A/N: I couldn't help myself. I had to upload this a few hours early. Enjoy!
Chapter 4 - Sitch of a Different Color
"You realize you could go back to jail for this... right?"
Kim finished tightening down her boots and stood to view her reflection. She had turned off her light an hour ago, her parents and brothers long since asleep. The only light came from the dimly glowing screen of the Kimmunicator, illuminating the hanging dust in the air.
"Wade, I'll be fine. The new black suit looks great, by the way."
"Stealth tech in every polymer," Wade said. "It should have less problems than the battle suit since it has none of its strength enhancements." He paused, and the ever constant clacking keys stopped. "I think I'm going to go radio silent while you're out unless something comes up. Just in case."
Kim looked at the screen and perked a brow. "Is the great lord of the computer afraid of getting hacked?"
Wade vehemently waved a hand. "No! It's just... a precaution." He started typing again. "Things have been weird on the local networks; vast loads of encrypted data flowing through the channels for the last week."
"Sounds like something is up," Kim said. "Perfect."
"You sure you don't want me to call Ron?"
"Doubly sure. I don't want him any more involved than he already is."
"Be careful. Beginning radio silence."
Kim stared at the blank screen after Wade had switched off. "Sorry Wade." She unstrapped it from her wrist and left it on her nightstand.
The window opened with a creak, making Kim cringe. She checked behind her and strained her eyes, but no other sound came. She activated her stealth system - turning completely invisible - slipped through her curtains, and reached up to pull the window back down.
She padded her way down the driveway, dirt muffling her steps, and she passed her car. The old manufacturing plant was on the other side of town, but Kim couldn't take the risk of her car being seen missing, or her parents noticing. She'd have to hoof it.
So Kim fell upon the packed dirt of the streets in a loping jog, her house disappearing behind so many others.
The night air was crisp and welcome. Kim breathed in the cold, let it fill her lungs, cool her nose. Running kept her warm, and the steady padding of her feet gave her a sound to focus on, each impact sending tremors through her soles.
It would take over an hour to get to the factory, so Kim passed the time by going over how she might enter, how to find the proof she needed (she double checked she brought her camera with her,) and how to get out. All the usual things she went over pre-mission. But her thoughts kept going to her classes, her trial, and what would happen if it all went wrong. Kim Possible, the criminal.
She shook the thought from her head and instead, focused on her breathing. In and out, each step of the way. The pounding of her feet, the dull ache of her calves as time went on.
She entered the industrial district. Much of it was lined with a tall chain link fence, but this was easily scalable, if noisy. The sound practically thundered in Kim's ears as she climbed.
Scraps of thick plastic wrap, packing pellets, and torn cardboard littered the gutters of the street. She half expected to see rats, but only oil stains and an overpowering smell of chemicals greeted her. Perhaps the rats were smarter than she.
She paced through at a light jog until, finally, she saw it; Middleton Manufacturing and Maintenance. At least, that's what the worn, painted letters on the brown brick wall said. It looked for all intents and purposes like the abandoned building it was supposed to be. The rusted chain link fence didn't even go all the way around anymore, its links long ago having failed down the middle. Kim slipped right through.
Nothing came out to stop her. No alarms sounded. Kim bit her lip, then made her way to the steel door with peeling paint. It was bolted shut with thick chains, rusted, but still strong.
She looked around. A bit of drain pipe hung from the roof a few feet away. She walked over and tested it; it felt loose but stable under her fingers. She climbed and the piped rattled. More than once, she had to stop for fear of it breaking underneath her. But she didn't have to climb far.
She reached the window, which had been completely knocked out; only a broken frame remained. Through the window, Kim could barely see past the pitch darkness. Kim felt a pang of disappointment, but squinted into the black, trying to see any glimmer of light, any sign of movement in the dark building.
Nothing.
She chewed her lip. Just as she was about to climb back down, something flashed in the window. She jerked her head back towards it, but whatever it was, it was gone. But it came from inside.
"Got you now, Ms. Umbra," Kim said. She grasped the sides of the window and hauled herself inside...
... and was instantly blinded by light. Kim panicked and fell, landing hard on her rear.
"You heard that now?!" A man said near her.
"Yeah...," another said. "Yeah, I definitely heard somethin'. This place is haunted, I tell ya!"
"You idiot! This place ain't haunted. Go get the boss!"
"Er, you sure? I mean -"
"Go get the boss!"
"R-right."
Slowly, Kim's vision adjusted to the bright lights. She bolted to her feet when a 200 pound man came into focus, standing less than a foot away, and another, skinnier man who was quickly disappearing behind a set of columns, past the little open room they were in. Something like old boilers stood against the wall, though the rest of the room was new.
Kim snapped up and hit the nearest goon in the side of the head. The other had just enough time to look behind him, cry out, and sprint down the hall. Kim nearly cursed and took off after him, still invisible.
In the next instant, she tackled him to the pristine white walls and knocked him out too... then noticed that his hand was covering a pulled lever.
Sirens blared and echoed throughout the entire compound. Yet a familiar voice managed to shout above it. "WILL SOMEONE SHUT OFF THAT RACKET?!"
Kim suppressed a gasp. She was at the end of the hallway, and it emptied out into a wide open area.
The first thing Kim noticed was the scent of burning plastic and hot metal filling her nose. Below her, a catwalk staircase led down into what might have been the most advanced factory Kim had ever seen. Pure white machinery surrounded a long, winding conveyor belt that snaked through the whole operation. Rumbling machines covered parts of the belts, accepting separate smaller pieces and making larger, combined pieces that exited on the other side. And on the far end of the lowered factory, on a raised platform equal with Kim's position, stood Shego.
Shego leaned over the railing and shouted down. "Shut off the machines!"
One white clad man looked up. "But ma'am -"
"Shut off!" She flared plasma. "The machines!"
The man gulped, nodded, and ran off.
People stood around, dressed in lab coats with facial masks on. The two Kim had knocked out were similarly dressed.
Shego pointed at another worker. "Hey! You!"
"Bobby, sir!"
"Haha, yeah, you? You go check over there. You see that body? It had a partner. Find it."
Kim glanced below her and noticed that the second victim she had knocked out was hanging outside of the hall. This time, she did curse at herself.
The man scrambled to follow Shego's orders. Kim started creeping away from the body as not to accidentally run into Bobby the Factory Worker.
"Alright!" Shego said, addressing the manufacturing line as a whole. "Looks like we have an intruder, and I'd bet money that it's a rat named 'Kim Possible.'"
The factory murmured uneasily. Kim skirted around the peon Shego had sent as he passed on the stairs up to Kim's former position.
"Quiet!" Shego said.
"But ma'am," a woman said this time, "why would Kim Possible come here?"
"Yeah, doll? Why don't you leave the thinking to me and stay. Quiet."
The workers just looked at each other this time, and ceased to make a sound.
Kim crept closer, while Shego continued to scan the room. Kim grinned with how easy this was going to be. She skirted everyone she came across, quiet as a cat, until finally, she reached the head of the apparent assembly line and saw a very familiar sight.
Drakken's doom bots. And with Umbra's weapon expertise, Kim had no doubt that the faulty AI was now fixed. Quietly as she could, she unbuttoned her pouched and pulled out the camera she had taken with her, pointing it at the nearly completed bots.
A flash of green and the camera flew right out of her hands. Her gloves burned hot and she pulled them off. The connection broken, Kim fizzled into view.
"Well well," Shego said, "look who it is everyone? The favorite hero." Shego laughed. "Next time, pumpkin, try not to hold something while you're invisible? Dead giveaway."
Shego flared her plasma and vaulted over the guardrail, dropping just in front of Kim. Several people started backing up.
Kim squared her feet. "Doesn't matter. All I have to do is show this place to the police, and then everyone will know what kind of person Umbra is."
Shego grinned. "Oooooor..." She reached down to her ankle pouch and pulled out a remote, depressing the red button on its face.
"SELF-DESTRUCT IN 60 SECONDS."
This was so predictable. "Everyone get out!" Kim yelled, but people were already scrambling for the exits and flooding outside.
"Except for you!" Shego said and leapt into the fight.
They fought through the building, using assembly lines, incomplete robot arms, and walking platforms as their weapons and battleground. Plasma shot in every direction and Kim dodged it all. Steam started to fill the area, making it hard to see Shego in it.
"What's wrong, Kimmie?" Shego said as flipped Kim over her shoulder. "Scared the wittle copsies are gonna take you away?"
Kim skidded into a landing and barely had enough time to get her bearings before Shego was in her face, plasma swerving around her head. "Get real, Shego," Kim said, dodging left and right. She planted a fist into Shego's ribs, smashing her into one of the machines.
Shego crawled out of it. "You're gonna pay for that, cupc-"
"LOCK-DOWN INITIATED."
Shego jerked to a stop and looked up. Kim nearly took the opening, but hesitated, dropping her own guard.
"What?" Kim said.
"I don't remember anything about a-"
Around them, heavy metal doors sprang down over the windows, the doorways, and even the air vents. The ground shuddered underneath them, and the air rang with the vibrations of steel.
"Welcome ladies."
Overhead, a wall had turned into a screen and the giant face of Norana Umbra faced them. "I hate to be melodramatic about this, but I suppose some rules need to obeyed. Welcome to my little death trap, Kim Possible. I hope you enjoy the next few seconds."
Kim opened her mouth to respond, but in the next moment, the screen blanked out.
"What?!" Kim said. "No rant? No telling me how or why she did it?"
Shego shrugged. "Eh, she's new at this."
"That was so lame!"
"IMPLOSION IN TEN SECONDS."
"Uh, Shego?"
"Come on!" They ran to the wall and Shego battered the steel with green bolts.
"EIGHT."
"Shego!"
"I'm trying!"
"SEVEN."
"It's not working!"
"SIX."
"Can't you amp it up?!"
"FIVE."
"It's plasma proof!"
"FOUR."
"Shield?"
"Shego!"
"THREE."
"Shield?!"
"This suit's only stealth!"
"TWO."
"Shego!"
"Shut up!"
"ONE."
Then things happened very quickly. Shego grabbed Kim and threw her against the wall and Kim's vision filled with green. From the center of the building, an explosion rang out and the green around them flickered. Pieces of metal flew through it, molten hot. The green sputtered, and Shego suddenly slammed into Kim, back first, and Kim's vision went dark.
~oO0Oo~
Bright, white light burned Kim's eyes. She groaned, and tried to move, but her body felt heavy.
Someone said something she couldn't make out.
Slowly, her vision started to focus. At first, all the white made Kim think she was still in the factory. But slowly, the white took on a more gray color, the walls far closer and lower than the factory's had been.
Her mouth was dry. She blinked tears out of her eyes and forced them into painful focus.
The first thing she noticed as she began to regain her senses was the steady, quiet, beeping. The smell of disinfectant and open wounds. A quiet, distant murmuring.
Steadily, her eyes focused. She lay in a bed, her leg held aloft in a sling, and a handcuff clasped around one of her wrists. A blanket loosely covered her body and her other arm was... laying there.
She tried to move it. Nothing happened. Her shoulder moved some, but her arm just dragged behind it. Curl her fingers? No. Move her wrist? No.
Kim tried to suck air through her too-narrow throat. She couldn't move. She was paralyzed.
"Hey, calm down."
Kim jerked her head - at least she could move that - and saw Shego laying in a bed across from her. Cuts lined her face and her wrist was cuffed to her own bed.
"Shego?" Her mouth felt sticky, and it hurt to talk.
"Yeah," she said. "Listen, you're fine. Suits gave us some kind of nerve toxin." She glanced up at a hanging bag of green liquid that lead to their IV drips. "So calm down before I start blasting things to get away from the noise."
Kim snorted and laughed, which hurt. Her breathing slowed. "If you could do that, I don't think we'd be talking right now."
"Please. As if I could be kept in a bed."
"You've obviously made such progress getting out of it."
"I'm working on it."
Kim laid her head back and let it sink into the pillow. An overhead fan sent a light breeze over her skin. Outside, she heard the beeps of calls coming in, nurses exchanging information on their patients, and steel carts rumbling by. And their window was barred.
"Where are we?" Kim said. Then she nearly jumped (or at least her head did) when she noticed a blonde officer slumbering in the chair next to the bed, her hair falling over her face.
"It's not incredibly obvious?" Shego said.
"Well, it's a hospital," Kim said.
"... I didn't knock anything loose in that thing you call a brain, did I?"
"You -"
The door to their room slammed as if something had run into it.
The guard jerked awake and was on her feet in a second, her hand on her gun. She glanced from Kim to Shego, then stepped around their beds towards the door. Kim and Shego glanced towards each other and watched their guard reach out...
"No, I don't care what people say she's done," a man said from outside. Her father. "We're her parents. We have a right!"
Someone outside murmured something Kim couldn't hear.
Their guard sighed, took one last look at Kim and Shego in their beds, and left, shutting the door behind her.
A din of quiet fell over the room. Kim and Shego waited, their ears tilted towards the entrance. In the next moment, the door burst open and inside walked the lady guard and...
"Greetings! I'm Hank Perkins!"
Hank wore a broad grin and a pressed suit. Kim caught a fleeting glance of her father in the doorway as the guard left the room and shut it behind her. A heavy bolt slammed into the frame from the other side.
Hank stood at the foot of their beds and beamed at them both. "I've been hired to represent you in your upcoming case," he said.
Kim and Shego looked at each other.
"Who are you representing?" Shego said.
"Why, both of you, of course!"
Kim and Shego turned back to each other. Shego looked murderous. Kim could nearly relate.
"There has to be a mistake," Kim said. "You were already hired to represent me in my previous case."
"We decided that it would be best for me to represent you at this case as well, given my past experience with villain cases."
"I'm not a villain!" Kim said.
"And me?" Shego said. "I didn't hire you in the first place."
"No," Hank said, "but the state did. I volunteered for the city's public defender program just to take the case. It's a real opportunity!"
"Opportunity?!"
Shego surely would have glowed a bright green if she could, but as it was, her head just strained against the weight of her body.
Hank backed away nonetheless.
"Not to worry, not to worry! I have it all under control. The trial is set for next week-"
Kim tried with all her might to bolt up, but only succeeded in lifting her head a bit further. "Next week?!"
Hank Perkins smiled. "Why yes! They asked if we could use your court date from your previous charge, and I heartily agreed! Best to get these things out of the way you know. They were quite concerned about my having enough time to gather evidence, but I put those fears right to rest."
Kim slumped back into her pillow.
"I hate you," Shego said.
"Now, Shego," Hank said, "didn't any of my lessons about team building stick?"
"If I had my plasma, you'd be sticking to the walls pretty well."
"Er, yes, well..."
"Hank," Kim said, "what have I- we been charged with?"
"Why, terrorism, of course!"
Something inside Kim curled up, died, and left a very ugly corpse. She mouthed the word.
Hank did a little bounce on his feet. "Yes, quite the pickle that one, but don't worry! We'll knock it right out of the park!"
"W-" Kim's throat had gone even more dry. She coughed, but was unable to move to make it easier.
"Yes, it's quite the charge, I'm afraid," Hank said. "But I think I've gathered enough evidence to get the charges dropped! After you hit that self-destruct... well, boy howdy."
"I didn't hit the self-destruct!" Kim said, sucking air.
"Good! That's good!" Hank said. "Just keep up that story and we'll make it out of the courtroom alright. Now, my time is almost up for now. Other villains to see, you know. Not to worry! I'll be back to take your statements and discuss strategies with you soon! It's going to be a cinch, just you wait!"
Hank turned and walked towards the door. Two knocks, the door unbolted, and Hank left the room, replaced with the blonde guard. She glanced at the two of them again, then sat down in her seat in the corner of the room.
"Shego," Kim said.
Shego inclined her head a millimeter, but Kim noticed the guard perk her head up in the same instant.
Kim reconsidered, and eventually just fell silent. Shego leaned back into her pillow.
Thoughts coursed through Kim's head like a river in a flood. Terrorism. Kim Possible was accused of terrorism. And what if...
"Ma'am!" she said, turning her head towards the guard. "Ma'am, please... is anyone hurt? Did everyone make it out alright?"
The officer just narrowed her eyes at her.
Shego laughed once. "Don't bother. We're in Upperton Medical. Police around here aren't as used to seeing you every day."
They should still have heard about her! Known she helped out Middleton on a near daily basis.
But if she was accused of terrorism...
Had she caused anyone to get hurt? Or worse. Her heart ached. If she had never gone to that factory, if she had just stayed home like she was supposed to, if she just... didn't do it.
In all her years of teen rescues, never had she run afoul of the law. Sure, a few times she had to explain things, but she was always let go in the end.
But this...
"Stop worrying."
Kim jerked towards Shego. "What?"
Shego grimaced. "I said, 'stop worrying.' I can hear your scowling from here. It's annoying. Your face is so scrunched up, you'll end up looking more like your nana before we get out of here."
Kim looked away. "... you might actually be right. If we ever get out."
"Oh please. Save me the pity party, Kimmie; I'm trying to sleep before I have to deal with the Pollyanna mouthpiece again."
Frustration welled up in Kim. She wanted so badly to ball her fist, to lash out at something. As it was, her neck muscles tensed so much it hurt. "So sorry you can't sleep," she said. "I forgot how unimportant prison time is to someone who practically has a prison rewards card!"
"Ooo," Shego said mockingly. "Kitten's got claws." She huffed. "Gimmmie a break."
Kim growled. "I'd have more than claws if I could get off this bed."
"Bored now." And Shego turned her head away from Kim, and from that moment onward, no matter how Kim prodded, she couldn't get Shego to respond.
She eventually gave up, but laying in bed, watching nurses come and go, occasionally sipping water, and listening to the guard cough was excruciatingly boring. She tried to make some kind of game out of moving her head. Then she tried to count the spots on the roof. She even got the brainwashing shampoo rap stuck in her head. With a severe lack of anything better to do, she turned her thoughts to what happened.
She studiously ignored any thoughts about possible deaths and instead, focused on the events as they stood; if she was going to court in a week, she was going to be ready. She went over her approach, why she had left (maybe she should leave that out?), how she had got in, her fight with Shego. Shego hitting the button, Shego starting the fight, Shego... saving her?
She thought back to the fight, the walls, the way the fight stopped, the way Shego had looked. She had tried to get out and was trapped just like Kim.
Then Kim realized just how much she had been manipulated. She realized that every step of the way, Umbra had probably been playing her. This was just the next step.
Shego would run. She wouldn't go to trial with Kim; she'd leave Kim to take the fall and let her rot, just as Umbra planned.
Terrorism.
Kim grew angry. She ground her teeth, bit her tongue. She wouldn't let them get away with it. As soon as she was out, she was taking Umbra down.
There was a knock at the door and Kim's head jerked up. The door opened, and even Shego peered over in curiosity.
However, it was just another guard. A man this time, and the woman to Kim's side looked relieved.
"About time you showed up," she said. "I'm 20 minutes past my shift."
"Yeah, yeah," he said. "Traffic, you know? Hey, where's the remote? Umbra was supposed to be giving a speech today. I wanted to catch it."
She reached down to the stand beside Kim and tossed it to him. "Groupie."
He grinned at her and she left while the man flopped into the chair and turned on the television, flipping the channels. Kim noticed Shego glance at her out of the corner of her eye, but Kim studiously ignored her.
Finally, the officer found the channel he was looking for. There, Umbra was just coming up to the podium.
Kim grimaced. Convenient.
"Ladies and gentlemen," Umbra said on the television. "I come to you today to talk about the events of yesterday night.
"I join you in your grief," she said. "I too could not believe the stories when I heard them. Kim Possible, branded a terrorist. She may have been an overeager vigilante reaching beyond her scope, but she always seemed to have good intentions, and the world loved her for it."
The microphones picked up murmurs of agreement from the crowd. Every muscle in Kim's neck tensed.
Umbra seemed genuinely sad as she nodded and held her hands up for quiet. "Yes, I found it hard to believe. However, a factory constructing robots to help with the rebuilding of this fair city was violently and maliciously destroyed, and I come to you today with evidence that I would like to make public."
Kim and Shego exchanged glances, and Kim immediately berated herself for it. She turned stubbornly back to the television.
"As it so happens, I have all my cam footage uploaded to remote locations in real time as an additional security measure. The footage I'm about to show you has already been vetted by the Middleton police force as genuine. It may be painful, but I ask you to watch so that the world might know the truth."
The next few seconds sent Kim spiraling into a wellspring of endless despair. The screen changed to a camera showing the inside of the factory she had broken into. A moment later, a window slide open, and through it dropped Camille.
In an exact duplicate of Kim.
Kim's mouth hung open and she glanced to Shego, whose expression was stoney.
On screen, "Kim" walked to the center of the building and took to a knee, pulling something out of her pack. Pulling explosives out of her pack. She set them around a support pillar, and stood. The feed cut, and again the feat was repeated on a different area. And again. And again.
A worker came through a door in the rear of the feed. The Kim recoiled, and with a flying kick, knocked him off-screen. She completed a single more round of charges, and then dragged the unconscious worker to the rear and off-screen.
The feed cut back to Umbra, now visibly distraught. The previous clicking and flashing of cameras and the low constant murmur that filled the air now gave way to a grave silence.
"Yes," Umbra said, apparently trying to pull herself together and wiping a single tear from her eye, "it is truly a dark day for us all. I will leave it up to the courts to decide what to make of this evidence. That is all the time I can give you for now. I'm afraid I'm needed elsewhere."
The crowd instantly broke its silence. Cameras burst into action, questions were shouted, but Umbra was led offstage by her guard.
Kim stared with rapt attention, intending to absorb every morsel of detail, but the screen switched off and she panicked at the sudden lack.
Desperate for anything, she glanced towards Shego again and instantly broke out into a cold sweat.
Shego's hands were glowing green.