The Earth was in a state of collapse. The constant consumption of its precious resources along with the predominance of a steadily growing human population pushed the planet far beyond its capacity to maintain life. With wars becoming more and more focused on mass destruction, the population had no choice but to seek its fate amongst the stars. Advances in technology and energy management gave birth to galactic colonization, and a multitude of intrepid, would-be explorers commenced to pull up roots and take to other worlds for a chance to begin life anew. Planetary colonies, space stations, and immense galactic exploration ships carried these brave souls into the ether, much like the trails, forts and covered wagons utilized during the Western Expansion of the United States. Although the planet was still in livable condition, an event was about to take place to seal the Earth’s fate.
An enormous energy discharge of unknown origin sent a massive shockwave across the globe, instantly wiping out all life on sixty percent of the surface. This became known as the “Day of Devastation”. Disasters brought on by the severe unbalancing of the natural order combined with the mad panic of the remaining population forced the powers that be to declare a mass evacuation. People abandoned their homes and most of their possessions to escape what they considered a “doomed” planet. The Earth’s children were abandoning her, during her darkest hour.
Not everyone was willing to leave the devastation behind. Groups of criminals, renegades, despots and outsiders refused to budge, ignoring the wasteland that the Earth had become. With all laws and civility gone, it became survival of the fittest, as the scattered remnants formed gangs to survive and defend their territories from incursion by those scavenging for anything of value. It seemed that the pointless and disastrous conflicts that had caused the world to die were going to continue well after its passing.
That is, until the impossible happened. After several decades of total anarchy, a powerful individual rose up from the ranks of the gangs and proceeded to dominate the competition. Little by little, all the scattered thugs of the ruined remains were unified under a single banner. A banner held by the new ruler of the world, a woman by the name of “Shego”.
Meanwhile, the refugees were determined to recreate some semblance of the civilization that they had left behind. Each separate planet, colony and station chose individuals to represent them in a newly established government, forming them into a council. This group of trusted leaders were tasked to make the decisions and pass the laws that would form and stabilize the badly fractured human race. Their first act was to completely cut the old ties that held them to their past. The council dubbed the wrecked planet of their origin the “Dead Land”, and renamed themselves “New Humanity”. The Council of New Humanity brought about advances in civil rights and fairness that made old humanity appear barbaric in comparison. Truly, a new golden age had come to the human race. A pity it wouldn’t last…
The leaders of character and conscience grew old and were quickly replaced by men of greed and avarice. Corruption began eating away at the foundation of the new government and dissention was threatening to shatter the unity that New Humanity was only just starting to enjoy. Amongst the wicked, one man was more determined to seize absolute power than any other. The councilman who called himself, “Drakken”, dreamt not only of bypassing his contemporaries, but ruling the entire galaxy as well. This would not be an easy task, for his opposition kept careful track of all those around them, to make sure that no one would make such a desperate grab for the brass ring without facing drastic consequences. Drakken was convinced that the key to his egomaniacal dream lay in the one place that New Humanity had turned away from… the Dead Land.
Unlicensed exploration of the accursed planet was forbidden, so in order to search for his destiny, Drakken needed legal recourse to hide his true intentions. Legends state, that just before the Day of Devastation, the greatest land-swindling con job in human history had been pulled off by individuals unknown. Through false real estate agencies, massive buy-outs, and political chicaneries, a massive conglomerate had, in writing, a deed to the world. Considered a laughable oddity in its day, that document, which now existed as a forty-thousand word file on a primitive media storage device, would give the madman all the legal permission he required to begin the hunt for his “secret weapon”.
Learning of the existence of the new “Queen of the Thugs”, Drakken placed spies amongst her court and awaited his opportunity. Just as Shego was about to begin a much needed rebuilding of her kingdom, the ruler/warrior up and left the Dead Land without warning, leaving her lieutenants to rule in her stead. Taking to the stars in a ram shackled frigate, the villainess wandered alone throughout the galaxy, searching for something of great importance. With the ruler gone, the once loyal lieutenants turned on one another, and the old gang violence of the past recommenced. Drakken channeled currency, weapons, and illegal tech to those willing to make the jump to his payroll, in hopes that these new “soldiers” would aid in the eventual search of the ruined cities of the Dead Land.
Convinced that the one called Shego was in possession of the deed, the greedy councilman ordered an armada of NH law enforcement troops to hunt her down and bring her to “justice”. The woman and a new ally were apprehended near Jupiter, after an extensive fire fight, and were sentenced to thirty consecutive life sentences for a grocery list of felonies. Even after an intrusive search, no object that could have possibly been a “deed” of any kind was found on the two. Reluctant to trust the traitors on terra firma to find the artifact, Drakken commissioned his own private security forces to search various areas known to have been inhabited by the former ruler in hopes of hitting pay dirt. The results were less than encouraging. Accidents, shoot outs with deranged scavengers, and collapsing structures plagued the soldiers at every turn, forcing them to withdraw empty handed. With the suspicions of his colleagues growing ever stronger, the councilman had no choice but to call off the search and look for a different option.
Shego, along with her partner Chas, were sent to Infernum, the super-maximum security prison facility known for its ability to restrain highly aggressive and dangerous convicts with a perfect record of containment. Drakken believed that the only one who knew the exact whereabouts of the deed HAD to be the one person who had ever ruled over the wastelands. A carefully laid plan was about to be set in motion, one that not only involved Shego’s escape, but a way to follow her back to her lost throne, where the deed was sure to be found. All the madman had to do now was wait for the “Queen” to make her move. Fortunately for him, he wouldn’t have to wait long…
A beautiful, raven haired woman in a nurse’s uniform made her way down the long, cold corridor of Steel Block, the section of the prison that housed the most unstable of the populace. Her hair had been pulled tight into a bun, and a pair of glasses were perched on her nose, giving the normally exotic looking female a somewhat frumpy, yet studious, appearance. The wheels of her metal cart squeaked as she pushed it along, its various compartments were filled with a variety of medications meant for the various maniacs that occupied the cells all around her. The nurse stopped next to a locked fire emergency compartment that rested against the wall. The woman squinted at her reflection in the polished metal and snorted in disgust.
‘Gawd, this outfit is awful!’ Shego tugged at the fabric and frowned hard. ‘I have to remind myself to burn this thing if I manage to get out of here.’
The clever villainess had put forth an impressive effort to convince the warden that she was good enough to be trusted, at least until she was offered a job working in the infirmary. The registered nurse who headed up the medical staff was a recently divorced woman with rather low self esteem, which made her an easy target for seduction. With the poor woman trussed up and sedated, Shego stole her uniform and placed the unconscious lady in a storage locker, hopefully to be found and released AFTER the big escape.
Returning to the task at hand, Shego continued her long march into the bowels of the facility. Her goal was a single cell located in the heart of the building, the holding area for the inmate that was referred to as “Prisoner Zero”. The “man” locked inside was her new partner, and an important part of her continued survival. If she intended to escape, it was absolutely necessary that Chas come with her.
Rounding a corner, the escapee in disguise spotted a check point just ahead of her. The two CO’s that flanked the locked door would require positive identification and permission from the control room before that portal could be opened. Shego glanced at the keycard she had stolen from one of the assistant nurses, carefully altered to contain her likeness rather than the original owners.
‘I haven’t needed to use forgery in awhile; I just hope my skills haven’t gotten rusty.’ The fake-nurse composed herself, took a deep breath, and approached the guards.
“That time already?” One of the officers pushed his face shield back and gave the pill caddie a once over. “You do have your I.D., right?”
“It’s right here.” Shego handed the holographic piece of plastic over and waited patiently.
One CO nodded to the other and addressed the woman. “I gotta ask the central office for clearance, you know the drill.”
“No sweat, I ain’t goin’ anywhere.” Shego tried to suppress the smirk that her ironic comment forced to her lips.
The officer with the I.D. stepped through the door and closed it behind him. Looking over his shoulder, he switched on his comm-link, bringing the image of an elderly man with a bushy mustache onto the device’s tiny screen.
“She’s here, warden, what do you want us to do?”
“Let her through, Clark, just like we discussed. When she makes her move, you and your team respond just like usual, but let her and her buddy get away.” The warden rubbed his chin with obvious dismay. “Try not to get yourself hurt, this escape alone is gonna be bad enough for our reputation.”
“Are you sure you wanna do this?” The guard appealed to his employer.
“We need that funding, officer, and this councilman can cause us a lot of grief if we don’t play ball. Believe me, I’m not enjoying the idea of having to explain this to the Board of Corrections, but a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do.” The warden gave Clark a salute and switched off the connection, leaving the man to face the mess that was to come.
The CO returned to his post and handed Shego her forged card.
“Go on in, ma’am, but be careful.” The guard snapped his face shield back into place. “The cons down here are a real bunch of nuts.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” The fake nurse passed between the armed men and made her way towards the holding area.
Howls and screams uttered by the lost souls that inhabited this portion of the premises reverberated off the walls, putting the villainess on edge. Most of the inmates housed in this section were the worst of the worst; mad dog killers, cybernetic mercenaries, and mutated savages were all sent to these dark depths to repay their debt to New Humanity, most would never again see the light of day.
Shego pulled back her sleeve to double check the info she had scrawled on her forearm.
‘Dammit, I know he’s gotta be around here somewhere!’ She bit her lip and scowled. ‘I hate to jump the gun on this, but given the circumstances, I have no choice.’
The original plan wasn’t supposed to happen until the end of the week, but when one of her cell mates leaked the news that the villain was to be transferred in two days, it was now or never.
Shego was repeatedly stopped by patrolling guards and questioned, but with luck and a little flirting, she avoided raising any red flags or gaining any unwanted attention. One last turn, and the nurse found herself in front of a sturdy security door. Peering through the Plexiglas window, she spotted a cell marked with the number, “2106”.
‘Finally, now comes the hard part!’ Pressing the button for the intercom, the fraudulent nurse alerted the guards inside the sealed chamber of her presence. “Nursing aid employee number 181, here for scheduled inmate medication distribution.”
“One moment…” A metallic voice answered back. A short pause and the voice returned. “Place I.D. in the scanner please.”
Shego inserted the card into a slot just below the door console and after a few seconds, the card was returned.
“Scan complete. You may proceed.” A loud grinding noise followed by a shrill buzzing roared all around her, as the sealed door popped open and bid her entrance.
Quickly observing her surroundings, the villain took note of the walkway that circumvented the room. The correctional officers used it to keep a safe distance from the inmates AND to carefully monitor anyone going in or out of the chamber. At least three guards were present, looking down upon her and the cell she needed to get into.
Carefully following standard procedure, she went to each of the adjoining cells and placed a container of capsules into the appropriate drawer for each convict. Faking a stumble, Shego dropped a large number of pills onto the floor, which scattered everywhere.
“Dammit!”
Dropping to her knees, she feigned cleaning up her mess and looked to the cat walk above, checking the positions of the guards. Two were in the midst of a heated argument, while the other was no longer in sight. Taking advantage of the situation, the nurse slowly stood up and made her way to cell 2106. The special room was surrounded by an energy field to prevent the highly unstable man within from escaping. The control for raising and lowering the field rested next to the door.
Time seemed to slow down, as the hopeful escapee extended her hand to deactivate the security system. Just as she was within inches of the controls, a voice called out, startling her.
“What do you think you’re doing?” The third guard had emerged from a separate room just above, his hands gripped the railing as he stared down at the con. “That prisoner doesn’t receive medication, what charts are you following?”
Shego froze and swallowed hard.
‘Dammit, I had better make this convincing.’ The woman turned around slowly and smiled at the staring officers. “Oh, I’m sorry… I must have gotten my files mixed up.”
“You don’t look familiar, how long have you worked in the infirmary?” As one officer tossed the question, the others placed their hands on their side arms and tensed up.
“Not long, I’m new…” Shego could feel the situation turning bad, very quickly. She was too close to blow it now, so the only thing to do was release Chas and make a run for it.
The false nurse turned quickly and lunged for the controls.
“Sound the ALARM!” The first CO drew his weapon and fired.
The second guard pulled his pistol and followed suit, while the third tripped the alarm.
A hail of bullets streaked through the air towards the inmate, forcing her to stop dead and change tactics. Ducking below the first barrage, Shego grabbed the medicine cart and lifted it in front of her. Catching several rounds with it, she flung the object at the railing, catching one of the COs in the chest and knocking him down. Sparks flew as projectiles slammed against the steel walls and floor, leaving dents and scorch marks in the metal. The enraged woman ran under the catwalk, just below the soldiers, removing herself from the line of fire. Pressing against the wall, she stood adjacent to the lower door, awaiting the group of shock troops that were no doubt headed towards her.
Just as the firing squad repositioned itself to recommence their attack, the door flew open and the first wave of back up appeared. Shego swung her arm with force, catching the first idiot in the throat and clothes lining him. The rest of his unit rushed the room and surrounded her, preventing the snipers from using their guns. A large brute swung a baton at her, which she swiftly dodged and grabbed. Twisting his arm, she tossed him towards his nearest comrade, knocking the two off balance and stealing his club. A third landed a kick to her left thigh, causing her to drop to one knee. Catching the leg, the woman lunged upward, smashing her stolen baton into the man’s faceplate, shattering it into pieces. Wrapping her arm around his neck, Shego placed the hostage between herself and the gunmen still positioned on the catwalk.
“Don’t SHOOT!!!” The terrified guard called up to his buddies, praying not to be blown to hell.
“They won’t, but I WILL!” The villainess surrounded her hand with plasma and fired a blast at the catwalk, blowing a huge hole in it and sending one of the shooters falling into the room below.
The remaining two CO’s overhead holstered their pieces and scrambled down an emergency ladder to close the distance with the escapee.
“You’re only makin’ things easier for me, you morons!” Shego fired a second shot, destroying a large piece of the ladder and sending the two falling to the floor.
Her vision suddenly became blurry and she visibly staggered. The hostage took advantage of the moment of distraction and slipped her grasp.
‘Dammit, I gotta remember to take it easy on the plasma!’
The lower door opened again and a fresh wave of recruits charged into the room. Shaking off the swoon, Shego made another lunge at the controls, only to get tackled and dragged to the floor. The guards formed a dog pile and tried to pin her down, while the former hostage prepped an incap-rod.
“Screw this!” Yanking her arm loose, she hurled her baton across the room, smashing it right into the control panel for the energy field.
The lights around the cell changed from green to red and the door popped open, revealing only darkness within. Everyone froze where they were, as looks of horror overcame the faces of the security team.
“PRISONER ZERO IS LOOSE!!” Former hostage turned and fled, leaving his brothers-in-arms to fend for themselves.
Two crimson tendrils shot from the dark chamber and slammed into several of the guards trying to restrain Shego, flinging them around like rag dolls. The remaining men ceased paying attention to the woman and scrambled to pull their guns. A figure emerged from the cell, chilling the blood of the security force. A thin, man like torso rested upon the lower section of a blood colored, serpent-like tail. A shock of black hair rose from its pale head, gently swaying as though it were being blown by unseen winds. One of its eyes was closed, while the other glowed with a sinister, yellow light. Its teeth lacked spaces, being upper and lower solid pieces that fit together perfectly, like the teeth in a bear trap. Four long, red tentacles rose from its back as it pulled itself up to its full height, towering over everyone in the room.
Lashing tendrils sent men scattering and screaming in all directions, as Shego leapt to her feet. Picking up a discarded helmet from one of the victims, she tossed it at the face of the monster, striking it squarely in the nose.
“Don’t lose your head again, Chas, we don’t have time for this!” She turned and headed for the nearest exit.
The creature looked shocked for a moment and then suddenly seemed to fall apart. The blood colored, plasma-type substance that made up its tail and tendrils disintegrated, the black hair turned to white and the eyes switched, with the yellow eye closing and a more normal blue one opening. All that was left was a rather skinny, normal looking man, sitting naked on the metal floor. Even his freakish teeth changed back to normal.
“You’re early; we were supposed to make our break later in the week!” The man called Chas scrambled to his feet and grabbed his discarded, prison issue jumpsuit from his cell.
“Sorry, bud, but they were planning on transferring me and executing YOU!” Shego ran down the corridor while glancing at her forearm, looking for the next step in their escape.
“Executing me?!” Chas struggled to keep up. “I’ve never committed a crime that would warrant THAT!”
“Hey, you’re a freakish monster; they don’t NEED a reason to vaporize you!” Shego grabbed the man by the arm and yanked him towards what appeared to be a dead end.
“Now what?!” Chas hunched over and gulped air into his lungs, between the two of them, Shego was obviously in better shape.
“We take the road less traveled.” Shego fired a shot at the blank wall, knocking a hole in it and revealing a passage.
The woman began to sway again, as the energy use was taking its toll.
“Boss, you need me to…”
“Not NOW, we need to escape first!” Using Chas for support, the villainess guided the two towards what she hoped would be the docking bay.
Captain Barkin stood in the prisons central command room and stared at the various monitors that displayed different sections of the facility.
One of the techs peered over his shoulder and gave a concerned look to his commanding officer. “Sir, they seem to have vanished. Our sensors aren’t picking them up!”
“They’re still here, kid, just because we can’t see ‘em doesn’t mean they’ve disappeared.” Barkin approached the lad and looked down at him with force. “They’re heading for a ship, no question, so make sure they get one.”
“Sir, this whole thing about letting prisoners escape…” The look of concern deepened on the operators face. “Are we really going to let this happen?”
“We follow orders, young man, that’s why we’re here.” The commander placed his hand on the fellows shoulder and forcibly turned him back to his station. “Just do your job and everything will be fine.”
A rather shapely recruit in full combat gear approached and saluted.
“Alright, agent, get down to the docking bay. You know what you’re supposed to do, so make it snappy.” Barkin returned the salute and the agent stepped into a nearby elevator and disappeared from sight. The captain turned away from his recruits and gritted his teeth.
“What IS this place?” Chas looked around the dark corridor that his boss had led them into. The passage was covered with dust and cobwebs, giving the impression that it hadn’t been used in quite a long time.
“It’s an old emergency escape tunnel, this place used to be a military base before it became a prison.” Shego leaned against one of the walls and tried to regain her strength. “I had to do a lot of favors to get the shot-callers to fill me in on this thing. There are no sensors in these old passages, so they can’t track us.”
“Shego, you’ve pushed yourself too hard. We gotta stop and take care of you.” The young man approached the woman with a sympathetic stare.
“Hell NO, we keep moving! If we don’t steal a ship within the next thirty minutes, our window of opportunity is gonna be slammed shut, got it!” The green inmate pushed the man away and proceeded to walk forward. “There’s currently some major repairs going on down at the landing bay, so the transports stored there will be easier to snag.”
The pair snaked their way around a sharp turn and the leader stopped at a wall marked with an “X”. Surrounding her hand with energy, Shego used the greenish glow to illuminate her forearm, allowing her to read her notes.
“Okay, we need to get through this wall. The docking bay should be on the other side.” Taking a step back, the woman prepared to blast another hole in the passage, only to get thrown backwards as a shot from the OTHER side beat her to it.
Staring through the still smoking breach, the duo spotted a lone officer, holding a blast rifle. The figure had imposed itself between them and a docked transport. Smiling wickedly, Shego stepped through the wall and smirked at the CO.
“Well, you must be a pretty tough cookie, to come down here and face us all by yourself.” The green woman put her hands on her hips and raised one of her eyebrows in bemusement.
“You could say that.” The agent removed her helmet to reveal a gorgeous swath of red hair. Her eyes were green, resembling Shego’s, and her body displayed the toned muscle structure of a true athlete.
“Whoa, who is th…?” Chas was cut off by a blast from the girl’s rifle. The shot nailed him in the head and sent him sliding down the wall.
“Don’t worry, I just stunned him. I wanna keep this a FAIR fight.” The redhead dropped her gun and took a fighting stance. “You ready?”
The villainess licked her lips and chuckled. “With pleasure!”
Shego rushed the cop with a hard flurry of punches, only to have all of them blocked or dodged. Kim fired back with a wide leg sweep, knocking the evil woman off her feet. The downed villain tossed a false kick towards the younger girls mid section; the attack was easily blocked, allowing Shego to grab the redhead by the ankle and push her off balance. Leaping back to her feet, the inmate launched a massive assault of fierce attacks that alternated between upper and lower targets on the agent’s body. Despite the effort, very few of the shots did anything but force the cop backwards.
“Say, you ain’t half bad, Princess!” Shego gave the redhead a once over and licked her lips. “You gotta be from off station, cuz I’d definitely remember seeing you before.”
The white haired man lying on the floor groaned and regained consciousness. “Damn, what the hell happened?”
“CHAS, get on board that transport and hot wire it, I’ll keep this sweet lil’ girl busy!” The convict fought against the wave of weakness that swirled around her brain, knowing that passing out now was NOT an option.
As the monster-man boarded the ship, a large door against the opposite wall slid open and a swarm of security rushed into the room. Training their rifles on the two women, Captain Barkin stepped forward and bellowed his orders.
“Place your hands on your head and lie down on the floor, NOW!” The surly brute brought his sidearm up and aimed for Shego’s head.
“You weren’t supposed to come down here yet, I can handle this!” Kim turned away from her opponent and frowned at the firing squad.
“Bad move, kiddo!” Taking advantage of the situation, Shego grabbed the redhead by the waist and used her as a shield.
One of the guards jumped the gun and fired a premature shot, hitting the hostage and knocking her out.
“Hold your FIRE, not until I give the word, DAMMIT!” Barkin grabbed the barrel of the shooters gun and pushed it towards the ceiling.
Pulling Possible’s sidearm, the raven haired con fired a shot at a nearby fuel canister, causing an explosion that blew the assembled security team off their feet. Dragging the unconscious woman with her, the cackling criminal boarded the ship and closed the hatch.
Shots bounced off of the transports hull, as Chas aimed the ship towards the landing bay doors. Blasting a hole through the steel portal, the now escaped cons zipped through the opening and pointed their stolen frigate towards the upper atmosphere.
Shego placed the officers own handcuffs around her wrists and stuffed her into an empty storage box in the ships hold.
“Just stay put, sweetie, we’ll have time to play later.”
Hauling herself up to the flight deck, the villain took a seat next to her partner and exhaled with relief.
“I can’t believe we did it.” The woman turned to her partner and frowned. “I thought it would be a lot tougher than that.”
“Who cares, as long as we’re rid of that hell hole!” Chas brought up the navigation system and prepared to enter the coordinates. “Where to?”
“You know where, dumbass.” The woman gave him a stern grimace.
“You were serious about that?!” A look of shock and dismay contorted the boy’s countenance.
“I’ve got unfinished business there, and you KNOW it!” The beautiful woman’s arms drooped at her side as she allowed her exhaustion to catch up to her.
“Boss, you need another treatment.” Chas entered their destination into the computer and set the auto pilot. “You pushed yourself too hard again.”
“I don’t need you to lecture me…” The weakened lady rose from her seat and began removing her stolen nurse’s outfit. “Make it quick, monster-boy; I need to get some sleep.”
Chas followed her back into the ship and both of them entered the crew quarters. The young man removed his jumpsuit and closed the door behind them.
Agent Possible awoke with a start, only to find herself locked in a dark, enclosed space. Using her inborn flexibility, the redhead passed her cuffed hands under her feet and brought them up to her chest. Digging into her belt, she produced a glow cube, which she shook and cracked, filling the storage container with light.
‘Getting out of here would be a piece of cake, but I think I’ll sit tight for now.’ Kim traced her memory back to the meeting she had concerning her current mission.
A Few Weeks Prior to the Escape…
“Well, Kim Possible, according to your personal records you graduated at the top of your class in the academy. I’m especially interested in the remarkably high scores you achieved in infiltration.” Councilman Drakken shot the young woman a toothy grin.
“Yes sir, I understand you have a special assignment available.” Kim looked the blue skinned man over, and shuddered slightly.
“Indeed, I feel you’re just the person we’ve been looking for.” Cracking his knuckles, the councilman produced a data pad from his desk drawer and placed it in front of the agent. “We’ll be sending you to the Infernum Correction Facility.”
The young woman shot a confused look at the official and rose from her seat.
“My credentials qualify me for much more than prison security detail, surely this must be a mistake!” Possible was clearly shaken up by the statement.
“Calm down, young lady, you’re not going there for guard duty. You’ll be going there because of her.” Drakken switched on the data pad to reveal the face of a certain green skinned, dark haired convict. “This interesting specimen is…”
“Prisoner number 147634, Shego, a female enhanced human currently serving thirty consecutive life sentences for various offenses including assault, theft, destruction of property and other assorted felonies…” The redhead picked up the sentence and ran with it before the man could finish.
“Excellent, you are good.” The creepy, toothy smile returned. “This inmate is planning an escape and I want YOU to be taken as her hostage.”
Returning to her chair, the young agent looked at the convict’s mug shot and cast a concerned glance at her superior. “Why?”
Drakken advanced the data pad to its next stored image. A translucent pyramid shaped object appeared on the screen, identified as artifact “0404”.
“This is a primitive data storage unit that was supposedly in the inmate’s possession prior to her arrest. We believe it still lies somewhere in the Dead Land.” The blue man’s smile turned to a serious frown. “We must have this unit AND all the data it contains handed over to the council immediately!”
“So, what you’re telling me is…” Kim interjected.
“I want you to get as CLOSE to the subject as you can! Earn her confidence so you can find and retrieve the artifact.” A sinister gleam came over the madman’s visage. “I don’t have to tell you what failure can mean for your future career, Miss Possible.”
‘Is he threatening me?!’ Kim shot an icy stare at the creep and replied. “Failure isn’t in my vocabulary, SIR.”
“Excellent, that data pad contains a full write up of the mission and its particulars so keep it and memorize it.” Drakken spun around in his chair, turning his back to the agent. “A transport will be leaving the station for Infernum at 06:00 hours, be on it!”
Agent Possible stood and saluted before leaving the room. Heading for her private quarters to prepare, Kim considered the obvious dangers of this recent turn of events.
‘I have to do this; it’s the only way I can make it into the Elite Vanguard.’ The girl boarded a hyper lift headed for the barracks.
A massive jolt rocked the ship and grabbed the attention of the two escaped prisoners. Rushing from the crew section, Shego leapt into the pilot’s seat and checked the ship’s computer for a status report. An Infernum pursuit ship was hot on their tail, firing hot photons up their back side.
“Chas, get to weapons control and return fire! I’m gonna try to shake these idiots.” Deactivating the auto pilot, the criminal assumed control and took evasive maneuvers, hoping to give the pursuing vessel a harder target to hit.
Monster-man slammed his fists against the battle console and cursed. The screen was lit up with flashing “ERROR” messages.
“The damn weapons system is malfunctioning, we’re defenseless!” Chas’ voice shouted over the ships intercom system.
Shego’s fingers moved rapidly over the main terminal, calling up the ships system schematics.
“No wonder, this piece of shit has been decommissioned and repaired at least seventeen times!” The villainess dragged her nails across the monitor in anger. “It’s gotta be as old as the warden’s grandmother!”
Another hard hit shook the vessel enough to knock Possible’s storage prison over on its side, dumping her onto the floor.
‘They’re supposed to put on a good SHOW, not kill us!’ Kim removed a pin that had been carefully concealed in her hair and began trying to pick the lock on her cuffs.
“That might explain why it was so easy to steal!” Chas braced himself against another jarring hit. “So what do we do now?!”
The green boss checked the ships manifest for anything that might be useful.
“Apparently they were using this wreck for storage, so there should be some barrels of spare parts in the cargo bay. Drag some of those containers over to the airlock and break the seals on ‘em, I got an idea.” Shego released the button on the intercom and turned back to the controls.
Placing the barrels onto a hover dolly, Chas rushed the assorted junk to the rear of the ship. Ripping the tops off of the containers, the strange man placed the items near the hatch and called up to the flight deck.
“Okay, I’m in position, now what?”
“Get outta that room and seal the door behind you, I’m gonna open the airlock and jettison that crap.” The green beauty started the countdown to open the hatch. “If we make our own debris field, maybe we can slow ‘em down.”
Chas barely made it to safety before the massive suction from the air escaping the chamber behind him sucked everything in the room out into the void.
Officer Ramirez continued to fire warning shots across the nose of the fleeing vessel. He had been given strict orders to maintain distance and avoid any direct hits.
“How much longer do we have to keep this up?” The CO turned to his co-pilot and complained.
“How the hell should I know?” The other fellow perked up and looked around quizzically. “You hear that weird noise?”
Both men remained silent as the sound of bumping and banging surrounded them on all sides.
“That’s not laser fire, it sounds like…”
The pilot was interrupted by a loud wailing siren as the ships vocal warning system kicked in.
“Emergency… multiple collisions detected… possible hull breach… emergency…”
“Shit, are those cons throwin’ stuff at us?!” The one called Ramirez brought up a display of the ships forward section just in time to see a wrench collide with the front end.
The co-pilot switched on the communication hub and signaled Barkin. Seconds later, the big lug appeared on screen.
“What’s the ‘sitch, Johnson, give me your status report.”
“They’re lobbing junk out of their ship; we’ve got a red alert over here!” The CO was in a state of panic.
“Then it’s time to call it off, soldier, get your asses back here, PRONTO!” Barkin added emphasis to the final word of his command.
“What about the escapees?” Ramirez pushed his face into view.
“Forget ‘em Marcus, we’ll let the NH Interception Unit handle ‘em.” The loud captain saluted his men. “You did good, men, now come on home.”
“Yessir!”
The prison ship broke off pursuit and turned back towards Infernum, leaving the criminals to flee in peace.
Chas took the helm, giving Shego an opportunity to get to know her new prisoner a little better. Entering the hold, the villainess half expected a surprise attack from the redhead. Sadly, all she found was a calm and collected Kim sitting on a bench waiting patiently.
“So, pumpkin, not gonna try to take down the mean ol’ fugitive?” The woman marched up to the young girl with a sultry strut.
“My own guys fired on me, I’m not feeling very grateful for that right now.” Kim stared at the floor, refusing to make eye contact with the criminal.
“That’s what happens when you work with morons.” Shego looked down at the redhead and smirked. “That floor really isn’t that interesting, why don’t you look up here.”
The agent cast her eyes upwards and looked upon the attractive visage of her captor. Quickly turning away, Kim put her mind back on the situation.
“What do you want from me?”
“You can handle yourself; I could use someone like you.” Stepping over the bench, Shego stood behind the young officer and placed her hands on her shoulders.
‘What is she doing?’ Kim felt herself start to tense up, as the sudden contact lit up her instincts like a forest fire. ‘Hang in there, Possible, keep your cool. She must be trying to get to me. I’ve got to play along; it’s part of my job.’
“You seem WAY too competent and pretty to be on the same team as those jokers back there.” Her hands began to gently knead the muscles in Kim’s arms, giving the girl a rather obvious massage. “You could be good enough to become my right hand, if you play your cards right.”
The redhead could feel herself shaking as a bead of sweat slowly made its way down her forehead. Kim gripped the bench with such force that the metal actually began to bend slightly.
Dragging a crate directly behind her prisoner, the evil woman sat down and pressed her body against Kim’s. Wrapping her arms around the girls mid section, Shego nuzzled Kim’s neck and brushed her lips against the soft patch of skin just below her ear.
“So, whaddya say?”
Possible fought with all her strength to avoid jumping up and running like hell. She could stand being in the middle of a fire fight, but the fugitive’s “hands-on” recruitment technique was more than she had bargained for.
“I… I… don’t know.” Nearly choking on the words, Kim felt the heat in her face grow to infernal levels as she blushed two shades of red.
“Why are you shivering? You can’t be cold, feeling as warm and soft as you do.” The villainess moved her hands up to the prisoner’s chest and gently cupped one of her breasts.
The hostage opened her eyes wide with shock and let out a partial gasp. A small tear worked its way down her cheek as a state of pure panic began to run its course.
“Stop…, please stop…” Her voice was barely audible, as the words seemed to lodge themselves in her throat.
“Stop what; I’m not hurting you am I?” Shego’s face bore the smile of a fallen angel as she carefully moved her other hand down between the redhead’s legs.
Enough was enough, that final motion pushed the girl over the edge. Kim leapt to her feet and she immediately slammed her back against the nearest wall. Staring at Shego with a look of complete terror, the exasperated agent breathed heavily and tried to compose herself.
“What the hell is wrong with you?!”
“Nothing, sweetie, you’re the one who looks like she’s about to have a heart attack.” The evil seductress was practically glowing with amusement. The prisoner was young and sexually inexperienced, meaning that the older woman could play games to her little hearts content.
“What do you WANT from me?!” The flustered girl tried to sound intimidating, but failed.
“Just what I said, I want you on my side.” Standing back up, Shego flipped her hair as she turned to leave. “The offer still stands, should you change your mind.”
Kim watched as the overly forceful woman left the room. Sliding down the wall, Possible curled into a ball and tried to bring her emotions under control.
‘Why do I feel like this, what’s happening to me?’ Try as she might, the feeling of the woman’s hands on her body refused to go away. ‘They never said ANYTHING about this in the academy!’
She had dated around during her training, but none of the boys she had chosen did anything more than amuse her for a short while. To have someone, especially another woman, make her feel this way was both a huge shock and a surprise.
‘I know I should be outraged or at least angry, but…’ Kim looked towards the door of the hold and sighed.
Shego stood just outside the cockpit and chuckled to herself. The girl was obviously a plant or a spy, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t at least take the time to play cat and mouse with the little darling.
‘Who knows, maybe I can actually turn the little strawberry into my own little playmate.’ Smiling like a Cheshire cat, the criminal returned to the flight deck to check on her partner.
“So, did you chuck her out the airlock?” Chas turned to greet his boss with dirty grin.
“Nah, but I did scare her just the same.” Taking the seat next to him, Shego brought up their trajectory and checked their ETA. “Did ya get a good look at that cute lil’ bubble butt of hers?”
“I was too busy getting shot to get a good look.” The man frowned and drummed his fingers on his armrest.
“Trust me; you would love to have that thing bouncin’ up and down on your pelvic bone.” The perverted woman flashed Chas her fangs and laughed out loud.
“Jeez, you’re a filthy as a man, Go-Go!” Chas snorted in response.
“Oh, I’m sowwy… did I hurt him’s feewings?” The sarcasm poked the guy right in the chest.
“Hell no, I just haven’t gotten used to your vulgarity.” The white haired male elbowed her lightly in the side.
“Well, when we get to Earth, you’ll probably be hearing a lot more of it. My troops are pretty hardcore.” Shego balled up her fist and socked Chas in the arm.
Rubbing at the fresh bruise, the man winced and continued their little chat. “So, you’re not thinking about starting up your harem again, are you?”
“I just might…” Giving him a sinister look, the criminal raised an eyebrow. “I could always give you a shot at ones I get bored with.”
“Like you would ever get bored with your own harem…” Chas rolled his eyes and shook his head.
“We’ll have to finish this later; we gotta prep this hunk of junk for landing.” The woman set her hands to work inputting the command for erecting blast shields for re-entry.
“Where are we supposed to land this thing?” Chas looked to his boss with puzzlement. “There are no spaceports, just ruins and desert.”
“One second…” Shego turned to the long range communications hub and began searching familiar frequencies for any sign of activity.
The screen showed nothing but static until a horribly grainy image appeared. The face of a dark skinned young woman came into view, barely visibly through the interference.
“…Hello…” The woman’s voice cut in and out.
“Monique, is that you?” Shego shouted with expectancy.
“Oh… my…wd… She… that you?” The signal was terrible, but obviously the two knew each other.
“Yeah, it’s me! I need you and anybody you got with you to send landing coordinates to my ship, NOW!” The whole vessel shuddered, as it contacted the atmosphere and turbulence began shaking them like a paint mixer.
“Ho… on… omin’ your… got it!” The smile on the girls face indicated that the attempt was successful.
“If we don’t die in the crash, then I want to salvage this heap for anything of value, so get a crew ready!” Shego kissed her fingers and pressed them against the screen, right on Monique’s lips. “Seen you soon, if we’re lucky.”
The image disappeared as the two pilots strapped themselves in for impact.
“Hey, lady, you might wanna hang on to something back there!” Chas shouted over the intercom to the redheaded hostage, who was busy trying desperately to find something sturdy to grab hold of.
Chunks of the old transport were torn off and tossed through the air like white hot sparks from a crackling fire. The shaking reached near earthquake intensity as the three passengers braced themselves for the inevitable crash.
The ship tore through the air like a fireball before slamming into the ground like a missile, carving a huge trench in its wake. The mangled wreck finally came to a stop at the base of a burned out building. The ship sent plumes of thick, black smoke into the air.
Smoke that was being observed by group standing atop an old parking structure not too far away.
At least ten figures stood in a half circle around one other, who stood watching the burning vessel through a pair of binoculars. All were covered in shiny metal and carried a variety of weapons, most of which were rather high tech firearms. The figure with the binoculars lowered them to reveal a pair of feminine eyes.
“So, he was right, she did come!” The woman turned to face her gang. “This is where things get interesting!”
End Chapter One