I do not own Kip Possible, Disney does, and I also don't own Gungrave: Overdose, Red Entertainment does. This fanfic is non-profit fun and will be removed from the net the moment someone of status decides to bitch at me.
Death, and After That…
Chapter 1: A Better Foe
When Shego awoke that morning, several obvious signs indicated that it would be a uniquely miserable day. In fact if she had to guess, it was a going to be day that she would use to compare to all future bad days. It wasn't so much that she had a migraine that could crack marble. It wasn't that when she tried to get out of bed her legs got caught in her comforter and she landed on her nose. It wasn't even the bruise along her left shoulder that she got courtesy of a certain teenage hero the night before, while retrieving an item for her inept employer. That fact of the matter was that under all this, it was instinct. A cold chill was moving up her spine since the moment Shego woke up and she continued to experience it even after getting showered and dressed. It left her more grouchy and irritable than usual.
The night before, Dr. Drakken had ordered her to go to some military base to retrieve some new and dangerous device for some new and dangerous evil operation. She saw fit to ask him what this, "Dimensional Quantum-Force Analyzer" was for but the blue man merely looked away and said no more on the subject so Shego just shrugged and went about her business. The actual breaking into the base was as easy as it ever was; she knocked out some guards, grabbed the device and made a quick break for Dr. D's current hidden lair. However, as it turned out, Kim Possible must have been waiting for this and things quickly came to blows.
Shego and Kim exchanged the usual pleasantries; Kim demanded Shego drop the device, Shego called Kim a cute nickname to insult her, and soon the battle was on. Shego admitted to herself that "Pumpkin" certainly was getting better but doubted that the girl would be surpassing the thief anytime soon. When all was said and done, Shego managed to get away with the device and given it to Drakken who walked off to the lab with it without even a word of thanks and (what Shego considered) a strange look on his face. He seemed lost in thought, or even unsure of him self, almost as if he wasn't sure what he was doing was the right thing. Shego had laughed at the thought; an evil scientist worried about doing the wrong thing.
Having finished up breakfast in the lairs insufficient kitchen, she approached Drakken to see how his plan-of-the-week was going. As she entered the lab, she was surprised to find that the device he was building was already the size of a small house, and resembled some kind of metal doorframe with a variety of exposed tubes and wires leading from it. Drakken was currently on his knees soldering two wires together around the device. It had been a long time since she saw Drakken work on something with such a focused expression. He even seemed to be mumbling to himself.
Hmm, it seems Dr. D finally flew the coop. About time I suppose. He is supposed to be a mad scientist. She thought. Then she decided to say something.
"Hey, Dr. D?" No response, almost as if Drakken couldn't hear her. Shego began to lose her temper. She walked over to the inventor and poked him with her boot.
"Helooo, Dr. D? Earth to Drakken!" Annoyed, the good doctor stopped what he was doing and looked up at her.
"What IS it Shego, can't you see I'm very VERY busy?" Shego crossed her arms and looked down at him with equal annoyance.
"Yeah, about that. Considering how I busted my hump last night to make this THING a reality, I sure would like to know what it IS!" At this point, Shego was willing to weather one of Drakken's trademark rants if it would only answer her question. With a sigh, the man stood up and dusted himself off before looking up at her with bloodshot eyes. He probably worked on this device well through the night, Shego guessed.
"Very well, Shego. I suppose, as I'm about finished anyway. I will dazzle you with news of my greatest plan to date!" He held up his fist triumphantly. Well it would have been considered triumphant if he wasn't so tired. He raised it barely higher than his shoulder before dropping it back to his side.
"You see, Shego I've noticed a certain trend among my plans for awhile now…" He trailed off with a slight blush.
"What trend?"
"They keep failing!" He whined while making two fists. Shego wanted to say something along the lines of, "Well DUH!" but decided that she wanted to know what the machine was first. It was no good putting him in a mood beforehand. After however…
"For a while now, I've been the laughing stock of the criminal community! My name is a joke even though the other villains are just as unsuccessful as I've been! They talk about me as though I were a fool in all the chat-rooms, and I'm not even invited to any of the villain-mixers anymore! Not even DNAmy will associate with me at this point! Do you understand, DNAmy! If it wasn't for you, Shego, I would have been even more humiliated than I am now."
Shego wasn't sure what to say; she had never seen Dr. D act like this before. For the last couple of weeks he had acted slightly burned out, but she never expected he was stewing on this the whole time. The sad thing was what he was saying was God's honest truth. He really was just a joke at this point, and she really was all he had going for him. She almost pitied him.
"Um… Dr. D-" He cut her off, not finished with his rant.
"So I came to a realization, Shego! I could get it all back! The respect, the fear, the power, if I just went far enough I could do it. All I have to do is deal with that Kim Possible once and for all!"
This brought a frown to Shego's face. Was that all this was about, stopping Kimmie? Shego had been down this road before and it never ended well. However, Drakken had more to say on the subject.
"And that's where this brilliant device comes in! You see, no one around has ever beaten that red-haired troublemaker, and that's obviously because no one CAN ever beat her!"
"Hey, wait just one minute Dr. D! What am I chopped liver? I can take her if I just had the chance." Drakken frowned at the interruption.
"You've fought her a hundred-thousand times by now Shego, and she keeps coming! You're clearly not up to snuff no matter how good you THINK you are." He looked at her with such a sneer; she wanted to burn it off his face. How dare he say that? Shego knew her track record against the young cheerleader was less then stellar but not a one of their fights had ever been decisive. If it came down to it, she was sure she could wipe the little teen from the face of the earth. It was simply that she had no reason too she rationalized. Shego was a thief not a killer. She enjoyed dealing with Pumpkin; it gave her otherwise boring life some much-needed excitement.
Drakken shook his head. "I know how skilled you are Shego, but even still she must be crushed and no matter what either of us have tried she continues to foil my wonderful plans. That is why I must look elsewhere for the talent needed to defeat her."
Shego cocked her head in mild confusion. Elsewhere? Does he mean hiring Jack Hench? That wouldn't get you anywhere. Pumpkin's torn through Hench's guys a dozen times in the past… so have I for that matter, ha ha. Face it Dr. D, there isn't anyone out there better than me so I guess you're out of luck. Despite this, she decided to humor him.
"Where elsewhere?"
Drakken grinned like she answered the million-dollar question. He rubbed his hands together with excitement and pointed towards the device he was working on.
"There elsewhere!" He ignored her look of confusion and continued. "You see, Shego, the device you so efficiently delivered to me is capable of scanning and analyzing alternate dimensions and this portal I've attached it to will tear a portal to that dimension open for me to use to my advantage!"
"I'm still not following how this guarantees you can beat Kim Possible."
"It's deceptively simple Shego. If no one in THIS world can beat her… we'll find someone from ANOTHER world who can beat her. Someone from a meaner, nastier world then this one could ever hope to be! My victory is assured!"
Wait a second… why would a bad guy from another world ever help us? Especially if he is as tough as Drakken is looking for… I can already see a dozen problems with this plan. She told Drakken as much. He frowned and turned away from her.
"If he doesn't help us he'll be trapped here since I wont send him back to his world until he does. It's so simple, Shego. Besides, locating the world is already finished. I spent all last night zooming in on which frequency seemed the most promising and I found it! This man cannot be stopped by the like of Kim Possible no matter what gadgets or martial art skills she has!"
"Okay, so who is he?"
Drakken shrugged.
"I don't know his name, but the analyzer classified him as a class ten threat! Do you understand, class ten!" Shego didn't bother to ask what that meant. "Shego, I'll need you to be here when I activate the machine in case something happens.
Shego thought of the chill that had been dancing down her spine all morning. She had a feeling it might have been referring to this half-baked scheme.
"Doc, I think this is a bad idea, we don't know what could happen!" He ignored her.
"Listen Shego, I spent all night finishing this project. I will not suffer another days worth of embarrassment! This ends today!" He cracked his knuckles in preparation. Drakken approached the machines console clearly having made up his mind with no room for dissent, which meant warning klaxons were going off in Shego's head. The only reason she hadn't run off already was to make sure her boss didn't get himself killed. As stupid as her employer was, she didn't want to see him dead. Before Shego could manage to utter another word of warning, Drakken slammed his hand down on the consoles big red button.
A blinding light erupted between the edges of the portal's frame in a zigzag pattern, causing Shego and Drakken to both cover their eyes. The light widened and filled the portal before darkening out of existence. In its place was an image as clear as if they were looking through a window. Cautiously the two approached the portal and looked inside.
The sight was disturbing to say the least. The portal seemed to have formed in a dark metal room the size of a gymnasium. The floor was in ruins with spikes of concrete and twisted foundation sticking straight up like giant thorns. Dried blood was all over every surface, and a massive door was open at the end of the room. The most shocking thing though was the silent and still figure on his knees in the center of the room.
Even from this distance and even though he was on his knees Shego could tell he was at least eight and a half feet tall, or taller. He wore a dark black tattered coat, and a wide brimmed black cowboy hat with a long rip in the front lay on the floor in front of him. His most shocking feature aside from his size was his face. He was bald with blue-white skin like a drowned corpse. His eyes were white with bulls-eye like pupils, and he seemed to have screws going up both sides of his face and on top of that he lacked all the flesh on his lower jaw, exposing thick muscles and tendons bordering his lipless maw. His body was leaning against some kind of giant metal crucifix that he was clinging too like some kind of tombstone. The cross was even bigger than the man was by at least a foot. One last aspect of him failed to escape either Shego or Drakken's notice. The man was clearly dead.
"Doc… your mean, nasty monster seems to have already bit the dust." Shego smirked. Drakken seemed so beside himself he was pulling his hair out.
"No! I was so close, he can't be dead!" He looked over at one of the monitors. "The analyzer still labels him as a class ten! A corpse can't be a class ten!" He looked over the data in a panic, already seeing his plan falling apart around him. Um… uh… SHEGO! Go in there and get him! I want him out here so I can see for myself!"
Shego stared blankly before delivering her response. "Um, no."
"You have too, Shego! I need him! Besides, I'll give you a 5 percent bonus for it!"
"30 percent"
"Um… 10 percent"
"30"
"Gah… 15"
"30, or you can get him yourself."
Drakken caved. "Grrr, FINE! I'll give you 30 percent, but you had better get him out here right this minute!" Shego shuddered and cautiously took a step into the portal.
Thirty percent is still barely worth this garbage! She managed to maneuver herself past the spikes cursing her fate with every step. She was amazed at how big the man (or was it monster?) looked as she approached.
Wow, whoever he was, this guy must have been a real terror. She gave the metal crucifix a look as she came closer and closer to him. There was a handle with a trigger coming out of the top end of the cross, which brought Shego to a terrifying realization.
OH MY GOD, that's a giant GUN! The idea that such a monster could have used such a ridiculous weapon boggled her mind. She imagined that even if she managed to prop such a weapon up and pull the trigger the recoil would probably tear her arms clean off.
When she finally ended up face-to-face with the creature she saw that even on his knees he was still taller then her. The thief walked around the monster to take it all in. There were bullet holes all over his body and his entire torso was a tattered ruin. She cautiously reached her hand forward and touched his shoulder. The skin didn't give at all, it was as hard as iron. She pulled her hand away and shuddered.
What kind of person could have stopped this… thing? Shego realized that she would need the hover-pod to move such a large mass. She shouted over to Drakken for it and he rushed to accommodate. He even helped her pull the monster onto the cart when he saw how much trouble it was causing her. Even dead, the creature refused to let go of that gun, so they were forced to make room for it. The shear weight of the two combined was enough that the hover-pod was dragging against the ground so Shego and Drakken had to walk on either side of the pod guiding it. It took them several minutes to get past the spikes and exit the portal; Shego cursed Drakken the whole time much to his obvious dismay.
After a great deal of physical exertion the two laid the monster out on a lab table and Drakken wasted no time scanning it's body while Shego watched in disgust. The creature looked like some terrible parody of Frankenstein's monster to her, and even had stitches all along its body to add to the experience. She noticed that from its right knee down, its leg was a metal prosthetic with spikes along the side and a skull-shaped kneecap.
What a freak… Who would make something like this? It looks like something out of a B-horror movie. As Drakken analyzed the data he was receiving from his instruments, she saw something about the creature that made her hear skip at least two beats. The many bullet holes and chest wounds on its torso had begun to shrink.
"Um, Dr.D!"
"Not now, Shego, as far as I can tell while this creature is not giving off any recognizable life signs I keep getting unnatural readings from-"
"Listen! Look at its wounds!" He wasn't listening; he was too busy trying to solve the riddle that was this creature's data.
"Doc!" She took a step back as she saw one of its fingers twitched.
Drakken whipped around in a rage, "WHAT? What's so…so…" He trailed off when the monster stood up and roared.
"GGGRRRRAAAAAAVVVVVEEEEE!!!!!!"
Chapter 1: End