Shego wondered if it would be best for her to just stay where she was at the moment, namely in a self-destructing lair that was blowing up all around her. She considered staying because she had failed Kim. She had not saved the dragon to return to her beloved and she feared that it just meant that Kim was going to get sicker until she eventually died. There was nothing to live for as far as Shego was concerned anymore if that happened.
Before the pale woman could figure out if just being burned and buried alive would be the best thing, she noticed a curious item at the other side of the room. The space that the prison was for the dragon, which had been crushed and blown up moments ago, there was a thin, scarlet line of smoke coming from it.
“The dragon. It’s not dead. It’s trying to get out,” Shego realized with an intense, hopeful expression in her emerald eyes.
The green-skinned woman dashed over to that side of the room, dodging the collapsing ceiling and still erupting floor. She began digging underneath everything that was piled on top of the tank. The more she clawed, the more mist she saw. After a few seconds, the mist floated before her, looking slightly more solid than it had before. A face formed on the crimson cloud, a face that Shego knew to be the dragon’s from the few times that she had witnessed the creature’s full form around Kim.
“Home…” the dragon seemed to whisper. It sounded almost like it was begging. It was pleading to know where Kim was.
“That way!” Shego pointed upward and to the right. She hoped that it was talking about Kim. She did not know what else to do aside for direct it out and back to her mate.
The dragon seemed to obey her because it went off in the direction that she pointed. Now, she had to worry about getting herself out of all of the madness of the lair blowing. She had to see if the dragon was going back to Kim and she had to see if it would get her Princess to wake up. So, she flared her hands and made a desire-filled dash toward the door; she desired to see her “roommate” awake and well and nothing was going to stop her as far as she was concerned.
She had to take on all of the robots that Dementor had left behind and that she had not melted on her way in. She had to duck and dodge explosions and debris coming down as the place continued to try to swallow itself whole. She was not going to let such a thing beat her; she was going to get back to Kim, she silently promised herself.
Doctor Director sighed because of the real-time reports that she was getting about one of the assignments given to her agents. Apparently, there was a lot of activity going on in the underground base that she had sent Shego and a number of other agents, not that Shego was supposed to know about the other agents. The lair was blowing up according to the readouts that she was receiving. She had not heard anything about the dragon being found and rescued; part-time agent Load reported that the energy of the dragon was fading in and out. Neither of them knew what to make of that.
She was also not getting any reports on the villain behind the kidnapping of the dragon. She was not sure if Dementor had been captured or if he got away. There was a report of a jet taking off, but there was a chance that it might be Shego since she had modified her GJ-issued plane for them to not be able to track her. Every time a tracking device or a device to identify her plane was put into the on board computer, Shego removed it or disabled it. It was rather bothersome, especially at moments like now where she was trying to figure out what happened to the bad guy and her agents.
It was also reported to her that Kim Possible was now officially in a coma. She was not sure what she was going to do about Kim and it was bothering her. She hoped that Shego succeeded in retrieving the dragon, but they were not even sure how they would go about putting the creature back into Kim. She had run the idea by the scientists that were aware of Kim’s unique power and they balked at the notion. It was not like the dragon was like a kidney or some other organ that they could easily replace in her body. The dragon was more like her conscience or psyche, but with some minor form to distinguish it if one looked hard enough, making it pretty hard to put back.
Doctor Director was committed to the idea of helping Kim, though, maybe more so than an objective leader should have been. She was going to use all of her power to do something for Kim and get her up and going again. Shego had yelled at her for not knowing what it was like to have someone to care about and it had hurt a little bit because she did not have someone like Shego had Kim and she did not have any close family, aside for her brother, who had not only tried to crush her dreams, but kill her on several occasions in the past. But, Kim was like family to her. The Possibles were like family to her.
She had tutored Kim and had known the redhead personally for over ten years now. The Possibles welcomed her into their home as if she was family. They sometimes invited her over for holidays or just random dinners and barbeques. She could not just sit back and watch Kim fade away, maybe even die. She would do everything in her power to stop that, so now she had to figure out some way for Kim’s body to learn how to function without the dragon if they could not put it back inside of her.
Kim’s family along with Ron were sitting around her hospital bed, taking over the vigil since Shego left hours ago for a mission. She had not been able to tell them the nature of the mission since all GJ missions were classified at the start, but she had told them that she was going to help Kim or die trying. They hoped that she had achieved the former and not the latter.
Kim was now the color of chalk for the most part. She had just been put on a respirator because she was not breathing well on her own. They were starting to fear the worst. It was not helping her family that her doctors and nurses had taken to whispering things amongst themselves rather than speaking directly to the family.
“Kim’s going to get better, right?” Tim seemed to beg. He did not care how pathetic he might appear, even as a teenager; he was just grief-stricken since it was starting to seem like his big sister was going to die.
“Of course she is,” James assured his son, wrapping a convincing arm around the boy and pulling him close. They were all sitting close to the bed in a row of chairs. Ron was opposite them, leaning on the bed and totally silent due to anguish and shock. They had never seen the blonde look so grim in their lives.
“Why don’t they know what’s wrong with her yet?” Jim inquired, trying his best to hold in tears. They lived in a town full of geniuses and yet no one could save their sister. It was not fair!
“They need time,” Ann answered. Jim was already leaning against her for comfort and support. If Kim got any worse, Jim was probably going to be sharing a chair with his mother and reverting back to being a toddler by just cuddling against her.
The family was quiet once again. They just watched Kim carefully, hoping that there were no more declines in her condition. They also hoped that the whispers that they were hearing from the medical staff were wrong. The doctors and nurses seemed to doubt that Kim was going to last more than a few days at the rate that she was going. Her body was just shutting down, unable to sustain itself. Her brain did not seem to be able to convey messages to her system to keep it working. There was no way that she was going to survive much longer, the hospital staff thought. Her family and best friend refused to believe that.
The family’s attention was drawn from Kim for a moment as a strange beam of red light shot into the room. It moved like a serpent and settled over Kim, collecting itself into a smoke-like substance in an oscillating oval. It lingered for a moment before sliding underneath the face mask on Kim that was connected to the machine breathing for her.
“What’s going on?” the twins hollered in a panic as the Possible family realized that smoke was going inside of Kim. Ron could not even speak as he witnessed what was happening and he was frozen in place. It was obvious from the expression on his face that he feared the worst for his best friend now that something so weird just happened.
James shot up and went over to Kim. He tried to wave the crimson smoke away, but his hand passed right through it. The smoke continued on while the family cried out for James to do something. The red substance entered Kim anyway.
“What the hell!” the boys yelled in distress. What was happening to their sister now? Had she not been through enough?!
James and Ann did not even think to scold their sons for their language. They just stared wide-eyed with fear at Kim, looking something like Ron was. They were actually waiting for the worst now. There was just no way that a foreign substance entering their ailing daughter was a good thing in their opinions. So, now, they waited with baited breath, expecting to hear Kim flat-line. They were pleasantly surprised.
Kim groaned in a low tone; it was the first sound that she had made in a couple of days. Her family was shocked into silence because of the noise and then she surprised them again. Her face twitched; she was finally showing signs of life. Her eyes flickered open, flashing gold for a moment before settling into their usual shade of olive green.
“Kimmie?” her family all said in the same unsure tone. What if she was just waking up for a moment and then she fell back into her coma? All of their hearts were in their throats because of the chance that such a thing could happen.
“What’s going on?” Kim asked in a tired, curious tone. She noticed how anxious everyone seemed and she was not sure why they were that way.
“Are you with us, Kimmie-cub?” James inquired in a shaky tone.
“Of course. So, what’s the sitch?” she replied and then she looked around. She groaned again when she noticed her surroundings. “I’m still in the hospital,” she complained with another groan, now the sound was disappointed.
“Of course you’re still in the hospital. You’ve been a coma,” her mother informed her, doing her best to not sound frantic or distressed. It was taking all of her willpower to not cry tears of joy because her daughter was not dying anymore it seemed. She was doing as best a job as could be expected; tears were escaping her eyes, but not the flood that she wanted to let loose.
“Coma?” Kim echoed, as if she did not understand what that was.
“Yes, a coma,” her mother repeated as she wiped away the tears coming from her eyes. The twins and Ron were so emotional that they could not even talk.
Kim was confused, so her parents decided to slowly explain everything that happened to her since she was out. They tried their best to keep their emotions in check, but Ann still cried a little bit as they spoke. When they were done, they contacted Doctor Director to let her know that Kim was awake. The leader of GJ rushed over to the hospital to see it for herself and also to hopefully find out how she had recovered.
When Doctor Director arrived, the doctors Possible told her about the odd circumstances surrounding Kim’s recent rise. When she heard about the red smoke, she gathered that it was the dragon returning to Kim. She just needed to confirm that.
“Agent Possible,” Doctor Director said as she entered Kim’s room.
“Sir,” Kim said, sitting up at attention. The motion surprised her family and Ron, who all thought that she should be too weak to move. It would seem that Kim was never too weak to show due respect to the woman in charge.
“At ease, agent,” Doctor Director replied and Kim settled back down on her bed. “How are you feeling?” the leader inquired. She made sure to sound professional as she spoke.
“Better than what I remember,” the redhead answered. She could now recall feeling as if she had been catapulted into concrete and even though she still felt achy, it was not nearly as bad as that.
“Do you feel the dragon’s presence again or is it still missing?” Doctor Director asked.
“It’s…back,” Kim replied, almost as if she was surprised. She had not even been thinking about the dragon, but now that it had been brought up, she realized that it was back.
“Do you mind if I take a look?”
Kim did not object, even though she thought that was an odd request. Doctor Director lifted her eye-patch and examined Kim. She could see strange crimson lines traveling along Kim’s body almost like blood vessels, but the lines did not carry any blood. In a small area of Kim’s chest, close to her heart, there was a cluster of scarlet lines gathering together. They formed a familiar face and that was enough for Doctor Director to know that the dragon was back where it belonged and it seemed that Kim was going to be fine now. She put her eye-patch back in place.
“Can you see the dragon using the dragon eye?” Kim asked curiously.
“I’ve told you time and time again, you can see anything with the dragon eye,” Doctor Director answered.
“Um…they told me that Shego was sent on assignment. When’s she going to be back?” Kim asked, embarrassed to be making such an inquiry because everyone seemed so worried about her and all she really wanted to do was curl up with her mate.
“Soon,” Doctor Director promised the redhead. She figured that Shego would be back quickly if she was the one responsible for the dragon returning to the young agent.
“When will I get outta here?” Kim inquired.
“Soon,” Doctor Director repeated. She doubted that Kim was going to remain sick now that the dragon was back where it belonged and it was circulating her energy around her body. She should go back to normal, not that the boss knew how long that would take.
Kim nodded; she was happy to hear both of those. She could not wait to see Shego too, which did not take too long. Shego came in a couple of hours later and went straight to Kim rather than to get debriefed. Her heart hitched in her chest when she saw Kim sitting up in bed and talking with her family and Ron. She appeared to be totally fine and if the expressions on her guests’ faces meant anything, she was definitely out of the woods as far as sickness went. The tweebs were actually back to making fun of their sister since they were rather certain she was going to be fine.
Shego pretty much ignored the fact that Kim’s family and best friend were in the room as she entered. She stalked over to Kim and kissed the redhead passionately in front of everyone. She did not say a word, she did not acknowledge the occupants, she was just overjoyed to see her beloved was awake and there was some color back in her face. She did not pull away until the other people in the room cleared their throats collectively, informing her that the greeting was starting to get inappropriate and rude.
“Thanks goodness you’re all right,” Shego said to Kim in a delighted tone. “Is that giant gecko back where it belongs?” she inquired.
“Yeah. Why’s everyone so concerned about the dragon?” Kim wondered aloud.
“Never mind. It’s not important. The main thing is that you’re okay,” the raven-haired woman answered while gently caressing the side of Kim’s head. She leaned in and gave Kim a small peck on the mouth. Oh, lord, she was so happy that her lover was all right that she could just burst with joy.
“Why do I get the feeling I have you to thank for that?” Kim asked curiously, almost teasingly while looking at her “roommate.”
“Stop using the dragon eyes,” Shego ordered, knowing that was one of the reasons that the redhead knew about her involvement with the dragon.
Kim only laughed a bit; she could not help it if the dragon eyes saw more than she was supposed to. Shego sighed in relief; apparently, the dragon did just want to go home. Once she was assured that Kim was fine, Shego decided to go get her debriefing out of the way. She promised Kim that she would be back as soon as possible and she would go about springing Kim from the hospital, which made the redhead smile widely in appreciation.
When Shego was gone, Kim turned her attention back to her family and Ron. She went back to talking with them. They were so happy that she was feeling better and that she was breathing on her own. She was even sitting up on her own and smiling. It was hard to believe that a few hours ago doctors were marking her off as a corpse.
Doctor Director knew better than to keep Shego waiting on the debriefing. Shego had hardly been in the plain room for a minute before the leader of GJ entered. They both sat down at the table in the room.
“Okay, I’m going to give you this quick and just say that the report I gave you spells out everything that happened,” the pale female stated.
“I figured as much. Did you figure out why DNAmy was there, though?” Doctor Director inquired. She had read the report and she did have some questions thanks to it.
“I was going to ask you that,” the green-skinned agent countered. “Did your goats get her or Dementor?”
“Don’t call your fellow agents goats,” the brown-haired woman actually scolded her employee.
“Did they catch Dementor and Amy or not?” Shego inquired in an impatient tone. She did not feel like going back and forth with the boss at the moment. She just wanted to go and get back to her princess, assure herself that she had not imagined her time with the awake, healthy Kim.
“They didn’t. By the time they got there, the place was already self-destructing and Dementor and DNAmy already had gotten away,” Doctor Director answered.
“Do you at least know what they were doing together or what they wanted with the dragon?” Shego asked.
“We’re throwing around theories, none of which make sense. No one is sure how Dementor even managed to get the dragon out of Kim. With DNAmy being involved, they probably had some kind of scheme to take DNA from the dragon for copying purposes or something like that,” the boss deduced. She was not sure if something like that would work, though.
“Can they do that?” Shego inquired with a puzzled expression on her face. It sounded kind of impossible to her, but living the life that she did, she knew that nothing was as impossible as it sounded.
“I’ve been told that the dragon shouldn’t have DNA. It’s not a living creature like you, me, animals, plants, or anything like that,” Doctor Director explained.
“How do they know that?”
“They’ve only been studying the dragon since Kim was born,” the brown-haired woman replied with a deadpan expression. “Besides, I’ve looked at it enough with my dragon eye to know that it’s not living creature like you or me.”
“Okay, so what you’re telling me is that the people that almost killed Kim are still out there, have something that could easily almost kill her again, and we don’t even know what they wanted the dragon for?” Shego asked in disbelief. At least her beloved was alive and well, she reminded herself to ease away the discomfort brought on by those questions. It was not as much comfort as she hoped.
“Give us time. You know that.”
“I know that? They’re like ten steps ahead of us! We need to catch the hell up before they do something like this again or something worse!” the pale woman pointed out, pounding the table with her fist, breaking it with accidental ease. Her lover was at risk, almost died, so they needed to get on the ball already and get those villains into custody!
“Shego, calm the hell down! I’m on top of this, okay,” Doctor Director huffed, sounding just as heated as the emerald-eyed female. She was just as worried about what was going on and she was just as worried about Kim’s life being at stake again, not that she could or would say that aloud. She was not supposed to be as emotionally involved as she was when it came to her agents and work.
“Well, act like it and learn some goddamn thing already,” Shego countered.
“Give me time. I’ll find Dementor and Amy and find out what they were planning with the dragon. Just go home and take care of Kim,” the boss replied.
Shego decided not to argue with that, but she did have one last thing to say. “You tell me when you find them,” she ordered, her tone making it clear that it was command and not a request.
Doctor Director only nodded in agreement and Shego exited the room. Doctor Director was not sure where to begin on figuring out what DNAmy might be able to do with the dragon. She needed to know more about the nature of the dragon and what it was exactly since no matter how many times that she looked at the dragon with her gifted eye, she still was not sure exactly what the creature was. She was not too sure where she might get information on the creature either. She decided to investigate to see if their organization had had any experience with a dragon at all or if it really was just a legend or myth before Kim showed up.
Shego returned to Kim, who was just as happy to see her now as she was before. Shego did respect the others in the room and acknowledge them that time out. She also started working on getting Kim discharged. The doctors did want to keep Kim at least for the rest of the night to make sure that she was as fine as she seemed to be. Kim and Shego were not very much in favor of that idea, but the doctors Possible talked them into listening to the medical staff. But, come sunrise, Shego was taking her princess back home.
Next time: more on the dragon and if it was just a legend or if GJ had made its acquaintance before. Also, more of Dementor and DNAmy.