I don't own these characters; Disney does. I don't own this concept; it comes from Bubblegum Crisis 2040.
This chapter title is a song by Rebbie Jackson.
11: "Centipede"
"Tara," Vivian spoke into her phone. Tara had taken the call, even though she was at work.
"Yeah?" Tara answered. She stuffed a couple of potato chips in her mouth, stuck at her station and bored out of her mind, which was why she had happily taken Vivian's call.
"There have been some strange occurrences I'm looking into. Since you're better at this than I am, I figured I'd put you on the case, too. It looks like a number of Bebes disappearing from a certain area. I want to find out how much information Gemini Corporation has on this," Vivian explained. She had a bad feeling about all of the disappearances and anxiety bubbled in her system already.
"I'm on it!" Tara declared with a giddy smile. She was more than happy to have something to do with her life.
Tara worked her electronic magic to find out more about these disappearing Bebes. She had heard something about that at work that day, but she had not paid it too much mind. She guessed she should have done more eavesdropping now, but it was too late for that. Time to do some snooping around the Gemini server, she thought with a smile. This was her favorite part of being a Knight Saber since it was where she proved more useful than anyone else.
Tara got into her "work" and did not notice someone sneaking up behind her until he spoke. "Hey, Tara, isn't it wrong to be using the work computer for personal reasons?" Barkin inquired in a somewhat stern tone.
Tara yelped from surprise, jumped in her seat, and quickly disregarded what she was doing to make it look like she was playing computer games. She then turned her attention to her uninvited visitor to see him glaring down at her. She stuck her tongue out at him.
"What do you want, Stevey-poo?" she asked. She knew that would get that holier-than-thou look right out of his eyes.
Barkin balked, looking as if she pulled a gun on him. "I told you not to call me that!" he growled.
"You tell me a lot of things. Besides, it's a cute name, Stevey-poo!" Tara cooed, batting her eyes at him.
Barkin snorted and turned his nose up at the impish blond. With a huff, he folded his arms across his chest, as if that bothered her. She really just wanted to laugh, but held back as much as she could, giggling through her nose at him. She wondered if he had any clue how ridiculous it looked for a man his size to throw a tantrum over a nickname.
"What do you want, anyway?" Tara asked. Barkin only came around when he wanted something. At least Ron had the decency to say hello to her in the hallway, and he did not make it a point to scold her every time he saw her like Barkin did.
"Um… I was just wondering how often you go to the Bermuda Triangle after hours," Barkin said.
Tara looked confused for a moment and then started laughing. "You know, I thought I saw you standing in the corner, but I thought that was stupid. What were you doing there after hours?" She arched an eyebrow.
Barkin sputtered and then blushed. "Uh… I was invited."
Tara appeared taken back by that, making a curious noise. "Invited? Shego invited you to that show?" she asked incredulously.
"Yeah," he replied soundly, noting she called the singer by name.
Wow, Shego knows a guy and invited him to her show. I was starting to wonder about her after Kim brought it up, but I guess I'm wrong about that. Oh, this is great! A demonic smile curled onto her face. She clapped her hands together and rubbed her palms against each other.
"Do you know Shego?" he asked, trying his best to remain cool. An awkward, almost smile settled onto his rugged features.
"Oh… I dunno. Do you count having her phone number and main email as knowing her?" she teased with a look so innocent on her face that it would not be a surprise if a halo appeared over her head.
"Really?" he asked quite eagerly with delight in his brown eyes. So much for keeping his cool. His face was even more eager than his words.
"I don't know if I can give it to you or not, though. I mean, if Shego wanted you to have them, wouldn't she give them to you herself?" Tara pointed out. She could imagine just how badly Shego would kill her and mutilate her body if she gave out personal information without the biker's permission. "But, that doesn't mean I can't put in a good word for you," she added and then her demonic smile returned. "If you're nice to me anyway."
Barkin frowned, wondering what gods hated him and why. He marched off without replying and Tara laughed. She had to tell someone about that. She tried calling Kim, but found out Kim had already left her desk for lunch.
"Aw, man! C'mon, this is too good!" Tara whined, wishing time would go faster, so Kim would be back. She did not want to interrupt Kim's lunch, knowing how rigid her job was.
-8-8-8-8-
Kim and Monique sat in a diner, having lunch. They tended to stay at the restaurants that they got their food from now because Monique did not want to deal with Kim chasing down another biker and almost getting killed. They were in the middle of a conversation while eating sandwiches.
"Did you hear about all the missing Bebes?" Monique asked. She thought this topic of conversation would be right up Kim's alley since she thought Kim was a bit of a conspiracy theorist. That was brought on mostly by Kim's belief in the Knight Sabers.
"I heard a little bit about it," Kim admitted. She knew it was something Vivian was looking into, but nothing beyond that really.
"Yeah, well, they're all disappearing around the same area. I know it's all happening in like the same neighborhood." Monique took a bit of her spicy, barbecue chicken.
Kim ticked an eyebrow up briefly. "And you don't think it's weird that they haven't reported that in the news?"
Monique shook her head, not disagreeing, just amused. "I knew you were going to say something like that. There are bigger things happening in the city than some missing Bebes."
With a shrug, Kim bit into her turkey on rye and then leaned back on the hard, burgundy seat cushion. "If you say so, but you figure someone would want to know what's going on with all of them. Are they being stolen? If so, why? Besides, what if those Bebes are going crazy somewhere? Then people would be in danger and the news should let people know about that."
"If it was dangerous, it would be on the news. Obviously, it's not dangerous if they're not reporting on it. You worry too much, Kim."
Kim let out a breath and shook her head. "I don't know about that. I think you're just a little too trusting."
Monique ate a little more of her sandwich and glanced around the somewhat busy diner. "I don't think there's a boogeyman around every corner if that's what you mean. Kim, you really need to grow out of this whole thing. I mean, you still believe in the Knight Sabers."
Kim rolled her eyes, not even bothering to dignify that one. Monique thought she might have accidentally crossed the line, so she thought about steering the conversation in another direction. She knew just what to bring up.
"So, did that biker ever give you money for your lunch?" Monique asked with quite the teasing smile and joking glint in her chocolate eyes.
Olive eyes went wide. "You know, I never did get it." All of that interacting with Shego and she still owed Kim for lunch. She would have to remember to bug Shego about that. "I'm not going to let it go, though."
"You know what, you are so crazy." A fond smile worked its way onto Monique's face and a friendly laugh escaped her.
Kim smiled, taking that as a compliment, which was actually how it was meant. Monique would not have Kim any other way. She checked her watch.
"We better get back to work. We wouldn't want you to be late, after all," Monique pointed out.
"Oh, yeah, after those errors in my paperwork and the floor Bebe chewing me out for the umpteenth time, I'm shocked I still have a job," Kim remarked with a good-natured smile. She spoke the truth, though.
"They do ride you hard at work," Monique noted. It was not just the floor Bebe, but their human bosses did not seem to take the very affable Kim. Monique did not know how it was possible for anyone to treat Kim in such an obviously disrespectful manner.
Kim only smiled more. She had a feeling her treatment stemmed partially from having the last name Possible. The Gemini Corporation had not been too happy when Kim's father declined to work on their space project, and he warned Kim when she left to work there that they might not treat her well. She felt she would be able to endure the torture since it was not too terrible. She had other things to do in Mega-Go City, after all.
"As long as they pay for my college, they can ride me all they want. It doesn't faze me," Kim said.
Monique smiled. "I never thought it would."
They returned to work where Monique was allowed to go back to her desk while the floor Bebe had some words for Kim about her workstation. Apparently, she had one too many pictures on her desk, which got her a demerit. Kim had long ago lost count of how many demerits she had, but she was pretty sure she had to be approaching the world record by now. It was a good thing there was minimum amount they had to pay workers or Kim would be working for free by now thanks to her demerits. She was probably never going to get a promotion thanks to the demerits, but again, she just needed the company to pay for college. Nothing more.
Kim sighed and sat down at her desk. She made sure to put away all of her pictures, just in case it turned out that three was actually too many. She then turned her computer back on and saw she had missed a video message from Tara. She decided to call back and see what Tara wanted from her.
"Hey, Kim!" Tara greeted her with a bright smile.
"Hey, you called me earlier?" Kim asked.
"Yeah, I did! Get this, Shego invited one of my coworkers to her show the last night! I think he likes her. I might try to hook them up," Tara reported.
Kim blanched at the suggestion. For some reason, her body had a horrible reaction to the news, feeling as if everything inside of her settled into her stomach and flipped around for a few moments. She was rendered silent for a couple of seconds, but Tara waited patiently, hoping to hear how brilliant her plan was. Kim managed to compose herself and come up a plausible explanation as to why that was not such a great plan.
"Uh… Tara, are you sure that's a good idea? I mean, he's a GJ officer. Not only does Shego hate them, but Vivian would flip if you tried this," Kim reasoned.
"Yeah, but Steve's decent guy," Tara argued with a frown. She thought Kim would be all for this plan.
"He could be the greatest guy on Earth, but he's still a GJ officer. They tried to kill us." Not the best way to start a relationship off.
"But, Steve wasn't on duty at the time," Tara pointed out.
Kim just sighed. She was not sure what to say to talk Tara out of what she knew was a very bad idea. Besides, she did not want Tara to hook Shego up with someone. She was not sure why, though. She just knew the thought of Shego with a boyfriend made her feel nauseous. After a couple of minutes, Kim had to get to work, so she hung up and sighed again.
"Why'd I feel like that just because she said she wanted to hook Shego up?" Kim wondered, but she did not have an answer for herself.
After work, Kim found herself going to see Shego. The biker was at rehearsal and she noticed Kim through the small window in the rehearsal room. The redhead waved slightly to the band; none of the guys had the free hand to wave back and their sister did not bother. Eventually, Shego called for a break and went out to meet Kim.
"Everything okay?" Shego asked, propping herself up against a wall, looking like the cool, indifferent biker she was.
"Yeah, everything's fine," Kim answered.
"Any reason you're here? I mean, it's not like this place is on the way to your house," Shego remarked. She and her brothers did all of their work in the Devil's Playground, a wild district of Go City, and it was out of the way of where Kim lived in her apartment provided by the Gemini Corporation.
"I can't just pop up and want to see you?" Kim countered as if she was offended that her being there was being questioned.
A small, teasing smirk appeared on Shego's dark lips. "Every time you pop up, trouble pops up with you."
Kim scoffed. "I blame you. You rubbed your bad luck on me when you almost mowed me down that day."
"You don't know if that was me or not."
"It was just someone with your exact bike, leathers, and helmet, right?" Kim rolled her eyes and a smirk formed on her face.
Shego smiled a bit, not meaning to. She also did not realize she was smiling. Kim, of course, noticed, but she decided against saying anything about it.
"I was wondering if I could ask you a question," Kim said.
"Shoot," the biker replied with a shrug.
"Why do you hate the GJ police force so much?" There was something there, way beyond the fact that GJ made their jobs so much harder. It was almost personal.
Shego turned her eyes up at the ceiling. "They're assholes. They think those badges give them a right to do whatever the hell they want. They go in with their guns blazing recklessly and stupidly. I mean, you saw how they treated us."
Kim nodded. "That's true."
"I'm not in favor of monkeys having big guns. They don't know how to act."
"Sorry if I upset you with the question," Kim apologized.
Shego scoffed and cut her eyes to the shorter girl. She shook her head, but did not say anything for a few seconds. Standing up straight, Shego smiled a bit again. She caught herself that time, though. She knew she needed to say something to keep her from smiling at Kim again.
"You know, I should get back to practice and you should get home before it's dark. Wouldn't want something to happen to you around here, Princess," Shego taunted her with a flash cruel delight in her emerald eyes.
Kim scowled. "Are you saying I can't take care of myself?" There was a challenging glint in her eye, but her body was tense, obviously offended.
"I haven't noticed any proof yet," Shego remarked before she went back to her brothers. She made sure to grin widely and wickedly at Kim through the window.
Kim laughed a bit and shook her head. Shego's one strange woman, she thought, but it was a good kind of strange. She wondered how Shego would react when she found out Tara was going to try to play matchmaker with her and some GJ officer. She doubted it would be a good reaction and she hoped Tara dropped the idea before someone — possibly Tara, but definitely that GJ agent — got hurt.
"Wow, sis, looks like you really got a fan," Mego commented from his place behind the drums.
Shego glared at him. "Shut up. It's none of your business."
"No? I don't think you've ever called a break just because someone wanted to talk to you. In fact, it's rare someone comes in here that you actually want to talk to!" Mego pointed out with a taunting smile.
"Don't forget that girl is totally hot," the Wego on bass commented.
"And she's come to see Shego more than once," the Wego on guitar chimed in.
Mego snapped his finger. "Sis has a girlfriend!"
"She's not my girlfriend!" Shego roared.
"No, she's just the only person who comes to visit you to talk about nothing in particular," the bass player said.
"And let's not forget, you doesn't yell at her or curse her out or say you don't want to see her. Instead, you call a break to go have a conversation," the guitar player added on.
"So, when's the wedding?" Mego inquired and the brothers all grinned.
"You know what? Shut up, the lot of you. Let's get back to practicing," Shego ordered. Her brothers complied, but they laughed for almost five minutes while doing so.
-8-8-8-8-
"Hey, Tara, what're you doing here?" Felix asked as he entered one of the rooms in Vivian's house.
"Vivian has me looking into this disappearing Bebe thing," Tara answered. She looked slightly frustrated with her brow furrowed and her mouth tight. She leaned forward into the computer screen with a small frown marring her features. Her stomach grumbled.
"Oh. You okay?" Felix inquired because of her expression.
"I can't… finish my fries and do this at the same time!" Tara whined in frustration. She needed both of her hands and all of her attention. After all, if she made one slip up, things could be traced to them and that would not end well. Added to that, she was so hungry and her food was just a few inches away.
Felix glanced over at the junk food and moved himself over to them. "If you show me how to do that, I'll help you with the fries," he proposed.
"Deal!"
Felix grabbed the fries and started feeding them to Tara one by one. Tara's expression lifted, now able to finish her food and continue on with the job given to her. Felix watched her carefully, taking in everything she did. Neither of them thought anything of Felix hand-feeding her.
"I don't get why Vivian is making me do this. She could do it just as easily," Tara muttered with a mouthful of salty fries. Her stomach was thankful for the substance, having gone ignored since Vivian's earlier demand.
"I think she is. I was just with her before I came in here. She seems restless ever since she started looking into this disappearing Bebe thing. I think she has you doing it just in case she misses something," he explained.
Tara nodded. "Vivian's really obsessive sometimes," she commented and then she realized she was talking about his aunt. Glancing at him, she laughed nervously. "Um! I mean, she really gets into her work!"
Felix shook his head. "No, you're right. I told her about it, but she laughs it off and says it's not how I think it is."
"Hey, how's the search going?" Vivian inquired as she entered the room and halted the teens' conversation about her for the moment.
"Well, I haven't found anything new. It's just weird that it's all happening in that one general area and most of the Bebes have been workers in the underground, but other than that, it's nothing too big. I haven't found anything really weird going on at Gemini Corporation, except they're looking into it, too, which makes sense. It doesn't seem like they're looking into as much as I would think they would, but they could just be trying to keep it very quiet. Do you know anything else about it?" Tara replied.
Vivian shook her head while putting a hand to her chin in thought. "There haven't been any reports on attacks on humans, so the Bebes aren't going insane. What could be going on?" She rubbed her forehead, trying to put the pieces together.
"Should I keep looking?" Tara asked and she hoped to whatever divine being might exist that Vivian let her go.
"No, that's fine for now. I'll look into from here. I know there's something," Vivian said.
"Kim said what if the Bebes are actually being stolen." Tara figured Vivian should consider this possible. "Maybe a company is stealing Bebes to unlock their tech and get in on the Gemini monopoly?"
Vivian scratched her chin. "It's possible." Of course, she doubted that was going on. No, this was something deeper. "I'll check any and all leads. It's just best we figure out what's happening with the Bebes before one does go insane. Who knows where it might happen or what damage it might cause."
"That's true."
"But, again, you can go. I'll handle it for now."
"Okay, I guess I can work on my other master plan!" A bright grin sparkled on Tara's face.
"Other master plan?" Vivian raised an eyebrow. She was almost scared to hear the answer. Tara was way too enthused, and when Tara was way too enthused, very bad things tended to happen.
"I'm going to hook Shego up with my coworker!" Tara replied without thinking. She just wanted everyone to hear her brilliant idea!
"Tara, you are way too smart for you to have said what I just thought you said. I must be tried and overworked because I know you didn't just say that you were going to try to hook Shego up with one of your GJ coworkers!" Vivian roared in disbelief.
Tara let out a scared yelp and jumped in her chair. Felix was shocked, too, and jumped. Vivian glared at Tara as if the teen had twelve heads, which caused Tara to gulp. Felix gulped as well. He had never seen his aunt look such a way before. Tara knew that Vivian was prone to mood swings, but she did not want to experience just how badly this one would be.
"He's a good guy, though…" Tara said in her own defense.
"He works for GJ! They just tried to kill us not too long ago!" Vivian's eyes seemed to catch fire.
"Aunt Vivian, calm down. See, this is why I said you're getting restless and everything. You're way too upset over this. Take a breath," Felix requested in a calm manner.
Vivian looked like she was still ready to explode, but seemed to think better of it. She blinked and took a deep breath. Putting her hand to her head, she gently caressed her forehead as if trying to sooth away a headache.
"Tara, you have to understand it wouldn't be in the team's best interest if Shego was to date your coworker. Please get that silly idea out of your head," Vivian said in a composed tone.
"Besides, I don't think that's where Shego's taste lies," Felix whispered to Tara.
Turquoise eyes went wide as saucers to that information. What's with everyone thinking Shego's that way? Barkin said Shego invited him to the show, so he did seem to be where Shego's taste lay. Tara supposed she was just going to have to ask Shego herself sometime soon… from a distance… maybe an email… while she was out of state.
Vivian shook her head and left the room. The teens watched her go and then sat silently for a few, long seconds.
"I'm sorry about her outburst. She has to be overtired, screaming like that," Felix said.
Tara waved it off, knowing Vivian had outbursts like that more than Felix was aware of them. She hoped he never got to see it the way they did. He seemed to really care about his aunt and think highly of her. Tara did not think it would be fair if he had that image snatched away from him.
"She wasn't always like that…" Felix gave a whimpering sigh.
"Don't worry about her, Felix. Vivian's doing good work. You should be proud of her," Tara replied. She wondered what Vivian was like when Felix knew her better.
Felix smiled and nodded. "You're right. So, how about you show me more of this stuff?" he requested.
They spent time together on the computer until Vivian alerted them that there was a berserker Bebe in the area where the Bebes disappeared. The two teens were off, Tara changing into her hard suit while Felix accompanied Vivian in the mobile Pit to get Shego and Kim their suits.
-8-8-8-8-
Barkin and Ron were the first to arrive at the site where the Bebe was raging out of control. It had already morphed into a huge beast, shaped in the form of a big cat. It roared at the men from a rooftop in the deserted, rundown area.
"At least this thing is attacking some place where people aren't going to get hurt," Ron commented, grabbing his gun. He hoped backup arrived quickly, even if the Bebe was not some place populated.
"Thank god for small favors." Barkin grabbed his own weapon. "The tanks aren't going to be here for another few minutes. So, it's up to us to hold if off."
"Of course," Ron sighed. So much for backup arriving quickly.
The two officers fired at the berserker Bebe. The shots bounced off of it and the Bebe went into attack mode, leaping at them with a loud, bone-chilling roar. The sound cut through them, but they did not let up. The Bebe flung its tail out at them, extending it all the way to them. They felt the breeze of its passage and leaped out of the way, yet Barkin still lost bits of his sleeves.
"What the hell?" Barkin muttered, clutching his arm, just to make sure that it was still attached to his body.
The Bebe roared again, attacking at both officers. The tail went out at Ron and the Bebe showed it could extend its forearm just like its tail, trying to slash at Barkin. The partners barely dodged, but the Bebe went into another attack quickly.
"Crap," Ron murmured, thinking he was about to get seriously hurt, knowing he would not be able to get out of the way of the tail again. It whipped at him too fast.
Ron was saved from being impaled by the blue and white Knight Saber seemingly appearing in front of him; Kim dropped out of the sky. Tara did the same in order to save Barkin from having his stomach ripped open. Shego came out of the sky like a meteorite, landing on the Bebe's back with her hands blazing and her knuckle-bombs ready for war. The Bebe roared as the blow landed, but Shego had not hit the creature in the correct area.
"I'm guessing you didn't adjust for drag," Kim commented.
"I'm guessing you can't shut up," Shego replied as she backed off and got ready for another attack as soon as her footing was solid. She did not get a chance to go at it again, though.
The ground rumbled, causing debris to fall and cracks to shoot up through crumbling buildings. The five humans backed up, looking around.
"Is that an earthquake?" Ron wondered aloud.
"The last thing this city needs is another earthquake," Tara muttered to herself.
They were somewhat lucky it was not an earthquake, but they did not like what it was. Out from the pavement a monster that looked like a giant mechanic snake burst out of the ground, grabbing the Bebe into its mouth. The Bebe did not struggle and was swallowed whole by the snake.
"What the hell is that thing?" Shego hollered.
The snake then turned its attention to the Knight Sabers and went after them. They leaped away and fired at it with their needle projectiles. The weapons did nothing to it and then the GJ police force showed up. The snake retreated back into the hole that it created.
"Seriously, what the hell was that thing?" Shego repeated. No one had any answers.
-8-8-8-8-
Doctor Drakken turned his attention to his computer and smiled devilishly. "It would seem that's the connection. She's calling them. She's down there somewhere. Time to move," he said.
Drakken quickly mobilized his own forces and went out to the site that caught his attention. He worked quickly to make sure no one went there. He needed that place secure and he got that with efficiency that would have stunned people who knew him. He met his forces out at the site in the dead of night, cover of darkness working in their favor.
A thin, youthful male brunette greeted Drakken at the location with pep in his step. "Good evening, Doctor Drakken! I've had the area sectioned off and we've already started the search," the young man reported.
"Great! Make sure everyone spreads out and checks all of those tunnels down there," Drakken ordered with a giant grin on his face. He was giddy and close to dancing. He was sure his search was almost over.
"I'm on it, sir!" The young man saluted.
"And make sure Gemini remains in the dark about this matter." It would not do to have that fool interfere with his perfect plans.
"Yes, sir!"
"You're a real loyal guy. What's your name?" Drakken inquired.
"I'm Hank Perkins, sir, and I will make sure everything is just as you want it. Gemini won't know a thing about this and we'll find the lab you're looking for."
Drakken nodded and Hank Perkins zoomed off to go see to it that Drakken's orders were carried out. Drakken smiled, happy to have gathered so many loyal employees right under Gemini's nose. He was certain his subordinates would carry out his wishes and everything would be right in the world… as far as he was concerned. He would soon show everyone just what Bebes were capable of.
-8-8-8-8-
"What do you mean we're off the case?" Barkin threw his hands up. Ron kicked the door shut to the chief's office so that everyone outside did not have to go deaf from the two loudest mouths on Earth.
"This order came down from the top! The case is closed and that area is closed off!" Dementor slammed his fist down on his desk to punctuate his statement, and possibly make more noise than Barkin.
Ron wondered if they were both just peacocking. Maybe they think alpha males are loud or something. Either way, it sucked to be trapped in a small area with them.
"You can't do that!" Barkin yelled right back. They had to keep looking into that case, especially because of that monster that ate the Bebe last night. It was something that deserved to be investigated, but it would seem that others did not agree.
"That area is off limits and the case is done! If you want to argue with me about it, then we can do it while you're suspended!" Dementor threatened his employee.
Barkin made a choking sound as he gasped and he stormed out of the office. Ron smiled sheepishly, embarrassed by his partner, and followed the larger male. Barkin grumbled about how things were going all wrong and then he suddenly stopped. He looked like a light bulb went off in his head.
"Oh, god, I know this isn't going to be good," Ron muttered.
"We're going to go down there and see what's going on. Something's wrong here and I'm not going to take it," Barkin declared.
"We can't just go down there. Thanks to the quake, that whole area is a maze. Tunnels could do on forever and we could easily get lost," Ron pointed out.
"Then we'll get a map."
Ron did not even get a chance to ask about that as Barkin marched off to the one person he knew could get him what he needed. Tara was at her workstation, eating her breakfast and staring at her computer screen when a smiling Barkin and Ron appeared before her. Tara frowned, knowing he wanted something and he dragged poor Ron along with him.
"What do you want?" Tara sighed. "If it's something about Shego, I don't think I'm going to tell you."
"Shego? What's this about Shego?" Ron asked with a sly look on his face as he nudged his partner with his elbow. Barkin balked and sputtered before getting the conversation back on track.
"We need you to look up a map for us," Barkin explained.
"A map? I thought the work computers weren't supposed to be used for personal reasons," Tara remarked with an evil smile.
"I just need you to get this map for me."
"Fine," Tara sighed. The sooner she could get him out of her face, the sooner she could get back to breakfast. She was quite hungry, so much so she did not think to ask what they needed the map for. She just let them tell her the area and she got the map for them.
It did not occur to her until much later when she was off of work and sitting around Betty's garage with Felix did she realize just what they were going to do. "Those idiots!" Tara declared out of the blue.
Felix blinked. "Uh… who are you talking about, Tara?"
"No time to explain! We've got get to the hard suits!" Tara replied, jumping up from her seat.
-8-8-8-8-
"I can't believe Tara gave us these layouts so easily," Ron commented, as he and Barkin walked through the narrow passage of what he suspected was once a hallway. The corridor was dark as they made their way further down into the ruins and sewers. It was damp and smelled of mold. There was a drip somewhere that threatened to drive him mad, as it seemed to be follow them no matter how deep they walked into this passage.
"If you catch her before breakfast, it's easy to get a favor out of her because she hasn't gotten any sugar in her system yet," Barkin explained.
"I don't even want to know why you know that," Ron deadpanned. He wondered how often his partner took advantage of Tara. He also wondered just what the hell he was doing down in a freaking sewer when he was supposed to be at home watching television. He sighed. Someone had to keep an eye on his crazy partner and apparently that someone had to be him. When did I become a babysitter?
Barkin did not bother to elaborate and they continued further, flashlights shining ahead of them. They went down deeper, coming into a space they could not help wondering about. It was below the sewer and they wondered if the earthquake had displaced it so many years ago or it was always there and no one knew about it.
There were plenty of offshoots to choose from, but they continued on straight. They were surprised when that mechanical snake broke out of the darkness, hissing at them and then opening its mouth wide, showing off rows upon rows sharp teeth. They leaped out of the way to avoid being eaten. The snake turned its head in Ron's direction.
"Oh, man, I really should've stayed home," Ron muttered, thinking he stared his death in the mouth.
Before the snake got to Ron, an explosion burst through the hall and the snake backed up. As the smoke cleared, Ron saw the white and blue Saber saved him yet again. The green and black Saber came in to take on the snake while Kim directed Ron and Barkin out of the corridor. Tara dashed by them all, hoping to find the power supply of the snake or at least some place she was able to look up the snake's weak points electronically.
Shego wasted no time going at the snake with her flaring hands and readying her knuckle bombs. The snake hissed and then its tongue shot out of its mouth. The tongue wrapped around Shego's body and she was suddenly unable to move.
"What the hell? Damn it, my hard suit isn't responding!" Shego growled.
"Not responding?" Felix's voice echoed through her communication device. He turned to Vivian; they were both in the mobile Pit.
"This fucking snake thing has me! The suit isn't responding!" Shego said again. Kim came to her aid, only to find that the snake had more than one tongue and her suit suddenly failed, too. "And now Kim's suit isn't responding," Shego mumbled. "That was a brilliant move, Princess. What do you do next, get killed right next me?"
"See if I ever try to help you again," Kim retorted. "Tara, do you have anything?"
"I've got nothing useful so far," Tara informed her teammates. "Should I just come and help with the snake?"
"Snake?" Vivian echoed. She clutched her forehead as a sudden jolt of pain shot through her head. And then she stood up like she had a revelation. "Tara, stay away from that snake and keep doing what you're doing! Felix, I'm going out!"
"Uh… okay…" Felix said slowly. He was not sure what just happened and Vivian was gone, so he could not figure out what was going on. "Tara, you okay?"
"I'm all right. I'm still gathering the data," Tara answered from inside a collapsed office space. Most of the console in the room had been destroyed, but all she really needed was for it to turn on and she could do the rest. Come on, hurry up! Freaking ancient computers and their forever loading time!
While she waited, Tara listened as her teammates, whose complaints had actually turned into taunting each other. She wondered if that was the way Kim and Shego dealt with the grim realization they might actually die.
"You know, you're more useless than I initially gave you credit for," Shego said to Kim as the snake pulled them toward its waiting mouth.
"Oh, yeah, because you're obviously capable of getting out of this mess," Kim scoffed.
"I would get out of it, but you'd probably just copy me and I'd still be stuck with you."
Kim snorted. "So, you'd rather die with me? Brilliant plan!"
The conversation was cut, as was the tongue of the snake as the purple Saber appeared with her forearm blade out. Kim and Shego hit the ground while Vivian stared at the snake and found herself staring into oblivion. Her mind raced and her brain felt like it was being drowned in information.
"Vivian, get out of the way!" Kim shouted, thinking the team leader was about to be devoured by the snake.
Tara seemed to come out of nowhere. She took aim and fired several needles directly into the snake's mouth. The needles whizzed by Vivian and she did not even move. Tara did hit her mark and the snake dropped like a brick.
"Thank god those blue prints were right and its weak point was in the back of its mouth," Tara sighed in relief. She was not sure what she would have done if the data was incorrect.
"Good work," Kim said to Tara, able to walk over to Tara and put a congratulating hand on her shoulder. Everyone was ready to go, except Vivian, who was just staring into the darkness beyond the snake.
"It's in here somewhere…" Vivian realized in a whisper. She gulped and wondered if Gemini knew.
-8-8-8-8-
Next time: Kim starts missing missions and then has to go back home for a while. Will she still have a place on the team after this?