And with that thought, Sheaghen, The First, went dark.
With Ron, Shego, Kim, and Sheaghen all gone off to do their stuff, Josh was left alone with Ko in the hotel suite.
He looked over at her to see that she was watching him from her seat by the balcony door. He sighed.
“I guess it's just you and me, Ko…”
“Yes.” Her face wasn't Stone anymore, but it was still blank. She simply didn't know what to think, and was trying not to think at all. It was very awkward for her, alone with an attractive – and interesting, as well – male. Her mental discipline was her refuge. If not for that, she might be tempted to do something… foolish…
Trying to think of how to make best use of himself, Josh thought about contacting Wade, but really, there was nothing new to input to the equations, nothing new Deep Blue could crunch on. He turned on the TV to watch the news. At least, if something did occur, he stood a chance of knowing about it. Depending on television news networks for actual relevant data was, of course, a mistake – he knew that – but his options were severely limited.
“Ron… is your lover?” Ko asked unexpectedly.
“Uh, yeah.” It occurred to Josh that anything he told Ko might end up in Lee's hands, that Lee might still have plans for Ko, and that whatever the case, Lee always thought several “patterns” ahead. Whatever he thought of Ko, the woman, he would still need to be wary of Ko, the tool.
“You're homosexual? Or are you bisexual…”
“Homosexual. As a three-dollar bill.”
“Pardon me?”
“Uh… sorry, that's an American expression. But yeah… homosexual.”
That was actually a sort of unwelcome relief for Ko. It could have been… interesting… sex with a man. She found herself wondering what it might be like.
Josh was feeling very uncomfortable. “Uhm… I'm gonna go pack up my stuff, in case I have to leave in a hurry or… something. You'll wait here?” Then he remembered – he was supposed to be her master - “I mean, you wait here.”
“Yes” was all she said.
Lee was in a hurry. He had a lot to do – today was a big day. All the preparation, in some cases years of it, had come down to this day. There were places he needed to be in order to ensure the correct timing of events. It still irked him, however, having to lose Ko like that. His spies had informed him that Team Possible – minus Ko – had left the hotel. The spies hadn't mentioned Josh.
So, harried for time as he was, he set his chopper down on the roof of the hotel. Maybe he could retrieve her. He used his Master Key-Card to open the door (he - or rather, one of his companies - owned the hotel) and saw her sitting there, alone, watching the news. Things were coming together SO well!
“Ko, your mission here is over. Come with me” was all he said. He didn't even look back after he turned for the door to see if she was following… but she was, of course.
Josh heard the door open from the bedroom of the suite and froze. Had Team Possible returned for him after all? Had they forgot something? And lastly, was that Team Possible at all?
He heard a man's voice tell Ko her mission was through, and for her to follow him, then he heard the door close.
Too quick. The man, and it had to be Lee, hadn't even asked her if she was alone. But Josh knew Lee was no amateur. He quickly went out to the balcony and swung over, onto the balcony underneath. Thank you Ron for teaching me parallel-bars! I'll BELIEVE you from now on when you say something might come in handy!
Ko hadn't mentioned Josh because she hadn't been asked, but it still hurt. She tried not to think about it, calling again upon her mental discipline. But this was tantamount to lying to Lee himself, and it HURT!
Only a few steps down the hall, Lee stopped and looked at Ko behind him. “Did the rest of them all go out?” he asked.
Ko was relieved to be able to say “No, Sir. Josh Mankey was left behind.”
“Why didn't you tell me?” Lee looked at Ko warily. It might have been his fault for not thinking to ask. Or, she might have been hiding that fact, unlikely as that was.
“You did not ask, Master.”
Ko forced herself to remember how elated she'd felt when Lee had opened the door, covering any other, later, feelings with those. She had felt elated! Lee's appearance meant an end to all the questions, awkward feelings, humiliations… it meant she could go back to Work at her Art, could do things she could be proud of, would have the opportunity to hone her skills even further. After all, she was still young, for a Slic. Think of all the things she could accomplish in the next decade! Think how pleased Lee would be with her!
Lee watched her face. He saw what He expected. No, she wasn't hiding anything, it was just that He had been too awed by the smoothness with which He'd retrieved such a valuable tool that He forgot, for a moment, to keep His mind on the situation at hand. Even Satan had lessons to learn. He was – by definition – not perfect.
But it didn't really matter. One member of the Team, more or less, stood only a fraction of a chance of interfering with the events He had planned for today. He would have liked to have met Mr. Mankey, perhaps a meeting would have given Him valuable information about the boy. But Ko was far more valuable than anything He could have learned, He was sure.
Once again, He was wrong. And on two counts this time, for a total of three, all together. Had Lee known, He would have abandoned the whole Plan and moved on.
“Okay, they're both clear of the waves… but Sheaghen seems to be losing a lot of blood… or goo, or whatever. Hope she'll be okay.” Ron said. Shego was too busy fighting the winds gusting around the platform to keep an eye on them.
“She's in good hands. The best, in fact.” Shego replied with confidence.
Ron looked at her slyly, “I don't think your experience with Kim's hands is the sort of thing -”
“Ron…”
“Shut-up. I know.”
“Right. So, where to?” Shego slid the chopper sideways away from the turbulent winds near the well-head.
“Well, there's lots of these little platforms around here… but there's a big one about two miles off, due west, almost. Two-seven-seven. See it? Map says it's a ‘habitation/gas-compressor platform’. Seems like it'd be a good place to be, if someone wanted to be close – but not too close – to the action.”
“Check. Big one, isn't it…”
“Freakin’ enormous!”
“You can say ‘fuck’ around me, Ron.”
“What if I don't want to?”
“Suit yourself.”
Pointed the right way, she glanced at Ron beside her. “I've been meaning to ask you… uh… have you had any… well, symptoms from when we… you know…”
Ron chuckled. “Last night, at the restaurant? I went to the ladies room.”
Shego smiled, “That all?”
“I wasn't finished. The worst part is: I didn't realize anything was wrong until after I was sitting down!”
That image made Shego laugh out loud.
“Yeah, laugh it up, Shego. Real funny,” he teased.
“Oh, cry me a river. At least when you sit down to pee it isn't a disaster.”
“… which means…?” Ron asked, unable - or unwilling - to make any connections.
“I mean that at two in the morning, this morning, I went to the bathroom and stood up!”
To his credit, Ron actually tried not to laugh. But soon he just couldn't help it.
Shego glanced at him, frowning. “Uh-huh. Well, we'll see who's laughing next week. You'd better hope it wears off more by then.”
“What happens next week?” Ron asked, genuinely curious.
“Next week, Pretty-Boy, we start our period.”
Ron stared at her in terror, “You don't think… I mean… we're not…”
“Be afraid, Ron” Shego said cryptically, “Be very afraid.”
He was.
A few minutes later, Ron said, “I hate leaving them back there… Sorry, I guess that goes without saying for you, too…”
“'S okay. You had to leave Josh behind, and look what happened” - Josh had informed them by Communicator about Lee's turning up and taking Ko - “So I didn't want to say anything. But yeah, I hate it too. Thanks.” She flew up to helipad level as they neared the oil-rig. “Gonna be a bumpy landing. And it looks like someone's home” Shego observed as the pad came into sight. Another helicopter – without corporate markings – was already tied down.
“Guess we all know who thatis” Ron said. The helicopter on the pad was solid, gleaming white, just like the Land Rover had been. “We'd better tie this thing down too… uh, if you can get us down.”
“You've walked away from all my landings so far. You threw up… but you did walk away.”
“ ‘All your landings so far’ is one, Shego!”
“So I'm 100 successful, as far as you know! Now hold on…”
“Be gentle with me?”
Shego giggled to herself. “Haven't heard thatin a while…”
The landing was bumpy indeed, but otherwise uneventful. Ron hopped out before the blades stopped turning to find the tie-downs. Shego locked the two-bladed rotor fore and aft, then tied it down, as well.
They stood at the top of the metal stairs looking over the rest of the platform.
“So… pick a box, Comrade” Shego said with a little frustration in her voice. All the buildings on the platform were simple, windowless, metal boxes of one size or another. They started down. As soon as they were below the helipad level, the wind was cut considerably.
“Your Communicator on? Loud?” Shego asked. Splitting up, as Kim had said to Sheaghen during the ride out, was a Bad Idea. But this was different, they would keep in touch using their Communicator's like walkie-talkies.
“Check.”
“Holler if you find something, right?”
“Oh, hey, what a good idea! I was just gonna -”
“Shut-up, Ron.” He said it right along with her.
“Jinx! You owe me a soda!” he added.
Kids… Shego thought, trying to hide her grin. They're all such kids. God help me, I love ‘em…
Ron took the the biggest box, the one under the helipad. He didn't know it was the habitation platform, filled with tiny metal-walled rooms, a few larger rooms lined with bunks for the rough-necks, a galley, and a kitchen. He was checking out the kitchen when he felt something, sort of like a chill. He got goose-bumps. He was getting close. Such large, well-lit empty spaces… it was kind of spooky, but he definitely felt he was close. Ahead of him was an un-painted, stainless-steel door. It lead to a walk-in refrigerator-freezer with more square-footage than his parent's entire house. Could Lee be in there? Looking for a snack? Or did he have something that needed refrigeration. He went in.
Racks and racks of food greeted him. Milk, veggies, cottage cheese in five-gallon buckets – everything one would find in the ‘fridge at home was there, only in massive quantities. Two entire racks were nothing but eggs. Another door beckoned at the far end of the last row. Probably the freezer, Ron thought. But really, why on earth would Lee be in the freezer? It was just so unlikely… and yet he had that feeling…
Ron wasn't “big on logic”, as Josh was, but he could have an insight once in a while. If Lee was close, but not in front of him… he's behind me! Shit!
Ron spun around fully expecting to see a red, goat-faced man with horns and an arrow-head on his tail standing behind him – but there was nothing. Maybe I'm just getting spooked. Let's get out of here.
The door was locked from the outside. Ron's feelings were right, but his deduction came a bit late. He flipped open his Communicator. “Shego! Shego! He's here! In the galley, he just locked me in the refrigerator!”
Static.
“Shego? Shego, are you listening?… Shego!”
Ron realized too late that radios didn't tend to work well when surrounded by a metal box. Kim was right. Un-planned split-ups are ALWAYS a bad idea! Dammit!
But it wasn't Lee that had locked him in – it was Ko. She was just following orders, as she always did.
Lee was in the compressor-room, ensuring everything had been done according to plan. He couldn't touch anything himself, of course. He knew how, he just couldn't, because that would be taking a direct action on the Earthly Plane, and that he could not do, anymore than a table-lamp can calculate fractions. It was simply not what he did.
He manipulated people to do such things for him. In this case, the foreman of the rig's compressors had been paid a paltry amount of money - $50,000 American – to make sure the cooling system interlock to the compressors was disabled “for maintenance”. Another worker, a lowly “oiler” in the Compressor Department, was paid $2,000 (Venezuelan) to leave the supply valve to the cooling-water tank shut. The cooling system leaked, as most liquid systems do, and when enough air got into the system, the cooling pumps would vapor-lock, and then the gas-compressors would overheat. Eventually they would become red-hot, then white-hot (they were driven by massive motors), and then melt.
The resulting explosion, catastrophic as it would be, would not be near the size of what his bomb on the nearby platform would create… but it would happen at the same time (which is why he was there in the first place), and the resulting confusion would keep suspicion off his trail. And onto China's. The poor oiler was Chinese. China had a motive, believing the Venezuelan Oil Minister had assassinated their Secretary of the Interior. Things were fitting together well. Lee was closer to opening the Fifth Seal than he had been since World War II.
That time, it had been the Japanese who had surprised him, attacking America. If he'd known, or even suspected, he could have stopped it. But he hadn't been paying attention to the tiny, resource-poor, island nation. That attack brought America into the war, and Lee's plan fell apart.
Shego made her way across the platform floor to one building that stood out from the others. It was small – only about the size of a mobile-home – but it was the only one painted orange. She figured, rightly, that there must be something important in there. Plus, it's door actually had a window in it, so some one important must work there, as well. But it wasn't until she got there and could read the tiny sign above the door that she saw the words “Compressor Emergency Control Station - CECS”.
It was located almost as far from the actual compressors as possible on the platform. That hadn't always been the case: a catastrophic rig explosion in the ‘70's had taken out all the gas production from the North Sea, due partially to the fact that the “CECS” was located right next to the compressors… so when a compressor exploded, it took out the CECS with it. It took the Norwegian Coast Guard days to put out the fire, and hundreds of lives were lost. But mostly, it cut off gas production that it shouldn't have, and that cost REAL money.
She stepped inside. Everything was on and running, apparently by remote-control - judging by the radio transceiver and computer next to it. I guess they don't want to shut this thing down unless they absolutely HAVE to, even if there's no one here, she thought. She looked at the bewildering panels of gauges, LED displays, knobs, buttons, and switches. No way she was going to figure out what was going on here…
Her Communicator beeped. Drakken informed her that Kim and Sheaghen had found a way to disable the remote-controlled bomb, and proceeded to tell her more than she needed to know about how cleverly he had set up her Communicator to set it off. She was to press the pound key. That would relay through the cell-phone circuits to Wade's computer, which would proceed to command the Defense Dept. satellite to fire it's neutron beam.
The only part of all that she cared about was “the pound key”. Press the pound key and the platform – the one Kim was standing on right now – would blow it's top off. She had to get them off of there! She turned to leave, thinking about how much time she might have to waste finding Ron. Kim was right, un-planned split-ups are ALWAYS a bad idea! Dammit!
Through the window she saw, coming down the staircase to the platform floor, Lee and Ko.
Lee had dressed for the occasion in a completely white suit, matching vest and slacks, silver watch-fob, cuff-links, the whole nine yards. White shoes and a white Panama hat completed the picture. With an appropriate mustache, he might have looked like a young Mark Twain. He looked… impressive.
Shego feared no man… but Lee wasn't a man. She feared Him. Panicking, she locked the door, then wedged a chair up against the knob. An Enemy was coming who's powers she didn't know, but had experience with, just the same. How safe could she possibly be if He was after her? He might be able to kill her just by thinking it, for all she knew. Shego had feared Lee before, but this time, it would be different. This time Lee knew that she was actively working against Him.
Lee saw his ex-employee in the CECS. This was bad, but not something he couldn't handle. Everything else was going SO well, all the pieces in place… all He really had to do was stall for time, and the Plan would handle itself. Ko would be killed, of course, as would He, but there were people lined up to be His host. You can't kill someone who doesn't exist. Not on the Earthly Plane, anyway. It was really the loss of Ko that would bother him. Then again, this particular Team would be removed, as well, so he would win anyway. Lee was all about winning.
Shego being inside the CECS was only a moderate danger. The remote-detonator for the fuel/air bomb bounced re-assuringly in his inside coat pocket. If he had to, he could do without the additional factor of the compressor explosion. But… there were still two Team members unaccounted for…
“Good afternoon, Shego. I believe you've met Ko?” Lee said from the other side of the explosion-proof glass. He hadn't even tried the doorknob.
“Lee” Shego said non-commitally. She glanced at Ko standing next to him, but her face was a blank. Blank or not, she held a gun in her hand.
“Fine weather we're having” Lee said, as the wind threatened to take his hat off. He turned to Ko, “Ko, see if you can find the other members of Shego's little group, would you?”
Ko left immediately without replying. “That's my girl”, Lee said after her.
Shego didn't say anything. It would be a mistake to get into word-play with Him, she knew. To play His game was to lose.
Lee remained standing there, apparently un-concerned with her silence.
He stood there like that for fully fifteen minutes, never moving a muscle, never even blinking, despite the wind. Shego began to feel dread.
Is he just distracting me?She turned away from him to check, as well as she could, the panels behind her. Nothing seemed out of place. What is he UP to!Shego had noticed the “Explosion Proof” stickers on the glass and walls of the CECS. Well, at least he can't just smash the glass and shoot me. On the other hand, dammit, I can't fight back with plasma-bolts from in here, either! Fuck! Where ARE you, Ron!
Finally, Lee spoke. “Shego, I'd like to make you a proposition.”
She forgot, in her dread and frustration, that talking to Him was dangerous in itself.
“You think I'd listen to you?”
“It doesn't seem to me that you have much else to do. Surely you realize, Shego, that despite what you may have heard, not everything I say is a lie. It would be difficult to get things done, if that were the case. For instance, did I not pay you as I said I would, during your employment with me?”
She didn't answer, but Lee paused as if she had.
“And did I not cure your girlfriend – Miss. … what was her name? - as I said I would?”
“Possible. Kim Poss -” Shego realized she was being played, but couldn't figure out why. Lee knew how important Kim was to her! He was partly responsible for it, according to Ron.
“Yes. Kim Possible. I take it you managed to explain your dalliance with Ko. I would have liked to have heard that. Would you like to hear my proposition, now?”
“There's not much point. But go ahead” Shego said, shaken by Lee's mention of her affair with Ko. She told herself that she was just stalling. It was actually the other way around, of course. But as long as Lee had to stall, He might as well try to tempt Shego back to Him. She'd been incredibly valuable, in His thief. And he was good at tempting.
“Come back to my employ. I can make it worth your while. You know I can, Shego.”
The idea was too preposterous for her to grasp.
“Here's what I can give you: money,of course, excitement, the love and respect of Kim Possible, and Ko besides. Oh, yes, I can fix that up with Ms. Possible. You know that. Think of it! A life of luxury, excitement, and fun for the three of you…”
He had used the same trigger Ko had implanted, and Shego couldn't help but re-live her thoughts of how badly she had wanted just that. But -
“And if the type of missions I put you on were too… hard… for you, I can find other things for you to steal. Missions without repercussions. Gold, jewels… the simple things that people attach so much value to. No need for you to have bad dreams. It could be fun, Shego. More even than you had under Drakken. Really, you always were wasted as his lackey. Surely you know that.”
Indeed, she did. She had stayed with Drakken far too long, sacrificing her reputation by working for such a loser. The only reason she stayed was… was to be close to Kim…
Lee let her simmer.
Eventually Ko returned, obviously without results. She resumed her place by his side.
Shego couldn't shake off the thought of the three of them, especially seeing Ko standing there. She remembered how Ko had made her feel. She remembered how incredible it was… how beautiful Ko was… She looked into Ko's dark, exotic eyes.
Ko looked back. Shego began breathing heavily as her excitement rose.
Then Ko looked slightly downward, while Shego was still entranced by her eyes. Down and to Shego's left, ever so slightly.
Is she looking at my breasts? Are my nipples showing? She automatically looked down at herself to check, glancing at her left side first.
There she saw the red swatch of color she'd added to her otherwise green and black bodysuit. A swatch of color she'd put there in a moment of romantic ecstasy. Kim's color. Lee's spell was broken, just like that, at the sight of it. Thoughts of Kim replaced the lust for Ko.
But Lee was not unaware of the non-verbal communication between Ko and Shego. It was just that sort of thing that gave Lee His true power over People.
Ko had betrayed him, by drawing the woman's attention to that patch of color on her suit. He turned to speak to his tool. Ko did not look back at him. She knew what was coming. But before Lee could speak, they all heard a fourth voice -
“I'VE BEEN WAITING A LONG TIME FOR THIS!!”
Ron stared down at them from the second-story landing of the stairway. His eyes actually glowed golden/brown/green – hazel – and he was holding a rough-hewn sword in one hand. Short and heavy, the sword shown un-naturally under the dull gray sky. He deftly climbed over the railing and jumped down to the platform floor, just thirty yards away from Lee and Shego.
Then he ran, sword held out in front, towards them. Shego watched, stupefied. That jump… hadn't been like Ron… And he didn't run like Ron, either. He wasn't running on the raised walkway, but rather straight across the junk-strewn floor of the rig, setting his feet on one pipe or bundle of cable, then another, with each one shifting as he put weight on it, yet he never lost his stride. That was not like Ron, at all!
Lee turned calmly around. “Soldier. We finally meet. This is an honor.” He turned to Ko, “If Shego steps out of that door, kill her.”
While Ko might be able to get away with subtle, slight, and ambiguous intrigue against Lee, she certainly could not ignore a direct order. She faced her former victim, and aimed at the door, ready to fire.
Ron was still fifteen yards away. Lee unhurriedly, walked over to a wall of vertical pipes – each a foot thick – and stepped behind them. His plan was unraveling a little… a little rough fringe around the edges. As yet, nothing to worry about. Besides, Lee did share one human trait – he enjoyed doing what he was good at. And he really was honored to finally meet The Soldier. The one human who should have known Lee's role in the world of Men, but, of course, didn't.
They never did understand, the People. Even The Soldier, so close to His heart, did not. Perhaps Lee should educate him. He had time. After the Fifth Seal was opened, the Soldier would not matter, anyway.
When Lee had walked casually out of Shego's field of view, she began to panic. She knew Lee would have the remote detonator on him… and now, she wouldn't be able to see when – or if – he tried to use it. She picked up her communicator, gripping it such that her index finger was on the all-important # key. By pressing it, she could save the day, save the world, probably save herself and Ron, even Ko… save everything. Everything except Kim. She would be killing Kim.
She should press it now. That was what she should do. Lee might be reaching for his detonator right now, and Kim would die anyway. So would she, Ron… probably hundreds of other people. Maybe thousands. If Lee set off his bomb, all their deaths would be on her head. And if she detonated that platform, Kim's would. Kim… Kim! What do I do? How can I “do the right thing” if it means… How? I never wanted to be a good-guy! I only did it for you! NOW what do I do? KIM!
What would YOU do?
In less time than it took to ask herself that, she knew, and pressed the horrible button, ending her lover's life, and her own happiness, forever. Because Kim… Kim would do the Right Thing, and expected her to do the same, regardless. The Right Thing was all that mattered. She could almost agree, now that she'd done it.
Almost, but not quite.
Shego fell to her knees, forgetting Lee, forgetting Ko, forgetting Ron. She was done. She'd done the last thing she would EVER do. Shego, Sara, whatever, she was finished. All her powers, her skills, her experience, all for nothing. Never even used for anything important. Unable to be used for what was MOST important… Useless. She sank to the floor and waited for whatever would come, not caring. Kim was dead, she had killed her. Nothing, NOTHING else mattered.
The Soldier stopped on the other side of the wall of pipes, staring at Lee. To come so close to fulfilling his purpose, the purpose of hundreds of lifetimes, and not be able to finish it was unbearable! He roared in frustration.
On the other side of the platform, in the Compressor Room, a third-stage cylinder glowed red.
Lee remained icy cool. “What have you learned, Soldier?” He sounded as if he were making small-talk over tea.
What used to be Ron only stared back, uncomprehending.
“I can wait for you to think about it, Soldier. Take your time.”
The part of The Soldier that was Ron Stoppable came to the forefront. “What?”
“I asked you what you'd learned, over the course of your lifetimes. Surely there must be something…” Lee inspected his fingernails, and straightened his hat.
“I've learned enough not to listen to you!” Ron answered angrily.
“Ah. Of course. I get that a lot. So, why is that, then?”
“Because you are Evil, Incarnate. In human form. Purely Evil.”
“So, I'm Evil.” Lee looked up from his nail-inspection. “And what, pray tell, is ‘Evil', exactly?”
“A word for something that can't be expressed in words. And even you won't try.”
“True enough” Lee responded, actually impressed. Apparently all those lifetimes hadn't been completely wasted. “But tell me – am I a part of Nature? Of the World? Or am I something else?”
“Something else.”
Lee couldn't very well check his pocket-watch for the time, but luckily, there was a yard-wide 24-hour clock hanging from the third story railing behind The Soldier. He had plenty of time.
Ron – or a part of him – caught Lee looking, but was too enraged and frustrated to care.
“So, we've established that I am not part of Nature. Tell me, then, what are the hallmarks of this ‘Evil’ you wish to destroy so badly.”
“You lie. You deceive and trick. That is what you are. People die.”
“Hmmm” Lee seemed to be thinking, but was in reality waiting for The Soldier to think, instead.
“Have you never lied?” Lee asked.
Ron didn't answer. Of course he had.
“Never deceived? Never ‘tricked’ anyone?”
“That's different” Ron said.
“Is it, now… ‘different’. ” Lee appeared almost amused, “I hadn't thought of it that way.”
“It's different because… I never stood to gain… that is, no one was ever hurt by…” The Soldier forced his own mouth to shut, before it said something else stupid.
“So, it seems you have acquired all the hallmarks of this ‘Evil’ yourself, have you not? And I am not a part of Nature, you say? Then, perhaps you are not either? One of your theorems must be mistaken, yes?”
“Mankind… is… part of… the World… We… we ARE a part of Nature!” The thoughts were not coming easy, to any of his various minds.
“Very good, Soldier. And so you see, finally, don't you, that I am part of YOU?”
The simple logic could not be denied, even by Ron. But… but it made no SENSE! Man was NOT evil on the scale of Satan!
“You want to destroy the world! THAT is why you're here! Why would any MAN, however evil, want to do that?”
The Soldier had finally come full-circle. And, amazingly, he still didn't get it. So few People had, though… only a handful in all of history. Such a waste. Reason, free-will, intelligence, all so wasted on them. Except for that handful.
The third-stage cylinder was glowing blue, now.
“Astounding. You still don't see? YOU, of all People? YOU, who have been in almost EXACTLY my position, and done EXACTLY the same thing, for EXACTLY the same reason? You still do not see me for what I am? You, who are the SAME as me?”
“I… I… how… same…?” A house of cards was about to fall.
“Yes, Soldier, YOU! When you shoved your sword into that man's body you WERE ME! WHY CAN'T YOU SEE THAT!”
ANYthing you can do to shorten a man's time on the Cross, was doing him a favor! Why can't they SEE THAT!
And fall they did. The Soldier's anger vanished as if had been turned off with a switch, and his sword vanished with it. This… this Lee, WAS him! WAS everyone! Was beyond good and evil… those had just been convenient labels to put on things no one understood. Nature contained no “evil”! Man was, regardless of his incredible ego, only a part of Nature! THERE WAS NO “EVIL”! There was only the World, and Man a part of it!
Lee was… was literally NOTHING!
The light faded from Ron's eyes, now brown again. The Others had left. He was, finally, on his own, for the first time in his life.
Shego! Ko! THEY weren't nothing! He turned his back on Lee, realizing how powerless He really was, to see Ko standing in front of the ECS container, pointing a gun at it. He walked over to her.
She'd been ordered to kill Shego. Not Ron. She didn't move. Ron simply picked the gun from her hand and threw it over the side of the platform. But where was Shego?
Looking in the window, Ron could see her huddled on the floor, head in her knees. But the door was locked, so he pounded on it. Behind her, on the panels, nothing seemed out of order, as far as he could tell. Shego got up puffy eyed and looking more forlorn than he'd ever seen her, even more than that night at Bueno Nacho. It was awful to see, and worse to see on her… He opened the door and went in, while Shego slumped on a chair in front of one of the panels.
“Shego? Shego, what's wrong?” He put a hand on her shoulder in an awkward attempt at comforting. But she was obviously beyond that.
“Kim. You don't know, do you? You didn't hear… I killed her Ron. Sheaghen too. I killed them.” She looked up at him, “Do what you have to, Ron. I'm finished ‘doing’ things.”
Finished doing things? He didn't ask how Shego had killed Kim and Sheaghen. She said she had, and he just believed it, in the same way and for the same reasons as Shego had followed his flight instructions over the Pacific Ocean. He didn't have to ask how, or why, or what for. He sat on another console's chair and stared at the panel.
The third-stage cylinder glowed white.
A clock on the panel said it was 7:42. Funny how time went on, without regard to the affairs of people. Funny things, clocks…
Lee had been watching the clock, too, he remembered. Why would He…
Ron jumped out of his chair. “Shego! Everything red! Push everything red! SHEGO!”
She looked over at him with utter apathy in her eyes.
“SHEGO! Snap out of it! We still have things to do!”
“You handle it Comrade” she said. Shego got up and walked out of the CECS. She leaned on the safety-rail at the edge of the platform.
Ron began frantically going from one console station to the next, pushing every red button, flipping every red switch, and turning every red knob he could find, hopefully to the “OFF” position. There were quite a lot of them. He would never know which one stopped the Compressors – he didn't even know the Compressors needed stopping. All he knew was that – unlike villains and mad scientists – engineers made things red to signify safety, not destruction. The Compressors shut down.
While Lee could not feel “elation”, He could feel satisfaction. Everything had turned out so incredibly well. He went to Ko and handed her the remote detonator transmitter. “Ko, push this button.” He'd heard Ron in the CECS trying to get Shego to shut everything down. It was a small matter, really, if the compressor didn't blow. The bomb still would.
And yet, the bomb didn't. Even in the now 45-knot wind, they would have heard it.
Something had gone wrong with The Plan.
Lee only sighed. Well, there were other Patterns to look after, other chores to do. And one final matter to take care of here, before he left.
“Ko, I'm very disappointed in you” he told her as he passed her on the way to the stairs.
Ko's hands flew to her temples and her mouth opened too far in a silent scream of agony. She fell to her knees as the pain knifed through her brain, the madness following closely behind. Lee left her there and headed for his helicopter. It would be tricky flying, and He might even perish in the attempt… only small matters. He had other Work to look after.
Ron had pushed his last button and was double-checking to make sure he didn't miss any, when Ko finally got enough breath to scream out loud. It made his blood quiver.
It was soul-wrenching enough to even get Shego's attention. Regardless of how sorry she felt for herself, it was impossible to ignore someone in that kind of pain. She and Ron met at Ko at the same time. They didn't know what had happened to her, but it was obviously her Conditioning causing it. They'd seen a taste of that before.
Shego was thinking, I should just zap her out, but she really, really, really didn't want to – the last two times she'd used that power she'd been sorry she had. Very sorry she had. She'd come to believe it was a cop-out, an easy way to handle people and situations she didn't like. She'd come to feel it was Bad. She needed Ron's approval, a witness, someone who might understand. She looked at Ron, and he looked back, but no words were spoken. She put a hand on Ko's head and flashed her.
The screaming mercifully stopped as Ko fell onto the aluminum walk-way. Still without speaking, Ron took her in his arms and began carrying her to the habitation building, leaving Shego standing there, her self-pity beginning to re-emerge. She went back to the safety-rail to look at the rolling water and try to remember everything she could about Kim, to burn it into her brain, to be sure she could never forget.
Ko's screams still echoed in her ears. Or… was it something else… No, she was hearing screams, barely audible above the wind. Where was it coming from? Beyond the platform?
The wind was carrying it. “SHEAGHEN, DON'T DO THIS!”
Kim! Shego jumped from the platform without even a thought.