Disclaimer: I do not own Kim Possible or any of the characters from that program or any other characters I may reference from other works.

I am sorry this chapter was so long in coming, just couldn't find my muse, pesky things. I want to thank Reader101w, Michael Howard, CajunBear73, and Valerie3 for their reviews of the last chapter. This will either be the last chapter, or the next to the last, promise!

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"To tell you the truth, Hench, I was in Go City at a horticultural event in which Bates had several competitive entries when your people tracked me down." Montgomery Fiske aka Monkeyfist informed the thoroughly miserable entrepreneur as they made their way through the duct work of Drakken's former lair. "Otherwise let me be perfectly clear in stating I wouldn't have come within miles of this place today!" Then he snorted derisively, "Or any other day for that matter!" He paused at an intersection to check his bearings. "But the promised fee for this extraction was too large for me to turn down."

Hench winced at that, knowing what kind of money that might mean. But it was worth it if he got out of this mess intact. Fiske's abrupt appearance had startled him completely as he had cowered in a new hiding place after his first choice of shelter had been literally blown away by the Villainous Reaper(as opposed to the umpteen other villains who used 'Reaper' in their titles!) with a salvo of misaimed missiles.

Hench had then taken refuge, after a mad dash across the main floor of the lair, under the reinforced table that had once supported Shego's personal coffeemaker, an incongruously large and heavy machine to be solely dedicated to that purpose. Beneath the table he had discovered the one and only weapon of the lamely titled 'Bowlinator', and had promptly shoved the dangerously beeping sphere away. He had no idea where it's owner was, or even if the burly wannabe villain was even still alive amidst the mayhem.

Several nerve-straining minutes later, Fiske had suddenly appeared, peering underneath the table from his perch atop it. "Not a very healthy environment for a clever businessman like you, is it, Hench?" The disgraced English lord had commented smugly. He had apparently not come alone, as Hench witnessed a machine gun armed minion who took aim at Monkeyfist suddenly sprout a small galaxy of throwing stars and collapse. "And it's getting less healthy by the minute," Fiske had dryly observed, "So lets make haste!"

Now working their way through the ventilation system, Hench was caught off guard when Fiske stopped abruptly. "I've always wanted to ask this question, and there's no time like the present, I suppose." Fiske remarked, then turned around in the quite ample space available in the duct and looked at him curiously while spreading his hands to encompass their surroundings, "Just exactly why do you make the ventilation ducts large enough for practically anyone human to fit through them?"

A flash of annoyance passed across Hench's face. "We're in the middle of escaping from a minor holocaust in the making, and you're asking questions?" An alarming vibration ran through the duct at that moment, but Fiske merely squatted there with arms crossed regarding Hench. The entrepreneur sighed and shook his head. "Fine, but let's at least get to a junction with multiple ways to flee if disaster strikes, and I'll explain." He suggested, trying to keep any sign of pleading from his tone. After a moment's contemplation, Fiske nodded and led the way further towards safety.

Once at the next junction, with ducts running in every imaginable direction from the one point, Fiske again stopped and regarded him curiously. Hench hesitated briefly, but another shuddering vibration loosened his tongue. "The conflict between good and evil, heroes and villains, can get complicated," He explained, "And I do after all run a business offering services to the villain side..." His face screwed up in a grimace as a string of distant explosions echoed through the shafts. "Basically, I have to make certain concessions to stay in business! And one of them, believe it or not, is making it easier for the good guys to have access to any of my lairs!"

"Thus making your clients much more vulnerable." Fiske observed in a tone that hinted at accusation.

"Well..." a crafty look appeared on Hench's face, "My clients can always add security measures to the ducts, of course, even lethal ones, if they so choose, which actually makes it much easier to thin out the hero herd out, albeit by removing all the fools and overconfident types. So, it's not such a 'bad' thing for the bad guys, if you follow my meaning? Now, is your curiosity adequately satisfied?" Even as he asked, he hunched involuntarily as another violent shudder ran through the mountain.

"Yes, quite." Fiske replied sharply, then turned and began to move rapidly through the ducts again, Hench hurrying to keep up. With his chances of survival greatly improved, he had already begun to consider how to turn this disaster to his future advantage.

Eventually they came to a dead end. Fiske gestured towards a grill set into the bottom of the duct. "I believe this egress should suit you! Outside, and quite close to the main entrance, and presumably your transportation home."

Hench nodded in agreement. He didn't think even Kim Possible had ever found this way in. It emerged underneath a rock overhang about forty yards down the road from the main doors. But his satisfied look turned to puzzlement as Fiske squeezed past him and headed back the way they'd come. "Not leaving with me, your Lordship?"

Fiske looked briefly over his shoulder, an evil smirk on his face, then he turned and continued on his way, but called back, "I think there's an opportunity, if I move quickly enough, to settle a few old scores. Good Luck to you, Hench, and make sure my payment in full is where it's supposed to be!"

Hench watched him with a curious frown until Monkeyfist rounded a bend and was lost to view. Then he shrugged, and began to open the grill. It was a fairly tight squeeze, but he easily dropped through to solid ground. He couldn't stand up straight until he'd cleared the overhang, and he did his best to brush the dust from the ducts off his clothes as he moved into the clear, ignoring the sounds of continuing bedlam echoing out of the lair. Then he stood up straight and his heart nearly stopped cold.

The road down the mountain was packed solid, but not with more villains coming to join the mayhem at the lair, but just the opposite. Police from more agencies then Hench could count, Federal officers...and superheros. Lots of superheros. No really heavy hitters, at least none he could see, but the major ones probably had much more important things to attend to. Or Hench fervently hoped so.

And then, incongruously, his cellphone buzzed. Taking it out almost without conscious thought, he activated it as his eyes continued to sweep over the assemblage in front of him, all of whom seemed to have made him the sole focus of their attention. "Hench." He practically croaked in a dry voice.

"Mister Hench? Hank Perkins here!" came the annoyingly peppy voice, "I—I have a buyer here willing to make a bid on the lair, but he's only willing to go as high as seven-fifty..."

Hench blinked, mind snapping back into business mode. "Seven-fifty? Take it! It's more then I expected!" He then switched the phone off, cutting off some doubtful remark, as his eyes focused on the familiar form of Betty Director moving to the front of the crowd. She was limping, and had a highly visible bruise on her forehead. And the glare she was directing at him boded ill for his future, to say the least. And then salvation, of a sort, intervened.

He felt a sudden tingle from his left shoulder, but before Hench could turn his head, a familiar voice sounded from right next to his ear. "Promise me and my crew some kind of accommodation if we lose our ship, and I'll get you just what you need, right now!"

Hench didn't hesitate. "Deal!" He muttered. And barely a moment later, the attention of everyone was drawn to a bright burst of light, causing many heroes and others to adopt ready positions, flaring up powers or lining up sights. But then the light faded to reveal an astonished group of well-dressed men and women, startled(to say the least) about their sudden dislocation, but regaining their composure with a rapidity that demonstrated why Hench paid them so well.

Managing to force a confident smile onto his face, the entrepreneur drew himself up, taking hold of his lapels. "Ladies and Gentlemen," He informed all assembled in a booming voice, "My Attorneys!"

Near the back of the crowd of heroes, one moaned loudly at this development. Turning to a rather curvaceous colleague, he muttered in a disgusted tone "Well, this whole show just bogged down, how about we go wreck that giant robot in town? And then afterwards..." he added suggestively.

The heroine rolled her eyes before replying exasperatingly, "That's Middleton over there, home of Kim Possible? If she needs any help, I'm sure we'll hear about it."

A doubtful expression crossed the man's face. "Yeah, but has she ever fought something like that? I mean really fought something like that? Do you think she can really handle it?"

The woman smiled grimly. "Better question might be, do you think she can't?"

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The robot's first targets were Shego and Dementor. It launched itself with a brief assist from it's jets upwards to take a swing at the hovercraft. But Dementor had developed excellent reflexes over the years, partly due to Kim Possible, but also due to some of his own experiments becoming 'uncooperative'. He pulled his craft upwards sharply, evading the swipe of the robot's arm. He then continued to ascend in case the robot took full flight to pursue him, but it chose not to.

It instead dropped back to the street, briefly firing it's jets to make a gentle landing, still mindful of the need to keep it's occupant asleep, as well as avoid too much damage to what might actually be it's creator's domain. It now turned it's full attention towards the three members of N.A.R.S.F. who still stood outside their helicopter. But not for long.

Acting in complete accord, Jackson, Grundy and Wrightson spun about and leaped aboard the chopper. "Take Off!" Jackson bellowed, only to realize that their pilot had already done so, without the helicopter. Leaving behind the battered sombrero and the now obviously fake handlebar mustache.

Exchanging panicked glances, the three men then bailed out the opposite side of the aircraft and began to sprint down the street. Wrightson was clearly pulling ahead, to Kim's mild surprise, and Grundy lagging badly, when Wrightson suddenly pulled up, peering at something in the window of Hammelmann's Handy Hardware Store, one of the oldest businesses on the street. The skinny mercenary then jerked open the door and ran inside, followed in turn by his two colleagues.

"Outstanding!" Hego exclaimed. When he saw Kim give him an incredulous look, he returned a knowing one. "Obviously, they've gone into the store to use the tools and materials available to craft an ingenious improvised weapon with which they will overthrow that mechanical monstrosity!"

Kim restrained herself from rolling her eyes, being more concerned with the robot's actions as she replied. "Or, they saw the sign in the window saying that there's a fallout shelter in the store's basement!" As she said this, she backed farther into the alley. "Better get clear of me, it'll be much safer for you!" She added in a low voice to Officer Allen. Who, sense of duty notwithstanding, saw this as excellent advice, and took it.

Hego was still standing his ground, a look of disapproval at Kim's impugning of his heroes clear on his face, only to have Ron prevent any defense of same. "Too bad the shelter isn't there anymore." He commented, while also matching Kim's retreat.

Hego glanced back at the robot while following the pair, obviously curious in spite of himself. "What happened to it?"

A frightening crash as the frustrated robot punted N.A.R.S.F.'s helicopter high into the sky and his own hastening retreat didn't prevent Ron from replying. "Oh, someone piloted a giant burrowing machine into it last year, thinking it was the vault of the First Bank of Middleton. Which was kind of dumb, the real vault isn't underground at all!" Turning the corner, he added "But did you know it actually has a bathroom in it?"

Following Kim and Ron around the corner, Hego paused again to peer back down the alley. It was hard to tell where the robot was looking, usually, but right now it seemed to be leaning back slightly, and unnecessarily, to peer upwards at Dementor's hovercraft. "Well, that would certainly be convenient if someone were to get locked inside, but how did you know about it?"

Suddenly fidgeting nervously, Ron cast a quick glance at Kim, who was thankfully preoccupied. "Welllll...that's a long story, which we obviously don't have time for, we have a mad robot to wrangle!"

Fairly oblivious to Ron's ill-concealed anxiety, Hego nodded decisively. "There's obviously only one thing to do, I must endeavor to close with the foul machine and overtopple it!"

This caused Ron to quickly glance at Kim for her reaction, only to see a pained grimace on her face. Then she shrugged resignedly "At the moment, I can't think of anything better!" Then her Kimmunicator beeped for her attention.

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"Shego, we really should get you to a hospital!" Bernadette Barr snapped as she hovered over the woman, trying to see if Dementor's evasive maneuvers had worsened her injuries. "And why the hell weren't you strapped in?"

Shego tried to fend her off feebly, impaired by both a great deal of pain and nausea to the point she was having great difficulty keeping her last meal down. "Would you cut it out? We have bigger problems to worry about, what's that damn machine doing?" She tried to struggle into a position to look over the side, but Bernie had no difficulty restraining her.

"It vould seem to be trying to figure out how to follow und stomp on Kim Possible." Dementor replied to her question. "Und ihre bruder as well."

"Oh, right, Hego." Shego replied with to Bernie a worrisome lack of focus, before moaning miserably. "Great! There goes Middleton! Not only do I let someone steal Doc's big robot on my watch, I let it trash the whole town, with my brother as an accomplice!"

"Dramatic, much?" Bernie replied with a touch of asperity as she readjusted Shego's sling and made the best examination she could of the tape job she'd done on her ribs. Then she looked curiously over the side herself. "You know, that is odd, it's not charging after them. They went down a narrow alley, but surely it could smash it's way through?" She paused thoughtfully, but then Shego distracted her again.

"Willi, what about your sonic cannon, won't it work on the thing? Pretty sure Doc made it plasma proof..." she trailed off darkly.

Dementor looked mildly offended as he replied. "Eine, it is not a sonic cannon, it is a multi-purpose sonic device...vich happens to have a destructive capability. Und dot brings us to zwei, due to recent problems with der Homeland Security, I had to downgrade the device in order to regain my visa, thereby removing said destructive capability! Und lastly drei, if Herr Doctor Drakken made the verdammt machine proof against his minion's primary weapon, then he certainly made it proof against his arch-enemy's...vell, arch-rival's, favorite weapons!"

Shego snorted. "Which favorite weapons? Willi, you played around with just about everything imaginable at one time or another! But that thing has to have a weakness!" She made a sour face. "But only Doctor D would know, and I promised not to disturb him on his honeymoon!"

"I think one weakness might be it's AI." Bernie remarked absently. Then realizing she had their attention, she grinned sheepishly. "I think the robot is trying not to damage any property in it's master's domain, that's why it hasn't gone after Kim directly." She then gestured towards a pillar of smoke on the outskirts of town. "Of course, not saying it punted that helicopter into the landfill on purpose..."

"Yeah, well that doesn't solve our problem!" Shego snapped, "If it's thinking like the Doc did in the old days, outthinking it is pointless, I never could figure out where he was going to jump next!"

"Vell, on the subject of Herr Drakken, I made no promises not to disturb him!" With those words, Dementor flipped two switches on his dashboard, causing a small compartment to spring open, revealing...

"A red phone?" Both women spoke simultaneously, Bernie curious, Shego incredulous.

Dementor nodded. "Ja! You see, it vas occasionally a good idea for the two of us to communicate...vell, in a matter of speaking, on neutral ground?" He shrugged. "Anyvay, ve needed an open line available sometimes." He entered a number on the phone, holding the receiver to his ear. "Hello? Herr Lerman? Vat are you doing...ah! Herr Drakken, so now ve make dis a party line?" The last line was delivered with clear disapproval.

"If you have a speaker for that line, switch it on, Willi!" Shego snapped, then winced slightly.

Dementor looked more then a bit offended. "Of course, der is a speaker function!" He reached behind the phone and apparently flipped a switch, then folded his arms across his chest and sat there with a scowl on his face(but certainly not a pout, of course).

Ignoring his petulance, Shego raised her voice to be heard from the back seat. "Doc, can you hear me?" And showed considerable relief when she heard Drakken's voice.

"I can hear you just fine, Shego, now what's happened there? Who activated my robot? And worse, who turned the A.I. on?" came the aggrieved reply to her question.

Shego grimaced. "I'm afraid it's an old Team Go Foe, Timothy P. Tinsley, otherwise known as the Tin-Plated Tyrant, Doctor D." She admitted sheepishly, "And I'm so sorry I screwed up, and ruined your honeymoon!"

The fact that Shego had apologized didn't alarm Draken much, it had happened before. But the fact she had done so with witnesses certainly did. "Shego, are you all right?"

Bernie spoke before Shego could, drawing a fierce scowl in response, which she ignored. "No she's not, Drew, she's rather badly beat up, and should be at the hospital! But this rather alarming sense of duty has suddenly appeared in her..." That actually caused the battered ex-thief to stick her tongue out, "..and she insists on trying to handle this all herself!"

There was a momentary pause before Drakken responded, concern mixed with exasperation in his voice. "Shego, your health is far more important to me then any responsibility you may feel for what's happening! If Miss Barr...why is she with you and Wilhelm? Nevermind! If Miss Barr thinks you need to go to the hospital, Go to the hospital! I'm sure Kim Possible and Global Justice can handle my creation..." His voice trailed off, and Shego could detect an undercurrent of doubt in his voice. But before she could respond, they all got another shock.

"Well, I hope she can handle it before school lets out..." The voice of Wade Load came over the speaker, "Because Kim's brothers and their cronies have come up with a solution of their own, and I'm not sure Middleton can survive it!"

Dementor spluttered indignation, Shego groaned, and after a momentary jaw-drop, Bernie rolled her eyes in exasperation. "Vat..VAT are you doing in my private communications!" Dementor finally bellowed.

"You get used to it, Wilhelm." Drakken's voice came over the speaker, in a tone indicating resignation. "For the moment, we have to hope that the twin terrors cannot obtain transport to our little battlefield before we can come up with a solution!"

"Wade? Are you serious!" This time it was Kim's voice they heard from the speaker.

"You mean, did he hack Doctor D and Willi's private comm channel and turn it into a party line..err, bigger party line?" Shego answered sarcastically, "Yep, he dood it!" There was a muffled 'eep' from Kim's end as she realized she was connected.

"Not important!" Bernie declared. "Doctor Drakken, does your robot have any particular weaknesses we can exploit?"

Drakken's exasperation was clear in his response. "I've been racking my brain trying to remember, but I've had so long to tinker with it, I think I covered everything...except maybe sonic weapons..." He trailed off doubtfully.

One of Demento'rs eyes began to twitch alarmingly. Shego moaned, and resisted the impulse to facepalm because the way she felt that might just have finished her off.

"Then that leaves only one weakness!" This declaration came from Ron. "The weakness common in any great war machine is always it's pilot!" There was a brief silence before he added(In response to an incredulous look from Kim)"What? I heard it in a movie once! ...or maybe an anime, can't recall."

Dementor clenched his jaw briefly, then nodded. "Dat is correct...however according to mein scanners, the human pilot within the robot is sound asleep, though how he has managed to remain so through all dis madness is beyond me!"

Shego's gaze promptly focused on the speaker, anticipating the somewhat sheepish response from Drakken. "Well, for that you can blame me, I suppose. You see, I envisioned myself needing a quick catnap after a hard day of world conquering..." He trailed off in embarrassment.

"So, you programed the robot to fly itself without you being disturbed during your nap." Kim finished for him, making it a statement rather then a question. "What about talking to the AI, Doctor Drakken? Maybe you can reason with it?"

A longer pause preceded Drakken's doleful response. "That would be the psychological equivalent of looking in a funhouse mirror, Kimberly, there are so many ways that can go wrong, I couldn't begin to count them!"

"Well, we have to do something!" Kim growled in frustration.

"Professor..." Everyone in the hovercraft looked at Bernie as she spoke. The nurse was studying the robot below them thoughtfully. "Exactly what else can you do with that 'multi-purpose' sonic device of yours?"

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Hank Perkins and the prospective purchaser of the lair were still sheltered in the 'henchmen's emergency refuge', as Hank now described it in his own mind. And except for occasional drifts of dust that drifted down after a particularly violent disturbance, the place still seemed to be the safest spot within the lair. At least as long as no one discovered the concealed entrance, that is.

So it was quite a shock when they heard someone rapping, then hammering on the door from the other side. Though his companion did try and restrain him, Hank eventually felt compelled to see who was there. Only to be bowled over as soon as he unlatched the door by two people in business suits. One, a young man, saved Hank the trouble of worrying about their safety by slamming the door hard behind them, cutting off the cacophony of mayhem from without.

The second, a young woman who had suffered some rather severe dishevelment while keeping her notebook computer practically dust free somehow, glared at Hank. "I don't suppose you could have delayed any longer, and gotten both of us killed while you worked up your manly courage?" She growled in a voice that made Hank's bowels seriously knot up.

Behind her, her slightly out of breath companion smiled sympathetically at Hank. "We're here to get the bill of sale sorted out before the property depreciates any further!" The woman hissed at Hank, before she turned her attention to the room's other occupant, "And you, I suppose, are the buyer?" The man nodded nervously. "And you are aware of the terms Mister Hench agreed too?" She shifted her attention back to Hank, who swallowed nervously.

Though Hank had wanted to bring up some reservations concerning Jack Hench's understanding of the problem, the look in the woman's eyes drove those thoughts from his head, and he merely nodded. "Great!" She enthused sarcastically, "Then lets get this done and get out of here while we still can!"

The buyer nodded as well, trying not to appear too excited. "Best seven hundred and fifty bucks I ever spent!" He thought with satisfaction, "Provided the check doesn't bounce, that is!"

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Okay, next to last chapter I guess, sorry. For now, please read and review...and hopefully enjoy.