Kara
Moaning, Kara slid to her feet and blinked blearily at the flashing red lights. As the computer repeated the warning it had given a few seconds ago, a slow smile curled Kara’s lips and the woman walked slowly over to the inspection hatch. Inside the core, Shego tried to get to her feet, but because of her chest wound she was having trouble standing. Even as she watched, Shego fell to her knees, coughing more blood.
“Oh, this is too good to be true!” Kara whispered, grinning. “Not just killed… erased from existence! Nothing but a smear of gas will be left! And the irony… Killed by the very power that you control, the power that brought you and Kimmie together! Most, most, amusing! Hilarious even!”
She glanced across at the sparking console and noticed the flashing override that would shut down the whole core. Pursing her lips, Kara turned back and tilted her head.
“I could press it… if I could somehow be certain that I could kill you.” Shrugging, Kara sighed. “But I cannot be certain. I have you restrained at the lair, and you escape. I inject you with Servus and yet you are freed. I came so close, a few minutes ago, to having my throat sliced by you.”
“Good memories for me.” Shego managed, staggering to her feet.
“No, Shego… I have underestimated you even more than I thought. You are incredibly dangerous. Too dangerous for me to ignore this stroke of fate.” Kara glanced across as a warning chime echoed from the console behind her. “So, I think I shall watch as you are cooked and then turned to a smear of particles. However, I do apologise about the lack of my own personal touch.”
Unable to help herself, Kara burst out laughing and shook her head. “Oh, and I still have this…” She held up the red vial that Shego had been unable to rip from her hand. “No escape for Kimmie, not from me… not now. You have failed completely. Your ‘Princess’ is mine!”
Shego stared at Kara with hatred and as Kara clapped her hands and hungrily watched the four columns of plasma, Shego clenched her fists. “Go to hell you evil bitch! Damn you!”
“Failure of magnetic redirection systems in fifteen seconds… Danger, automatic override offline! Human biosigns detected! Evacuate area! This is your final warning!”
“Don’t worry Shego. It seems that you’re the one about to get a taste of what hell feels like…well, for a few seconds at least.” As the restrained yellow plasma shuddered once more, Kara laughed. “Maybe this is fitting. After all, I have had the chance to torture you, humiliate you and cause you terrible suffering… and I have to admit that watching this device vaporise you will finally give me the sense of satisfaction and closure I’ve been waiting for!”
Pausing, Kara bit her lip and then shrugged. The temptation to attack Shego was too strong. She wanted the green woman to think about the woman she would leave behind… helpless and trapped.
“Warning, catastrophic failure detected!” The computer announced, and Shego swallowed as the force holding the yellow superheated gas began to splutter and die, allowing the plasma to expand. As it roared across the magnetic shield protecting Kara’s fascinated form, Shego whirled desperately. Instinct had her own hands bursting into flame in response to the need to protect, to survive. As the plasma grew closer and closer, her feet, legs and finally her entire frame flickered into green flame, trying to protect her.
“Poor Kim San will never know what happened to you. What a tragedy! For all the years she remains mine, she will never know, for there will be no body and I think I will never tell her… how tragic.”
“Fuck you!” Shego finally hauled herself upright and hobbled towards the door, but the expanding cloud of gas forced her back. She could feel the heat of the ionised particles, smell the ozone as they ripped at the air.
To her horror, the flickering green shield of her own power suddenly flared towards the expanding mass of gas, almost as if it were reaching out. A sudden lurch had her gasping in disbelief. Her power was dragging her towards the yellow energy. Swearing, Shego dug her boots as hard as she could against the hot metal walkway, and listened as the heat resistant material squealed in protest as it was dragged along.
Stop pulling! Stop reaching out to that crap! You do what I want! Stop IT! Shego hauled with all of the strength her weakened body possessed, and with a sizzle of discharging energy, the intermingling strands of green and yellow separated. Shego fell back, breathing heavily, and then began to cough, once again spraying a fine red mist onto the hot metal.
The space around her was so hot that without her own plasma power protecting her, she would have been boiled alive. But the yellow plasma was rapidly consuming the space she kneeled in. As well as that, her own power almost seemed to desire to meld with the other energy, and that terrified her.
Forcing herself to her feet, Shego could only stagger around in a circle, panic ripping itself onto her face as the roaring yellow could grew closer. Oh god… I really have failed! Kim, she’ll be free to do anything to you!
Images of Kara controlling Kim, kissing Kim, and using her, swamped Shego. Images from the nightmares that had assailed her, as she had lain trapped and helpess in her unresponsive body day after day.
“No…” Shego managed.
“Yes!” Kara replied, her face pressed as closely as she could manage against the magnetic shield. Inside, the beast roared with victory. She had won, won! And the reward was to watch Shego vanish before her eyes.
And with Shego gone, that leaves the mighty Kim Possible all alone. All MINE!
Unable to help herself as she watched the faint outline of Shego, hazy and indistinct through the roaring yellow energy, slump to the floor in defeat, Kara began to dance with glee.
“I WIN!”
With her last breath trembling in her throat, Shego felt a tear slip from her eye, only to vaporise to steam as it hit her own charged field. Her lips slid open and she let out a sob as the glowing gas swarmed her.
“Kimmie. I… I love you.”
With a roar, the plasma from the malfunctioning reactor swamped across the green woman with terrifying speed, obscuring her injured body from view.
Then, there was only the flickering yellow.
Ron
“It’ll be okay, Kimmie.” Doctor Possible whispered to Kim’s immobile form as the teenager stared glassily at the sky. The older woman toyed with the controller that Ron had gently given to her and glanced up at the blond teen. “She’ll be okay, Ronald… I… I just know she will.”
“Sure Doctor P.” Ron stared wretchedly at his best friend and sighed. For all his buffoonery as her sidekick, for all the times he had gone along on missions with her, never had he felt so helpless as he did then, just… standing there. “KP always comes through okay. She’ll be fine!”
Ron, that would have sounded a little better if you hadn’t tried so hard to keep your tone light. Kim, still trapped inside her paralysed form, swallowed and bit her lip. I wish I could tell you that… that I’m glad you found Yori, like I found Shego. I wish I could say how… cool its been to have you as a friend first and mission buddy second. But I can’t... I can’t do any of that. I can’t even ask you to look after Shego for me if I can’t be cured! Ron, I… what I really wish I could ask you is that if it’s certain I can’t be freed from this… then don’t let Mom or Shego blame themselves.
She watched as Ron rubbed her mother’s shoulder in reassurance, and then walked away, casting the occasional glance back. As his blond form moved away, Kim heard a sob escape her mother.
“Oh Kim. This is my entire fault! What’s inside your head is… I made it! But I don’t know how to stop it, or turn it off.” Her mother’s soft face slid into her vision and she watched as a hand gently stoked her cheek. “All my knowledge and I can’t turn the damn thing off! I need… I need the vials Kara’s taken, otherwise I can’t help you. I should have fought Drew… done something!”
“Nothing you could do, Mom…” Kim whispered, feeling tears tug at her own eyes as her heart ached at the expression on her mother’s face. “It’ll be okay… I trust Shego, crazy as it sounds. I’d trust her with everything, even my life.”
Across the room, another woman cradled a person she loved, and stroked the blond hair gently. “It will be alright, Shia Chan. You will wake soon and when you do, I will be there for you. I will be there, and we shall both return to Yamanouchi and find peace. I promise, we will go home together.”
“Hey, how is she?” Standing next to the table that Shia Fang, her body immobile except for the gentle rise and fall of her chest, lay on, Ron smiled at Jasmine as best he could. “Everything okay?”
“Yes, her breathing is steady… and her heartbeat is strong, stronger than it has been. I… I just wish she would wake up.” Jasmine flipped her white hair out of her eyes, and Ron could see the worry in them- the same worry that had been in Mrs Possible’s eyes while she had stared at her daughter. Jasmine nibbled her lip and suddenly blurted. “Why will she not wake?”
“Hey, don’t worry. Dr P is the best surgeon I’ve ever seen!” Gently placing a hand on her shoulder, he smiled. “Shia’ll be okay. Give it time.”
Jasmine nodded, thankful for the human contact while Hirotaka and Brianna watched Shia’s immobile form from their position near the door that Shego had walked through. As she turned back to watch over the quiet form of her lover, a gentle thumping intruded on her hearing. Jasmine blinked, listened carefully and then frowned.
“Monkey Master?” As Ron turned to her, a look of surprise on his face at the title, Jasmine licked her lips. ”Did you hear… a tapping?”
Ron blinked. “What?”
Jasmine flushed. “I have been hearing a gentle tap in the past few minutes. It seems to have been getting… louder.”
As Ron opened his mouth, a soft hand slid gently onto his shoulder, avoiding the wound carefully. Glancing to his right, Yori stared back at him, worry in her eyes.
“Jasmine is right. There is a rhythmic tapping that has been growing louder in the past few minutes. It seems to be coming from the vault doors.”
“Oh great.” Ron muttered, glancing at the huge vault doors. “There could be anything on the other side!” The thudding began again and now that Ron was looking for it, the sound was obvious, even to him. “Um, so what do we do?”
The question became irrelevant as the thudding stopped as quickly as it had begun, and the huge vault like doors swung open with a ponderous grinding. Behind them, Ron, Yori and everyone in a position to see, let out a sigh of relief. There, standing in front of a group of marines, was Doctor Director. Next to her Hego glowered at the smaller purple form of Mego, who was buffing his glove and seemed smug.
“I told you, Bro. Banging away was doing nothing… all it took was a quick jump into the hydraulic control system, a few shorts here and there and boom, open sesame! Come on, admit that my power is the coolest!”
“I was getting somewhere!” Hego muttered, sniffing at the huge dent on the outside of the door. “It would have given way sooner or later.”
“Gentlemen, enough.” Doctor Director glared at the two Team Go members until their bickering had faded. “Mr Stoppable, sorry about the wait.” Doctor Director sighed with relief at the sight of the blond teen, injured, but alive. The ninja woman that had left with him also seemed to be in one piece. “Do you require any assistance?”
“Yeah, I wouldn’t say no to a couple of medics.” Ron watched as the GJ leader’s eyes slid around the room, and then locked onto the crumpled form of Kim Possible, the teen woman’s head cradled in her mother’s lap. She looked up into his eyes.
“We failed?” She asked, quickly striding up to kneel next to the teenager. As Betty Director and Doctor Possible gazed at each other, information passing between them by sheer body language, Ron could see the worry that Doctor Director wanted to mask, but found impossible. “Doctor, I am so sorry about your daughter. It would seem that Global Justice failed and… no…” The one- eyed woman sighed, guilt on her face. “No… I have failed!
“Don’t be stupid Doctor Director! I’m really glad to see you!” Kim shook her head, wishing she could sit up, move… Do anything to show she had heard and understood! Truth be told, for a few days I thought everyone had forgotten about me. All this… Ron, Yori, Yamanouchi and you with Global Justice as well. Just… thanks. I know you can’t hear me, but… thanks.”
“Doctor Director, I don’t hold you responsible for Kim’s condition.” Doctor Possible cradled her daughter and squeezed a limp hand gently. “I’m sure Kim wouldn’t blame you either. If it was anyone’s fault, it was mine. I invented this better form of Servus. I gave Drakken everything he needed to take my daughter away.”
“I should have protected you both.” Doctor Director muttered. “It is I who failed… and I who will face the burden of Kim being like this, possibly for a very long time.” She didn’t want to say forever… but the words hung unspoken.
“Not yet… and will you both stop blaming yourselves?” Sighing, Ron joined her by Kim’s side. “Listen Doc. We had her, thanks to you and the diversion you gave us. We had Kim and she was free!”
“Then what happened for it to all go so horribly wrong?”
Shrugging, Ron filled Doctor Director out on what had happened, ending with Shego dragging her wounded body after Kara, intent on getting the cure. The description of the green woman staggering after Kara, with a punctured lung no less, all for Kim Possible, her nemesis as far as Global Justice knew, baffled Doctor Director.
“Why does she care so much?” The female leader frowned. “Unless something else has happened between them that you, Mr Stoppable, have been keeping from me.”
As Ron shifted at the intense scrutiny he was saved by a groan from behind them. A groan and murmur of pain that had Jasmine letting out a gasp and then letting out a cry for help from Doctor Fo and Kim’s mother.
As Ron, Yori, Doctors Possible, Fo and finally the leader of Global Justice all gathered around the table, everyone smiled at the sight in front of them.
Cradled in Doctor Fo’s lap, covered in a blanket, and the elderly man keeping an eye on her vials with a portable scanner, a pale and exhausted Shia Fang tried to focus on them all. Slowly, the blond ninja weakly smiled at them and relaxed as they all smiled back. Beside her, gripping her hand tightly, Jasmine fought back tears as the blond woman winced as she shifted and then nodded almost imperceptibly at Doctor Possible.
“You were right about Kara… but you never said how much it would hurt when she stabbed me, Doctor.”
“Well… nobody’s perfect.” Kim’s mother gently tucked the soft clothes, which had been tied into a makeshift pillow, underneath Shia’s head and smiled as much as she could, while her daughter lay motionless beyond. “You did what you could to make life… bearable, no matter how much fighting it caused between you and your sister. Anyone who does that, is a decent person in my book.”
“Who’s this?” Doctor Director stared down at the blond woman, eye narrowed as she took in the face. “She seems… familiar somehow.”
“I am-“ Shia began, only for Yori to smoothly step in, the look of fear on Jasmine’s face galvanising her into action.
“This is Shia. Shia, this is Kim San’s friend and ally, Doctor Director.” As the leader of global justice turned her gaze to Yori, the ninja bowed. “Shia has been working undercover for quite some time now. With her well seated in the Jade and none of them knowing of her true purpose, she has been invaluable.”
“Oh?” As Shia stared up at Yori, fighting the urge to blurt inappropriate thanks for the lie, Doctor Director smiled genuinely. “Well, if you gave us any help in sorting out this mess, thank you.”
Licking her lips at the thought of her sister and all she had done wrong, Shia almost told the one-eyed woman that Yori was lying. But the hopeful, almost desperate look on Jasmine’s face stopped her.
She had a chance at a new life, all thanks to one of the most… honourable women she had ever met lying deliberately in her favour. Shia, feeling a great weight lift away from her shoulders, weakly raised her arm and shook the hand of the leader of Global Justice as gently as she could.
“It was… a life changing event.” She managed.
“I’m sure. Speaking of which…” Doctor Director cast a glance around the chamber, and frowned. “Where’s Shego?”
Ron nodded gently to where Doctor Possible had returned to her fallen daughter. “Kara took the two vials needed to cure KP. Shego went after her.”
“If she gets them… what will she-“ Doctor Director paused and closed her eyes. “Mr Stoppable. Is it likely that Shego will kill Kara Fang?”
“I hope not.” Ron whispered. “I don’t know how Kim would take it, knowing that someone she had… befriended, decided to become a murderer. I… I hope she won’t, but considering what happened to them all, considering that Shego might have been forced to help? I wouldn’t count on Kara breathing for much longer. If she does come out of there alive, I doubt she’ll have all her limbs.”
“Then we must act quickly.” Doctor Director snapped her fingers and five marines formed on her flank. “Come Mr Stoppable, you too Hego, Mego. We must see if Ms Shego is unharmed.”
As they began to walk towards the doorway that Shego had run through, a sudden roaring vibration shook the mountain so badly that almost everyone staggered, some falling to their knees. As quickly as it had come, the shaking stopped, only to be replaced by a sudden blaring of alarms.
“Danger!” The computer that controlled Drakken’s lair announced. “Primary Fusion core irreparably damaged. Venting thirty three percent successful! Evacuate lair! Repeat, evacuate lair!”
“What the hell was that!” Doctor Director snapped, glancing around wildly at the flashing lights. “What on earth-“
“Whatever it was, it’s done something major!” Ron yelled above the blaring alarms. “Tell your men to get everyone they can out of the mountain! The entire thing could come down on top of us!” As the one-eyed woman nodded and began to shout out orders, Ron cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled at the shocked forms of Yori, Jasmine, Doctor Fo and Mrs Possible. “Guys! Everyone out! Jasmine, and Doctor Fo, you take Shia! Dr P and Yori, you take Kim!”
“Ronald, what is going on? What happened?” Mrs Possible managed to cry, shielding her daughter from the falling dust. A second rumble and the sound of falling masonry coming from the corridor that lead to the fusion reactor had everyone jumping in fear. All except one.Kim watched the dust and falling masonry spatter around her body, and knew in her bones that the rumble had been someone doing what she had always done best. This time, for her. “I know… and doy! She must be really ticked!”
“I don’t know Doctor P!” Ron called back, watching as Doctor Director gave orders that had GJ troops, and freshly arrived army specialists, grabbing the unconscious or wounded Jade ninja’s and henchmen with the intention of carrying them out. “Just get Kim and Shia to safety!”
“Ron?” Doctor Possible watched in horror as the blond teen began to run towards the door that led towards the fusion core. A fusion core the computer said was badly damaged. “Ron, come back! Ronald!”
“Ron Chan!” Yori called after him. “Ron! No! Come back!”
Ron ignored her, ignored the worried shout from Doctor Director, and the calls from Hego and Mego asking him where their sister was. As he ran past Hirotaka and Brianna, one thought ran through his mind.
If you’re dead Shego… Kim’ll never forgive us.
Kara.
As the yellow plasma obscured Shego from her view, Kara blinked in shock.
Yes… YES! I’ve won! I… I’ve actually killed Shego! Inside her mind, the beast roared in triumph, and Kara began to laugh, hysterically.
“Mine! All mine! This victory is mine to savour! I killed you Shego! I killed you! Green whore! Demon! Oh, how sweet vengeance is to taste, to enjoy! I haven’t felt this way since I spilled my bitch mother’s blood across the entire room!”
Her laughter becoming hoarse, Kara coughed and turned away from the reactor, her fingers clutching the tiny red vial that contained Kim’s codes as if her life depended on it.
I have to plan… now that Shego is out of the way. What to do with my little puppet upstairs? Do I risk venturing back to the main lab? No… no as there are too many people present to risk losing Kim Possible to them now.
Glancing back at the swirling yellow plasma that rolled and bounced away from the magnetic field that held it in check, Kara found her thoughts dragged back to Shego.
I wonder how it felt? Those last few seconds… were they quick? Or did the body prolong the sensation as much as it could? What does it feel like to be, well, roasted to death? Did she try to scream as her skin began to crisp and ooze fluid? Did Shego try to breathe in the plasma, only for it to scorch and cook her body from the inside? Did her brain boil in her skull? Kara grinned, the beast begging for more images of pain and suffering. Oh I hope so… I hope she suffered and was conscious for every last second.
Unable to help herself, Kara turned back to the fusion reactor and held up the red vial triumphantly. “I beat you, Shego. I beat you!” Laughing, Kara skipped on her feet, almost dancing on the walkway. “I got the prize and watched you die, whimpering and crying! Just like my mother cried and begged me as I stabbed her again and again and again!” The laughter slid dangerously near insanity, but Kara breathed deeply, steadying herself. “My only regret is that your death spilled no blood! I love to see it leak, watch people gasp as what they laughably call life trickles away.” Kara sighed, and almost grudgingly shrugged. “But then, you did suffer terribly at my hands, so I shall cope with that small disappointment.”
Pain!
Tucking the vial into her catsuit pocket, Kara grinned and watched the plasma swirl. “Nothing will stop me from doing what I want now! Nothing! You lose you green skinned, lesbian who-“
Her ranting faded into shocked silence as her eyes narrowed. For just a second, right in the middle of the yellow storm of superheated gas and energy, she almost swore she had seen a green… flicker?
Such terrible, white-hot, agonising pain!
Shaking her head, Kara rubbed her eyes and snorted. Foolish… I am being foolish! Nothing could have survived that! Nothi… She broke off in horror as the green flicker reappeared, swirling with the yellow in a strange dance. It is nothing! Nothing! Shego is human! Even she could not survive inside there! It is foolish to believe tha-
Almost being burned alive! Every synapse on fire! Every molecule of her being bloated! But with the pain… is….
With a spatter of colour, the yellow plasma inside the reactor visibly shimmered. As Kara stared in confusion, a huge section of the yellow maelstrom began to shimmer and ripple with a familiar shade of green. A ripple that merged and integrated into the yellow further and further… until a huge bubble shimmered and rippled with a bright green glow.
SUCH… POWER!
As Kara felt something icy and chilling creep up her spine at the sight, the familiar coloured energy began to move… towards her. Kara coughed, bile springing into her mouth, heart skipping a beat as she came to a conclusion that terrified her to the bone. “No… no… it… it can’t be!”
REVENGE! FOR… KIMMIE!
Inside the swirling mass of green plasma, a familiar figure shimmered and flickered, an outline in green flame that steadily strode towards her… strode towards her as emerald eyes stared at her with a glow brighter than anything Kara had ever seen. A stare so hot, that the Jade leader screamed in horror, her mind beginning to unravel as the figure continued to move towards her. A person who had beaten her so badly, again and again.
“I know you! If you do it, it’ll destroy you! Don’t kill her!” Words that screamed in her mind “Don’t kill her…”
So tender… so loving, so frightened. “I want you to know that I… I…lo-“
Such… love.
Shego cannot be human! Nothing could survive! She is a… a demon! A demon sent to punish me! Kara’s rational mind snarled and scoffed at the idea, part of her trying to work out how Shego could have survived the immense heat and pressure the core generated.
“Deep down, you really are a killer after all. Just… like… me!” Scathing, anger and hatred. All rolled into one face, one voice. “I am proud of you, Shego!”
No…
“Imagine how strong you would become! After all the pain and suffering I’ve caused you, imagine how good it would feel to end my existence!”
NO! Many things… but not a killer…
For all the time Kara’s mind span with possibilities, all the time she backed away step by step as Shego’s flickering, glowing form moved towards her step by step, she knew the truth.
“Don’t do it Mon Ami… you are not a killer.” Warmth, almost tender, caring,in nature. “Shego… you are a thief, not a murderer. Let her go, she is unimportant.”
Marie?
“So, Proud of you, Shego! You really are a killer!”
Stop it! I… I can’t think!
“Shego… You are not a monster!” A smile of need, of love. Hidden for so long. Too long! “I could never love a monster.”
Pumpkin…Kim…
“Killer… just like me!”
No! I am not a killer! I am Shego! I made a choice!
“I… I haven’t killed you! I… I’ve failed!” The words were acid on Kara’s tongue and as Shego’s flame-covered form paused at the magnetic field, and reached forwards with both handsKara clenched her fists and screamed hoarsely at her. “Why won’t you die?”
Glowing emerald eyes flicked up, dripping bright green flame, to stare at Kara with such loathing that the Jade leader involuntarily took a step back. She cannot harm me! Not when her own plasma powers are protecting her! The shield will keep her away from me… it will!
KIM!
The field crackled as the figure’s hands lay against, and then pushed through with an explosive crack of superheated air. As Kara snarled helplessly, Shego’s flame-drenched form pushed forcefully against the magnetic barrier and it gave way to her entire form with an even louder crack.
Finally, her Go Team glow flickering around her body with a brightness that had Kara letting out a strangled cry and holding up a hand, Shego stood in the cool air of the cavern. Where her boots had impacted onto the cold walkway, the metal shone a bright yellow, while other sections had slowly sagged, warping under the intense heat. Her dark hair, crackling with green energy, waved loosely around the flickering glow of Shego’s face, almost as though under a breeze.
“No… no! It’s not fair….” Kara whispered.
The woman’s shining emerald eyes, which had scanned the cavern with moderate interest, locked onto Kara’s face at her voice, and blazed, green plasma dancing around the lids. While Shego stared at Kara’s trembling form, a line of darker green fire ripped across the fuzzy outlines of her face where her mouth lay underneath, and curved upwards to reveal white teeth and breath that smoked into the air.
“Oh wow!” Shego’s voice was smooth, like rough silk. The laugh as it suddenly shot from the green woman was full of an awe, and power. It was a laugh that Kara had not heard since their time with Marie. “What a rush!”
Inside her mind, Shego struggled to maintain her own grip on sanity. Thoughts, memories… everything that made her… Shego, was slipping away. As she tried to focus on something, to remember something, even her own name, it was so hard!
Got to hold on… just concentrate on remembering who I am… have to remember where… where… Shego! Where I start, and the… the glow ends! I’m human! Not just energy!
She could remember so little of what had happened upon the yellow plasma slamming into the tiny space that she had been curled in like a little girl. She could remember it picking her up, and the feel of such terrible heat, energy and pressure so close to her skin that had made her scream so loudly she had run out of air. Then… then it became hazy.
She remembered pain, lots of pain… as though something were trying to rip her apart molecule by molecule. She remembered wishing it would stop… that she wanted to live… and then something cool flooding into? No… out of her body, pushing the heat and pressure away. The cool becoming warm and then… power, energy!
A rush so intense it had been like a thousand orgasms all at once. The pain in her chest and shoulder had lessened, faded. Vanished. The next thing she had knew, she had been staring at Kara on the other side of a force holding her back, and had stepped through.
Now, as her glow crackled with energy, she looked up at Kara and grinned, a trail of green flame trickling down her chin and falling onto the walkway as she did so.
“Honey? I’m home!” Standing upright, twitching slightly as she fought to contain the power that her glow had absorbed from the reactor plasma… somehow, Shego took a wavering step forwards. “You really, really should have thought about that…”
“You’re not her!” Kara screamed, her eyes wide. “Demon! You are a demon in her skin!”
“Um, yeah… you really are a moron!” Shego managed, only to groan and clutch her stomach for a second. Huffing, She smiled and continued to walk forwards. “You let a plasma reactor try to kill me with a form of something I control myself! Thanks to you, “I am so charged with energy, that this so beats sunbathing!”
“Die! Just… die Shego!” Kara yanked her pistol up and fired, only for the two rounds she let off to vaporise instantly as they hit the intense green glow, which flared for each bullet, surrounding Shego’s body. The green woman grinned.
“Wanna try again? Feel free… but I better warn you that I am so pissed off right now!” Shego took another slow step forwards, the walkway hissing as her boot slammed onto the cold metal, and Kara dropped the gun like it was a poisonous animal. “You are going down Kara.”
Ignoring her, Kara glanced down as her boots clattered against an object behind her. Her sister’s Katana… a weapon that could work! Picking up the bloodstained sword, Kara jerked her head up crazily. “I hate you! Die Demon! Die Shego… DIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
Shego didn’t move… didn’t see the point.
As Kara ran forwards, she never noticed the red shield designed to protect her from Shego’s power snapping into existence around her. She never noticed how brightly it shone or how loudly the field crackled as it hit the green glow. She completely missed the warning chime that sounded for a second. All she focused on was swinging the blade in her hand down onto Shego’s head.
So it was a surprise to her as the blade, which barely touched Shego’s green glow, the energy flaring once more, melted so quickly that the droplets splashed onto the woman’s flickering form, vaporising as quickly as the bullets had done.
Backing away, and once again missing the energy shield around her flickering off once she was a safe distance from Shego, Kara stared in abject horror at the hilt in her hand. All that was left of her sister’s weapon… forged by a master of the craft. She never noticed her feet hitting the cold stone of the outcrop the main computer control system sat on, or her back pressing into the plastic that formed the device.
“Well, thanks for that…” Shego commented, gazing at the blade’s handle. “Jasmine asked me to destroy it… I suppose you’ve saved me the effort. Now then…” Shego’s gaze slammed up to Kara’s eyes and she pointed with a steaming hand. “You have something I WANT! Give me Kim’s vial! The one with her encryption key!”
Kara trembled, and a hand patted the pocket where Kim’s vial lay in with reassurance. “No… you keep away Demon! This keeps you away from me!” Kara’s hand patted the belt, twisting a knob, and it crackled with energy. “You can’t use plasma against me, you can’t hurt me with your hands as this keeps you away!”
Shego smiled, indulging Kara in her ranting. Inwardly, she was trembling with the effort to contain the plasma that her own body had absorbed a few minutes ago. Despite the rush of having so much power, hers, squirreling around inside her body, the sensation was rapidly becoming painful.
The only reason she had held onto it for so long had been because of the shield protecting Kara. Now that she was close enough, Shego fell to her knees with a groan that mingled pleasure and pain. The glow around her body began to pulse, and Kara’s babbling faded into silence.
Looking up into the madwoman’s eyes, Shego’s own emerald ones were triumphant. “You think that can stop me forever? Especially like this?”
“No…” Kara’s horrified whisper echoed around the cavern, the rational parts that remained realising what was happening. The only other sound, apart from Shego’s groans as the flickering pulse of her plasma powers grew faster and faster, the charge building, was the gentle clatter as Kara dropped the hilt on her sisters sword, which rolled over the edge of the walkway and into he dark.
The pulsing reached a crescendo and Shego’s body glowed so brightly the cavern was washed with green shadows. Panting with the effort of controlling so much energy into a release that wouldn’t vaporise her along with it, Shego’s lips curled into a grimace. “Kara as far as I’m concerned about your precious shield? I have one thing to say…”
“I am not afraid of you!” Kara’s fingers clenched as she hissed the words, only for Shego let out a snort of laughter, her eyes blazing with an emerald light so intense, it almost blinded the Jade leader.
“You will be when I say… boom!”
Shego’s glow erupted into a green flare that rapidly expanded into a blinding dome of roaring green flame. As it slammed into Kara, the oriental woman was thrown violently onto the computer console, which was already cracking and splintering under the heat and kinetic impact of so much concentrated power. As Kara fell back to her knees, choking violently from where the computer console had smacked her spine, she managed to force herself flat against the rock, fingers gripping tiny cracks in the surface to prevent herself being smashed into the computer and the rock wall once again.
Around her, the red shield sizzled and crackled as it fought to protect her from the green energy…. But something was wrong. The field flickered for a second, and Kara felt a blast of heat so intense she thought it would cook her roll across her skin. A chime from the belt became a tinny blare, and Kara knew to her horror that the belt was failing.
Even if it lasted long enough to save her from Shego’s release of so much stored glow energy, the belt would be useless against her physical attacks. Kara knew that this was because of the immense charge the belt had to release for the antipersonnel field. From the sound of the increasingly urgent beeping, it wouldn’t have enough.
As the energy expanded past Kara, it slammed into the rock walls of the cave. The solid granite core that the cavern was made up from resisted the intense heat, forcing the plasma to roll back on itself. The effect of not only the expanding wave, but also a reverberating one bouncing off the reactor core and the supports for the walkways, was disastrous.
Many of the walkways around the cavern twisted in the intense barrage of superheated gas. The supports that kept them bolted to the cavern walls melted, and slowly around the huge expanse, they began to crumple.
The fifteen huge girders that bolted the reactor core itself to the vast cavern Drakken had housed it in also were affected. Ten of the five were hit by the intense blast, the remaining five protected by the reactor core itself. All of the ten that were exposed began to glow and soften under the powerful superheated energy. Despite not melting due to their size, the girders did warp, due to the weight of the core. With groans of complaint, the heavy device yanked at them, pulling and twisting them from the shapes they had been cast into. A few were simply tugged out of the granite walls, the arm sized bolts they had been secured with dropping with quiet splashes into the lake far below.
After a few moments, only five girders supported the core’s massive thousand ton weight. They were not enough and three snapped instantly at the top, causing the huge long device to fall sideways into the granite wall of the cavern. Alarms built into the machine began to sound, but even they were too late to prevent the super heated plasma inside the core from giving the final coup de grace.
The super-cooled electromagnets that formed the core of the reactor took the brunt of the impact of Shego’s explosive release. With a hiss, the coolant that as piped around them instantly vaporised and the metal doughnuts began to melt under the intense barrage of heat that assaulted them. Designed to form the magnetic bottle that kept the internal plasma of the fusion reactor contained, as they rapidly melted, the bottle failed. Yellow plasma tore at the device containing it, melting the various types of steel, iron, copper and other metals that formed the reactor itself.
Emergency systems built into the systems of the reactor kicked in, forcing the supply of hydrogen that the reactor needed to generate plasma to dry up. The lack of such an easily reactable substance caused the highly charged particles that formed the plasma to react with each other, fusing into heavier and heavier elements. As this happened, the plasma began to cool, each reaction taking more energy to complete and soon the reaction would stop.
It wasn’t quick enough.
At the bottom of the core, where the remaining two girders screamed in protest as they supported the incredible weight, the cooling plasma found one of the pipes that supplied water from the lake to the cooling system. With a roar, the plasma shot along the pipe, melting it. The pipe itself was bolted to one of the two complaining girders and as the plasma melted the pipeline, the girder softened.
Within seconds, it melted, and the reactor that had almost killed Shego and left Kara Fang triumphant, was held in check by one two metre thick piece of steel.
Kara gasped as the energy shockwave slowly spluttered into non-existence. As the roaring around her vanished, the Jade leader slowly let go of the cracks in the granite outcrop, now steaming with heat, and drunkenly staggered to her feet. She shook her head to clear the ringing that deafened her, and tried to focus the blur that the world had become.
Rubbing her eyes, the first thing Kara managed to focus on, was her own body. The red catsuit was ripped in places and, to her horror, smoking in others. As she ran a hand across her face, she winced at the tight feel of raw skin and wondered just how badly she had been burned. As her fingers continued to explore, she realised that her ponytail had also faced the awful intense heat, the once long luscious mass of hair, now a smoking stub.
Grimacing, she glanced down at the belt, and her eyes widened in horror. The surface of the device was black. Not flashing a warning, or even glowing with a standby light… but black. Shego’s intense barrage had destroyed any defence she had against the green woman’s plasma attacks, to say nothing of how poorly her skills in hand-to-hand had already protected her. Without the shield, she was in terrible danger.
I hate you Shego!
It was with this thought running through her head, that the thud of Shego’s boots on the hot rock surface of the outcrop reached her still ringing ears. Kara looked up, into the choking acrid smoke of the computer console and a choked gasp escaped her as Shego strode out of the thick gray cloud. Though her hair was smouldering at the ends, though her green and black catsuit was smoking in places, ripped in others, the thief walked towards her grinning from ear to ear.
“Okay, Kara… one final dance. And this time? You’re gonna pay the cheque before I go home.”
Staring with hatred, Kara screamed and launched herself at the green woman. Shego, her body still charged with adrenaline and the remnants of the plasma she had absorbed from the reactor, moved like lightening. The green woman stepped forwards, brushing aside Kara’s right arm as it lashed out for a punch to her damaged shoulder. Her left hand gripped the oriental woman’s wrist and her right swung down with a smooth, powerful and ruthless blow. The scream of agony that tore itself from Kara’s throat as Shego broke her arm made the green woman smile in deep satisfaction.
As Kara staggered backwards, trying to handle the thick greasy rolls of pain that hammered at her, Shego calmly stepped up and flipped open the closed pocket over her breast. A black glove fished around inside and gently drew out the tiny red vial. Quickly bending down, Shego slid the vial into her ankle pouch, and then smiled up at the sweating brunette. “I’m sure Kimmie would say thanks.”
Snarling, Kara ran at Shego, her right arm dangling uselessly by her side, the broken bones in her forearm grating against each other. She used the pain to push her forwards and with a scream, her foot lashed into the air, aiming at Shego’s head in a deadly kick.
Shego waited until the last second, and responded by grabbing the boot of the woman who had tortured her to the point of unconsciousness, and twisting as hard as she could. With a swish of air, Kara screamed as her body swung around Shego’s, picking up speed. She felt herself twisted in mid air, and then screamed again as the granite floor of the outcrop shot towards her unprotected face at high speed.
The crunch of Kara’s face into the rock surface echoed with a fleshy thud around the cavern, and Shego gazed with triumph as Kara muzzily raised her head to spit blood and a tooth out of her mouth. Her face was one huge bruise and as the oriental woman rolled sideways slightly, Shego could see that her nose was broken.
“That, was for Mrs Possible…”
As Kara scrabbled backwards, her right leg lashing out upwards towards Shego, aimed at her crotch, the green woman dodged the blow with snakelike reactions. As the limb fell back to the floor however, Shego quickly placed her left boot on Kara’s ankle, and her right shot down with incredible force. There was a terrible snap, followed by a scream from Kara so loud, that she thought her lungs would explode. The agony swiftly followed, and the Jade leader screamed herself hoarse as the white hot pain of her broken leg dulled the throbbing from her broken arm.
“That was for Kimmie… and I really hope she can hear you whine!”
Finally, Shego picked the whimpering woman up and stared into her eyes with loathing. Her gloved right hand gently ran across Kara’s face, making the once proud Jade leader shiver, even as she fought against the agony she felt to snarl in defiance. Shego grinned.
The punch she gave to Kara’s midsection made the oriental woman choke as the air exploded from her lungs, and that was only the start. With a snarl, Shego jumped the woman who had tortured her for weeks, and proceeded to use every single kick and punch she knew, raining blow after blow onto the choking, screaming, assassin and Jade member.
After a few minutes, Shego gave one final kick to Kara’s abdomen, and then rose, panting with exhaustion. Kara, bleeding from the mouth and bruised so badly across her body she could barely breathe, coughed. Another tooth fell onto the concrete and Shego nodded in cruel satisfaction.
She had one last thing to do and picking Kara up by the scruff of her blood soaked catsuit, stared into the puffy, hate filled, chocolate eyes.
“And this is for me… for everything you’ve done… A little reminder every fucking time you look in a mirror. A reminder that I am better than you, and if you fuck with me or Kimmie again? You’ll not walk out alive!”
With that, Shego let her hand flare with green plasma, and she raked her long claw-like fingernails across Kara’s face as deeply as she could. The oriental woman jerked violently at the pain, screamed and choked as the furrows hissed across one of her eyes, burning away her eyelid in and scarring the delicate tissue of the eyeball underneath, effectively blinding it forever. As Shego reached Kara’s chin, she continued, her hand tracing down the woman’s neck, leaving cauterised trails. She only stopped after her glowing hand reached the cleft between Kara’s breasts. Satisfied, Shego dropped the weeping woman and stood up.
“You deserve so much more, you fuck! But I doubt you could take it…” The thief took a deep cleansing breath. “I suppose I’ll have to be happy with you in jail… as Kimmie always was with me. And you know what?” Shego gazed down at Kara with a smile. “I can live with that… because I think I just realised how much you’ll hate being trapped again.”
It was then that the reactor core decided to drop.
With a scream of metal that had Shego whirling in shock, the huge device splintered the final tether holding it to the rockface. One thousand tons of solid metal plunged down the huge cavernous space, the jagged and twisted metal tearing past the outcrop that Shego and Kara had fought on. Following it with deadly speed, hundreds of pieces of metal walkway pieces hurtled down after the core, and Shego jerked backwards as a huge girder bounced off the edge of the outcrop in a puff of dust.
Below, the bottom half of the now cold fusion core impacted with the vast underground lake, sending up plumes of water. Though the lake was deep, it was not deep enough to consume the core, and the leading edge of the submerged section impacted against the bottom with a thud. As razor sharp and heavy sections of the damaged walkways rained down onto the half-submerged core, the device gave out a groan, followed by a detonation. Cracks rippled along the surface and with a second muffled explosion, which Shego concluded was the water encountering the still white-hot interior of the reactor core, the device broke into four parts and sank.
Woah… I never realised I was this destructive!
The sound of a blade being drawn from its scabbard had Shego widening her eyes.
Kara, watching the green woman turn away in shock to see the core plunge into the underground lake, had spat blood and glared at Shego with a loathing that could only be called bestial. With a grunt, she had hauled herself to her feet, her bruised and broken body complaining with every single movement, and then rested her weight on her good leg. Grunting, she drew her combat blade, a movement that had Shego’s back stiffening. Even as the thief turned, Kara forced herself into a staggering run, ignoring the screaming agony from her broken leg as the edges of the bone scraped over each other and one pierced the skin with a snap. The only thing she could think of was to see the gleaming dagger she held over her head bury itself into Shego’s eye.
Unfortunately for Kara, only one other person matched Shego’s reactions, and it wasn’t her.
As the oriental woman staggered close, Shego spun violently around her, the dagger missing its target and causing the green woman and Kara to change places. Now standing behind her, Shego darted forwards in a vicious punch to the woman’s shoulder blades, and Kara staggered forwards due to the push, a scream of terror escaping her lips as she plunged over the edge of the jagged outcrop. Spinning in mid air, desperation etched on her face, Kara managed to lodge the tip of the blade into a small crack in the surface of the outcrop. She swung violently into the side of the rock, the impact making her huff in agony.
With pieces of metal still raining their deadly edges into the lake from above, Kara swung precariously. With her right arm broken, she couldn’t pull herself up or find a better purchase. As she swung, the suddenly quiet sound of her dagger blade scraping across the granite rock was only beaten in the feeling of terror she felt, by the way the granite began to slip upwards, past her eyes at a steady rate.
The sound of booted feet echoed above her, and Kara stared upwards as Shego gazed over the edge. Around them, more pieces of walkway impacted into the outcrop, and Shego swore, rolling to one side, as a massive section of walkway crashed into where she had been standing. Both women exchanged glances, and Kara began to giggle with insane laughter as more deadly shards spattered the granite around Shego and herself.
“Well?” Kara managed, her giggling exploding into truly insane laughter. “Obviously I was wrong about you, Shego. You are not me after all…”
Shego merely gazed at the swinging woman with silent loathing and the sound of Kara’s blade squeaking another inch towards the edge made the Blood Jade leader laugh even harder. Her mind, almost frozen with fear, sought to latch onto anything else. It found her.
“I wonder if you realise that…” Another squeak and Kara dropped another few inches. “You will be the death of Kim Possible, Shego!”
“Fuck off!” Shego whispered, staring down into Kara’s eyes. “You’ve lost and you’re still trying to fuck me up? Kiss my ass and-”
“Oh, deny it all you want! But I can see it in your eyes. You know very well that I used her to get to you!” Kara giggled again, gasping at the burning pain from her right eye. “She is your weak point… a young, malleable weakness, Shego! I wonder how easy many of the villains from your Team Go days would find it to use her against you, even destroy you in many ways. Some day, soon, another will take my place and use her… even kill her, and make you watch! If you stay with her, Shego… you willbe the death of her!”
Shego continued to stare into Kara’s eyes, her emerald gaze cold. Inside, she swallowed back bile… because despite everything, Kara was right. Horribly right.
As the blade reached the edge of the outcrop, Kara grinned, a slight tic of desperation marring the smirk. “Shego, we both know you are not a murderer, that you refuse to kill… so you know what you have to do, no matter how much it goads you to do it!”
The green woman ducked as another lethal piece of walkway impacted close to where she crouched, and she hissed as a hot metal shard shot across the air between them, slashing her face. As she stared over the edge, Shego rose an eyebrow. Kara’s dagger blade now lay on the very edge of the granite outcrop, a white line scraped into the surface the signs of her gradual drop.
“Really? What do I have to do, Kara?”
The oriental woman grinned in insane triumph. “You are not a murderer. You were a hero once, and it seems you never truly stopped feeling that way… so, you have to save me! You can’t kill me like this!”
With a quiet scrape, the blade tip sprang free from the granite rock, plunging into the darkness with barely a whisper of disturbed air. Shego ignored it, staring dispassionately at the sight of Kara clutching onto a tiny outcrop of granite at the very edge. The knuckles of the assassins hand were white, and Kara swallowed in desperation as she felt her fingers begin to lose their purchase, her body swinging in the cool air of the dark cavern below.
“You have to save me! It’s what Kimmie, your Princess would want! What being a hero is!”
Face as cold as stone, Shego ducked another falling piece of sharp metal and gazed into Kara’s gloating eyes. As the walkway that lead up from the outcrop to the corridor leading back into he lab, groaned in sudden metal distress, the thief slid to her feet, never breaking eye contact.
“Kara, I was never a hero and I never will be, bitch…” Shego watched her hand scrabble, then slip on the damp stone. “And though I won’t kill you, no matter how much you fucking deserve it…” Shego gazed down at Kara with hatred. “That doesn’t mean I have to save you!”
With that, the green woman, stood, turned, and ran for the groaning metal stairs without a single glance backwards, leaving Kara to her fate.
The Jade leader stared in disbelief at the empty space above her and her voice rose in pitch, a mix of anger, terror and hatred.
“Shego! Shego come back! You can’t leave me to die! How dare you! How dare you! I am the great Kara Fang, leader of the Blood Jade! My name makes people tremble in the safety of their homes! I have brought down some of the most powerful people on the planet! Killed hundreds! You can’t leave me here to die!” Her body shook with rage, impotent and helpless. “Damn you Shego! Damn you! How dare you give me no respect as an adversary! I demand you help me! Save me… I demand you save me, Shego! Shego!”
Unable to hold on any longer, Kara’s fingers slid from the stone, and the Jade leader hung in mid air for just a second before her broken body plummeted into the darkness, falling towards the destroyed reactor. As she fell away from the outcrop, she caught one final glimpse of the woman she hated with every fibre of her being, climbing the collapsing stairway as fast as she could. Her eyes burned with revenge and as she fell into darkness, her final scream echoing around the empty cavern.
“SHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
Dashing up the walkway, Shego paused for a second and let the scream of someone who had tried every possible way to ruin her life sink into her memory. Deep inside, some dark part of her would savour the sound for as long as she lived.
The sudden crash and creak of the metal around her caused Shego to blink and start climbing again. The steps underneath her feet shook violently, and the green woman threw herself to one side as a massive fragment of an upper walkway hurtled down, taking out the section of stair she had been on. Panting in exertion, Shego forced her screaming muscles into action again, and took the juddering steps two at a time.
Finally, with the walkway literally disintegrating around her, metal shards and even the steps under her feet giving way, the thief reached the wrecked walkway that lead to the safety of the laboratory corridor. Even as she stepped off the stairs, they gave way behind her with a huge protesting scrape and screech of metal on metal, plunging into the darkness below. Swallowing, Shego ran for the corridor.
Suddenly, she stumbled, her body erupting into painful agony that left her gasping for air, vomit splashing the walkway as she coughed and choked. Exhaustion began to overwhelm her, and Shego forced her flagging muscles into action.
Not yet! Not yet! I can’t crash yet! Gotta keep moving to the walkway! Gotta keep my legs pumping! Move Shego! You can crash with exhaustion later! MOVE! I didn’t just survive all that to collapse so close to the fucking finish line!
A sharp stab of pain in her side had Shego gasping in agonised shock, joined by a sudden throb from the shoulder Kara had shot. Grimacing, the thief realised that whatever had been shielding her from the pain, or even trying to stem the damage she had sustained, was wearing off.
“Ahh, CRAP!”
Rising to her feet, sweat pouring down her pale green face, Shego staggered along the walkway one final time. But, as she neared the corridor exit, the safety of a corridor drilled into the solid rock, a pinging noise had her head spinning in horror.
The huge bolts that kept the walkway bolted to the granite wall gave way with a screech of metal on rock, and the girder that supported the steel construction groaned and began to peel itself off the grey rock.
“Ah, fuck no!” Shego whispered, her emerald eyes glazed with tired tears. Even as she moved another few feet, the walkway trembled under her boots and then fell away from them.
Screaming, Shego felt the metal spin off into the darkness and she gazed up at the corridor, desperation on her face as she started to fall as well. Hands flailing, all she could do was stare… upwards and then as she twisted and fell face down, stare into the darkness that rushed up to consume her.
“It’s not fair…” She whispered.
The sudden agonising sensation of a burn around her ankle had Shego hissing in pain. But as she turned to try and see what was happening, she realised a suddenly glorious fact. She wasn’t falling anymore! Looking ‘up’ Shego stared at the thin high tensile cord and the tiny adaptive securing disk that had wrapped itself around her ankle with disbelief. But the voice that echoed down, made her sigh in genuine relief.
“Don’t worry Shego! I gotcha! Ron Stoppable…The Ron, has got you!”
As she felt herself begin to slide upwards, Shego smiled and then began to helplessly shake with laughter. For all her mad schemes, Kara had failed, and not only that… Shego had a chance at something far more special that she could have dreamed of. Love.
Ron
Hauling on the wire, Ron felt the drops of sweat pour off his body. Shego, despite the fact that the green woman had an amazing body, was very heavy. Must be all that muscle.
Suddenly, he felt the cord slip through his fingers and he cursed violently as he gripped it tightly. The jerking motion made Shego swing, and Ron swallowed as his boots began to skid along the floor, towards the gaping hole of the blast door. Falling onto his rear, Ron pulled with all his might, but the weight of Shego still pulled them both towards the drop. Sighing, Ron shook his head. “Aw, dude… this has been a crappy day!”
Closing his eyes and refusing to let go no matter what, Ron missed the gentle hands that grasped the rope in front of him, missed the soft curves that bulged with sudden muscles… but he didn’t miss the gentle waft of jasmine perfume, or the ladylike grunt of effort.
Opening his eyes, Ron stared at the firm, toned and rather impressive rump of Yori. He blinked as it twitched and then swallowed as his gaze slid upwards to meet the eyes of the woman in question. “Ron Chan, you may look at that later if you truly wish! Now, pull!”
Nodding, Ron and Yori both hauled on the thin rope, and within a few minutes, Shego was gently being hauled into the corridor by the teen and Yamanouchi ninja. Coughing, Shego glared at them.
“What the hell took you both so long?” She managed, wiping the sweat from her brow with the back of a hand. “It’s not like you were in a tug of war for Pete’s sake!”
“Look, I’m sorry okay? It’s not my fault you weigh so mu-“ Ron caught the emerald gaze as it spat acid in his direction and he swallowed. “Ummm, actually, forget I said that.”
“Buffoon, I have to wonder what this little bit of crumpet here sees in you.” Shego muttered, trying to stagger to her feet and failing.
Suddenly, Shego felt the world begin to spin and as she stared down the corridor, she noticed it was rapidly blurring. The apology Ron was giving her was disjointed and scattered with words that she couldn’t make out. And as Yori crouched in front of her with worry, Shego knew that she was about to do something she never did.
“Stoppable… I… I’m going to say this once…. And once onl… only.” Her warm silky voice failed to hide the tremble of exhaustion. “You… unnerstan?”
Ron blinked in surprise, but he nodded. ”Sure. Your secrets safe with me… whatever it is.”
“My pocket… ankle.” Shego managed, waving vaguely as she fought to keep her eyes open. “Kimmie’s codes. Only… only got one. Sorry…”
Ron paled, could only imagine from the fresh injuries, what Shego had gone through to get one vial. The look on his face had Shego rolling her eyes and then waving a hand in sarcastic reassurance.
“N’thin to worry about… I‘ve just overdone it… okay? Mn just injured, exhausted… and absorbed energy, somehow, that I think is just about to run out… I’ll be okay when I… I…just need to sleep, yeah… I need to fall asleep, lots of it!”
Yori sighed. “Ron, I think Shego is burned out, and considering what she has been through, I am surprised it took this long. Shego San would make an excellent ninja, her stamina is… formidable, as is her soul… despite its tarnished state…”
Shego stared at the woman with almost drunken amusement. “Yep… you ninja dudettes really give it large for the mystical joo-joo crap…and Stoppable? If you tell anyone what you are about to see, I will kill you!”
With that, Shego… the most feared and sought after thief, mercenary, sidekick, and bodyguard, passed out with a thud, only to be caught gently by Yori.
Ron glanced down at the out cold woman and then at Yori, who raised an eyebrow in amusement. “Ron, you realise that Shego must have medical attention? And right now?”
“Do you think she’s gonna be ticked when she wakes up in hospital with GJ goons all over her?”
“Most definitely…”
Continued in chapter 21