Chapter 4: Brisk Risk

Against his wishes, Cyrus Bortel was becoming accustomed to uninvited guests in his lab. At least Kim Possible wasn't a threat, but the teen heroine could be annoying. Too many questions, none of them about science. Her sidekick's aimless roaming around the laboratory complex was much more troublesome; the boy had a gift for breaking things.

"Why did you tell Global Justice she couldn't have gone very far?"

"You must have misunderstood me, Kim. There was a lot going on."

"I don't think so, Dr. Bortel. You knew she had this – acceleranium. She could have been anywhere."

It was obvious that the girl still had a moral sense, a conscience. Bortel hoped she'd outgrow that. He had.

"Kim, you must understand. They were not prepared to face someone with, uh, such power. They could have been hurt! I was simply – simply looking out for them. Yes. The real danger there was Shego, and you certainly took care of that!"

"Not really." The mention of Shego struck a sour note with Kim, but there was no time for self-pity in the middle of a mission. "Has Personich been back since?"

"No. But the serum was tested on animals before she got it. I have the results of those tests. If she does return, I'm ready for her."

"What's this thing?" Ron was standing before a large cylindrical device, fronted by a hatch and surrounded by dangerous-looking coils and insulators.

"Step away from that, please."

"Some sort of refrigerator? A little snackology would be fine."

"It's a matter duplicator, but not much of one. Science doesn't always reveal all its secrets at once. If one wants to duplicate bobby pins or thumbtacks, it works, to a degree. But if something living gets in it, well – "

"Rufus, come back here." The little creature had somehow opened the hatch and jumped into the device; as Ron reached down, his belt loop caught a lever on the control panel. With a hateful hiss, the hatch slammed shut.

There was a flash from within.

"Rufus!"

Slowly the hatch opened; thick white vapors parted to reveal a dreadful sight. Slowly Ron bent down, gently picked up the tiny body, eyes filling with tears.

Bortel burst out in laughter, a big Santa Claus ho ho ho. "I told you to leave that alone!"

The teens regarded him with disgust; they hadn't realized he was so heartless. Not even Drakken would have laughed at this. At least not immediately.

Suddenly the scientist realized what was happening. "Oh, you thought – no, not at all! Look again. Your little pet is fine, I assure you."

As if on cue, the naked mole rat hopped out from within the machine, chattering happily. Overjoyed, Ron heedlessly tossed the duplicate away; Bortel snatched it out of the air without even breaking stride.

"You see," he said, dangling the lifeless reproduction of Rufus practically in Kim's face, "it just does not work on living things. It cannot catch the elusive spark."

The girl looked away, nauseated. Bortel seemed not to notice.

"But, for that, there is always cloning," he said, and threw the duplicate into a recycling vat. "Ah, science! The future is so bright, we will have to wear shades. Or we will be blinded by science, and who wants that?"

"Who indeed?" Kim rolled her eyes. She had no idea what Bortel was talking about. This interrogation, such as it was, was going nowhere. Ron had found a banana in his backpack and wandered off down a hallway, happily chowing down; she was ready for lunch herself. Maybe it was time to call it a day.

"Dr. Bortel, I think we're done here", she told the scientist, and turned to find Suzanne Personich standing in the laboratory door.

In his mountain lair, Dr. Drakken stepped away from the monitor, disgusted. "Where is she now? That isn't Middleton. Doesn't she know I put a tracking chip in that bionic implant? People don't give me enough credit, Shego."

The woman was filing her nails; without looking up, she replied, "You don't give them any reason to."

"Oh, for the love of – are you going to sulk about this all day? It's just a job."

"My job. If anyone finishes Kimmie, it'll be me. Not some female grease monkey with a speed fetish."

"But this is delicious! She does the crime, she does the time. And we go scot-free. And Kim-free as well." He rubbed his hands together, began pacing the floor in glee. "Not that she'll do much time without that code word. All the loose ends, tied up in a nice neat bow. I love it when a plan comes together."

Bortel gasped, ran for a bank of controls set in the wall of his lab. Suzanne was in front of him before he had taken three steps.

"Got a phone call to make? You really should keep your cel with you, hon."

"N-no," stammered the scientist, "I, uh, I left the coffee pot on. Silly mistake."

"You don't need Global Justice to take care of a coffee pot. It'll be fine, sugar. Just fine." She advanced on the scientist; her desperate intensity unnerved him. "Things have changed. You're going to help me. I don't know anyone else who can."

"Stop where you are, Personich." Even knowing it was futile, Kim assumed battle stance. "You stole a top-secret serum. There's a price to pay for that."

"Please. I've seen you in action, doll. You're not much. Reflexes like yours would get you killed on the track." She continued to walk, backing Bortel to the wall. "Send the child home, doctor, and we'll talk."

"Step away from him. I'm not kidding."

"Go away, Kim Possible. I don't know why you're here and I don't care. I don't have time to play around. Now get out of here before I give Drakken what – "

"Drakken? What about Drakken?"

"KP, what's going on?" Ron had wandered back into the main lab, was standing beside the control panel Bortel had tried to reach. "Who's that?"

"Red switch, extreme right!" yelled Bortel.

"Hushpuppies!" Suzanne Personich blurred and vanished, but this time the blur suddenly skidded out of control, slid across the floor, passed Ron to crash into shelves stacked high with books and boxes.

Groaning, the little blonde tried to stand up. A banana peel lay in the floor, squashed and trampled.

"Ok, I couldn't find a trash can, all right?" Ron jabbered.

"Red switch, Ron!"

As Suzanne got to her feet, Ron threw the switch; a deep hum emanated from the walls of the complex, more felt than heard. The woman stepped forward, stumbled, almost fell.

"W-what's wrong with me?" She took two more halting, unsure steps, surprise, even fear in her eyes. "What's going on?"

"Acceleranium's effects are temporarily neutralized in a high-frequency electromagnetic field," said Bortel. "I've been busy since the first time we met. Now I will call the authorities."

"No! No, don't. I surrender. I'll do the time. But I need your help!"

Kim realized the woman's fear was genuine. "Dr. Bortel, maybe you should listen to her. She said something about Drakken – "

The doctor cut her off. "Where's the rest of the serum?"

"There isn't any. I took it all." She looked at the clock. With super-speed she could still make it back to Drakken's lair. Not that it mattered. The price he demanded was just too high. "I'm not a murderer," she sobbed. "I've been a thief and a liar, but I won't be a murderer."

Kim shoved the doctor out of the way, went to the woman's side. "Suzanne, what's the sitch? What's Drakken got to do with this?"

She poured out the whole story. Quickly. Because time was running out.

Shego was fed up with Drakken's gloating. "Why the jailbreak? So we could play hospital? 'Scalpel.' 'Scalpel.' 'Suction.' 'Suction.' Yeah, that was necessary. Prison wasn't as boring. And I definitely wasn't interested in seeing Speedy up close and personal."

"It's how it's done, Shego! Don't you ever watch TV? The doctor says 'scalpel' and the nurse obliges." Stopping himself mid-rant, he continued more sedately: "I broke you out of jail because – because I needed your help. You'd do the same for me."

"You go right on believing that." She went to the monitor, watching the phosphor blip that was Sue Personich. "So where is honeybaby-sugarpie, then, if she's not going to visit the princess?"

"Don't know, don't care. Maybe she's paying a call on her dear old grandmother. Or something." The blue man picked up a small signal box, amused to know he was holding Suzanne Personich's life in his hands. Just above the alphanumeric keyboard, a digital readout was ticking down the seconds. "If she dawdles too long, she's got a date with the undertaker."

"Maybe she knows someone that can remove your bionic thingamabob."

" Maybe she thinks she does. There's a big difference. If she wastes her life running around the world, there isn't much I can do about it. When this timer runs out, the ball will be back in your court."

Her eyes in shadow, the harlequin smiled grimly. She was better than Possible and she knew it. Someday very soon she'd have the chance to prove it to the world.

And honey-sugar-baby would be yesterday's news.

Bortel inspected the image on the screen, shaking his head. "The device has extended cyberconnections throughout your spinal column. I'm no neurosurgeon, Sue. Even if I had six days instead of six hours, I couldn't undo what Drakken has done."

"My mother is," Kim told her. "One of the best neurosurgeons in the world. If anyone can remove that thing, she can. We just need to buy you some time. And I've got an idea. A gorchy idea, but it's all we've got."

"Ah, good!" said Bortel. "The gorchy ideas are the ones that end in money!"

The matter duplicator loomed large in Kim's vision. "This one, aah, not so much."