Drakken paced frantically as he tried to figure out how to resolve the wrinkle in his plot that Shego was creating. He had no choice if his plan was to succeed, he had to come up with a means of keeping Shego close at hand. He had the facility to ensure her proximity, he had the means to force the issue, but that would only work for so long without risking her physical health. He didn’t care in the least if she was hurt or not, not any more, but he needed to keep her healthy for as long as he could or else his revenge against her wouldn’t be complete. If she was not in fighting shape when he managed to pull off his plan, if Kim could pummel her without putting her all into the fight then he would not feel the satisfaction he so desired.
Looking at the folders and video discs on his desk he considered his options carefully; the materials contained within the folders would likely piss her off to no end, the footage on the DVD’s would outrage her in all likelihood, but if he had to, he would play the ultimate card in his hand. He had come into possession of the ultimate blackmail material to use against Shego; her elder brother made some of the lackeys he kept on retainer seem the genius. To say that he was hesitant to use those would be an understatement; however, he only had the single file because making copies would have been foolish. If she ever accidentally came across the folder containing them, she would burn them and then incinerate him. A sudden burst of chatter flickered across the halo and his tormented brain, the Bebes wanted his attention.
Once he focused on the flashed memo, he turned to the wall display. With a burst of light and sound the large display flared to life. ‘In the news this evening …’ the feed began, for a long moment the cerulean scientist could only stare, here he was facing not only the ruination of a very complex plan because part of that plan would be storming out the front door shortly, but now the most important part of the plan was firing news alerts at him. “What the hell does this have to do with …” He did not get the chance to finish as the relevance became crystal clear. ‘In other news the top agents of the FBI, CIA, and DHS are about to make a public announcement we will go to them live the mo … wait here they are now …’ Drakken smiled broadly as the group of law enforcers and special investigators stepped in front of the photo display that caught his undivided attention. ‘Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, we will only be taking a few moments of your time and will not be answering any questions. At approximately six fifty in the evening yesterday there was an incident where in an unofficial representative of our nation was fired upon. We believe the intended target was the most prominent figure of the city, graduate Kim Possible.’
There was an audible gasp, some of the reporters present looked to each other and began making hurried notes while the agent continued his speech. ‘As you all are aware Miss Possible has done the world a great deal of good in her career, but she has done far more for this nation than we can discuss publicly. Suffice it to say that she would have been awarded the nations highest order many times over for the number of lives within our own borders that she has saved. It is because of this, because of her great works for our nation and humanity at large we are taking a very aggressive approach to dealing with the assassination attempt. We have identified the assassin as Cherice Kitogo a.k.a. Shego, formerly of the super team, Team Go. We have not been authorized to offer a cash reward for her capture, this woman represents a grave threat to life and limb and do not intend to provide incentive for bounty hunters to search her out however we have relocated her on the nations list of most wanted. As of this moment Cherice Kitogo, Shego, has been advanced to the top of the Most Wanted list and all resources we have at our disposal are being brought to bear. If you know of her whereabouts or have any infor…’ Drakken muted the display via the halo remote and snickered at his good fortune. He fired the shot, but Shego was being blamed, she saved the life of his greatest enemy and she would pay for it with her life, once again he had to savor the irony which was in his favour, a rare occasion to be certain. Unable to contain himself any further his laughter spilt out sending a fearful shiver down the spine of the few henchmen in the room.
Shego looked around her now nearly barren room and scowled; she had a moderate number of possessions, but most were compact. Only the bed she specifically requested would be too difficult to move, she would miss it and a few of the other items she chose to leave behind, however the only things that mattered to her were packed safely away. With a final sweeping look around the place, she spent the better part of her free time over the last six years, she wasn’t exactly thrilled with the time she spent secluded within these chambers, most of those days and weeks were spent in isolation to help her retain her sanity and refrain from breaking the blue fool’s neck. She snickered lightly as she remembered the few good times they shared; they weren’t exactly friends though she knew he considered her family after a fashion. Ever since their first meeting, he insisted she remain at his side no matter the cost, she suspected it was because she was the most competent fighter he knew, but she also had a feeling he kept her around for more practical reasons.
A glance to her watch told her she had a few minutes to spare before she had to head back to Drakken’s office. It didn’t take her a fraction of a second to make her decision, she sat back on the bed she had specifically ordered to piss off Drakken and relaxed. No way was she going to spend the last moments of her time here wandering around with the incompetent lackeys Drakken employed. As she lay there she realized with a twinge of sadness she was going to miss the place if not the people. Shego almost cursed herself for going ‘soft’ as she thought nostalgia a thing for weaklings. She did not curse herself in the end for she had learned that not all ‘fond memories’ meant an inherent weakness, her memories of Kim and the doofus … no not doof not even oaf anymore, Ron, her memories of the pair and their strength added to her own inner power.
She fought harder because of them. She worked her ass off to be ready for Kim and recently had been practicing to more effectively fight a passive warrior. Clumsiness and antics aside Shego knew Ron could be a potent foe should she find herself at odds with the young man. Then there was the work she did to ensure Drakken never actually managed to blow up the world or do permanent damage. The Little Diablo affair could have been a disaster of near biblical proportions, she studied what she could understand of the seriously advanced cybernetics the male Dr. Possible created while Drakken bent it to his will.
She would never admit it but Drakken mastered the tech in a very short time for its complexity, the fact that she gained a base understanding of the principles didn’t give her any choice but to acknowledge Drakken’s genius. Of course she never told him that, in fact she went out of her way to mock and belittle his genius at every chance. It hadn’t taken long for her to understand that when the blueberry coloured evil smurf wanna be set his mind to something of his own creation it could be truly impressive. She would never admit it but she believed the unstable man to be every bit the mad genius he proclaimed to be every few minutes, she worked hard to keep him from realizing the full scope of what he could do. She was leaving that behind now but she had no choice. When he pulled the trigger he lost every mote of respect she secretly held for him.
Ron gaped and Kim fumed as they sat at the breakfast table listening to the news feed audio they could hear from whatever channel it was That Nanna had tuned to on their hdtv. Unable to restrain herself Kim launched herself from the table and into the common living room. She instinctively recognized and dismissed Rons less that subtle approach from behind as she stood stock still and watched what she would catch of the news alert.
‘ … this, because of her great works for our nation and humanity at large we are taking a very aggressive approach to dealing with the assassination attempt. We have identified the assassin as Cherice Kitogo a.k.a. Shego, formerly of the super team, Team Go. We have not been authorized to offer a cash reward for her capture, this woman represents a grave threat to life and limb and do not intend to provide incentive for bounty hunters to search her out however we have relocated her on the nations list of most wanted. As of this moment Cherice Kitogo, Shego, has been advanced to the top of the Most Wanted list and all resources we have at our disposal are being brought to bear. If you know of her whereabouts or have any information of her whereabouts please contact us at the phone numbers we will be providing or the website or via email to the following address. Thank you for your time we will end this announcement here. We will catch this dangerous woman and see that justice is done upon her.’
James and Michelle Possible sat transfixed as they listened to the report from the kitchen, things were moving much faster than they expected. “Honey I think we will need to get the dojo ready again.” James said as he looked back to his newspaper. They hadn’t used the old sparring room for nearly eight years but things changed and they knew they would need to take their seats as Si-Fu when Kim would inevitably make her request.
Michelle nodded sadly as she set the spoonful of her breakfast cereal back in the bowl, she lost her appetite as what her husband was saying sank in. Kim would be leaving them, sooner than they expected judging from the news they had just listened to. For years they worked hard to teach their rambunctious family discipline in some form. Kim was a destructive force of nature as a child and for her the Kung Fu they learned as a requirement of their unofficial association with G.J. and the Council served them well in focusing her energies. Truth be told, she admitted to herself, it was Kim’s drive to master the martial arts that drove them to the level they attained. While Kim would always outclass them, they could hold their own if the time came for them to fight. “How long do you think we have James?”
James folded his paper and set it down before he looked over his shoulder into the livingroom where he could just see Kim in a heated debate with Ron over something. “A day, maybe two … if we’re lucky.” The boys at the space center would love this, for years he had been seriously over protective of his daughter going to the point of taking on everyone in the agencies advanced gym course. The centre had one of the most advanced athletic gyms in the world, it needed it for astronaut training and conditioning. When he was taking advantage of the imposed exercise regimen he went toe to toe with everyone from the well trained security guards to the M.P.s and special agents that accompanied some of the above top secret projects that filtered through the centre. It took a lot of work to avoid getting fat on the job when you spent more than sixty hours a week sitting on your can drawing out engineering schematics.
Michelle nodded once more and began eating again in spite of her lack of appetite, she would need the fuel for the work ahead. The hospital’s exercise program wasn’t as expansive as that James had at his disposal but it boasted a gym facility equal to what he had. Being the preeminent neurological hospital on earth meant it would require the best facilities for recovery and rehabilitation. She put it to use at every opportunity as a means of maintaining the high level of stamina required for surgeries that could last over twenty hours in some cases. There weren’t nearly as many well trained martial artists at the hospital as James had access to at the space centre which put her in a unique position, she was Si-Fu to a fair number of the staff that worked out with her. “I’ll call the hospital and have today’s case load rescheduled for next week. I don’t think they will mind all things considered.” She had almost expected the hospital's exec to call her and give her more time off in light of the situation, in truth she wasn’t sure her hands would be steady enough to perform the delicate work neuro surgery required. Not for a while at the very least.
Kim joined them in the kitchen with Ron in tow, neither looked very happy just then so nothing further was added as the pair returned to their seats and began to finish their breakfast. Ron kept casting worried glances to Kim who was eating with almost mechanical precision. Neither of them were hungry at the moment but as Kim had pointed out when the decision was made, they would need all the strength they could muster. They were going to G.J. headquarters to kick ass. Kim felt outraged and betrayed, Ron felt scared and justifiably pissed off. Dr. Director promised them she wouldn’t make a move until all the evidence was in and while they had all of their evidence they did not have the evidence Wade was still working on so by Kim’s estimation they were working on a half formed picture of the situation.
“Mom, Dad …” Kim started as she sat the spoon back into the empty bowl. “Ron and I have something to do today … not a regular mission.” She looked to her parents with an expression that they both recognized instantly, nothing they said would change her mind. “We’re going to pay Dr. Director a visit and get this sorted out. One way or the other.” The fire lighting her eyes was undeniable, she was pissed and nothing short of a global catastrophe would change her set course.
Shego stood before the heavy blast proof door of Drakken’s office and waited as the watch she wore under her uniform counted down, when the timer ran out it sent a single short buzz to her wrist letting her know that the allotted time was up. Ever one for the dramatic she opted for knocking on the door her way. With a plasma-laden fist she surged forward at the insane speed her meteor induced powers granted her. The door cratered at the point of impact and snapped free of the bolt linked to the doorknob. Much to her surprise the door did not go sailing at speed into the room, its hinges held so it swung back and slammed into the wall it was mounted to with a deafening roar. “Yo Dr. D … time’s up where is my check?”
Drakken crawled out from under his desk rubbing at his ears, he knew who was responsible for the racket but could not hear a thing, his ears were ringing worse than they had when his micro nuclear reactor melted down and went nova at the Saharan lair. He felt himself yanked skyward and immediately saw the source of his earache. “Honestly Shego, do you always have to be so aggressive?” The ringing was easing and he wished for a moment it hadn’t as she replied, he really hated her smart ass attitude at times.
“You will put me down Shego, Kuntz please leave us and on your way out try to shut the door.” He commanded the last remaining henchman. “Now Shego put me down so we can … talk.” Suddenly he was flying threw the air, Shego hurtled him across the room where he hit the wall before dropping onto the console of his memdex. He was glad he opted for a holographic display for the device or his impact would have set his plans back or possibly cancel them outright. Before Shego could respond he held up his arms in a submissive pose, “Shego stop right there! Your check is ready but there are a few things you need to know before you leave us.”
Shego arched an eyebrow before she crossed her arms over her chest, this should be interesting. “What the fuck do you have to say that can possibly be of interest to me at this point you pile of shit?” She insisted on degrading him at every turn lest he become focused and thus capable of pulling off something truly evil.
Sensing that he was safe for the time being Drakken righted himself and crawled off the console, standing straight and adjusting his uniform he made his way back to the desk and took his seat. “Now that I have you attention, for a change, I think it’s time I put you in your place.” Shego bristled with pure fury at this statement and had it not been for his trump cards he might have taken up a new hobby, like praying for his life. “You will not be leaving, in point of fact dear Shego you will be following my orders to the letter from now on. You see … the situation has forced my hand.” Shego was advancing on him, murder clearly displayed in her brightly glowing eyes.
A touch of a button and she stopped as the room darkened and a new holo-display flared to life. Suddenly there were quiet moans, sounds of a passionate encounter echoing through the room, the display shoed her laying naked on her bed masturbating and writhing in pleasure. “If you refuse to follow my orders to the letter without question or complaint or attempt to hurt me in the next few minutes, I will release this to the world.” Drakken plastered a smug shit eating grin on his face only to have his hopes for an easy out dashed.
“Go right ahead, I’ll sue your ass for every penny you have and make a healthy profit off the net porn sites who decide to carry it.” Shego wasn’t ashamed of her body nor was she concerned with people seeing this side of her, hell if she had thought of it before she might have considered it as a career.
“Oh … I see you aren’t so modest as to be affected by this … well how about this?” The images flickered and changed to show here in the shower letting the water cascade down her lithe athletic form, one hand cupped her breast and the other guided her favourite toy between her legs. Shego blushed a bit at that but still was unfazed apparently.
“What exactly are you trying to do Dr. D? Get me into the softcore porn industry? If I wasn’t concerned with the first why do you think this would have any affect to the contrary?” Shego smirked wickedly; she was now having serious thoughts about the net porn idea. Her green skin would probably find a niche market where guys and girls alike would pay good money to see her doing these things, and it would only enhance her bad girl image.
Drakken scowled, he knew it wouldn’t be this easy but he had hoped. “Fine then how about this?” Once more the screen flickered. This time it showed her and the pretty-boy she brought home from her vacation during the cloning incident, the noises that came from the audio system clearly indicated they were in the throws of ecstasy and she was being led not controlling the situation.
This brought a scowl as fierce as Drakken’s to her face but changed little else. “What? Are you upset that I lied about being strictly lesbian to avoid fucking you? From what I recall you’re a pencil dick, nothing but a teeny weenie.” Her smirk returned but internally she was furious, the other two videos would be harmless but this last was … irritating.
“I see that modesty is a lost concept to you my dear so how about fear?” Drakken keyed up the recording of the earlier display, he worked with the Bebe to modify it to suit his plans of course but she need not know that.
A group of suited and uniformed officers took the stage with Kim Possible standing to one side then the audio portion began. “Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, we will only be taking a few moments of your time and will not be answering any questions. At approximately six fifty in the evening yesterday there was an incident where in an unofficial representative of our nation was fired upon. We believe the intended target was the most prominent figure of the city, graduate Kim Possible. Please hold your questions Miss Possible will speak momentarily. As you all are aware Miss Possible has done the world a great deal of good in her career, but she has done far more for this nation than we can discuss publicly. Suffice it to say that she would have been awarded the nations highest order many times over for the number of lives within our own borders that she has saved. It is because of this, because of her great works for our nation and humanity at large we are taking a very aggressive approach to dealing with the assassination attempt. We have identified the assassin as Cherice Kitogo a.k.a. Shego, formerly of the super team, Team Go. We have been authorized to offer a cash reward of one billion dollars for her capture, dead or alive, because this woman represents a grave threat to life and limb this is intended to provide sufficient incentive for bounty hunters to search her out however we have relocated her on the nations list of most wanted. As of this moment Cherice Kitogo, Shego, has been advanced to the top of the Most Wanted list and all resources we have at our disposal are being brought to bear. If you know of her whereabouts or have any information of her whereabouts please contact us at the phone numbers we will be providing or the website or via email to the following address. Thank you for your patience we will now turn over the mic to Miss Possible for a brief statement.”
Shego watched as Kim took the podium and adjusted the microphone before she began. “I do not have time to answer any questions at this time but I would like to say a few things.” She ignored the grumbling from the press for a moment as she looked over the gathered group. “Shego tried to kill me last night, simple as that … so, as of right now I and dedicating myself to taking her out. Regardless of what the law agencies do in reference to her I am now focusing my efforts on hunting the bitch down.” She looked straight into the camera hatred evident in her glare. “If you are listening to this Shego know this, your time is up.” With that the hero turned and left the stage. The video ended there and Drakken turned to Shego with a confident smile plastered across his face.
“You cant go anywhere Shego, you have everyone out looking for you including the one person who can and has beat you before.” If he could smile any broader Drakken would split his head in half over the glare Shego was casting at the null space above the holo projector.
‘Something isn’t right here, Kim isn’t a vigilante nor is she a hunter.’ Shego thought to herself as she processed what she had just heard, it didn’t add up. She was wanted in nearly two hundred nations yet there had never been a bounty on her head. The authorities held her for a time with chemical suppressors but she was conditioned against all of them now. She could overload any of the em manacles and prison cells they could come up with and the only machine capable of negating her power took the combined power of three states to run but that still left them with the option of containment instead of the veritable death sentence they had just metered out. A bounty that large and the dead or alive caveat meant things would be difficult for her if she went solo, difficult but not impossible. “And this should worry me exactly why? If they come at me in force I’ll simply kill them all and boost my reputation.” She wouldn’t resort to such a measure unless she had no other choice but when it came down to it she would not hesitate.
Drakken’s face fell as he heard her say that, he expected that to work so he would not have to play his final trump, he would try the intimidation factor once more before he gave up that angle. “Do you think you will be able to kill Kim Possible if she comes for you?”
Shego leveled a venomous glare at the cerulean madman, the question was absurd to her. She knew that the person who spoke just then had not been Kim, yes the girl moved like her and spoke in her voice but something was telling her that the person making that statement was not Kim, period end of line. She did however think seriously about the question, she had to accept that there was a chance it might be Kim and if she had to fight her what would she do, if it came down to a fight to the death between them could she kill the woman she loved? The answer stunned her, she would die in that fight. “Yes, if Kim came at me intent to take my life then she would be road kill.” It was another lie similar to the implicit threat she made to Drakken earlier, a threat she was seriously considering to carry out now. The minute she said those words Drakken gave her a sign that made her gut scream a warning, something was definitely wrong here, he was trying too hard to keep her nearby for some reason.
Drakken scowled deeply this was not going the way he planned which meant he was left with only his last option, an option he would have to play very carefully. “Fine! If that is how you wish to play it Shego you leave me no choice. Here take a look at these!” he slid the desk drawer open and withdrew the folder he hoped to keep secret for much longer. Careful to prevent her from stealing them away he laid out the small booklet and photos that would do the trick, if she bought his upcoming lie. “I have thousands of copies of these scattered around the world, you walk out that door and the world gets them.” If she suspected he was lying just then Drakken knew his life would end on the spot.
Shego gasped as she looked over the images, she couldn’t believe what she was seeing, if it was true that he had copies of these then she really had no choice until she could find out for certain. She simply could not allow these to go public. “You sick twisted son of a bitch, fine you got me. I’m warning you though right here right now I am going to explain to you exactly what I will do if I find out you’re fucking with me over these.” She proceeded to go into graphic detail of the punishment he would receive if the found out he duped her with those pictures. For a long moment Drakken found himself questioning the logic of using that blackmail material but it was too late now, if she ever found out the truth his life was over. “I’ll go with you and I’ll remain an agent but that’s where I draw the line, try to force anything more from me and I’ll kill you where you sit.” For the first time in their acquaintance she truly meant those words.
So scared was he his normally blue skin had gone stark white but he composed himself well. “I guess I can make some concessions but know this Shego I expect you to follow orders to the letter from now on. If you do not I will kick you out and these will go public.” With that he casually scooped up the photos and book dropping them back into the folder and then depositing them in a special briefcase he made which incorporated the force field the buffoon made when he was ‘evil’. It would protect them from Shego until they reached the new lair and he could deposit them in the vault he had there.
Wade couldn’t believe what his simulations were telling him but everything pointed to an undeniable truth. Shego saved either Kim or Ron from certain death. He ran the sims over and over again using the combined computing power of every system he ever hacked to speed up the process to a timetable more suited to his speed.
The numbers Kim gave him from the site of the incident had been Shego’s height and proportions as well as Drakken’s. Plugging those in to the sim and working on directed energy beams had given essentially the same result but when he got the ballistic information to put into the mix it proved conclusively there was no way Shego made the shot. He knew she would not like hearing the facts, proud woman that she was, but she was simply not tall enough to have been the shooter. The angles were all wrong, and the angles were dependant on variables in body type hand bias and height. He also noted it would have been impossible for her to bend the weapon from the shooters position. The scans indicated the impact that bent the weapon came from the side so that ruled out the ‘Shego pulled the trigger’ theories outright.
The only way the sims matched the event using either beam weapons or ballistics was when he placed Drakken as the shooter and Shego off to the side hitting the gun the instant the hammer struck and the round went off.
For the first time in his young life he was beginning to question the things he believed to be absolute fact such as the fact that Shego was a cold blooded murderer. If she was as they claimed she would not have interfered, the single shot would have done its deed with a ruthless precision.
When the Kimmunicator tones sounded off he nearly fell out of his chair he was so startled. “Oh Hey Kim I was just finishing my final analysis and simulations.” He wondered how she would take it.
Kim smiled at her com device eager to hear what her genius friend had to report. “What’s the sitch Wade? Good news or bad?” She had a fair idea of what he would say but not the specifics and she was nervous. She didn’t know what she would do if her hunch were proven wrong, something violent to whatever was handy no doubt. “Lay it on me Wade. I can take it.”