It was 11:00 AM. Shego came to the spot Wade had told them they would pick up their transportation. There, she found a sight she had NEVER expected to see.
“Oh… how I wanna Naco…” murmured Ron. His legs were folded crosswise in front of him, and his hands resting on his knees. “Oh…. How I wanna Naco…”
Rufus, in a similar pose, was chanting “How-wanna Naco…. How-wanna Naco…”
Shego shook her head and marched into the middle of the abandoned, empty parking lot, to stand in front of Ron. “Hey, Stoppable… You and mole rat getting your game on, or planning on lunch?”
Ron didn’t say a word. Instead, one leg suddenly lashed out with blinding speed. Shego, not expecting it, was actually swept off her feet. Her hands hit the pavement and, with a touch of plasma power, she flipped back onto her feet. Ron, in the meantime, had gotten into a low, close to the ground crouch. His arms were spread out a bit, ready to grab or lash out at anything coming toward him.
Shego frowned at the stance, part of her recognizing it but not able to place it. It was definitely not any stance Kim had ever used.
“Hit me.” said Ron.
Shego blinked. “What?”
“Hit me.” said Ron. “I need to know if I’m ready.”
Shego frowned, then shrugged. “Your funeral. Like I said, Gemini never said he wanted you…” Shego suddenly lashed out with a kick at Ron’s head, figuring one good sucker-kick deserved another.
Much to Shego’s surprise, Ron ducked the kick. One out flung arm grabbed Shego’s foot and thrust it up, causing the ex-thief to do a backwards flip. “…conscious.” finished Shego. “Ok, how did you do that.”
Ron didn’t answer, just waited in that strange pose.
Shego frowned, mentally picturing Ron’s dirty blonde hair as jet black. “So, where did you learn…” Shego rushed in and fired off a set of punches toward Ron’s chest. Ron’s hands and torso moved in a blur, deflecting and dodging each blow. The final punch Ron ducked below and grabbed Shego’s arm, to try to throw Shego over Ron’s body.
Shego countered, and Ron found himself flying through the air instead. He landed in a roll. “…Monkey Kung Fu.” Shego finished, not even breathing that hard.
Ron stood up and shrugged. “It comes and goes.”
“Well, it came that time.” said Shego, shaking her head. “Not as good as me or Kim… but a lot better then I would have expected.”
“Better then Gemini expects, I hope.” said Ron.
“Surprise!” squeaked Rufus, and made a few kung-fu moves in the mid air.
“So, the sidekicks have some moves.” said Shego. “But piece of advice: If we get into a fight, just watch my back. Kim would be EXTREMELY upset if I let you get roughed up.”
Ron considered, then bowed to Shego to signal that he would obey. Much to Ron’s surprise, Shego matched his bow. “What, you think I got this good without a couple martial arts lessons?” Shego said, seeing Ron’s amazed expression. “Now, where’s the transportation Wade promised?”
“Right here.”
Shego turned, startled. As far as could tell, Wade’s voice had come from thin air. The air in the center of the parking lot shimmered, and Shego found herself staring at…
“Isn’t that one of Drakken’s hovercrafts?” asked Ron, pointing.
“It started out as one, yes.” said Wade’s voice from the control panel. “But I’ve made some upgrades, including to the visual cloaking system.”.
“Including what we’d discussed?” asked Shego.
“Including that.” said Wade.
“We’re good to go.” said Shego. “Log off, and I’ll program the coordinates in.”
Wade turned off the link to the hovercraft. Now came the hardest part of any mission; the waiting. It was always bad, not knowing how Kim was doing on a mission. The fact that Kim was being held somewhere, prisoner, away from where Wade could talk to her, made it worse.
Wade sighed. Normally, he LIKED being in his computer room / bed room, especially when he had people like Kim and Ron to talk with. It was only when those people were out of contact that he felt like… what he was. A super-genius computer nerd who had trouble talking to people without a phosphorous screen between them. Sometimes, he REALY wished he could be normal… to not have a brain that could visualize all the possible bad things that could happen to him outside of this room, that might happen when he left his ‘Bat Cave’ and stepped through that door…
The door that was opening.
“Mom, I don’t want to…” started Wade, then stoped. It wasn’t his mother at the door.
Instead, it was Dr. Director.
“You… but how?” said Wade. “How did you find me? This location is supposed to be completely secured! I’ve got it wiped off every computer record I could find!”
“Yes.” said Dr. Director, her voice cold. “Must be very useful, for your mother… not to have to pay any electricity or water bills.”
“It’s for security!” insisted Wade. “Anyway, compared to how much good I’ve done for the city…”
“How much Kim has done, you mean.” said Dr. Director. “Helping people in need… that’s what she does. You just stay here behind the computer, Mr. Load, and answer her questions.”
“But… “ Wade said, feeling himself sweating.
“Well.” said Dr. Director. “Now you are going to answer mine. Starting with, Where is Shego?”
“I don’t know!” wailed Wade. “They didn’t tell me.”
Dr. Director frowned. It felt wrong, to be pushing this underage boy around. All he had was his experience talking to people online, while Dr. Director had lost count of the megalomaniacs, jihad fanatics, and just plain loonies she had interrogated over the years. They were unevenly matched, it was like kicking a puppy. But he had information she needed to take down Gemini and his Worldwide Evil Empire, so she didn’t let any sign of her conflicting emotions show on her face. Instead, she just stared at Wade, her one good eye as cold and as pitiless as the black eye patch she wore over her other eye.
“Where… is…. Shego.” Dr. Director repeated. “I know you can find her, Mr. Load.”
“I… I can contact her.” said Wade, blubbering. “Please… it’ll just take a few minutes, since I have to reestablish communication with a cloaked target.”
Dr. Director considered, then nodded. “Good. And while you are doing that, you can explain their plan to me.”
As Wade typed on his keyboard, Dr. Director watched him coldly. The young boy was extremely gifted; she would have to recruit him into Global Justice once this was over. His hacking had made sure that, in every computer system that Dr. Director could access, there had been no mention of where Wade or his mother, Ms. Load, lived at.
So, Dr. Director had asked Mrs. Dr. Possible.
Shego had set the autopilot on the hovercraft and firmly told Ron NOT to touch anything… and not to let his mole rat touch anything, either. Now, with time on her hands, she was carefully running a file over the finger tips of her gloves.
“Um, Shego?” asked Ron. “Look, this may be silly, but it’s been bugging me for a long time…”
Shego sighed. “What is it, Stoppable?”
“Why are you always trying to file your nails THROUGH a pair of gloves?” said Ron. “I mean… Hello? Take the gloves off first?”
Shego frowned, then shrugged. “Look, Stoppable. You know that my powers came from the meteorite, not from the gloves, right?”
“Right.” said Ron.
“And…” said Shego. “What do you think would happen to normal gloves if I ‘lit up’ while wearing them.”
“Is this a trick question?” said Ron.
Shego sighed. “Look, Stoppable, these are special gloves. They have hollow metal needles built into the fingertips, so I can use them as claws AND also discharge my plasma energy through them. However, if I do that too often without maintaining the gloves, the plasma can get blocked up. After having my third or fourth pair of gloves blow up on me, I took to always filing them clean when I had a few minutes to spare.”
“Oh.” said Ron.
“Any MORE fascinating yet boring tidbits you want to know?” said Shego, making it clear by her tone that his answer had better be no.
Ron was saved from having to answer by the communication system in the cloaked hovercraft coming to life.
“Wade, I thought I told you communication silence.” said Shego, then frowned as she saw Dr. Director on the screen. “Betty. I thought I made it clear to you I didn’t want to talk to you.”
“Shego. I assumed you were planning to rush in and make a mess of things.” said Dr. Director on the hovercraft’s screen. She then sighed. “But then Mr. Load here explained your plan. I was… quite impressed. For the limited time you had to set it up, and the limited resources, it is very well thought out.”
Shego glanced at Ron and said softly “Mr. Load?”
“Wade.” explained Ron.
“Right.” said Shego, turning back to the screen. “So, seeing I’ve got this plan so well thought out, you can see we don’t need you and…”
Dr. Director held up a hand. “I said, for limited resources. I can offer you a Global Justice strike team, ready to attack within a minute.”
“A minutes is all they’ll need to kill Kimmy.” said Shego. “There’s no way I’m going to let your goons even try it. First of all, there’s no way the meeting spot is the location of their actual base. They’re going to pick us up and take us to it. Second, all I need is thirty minutes and Kim and I are out of there. Thirty five if sidekick boy loses his pants or something.”
Dr. Director frowned. “Let’s make a deal. Let me track you, and I’ll give you the thirty minutes you want. If thirty minutes after you go in I don’t hear from you, or you call me and tell me that you’re all safe OR that you need help, my ‘goons’ as you call them will land and mop up Gemini’s WEE.”
“That seriously did not sound right.” said Ron.
Shego and Dr. Director ignored him, looking at each other through the vid link. “All right, deal.” said Shego. “Thirty minutes, not a second less.”
“Or a second more.” said Dr. Director. “Mr. Stoppable will just have to keep his pants on.”
“I heard that.” said Ron.
“You guys WERE planning on calling Global Justice after getting Kim out, right?” said Wade. “This way, it’s just faster.”
Shego nodded. “Ok… but the plan remains unchanged otherwise.”. Shego turned off the communication gear with a firm click.
Dr. Director stepped back. “Now for the hardest part… the waiting.”
Wade blinked. Suddenly, Dr. Director didn’t look so frightening. He thought of all the agents that Global Justice had, and considered how it must feel to wait for them to come back from a mission… or to hear that the worse had happened.
“Um… want to play some computer games?” asked Wade.
The meeting spot was an abandoned fishing dock. Shego took over control, landing the hovercraft with a skillful touch. Ron Stoppable got out and let Rufus climb out of his pocket.
“Whoa, stinks here.” comments Ron. “And that dock does NOT look stable.”
Rufus nodded. “Uh-huh, stinky bad.”
“It’s ABANDONED, Stoppable.” said Shego. “Places that are abandoned usually have a reason.”
“So… we’re early?” said Ron, looking around.
“Not that early.” said Shego. “We’re being watched.”
Ron turned around quickly, trying to spot any lurking watchers. “How can you tell.”
Shego rolled her eyes. “Rules for villains, #126. When meeting with someone at a location THEY selected, assume there will be observation devices and/or big scary men with guns.”
“What’s rule #127?” asked Ron, trying to find some way to take his mind off considering the possibility there might be such a creature as a monkey-fish.
“Rule #127. When picking a location to meet someone, always have observation devices and/or big scary men with guns already there.” said Shego.
“You’re making that up, right?” said Ron. Shego declined to answer as a large raft pulled up to the shore.
The black raft was big enough to hold twenty to thirty people, but now only three goons in W.E.E. uniforms were in the raft. The first man, piloting the raft, steered it to the docks. The other two men climbed up. One carried a sensor-wand, the other man carried a large assault rifle.
As the rifle wielder watched, the man with the sensor wand searched Shego and Ron for electronic tracking devices.
“Watch it! No touchee the merchandise!” snapped Shego as the sensor wand holder then preceded to frisk her for weapons, even taking away her glove-nail file. The man said nothing, just went over to check Ron for weapons.
“They’re clean.” he reported.
“Oh yeah, took a bath today and everything.” said Ron. The two men and Shego glared at him. “What? Trying to break the tension.” said Ron. “It’s what side kicks do.”
“Well, ‘side kick’” said the man with the rifle. “You, your pet, and your girlfriend can get into the boat.”
“I am NOT his girlfriend.” snapped Shego.
“What she said!” insisted Ron. “100 Shego Free! No way, no how, no Shego!”
“You don’t have to be so quite so definitive about it.” grumbled Shego as she climbed down the ladder, into the boat.
Ron picked up Rufus and carried him down into the boat also.
The man with the machine gun gestured. A squad of seven W.E.E. goons appeared out of hiding and, carrying their weapons, climbed into the boat.
“Told ya.” said Shego.
“Ok, ok.” said Ron. “You know more then I do about super villains.”
The man at the controls revved the motor of the raft and set it headed back to Gemini’s secret off-shore base.
The AI programmed into the hovercraft sensed that the homing device, which Rufus had swallowed hours earlier, had gone beyond a preset distance. Special programming now activated. The hovercraft shimmered to invisibility and then, undetectable, proceeded to follow the boat carrying the naked mole rat.
“Where do you think we’re going?” asked Ron.
“SILENCE!” shouted the goon who seemed to be in charge.
Shego glanced at the goon. “Oh, probably to some SILENCE!” she suddenly shouted, timing her yell of ‘Silence’ to match just as the lead goon ordered “SILENCE” for a second time.
“Jinks!” chortled Ron. “You can’t talk till someone says your name!”
“SILENCE!” snarled the goon, for a third time.
“No, that’s not the way the game’s played.” said Ron. “When two people say the same word, then someone says jinks…”
The goon pointed his gun into Ron’s face.
“Um…” said Ron. “You do know your boss wants us alive, right?”
“He never said you had to be conscious.” muttered the goon.
“Funny, Shego said the same thing…” commented Ron.
“SILENCE!”
In Shego’s opinion, Gemini’s floating fortress was… typical villain stuff. Disguised as an oil taker, the hollow interior was filled with a glittery opulence which managed to transcend the cost and expense of the individual materials to become: tacky. To add insult to injury, the uniforms of the dozens of WEE goons filling the chamber clashed horribly with the pretentious décor.
“Wow!” said Ron. “Shiny!” agreed Rufus.
Shego sighed. Given how Ron’s taste in jewelry had gone when the buffoon had become rich, it was no surprise he was impressed with the way Gemini had obviously substituted raw spending power for actual taste.
“Ah… men after my own heart.”. Shego turned. Gemini was there. Standing right behind him was Kim, wearing one of the WEE uniforms and a metal collar. “So, “ said Gemini. “Ready to going my Worldwide Evil Empire, guys? Bring the Ron and Rufus factors in?”
“Kim!” cried Ron, Rufus, and Shego, ignoring Gemini’s attempt of congeniality.
Kim just stared mindlessly straight ahead.
“Yes yes yes.” said Gemini. “As you can see, Kim Possible is completely under my control. Isn’t that right?”
Kim just stared mindlessly straight ahead
Gemini growled and pulled a microphone out of a pocket. “Say yes in a clear, loud voice when I ask you a question.” he snapped into the microphone. “Don’t I have you under my complete control?”
“Yes.” said Kim loudly, then went back to just staring mindlessly straight ahead.
“Yes…” repeated Shego, grinning. “That’s all I needed to know. GO, Stoppable!”
The guards, who had found any belief in the ‘Ron factor’ hard to sustain in the presence of Ron’s jovial buffoonery, had their belief quickly restored as Ron suddenly lashed out with both hands and a foot, taking three guards out at once.
Shego didn’t stay to watch… instead, she began throwing WEE goons out of her way, heading straight for Gemini.
Gemini panicked and fired several rockets from his artificial hand. With a dismissive wave of a plasma-glowing green hand, Shego batted the rockets out of the air, causing them to explode harmlessly.
“Kim! Follow me!” ordered Gemini and ran from the main chamber, collar-controlled Kim following obediently. Even carrying her unborn child, Kim’s body retained sufficient athleticism to keep up with the fleeing villains.
Shego growls as more WEE goons flooded in. She shoved them out of the way, then glanced back. Ron and Rufus were managing to hold their own… sufficiently well, at least, for Shego to go after Gemini and Kim. “I’m coming, princess!” yelled Shego, as she ran into the darkly lit and labyrinth bowels of Gemini’s command ship.
Gemini and Kim ducked into a small compartment in the depths of the ship. Gemini had managed to grab a guard’s hand gun, afraid that his rocket-blasting hand would not do. “Think I lost her…” he said softly.
Kim, thinking it was a question, answered loudly: “Yes.”
Shego’s head turned. That was Kim’s voice. With a feral grin on Shego’s face, she turned toward the direction
“Freeze right there, Gemini.” said Shego, entering the room. Both her hands were blazing with green fire, ready to deflect or attack.
“I think not.” said Gemini. “You see, I remembered that I still hold the trump card.”. He held up his hands… in his flesh hand, he held a metal collar similar to the one Kim was wearing. In his metal hand, he held the microphone. “Kim…” he said into the microphone. “Take the gun I gave you… and point it at your belly.”
Shego looked into the corner of the room, where Kim stood, and gasped in shock. Kim, with her face blank, had a pistol held in her hand. As helpless as a puppet, she pointed the pistol at herself… and little, unborn Sheki.
“Can you blast me before I give Kim the order to shoot?” said Gemini. “I think not. So you have a choice. Watch your unborn daughter die… or put this on.”. Gemini waved the metal control collar. “It’s really quite simple.” said Gemini. “With you AND Kim Possible under my control, I can soon subdue Rufus and Ron.”
Shego extinguished the flames coming from her hands. “All right… I’ll put it on… just let Kim go.”
“Oh no.” said Gemini. He stepped forward. “Miss Possible is and will remain under my control. Just as you will be. And unless you want me to tell the little heroine to pull that trigger… you WILL put on this collar.”
Shego bit her lip. The thought of being mind controlled, again, terrified her… as did the thought of Kim and their child being mind controlled. But she knew that some day, sooner or later, Wade or Global Justice would find a way to destroy the collars.
If it meant saving Kim and their baby’s life… Shego was willing to accept slavery for all three of them.
Shego lifted her chin, in a defiant gesture that Shego knew might be her last one for a long, long while. “Fine.” she said.
Gemini cackled in triumph. Yes… soon it would be his… Shego, Kim Possible, the Ron Factor… and then, death to Global Justice.
Kim Possible, trapped in the prison of her own body, screamed in silence. ‘No, no, no!’ she wanted to cry out. To see Shego… always so cocky, always so ready for a fight, surrendering… and the thought of this evil… this raw, soul-destroying evil to touch even their own daughter…
It is said that there are two things a lioness will fight to protect above all else: her cubs… and her mate.
“NO TOUCHEE MY SHEGO!”
Gemini’s eyes snapped wide, turning to face the suddenly outspoken Kim Possible… just as the gun in Kim’s hand fired…
Ron and Rufus stood panting in the middle of the chamber. A dozen or more WEE goons lay slumped on the ground around them, driven unconscious by a powerful punch or kick to the head. Still, dozens more circled the perimeter, still fresh.
Kim… thought Ron. Could really use some help here… shucks, I could use some of SHEGO’s help here.
“You’re finished, and that girlfriend of yours is too!” snapped one of the goons from the boat.
“She is NOT my girlfriend!” snapped Ron. “And I just have one question to ask of you.”
“What’s that?” said the goon.
“Has it been thirty minutes yet?” asked Ron plaintively. “Because I’m bushed.”
“What are you talking about?” asked the goon, puzzled.
“Us!” cried Will Du, at the head of a small army of GJ agents. As promised, Global Justice had waited for thirty minutes after Ron and Shego had been picked up by the W.E.E. agents, then went to the coordinates transmitted by the cloaked hovercraft waiting outside Gemini’s lair.
The goons turned. Distracted by fighting Ron, and without their leader, none of them had been aware of the stealthy approach of a Global Justice assault team.
“All right! The cavalry is here!” yelled Ron.
“At last!” squeaked Rufus.
The assaulting GJ members soon had the various WEE goons in handcuffs.
“Where is Gemini, Miss Possible, and Shego?” asked Will.
“Gemini went off running that-a-way.” pointed Ron. “Kim and Shego took off after him.”
Will Du pointed to two GJ agents, and then at Ron. “Follow him, take Gemini into custody. I’m going to make sure we’ve taken out their control center.”
“Sir!” the two selected agents snapped, saluting, and then turned to Ron.
“This way, fellows…” said Ron. He set off, with Rufus and the two agents on his heals.
“I shot him…. I shot him…” repeated Kim, over and over as she set curled up on the hard, metal floor of the storage room. The control collar, now opened, lay on the floor. “I just wanted to kill him.”
“Shhh… shh… I know…” said Shego, one arm wrapped comfortingly around Kim. “You were just protecting me and Sheki… I mean, Kasy.”
Kim buried her face against Shego’s shoulder. “Sheki… if you still want to be with me, her name can be Sheki…”
“There there…” said Shego, wishing she knew more about this comforting/consoling stuff. “You did what had to be done… you broke free of his control…”
“Um, I’m still here you know…” said Gemini.
“Shut up or I’ll get the gun and shoot you in your OTHER hand.” snarled Shego. “That way, you can get two metal hands.”
“I’ll be quiet.” said Gemini.
“If… if he hadn’t turned like that…” said Kim. “I was going to shoot him in the back… just like a villain would.”
“It’s ok…” said Shego. “We can be bad girls together. Reformed bad girls.”
Kim actually managed to smile at that.
“Of course…” said Shego. “Just because we’d reformed doesn’t mean we couldn’t still do naughty things together. Very naughty. And after Kasy…”
“Sheki.” interrupted Kim.
“After Kasy…” repeated Shego. “Is born, and we’re feeling extremely naughty… I’ll dress up in my green jumpsuit, you’ll put on the slinkiest outfit you can find…”
“And?” prompted Kim, softly.
“…we’ll go out and eat a double-decker hot fudge Sundae.” promised Shego.
Kim suddenly begin to giggle. Shego relaxed. If Kim could laugh, everything was right with the world. Right with Shego’s world, at least.
“Found ‘em!” called Ron, from the doorway he just opened.
“Come on.” said Shego as she and Kim got to her feet. “Let’s head home.”
“Home.” repeated Kim, then turned and hugged Shego. “Home!”
One Month Later
“Come on, Kimmy…” called Mrs. Dr. Possible. “Push.”
Kim Possible cried out as another spasm of pain wracked through her body. One hand clutched at a sheet, as her other hand clutched tightly at Ron’s hand. As the wave of pain receded, her grip relaxed.
Ron’s hand slipped from Kim’s grip as Ron dropped to the floor, silently cradling his painfully crushed hand.
Before another wave of pain filled Kim’s world, Kim felt a new hand slip into Kim’s own… a hand that, like it’s owner, was feminine and strong.
Kim clutched the offered hand as it felt as if her body was trying to turn itself inside-out.
“It’s all right, princess…” murmured Shego, reassuringly. “You can squeeze harder then that if you need to.”.
“If… we ever have any… more kids…” panted Kim. “YOU are going to carry them…”
Shego just nodded as Kim once again yelled out in agony.
“And that’s…. one beautiful baby girl.” said Dr. Mrs. Possible. The noted brain surgeon was, at Kim’s request, serving as the doctor for Kim’s delivery.
“But… but…” moaned Kim, as she felt another surge of pain.
“Number two on the way…” said Dr. Mrs. Possible. “Come on, Kimmy, push!”
Kim cried out as the second baby girl slipped free of her body.
Later, Kim laid in the band, snuggling the two baby girls by her sides. She looked up at her mother. “You didn’t say anything about twins.” Kim said.
Dr. Mrs. Possible shrugged. “You and Shego said you wanted to be surprised about what ‘the kid’ was going to be like.” she said. “Plus, you two seemed to be having so much fun arguing over what her name was.”
“Guess we get to use both.” said Kim. She turned to the small, pale skinned baby on her left. Already, faint red curls were visible. Kim kissed it on the head. “Kasy Ann Possible.”. Kim turned to her right. This baby was identical, except that the faint wisps of her hair were raven black, except slightly greenish where the light struck. “Sheki Go Possible.” said Kim, kissing her other daughter.
“I just wish they didn’t get my albinoism.” said Shego, staring down at the bed where the three most important women in Shego’s life lay.
“Hush.” said Kim. “I don’t care what they inherited from you… they’re beautiful.”
TWO YEARS LATER
“I don’t care what they inherited…” said Kim, repeating it to herself reproachfully. “I was nuts. KASY ANN! SHEKI GO! YOU TWO STOP THROWING PLASMA BOLTS RIGHT THIS INSTANT! WHEN MOMMY-SHEGO GETS HOME…”
Well, that’s it for this story. Hope you enjoyed it; or, at least, got a couple of laughs. If you want to see more of Kasy Ann and Sheki Go, let me know.