Just a little one-shot I've been intending to write for some time. Let me know how you like it.
Disclaimer: Kim Possible and related are the property of Disney which, contrary to common belief, I do not own.
Special thanks to Slipgate for beta-reading this story.
Of bears and wolves
Everybody knows you shouldn't come between a wolf and his pups, right?
Well… at least everyone knows that you shouldn't get between a mama bear and her cubs, right?
Well, if you didn't, rule number one is: don't come between a wolf or a bear and their young.
And if you fail at rule number one… it was nice knowing you. But should you be lucky and still alive, rule number two is: if you find yourself between a wolf or a bear and their young, run! And hope they will check up on their cubs before giving chase.
There is no rule number three; there is no need for that.
A small island somewhere west of the US West Coast 14:23 PST
Jack Hench blinked as the bag was pulled off his head, he was tied to a chair in an office building, facing a villain he did not know.
"Mr. Hench, welcome to my island," the villain, a tall, thin man in his early forties said with an insincere smile. "I hope the flight was not inconvenient."
Hench sighed; although it didn't happen often, villains who tried to kidnap him always felt the strange need to act polite. "I'm a busy man, what do you want."
Put off by the cool demeanor of his captive, the villain took a moment to recompose. "Perhaps you do not know me, but I will soon be known by all as… The Shadow."
Unimpressed, Jack only raised an eyebrow, and even The Shadow's henchmen seemed put off by the pose the villain had struck. Although that might have been due to the cape of the villain being several sizes too small for his tall frame.
"No matter," the villain growled. "For I will take over HenchCo."
Mr. Hench smirked. "And you expect me to hand it over, just like that? I've been threatened with far worse. And as you can see, it never worked."
"Ah," The Shadow cackled. "But did the other villains know about your family?"
This wiped Hench's smile away; he had always made certain that his family stayed a secret from everyone who knew his business.
"It wasn't easy but…" The Shadow turned to the elevator as it beeped and two of his own henchmen – not HenchCo, but regular – stepped out, carrying a large bag that moved wildly. "You can say hi before you sign over your empire."
The henchmen opened the bag and shook the contents out. Three girls aging about ten rolled out.
Two of them, a dark-haired girl with a pale complexion and a strawberry blond girl with a lot of freckles, immediately jumped up and tried in vain to attack the henchmen. By the pained looks of them, the henchmen had already encountered the girls' wrath.
The third girl, a brunette, was still on her hands and knees. She looked up at Jack. "Daddy?"
"Sarah…" Hench tried to wrestle himself free, but there was nothing he could do. "It's going to be okay, don't worry."
"Stop fooling around," The Shadow snapped as his henchmen managed to contain the young firebrands while Sarah ran over to her father. "Who are those girls anyway? I only told you to bring Hench's daughter."
"They were there as well," one henchman explained. "And you told us we had to hurry, so we grabbed them all and headed over here in the hyper-jet. We can just release them afterwards, right?" he then asked, hoping he hadn't ticked his boss off.
The Shadow shrugged. "Whatever. Well Mr. Hench, are you more willing to consider signing your empire over now?"
However, Jack seemed to have regained his confidence. "So it was you who stole my prototype hyper-jet. Oh well, as long as it got tested. By the way, these girls are Sarah's classmates, Anne Stoppable and Jade Lipsky if I'm not mistaken."
"So what?" The Shadow muttered, angry that his plans didn't seem to go anywhere. He turned to his underlings. "Why did you grab those other girls anyway?"
Upperton Elementary School 14:49 MST
"So… the boss said the girl's school would be out at a quarter to three?" Daniel asked his fellow henchman.
"Yeah, she should walk past here any moment," Peter, the other henchman, replied.
"What if there are other people around?" Daniel asked.
Peter shrugged. "Doesn't matter, we'll just grab the girl, there is nothing that can keep up with the jet."
"Shh, there's someone coming around the corner."
However, three girls instead of one walked into view, chatting with each other about their school day.
"Which one is it?" Daniel asked, confused.
"I thought you wrote it down," Peter replied.
"What should we do?"
"Just grab all three. The boss said we had to be quick about it, or Mr. Hench might get help somehow."
Daniel sighed. "I wish we had been assigned to capturing Hench."
By now, the girls had noticed the men talking.
"Are you lost?" The blond girl asked.
"They look like bad guys," the dark-haired girl said with a suspicious frown.
Not willing to give the girls a chance to flee, the henchmen grabbed for the girls.
However, even though Peter managed to grab the brunette, who had remained hidden behind the other girls a bit, the two other girls seemed prepared and ready to fight back.
As one girl nearly broke two of his fingers trying to put a Judo move on him, the other girl pushed her hand against his abdomen and for a moment Peter felt a very uncomfortable stinging sensation.
The dark haired girl pulled her hand back as the henchman tried to wrench his fingers free from the other girl. "Why do you stop working now?"
"No time for controlling your powers," the blond girl said and moved into a kung fu stance.
Peter, still holding the third girl, grinned. "Face it, little girl. Those moves don't work against someone more than twice your size."
But instead of continuing the fairly fancy moves, the girl kicked straight up, right between Peter's legs.
Tears jumping from his eyes, the henchman sagged to the ground and let go of the girl he had been holding.
Before the girls could do anything more, however, Daniel managed to catch all three of them in a big bag. "Don't stand too close when you're small enough to fit a bag," he joked as he hefted the bag, careful not to get hit by the kicking girls inside. "You okay Pete?"
"Yes…" Peter whispered. "Let's just go, and please tell me the jet has ice packs."
The Shadow's headquarters 14:32 PST
The Shadow glowered at his henchmen. "So you nearly lost to a few little girls?"
"It seems you really need HenchCo," Jack Hench joked. "But you really don't know who these girls are?"
"Should I?" The Shadow sneered.
Jack grinned. "Given their parentage, you might want to get yourself a bit more prepared."
The Shadow frowned, unable to determine whether the owner of HenchCo was playing him. "Why don't you enlighten me?"
"Gladly," Jack nodded at Jade, who had given up fighting the henchmen and was following the conversation. "The dark haired girl is Jade Lipsky. Her father is Drew Lispky, but you might know him as Dr. Drakken."
"Dr. Drakken…" The Shadow mumbled. "He used to be a decent supervillain, maybe I can get him to join my cause. No one says no to a good discount, right?"
"They might, if you kidnap their children," Hench dryly retorted, causing the villain to glare at him.
"Anyway," the main provider for villains for over two decades continued. "Jade's mother is Sheridan Lipsky, but in her profession known as Shego."
This gave The Shadow pause; he had heard tales about Shego, and the wrath she could lay upon those who opposed her. And the idea of having kidnapped her daughter broke out more than a few drops of sweat.
"My mom is Kim Possible," Anne then proclaimed proudly. "And she's going to kick your butt."
The Shadow's eyes widened and sweat stains started to become obvious on his clothes. "But… but you said her name was Stoppable," he asked Hench.
"Yes," Jack replied smoothly. "But Kim Possible took her husband's name. She only uses the name 'Possible' for mission work."
"But surely you know Ron Stoppable," the henchmen provider then said. "The guy who singlehandedly beat two Lowardian warmongering aliens and their equipment into the ground when they hurt his wife… girlfriend back then."
"That was him?" The villain who had been so full of himself not five minutes ago whimpered, all his bravado gone; if that was what he did to people hurting his girlfriend, what would he do to those hurting his daughter?
Having used the distraction to guide his daughter to pry loose his ropes, Jack Hench stood up and dusted himself off. "Although, being a villain, you might just as well know Mr. Stoppable from his short-lived bouts as Zorpox the Conqueror."
The Shadow paled so much that he might as well have been called The Sheet; he had indeed heard of, and seen some footage of the crazed supervillain-for-a-day.
"Peter, Daniel," he commanded his henchmen, who had become equally apprehensive. "Get the team prepared for when the girls' parents arrive."
The henchmen nodded and quickly headed toward the elevator.
Yamanouchi School, Japan 06:02 Tokyo time
"They did WHAT?" The current master of Monkey Kung Fu and keeper of the Lotus Blade cried out, loud enough to startle the ninja students from their breakfast.
He glared at the small Kimmunicator screen and found his wife had the same look as him. "I'm getting over there right now," he said as a blue aura started to surround him.
"Already on my way," Kim growled from the driver's seat of the Sloth, which currently flew at maximum speed through the higher atmosphere, Kepler rockets blazing.
Global Justice training center, unknown location 14:15 PST
"WHAT?" Shego snapped as she shook the hapless agents she happened to be holding nearly senseless. "How dare they… I'm on my way."
After tossing the agent aside she glared at the crowd of scared agents and agents in training in front of her. "Something came up, class dismissed."
"Boy, I really hope our regular coach gets better soon," one younger agent muttered after Shego had left the building.
The Shadow's headquarters 14:38 PST
"Well, they sure took your command to heart," Jack Hench said with a grin as he looked out of the window.
The Shadow walked to the window to take a look for himself. And sure enough, Peter and Daniel were talking and gesturing to the other henchmen – The Shadow couldn't hear, because they were too high up the building – and quickly the entire group of henchmen followed them… towards the planes that they promptly used to make their escape.
"What are we standing around here for?" Jade asked. "We're four against one now that he sent his henchmen off." She raised her hands and, much to her satisfaction, a dim glow appeared around them. "I'm ready."
"The Shadow still has…" Mr. Hench started, but the villain had already pushed a button on his wrist communication device. Suddenly, a few dozen henchmen in different outfits poured into the room.
"…The henchmen he used to capture me," Jack finished as his daughter pushed closer to him.
Jade and Anne, however, were unimpressed, even by the more impressive looking henchmen.
"We can take them," Anne boasted, even though they had already been outmatched by Peter and Daniel previously.
"And otherwise our parents will take care of you," Jade added, addressing the henchmen.
One of the henchmen in front chuckled. "And when will that be, little girl?"
"Right about now," Jack Hench dryly observed as he looked out of the window.
From the North, afterburners blazing, a green jet shot towards the island, piloted by a seething green skinned former villainess.
From the East, a small car-like object powered by experimental rocket drives made its descent towards the island, trailing a long tail over overheated air like a comet's tail.
From the South, slightly above the ocean waves, a giant robot that bore a frightening resemblance to the Diablo bots that terrorized the world for a day about a decade ago flew to the island, its frown looking even more terrifying than during its original siege.
And from the West, the side Jack and The Shadow were looking out to, a faint bluish glow was visible near the horizon, but the scary part was that, when you focused on the glow, you could nearly hear the screeches of monkeys inside your head.
"You are going to get hurt so much when our parents get here," Jade remarked, smiling evilly, immediately showing how much she took after her mother.
"M-make sure they don't get in here," The Shadow stammered.
Fortunately, the other henchmen didn't seem frightened, and they quickly stepped outside the room to guard the elevators and staircase.
Anne huffed. "That won't stop them. Daddy once defeated twenty ninjas in one battle, and that was just friendly training."
Hench couldn't help but snigger at how the two girls managed to scare The Shadow more and more; although he had to admit that he was very glad not to be in the villain's shoes right now. During his time as owner of HenchCo he had faced Team Possible, Drakken, and Shego on more occasions than he had liked, and they were are forces to be reckoned with.
Jade smiled wickedly at The Shadow. "Imagine what our moms will do to you if they found out you really hurt us."
"B-but I didn't…" The Shadow stammered.
"Anne?" The dark haired girl gently asked.
Picking up on the idea, Anne's demeanor immediately turned from defiant to scared. "M-mommy… that bad man said he would throw us off the building if we didn't do what he said."
"NO!" The villain cried. "I never said that! I didn't even want to… I didn't… It was an accident…"
At that moment the triple roar of several rockets and a jet engine could be heard, as well as a now loud and ominous screeching of monkeys.
"They're here," Jade sing-songed with a malicious glint in her eyes.
Kim and Shego landed their vehicles nearly at the same time on the deserted runway. Every other plane, boat, or other escape vehicle was gone and only a few abandoned jeeps stood near the thirty-story building that was The Shadow's headquarters.
Ignoring the elevators – those would likely only slow them down anyway – the women rushed up the staircase, figuring correctly that the villain was most likely in the top office.
Twenty-nine stories later, the two came upon the last stairs to the villain's main room and were faced with thirty-odd henchmen ready to fight them.
"A little worn out after that climb?" the leader asked with a grin. "Too bad we kept the elevators up here, huh?"
Bowling pins had had better chances when Walter Ray Williams played than The Shadow's last line of defense when they stood between Kim and Shego and their daughters.
Hearing the cries of his henchmen as they were tossed around by two very angry mothers, The Shadow looked desperately at the windows, hoping against hope for some escape route.
But the view from one window was completely blocked by a giant robot preparing itself to enter the building, and the other window was just falling from its frame after being hit by several slashes from the sword of the ninja that stood in the opening.
And then the door burst open and Kim and Shego barged in.
The Shadow twisted around one more time to face the women, and then he fainted.
Kim took one glance at the fainted villain, and then turned her gaze to Jack Hench, who stood to one corner with his arm around his daughter.
Deciding he was harmless, Kim ran over to her daughter. "Annie, are you okay?"
"Mommy! Daddy!" The girl exclaimed enthusiastically and hugged her parents. "That was so cool! Do you do that to all the villains? Can I watch the next time?"
Likewise, Shego rushed over to hug Jade as well, pulling the girl right off the ground.
"Mo-om," Jade complained half-heartedly, her face a mixture of happiness and embarrassment.
Moments later, Drakken jumped through the opening in the window that Ron had made. He could have smashed a new hole in the wall, but considering his family was in that building he preferred to take a moment longer.
"Jade, did he hurt you?" The blue-skinned man asked, glaring accusingly to Mr. Hench.
Jack only smiled. "He got me too," he said, pointing to the fainted form of The Shadow. "However unlikely that seems."
Kim huffed and nodded at the door where she and Shego had just entered through. "He got decent help."
Shego nodded in agreement. "Not that they would stop us, but decent."
"So, what do we do with him?" Ron asked; with the villain fainted on the ground and their children safe, the sitch was turning a bit anticlimactic. Not that that was bad, considering the alternative, but an unfamiliar situation for the people in the room nonetheless.
Kim shrugged. "Let GJ deal with him, it shouldn't take them too long to get here."
It didn't. A team of Global Justice agents arrived about twenty minutes afterwards, just in time for The Shadow to wake up and immediately plead for protective custody.
Anne and Jade huffed as the villain tried to hide behind Director Du. "Not so tough now, are you," Jade sneered.
Will Du looked pleadingly at the girls' parents. "Would you be so kind to take your daughters home? I have a lot of paperwork on this one with all the henchmen having fled. I don't need people throwing insults at our captives as well."
Kim shrugged. "Sure Will." Then she turned to her family. "Ready to go home?"
As the Stoppables went downstairs to head home, Drakken turned to Jade. "How about you? Want to ride with daddy in his huge, powerful robot?"
Jade looked at her father with an apologetic look. "Sorry daddy, but I really want to ride in mom's jet."
Shego smirked. "Face it Dr. D." – regardless of being married for almost a decade, her nickname for Drakken remained true – "Sleek supersonic jets beat clunky old droids."
Noticing her husband's dejected look, Shego quickly went over to comfort him. "Hey, don't worry, Jade still favors the hover car. See you at home?" She kissed Drakken goodbye and headed downstairs as well together with Jade. "Don't forget to pick up diner."
"Who are you?"
"I am Frugal Lucre," the small man in front of The Shadow announced with more bravado than his frame suggested.
"Why are you in here?" The Shadow asked.
Lucre shrugged. "The other inmates got a bit annoyed with me, I guess. They threatened to kill me, so GJ put me in protective custody. It's nice, but a bit lonely… Strangely everyone in protective custody wanted to go back to the regular GJ jail, I have no idea why. Bu now we have the whole day to talk, and the night as well… I hope you don't snore, I do sometimes, but it tends to go unnoticed… Although Dr. Drakken said I was very loud when we shared a cell, but that was years ago… seems he went straight some time ago… My mother bails me out every now and then, but lately she lets me stay here longer and longer…"
GJ's prisoners walked around the terrain in the center of their prison during break-hour, talking a bit amongst each other.
"Have you heard about the new guy? The Shadow, or something?"
"Yeah, he got protective custody, right?"
"You mean, Lucre custody?" the other prisoner said with a grin.
"I heard people preferring solitary over that guy," a third prisoner tossed in.
"He lived through a week of Lucre," the first prisoner said. "He broke the current record."
"Wow, is he deaf or something?"
A fourth prisoner joined in. "I heard stories that he tried to kidnap Kim Possible's daughter, and Shego's kid as well."
The first prisoner whistled. "And he lived? No wonder Lucre is nothing to him."
"He'll break," The second prisoner replied. "I've got my bet on halfway next week. Possible or Lipsky or not, they all break some day."
END
A/N: I hope you liked this story. Reviews are always appreciated.