Shego sipped her drink casually debating how to get this over with but found herself somewhat distracted as she realized the stuff was really good. Hoping not to be noticed she stole a quick glance at Kim who was brazenly staring at her with a silly grin on her face, and a chocolate looking mustache. ‘Oh boy, this could get rough.’ Shego thought to herself before knocking back the remainder of her mug and depositing it on the table next to the beakers Ron had delivered a few minutes ago. ‘Was it two or three mugs of that we drank?’ She heard Kim plunk her own mug down rather loudly and knew it wouldn’t be anything other than rough. “Ok princess lets get this over with. If we can do enough damage to this place tonight I won’t have to be here tomorrow night.” Shego’s involuntary shudder did not go unnoticed as she slipped into a stretching routine to get her muscles loosened again. Kim followed suit, natch, and began stretching her legs and back in preparation. “What happens on Fridays?” Kim asked as she went from her slightly extended stretch into a predatory crouch. Shego swallowed nervously as she turned to answer the question but the only thing she got out was a quick eep as she found herself on the defense against Kim on supersugar. ‘Yup rough. Really rough.’
If the dueling warriors had bothered to wonder why the closet had become so quiet they might have heard the echoing sound of lab boots and sneakers squeaking down a tunnel Drakken’s voice could almost be made out from the area under the false ‘bubbling acid spill’ door. Ron had been quietly impressed by that particular touch, Drakken may be a dork but he was a dork with style. At the far end of the escape route they found the connecting corridor that lead them to the kitchen. “The least you could do is help, Stoppable. After all Coco-Moo is my invention. You should be honored to be so graciously given its secrets!” He was carrying the load of gear and spare parts he would require to restore function to the kitchen. Ron had destroyed the entire elaborate system simply by turning on the gas to check the ranges flame height.
Ron leaned back on the stool he claimed in their rock paper scissors match and grinned. “You can’t expect an artiste to risk his delicate hands at the moment of creation now would you? Besides if you hadn’t given me the recipe how long do you think Kim would allow you to remain attached to your balls, especially after my ‘lil speech’ eh?” He made the finger quotes to help emphasize the point. Drakken looked at the ceiling and tapped his chin as he processed this and nodded. “True point. Do you really think you can improve upon something of mine? I am the best in this department after all.”
Ron did his best not to snort but couldn’t resist. “Sorry Dr. D but your just the most persistent. I believe for a time I was the best right?” Again Drakken nodded unable to fault his logic, neither of them was likely to forget that week. “Anywho while I do have to give you credit for some pretty sick and wrong things, in the kitchen you will refer to me as you highness!” With that, he flipped out the tall chefs’ hat he kept in his backpack and crowned himself with it. Drakken could only look on in confusion as he watched Ron begin to collect the various pots and pans he would require. “Well what are you waiting for Dr. D get the stove working again first!”
Shego crossed her forearms and braced against the rapid-fire series of punches Kim was throwing at her waiting for the moment she needed to shift things back to her favor, if for no other reason than to give her forearms a short break. Kim hade been merciless though Shego expected as much and returned no less. They would have some pretty telling bruises to show for this one. Shego got her chance as Kim made a slight misstep and lunged a touch too far forward, in an instant she latched onto the younger woman’s arm at the wrist turned and rolled dragging the girl through the air and slamming her solidly against the floor. Even Shego winced at the smack that echoed through the room but to her great surprise Kim was already rolling away and preparing to return fire. Recovery would have to wait; Shego stepped into the offensive and advanced on her prey that was just spinning to a stand facing her way. As Kim’s face came fully into view Shego through out a strong left hook knowing Kim would dodge but not expecting the nimble woman to fold herself backwards and deliver a stunning kick to her chin and cartwheel away backwards. ‘Yup, Very rough.’ The sugar high was long over but the rush was only getting stronger it seemed, Shego realized while rubbing the spot on her chin Kim had tagged.
Drakken sat on the stool in a semi-pout having been banished from the work area, he hadn’t meant to set the pot on fire but he thought the laser might speed things up a bit. As he watched though he saw that the blonde might be a goofball in every other aspect he had a real talent in the kitchen. “Can’t I do anything to help?” he whined, it was his recipe after all. Ron grinned for a moment as he bent over the pot to examine its contents, he wasn’t going to take the mans credit but there wasn’t anything stopping him from threatening to. He wouldn’t really consider doing that anyway, chefs were meant to share and learn from each other and he didn’t mind helping Drakken on this. “Not a chance dude, the laser wasn’t the only ‘bad idea’ ‘k?” Dropping the lid back on the steaming cauldron he wiped his hands and leaned against a nearby counter, “And now we wait.” There was only a single flaw in the entire process but it was enough to prevent a truly supreme concoction from being so, having corrected for it Ron was eager to see how the results would be considering how awesome the flawed version had been.
Drakken turned to listen down the corridor and scratched his head at what he didn’t hear. “I wonder if they knocked down the walls again or just the ceiling? Ah no matter, Stoppable since you are shall we say an err … somebody I may be working with type person and all I have a proposition for you but I feel it only fair to warn you that should we be discovered it will take us centuries to die. Oh it will be worth the risk but the consequences if discovered are so horrid not even I dare consider them.”
Ron looked at the wicked gleam in the madman’s eye and thought for a moment, as it was he wasn’t sure what would happen when he next encountered Shego let alone Kim so his life might not last much longer regardless. Untying his smock and setting it aside he quickly replaced his chefs hat with a combat helmet he had found somewhere in the lair. “I’m in.”
Drakken grinned a touch wider before turning to a wall on the other side of the room, “I think I’m beginning to like you Stoppable.” He turned to look the young man in the face and finished with an even toothier grin, “That scares me.” With a flourish he stepped through the wall as if it were air, a couple of steps in he turned to see if Ron had followed and saw he had not. “Come on Stoppable we don’t have forever here!”
As Ron’s hand first came through then the rest he asked, “Wait hold it, if that’s been on this whole time why did you have to do all that work? We coulda been done already!”
Drakken turned and tapped a point on the wall which dropped sparks of blue light. “This is a photonic array it works on a form of liquid light and is on a different power source. Much bigger and stronger than I normally require.”
Ron leaned over and looked at the glowing conduits a bit closer. “So why didn’t you use that for the nuclear ittisomethingorzapzit?”
“The Nuclear Yttrium Muon Particle Horn! GRRR You know for as much as you complain about my forgetting your name you seem to be no better with my inventions!” Puffing angrily he straightened his coat and ran a hand over his hair to calm down. “Besides if I had I would have required a much larger primer grid … the mid-west and west coast perhaps, but that’s not important right now, come Stoppable we are nearly there.” He lead the way to a door a number of twisting corridors into the complex and opened to reveal his private reading room. Not even Shego had gotten into this room, though she was unlikely to want to go there. An entire wall of the room was filled with displays of assorted sizes and configurations. With a wave of his hand, two hover seats slipped from under the console and waited for the pair to get comfortable. “According to this it’s been almost an hour since we left them to pummel each other so let’s see.” Tapping a few keys on the console he brought up the surveillance system and scanned all the rooms in the general area they had last been in. “Awww Dammit! Why did she go and destroy tha… nonono she should have broken th… oh I know she didn’t … yeah, she did.” The little vein on his forehead was getting a work out as he ran through a laundry list of destroyed or damaged items. On the plus side, they did not seem to be intent on blowing the place up, on the negative they might as well have for all the damage.
Kim reeled as she staggered back trying to catch her breath, they had been going like this for the better part of the last three hours and at this point, they were running on empty. She only had a moments rest as Shego’s very much slower attack came and she had to struggle to avoid being tagged. They had reached and surpassed limits they hadn’t known the other possessed but being of the more stubborn variety of female neither was simply going to back down. A quick jab sent Shego stepping back giving Kim a chance to draw her fist up and make an attempt for a glass jaw strike, apparently Shego had similar ideas and was already committed to the punch, both of which connected with stunning force even if slightly off mark. Dazed and exhausted they crumpled under the impacts and fell in a mass practically where they stood. Kim could hear her inner self demanding she get up and put Shego down for the fight but the inner voice was crushed under the thumb of agony. She would not be moving for a good ten minutes, perhaps twenty. “Are you alive?”
Shego chuckled only to realize it wasn’t such a good idea, coughing followed and every rib in her chest and the few Kim had left in the gym were rebelling. When she had recovered enough to trust her lungs once more she made a painful twisty motion and rolled so she could see Kim’s face. “Gonna take more than that to put me out Princess.” The smile on Kim’s face almost made her chuckle again but she brutally resisted it, it would take some time for her recovery to begin in full so not making things worse until then was the best idea. As she lay there, she realized she enjoyed looking into the younger woman’s green eyes; they were very much like her own just lacking the harsh light a cruel world can instill within them. She could almost envy those eyes if she hadn’t enjoyed some of the benefits of what a cruel world can teach. “We can’t keep doing this.” Shego would have slapped a hand across her face if she had the strength; she had only been thinking it not intending to vocalize.
Kim rolled over onto her side with some effort and proper herself for a better look at her nemesis. “That’s one thing I will agree on without question, trouble is even now we haven’t solved anything. Right? Honestly, I’m out of ideas when it comes to you. Drakken would be long retired if not for you.”
Shego grinned broadly at the compliment. “This is true Pumkin. So very true.” Struggling to raise herself to an elbow she made a t with her hands, “What say we call time out and take a different approach. Since you’re, you know, all out of ideas. Princess.” She knew she had the red head instantly as the fire light up in the woman’s eyes. “Err you do remember what a time out is right?”
Kim stifled a laugh as it would have hurt ferociously much and traded it for the misery she incurred to roll over properly and get a better look at Shego. “For the sake of argument and more blood loss let’s say I listen. I know I will live to regret this but what do you propose?” After a minute letting her bones and muscles slip into position she began inspecting her palms, she would have to have a long chat with Wade about the ‘so called’ super-fibre he used in them. When she caught signs of movement from Shego she took note, she looked as bad as Kim thought she should feel so she was satisfied in that aspect. Raising a suspicious eyebrow, she waited for the older woman to open her eyes, not that she minded the view.
Shego smiled quietly inside as she felt the red heads eyes look her over carefully. She had always enjoyed it when she knew Kim was looking at her, in the course her life only one other thing had compared and right now, it paled in comparison. “Ok Kimmie how’s this sound, we can’t fight we’re too well matched and will eventually end up either killing or seriously maiming one or the other or both by accident or design.” She scowled in return to the look of outrage Kim had taken on, “don’t look at me like that there has always been the off chance that one of his nutty gadgets could go nuclear or don’t you remember the thousand pounds of cobalt.”
Kims jaw snapped shut with a loud pop. She honestly had forgotten that one, mostly because she hadn’t wanted anyone, not even Ron, to know she had been so scared she wet herself. Shego had been there at the time and if it hadn’t been for her understanding assistance a lot more people than ‘the enemy’ would know. It didn’t hurt that Shego also had been rather petrified. Drakken was out cold Ron stuck to the ceiling three rooms over and to top it all off Shego had a misstep as the building tried to tear itself apart. Kim had to wear a cast for a week, much to Bonnie’s delight. “Ok you got me there. Literally.” Again, she repressed a self-satisfied smirk as Shego winced.
“No need to get uppity there Princess I was just saying, besides …” her voice dropped to almost a whisper as she let her head drop, “I didn’t mean to, sorry.” Kim’s hand on her own made her look up and blush a bit. “Anywho back to the biz at hand k? Good then. We can’t fight, covered, also the sidekicks can’t fight, if we’re grounded they’re grounded. Sound fair?”
Kim thought for a moment taking on a look of confusion, “Err explain please this ‘sidekicks’ I seem to remember you being one of such right?”
Shego grinned at how quick the girl was. “Common Princess get serious, I’m on the ‘bad’ side I was just letting Drakken do the hard work so I could snatch it away from him. That is how it works in this trade after all.”
In Drakken’s room, Ron turned to the blue genius. “Is that true?”
Drakken sunk into a full-blown pout before muttering his answer. “Dunno probably. I’ll have to check the union rulebook.”
Ron shook his head and chuckled as he let his attention drift back to the women displayed before him. True to his word, Drakken had provided them both with something that was worth the excruciating death they knew would surely follow if word of this tinker toy got out. For the last forty minutes or so they had shared popcorn and watched the fight but the display would surely piss off both the women on it as it showed them nude. “Its amazing what you can do with computers these days.” He said as he raised his glass of root beer for a toaste that was cheerfully returned.
Shego was tired of waiting for Kim to process that and pressed on, she wanted a bath in the worste way and that couldn’t happen till things were established. “OK No Us No sidekicks for twenty four hours you … we do nothing, take a day off. Let’s see if the world can get by without either of us for a day.”
It sounded like a nice idea to Kim but there was a flaw apparent that Shego should have seen before she suggested it. “Not likely considering DNAmy is still lost in the amazon looking for Fist, Duff is likely trying to release that stupid grass, again, do I need to go on?”
“I kind of figured you were going to say that,” Shego’s grin was the predatory one now. “This is high stakes poker so I’ll provide the opening ante. You agree and I’ll see to it none of your usual or any of the freaks I know cause any trouble. To match you don’t answer a single call, no family interference no nothing. We drop out of existence for the duration and see what happens.”
“Guarantee how?” Kim asked as she made her first attempt to stand, she decided to skip sitting up since Shego had already done that. She realized she should have waited a bit longer and earned another bruise on her posterior and a chuckle from Shego.
Shego leaned slid a foot against one of Kim’s getting her attention then extended a hand which Kim promptly took and with a slightly ‘ow’ inducing yank helped pull the red head into a standing position, mostly. She felt a firm grip begin to pull against her arm again and was grateful for Kim’s assistance but it left them in a rather awk-weird degree of proximity. “He is probably recording this you know.” Kim nearly hopped backwards in embarrassment earning another of the soft chuckles she was beginning to enjoy hearing. “And no dice Kim I have my ways, when I guarantee it, it takes a force of nature, usually you, to stop me from making it happen. You’re either in or out as of right now.”
Kim scowled as she took a few gentle steps towards the remnants of a leather sofa, “Bullshit, we haven’t even covered the stakes, you’re just setting the ground rules.” When she got within fall-down range, she considered it but decided to walk the entire distance and remain standing. She probably wouldn’t be able to get back up if she did. “So let’s hear it what are the stakes miss high roller.”
“Such language Pumkin, tisk tisk. Our Careers. Respectively.” Shego was expecting this to be the either/or point and the look Kim gave her didn’t disappoint. “Hurt or kill us or loved ones remember?” Kim’s nod was a bit weak but fully understandable under the circumstances. Stakes didn’t get any higher than life or death. “The world survives and doesn’t need you to save its ass, you win. The world goes to hell inna hand basket and they send all the kings men to find you, I win. You win you have my contract, I’m your bodyguard, for life. I win same deal. It's as simple and complicated as that. My bet is the world can’t make it without you, they’ve grown too soft because you’re there, ‘any time you need me’ I believe the website says. You can delude yourself into thinking they can find someone to handle everything you deal with, not including me of course.”
Kim had never been utterly positive all the time as most assumed, the years she had spent fighting the woman before her along with the host of other nasties had thoroughly introduced her to moments of doubt, not that high school life hadn’t done far worse but those years we’re rapidly retreating. College was in holiday mode and in two weeks, it would be closed for Christmas. “First this is going to piss you off considering what you’re putting on the line already but I have to ask, procedural b.s. and all that. How can I trust you on this I mean you said it yourself not err … some minutes ago that you were on the ‘bad side’ … as a foot note you owe me a new watch, this one cost me two months of screaming trolls.”
Shego eyed the watch carefully realizing she had sort of melted the lens at some point. “Baby sitting eh? Fair enough, that work is far more dangerous than what we normally do.” Casually she peeled the sleeve of her uniform up from the remnants of her glove and undid the catch holding her watch in place. Dropping it into her rivals open hand she smiled, “Here, it’s slightly used but still very good so take really good care of it, I paid enough for it I should know the quality.”
“Paid for it eh?” Kim eyed the watch carefully as she slipped it around her slender wrist, since it was still adjusted for Shego it was somewhat loose on her arm but she didn’t mind. It was by far one of the nicest things she had been given. “Now you were saying how I could trust you?”
“Never let up do you Kimmie, don’t answer that … yet. If I have to prove I’m good for this then what’s the point of even bothering? There has to be some element of trust for this to work or in a few weeks we’ll be right back at it.” When she looked to Kim expecting to find her defiant and angry she had to recoil, Kim had pulled out her secret weapon, the puppy pout. “Shit I’m doomed.”
Kim grinned inwardly as she put on her most manipulative performance to date, it only took a single word but that was enough. “Please.”
‘Damn she’s good’ Shego grinned inwardly as she admitted defeat once more. “Alright dammit! Just please stop with the eyes and the lip quiver, I can’t promise your safety if you keep it up!” Fired up somewhat Shego let the surge of heat she felt drive her to the nearest surviving monitor console and lit her fist in its green aura. “Drakken I want a phone now.” She never looked away from the blank screen but the two heard his distinct eep echoing through the remaining ductwork, which was shortly replaced by his distinct whimper drawing closer. By the time he and Ron slid to a stop in front of them they had exchanged curious glances, the men seemed a bit too edgy but she didn’t have time to bother with that. Drakken deposited the cell phone he used in her open hand but was forcibly detained when he tried to retreat.
Shego hit the speed dial index and started with the first on it, which surprised her some, it also angered her, lots. ‘Henchco. Building a better thug for the new millennium how may we be…’ The voice was harshly cut off as Shego interrupted. “This is Shego put the big Hench on the line now or you will not be able to hold forks anymore.” Shego shrugged at Kim’s arched brow, “You’re the one who wanted proof, Don’t ask Drakken or you too will have problems with forks.” Shego held up a finger for silence as she heard a nervous Jack Hench key up the line. “Don’t say a word just listen, I will tell you when to tell me ‘yes as you wish’ any interruptions and you lose a floor of your office building for every letter used. For the next month you will do nothing what so ever, no sales no special research, not a single thing. I will find out and you know I will, so if you do you will wish I had just nuked your building. Say ‘Yes, as you wish’ now and convince me you mean it.”
It went on that way for several more minutes with Dementor being the only attempted hold out, Fist had cratered at the mention of being plasma welded to DNAmy though Kim had to wonder why Fist would have a cell phone in the middle of the rainforest. The rest were small fries and Hench would handle them or regret his lack of thoroughness. When she was done, she squished the digital device into a small semi-molten sphere and dropped it into Drakken’s outstretched heavily gloved hand. “As for you, I am making it official this is between Kim and me if either of the two of you so much as twitch in our direction for the duration you will beg to be given the treatment Hench may catch from me. Are we clear?”
Drakken stepped forward with a defiant scowl set in his face but pulled an abrupt tactical shift without any of the usual Shego incentive. Bowing slightly he simply nodded, “Yes, As you wish.” Ron seemed in complete agreement as well as bowed and backed away. ‘Something isn’t right’ was the vibe both Shego and Kim got but they shrugged it off as the two men walked away getting rapidly lost in their own conversation.
“Ok Princess was that good enough?” Shego demanded of the redhead as they found themselves oddly alone again, together. She shouldn’t have crushed the cellular but she was caught up in the moment and felt it would be the best way to get Drakkens undivided attention. “Now your turn.”
“What?” Kim asked caught completely off guard by the harshness of the tone in Shego’s voice.
“If you get to watch me cut myself off from my resources you can do no less Peaches, Alls fair and before you asked no I don’t trust the good guys, I’ve seen the bad sides of that deal as well so don’t even try.” Shego tried to cut the bitterness from her words with a weak smile, she was right though, in several of her private encounters on the job with other would be good guys they had resorted to some fairly dirty tricks. It was a number of incidents such as that which had put her on this winding path to begin with.
“Ok fair enough, and I wasn’t going to ask. I know there are decent people on both sides of the line as well as monsters.” She staggered over to the rubble pile where she thought she lost her pouch and dug around for a moment till she found it and worked her way back to the sofa and Shego. The latch had been fused shut so she held it out for Shego to force open, Shego flicked a finger at it and blew the latch clean off. Rufus, who had been trapped inside for the duration of the war, saw this as his only chance to live and ran screaming into the shadows. Shego stared after the bald rodent wide eyed before shaking the image from her head and looking back to Kim. “Hey Wade.” Kim said as she keyed the Kimmunicator. In moments, the teenager that Wade had become popped on screen and Kim laid it on him letting him know the entire sitch and making him agree without question to remain silent. When Shego coughed Kim sighed and had Wade contact Dr. Director and make similar arrangements.
Nodding essentially convinced they had a mutual understanding worked out Shego took it to the next level. “Ok Princess now I’ll trust you on the ‘rents, goddess knows I do not want to be there for that. Seeing as we are in no condition to have done anything for a few days at the earliest so this week we recover.”
Kim nodded agreeing that it would not be a good scene if Shego where there when she had to explain this one. “Hold up what’s wrong with my family?” She might not want her there but she did feel a touch slighted, her family were, insanities aside, very caring.
“The boys aren’t bad and your mom is a sharp one but, no offense, your dad reminds me of some really old TV show. That wouldn’t be so bad if he weren’t trying to be twenty first century dad. I probably don’t want to know but how does your mom stand him?” She hadn’t intended to be so vocal but once she got started it wouldn’t stop.
Kim laughed out loud as she relaxed a bit. “Dad is mostly harmless its mom you have to watch out for.” Shego looked at her questioningly and was rewarded with a flash of the puppy pout, “Who do you think taught me that?”
“Ok mental note do not piss off Mrs. Dr. Possible.” Shego couldn’t help but grin, sore as she was, things were working out ok and best of all she had found a good excuse to dodge karaoke night. “I say we meet at your place in a week and get this bet underway.”
Shaking her head Kim collected what was left of her things then patted some dried dust off her shirt. “You got a month of no wackos, that’s vacation time which is sorely needed, we start when the breaks over and the knuts come back out to play.” Shego decided it was her turn to do the eyebrow arch at this point.
“Come again?” was all she could ask as she watched the redhead swagger to the exit.
“High stakes games can’t be rigged Shego, there would be no way to see who wins if we remove all the players from the board before we start. As you said, it is all about trust. I trust that without me there are those people out there capable of handling the world for a day. And if not then perhaps it is time they learn because as was said at the start of this little wager, we can’t keep doing this.” She turned quickly and dropped down the shattered stairwell in a series of leaps that pushed her legs once more but she had recovered enough to manage. In a moment she was out of the compound and on her way to the pickup point. She didn’t realize until the following day that she had left Ron with Drakken. She doubted Shego would hang around, it was Friday after all, though she was still curious as to why the day scared Shego enough to level six damage to her own base.
Ron and Drakken had chosen to remain isolated and managed to get Kim word so she wouldn’t worry, though a messily scrawled note in a chocolate like substance hardly reassured her.
After the women had left for parts unknown Ron made his own challenge. “Dr D Are you a gambling man?” The grin on his face could have scared Death, Drakken looked nervously over his mug of coco-moo and nodded in response, curious and scared at the same time.
“We both agree the wager Kim and Shego got working should prove to be loads of perv fun but I have a better idea in mind. The first batch of the improved coco-moo will be done in moments and seeing as you’re the proud poppa of this lil monster I say we make things … interesting. As it is now our lives aren’t worth squat if the cams get into that file so what have you got to lose?” Ron sensed victory before Drakken could even process it all.
Drakken had to actually consider this for a moment, Stoppable was right on a number of things and a friendly bet might be nice to spice things up a bit, since Shegos mandate it seemed likely to be the only fun they would have for a month. Fixing a firm committed look to his face Drakken nodded, “I’m in.”
“Y’know Dr. D I’m beginning to like you.” Ron replied and followed up with a laugh most evil overlords would pay good money to get.
Drakken shuddered at the sound, “That scares me.”