Enemy Territory
XX
An unfamiliar ring. Unfamiliar sheets; this wasn't her bed. As she woke up from the alarm clock's shrill shriek, Kim felt a flash of confusion before realizing where she was. She hadn't gone home last night, and as she noticed the body lying beside her, confusion gave way to a smile of satisfaction. The body stirred as Kim shifted up against her pillow.
"Unngh," mumbled Shego. "Turn – turn off."
Kim slapped the alarm clock with one hand as she slapped Shego on the arm with the other. "Wake up, sleepyhead."
Shego shifted with a loud grumble of protest, but finally got into a sitting position. She gave Kim a blank stare, blinking her eyes as she tried to wake up. Kim stifled a bout of laughter; Shego was definitely not a morning person, judging by the way her jet black hair formed a frizzy halo around her head. That, or they had just been a little wild the other night. Maybe a bit of both.
"I don't remember setting the alarm clock this early," grumbled Shego as she glanced at the time with a frown of displeasure. "What's the deal, Kimmie?"
"I gotta go to school. It's a week day."
"School?"
"Yeah. It's the place you go to get educated when you don't want to become a career criminal."
Shego flashed a wolfish grin Kim's way. "Sometimes I forget you go to high school in between all the times you stop by and screw things up for me and Drakken," she said. "I don't know how you find the time."
"Alarm clocks. That's how."
"High school. Wow, I'm really corrupting you, aren't I?"
Kim rolled her eyes and gave Shego another slap on the arm – almost before her palm touched skin, however, she felt a bizarre feeling take hold of her. As if she hadn't really woken up, and was still caught in a dream. This was too weird to be real – she was in her enemy's bed, bantering and joking around like they were an old couple.
It had taken a little bit of convincing to get Shego to take her back to the lair, which was strange, considering how happy she had been to barge into Kim's house without asking. Shego had seemed a little defensive, maybe – like she still didn't trust Kim, even though she had been coming after her repeatedly. Kim had told herself it was all part of the mission, all just an attempt to infiltrate the lair and gain Shego's trust, but beyond Global Justice, beyond missions – she was starting to come to terms with her curiosity. She was here because she was curious. More than curious. And last night, her curiosity had been sated, at least physically.
Shego had tempted her. Kim had given in to the temptation.
As if reading her thoughts, Shego leaned over and grabbed her waist, pulling her in close and stealing a kiss for herself. She didn't ask permission, didn't wait to see if Kim was in the mood; she just took what she wanted. Something about the act sent a thrill through Kim's body, raising the hairs on her skin like a cold breeze. She kissed back, tongue probing, lips traveling from Shego's mouth to her cheeks, her neck, her body. Kim was breaking new ground, eating the apple her enemy had been dangling so tantalizingly. And it was totally delicious.
Except that-
"I have school," she protested, trying to resist the feel of fingertips on her body.
"Skip it."
"I can't do that."
"Whatever, Princess. You're telling me you never skip school for missions?"
"That's not the same."
Kim realized that it was the same, even if Shego didn't know it. She was technically on a mission right now. One of her most interesting missions, that was for sure, but still, she was beginning the process of getting in tight with Shego. Figuring out where the woman stood, whether there was any possibility she might turn good again. She could skip school for this, couldn't she? There was nothing naughty about that. Or maybe there was, but skipping school wasn't the naughty part.
"You know you want to," purred Shego, brushing aside a whirl of Kim's red hair and kissing her forehead. "Come on, Princess, just be the bad girl - just for today. You know last night was a big deal."
An impulse struck Kim. A reckless urge, but she couldn't resist being cheeky.
"For all you know, I'm just using you like a piece of meat," she pointed out. She waited and observed Shego's reaction, hoping it was so brazen that there was no way it could be some kind of giveaway. Shego would have to take it as a joke. Sure enough, she smirked.
"Duh. What do you think I'm doing to you?"
Kim smiled as Shego pulled her close again, cutting off any more talk. Maybe it wasn't the end of the world if she skipped school and spent a little more time at the lair. Yesterday, after all, was a big deal. What kind of a big deal it was, exactly, wasn't clear to her yet, but any time she wasn't locked in combat with her archenemy – much less locked in lip-locking – something major had to be going down. Still, she felt herself pull away reflexively before things got too heavy. Shego's hands slipped away from her body and fell to the sheets as Kim moved back.
"What's wrong?"
"We just woke up. If I'm skipping school, then we have all day. Why don't we get some breakfast first?"
Shego hesitated a moment before shrugging apathetically.
Kim got out of the bed and gathered her clothes, putting them on as she looked around Shego's room. The two of them had sneaked into the lair last night, almost as if they were about to rob something, and gone straight to her room, giving in to their desires before Shego had even turned the lights on. Kim hadn't actually gotten a good look at the bedroom until now.
There was the bed, of course; a dresser, an end table, a few other pieces of furniture. A general greenish theme to the whole room. In front of her, an open closet with a body-length mirror hanging on the inside of one of the foldout doors, in which Kim caught Shego's reflection staring at her while she got dressed. She saw her own reflection in the mirror, blushing a little at Shego's voyeurism. There she was: Kim Possible. Anything was possible for a Possible, but she never would have expected this.
What was it Shego saw in her? When Kim looked at her mirror image, she seemed small compared to Shego. Not that she was a big woman or anything, although she was curvier than Kim, but it was more something about the way they carried themselves. Shego, still relaxed in her bed, wore a look that was carnal. Predatory, even. In contrast, the sight of herself in Shego's room was jarring. Like she was a fly caught in a spider's web.
Their attraction to each other had only been physical so far – but was that all there was? Just Shego, trying to corrupt her? Kim Possible, wanting to be corrupted? Shego had thrown back Kim's little joke, about using her, like she was meat – Kim knew she was joking too, but still, maybe that was why she had abruptly cut off any more lovemaking, at least for the morning. Something about the joke lingered in her mind.
Maybe after the throes of last night's passion, she just wanted to talk a little.
Shego rose from bed after a long delay and got dressed just as Kim finished putting on her clothes. The two of them left the bedroom and made their way down one of the lair's hallways. Last night, the place had been quiet and empty, but this morning, they walked by a couple of henchmen who nodded awkwardly. Walking past them was strange; like Kim had been caught red-handed. She had heard about something people did in college: the walk of shame. This didn't seem far off, really.
She wondered if the henchmen knew who she was. Of course they do, she thought. She'd probably beaten up half of them at some point in the past. Would Drakken's henchmen be talking about them? Kim Possible and Shego, coming out of their room together – was this the kind of juicy fodder that fueled henchman gossip?
Upon entering the kitchen, two things crossed Kim's mind: first, she always thought there was something strange about a supervillain's lair having a kitchen; second, she hadn't counted on walking in on Drakken eating his breakfast in pajamas. Baby-blue pajamas with little white cartoon beakers on them, she noticed. The three of them stopped in their tracks and stared silently at each other for a few moments. This, Kim thought, was definitely one of the drawbacks of sleeping over with Shego.
"Kim Possible," said Drakken through a mouthful of cereal, eyes opened wide. He swallowed loudly. "Welcome to my lair. I assume you – um – you slept – er – stayed over, with Shego?"
Kim nodded, suddenly wishing she hadn't let Shego persuade her to skip school.
"You know what," said Drakken, getting up from the kitchen table and dropping his spoon with a clatter, "I'm just about finished with my Evil-O's. You two can have the kitchen to yourselves; I believe I shall hang out in the henchmen's lounge for a while and catch up with the employees. Nice seeing you, Kim Possible."
"Um, yeah. Nice seeing you too?"
Drakken nodded, and in an absurd moment of awkwardness, actually took a bow before retreating from the kitchen as quickly as possible. Kim raised an eyebrow at Shego, who walked over to a cupboard and grabbed a couple of bowls and spoons for the two of them. Kim read the box of cereal placed on the table: Evil O's. Supervillain-themed cereal. Apparently, they made brands targeted to just about any consumer group. She wondered if the milk was marketed for supervillains too, but her question was soon answered when Shego got it out of the fridge.
Nope, she thought. Just plain old milk.
Kim made herself a bowl of cereal and began to eat. Not half bad for supervillain food. "You know," she said, "I'm not gonna turn into your partner in crime or something, just because we're doing – you know."
Shego looked over her while poking at her cereal.
"How do you know you wouldn't like it?"
"It's just not me."
"Yeah, but even a few weeks ago, wouldn't you have said the same thing about what we're doing now?"
Kim fell silent as she ate her cereal. Maybe Shego had a point. And maybe she had been too quick to talk, too; when push came to shove, she might have to go along with whatever Drakken and Shego did in their free time. Criminal activities, world domination – although, obviously, she'd have to nip the latter in the bud if it went too far. But then again, telling Shego she wasn't interested in her evil ways came off as genuine – it was something she would really say. Something she really believed.
What to say, when to say it... the more she thought, the more Kim felt her head swimming in confusion. She began to realize this whole covert ops thing would be harder than she had counted on. This must be what cops meant when they talked about 'deep cover'. Not that she was anywhere near that deep yet, but she could already see she'd have to go along with things if she didn't want to blow the mission immediately.
"So how did you get into this whole supervillain sidekick thing, anyway?" she asked. "After Team Go, I mean."
"I'm not a sidekick."
"Partner in supervillainy. Henchwoman. Whatever."
Shego crunched noisily on a bite of cereal, as if trying to drown out the conversation with its sound. "Noth interethted in talking abouth that," she said through a mouthful.
Kim nodded. The two of them lapsed into silence as they ate their breakfast. Kim watched the woman who sat across the table, her curiosity piqued. For someone who had been fixated on her for such a long time, Shego still seemed standoffish. But she figured that was understandable. The two of them had fought each for so long that this new situation – whatever it was – would take some getting used to.
XX
"Price check on Hairy-nosed Wombats! Price check on Hairy-nosed Wombats!"
Ron winced as his voice crackled over the Smarty Mart PA system. He hung up the employee phone recessed into a column in the exotic pets section and smiled wanly at the customer standing beside him; hopefully he'd get a call back soon. The lemurs were part of a new shipment that didn't have any price information tagged to the cages yet. Someone – probably himself, Ron had to admit – had forgotten to do their job right. Sometimes the night shift could be brutal, and today, he was feeling particularly out of it.
Instead of a call back, however, Ron and the customer turned at the sound of Mr. Barkin stomping towards them from down the aisle. "Criminy, Stoppable! Have you EVER heard of VOICE MODULATION?"
"Sorry Mr. B! These phones are a little touchy!"
"Wombats," said Mr. Barkin officiously to the customer. "We're running a sale because, as it turns out, our entire shipment consisted of pregnant females. Fifty dollars, buy one get one free!"
"What a steal!" exclaimed the customer.
"Absolutely. Here, let me get two of them out for you."
Mr. Barkin leaned over and opened the cage, removing a pair of wombats and passing them off to the customer, who seemed to be enthusiastic despite the fact that both of his new pets immediately urinated on him while clawing at his chest. Ron wrinkled his nose at the sight, but after recovering from a particularly nasty claw slash, the customer skipped happily away towards the front registers.
"Anything else, Stoppable?"
"Nope."
"Don't you have to clean up the stock room today?"
Ron thought about it for a moment. Maybe Mr. Barkin was right; he had probably forgotten to take a look at his daily duties checklist when he came in. Lots of things were on his mind lately.
"Stoppable, you seem like you're in a bit of a funk today. Forgetting your stock room duty, and the wombat prices? Normally you're all over the exotic pet information. What's your malfunction?"
Ron shrugged haplessly. He knew what was going on, but he didn't really want to talk about his romantic woes with the man who may well have been his least favorite teacher, if it weren't for the fact that Mr. Barkin was the only teacher he could think of by name at the moment. The other ones seemed to come and go pretty quickly.
"Is it Possible?"
"Oh, man! It's like you read my mind, Mr. B."
"Earlier, you were grinding your teeth and saying the name 'Kim' out loud, so it was an educated guess."
"Gotcha."
Mr. Barkin sighed heavily in commiseration with his student, and gave Ron a hefty pat on the back that almost sent him sprawling out over the freshly-mopped exotic pets aisle. He began to walk in the direction of the employee lounge, leading Ron along with him. "Come with me," he said. "Let's take a little break."
"Um, okay."
Although taking a break with Mr. Barkin sounded fishy, to say the least, Ron didn't mind a break in general. It was definitely better than cleaning out the stock room, for one thing. He joined his teacher in the employee lounge and grabbed a magazine, taking a seat at the table while Mr. Barkin grabbed something from the refrigerator. Ron looked up from his reading as Mr. Barkin sat down, opened a soda, and passed another one over to him.
"Thanks, Mr. B."
"Not a problem, Stoppable. Now put down that magazine."
"Huh?"
"You and me need to have a little talk, mano-a-mano. About the ladies."
"Aw, Mr. B, we don't need to talk about the ladies. We could talk about anything but the ladies, really."
"No, Stoppable, I've seen what's going on between you and Possible - it's obvious you need some guidance from someone who understands the inscrutable mysteries of the opposite gender."
"Inscrutawhat?"
He hadn't even begun to drink his own soda before Mr. Barkin downed his in one gulp, crushing the can in his beefy palm and throwing it behind him. It hit the ground with a clatter, as there were no trashcans nearby. Ron sighed, dropping the magazine and getting ready for a slow and painful conversation. So much for going on break.
"I noticed Kim Possible wasn't at school today," said Mr. Barkin.
"Yeah, I don't know where she is."
I probably do, thought Ron. But I sure don't feel like bringing that up.
"You don't talk to her much anymore?"
Ron was silent.
"You and Possible are broken up, right? Doesn't seem like you two talk very much at school."
Judging by Mr. B's probing, Ron got the feeling there was no way he'd be able to avoid the oncoming conversation. He sighed, giving in. "Yeah, we're broken up, I guess. She's got a thing for Shego," he said, spitting the name from his lips as if he had bitten into a piece of rotten meat.
"That is unfortunate, Stoppable."
"She's got the Ron Man, and she goes for the woman who keeps trying to fry the Ron Man in a blast of green plasma. Explain that, Mr. B!"
Mr. Barkin took a moment to straighten himself up, obviously preparing to hand some sage wisdom down to Ron. However, it turned out he had just been a little unnerved by the idea of Kim and Shego together. "Miss Go and Possible, that's just – I just don't know – it's just WRONGSICK!"
Ron nodded patiently.
"Anyway, Stoppable, here's the thing – you're not enough of a man for Possible. She's an alpha female, and you're some kind of gamma wolf, or something later in the Greek alphabet, I don't really have time to calculate. The details aren't important here. You're no omega wolf, I'll give you that – you do join her on those missions, even if Possible's saving your butt all the time. But the point is, if you want her back, you have to step up!"
Ron sipped slowly from his soda, trying to parse what his teacher and coworker was trying to say. There was a lot of talk about wolves and the Greeks – he had gotten lost already. "Step up to what?" he asked. "Magma?"
"What?"
"Is that a Greek letter?"
"No, Stoppable, what the - to man status, I mean! Pay attention!"
"Come on, Mr. B, we've been through this before. I'm already a man! And this time it's for real, I talked to the rabbi about it and he signed the papers, and he said signatures didn't matter anyway!"
"I'm not talking about a man in the Hebrew sense, Stoppable, I'm talking about a man in the 'get Kim Possible to go out with you' sense. You got lucky with that whole Eric turning into a synthodrone thing, but you've been dropping the ball since then. You have to ask yourself, what do you have to offer to Kim Possible?"
Ron was a little unnerved by how much Mr. Barkin seemed to know about his after-school activities – and Kim's, for that matter – but still, his teacher's question brought a number of thoughts winding through his brain. Maybe Mr. Barkin had a point. Maybe he had been taking his girlfriend for granted, not doing his part as a boyfriend. If he had just been more attentive, maybe offered some of his pizza slices to her when they went to JP Bearymore's Pizza Partytorium, things might have ended up-
No, Ron thought. No way. Maybe he wasn't perfect, but that didn't excuse what Kim had done to him. She hadn't even tried to talk about her feelings with him. Not until she went and cheated on him, anyway. And with Shego, of all people? Besides, after the conversation they had had yesterday, it was clear that things were over between them. Ron kept thinking of her as his girlfriend, but he needed to change that thinking. They were exes now.
"Now," said Mr. Barkin, "if you want some details-"
"I thought you said details aren't important."
"Don't interrupt me, Stoppable. Here's what you have to do. First of all, you're too pale and skinny – you need to get out in the sunlight more, and lift some weights at the gym. I remember there was a time you bulked up those muscles for a couple of days. I don't know what your secret was, but do that again."
Ron doubted Jack Hench would be willing to part with another one of those muscle rings.
"All women are also looking for a man to be a provider. You have to be strong, but you also have to make money, Stoppable. Why do you think I work day and night between Smarty Mart and Middleton High School?"
Ron tried to remember if he had ever seen Mr. Barkin with a girlfriend. He had always assumed Barkin's constant work schedule was due to his teacher having no personal life, but he decided that probably wasn't the answer Mr. Barkin was looking for. It seemed like a rhetorical question, anyway. And answering if honestly might bag Ron a detention, so he decided to keep quiet.
"You should consider applying for a promotion here, for instance. I know you have an in with Martin Smarty, and I don't know if you've been keeping up with your Smarty Mart employee newsletter, but the corporation is planning extensive expansions and new hiring in the next few months. I'd be willing to vouch for you – I'd try for a promotion myself, but my passion lies in sales. Take your job more seriously and move up in the ranks, and Possible will be impressed. Think about it, Stoppable – would your girlfriend prefer a criminal vagrant, or a musclebound professional?"
Ron was thinking about it, but he had his suspicions that Mr. Barkin was not the best source of advice when it came to the ladies. The man did seem to have a life that consisted of nothing but work, and from what he remembered, there weren't a lot of romantic fireworks going off on that double date with his teacher and Miss Go. He wondered if that was where it all started, really. Maybe he and Mr. Barkin had something in common – they were both bad enough dates to turn Kim and Shego gay. He smiled ruefully at the thought.
Mr. Barkin continued rambling about self-improvement, but Ron wasn't paying attention anymore. No, he thought as he finished off his soda, he wouldn't get any help from his teacher. And yet maybe Mr. Barkin had been right, in a way. Even if it was all Kim's fault their relationship had crumbled, maybe they just weren't meant to be. He'd been thinking about things lately, and saw warning signs in their relationship when he hadn't seen them the first time around. And the more he thought about what he had seen in that bedroom, the more impossible the idea of mending their relationship became.
Friendship should have been enough for him, but no, that wasn't enough for the Ron Man. He should have been satisfied, but he had reached for more. Ron Stoppable had to have it all.
And now, he had nothing.
XX
Here she was, back at the lair.
Kim had gone home for a little while, as Drakken's temporary lair was not that far from Middleton – almost on the outskirts, really – but things had been kind of awkward with her parents. Not only that, but she had been thinking about that morning and the night before so much that it was hard to concentrate on her homework. She had skipped school anyway, and asking Ron for updates on homework would have been totally useless even when they were getting along fine. After spending some time not doing much at all, Kim had decided to return to the lair. And Shego was happy to have her around, apparently.
"Right here. Watch this scene. Check that out!"
The movie on the television – Bricks of Fury II, which, according to Shego, was the zenith of the franchise – reached a scene where the hero broke into an underground hideout to save his partner from being tortured for information. Sure enough, true to the title, the hero smashed through a brick wall, picked up a brick in each hand, and flung one at each enemy before plunging into the fray. Kim nodded; the movie definitely delivered on its title's promise. You wanted bricks, you got bricks. Even she probably couldn't do that to a brick wall. Shego gave her an enthusiastic glance.
"Totally awesome, right?"
Kim was amused by Shego's unusual excitement over the movie; she wasn't sure she had ever seen her in this kind of mood before. "Yeah, pretty cool," she said. "I guess I'm more into The Memo Pad, but Ron watches these all the time."
"Ugh, Stoppable. Let's not talk about him."
Shego's reaction irked Kim a little. It wasn't like she had been planning on launching into a monologue about Ron, anyway. She looked down at her carton of Chinese takeout; although it was still half-full, she decided she had eaten enough lo mein for one night and placed it down on the coffee table of the lair's lounge. Shego, who was sitting beside her, let out a belch as she ate her own food. Kim would complain, but she knew she didn't always have the best table manners herself.
Pretty much a whole day, hanging out with Shego. Kim was still trying to wrap her head around it. Her morning and evening had been spent in Drakken's lair as well, which was the first time she could remember spending an extended amount of time in a supervillain's lair without being strapped to some doomsday device, locked in a prison cell, or dumped in a pit with some kind of dangerous mutant animal ready to devour her.
There was something fascinating about getting a peek into how Shego lived, up close and personal. She had always assumed supervillains were totally different from regular people, somehow. It seemed strange to her that people like Shego and Drakken spent half of their time plotting on world domination or designing devices of mass destruction, and the other half of their time sleeping, eating, and watching Bricks of Fury. She was about to ask Shego just how much time she spent lounging around watching movies when the sound of footsteps began to echo from down a nearby hallway. It was evening, and the henchmen seemed to have disappeared – off duty, maybe – so Kim could only assume Shego's boss had returned. He had been gone when she arrived at the lair for the evening.
"Shego, I'm back, and I bought some low-fat-"
Drakken emerged from the hallway and trailed off at the sight of Kim, stopping a few feet away from the olive-green upholstered couch where she was sitting with his right-hand woman. "Oh, you're still here?"
"Yep. I came back. Hope you don't mind."
"Er – me, mind? No, not at all. My lair is open to everyone, even my worst enemies. If you'd like, I would be happy to give you a personal tour."
"Already did," said Shego.
"What? Shego, how am I supposed to hide the-"
Drakken stopped abruptly, shutting his mouth with an audible clacking sound as he narrowed his eyes at Kim. She couldn't help smirking at his slip. "The Transliteration Ray?" she asked. "Shego showed me that, too."
"What? Shego, this is unacceptable!"
"Yeah, you guys totally can't be building that," said Kim. "I had to destroy it."
Drakken's mouth dropped open as his gaze shifted rapidly back and forth between the two of them. "Why did – Shego, how – why did you let-"
"Look, Doctor D, that thing was really lame, anyway. And you barely even started it. Kimmie was doing you a favor."
"The Transliteration Ray was not lame in any way, Shego! It was the new and improved successor to the Transmogrification Ray, and with it we could have ruled the world with an iron-"
"Do you even know what 'transliteration' means?"
"Yes, Shego, for your information, I do. I enjoy the prefix 'trans', and I added 'literation', like in 'obliteration'. Thus creating a totally awesome new word for my invention, which will obliterate my enemies."
"So you're a 'trans' man?" asked Kim.
"Yes. Yes, I am a 'trans' man, for your information."
"That's not what the word means," said Shego. "And for the love of God, what is it with you and rays lately? Seriously, Doctor D, you've been in a rut ever since the Li'l Diablos – I mean, what have we done lately that's gotten anywhere close to working that well? Maybe you should be taking a break and collecting your thoughts more."
"Nnnngh! My thoughts are perfectly collected, thank you! I thought you were supposed to be turning Kim Possible to our side, anyway! You invite her into my lair and let her destroy all my hard work? Do you want to be fired, Shego?"
"Can't do that unless it's for reasons specified in my contract."
"What? What reasons?"
"I don't know, go read my contract."
"Where is it?"
"I think it burned up in our last lair, thanks to Princess here. But the terms still stand."
Drakken stuttered impotently for a few moments before turning and storming out of the lounge in fury. Kim was shocked; it seemed like open insurrection on Shego's part, and yet she didn't seem to care at all. Maybe this part of their working relationship was more normal than she thought. After Drakken disappeared, presumably to his basement laboratories, Shego turned to Kim with a straight face. The two of them could only hold their stares for about two seconds before they burst into gales of laughter.
"Turning me to your side, huh?" asked Kim after the two of them had gotten over Drakken's exit.
"That's right. You're already here – don't pretend you're not interested."
"Interested in getting my butt kicked by a teenager and then going to jail? Um, no thanks."
A brief flash of vexation from Shego made Kim wonder if she had gotten under her skin, but she seemed to shrug it off easily. "Come on, Princess," she said. "I think you're interested in the kind of freedom I have. Maybe you're a little tired of following the rules all the time. Being there for everybody instead of indulging yourself."
"And how do you know that?"
"It's written all over you! I can just tell – why do you think I went after you in the first place? I knew you were open to new things, and you had to be getting tired of that buffoon."
"Don't call him a buffoon."
Shego looked like she was going to say something snarky, but Kim shot her a hard stare to make a point of her seriousness. She didn't like the Ron-bashing – partly because she knew Shego was biased and didn't know Ron, but partly, she had to admit, because of her guilt. Maybe Ron had been acting like a baby over everything, not giving her an opportunity to try to explain, treating her like some kind of monster over the past week, but she still knew she had hurt him. Even being here made her feel a little pang of guilt, despite her curiosity. Despite the thrill of this strange new connection growing with Shego. She had fallen into this headfirst, and quickly. Possibly too quickly.
And Ron would probably call it a stab in the back. Overdramatic, sure, but on some level, Kim knew what he meant.
"Look," said Shego, "I'm sorry if I bash on Ron a lot, okay? I'm sure he's a nice guy, but I just never got the two of you together. Friends, maybe, but not lovers. It's almost like you decided to go out with him because he's no threat to you, you know? You're spending your free time beating up supervillains and breaking into their personal property, like there's any way that can be legal, and yet you live this goody-two-shoes life on the side – it's like Ron was a way to keep you going on that path, where you get married and have a house with a white picket fence and you don't have to give in the wilder side of-"
"Can we stop talking about Ron?"
Shego was cut off by the abrupt outburst.
"Fine," she said, her lips curled in a slight pout.
Kim pointed an accusing finger. "What about you, anyway? You keep telling me I'm interested in taking up your lifestyle, but you're the one who used to be a superhero. I think you're the one who's putting on an act to escape from something you don't want to face, not me. You really prefer tagging along with someone like Drakken and being tailed by Global Justice all the time when you could be helping people and making a difference? Seriously?"
"It's complicated," said Shego.
"Well, why don't you explain it to me?"
"I'm not interested in talking about my family, okay?"
Shego sat back on the couch with a huff, her arms crossed defensively. She changed her mind and leaned forward again to grab a carton of Chinese food, but they were all empty – having nothing else to do, she went back to her original position as the two of them fell into an awkward silence.
"Why do you like me so much, anyway?"
Shego raised an eyebrow at Kim's question.
"You had that wrongsick synthodrone thing," said Kim, trying to prod Shego out of her reticence. "You broke into my room, you wouldn't take no for an answer – is it all just a physical thing? Is that it?"
"No. Not just that."
"Then what?"
Although Shego wasn't moving, her face frozen in a blank expression, Kim got the feeling she was struggling with a response to the question. She saw her lover's lips twitching for an instant, as if trying to form an answer, but nothing came out. Finally, Shego shrugged.
"I don't know what it is," she said. "Just an attraction."
Somehow, the conversation seemed to be coming to an end. Shego had no answers.
"Maybe you don't know me as well as you think you do," said Kim.
The movie was still playing as the two of them settled silently into the couch, but neither of them were paying much attention to it. Kim heard the faint sounds of grunts and kicks emanating from the speakers as she thought about what a strange day it had been. Maddening, even. Physically, Shego had opened up something in her that she had never felt before. Mentally, emotionally – Kim had to admit there was something there, something thrilling about Shego, about the way Kim was doing something she never would have imagined even a month ago. But was it something real, something that had potential, or was it just some kind of rush she got from breaking taboos? Shacking up with the enemy, sloughing off her good girl image, if only just a little?
There was something between them – a connection, and yet at the same time, a gulf of difference. A voice from deep inside her had been getting louder by the day. A voice that whispered, egged her on, told her to take the bait. And yet, when Kim saw how far apart the two of them really were, she wondered if listening to that voice would send her plummeting into the abyss.
XX
"Any meetings to remember for tomorrow, Miss Harcourt?"
Night had fallen outside the office window, and Jack Hench was in a hurry to leave, but he didn't mind spending a few more minutes waiting around the reception area while Miss Harcourt clicked through the schedule on her desktop computer. It was good to keep up with business, and more importantly, it was always possible Miss Harcourt needed an escort to the parking lot. Hiring this hot little number as a new secretary had been the best business decision Jack had made in a while. He peered over the desk, waiting for an answer, and enjoying the view while he did.
"No, sir. Tomorrow is mostly an empty schedule, although you have a conference call."
"With who?"
"You didn't tell me, sir. You just told me to remind you about your conference call."
Jack pursed his lips, confused for a moment, until his memory returned.
"Oh, right," he said. "That conference call. Thanks for the heads up."
Hench wasn't really looking forward to that conference call. Dealing with the Board was usually kind of boring. Especially since he had to patch in through a remote link and didn't even know who most of the other members were, although he had strong suspicions about at least one of them. It was nice to get a heads up on what many of his clients – and their enemies – were up to, and it was a good way to make sure he never ran afoul of the law, but most days, it was just a hassle.
Still, business was business.
"Coming out to the parking lot?" he asked.
"Sure. Let me get my purse."
Jack waited while Miss Harcourt prepared to leave. When she leaned over to reach beneath the desk, it was a sight to see; sometimes being the boss had its perks. She was a young lady, probably too young for anything to happen in terms of a relationship, and Jack was a busy man anyway, but it was nice to have a pretty face around the office. The two of them took the elevator and went down to the ground floor of Hench Co's headquarters. Jack nodded his head and hummed at the pleasant light jazz thrumming faintly in the elevator.
"Did you make any sales with Cyrus Bortel?" asked Miss Harcourt.
"I'm afraid not. The man seemed a little stingy."
"That's too bad."
It was too bad, Hench thought. But then, Bortel was new to the supervillain business. A little jumpy, maybe; just testing the waters before he leaped into the deep end. The man had promise; Hench had even employed him to help out the science division on a temporary basis a few years ago, just for a week or two. Bortel hadn't even seemed like he remembered that when he was shopping the other day. A busy man, Hench supposed. Just like himself. He wondered what form Bortel's first plan to conquer the world would take. Maybe something with mind control or emotion chips. He remembered Bortel had done some work with those.
"My car is over there," said Miss Harcourt, pointing across the lot as they left the building.
"Alright. Good job today, Miss Harcourt. See you bright and early."
"Good night, sir."
Miss Harcourt left, her high heels clattering across the concrete parking lot as she passed under the yellow glare of overhead parking lights. Hench's car was in the other direction; he took another brief look at his secretary before heading away. Tonight, he was thinking a little period drama on cable, maybe a glass of wine. Maybe two. He had some leftovers in the fridge to go with it. After that, thoughts of Miss Harcourt in a revealing outfit could send him to sleep. Jack approached his car, unlocking with the remote beeper in his pocket. He got inside and shut the door behind him, placing the key in the ignition. He was about to turn-
"Hello!"
Jack was so startled by the voice that he jerked up from his seat fast enough to smack his head on the roof. He whirled around, looking into the back seat. The temporary light was still on since he had just closed the car door, and he saw a young woman behind him. Kim Possible, to be exact.
"Good Lord, Possible," he said. "You scared me! What are you doing in my car?"
"We have to go for a trip."
Hench was about to ask what kind of trip when, suddenly, the car light turned off. He caught a flash of something, glinting in the moonlight, held in Kim's hand as she raised it up from behind the seat. Hench didn't even have time to react before he felt a sharp stab in his neck. A needle. His hand reached up, but Kim had pulled it out already. He felt the spot where it had plunged in as a strange weakness overcome him.
"Why-"
He struggled for the words as his vision blurred.
"Why – what trip?"
Kim opened the back door of the car and got out, stepping up to Jack's door and opening it up. She began to pull Jack out of his seat. He felt his limbs dropping, sluggish, like dead weights.
"We're going to visit my creator."
"Who... who is your creator..."
"Cyrus Bortel!"
Vision gave way to dull grayness as Jack felt himself being dragged across the concrete lot. The hazy lump that was his car began to recede from view as Kim pulled, her arms hooked underneath his own limp arms. Maybe not Kim Possible, he decided.
As a matter of fact, Bortel had said something in passing about synthodrones when he had stopped by earlier. It looked like Jack had just discovered what theme the man's first world domination scheme would be taking. It was just too bad he was getting a first-hand demonstration.
