“So, have you found out what your power does by now?” one of the Wegos asked Kim.
“Not really, no. It’s not heat or plasma, just… force or something. We haven’t really had time to try and figure it out so far.”
Looking around the conference room where they had moved to, Kim wondered how long it would take until this whole thing blew up in their faces. The members of Team Go were present, as was Dr. Director, General Reinhart, her father and his college buddies, Professor Kruger, Ron and Rufus, Wade via remote link, and Shego.
So many egos, so little room, she mused.
Ron, intentionally or not, was doing his best to defuse the bomb that was Shego and Hego, distracting the latter by bringing up his old pet peeve again.
“No, we’re still not selling the Naco in Go City,” Hego told him, starting to get frustrated. “It didn’t test well.”
“That’s what you said last time,” Ron whined. “Surely you’ve done more tests by now.”
“Look, Ron! I am not working in the Bueno Nacho research department. I am just managing the branch in Go City.”
“But there has to be something you can do. People in Go City deserve to get a taste of the culinary delight that is the Naco. It is your duty as a decent human being and a superhero.”
Stifling a laugh, Kim was glad that Ron was keeping Shego and Hego from butting heads again. She was sure that, should the hulking superhero give his sister another pep talk about coming back to the side of right, she’d make good on her threat and do nasty things to his manhood.
Kim was being nagged a bit herself. The Wego twins seemed eager to find out what exactly her powers were and kept asking and prodding. It didn’t help that they could replicate. By now there were seven of them filling up the room, all taking her on from different angles. It was hard to remember that they were actually a bit older than her, Kim mused. They seemed so young. Short, too.
Mego was the only one of Team Go actually involved in what looked to be a productive discussion. He and Professor Kruger were sitting together. Kim figured that Mego was actually a pretty smart guy. That was, if he didn’t get distracted by his own ego, as was frequently the case.
They were really just passing time until the Space Centre’s technicians got everything set up for a first test run. They would try and see whether the Go powers of everyone present could be meshed together into an energy discharge like Kim and Shego had produced two days ago.
Kim was far more disturbed by the upcoming test than she let on. She still didn’t know what her powers did, really. She still had little to no control over them. It seemed that, while in physical contact with Shego, she could somehow ‘hitch a ride’ and do what Shego did with her powers, but that was it. Kim had secretly tried to turn her powers on and off, but so far there was little to show for it.
As if to frustrate her, Shego kept igniting and snuffing her plasma flames over and over again, though Kim figured it was probably just nervous habit on the part of the green-skinned thief.
24 days, she reminded herself. 24 days until the comet got here. Was that even long enough to get a handle on her powers? If not, would it be enough to hitch a ride with those who had control? Would their control hold as the comet got closer and increased their powers? There were so many uncertainties ahead.
Kim knew that, on any normal day, her self-confidence usually bordered on arrogance. The girl who could do anything and all that. Right now, she felt neither especially confident nor arrogant. Just scared.
“We’re just about ready,” a technician said, peeking into the room. “Another five minutes, then you can give it a go.”
There was some chuckling at the inadvertent play on words, but not much. Humour was not in good supply right now.
“While we wait,” Wade began, speaking over the room’s conference screen, “I found out some things.”
“What’s the sitch?” Kim asked, the familiar words feeling good despite the tension.
“The news isn’t good, I’m afraid,” Wade said.
“Just give it to us,” Kim demanded.
“Okay. I checked all public records and as far as I can tell there were 526 children born the same day as you in the regions the comet fragment passed over before crashing in Go City. 482 of them are still alive today. The others… well, car accidents, illnesses, other stuff.”
Kim nodded, understanding. “What about the survivors? Any of them displaying super powers?”
“I’m afraid so, yes,” Wade answered. “During the last five days sixteen of them were brought to hospitals for… various symptoms. Some of them seemed to suffer from energy overload, just like you. Others… well, one was growing heavier and heavier without discernible cause until his own weight broke his back. Still others… I stopped looking at the pictures soon after that, really.”
Shego had a nasty suspicion she already knew what the hacker was going to say next.
“Thirteen of them died within the last 48 hours, Kim,” Wade finally spilled. “They… their powers killed them.”
“Fuck,” Shego whispered. Kim was tearing up. Ron, for once, did not have some kind of funny comment ready and his naked pet slowly slipped back into his pocket, looking down-trodden. Not even Hego had some over-the-top nonsense to say.
As for Shego herself, she felt… guilty? No, that couldn’t be, right? She hadn’t even known these kids. It certainly wasn’t her fault that they couldn’t get a handle on their powers. Even if she had known… would she have done something? Would she have helped them? She didn’t know. She honestly didn’t know.
“What about the other three?” Kim asked through her tears. “Are they… are they okay?”
“As far as I can say, yes. One, James Jackman, was released from the hospital shortly after being brought in. Apparently he glowed silver and his wounds healed up by themselves in record time. Jennifer Adler was another, she was brought in because… well, she was floating off the ground and glowing pink. Apart from that, though, she seems to be okay. The third was a guy called Adam, no last name given. A homeless runaway, it seems. He was being brought in by the police after smashing a police car to pieces. With his bare hands. He glowed blue.”
Shego shook her head, trying to ignore the image of a pink-glowing, floating girl. She was just thankful that Kim hadn’t gotten that one; it would have been too much for her to take.
“Okay, does this mean we have three more potential recruits to this impossible mission?” she asked.
“Maybe there are more than that,” one of the Wegos said. “I mean, we never had that much trouble getting a handle on our powers.” A scorching look from his big sister made him add “Mostly. Anyway, there could be others out there who managed to get their powers under control without help or hospitals.”
“Or died without anyone noticing,” Kim sniffed, depressed.
“Okay, do we know where our three super-survivors are?” Ron asked. “We should bring them in to help you guys as fast as possible, right?”
Kim took a deep breath. “Before we drag three innocent kids into this, we should find out if this power synching stuff even works when more than two people are involved.”
Shego gave her a look. “Getting seconds thoughts about taking on a thirty-kilometre-wide comet, princess?”
“Give it a rest, sis,” Mego told her, irritated. “She’s right. We should find out what’s the what before making any further plans. No matter that giving you access to my power brings back some uncomfortable memories.”
Shego scowled at her kid brother. “Oh, please! As if I’d want your powers again. Shrinking down to take on a naked mole rat at equal size is highly overrated.”
“Hey,” Rufus chirped, remembering his short fight with Shego when she’d shrunk down to his size.
“It’s a cool power,” Mego insisted.
“Yeah, sure,” both the Wegos intoned with a very sarcastic undertone to the words.
“Put a sock in it, okay?” Kim yelled, getting fed up by all the bickering between the Go siblings. “People already died because of these stupid powers, so would you please stop arguing about how cool they are?”
Ron, seeing Kim’s distress, slowly walked over to put a hand on her shoulder. “KP, there was nothing you could have done for these kids. Me, I’m just grateful we managed to spare you the same fate.”
Kim gave him a brave smile, but it was mostly facade.
James Possible just watched the interplay between his daughter, Ron, and Team Go, wondering whether they’d actually be able to work together to save the world. From the dark looks on the faces of General Reinhart and Dr. Director, they were probably wondering the same thing.
The same technician as before peeked into the room again. “We’re ready.”
“Any ideas on how this will work?” Kim asked, looking around at the various people present.
“You make a power circle, hold hands, and sing Kumbaja?” Ron received multiple stares for that remark. “Just an idea.”
“We probably should… touch,” Shego forced out, giving Hego a very sour look. “That’s how it worked with princess there and me.”
Kim, Shego, and Team Go were in the middle of a large, empty room that was usually used for test-firing rocket boosters. The rest of the assembly was standing behind several layers of armour plating to watch the proceedings. Dozens of scanners and recording devices were trained on the six people in the centre.
“Any idea how powerful this needs to be to split a comet?” Dr. Director asked James Possible in a low voice.
“I must admit that I have absolutely no idea, Dr. Director. The energy discharge of Kim and Shego wasn’t in the nuclear range, but it was certainly more powerful than any directed-beam-weapon I ever heard of. Certainly more powerful than any laser or projectile weapon. And the range was breath-taking.”
“If this works we will need a way to get them closer to the comet,” General Reinhart added to the low conversation. “I’ll make a call to Area 51 and arrange transportation. We have a few things that work much better than NASA’s space shuttles.”
“I think they’re starting,” Dr. Director said.
The six people in the centre of the testing range were standing in a circle now and tentatively reaching out to link hands. Even to an outsider it was obvious that quite a few of them weren’t wild on the thought of touching each other.
“What now?” Mego asked once they were all touching hands.
Shego gave Kim a look, who just shrugged. “I sort of just went along with you last time. You start!”
Giving her a scowl, Shego closed her eyes and started to concentrate. Small green plasma flames began to dance across her palm. Kim closed her eyes as well, trying to feel what Shego was doing. The energy was always there, she had realised. Hiding under her skin, stored in those tiny fragments of the comet in her bloodstream, just waiting to come out. Her fingers started glowing white.
The four members of Team Go followed suite, their individual glows beginning to appear. Hego’s hands glowed blue and Kim remembered how it felt, having briefly possessed his strength. She knew that, right now, he’d be able to crush all their hands like tin foil. The Wego twins added their red glow to the mix, their duplication power starting to spit out dupes that took up position behind them. Mego finally added his purple glow, not shrinking, simply letting the power out.
Concentrating, Kim tried to feel the glows of the others like she felt Shego’s. Felt? Yes, she could actually feel Shego’s energy as it wavered across her hand, joint with her own white light, flowed in and out and through. It was the same strange feeling as before, slowly growing in intensity.
Frowning, she tried to feel the other glows. The blue, the red, the purple, tried to feel them flow across her hand as well. There was nothing there, though. Just the briefest sensation, a tingling, but nothing like she felt from Shego. Opening her eyes, she could see the white and the green mingling, once again forming that mint-coloured light they had seen before. The other three, though, remained separate. There was no mingling, no flowing, nothing. It was almost as if they were repelling each other.
“It’s not working,” Shego mumbled, apparently seeing the same thing Kim saw.
“Keep trying,” Hego growled, forcing all of his concentration into maintaining his blue glow without actually using all that strength for anything. “This has gotta work!”
“I don’t feel anything,” Mego admitted. “Isn’t something supposed to happen by now?”
Kim could practically feel Shego try and draw the others’ energy into the mix, but it was obviously not working. The mint-coloured flames fanned out, even trailed onto the palms of the others, but all it achieved was one of the Wegos yelling out and quickly withdrawing his hand, a nasty red burn mark already forming.
The concentration shattered and they all quickly broke contact. Looking around the circle of superheroes, her eyes resting on the burn mark on Wego’s hand, Shego sighed deeply.
“Fuck,” she whispered.
“Okay, anybody got a plan B or anything?” Ron asked, receiving but silence in return.
TO BE CONTINUED