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Chapter 5
The Great Escape
The mounted video camera is a novel feature in any sort of security network. It allows one to observe activity without having to be there in person, in addition to recording said activity so that it can be reviewed later on. It saves time and resources.
It also, on occasion, captures moments that are truly spectacular; the kinds of moments one sees only in movies or video games. Moments that cause the jaws of everyone who witnesses them to fall to the floor.
This was one of those moments.
Green light swelled around the door before exploding outward, taking the sheet of metal with it. The now useless barrier tumbled down the hallway before crashing against the wall at the other end. The loud CLANG! it made as it dropped to the floor served as the entrance cue for the one who had quite literally blown it off its hinges.
Shego stormed through the now empty doorway, carrying an unconscious Ron Stoppable on her shoulders. While the boy’s admittedly light frame would have slowed even the most determined of rescuers, the superhuman strength afforded by her powers was more than enough to offset the added weight.
This did not make the experience of carrying him any more pleasant, however.
“This is why I let Kimmie do the hero thing,” she grumbled while continuing to dash along at an astonishing pace. “I’m much better at getting in and out of places by myself than I am at rescue missions.”
Still, she was in too deep to back out now. This fact was reinforced by the squad of six Global Justice agents that confronted her as she rounded a corner.
“Stop right there!”
She did as instructed, pausing only long enough to set Ron’s still unconscious body carefully on the floor. No need to damage Monty’s prize.
“And then what?” she quipped before encasing her hands in green fire.
“Emergency Maneuver Delta!” one of the agents screamed. “Look out for the—” A plasma bolt to the chest cut off the rest of his sentence.
“Yeah, I’m gonna have to go with doy,” Shego snapped, turning to eye each of her prey hungrily. The men gulped.
Before another agent could belt out any coded orders, Shego rushed the man closest to her, swiping at his head. The man shrieked like a little girl and attempted to cover his face with his arms, only to get sucker-punched in the gut while his guard was down. While his hands went to clutch his injured belly, Shego clocked him in the face with a roundhouse kick, knocking him out cold.
Shego grinned demonically at the four remaining “men,” who all cowered like sissies when she charged them. A knee to the crotch took care of the first coward, while a dual neck-chop incapacitated the second and third. One left.
“P-please don’t hurt me,” the terrified agent pleaded. “I'll do anything!”
“Like tell me exactly where all the guard patrols are so I can avoid the annoyance of having to watch grown men cry like little girls?”
“Uh… hold on a second,” the man said, digging around in his pockets. Shego, who knew for a fact that grunt-level GJ agents didn’t carry side-arms, wasn’t worried about the guy pulling a piece on her. After a few seconds, he produced a PDA-like device. It looked familiar to Shego. Almost like….
“Where the hell did you get a Kimmunicator?”
“Well, apparently R&D couldn’t find any way to improve the base model, so they just copied the design,” the agent informed her. “They were thinking of issuing wrist-units next month.”
“Interesting,” Shego said. “So what the hell is it for?”
The agent pressed a button, bringing up a map with several dots. “The blue dots are the lowest level agents,” he explained. “Green dots are elite agents, while yellow dots are senior officers. The orange dot is top agent Will Du, while the red dot is Dr. Director herself.”
“What about Kimmie?”
“Possible? She doesn’t have one of these. Only official GJ agents carry them. She’s still in training.”
“I see. So how does it work? Are all you guys chipped or what?”
“No, the Kimmunicators are. The dots are where the devices are located, not the people themselves.”
“Meaning that even if one of these gets destroyed, the person holding it might not have,” mused Shego. “You’ve been a big help. But you know I’m gonna have to knock you out to make sure you don’t squeal, right?”
The agent nodded. “Just don’t hurt me too much.”
“I won’t leave anything worse than a bruise,” Shego promised before delivering a swift chop to the back of the neck, rendering the agent unconscious.
“C’mon, Stoppable, let’s go,” she ordered, marching over to the limp, unconscious teenager and hoisting him onto her shoulders like a sack of potatoes.
‘Time to get out of here,’ she thought.
She turned to Kim, who sat motionless in the chair next to her, staring straight ahead. “Let’s get going!” she ordered. “Now is your chance to show me how devoted you are to Global Justice!”
If Kim heard the remark, she didn’t show it. She just kept staring.
“Agent Possible!”
“I’m not an agent,” Kim replied in a subdued tone, still refusing to make eye contact with the director. “You told me I couldn’t become an agent until I turned eighteen.”
“What the hell does that have to do with any of this?!” Dr. Director yelled. “The prisoner is escaping!”
“His name is Ron,” she corrected. “And he’s not a prisoner. In fact he was perfectly willing to let you do whatever you wanted to him as long as it got him out of this sitch.”
She turned her head to face the one-eyed brunette “You lied,” she said.
“Lied about what?!”
“About everything. You told me that being an agent didn’t mean having to give up my life. You said that it would allow me to help those who needed it. And just now you told Ron that you would stop the power drain if anything bad started happening. But you didn’t.”
Now it was Dr. Director’s turn to stare in shock. Kim stood up.
“I sold you my soul,” she accused as she began to walk towards her. “I trusted you. And you took everything away from me. So I don’t care if you lose something that’s important to you. Maybe then you’ll know how I feel.”
“Miss Possible, I order you to stop this insubordination!”
Kim laughed. “I don’t take orders from you anymore.”
Dr. Director began to walk backwards as Kim advanced. There was something different about her…. Something in her eyes….
“Miss Possible, I don’t wish to use force, but I will defend myself if necessary.”
“Go ahead. I’d like to see what you’ve got.”
Something about the way the light caught her eyes made Kim appear… different. There was a look in her olive green orbs that was almost predatory. The unholy grin on her face didn’t do much to dissolve the notion that Kim was borderline psychotic at the moment either.
She gulped as her heart fell deeper into her chest.
“I’m warning you, Miss Possible.” Dr. Director’s voice quavered as her hand went to her watch. “I am not one to trifle with.”
“Well I’m trifling with you anyway. Come and get it, coward.”
The leader of GJ raised her right arm in the air, pointing her watch at Kim. “One more step, and I swear I'll—”
“You’ll what?” Kim sneered as she took another step.
Before Dr. Director could press the button, Kim struck with lightning speed, kicking her hands aside. She then rushed forward, clutching the older woman’s throat in her hand and pinning her against the wall. From the pouch on her leg she pulled out her hairdryer grappling hook. She pressed it against Dr. Director’s left temple.
“This thing might not move as fast as a bullet but it’ll still go right through your head at this close of range so I suggest you shut the hell up,” she threatened. Dr. Director pressed her lips tight together in response. Kim smirked.
“Do you wanna know the reason I’ve put up with your abuse this long? Do you wanna know what stopped me from doing this the moment I found out that I’d gotten more than I bargained for when I signed on with your organization?”
“Miss Possible, I—”
“SHUT UP!” Kim roared, pressing the grapple harder against the side of the director’s face. “I’m through listening to you talk! You’re gonna listen to me for once!”
They stared at each other for several tense moments before Kim spoke again. “I stopped myself from fighting back before because I thought I was doing the right thing. I thought that the ends would justify the means. But now I’ve learned that the only end to this is your own personal glory. I can honestly say I don’t want to go along with that.”
“Kimberly, if you don’t release me THIS INSTANT, I swear I'll—”
“YOU CAN’T DO SHIT TO ME!” Kim screamed. “You’ve already taken everything away from me! You took away my INNOCENCE, you took away my LIFE, and now you’ve taken away RON! There’s nothing left for you to TAKE!” She pressed the grapple so hard against the woman’s face that it actually drew blood. Her finger tightened around the trigger.
“You won’t really kill me,” Dr. Director stated firmly. “That’s not who you are.”
Kim just glared. Silence filled the room, save for the deep, measured breathing of its two occupants.
“You have no idea who I am,” Kim said finally.
Before Dr. Director knew what was happening, Kim pulled the grapple away from the side of her head and pressed it against her shoulder. One squeeze of the trigger was all it took to activate the pneumatic cannon loaded with several thousand pounds of pressure that belied its diminutive size. The grapple streaked through her, pushing aside her muscles and tendons and exiting on the other side, where it embedded itself in the hard concrete wall.
It only took a fraction of a second, but to Dr. Director everything moved in slow motion. She could feel the three-pronged hook pierce her flesh, sliding through her easily and tugging the high-tensile wire behind it. She felt an indescribable pain shudder through her entire body before escaping her mouth in a guttural scream.
Now pinned to the wall, she was unable to pursue Kim as the redhead tore off one of the protective coverings to the control panel, exposing the machinery underneath. She released the grapple line from her gun and shoved it between a couple of gears before standing up and facing the director.
“Where will you go, Kimberly?” the infuriated officer rasped, clutching her shoulder where the grapple had pierced it. “You can’t go back to being a hero! Not after this!”
Kim gripped a lever on the control panel that was connected to the gears between which one end of the grapple line was currently wedged. “Who says I am?” she sneered before pulling it.
Dr. Director howled in agony as the gears began to pull on the titanium wire attached to her. While anyone else would have panicked, her sharp, practiced mind allowed her to analyze the situation despite the blinding pain.
The grapple had a pretty solid grip on the wall. The gears would eventually pull it out, but the force it required was substantial enough that it would be like stretching a rubber band to its limit and then letting go of one of the ends. She wouldn’t be trapped anymore, but it was quite probable that the grapple would take more than just chunks of the wall with it.
She grit her teeth. So be it. It wasn’t like she wasn’t already missing an appendage. Besides, they were doing some wonderful things with cybertronics these days. She would just have to suck it up and deal with it.
Kim was wise enough not to stick around for the show. As the door hissed shut behind her, she heard a sickening POP! and what sounded like a zipper being pulled, followed by a deafening explosion.
She sat up slowly, massaging her temples in an attempt to ease her sudden headache. When coherent thought returned to her, there was only one question on her mind.
‘Where am I?’
She rubbed her eyes, trying to focus. How long had she been here? Where was here? The last thing she remembered was….
‘Kimmie…. Oh no….’
Wiping the moisture from her eyes, she blinked several times before her sight returned.
The first thing she noticed was the ceiling. It wasn’t very high. If she had to estimate, she would say that it was about seven feet up. Still more than enough room for her to stand, but close enough to her head to make her feel somewhat claustrophobic.
The overall area of the room didn’t make her feel any more comfortable either. It was large enough for two beds, one for her and the other for her apparent cellmate, who slumbered beneath the threadbare sheets. There was also a toilet and a sink. In place of a window, there was a halogen light overhead that illuminated the cell.
‘I must be in prison,’ she decided. ‘But why? I’ve never done anything wrong. Why would they do this to me?’
She resolved to ponder that question later as her cellmate was shifting uncomfortably in the bed across from her. Placing her bare feet on the icy concrete floor, she tiptoed over to the other bed and pulled back the covers.
She gasped. “Rebecca?”
The short-haired blonde was equally as surprised. “Anne?”
‘Hey, where’d the red dot go? I thought that was Dr. Director? Did something happen to her?’
Shego knew better than to underestimate a woman as crafty as Betty Director, but she also knew not to look a gift horse in the mouth. If she saw Dr. Director’s blip disappear, then so did the rest of GJ. There was no way that she could pull a stunt like that to take herself off the radar without plunging her entire organization into panic. She was too much of a control freak to allow that. Which meant that something must have happened to her for real.
‘This’ll throw their ranks into chaos while they try and figure out what happened,’ she mused, grinning widely. ‘And chaos is one of those things I can use to my advantage.”
With that in mind, she pocketed the Kimmunicator and crept along as stealthily as she could considering the 160 pound body on her back that amounted to little more than a sack of potatoes for as long as he was unconscious. Thankfully she had been able to avoid the guard patrols so far, but unless Ron woke up, and soon, she wasn’t sure just how much longer she was willing to drag him around before she ditched him, or at the very least drew some very nasty things on his face with a black magic marker.
As if reading her mind, the body on her back began to stir and moan loudly, forcing her to duck into one of the nearby—thankfully empty—rooms to avoid being spotted. Carefully, she laid him down on the large metal table that occupied the center of the lab she had just entered.
“Stoppable, keep it down!” she whispered harshly.
Ron groaned in response.
She placed her hand over his mouth to keep him quiet while a pair of guards passed the door outside. When the Kimmunicator showed them as being a safe distance away, she pulled her hand back and leaned closer over the boy.
“Stoppable, are you alright?” she inquired in a hushed tone.
“Mmmmmnnnnnggggppssshaaawwgh….”
“Uh, yeah, I don’t speak gibberish so you’re gonna have to—”
‘It hurts.’
“Wha?” Shego looked puzzled and whipped her head around, looking for the source of the voice. “Wait, are you doing the whole telepathy thing again?”
‘Yeah.’
“Okay…. So what hurts?”
‘Everything.’
“Oh, that’s helpful,” she snapped. “Whaddaya need me to do to stop it?”
‘Get me out of here.’
She sighed. “That’s what I’m trying to do. Can you promise to keep it down in the meantime?”
‘I'll try.’
“That’ll have to do. C’mon, then.” She hoisted him back up onto her shoulders and, taking another look at the map on the Kimmunicator, exited the room.
Sitting up slowly, Rebecca Stoppable placed her hands on the sides of her head. “I… I don’t know. The last thing I remember, I was sleeping in my bed at home. Now I wake up and you’re here, and… and….” She started hyperventilating. “What the hell is going on?!”
Anne returned to her bed and took a seat before replying. “I don’t know either. I just woke up myself. Though I didn’t have the liberty of being abducted in the night.”
“What do you mean?”
Anne sighed and looked down. “Rebecca… I think we’ve been taken prisoner.”
“By whom?”
She lowered her head further. “Global Justice.”
“Who now?”
“You mean Ronald never told you about Kim’s new internship?”
“No… that… never really came up. I guess it’s because we’ve hardly seen anything of him lately. What’s Global Justice?”
“As far as I know, they’re a secret paramilitary organization who aren’t affiliated with any known government. It allows them to work around any laws that might… inhibit other organizations.”
“Such as imprisoning people who’ve done nothing wrong?”
“I’m afraid so. I can only hope that—”
“Psst!”
Both women simultaneously turned their heads towards the sound. A barred door that had thus far escaped their attention enabled them to see its source.
“James?”
“Elliot?”
“What are you doing here?!” the two women exclaimed in unison.
“Jinx! You owe me a soda!” Anne said without thinking. Rebecca turned to her with a bewildered expression.
“It’s a game Kimmie-cub plays,” James explained from the other cell. “Whenever two people say the same thing at the same time, the first one to say ‘jinx’ wins.”
“What he said.”
Rebecca shook her head. “Whatever. What are the two of you doing over there?”
“Apparently sharing a cell, same as you two. I have to say I agree with Anne. I always thought something wasn’t right with GJ.”
“You mean besides the fact that they stole the initials for your ‘GloboJet?’” Anne deadpanned.
“Exactly, Honey. I still haven’t forgiven them for that, by the way.”
“James, that was years ago.”
“I still say that a high-speed aircraft capable of staying in the air indefinitely due to its use of fusion technology rather than traditional fuel is more deserving of the initials ‘GJ.’”
“It exploded over Southeast Asia and created an EMP that caused a rolling blackout in three countries.”
“A minor setback. Besides, it’s not like the twins haven’t done worse.”
“Hey! We’re right here!” a pair of high pitched voices called from the cell next to the men.
“Jim! Tim! Are you okay?”
“Yeah, we’re fine, Mom.”
“But the matching jumpsuits make it even harder to tell us apart.”
“It’s so cool!” they said together.
“I don’t see what’s so ‘cool’ about being wrongfully imprisoned,” James opined.
“Because it gives us a chance to make a totally awesome escape!” explained one of the twins.
“And how do you plan to do that?”
Everybody turned to look at the new arrival, who was standing in the space between their cells.
“I know you….” Anne started. “You’re—”
“Top Agent Will Du, Ma’am. I apologize about our last meeting. Please understand that I was only following orders.”
She stood up and crossed her arms over her chest. “Just like Kimmie was, I'll bet. What did Dr. Director do to her?”
“More important is what your daughter just did to Dr. Director. Namely murdered her.”
Anne gaffed. “Kimmie would never kill someone!”
“How well do you really know your daughter, Dr. Possible?”
“I know her a hell of a lot better than you, you… lapdog!”
Agent Du chuckled a bit at the remark. “And yet you were unable to foresee this.”
“Why the hell are you here, tormenting us like this?” Anne spat. “Isn’t it enough that you’ve imprisoned us when we’ve done nothing wrong?”
“Dr. Possible, I am only following orders. This was a precaution so that in the event that Kimberly Anne Possible decided to turn against Global Justice, her family would be punished for her betrayal.”
“So we’re just blackmail?!”
“That sums it up nicely, yes.”
She looked at each of the Stoppables, then back at Will. “What about them? Why are they here if all you need is us?”
“It’s no different. Ronald came to us in a somewhat less… willing manner than Kimberly. We needed something to hold over him as well.”
Anne just huffed before sitting down “And what happens now? What’s our punishment?”
“For now? Living with the disappointment of your children becoming criminals. Our research indicates that there are few worse ordeals for parents to face.”
James simply scoffed. “As long as Kimmie-cub isn’t running around with some boy, I have no problem with the decisions she makes.”
Will smirked. “And just how do you know that she’s not?”
He didn’t have an answer to that.
Fortunately, his wife did. “Because we know Kimmie better than that. She may be going through a psychopathic, murderous phase right now, but if there’s one thing we’ve taught her, it’s not to be sexually promiscuous.”
“Is that what you call Kimberly’s behavior? A ‘phase?’ Your child assassinated the leader of an agency whose sole purpose is to find and eliminate criminals. That’s not something you can just grow out of.”
Anne just glared.
“What exactly did you need our son Ronald for?” Elliot Stoppable suddenly asked. “He’s done nothing wrong. And surely he has nothing of value to you.”
Will smiled. “As ill-informed as the Possibles are about their child, I must say that it’s truly entertaining to see such ignorance from the people who supposedly raised Ron Stoppable, Monkey Master.”
“What’s all this about monkeys now?” asked Rebecca. “Ronald’s terrified of monkeys! What did you do to him?!”
“Nothing he wasn’t willing to let us do,” Will answered. “It is unfortunate that his powers were not so cooperative. Or perhaps, they were just more courageous than he’ll ever be.”
“What powers are you talking about?” Elliot demanded to know.
“I'll let the Possibles give you the details,” Agent Du replied, suddenly bored. He turned around and started walking away “Right now I’ve got to go catch Shego before she escapes with your son,” he said right before the doors hissed shut behind him.
“So what was that he said about our son having powers?” Mr. Stoppable spoke up once the agent had left.
The Drs. Possible exchanged a glance. Anne spoke first. “Well, it all started when Ron went on a mission with Kimmie-cub to recover an artifact for Lord Montgomery Fiske….”
The sound of two objects impacting solidly against the other side of the thick metal door was enough to rouse the sleeping Dr. Drakken, who sat up in a fright and clutched his blanket close to him, his whole body quaking.
There was a cobra-like hiss and bright light invaded the room, stinging his eyes and forcing him to shield them with a tiny cerulean hand. Squinting, he could barely make out the black and red blur that descended upon him and snatched him upright.
“LET’S GO!” Kim bellowed before yanking him out into the hall.
“Is it time to escape already?” Drakken whined while rubbing his eyes. “Usually I like to get a full eight hours of sleep before—”
“SHUT UP AND MOVE!”
He winced as she dug her claws into his hand and took off down the hall, dragging him behind her.
“Couldn’t we have planned this? I just saw you a few hours ago….”
Kim growled like a terrier while she burrowed her eyes into him, causing Drakken to shrink back in fear. As much as he could while running, anyway.
Swiveling her head back to its original position, Kim caught sight of two agents headed in their direction. She released Drakken’s hand and leaped forward, knocking one agent into a wall by kicking off of his helmet and flooring the other with a flying roundhouse. She turned as she landed, planting her boot in the gut of a third agent who had been just around the corner from the first two. She finished him off with a high kick to his chin.
She ran back to where she had left Dr. Drakken, who cowered in fear as he thought he was next on the list of people to be maimed. Kim ignored this and simply grabbed his hand, pulling him off towards a destination known only to her.
“Could we possibly slow down and talk about this?” he pleaded. “Where are we going?”
Kim’s reaction was a unique mixture of stoic and savage as she said nothing but turned around to glare at him fiercely. He wisely stopped talking.
“THERE SHE IS!”
Contrary to popular belief, GJ was not above carrying firearms. They just didn’t issue them to entry level agents. The four elite agents ahead were more than willing to put several holes in high priority threats with the MP5 submachine guns they carried.
Kim was not ready to be swiss-cheesed just yet, though. She fired her grapple at the thin duct cover above, then activated it and launched herself into their midst. Being surrounded actually worked in her favor at the moment as none of the men could fire their weapons without running the risk of hitting one of their squad-mates. Kim did not have that problem, and freely took advantage of the opportunity to kick, punch, and elbow the men into submission.
She ran back to Drakken, who stood there in a catatonic state.
“COME ON!” she hollered before grabbing his wrist and stampeding down the hall.
Still, she couldn’t fault them for providing her with a perfect escape. She crept on her hands and knees through the extravagantly spacious air vent, dragging Stoppable behind her. While he had regained consciousness at this point, mobility was still an issue.
“You okay back there?”
‘I’m fine. How much longer till we get out of here?’
“Half hour at the most. Depends on how many more patrols we have to avoid.” She pulled out the Kimmunicator and checked it again. “Looks like we’re coming up on a squad of four elites. They’ve got guns, and while this air vent is capable of holding us, it won’t stop bullets. So try not to make any noise.”
‘Gotcha.’
She was about to move again when she heard a small discharge of air below her.
‘What the….’
KSHANK!
A silver streak rushed past Shego’s vision, and she quickly scurried back to avoid its inevitable return. Once she was a safe distance away she was able to make out exactly what it was. It looked like somebody had welded three fish hooks together and attached them to a bridge cable. In fact, it looked an awful lot like….
‘A grappling hook…’ she realized. ‘But who…?’
Her question was answered when a sudden tug on the grapple shredded the metal beneath her, providing her with a peephole. She saw a black and red streak land in the middle of the four agents she’d seen on the Kimmunicator screen, then proceed to beat them senseless. When the blur stopped moving, Shego was able to identify her.
“Kimmie?”
“COME ON!” She rushed back to where she had presumably started, then ran in the direction of the felled agents dragging someone behind her. Shego only caught a brief glance, but that was all she needed.
“Drakken?!” she nearly shrieked, but thankfully caught herself before she gave away her position.
‘This just got interesting,’ she mused before lighting her hands.
“LET’S GO, STOPPABLE!” she yelled before melting the bottom of the vent out from under them.
Anne nodded.
“Why didn’t he tell us before?”
“I suppose this could be his way of telling you,” James offered. He chuckled slightly at the remark.
Everyone stared at him like he had just grown a second head that was speaking French.
“What’s so funny?” Anne finally asked.
“Oh, nothing,” he said, running a hand through his hair and looking at the ceiling.
Rebecca shook her head. “Whatever. What happens now? That agent said something about a woman named Shego.” She looked at Anne. “At least I assume Shego is a she.”
“She is,” Anne confirmed.
“Who is she?”
“Kimmie’s rival.”
“I thought that was that one brunette girl, Bonnie.”
“No, Bonnie was just her high school rival,” Tim chimed in.
“Yeah, Shego was basically her evil twin,” added Jim.
“Only a lot paler.”
“And taller.”
“And with darker hair.”
“Not to mention bigger—”
“Jim! Tim! Do I have to put you two in time-out?”
“Aw, mom!” Jim whined, “We’re already in prison.”
“Your mother’s right, boys,” said James. “You shouldn’t be talking about that kind of stuff when we have company.”
“Or ever, for that matter,” Anne finished.
“But they’re not company! They were kidnapped just like us!”
“That still doesn’t mean you should—”
As the Possibles continued their argument, Rebecca widened her eyes at Elliot, as if to say, ‘Why did we let Ronald spend so much time with these people?’
Elliot shrugged.
“ENOUGH!” Rebecca shouted. All eyes were suddenly on her. “What?” she asked.
“Usually when someone says ‘enough,’ they’re supposed to say something afterwards,” James supplied.
“Oh, I didn’t really have anything to say. I just wanted you all to stop arguing so I could try and get back to sleep. It’s been a long day.”
“I think that’s a good idea,” agreed Anne. “Let’s all just stop talking and go to sleep. Someone will rescue us.”
“I guess you’re right.”
“Yeah, I am a little pooped.”
“Can we talk about that stuff if we whisper?”
“No, Jim!”
“Aw, mom! You never let us do anything fun!”
“I don’t care. Now be quiet and go to bed.”
Jim crossed his arms and grumbled. “Fine.”
Elsewhere, in a room whose only light was provided by the ghostly security monitors, a particularly impressionable young agent had gotten so wrapped up in the dialogue coming from one of the cellblocks that he had forgotten the woman with red hair was not speaking to him when she ordered everyone to go to sleep. Sleep sounded like a good idea anyway, given that he’d been here for twenty seven hours and hadn’t had more than two cups of coffee. So he leaned back in his chair and dozed off.
As such, he missed the image of a red-haired woman half-leading half-dragging a man with blue skin and a lab coat down one of the hallways. He was also unfortunate enough to completely miss a woman clad in green and black carrying a blond boy on her shoulders rushing down the same stretch of hallway only seconds later.
“POSSIBLE!”
Kim stopped her own mad dash through the hallway and turned to face her pursuer. She grinned.
“Shego,” she sneered, releasing the hand of her companion while Shego gently set Ron on the ground. “What a surprise.”
For the second time that day, Shego noticed Drakken standing at Kim’s side. “Looks like we traded buffoons,” she remarked. “You got ripped off.”
“At least mine’s smarter.”
“At least mine can fight.”
Kim looked over to where Ron’s limp body lay propped against a wall. “Oh, he’s a killer alright.”
“He must’ve been somewhat useful for you to stick with him all those years. Too bad you never realized what a bargain you got for such incredible talent.”
“And why the hell did you stick with Blueberry over here?” she countered. “For the benefits?”
“The dental is outstanding,” Shego remarked offhand as she cupped her chin. “But he’s lacking in the common sense department. Sorta like you.”
“What?!”
“Oh come on! You’re telling me you don’t rush into things without thinking them through first?”
“As a matter of fact I do think things through.”
“Then why the hell are you running away from GJ when you’re supposed to be one of them?!”
Kim sighed. “Okay, so maybe I’m a little impulsive. What the hell’s your point?”
“Nothing, just thought it was interesting. Especially since you’re such a coward when it comes to your social life.”
“Oh, and I suppose you’re the expert on making friends!”
By this time Drakken had tiptoed over to Ron and sat down beside him, watching the two women argue. “How do you suppose we got roped into this?” he asked.
“We’re cowards?” Ron suggested.
“Tell me about it.”
“Are we just gonna stand here and talk all day?!”
“I’m ready if you are, Miss Priss!”
“Ooh, that was a nasty one,” Drakken remarked.
Ron raised an eyebrow.
“I suppose you could say I was somewhat… sheltered as a child.”
“I hadn’t noticed,” deadpanned Ron.
Kim streaked forward and launched a flying kick at Shego, who stepped to the side. Landing on one foot, she pivoted and attacked with a reverse roundhouse kick, which the pale woman deftly blocked with a raised forearm.
Separating, Shego struck at Kim with a spinning backhand, which the redhead ducked. She continued her momentum from the spin and raised her right leg high in the air, stopping it above Kim and bringing it crashing down. The teen was ready for that, however, and met Shego’s calf with a combination of her hands and left shoulder, trapping the older woman’s leg in her embrace.
Snared but not quite subdued, Shego used her free leg to kick at Kim’s knees, which succeeded in dropping both of them to the ground. They rolled across the floor, fighting for dominance.
“Ever notice how often they end up in that position?” Drakken commented idly while he and Ron watched the two women wrestle for control.
“Yeah, it makes you wonder if they’ve got feelings for each other,” Ron agreed.
“You think it’s possible?”
They both watched as Kim pounded Shego repeatedly in the nose. “I HATE YOU!” she screeched before Shego countered with a right hook and rolled them over so that she was on top.
“Maybe in an alternate universe,” said Ron.
They finally separated and Shego rolled to her feet, hands lit. Kim stood slowly, running an arm across her chin. She spat a disgusting mixture of blood and saliva onto the hard granite tile of the hallway.
“The feeling’s mutual, Princess,” said Shego as they began to circle each other. Kim rushed forward, arcing her right leg away from her body in a high kick. Drawing her arms close to her torso, Shego spun away from the attack. Kim continued the momentum of her kick and struck out with a spinning backhand, which Shego caught. Her left fist followed, but Shego encased that in her palm as well.
“Why doesn’t she just light up?” Ron wondered aloud. “That would end the fight right there.”
“I think you just answered your own question,” replied Drakken.
“Yeah, they do seem to enjoy fighting each other.”
“But not because they like each other,” Drakken reminded him.
Kim broke the stalemate by bashing her forehead into Shego’s, forcing them apart. “Bitch!” she cursed.
“Yeah. Definitely not because they like each other.”
They were about to begin another round when the sudden clapping of boots against the hard granite floor interrupted them.
“FREEZE!”
They were pinned on both sides by two squads of elite agents, eight in total. Two guns were trained on each of them, forcing all of them to remain still. Not that this was much of a problem for Ron.
“He’s coming,” the blond said as his eyes glowed blue.
“Who?” Drakken asked.
“Kimberly Anne Possible, Ronald Adrian Stoppable, Drew Theodore Perceval Lipsky, and Shego, you are all under arrest for resisting GJ custody,” Will Du said from his position behind one of the squads. “Kimberly, you are under arrest for the murder of Dr. Elizabeth Director, Commander in Chief of Global Justice. I order all of you to cease and desist at once or—”
“Oh give it a rest, will you?”
Will turned around. “Who said tha—”
THOCK!
A fist impacted solidly against his jaw and he sailed through the air, landing hard on his back, unconscious. All eyes turned to look at his attacker. Or rather, where his attacker had just been.
“Where the hell did he go?”
A primal shriek split the ears of everyone in the immediate vicinity, including the agents, who dropped their guns.
With barely a sound, a man clad in all black dropped to the floor, his arm stretched out in front of him. “Monkey ninjas, ATTACK!” he yelled.
Where the hall had been empty just moments ago, it was now filled with over a dozen monkeys clad in Shinobi Shozoku and carrying an assortment of weapons, coming from both directions. The terrified agents barely had enough time to reach for their guns before the swarm overwhelmed them, tackling them to the ground and keeping them occupied while Monkey Fist dashed over to Ron, hoisting the boy onto his shoulders.
“Time to leave, Shego!” he shouted before digging into a pouch on his hip and producing a small pellet, which he threw to the ground, filling the hall with smoke. When it cleared, only the fallen Global Justice agents remained.
“Why did you try and face down Possible?” he demanded, climbing in and sitting down in the rear seat. “That wasn’t part of the plan!”
“Neither was her springing Dr. D,” retorted Shego as she lifted Ron up to Monkey Fist’s hands. “I wanted to stop her then and there before she had a chance to enact whatever crazy plan the two of them cooked up.”
“Really?” Monkey Fist asked skeptically, setting the unconscious Ron on his lap and fastening the safety harness around both of them.
Shego deflated. “Okay, fine, so I missed the thrill of fighting her. I wanted to pound her face in after all I had to go through to get this far.”
“Just don’t make a habit of it,” the monkey master warned. “I don’t want to have to bail you out like that again.”
“Oh please, you just wanted the chance to say, ‘Monkey ninjas, attack!’”
“It is rather fun to say,” he admitted. “But I expect you to be more professional from here on out.”
“Fine, whatever,” the pale woman agreed with a shrug. “Let’s just get outta here.”
“Agreed.”
“Where are we going, anyway?”
“London,” Monkey Fist announced. “I’ve had enough of America.”
“I hate to say it, but so have I,” Shego agreed, climbing into the cockpit. “Let’s go.”
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