Mind, body, and Soul

Middleton Mall- Time Unknown- After The Battle.

“Mr Stoppable I find this all rather hard to swallow.” Doctor Director stood in the ruined hall of Middleton Mall and shook her head. “Are you telling me that this destruction was caused by Shego… but it wasn’t her fault?”

Ron sighed. This was the third time he had gone through events. Twice with the police and now with Doctor Director. Nodding, he pressed the coldpack to his shoulder even tighter. “Yeah, Shego’s been mind controlled. The real culprit is Kara Fang.”

“A woman who you claim works for the Blood Jade? This is the person you told me had taken Doctor Possible.” Doctor Director frowned. “I’ve been chasing a shadow, Ron Stoppable. The Jade don’t exist!”

“They do!” Ron snapped. “You think I ended up like this on my own? You think Kim’s been taken by Shego? Think again! Doctor Director, you have no idea what’s going on!”

“Ron San speaks the truth.” Yori looked up from bandaging her own wounds as the director of the GJ bristled at Ron’s tone. “We were attacked by Jade Ninja’s. They are highly trained, capable and deadly. Look, talk to some of them, you will see we speak the truth!”

“Oh, I see well enough!” The one eyed special agent waved a hand in annoyance. “All I’ve been able to find are dead Ninjas. Funnily enough, they refuse to back up your story, other than Middleton Mall was attacked by Shego and some henchmen! The security office has been trashed, green plasma scar marks on all the ruined equipment! The police want to know what’s been going on in here, and I have a clear answer. Shego attacked and kidnapped Kim Possible. The dead Ninja’s, people unable to talk, and the plasma scarred claw marks along the walls, a trademark of Ms. Shego, only back up her attacking the mall willingly!”

Ron blinked as his brain processed her first set of words. “Dead? But… they were alive! We knocked them out!”

Yori cursed in Japanese and shook her head, making the two people next to her glance across. “That is my oversight, Ron. The Jade, when they on a mission, do not leave people behind, alive. Those that fall take deadly poison, as we found out ourselves when they attacked the school. It is a bandaging of a wound to keep the rest secure. They would have ensured those alive but incapacitated were killed, while Ron and myself were kept busy by their still mobile colleagues. The Jade have no compassion, and are ruthless.”

“No markings, no signs that they’re Jade. In fact, they look a lot like you, my dear.” Yori rankled at her tone for a second, before calming herself. “This is all so hard to believe considering I have nothing to go on. And who are you anyway?” Doctor Director asked, scowling at the Ninja in front of her. “I’ve never seen you before!”

“She’s a friend!” Ron managed, wincing as the medic tending to him began to swab his head wounds with alcohol. “Jeez, take it easy!”

“Sorry Sir.”

“I could do with a Grande size Naco and a coffee the size of lake Michigan…” Sighing, Ron stared at the woman in front of him. Doctor Director gazed right back.

“I’m not making this up. Kara Fang exists, the Jade exists and we’ve all been sucker punched by them. The dead guys worked for her! Shego’s as much a victim as Kim! We have to find them both, and we can only do that if you start looking for Fang, not Drakken or Shego. All these dead guys are Jade, they have Kim and Shego, we need to rescue them… pure and simple.”

“I have to report this in first.” Doctor Director replied quietly. “Ron, listen to me. Even if Shego was not to blame, she has been involved in the chaos and injury of security guards. Until I find evidence to the contrary that she did this willingly, she’s our prime suspect. Not only for the Ninjas over there, but also Kim’s kidnapping. Hell, she’s got a history long enough to make anyone else looking at this situation think exactly what I am.”

“But she didn’t-“ Ron began, feeling his heart drop into his stomach. For the first time in his life, he was defending Shego.

“Ron… I’m sorry, very sorry. But I cannot keep chasing ghosts… for you, or for Ms. Possible. I will set Interpol and the FBI on full alert and notify as many others as I can. Kim is valuable to us, but the search will be geared on looking for Drakken and Shego, not the Jade.”

“But you won’t find Drakken cause he’s with Kara Fang and Shego is their prisoner, so fat chance of finding her!” Ron closed his eyes. He had failed to convince the woman who had access to resources that could help them track the actual culprits.

“Look, how many times.” Doctor Director sighed. “ If you keep talking about the Jade, it’ll wreck any reputation with the law enforcement agencies you have! They’re a myth, Ron. Nobody has ever found any evidence of them!”

“Yes… No evidence. Until today.” Yori muttered, suddenly looking thoughtful. “Even though you refuse to believe these dead Ninjas are part of the Blood Jade, it will doubtless upset some people who wish to remain hidden. I wonder how Kara will handle this… I doubt she intended to lose any men in this attack.”

“Yo, Doctor Director?” A familiar voice softly called across the hall, making Ron and the tall Director the GJ turn. “I’m an eyewitness! Well, the only one left conscious anyway. Ron’s right, a woman calling herself Fang shot Kim and yeah, Shego’s a victim too. She’s been turned into a damn Zombie!”

“Monique… you should already be heading towards the hospital!” Ron glowered at his friend. “You’ve got a hell of a set of burns on your back and arms. You don’t need to play the hero.”

Monique craned her neck up as she lay face down on a stretcher and frowned at Ron’s expression. As a medic gently played a spray canister, the liquid designed to protect the damaged skin and tissue, across her back she shifted. The African American woman winced slightly and then nodded at the two people staring at her.

“Yeah, I do. Kim’d never forgive me Ron. Look Doctor Director, Shego did this to me that’s true, but Ron’s right about the Jade and that she wasn’t doing it cause she wanted to. I know what Shego’s like… I’ve met her before, but this time? She was cold, emotionless… robotic. The Fang woman on the upper walkway gave her orders, and she did them. It was creepy!”

Monique shivered at the memory of Shego’s cold, emotionless eyes. She had met Shego once before, when she had been locking up her store and found the woman rummaging through a pile of clothing trying to find something specific. Thank god Kim had been scheduled to meet her before they went off to a movie.

She had managed to keep Shego at bay by waving the item she wanted, the only one left in the store, in front of her like a shield. To her surprise, it had worked and the emerald eyes, though irritated, had also been amused. When Kim had arrived, Shego had snatched the clothing, shot through a fire door and had sealed it with plasma before Kim could react.

But Monique always remembered the eyes, the way emotion swam clearly through them. The person who had grabbed her in the mall and burned her, that had not been Shego… because Monique had never seen such empty eyes.

“Miss Monique is right.” A female voice whispered the words quietly and Doctor Director blinked as a female security guard walked in from the ambulances outside. She supported a second guard, his face and body badly slashed with cuts, if the blood stains on his uniform were any sign of his injuries. “I’m Kimberley and this is David…”

“You should both be having medical attention.” Yori admonished, sighing as the woman grinned.

“Nah, We’re tough, right David?” The man nodded, though his face was pale. “We had to come and tell you… we both watched Kim Possible fight Ms. Shego. She was pleading with her to stop attacking, which Ms. Shego ignored, and then this Kara Fang woman appeared, gloated for a bit and then had this other woman appear on a hologram… I think she works at the hospital, and then because something went wrong, she began ranting.”

“Yeah.” David winced and Yori firmed her lips at the sight of the red stained bandages criss crossed over his body. “The crazy woman started screaming for Ms. Shego to destroy something… something that could cure her, right Kimberley? I kept fading in and out… she did say that, didn’t she?”

“Yeah, she did.” Kimberley gently placed a hand on the man’s shoulder.

“Hang on…” Doctor Director gazed thoughtfully at the two guards. “Are you sure she said ‘cure’?”

“Well… no. It wasn’t the mad woman with the gun.” Kimberley closed her eyes and licked her lips as she gently adjusted the sling around her arm. “No! It was the woman on this hologram thing. She told Kim Possible to grab whatever it was from Ms. Shego and cure the… the neenites in her head? Was it neenites?”

Monique groaned and glanced up from the stretcher again as she shook her head. “No… nooites… narnates… nanites? Yeah… yeah! Nanites! That was it. Kim’s mother said it was something to cure the nanites in Shego’s head! What the hell is a nanite?”

“Something very nasty and feasibly capable of taking over a human brain…” Doctor Director muttered her face pale as she glanced at Ron. “All right Mr Stoppable, I think I just got my evidence that Kara Fang exists and If she exists, the Jade exist…” Doctor Director shook her head and almost desperately glared at the guards. “Are you one hundred percent sure she said her name was Kara Fang?”

The two guards nodded and Monique groaned her agreement from the stretcher.

“Kara Fang… Kara Fang of the Blood Jade?” More nods from the five people around her made the woman sigh in defeat. “This can’t be right!”

“Well it is.” Ron muttered, suddenly feeling very tired of Doctor Director’s refusal to accept the truth. “She’s kidnapped Kim, has Shego mind controlled and, according to Shego before she was kidnapped, is one nasty piece of work. Considering who said that, I think Kara’s probably a worse psycho than even I think she is. We need to act!”

“I… I will inform the various authorities to start searching for anything that could remotely hint at the Blood Jade. But it’ll be like looking for a needle in a haystack.” Doctor Director closed her eyes and Ron glanced at Yori, who shrugged. The older woman ran a hand through her hair and gently touched her eye patch as she pondered her next move. ”How the hell have the Jade managed to remain undetected? I mean, I run the GJ… almost nothing escapes out networks notice.”

“At a wild guess… seen your brother recently?” Ron watched as the director of the GJ stiffened. “Because I’d lay ten to one odds that WEE has told them how to remain cloaked from the GJ, like he has.”

“I can see that, Mr Stoppable and it scares me. The next question is how do we proceed if we manage to find them? Kim Possible and Shego, if you are right about her, will both be in danger. How on earth are we going to stop Fang from killing them or using them as hostage? Needless to say how are we going to force our way into-“ Doctor Director broke off. “I’m getting ahead of myself. We’ve got to find them first.”

“That’s right. We find them first, then come up with a plan to rescue them.” Ron pulled out his RonCom and hit a button. “But I think Wade can help us with that, if you’ll let him have full access, not the usual limitations.”

The one eyed woman smiled. “Of course. I’ll give Mr Load full clearance as soon as I return to GJ headquarters. For now, I have a few calls and favours to ask. Mr Stoppable, Yori.”

As the Director of the GJ nodded at Ron and Yori and then walked off, pulling out her mobile phone, Ron frowned and shook his RonCom. “What the hell?”

“Ron? What is wrong?”

“Wade… he’s not answering my call. Wade? Wade come on man, I need to talk to you!”

While Ron cursed and fiddled with his communicator, Yori crouched close to Monique and gently touched her arm. The wounded woman turned her head and grinned weakly at the Ninja.

“Hey. I’ve been thinking. At least I know Shego didn’t mean it on a personal level. I’d hate to think she was still pissed off because I wanted her to pay retail.” Her smile faltered for a second and Yori squeezed her arm. “Ah hell Yori. My back… it’s bad, so the medic keeps telling me. They’re taking me to the burns unit as soon as a ambulance arrives. They… they say I may have a scar… a bad one. How can I face Kim being with Shego? I… I know it wasn’t her, not really. Her face was so… so blank. Like a damn zombie, from the movies. But if I see her again, will I hate her for what she’s done to me?”

Yori tilted her head. “That is your choice. However I would ask why you would hate Shego if you know she was not responsible for her actions. Would you blame Kim for hurting you this way if she were mind controlled?”

“No. No I wouldn’t.” Monique sighed. “Ah hell Yori. Look at my store, look at it.” She waved her hand at the smouldering building and the fire fighters around it. “My livelihood is ruined! I had fifteen of my own designs in that shop! All of them gone in a blink of an eye!”

“I doubt that Club Banana will blame you for this. How could it be your fault? I am sure they will ask you to take paid medical leave and rebuild the store while you recoup. From what Ron has told me, you are too valuable to them.”

The sudden slamming of a door made Yori glance up to see an ambulance team run into the Mall and begin to tend to the second batch of people who needed medical treatment. “It looks like help has arrived for you.”

“Thank god.” Monique sighed with relief. “I’m brave, but the painkillers they gave me aren’t working anymore. Look, Yori I need a favour.”

“A favour?” Yori smiled. “Anything.”

“Will you… will you let Wade know that I’m okay?” Monique flushed. “Please? He’s kinda got a crush on me… for god’s sake don’t tell Ron or Kim but-”

A sudden whining hum echoed into the mall and the three friends looked up, frowning and trying to locate the source of the noise. To their joint surprise, a familiar shape shot though the ruined window. Kim’s communicator hovered for a second, before hurtling towards Ron and landing with a clatter at his feet. Picking it up, Wade’s face flickered onto the screen.

“Ron, no time to explain, but open the sensor port of the Kimmunicator. Be careful with the vial inside, Kim allowed Shego to kidnap her to save it!”

Blinking, Ron gently snapped open one of the plastic compartments and frowned at the tiny bottle. Inside, he could see caked red. “What the hell is this?”

“Blood. It’s a blood sample. Kim wanted us to do something with it. Off the top of my head, it may contain Shego’s blood. We need to get it somewhere with top lab facilities and a high speed data link so I can tap in and work out what’s so important about it.”

“Well, I think Kim’s dad-“ Ron broke off as Wade shook his head.

“We need a biolab. Best ones I can think of are either at Middleton hospital or the GJ. We need to separate the blood sample into it’s component’s first. Red cells, white cells, platelets, and plasma… everything. Only then can I work out what’s so important and-”

Wade’s voice broke off as Ron walked over to where Yori kneeled in front of Monique. A choked gasp made Ron blink, and he realised that the sound had come from Wade himself. The young genius stared out from the Kimmunicator screen at Monique, a look of horrified worry on his face.

Monique winced at the tiny image of Wade’s face and smiled weakly. “Hey…”

“Hey? That’s the best you can do?” Wade’s voice was panicked and Ron frowned at his tone. “Look at you! You should be in a hospital! Not lying on a stretcher! Ron, make them take her somewhere that specialises in burns, right now!”

“Hey! I’m fine. Wade listen to me. I’m fine.” Monique sighed. “You always worry to much, I can’t even go out on my own without you panicking about me being abducted or assaulted.”

Ron frowned, wondering what was going on. Yori on the other hand smiled in understanding. As the Ninja shook her head in amused sympathy, Wade’s voice echoed tinnily around them.

“I can worry about you if I want to!” The tiny image of Wade leaned in close. “Look at what Shego did to you. I should have been there…. I should have-“

“Wade, you barely ever come out of your room, even with me. Besides, how were you to know that this Jade bunch would attack the mall?” Monique blinked as Ron, a sigh of realisation escaping him, passed the Kimmunicator silently to her. The injured woman gazed at Wade’s face and stroked the screen with a finger. “Wade, it’s not your fault this happened… You do know that Shego wasn’t to blame, right? It was-“

“I know exactly who was to blame!” Wade snapped the words. “I know it was this Fang woman and I’ll be dammed if she’ll win now! Ron, get that sample of blood to a lab and I’ll begin working right away.”

“Right, I’ll get Doctor Director to take us to their headquarters and start separating the sample.” Ron glanced across as someone coughed behind him. Turning, he stared at the shuffling medic and nodded. “Wade, Monique’s ride is here to take her to the hospital. I’ll let you know where they take her okay?”

“Fine, but hurry with that blood sample, Ron. The more time we waste here, the longer Fang has Kim, her mother and Shego!”

As Wade’s face vanished from the Kimmunicator, Ron glanced across to the blushing face of Monique. “Something you want to tell us?”

“No!” Monique blurted, flushing harder. “Nothing to tell… It’s harmless, he’s too young!”

At the moment…Ron thought quietly. He wished he were amused, but instead just nodded.

“Well, just remember that Kim doesn’t know yet. You’d better tell her when… when…” Ron broke off, looking away as the worry he felt for Kim swamped him.

“When you bring her back. When both of you do, I will. Now, go on! I’ll be fine and you need to work that hero thing you do!”

Breathing deeply for a few seconds, Ron nodded at Monique who smiled weakly and groaned with relief as the medics surrounded her, Ron waved at Yori and the two teens ran quickly outside. There, standing next to a troop transport helicopter stood Doctor Director, busy talking on her phone and typing one handed on a palmtop.

As Ron moved to ask for her help, he blinked in surprise as Yori’s hand slapped onto his shoulder. Turning, he noticed the young Ninja standing with a confused expression on her face.

“Yori? What’s the matter?”

“Ron… where is the car?” Yori turned her head left and right making Ron puzzled. The blond teen waved a hand at his rusting brown car a few metres away.

“It’s right there, Yori. There’s my car. You okay?”

“Not your car, Ron san. No… Kim’s car, Mara… where is Mara?”

Blinking, Ron realised that Yori, arms outstretched and facing him with a puzzled expression was right. The black clothed Ninja stood in the parking spot Ron knew Kim had parked the sports car. He remembered the way Mara had protested as Kim had left her outside. The AI had argued that she could be of help. The red-haired teen had shaken her head and had gone in with just himself and Yori. Now, where a blue sports car should have been, the parking space was empty.

“Um… I have no idea.” The sound of the helicopter blades whirring to life made him glance back to the GJ leader. Doctor Director had snapped her phone shut and was beginning to walk towards the transport. Making a decision, Ron began to run towards the older woman. “Yori, we’ll have to worry about that later! Right now, we have to get Doctor Director to help us. Come on!”

“Yes Ron San.” Yori cast one glance behind her as they dashed towards the director of the GJ.

Mara San, where are you?

---

Drakken’s Lair-Time unknown.

She lay there, in the dark, unable to move, hear or feel anything. Was she dead? If she was, then why was it so silent? Why was she still able to think and feel? Was this hell?

“Kimmie…”

A voice… one that she recognised, whispering through her mind ever so gently.

“Kim, come on. Wake up, Honey. What on earth did they pump into you?”

The voice again, and this time came recognition. It was her mother’s voice. Soft, soothing… safe. The darkness around her flickered suddenly, like a bad movie picture. Bursts of white light so painful it made her gasp. Around her, she could see odd shapes in the white light, twisting and flexing as she stared. What was happening?

“Kimberley Anne Possible, you wake up right now!” Her mother’s voice demanded, making her jump in shock.

As the adrenaline poured into her system Kim blinked, as the black and white twisting shapes stilled suddenly and colourful streamers shot across her vision. A sudden throbbing pain at the front of her head made her gasp and grit her teeth, as her memory swam back.

She remembered now. The feel of the cool glove on her forehead… the flash of plasma that skittered painfully across her skin, and then had shot into her flesh. It had hurt so much, only for everything to just… stop.

The beautiful face that had lain so close to hers as the plasma had slid into her brain hovered in front of her, and Kim felt herself quiver at the memory of how slack it had been. No laughter, no amusement… not even a sarcastic smile. The face had been, well… blank.

She remembered the emerald gaze that had, only a few days ago, sparkled with amused intelligence as black lips had slipped over her own. How those same eyes had gazed at her in the mall with… with nothing. Recognition, emotion, even the gleam of the challenge Kim had always posed her, had been missing.

“Shego…” Kim whispered, a pang shooting through her.

“Oh Honey, she’s not here. Now, come on Kimmie. Fight it! I need you just as much as she does right now!”

As the whisper of her mothers frightened voice echoed around her, Kim fought to regain consciousness, fighting against the invisible bonds of the drug that Kara had shot into her.

Shego… Mom… got to wake up!

With the adrenaline coursing through her system washing the drug away in a tidal wave of chemicals, Kim’s body stirred and the heroine began to wake.

With a groan, Kim’s eyes slid slowly open and she blinked at the sight of steel bars, a good two inches thick, barely a few centimetres away from her face. She realised she was lying on a steel cot of some sort, covered with a thin mattress and a tiny blanket. The pillow her head lay on could only be called that, she assumed, by the fact her head was resting on it and it sat on the mattress. Lump of stone was a better description.

As she rolled gently onto her back, hissing at the painfully bright clinical light that shone into her eyes from the strip-light in the roof, her stomach chose that moment to make itself known by giving her a bout of nausea that had her eyes widening in horror.

“Oh my…. Gonna, gonna… NO!”

Kim managed to roll of the bed and crawl on shivering hands and feet to the lavatory bowl that sat at the other end of the cell. Gripping the steel rim, her eyes staring into the blue liquid at the bottom with panic, she was hideously, violently, ill.

“It’s okay, Kimmie. It’s just the drug affecting your system. Get it all up, Sweetie.” Doctor Possible kneeled against the steel bars closest to her vomiting daughter and gripped the steel bars tightly. She murmured sympathetic noises through the bars until her daughter coughed and her shoulders stopped their heaving, stilling to a gentle shiver. “Kimmie?”

“Mom, I… I think I’m okay now.” Her daughter gently pushed her red hair away from her face and Doctor Possible felt her heart tremble with guilt at the green eyes that stared at her. “You okay mom? Did they hurt you when they cut the transmission?”

Her mother shifted, trying to hide a wince that had Kim’s blood run cold. “Nothing you need to worry about. I’m tougher that I look and they had no interest in… in doing anything else to me. Thankfully.”

Kim shivered, knowing exactly what her mother was quietly referring to. “But they did hurt you.”

“No worse than what Shego’s been receiving, even mind controlled.” Her mother sighed, shifting away so her daughter would miss the bruises on her ribs. “The poor girl.”

“I… I’m sorry, mom.” Kim blurted the words in a whisper, shame shooting through every pore at her mother’s tender gaze. “I wasn’t strong enough or fast enough to stop Fang. I… I couldn’t hurt Shego! Attacking me, it wasn’t her fault and I… I…”

You love her, right?The words trickled towards Doctor Possible’s lips, but she bit them back. Even now, she couldn’t believe it. Her daughter had never given any sign of liking women more than men. Josh and then that Eric person, who her daughter had vented at them about when she had discovered it was a synthdrone. Finally it had been Ron, and she had been happy that Kim had chosen such a… a nice boy.

But it hadn’t worked out, and now Kim had fallen or was falling for Shego, the quintessential bad girl, Doctor Possible knew.

Maybe it’s true what they say, opposites attract and you can’t get more opposite than Shego and Kimmie.

Still, even though Shego was smart mouthed, sarcastic and quite dark in her view of humanity and life in general, there was something that made her want to care for the pale green woman, a tiny spark of… need. Maybe it was a longing to be loved that she saw in Shego’s eyes. Besides, ever since Drew had dismissed Shego, the green thief had been almost, intriguing. Kim’s mother had to admit that having someone around who could make her daughter grin in a way she hadn’t seen since Kim and Ron had split up was too precious to interfere with.

Plus, it’s none of your business is it? She may be your daughter, but she’s nineteen now, and capable of making her own choices in life. Still, I have to hear this from her own lips and now’s a good a time as any… especially if they take her away from you and make her-

Her mother found it impossible to finish the thought as ice curled into her belly. It was her fault… hers. She should have been stronger somehow. Resisted Fang until her daughter could rescue her. Instead, what had she done? Completed a project that now threatened Kim’s and everyone else’s freedom, and helped Kara distract her daughter so that Shego could attack her.

“Kim, I’m sorry. Sorry for all of this.” Doctor Possible closed her eyes. “I helped them correct all of Drew’s mistakes in the Servus project. It can infect anyone now, even… even you. I’m sorry, so sorry! I should have stopped them… somehow!”

Kim blinked in shock as her mother curled herself into the corner and gazed at her with tearful eyes. How was any of this her fault? How could her mother have resisted Kara Fang? If Shego, one of the strongest people Kim knew, had become a mindless puppet, how the hell was her mother supposed to free herself? It was something that she was even still alive.

“Mom, this isn’t your fault.” Kim groaned as she pulled herself away from the stainless steel toilet and crawled across to the closest point on the bars, that separated them, from where her mother lay shivering on the floor. “Mom, look at me.”

Her mother’s eyes gently fixed onto her face and Kim sighed.

“All of this is not your fault. Any of it! There’s only one person who’s responsible for this, and that’s Kara Fang. Though I suppose you could say that Kara has partly succeeded because of me… I got you involved in this and I failed to be there for Shego when she reached out to me. Maybe there are two people who are to blame.”

Doctor Possible shook her head. “What? Kimmie, you saved her life! Kara Fang chose to do all this. How can you say you’re responsible?”

“The same way you can, by blaming myself for not being smart enough to predict the future.”

“I should have stopped them! I should have done something for you!” Doctor Possible bit her lip and her hands curled into tight fists. “God, I feel so guilty!”

Kim closed her eyes. “You want guilt, Mom? Well, if only I’d believed Shego when she came to me, if only I’d stayed with her and searched the lair for a while longer, instead of running when she kiss-“ Kim broke off quickly, flushing a deep scarlet as she cursed her runaway mouth. “Um, Mom? Look…”

“So it is true.” Doctor Possible whispered, glancing down. “What Shego told me, what Fang forced her to say to me was the truth after all. And I didn’t know. My mother’s instincts abandoned me…”

Kim’s face had gone pale, the blush vanishing as blood drained from the skin in a second. “She told you?”

“Told me is a bit strong for what happened, but yes, Shego told me how she felt about you. All because Fang wanted to hurt me of course. She did that by having Shego tell me that she kissed you, because I didn’t know. Because I was completely unaware that you were having feelings for Shego. I have no idea how painful that must have been for the poor woman, but I know how I felt…”

“Mom…” Kim whispered, swallowing. “I was gonna tell you, honest. But… it was so the drama I… it took me days to work out how I felt. Even now, I’m still surprised that I feel the way I do about her.”

“Why couldn’t you tell me?” Doctor Possible sighed. “I’m your mother and I could have helped you… or at least taken the weight off your shoulders. Been there for you!”

Not now… why now? What the hell am I supposed to say? What if Mom hates me? Damn you Fang!

“Mom, this isn’t the time.” Kim began, breaking off as her mother shook her head.

“It’s the perfect time, Kimmie. We may never get out of here alive and-“

“Don’t say that! This is a big sitch, yeah, but I’ve been in worse.” Kim closed her eyes. “We’ll escape… I promise. You, me and Shego… I won’t let any of us die or remain mind controlled while I’m breathing.”

“I want to believe that.” Her mother whispered. “But, Kimmie. This woman you’re going up against is mad, clinically insane. I… I worry that we may not escape. I have to know, just in case, I have to know why you never told me… why you wouldn’t let me help you.” The older woman bit her lip and hurt swam into her eyes. “Was it because you thought I wouldn’t understand? That I’d hate you?”

“No!” Kim flushed and slid down the bars to end up kneeling on the concrete. “I was scared, Mom. Scared of what you and dad would think of me. Do you know the horror stories I found on the Internet? The hundreds and hundreds of women who’ve been thrown out by parents who they thought loved them?”

“You thought your father or me would act that way?” Kim’s mother slid to her feet and quickly moved across to where her daughter lay kneeling on the cold floor. Her hands pushed their way through the metal bars and she stroked her child’s hair gently. “It’s a shock, yes. It still is one that I’m reeling from, and I have no idea how your father will take it.” Kim hunched further down. “But Kim, we love you. We love you with every fibre of who we are, your parents. Your father and I would never hurt you that way. We always wanted you to know who you were…”

Doctor Possible broke off and, with a sigh, slid down to stare at the floor. “You know… when you were born, I stared at the tiny little life I had created and made you a promise all those years ago. I promised you and myself that I would always let you go your own way, find yourself… accept it and move on. I was so proud when you became a cheerleader, so proud when you became class representative, and very, very proud when you chose to save others and fight evil. I… I…” She looked up and felt her heart tug at the sight of her daughters face, tears spilling down the soft skin. “I’m proud that you know who you are now, I always will be. If you want to love Shego, I’ll be proud of you then… I’ll even be proud of Shego for risking everything she is to kiss you.”

“Oh… Mom.” Kim whispered, touched. “I-“

The sound of sarcastic, slow clapping filled the room and both women turned to see Kara leaning against the doorjamb of the jail entrance, her hands the source of the noise.

As her two captives glared at her with hatred, Kara grinned with malice. “Oh, that was wonderful to see… True love between mother and daughter, even though her mother has found out Kim is a… what was it I heard someone be called on an American show? Ah… ‘Rug muncher.’ A most amusing description, Crude, yet accurate.”

Kim slid to her feet. “You… Where’s Shego!”

“Outside, Ms. Possible. Being a good little slave as she should be. Don’t worry, I am sure it will come naturally to you as well.” Pushing off from the door jamb, Kara wandered the short distance to the cells and ran her hand along the metal bars. “The actual reason I am here is more to do with your mother than you, Ms. Possible.”

“Leave my mother alone!” Kim’s voice had darkened and she almost snarled the words. “If you’re aiming to get me to the point of being enraged? Well, no big cause I’m already there!”

“I have already said I have nothing I wish to do to you now.” Kara paused and stared past the bars into the hard green eyes of her captive. “Though you may be interested to know that I am having my personal quarters prepped for a very interesting evening with you, Ms. Possible. Well… you and Shego.” Kara leaned in close and Kim stepped back at the crazed gleam in the oriental woman’s eyes. “I’m going to hurt Shego… by breaking you in front of her. So, as I said. We’ll be having fun tonight.”

“You’re mad…” Kim managed, realising how right her mother was. “Insane… even more insane than Drakken!”

“We shall see. Now, Doctor Possible.” Kara turned to the older woman and wagged a finger gently at her. “I am so, so very disappointed in you, Doctor. Here I was, thinking you would behave for me, and yet you hide a blood sample on Shego so that your daughter can ‘save’ her. I presume the washing and dressing were to ensure that the sample was never found. A shame, I should have seen this, as should Shia. I shall have to have… words with my sister.”

“Leave Shia out of this. It was my idea and I didn’t hear you complaining!” Kim’s mother stared at Kara with distaste, “Your sister had no idea, and nor did you. Leave her and my daughter alone!”

“I suppose what you have said is true and what interests me is that you, once again, jump to another’s defence. Your daughter I can understand… but my sister? Fascinating.” Kara shrugged. “You see Doctor, that is what I find so intriguing about you. I put you through some very intense and painful methods and yet you scream but do not crack. I hurt Shego… and you tell me everything. I wonder, it must be the altruistic side of you, the healer and carer. Absolutely fascinating.”

Sighing with amusement, Kara shrugged. “Now then, speaking of such matters, I am rather afraid that I’ll have to punish you for being a rebelling prisoner. Now, that leaves the question of what to do… I know that I shall obviously have to take a personal hand and-“

“Mistress?” Shia’s blond head gently peered around the door to the cells and she licked her lips, nervously. “I have an important message for you…”

“It had better be urgent, Shia… or I am going to be very displeased.”

“The Master of the Jade commands you make contact with him right now.” Shia swallowed. “He is waiting for you… now. He is very, very unhappy.”

For the first time, doctor Possible saw Kara blanch slightly. “I see… very well.”

Turning back to her prisoners, Kara scowled. “I suppose that we shall have to pick this up another…” A sly smile slid onto her face and Kara strode back to the doorway. Peering round it, the smile deepened. “Shego, come in here.”

“Yes Mistress Fang.” The familiar deep silk of Shego’s voice echoed around the cells and Kim closed her eyes at how emotionless it sounded. The sound of boots echoed in the hallway and the familiar cat suit, ripped and torn from their earlier battle, appeared around the doorway. Shego walked quietly, docilely into the cells and stood to attention in front of Kara.

“Shego…” Kim whispered, making her mother blink and tense.

Shego stared out of her body at the redheaded hero. “Kimmie, oh damn it. No! What the hell is Kara planning… what’s she up to?”

“Now, let us see… what can I do to punish you, Doctor? You tolerate any physical attack or torture on your own body, and you refuse to tell me anything or even suffer, as you should. It is no fun at all.” Kara’s smile gleamed in the stark neon lighting. “However, I look at my resources here with the eye of a professional torturer and something occurs to me.”

“What the-” Kim began.

“You see, Doctor. I have both your daughter, who you would do anything to protect from me, and I have her lover… who just so happens to be under my control.”

“Shego’s not my lover…” Kim whispered, wondering if she was lying or not.

“Thanks, Princess…”Shego found it hard to keep the bitter tone from her voice.“But I don’t think that’s what Kara means. She means you care about me, I think…”

“Now then… I have to ask myself what do I have to work with here? I want to teach you a lesson, Doctor. I want to make you obedient… to fear me. Now, that won’t happen if I hurt you…”

“Don’t you touchKim!” Doctor Possible snapped. “You touch her and I’ll-“

“Oh no… why on earth would I spoil tonight’s entertainment?” Kara grinned at the Doctors in-drawn breath. “Yes, you remember that I’m going to be entertaining Ms. Possible tonight… the same way I entertained you.”

“No… please, not my daughter! I-“

“Now, I cancause her distress however. Because causing Ms. Possible pain and suffering makes you suffer even more than she does. So, I then can only think of Shego, and how important she is to your daughter.”

Kim blanched even as her Mother gripped the bars. “You hurt her last time, isn’t that enough?”

“Oh, I’m not going to cause Shego harm, Doctor. No.” Kara turned to the green woman. “I’m going to ask her to do something very special for both you and your daughter. Something very special…”

“What are you…” Kim’s mother blinked at Kara strode up to the digital keypad on the huge lock of her cell and typed in a number. With a beep of an accepted code and the hiss of hydraulics, the door swung open.

“Now then… ready for a little show Ms. Possible?”

Kim blanched. “You’re going to have Shego hurt my Mom aren’t you! Well it won’t work, I know Shego is under your control and I-“

“Oh, you misunderstand.” Stepping back, Kara gently slapped the green woman on the back. “Shego, I want you to do the following. I want you to pretend that Doctor Possible is Kim, understand?”

“Yes Mistress Fang.” Shego replied, turning slightly to stare at the older redhead.

“What the hell?”Shego whispered, trapped in the dark.

“Now, I want you to go into that cell,” Kara glanced over and repressed a laugh as both daughter and mother realised where this was heading. “I want you to do all the things you’ve dreamed about doing to Kim… alone. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Mistress Fang.” Shego took a step forwards and her gloved hands slid to her suit zip. “Doctor Possible is Kim Possible and I must show Kim Possible what I want to do to her.”

“NO!” Shego blanched and helplessly watched as she strode into the cell, Kim’s mother backing away from her.“Kara… you sick fuck!”

With a quiet clank of metal, Kara shut the cell door and glanced across at the sweating, horrified teenager as she walked out of the room. “Enjoy the show, Kim San… or should I say, Princess?”

Laughing, Kara left the cells.

As her mother’s back slapped against the concrete wall of her cell, Kim ran across to the bars that separated her from her mother and gripped them as tightly as she could. Her muscles bunched futilely against the solid steel as she strained against them. Her green eyes widened as Shego moved smoothly towards her mother, face impassive. To Kim, the emotionless gaze horrified her and she felt herself tremble uncontrollably at the thought of what was about to happen.

“Shego… stop!” Kim managed, her voice cracking. “Oh god… stop, please!”

“Kimmie, do something! For the love of-“ Doctor Possible let out a shirk of fear as Shego’s hands slapped either side of her stomach, her gloved fists slamming against the wall. The green woman leaned closer and closer into her, trapping Kim’s mother. Even as Doctor Possible pushed with all her might against the strong muscles of the young woman pinning her, making her stumble back a step, Shego yanked one hand quickly away from the concrete wall and slid it around the older woman’s throat. Twisting her into position, Shego’s black lips lay close to Doctor Possible’s. Kim’s mother swallowed, coughing at the tight sensation around her neck and pawed at the green thief.

“Shego… please. I can’t… don’t!”

“You think I want to?”Shego’s voice echoed around the darkness of her mind, panicked and horrified as she watched her own hand gently slip off the wall to unzip her tunic, before caressing the Doctor’s face. The shiver and whimper from Kim’s mother made her stomach curl.“I can’t do anything! Oh god… I’m going to rape Kim’s mom while she watches… Kill me, for the love of god someone kill me before I do what my, no… Kimmie, I’m sorry!”

Her blood chilling rapidly to ice, Doctor Possible pushed hard against Shego’s body, flinching as her hands came into contact with warm skin rather than fabric. Shego staggered back one step and Kim’s mother desperately moved away from the wall. With the distinctive throb of displaced air, Shego’s hands ignited and Doctor Possible screamed in fear, backing quickly against the wall once more as the burning hands smashed either side of her face, pinning her.

“No… no… no…” She moaned, her eyes glazing over as terror overtook her. “Kimmie… Kim!”

“Mom! Shego… damn it!” Kim yanked against the bars of her cell, tears streaming down her face at the sight of the woman she was falling in love with, molesting her mother against her will. “Stop it! Shego! I’m Kim… me! You have to do that to me! Leave Mom alone! Here, I’m here! I’m Kim, me! Kim possible! For the love of god, LOOK AT ME!”

The green thief ignored the crying, frantic woman in the other cell and leaned closely to her mother. Her throat hoarse with the effort of screaming, Kim closed her eyes in horror as Shego’s lush black lips gently brushed against her mothers. Doctor Possible moaned in terrified reluctance as Shego kissed her.

“No! Oh god no… Shego… “ Kim collapsed, sobbing on the floor as her eyes stared, unable to look away. “No… no… Someone help us… stop this!”

Her eyes roamed the cell, desperate to find something, anything to break free, hell even to throw at Shego and knock her out. But her green eyes found nothing. The toilet and sink were bolted to the floor, the bed exactly the same and they were the only pieces of furniture in the cell. Desperate, Kim yanked off a shoe and threw it, the leather bouncing off Shego’s head. Again, the thief ignored her and Kim screamed impotently, rattling the door to her cell.

“I’m breaking out, Shego! You have to stop me!” The green woman ignored her. “Anyone! I’m going to break out and escape, you have to stop me!” Nobody came into the cells and Kim ran back to the bars separating her from the attack on the other side.

Coughing, Kim’s mother broke the kiss by violently turning her head away from the woman pinning her to the wall. She felt sick. The sudden weight of Shego’s body on hers made the redhead cry out and the sensation of a hand trailing across her stomach, tracing it’s outlines with gentle fingers reduced the clever woman to a panicking, terrified mess. Unable to help herself, Doctor Possible screamed the name of the one person who had shown her any decency in the lair, screamed her name loud and long.

“Shiaaaaaaaaaa! Help me… please! Shiaaaaaaaaaaaa!”

Her head suddenly slammed against the wall as Shego, whose fingers had been curling into the long red hair, gripped a handful and tugged her lips upwards and sideways once more. Doctor Possible could only watch, as the black lips came closer and closer.

“No…. Shia… help.” She managed, frozen in place while Kim stared in horror, helpless.“No… this is not happening! This is NOT happening to me! To us… Oh god, Kimmie… I’m gonna puke… Princess, I’m sorry, so damn uselessly fucking sorry!”

“No…” Kim whispered, staring as Shego leaned in close to kiss her mother once more, a leg slamming between her mothers thighs making Kim shake. “No…. Shego… Mom… oh god, Mom. Stop… Shego… stop! PLEASE!”

But the green woman, the woman Kim knew, there and then, that she loved, ignored her and Kim realised… she was helpless to stop it.

---

Outside Drakken's Lair- Late Afternoon.

The sunlight that shone onto the fields and dirt track around the base of the mountain that hid Drakken’s lair took on a golden tone, as the day slid gently into the afternoon. The air was quiet, Middleton being a few hours away, even by air. The highway that stretched into the distance, cars roaring along the tarmac as they headed to or from the city the only sign of civilisation for miles. Around the base of the mountain, sheep and cows grazed the grass of the fields and gently milled around ignorant of the huge base and hundreds of people inside it.

The laser cannons hidden in the scrub and rocks around the base gave them no heed, their operators and the computer that controlled them ignored the targets knowing they were harmless.

The dirt track that winded its way towards the mountain was scuffed with hundreds of tyre tracks. Anyone that passed and paid attention would have been amazed at how busy such a remote road would appear to be, especially when it headed towards a rocky mountain with nothing of interest.

A cow wandered along the dirt track now, heading towards a field that she knew contained sweeter grass. It was the only thought that ran though her head as she did so. The strange objects that often roared along the track, frightening her and her fellow cows normally only came out at night. As she could still see and the warmth of the glowing object above her heated her skin, she felt safe enough to wander along the track towards her goal. So, it came as rather a shock when her ambling bulk thumped into… nothing.

She felt a mild throbbing pain as her head smacked into something she could not see and her eyes slid left and right as she tried to make out what had blocked her path. Frightened, she mooed quietly, and pushed harder against the object.

“Hey… sod off!” A voice quietly whispered and she jumped. Something was speaking. The strange noises the same as the odd thing that came and tended her used. She continued to press against the air, wanting to get to her field. “Hey! Stop damn pushing! I said sod off!”

A sudden shocking pain ran through her body and frightened she ran off, letting out panicked moo’s. The space she had pressed against was quiet once again, and then an audible sniff was heard.

“Good, got rid of that annoyance… just hope these tossers didn’t see that.”

Mara had been parked on the dirt track for hours, her entire sensor net focused on the mountain, which is why she had not noticed the cow until it was too late. Still, one quick electric shock of her body plating and that had solved the little problem of the cow pressing against nothing.

Well, I think Creator Wade would be impressed by how perfect his refractive cloaking technology is. They really can’t see me… or at least I don’t think they can.

Mara had gone into silent running as soon as she had seen the two hoverpods she had been tracking vanish into the mountain. Her sensor net had seen the disguised hanger slide open and then shut for them, and she had screeched to a halt halfway along the dirt track and activated her photonic cloak. She had also gone into the technological equivalent of silent running. Her core had powered down to barely ten percent of it’s usual running and she had opened all her heat ducts and sinks to cool the remaining hot metal. All electromagnetic radiation from her computer systems was also being scrambled. She had to hope it was enough.

After all, I’ve been shot once already.The hole in her armour plating still hurt. Her robotic repair systems were trying to fix the damage, but it looked like it would be a job for Doctor Possible. I’ll show that bitch who shot me… She thinks she can stay hidden here, well guess again!

Mara had been sitting outside the mall, grumbling to herself as she watched Kim and her two friends storm into the building. Her sensors had watched Kim and Ron, the two people chipped by Wade, as they had fought their way past the Ninja’s that were guarding the entrances into the building. She had blinked as one of the dark clothed Ninja’s, much to her shock had shot through a double glazed window Ron appearing behind him and dusting his hands with satisfaction.

Then, then it had become worrying. There had been plasma thrown around, she knew because her sensor net had gone insane with each ball of it. Kim’s chip location had moved swiftly around the whole area of the mall and the source of the plasma, which Mara assumed was Shego, had followed it. Mara knew they had been fighting and was about to defy Kim’s orders and smash through the burning remains of the Club Banana store, when something had shocked her to the very core of her programming.

Kim’s vitals readings had suddenly flickered into alert. Blood pressure, heart rate, chemical balance had all gone insane, fluctuating wildly. To her shock, the redlining readings had plunged into danger zones, and she had realised then that Kim had been shot with something potent. A few minutes later, Kim’s chip had begun to move once more and Mara knew that it had to be Shego moving her, carrying her. Kim had filled her out on what had happened and the car realised, with mounting horror, that their mission to prevent Shego harming herself or anyone else had failed and that Kim had been captured.

She had been about to contact Ron and ask him to assist Kim while her own drive kicked and she hurtled towards the damaged store front, only to scream to a halt as two hoverpods had shot overhead and torn off into the night. Even as she watched and her tyres burned against the tarmac, the pods began to shimmer and vanish exactly in the same way she knew she could. They had a cloak, just like her.

“Oh no you don’t.” Mara had whispered, scanning the entire frequency band as her body screamed out of the car park, following the projected path of the flying vehicles. “Drakken, you’re nothing compared to Wade… there has to be, ah!”

The sensors in her roof had picked up a trail of rapidly decaying gravitons and Mara had roared into acceleration as she followed the trail and then the source of the emissions. Inside her cockpit, an unseen display had blinked suddenly. The words “standard drive-train” had flicked to a yellow display with the word “Pursuit”. Inside her engine, the fusion drive had bypassed her standard drive shaft, gears meshing smoothly to a sold titanium carbide spoke and mono carbon gears, and Mara had let her entire ferocious power cut into the new drive chain viciously.

Five minutes of frantic chase later and she had found herself burning at one hundred and fifteen miles an hour along the Middleton highway, dodging traffic while her sensor system tracked two high speed targets that only she could see.

She could admit, now, that she had felt excited. This was what she had been created for and why the people who had built her had gifted her with such technology. If Kim was to remain at the top of her game, she needed a car to do so. Mara was it.

So, she had roared along the highway, determined to keep up with her kidnapped owner as well as the people who had taken her, and had been enjoying the chase. That had been her mistake, much to her own shame.

To her surprise, and the two cop cars chasing her, one of the hoverpod’s had flickered and shimmered back into view. That had been a surprise, but what had been even more surprising was the red cat suited woman who had laid down on the vent for the hoverpod’s rocket engine and angled some sort of laser cannon at Mara’s speeding blue form.

The first shot, a beam of white energy, had slammed into the front of her engine compartment. Mara had screamed in cybernetic pain as the energy from the cannon slammed into the ceramic and tritium mesh of her body armour. The complex bonds absorbed and dissipated the energy as their layers succumbed and the final stream that managed to breach the final titanium layer was not strong enough to do more than heat the metal. Still, to Mara it had felt as though someone had been trying to bore a hole into her with a hot poker.

Still, that had been nothing to the cop car that had been targeted with the next shot. Before Mara could do anything, even warn them off in some way, the left hand police car had bounced, flipped careened into her as the energy beam ripped into the front of it, blasting through the metal like tissue paper and vaporising the steering system.

With a crunch of metal, the cop car had slammed into Mara’s left-hand side, making her careen across the road in a roar of protesting engine and a squeal of her tyres on the tarmac. Mara had found herself in a spin, careening across the divide in a cracking thunder of crumbling concrete as she smashed through the barrier. The cop car jammed against her side hit a lamppost and shredded itself. To her horror, she could only watch as the police inside were flung like ragdolls while she continued to spin helplessly.

Her sensors had shot her a sudden damage alert, which had made her curse in horror. The devices that could detect graviton pulses had been damaged and the only way she could track the pods was by a visual or thermal signature. Something she knew would vanish as soon as the pods cloaked once more.

A third blast of energy had shot past her and hit the second police car as it drove through the shredded concrete barrier in an attempt to stop the out of control car. Mara had wished she were human for a second, so she could close her eyes, as the beam ripped into the cabin, vaporising the police inside into a flaming mess. Mara had forced herself to focus on the hoverpod as the police car had fallen back, the occupants floating particles. She had known that the person who had fired the gun would cloak the pod now that she had managed to disable the people chasing her. Mara had known she had once chance to continue tracking it.

Even as she had fought to regain control and her own systems had blinked in cybernetic shock at the bus rapidly approaching her, Mara’s sole attention had been focused on the tiny remote droid that Doctor Porter had given to her as part of her contribution. It was a tiny droid, designed to perform recon work and also aid as a communications booster for Wade if the Kimmunicator was jammed, something Wade had been hoping for since Gill’s jamming attempts. Mara had known it was her one chance.

With a high speed blast of programming and the sound of its hatch just above her boot popping open, Mara had managed to launch her drone towards the hoverpod. The tiny spiderlike robot had roared towards the hovering machine on thrusters and Mara had sighed with relief as its limbs had made magnetic contact with the hull of the pod. Even as she had regained control and whipped past the bus with inches to spare, the hoverpod had shimmered into nothing.

The droid underneath the pod however began to transmit a VLF signal and Mara had sighed with relief. Carefully, she weaved her way around oncoming traffic, ignoring the blasts of horns as she did so, and found a hole in the barrier designed to let emergency vehicles have access to either side of the highway. On the right side of the highway once more, Mara had screamed into pursuit once more, her body shimmering into invisibility as she had torn after her targets, determined to avoid being shot once more.

“Well, here we are and I’m watching you all.” Mara whispered to herself. “Now, lets see how much of your interior I can discover using passive sensors.”

Mara knew that Kim was in there, her sensors had managed to pick up one final transmission of her biochip until it had been cut off by some sort of electrical shock. Now she did what she could for her owner and her friends. Mara had been instilled with as much knowledge as Doctor Freeman could provide and one such book had been on military tactics. She knew that knowledge was power in a situation like this.

And I’m going to make sure Ron and Yori have all the power they need to get Kim back. Kara Fang, you’re going to pay for stealing Kim and damaging my brand new bodywork!

---

Shia’s Room 2:30PM.

“I told you, I’m fine!” Doctor Possible managed as Shia steered her into her quarters. “I’ve already told you how grateful I am that you came in before Shego could… could do… anything. What else do you want? Begging?”

Shia motioned for the two Ninja’s who had helped escort Kim’s mother into her rooms to stand either side of the door as she closed it and turned to the pale figure. Even now, Shia could not believe that her own sister had ordered Shego to attack Doctor Possible in such a way, and worse she was now going against Kara’s intentions by stopping Shego.

The sight that had met her eyes as she had rushed into the jail cell drawn, from her usual patrol and checking on the guards, by the screams of Kim Possible and the whimpers of her mother had horrified her.

Shego had been trying to molest Kim Possible’s mother and for a few seconds, Shia could only stare in cold disbelief. The young heroine had been the one to shake her out of her shocked paralysis. Kim Possible had screamed at her to do something, to stop what was happening to her mother and Shia’s own morals had come forward without a second’s thought.

She had used her control remote without thinking of the consequences and had commanded Shego to stop and back away from the frightened older woman. Sheog had obeyed and Shia had unlocked the door to the cell without another thought. She had taken hold of the shaking woman and steered her out of the doorway, pressing her gently against the wall.

“Do not move!” She had whispered, receiving a nod.

Her next move had been to command Shego to enter Kim’s cell. The redhead had simply stared mutely, eyes glazed in shock, at Shego as she had come in. Shia had been expecting violence or even screamed abuse, but Kim had suddenly sighed and sat next to the green woman on the bunk, gently wrapping an arm around her.

“It’s okay, Shego… It wasn’t your fault.” The tears had come swiftly, and Kim’s hands had slid from the green woman and buried into her hair as she cried. “I’ll always remember that it wasn’t your fault.”

Shia had turned to see Kim’s mother reach up and run a trembling hand across her lips and them down to her ripped trousers. Her gaze had slid to Shego, sitting mutely next to the crying redhead and her own expression had been one of so many mixed emotions, Shia couldn’t even begin to work out how she must be feeling. She still managed to whisper a thank you to her, even though the Doctors voice was rough and unsteady.

For some reason, she had taken Doctor Possible by the arm and yanked her down the corridor, past surprised guards and even by Master Quia, heading for her quarters. Now she stood gazing at the calmer looking woman, a woman who discreetly covered the three-pronged rip in the fabric of her trousers that exposed her underwear.

This woman is made of steel, much like her daughter. How must that have felt? To have someone who is in love with your own daughter attack you in such a way… Even knowing that it was not her choice, not her will, it must still be hard, terribly hard. Shia sighed. So much strength and compassion in one person, no wonder there daughter is a hero… what else could she be? And why did my sister do this? What could it achieve?

“Did you bring me here just to stare at how ravished I appear?” Doctor Possible’s dry, ironic tone brought Shia back to the present. “Because if that’s all, I want to go back to my daughter and… and… Shego.”

Shia caught the pause, and for some reason swallowed.

“It was not her fault. You do understand that she could no more have… stopped what she was doing than a robot could.” The blond Ninja gazed at the Doctor and watched her cheeks redden. “It was not her fault.”

“Why do you care how I feel about what almost happened? Did you order my daughter’s lover to try and rape me? Did you!” The tone spiked with anger and Shia closed her eyes. “No you didn’t. But your sister did, and you let her get away with it! You let her do anything she wants to! Why?”

“I cannot go against her wishes…” Shia began, only to hear the snort of amusement echo behind her. “What I have done just now, I will pay for… I am certain.”

Kim’s mother heard the pause, the fear that slid into Shia’s tone for a second. To her own surprise, she found she wanted to calm the blond woman who stared out of the window, conflict written all over her face.

“What you did… I suppose proper, unhurried and un-gasping thanks are in order. So, thank you.”

Yet more thanks I do not deserve. Shia thought moodily as she watched her rescued prisoner tug at a ripped sleeve. What was Kara thinking? Where does that fit into the plan of taking over Shego and Kim Possible’s minds? What I saw in there was… it was pure evil! My sister couldn’t have ordered that… could she? More importantly, why did I stop it? Kara will hurt me for this, hurt me badly. Yet I find I do not care because it feels right and-

“Would you care for some tea?” Her voice, the words spoken, made her blink. What did I just say?

“I beg your pardon?” Doctor Possible sounded just as confused as Shia felt. “Did you just offer me tea?”

“Yes… yes I did.” Shia turned, and gazing at the ripped clothes grimaced. “Wait here, and know that the guards are still outside. So, do not try anything.”

“What are you-“

Shia moved smoothly across to her wardrobe and opened the door. With only a moments hesitation, she picked up a pair of trousers and a black top, her usual Blood Jade wear, and walked back to Kim’s mother.

“Here, you cannot keep trying to cover yourself up with those ripped clothes. It will make you feel more secure to have these on and I am sure it will calm your daughter as well.” Shia proffered the clothes to an astonished Possible. “There is a changing room through that door. I’ll make us tea.”

“Why are you doing this?” Doctor Possible whispered, confused. “Is this some sort of mental torture? Your sister is the bad cop and you, you’re the good cop?”

“No!” Shia closed her eyes once more. “I do this because what happened in there was wrong, it was wrong.”

“I see. Well, I want to talk to you, so I’ll play along.” Doctor Possible walked quietly into the changing room of Shia’s quarters and the blond woman watched her go.

Why did that phrase chill me to the bone?

Turning her attention to her tea set, Shia quietly picked up the box of English tea and opened it. It was one of her guilty pleasures that she preferred the robust flavour of English tea to Chinese. Though she was sure Yori and Sensei would disapprove of her tastes. In fact, the only person who had ever shared her taste in such things had been… Jasmine.

As she poured the hot water into the pot and inhaled the scent almost greedily, another thought slid into her mind. Kara never came for tea… she didn’t even apologise.

A sudden cough made her look around and steel her features into the cool gaze of a captor. A captor who now stared at a woman dressed in the clothing of a Blood Jade Ninja. Kim’s mother coughed again, and nodded at the blond woman, her arms clutching the bundle of her ripped and torn clothes.

“I feel a lot better, thank you.” She whispered, and tilted her head at the steam coming from the pot. “You really were serious, weren’t you, about the tea?”

“Yes, would you care for some? It would calm you down after your ordeal and I myself like calm prisoners, it makes it easier for all of us in the long run.” It was a weak excuse, Shia knew. But, for some reason, she wanted to talk. “So, do you take milk?”

“Yes.” Doctor Possible sat gingerly on a low seat and tilted her head. “I want to ask you right now. You stopped Shego from raping me, why won’t you help us escape?”

Shia concentrated on pouring the fragrant brew from her teapot into two china cups. “Because the difference in disobeying the two orders is huge. You should know that, Doctor.”

“No, I don’t.”

“Fine, let me spell it out.” Shia turned back and pressed the teacup into Doctor Possible’s hand and sipped her own as she settled opposite the redhead. “What I have done now, will mean Kara will more than likely punish me… I will be hurt, and it will probably last a few days, but I consider that a price I will pay for protecting my sister against herself. Ever since Shego and she met once more, Kara has been… different. As a Jade bodyguard I must ensure the mission succeeds, and that means stopping my sister from doing foolish things if they interfere with our goals. I am worried that if I had allowed what was going on in your cell to continue, Kara would have gained some measure of satisfaction and it would fuel her strange behaviour. So, I stopped it.”

“Is that the only reason?” Kim’s mother asked, and Shia sipped tea to hide a blush.

“Yes. Yes it was.” She whispered. “Now, I will be punished, but the fact I carried out my duty will help me cope with that. If I had let you all go or assisted in an escape, that betrays not only my sister but also the Jade. I would deserve nothing less than death. The Jade come first Doctor, in everything I do… even in a choice of life or death or… or love.”

Where did that come from? Shia thought, suddenly worried as the woman in front of her raised an eyebrow at the word. To cover up her slip, she pushed on.

“I am sorry about your daughter, but it is what will happen, what must happen for us to succeed. I will carry out that portion of my orders, but I will do my best to keep the conditions comfortable for you, your daughter and Shego until it is done. I also promise to keep you alive… even if it means keeping you safe as my own physician. I am willing to go to such lengths… there has been enough pain and suffering.”

“You say that, but you’re going to let Kara Fang take my daughter away from me.” Doctor Possible closed her eyes and felt a ball of ice form in her stomach. “You’re going to let that abomination I helped Drakken to make work, take my daughter away from me! Who on earth loved you enough so that you could betray them?”

Shia blinked, her blood freezing in shock and her fingers curled around her teacup. “What?”

“You heard.” Doctor Possible looked into Shia’s flustered face and her blue eyes were cold. “You said that even love wouldn’t stop you fulfilling a Blood Jade mission, so who’d you betray?”

“That is none of your business, Doctor.” Shia’s hands tightened further on the cup and she stared into the depths of the dark liquid. “None of your business at all.”

“She must have been someone very special to crack this cold crust of yours. Did she know that you were going to do what you did?”

“Be quiet…”

“She must have felt terrible when you betrayed her, I wonder if she sat up at night like I have for the past few days and wondered how someone so decent, someone she loved, could do such a thing, or let it happen.”

“BE SILENT!” Shia bellowed the words as her fingers caused the teacup to implode in a scattering of hot liquid and dark porcelain. She stared down at her fingers as blood oozed and mixed with the wet drops of tea and her breath heaved. “You know nothing about Jasmine and myself! I had a duty, a duty to the Jade! I had to do it, even if I didn’t want to… I didn’t cut off her finger, one of the others did and I couldn’t watch! I had to leave her, the school and everything I was enjoying to do my duty!”

Doctor Possible stared at her, speechless and Shia slid to her feet, feeling the pain pour into her arm from her damaged hand and her voice became so cold it chilled Kim’s mother.

“After all I have betrayed, another innocent person, corrupted by the group I work for, is nothing to me now. I cannot help you, not anymore… understand that and accept it. The only way your hopes for escape will ever happen is if someone stops my sister. But it will not be me… it cannot be me! I have a duty to perform and nothing must stop me from fulfilling that!”

“Even if your sister-“

“Yes! Even if she is insane!” Shia walked up to the older woman and gripped her arm tightly. “I like you. For everything that I am, I can respect you! But I cannot help you, and to keep asking me or using such slips of the tongue to attack me is not going to change my mind!”

“I understand.” Doctor Possible whispered. She pulled her hand away and nodded. “Thank you for the clothes and the tea, but I think I’d rather spend however much time I have left with my daughter, rather than a confused and conflicted woman who knows that what she does is wrong but can’t find the courage to leave.”

Shia scowled at her tone of voice and turned. “I agree. Guards!”

The doors to Shia’s room slid open and the two Ninja’s walked in. They paused at the sight of Shia’s bleeding hand and their hands slid to the blades behind them. Shia shook her head quickly.

“No, it was my fault I hurt my hand. Take Doctor Possible back to the cells, but lock her in the room with her daughter and Shego.”

“Bodyguard Shia? Mistress Fang has ordered that the prisoners are to be kept separate.”

Shia took a deep breath. “She counteracted her own order when she let Shego enter Doctor Possible’s cell. Do as I say, take this woman and place her in the cell with her daughter. I do not want to be disturbed by rioting prisoners and I think my sister does not want that while she is called by the Grand Master.” Shia watched the guards flinch. “I see you understand. Place them together but I want three guards to watch them in the room. That way we can stop them performing any escape attempt. Oh and if any of them fall ‘ill’ I want to be called first. Understood?”

“Yes, Bodyguard Shia!” The guards saluted and stood either side of Kim’s mother.

“Doctor, please go with these guards. I am… as I have told you before-“

“Sorry, yes I know.” Doctor Possible turned and walked to wards the open door, only to pause at the entrance and turn slightly. “Tell me Shia, when does apology become pointless and doing something… anything, is the only solution to the pain someone feels? I often ask that myself when patients want me to solve their problems and I can’t.”

Shia watched her go and she clenched her bleeding hand. She stared out of her window and watched the water lap in the lake. Unbidden, the memory of Jasmine assaulted her. The smell of her perfume, the way she laughed, even the way she took her tea. For the first time in her life, Shia found her duty was not the answer.

---

Middleton Space Labs- 4PM

“Well? Come on people!” Jonathan Possible stared at the group of scientists around him and tapped a hand on the desk they all sat next to. “I can’t believe we haven’t got an answer already! It’s been two hours since Wade sent us the isolated samples of Nanobot’s for us to examine. We need an answer!”

Dr Freeman sighed and shared a glance with Doctor Porter.

“Look, Jonathan. I know this is your daughter and wife we’re talking about but what can we do? This thing is hardwired and you know it. EMP is pointless, as they’re designed to resist anything like that. We can’t use a silicon disruption signal, as the things aren’t made out of silicon. Say that Porter and myself design bots to go in and try and prise them off, you know as well as I do that the last one we tried to nano-dissect exploded. Finally, you say that these things are in this girl, Shego’s, head and could probably be in your daughter and wife. Do you think that using anything like that is a good idea?”

“No. But that’s why I called us all here. Look at who’s around this table, some of the smartest minds on the planet.” Dr Possible scowled. “Now, are you telling me that all of us here, and Mr Load on the screen over there, can’t find a solution to Drakken’s work? This is doctor Drakken, Drew Lipskey! Four of us here watched him flunk out of university for crying out loud! We have to come up with a solution. We need to remove or disable them and we need to do it safely because this stuff ends up in the brain.”

“I think we could have a problem.” All eyes turned to the beautiful blond woman who played with her pen and stared down at the rotating diagram on her laptop. Doctor Porter had often been rejected and belittled due to her beauty, as people ignored her intelligence for her looks. As all eyes flicked to her and the room’s entire attention focused on what she was about to say, she shifted uncomfortably. “This… I recognise this design.”

“You do?” Wade, as always only present thanks to a television screen, frowned. “I have to say, you’ve got me stumped then…”

“This design is by Professor Malcolm Shrinkata. He was someone I admired until about two years ago, when he vanished from public view. Word is that he had been picked up by the military, due to his successes with biotechnology and nano-technology. The rumours suggested that he had been trying to develop implants for people who had lost organs and limbs.” The blond woman smiled and the men around the table shifted as she did so. “Look’s like the military thought it was a good idea.”

“So… you’re saying that this is one of his?” Dr Possible tapped the screen and Porter nodded.

“Yup. I’ll double check, but the use of nanotubules? That’s one of his specialities. Nobody else has even come close to working out how to use them so intricately yet. My work with Doctor Freeman on our own space based auto repair systems? Doesn’t even come close to Malcolm’s technology.”

“So what am I going to tell Ron and Yori?” Wade asked, worried. “They’re waiting for us to come up with a solution. If we can’t find one, how the heck are we going to save Kim and Doctor Possible?”

“Wade, please…” Doctor Possible clenched his fist and the young man fell silent. “I know that my wife’s freedom is at stake, as is my daughters. Heck, even that young green woman of Drew’s doesn’t deserve this. So, I agree we need to come up with a solution… but if we can’t remove it… them. How about disrupting them somehow?”

“Yeah… yeah!” Porter and Freeman both grinned as they both said the words in tandem and Dr Possible tilted his head.

“Well?”

“These nanites, we know that their memory core is small right?” Freeman held up a hand and held his thumb and forefinger slightly apart. “There’s not enough room for a complicated program right?”

“Okay, I’m following so far. Everyone else?” Nods around the table made Doctor Possible smile. ““Okay we seem to all follow you so far, keep going.”

“Well, if they have such a small storage capacity, then how can such a complicated program like an adaptive control network be stored in there? We know that these things don’t have a remote storage module… so all the programming must be held in the nanties themselves. That means they have to be communicating in a hardwired sequence and that leaves an interesting possibility.”

“Doctor Freeman is right.” Doctor Porter leaned forwards, a grin on her face. “These bots have a small transmission system built into their structure. If we disrupt the network, then they can’t function and the mind control program would break down.”

“Well, looks like we have our solution then. How long until we have a workable solution?” Doctor Possible asked, sitting back in his chair with relief.

Thank god. Honey, Kimmiecub, you’re both going to be okay.

“Well, I’ll need doctor Freeman’s help to confirm our suspicions by helping me download the memory of a bot… I have some nanowire based connection technology that I use for reprogramming the Lance system. Shouldn’t be too hard to rewire it. Of course, positioning the wires for connection will be impossible for a human.”

“Not a problem, Darleen can handle that.” Doctor Freeman grinned and patted his laptop, whose lid had remained closed through the whole discussion. “She’s been a bit temperamental and bored lately, this will pick her right up.”

“Cool. Right, once we have confirmed that they do contact each other for communication, the next step will be locking the signal down. Once we have that, we can jam the signal… though there we’ll hit another snag…”

“Such as?” Doctor Possible muttered, his heart sinking slightly at Porters tone.

“The pulse that needs to knock out something like this needs to be powerful enough and localised enough to work. If we use a massively powerful pulse, there’s a chance we could have feedback and the nanites will implode. We know what that means,” As Doctor Porter looked around the room, she knew everyone did. “So, it can’t be too powerful a pulse… it has to self regulate. Now, nor can it be too large, as there’s a very good chance it would interfere with other technology.”

“Why is that a problem?” A scientist in the back of the room asked.

“Because Drakken usually has technology that I wouldn’t call stable at the best of times.” Doctor Possible muttered. “Death rays, explosives… I think a fusion reactor, in some places, powers his lair. If the pulse interfered with the control mechanisms for those…” Again the room was silent as everyone worked out the consequences.

“So what do we do?” Doctor Freeman asked. The cough from the monitor made everyone turn and Wade’s face flushed as all eyes turned to him.

“I think I have the perfect device to act as a pulse generator. The problem is I have little experience designing such a small pulse generator that will fit into it.” Wade sighed. “I’m thinking that the RonCom or Kimmunicator would be perfect to act as a generator and modulator. The cells inside the latest version have enough juice to power a human sized field for two hours. As well as this, its sensor system is perfect for modulating strength and size. But then we hit a snag.”

“Another?” Doctor Possible sighed. “What?”

“As I’ve said, I have no experience in designing such a generator. But I know some people who do…” Wade swallowed, nervous as Doctor Possible stared at him.

“Who?”

“Um… Jim and Tim.” Even as the words left his mouth, Wade winced at the look of shocked disbelief Doctor Possible and the entire science team gave him.

“You have got to be joking? You mean Jonathan’s boy’s can-“ Doctor Freeman began, only for wade to cut him off.

“The last time Drakken tried to use mind control, it was only thanks to Jim and Tim that their sister and Shego didn’t remain under his control.” Wade watched as Kim’s father scowled and knew that nobody had told him about the event. “They had designed a tiny handheld version of a silicon disrupter… so I think they’d have a far better idea how to design a pulse generator into the RonCom.”

“Are you suggesting we trust Jonathan’s daughter and wife to his younger sons?” Doctor Porter asked, worry tingeing her voice.

“Yes… and we will.” Doctor Possible stood up and a look of determination slid over his face. “Nothing’s impossible for a Possible. Wade, tell them I’m coming to pick them up and the rest of you, let’s get busy… I want us ready as soon as Ron calls if not sooner. He’s looking for my daughter and wife as we speak, and I’ll be dammed if I’m going to let him down when he finds them.”

---

Kara Fang’s Personal Quarters- 6PM.

Kim Possible groaned, and her eyes flickered as the young redhead awoke from unconsciousness. As her eyes opened and the green gaze took in the darkly lit surroundings, she could only wince at the strange sensations across her entire body. What had happened?

“Ah, you are awake. I was assured that this aerosol knockout gas would perform as I wished. I see it has done. Yet another invention of Doctor Drakken’s that is beneficial to me.” The voice that echoed around her wavering head was familiar, but trying to remember who was like trying to think through cotton wool. “I do apologise for knocking you out, Miss Possible, but I really had no patience for any last minute heroics. I find them tiresome.”

Kim blinked as the feeling came back to her arms and legs, a groan escaping her as she wished it hadn’t. Her head tilted up and she muzzily took in the clamps that gripped her limbs tightly, stretching her body like a bowstring in the middle of what seemed to be a huge silver circle. She tugged on the clamps and bit her lip. They held her tightly, no escape.

“Now, let me see. I want to enjoy this so do I have white wine or red?” The voice again, amused by something. “I think red again, I love the colour and the taste. Shego, pour me a glass, now.”

“Yes Mistress Fang.”

Fang! That was her name! Kara Fang! Kim blinked as her mind cleared and she gazed around the quarters of her captor with determined green eyes.

The first thing that struck her was how dark the room was. Not just because the main lights had been turned off and the only light that spilled across her and the other objects and people in there was from uplighters along the walls and the crackling fire. No, it was dark because the walls had been painted a dark red, the colour of dried blood. Kim swallowed in distaste and her eyes glanced down to take in the black carpet. Someone disliked bright spaces and she looked up into the amused and cold eyes of that person.

Kara Fang sat delicately in the same black lacquered chair that she had used when Shego and Doctor Possible had been manacled to the silvery circle in front of her. This time she had decided to dress in her red Kimono, more to amuse herself by matching her prisoners hair and eye colour than for any practical reason. Now, long legs crossed as she gazed at the young woman bound helplessly before her, she smiled.

“I suppose you’re worried about your clothing?” She smiled as Kim glance down and blinked in shock. The young woman was wearing a white shift and nothing else, just like Shego had. “You may recall that someone not a million miles away wore the same thing. Yes? You remember, she fell into your arms at the front door.”

Kim swallowed. She remembered very well, and her eyes flicked to the quiet form of Shego standing obediently to attention. The green cat suit shimmered in the firelight and Kim could feel her heart hammer ever so slightly faster, as the emerald eyes dully reflected the flickering yellow glow.

Shego…

“Well, I’ve had you dressed in the same way because I find it tiresome to constantly try and get clothing out of the way, although I will confess to enjoying the sight of someone from the medical profession experiencing the other side, if you will.”

Mom… Where are you?

“Now, do you like my décor? I can’t stand green usually, and considering that this whole room was that colour… well, I had to do something. This is a much better colour for my quarters. It suits my tastes rather well I feel. Dark mysterious and deadly to those in it’s clutches. What do you think?”

Kim tore her eyes from Shego and stared at Fang as the oriental woman picked up her wineglass and sipped slowly, her eyes never leaving Kim’s vulnerable form.

“I think you’re a bit puffed up with your own ego. Oh and this room? Overstatement much! I thought Shego had an ego… I was wrong.”

“It is only ego, Ms. Possible, if you cannot back your claim up. I can.”

“Oh sure, all I know is that you flopped The Fox’s tutorship and that must have hurt. Knowing that someone else thought you were as third rate as you believed yourself to be… must have hurt.”

“Kimmie, be careful.”Shego watched from the prison of her mind as she whispered the words into the darkness. She couldn’t believe it. The one time she’d managed to capture Kim and now had her manacled to an evil device of Drakken’s, and she wanted her free. Closing her eyes, the thief shook her head. Obviously the rule about villains falling in love with their heroic counterparts was there for a reason. “Kara isn’t me. She doesn’t enjoy taunts like I do and she sure as hell responds differently. Please for the love of your own sanity, don’t piss her off!”

Kara’s eyes gleamed. “Oh, you’re making this far more fun that I thought it would be.” Kim blinked as Kara whispered the words and leaned back. “You know, I was prepared to have to endure the boring prospect of having to torture you? Your mother was no fun at all. She didn’t crack under her own pain and I found that very annoying. Still, at least she cracked when I hurt Shego.” Kara smiled as Kim’s muscles tensed under her sweaty skin. “Speaking of Shego, you realise this whole thing is her fault? Well, not the fact that soon you will be my assassin, that has been planned by the Jade for years, no… this is all Shego’s fault.”

“What are you-“

“Oh Ms. Possible, the sole reason I have you manacled into that ring is for one reason and one reason only… well, two if I admit it to myself. The lesser of the two reasons is that I enjoy torturing people. It’s a profession I have come to admire far more than thievery.” Kara glanced across at Shego and her smile became ugly for a second. “A thief can steal objects and plans, but they can’t do what I do. They can’t go into someone’s mind and crack their secrets with suffering. But I can. They can steal an object that’s precious to someone, but they can’t make someone beg to give up their life for a loved one… I can do that. I have power! Which rather leads us to the main reason you’re manacled.”

Kim stared at the oriental woman as she sipped her wine once more, savouring it and what she was obviously going to say.

Okay, on the Drakken/ DNAmy scale of insanity… she gets an eleven or higher.

“You see Ms. Possible, I hate Shego. I don’t just dislike her… I truly hate her! I often dreamed of being the one to punch a bullet,” Kara walked up to Shego and pushed her finger against the green woman’s forehead. “Here! But, then I realised that killing her would be too easy. So, when I heard that the Jade were going to infiltrate the United States and become the premium syndicate around, I had to get in on this mission. I knew they would focus on getting rid of you, Ms. Possible. Oh yes, don’t look so astonished! You are well known around the world now as a hero of superior ability.”

“I am?” Kim asked, pulling a snort from Kara. “Well, I knew people thought I was good but.”

“Spare me your goodie, goodie ‘I am not worthy of the honour they give me.’ act. I grew tired of that when Shia showed me the sword Yamanouchi gifted to her for coming first in their yearly contests with the other schools.” Waving a hand, Kara sighed. “I am now drifting from the subject. Where was I? Oh yes, Shego… always it comes back to this green skinned bitch.”

“I’d like to say the feeling’s mutual Kara, but it’s only recently I’ve become obsessed with beating you to a bloody pulp. What you’ve done, and are planning to do, to Kimmie is only another notch… but it’s a big one.”

“Originally I wanted to control Shego… kidnap her and make her scream for mercy before ending her life in as painful a way as possible. However, the Jade found a more interesting use for you, as an assassin when they discovered the mind control chips the USA have been working on for some time. Of course, grand master wanted you then as a agent and I promised him that I would obtain you.”

“You sick-“

Shush, your time for pain will come soon so enjoy the freedom of listening to me. Now… I set up the listening post for you, Ms. Possible. A hunter needs to know her prey I always thought and still do. Then, then the most wonderful thing happened for me,” Kara glanced at Shego and her smile twisted cruelly. “Shego was visiting you at night… staring at you through the glass,” Kara heard Kim gasp in shock. “I assume she was wondering why she desired you. But then Shego has never been smart… unless it involves spreading her legs to the right person.”

“Shego was watching me…”

“Through the glass, yes. Lovers on either side of a huge divide or something I am sure. Anyway, I realised that Shego was not only the key to obtaining and enslaving you as they wished, but you were the key to my revenge on Shego. Not only could I her to kidnap you as she was perfect for the job, but I could use you against her.” Kara sighed. “Of course, we had some bumps along the way. She was never supposed to escape… but that made it all the sweeter I suppose in the end. Watching you panic over her possible betrayal and lies… the few hours you thought she had taken your mother. Wonderful and I can only wonder how it really makes Shego feel. I’ve asked her but the voice has no emotion so it isn’t the same as hearing her cry or beg.”

“Drop dead Kara. Please?” Shego muttered, glowering at the Jade Mistress as Kim stared at her in fascination

Kim shook her head. “So, all of this just because Shego was better than you. I presume it has something to do with The Fox?”

Kara began to pace the room, her blue eyes darkening. “Such a clever young woman you are. A clever woman with an overly active mouth and smart tongue… Maybe when I have you under Servus, I’ll cut it out. After all, you don’t need to speak as my loyal assassin drone and-“

“Save the threats, Fang. I’ve had worse from Killigan, and he’s an idiot.” Kim breathed gently, controlled, and Shego could only sigh, knowing full well that Kim’s bravery was one huge reason why she loved the redhead. “But I’m right aren’t I? All of this planning was not just for the Jade, you did this to get even with Shego for being better than you. Being so better that you’re nowhere near her talent. Did she send you away when she found out the jade had forced her to take on one of their screw-ups? Well?”

“Kimmie, don’t do this… Kara’s not going to-“

“Hell, Shego says you never miss a target. It’s your one huuuge special ability that makes you worthy of the Jade.” The redhead smiled sarcastically, hoping to make her mistake prone with anger. To somehow break free. “Well, congratulations. You’ve lost even that little bit of pride Kara, because you missed me in the mall with that very large gun of yours. You missed me and I wasn’t even trying to hide or run from you. ‘Super sniper’, heh. That gun of yours… is it compensating for your own tiny skill? Oh and I hear that you’re not very good as a fighter either and I-“

The blow came from nowhere, even Kim’s super fast reflexes missing the speed at which Kara suddenly struck. Kim felt something powerful strike her jaw and she let out a cry of pain as her muscles shook from the impact of something powerful. Blood sprayed into the air as her lips cracked and tore under the force and two of her teeth punctured her tongue. Her head swam as her brain fought to regain equilibrium, her eyes taking in the wavering sight of Kara.

The oriental woman stared at her with rage on her features, her knuckles grazed and bleeding. Her chest heaved and the blue eyes burned with an insanity that Kim, for the first time in her life, found frightening.

“She is not better than me! She never was better than I was! Shego did one thing and one thing only to curry The Fox’s favour! To learn her secrets, to become her true apprentice, and send me back to the Jade with shame snapping at my heels!” Suddenly, the Kimono was yanked down and Kim stared at a long thin gash, a burn that disappeared into the darkness of the clothing. “She did this to me! When I wanted revenge on both of them for being the whores that they are!”

“What are you-“

“You want to know why? ‘Princess’!” Kara spat the word and Kim shrank away from the insanely ranting woman while blood spilled down her chin and her tongue burned. “You want to know the real bitch that you swoon over? The bitch that thinks she’s better than anyone else is? Fine! I’ll tell you what happened, the moment when I realised that I would never be good enough in ‘her’ eyes! Not when her precious Shego was giving her feral sex every night! I’ll tell you how Shego is the one who is responsible for what I intend to do to you!”

---

The Fox’s lair- The past.

“No! No! Mon ami. That is not how you use the grapple and latch system!” The Fox, clad in jeans and a red T-shirt, gazed at the two figures hanging from the wall in her training area. “How many times do I have to tell you? If you do not choose your grapple claw with care then it will fail! Such a fail will mean you will fall…” A sudden scream from one figure echoed around the huge basement as it fell, only to jerk to a stop as the safety harness tightened. “Or you will trigger an alarm.”

The Fox stood expectantly, waiting for the blare of a common anti theft security alarm and after a few moments, frowned. “Shego… what have you done?”

“Eh?” Shego, hanging from her own grapple with a grin, leaned away from the wall, green and black boots planted firmly on the surface. “Oh you mean why hasn’t the alarm gone off? Because I did this to it.”

The Fox sighed at the sight of the alarm box, usually sitting on the top tier of the grapple wall, now gripped nonchalantly in Shego’s gloved hands. “Shego, Mon Cheri, in the real world doing that would have triggered another alarm in the building, followed by the whole system becoming active.”

“I agree, but then in the real world, you’d have given us titanium tipped grapple claws for the steel roof girders, not the standard steel tips for masonry.” As her mentor stared at her in surprise, Shego grinned. “I’ve been reading the books you gave me. I have to say, your notes are brilliant to read.”

“You actually read what I give you?” The Fox blinked and a smile curled around the smooth lips as Shego nodded and blew her a kiss. “Mon Dieu, a student that reads… what are the odds? Eh, Carmen?”

A figure wearing a long shirt and black denim jeans appeared at the top of the wall. Long hair covered most of her face and the eyes were hidden by a low down pulled baseball cap.

“Amazing, a student who wishes to learn. How interesting… Now, compared to Ms. Fang I’d say you’re quite the prodigy Ms. Shego. I’m intrigued, from Hero to thief in a year… most fascinating. If I were to offer to teach you my methods instead of Marie’s, maybe you could be more than a cat burglar. You could be the best in the world!”

“Carmen, stop poaching!” The Fox grinned and the baseball capped woman let out an amused laugh. “I am one of the best, as well you know. I’m known, but invisible to the police. You Carmen, you enjoy the heist’s that make you known. Criminally and world wide known.Honestly, that whole business with the Statue of Liberty’s torch… Really!

“That was fun, shame I couldn’t find a buyer in the end. Had to put it back… now that was tricky.” Both women laughed and Carmen held out a hand to the rapidly ascending Shego. “Well, sorry kid, but looks like Marie has her sights set on you. A shame.”

“Only in your opinion.” Shego smiled as she rolled over the lip and cocked her head as Carmen stepped back into the shadows slightly. “Ms. ‘Nobody knows my surname or my face’.”

“Mmm. Nobody will either, not even you, Shego of Team Go.” Carmen smiled, as Shego’s grin faded. “See what I mean? It can be quite a powerful thing, a surname.”

“Yeah… maybe I’ll get rid of that link sooner or later. For now, I’m Shego. Just Shego, and don’t you forget it!” Shego glowered at Carmen who laughed and waved a hand.

“Who am I to argue with such a fine apprentice and someone who can fire plasma from her hands?” The smile under the cap made Shego relax and she grinned. Suddenly, Carmen leaned over the edge. “Ms. Fang, are you really going to hang there all day?”

“Yes!” Kara whispered, gritting her teeth as Shego peered over the edge and waved at her. “How was this a fair test of my skills and abilities? I never got given any notes or books on how to use this equipment.”

Kara glared down at the Fox who smiled and crossed her arms. “No, you didn’t and can you work out why?”

Kara blinked the response not what she was expecting and her eyes reluctantly gazed up at Shego’s face, who merely grinned and winked. Suddenly, Kara knew the answer and it made her blood boil.

“Because you have to ask for them… yes?” Kara watched as the Fox applauded and nodded. Annoyed, the Jade Assassin growled and began to climb up her harness rope. “How the hell was I supposed to know you had to ask for information like that? We’re your apprentices! You should be giving us information like that!”

“Information not earned is useless.” The Fox glanced across at the green and black cat suited figure of her, secretly, favoured student. “After Shego cajoled me for an hour, I thought she had suffered enough and I gave her the copy she wished for. She earned the books and to my surprise has decided to read them. You see? By making her earn them, Ms. Fang, I have someone who wishes to read, remember and store my secrets. Considering that I put Shego through listening to me and Carmen reminisce about past heists, I think she earned them.”

“I didn’t think it was torture at all.” Shego whispered, just loudly enough that Kara overheard the quiet words. “I loved every second… every damn second.”

As Shego rose and wandered across to the ladder that took her down, Kara glowered at her retreating back. She hated Shego. Always the one who knew how to use equipment after to or three tries, always the one who was faster with the locks, the electronics, the ideas and the ways into buildings that were posed as targets. Always… better. Better than her! Well, she knew why! She knew exactly why!

The afternoon had progressed into evening and now the four women who had, earlier in the day, been practising skills that would allow them to side-step every protection to break the law, now sat around a table on the upper levels. The huge windows were flung open to let in the evening air and the smells of French restaurants and bistros mingled with the various dishes laid out on the table in front of them.

Kara glowered angrily at the sight of Shego and The Fox sitting next to each other. Shego was laughing at a joke that The Fox had told her. A little too hard if Kara had any say in the matter. She bit down hard on the food stuck to her fork and chewed as hard as possible.

“She’s never going to train you to the full extent that she’ll train Shego.” Kara choked as Carmen’s voice quietly slid across to her. “And do you know why?”

Kara glanced across at the older woman. This time, the casual clothes had been replaced with a black evening dress, a dress with a veil that covered her face once more. The only thing Kara could see was the small smile. Comforting… but amused. Kara growled.

“I know why… or at least I have my suspicions. Look at her, flirting with The Fox like she’s a girlfriend! Bet she’s been doing more than just asking for reading material at night and I-“

Carmen’s laughter made Kara pause and a look of shock and indignation ripple over her face. The veiled thief picked up a wineglass, the rim vanishing into the dark of the shadows around her face.

“Oh my… you think Shego is sleeping with Marie? That is quite simply, and so deliciously, wonderful. I’d love to share it with her.” At Kara’s indignant squeak, Carmen smiled. “No, young and impatient one. The reason Shego will become Marie’s apprentice is exactly the same reason I would love to get my hands on her as well.”

“Which is?” Kara spat the words at Carmen, her own hands gripping her wineglass and tilting half the contents into her mouth.

“That little green woman has a natural talent for thievery I haven’t seen since Marie and myself got together. Wonderful, she deserves to learn the skills Marie will teach her.”

“But… but I was chosen out of all the Jade to come here!” Kara spluttered. “I deserve it just as much as Shego does!”

“Maybe. But you do not have the same inherent skill.” Carmen shook her head and a fork of food vanished the same way as the wineglass. “Give up, go home, and learn to hone that impressive sniper skill you have. Use that instead.”

“No!” Kara snapped the words. “I’ve come too far to give up!”

More laughter from the green thief and her mentor made Kara scowl and she felt bile bubble inside her. “Far too far.”

“Maybe… but I think you’ll find that Shego will always be the better thief than you. Accept it if you wish, but move on and learn as much as you can before Marie takes Shego as her true apprentice.” Carmen sighed. “I worry about you Ms. Fang. There is darkness inside you, and I fear for you.”

“Whatever.” Kara muttered, biting on an apple and watching the two women on the other side of the table. Watched them flirt, watched Shego take what should have been a fair contest and use her sexuality to woo The Fox. No matter what Carmen told her, she could tell.

It was midnight before Shego and The Fox stopped talking, drinking and in Kara’s tired opinion, flirting with each other. As they slid to their feet, bidding a quietly reading and drinking Carmen goodnight, Karasilently followed them.

The two women wandered drunkenly along the main corridor towards the bedrooms, one singing in French and the other laughing in her seductive voice. As they reached The Fox’s room, Shego paused and a red blush slid onto her face.

“Umm, I was wondering… could I talk to you for a few moments? In… in private?”

The red-haired thief grinned at her prodigy with tipsy eyes. “Oui… oui, yes… sure.” She smiled and yanked open her door. “Come on in Shego, and remember, if you want me to tell you how to do something, you have to earn it.”

Shego blinked and she coughed, the blush deepening. “Yeah… yeah I know.” As The Fox walked into her quarters, Shego glanced around and popped the button that held her suit closed at the top. She quickly yanked the zip down two or three inches and then took a deep breath. “Here we go…”

In the dark corridor, two icy blue eyes watched her saunter into her mentor’s room, the door slowly shutting with a quiet creak, accompanied by a drunken French giggle.

“I knew it… you bitch! I’ll show you Shego, I’ll show the both of you how good I am!” Kara glared at the door and turned to stalk to her room.

I’ll show all of you. My Mother, fathers, that bitch who thought she could outperform me as a Jade sniper. Everyone! I’m better than all of you! And I’ll prove it! Insane… HAH! What did my mother know? Well, I showed her… oh yeah.

“Kara Fang is here, and I always get what I want!”

---

Kara’s Personal Quarters- The Present.

“I didn’t.” Kara muttered, staring into the depths of the wineglass she had picked up while recounting the memory. “Shego had already seduced and bedded The Fox. I lost my tutorship and returned to the Jade ashamed and hurt. The final test was a farce and it was all due to The Fox being… being fucked by this green skinned whore! Didn’t you Shego!”

The green woman shook her head. “No Mistress Fang.”

“Nope… much as it pains me, I didn’t. But boy did I want to… she was so beautiful that night. Funny, calm, happy. It made me feel special and I suppose I wanted to see how much I could take that night. Such a shame… such a shame that Marie wasn’t… isn’t gay.” Shego glanced across at Kim as Kara stared at her in shock. “But I found someone better. Trust my luck to make her my nemesis for years, and now that I can finally seduce her, I’m like this. I hate the universe.”

“What did you say?” Kara asked, disbelief in her voice.

“I have never slept with The Fox. She would not have me that night.” Shego’s emotionless voice echoed around the room and Kim stifled a snort of laughter. A snort that had Kara turning slowly like she stood on an oiled pedestal.

“You think this is funny.” The words were deadly in their tone and Kim’s laughter faded at Kara’s expression. “I’ll show you how funny I can be… how funny Shego is when I tell her what to do. And to whom.”

Kim swallowed, knowing that Kara had passed through the thin veil of sanity she possessed and through the other side. No matter how trivial the event had seemed to her, to Kara it had lost all reason and Kim realised she was dealing with a true psychotic.

“Shego… open my tool box and hand me the conductive oil.” Kara stared at the wineglass in her hand and grinned. The white of her teeth reflected the yellow and red flicking light, making her seem demonic.

Suddenly, the wineglass smashed into he fireplace, making Kim jump as much as her bonds would allow. The redhead swallowed with fear. Despite her years of being a hero, bot one of her enemies had ever tortured her. They had never had the chance. Now, trapped by Fang, Kim realised it was going to happen for the first time.

“Here, Mistress Fang.” Shego handed a bottle of clear oil to the oriental woman and she nodded.

“You know, for Shego and your mother, I used pressure point torture. Very, very painful and yet it leaves no lasting marks. However, for what I want to happen, I shall have to fall back on… baser methods. I do apologise, but you will feel this tomorrow. Still, considering you’ll be enslaved to Servus in the afternoon, I don’t think you’ll suffer for long.”

Humming, Kara walked up to the redhead and smiled into defiant eyes. “First, a taste… a tiny taste of what the ring around you can do. Shego, one plasma burst please… right into the ring that Kim is manacled to. But be sure to only hit the ring, not Ms. Possible.”

“Oh shit… no!” Shego felt her arms rise gently and the plasma burst into life. “Kimmie, I’m sorry!”

The green ball of plasma slammed into the gleaming metal ring, making Kim duck her head instinctively. To her shock, the plasma seemed to be sucked into the metal of the ring and suddenly the device began to hum… ominously.

“What the-“ Kim managed, before something shot from the ring around her and almost flayed her body alive. Her scream echoed around the room, making Kara sigh with amusement, and Kim could only blink, her green eyes moistening with tears as her muscles and skin burned! Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, she felt the waves of pain cease and she collapsed, panting with exertion.

“Doctor Drakken is a genius, yes?” Kara smirked, the scream dulling the edge of her desire to snap this woman in two. “The ring generates a painfield, for want of a better word. Quite sublime, but I can do better… yes.”

Striding up to Kim, Kara gripped the front of the white shift and yanked it off her body in one smooth motion. Kim, her body still convulsing from the sensations of the plasma ring, could only gasp and flush as her naked body gleamed with sweat in the firelight.

“What do you think Shego?” Kara whispered, waving at Kim’s body. “And be honest.”

“Kim Possible is very beautiful.” Shego’s voice dully replied. Inside however, Shego herself ranted.

“Leave her alone Kara! Damn you, damn you! Leave her alone for fucks sake!” Shego watched as Kara snorted in amusement and gently picked up a second wine glass from the table. Filling it with oil, she walked up to Kim and waited until the redhead managed to lift her face to stare at her with green eyes. In one smooth motion, she tossed the oil into Kim’s face, making her splutter. Shego felt her blood boil. “Fang! I swear I’ll rip your god dammed limbs off!”

“Stand in front of Kim, Shego.” Kara smiled with pleasure as Shego did so. Sighing with amusement, Kara walked behind the oil splattered and quivering redhead and reached around to clasp her waist gently. “I think you’ll enjoy this, Shego. I’m going to rub in the oil… won’t that be fun for you and Kim?”

“You… you sick mothfuc-“ Shego broke off as Kara’s hands gently began to stroke and massage the gleaming oil into Kim’s skin. Shego could only watch, her eyes unblinking, as Kim raised her head, Kara’s skilful fingers sliding across her stomach and then up and over her breasts in one smooth motion. Shego saw Kim’s expression and she felt her stomach curl with a sick feeling. The young woman was flushing a deep red, one of shame and embarrassment compared to the way she blushed when Shego was there. “Stop this… oh god. Kimmie, this is my entire fault! I should have put her down long ago!”

Both women were forced to endure the show that Kara made of rubbing the oil all over Kim’s naked body. Kim herself was mortified. Only just having worked out her own sexuality, she didn’t just feel violated by Kara’s fingers, she felt raped. Shego felt the same way, forced to watch Kara knowingly rub every inch of Kim’s skin with deliberate seductive movements. For Shego, she felt powerless to help the woman she loved, as Kara rubbed and teased the young woman against her will. It made her feel sick.

“There.” Kara whispered, standing back and grinning at the shame on Kim’s face. “Every inch coated. Now we can go to phase two. Shego, fetch me the tazer from my pack please.”

“Yes, Mistress Fang.” Shego strode off and Kara wiped at her hands with a cloth.

“Wh… why are you doing this to me?” Kim managed, breathing deeply to prevent herself being sick. “What reason? You’re gonna mind control me… Big drama… so why this?”

“Oh, Kim San, haven’t you worked it out yet?” Kara turned and Kim could only swallow her own fear at the unholy gleam in Kara’s eyes. “This… all of this is to hurt her! To hurt and upset Shego. She’s in there you know. Trapped and helpless… forced to watch. I intend to make her life hell. By making you suffer.”

“She’ll get free, we both will. When we do, I’m going to let her end your life… It’d be like putting a rabid dog down.” Kim whispered the words, her voice wavering as Shego came back with the tazer. “I’ll watch!”

“That’s a bit dark for you, Kim San.” Kara smiled. “I don’t think your mind is working straight right now. Never mind.”

“Mistress Fang? Your tazer.” Shego held out the plastic and metal device, only for Kara to shake her head and snigger.

Walking back to her chair, Kara poured herself another glass of wine and settled into the soft seat. She stared at the naked, oiled heroine and the green and black cat suited woman next to her. Unable to help herself, she giggled insanely. Mine… all mine! And Shego’s going to rip herself to shreds doing what I’m about to tell her.

“Shego, listen carefully to me. I want you, when I say the word ‘now’, to use the tazer in your hand on Kim Possible.” Kara watched as Kim’s head snapped up, her mouth working soundlessly. She could only guess at how Shego felt. “I want you to shock her every five seconds… understood?”

Shego’s body nodded. “Yes, Mistress Fang.”

“Oh my god…” Shego whispered, her voice tinged with horror. Fighting Kim was one thing, but this…

“Now, I’m not finished. After every shock, you will tell Kim Possible how you feel, how that part of you not under control feels after every shock. Understood?”

“Yes Mistress Fang.” Shego’s body replied again.

“No… no I won’t do this I won’t hurt Kimmie this way and you-“

“Now.” Kara whispered, sipping her wine.

Shego stepped forwards and Kim could only stare in horror at the empty gaze. She flinched as the steel prongs pressed against her flesh, and bit her lip as the tears threatened to spill down her face.

“Shego… don’t.”

There was a click, and to Kim, the world changed. It was like being burned alive, in ice… or roasted over flames that chilled and froze you, even as they burned and ripped at your skin. She could feel her skin tremble and ignite with agony, felt her muscles quiver and burn with pain and a scream ripped itself from her lips, only for her to realise as the air left her lungs, that Shego had been right. It was like drowning. She wanted to take in a breath, but the air wouldn’t come. She couldn’t inhale, as her body jerked and convulsed like a marionette. The beat of her heart stuttered slightly, as the electricity shot around and inside her. Kim knew that she was in hell.

Suddenly, the pain was gone and air rushed into her lungs with a convulsive snap that had her fighting nausea. Great heaving gasps came from her body as her brain desperately tried to understand what had happened to the senses it had.

“Kimmie, I’m sorry, so damn sorry!” Kim managed to look up weakly at the emotionless voice, but she knew that the words had come from Shego, trapped inside.

“Oh god… got to stop this and get Kimmie free, got to-”

The tazer sparked a second time, and this time Kim screamed as loud as she could, her body overloaded with agony. It had been bad the first time, but this… this was worse. Already shocked and overloaded nerves had electricity blast through them once more and Kim felt her breath leave her once more, her lungs unable to fill. Finally the pain ended and Kim fell forward, limp in the manacles.

“Oh my.” The voice echoed around the room and Kim managed to tilt her eyes upward to see Kara grinning insanely. Her fingers gripped the wineglass tightly and her legs had drawn themselves up under her. She looked much to Kim’s horror, like an excited schoolgirl. “I didn’t think I’d enjoy myself this much.”

“Oh god. Kimmie, what have I done? I’m sorry… I can’t help myself.” Shego’s emotionless voice intoned, the emerald eyes staring into her abused face. Kim swallowed and breathed in.

“Shego… S’okay… not… not your fault and I-“

A third blast shot into her and Kim arched, screaming. Inside her body, the crackle of ozone assaulting her as the arcs of voltage shot across Kim’s body, Shego let out a wail of agony and anger.

“Noooooooooooo! Kimmie!”

Kara smiled, her eyes sparking in the dark with each discharge and she smiled, sipping wine and savouring the knowledge that Shego was in as much hell as her little heroic whore. Savouring the screams Kara laughed.

I always get what I want… No matter what it is, or who… Because I’m Kara Fang!

She watched as the sparks crackled into silence, listened to Kim’s laboured breathing and Shego’s incoherent apologies and smiled. She wondered how much more Kim could take before unconsciousness set in. The sound of the tazer sparking echoed around the room.

And still it went on.

---

Kara, aint she a peach. Well, folks… we're coming to the last (roughtly) three chapters of this fic… so, things are REALLY going to heat up from here on in. get ready.

Thankyou, as always for the reviews. I love reading them, so don't be afraid to post questions. Okay?- Teh Hob!