade’s voice came to her through the small ear bud attached to the elastic band holding her hair. “I can link into the recording system and loop them while you’re in, but we’ll need a beta unit somewhere in the store.” They had come up with the beta unit about a year and a half earlier; it was basically a small Kimmunicator with limited function and range.

Leaving a beta was no problem. She always carried at least two whenever she was planning a job. Wade continued; “The floor is rigged for pressure, but only in front of the two doors and the safe. No alarm beams… no electrified fences… no motion sensors… Heck you’d think they want someone to take this stuff.”

“How do I get in?” the teen asked, without moving her lips.

“Ventilation system,” came the quick reply. “Bypasses both entrance pressure plates and you can drop down right in front of the big safe.”

“Do you need to see anything else?”

“No.”

Kim gave the clerk a big smile as he returned with her gift-wrapped earrings. She “accidentally” dropped her purchase and bent over to retrieve it. While the clerk was hurrying around the counter to assist her, she stuck a small beta unit to the underside of a display case.

~~~~~

Kim strolled into the Bueno Nacho and looked for Ron. He wasn’t in their usual spot but she could see Rufus at their table with his tail moving in the unmistakable “I’m eating a Naco” wag. She spotted Ron at the cheer squad’s usual table flirting with Hope and Marcella. She sometimes missed the old goofy Ron, but she figured if she had never dragged him to Francois, he wouldn’t be nearly as reliable. Besides, if it kept Bonnie out of her face, it was worth it. She was also glad he had taken to carrying a backpack so he could still keep Rufus with him and not mess up the line of his pants. She had missed the little mole rat while Ron was trying to figure that one out.

As she slid into her seat, she noticed Bonnie walking toward the restaurant. “Rufus,” she whispered, “Bonnie alert!” She may not care for the girl but Ron was her partner and she needed him injury free tonight, a condition that was in jeopardy if Bonnie saw him speaking with any of the other cheerleaders.

Rufus popped up and took a quick look around for Ron, spotting him several tables away. The naked mole rat plunged across the restaurant, spilling people and food as he went, climbed up Ron’s leg and torso to grasp the boy’s face firmly between his paws. “Bah-nee” he chittered. Ron planted a quick kiss on Hope’s cheek and gave Marcella wink before sauntering over to where Kim was sitting. Bonnie’s line of sight had been blocked by the chaos of Rufus’ dash. Ron paused to check his reflection before sitting down. He nodded to himself. The ‘New Ron’ looked good.

“KP!” He said, picking up a fresh Naco.

“Ron.”

“So, are we on for…? What?” Ron paused, the Naco halfway to his face. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Are you going to put the whole Naco in your mouth?”

“The Ron man’s hungry!”

“Uh-huh, hun-gree.” Agreed Rufus.

“The Ron man is a disgusting…” She paused, watching Ron’s attempt to give her puppy-dog eyes. It really was a pathetic attempt. She was about to tease him with a detailed critique of his failure when she caught a glimpse of blue and red out of the corner of her eye. Instead, she seemingly relented. “Okay Ron,” she sighed. “Go ahead and shove the whole thing in your mouth.” Ron was quick to oblige and almost choked when Bonnie showed up at the table just as he triumphantly finished pushing the last bits in.

Kim barely managed to keep a straight face at Bonnie’s look of horror and Ron’s food muffled sputtering. “That’s your man, Bon-Bon.” Kim said mischievously, “Dontcha just love him?” and was rewarded with a glare and a quick retreat from the stuck-up cheerleader. “Honestly Ron, I don’t know how you can bring yourself to kiss that girl, much less…” Kim’s voice trailed off. She sat up and leaned in toward him, her eyes burning, “I swear, if I ever find out you didn’t use protection with her, even once, I… I… I’ll… I don’t know what I’ll do!” She frowned. “But you won’t like it.”

Ron was a bit stunned; Kim seldom unleashed her Kimness in his direction. He took a few moments to collect himself, fix his hair and finish swallowing the Naco in his mouth.

“KP, you’ve got the Ron man all wrong.” He said, trying to sound nonchalant, “Bonnie’s a cheerleader. The head cheerleader. I’m dating the head cheerleader. Do you know what that does for the Ron man’s status?” Ron finally noticed this line of conversation was doing nothing to ease the glare and trailed off. “Anyway, I figure, date Bonnie for a while then… maybe I can date more of them.” He looked over to where Bonnie had joined Hope and Marcella, “Maybe more than one at a time…”

“Keep dreaming Bucko, but do it on your own time. We’ve got plans to go over.” Kim pulled the Kimmunicator out of her pocket and set it up on the table where she and Ron could both see it. “Hey Wade, how’s it looking?”

“Hi Kim,” came the computer genius’ reply, “It’s looking good. I’ve tapped into the taping and storage for the display area. I’ve already edited today’s visit to remove the time when you planted the beta unit and I’ll be standing by to rerun a loop of the empty store while you’re both inside. The safe is not on the electronic system, so it must be a mechanical lock. That’s where you come in Rufus.” He paused to watch the naked mole rat’s ‘I’m the creature’ dance and turned to Kim: “Are you sure you want to do this?” he asked.

“Wade, we’ve been through this before, when someone reneges on a favor, there’s only one way to make sure it doesn’t happen again.” Kim’s eyes burned again. “No one backs out on a favor they owe me. At least, no one gets away with it.”

Wade and Ron glanced at each other, trying to think of something to say that would return Kim to her normal chipper mood. Fortunately, Monique chose that moment to make her ever so fashionable entrance and the conversation turned to clothes.

Wade paid little attention to the conversation at the table as he was contemplating Kim’s demeanor. The fiery teen hadn’t always been keen on vengeance. During the summer after their sophomore year, Kim had gone on a rescue mission near a resort her family vacationed at. Kim had tried to call in a favor from the owners of the resort and they had been unable to help her.

Kim had never told Wade any details of the mission or how it had ended but when their junior year started Kim was a little less forgiving, a lot more calculating and wanted nothing more to do with cheerleading. The past two years hadn’t changed her attitude, although Ron had caught Kim practicing cheer moves on several occasions. Whenever they asked about it she would either change the subject or just glare until they did.

They had pulled their first revenge job, as he thought of them, during the Thanksgiving holiday that year. It was at the same resort. Wade was surprised by what Kim had done and even more surprised when Kim had presented him with a portion of the sizable profits. He had been able to hide his share easily in the maze of cyberspace and electronic banking. When Kim asked him to do the same for Ron, he obliged; so they wouldn’t go through another Naco check incident.

The resort was out of business before Christmas. He hadn’t spent any of the money, but he hadn’t reported Kim’s actions to the authorities either.

~~~~~

Ron got dressed for the evening’s activities. For a few weeks after Kim had taken him to Francois’ he had tried to keep the “New Ron” look at all times. But after accompanying Kim on a few missions, but he discovered three things:

1) Pockets are essential.

2) Rufus hates being shoved into the bottom of a knapsack during a high-speed chase.

3) Pleather doesn't breathe.

So, during missions he reverted to his traditional jersey and cargo pants. Kim had promised him that this was going to be their last revenge job and he knew that she was always true to her word. It was probably for the best, he didn’t like the way her Kimness came out when she was pissed off. Besides, Wade had already stashed nearly a half million dollars somewhere for him to collect after he graduated. Though he had already gone one round with wealth and had come completely unglued, he thought he was ready for the next one.

While discipline was not something that came easily to Ron, with Kim’s help, he believed he had mastered the ability to control his impulses. He paused for a moment; thinking about the surprising way that Kim had distracted him from the money after that job at the resort, then quickly gathered up his tools and headed for the rendezvous.

Wade was tracking Kim and Ron as they made their way to the Upperton Jewelry exchange. He was also monitoring the Upperton police net and the top secret GJ agent communication exchange. As the current debate on the Everlot Fan site played across a small corner of his screen, he wondered if anyone would be able to divulge information new to him; not likely. A ticker along the base of his monitor showed the Nikkei average drop in response to Nakasumi Toys report of lower than expected fourth quarter earnings. All the while, he manipulated the plans for his next Wade-bot, adding a stealth mode and upgrading its self-repairing armor. As these improvements were uploading to his patent attorney, he sighed, because no matter how he occupied his mind, he continued to think about Kim’s emerging dark side.

It had been nearly two years since the incident at the resort, and he still had not been able to discover the details of what had happened. Kim had taken on a rescue mission from someone else; he guessed it was verbally because there was no record of it anywhere he could find. Kim wouldn’t talk about it and whatever it was, it had happened during a period of increased solar flare activity that had interfered with all of the satellites in that area for several days and he hadn’t been able to track her. Even the Kimmunicator’s functions had been limited to audio only communications. He had pieced together some of the events and he knew that two girls, both about the same age as Kim, had died. Perhaps a part of Kim had died with them.

The family that had run the resort was now bankrupt and desolate, just like everyone else who had failed Kim during the last eighteen months. He began to run his correlation programs one more time. Somewhere there was information that would explain what happened to Kim. Somewhere there was a key to her deliverance. Kim’s voice interrupted his thoughts; “All set here, Wade.” He sighed again and reached for the keyboard. “You’re all clear, Kim.” He said, “Straight up the south face and ten feet in from the wall.”

“You rock, Wade!”

He already knew that, but it was nice to hear.

~~~~~

Kim hung upside down from the ventilation shaft, her grappling hook looped to her climbing harness, Ron bracing the yoke in the shaft, Rufus sitting on her hands. She and Rufus were dangling in front of the safe but still about three feet too high.

“Down slow.” She sub-vocalized. Ron just grunted acknowledgement and began letting out slack. As she approached the safe’s tumbler, she signaled Ron to stop, allowing herself a quick smile. There had been a time, when she would not have trusted Ron to hold her in position like this without losing his pants. The last year and a half had been good for Ron she thought, as Rufus started on the safe.

Still perched on her hands, the rodent began manipulating the safe’s tumblers, expertly spinning them this way and that, finding the right combinations in about half the time it would have taken her. Satisfied that the job was progressing well, she let her mind drift back to the man Ron had become. He was no longer the goofy, vacant-headed blonde of their early years together; he had matured and focused on what was important. She could rely on him, even if he did constantly refer to himself in the third person, and that was what mattered.

The soft click of the tumblers lining up brought Kim out of her reverie, she pulled Rufus up to her waist and let him climb up to Ron from there. Opening the safe, she quickly removed a small velvet sack and held it in her hand. With her other hand she removed several similar bags from her pockets one at a time and compared them to the bag she had removed from the safe. When she found one that matched size and weight, she placed it carefully into the safe in the exact spot where its twin had been sitting. She then closed the safe and spun the tumblers, taking care to return each one to the position it was in before they had started.

She did a quick survey of the area and verified there was nothing of theirs left behind, and then signaled Ron to pull her up. They quickly broke-down the climbing equipment and moved out. She would exchange the earrings tomorrow and retrieve the beta unit at the same time.

As they swiftly made their way across the rooftops of Upperton’s historic district, Kim let the adrenaline flow through her. She could feel her emotional dam twisting under the conflicting forces. There was still time to alter the plan. There was still time to spare him. The retribution had started and could be completed tonight. She held his future in her hands, it was her’s to save or destroy. The emotional conflict raged inside of her petite frame, building up pressure like steam in a boiler trying to find a relief valve. She allowed the dark mix of emotions to churn in her body and splash out through her limbs.

Ron kept an eye on Kim with while scouting ahead. He knew she was bursting with something primal and it was up to him to find a suitable place for what came next. Fortunately, this part of Upperton was filled with little parks and courtyards. He spotted a promising milieu just in time. “Now!” the redhead demanded and attacked him full force, wrapping her legs around his waist and burying her face in his neck. At least she had given him a warning this time, he thought. Holding Kim tightly against his torso with one arm, he slid down a drainpipe onto the patio he had spotted a few moments ago. He had just enough time to target the chaise lounge before she dropped one leg down and tripped him.

Ron spent an eternity intently focused on Kim. He was not an expert lover, but he had the ability to exclude everything that was not Kim from his world for as long as she needed it. His hands and mouth explored her with an intensity and fervor that drove her right to the edge of sanity. When she peaked, he held her, anchoring her against the waves. When the storm subsided, he continued his fanatical exploration. He worshiped her. He loved her. He let her know that there was nothing else he wanted to do, nothing else he could do. There was nothing but Kim.

After she peaked a second time she guided him into herself. He could feel her breasts against his chest and her hands clasping his back and ass. She encouraged him to deepen his thrusts and planted teasing kisses on his neck. His right hand slid up her stomach and found her breast, cupping the fullness of it. His fingers teased her nipple and his light but intense touch was bringing her once more to the edge of ecstasy. He could feel her trembling beneath him. Knowing she was climaxing once more put him over the top. He wrapped his arms and legs around her, enveloping her until her orgasm subsided. She clung to him, sobbing quietly into his neck. “I’m here for you, Kim.” He said, “I’m right here.”

~~~~~

The young man handed a single key to Kim. “Thanks for the ride” She said, looking at the red sportbike.

“After what you done for me, you can borrow my bike anytime!” he replied.

“It was just a little cliff-side rescue from halfway down a thousand foot gorge during a wind storm,” she said with a dismissive wave of her hands. “So not the drama.”

She turned to Ron as the man hopped in his friend’s car and they drove away, “Do you want a ride back home?” she asked.

“Nah, I’m supposed to meet Bonnie. If I show up on the back of some bike she’ll just start asking me questions until my head explodes.”

“Don’t you have to go change into your ‘New Ron’ clothes first?” She teased.

“Oh, Right.”

-Twenty seconds later-

“KP! KP! KAAAAAY PEEEEEE! YOU CAN LET ME OFF RIGHT HERE!”

Ron watched Kim take off on one wheel and wondered what had possessed him to climb onto a vehicle that Kim was operating. She might be able to do anything but apparently; reassuring her passengers that they were not going to die wasn’t something high on her list of priorities. He sighed and called Wade for a ride home. It was after midnight, and Bonnie was going to be pissed.

~~~~~

The black Limousine pulled away. Kim memorized the Swiss bank account number and tore the paper into tiny pieces. She spread the flecks on the small breeze like confetti and put on her helmet. The Retribution was complete, but she was feeling uncertain. She was sure that Mr. Long would never leave her or anyone else high and dry again, but something didn’t feel right. A small part of her thought of his family and how they would be affected, she began to feel sorry for his wife and… She stopped that train of thought right there.

I needed him. She thought to herself, and he wasn’t willing to help me when I needed him. He had to pay for that. What if she had failed to protect someone again? What if lives had been lost this time? No! She shouted in her mind, she wasn’t going to feel sorry for him. She wasn’t going to feel sorry for his family… for his damn dog… for anything associated with him!

I make deals with people, she told herself bitterly. I help them; they help me when I call. It’s that simple. If they don’t help me, someone could get hurt… Someone did get hurt; the memory was an ever present knife in her gut. “If they don’t help me,” She whispered inside her helmet. “I make sure it’s them.”

The memory of Jenny’s broken body threatened to overwhelm her. In the back of her mind, the Chief was laughing and no one was answering her call. As she mounted the bike and headed back to Middleton, the helmet lining absorbed her tears impersonally.

“Damn, girlfriend!” said Mo looking around at Kim’s flat, “this is high class!”

Unlike Kim’s room at home, which was a ludicrous hodgepodge of O-Boyz posters and pink, this flat was tastefully done with neutral carpet, olive walls and maroon accents. The couch and recliner were black leather. Tasteful cherry cabinets held an entire library of books and a flat screen plasma TV. The kitchen was a sea of granite and oak, sprinkled with stainless steel icebergs. A glimpse of the bedroom seemed to be a bit more like Kim with jewel toned curtains and a bed half covered in Cuddle-Buddies, but there was nothing pink in sight.

“How do you afford this? You don’t even have a job!”

“My mother’s a brain surgeon and my dad is a rocket scientist, remember?” teased Kim. “Besides, a lot of people owe me favors. I collected on a few.”

Monique looked skeptical but didn’t push the issue. She hadn’t seen Kim all summer and didn’t want to argue about something like where her money came from. Maybe it was someone who owed her a favor and loaned her the use of his or her apartment. Besides, if the Drs. Possible had loosened the purse strings enough that Kim could afford this place, there was about to be some serious shopping. Monique dismissed her unease and started grilling Kim about her two month long trip through Mexico, Australia and China.

It only took a short time for the girls to fall back into their familiar chatter. Monique’s habit of reducing phrases into collections of seemingly random letters caused Kim’s head to spin for the first few minutes, but she quickly regained the distinctive rhythm and was soon deep in effortless conversation.

The Drive downtown was uneventful. Well, as uneventful as anything involving Kim operating a motor vehicle could be. It wasn’t so much that Kim drove with blatant disregard for other vehicles, pedestrians, small animals or innocent inanimate objects, (she had never run into or over anything) it was just that she chose not to slow down. Somehow there was always an opening in the intersection or the next lane or the sidewalk and Kim always found it. Monique was sure that Kim would never have to replace the brakes on any of her vehicles.

Kissing the ground was always frowned upon after a ride with Kim so Monique settled for a discrete moment of thanks in the parking lot of the biggest mall in the Midwest.

Once inside, Monique surveyed the three-story Go City Mall atrium and gave Kim her expert opinion, “Girl, this is spang… king!”

“Which store do we terrorize first?” asked a grinning Kim.

“Girl, you know Club Banana is TB, but we can’t be in GCM without hitting every clothing store here!” The dark skinned girl looked around again, her eyes glazing over just a little bit “YSL… DKNY… TCBY… We’ve got days of shopping ahead… maybe weeks…”

Kim let the tension drain out of her as she threw herself into shopping with Monique. What a welcome change from weeks of sizing up the city; checking out well-known art galleries, museums and canals, walking and riding around to get a feel for the layout and flow. Occasionally she had spent an entire day exploring one neighborhood, memorizing dead-end streets and little-known connections to main thoroughfares.

This was to be an afternoon of fun and relaxation, no memorizing escape routes no scouting for hidden hazards, just hang out with Mo and buy stuff. Even so, she found herself committing the floor plans and shop locations to memory. She told herself it was because they might not be near a map when they emerged from one of the shops. She was very convincing, she almost believed it.

While the girls were eating lunch the subject of Go City’s resident super heroes came up. “So, have you seen ‘em yet?” asked Monique, waving at a life-sized poster of the four men.

Kim turned to look at the poster. “Not in action.” She replied. “I saw the purple one… you know, the shrinker? I saw him at a museum exhibit opening.”

“What kind of exhibit was it?”

“It was a nano-tech display at the Museum of Science and Industry.”

Monique spent nearly a full minute studying Kim through narrowed eyes. “Girlfriend, you are nineteen years old, alone in the big city for the first time in your life, with no parents, no pressure and no schedule, and you spend your time going to museums and looking at nano-tech exhibits? That is seriously FUBAR!” Mo paused to look at Kim with challenging eyes, “we need to get dressed in some of these fabulous new clothes and get our beautiful butts to a place where gorgeous men can see and admire them. And we gotta do it PDQ!”

There were two exceptions. They stood uncomfortably at the bar. They didn’t look rich and they certainly weren’t trendy.

The door to a back office made an impressively loud “CRACK!” as it flew out of its frame and traveled a considerable distance into the main dance area. Surprised clientele moved quickly away from the disturbance nervously seeking some reassurance that this was just part of the evening’s entertainment.

Anyone looking would immediately notice the black and green clad woman framed in the doorway. An attentive person would take in; long raven hair, deep green eyes, a sinister sneer, flawless pale green skin, a shapely, athletic build and glowing green hands. An eagle-eyed spectator, seated at the correct angle, would probably note that the room behind this well formed woman contained two piles of bodies and several pieces of broken but expensive looking furniture. A professional observer might go on to realize that some of the furniture was sticking partially through walls and that a desk, a rather heavy looking desk, was lodged in the ceiling. The expert observer might recognize that each pile of bodies was comprised of several large men and note that a solid oak hat stand seemed to be protruding from the posterior of what under other circumstances would be an intimidating figure.

This hypothetical expert might have questions.
Questions like:
“Who is that?”
“What makes her hands glow?”
“When is that big desk going to fall?”
“Where is that hat stand actually lodged?”
Or even:
“Why would anyone have a hat stand in their office?”

But an intelligent expert would already be heading for the nearest exit at the fastest possible speed.

An amateur observer of average intelligence would probably just turn toward the door, look at the woman, see the glowing green hands and run like hell.

“TONY!” the green skinned woman yelled, “You’d better get a few more goons, those jokers didn’t teach me anything!”

The brighter patrons of the club suddenly remembered important engagements at places far away from Club Macaroon and began high-tailing it for the doors. The appearance of the rest of Tony’s thugs encouraged the remaining guests to join them and within five minutes, everyone who had a lick of sense was making tracks down Dash Street as fast as their legs could take them.

The two exceptions did not leave. They cowered behind the bar. Both wore shockingly out-moded hairstyles and clothing. One was blue.

A small swarthy man in an expensive Italian suit walked casually onto the dance floor. He looked around the deserted club and turned to the woman with the glowing hands. “Shego,” he said in a disappointed voice, “that little stunt is gonna cost me, about seven thousand dollars in lost business and…” He looked into the room she had just exited, “about fifteen thousand in remodeling costs.”

“Well, since you screwed me out of sixty grand, you can give me thirty eight in cash right now, and I’ll call it even.” The pale woman said in a shining example of generosity.

Tony looked around the empty club and sighed. “You know I can’t do that Shego. If word gets out that you shook me down and I gave in…” His voice trailed off and he shrugged.

Shego couldn’t believe the man’s nerve. First he shorted her sixty thousand on the merchandise and now he was going to try to kill her for complaining. Some people deserve to be humiliated in front of their friends and family. But since no one else from the mob was here, she’d have to do it in private and hope word got around.

“GET HER!”

The goons began firing automatic pistols at the spot where she had been standing. She had already leapt for the ceiling support beams. She crossed the room swinging from beam to beam and dropped down behind two of the gunmen. She knocked their heads together, and set off the sprinkler system with a plasma ball to the smoke detector.

The water cascading into the room mixed with the spilled drinks and food and made the floor as slippery as an ice rink. Shego leapt right back up to the ceiling and took a quick count of the remaining thugs… nine. There sure had seemed like a lot more when they were shooting at her. She unloaded two plasma blasts at the speakers behind one of the men, burying him in debris. She took out three more in quick succession by dropping heavy light fixtures on them. By this time the men realized that she wasn’t on the floor and began looking around to figure out where she was.

Shego knew the natural reaction to uncertainty was to close ranks and anticipated the men would come together in front of the stage as they assessed the situation. She sprinted along the top of a decorative cornice and swung herself at one of the corner booths using the thick material as a springboard to launch her body at the stage. Hands blazing, she flew toward the men and took out three more hoodlums, her body plowing through the space they occupied. She jumped lightly to her feet and appraised the probable life span of the two remaining brutes. One was running for it so she figured he was more likely to survive the night than his buddy who was attempting to hit her with the butt of his gun. She blocked the crude attack and knocked him out with a plasma-enhanced uppercut.

“Really Tony,” she said as she dragged the cringing fence from his hiding place near the stage, “What kind of idiot tries to hit someone with a gun? A gun is a ranged weapon. You should really hire smarter goons.”

Tony looked down at the pale thief with his feet dangling a few inches off the ground and her hand clamped around his throat. She extended her other hand toward him, flat out, palm up. “Now,” she said, “I believe you owe me ninety large.”

“Bu… Bu… You said thirty… and it was only supposed to be sixty…”

“Yeah, that was before you made me angry.”

As Shego left the club, the two exceptions crawled slowly out from behind the bar. “Dude!” The blonde said, “I think I’m in love… Seriously.” They beat a hasty retreat before Tony or any of his hired men could wake up.

Kim hadn’t spoken with him in nearly three months and she had disabled his remote activation control on the Kimmunicator. That had surprised him because he didn’t know she was even aware of it. He had surreptitiously followed her progress around the Pacific and had been relieved that she didn’t seem bent on vengeance. Her visits to quite a few research facilities could have been dismissed it as a purely educational undertaking a few years ago, but now he wasn’t so sure. At least nothing seemed to be missing from the places she had been. Still, three continents in six weeks, what was she up to? He started a more comprehensive correlation program.

Wade returned to studying the coroner’s report on Jennifer Martin and Kaylee Swan. He could see the pattern of missing information. It wasn’t like someone had erased portions of the files; there were just small inconsistencies that pointed to missing information. He compared them to a police report of the incident. The police files were sanitized, he knew because he had purged them at Kim’s request.

She had asked him to wipe the details of this case completely off the map. He had done so without hesitation, utterly destroying all the records except the sanitized official reports. At her request he had not looked at any of the information, just treated it like a virus and obliterated it so completely that even he couldn’t recreate it. It seemed like the thing to do at the time but now he wished he could retrieve the lost info; maybe knowing what happened back then would empower him to help Kim now.

He chuckled to himself, as a shut-in genius with acute agoraphobia, germ-o-phobia and an inability to speak with anyone other than his mom face to face; he wasn’t the best judge of healthy human interaction. Even so, he knew what Kim was doing wasn’t healthy. And no one else was looking for a cure.

He read the results of his correlation program and choked on his soda. He ran the data three more times just to be sure and sent a panic signal to the Kimmunicator. He hoped she would answer this time.

The clerk just shrugged and turned back to the newspaper he was reading.

When Kim responded to the emergency signal, Wade felt a release of tension that he hadn’t realized he had been carrying. Some part of him had feared that Kim was going to move on and never speak to him again and he was thrilled that it wasn’t so.

“What’s the sitch, Wade?”

“Someone’s trying to kill you.”

“WHAT?!?”

“Someone is trying to kill you.” Wade repeated.

“What kind of greeting is that? ‘Someone is trying to kill you…’ That’s not funny!”

“It’s no joke, Kim. Every place you visited this summer was hit by some kind of disaster, accident or attack within twelve hours of your departure. There is an unmistakable pattern of destruction that follows your exact route. I ran the numbers four times.” He paused for a sip of soda, “Unless you’ve become an international terrorist and didn’t tell me about it.” He studied the stricken girl’s face for a moment looking for reassurance. “You don’t watch the news, do you?”

“No, I…” Kim searched Wade’s face for some sign that he was putting her on or a mischievous grin and found none. “You’re serious, places that I have been were… attacked?” The boy nodded. “And you think that someone was trying to kill me?”

“Yep!”

“Well…? Who is it?” Kim went through a mental list of enemies in her mind: Dementor, The Seniors, Drakken, Monkey Fist… It couldn’t be…? She wouldn’t try to…

“I don’t know, but whoever it is has a worldwide organization…” He tried again to think of a way to lessen the blow of his next bit of information but could find one, “Kim,” he said softly, “it gets worse.”

“How much worse could it possibly get?” Her mind raced. A worldwide organization?

“They aren’t concerned with collateral damage.”

Fear stabbed through her heart. “How many deaths?” she forced herself to ask.

“Fifteen.”

Her airway closed up, and the cold fear settled into her stomach. “Wade, I think I’m in trouble.”

Wade soon realized that Kim knew, or thought she knew who was responsible for the situation and she wasn’t going to tell him. Wade interacted with hundreds of people over the net every day. People from all walks of life contacted him for favors or information and pop stars to premiers they treated him with disdain or sometimes pity. Kim was the first person who had treated him with genuine respect and made him feel human. He may not be able to face the world in person but through Kim he could feel like he was a part of it.

He would help Kim do anything she asked, no matter how illegal or crazy, and just about everything she asked him to do this time could be considered one or the other. As he began collecting the information Kim had asked for, he decided that while he would help Kim no questions asked, he wasn’t going to do it in ignorance and started a few search programs of his own.

This didn’t seem like the right time to tell Kim that he’d found the perfect girl for her. Instead, he settled for arranging a meeting at the first opportunity. Ron would have to take the long way home.

As she was climbing out of the window, she heard a noise that reminded her of a small kitten jumping off of a chair onto a thick pile carpet. She froze and listened. Several seconds passed before she heard another small sound. This time it sounded like someone had inserted a muffled pick into a brass lock. The pale woman turned to face the room and at first saw nothing out of the ordinary. Then, like a picture transitioning from two faces to a vase, one shadow became the outline of a person. Judging by its location, the person wanted what Shego had in her bag.

Bemused, Shego went through her mental Rolodex of class ‘A’ thieves currently in Go City that might be aware of the value of the nano-tech control chip and came up blank. This must be a new player, perhaps someone from out of town or even a local burglar for hire without knowledge of the chip’s value. The shadowy form gave no clues as to the identity or build of the… Shego’s mind dubbed the other “kitten” because of the noise by which she had first become aware of it.

Shego studied the kitten from the windowsill while it was removing the display case cover. There was a human sound of frustration when it… she? discovered the processor was already gone. The master burglar decided that now would be a good idea to find out what the competition could do and removed her jumper from the alarm circuit setting off the silent alarm.

Her test subject reacted immediately. “The window alarm? I didn’t even come in through a window!” a young woman’s voice came to Shego. “How many are coming?” Kitten must have a partner thought Shego. The girl carefully replaced the display case cover and then ran toward one of the room’s exits. It was too late. Two guards burst into the room, hands on nightclubs.

“HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!”

“DON’T MOVE!”

The sneak thief didn’t even break stride, she cart wheeled into a series of back handsprings and ended with a flip that dropped her between the guards. She tripped both of them with a roundhouse sweep of her legs and relieved them of their clubs while they were falling. The style looked familiar but Shego couldn’t place it. The little minx dished out a well-placed disabling kick to each guard and sprinted across the room pulling out a… hairdryer? No… a grappling gun. Her momentum and the retracting grappling hook pulled her into an open ventilation shaft. A flash of red hair showed from under the acrobatic thief’s hood. Shego could hear the girl crawling through the duct system now, and she didn’t seem to be making any effort to move quietly. The guards were calling for back up, but neither looked willing or able to actually give chase.

Shego followed the noise up to the roof and was surprised to find it empty. She was sure she had heard the little rogue climbing up the ventilation shaft but didn’t see any sign of her here. In the fan housing she found the blow-dryer/grapple swinging around. The green skinned woman sat back stunned. I fell for a decoy! She thought to herself. This little kitten is craftier than I thought! She pouched the device, went over the probable exits in her mind and headed for the east wall.

Hidden in the shadow of one of the museum’s rooftop gargoyles, she watched the kitten pop out of a sewer access between two Go City police cruisers. To her disappointment, the little sneak didn’t attack any of the officers but instead took off across the street into the park. “SHE’S HEADING FOR THE PARK!” yelled Shego, and watched while the girl avoided gunfire with a series of flips and rolls, in that familiar but infuriatingly unidentifiable style. Within seconds the red haired girl had disappeared into the trees and Shego knew that the cops would be looking for the girl in vain. While they were occupied, the pale green woman made her casual escape.

“What do you want to know?”

“There was someone in the museum with me. I need to know who it was.” Kim was running toward her vehicle, busily reversing her jacket and stowing her hood into the pouch she carried.

“The museum doesn’t use video surveillance, Kim, just passive alarms. What makes you think there was someone else there?”

“First, the chip was already missing when I got there. Second, someone tripped the building alarm, and I know it wasn’t me. Third, someone on the roof alerted the police as I was making a clean get away. It couldn’t have been any of the officers. They just got there. It couldn’t have been the guards because the voice was female. Find out who wants that chip and let me know where they are.”

The cold knot in Kim’s gut was spreading. What if she is already here? The teen thought. What if she figured out what I’m doing and is coming for me? What if she comes to confront me? I’m not strong enough yet. I need more time.

Kim stowed her gear in the tank bag, donned her helmet, climbed on the motorbike and took off toward her borrowed apartment.

Within five minutes, Shego was convinced that the red head and the kitten were one and the same. She had been following at a discrete distance but apparently she was not covert enough because the biker had suddenly gone through a series of quick turns and disappeared into a row of bikes on State Street. Shego cruised slowly by the rows of parked motorcycles but didn’t see the girl’s among them. She drove home and almost crashed her car pulling into the parking garage under her apartment building.

Parked fifteen feet from her spot was the girl’s bike. The motor was still warm. Coincidence? Like hell! Someone was playing games.

Wade already knew who was at the museum when Kim was trying to pinch the chip because he had made sure the two of them would hit the place on the same night. The shut-in genius had expected the volatile thief to confront Kim directly but instead she had set the girl against the cops and probably watched the action from a well concealed hiding place. Wade wondered where his calculations had deviated from reality.

He nervously checked the data again. Shego’s profile indicated that she would find Kim attractive and feel protective toward her if she thought the girl was an aspiring thief who was somewhat vulnerable. Kim’s profile indicated that she would welcome the attentions of a slightly older strong female. Mathematically it made sense; the two were perfect for each other and should get along like a house afire. The main difficulty would be making sure it was the right house and no one got badly burned.

He verified the covert data link to Shego’s PDA was still operational and began correlating the data from his latest ferret results. The initial conclusion indicated that he had spent nearly two years searching for clues to Kim’s emotional transformation in the wrong places. The answers were right under his nose the whole time and he had been chasing ghosts. Kim was only partially right; they were all in trouble.

After she finished posting the coded listing for the processor on Craig’s list, Shego hacked into the apartment building’s security system to try and find out for sure if the bike in the parking garage belonged to her red haired friend. It did, and the girl had dropped a black hood while emptying the tank bag. Shego watched the video from the elevator and, because of all the coincidences so far, was mildly surprised that her own floor was not selected. The girl talked to someone on a kind of phone in the elevator. Shego wondered who her service provider was because her own phone never worked in the elevator. Once the girl left the elevator, there were no more security cameras.

Shego searched the online phonebook by address. A few hours of research revealed that every unit on the eighth floor was rented from a real estate corporation that was a front for another company altogether. After going through several levels of corporate dummies and offshore accounting firms, a name popped up on the screen Shego whistled. It was a formidable name. She wondered if her kitten was working for them or trying to put one over on them. Either way it was big league.

She sat next to the guy and got her next shock. His skin was blue too. He was a paunched man in his early thirties. His skin was blue and he had a scar running from his left eye down his cheek.

A sneering nasal voice greeted her, “You can’t sit there.”

“Watch me.”

“Listen you, I have important business to attend to and if you don’t move you’ll find yourself on the unpleasant end of this vortex-inducing pistol.”

Shego looked down at the popgun the annoying blue guy had pointed at her and sighed. “Listen, you despicable little sociopath, do you have the money with you or not?”

The scarred man goggled at her. “You’re Jade?”

“Yes, and you’re Dr. D.”

“From Craig’s list?”

“Yes,” she said impatiently, “and you are Dr. D, also from Craig’s list. Can we get on with it?”

“You placed the ad for the nano-tech processor?”

Shego roller her eyes, “Yes.”

“And you have the nano-tech processor?”

“Yes! And why don’t you talk a little bit louder,” she hissed looking around, “I don’t think the cheerleaders heard you…” something about the cheerleaders’ routine was tickling the back of Shego’s mind. “Now, give me the money and I’ll give you the chip.”

“The nano-tech processor chip?”

“Look buddy, if you keep asking stupid questions we’ll be here all night, you’ll never get your chip and I’ll never get my money. So… if I don’t have the money in my hand in five seconds I’m walking away and selling this thing to the next highest bidder.”

“Well, there’s no need to get sni…”

“Walking away now.”

“Wait! I’ve got the money right here!” He said, picking up a briefcase.

“Don’t wave that around!” Shego closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. She was getting a headache. She didn’t think anyone could be this stupid.

“I don’t see why you are getting so upset…”

Shego glanced around quickly but everyone seemed to be focused on the action down on the field. “Just hand me the money, and I’ll hand you the chip.”

“It’s so small…”

“Nano-tech…”

“I just expected it to be… bigger.”

“You have no idea what that thing is, do you?”

“For your information, I know exactly what it’s for… you use the processor to… umm, the tech is… umm…”

“Walking away now.” Next time she would just use e-bay, at least she could do the transaction on Pay Pal… out of the corner of her eye she watched a cheerleader do a cartwheel and a series of back handsprings… The kitten was a cheerleader!?

A couple of pre-moistened towlettes took care of the tan. The blonde wig went down the toilette. The most difficult part of ditching the disguise was waiting for twenty-five minutes in the ladies room line.

“Waiting for someone Kitten?”

The red head sat up unhurriedly and folded her legs underneath her. “I was waiting for you. You have something I want.”

The young woman was intriguing. Face to face her light green eyes burned expressively and her lips fell into a cute pout. Cryptic sarcasm had always served Shego well in atypical situations and she figured she might as well go with her strengths. “Never admit to your mark that they hold something of value.” The pale thief said in a condescending voice. She popped open the trunk remotely and held up four fingers, “That’s lesson number four in my ‘how to become a burglar’ series.”

“I want the nano-tech processor.” The red haired girl jumped lithely to her feet and assumed a defensive stance.

Again, Shego studied the girl before answering, both determination and hesitancy showed in the kitten’s demeanor. “Already sold it… it’s not a good idea to hold onto hot merchandise for very long… that’s lesson number seven.” Shego dropped the case into the storage space and closed the lid. “There are ten lessons in all… I’m going to have to start charging you.”

“I’ll pass on the lessons,” she said dismissively, “I don’t need them.”

“Think you’ve got what it takes, Kitten?”

“To be a petty thief? I don’t want what it takes.”

Shego feigned disinterest, “I caught your show at the museum a few weeks ago. I give you full marks for style, but you need to work on your timing.”

“I’m not a thief…”

“…Says the girl who breaks into museums and wants to get her hands on a stolen nano-tech chip”

“I’m not a thief… I just need to…” for a fleeting moment the red head looked very young and vulnerable, “I need that chip… You’re going to tell me who you sold it to.”

“No. You’ve already forgotten rule number four and now… I’m going to give you lesson number one.”

Shego attacked. Though her attack was not telegraphed in any way, she had a fair distance to cover with her lunge and the girl defended well, her unconventional style and peculiar flow serving her adeptly in the open area between rows of cars. Shego followed the moves and soon picked up the rhythm of the cheerleader’s style. It was quite fluid and adaptable allowing the girl to turn defensive evasions into effective counterattacks. As expected, the red head was using her feet and legs almost exclusively so Shego shifted to a Nan Chuan attack and was amazed by how quickly the gymnast adapted to the primarily upper body style.

While she had the upper hand, Shego pressed her attack forcing the red head to maneuver between parked vehicles; the small spaces favored her strength and limited the girl’s mobility. After a particularly acrobatic evasion where the girl performed a laid out back flip over the trunk of a compact sedan combined with a powerful kick that missed the pale woman’s head by millimeters, they found themselves facing each other a few feet apart.

“The contents of the briefcase are mine, Kitten. You don’t have what it takes to take ‘em from me and I’m not telling you squat about the chip so why don’t you go back to cheerlee…oof?”

The attack came so swiftly Shego was caught completely by surprise. The gymnast’s first strike knocked her off balance. The next three kicks caught her in the stomach, chest and head. The pale woman rolled with the onslaught as best she could and fell into a defensive form but the blows rained with astonishing strength and ferocity and she struggled to find a rhythm in the unrelenting assault.

For several seconds, she had no chance to counter attack; all of her efforts were focused on keeping the suddenly deadly girl from landing a critically damaging blow. She was thrown off by not only the viciousness but also the style of the attack. She had expected the red head to come at her with that cheerleader/gymnast style and instead was faced with a devastating demonstration of Goju-Ryu. It had been several years since Shego had encountered that particular Okinawan style and she was briefly at a disadvantage.

Frustrated at her predicament, Shego ignited her hands. The astonished red head’s attack faltered momentarily, allowing the pale woman to assume a more aggressive posture and nullify the younger girl’s brief domination but the surprises weren’t over. When Shego launched her own offensive, the girl changed styles again, but it was still an Okinawan form and it was all coming back to her now.

The red head’s rage seemed to have subsided and she was fighting in a more calculating manner. The sun fell behind the hills as they ranged all around parking lot, each landing glancing blows and trading dominance but neither able to do serious damage or gain a lasting advantage. Shego compared her skills with the younger woman’s. In an open area such as this, the kitten’s sweeping moves allowed her to nullify the pale woman’s superior strength and reach, and Kitten showed astonishing versatility changing techniques every few seconds and switching easily between Chinese and Okinawan styles interspersed with those peculiar cheerleading moves.

Shego kept an eye on the gathering crowd. While the thrill of fighting such a skilled opponent was intoxicating, she was going to have to get out of here soon. She hadn’t had a workout like this since the last time she was in Japan and found herself wondering how someone so young had learned so many different techniques. The red head certainly was not a master of any art but had an unerring sense of which form would best fit any situation. In a few years, the girl would be absolutely deadly. Perhaps she could talk the younger girl into continuing this in a non-lethal environment.

Suddenly the red head diverted Shego though the open sliding door of a minivan and caught the pale woman in a Wado-Ryu grappling move as she came out, throwing the pale woman to the ground and pinning her arms at an uncomfortable angle, prompting a swell of cheering and groans from the crowd. A surprised Shego looked up into the light green eyes of her opponent and got a completely new shock.

The thrill of the battle was there as well as the joy of competition. But there was a hint of something else that sent goose bumps down Shego’s spine. A single moment stretched uncomfortably.

“FREEZE RIGHT THERE!”

The unexpected outburst was accompanied by powerful flashlight beams and came from an officer forcing his way through the enthusiastic crowd. Several others were filing into the open area, taking up perimeter positions to cover the women from all angles.

“STAND UP! AND DON’T MOVE!”

“Which is it?”

“WHAT DID YOU SAY?”

“Which is it?” Shego asked in a bored voice, “Do you want us to stand up, or do you want us to not move?” The red head was trying not to laugh. The pale woman continued to look up into those expressive green eyes and read the mischievous challenge in them.

“I think, he means for us to stand up and then not move.” Kitten said with a coy grin while her grip changed from restraining to supporting.

“YEAH! AND DON’T DO ANYTHING STUPID!”

There were a few suggestions from the crowd but none of them were particularly helpful.

Kim stood slowly, maintaining eye contact with the pale thief. The twinkle in her pale green eyes was unmistakable. As the younger woman helped her to her feet, Shego asked: “Pinky, are you pondering what I’m pondering?”

The red head’s face split into a huge grin. “I think so, Brain, but where will we find a duck and a hose at this hour?”

The six cops never had a chance.

“Did you see the look on that big guy’s face after I swiped his belt?” Kim said, laughing as she flopped onto the sofa, “When his pants fell, I thought he was going to die of embarrassment!”

“Yeah, and what about that one woman…?”

“The one who was all like: ‘Don’t think we’re gonna take it easy on you…’?”

“Yeah,”

“What happened to her?”

“Into the trash can!”

“You threw away a perfectly good policeman!?”

“I sure tried, but she didn’t go all the way away.” Shego looked disappointed, “Her belt got caught. Last I saw, the skinny cop with the blonde hair was trying to pull her out.” The pale woman tossed the briefcase onto the coffee table, “I haven’t had that much fun since I beat up the twins at our last family reunion.”

Kim looked up in astonishment, “Twins?”

“Yeah, I have twin brothers”

“That is ferociously weird!” She grinned at the pale woman’s puzzled expression and continued, “I have twin brothers too! Jim and Tim, scourges of Middleton and all that is holy. Although,” and a frown creased her forehead. “The last time I saw the little tweebs they tried to put my Cuddle Buddies into low earth orbit…”

“Tweebs?”

“Uh-huh,” the red head held up one hand, “twin…” she held up her other hand, “dweeb…” She finished by bringing her hands together. “tweeb.”

Shego laughed, “I like that, I’ll have to spring it on the Wees next time I see ‘em. Meanwhile, why don’t you take first crack at the bathroom and I’ll fix something to eat. Your choices are pasta or chicken.”

“Whichever is easiest for you, lately all my meals seem to come with a big size option.”

Kim started toward the bathroom feeling warm and comfortable inside. Something about the green skinned woman made her feel good. Fighting along side her had been like dancing the Tango. Stimulating, exciting, complicated and somehow very sexy. Fighting against her had been exhilarating too! She was so strong and skilled. It had taken all of Kim’s concentration and some serious improvisation to put the raven-haired thief on her back foot. Kim hadn’t felt this good since she was training with the chief.

Memories slammed into her mind like a physical blow: Stick fighting with the chief… Lingering touches… The urgent caress of strong hands... Bodies pressed against each other, wrestling... Naked bodies pressed together covered in sweat... Hot breath on her shoulder… The first kiss… Fear and desire churned inside her, the past rose up around her and she was confused by her surroundings… She stumbled into the wall.

“Kitten…? Kitten…? Are…”

“No need to be embarrassed” the chief said gently. Kim imagined that the contact lingered longer than necessary. “It was a difficult move and you nearly accomplished it on your first try!”

She was afraid to speak, afraid that if she spoke she would betray the true reason for her embarrassment. The chief’s eyes were full of approval but Kim longed to see something else there. She wanted the chief to see her as more than just another kid in the training course. Kim found herself staring at the chief’s lips and wondering if they would be as soft as she dreamed.

She had been having disturbing dreams about the chief lately. Dreams of kissing and being kissed, touching and being touched, confusing images of heat and color that left her frustrated and a little ashamed upon waking. The chief was standing so close to her… If only she could make the chief really look at her, see her as the mature woman she felt like instead of a silly fifteen year old girl.

Kim’s hand reached for the chief’s shoulder. Her mind was screaming at her to stop but her body acted with a mindless determination and pulled her closer. Her eyes closed, her mouth parted…

“Snap out of it!” The chief’s sharp words cut through her mental fog and brought Kim back to reality. Her face was scant inches from the chief’s, her hands grasping the broad shoulders and there was no approval in those brown eyes now. Strong hands encircled her biceps, “This room represents the battlefield Miss. Possible, and you just lost a battle with yourself.”

“OH…! Oh… NO…!” Kim’s mind whirled in agony, she wasn’t showing maturity, and she was acting like a silly girl. “I’m sorry…! I don’t know…” She tried to break herself free but the hands held her captive. “IdontknowwhyIdidthat… Ohmygod…” She closed her eyes. The chief was going to send her away. She started to explain that she was sorry, and that she would never lose control again, that she would do anything to continue the training but when she opened her mouth she discovered that the chief’s lips were just as soft as she had imagined.

Kim had practiced kissing with Ron a few times and it had been pleasant enough but this was completely different. Kim felt this kiss throughout her entire body, in flowed through her like electricity from her mouth to the tips of her fingers and toes. She trembled in fear and delight and warmth spread through her belly. When the chief released her, Kim backed away from the older woman in astonishment.

She kissed me!

Her hand found its way to her lips in disbelief and she backed away slowly until she came in contact with the wall.

She KISSED me!

Kim fled.

The chief’s voice followed her, “Kimmie! Ki…”

Kim looked up into concerned emerald eyes; her insides were churning. Memories of the chief were still dominating her mind and her conscience was screaming that she had done something terribly wrong. She tried to control her emotions, to push her memories of the chief back down into the dark part of her soul where they dwelled but the darkness was out of control again overpowering her. She felt like she was in the middle of retribution, balanced on a razor’s edge between good and evil. It was a heady feeling; a moment of clarity when she could affect destiny. It was a place of power. But the power was a dark fire that threatened to consume her. She loved the feeling of power but it was so sweet and intoxicating she feared she would never be able relinquish it. In the past she had turned to Ron for physical release of the emotions, and while it didn’t permanently exorcize her demons, it at least allowed her to control them for a while.

The pale woman’s eyes reflected a small portion of the conflict in Kim’s soul. The euphoria and sexual tension of their battle still lurked behind those emerald orbs. Kim pinned the woman with her eyes and forced her to meet the penetrating gaze. She reached up to the pale thief, eager to drink in the flavor of her skin and sip the wine glass of her mouth.

Her hands caressed the pale neck and shoulders, opening the shirt enough to access the hollow of her throat. While Kim’s mouth eagerly suckled the smooth skin of the older woman’s neck, her hands deftly opened and discarded the pale woman’s shirt. Touching the cool skin was not enough, she needed to feel bare skin on her own stomach and breasts, so she backed up for long enough to pull the crop-top off and discard it.

Shego still looked surprised and the girl felt a moment of stark fear, had she misjudged the desire? Then the pale thief reached for her and Kim relinquished control of her demons. She leapt onto Shego, wrapping her legs around the thief’s waist and her arms around her neck. She tangled the fingers of her left hand into the pale woman’s raven mane and let her right hand roam over her body. Suddenly they were falling and her lover was moving away from her.

She cried out in anger and frustration. Her flailing arms encountered the head of her paramour and pulled it insistently toward her crotch with a feral moan. But the other escaped. She opened her eyes to find the woman kneeling next to her looking puzzled.

“What are you waiting for?” Kim growled. She grabbed a pale green hand and tried to bring it between her legs but the woman resisted.

“This is wrong.”

Kim reached for the older woman and grabbed her leg, “C’mon! Don’t tease me!” She pulled herself up and pressed her face against the toned stomach of the pale thief. “Don’t you want me?” She began kissing and licking the woman’s belly. Her hands busy removing the thief’s belt and opening her pants.

Shego pushed the girl away again, “Stand up, Kitten.”

“Don’t you like me?” Kim grabbed Shego’s arm and pulled herself up to stand pressed against the green body. Once more her hands began to caress the exposed flesh and her tongue found smooth skin to taste. She began to grind her pelvis against the older woman’s hip.

Shego slapped her.

The astonished girl took a few steps back. “YOU BITCH!” The words exploded from the red head, and she began to flail wildly at the older woman. Shego caught her wrists with one hand and restrained the girl in a tight clinch. The young woman struggled for a moment and suddenly began crying. “You don’t like me.” She sobbed.

“I don’t know you.” Shego replied.

“Why’d you hit me?”

Shego didn’t have an answer for that one, or at least she didn’t have an answer that she could put into words. When the girl had first come on to her, she had been flattered and pleased but something in the way the red head was behaving was demeaning. Her kitten was acting like a dog in heat. “You scared me; you weren’t acting like a person.” The pale woman led the sobbing girl over to the couch, “I don’t know what you need kid, but it isn’t sex.”

“It helps.” She whimpered between sobs.

“Helps with what?”

“It helps me burn away the demons.” Kim whispered.

“Well, tonight we’re going to try something different. Tonight I’m going to hold you while you cry.” For nearly forty minutes, Shego held Kim on her lap and comforted the crying girl. The red head’s tears flowed freely and sobs shook her body like small earthquakes. Periodically the disorientated young woman muttered, “I’m not going back to the chief, you can’t make me, I’m not going back.” Shego wasn’t sure who the girl was talking to but if this “chief” had anything to do with the kid’s emotional state, he was a right bastard.

When Kim wound down and fell into an uneasy sleep, Shego laid the red head in her own bed and sat back to think over the night’s events.

Someone was calling her name.

“Kim Possible…”

She reached for but couldn’t find her covers.

“Kim Possible Report to the chief’s office.”

Kim sat up. She had fallen asleep while studying for her Latin test. Books lay open on the table in front of her; something was stuck to her cheek… paper. Someone was calling her name…

“Kim Possible Report to the chief’s office.”

She looked over at the clock. She was late! The chief wanted her to meet someone important today and she was late! Frantically, Kim brushed her hair and splashed cold water on her face. She checked her reflection and smoothed the brightly colored top and pleated skirt that was regulation wear for all trainees. Satisfied that her appearance was acceptable, she ran for the chief’s office.

Pausing outside the partially open door to check her hair and uniform once more, she heard a man’s voice from the office. It was odd because all the staff, instructors and students were female. The man’s voice was disdainful and his words chilled her to the bone.

“So where is your little slut?”

“Don’t be vulgar.” Came the chief’s reply. She was sitting in her chair facing the door but distractedly looking to one side. The other speaker was out of Kim’s line of sight.

“I’m not the one corrupting children under the guise of national security, so I believe I will be as vulgar as I choose.”

“Corruption is such an unpleasant word, I prefer… molding.”

“Running little girls around in cheerleader’s outfits and screwing up their minds is not molding, it is disgusting. I’m surprised only that I have not seen any videos of your so called ‘training’ for sale on the internet.”

“Don’t be crude, Gemini, this program isn’t like that at all. Everything here is above board and innocent.”

“You might be able to fool your government backers with that line of crap, but I’m your brother, your older brother and I can see through your lies.”

The chief rose out of her chair and shouted, “Four minutes doesn’t count!”

“Look me in the eye.” He shouted back, standing to loom above the chief, “Look me in the eye, my dear sister, and tell me that what you’re doing to your little guinea pigs is innocent.” He sneered. “Tell me that chemically altering their brains and bodies to make them your willing slaves is innocent.”

“Well…” The chief replied with a leer, “Maybe innocent isn’t the right word...”

Kim’s world spun out of control.

After teaming up to evade the cops it had seemed reasonable to invite the cute gymnast up to her apartment to wind down and see what might develop. Things had started off pretty well but something had snapped inside the girl and she had become frighteningly unstable. Even in sleep the red head was restless, tossing and occasionally moaning. Shego suspected the girl was strung out on something and gathered up the red head’s personal affects for a quick perusal.

The pale woman did not find the drugs or paraphernalia she had expected but the eclectic collection of super spy gadgets and mundane items was puzzling. Rocket skates, a hairdryer/grappling gun and a goo-spitting lipstick case shared space with physiology text books, the usual toiletries, a stuffed animal, a picture of a young boy holding a shaved rat and a weird Blackberry.

“beep-beep-BE-beep.” The kid’s Blackberry thing was ringing. Shego reached over to turn it off, the girl was exhausted and needed her sleep, but when she picked it up she found herself looking at a live picture of a slightly over weight teenager, “Hi Shego.” He said brightly, putting down a fast food soda container.

“Uhmmm… Kind of.” The young man looked nervous, “is Kim with you?”

Shego considered lying to the kid but she really wanted to know more about what was going on and he might have a few of the answers. Besides, since he knew her name, he probably already knew that the kitten was here. She answered cautiously, “Yes but she’s indisposed right now.”

“Sleeping?”

“Yeah.”

“Good!” He turned to one of the keyboards that surrounded him and continued, “here’s what I need you to do, Put the Kimmunicator next to her, somewhere near exposed skin and I’ll…”

“First of all, Q-bert, I don’t know what a Kimmunicator is. Secondly, I’m not waking the kid up, she needs her sleep. Third, I don’t think I’m going to be jumping up at your command and putting on a skin show for some perverted little nerdlinger.” She kept looking over the strange Blackberry, trying to find the off switch.

“One: You’re holding the Kimmunicator in your hands. Two: I don’t want to wake her up. Three: I already have lots of naked pictures of Kim; what I need right now is a blood sample.”

“Blood sample? Is she diabetic? That would explain some of the things that happened last night…”

“Mood swings?”

“Yes.”

“Confused…? Violent…? Distraught…?” Wade paused and cleared his throat, “Uh-hmm… Horny?”

The thief stared at him for a moment, looking for a smirk and finding none, “Yes, to all of them. What’s going on?” Shego voiced her worst fear, “Is she on drugs?”

“No… Well, maybe… I don’t know.”

“Which is it?”

“She isn’t on drugs voluntarily, but it is probable that she has been drugged in the past and it is affecting her.”

Shego sat back and thought for a moment, “Does this have anything to do with…” she paused at the look of caution he gave her, “…a certain international spook organization?”

He nodded, “She was recruited her at age twelve, one of twenty teenaged girls on track to become the nation’s next generation of super spy.” He turned to another keyboard and his fingers began flying across it, “This data indicates that they used drugs and hypnosis to condition the recruits to fixate on a specific authority figure. We’re not talking about obedience; we’re talking about deep-rooted obsession. They also used drugs to destabilize the girls’ body chemistry so that after an adrenaline high they would need special treatments or else they would lose all control of their emotions and be driven mad by the overload.”

“Why in hell would they do that to somebody?”

“So that if one of them wanted out and tried to blow the whistle they would lose all credibility by going insane over the course of a few days.” He looked grim, “of the other nineteen that were recruited, eleven are dead, one is missing and seven are institutionalized.”

“Why isn’t Kitten insane then… or is she?”

“Kim seems to have found a way to treat herself by focusing on… Ummm…” Wade paused, blushing. “physical release.”

“You’re saying that they’ve messed up her brain to the point that if she gets emotionally stimulated she’ll go crazy and she prevents this by screwing whoever happens to be close by?”

“Uh, usually it’s Ron.”

“Ron is her boyfriend?”

“Not exactly, more like a sidekick,” he glanced over at a side display, “he’s also the guy who will be ringing your doorbell in about five minutes.” He had the decency to look sheepish. “I’m sending you all of the data I have right now. We have to be really careful because there are tracers and flags all over this stuff…” He began typing on two of his keyboards at the same time and paused as though he had found something, “Your ‘Jade’ account on Craig’s list is pretty safe, and I’ve added a few security measures of my own so as long as you don’t send it to anyone else it should be safe for you to go over.”

The kid was making her dizzy, “Do you work for them?”

“I work for Kim.” He said firmly, “Now, please put the Kimmunicator next to her so I can get a blood sample?”

“KP, you would not believe how impossible it is to find hair gel in Milton Keynes.” The voice was strident and put upon; it came from behind a large unstable stack of boxes and suitcases. “First of all no one understands Spanish and secondly they all look at you like you’re stupid or something.”

The stack moved precariously into the apartment. “A little help here?”

A pink thing climbed out from behind the boxes and began to scale the side. Seeing Shego it shrieked and dove back behind the quivering stack. The pale woman heard chittering and the voice rose in frustration, “What do you mean it’s not Kim? Wade said she was here!”

“Milton Keynes,” Shego said dryly, “is in England. I’m guessing this explains both the communications difficulty and the dirty looks.”

The load of boxes and packages gave up and spilled to the floor revealing a well-built young man with an honest face, an air of buffoonery and a bad hair cut.

“You’re not Kim.” He said, pointing at Shego.

“And you’re more clever than your vacant expression and comments about Milton Keynes would indicate.”

He looked at her through suspiciously narrowed eyes, “Is Kim here?”

“She’s asleep in the back room.”

“I better go make sure it’s really her.” He said, heading for the bedroom.

“You’ll wait out here.” Shego took his arm and held him firmly in place.

“KIM!”

“You’ll wait out here quietly until she wakes up on her own.” Shego said in her most threatening sotto voce.

“I’m Kim’s best friend, and I’m sure she’ll want to see me.” He sputtered at her, “Who are you?” he asked accusingly, “you’re just some freaky green woman…” his voiced trailed off as Shego ignited her free hand. “…who can make fire from her hands? That… is… so… COOL!”

Shego had spent most of the time reading through the information the nerd had forwarded to her. Everything she read twisted her stomach just a little bit more. She stood up and walked over to Ron who was keeping vigil near Kim’s bedside. The blonde boy looked at the pale thief with desperate worry on his face, even his pet was subdued.

“She needs it.” He pleaded again.

“I’ve already told you, I’m not letting you get your sick jollies off some poor girl who doesn’t even know her name right now.” She hissed at him, “I’m not sure I even believe any of this crap! I know I don’t want to believe it… What would Global Justice want with a bunch of hormone driven teenaged girls anyway?”

“Please!” he whispered pitifully, “You have to let me help her!”

Shego glanced sharply at the boy and was surprised to see tears glistening in his eyes.

“You think I enjoy this?” He wiped his face absentmindedly with the heel of his hand, and turned to look at Kim, “Do you know how long I’ve been in love with her?” His voice was horse, “The first time she came to me, I thought… all my dreams were coming true. I thought… she finally figured out that I was the right guy for her. Then, I’m kissing her and I realize… Kim isn’t even in there... It’s not her…”

Ron leaned over and moved a clump of damp red hair out of the fevered girl’s face, “The next time she came to me… I pushed her away.” Tears flowed freely down his cheeks, but he didn’t seem to notice. “She ended up screwing some guy she didn’t even know. Some stranger she passed on the street, she could have caught anything from him, could have gotten pregnant, could have been killed… by a stranger… because I wasn’t there for her.”

He cradled one of Kim’s hands between his own, “Do you know how it feels to love someone and know they’ll never love you the same way?” He turned to look at the pale woman, “well let me tell you something! It’s a thousand times worse when the person you love gives you the most precious thing in the universe and you find out it doesn’t mean a damn thing to her.”

He locked eyes with the older woman, “She needs something. I can give it to her and… for a little while; I can pretend that it… that I… am important to her.”

Shego dropped her gaze first. With one more concerned look for the delirious red head and a warning glance at her blonde paramour, she reluctantly left the room and quietly closed the door.

My memories hide from me, or I hide from them. It’s the same thing. Sometimes they come out and play across the back of my mind too swiftly to grasp, remaining just long enough to impress a single image on my mind’s eye. I can control them, most of the time. Sometimes the memories become too strong.

In my mind she is touching me… holding me… kissing me… lying with me… Lying.

Her touch is electricity tingling through my body. Her arms cradle me and protect me. Her lips are transportation to paradise. Her body warms me and comforts me. But everything is an illusion, she is a sickness and she has infected me. She has tainted me with her touch.

I’m dirty now. I scrub my skin but I can’t wash away her defiling caress. I can’t get clean. Her foul stench fills my nostrils and though I brush my teeth, her taste still lingers in my mouth. The tendrils of her manipulation reach deep into my mind. I can’t break free of her grasp. I am infected. I am dirty. Everything I touch becomes revolting. I’m dirty inside, all the way inside, in my soul. How do you clean a soul?

Fire.

The demons she planted in my mind and body threaten to break free and rend me apart from the inside. She created them to climb out of the depths of my soul and drag me into a pit of torture and despair. She wants me to be trapped in my mind with my memories. She wants me to relive my defilement, my disgrace, my shame.

Anger burns! Lust Burns! The demons of my mind and body are afraid of the flames. They won’t come out until I bank the fires in my soul, but I can fool them. I lure them out. They think it is safe to ravage me, to violate me but the embers of my wrath still smolder.

Now the demons come and take me but I am not theirs. They are mine. I trap them with me, inside the furnace of my mind. My passion stokes the embers of my wrath… my lust flares... my anger blazes... consuming them… consuming me. Together we burn… my mind… my body… my soul… my demons.

My passion is spent. The landscape of my soul lays barren covered in the ashen remains of my demons and my memories. “I’m here for you Kim.” The voice pierces through my desolation. It is the first drop of rain in a cleansing shower that washes away the ashes and brings life and hope to the wasteland of my spirit. “I’m right here.”

I rise from the ashes… purged… clean… for a while.

“You’re probably still hungry but I think you should let that settle before you try to eat anything else. Too much too soon and you’ll get sick.”

The red head looked longingly at the pot on the stove but nodded in agreement. “Thank you.” She whispered. Her voice was harsh from hours of crying.

“You need to wake up your boyfriend and both of you need to get going.”

“He’s not my…” Something in the pale woman’s face stopped Kim mid sentence.

“I don’t care what he is.” Shego continued, “You two, three if you count that nerd on the other end of your Blackberry, are trouble. I don’t need trouble.”

Kim met her gaze, “You still have something I need.”

“You want to know who I sold the processor to.” The girl hesitated a moment and then nodded. Shego felt a twinge inside, on some level she had hoped for a different answer but she hadn’t consciously allowed herself to even consider it. “I’m not in the habit of breaking contracts.”

Kim looked down at her hands in her lap, “I know I’ve imposed on you…”

“Imposed?” the pale woman was incredulous, “Imposed!? You interfere with my work, you attack me, you try to rape me and then you use my bed to screw your boyfriend…”

“He’s not…”

“I don’t care!” Shego shouted, “Impose doesn’t begin to cover it.” The pale woman waited a moment to see if the red head would interrupt again, “After all that, you want me to ruin my life and my career and quite possibly get myself killed for a drug addled kid I met yesterday.”

Kim struggled to put her feelings into words, “I thought we had connected.”

“Whatever connection we had was severed when you turned out to be ‘psycho government experiment girl.’”

The girls head snapped up, her eyes wide with astonishment and a trace of fear, “How do you know about that?” she gasped.

Was it possible Kitten didn’t understand the loyalty and commitment her champions had for her? “Your friends care about you very much. So much that they are willing to risk everything for you.” Shego picked up the Kimmunicator, “The nerdlinger on the other end of your phone cracks top secret ‘this-will-get-your-whole-family-killed’ files for you, and your boy…” she relented, “your other friend gives you his soul whenever you need it because he knows it will help you for a while, no matter how much it hurts him emotionally.” Shego handed the Kimmunicator to the red head, “Don’t you think its time for you to tell them what’s going on?”

The red head, fiddled with her phone for a while, she had been carrying this secret for a long time and she was feeling the strain. Every day it was harder to get up and every time she lost control it was harder to get it back. “I don’t know how.”

“Your friend has quite a file on that Director woman; he’s ready to go public.”

Kim raised Wade on the small screen. “What’s up Kim?”

“Wade…” Kim held the portable device tightly, “you can’t go public with this”

“Kim, we can shut down GJ with what I have…” The boy said excitedly, “Heck, we might even shut down the NSA, the CIA and the FBI with what I’ve uncovered. She kept records of everything, names, dates, contacts, accomplices… Do you know what we could do with this information?”

“Nothing!” Kim snapped, “One phone call from her and” she snapped her fingers, “two deaths is just another routine accident.” Kim set the Kimmunicator on the table; “She broke Jenny’s neck and told the cops to report it as an accident… And they did!”

“Whoa!” Ron exclaimed from the doorway, “Who broke Jenny’s neck? What are you talking about? Who’s Jenny?”

“I…” Kim looked at the faces around her and saw only concern. “Maybe I should start from the beginning…”

Ron moved over to sit next to Kim. Taking one of her hands in his he said, “Start wherever you want.”

Shego wondered how the girl could command such loyalty. Sure she was cute but that wasn’t enough to make someone put their entire existence on the line. The people Shego dealt with respected her because she always delivered what she promised, but loyalty wasn’t part of the equation and never had been. The slogan in her world was “No cash, No deal, No exceptions.” And the question on everyone’s lips was “What have you done for me lately?” The pale woman knew instinctively that either of the boys… men, her mind corrected her… would gladly step in front of a bullet for the red head. That notion was discomforting. She had to rid herself of them before they entwined themselves too deeply into her life. She wondered if it was too late already.

Kim began to speak. Her monotone voice betrayed little emotion and yet her halting words dripped horror.

“…I ran down the hall. Everything seemed scary. She is using me. Just using me… all of us really. Everyone is being used. She’s sick. She’s a sick, twisted bitch… and… and I love her... Does that make me sick? Twisted? I don’t know, but I have to run! I have to get out of there…

“I’m running down the hall, trying to remember the way out… and I’m almost out when I remember them. The other girls… There are six of us at the school right now… Jenny is twelve. She’s twelve years old… So excited… So happy to be chosen… She doesn’t understand. None of us do…

“I find them. All sitting around the lounge talking about boys or something. Giggling and laughing like they don’t know we’re all being set up, and they don’t know. I have to figure out how to get them out…

“I tell ‘em it’s a special surprise drill and we’ve got ten minutes to get to the surface without being seen. Anyone who is seen has to clean up the dojo for a week and… and the first one to the rendezvous gets…” Kim’s voice broke, “gets an extra training session with the chief.”

The red head turned to Shego, “that’s when I know that the chief… that’s when I knew it was true. They all react to the prize like it’s back stage passes to the O-Boyz… and I know the chief is using them… just like she’s using me. Because that’s how I would have felt ten minutes ago…

“But Kaylee isn’t there and Jen won’t start without her… Says it isn’t fair… She’s always trying to do what’s right but… when she goes to find Kaylee I tell everyone else to get started… I tell them that missions don’t happen when you’re ready and that Kaylee might be closer to the door… and that Jenny might be trying to gain an advantage by stalling them… and they go.

“The chief is paging me. I can’t face her but I can’t leave Jenny and Kaylee either… I’m running and looking. I’m calling Wade and asking him to get us a ride and he’s saying no one is close enough. I remind him that the Turner’s have a four wheel drive truck they use for tours, it will be able to reach us, they’re only about fifteen minutes away.

“I find Kaylee and Jenny, they’re coming out of the bathroom, Jen is pulling on Kaylee. They take off and I give them the thumbs up. I start for the surface myself… avoiding the cameras and other security measures. I get to the spot and all the girls are there. Amber made it first and she’s crowing over the others. And we’re waiting… and we’re waiting…

“When my ride finally comes, it isn’t the Turners. It’s a helicopter and there’s only room for three… The pilot tells me he’ll be back in twenty minutes… But I don’t know how long it will be before the chief realizes that something is up. First come first served, so Kaylee, Jenny and I will wait for the next trip…

“I tell them to hide… Stay perfectly still. Don’t come out for anyone. And I relive it in my mind over and over again but no matter how many times I try to do it again I never say ‘don’t even come out for the chief’ I go looking for the Turners, I’m sure they’re close by… but they aren’t coming. When I get back, Jenny is laying on the ground… her neck is broken… Kaylee is nowhere to be seen.

“They didn’t come… Jenny is dead… They aren’t coming.” Her voice continues in a haunting monotone but now tears trickle down the side of her face. “I hear the chief’s voice… she’s screaming. ‘Where are they?’ I see her…her face is purple with rage. The man next to her, the man who was in her office, is trying to stop her but she keeps hitting Kaylee over and over again, screaming ‘where are they?’

Kim paused and looked down at her hands. The silence stretched out but no one could think of a way to break it. Ron held Kim’s hand and stroked her arm, no shame at the tears rolling down his face. Wade stared open mouthed, fingers quiet at the keyboards oblivious to all other information coming at him.

Shego found her voice, “Did you try to kill her?”

The red head nodded, “I tried. The rest of the day is kind of a blur; I thought that I had killed her. I left her laying on the ground with the branch of a tree sticking into her face. But I found out later that she survived.”

“You did your best KP!” Ron said trying to be supportive and encouraging, “you saved four lives that day.”

“No.” She was stone faced again and her voice was like ice. “I killed them all.”

“Kim,” the genius said, “that’s not your fault, you didn’t know about the drugs.”

“What drugs?” asked Ron, “What are you talking about Wade?”

Kim answered, “Tell him, Wade.” When Wade remained silent, she continued. “They’re all dead, Ron. I killed them.”

“Kim, that wasn’t your…” Wade started to say again.

“They’re dead because of me. Because of what I did. That makes it my fault.”

“Bull!”

Shocked, everyone turned to look at Shego. She repeated herself, “Complete Bull! Your brain must be really messed up if you believe that.” The pale woman started picking up dishes and putting them in the sink. “You’re alive, they’re not. It doesn’t make it your fault and your guilt doesn’t make them any more alive.” She could see the girl wasn’t listening. “Kitten you don’t need help, you need a damn miracle.”

“I need to know where the nano-tech processor is.”

Exasperated, Shego said; “If that’s all you want I’ll make you a deal, princess. You clear your menagerie out of my house and I’ll consider it.”

Shego didn’t know what kind of response she had expected from the red head but it sure wasn’t meek acceptance. The girl nodded her head again and quietly left the room, presumably to collect her things and leave. She could her them murmuring in the bedroom, the blonde was trying to talk her into something but the red head wasn’t buying it.

In just a few moments, she would be rid of these kids and whatever vengeance they brought after them. She began to go over her mental checklist of what she needed to do to erase them from her life completely. Her records were all electronic so no packing required but she’d have to figure out how to keep the red head’s hacker out of her files. Her work related items could be packed in a few minutes. The rest was a total write off, “Damn,” she thought, “I really liked this apartment.”

The kitten tried to catch her eye as she and the blonde walked out, but Shego avoided it. Why didn’t it make her feel good to know that they were leaving?

Shego didn’t feel anything at all.

Agent Will Du sat in his nondescript automobile and watched the emergency crews respond to the blast. He was uneasy about this assignment, planting a bomb seemed too much like terrorism and he really didn’t understand why the agency was requiring it. All of the codes had been correct, he had double-checked and triple-checked. He had even considered contacting the head office directly, though it was prohibited by his coded orders.

When he spotted Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable among the survivors being tended by the emergency crews, the agent made a note to find out what they were doing in the area. It was possible that they were working toward the same purpose and coordinating their efforts would be more efficient. With the situation under control he left to report that all had gone according to plan. He did wonder briefly why this building had been chosen as a target, but dismissed the thought as unprofessional.

"Wade,” she said into her Kimmunicator, “tap into the police and emergency bands. I want to know if that was Shego.”

“They haven’t released a name yet but the police are speculating that it was her.” The computer genius replied. “The blast was powerful enough to completely destroy everything in that apartment but precise enough to leave the building structure intact! Even the occupants of the apartments directly above and below the blast were treated only for minor injuries. Who ever set that was a real pro; bomb squad thinks it was a mob hit.”

Ron spoke up, “Kim, we are so lucky, twenty minutes earlier and we would have been in there!”

“Uhn-huh! Luckee!” agreed Rufus.

Kim wasn’t ready to be distracted. “Was it her apartment?”

“From the camera angles on the news coverage I’ve seen, I believe it was.” Wade replied. “I’m sorry Kim.

She took a deep breath, “Do you think it was intended for me?”

Wade looked pensive, “I don’t think so.”

“You just told me a few days ago that everywhere I went this summer was attacked, and now you’re telling me that a bomb in the apartment that I spent the last day in was not meant for me?” She shook the Kimmunicator, “Don’t try to sugar coat this, Wade.”

“Honestly, Kim!” the computer genius said, “The attacks that followed you were nothing like this. The people who were after you would have flattened the whole building.”

“So…”

“So, maybe this was a mob hit like the police are saying and you are not responsible for Shego’s death.”

“Are you sure she’s dead?”

“The police believe so,” He paused and looked at one of his secondary monitors, “Uh-oh.”

“What?”

“I think I just got confirmation.” He typed rapidly for a minute, “Kim, I just received a file from ‘Jade.’” He started typing furiously while talking to her. “It looks like it is part of a larger program in the event of her death. I’m trying to salvage what I can, but there is a lot of wanton destruction of the information. Whoever set this up knows what they are doing and they’re determined to render all of Shego’s files completely irretrievable.”

Kim wrestled her emotions into submission; there would be time for grief when she was put back together. “Can you do anything Wade?” she asked, “I still need to find that processor.”

“That information is actually in the file I got from Jade, and you won’t believe it.”

“Believe what?” Ron asked, “What’d I miss?”

“Shego sold it to Drakken.’”

“’Drakken’…? She sold my Nano-tech processor to Drakken?”

“Thanks for letting us crash here, Mo.”

“NBD Kim. You and Ron are welcome to stay here until it’s safe to go back to your apartment.” The dark skinned girl grinned, “Hope you don’t mind slumming.”

“What are you talking about?” asked Ron, “this is a kickin’ pad!”

“Kikkin’” agreed Rufus from the couch.

“You guys must not have seen Kim’s apartment.”

“Are you kidding?” exclaimed Ron, “We swung by there before we left the building, that place sucked!”

“WTF?”

Kim laughed, “No PS2.”

“Well, I guess I just don’t have my priorities straight.” Monique replied with a chuckle. “Bathrooms right over there and you two will have to fight over the couch…” she was interrupted by a knock on the door. “Are you expecting anyone?” she asked as she checked the peephole. “Ron, it’s for you.”

“What?” The blonde replied puzzled. “No one even knows I’m here…” Monique opened the door with a flourish. “Bon-Bon!?”

The brown haired girl rushed into the room and embraced Ron, burying her face into his chest and almost overbalancing him. “Wade told me you were alright but I didn’t…”

Kim was aghast, “Wade told you where to find us?”

“Bonnie?” Ron said incredulously, “What are you…? Are you crying?” She shook her head but he could feel the warmth of her tears through his shirt. “Why are you…?” her grip tightened on his arm and he realized she didn’t want him to mention crying, “…here?” he corrected himself, and immediately knew that was wrong too.

She stiffened against him and suddenly the wrathful Bonnie of old was back. “Where am I supposed to be?” she railed at him, “Where am I supposed to be when my boyfriend almost gets blown to bits on national TV?” She stepped back and put her hands on her hips, “And just when did you plan on telling me you were back from Europe?”

“Well,” he said, scratching the back of his head, “Wade called me back early and I had to meet Kim and we sorta… heh…”

“Oh! My! GOD!” Bonnie screamed, “You screwed her again! Didn’t you!”

“Ron!” Kim shouted. “You told Bonnie about…”

Bonnie whirled to face Kim, “You stay out of this!” she waved her finger in the red head’s face, “for the last year I have held my tongue while everyone gossiped about me being too blind to see that he was in love with you. I have spent a hundred lonely nights waiting up while he breaks dates with me so he can go off to backwater nowhere and save the world with you.” The finger poked Kim’s chest for emphasis. “Well, let me tell you this; I’m done sitting idly by while you twist him up inside by screwing him mentally and physically whenever you feel like it.”

“Is this a bad time?” All four turned slowly toward the stilted formal voice. “I’m sorry to intrude Miss Possible, but I need you to come down to GJ headquarters and answer a few questions.” Agent Will Du said from the doorway.

The stunned silence was broken by the Kimmunicator, “Beep-Beep-BE-Beep.”

“What’s the sitch, Wade?”

“Turn on the TV, any local channel will do.”

Kim looked at him sharply.

“What?” he asked.

“Interesting choice of words, agent Du just showed up here to arrest me.”

“I’m not here to arrest you, Miss Possible. Only to bring you back to HQ for questioning.”

“Sounds like an arrest to me” Monique countered.

“KP, You’re not going anywhere with this punk!” Ron added.

“Oh great!” Bonnie snapped, “I pour out my heart to you and, as usual, all you can talk about is Kim Possible!”

“Bon-Bon…”

“Don’t you ‘Bon-Bon’ me…”

“Miss Possible, we really need to leave now. I have a car waiting…”

“Kim, I’m looking at the official GJ communiqué site and there are no orders to pick you up for questioning…”

“Bonnie, I…”

“Don’t you ‘Bonnie’ me either…”

“Miss Possible, I must insist that…”

“I’m telling you Kim, There are no orders from GJ to…”

“EVERYBODY… S T F U!”

Monique surveyed the stunned silence with satisfaction. “Ron and Bonnie, why don’t you continue your discussion in my bedroom. Kim, you go turn on the TV. Will, come in and we’ll see if we can’t get everything straight.” She looked around at the still stunned faces and barked, “Move! People!”

click “…here at the scene. Investigators are still confused by a second blast in what used to be an upscale condo complex here in downtown Go City. We go live now to Police Chief Roberts’ press conference…”

“…aiting on the mayor to contact me. Next question.”

“Is there any truth to the rumor that this was a terrorist attack?”

“There doesn’t seem to be any motivation that we can think of for a terrorist organization to blow up this apartment building, but we are not ruling anything out yet. Next…”

“How many bombs were there?”

“We know there were two blasts, the first was a small blast that destroyed one apartment and left the building in tact, the second brought down the whole structure. Next question…”

“Can you confirm the number of fatalities?”

“At this time we have only confirmed one civilian death. Luckily, at the time of the second explosion, the building had been cleared of civilians. Next question…”

“If I could follow up…”

“Yes?”

“You said ‘one civilian death’ have there been any fatalities among the rescue workers?”

“There are currently three firemen and two paramedics missing, we still have hope that they are alive and in a position to be rescued from the debris. One more question…”

“Is it true that the civilian casualty had ties to the mob?”

“No comment.”

“I’m sorry, that’s all for right now, we’ll be holding another press conference at…”

“That was Police Chief Roberts at city hall. The details of this afternoon’s twin bombings are still sketchy but we will keep updating as reports come in. Stay tuned to News Fifteen for all the latest. We’ll be right back after these me… click

Kim turned to Will, he was ashen. “Two blasts?” he whispered, “one death, five missing…?” The red head caught Monique’s eye and jerked her head toward the stricken agent. She mouthed the words; He knows something and pantomimed throwing a rope around him. Mo looked around and frantically tried to silently communicate; where am I going to get a rope?

Kim pointed to the kitchen and made frantic stretching motions with her hands. Monique looked puzzled and backed into the food prep area while the red head pointed at mysterious things known only to her. Finally one word got through, toaster. This was no time for a muffin!

The dark skinned girl picked up the toaster and Kim nodded and made a kind of jerking motion with her hands but Monique still didn’t understand what she wanted so she just started into the living room carrying the toaster and when Will looked at her she shoved it behind her back.

“What’s going on?” the agent asked her.

“You need to talk to Kim; I’m just an innocent bystander.” She replied. And when he turned to face the red head, Monique clobbered him in the back of the head with the toaster.

“You didn’t need to knock him out.”

“Well, I don’t speak wavy hand talk; that was the only thing I could think of.”

Kim took the toaster and yanked the cord out.

“Hey! That was twenty five dollars!”

“I’ll buy you a new one. Help me get him tied up.” After the girls searched and hog-tied the GJ agent, Kim talked to Wade. “Maybe GJ has a secret communications channel that you don’t know about.”

The computer whiz looked hurt. “Kim, how can you say that?”

“Because I just found a print out that confirms his orders.”

“Scan it into the Kimmunicator.”

“You hit me!” Will was awake.

“Not me.” Monique said quickly, “her!” and pointed to Kim.

The red head glared for a moment and just resigned herself to taking the blame, “I’m really sorry Will, but I have to figure out what is going on, and I’m not sure I would be safe at GJ headquarters.”

“These orders look legit Kim.” Wade said from his room, “all of the codes check out but there is no record that they were ever issued.”

“What do you know about it?” The agent sneered.

“Code word… Albatross, Spam, Dead Parrot.” Wade rattled off.

“The world is banana shaped” Will countered.

“It’s a fair cop.”

“But…” The hog-tied agent looked stunned, “That means you’re…”

“Yeah.” Wade leaned back confidently and took a sip of his soda.

“Minister of Silly Walks!” Will seemed quite in awe. “I didn’t know sir, what are your orders?”

The Kimmunicator was facing away from Kim so Wade did not see her look of alarm.

Ron’s relationship with Bonnie had just taken a bizarre turn and he didn’t know what to make of it. For the last ten months she’d been an on-again-off-again girlfriend with all the depth of a saucer. ‘Superficial and demanding’ usually described her and the few moments of genuine intimacy they shared disappeared the instant she was reminded of Kim. Now she had shown up out of the blue and started crying on him. He didn’t get it.

He closed the door and turned to Bonnie, “I don’t get it.” He said.

Away from the hostile atmosphere of the living room, Bonnie seemed discouraged and tired. She slumped on the edge of the bed and wiped her eyes with a tissue. “You never did before,” she sighed, “why should you start now?” The truth was, she didn’t really get it herself.

Ron had once saved her from a terrible fate, and after his transformation, he had been a hot commodity around school. She had decided that if he was going to be hot and eligible she needed to have a piece of him. Somewhere along the line, once they got away from the peer pressure and the gossipmongers, Ron had turned out to be a lot more than a nice haircut and fashionable clothes. Unfortunately, every time she thought she was really getting close to him, he ran off to help Kim.

“I mean… you came all the way to Go City because I almost got hurt?” He scratched his head and glanced at her, “I always figured… you know.”

“That I was too shallow to really care about you?” being snappish was easy and familiar.

“No, it’s not like that…” He thought about it for a minute, “I just always kinda figured that since you and Kim never really got along, you just wanted to try to…” he grinned sheepishly, “get back at her… you know… through me.”

“Well, I was already in Go City, so I didn’t come all the way from Middleton, but...” she looked down at her hands, “…you’re not totally wrong about… the other thing. That is, kind of, how it started.”

“I knew it!” he exclaimed, “Then why did you…?” Ron paused as the rest of her words sank in. “What do you mean, ‘how it started’?”

The brunette took a deep breath and let it out slowly, “I’m not sure, Ron. Sometime over the last year, I realized that underneath the hair and the clothes there was a kind-hearted man who could make me happy.”

“I could?”

“Today I finally understood. When I saw you on TV and you were standing there stuffing your face looking like a complete dork…”

“Gee, thanks.”

She stood up and clapped her hand over his mouth, “Shut up and let me finish!” she hissed. He just nodded, wide-eyed. “So I was looking at this complete dork with a face full of food and…” she stepped back and dropped her hands. “He was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.”

“Whoa!” Ron sat down, “I don’t know what to say.”

“I don’t know what to say either, but… I thought I should say something before that bitch gets you killed, and I never have the chance.

“She’s my best friend, Bonnie.” He countered with some reproach.

“She might be your best friend, but I’m in love with you.” She sat down next to him and took his hand, “Are you going to keep following her around picking up scraps or do you want to be with someone who will give you her all?”

“Bonnie, you can’t make me choose between you and Kim.” Ron said softly.

“I know.” She replied, “I can’t make you and I won’t even ask you to, but sometime…” she continued gently, “sometime you’re going to have to.”

“You work for GJ?”

“Well, kind of…”

“Kind of?” Kim glared at the small screen, “Minister of Stupid Walks” doesn’t sound like ‘kind of’ it sounds like ‘I’m a full on Global Justice lackey.’”

“Silly”

“What?”

“Silly Walks.”

“What’s the difference? If you’re working for them, how do I know you’re not sending me into a trap?” Her eyes narrowed, “How do I know you didn’t tell them where I was?”

“Kim, I wouldn’t give your position away to anybody…”

“Except Bonnie Rockwaller?”

“Touché.”

“Wade, I have to go after that nano-tech processor and I have no idea where it is.”

“I told you, Drakken has it.”

“And I just told you I can’t trust you.”

The computer genius looked shocked. “But Kim…” She didn’t hear the rest because she deactivated the Kimmunicator.

Kim raised her voice, “Ron! Bonnie! Playtime is over we have to get going.” She caught Monique’s eye and gestured toward the bedroom, “moral support?” she asked.

“You got it girl, let’s go.” They left the GJ agent hogtied on the living room floor.

Kim did knock before opening the door, but she didn’t wait for an answer. It wouldn’t have made a difference; Ron and Bonnie were sitting on the edge of the bed, hands clasped but each looking down as though lost in their own thoughts. She closed the door and spoke curtly, “We’re going after Drakken.”

Monique looked puzzled, “But I thought you just said…”

“I don’t want them to know where I’m going!” She paused and looked at the still sitting blonde, “We have to find Drakken.”

“Maybe I should sit this one out, KP.”

“I need you, Ron.” It hurt her to show this vulnerability in front of Bonnie.

Ron felt Bonnie stiffen, he glanced at her and then looked up at Kim, “No,” He whispered, “you need someone, anyone will do. I’ve just been the one that was there most of the time.”

Kim stared at him for a few seconds but he wouldn’t meet her eyes, “Monique,” she said quietly, “there’s a chance that any one who stays here will be in danger. I would suggest that you find a different place to hang out for the next couple of days until it is safe.” She turned and headed out into the hallway, “Everyone else can make themselves at home for all I care,” and she stalked out.

“Thanks for the ride, Fern.”

“No problem Kim,” the female farmer replied. “After the way you saved Wilber, I owed you one.”

“It was just a few weeks of training a poisonous spider to spin words into her web.” The red head replied with a dismissive wave of her hands. “So not the drama.”

There was a noise like a small kitten jumping off of a chair onto a thick pile carpet. The lookout scanned the area but saw only shadows. After he turned around, one of the shadows on the floor moved and became distinctly human shaped. The shadow glided silently across the room and removed a hairdryer/grappling gun from its pouch. The shadow got the guard’s attention by poking him in the back with the grappling gun. There was a noise like a gun being cocked.

“If you make a sound, I will put this hook deep into your spine.” A female voice said softly. “Nod if you understand.”

There was vigorous nodding.

“Good. I can tell you’re one of the smart ones.” The shadow woman shifted her grip on the hairdryer/grappling gun. “Now tell me, does your boss pay well?”

Nod.

“Medical?”

Nod.

“Would the medical be enough to cover something like… a grappling hook through the spine?”

The guard hesitated a moment then shook his head no.

“Well, I need to ask you a few more questions and your answers will determine the outcome of our meeting.” The black clad fem said in a reasonable tone. “If I like your answers, you will live and remain whole. If I don’t like your answers… well, anything could happen, and I’m sure you don’t want that.”

The guard shuddered.

“I’m glad we understand each other. How many guards? Don’t say it out loud, just hold up fingers.”

The guard opened and closed his hand three times then held up a single digit.

“Sixteen?”

Nod.

“How are you deployed? You may whisper.”

“One lookout,” he complied, “Two just inside the door. Four in the main control room and one assigned to the boss full time. The other eight are off shift”

“The pay and benefits are really good?”

“Can’t complain too much.” He whispered.

“Dental is good?”

“Yes, very good.”

“Well then, I don’t feel bad about this.” She said, removing the grappling gun from his back.

“What?” he asked turning toward her.

She punched him right in the mouth.

When Dr. Drakken entered the lab he didn’t notice the four thugs strewn about or the rather large mess.

“Uh, Boss?” the nincompoop who was following him around said.

“What is it, Jerry?”

“It’s Jeffrey.”

“What’s wrong with Jeffrey?”

“I’m Jeffrey.”

“Yes.” The scientist was now quite confused and wasn’t sure how to reply to that. “Well I can see why that would be a problem for you.”

“Boss?”

“What is it, Johnny?”

“It’s Jeffrey.”

“What’s wrong with…? Waitaminit, didn’t we just have this conversation…?” Good help is so hard to find he thought. It seemed like every time he got a decent idea brewing some idiot would speak up and he’d lose his train of thought. Dr. Drakken glanced up at his bodyguard and noticed the state of the laboratory for the first time. “What happened here, Joseph?” he asked.

“It’s Jeffrey.”

“Jeffrey did this?”

“I’m Jeffrey.”

“Well, Jeffrey,” the blue scientist screamed, “If you think you can just come in here and destroy my lab whenever you feel like it, you’re FIRED!” The trembling bodyguard was pointing at something. Drakken turned around and was surprised to see a black and green clad female lounging in the one remaining unbroken chair. His first thought was that it was Kim Possible but she was too tall and was projecting an attitude of ruthless disinterest.

“Who are you?” he asked querulously. “And what are you doing in my lab?”

“I’m here about the job.” The tall woman replied, removing her hood. She had pale green skin and long raven hair.

“What job?”

“The one you are going to offer me.”

“You look familiar to me,” the blue scientist said. “Have we met?”

Shego considered the length of time and the amount of effort that would be required to get him to understand that she had been the dark-skinned blonde woman who sold him the nano-tech processor and said: “No.”

“Then what makes you think I have a job for you?” he practically screamed. “GUARDS!”

“Uh, Boss?” The bodyguard said hesitantly.

“What now?”

“Since I’m the only guard here, does this mean I can have my job back?”

“Let me answer that for you.” The pale woman said scornfully as she crossed the room to where he was standing. She picked him up by his throat and crotch then chucked him out the door. “No.” There were several dull thuds and two small crashes before silence descended into the lab once more.

The blue skinned scientist fell to his knees and started begging, “Don’t hurt me!”

Shego let out a scream of frustration and shouted at the sniveling man, “I’m not here to hurt you!”

“I don’t get it.” He griped, standing up.

Maybe this wasn’t going to work out after all. Shego knew she couldn’t continue her operations in the Midwest and had thought that working for a mad genius with a reputation for paying well and on time would be just the thing to tide her over until she could set up a new base of operations. Eventually she was going to need something with a little less mad and a little more genius, but for now there was one other consideration that made this the job that she wanted right now.

“OK, from the top… I come here.”

“Yes.”

“You offer me a job…”

“A job?”

“Yes, a job.”

“Doing what?”

“The normal things… Bodyguard… Stealing… General problem solving…”

“Laundry?”

“You don’t get it.”

“I said that already.” He snapped.

“You do have a bad habit of repeating yourself.” She countered.

“Well then, let me say something different… GUARDS!” He punched wall-mounted button near one of the doors and immediately sirens and strobes began going off. Within thirty seconds the other eight guards had burst into the room and assumed an attack formation.

Shego rubbed her temples and tried to remember the name of her anger management guy. If she was going to keep this job for more than a few hours, she would probably need him. The pale woman took a deep breath and muttered, “Doy! I hate interviews.”

None of the henchmen seemed to regard her as a serious threat; she figured she could take out at least three before the rest woke up. She took a few steps back and pretended to trip over something on the floor. “Oh!” she said in her best bimbo voice, “I think I broke a nail… ON YOUR FACE!” and launched herself at the nearest thug. He toppled over and the martial artist made sure his head hit the floor hard enough for him to lose consciousness.

Two of them loomed over her; she popped up and knocked their heads together then ran directly toward the smallest guard with a primal scream. To her complete surprise he just cowered before her whimpering like a little girl. The pale thief stopped short and looked around, of the five remaining guards, two were trying to push open the door marked ‘pull’ one was crying and the other two were trying to hide behind each other. “Oh please!” She exclaimed, “These guys are pathetic!”

At this, one of the thugs inflated himself to his full height and strutted over to her, “Who you callin’ pathetic?” he rumbled.

Shego held up her hand and ignited it. “Boo.” She said quietly. He ran like hell, with his buddies right behind him.

Dr. Drakken surveyed his wrecked lab. He was quite put out that sixteen henchmen couldn’t deal with one woman; of course, he mused, they had never been able to do so in the past. Kim possible had always managed to defeat his guards and break up his schemes. A kernel of an idea percolated through his brain, perhaps a change in personnel was the right move.

“Tell me, miss…?”

“Shego.”

“What would you say to five thousand a week and full medical.”

“Guy outside said he had dental too.”

“Fine! Five thousand a week, full medical and dental.”

Kim approached the farmhouse cautiously. Peaceful as it seemed, she knew there would be all kinds of pitfalls and traps for the unwary so she took her time, scouting and testing her path for hidden hazards. Despite her caution, she tripped a well-hidden eye beam and the alarm was raised throughout the facility. Within seconds large robotic beasts with glowing red eyes and full armaments surrounded her.

The voice of her captor rang out over the din of the mechanical monsters, “What do we have here? An intruder?”

“It’s me, Uncle Slim, Kimberly.”

“Why so it is!” he exclaimed, “What are you doin’ sneakin’ round here in the middle of the night?”

“I didn’t want to wake anybody up.”

“Too late now.” He chuckled. “C’mon up to the house. I’ll get Joss outta bed and we’ll have a midnight snack while you catch us up on all your latest adventures.” The eyes of the robot horses went back to green and they all cantered back toward the barn.

“Uncle Slim, I’m kind of in trouble, I don’t want any one to know I was here.”

“Well in that case, I’ll meet you over in the barn.”

Slim Possible studied the girl carefully as she drank her cocoa; she looked very tired, which he found a little disturbing. Even after a tough mission she was usually fresh and upbeat but something was weighing her down and he could tell his niece was feeling the strain. He had about a hundred questions he wanted to ask but she had come to him for a reason and he figured she would open up to him when she was ready so he passed the time making small talk about some of the up grades he had installed on his satellite tracking system and his robot horse herd.

After a little while, Kim put down her cup and took a deep breath. “Uncle Slim, I need your help.”

“I do recall the mentionin’ of some trouble,” the elder Possible replied, as he sat down facing the red head, “But we’re family, missy, and anything you need from me, you can have.”

“I was wondering if I could use your satellite tracking system to pinpoint Dr. Drakken’s lair.”

“Well, you’re welcome to it, but if you don’t mind me pryin’, why don’t you just get your computer friend to do it for you?”

Kim started telling her uncle about why she didn’t want Wade to know where she was and what she was doing. The elder Possible was such a good listener she found herself talking about Ron’s betrayal as well, and once she started talking, the floodgates opened up and she soon found herself revealing the full story of her last seven years.

Slim listened to her for nearly two hours without interrupting or making any judgmental statements. When she finally wound down, he sat back and whistled. “That is quite a tale, lass.” The cowboy stroked his mustache absentmindedly and looked at Kim with concern in his eyes. “Would you indulge your old uncle by listenin’ to a bit of advice?”

“Of course.”

“You haven’t been very fair to your friend Ron.” When Kim’s head snapped up at him, he held up his hands placating her, “let me finish. The boy obviously cares for you very much, you need to examine your own heart and the two of you need to sit down and figure out what’s going on and where it’s going.”

“But…”

“Like I said, you need to talk to him. Talkin’ to me won’t solve anything between you. Just think about what you’re givin’ him and what he’s givin’ you and then go talk to him about it.” He paused to collect his thoughts, “As for your physical problem, I don’t know a whole lot about bio-chemistry and the effects of drugs on the nervous system, but we both know someone who is an expert.” Smiling at Kim’s puzzled expression he went on, “Kimberly, your mother is the best darn brain surgeon in the country, maybe the world, don’t you think she could help you?” He reached over and chucked her under the chin to close her wide open mouth. “Did it never occur to you that she would be the perfect person to turn to?”

The red head looked abashed. “Uncle Slim, I… I don’t want her to know about…”

“I know it’s hard to go to your mother with a tale like that, but I guarantee you she won’t love you any less.” He put a loving hand on her shoulder, “I’ve known your mother for more than twenty years, when you tell her about this she will dive into your brain and fix whatever is messed up and then when she knows you’re gonna be OK, she’ll go kill Doctor Betty Director with her bare hands.”

“I guess you’re right…”

“’course I am.”

“But I need one more thing to successfully treat my condition.” Kim slid her chair over to the computer terminal, “Let me show you what I learned in Mexico…” She accessed her online journal and began to call up the information on biology and chemistry she had unearthed on her trip. She then retrieved the data she had found on nano-tech in Australia, which had led her ultimately to a neural research facility in China. As her uncle was perusing the information, she used his satellite system to pinpoint the location of Dr Drakken’s latest lair. It was a couple hundred miles away, just over the Canadian border.

“Uncle Slim, do you have anything I could use to get to this location?”

“Sure thing, missy. I’ll prep Ol’ Tornado for you.”

“I don’t think I want to ride a horse all the way to Canada, Uncle Slim.”

“Oh, I’ve made some improvements.” He said with a twinkle in his eye. The rancher brought the robot horse into the barn and showed Kim one of the new features. “Just push this button here and…” He pushed the button and stood back. Jets fired from the beast’s underbelly while its legs retracted into its body. Meanwhile, the robot’s tail fanned out into a vertical rudder and its neck dropped down into a more streamlined position. “Viola!” He exclaimed, “Hover bike!”

“Spanking!”

“I’ll get this information to your mom, is there anything you’d like me to say?”

“Tell her I’ll see her tomorrow and I’ll explain everything then.” She embraced him tightly, “Thank you.”

“It’s what family is for, missy.” He said returning her hug, “You just be careful out there.”

Kim left Ol’ Tornado a couple hundred yards from the entrance to Dr. Drakken’s lair. She had come in the last mile or so in horse mode to avoid any air traffic monitors he might have up and running and while she would have liked to have the robot as a weapon when she tackled the good doctor, the last time she had encountered the animatronic horse he wasn’t very reliable so she left him outside for a quick getaway.

Her approach was surprisingly easy, devoid of the usual lookout and seemingly unprotected. Kim wondered if she had the wrong location and regretted not having Wade to fall back on. At the entrance she paused again to assess the situation and confirm that this was the correct location. She was reassured when she saw Dr. Drakken’s hovercraft parked outside the entrance she was scouting.

Inside she still encountered no patrols or resistance of any kind and wondered what was going on. Perhaps the mad scientist had been forced to abandon his vehicle as well as his hideout in his haste to depart last time or maybe it was a decoy set to trap her. She gave in to her need for confirmation and pulled out the Kimmunicator to call Wade but before she could activate it she heard Drakken’s distinctive whine coming from somewhere ahead of her.

“…ill be completed on time and the world will be mine!” The would-be conqueror was speaking to someone out of her line of sight, “Are you listening?”

“Uh-huh, blah-blah-gravity beams, blah-blah-magnetatron, blah-blah-take over the world.” The voice was familiar to Kim but she couldn’t quite place it.

“I’m paying you enough for you to show some enthusiasm.” Drakken griped, “You could at least look at me when I’m…”

“Ranting?” interrupted the sarcastic voice, “I don’t think so, it only encourages you.”

Kim recognized the voice this time and involuntarily gasped out loud. It couldn’t be!

“I really must insist…”

“Shhh!” Shego interrupted, “did you hear something?”

“Don’t try to change the subject…”

“There’s someone out there Dr. D.”

Kim tried to wrap her mind around the fact that Shego was alive and well and apparently working for Dr. Drakken. The pale thief didn’t give her any time though and burst into the hallway with her hands ignited ready to fight. They faced each other wary and unmoving for several seconds before Drakken’s grating voice carried into the corridor, “Well? What is it?”

“Do you have a red headed girlfriend that you haven’t told me about, Dr. D?”

“Red headed… What are you talking about, Shego?” He asked entering the passageway. “Kim Possible!?!?” he gasped.

“Give it up, Drakken.”

It was Shego’s turn to be surprised. “You two know each other?”

But the scientist wasn’t listening to her, “Where’s the other one?” Panic filled Drakken’s voice, “he’s probably already destroying my Magnetatron!” The blue skinned man ran down the hallway toward what Kim assumed was his Magnetatron.

“I thought you were dead!” The slender hero said, keeping her guard up. “The police pulled a body out of your apartment when it was bombed.”

The two circled each other guardedly, countering each movement no matter how small. “No one would believe I was dead if there was no body.” Kim took a half step to the right and Shego lowered her left arm two inches.

“You killed someone just to make everyone to think you were dead?” Kim asked in astonishment.

“Of course not!” Shego’s guard dropped for a fraction of a second in annoyance at the accusation and Kim lunged forward to exploit the opening. The red head forced the pale woman to retreat from the hallway into a larger conference room. Shego allowed her opponent to advance taking a wholly defensive stance. “I bought a cadaver from the local medical school that matched my height and build. I kept it in cold storage until the morning I decided to go into hiding.”

Kim pressed the attack, pushing Shego back toward the other door in the room, “No one at the medical school would sell you a body.” She said doubtfully.

Shego allowed herself to be moved toward the exit, “Ha!” the thief responded, twisting to avoid another leg strike and bursting through the door into a larger area that resembled an air traffic control room. “You’d be surprised what the average college kid will do for a few bucks.” Afforded more room, the pale woman completed an athletic flipping maneuver that put several of the control stations between herself and the red head.

“Nice move.” Shego acknowledged the compliment with a curt nod, “This isn’t really hiding, why come here?” Kim asked.

“I have a couple of reasons.” Shego replied slyly, “I also have something you’ve been looking for.” And the pale woman pointed toward a console on the other side of the room. Kim followed the gesture and saw the grappling gun she had abandoned at the Go City Museum a few weeks before. A small noise alerted her to Shego’s lunge and as she narrowly sidestepped a plasma-enhanced punch; she wondered why the pale woman would think she was looking for that grappling gun.

On the defensive now, Kim used the open space of the large control room to exercise her unique looping style. Evading Shego’s attacks and maneuvering ever closer to the grappling gun that she was sure the pale woman wanted her to have but still not completely understanding why. When her moves brought her down on the top of the console where the gun sat, she was almost sure a smile flitted across the older woman’s face but it was so brief she might have imagined it.

From somewhere in the complex there was the sound of a small explosion and they both paused, listening for any hints of what had transpired. Kim took the opportunity to grab the grappling gun and shove it into her pouch. Shego took a split second longer to recover her composure than Kim, probably because she wasn’t used to having labs explode around her. The red head pressed her advantage and put the pale skinned thief’s defenses to the test while pressing her for answers about the grappling gun. Shego held her defenses and her peace until Drakken burst in, “Come Shego!” he snapped angrily, “the whole place is going to blow.” And he ran out of the room.

Kim sat stunned, watching the blue man run off and wondering what had happened to bring the place down if Ron wasn’t here to distract Drakken. Shego’s move took her completely by surprise. The touch on her cheek was so light that it almost failed to register. She turned toward the soft caress and the pale woman’s lips met hers for a split second, “You know where to find me, Kitten.” She said to the surprised girl, and then sprinted for the door.

Kim began ransacking the lair, looking for the chip. It had to be in here somewhere! She tore through all of the spaces as fast as she could, dodging falling beams and coughing in the choking dust. She did find a workbench that looked like it had been used in a nano-tech experiment but the chip wasn’t there. She ran frantically from room to room searching desperately, holding on to the hope that it was here somewhere for her to find.

“C’mon, Kim!” came an unexpected voice from behind her.

“RON!?” Kim turned to see her best fiend standing there with a huge grin and several compatriots. As her eyes flicked from Ron to Bonnie to Monique and back to Ron, she started to ask the first of the hundred or so questions that popped into her mind but Ron put his finger on her lips and gestured at the rapidly collapsing lair. “Questions later. Running NOW!”

Kim, Ron, Bonnie and Monique ran as hard as they could. Sounds of destruction and mayhem followed them and a cloud of dust engulfed the group as they burst from the lair. Coughing and sneezing they stopped about a hundred yards from where they had exited Dr. Drakken’s latest lair. Dust and small debris covered the area immediately in front of the exit now.

“Ron, I’m so sorry…” Panted Kim.

“Kim, I’m so sorry…” Panted Ron at the same time, and they both broke out in grins.

“Me first…” they overlapped again, followed by giggles. With a twinkle in her eyes, Kim timed her next outburst by carefully watching Ron. “Ok, you first…” they said in perfect synchronization. This time it was too much and they both burst out laughing.

Bonnie wasn’t amused and didn’t understand why they found it so funny either. They had just been almost killed in a collapsing building, and she didn’t even want to think back to the four hour long uncomfortable ride in the belly of a C4 cargo plane culminating in an air drop outside of civilization in Canada for god’s sake! She opened her mouth to give them a piece of her mind but stopped when she felt Monique’s gentle hand on her arm.

The Dark skinned girl motioned that they should give the two some room and her expression held a promise of an explanation. The cheerleader rolled her eyes but consented to being led a short distance away. She crossed her arms and testily said “What?”

“Just give them a few minutes.” Monique entreated, “Yesterday, he chose you over her and she needs to be reassured that she still matters.”

“He wouldn’t be here now if I hadn’t told him to come.” Bonnie bitched.

“And I’m sure he’ll let her know that too.”

Bonnie spent several uncomfortable minutes watching Ron and Kim touching each other and talking quietly. She glared at Monique but the dark skinned girl just stared back impassively. After what seemed like an eternity of hell the couple hugged and the knot in Bonnie’s stomach untied itself. That was definitely not the embrace of lovers and when the brief hug was over, Ron came directly to her and draped his arm around her shoulders.

Kim contacted Wade. “Hey Kim,” the computer guru greeted her reservedly.

“Did you get all the data I had Uncle Slim forward to my mother?”

“Are you implying that I eavesdrop on private conversations between members of your family?” He asked in a hurt voice.

“Well, don’t you?”

The freckled teen rolled his eyes, “Yeah,” he admitted sheepishly, “and now I see why you need that nano-tech processor.” He typed for a minute, “Your mom is preparing an O.R. for your arrival and your ride should be to you in about five minutes.”

“It’s no good Wade,” Kim sighed, “I don’t have the processor…” her voice trailed off and she straightened up, remembering Shego’s odd phrase: I also have something you’ve been looking for.

“Or do I?” Kim snatched the grappling gun out of her pouch, “Wade, scan this for the processor chip!”

Kim looked at Bonnie sitting across from her in the helicopter. “Bonnie?” she said tentatively, “Ron told me that you were the one who insisted that he come to help me, I…”

“Ach! You’re not going to go all mushy on me right now are you?” the acerbic brunette asked.

Kim smiled, “No,” she said, “but I might later.”

“Ladies,” Ron broke in self-importantly, “There’s enough of the Ronster to go around.”

“Ego much?”

“As if!”

“I’ll take that as a…” the blonde paused and turned to Monique, “hey, what do I take that as?”

Her answer was lost because the pilot broke in to tell them they were arriving at the hospital. Mrs. Dr. Possible was waiting for them on the roof and when Kim disembarked; her mother swept her into her arms and held her tightly until they were forced to part so they could move away from the chopper as it took off. Once inside, the elder possible took Kim aside for a moment.

“Don’t say anything right now, Kimmie.” Her blue eyes were brimming with tears. “I’ve gone over the data you sent me and I have contacted all three institutions, they’ll each have an expert available to me during the entire operation. I also called in a few friends who are top in the pharmacology field, they’ll be assisting also.”

Kim didn’t know what to say. She felt guilty for keeping this secret from her mom and wanted to ask forgiveness for everything, but she didn’t know where to start. “Mom… I…” her voice faltered.

“Shhh.” Her mom interrupted, “I love you too.”

Mr. and Mrs. Dr. Possible stood outside the operating room leaning on one another. The surgery would last several hours and while indications were that it would be successful, the full results wouldn’t be known for several days. The sheer number of people who were willing to help Kim with no questions asked and asking nothing in return had surprised the neurosurgeon. She was quite proud that her daughter meant so much to so many people. Their quiet revere was broken by Ron’s strident shout.

“What the hell are you doing here!?!”

She turned to see Betty Director walking toward her flanked by half a dozen agents.

Kim drifted. At first there was no detail but slowly her surroundings began to take on attributes. The sky became blue and clouds began to form in it, then the water became a greenish blue and the surface took on the texture of waves with an occasional whitecap. And now she wasn’t drifting, she was flying, flying toward a familiar beach. She saw the Turner’s hotel and flew past it and headed for a remote beachhead.

There was a helicopter flying toward her, as it passed, she caught sight of the pilot in deep concentration and the fear lined faces of three teenaged girls. She continued on drawn inexorably toward a destination and memories that she wanted to avoid. Swooping down, she heard herself gasp as she discovered Jenny’s body and tried to shut her eyes but ghosts don’t have eyelids so she was forced to witness it all over again. She watched herself run through the jungle toward the sounds of the Chief’s shrill scream, “Where are they?” and the sickening thuds of a closed fist repeatedly striking flesh.

Kimmie didn’t even break stride, her momentum drove her into the Chief and the older woman fell back. The girl’s arms pummeled like pistons and her legs propelled her ever forward into the Chief, but it was no contest; the Chief caught her easily and tossed her aside. “…completely out of control…” The words came from nowhere, drifting surreally across the scene. The Chief went after her younger self now, scrambling through the underbrush as Kimmie tried desperately to get away. “…flew into a mindless rage for no reason…” The Chief’s eyes were manic, there was nothing human in them and her pursuit was unremitting. “…suddenly killing everything she sees…”

Kim’s perspective changed and she could see the entire scene. The man Chief had called Gemini was standing a few feet away talking animatedly on a cell phone. “…told me she’d be stable!” He shouted. She drifted toward him, behind her; Kimmie spotted the man and ran toward him. “I’ll have to terminate her.” He picked up a branch and as her pursuer ran past him he tripped the older woman and began beating her while she lay on the ground. The branch rose and fell over and over again; finally he drove it into the Chief’s skull. “Prepare number seven and get me a clean-up crew out here pronto!” He shouted into his phone.

The large man walked carefully over to where the young red head stood unsteadily. “She was supposed to be an improvement, you see, the perfect little sister.” He said, somewhat out of breath, “Unfortunately, this isn’t an exact science and she had to be put down. I’m sure the next one will be better.” Gemini removed a syringe from his brief case. “This won’t hurt you; just fog your memories a bit. I can’t have you telling the authorities what happened here.”

The Chief’s crushed faced grinned at her maniacally, her right eye twinkling. The blood-spattered man inserted the needle into Kimmie’s neck and the world’s details faded away.

“Kimmie, wake up.”

“Mom?” Kim’s head ached.

“Of course dear, wake up.” A tender hand wiped Kim’s forehead with a cool towel.

“Mom!” Ignoring the throbbing in her head, Kim sat up and hugged her mom. She was afraid to ask the question that was torturing her so she just closed her eyes and held onto her mom.

“You’re OK, honey.”

“Oh! Mom!” tears began to fall from her eyes, “I was so scared.”

“You don’t have to be scared anymore, Kimmie. Everything is going to be fine.” Her voice sounded a little odd. Kim pulled back from the embrace a bit and looked at her mom, noticing the glassed over expression for the first time.

“Mom…? Are you OK?” She was suddenly very scared, she reached for the phone but her arms wouldn’t move. Her body stopped responding to her will and she fell back onto the bed paralyzed. Her mom rose stiffly and went to the door, “Everything is going to be fine.” She said woodenly. “Right Betty?”

The door to her recovery room opened and the Chief walked in.

“That’s right, Kimmie,” the Chief said triumphantly, “Everything is going to be fine! I had your mom install a remote control receiver in your head while she was doing the surgery.”

Kim couldn’t move any part of her body other than her eyes, she looked on in horror as her mom went over to the Chief and handed her a remote. Devastated she tried to look away but her eyes fell on Ron and Bonnie making out in the corner. “I’d like to help you, Kim.” Ron was saying, “but I got this new partner now and well, you never liked me anyway… did you, whore?” She tried to respond, to tell him how much she loved him, how much he meant to her but the Chief was pointing the remote at her and she felt herself jerking up and lurching toward the door.

Outside of her room, Monique was talking to Wade on the Kimmunicator, “You did a great job Minister of Silly Walks!” she said saluting, “That dumb girl fell for it, hook line and sinker.” They both dissolved into laughter.

“I get a turn with my kitten, right?” Out of the corner of her eye, Kim saw Shego walking up to the Chief holding out her hand. “You said that if I gave her the wrong chip, I would get to play with her.” An evil smile spread across the pale thief’s face, “it’s time to blow something up!”

Kim felt herself being jerked in several directions at once while the Chief and Shego fought over control of the remote. Finally the Chief grabbed Shego’s head and gave it a sharp twist. As the pale woman fell to the floor, she grabbed at the Chief’s face and pulled off the left half. The Chief held out her arms and advanced, the red head rolled her eyes in horror. “What’s wrong, Kimmie? Don’t you like what I’ve done with my face?” the Chief stood facing Kim scant inches away, “You did this to me and I’m going to make you pay... You remember Jenny and her friends don’t you?”

A body rose from a nearby gurney and began to lurch toward her, she recognized the decomposing face of Jenny and when she looked past the zombie she could see eighteen more girls coming down the hallway. “Because they remember you.”

Finally, she could scream.

“Kimmie, wake up.”

“Mom?” Kim’s head ached.

“Of course dear, wake up.” A tender hand wiped Kim’s forehead with a cool towel.

“Mom!” Kim sat up and hugged her mom. She was afraid to ask the question that was torturing her so she just closed her eyes and held onto her mom.

“You’re OK, honey.”

“Oh! Mom!” tears began to fall from her eyes, “I was so scared.”

“You don’t have to be scared anymore, Kimmie. Everything is going to be fine.” Her voice sounded a little odd. Kim pulled back from the embrace a bit and looked at her mom; she noticed the syringe in her mom’s hand.

“What’s that for?” she asked, her voice quaking.

“Oh, it’s nothing, really.” The elder Possible walked over to the door and opened it, Kim saw herself walk in holding Ron’s hand. “You see, we’ve improved on the original design and you’re obsolete now.” The doctor motioned with the needle, “This is to put you out of our misery…”

“Ron…!” she cried, “Ron! Help me!”

“No can do, KP.” He said with a grin, “I like this one better; she doesn’t act like an obsessive bitch.” He turned to the brunette standing behind him, “isn’t that right Bon-Bon?”

“Oh, yes! The cheerleader hissed. “Watch this! Possible… lick my feet.”

“Anything you say Bonnie” Kim’s wooden voice came from the automaton.

“So you see, honey.” Mrs. Dr. Possible loomed in front of her, “it’s time for you to be replaced.” Kim’s arms and legs wouldn’t move and the needle kept coming closer and closer. Ron and Bonnie were laughing and the other Kim was on her knees licking Bonnie’s feet. She tried to scream but nothing came out.

“Kimmie, wake up.”

“Mom?” Kim’s head ached.

“Of course dear, wake up.” A tender hand wiped Kim’s forehead with a cool towel.

“Mom!” Kim sat up and hugged her mom. She was afraid to ask the question that was torturing her so she just closed her eyes and held onto her mom.

“You’re OK, honey.”

“Oh! Mom!” tears began to fall from her eyes, “I was so scared.”

“You don’t have to be scared anymore, Kimmie. Everything is going to be fine.” Her voice sounded a little odd…

When Kim screamed, Anne Possible felt like her own heart was going to break. She held Kim tightly and tried to tell her that everything was going to be fine, but the girl dissolved into hysterics and even Ron’s presence could not calm her down. She had no choice but to sedate the girl. She sat at Kim’s side and looked down at her sleeping form. They had shaved Kim’s head in preparation for the surgery and while the hair would grow back, she wasn’t sure if her little girl would ever be whole again.

Anne left the recovery area and walked down to the conference room that the GJ director had commandeered. Ron was inside, standing with his back against one of the walls, arms crossed and a disbelieving sneer on his face. “Either the orders came from your office or they didn’t.” he growled, “Which is it?”

“It’s not that simple, Ron…” Dr. Director replied. “We’re not…”

“Competent…?” he interrupted sarcastically, “Honest…?” his voice rose, “The good guys…?” He almost screamed.

Anne placed her hand on his arm, “Ronald, please calm down.”

“That bitch messed up Kim’s mind and you want me to be calm?” He started pacing around the small room, pent up energy boiling out of each step. “How can you stand there and listen to this psycho whore after what she did to Kim?” One of the agents put a hand on his weapon. Ron caught the movement out of the corner of his eye and whirled to face him in a Tai Shing Pek Kwar stance, “Pull it out mister and give me an excuse to kill you!” He yelled. Dr. Director motioned for the agent to stand down.

“Ronald…” Mrs. Possible said hesitantly, “maybe you should get some rest…”

“As long as that woman is here,” somehow he made the phrase sound more insulting than any he had used before, “I’m going to stand right here; between her and KP.”

“James…?”

“Can’t argue with the boy, dear.” Her husband replied, “I agree with his sentiment, if not his choice of language.”

“Betty…?”

“Can you blame them, Anne?” The GJ head asked. “The evidence is stacked against Global Justice and me.” She shook her head, “I know I’m innocent and you’ve given me the benefit of the doubt, but…” she gestured vaguely, “They don’t have our history and they think I’m taking advantage of your friendship.”

“I think you’re a manipulative bitch from hell and if the Doctors P weren’t here, I think I’d kill you with my bare hands!” That earned Ron an arched eyebrow and a look that said it wouldn’t be an easy task. Ron gathered himself for another verbal assault.

“Please stop threatening each other for just five minutes!” Anne’s world was under attack, someone had nearly destroyed her daughter’s mind and even if the surgery was successful it would be months or years before she could live a normal life. Her friend was at the top of the suspect list and her husband was encouraging their daughter’s sidekick to be belligerent toward everyone in a misguided belief that he was protecting his little Kimmie-cub. There was no one for her to draw strength from and somehow, for Kim’s sake she needed to keep everyone from falling apart.

Wade had told her that as soon as he released his data to the NSA, they had dispatched agents to bring Betty in for questioning. Betty had to know they were coming and if she was guilty, why would she hang around? Unless she was so confident in her power base that she no longer cared whether anyone knew about her criminal activities. That was a prospect that Anne did not want to consider. In the meantime, she was trying to make sure Kim had a chance to recover and that Ron didn’t just start attacking Global Justice agents at random. It was actually feasible that he might hurt one of them; she saw the fear in their eyes when he went into that martial arts stance.

Wade was busier than he had been in a long time. As soon as he released his records to the NSA they tried to trace him, he was ready for that. He wasn’t prepared for the other federal agencies trying to figure out where he was located. The CIA, FBI and Homeland Security began scouring on-line databases and data mining Usenet groups desperately searching for clues to his identity. So far he was holding his own but the amateur hackers had picked up the scent and began sending out their own ferrets and that would soon be a big factor.

“Mom.” He called into the intercom.

“Yes, dear.”

“We may need to leave, quickly.”

“What on earth are you talking about, boy?”

Wade brought his mom up to speed about Kim’s situation and his part in it, he asked her to pack a bag of essentials just in case and turned back to his computers. None of the agencies trusted each other enough to pool resources and he wanted to do everything he could to keep them paranoid. The hackers could turn the tide in his favor if he could unite them, not necessarily with each other but against the agencies. A coded query, soliciting support from his fellow hackers, received several positive responses.

Shego collected her things quietly. The idiot Drakken was asleep in his lab, downed by the pills she had slipped into his (she suppressed a shudder) cocoa-moo. Two weeks of hearing his moronic babble and idiotic rantings had given her a headache that she feared would never go away. The pale thief had already planned on leaving tomorrow but a conversation she overheard that morning had changed her timetable and her destination.

The blue scientist had taken a call from someone named Gemini and Shego recognized the name from her kitten’s story. The conversation was obviously in code but she had surreptitiously recorded as much as she could and now she wanted to get it to Q-Bert to see if it would help the girl. Walking through the lab it took a great deal of self-control not to throttle the sleeping madman. She hopped into the hovercraft and set the controls for Go City, when she was out of range of the lair’s security system she parachuted out and started looking for a ride to Middleton.

“We’ve got him, sir!” the excited operative yelled. “Ten-sixty W. Addison St.”

“Send two full crews; I don’t want this nerd to get away!”

Within minutes all of the major law enforcement agencies had units rolling to the indicated address, someone was leaking information like a sieve and none of the agencies could get a step up on the others. Wade fed the confusion as much as he could by cross feeding data and making sure that no agency felt that their own information was secure.

When it became clear that the agencies were actually sending units to the address, Wade noticed a change in the hacker traffic. Nearly all of the amateurs recognized the location immediately and the tide began to turn in the computer genius’ favor as they all started trying to make fools of the government. Soon the agencies were being fed a new address every few seconds, the pursuit ground to a halt as the various agencies tried to sift through a mountain of false leads.

Shego surveyed the hospital and decided that it would be absolute suicide to try to get in now. Agents from GJ and the NSA were already entrenched and the FBI was setting up a command center in one of the parking lots. Local and State police were checking every car and there seemed to be a canine unit every ten feet. She could probably get in, but she doubted that she would be able to find the girl, get the information to Q-Bert and then get out without losing some blood. She had to find the nerd, but how?

The pale woman headed to a local internet café and found an unoccupied table. The atmosphere of the cyber-deli was tense and when she logged in she could see why. Even a casual hacker like her could see that something big was going on. She thought for several minutes and began composing a message that should get the boy’s attention. When she was satisfied, she uploaded it into the online maelstrom and sat back to wait for a response.

So intent was Shego on waiting for a response, she didn’t notice when the Barista approached her table. “Miss…?”

“What do you want?” the pale woman snapped in surprise.

“There is a small issue with your order,” the middle aged black woman said, “The queue is backed up and Jaydoesn’t think it’s possible to retrieve your items.”

The pale thief picked up her things and followed the woman behind the counter and out the back door. “Is it safe for you to bring me to him?” she asked.

“Are you kidding? I ain’t lettin’ no one near my baby boy.” The woman said dismissively, “But I brought you this.” and handed a Kimmunicator to Shego and stepped into a waiting car. “Let’s go Sadie.” She said and the car pulled away from the alley, changing colors several times while Shego watched. By the time it reached the end of the block, Shego couldn’t be sure which car the woman was in.

“Hi Shego.” Wade greeted her. He looked a bit harried.

“I have some information about that Director woman.” Shego said quickly. “I recorded a conversation between Gemini and my former employer but it’s in code. I thought you might be able to decipher it.” She plugged her jump drive into the Kimmunicator’s USB port.

“It’s coming in now,” Wade said. She could see him typing constantly, switching from keyboard to keyboard and sometimes inserting or removing disks.

“Is Kitten…? I mean Kim… Is she…?” The pale woman found herself uncharacteristically at a loss for words.

“The surgery went OK but she didn’t come out from under the anesthesia very well.” The teen said worriedly, “She was hysterical and Mrs. Dr. P had to sedate her.”

Shego made her way to a secluded rooftop in silence while Wade continued his virtual battle with the government agencies. It was easier now; most of the amateur hackers were running interference for him just to tweak their noses at authority.

“Why are you doing this?” He asked the thief curiously.

The question struck Shego as odd, mostly because she hadn’t examined her own motives. Now, uncomfortably searching her soul for the answers, she was having difficulty expressing herself. “She… seems so strong… so helpless… I just...” The pale thief shifted uneasily, “I guess I don’t really know why I want to help her, but I do.”

Wade smiled at her from the Kimmunicator screen. “She has that affect on just about everyone.”

Shego was lost in thought. What was it about the red head that commanded this emotion from her? She had been surprised by the unwavering loyalty the kitten’s friends showed and now, she was the one thinking of stepping in front of a bullet. The pale thief just wanted her kitten to succeed and that was reason enough for now. If they survived the next few days, she’d examine her feelings in more detail.

Shego approached the doors of the hospital at a dead run covering nearly twenty meters every second; she didn’t have time for subtlety or stealth. Wade had said Kim was in immediate danger. The pale woman did not waste any energy on generating plasma; she was putting everything into her mad dash and relying on her unexpected speed to protect her from any gunfire. None of the police or agents was prepared for her blitz and Wade timed the power failure to coincide with her entrance perfectly.

As the doors shattered before her, the lights went out. While all of the critical systems were on battery back up, there was a delay of a few seconds before the main generator came online and normal lighting was restored. By then, she was already in the stairwell and the agents surrounding the building were in chaos. Most of them thought there had been a bomb blast of some kind and none of the witnesses to Shego’s approach were being taken seriously. The pale thief was nearing the third floor when Wade’s voice spoke into her ear, “fifth floor: Go left, room five-eleven.”

“Got it.” She had time to say before she blasted through the door. It was supposed to open toward her, but she was moving at a more normal speed now and had enough energy to summon a plasma discharge. The GJ agent on the other side of the door never knew what hit him and slid across the floor under the heavy steel door. Shego came out sprinting again and would have overshot her kitten’s room if not for a judicious transfer of kinetic energy from her body to the bodies of the agents standing near the door.

Shego went in and picked up Kim’s frail form, she weighed almost nothing and it was hard to believe this was the same body that gave shelter to her vibrant kitten. She looked strangely forlorn with her head shaved and the small but ugly surgery scar on the left side of her skull. Even now, sedated as she was, Shego could tell the girl was fighting the demons in her nightmares. She turned to carry the helpless girl to the ride Wade assured her would be waiting in the hospital’s underground garage and found her way blocked by a hard looking woman with a patch over her right eye flanked by four large well built men in matching suits.

“Where do you think you’re going?” the woman asked menacingly.

“Somewhere safe.” Shego responded, looking for an alternate exit. On her own, she could dispose of the squad and the woman, failing that a five story fall would be painful but survivable and unexpected enough to make a clean get away. With the helpless red head in her arms, she wasn’t sure she could get past them and she wasn’t about to jump out the window.

“Kill them both!”

Agent Johnson looked at his partner, agent Johnson (no relation) scornfully, “I told you this was a false lead.” He snorted. “I can’t believe you’ve never seen that movie! John Belushi, Dan Akroyd, John Candy, Carrie Fisher, I mean… come on!” Laughing a bit, he shook his head again. “Ten-sixty West Addison… It’s a classic!” They got in the car and left the parking lot of Wriggly Field. Agent Johnson didn’t think it was funny.

When the agents from the NSA asked the Possibles and Ron to leave the conference room, there was some discussion. After all, it concerned their daughter and his best friend and they all thought that gave them the right of attending the questioning or ‘interview’ as the NSA men called it. But their entreaties fell on deaf ears and they were ushered unceremoniously into the hallway.

Ron followed Kim’s parents down the hall to look in on her; she was sedated but not restful. An orderly came up to Mrs. Dr. Possible and whispered something to her; she nodded and turned to Ron. “The administrator wants to talk to me about moving Kimmie,” she said tight lipped, “her presence is interfering with the operation of the hospital.” Ron could see the tension behind her eyes and it occurred to him that as difficult as this was for him, he wasn’t making it any easier on her.

He put his hand on her arm and said earnestly, “I’ll watch over her Mrs. P. and I promise I won’t threaten anyone while you’re gone.” She seemed to take a slight amount of relief from that and he tried to think of other things he could do to help her out. He racked his brain as they walked away and the only idea he could come up with was to call Rabbi Katz. The teacher was not in so Ron left a message and as he was hanging up Wade interrupted him.

“Hey, Ron.”

“She’s still sedated, Wade”

“I’m negotiating with the leprechauns, and they have a pot of gold but they don’t know where Dorothy is.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I ordered the pizza but they no longer guarantee delivery, so if it’s late I can’t get my money back.”

That proved it, Wade had lost his mind. “Ooooh… Kaaaay… Look buddy, I’ll… call you back later,” He said soothingly, “when I know more about Kim’s condition.” He was confused by Wade’s nonsensical babble, if the unflappable genius was losing it, what chance did the rest of them have? Of course, Wade might be trying to tell him something… He liked that idea a lot more than thinking that the kid had gone off his rocker.

OK, Ron thought, assume Wade is not nutty as a fruitcake... negotiating with leprechauns, pots of gold, Dorothy, pizza delivery and no money back… He couldn’t see the connections. Rufus would probably be able to figure it out in a snap but hospital regulations about animals had meant that he couldn’t bring his friend. He didn’t want to leave Kim’s corridor but if he needed to figure out Wade’s code to help Kim, then he needed to find someone who could help. Bonnie had gone home already, but Monique might still be around. He glanced at the NSA and GJ agents outside the conference room and reluctantly went in search of Monique.

“It’s perfectly simple, Ron.” She looked ready to smack him in the head. “Wade’s talking to Shego. Shego has important information. Kim is in danger, and Shego is on her way here but Shego doesn’t know what room Kim is in and isn’t sure she can get to her in time. This is all or nothing time. Honestly, Ron,” the exasperated dark skinned woman said, “I don’t know how you tie your shoes in the morning!”

“Slip-ons…”

“TTTH!” she spat out, holding up a hand, palm facing Ron, but he wasn’t there. He was running as fast as he could back to Kim. “Wade!” She said into the Kimmunicator, “Room five-eleven.”

When Ron came around the corner, he immediately knew something was wrong; there was only one agent in front of the conference room. He ran to the doorway and looked inside. Three NSA agents lay dead on the floor; each had a bullet hole in his skull. The agent in the corridor was propped against the wall and just starting to teeter. Ron tried to back away but slipped in the growing pool of blood on the floor. As he went down, his stomach betrayed him and he threw up. There was a distant crash and the lights went out.

Shego tucked Kim into her body and rolled the two of them across the bed to put it between them and their attackers. Once on the other side, she raised the bed’s safety rail with her right foot while setting the girl into a visitor’s chair as gently as she could. She twisted back from the chair, driving her elbow into the agent directly behind her putting her entire body’s weight into it. The sound of cracking ribs gave her hope that he would be at less than optimum. Another agent was on the bed, clambering over the safety rail, she braced herself against the wall and kicked the bed as hard as she could. It was very heavy but she managed to move it several feet trapping one of the agents against the far wall. The guy on the bed lost his balance when it moved and fell onto the floor face first, with his left leg caught in the safety rail. She threw her legs into the air and spun around, creating momentum to bring her body up from the floor. She followed the spin through connecting both feet in quick succession with the fourth agent’s jaw.

The pale thief came down from her kick knees first onto the back of the agent who had fallen off the bed and then rolled back to her feet facing the room with Kim at her back. A quick glance around gave her hope; of the four agents, three looked to be out of commission already, cracked-ribs-guy was bleeding from his mouth, tripped-guy wasn’t moving at all and kick-to-the-head-guy’s jaw was hanging at an odd angle, he looked like he was going to pass out any second. She was ready for a direct assault on the one eyed woman when she saw the gun.

“I don’t mind if you stand in front of her, this is a Smith and Wesson X-Frame 500.” Dr. Director said calmly. “It produces 2600 ft-lbs of pressure at the muzzle and it’s loaded with armor piercing rounds.” She pulled the hammer. “They’ll go right through both of you.”

Shego concentrated on the woman’s trigger finger. If she timed a full energy burst at the right instant, she might be able to incinerate the bullet before it reached them. Of course, releasing that much heat energy in a room this small would ignite the oxygen and they would still be just as dead, but she could take the psycho with them and she would die knowing that at least Dr. Director hadn’t killed them.

“Federal agents searching every car that pulls up to the front door, turning away sick people, scaring the patients that are already here! This is an outrage!” The hospital administrator was outraged. “How can we treat the patients we have if they won’t let my staff into the damn building?”

“Dr. Peterson, I know this is difficult for the hospital…”

“Difficult!?” He shouted. “Dealing with irate family members, that’s difficult. Telling someone their loved one died on the operating table, that’s difficult. This is… Impossible!”

“Look Joel,” James interjected, “We don’t have any control over the federal agents that are running around here. We don’t even know why…”

“Your daughter is the reason!” The administrator sputtered, “You let her run all over the place pretending to save the damn world and when she gets in trouble you turn my hospital into a damned zoo.”

James recognized the look on his wife’s face and stood quickly to place himself between her and the administrator. Before he could say anything to calm her down there was a muffled ‘bang’ and the lights went out. In the darkness there was a sound of flesh on flesh and when the lights came back on, Joel Peterson was sprawled in his chair holding his nose and James was jumping around shaking his hand.

“OW!” He yelped. “Darn it! That hurt!” When Anne looked at him questioningly, he said, “I couldn’t let you hit him honey, you work here.”

“naugh phore rahn!”

“I don’t have time for this.” Anne snapped, “We’ll pick this up when my daughter is set right. In the meantime, if you don’t want all these federals around, complain to the president!” She took James’ hand carefully, “Let’s go check on Kimmie.”

“Mr. and Mrs. Possible!” a man in an FBI jacket called to them as they exited the administrator’s office. They stopped and turned to him. “We need to get you both to a place of safety.” He continued, nearly out of breath.

“What are you talking about young man?” James asked.

“The hospital is under attack, sir. You and Mrs. Possible are to be taken to a safe place.”

“Our daughter is upstairs, we’re not going anywhere without her!”

“I know, sir, there is a retrieval team going after your daughter right now! You two are to come...” he was interrupted by the sound of automatic gunfire. “Please! Sir, Ma’am, Please come with me.”

“Mom?” Kim mumbled, “s’cold.”

“Stay still, Kitten.” Shego said sternly.

“Sh’go?”

“I’m here hon, we’re having a bit of an issue though, so stay still.”

“Why don’t you tell her the truth?” Dr. Director asked. “Why don’t you tell her you’re going to die in a few seconds and she’s going to die with you?”

“Chief?” Kim asked fearfully. “You’re dead! I saw you die!” a hysterical note crept into her voice. Shego could sense frantic movement behind her, like Kim was climbing up the chair or maybe burrowing into it, the pale woman kept her eyes steadily focused on the finger stroking the trigger of the gun.

“You tried to kill me, Kimmie,” she spat the name out, “but I survived and I’m terribly sorry, but I’m not giving you that chance.”

“I saw you die!” the panic-stricken red head continued, “The man kept hitting you with a stick… over and over… He killed you with a stick…”

“What man?”

“The man at the school… He killed you with a stick… you’re dead… I saw it. You’re dead.”

“YOU LIE!” The brown haired woman yelled and her finger relaxed from the trigger for a split second but that was all the time Shego needed. A concentrated blast of hot plasma engulfed the Director’s gun and hands; her yell turned into a scream of pain. The pale thief closed the distance in an instant and chopped down on the older woman’s arm, knocking the gun to the floor. The Director recovered quickly and attacked the pale woman. Shego recognized the looping gymnastic style that her kitten used but it was more refined and definitely more deadly. Fortunately, the burnt hands and close confines of the hospital room hampered her brown haired assailant.

Shego saw in Dr. Director the potential that Kim could achieve and realized she would have to end the fight soon or be overwhelmed. The same improvisational skills that the little red head employed were used to full advantage by the maniacal killer Shego found herself squared off against. So far, her superior strength was saving her but she had expended a lot of energy getting into this room and was starting to feel the effects of that.

“you’re dead… I saw you die… you’re dead…” Kim continued to mumble.

“HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!” The uninjured agent had picked up the gun and was pointing it at Kim. Shego’s stomach fell and a pain having nothing to do with combat shot through her chest. She couldn’t breathe, after all this, some idiot punk of a government stooge agent was going to kill her kitten! She leapt.

He pulled the trigger.

“We’ve got an address!”

The tactical commander walked up behind the console operator. “Another ghost?”

“I don’t think so, sir. This looks legit.” He read through a pop up on his screen, “Records department confirms, sir… print-out coming through now… Private residence… Lowerton address… Waiting for visual confirmation… It’s legitimate, sir. They’ve got visual on the boy.”

“GO! All Agents! Confirm new coordinates and respond. Subject is in sight! GO! GO! GO!”

Ron lay in a pool of blood and vomit. Kim needed him and he was lying on the floor. He scrambled up, willing his shoes to find purchase in the slippery mess as he began running toward her recovery room. Somewhere up ahead of him a door slammed, fear threatened to take over his senses but he brutally forced it down as he pushed his body toward the danger he knew Kim was facing. There was chaos around him, hospital staff frantically scrambling around, colliding with objects in the hall and each other as they sought someplace away from the danger and destruction.

Ron tripped as he tried to round the corner and sprawled face first onto the floor. His feet couldn’t find traction enough to get him up right so he continued scrambling toward Kim’s room on all fours. He could see a GJ agent yelling from in the doorway holding the biggest gun he had ever seen. Ron forced his body to lunge through the air at the agent by sheer will power. He had always dismissed tales of time dilation under stress but he suddenly found that every detail of his surroundings was crystal clear.

He sailed through the air legs flailing, arms stretching for the gun. He could see Kim through the observer’s window frantically trying to burrow into a chair. The agent’s finger was squeezing the trigger. Dr. Director was lunging for Kim. Shego’s face was contorted in rage and pain as she tried to put herself between Kim and both of her widely separated assailants. The agent was smiling. Ron didn’t make it in time.

The gun went off.

Wade watched his monitors as the agents encircled the house. He was impressed with their thoroughness; they were leaving nothing to chance. The agencies had finally overcome their paranoia and were working together on a three-tiered containment and penetration maneuver. Within a few seconds, the full force of the FBI and NSA would be inside the house and he was fresh out of ideas and stalling tactics. He had to give his mother the bad news.

“Mom?”

“What is it, boy?” Wade’s mother asked. “I’m trying to decide which green dress I need to pack.”

“I gave the Fed’s grandma’s house.”

“You gave my momma’s house to the Feds?” There was a promise of dire consequences in her voice.

“I didn’t have a choice, mom.” He went on quickly, “It was either that one or this one.”

She thought about it for a few moments, “Good move, son.” She said. “Now, lace bodice or V-neck?”

“Aw, mom!”

The body burst out of a window on the fifth floor. Trailing bits of glass and metal, it tumbled through the surreal illumination of the exterior emergency lighting, impossible to identify. When it hit the roof of the car, all the vehicle’s windows shattered outward spraying safety glass for dozens of feet in every direction.

Anne Possible grabbed the FBI agent by the lapel and screamed, “Tell me that wasn’t my daughter! Tell me!” When he didn’t respond, she tore herself from his grasp and ran to the car but she couldn’t force herself to look. “James!” She cried “JAMES!” When he reached her, she buried her face in his chest and let him hold her up. “Please,” she whispered. “Please tell me it’s not Kimmie.”

James steeled his nerves and looked at the body.

The gun went off like a grenade. The barrel of the gun had been slightly warped by the heat of Shego’s plasma blast and the bullet jammed in the barrel. 2600 ft-lbs of trapped pressure blew the gun apart.

Pieces of shrapnel tore through Ron’s hands and into his face. They peppered Shego’s chest and arms. Dr. Director could feel the hot fragments burning into her neck and back as she lunged for Kim. The agent holding the gun lost both hands and most of his chest. Fragments buried themselves in the walls, doors and even shattered the windows of the small recovery room.

Kim opened her eyes when the Chief grabbed her and stared uncomprehending, into the eyes of a ghost. “YOU’RE DEAD!” she screamed.

The Director back-handed Kim across the face, “Stop saying that!” she yelled shrilly. “I’m… Not… Dead…” each word was punctuated with a slap.

“Oh, yes you are.” Shego growled and caught the director’s hand before she could strike Kim again. The pale woman twisted the wrist downward, pulling the one eyed woman off balance and then drove a knee into her solar plexus. Shego released the wrist to grab a handful of brown hair with her left hand, her right hand connected with a plasma enhanced uppercut to the chest that lifted the brown haired woman off the floor and she followed with a powerful roundhouse kick to the one-eyed woman’s chest that sent her flying through the window. Glass sprayed everywhere.

“KP!” Ron’s screamed, “KP! Are you alright?”

“Ron!?” She got up and stumbled over the agents out to the hallway. “Ron?”

“KP!” He shouted again.

“I’m OK, Ron…” Her throat closed up as she caught sight of his bloody face. “Oh, my god! Ron?”

“I can’t see…”

“Tactical-one, this is Red-one, the house is empty, there’s no one here.”

“What the hell do you mean?” Tactical shouted. “You had visual on the little bastard five minutes ago and now there’s no one in the house at all?”

“No one sir, the place is filled with electronics equipment. Servers, routers, holographic projectors… real cutting edge stuff sir, but no actual live people.”

“I want this kid brought in. I want his family brought in. I want his damn dog brought…”

“I don’t have a dog.” Wade interrupted.

“Ops…?” the tactical commander asked his operations officer quietly, “why is there a wanted criminal broadcasting over my secure communications net?”

Wade’s face stared out at him from several video screens. “Two things, commander,” The teenaged boy said smugly, “first, I’m not a wanted criminal; I am a concerned citizen providing a valuable service to the law enforcement agencies of the United States. Second, I can hand you the head of the person responsible for doubling Dr. Director with a clone.” The boy stopped for a sip of soda, “Now which is more important, finding the man who doubled one of your agency heads or finding some harmless teenager.” Wade smirked. “I can tell you which one will be easier.”

“Who do you work for kid?”

“I work for Kim.”

“Uh, Boss?”

“What is it, Alpha?”

“We’ve got company.”

Gemini looked at the security monitors and gasped. There were hundreds of agents; FBI, CIA, NSA, even MI-5 and MI-6 were represented.

“What do we do?”

“Get rid of the evidence.”

“But, she’s your sister…”

“I can make a new one. Destroy the evidence.”

Shego sat quietly in the FBI van, working on the lock to her cuffs. She hadn’t protested when they’d asked her to submit to ‘short term’ confinement, they were probably scared to death of her and she had just killed someone. That bothered her a lot but she hadn’t seen any other course of action. Logically, she knew the woman had been trying to kill Kim and was willing to kill anyone who got in her way, but that didn’t make it any easier for the thief to deal with deliberately taking a life. She had allowed the agents to cuff her and confine her in this van because she wanted time alone to think and between the homicide and what Kim had said to her afterward, she had a lot to think about. Besides, she thought as she popped the cuffs open, whatever their intent, her captivity would be ‘short term.’ The door slid open and an older agent climbed in and sat down across from her, his suit was disheveled and he was unarmed. He motioned for the door to be closed.

She held up the open cuffs and said “No gun? Aren’t you afraid of me?”

“Well, Miss Shego, frankly I’m too tired to be scared right now.”

“It’s just ‘Shego.’ Who are you and why are you here?” she asked dropping the cuffs on the floor.

He fumbled through his pockets, extracting a battered pack of cigarettes. “I’m Special Agent Thomas, Tactical Commander for Midwest Operations. I’m here because there was a crazy woman with the full resources of Global Justice at her disposal trying to kill a girl for no reason we could understand and a teenaged computer prodigy running every intelligence agency in the US around in circles, and somehow,” He paused thoughtfully, “somehow you knew exactly what was going on, managed to communicate with the boy, penetrated our defenses and disabled eight rogue agents before we even knew who the hell you were.” He pulled a crumpled cigarette out of the battered pack and conducted another brief search through his pockets. He locked eyes with the pale woman, “Do you have a light?” he asked.

Shego smiled.

“There was some damage to the corneas, but your retinas and lenses seem to be intact. You will recover your sight and we don’t believe you will lose more than ten percent of your vision but we can’t be sure.”

“But I won’t be blind?”

“No, you won’t be blind,” the doctor replied turning to Ron’s parents. “The patches will need to be in place for a few days and we’ll reassess his condition when they come off.”

“Oh, Ron!” Kim sobbed. “I’m so glad! I don’t know what I’d do…”

“Kim, would you mind leaving us alone for a little bit.” Mrs. Stoppable sounded stiff and formal and she stared at a point somewhere beyond Kim.

“C’mon Kimmie-cub, let’s let Ronald and his parents talk.”

“But…” Kim looked at Ron’s parents, neither would meet her gaze. Mrs. Stoppable’s mouth was a thin line. “OK dad.” She conceded.

Rabbi Katz followed them into the corridor, “Kim, I know you are carrying a large amount of guilt around inside you,” He held up a hand to forestall her comments, “I only ask that you remember this; Ronald took the actions he did for his own reasons. His choices are his, just as your choices are yours. Mr. and Mrs. Stoppable will come to understand this in time. I hope you will also.”

“Thank you.” The older agent said, taking a deep drag. “That stuff gonna poison me?” he asked pointing at her hands.

“Not any more than the cigarette.”

“Hmm, good point.” He looked down at the smoldering tip and back up at Shego, “Where was I?”

“You didn’t know who I was.”

“Right.” He coughed. “Now, I got a psychopath bent on world domination caught red-handed in a secret laboratory with clones of the head of Global Justice and possibly the original Betty Director herself, the boys are scratching their heads over that one, and I’ve got a lead to another mad scientist with a history of cloning and a recent association with a certain plasma throwing thief.” He looked at her searchingly but she maintained an absolutely deadpan expression. “Furthermore, it turns out that the same thief is implicated in a recent robbery at a Go City museum. Coincidentally, the stolen item seems to have turned up here, at this hospital for use in a very delicate operation involving the very same young lady that the crazy woman was trying to kill.” He took another long drag from his cigarette, “I’m sure you have a fascinatingly wholesome explanation for your part in these events, and I’d love to hear it sometime but I like to figure these kinds of things out for myself, it’s that whole ‘detective’ thing.”

The pale thief was staring at her hands idly twisting her fingers. “Am I boring you?” He asked sharply.

“What do you think?” she replied trying to be sarcastic, trying to keep the remorse out of her voice.

They sat in silence for a few minutes while he studied her. “I’ve seen this kind of reaction before, you know.” He said, not unkindly.

“What?”

“Listlessness, regret, self flagellation… All signs of a basically decent person dealing with the harsh reality of taking a human life.”

“What the hell do you know about it?” She snarled, but in his eyes she found the same pain.

“I know you didn’t kill her.”

Shego looked up in surprise and hope. “I thought…”

He shook his head, “The woman survived, they’re patching her up right now.”

He watched the pale woman relax. “You present a very thorny problem for me to solve, Miss Shego.”

“I told you, it’s just ‘Shego.’

“And I’ll continue to use whatever honorific I choose.” He said firmly. “I think I’ve figured out what to do with you.”

“And what would that be?”

“Nothing.”

“Humph!” she snorted. “I think you can do better than that.”

“What did he say after that?” Kim asked eagerly.

“He just stared at me for, like, five minutes and then, he offered me a job”

“A job!” She gasped.

“Yeah, a be-damned job with the almighty NSA!” Shego smiled ruefully, “and here I was kinda hopin’ for some cash…”

Kim was flabbergasted “And you just said ‘OK’?”

“No way, Kitten.” Shego laughed. “I’m not going to hand over control of my life to a government spook without a little incentive, if you know what I mean.” She glanced at the Mobile Data-base given to her by Special Agent Thomas, “But if the money’s right, it might be nice to walk on the right side of the law every once in a while, you know?” Shego grinned, “How’s your boyfriend?”

“He’s not my…” Kim started to say but stopped when she saw the teasing expression on Shego’s face. “He’s doing pretty good. The shrapnel managed to miss all of the tendons in his hands and they are sure he won’t be blind, in fact, they’re pretty sure he’ll have normal vision.” Despite the good news there was a tone of sadness in her voice.

“What’s wrong?”

“His parents are really angry…” Kim paused to take a deep breath, “They blame me.” She looked down at her hands, “and…”

Shego took the younger woman’s hand in hers, “It’s hard, Kitten. They just found out that their little boy is mortal, give ‘em time.”

Kim enjoyed the pale woman’s caress for a few moments; “Shego?” she said timidly, “have you thought about… what I said?”

The former thief held Kim at arms length for a minute looking into her eyes. “Every moment, Kitten.”

“Well?”

“Are you sure?” Shego asked, “Are you sure this isn’t some over reaction to me…” her voice trailed off.

“Saving my life?” Kim laughed, “You can say it, you know. You did save my life.”

“Yeah,” The pale woman said uncomfortably, “That.”

“Shego, I don’t know if we have a future together or not, but I think you’re incredible, and I’d like to at least go out a few times to see if we have a chance.”

“We’ll meet for lunch…”

“Lunch isn’t a date, I want to see you all dressed up and…” Kim paused blushing.

Shego smiled, “How about next Friday?”

“Great! I’ll pick you up at nine!”

“I don’t think so, I’ve seen you drive!”

Dear Kim,

The hands are fine, I still have to do the exercises but they don’t hurt any more. The down side is that Bonnie won’t feed me anymore! Got the picture you sent, don’t take this the wrong way but, you look a lot like your mom with your hair that short. (Well, your mom or maybe a pumpkin.) Bonnie says you and Shego look cute together. When are you planning on telling your mom? (I need to know because I have to be in Japan that day.) Here’s a picture we took in Cabo, hope you like it. We’ll be back in a few weeks and we’ll see you then.

Love Ron.

PS. My dad says “Hi.”

R

“Writing a letter to Kim?” Bonnie asked from behind Ron’s shoulder.

“Just finishing up.” He replied.

She looked at the postscript, “She’s going to notice that you didn’t say; ‘mom and dad’…”

“I know but…” his mom’s attitude toward Kim had not mellowed at all in the last three months and it was beginning to wear on him.

“She’ll come around, Ron.” Bonnie said encouragingly. “I did.”

“This way she at least knows my dad forgives her and we can all hope that you’re right about my mom. Let me seal this up and we’ll drop it at the front desk on the way to the beach.”

“Are you sure you want to go back out?” Bonnie sounded concerned. “The doctor said you should protect your eyes from the UV as much as you can.”

“Check out the Real Cool Shades, Babe!” he said, indicating Rufus, who was posed casually, leaning on a new pair of trendy sun glasses.

“Nice…” she said hesitantly.

“What?”

“With your tan, those little scars around your eyes stand out more…” The brunette reached out and traced a few of the thin scars lightly, she looked a little pensive.

“Does that bother you?” he asked.

She smiled, “No.”

“Then why the sad face?”

“I was just thinking about how lucky she is… how lucky I am… that you’re the kind of guy who cares for his friends so much…” and her expression turned mischievous, “I was also thinking about how lucky you’re going to get… tonight!”

“Aw man!” he said with his hands over his heart in mock angst, “I have to wait until tonight?”

Bonnie glanced at Ron’s hands and that led her to thinking about Ron’s hands touching her… and Ron’s arms holding her… and Ron’s back in her hands… and Ron’s mouth…

“Nope!” she said and pulled him over to the bed. Rufus went outside to look at the beach.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Shego sat in her big comfy chair staring at the girl sprawled across her bed. The last three months had been really stressful. For nearly eight weeks they had been held at an NSA facility in “protective custody” with daily “interviews” that were nothing more than thinly veiled interrogations, she was surprised every session that passed without a shot of sodium penathol. The only highlights came when she and Kim stole a few minutes together in the gym, sparring was a good way for them to let off steam and keep in shape.

They were almost out of there when those fucking clones died. That delayed their release by two weeks and she was ready to kill Dr. D and that freak Gemini because for those two weeks she didn’t get to see her kitten at all. At least they knew which one was the real Betty Director now. Shego glanced out the sliding glass door that led to her balcony; the moon was impossibly big and orange. It reminded her of the comment in Ron’s letter, about Kitten looking like a pumpkin. She did look a little bit like a pumpkin with her hair growing in and that round face… Pumpkin… Shego tried it on for size and decided she liked it. Her eyes slid back to the slender figure taking up most of a king-sized bed, how in the hell does she do that? She’s, like, five-two. Restless, Shego got up and went out on the balcony.

This was the end of their first weekend out and it had been a full weekend. She’d never been to a museum to just “go to a museum” before. Although, truth be told, she had figured out three ways to get the Monet out without tripping the security system but since she didn’t have a buyer set up, she’d have to shelve that for a while. Kim had never been to a place like Club Macaroon and they had enjoyed VIP status all evening, it seemed that Tony only needed to be taught a lesson once. And she still couldn’t believe the corny “first kiss on the dance floor” bullshit, but it had happened, she was there for it and damn if it wasn’t magical. Shego didn’t count the stuff that went on in her apartment the first time they were alone. That had been the drugs, this kiss had been all Kitten, well… she had helped too. After that kiss, all their other plans just kind of went away.

Kim had surprised her by being a tentative and gentle lover but her quiet passion was intense and their lovemaking had been extraordinary. Her breasts tingled at the thought of Kim’s tongue, and her breath caught at the memory of Kim’s body trembling beneath her hand. Her fingers twitched involuntarily and she licked her lips, hoping to find the red head’s flavor still lingering. Damn! She thought, I need a cold shower.

Shego slipped quietly into the master bath and started the shower. When Kim’s arms encircled her from behind, she allowed herself to melt against the red head’s taut body. “I miss you.” Kim whispered into her ear and Shego reached to turn off the water, there would be time for showers later. Warm showers, with soapy washcloths and lots of mutual washing and slippery skin and rubbing and… Shego turned the water back on.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

In a small room, furnished only with one square table and two chairs, illuminated poorly by a single incandescent bulb shaded so that the majority of the room was in shadow, a woman sat waiting. She waited quietly without any outward sign of impatience. When the door to the room opened, she did not glance at it or acknowledge it in any way, she continued to wait. The man in the doorway was large, he turned to an aide and handed him a small dog, taking a large manila envelope. “Wait here, Lambda.” He growled.

The large man sat opposite the woman and placed the manila envelope on the table between them. He pulled a stack of photographs from the envelope and oriented them so the woman could see them properly. The first showed a man in his mid thirties with blue skin and a scar running from the inside corner of his left eye out to his cheek. “This man betrayed us.” The large man said, and set aside the photo. The next photo showed a pale skinned woman with flowing black hair and a cynical sneer. “This woman killed a member of our family.” The third photo showed a red haired girl the woman in the chair knew very well. “This one turned her back on us and then assisted the pale one.” The man said before setting the photos back onto the pile and handing them to the young woman. “The others are their friends and family members. Our family has been betrayed and brought to the brink of destruction, what do you think we should do about it?”

The woman looked through the photos, memorizing each face, then took the thick stack and slowly tore it in half.

“Yes,” the large man said as he rose, “that’s what I thought.”