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!”