Monique sighed in relief as the Kimmunicator beeped. “Wade, please give me good news.”
Wade paused. “Bad news first then. Mrs. Dr. Possible should've been home by now, but the last time she spoke to anyone was when she called her husband after she landed at Middleton Airport. She told him the hospital had provided a limo.”
“What does that mean?”
“It gets worse. The hospital didn't send a limo. Whoever picked her up was probably working with Monkey Fist.”
“So he has Kim, Mrs. P, and Ron?” Monique asked sadly.
“And Shego,” Wade added uneasily. “Which has actually turned out to be a good thing. I just got off the phone with Dr. Drakken. He's willing to help.”
“…Wade, what have we told you about associating with evil geniuses?”
“We can't be picky right now, Monique. It's going to take some time before Mr. Dr. Possible and the twins can get back in town, but Drakken is ready to act now. Apparently, he's more attached to Shego than we knew. Either that, or he wants to protect his investment. I imagine she doesn't come cheap.”
“Does he know about Kim's…condition?”
“I didn't tell him, and I got the impression Shego didn't, either. But that doesn't mean he doesn't know anything about it.”
“I'm really worried, Wade. I think we can trust Shego, but I'm not sure about him.”
“Once she's free, she'll keep him in line, I hope. Until then, that's sort of your job. I told him to swing by your place and pick you up.”
Monique's eyes widened. “You did WHAT?”
Mrs. Dr. Possible looked up as her bedroom door opened. She gasped as a very hairy man stepped in, recognizing him at once as her driver. “You!” Her hands flew to her mouth in terror as she spotted what was curled up in his tail. “KIMMIE!”
“She's fine,” Monkey Fist stated, even as Kim burst into fresh tears, reaching out for her mother.
DNAmy looked from the crying child to the stricken mother uneasily, and then at Monkey Fist. “Sugar booger,” she said softly, “it wouldn't hurt to let her hold Kim, would it? They'd both stop crying, if nothing else.”
Apparently seeing the wisdom in that, Monkey Fist stretched out his tail and allowed Mrs. Possible to reclaim her daughter.
“Oh, Kimmie, they didn't hurt you, did they?” Mrs. Possible murmured, hugging her child tightly.
“Wonnie,” Kim whimpered. “Wonnie hurt.”
“Merely a bloody nose,” Monkey Fist answered before Mrs. Possible could ask. “And that, I might add, was a result of her refusing to surrender.” He gestured to the monkey ninjas. “Keep an eye on them. We'll be leaving shortly.”
Monique still had her doubts when the hovercraft landed in her backyard. But she was determined to do everything she could to help Kim and the others, even if it meant teaming up with the likes of Dr. Drakken. She quickly marched up the small ramp that extended from the hovercraft.
Drakken only spared her an uneasy glance before taking off.
Monique immediately noticed the huge pile of various inventions and weapons. “What's all this?”
“As you know, fisticuffs are more Shego's expertise than mine. I'm forced to rely on more mechanical methods.” His eyes went to the bag on her shoulder. “What did you bring? Some sort of bomb?”
Monique flushed. “Not exactly.” She was not about to tell him that the bag was full of various baby products. It wasn't as if she'd had much to work with in the first place, and she doubted Monkey Fist would be considerate enough to change Kim's diaper.
Fortunately, Drakken let the subject drop there, and they spent the next few minutes in awkward silence.
About the only thing that Mrs. Dr. Possible could be thankful for was that Kim had finally fallen into a troubled sleep during the ride to DNAmy's genetics lab. They'd been surrounded by monkey ninjas and what Amy called “polar puppies” the entire time, so there never had been a chance to escape. Aside from that, she was still concerned about Ron, since all requests to see him had been promptly denied.
However, she did finally catch a brief glimpse of him as they were ordered out of the armored truck that transported them. Ron was unloaded at the same time as another woman, who Mrs. Possible quickly recognized as Shego. While she was a little confused about Shego's presence, especially as a fellow hostage, Ron seemed to be fine, save for the bloody nose. Both of them had been sedated for easy handling, she suspected.
Mrs. Possible was led into the lab, which was dominated by a large, see-thru containment pod. The mere sight of it made her clutch Kim tighter, recalling what Monkey Fist and DNAmy had in store for her.
As it turned out, the two mad animal lovers had been revising their original plan. It was Monkey Fist who made the startling proposal.
“You have a choice to make, Dr. Possible. Your daughter's fate is sealed. Yours, however, is to be determined by you.”
“What do you mean?” she asked uncertainly.
“You have two options. Option A: you watch, as in your last moments together, your daughter becomes one of my monkey minions. After the transformation is complete, you will be released, and you will never see her again.”
The hatred in her eyes told him all he needed to know of what she thought of that option.
“Option B: you share your daughter's fate, and also become one of my monkey minions. You would be allowed limited interaction with her on a regular basis, but any attempts to undo the reprogramming would result in suspension of said interaction. I would remind you that in that case, you would become virtually useless to me. I do not keep useless things for very long.”
Mrs. Possible closed her eyes, but tears still ran down her face. “Option B,” she said softly, burying her face in Kim's hair.
“I've got a lock on their location,” Wade announced. “They're in DNAmy's lab. That's-”
“I know where it is,” Dr. Drakken interrupted, an edge to his voice.
“Oh. My guess is Monkey Fist wants to get his hands on the Mystical Monkey Power again. Or maybe he wants to turn Kim into a monkey again. Mrs. Dr. Possible is probably just there to make Kim cooperate.”
Monique glanced at Drakken. “And Shego?”
“I don't think they planned for her to be involved. But now that they have her, Monkey Fist might turn her into a monkey, just so he'd have more power in his army.”
Drakken didn't say anything, but Monique could tell he wasn't fond of the idea of Shego as a monkey.
“Any chance of pulling the plug, Wade?”
“Only if they're not in a rush. Amy has her own private generators. I could probably knock them offline, but she'd just switch to backup power, which would take longer to disable. It wouldn't be enough to make them all monkeys tonight, but they'd have barely enough to make one.”
“Do what you can. We'll just have to take out the power first thing.”
“Dr. Drakken, you wouldn't happen to have any wide-range EMP weapons, would you?” Wade asked.
Drakken nodded. “Yes. It would take a few minutes to set up, but once operational, it should be capable of instantly shutting down every machine in a five mile radius.”
Wade sighed in relief. “Just make sure you land before you use it.”
“I'd have to, anyway. It would drain nearly all of the hovercraft's power to fire.”
“Guess we're walking back,” Monique sighed.
Shego's eyes snapped open as a high-pitched wail assaulted her ears.
Only a few feet away from her, the containment pod was glowing a brilliant red. But even through the red haze, Shego could still make out the two redheads clinging to each other.
“Kimmie,” she whispered.
“So you're awake already,” Monkey Fist said, moving into view. “I suspected your body would cancel out the effects of the tranquilizer faster. No matter. You're still powerless to stop us. We made sure those manacles would suppress your plasma powers.”
Shego glanced down. She was suspended about two feet above the floor, her arms and legs hidden within thick manacles, which in turn were attached to the wall itself. A look to the right proved that Ron was confined in much the same way, and he was still out cold to boot.
“Not to worry, Shego. You'll have a place in my monkey army…once you've met the requirements, that is. Amy assures me that you'll retain your powers, even after you become a primate. You'll even be able to do battle with Kim Possible in the future, and I know how much you look forward to that.”
Shego could barely hear Monkey Fist's words. She was busy wracking her brain for a way out of this mess. Ron wasn't going to be any help, so it was up to her to save the two Possibles and herself. But the manacles were definitely working, because she couldn't generate even the tiniest bit of plasma energy in her hands.
Shego blinked, and then her face split into a wicked grin. “I guess you covered all the bases, Baboon Butt. Almost, anyway.”
Monkey Fist stared at her warily. “What do you mean?”
“For the sake of argument, let's say these fancy manacles of yours do work. How would you know?”
“For one thing, you'd be loose by now if they didn't. They work.”
“Yeah, they do,” Shego admitted. “There's one itty bitty problem.”
“And what's that?”
“Who says I can only generate plasma through my hands?”
His eyes widened. “You're lying. I've never seen you expel it from anywhere else!”
“Well, duh! Not something I advertise. But I find it comes in handy for tight spots like this.”
“Then I'm calling your bluff,” Monkey Fist growled, turning away. “Amy! Begin the process! Bombard them with monkey DNA!”
“Right away, sugar booger!” Amy replied with glee as she bent over the main console.
Monkey Fist faced the containment pod and smiled. “When next I see you, Kim Possible, you will belong to me!”
Neither of them noticed the snarl on Shego's lips, or the fact that her green eyes were glowing like hot coals, just seconds before they ignited.
Next Chapter: Shego brings down the house, but at what cost to herself?