Chapter 1: The Job
"Oh my, Shego come here." The blue scientist giggled in his cynical humor, beckoning the green woman to come beside him. Lazily, she paced over, assuming an introduction to some strange new invention, inevitably destined to fail.
"Do you see? Watch it Shego, watch this!" He squealed again and pointed heatedly to the television screen, jumping about like a five year old, and looking far too excited to be revealing an invention.
"Alright," she began, humoring him, and rolling her eyes when he had stopped tugging her sleeve to look.
"What am I looking at Doc?"
"It's the latest news! That new tech boy we have hacked into the service announcement that's being sent to Global Justice. It includes some information about our little Miss Possible. It looks like they're holding a video conference, but we could only get feed from one side of the party." He chuckled quickly, praising himself under his breath for his note-worthy intelligence in hiring this new technician. But, his eyes were soon fixed back to the screen, as he pressed the play button, and Shego took a seat beside him.
A middle-aged Asian woman came on the screen, dressed in a business suit, and looking ready to conduct a heart-felt meeting.
"Good morning Dr. Director and company, I have news from the Tracking Systems unit down in the main headquarters."
There was a pause, probably for Dr. Director to address her and end formalities. These, of course, were not on the screen.
"Our First–in–Charge, Class A Agent, Kimberly Anne Possible, was recently checked into Middleton Rehabilitation Hospital, in the Juvenile Attempted-Suicide Ward, after trying to take her life yesterday afternoon at 0100 hundred hours. She's been in a coma for twenty-four hours and will be questioned after her waking. The method of attempt was through a cocktail of Extra Strength prescription tablets and alcohol."
Again there was silence, save the shocked gasp emitted from the green villainess. Her knuckles had now found a tight grasp around the chair's handles and her face was twisted in angry anticipation.
"I'm afraid we contacted you as soon as possible Dr. Director. After Ronald Stoppable's untimely death in combat, she was traumatized and determined 'temporary mentally unstable' after the psychologist's thorough analysis of emotional stamina. Therefore, as you were informed, we suspended her and sent her to a world-renown Post Traumatic Stress Therapist. We took tracking off of her at this point, because we were no longer looking over her missions. We only found out about this event the next day when we were able to be contacted. The family wanted it to remain private."
Silence. Shego was now breathing heavily, a wealth of anger swelling in her chest.
"Dr. Director, we are not allowed to interfere with a family wanting their child's home-life to be secretive, nor can we press charges or handle retribution. We have no further information until Miss Possible comes out of her coma. I suggest that this information be kept under veils until she is ready to fight again, or else Kimberly could be targeted while incapacitated."
Silence.
"Yes ma'am, I will make sure Public Communications sends the Possible family our condolences. Good day."
After this, the line was cut, and Shego was stuck with her mouth agape, staring wide-eyed at the screen.
"Isn't it fabulous Shego?! Kim Possible is finally defenseless! Defenseless and vulnerable! As is the world!" Drakken's eyes were now a dark black, glowing with unfathomable joy and no doubt birthing a scheme to take over the world with this new-found advantage.
Shego wasn't even conscious enough to roll her eyes.
"Kimmie tried to kill herself. She tried to kill herself Doc." Her voice was barely audible, and she was now looking directly into Drakken's eyes.
"She almost made it too easy for us, huh Shego?" Drakken replied, wittily, trying to produce a laugh from the emotionless girl. For someone who considered Kim her arch nemesis, Shego seemed uncharacteristically depressed over the redhead's near death.
"You would want to win that way?! You'd want to go kill her while she's lying unconscious in a hospital bed?! You really are a sick bastard!" She spit venomous words at the blue man, before stalking over to her room and slamming a giant crack down the center of the door.
"Shego?" He whispered, but only to himself, as he tried to understand how this great discovery had been so negatively received.
---*---
Shego lay motionless, her hands folded neatly behind her head, her legs crossed at the ankles. Her eyes were glued blindly to the dark ceiling. She was thinking about Kimmie; the girl that she once held so much respect for, the girl that was so determined to live that a lead rain of bullets couldn't touch her, had just given up. She'd just stopped. And now she was lying in a ward full of Lunatics.
"That stupid buffoon! It's that stupid Stoppable's fault!" She yelled at the wall, tensing her jaw, unable to understand why she was so upset. She was supposed to be ecstatic. She had spent three years trying to finish this girl off for Christ's sake! And now what? Now, she was fighting tears over the fact that the girl was almost dead.
Again she mumbled profanities under her breath, cursing the buffoon's dumbness and trying to sort the confusion of her emotions. She thrashed at the bed, tightening her fists, and eventually falling asleep.
---*---
"Shego! Shego!" The blue man pounded on the door, calling in his funny accent, and rapidly increasing the pace of his knocks.
"Go away Dr. D," Shego mumbled, exhaustion taking over her voice.
"But Shegoooo, we need to talk!" The man whined childishly, and she got up and fixed her hair and clothes.
"What?" She said, hanging on the doorframe and looking down on the man.
"Well, uh, good afternoon Shego." He mumbled, wringing his hands nervously under the glare of the towering woman. "Kyle and I have devised a new plan we need to discuss. It's twelve am now, and we have lunch waiting in the Lounge."
"I don't feel like listening to your stupid plans Doc." She replied lazily.
"But you work for me!" She gave him a look that could legitimately kill him. "You work with me, with me Shego! Either way, your presence is required!"
"Fine." She was too tired to enjoy watching him squirm. Plus, any new news on Kimmie might ease her mind about her condition.
"Oh, goodie I'll see you in fifteen minutes!" He smiled and clapped his hands together, before watching Shego roll her eyes and slam the door on his nose.
---*---
When the green villainess had finally made her way to the Lab Lounge, there was coffee, a sandwich, and two babbling idiots waiting for her. She sighed and made her presence known. Immediately, Drakken clapped his hands and patted the seat that was hers. He was so gay.
The other idiot, however, stood formally and gave his hand for introduction. He was a good looking guy with highlighted brown hair and a strong build that was evident beneath his tight polo and khaki slacks.
"Shego, this is Kyle Lyric." The man nodded his head in confirmation of the title.
"Kyle this is Shego." Shego merely shook his hand and sat, taking up her coffee and offering a disinterested look.
"Well Shego, after much thinking and planning, we have decided that having two strong superheroes on our team would increase our chances of ruling the world." Drakken spoke in a monotone voice, as if what he had said was not the most obvious thing in the world.
"No doy dumbass. And who are you planning to add to our team this time?" Shego took in another swig of her coffee, a cocky I'm the only reason you are still in business look was in her eyes.
"Kim Possible." He stated plainly. Shego nearly spit the coffee all over him.
A raw and hearty laugh was emitted from the girl before she regained her stolid guise.
"What are you talking about? You know you can't coax her over here, or she'd already be ours, dipshit."
Drakken's voice tensed and became strict at the continual gibes.
"Shego!" He warned.
"Yeah, yeah, don't get your panties in a twist."
Drakken's face was red with anger and embarrassment at being teased in front of his new employee. He took in a deep sigh.
"Shego," he began, regaining his calmness. "Kyle has hacked into Kim Possible's FUCR File–"
"Frequently Updated Condition Report File," Kyle added, seeing the woman's confusion.
"Yes, thank you Kyle. Anyway, it says that Kim Possible is in a fragile state of mind at the moment as a result of the medications on her brain and the coma that she is currently in. After doing some research, I found that when she wakes, she will have a temporary period of N&AP Syndrome–"
"Necessity and Affection Providers Syndrome," Kyle explained. Drakken nodded in appreciation.
"Yes, and that means that whoever she meets with first, that offers affection and necessity will be immediately set on her internal list of dependants. That means that if we are the first ones to interact with Kim Possible, we are able to dominate and take her over by the powers of influence. No matter where we stood before. We will no longer be her enemies, but her caretakers, and she will habitually fall into crime and villainy with us!"
He finished his speech with triumphant excitement, and his hands were once again clasped and he was squirming in his seat. Kyle chuckled softly at his mannerisms, and Shego rolled her eyes with a smirk.
"So how do you plan to be Kimmie's 'guardian'?" Shego asked. She was taking far more interest in this mission than before, but she wouldn't let Drakken know that.
"Well, you have to kidnap her from the Hospital of course." The blue man said obviously.
"What?!"
He scoffed. "Oh please Shego, we know you are perfectly capable of silently and successfully stealing her away from the ward, even if there is Max Security."
"Yeah, but–"
"Oh, and when she gets out of the coma, you are going to be the one who is taking care of her."
"Whoa, no! No! Nuh uh! Not gonna happen Doc! I am not playing baby-sitter!"
"Shego, Kim Possible will be searching for a matronly figure for comfort when she gets out of the coma. You only need to play nice for about...three months."
He finished the last part off softly, and cowered a bit at the now standing woman.
"Hell no! HELL! NO! Especially not for three months!" The green woman was now huffing in defensive protest.
"Well Shego, that's the approximate amount of time needed for her to resituate her life with us. Plus, we have to help her develop a selective memory. Where she remembers only the things we feel she should. This will help us deplete her memory of our negative past, and make her think that she has always been evil. But don't worry I'll handle those lessons."
Shego sat back down to control her breathing. Was this really a good idea? Was playing mentor to Princess a good thing to do? She thought about it carefully, trying to determine pros and cons of the situation. Honestly, Kimmie would be a fantastic sidekick, but having her on the dark side just seemed to strange. After sitting for a while, keeping both men in a great anxiety, she had finally weighed her options.
"Fine. When do you want to get her?"
"Are you really okay with this? You were very upset yesterday Ms. Shego." Kyle asked, innocently angering the woman. How dare Drakken bring that up with him!
"Yes. When?" She controlled her temper that best she could, but her voice was evidently cold.
"Alright then; tomorrow Shego!" Drakken stated proudly, obviously in love with his new scheme.
"Yeah." She said, walking away, leaving her trash and a final glare to Kyle.
---*---
"Dr. D, we gotta talk." Shego announced, walking into the lab and searching anxiously with her eyes.
"What is it Shego?" The blue doctor responded, never taking his eyes off the monitor.
"Have you got any external communications set up in here?" The woman asked, fiddling with a touchpad hooked up to the lab's various cameras. She stopped and looked over to the screen, noticing that Drakken was studying a detailed blueprint, and typing rapidly into different code boxes.
"No, none that I've detected." He replied again with little interest, as he pulled up an image of the lab's technology routers, and made a cursory pass of any bugs that might be placed.
Shego sighed at his lack of seriousness, but turned his rolling chair around to face her. She took a seat in front of him and sighed again.
"It's about the new guy," she started confidently; "there's something weird about him. I don't like him and I want him gone." She finished nonchalantly, inspecting her nails in a dismissive fashion. It wasn't like Drakken ever refused her. However, said doctor was soon to erupt in a fit of sarcastically giddy giggles, rocking in his chair and wiping his eyes.
"Oh Shego, I can't fire him just because you're mad that he's better than you!"
Shego looked at him incredulously, shot her eyebrows upward, and coldly blurted "Excuse Me?!"
Drakken crossed his legs and placed his hands in his lap, readying himself for a long and impatient conversation.
"Oh please Shego, you've tried for three years to hack Global Justice's daily conference-feed with that degree in Computer Sciences you have, and you've been unsuccessful every single time. And then we find a talented hacker that gets through in just two hours and you want to fire him. I think someone's jealous…" He held out his taunt in a sing-song voice, wearing a knowing gaze that made the woman's blood boil. She tightened her fists and gritted her teeth, trying to be patient and to spare the man's life.
"I'm not jealous." She took a deep breath and summoned even more patience as the blue man's cocky grin widened.
"But listen to what you just said. Kyle hacked a heavily armored computer system that has been perfected and designed by some of the most intelligent and experienced computer geeks in the world, in just two hours. TWO HOURS! With no more equipment than I had. I was on just the fifteenth layer of security after three tireless years of working, and you expect me to believe that some guy can just walk in here and hack that like nothing? It's global justice we're talking about. They have the most safeguarded technology in the world. That's the only area that they're untouchable in."
Shego sucked in some air after yelling at the man to make her point. And to this, Drakken sat quietly, making a cliché scratch of his chin. Finally he looked the woman in her eyes, still stubbornly uncaring for the woman's caveat.
"Look Shego, you are overreacting completely. The kid is young, but received a full scholarship and early admission to a university that is renowned for its Advanced Technology Developments. Plus he's been working in the A Level Black Market for most of his adult life, so he's onboard with crime as well. He's just a good find Shego, just like you."
"The Global Justice Network is stronger and more secured than the White House Network. No matter how long he's been in school, he couldn't do that in two hours flat. There's something fishy about the fact that he applied right before Kimmie's incident. A little too coincidental don't you think?"
"No, Shego, you're looking too far into this!"
She exhaled in impatience.
"Well have you at least back-grounded him?"
"Yes Shego. Of course I have. Do you take me for some fool?"
Shego smirked visibly but Drakken ignored it, turning to type something into his computer.
"Look." He said simply, pointing to the various articles that popped onto the screen. They were all accreditations and qualifications that the guy had earned and collected. His birth certificate was present as well as a letter of recommendation from the University of Technological Advances. There was even a newspaper article questioning where the man had gone, this was probably issued out when he had suddenly joined the black market and went into hiding. He certainly looked legitimate on file, but on face he looked shadier than a tree.
"I was apprehensive about him at first, wondering if anyone was still looking for him. But he assured me that the date on the article was long ago, and that he was not significant enough to still attract attention. I've searched every record of him in that Government International Human Records Database you hacked last year. He's perfectly reasonable."
Shego sat and thought about it. The GIHRD had never failed her research before. Even people who had been erased from society could be found in there. It had taken a full six months of impossible scrutiny and skill to hack the network, and the only people who couldn't be found were members of GJ's Elite group. This included Kim Possible.
"Alright, but do me a favor."Shego stated, still heavily suspicious about the man.
"What is it?" He replied skeptically.
"Monitor his computer time. Next time he hacks GJ, make sure his computer is being monitored in heavy surveillance. Make sure you use the advanced non-detection model so that he doesn't know he's being tracked."
"I will not monitor him!"
"Why not?"
"I trust him."
"Then do this for me. When I have my proof of his methods, I won't bug you about him anymore."
"Fine, I'll set it up after I scope out the Hospital blueprints. I'll only do this once."
"Yeah, yeah, call me when you're done."
"Alright why do you want a super goody two tits again?" Shego mumbled at Drakken as she strapped her utility belt onto an all-black suit.
"Because she's the best of the best aside from you." He muttered back in slight annoyance. This was the fifth time she'd asked that while preparing for the mission.
She smirked and scoffed and he did his best to ignore it.
"Don't forget Shego, we're trying to divert attention. That's why you're wearing the black suit. Try to be as silent as possible and leave absolutely no traces. No one will suspect us anyways."
He left her this last warning as he watched her scale down the wall of the building quietly. His camera stayed on her as she made a silent break of the window, due to new laser technology, and climbed into what was identified as Kim's Hospital Room.
She looked at the sleeping girl under the glow of a nearby lamplight. She was paler than normal, machines all around her, needles in both arms. It was a sad sight and Shego felt it pulling at her heart. She could hear the deep breathing, hooked up to an artificial lifeline. Her heart beats were slow on the machine. She truly looked on the verge of death.
"Doc, are you sure it's safe for us to take her away from all these monitors?" Shego whispered into her radio.
"Yes Shego. While you were sulking yesterday, Kyle and I were setting up a room full of identical medical equipment."
"Wait how did you know I'd agree to this?"
"Because you are smart enough to know it's a good idea. Plus I've known you for five years!"
The woman sighed in anger, but decided not to argue. "Are you sure you'll be able to hook her back up?"
"Yes Shego, we've studied her condition!"
"Fine, Fine! Damn Doc, take some Midol."
She laughed quietly, imagining the deep frown embedding itself on his face.
When she had finished disconnecting all the various needles and IV's, she heard a rustling of the doorknob.
"Shit." She muttered, seeing that there was nowhere to hide.
As quietly as the nurse came in, she fell to the ground, as Shego tazered the back of her neck and carried her to the floor.
"So much for no tracks." She muttered again, glad that she had chosen to wear the matching black gloves.
"Look Dr. D I don't do secretive. What am I supposed to do with this stupid nurse?" She asked in a pissed-off fashion.
"SHEGO! I take my eyes off you for one second and you try to kill someone! I said no tracks!"
"Don't raise your voice at me!" She whispered harshly. "Now what do I do?"
"Just leave her and hurry up and get Kim Possible. The longer she is off the monitors, the faster her condition worsens!"
"Yeah, yeah." She hung up her radio and reached under Kim's body to carry her bridal style.
---*---
"So she's okay right?" The green woman asked, staring down at Kim's body that was once again hooked up to various humming machines.
"Yes Shego she's fine. And if she dies, she's still outta the way." Drakken laughed at his own stupid joke as he and Kyle fiddled with one of the heart monitors.
"She won't die though, right?" Shego asked, trying not to show her anxiety.
"She shouldn't Ms. Shego. She's pretty well stabilized." Kyle piped up, concentrating on filling an IV with nutritious fluids.
"Alright, well, what do we do now?" Shego asked, as the two nerds finished hooking up the different equipments.
"We have set up an alarm and a camera in here Shego. The camera will help us to watch her, and the alarm is set to sound whenever her condition gets detrimentally low or she gives signs of waking."
Drakken spoke, obviously proud of how his plan was working, and Shego nodded.
"Do we have to stay up and watch her?"
"No."
"Night."
"Good Night Shego."
"Sweet dreams Ms. Shego."
With that, she left the two and headed for her quarters, mentally preparing herself for a very long three months.