2:00 pm
As Shego waited for Dexter to return she watched the street. Her eyes narrowed as a car drove past whose driver looked terribly familiar. It stopped a half a block past the drug store and a redhead jumped out.
“Need any help KP?”
“Thanks, I should be fine. You park somewhere fairly close. I'll call you when I need you to pick me up.”
The homing signal indicated Shego was close; she should be able to make sure her lover stayed out of any more trouble. It was a nice plan, but it went down the toilet as soon as Will drove off.
“I didn't plan on seeing you here,” Shego said flatly.
“I don't like you using torture.”
“So you admit you're following me.”
“Just trying to keep you out of trouble.”
“Look, I'm here to help my brother. If that's not what you want -- go home to Middleton. I don't need a millstone around my neck.”
“Millstone! I--”
Kim got out of the way of Shego's kick just in time. Shego followed with a punch Kim barely parried, then Kim was in battle mode -- lashing out with a kick that Shego barely avoided.
They had sparred and trained together for months, but this was a fight. Kim realized that when a spin kick she deftly avoided shattered a plate glass window -- sending shards of glass across the sidewalk. If the kick had connected it would have cracked ribs. If there was going to be a fight, however, Kim intended to win. Unless Shego fired up her plasma powers, and she hadn't yet, the redhead was certain she could win. Her Global Justice training had her in top shape and Shego was doing too much traveling related to her legal problems to maintain the same high level.
Shego, however, was fighting with an anger and passion that Kim couldn't match. Some of the pale woman's attacks had left her wide open, but Kim chose not to take advantage. She didn't want to hurt Shego, and she felt secure that Shego would not be able to hurt her. Kim could wait, Shego would tire quickly with the intensity of her attack, or she would leave an opening Kim could exploit without fear of hurting the older woman, perhaps Shego might even come to her senses and realize that fighting Kim was pointless. Or the fight could end with outside intervention.
“All right,” the authoritative voice said, “stop the fighting.”
Shego glanced over, smiled, and immediately relaxed out of her fighting stance. Kim stayed in fighting mode, expecting a trick from the pale woman.
“I said, stop the fighting,” the officer repeated.
Kim glanced over. His gun was drawn, but it was pointed at her. “Are you okay, Shego?” he asked.
“I'm fine officer,” she replied sweetly.
“Here in town to look for your brother?”
“Exactly, when this stalker attacked me.”
“ATTACK YOU!” Kim stuttered “I--”
“Please be quiet, Miss. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to speak to an attorney, and to have an attorney present during any questioning. If you cannot afford a lawyer, one will be provided for you at government expense.”
Kim stared at the officer, dumbfounded. She didn't resist as he put a handcuff on her right wrist and fastened the other cuff to a parking meter.
“I'll be downtown in an hour or two to file charges,” Shego told him. “I've got a source I need to question right this minute.”
“No problem, Shego. Can I have your autograph for my wife? She was always a huge fan and really felt bad when you left town. Are you coming back?”
“Sorry, no. Just here to help the Wegos and Mego.”
“We all love the blue guy. Hope everything works out.”
Kim watched, mouth open in amazement, as Shego signed an autograph for the officer, flashed Kim a dazzling smirk, and walked back toward the drug store.
The officer, apparently on foot patrol, had his walkie-talkie out calling for a vehicle to take her in. “Can I make a call on my cell phone?”
“You get one phone call, Miss, and you can wait until you're at the station. We take our heroes seriously in this town.”
Shego found Dexter, an old suitcase in hand, staring out the drug store window. “Hoping I'd lose?” she asked. “You can be honest.”
“Yes.”
“Just not your day.” She lowered her voice. “Can we go out the back? Unless you want the police to see you with me. Does your wife know you are the Alchemist?”
“No. And let's keep it that way.”
She let him say goodbye to his wife, then the two headed for the back door. As they reached the back door the woman called over, “And I don't want you hanging around with your shifty criminal friends any more or you're real trouble mister!”
Mego had been trying for hours to find a time when Christine Marshall was alone so he could question her. For a while he had thought her busy schedule represented her construction of an elaborate alibi. He was now of the opinion that she was simply a very busy woman and had nothing to do with Hego's capture. If that was true he wanted to question her as quickly as possible and end this fool's errand. He was beginning to fear that there was only one time he was going to find her alone. He sighed. No one likes their privacy violated at that particular moment.
Kim was livid as she rode in the back of the squad car. All efforts to talk with the police were going nowhere. She wondered how she should spend the one phone call she would be allowed. She realized that calling Shego and screaming would not solve anything, but it remained an attractive option.
Ron and a Will sat in the car, comparing their universities.
“You'd think Kim would have called by now,” Will said.
“I'm guessing Shego is on the move and Kim is tailing her. Want me to call Wade and check?”
“Sure.”
Wade was making an effort to say in touch and answered immediately. “Shego looks like she might be headed back to Go Tower. That's the direction she's going in anyway.”
“Can you tell if Kim is with her or tailing her?”
“How would I know that?”
“The positioning chips you promised not to put in our gear, but put in anyway. We know you can track us Wade.”
“Uh, I don't know where Kim is going, but she's heading in a different direction from Shego. They're getting further away from each other.”
Will and Ron looked at each other. “Kim said she wanted Shego tailed,” Ron said. “I say we follow her. If Kim has another lead she'll call us.”
“Let's GO!”
“You people say that a lot, don't you?”