After she finished posting the coded listing for the processor on Craig's list, Shego hacked into the apartment building's security system to try and find out for sure if the bike in the parking garage belonged to her red haired friend. It did, and the girl had dropped a black hood while emptying the tank bag. Watching the video from the elevator revealed only that the girl's phone actually worked in the elevator and the mild surprise that she went to a different floor. At this point, the pale woman half expected to find the red head in her own living room. Once the girl left the elevator, there were no more security cameras.
Shego searched the online phonebook by address. A few hours of research and hacking revealed that every unit on the eighth floor was rented from a single real estate corporation and that it was a front for another company altogether. After digging through several levels of corporate dummies and offshore accounting firms, a name popped up on the screen. Shego whistled. It was a formidable name. She wondered if her kitten was working for them or trying to put one over on them. Either way it was big league.
Shego collected her food and checked her watch. It was time to meet the buyer for the nano-tech chip. As she moved away from the refreshment stand, she hoped he was more intelligent in person than he seemed in the e-mails. For some reason, the fool wanted to meet at a football game. While it was true that it was more difficult to spy on someone electronically in public, it was much easier to monitor someone visually.
She checked the blonde wig and instant tan in her reflection on the side of the drink cart then climbed the stairs to the very top row of the bleachers before heading toward her designated seat. When she approached the seat she got a shock! Hego was sitting… No it wasn't Hego, it was someone else. The blue jump suit and bad haircut had thrown her for a moment but upon further study, this guy was obviously an academic type.
She sat next to the guy and got another next shock. His skin was blue too. He was a paunched man in his early thirties. His skin was blue and he had a scar running from his left eye down his cheek.
A sneering nasal voice greeted her, “You can't sit there.”
“Watch me.”
“Listen you, I have important business to attend to and if you don't move you'll find yourself on the unpleasant end of this vortex-inducing pistol.”
Shego looked down at the popgun the annoying blue guy had pointed at her and sighed. “Are you always this charming or do you save it all up for special occasions?”
“For your information…” the creep started
She held up a hand palm out toward his face, “No time for that, do you have the money with you or not?”
The scarred man goggled at her. “You're Jade?”
“Yes, and you're Dr. D.”
“From Craig's list?”
“Yes, and you are Dr. D, also from Craig's list. Can we get on with it?”
“You placed the ad for the nano-tech processor?”
“Yes.”
“And you have the nano-tech processor?” He leaned forward like a little boy eager for a present.
“Yes! and why don't you talk a little bit louder, I don't think the cheerleaders heard you…” something about the cheerleaders' routine was tickling the back of Shego's mind. “Now, give me the money and I'll give you the chip.”
“The nano-tech processor chip?”
“Look buddy, if you keep asking stupid questions we'll be here all night, you'll never get your chip and I'll never get my money. So… if I don't have the money in my hand in five seconds I'm walking away and selling this thing to the next highest bidder.”
“Well, there's no need to get sni…”
“Walking away now.”
“Wait! I've got the money right here!” He said, opening up a briefcase.
“Don't wave that around!” Shego closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. She was getting a headache. She didn't think anyone could be this stupid.
“I don't see why you are getting so upset…”
Shego glanced around quickly but everyone seemed to be focused on the action down on the field. “Just hand me the money, and I'll hand you the chip.”
“It's so small…”
“Nano-tech…”
“I just expected it to be… bigger.”
“You have no idea what that thing is, do you?”
“For your information, I know exactly what it's for… you use the processor to… umm, the tech is… umm…”
“Walking away now.” Next time she would just use e-bay, at least she could do the transaction on PayPal… out of the corner of her eye she watched a cheerleader do a cartwheel and a series of back handsprings… The kitten was a cheerleader?
A couple of pre-moistened towlettes took care of the tan. The blonde wig went down the toilette. The most difficult part of ditching the disguise was waiting twenty-five minutes in the line for the ladies room.
When the pale thief got to her car, the red head was sprawled on the hood; legs crossed at the ankles, arms splayed over the windshield and her head laid back on the roof. The pale woman studied the girl's build as she approached. Her upper body was trim and lean and her legs were quite muscular. Shego suspected that the girl would rely on her lower body strength in a fight and that matched what she had witness at the museum. For a moment, she considered just leaving but decided that since someone was going through all the trouble of arranging for their paths to cross, she might as well see what it was all about.
“Waiting for someone Kitten?”
The red head sat up and folded her legs underneath her. “I was waiting for you. You have something I want.”
The young woman was intriguing. Face to face her light green eyes burned expressively and her lips fell into a cute pout. Cryptic sarcasm had always served Shego well in atypical situations and she figured she might as well go with her strengths.
“Never admit to your mark that they hold something of value.” The pale thief said in a condescending voice. She popped open the trunk remotely and held up four fingers, “That's lesson number four in my 'how to become a burglar' series.”
“I want the nano-tech processor.” The red haired girl jumped lithely to her feet and assumed a defensive stance.
Again, Shego studied the girl before answering, both determination and hesitancy showed in her demeanor. “Already sold it… it's not a good idea to hold onto hot merchandise for very long… that's lesson number seven.” Shego dropped the case into the storage space and closed the lid. “There are ten lessons in all… I'm going to have to start charging you.”
“I'll pass on the lessons,” she said dismissively, “I don't need them.”
“Think you've got what it takes, Kitten?”
“To be a petty thief? I don't want what it takes.”
Shego feigned disinterest, “I caught your show at the museum a few weeks ago. I give you full marks for style, but you need to work on your timing.”
“I'm not a thief…”
“…Says the girl who breaks into museums and wants to get her hands on a stolen nano-tech chip”
“I'm not a thief… I just need to…” for a fleeting moment the red head looked very young, “I need that chip… You're going to tell me who you sold it to.”
“No. You've already forgotten rule number four and now… I'm going to give you lesson number one.”
Shego attacked. Though her attack was not telegraphed in any way, she had a fair distance to cover with her lunge and the girl defended well, her unconventional style and peculiar flow serving her adeptly in the open area between rows of cars. Shego followed the moves and soon picked up the rhythm of the cheerleader's style. It was quite fluid and adaptable allowing the girl to turn defensive evasions into effective counterattacks. As expected, the red head was using her feet and legs almost exclusively so Shego shifted to a Nan Chuan attack and was amazed by how quickly the gymnast adapted to the primarily upper body style.
While she had the upper hand, Shego pressed her attack forcing the red head to maneuver between parked vehicles, the small spaces favored her strength and limited the girl's mobility. After a particularly acrobatic evasion where the girl performed a laid out back flip over the trunk of a compact sedan combined with a powerful kick that missed the pale woman's head by millimeters, they found themselves facing each other a few feet apart.
“You're pretty good Kitten, but you don't have what it takes to take me down and I'm not telling you squat about the chip so why don't you go back to cheerlee…oof?”
The attack came so swiftly Shego was caught completely by surprise. The gymnast's first strike knocked her off balance. The next three kicks caught her in the stomach, chest and head. The pale woman rolled with the onslaught as best she could and fell into a defensive form but the blows rained with astonishing strength and ferocity and she struggled to find a rhythm in the unrelenting assault.
For several seconds, she had no chance to counter attack; all of her efforts were focused on keeping the suddenly deadly girl from landing a critically damaging blow. She was thrown off by not only the viciousness but also the style of the attack. She had expected the red head to come at her with that cheerleader/gymnast style and instead was faced with a devastating demonstration of Goju-Ryu. It had been several years since Shego had encountered that particular Okinawan style and she was briefly at a disadvantage.
Shego ignited her hands. The astonished red head's attack faltered momentarily, allowing the pale woman to assume a more aggressive posture and nullify the younger girl's brief domination but the surprises weren't over. When Shego launched her own offensive, the girl changed styles again, but it was still an Okinawan form and it was all coming back to her now.
The red head's rage seemed to have subsided and she was fighting in a more calculating manner. They ranged all around parking lot, each landing glancing blows and trading dominance but neither able to do serious damage or gain a lasting advantage. Shego compared her skills with the younger woman's. In an open arena such as this, the kitten's sweeping moves allowed her to nullify the pale woman's superior strength and reach. Kitten showed astonishing versatility changing techniques every few seconds and switching easily between Chinese and Okinawan styles interspersed with those peculiar cheerleading moves but Shego was confident that in close quarters she would be able to subdue the red head easily.
The thrill of fighting such a skilled opponent was intoxicating. Shego hadn't had a workout like this since the last time she was in Japan and found herself wondering how someone so young had learned so many different techniques. The red head certainly was not a master of any art but had an unerring sense of which form would best fit any situation. In a few years, the girl would be absolutely deadly. Perhaps she could talk the young woman into continuing this in a non-lethal environment. Perhaps she could talk the young woman into doing other things in a non-lethal environment.
Momentarily distracted by non combat thoughts, Shego found herself diverted though the open sliding door of a minivan and when she emerged the red head caught her in a Wado-Ryu grappling move, throwing the pale woman to the ground and pinning her arms at an uncomfortable angle. A surprised Shego looked up into the light green eyes of her opponent and got a completely new shock.
The thrill of the battle was there as well as the joy of competition. But there was a hint of something else that sent goose bumps down Shego's spine. Kitten had been thinking naughty thoughts too. A single moment stretched uncomfortably.
“FREEZE RIGHT THERE!”
The unexpected outburst was accompanied by powerful flashlight beams and came from an officer forcing his way through the gathering crowd. Several others were filing into the open area, taking up perimeter positions to cover the women from all angles.
“STAND UP! AND DON'T MOVE!”
“Which is it?”
“WHAT DID YOU SAY?”
“Which is it?” Shego asked in a bored voice, “Do you want us to stand up, or do you want us to not move?” The red head was trying not to laugh. The pale woman continued to look up into those expressive green eyes and read the mischievous challenge in them.
“I think, he means for us to stand up and then not move.” Kitten said with a coy grin while her grip changed from restraining to supporting.
“YEAH! AND DON'T DO ANYTHING STUPID!”
There were a few suggestions from the crowd but none of them were particularly helpful.
Kim stood slowly, maintaining eye contact with the pale thief. The twinkle in her pale green eyes was unmistakable. As the younger woman helped her to her feet, Shego asked: “Pinky, are you pondering what I'm pondering?”
The red head's face split into a huge grin. “I think so, Brain, but where will we find a duck and a hose at this hour?”
The six cops never had a chance.
Next Time:
Chapter 6- Two's a crowd
An uneasy alliance
An uneasy dalliance
A glimpse of Kim's past