The Scarlet Maiden
Chapter Ten
The Goddess's Hand
"It's not in here," Kim called out of her room.
Yori popped her head in the door. "Stoppable-san and myself were unsuccessful in the kitchen and attic."
It was great having Yori with them. Team Possible now had backup. Yori was more surprised than anyone, but Wade suggested the idea because of the sitch with Drakken. If they could get someone Drakken and Shego didn't know about, then they had a secret weapon.
What surprised them even more was what Wade told them about the location to the next clue. Middleton, their house had the next clue.
Kim and Ron both hadn't noticed it on the map and were caught off guard. Yori too was surprised. They arrived in Middleton in the late afternoon. The minute they walked into their house they were disgusted. Tables turned over, chairs smashed to bits, and plasma burns on the walls. Drakken and Shego made a huge mess. Kim felt like cleaning up the mess, but knew that finding the clue was more important.
Kim wasn't too happy to see her room destroyed. Her bed was turned over and her favorite cuddle buddies were torn and shredded. Except panda-roo. He was the lone survivor, not a scratch on him. Kim held him close as she left the room to convene with Ron and Yori.
Panda-roo okay?" Ron asked.
Kim pulled her toy tighter to her chest and nodded. She had tried to remain upbeat about her parents and brother, but seeing the house was too much for her.
Ron saw her face and hugged her. "It'll be alright KP. You said so yourself, everyone's going to be okay. We'll save them like we always do and it'll be another happy ending for us."
Kim looked up at his face to see his goofy grin. Kim broke into a smile, then a giggle, and then a laugh. Yori and Ron soon laughed too.
"We've searched every room in the house except the garage. Let us proceed," Yori motioned with her hand.
The teens sat at Bueno Nacho feeling frustrated. They searched every inch of the house. Used special gadgets that would've seen anything lurking under the floor or in the walls and still nothing.
"This is sooo ferociously annoying!" Kim said tugging at her mane.
"Maybe the map is wrong?" Yori suggested.
"It hadn't been wrong before. I don't think it would betray us now," Ron responded as he took a bite out of his chimerito.
Kim turned on her Kimmunicator. "Wade, we couldn't find the clue. Is there anything you can help us with?"
Wade stopped typing. "I can scan the map again and look at anything else if you want?"
"How about that?" Ron pointed to the bracelet on Kim's wrist.
"Sure. Hold it up to the Kimmunicator."
Kim did as she was told. The device emitted a blue light, which scanned the bracelet from side to side before stopping.
"Alright, I'll call if I get anything. For now I guess you guys can just chill."
"Understood, Wade," Kim said before turning her device off.
Shego sat in her chair calmly reading her fourth magazine.
"Oh, no! Britina is seeing Nicky Nick again?" she thought.
As she read she kept her eye on the monitor that tracked Kim and Ron. She tried to imagine the many ways she could end Kimmie's life, but her thoughts kept coming back to her ancestor and the info she found out about her.
Drakken had informed her on who she was and what her part was in the whole treasure thing. Her name was Lee Gorino. She was a part of the Scarlet Maiden crew and the first mate, which she couldn't believe. The journal says that Leego, her nickname when she was a pirate, was one of the first people to join the crew and she quickly became friends with Andrew and Elizabeth.
She was a good pirate, but she had many different views on how they spent their booty. Leego wanted to keep some and spend it, but Andrew and Elizabeth only gave her enough to support herself, since she had no family. The rest went to people who needed it. This apparently caused a rift and forced Leego to reevaluate her job.
The journal got sketchy from there, but from what Drakken could piece Leego finally jumped ship and joined Admiral Lipsky. She gave the Admiral the locations that Andrew and Elizabeth would go on their route as well as how many cannons, and men they had, and how fast they were.
After the Scarlet Maiden was destroyed by Admiral Robert's fleet, he gave Leego the position of his Vice-Admiral. Leego was supposedly told by Andrew and Elizabeth where the treasure was hidden, but they must have lied to her because they found nothing. Leego didn't stay long, only about two months. After that, she left on a ship headed for Cuba, and was never seen or heard from again.
Shego started walking down the corridors of the ship they had stolen. She saw a large group of henchmen playing poker and ordered them back to their stations. They knew better than to argue with green glowing plasma hands. She enjoyed watching them panic at her very presence.
Shego made her way to the upper deck of the ship. She leaned against the railing and watched the ship glide casually through the ocean. She saw some dolphins playing with the waves the ship made. The creatures clicked their approval as they rode with the ship. Shego couldn't help but smile.
She knew she was a bad egg. Her brothers were all superheroes and she chose to be the villain. She made that choice herself, but promised that she would never betray her family's honor. She may fight them sometimes, but she could never kill her own flesh and blood.
Leego, on the other hand, was friends with Kim and Ron's ancestors first. She was their first mate and they trusted her with their lives. However, for some reason Leego betrayed those friends and she led them to their demise.
Shego pondered why her ancestor would do such a thing. Was it greed? Was the love of gold and jewels too much for her? Was it the fact that Andrew and Elizabeth gave most of their spoils to the needy? Or was it something more?
Shego wondered if she could do that. Would she betray Drakken for money? She did love him, regardless of how it looked on the outside. That was just a ploy to fool anyone so she wouldn't be vulnerable to them. She felt conflicted. She didn't really know if she wanted the treasure anymore.
She heard footsteps behind her. Her hands flared up and she twisted her body to meet this potential attacker, but stopped when she saw Drakken cowering.
"Dinner's ready," he said timidly.
Shego rolled her eyes. "Come on Dr. D, you know it wouldn't hurt that bad."
"Yes, but that still doesn't make the pain any less."
Shego laughed a little, which pleasantly surprised Drakken. She took his hand and together they went below deck to the galley.
Anne and James leaned against each other in the brig. They had been here for several hours, almost a day at least, they couldn't be sure. In the other cells Carol comforted Hana, who was in her laser cage crying. Bonnie and Junior, who had been unconscious so far, were snoring loudly. Rufus was hanging from the roof of the brig in his cage whimpering. Anne knew this wasn't good.
"How are you holding up Carol?"
"Alright, I guess. I just hope Ronald and Kim are ok."
James grunted. "Ron better not be taking advantage of my Kimmie while we're gone."
Everyone laughed a little in the midst of their problem. Jim and Tim were sleeping due to the fact that they had spent the entire time trying to find a way out. Anne was proud of her boys for being so optomistic. Of course, they probably just wanted to take the ship apart and see what cool technology they could find to mold into their own crazy experiments.
Suddenly they could here moans coming from Bonnie and Junior's cell. They were finally waking.
"Uhhh. What happened? Where are we?" Bonnie groaned.
"You're prisoners of Drakken and Shego. We are on some kind of ship," James answered.
"How could this have happened?" Junior exclaimed. "I thought Shego and I were friends."
"Kim and Ron didn't see us so how could that blue guy and his green sidekick have?" Bonnie thought out loud.
"What do you mean Kim and Ron didn't see you?" Anne asked.
"We were following them, hoping to...OUCH!"
"Junior! Be quiet," Bonnie said after she hit him.
"Why were you following Kim and Ron?" demanded Carol.
Bonnie realized the cat was out of the bag.
"We were kinda hoping they could lead us to the treasure."
"You knew about Andrew and Elizabeth's treasure?" James asked.
"Yes," Junior replied. "My Bon Bon and I were cave exploring in Ireland when we ran into Kim Possible and her boyfriend whose name escapes me."
"Ron," Anne and Carol spoke simultaneously.
"Right, anyway, my servants discovered that they were searching for a treasure that belonged to their ancestors. I called my Papi and asked him to find anything on them. He discovered that our own ancestor was from that same period. He was a governor of one of the British colonies and had financed a voyage for Andrew and Elizabeth's capture."
Anne, James, and Carol recalled Admiral Lipsky's voyage. That must have been it. Junior continued.
"This was Bon Bon's and my chance to get what we could never achieve. Fame."
"You wanted the treasure for the glory?" Carol was surprised.
"Yes, Junior already has more money that he knows what do to with, but we knew whoever discovers the treasure will be world famous. I can finally be a top model and Junior can be an international pop sensation."
"So you had no intention of hurting Kim or Ron?" asked James.
"Duh, no. We just wanted the fame behind the discovery of the treasure. Unfortunately, it looks like that won't happen. We're going to die." Bonnie started getting emotional and leaned against her boyfriend's broad shoulders.
Carol and Anne couldn't help but feel slightly sorry for her. She may have shallow dreams, but at least she wasn't evil. And she did seem to care for Junior.
"I'm sure our children are doing fine," Anne said in a happy tone. "After all, they can do anything."
Beep Beep Be Beep
Kim turned on her device. "Did you find anything Wade?"
The trio were just leaving Bueno Nacho.
"I found something, but I'm not quite sure what to make of it."
"Tell us," Ron urged.
"Well, the map was clean, but the inside of the bracelet had something."
Wade punched it up for them to see.
Put this on the goddess's hand and she shall give you her bowl.
Everyone tried remembering anything about a goddess back at the Possible house.
"Wasn't there a statue in the backyard?" asked Yori.
"Yes, the fountain. Dad had it installed when we moved in. It depicts the goddess Aphrodite. Yori you are amazing!"
Yori blushed slightly.
"Why couldn't we see it?" Kim asked Wade.
"That's the thing. It was microscopic. Only very fine equipment could pick that up. I don't even know if anyone even had technology like that in the 1700s. And even if they did, no one would be able to read it without technology hundreds of years in the future."
"So someone engraved this on the bracelet, knowing that no one would be able to read it for hundreds of years?" Ron's head was spinning.
"It's almost like they knew no one would find the treasure until a much later date," Kim theorized.
"This is a mystery, but I believe that we can save that for later. Right now the treasure and saving everyone is what's important."
Kim nodded to Yori and thanked Wade. They hurried back to Kim's house.
The teens made a beeline straight for the backyard. The statue depicted Aphrodite extending her hand to someone. A bowl was tucked in her other arm and water was coming out of it.
"The goddess of love," Ron said as he pulled Kim in for a kiss. "I thought that might be appropriate," he said with a grin.
Kim grinned back and covered her blushing by placing the bracelet on the statue's open wrist. It fit perfectly. The statue responded by moving its arms. The outstretched arm was replaced by the bowl arm. The bowl stopped spewing water and opened to reveal a rolled up piece of parchment.
Kim took it and unrolled it. Inside was only a single sentence.
Gentia coola mukka sumnatch escpae ooolines wasons.
The group looked at each other in confusion.
"What does that mean?" Ron asked scratching his head.
"Maybe it is in code," Yori suggested.
"Let's try to figure it out as we head to the next clue." Kim called up Wade. "We found it Wade, the last destination awaits. Could we have some transport? Please and thank you."
Wade typed some keys then spoke.
"There's a Global Justice hover-car on the way."
After Wade signed off, the goddess statue offered it's open arm again. Kim took back the bracelet and put it on her wrist.
Ron wrapped his arm around her waist. "It still looks better on you."
Kim ruffled Ron's hair. "Aphrodite, eat your heart out." She leaned in and kissed him.
Yori leaned against the statue of Aphrodite and looked up at its face.
"When will it be my turn?"
The face simply kept its small smile.
Shego patted her stuffed stomach as she and Drakken found a quiet place to "argue."
Drakken rarely got this kind of treatment so he was going to enjoy it to the fullest.
"I want kissie-face," Shego purred.
Drakken leaned in to kiss his raven-haired beauty when there was a beeping sound.
Shego groaned as she pulled out a device from her pocket. Two red dots showed up on the screen.
"Looks like Kimmie and Ronnie are heading for the last spot on the map. I think we should welcome them."
Drakken flashed an evil grin. He leaned in to try another kiss, but Shego's finger stopped him.
"Not now Dr. D. We have work to do."
"But I wanted kissie-face too," Drakken pouted. "...Coming," he quickly added after his girlfriend's hands started to glow.
To be continued…
Sorry for the late update. With college and work, I won't have as much time, but I shall keep it up. As always please review! KingOAnime.