Part two of Captainkodak's (id678376) story, (id3688706) with his permission. Be warned. I have opted not to make it a tale of horror, but it is still a tale of sadness

A BOX OF CUDDLEBUDDIES

CHPT 2. THE GIRL IN THE BOX

It was Saturday night and the proprietor of the service station was outside, emptying his bags of trash into the dumpster in back of the restaurant next door. His bags of trash hit a bag of trash already dumped in.

The sound of the bags hitting didn't sound right. He was used to the rattle of paper and the clink of cans and bottles. But this had a rustle. He fished the bag out and opened. He saw the backpack. Strange. He scratched his mullet-style hair. He didn't throw that in. He opened the buckle.

The contents startled him. A face mask--of a certain face. He pulled a cell phone out of his coverall pocket. "Yo. Cuz. Something's up. Seriously. It has to do with Red. Yeah, your arch-enemy--that Red. Haul your ass over here."

In half an hour, a hovercraft landed in back of the Ed Lipsky Fuel Stop. Drakken, dressed in a tux, and Shego, dressed in a diaphanous evening gown, hopped out.

Motor Ed came out, torque wrench in one hand, can of beer in the other. "Yo, Cuz. Good to see ya! And you brought your lady! Hey! Dig the formal threads! Damn! Y'all are stylin'!"

Drakken grumbled. "Shego and I were having dinner at our Alpine lair, Ed. Candlelight. Roses. Champaign. This had better be good."

Ed shook heartily shook hands and slapped his cousin on the shoulder. "Dude, there's your problem. Mountain lairs. Death rays. Candlelight dinners. It's all too high-maintenance. Only a set of wheels deserves that kind of attention. Now take me. My approach to life is simpler. A couple steaks on the grill, a couple six-packs to wash it down with, somebody like your lady here in cut-off shorts and a halter top--now there's a night out." He leered at Shego and lifted an eyebrow suggestively.

Shego frowned. "Thanks but no thanks, grease monkey. This lady prefers some elegance." What a baboon! She had actually been thinking about starting a family with Drakken, but if the Lipsky's had Motor Ed material in the gene pool--well, they could always adopt. Maybe a sperm donation from Señor Senior, Jr...

Ed shrugged. "Your loss, babe. Seriously, cuz, I gotta admire your knack with how you travel. Take this flying thing. Put an extended cab on it, a pickup bed, and chrome bumpers and tailpipes, and you got yourself a serious ride."

Drakken crossed his arms and tapped his foot impatiently. "I'm waiting, Ed. You found something pertaining to Kimberly Ann."

For answer, Ed jerked his head toward the service station. "C'mon in."

Shego and Drakken followed Ed in. "Either of you wanna brew?" Ed asked.

Both Shego and Drakken shook their heads.

Ed lifted up the backpack. Drakken took it and peered in--and pulled out the Kim Possible face mask.

Shego snatched the mask from his hand. Drakken pulled out the KissyFace lip gloss.

"That's Kimmie's brand of lip gloss!" said Shego.

Ed glanced warily at both of them. "You guys are up on what kind of make-up Red uses?" And they called him obsessed with Red.

Shego's eyes narrowed. "D--what does it mean?"

Drakken frowned. (Shego had called him different endearing nicknames now that they were in an intimate relationship. None of them quite worked. 'Drew-bee' made her chuckle and him glower. 'Lip-pey'? 'Drak-key'? They made him ballistic. 'D' seemed to work best.) "This calls for analysis. Come on, Shego. We're going to one of my--our--local lairs." He shook Ed's hand. "Thank you, Ed. You may have done the first good thing in years."

Motor Ed shook his head in confusion. "This wigs me out, cuz. Seriously. I mean, like you and Red on the same side, saving the world. You and her--" he inclined his head toward Shego. "--Hooked up. I gotta get used to this."

Drakken and Shego flew to a local lair and subjected the backpack and its contents to a battery of diagnostic tests.

"I can lift fingerprints from the backpack, Drak," said Shego with a smirk. "I've checked them with prints of Kimmie's friends on our file. They belong to Tara King from the Cheer Squad."

(Rhyming--how cutesy. Drakken frowned again.) "What about the bikini and the air tank?"

"The fingerprints on the air tank are those of Tara King. The epithelial on the bikini are female--probably hers. But there are also older traces of other epithelials--Kimmie's."

"And the water traces are freshwater--and not tap water. There's a nearby lake." Drakken punched some buttons on the control panel.

"What are you looking for, D?" asked Shego.

"I don't know. I'm a mad scientist. I build death rays. I try conquering the world. I used to try building death traps. Forensic investigation is a new endeavor for me. But something about this suggests foul play."

Shego peered over the shoulder. "That's a satellite picture--a lake."

"Lovelorn Lake," said Drakken. A local hang-out. It has a reputation of being the final resting place for several heartbroken girls who decided to drown their sorrow--and themselves."

"D! You sound like you've been there!"

Drakken frowned. "I had all of a handful of dates in college. I took a young lady--a med student--there on one cookout. It didn't work out. She became the wife of my college roomie and lifelong rival--James Timothy Possible."

Shego's eyes bulged. "You mean you and Annette? Drew Lipsky and the future mother of Kim Possible? Omigod! Hahahahahahaha...!"

Drakken cringed. "You're not helping my self esteem, Shego. Your demeanor of respect isn't any better as a lover than it was as a sidekick."

Shego wiped the laugh tears from her eyes. "I'm sorry, D.! Really. Or like cousin Ed would say--seriously. Hahahahahahahah...!"

Drakken silently endured the humiliation.

Shego recovered and kissed him on the cheek. "Okay. It's better. I'm recovered. I'll behave."

"Well, while you've been having your fun, I've analyzed the lake waters. My infrared and ultraviolet scans show. There are no recently deceased bodies in the lake other than dead fish and small animals, like squirrels."

"But look!" Shego pointed to a section of the shore. "Unless I'm mistaken, that's a picnic and beach area. And unless I'm mistaken, that's Kimmie's car!"

"Shego! You're right! That's The Spot!"

At Shego's inquiring look, Drakken explained.

"It's the recreation area--families by day, couples by night."

"Let me guess," she drawled. "It's where you tried to get to second base with Mrs. Dr. Possible."

"Let's stick to the topic at hand, shall we?" grumbled Drakken.

"D! We've got to go on site! Let's get out of these fancy clothes."

It was after midnight when the hovercraft landed at The Spot. Some teen couples were in the back seats of their cars.

"Look!"

"Izzat a UFO?"

"Ew! He's got blue skin--and she's got pale skin!"

Shego ignited her hands. "You kids! Scram!"

"Holy crud! It's Shego!" And their cars all peeled out, tires squealing.

"Well--whatever happens with Kimmie, the cops are gonna know that we were here," said Shego.

"We'll deal with that later. We have some reconnoitering to do." Drakken snapped on a powerful lamp. "Here are footprints going from the car to the lake."

"And here are towels spread out on the sand." Shego dusted the steering wheel of the car. "D! Tara's fingerprints on the interior of the car!"

"Miss King went through a lot of trouble to set this up," muttered Drakken. "Now the question is, where's Kimberly--or her body?"

"I found tire tracks of the car leading from the road," said Shego.

"Shego--scan those tracks!"

In a moment, the hovercraft was following the trail of the car from its aerial position.

"D," asked Shego, "Tell me again how this works."

"Well--we digitally photograph the tire tracks. The computer analyses them based on multiple identification points--much like fingerprint, or facial recognition."

"Or like retinal scan."

"Exactly. And then we backtrack them, using the laser scan."

But the tracks by the lake were on a dirt road. How's it work now that we're above a concrete road?"

"Faint traces of rubber are left. We can digitally enhance them."

"Like a bloodhound following a certain scent through all the other scents."

Shego nibbled his ear. "Your plans for world conquest suck rocks, D, but you make detective work as fun as crime."

Drakken allowed himself a small smile. Shego was worth a hundred Bebe's he used to build.

The trail led them to a house. "D, the trail shows that the car had pulled into this house from another direction--and then pulled out to the lake." She pointed to the Global Positioning screen with map overlay. "This is the King house."

"Let's land, Shego. My instincts are telling me to stop."

"Drak--that cistern is excavated--and sealed. I get this deja vu. It's like the death traps we devised for Kimmie. I don't like it."

Drakken aimed with a sound analysis device. "I'm detecting sounds from inside the cistern--Kimmie's voiceprints!"

Shego's hands ignited. "Cover your eyes! I'm gonna blast this thing open!"

"No! Wait!" Drakken took a telescoping pry bar from the hovercraft. "We want to leave the scene exactly as we found it!"

A girl's terrorized wail floated up through the cistern. Desperately, they redoubled their efforts.

Shego dropped into the cistern and activated her power. The ghostly green glow illuminated the cistern. Kim was cringing in a corner, chained to the wall.

"Please Tara, NO! For the love of GOD! NO!"

Shego gasped. "Oh, Princess--what happened to you?"

Drakken unrolled a rope ladder and climbed down.

Kim shrank in terror. "OMYGOD! OMYGOD! YOU TWO!"

Shego slowly approached Kim. "Shh. Kim--it's okay. We're here to get you out." She hugged the frightened girl.

Kim trembled in Shego's embrace. "You won't leave me here--in the dark?"

"No, sweetie. We're going to take you home. There's food--and a warm bed."

"Promise me you won't turn the lights out?"

"I promise."

"You'll stay with me?"

"Like glue, hon."

Shego watched Drakken pull out a device shaped like an ink pen. She recognized it--an air jet gun for hypodermic injection. Shego nodded. He pressed it against Kim's shoulder and pushed. There was a sound like a hiss of air and Kim went limp in Shego's arms.

"I sedated her. She's showing signs of severe psychological trauma--and the beginnings of oxygen deprivation."

Shego carried Kim to the hovercraft and cradled her in her arms.

Drakken restored the cistern to its previous state--ironically, as Tara had done only hours before.

They were silent as the hovercraft sped back to the lair. Shego wrapped Kim protectively in her embrace and Drakken wrapped himself in his thoughts.

At the lair, Shego laid Kim on a cushioned examination table.

"Drak? Are you going to use the brain tap machine?"

"I've got to. It's my only resort. I have to ascertain the degree of injury. I'll conduct a low level scan."

He attached the electrodes and threw the switch. He carefully studied the oscillating pattern on the readout. "It's as I thought. Severe emotional trauma, coupled with slight brain damage."

Shego's gaze became forlorn.

Drakken shook his head wearily. "I don't know to what degree, but she won't be the same Kim we used to know. She'll be functional, but at a child's level."

Shego had to run from the room for a moment. The thought of that powerful warrior girl reduced to this--when Shego was sure she wouldn't burst into tears, she came back--and had to leave again.

She gently bathed Kim, dressed her in a nightgown, and put her to bed.

They sat with steaming mugs of Cocoa-Moo. It was time to seriously discuss matters.

"Drakken, what are we going to do? Someone tried to bury her alive--probably her 'friend' Tara. There's means--and opportunity. The motivation was probably jealously over Kimmie's sidekick boyfriend."

"I would tend to agree," he said quietly.

"Her family is going to miss her! And we're a couple felons on probation!"

"I know."

"And I might be thinking like a felon, but who are people going to believe--even with the evidence? A couple ex-cons, or little Miss Goldilocks?"

Drakken sighed. It was good jailhouse wisdom. No one would believe him and Shego. Not Global Justice. Not the Possible's. Not Ron Stoppable. "I have an idea, Shego. It's almost as asinine as one of my conquer-the-world schemes--and if you can think of anything better, please don't hesitate to tell me."

Kim stirred. And yawned. And opened her eyes.

A tall, broad-shouldered boy with olive skin and black hair smiled. "Hiya, hon. How ya doin?"

Kim blinked and squinted. "Huh? Who--?"

"It's me. Erik. Your Prom date. Your boyfriend. That accident really shook you up. Dr. Lipsky was afraid you wouldn't wake up--but here you are."

Kim propped herself by her elbows. "Erik?"

"Yeah. Our dance at the Prom. They played our song. We kissed."

Kim put her hand to her head. "Oh, God--I'm trying to remember--this awful nightmare--little toys from Bueno Nacho that grew into giant robots--you tried to electrocute me--"

"Electrocute you?" asked Erik, alarmed. "Sounds terrible!"

"The dance! I remember! Oh, Erik!" And she clung to him. "Omigod! Please! Just hold me for a minute!"

"Kim! Sure I will!" And he clung to her.

Shego and Drakken watched on closed circuit television. "You're right, D. This is one funky scheme."

"Maybe we can wean her back to reality--someday. But for now, she needs treatment--and comfort. She knows Ron Stoppable too well on a subconscious level--she would detect a fake in a moment. But an Erik android--maybe." Dr. Drakken sighed. "And I've got to create a virtual world for her--with holographic imaging, if I have to. As much like as her real world as I can."

to be continued