Josh sat in front of the laptop, skimming over its contents as Wade looked into it from a remote link through the Kimmunicator. They had been trying to unlock its mysteries, and only could manage to launch solitaire. Everything else on the computer was under some sort of password protection, one that had Wade running in circles trying to crack.
Needless to say the boy super-genius was frustrated with the machine and was plotting various things he’d like to do to it.
“Hey Wade…maybe the password is something more personal to Shego….” It was a bit of a long shot, but things like money and power weren’t the things Shego cared about. It was obvious the woman enjoyed such things, but she other things she cared about more in the world. Not to mention the password that kept them from finding anything had nothing to do with earthly goods.
Wade tapped his keyboard as he thought. He wasn’t really typing, just tapping his fingertips on the keys. The gentle rhythm was relaxing and helped him think. “You mean something like Kim…?”
Josh nodded, “Makes sense to me. Passwords are often secret, and it makes sense that she’d pick something that no one else would think of.”
Wade nodded, “It’d be a lot easier to figure out the password than decrypt her system. It’s got a level of encryption that makes me think of a Gordian Knot of code.”
“I have no idea what that is, but it sounds very cool and frustrating. So let’s start from the top…Know any of Shego’s pet names for Kim?” The idea was a long shot, but it was a good place to start.
“Well…there’s Kimmie.” It was obvious, but a perfect starting point in the list.
“Nope.” Josh shook his head.
“Pumpkin?”
“No good.” Again the head shook.
“Kitten?”
“I’m not sure I want to know…” Thrice his head shook.
“Shego uses it on Kim sometimes…”
“Do I want to know how you know this?” Josh’s curiosity was perked at the nickname.
“Shego was drunk and filmed some things.”
Josh raised an eyebrow, “For your sake I hope said things are innocent in nature, or else they’ll kill you. Anymore?”
“Eternal Mistress of Lust and Desire?”
“I’m going to go ahead and assume they forgot to hang-up properly one night?”
Wade smirked, “Something like that.”
“You need to get out more you little pervert….and nope…too long.”
“Wait…what’s the password limit?” Wade was tapping again.
“…Eight characters.”
Wade muttered to himself as he counted, “Princess.”
“You sound a little scary confident.” Josh typed it in, and to his surprise the system accepted it. “We’re good to go! You’re pretty good for a peeping tom.”
“And you’re pretty good for a daycare worker.”
Josh chuckled, “I love the young ones. They’re just so cute; unless they have pudding.” He shuddered a little as he spoke.
“I’ll take your word for it.” Wade looked disturbed by the thought of hyper little people anywhere near his person.
Josh continued to scan about the computer, casually poking at anything the password worked on, as Wade probed with his new access.
“Josh…I found something…”
“What is it?”
“Chat logs.” The folder popped up onto the screen as Wade provided them.
Josh clicked on the one dated most recently and skimmed through it, “Not good at all…looks like someone was a little off on who Drakken was after.”
Wade nodded, “Plus this computer has nothing to do with any of Drakken’s lairs.” The boy was silent as he looked at the address on his screen. “I don’t even think we’ve ever dealt with this location.”
Josh leaned back, running his fingers through his hair. “What if it’s not a lair?”
“That’s just crazy, Drakken always uses a lair. Even when he made his first Synthdrones, it was in a mobile lair.”
Josh held up a hand, “Think about it. He’s off his rocker, as you’ve put it, he’s trying to exact revenge, and he’s in hiding. Now if that was you, would you be in a lair?”
Wade was silent. For once in his life there was a chance he was wrong. He winced inside at the idea. “I see your point. I’ll dig up what I can on this address…The Pentagon won’t mind if I borrow a recon satellite or two for the job.”
“Just don’t get caught kid.”
Wade grinned, “Please. I don’t get caught. I love to make them chase themselves for a couple of extra hours after I leave the system. Hell I do it every weekend.”
Josh shook his head, “Remind me never to tell you where I bank.”
Shego sat down in her cell. She had to rest up for what she was going to do. If not the drain could put her into shock and her escape attempt would be useless.
She closed her eyes and began to work on clearing her mind and relaxing.
Kim…don’t come…it’s not safe…
Shego wasn’t sure if her silent prayer could be heard by her lover, but she hoped it was. For Kim’s sake.
Ron rubbed his wrist for what had to have been the twentieth time in ten minutes. It bothered him to see the design. It was hauntingly beautiful, but at the same time, it made him shiver when he saw it.
He hated it.
He hated it for being there. For taking away what was his source of strength. For making him weak. For making him human.
Hell, he even hated it for the simple pleasure of hating it.
And he hated Drakken for doing it most of all.
“Hey Ron…” Kim slid down on the stairs next to him. “You okay?”
“I’m fine Kim…you?”
“Good.”
There was a small silence between them as they avoided each other’s eyes.
“We’re both horrible liars aren’t we?” It was almost a whisper.
Kim nodded, “The worst.”
Ron ran his fingers over the design, trying to find some proof that it wasn’t in his skin; that it could just be taken back off again. “I hate this thing. I hate Drakken. But mostly I hate myself.”
“Ron…”
“No, Kim…I hate myself. I was strong, I could have stopped him. But I was cocky, and he pulled a fast one on me. I was prideful, and this bracer is my cross to bear because of it.”
“Ron…Stop. One more thing about hating yourself and I slap you.”
Ron looked hurt, but stopped.
“We can’t go blaming ourselves right now. We make mistakes because we’re human. We need to get up, dust ourselves off, and kick some ass doing it.”
Ron smiled weakly, “You’re just trying to make me feel better.”
“You did it for me all the time…about time I returned the favor.”
“Kim…do you think that we could have ever worked as a couple?”
“Hell no monkey boy. I’m sorry but male bits aren’t that appealing to me.” Kim tried not to make a face as she said it. It was a slight exaggeration of course. She didn’t like male bits at all. Males were nice, but their parts freaked her out a little.
Though that probably stemmed from being brain-switched with Ron. She mentally sighed as she remembered it. It was yet another of Drakken’s amazing failures. She pushed the thought away and looked over with a weak smile at Ron.
A lopsided grin crept onto Ron’s face, “Well some of us like them very much.”
“That’s because you’re a very strange little boy Stoppable.”
There was a moment of awkward silence.
“Kim…that sounded a lot like what Shego would say.”
Kim blushed, the red matching her hair. “I guess she’s rubbing off on me.”
“Don’t you mean rubbing you off?”
Kim smirked, “Not always…sometimes I do the rubbing.” She put on her best poker face as she smirked at him.
Ron was thoughtful for a moment, “Well I’d hope so. After all is she’s the only one doing any work all the time it’d get boring.” He had that smile. The smile that said he knew what he was talking about a lot better than he should of.
“Ron…let’s pretend that little conversation never happened…it’s getting creepy.”
Drakken checked the circuitry again. It was his fifth trial run on ten percent power, and the device kept shorting out.
“It has to be the low current…I designed this thing to run at maximum power and produce one good sized black hole…Granted it’s only temporary, but the Black Hole Generator is perfect…it’s artificially produced gravitational field will be so powerful that even Kim Possible can not escape!” He smiled to himself, yes, he just needed to replace the damaged parts, and it’d be ready, he was sure of it.
Now he just needed Kim Possible…and his…assistant and everything would be good.
Wade sighed, he had triple checked the address to the images the satellite fed back, and shook his head.
“I can’t believe it.”
The image was a small house and garage. It was nestled inside of gated community especially for people with shady pasts.
“I can’t believe it.” It was hard to get used to the thought that Drakken wasn’t hiding in a lair, and inside of a place where he would belong. But it was worse to realize the truth. He was wrong.
“Wade, what are you rambling about?”
It was Josh over the display on Wade’s desk.
“Nothing…nothing…” He started typing. He needed blueprints, phone taps, anything and everything that he could bring under his power. Shock for being wrong could come later. Right now it was the time for action.
“Drakken, it’s God calling. And you’ve been very naughty.” Wade smiled as things started to fall into place.
Author’s Notes: Short and VERY dialogue-y. Oh well. It bridges some stuff, and brings out the characters some more. Especially Wade, seeing as I avoid expanding on his character most of the time.
I’d like to point out I do seeing someone like Wade having a bit of a God-complex. Why? Because he creates, he destroys, he damned near omnipotent with his computer access, and he grants requests almost like prayers to the faithful the members of Team Possible that trust him so much.
Heck I’d have a God-complex in that situation.