As Kim flipped from the wire to the rooftop, landing in a crouch, she finally responded to the constantly changing emotions she was sensing from Shego.
She’d known right away that her rival had been watching her, and it had filled her with a little nervous apprehension. She could feel Shego’s eyes on her, judging her to see if she’d retained her crime-fighting technique and form, even after four years in retirement. The ripple of satisfied admiration that swept across her from behind had completely surprised her, causing her to misstep and fall from the wire, forcing her to use a trick she’d only learned a few months earlier.
Then, Shego’s admiration had leapt to an almost reverent respect, and Kim had heard her opponent’s quiet thought, which caused her to slip again. Perfect, am I? When did you become a fan of mine?
Kim stood slowly from her crouch as Shego’s thoughts drifted through her head. Wait – Shego was worried about me? She thought about the jolt of fear, the primal thought that she had sensed from Shego just as she slipped the first time. Shego had been frozen with horror at the sight of Kim toppling off the wire to her death in the street 6 floors below. Kim looked back across the street at her own apartment from her the building where she was supposed to meet Wade.
Shego wasn’t there, unsurprisingly, but Kim could sense the constantly changing mixture of confusion, anticipation, and excitement coming from somewhere close by. Kim closed her eyes again and tried to judge how long it should take to track down her opponent in this game of theirs.
But then Shego’s final thought whispered through her mind.
‘Just how much have my feelings for her changed?’
Kim looked back at her apartment building again. So that’s what this was about. Shego’s hatred for her hadn’t just faded – it had completely transformed, becoming something the raven-haired woman wasn’t sure she wanted to admit.
Not even to herself.
A small whirring noise from above her head broke into her thoughts, forcing her to turn away from her analysis of Shego’s thoughts and her own feelings. But I’ll get to the bottom of this before this night is through.
She looked up and watched a small hovercraft descending from the sky, landing in the space just beside the utility shed. It was about as long from nose to tail as Kim’s outstretched arms, and had a wingspan of a little over one metre. The main fuselage was a little over twenty centimetres wide and its two semi-circular wings each had three vertical-blowing rotors imbedded in their five centimetre-thick frames. The amazing machine hardly made any noise as it moved, and was painted a very dark shade of grey. Kim could see from where she stood that the craft would be very difficult to spot by any visual means as well as by many common RADAR detection systems, thanks to its size.
Stepping up to the tiny hovercraft, Kim watched as a panel towards the tail end slid to one side to reveal an LCD screen slightly bigger than her Kimmunicator. A line of static appeared, and then Wade’s face, lit by the glow from his half-a-dozen computer monitors. The young Central American teen wore an immense grin of satisfaction, and he seemed far more cheerful than normal. “Hey there, Kim. Do you like the ride? It’s a prototype reconnaissance drone I’d originally designed for the Canadian military. We’re still negotiating money though, so it’s still mine until further notice.”
Kim crouched down beside the hovercraft. “It’s spankin’, Wade, but I’d think you’d like to keep it for your own use.”
Wade sobered a little. “Yeah – that’s actually what the problem is with the negotiations. Personally, I’d be content to sell the plans for less as long as I get to keep the first generation model for my own personal use, but it’s not my call.”
Kim tilted her head to one side. Now that was odd. “‘Not your call’? What’s that supposed to mean, Wade? Since when did you take orders from anyone?”
He looked away for a moment. “You remember when you retired and Global Justice took over from you? They offered to keep you in the loop because of all your work, but you declined, wanting instead to completely retire. So, you don’t know what’s happened in the past four years. As soon as you were gone, Global Justice started to mutate. Doctor Director’s gone, and so is Will Du. They both retired without any apparent reason, and so did about a hundred other people who supported what you did. You should know that Global Justice has become a mafia of sorts. They don’t tolerate free-lancers like me anymore, so they threatened to shut me down unless I signed the contract they’d written up for me.”
Kim gasped, “And you gave in?” She could barely believe what the teenaged hacker was saying.
The fifteen-year old didn’t hesitate this time. “This is my passion, Kim. I don’t know what I’d do if I couldn’t design and build this stuff.” He looked at the computer monitors around him wildly. “They were going to shut me down! And there wouldn’t be any morals to stop them from storming my house this time.” He calmed just a little and his smile returned. “But, I managed to negotiate my contract a little into my favour.” He looked around his room. “You’ll notice I’m still in my old room, but GJ set me up in a lab of my own in their facility. One of the terms of my contract was that I would work and live in their facility for three weeks straight, locked in my lab, and then I get an entire week’s vacation outside the base. So, the first week of every month, I’m in my room busting my butt designing gear that I don’t have to give my superiors since I’m off the clock all week. Global Justice also assigned someone to replace you, and they made her my supervisor. She’s my liaison with Global Justice; my contract forces me to give her anything I come up with when I’m on the clock.”
Kim chuckled and shifted to a more comfortable position, sitting with her back against the steel-walled utility shed. She heard a soft whir and looked down to watch the small display screen turn to follow her movement. “So, there’s a new Kim Possible on the scene, is there? How is she?”
Wade snorted derisively. “She’s no Kim Possible. She doesn’t even treat me like an adult like you did – like you still do.”
“I doubt it’s escaped your notice, Wade, but you’re still in your teens. The new Kim doesn’t see any reason to treat you as an adult.” Kim hugged her knees to her chest and settled in for what promised to be a good long conversation spent catching up with one another.
Unfortunately, the dark-haired boy on the screen was still hung up on his own problem. “She could at least treat me like her equal; I was yours and you recognised that. But she acts like she owns me, or at least like she owns my life, which I suppose she does since my contract anchors me to her until GJ says differently.” He sighed wearily. “These weeks off are the only time I can get away from her. She doesn’t leave me alone when I’m on GJ property…always just barging in when I’m in the middle of a delicate experiment, turning on all the lights and disrupting everything. I’ve actually had to lock her out a few times, and then I get in trouble for it!” His voice rose just a little in his quiet anger. “I mean, my superiors seem to forget that they’ve got my entire lab wired so tight I can’t even sneeze without them catching the sound, wind-speed, and germ content. There’s nothing I can do there that they don’t see,” He paused, but not quite long enough to allow Kim to voice her thoughts on this new side to an apparently Justice-minded organization. “And trust me on this one, Kim – she’s nowhere near your calibre.”
Kim smiled at the praise, but a thought nagged at her. “Wade, I thought I put away all the villains, so what does New-Kim do for a job?” Kim thought about the few villains who had opted for retirement instead of imprisonment. “Monkey Fist didn’t come out of retirement, did he?”
Wade nodded quickly, “Yes he did, and so did a bunch of others too. A couple of the big ones escaped from Super-Alcatraz. I tried to warn Global, but who’s going to listen to a fifteen-year old? Aside from you I mean.” He took a sip from a large drink cup. “A few new guys have come out of the woodwork too. No sign of Shego ever since that accidental shot from the news chopper. And, I swear the new schemes are even worse than the old ones. Monkey Fist is still after Ron, whose control over Monkey Magic has grown quite a bit since you last talked to him.”
Kim arched an eyebrow at the boy. “And you know this…how?”
Wade grimaced, as if he hadn’t intended to let that slip. “He got roped into working for GJ too. I think it has something to do with his girlfriend and a fake police report that could put her in jail for life.”
“What?” Kim straightened. What the Hell was going on? The whole world had gone nuts it seemed. “What is going on with Global?”
Wade shook his head. “I’m telling you Kim – the longer I work for GJ and the more I find out about them, the more I’m regretting accepting your decision to retire. It seems like you’re the only one who stood in the way of the new Global Justice’s creation, despite the fact that neither of us even knew about the threat. You remember I told you both Doctor Director and Will Du were gone? Well, I didn’t mean they’d just resigned without a reason – I meant they’re gone, as in vanished on the face of the Earth. They’re nowhere! I’ve had to dig a little but I’ve found evidence that could implicate Global Justice employees in their disappearances.”
Kim was beyond stunned. “Are you serious?”
Wade nodded, and then glanced off to one side, looking away from his myriad collection of computer monitors. “I’m so sorry Kim, but I can’t talk for much longer. I’ll be back up and able to talk tomorrow, but this is the first time I’ve used my Scorpio encryption antenna, and it needs a little tweaking. Don’t worry; I anticipated this so I’ve explained everything on the data files in your new Kimmunicator.” He stabbed a button on his keyboard. It took a moment, but another panel on the hovercraft slid aside and a new jet-black Kimmunicator popped out of the revealed hole. “Just put your old one in the slot and I’ll recycle it. I’ve explained all the upgrades on more data files, as well as everything that’s been happening over the last four years. Oh, and one more thing,” Wade manipulated his keyboard some more, and the entire front thirty centimetres of the hovercraft split and lifted up like a mouth, revealing a rather large storage space for such a small craft. “Here are some new goodies. Everything is explained in your Kimmunicator. My advice – don’t use anything until you’ve seen the files for it. Now I’ve programmed the drone to return to me as soon as the Kimmunicator’s been removed, and your old one inserted in its place, so whenever you’re done, just send it on home.” Wade paused, his finger hovering above the key he always pressed when he ended a transmission. He looked a little embarrassed, if Kim was any judge. “Sorry again for cutting our talk short but you’ll understand if you get a chance to read my files.” He looked away for a moment. “And, I know what you’re thinking, Kim…you can’t blame yourself for letting something happen that was out of your control. If you’d stayed, I know you think you could have been a heroine forever, but we both know you needed to quit and follow your own dream.”
Kim laughed bitterly, mumbling under her breath, “and yet, I get the feeling I’m about to get dragged back in over this.” She could still remember the long talk she’d had with Shego in her apartment, and it was a little disturbing how comfortable it had been. It felt good, but a little disturbing.
“What was that?” Wade’s finger still hovered over his keyboard.
Kim shook her head, “nothing, Wade; just thinking. I’ll see you around.”
Wade nodded distractedly, his mind probably already focused on what he needed to do to “tweak” his Scorpio antenna. “Yeah, I’ll talk to you later.” The screen went dark.
After staring at the screen for a few seconds, Kim reached out with one hand and lifted the tail end of the hovercraft, causing several items to slide out of the front end and clatter to the rooftop she was on. Then, without hesitating, Kim pulled the black Kimmunicator out of the hovercraft’s other storage space, fishing around her pockets for her old one.
True to Wade’s word, as soon as she’d slid her old Kimmunicator into place, the cutting edge aircraft’s six rotors started back up. The nose end closed, and the two panels slid closed over her old Kimmunicator and the four-inch LCD screen. A few seconds later, with a slight change in pitch, the hovercraft rose into the air and zipped out of sight, leaving Kim alone on a rooftop with four years’ worth of upgrades.
Without taking the time to look at the new gadgets, Kim swept the entire pile into her green-and-black knapsack – there were a surprisingly small number of things on the roof, but Kim’s mind wasn’t on that any longer. She was thinking about everything she’d learned in the past five minutes. Whatever had happened to Global Justice, it had spooked Wade enough to bruise his eternally optimistic and independent spirit. During her years as a heroine, she’d turned down several dozen job offers from the worldwide crime-fighting organization, but Wade had turned down hundreds. Apparently, GJ had been in the market for more techies than agents, but Wade had turned them down every time.
Until now.
Kim shook her head. Wade’s right, she thought,I can’t blame myself for this mess; I washed my hands of that world. And as much as I find the current situation disgusting, I can’t do anything because I’m not Kim Possible-Heroine anymore. Of course, that could all change if I came out of retirement, but right now… She glanced at her watch. 10:10. I can think about that later. She stood and threw her bag around her shoulder.
After I’ve won Shego’s game.
I’m so not going to win Shego’s game.
Kim glanced at her watch for the fifth time in the past hour. 4:57 – dawn’s going to be here soon. She looked around one more time and then moved on down the street.
All night long, Kim had tried to track down her opponent in this hunt of theirs, but she hadn’t been able to catch anything more than the barest glimpse of the older woman’s flashy green bodysuit. The first few times she’d seen the briefest flash of that leather bodysuit, Kim had taken off to catch the super-villain before she could get away. Every time, however, the redhead would get to the corner or the window or the rooftop where she’d seen the swirl of colour and black-as-night hair only to find there was nothing. Wherever Shego was, she was good at this game.
And Kim was rapidly running out of time.
The most frustrating part of it was that she knew that Shego was close. She had become used to the older woman’s mind again – her unique “feel” – and had sensed her nearby all night long. Too bad for Kim, her telepathy had never been a very good compass. Shego could have been hiding behind a door and Kim wouldn’t know any more than that she was…close.
Eventually, Kim had given up chasing after every green shadow she caught a glimpse of, because there was only a slim chance that it was actually the wanted criminal she was searching for. On more than one occasion, Kim had come within a hair’s breadth of assaulting an innocent stranger in a green shirt or jacket. And let’s face it, she thought,she’s been in hiding for four years. What the Hell made me think I could beat her at a game of cat-and-mouse? The fact that I can beat her in a fight – most of the time? This right here is a different kind of game…and I’m afraid to say it but I’m losing. Either Kim was being too obvious in her hunting, or Shego had a few tricks of her own.
She had made it all the way downtown on foot, all the while sensing Shego just out of sight somewhere close by, so close it was infuriating that Kim couldn’t catch her. She considered using her elemental powers to give her an advantage, but realized almost immediately that it wasn’t her style. On missions, she’d only ever used her elemental gift when she needed to heal herself from injuries; anything more was cheating in her opinion.
Sighing with frustration, Kim turned down an alley and hunted for a fire escape. Making a running leap, she grabbed the bottom rung of the ladder and started climbing for the roof of the short-ish ten-story building she’d arbitrarily chosen to ascend.
Two minutes later, she stood alone on the featureless powder covered cement roof of the office building below her. She looked East to see the top edge of the sun just beginning to rise over Mount Royal, shining between several other distant buildings as it crested the horizon and ended the game Kim seemed to have never had a chance of winning.
“Damn,” she muttered.
Kim looked away from the sight when she realized that she wasn’t as disappointed as she should have been. If nothing else, losing to Shego would give her another chance to try and figure out the older woman’s mysterious change in heart – from pure, deluded hatred to an almost self-loathing guilt and attempt at friendship. Kim had spared little time in her hunt to make any theories about it, and now that the game was up, she found that she still couldn’t figure the super-thief out. What’s her real game, Kim wondered, moving to the centre of the roof and looking a little Northwest, back towards where her own apartment was, several hours’ walk distant. Shego’s up to something, but I can’t figure what it could possibly be. Is she trying to drive me insane? Prove once and for all that she’s the better one?
Sighing exasperatedly, Kim reached into her pocket and pulled out the card that Shego had given her back in the apartment and read the words off it. “Hmm,” she looked back up toward the rising sun. Pointe Claire village? What the Hell do I need to go there for? Finally, after thinking about it for a few minutes, Kim finally just hung her head, affecting an air of defeat despite the fact that she had the strange feeling that she’d actually won something. But what? “Alright, Shego – you win.”
“That’s something I’ve always wanted to hear you say.”
Kim wasn’t surprised by her quarry’s sudden appearance; she just turned slowly to face the night-haired woman with an amused smile. “I guess there never has been a clear winner in our fights.” She moved back to the edge of the building and sat down, sensing that her opponent didn’t quite want to leave yet. “Of course, I’ll always say that I won more often than not.” Her smile turned a little feral. “You always ran when things got too hot.”
Shego snorted, “Only because Drakken was getting beat by your sidekick and I needed to protect the bastard who signed my checks.” She stood on the edge of the roof beside Kim, staring down at her. “You’ll recall that I’ve gotten you tied up and captured often enough.” Her amused expression took some of the sting out of her taunt. “So,” Shego seemed to relax a little, “it looks like I win our little game.”
Kim glared at the confident villainess. “But you cheated – I was supposed to be chasing you – not the other way around.”
The black-and-green clad woman just smirked and tossed her long black hair over her shoulder, sitting down beside Kim with her legs dangling over the ten-story drop as if it was nothing new. “It’s not my fault you’re such a goody-two-shoes.” She turned her confident smirk on Kim, letting out a dark laugh. “If you want to win next time, you’ll just have to learn to fight dirty too.” She let out a quiet sigh as she turned to look out over the city from their high-ish vantage point.
Kim turned at the sound to look at the profile view she had of Shego’s face. What was that? A sigh – from Shego? This is getting a little weird. Shego’s dark forest green eyes had a faraway look to them, as if she were immersed very deep in thought. Then, realizing something, Kim leaned a touch forward so she could look more closely at her one-time rival, her eyes narrowing in concentration as she studied the familiar face. “Wasn’t your skin a lot paler in my apartment?” She sat back a bit. “And green?”
The older woman grinned suddenly and ran her black-gloved finger down her cheek, rubbing off a substantial amount of makeup. “I’m glad you noticed. This is how I’ve been avoiding detection from Global for so long.” She grabbed hold of her flowing black hair and pulled, yanking off what had – until now – appeared to be her real hair. “This helped too, as well as ditching the costume every once in a while.”
Kim stood and stepped back from the villain, studying her disguise.
Since she was still wearing her green-and-black bodysuit, the effect wasn’t very striking, but from the neck up, Shego looked nothing like Shego.
Her hair had been cut short, far higher than shoulder-length. She had barely any hair trailing down beyond mid-neck, revealing a large portion of her long neck all the way up to behind her ears. All around, her now cherry-red hair looked short enough to spike, a hairstyle that would do even more to draw attention away from her easily recognisable face. Shego’s new skin colour, a sort of rosy-peach colour, was good enough to look natural. It was apparently a product of several carefully applied layers of makeup. A set of pale blue contact lenses and three fake freckles on her right cheek completed her disguise.
All in all, each part added together to transform Shego into, well…not Shego.
Kim nodded slowly, a sly grin spreading across her face. “I’m impressed. With different clothes and a little gel, you could pass for an average University student.” Her eyes brightened as she looked at Shego’s hair again. “I like the colour.”
A tiny, knowing smirk appeared on the still seated woman’s face. “I thought you would.” Then, a strange look passed behind her eyes as she stood from her place, stretching out her back and arms. “Working solo is easy, simple, and damn boring, but like I said before – I don’t need a partner I can’t trust.” She glanced over at Kim.
This time the redhead caught the look, and it didn’t take long to see what her rival was getting at. “So that’s what this is about? Her eyes narrowed and her back stiffened, getting ready for a fight. “You’re trying to make me go villain, is that it?”
Shego didn’t seem to react at all to Kim’s questions, and instead turned her head to look at Kim eye-to-eye. “I won’t deny it – I think you’d make a great villain.” That strange look entered into her eyes again, but Kim wasn’t quick enough to identify the emotion behind that look. “Let me tell you, Kim, this life isn’t the most socially fulfilling – it’s lonely as Hell, and it’s starting to wear on me.” She glanced away for a moment before turning back to face the true redhead, her eyes blazing defiantly, confidently but with something vulnerable hidden behind it. “I’ll bet it wears on you too – I doubt you’re completely happy with the life of a retired heroine. You’ve only convinced yourself that you’re happy with the quiet life, just like I convinced myself that…” She trailed off uncertainly; then shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. What matters is that I could use a partner and a friend, and you’re the only person I know who can keep up with me, if not surpass me completely.”
Kim felt a strange tremor run up her spine at the unexpected praise. What’s going on, Shego? Who are you?
Shego was still talking. “You know,” she waved a hand vaguely, “someone to share the adventure with.” She turned her head away for a second. “But I’ll never make you take that step, Kim. The decision to join me or not is entirely in your hands.” She turned her face back to Kim. “Look, it’s not good for us to be seen together so I have to split. I may be disguised, but there’s always a chance with this bodysuit…” She turned her head from side to side, scanning the surrounding rooftops quickly. “If you want to hear what I have to say, meet me at my hotel room in an hour. I’m staying at the Holiday Inn across highway 40 from Fairview – not far from where you live actually,” she smirked again, cheering up the mood briefly. “I’m under the name of Teri Nordham.” Her smirk widened into that trademark Shego-grin. “If you’re not there in an hour, I’ll consider it a no and that will be the end of it.” She turned to go.
Kim watched her go for an instant. That’s the second person tonight who’s told me it’s not good to be associated with me – what’s going on?
“Wait.”
Kim found her hand moving, reaching out for the lightly disguised criminal. God, I can’t believe I’m doing this.
Shego stopped, and Kim was almost knocked over by the wave of amusement that washed out from her. “Someone is considering a fall to the dark side.” The woman’s voice was low, amused, and Kim could almost picture the wide grin she was probably wearing.
“If I were,” No sense leaving the door completelyopen, is there? “I have two questions.” Kim took one step closer to the woman and laid a hand on her shoulder to keep her there. “First, I’m downtown on foot. How am I supposed to get all the way back to the West Island in one hour? And second – and more importantly – if I were to accept this invitation, would I be your sidekick…or your equal?”
Shego didn’t turn, and Kim couldn’t sense anything at all in her mind – her telepathy was on the blink again, so she had absolutely no idea what her rival was thinking or feeling. “You know as well as I do that you play second to no one.” Shego spoke softly, sincerely. “You’re no one’s sidekick. But as for getting back to my place before the hour’s up,” Shego finally turned to face Kim, and her eyes were shining with that familiar mischievousness again. “You’re a clever girl – you’ll find a way.” She spun away from Kim’s hand on her shoulder. “See you in an hour, Kimmie.” She dashed for the far edge of the rooftop – the opposite side from the one that Kim had climbed up –, turned around and dropped off the edge.
Kim stood still for a moment, staring at the place where Shego’s face had been only an instant earlier. Did she just blow a kiss at me? She sighed and walked back to the fire escape, a plan of action already forming in her mind. “What could I have been thinking – playing this game with Shego?” She started down the iron fire escape, not caring whether she fell. She’d seen the rather deep puddle of water that covered a large portion of the alley floor. That much water – though dirty – would easily cure her enough for her to get to a more plentiful source, even after a fall from twelve floors up. Of course, it wouldhurt like a bitch, and it would take almost that entire puddle, but I’d walk away. Strange how these powers work, isn’t it?
Kim reached street level without incident, however, and simply dipped one finger into the puddle to heal the damage she’d done to herself by refusing to sleep all night. Those kinds of injuries were less than minor, but they were enough that Kim had felt her reflexes and alertness slowing. If she didn’t replenish her body’s drained resources, she was likely to drift off anywhere between here and Shego’s hotel.
Wouldn’t thatbe a great way to pass up this chance to hear her offer?
Alright, so there it is at last. Chapter 4.
Chapter 5 is about halfway typed now, so it should be out next Friday at the latest. Hopefully.