Shego was actually trembling. It wasn’t an act. Kim, the woman she’d come to love, did in fact have a real blade against her throat. For the first time in long time, Shego felt true terror inside - one the likes of which she’d promised she’d never let herself feel again after that comet struck her house at the tender age of 8 and demolished any chance she ever had of having a normal life.
“I’LL SAY IT AGAIN:” said Kim, her voice amplified by the Battle Suit’s amplification system. “LISTEN TO ME, OR I SWEAR, I WILL NOT HESITATE TO DO THE WORST TO HER!”
“HOLD YOUR FIRE!” yelled Sergeant Warburton. “FOR GOD’S SAKE, HOLD YOUR FIRE!”
“YOU ARE HOLDING MY FAMILY, MY BEST FRIEND’S FAMILY, THE MOTHER OF ANOTHER ONE OF MY FRIENDS, AND ANOTHER FRIEND OF MINE HOSTAGE - UNDER THE FOIL OF BEING HELD AS MATERIAL WITNESSES IN THE INVESTIGATION OF A MURDER CASE - ONE THAT I HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH, AND AM COMPLETELY INNOCENT IN! IT IS ONLY FAIR THAT I AM ALLOWED TO TAKE A HOSTAGE OF MY OWN IN RETURN!” Kim shouted. “LET IT BE KNOWN RON STOPPABLE HERE HAS AGREED TO FIGHT WITH ME - AS HE, TOO, SEES THE INJUSTICE OF HIS FAMILY BEING HELD UNDER FALSE PRETENSES!” Kim looked at Shego out of the corner of her eye. She turned off the Battle Suit’s amplification system. “I’m sorry, Shego…” A single tear rolled down her cheek. “But - it’s the only way to save my family. Ron’s family. Monique. And Wade’s mother. I love you,” she sniffed back another tear. “But I love them, too. Please - when this is over…forgive me?”
Shego smiled, her eyes trembling with fear and love. “Do what you have to do, Kimmie. Don’t mind me.”
Kim smiled back, tears starting to run down her cheeks. “Thank you, Shego. That’s all I needed to hear.” She turned the amplification system back on, collected herself, then turned back to the National Guard. “I, ALONG WITH RON, DEMAND THAT EITHER OUR FAMILIES ARE RELEASED UNHARMED, OR THAT YOU TAKE US TO SEE THEM! EITHER WAY, IF ANY ATTEMPT IS MADE TO SEPARATE ME FROM THIS WOMAN WHOSE THROAT I CURRENTLY HAVE A BLADE AGAINST, I WILL CUT IT! AND DON’T THINK ANY OF YOU CAN SNEAK UP ON ME, EITHER!”
“Get a small jet that can cross the Atlantic over here, ASAP! What?I DON’T CARE ABOUT THE PROPER CHANNELS, I’M SITTING HERE STARING AT A HOSTAGE SITUATION, YOU DIPSHIT! GET A JET OVER HERE NOW!” Sergeant Warburton slammed the handset of the radio down. “Good god…idiots… Get a Unit out there! Circle her – but for shit’s shake, DON’T LET ANY SOLDIER TRY TO PLAY HERO! I do NOT want a dead civilian hostage on our soil! Understand?”
“Sir!”
“I ALSO DEMAND TO TALK TO WHOEVER IS IN CHARGE HERE!” Kim demanded.
“Guide her over to my position!” Sergeant Warburton demanded.
By the time Kim, Ron, and the Unit surrounding them had inched their way over to Sergeant Warburton, the small plane he had called for arrived, using the road as a runway to land, and stopping just behind the position Kim and Sergeant Warburton were at… “Uh-oh – it would appear to be we don’t have time to talk, Ms. Possible,” the Sergeant told her. “We will allow you safe passage to see your loved ones.”
“It better be safe passage - Sergeant…” Kim snapped. “Or she dies.” Her mind instantly regretted saying it, but her face never changed.
“Of course, Ms. Possible. Let her board the plane!”
Kim walked up the steps into the plane backwards, slowly. She had just reached the top of the steps when it hit her. “Wait…since when the hell did a Sergeant ever get charge of an entire company?”
Shego looked up at Kim, fearful. “K – Kimmie?”
“The Memory Modifier!” Kim suddenly dropped the Battle Suit’s shield. “SHEGO! RON! GET OUT OF HERE! IT’S A TRAP! IT ISN’T THE NATIONAL G-” A soldier behind her in the plane grabbed her, almost ripped her hands from Shego completely, and flung her hard into the plane. “NO! NO! SHEGO!” Kim yelled, desperately grasping Shego’s hand. “SHEGO!” But the crowd of soldiers in the plane ran to help their comrade, swarmed over Kim and Shego - and finally managed to wrench their hands out of each other’s grip.
“KIMMIE!” Shego yelled. “NO! NO! DON’T LEAVE ME! KIMMIE!” She turned and green energy flared over her hands as she leaped down to join up with Ron, who was already fighting with soldiers at the bottom of the steps. “YOU LET HER GO!” She charged the Sergeant. “YOU LET HER GO!”
“IT’S A TRAP!” Private Cole yelled. “THAT’S NOT A CIVILIAN HOSTAGE – IT’S SHEGO!”
“Thank you, Captain Obvious - OPEN FIRE!” Sergeant Warburton yelled, ducking away to safety.
The M16’s instantly roared to life again as Shego and Ron pummeled their way through the soldiers. CRACK! POW! Shego’s blistering footwork flattened an entire row of soldiers. SCHWIPSCHWIP! Ron’s shurikens rendered another line of M16’s useless – then his Monkey Kung Fu left the M16’s owners on the ground, out cold. FOOM! FOOM! Shego hurled massive blasts of her green energy into the crowd of soldiers trying to take them out, clearing a pathway back to the training facility. “C’MON, RON!” Shego yelled. “WE GOTTA GET BACK THERE, AND WE GOTTA DO IT NOW!”
“YEAH, YEAH!” Ron hollered. He quickly took out his bamboo bo staff as a few soldiers rushed him. THWACK! THWACK! He brought the bo staff down with staggering precision, rendering all unconscious, but still alive. “Hmm, yeah – I’d get ice on that, buddy,” he quipped down at one of the KO’d soldiers.
In seconds, he’d leaped back to join up with Shego, who fired some more massive bursts of green energy at the soldiers chasing her – sending them flying backwards through the air. They finally returned back to the “landfill.” A few more blasts, then Shego dove into the secret entrance with Ron.
“YES! YES! AH HAH HAH HAH HAH! They finally figured it out! Oh, this is just too much fun!” Drakken cackled as he watched the new events unfold on the TV.
Behind him, Tara sneered evilly, then turned back to the radar display monitor just behind the TV Drakken was watching - observing the plane that had Kim aboard slowly draw closer to their location.
“WADE! COME IN!” Shego yelled as she rushed into the training facility, her voice on the verge of snapping from the worry etched into it. “COME IN! NOW, GODDAMMIT! NOW!”
Wade quickly appeared on the giant screen. “Shego?”
“THAT’S NOT THE NATIONAL GUARD OUT THERE! IT’S ANOTHER ONE OF DRAKKEN’S TRICKS! JUST TELL ME WHERE THAT PLANE THEY TOOK HER IN IS HEADING!”
“PUMMEL THE PLACE!” Sergeant Warburton yelled. Instantly, the land erupted into a valley of explosions as MK16-3’s and 81mm mortars once again began raining down upon the facility in buckets.
“AND HURRY!” Shego screamed as the explosions began rattling the place from above.
Wade was already typing away. “Hold on – I’m hacking into the Top Secret – Level 6 files-”
“Level 6?” Ron asked, stunned, as he came into the room. “You never hack that far!”
“Desperate times, Ron. I thought Kim would never take a hostage, fake or not.” He typed furiously. “That plane is…heading…for…ICELAND!” He exclaimed. A map came onto the screen. “To be a bit more specific, a secret base just north of Reykjavik.”
“Iceland?” Shego asked, shocked.
“Iceland?” asked Ron.
Shego threw up her hands. “Great! He’s even taking the country he promised me I could have! And now we’re pinned down here by a fake National Guard, with no possible way of getting to this place!”
“Actually-” Wade cut in.
“Oh, shut up! It’s over! Drakken’s won! We’ll just sit here until we rot!” Shego sighed. She sat down, slumped over. “He knows I hate prison, so now he’s just created the most overcomplicated plot ever to imprison me in!”
Ron could stand it no longer. “Hey, you know what, dammit? Kim doesn’t need Shennen sitting here, sulking about how much she misses her Kimmie!” He put his hand on Shego’s shoulder reassuringly. “She needs Shego – Shego, dammit! Who would do everything in her power to save the one she loves!”
Shego looked at him, stunned. “H – how did you know about that?”
“You forget, Shego – I had those feelings, too. It’s not hard to see when someone else has what you’ve already gone through. It’s a little painful, yeah – because you know you lost it – but it’s not hard at all.”
Shego paused, closing her eyes - collecting herself and thinking through everything.
She knew what had to be done.
“You’re right, Ron.” She opened her eyes - Ron jumping back in surprise at the ice her glare shot out.
Green flames erupted around Shego’s hands with a fury that hadn’t been there before. “Drakken tried to break us apart. He tried to replace the world’s memories of me with nothing. Let’s return the favour.” She turned back to Wade. “What were you gonna say before I went off on that rant, Wade?”
“Uh…just that I could hack the controls of the Go Jet for ya’ if you wanted to get to Iceland…”
“Do it. Er – please?” Shego corrected herself. “Sorry, still not used to saying that.”
“Don’t worry. Done and done!” Wade said.
“Won’t the Go Jet get destroyed by the heavy artillery?” Ron asked.
“Ron – a jet designed to carry superheroes, and you think it’s capable of being destroyed by some mere mortar rounds and grenades? C’mon, do a little bit more of that thinking thing, sidekick!” Shego said.
“Oh – duh…” Ron smacked his head.
Shego looked around. “Now where’s my jumpsuit?” Looking around, her eyes passed over the still-open closet at the back wall – and lit up as she remembered something. “Uh…Wade? Could you tell me the code that opens the secret closet where Kimmie hid her Battle Suit? I think she forgot part of it.”
The barrage of the heavy artillery kept up. It was shockingly loud. Grenade after grenade, mortar after mortar – explosion after explosion. Sergeant Warburton grinned. Nothing could get by this assault.
“SIR! UNIDENTIFIED JET APPROACHING!” yelled one of the radio operators.
“WHAT? TELL THEM TO TURN AROUND!”
“WE’RE GETTING NO RESPONSE, SIR!”
Just then, a low roar came up over the horizon. However, in a second, it was nearing the combat zone.
“IT’S HEADING RIGHT FOR THE TARGETS, SIR!”
“THEN SHOOT IT DOWN, YOU IMBECILES!”
“Sir! All units, redirect fire to the unidentified aircraft approaching the combat area - WHOAH!” the radio operator cried as the jet blasted over them and within seconds, had landed near the target. The jet looked absolutely ridiculous – some dip had painted a horrid red, blue, green, and purple striped pattern on it – but what it lacked in cosmetic appearance, it more than made up for it by not even denting despite a malicious amount of grenades and mortars slamming into it.
“DESTROY THAT JET! DESTROY THAT JET!” Sergeant Warburton nearly ripped his vocal cords out screaming the order.
“SIR! THE TARGETS HAVE EMERGED! THEY’RE HEADING FOR THE AIRCRAFT!”
“WELL, WHY DON’T YOU STOP THEM?”the Sergeant barked.
Ron activated his Battle Suit’s shield as soon as he emerged from the secret entrance. “C’MON!” he called to Shego as she leaped out of the hidden door. “STAY INSIDE MY SHIELD!”
But Shego didn’t hear him, for she was barreling ahead towards the jet. Amazing herself, she reached it in one piece – and jumped in as the cockpit opened. “RON! RUN!” she yelled, holding out her hand.
Ron took out his bamboo bo staff once again – and thinking fast, threw it down into a divot in the landfill just ahead of him – and launched himself through the air like a pole vaulter. But unlike any pole vaulter, he knew he’d timed it perfectly. He landed with a THUMP in the backseat of the Go Jet.
“Nice, sidekick – very nice,” Shego noted.
“Monkey Kung Fu comes in handy sometimes,” Ron boasted.
“Whatever.” Shego closed the cockpit. “Let’s stitch this sitch.” Almost instantly, she smacked her head. “I so did not say th- gahh! Wow, I am becoming “Kimish” after all…Guess it goes with loving her…”
With that, she fired up the engines and launched the Go Jet in the air, headed for Iceland.
When the jet was gone, Sergeant Warburton threw up his hand. “CEASE FIRE!”
The explosions stopped. The silence was deafening. Everyone looked around.
“So, what do we do now, Sir?” asked Private Cole.
BOOMBOOMBOOMBOOMBOOMBOOM! A series of explosions ripped through the air behind them. “WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?” Sergeant Warburton whirled around to see it for himself.
In the distance, every vehicle in the entire Middleton police convoy on the highway was destroyed – and in front of them, a line of monster trucks. “MOTOR ED’S BACK, MIDDLETON! SERIOUSLY!”
Tara looked up at the radar display. There were now two planes showing up on it. One plane had just landed not far from the entrance to the lair. The other one was en route. “They’re coming.”
“Of course they are,” Drakken growled. He glanced at his captives in the cage. “Shadow time, Tara.”
Tara sneered. Notifying her pets to follow her, she slipped back into the shadows with terrifying ease.
“Can’t we get there any faster?” Ron asked as the Go Jet seemed to limp through the air.
“Actually – there is! But I doubt you’d like it!” Shego answered.
“I don’t care! I want to save my family!” replied Ron.
“Okay!” She pressed a big red button in the dashboard of the plane.
“Wait – did you just push the red button?” asked Ron.
“Yep!” Shego grinned.
“Uh-oh.” Ron gulped as he heard the engines get louder.
Seconds later, his face was one with the back of his seat as the Go Jet’s turbo engines furiously kicked in. “I just had to ask, didn’t I?” It took him forever to even ask himself that, due to the intense G-Forces.
The small private jet plane had not so much as landed, it more or less had kinda crashed. Nothing had broken, no windows had shattered, no fuel was leaking - but it wasn’t exactly on all its wheels, either. Unconscious, the plane’s pilot and copilot now were lying outside on the ground.
The door to the main area of the plane opened – and about 6 KO’d soldiers landed right next to them. Kim then stepped out, wiping her hands. She activated the Battle Suit’s GPS scanning. “Iceland?” she asked, once her coordinates were locked and verified. “What the hell am I doing in Iceland?”
Looking around some more, she decided to hide back in the plane. Dragging the unconscious men to a metal pole not far away from her, she found heavy-duty handcuffs on all of them. And soon the handcuffs were still on all of the men – but they were also draped around the metal pole as well.
Kim jumped back in the plane and shut the door. She turned off the engines and all the lights, and - wrapping herself up in the thick jacket she had taken from the knapsack of one of the soldiers, immediately hung her head in despair. Now she was in Iceland – without Shego or Ron.
Shego…
“I’m sorry!” Kim let herself tear up. “I – I promised you I’d never let them separate us again – but then it happened – again!” She sobbed into the jacket some more. “I failed you, Shego… I should just let Drakken take me. Let him get rid of me. Take over the world. He’s won! He wanted to break me, and he has! He’s got us both imprisoned, too – you back in the training facility, and me here in this plane!”
“Phooey – guess that means I can’t break you out and help you save your family and friends.”
Kim’s eyes flew open. She whirled around – to Shego’s face. “SHEGO!” she screamed. In seconds, she was in Shego’s arms, sharing a deep kiss with her lover. “How on earth did you get out of Middleton?” she asked after the kiss was over. “I thought you and Ron were trapped in the facility forever!”
Shego nodded back, at the Go Jet on the ground – Ron leaning over off to the side of it, not feeling well. “Wade fetched it for us. What in the hell were you doing sleeping in this plane – besides giving up?”
Kim smiled warmly as she hugged Shego tighter. “Waiting for you, I guess – in one form or the other.”
“Well, I’m here, now, Pumpkin – and Drakken’s not far from here. How’s about we stop the bastard?”
Kim nodded as Ron ran up to join them. “Let’s go.” She started to run off – but Shego grabbed her arm.
“Hold on, Kimmie.” Shego handed her a small baggie – containing the ring that was none other than the Centurion Project. “I think your Battle Suit’s a little incomplete.”
Kim gasped as she took the ring – then hugged Shego, smiling. “Oh, Shego!”
Shego grinned. “Knew you’d like it.”
“Uh, can we get going?” Ron asked. “Greenland may have all the ice, but Iceland’s still frikkin’ cold!”
“I don’t like this,” Kim muttered in a whisper as they made their way down to the heart of Drakken’s new lair. “It was way too easy to knock out those security guards. And we haven’t seen a single henchman!”
“Shh!” Ron pointed to an open door. Drakken’s cackling could clearly be heard coming from inside it.
Slowly, they all snuck into the room. Kim gasped. Above them was the cage with everyone in it. Monique, sleeping, had opened her eyes when she heard Kim’s voice, though it was very faint. But now Monique was looking down in hopes that Kim was actually there. “Kim!” she gasped when Kim actually did come through the door. Kim put her finger to her lips, and looked around. Seeing the lever on the ground close to the cage, she ran over to it and pulled it. Instantly, the bottom of the cage swung open – and everybody fell to the ground with a SMACK! Kim flinched. “Ow…” Monique groaned.
Meanwhile, Shego and Ron were helping everyone else up and sneaking back towards the door.
“Wait – where’s Wade’s mother?” Kim asked quietly as she looked around.
“In THEM!” Monique shrieked, pointing.
Kim whirled around – to find the dog Fang in front of her, swallowing what appeared to be a fresh piece of steak. “No…No! Drakken, you bastard!” Kim shrieked. “I know you’re listening. How could you do this?”
“Actually, he didn’t order Fang to eat.”
Tara slunk out of the shadows, the dog Kara next to her. “I did.”
Ron, Shego, and Kim’s jaws all fell open. “Tara?” Ron gasped.
“Oh. Hey, Ron.” Again, Tara said it casually, like a bump in the hallways at school. “Fang! Here, boy!” The dog ran back to Tara, who subsequently bent down to pet the dog. “Good boy. Now – stay.”
“So, you made it here. Good.” Drakken swiveled around in his chair, revealing himself. “Now, Kim Possible, how are you going to save the world when I have you right here?”
“Simple. Shego, Ron, and I will kick your ass, kick her ass,” she motioned to Tara – “then take our families, our friend, and get the hell out of here while you go back to jail. Just like the usual times.”
“Shego?” Mrs. Possible asked. “I thought that was Shennen.”
“Mom, please - you actually didn’t know?” asked Tim and Jim.
“Know what?”
“That Shennen is Shego? Duh!” the Tweebs answered. “It was so obvious!”
Drakken laughed maniacally. “Oh, no, my young Ms. Possible – I meant from this: EDDIE! PHASE 2!” he shouted into the mic right by his TV. “Oh, you need to watch this one, Kimmie – it’s a real shocker…”
“Ugh…Ow…” the Middleton Police Chief crawled out of the wreckage. “Wow. Never knew monkey wrenches exploded like that – I must be getting old…”
A huge noise behind him shocked him out of his daze. He quickly stood up – and froze. The monster trucks that had been blocking their way were transforming. Before the Police Chief’s very eyes, he watched them grow triple their height and take on a more sinister robot form. “Aw, shit…” he grumbled.
“Recognize it?” Drakken asked as everyone but him and Tara gasped in horror at what they saw on the TV screen. “Thanks in part to the efforts of Dr. Betty Di– erm, the late Dr. Betty Director – I fell into possession of the Hesphaestus Project - Version 2.0!” he cackled. “Only this time, I’ve learned from my mistakes…” he pressed a button, bringing up a large globe, a red LED light on where Middleton was.
“C’MON, BOYS!” the radio crackled with Motor Ed’s voice. “Let’s show what happens when Motor Ed goes WORLDWIDE, baby –YAYAYAYA-YEAH!”
Instantaneously, dozens of other red LED lights flicked on over the globe. Kim looked back at the monitor. The cameras kept switching places, but in every one, a car was transforming into a giant robot. Then it clicked. “So that’s what happened to the cars Motor Ed stole from the Tokyo Motor Show!”
“Now you realise.” Drakken laughed. “I’d have thought you smarter than that, Kim. However, this time, around, not only did I build the command signal for the cybertronics into each individual car – there’s also the element of them all having human pilots! You can’t destroy the robots without killing someone!”
Kim glared with more fury racing into her eyes as he laughed some more.
“Wait – I never made a 2nd version of the Hesphaestus Project…” Mr. Possible exclaimed.
“No, you didn’t, James – but a certain short German man with a fondness for mutating his dogs did.”
“Dementor!” Kim gasped. “So that’s why you killed him!”
“Actually, I honestly don’t know who killed him – I just stole the new Hesphaestus Project from him after learning from Betty that he had improved upon your father’s original design schematics, or whatnot blubberish – oh, well - I guess I maybe did plant that motorcycle bomb to burn up his lair a day later…”
“You’re low, Drakken,” Shego growled. “A bone couldn’t find the meat to pick off of you.”
“Ooh. Harsh words - Shennen… But I’d watch my tongue if I were you-”
“-Or else I might just order Fang or Kara to eat it.”
The dogs growled menacingly as Tara and Drakken laughed together.
END CHAPTER SEVENTEEN