Chapter 11: Rescue and Reconciliation

Wade was nearly panicking, but his overly logical brain told him that the screams were going on for far too long. While he had every confidence in Kim and Ron's abilities, how long could they hold out, trapped in an underground lab full of big, burly, invisible guards? The boy nearly fainted with relief when Kim called again.

"Wade," she gasped. "Something weird is going on here."

"What's your sitch?" Wade had always wanted to use Kim's trademark phrase.

"Dementor and his guards," she informed him "They all became invisible but they didn't attack us. They all started yelling and screaming. Ron and I have ducked into a corner, out of the way, but I don't think that anyone is trying to find us. Dementor didn't treat his helmet. He fell down shortly after turning invisible, but he's gotten up but he isn't moving around, he's just bouncing up and down."

"Are the guards in pain?" Wade asked. "What are they yelling about."

"It's kind of hard to make out, but there's an awful lot of 'where are you' and 'I can't see anything' mixed in with the shouts," Kim answered. "I mean, how scary can being invisible be?"

It was like a light had just come on in Wade's head. "That's what was wrong with Dementor's plan!" He shouted over the communication channel.

Back in the lair, Kim and Ron shared a questioning glance. "Uh, Wade," Ron said. "Why don't you pretend that I'm not a super-genius sitting in a safe, comfortable room?"

"Okay guys, here's what happened," despite the danger, Wade had to smile at Ron. "Dementor's process made his and the guards' living tissues transparent to visible light."

"I understand that," Ron answered.

"This included their optic nerves," Wade informed him. Kim's eyes widened in the beginning of understanding. Ron, however, was still in the dark.

"Wade, Kim's a brain, I'm not," he said. "You're going to have to do better."

"Okay, Ron, do you understand how you see things?" Wade asked.

"Yeah, it has something to do with light being reflected off of things and hitting my eyes," he answered.

"Okay, your eyes focus the light onto your optic nerves," Wade explained. "The light reacts with these nerves, and you're brain uses these reactions to form the images you see. Now, Dementor's process made these nerves transparent to visible light, so they won't react to it."

"Meaning that the guards can't see," Kim concluded.

Ron's expression showed that now he understood the situation, but was absolutely terrified.

"Ron, what's wrong?" Kim asked.

"Are you guys trying to say," he replied, with a visible effort to keep his panic in check. "That right now, we have a mad scientist and six blind, invisible guards freaking out in a laboratory full of equipment that just might explode if mishandled?"

Both Kim and Wade stared, wide eyed, for several endless seconds.

"I think that this just became an emergency rescue mission," Kim commented.

"Right, KP," Ron answered. "I've got an idea."

"Ron, this isn't the time to fool around," she retorted.

"Hello! I'm the one who can deal with scared people," Ron was indignant. "We have seven scared people out there right now!"

"Ron, this is serious!"

"And I'm not? Look, KP, I don't want to get blown up, either."

"Okay, let's hear your plan," Kim conceded. After a few minutes of Ron explaining, she nodded her head. "Okay, let's do it."

Ron stepped away from the corner and bellowed as loudly as he could. Dementor and his guards went silent, momentarily, and Ron spoke into this silence.

"Professor, everyone else, we're going to get you out of here," He spoke loudly, but in as calm a voice as he could. "We're going to get you to medical attention, but we need you to work with us. Professor, do you understand?"

"Ja," the response came from where Dementor's helmet floated near the workstation.

"Good," Ron replied. "First of all, I need you all to just hold still. We don't want you bumping into any of this equipment. We will get you out of here. Professor, does your barracks have kitchen facilities?"

"Ja," Dementor responded again.

"Talk to them, KP," Ron instructed Kim. Kim nodded as Ron ran for the barracks.

"Okay everybody," Kim addressed the group. "We don't want to grope blindly for all of you. My partner is going to get some flour to sprinkle around, so that we can find you. Once we can see you, we'll lead you out of here. Do you all understand?"

Kim heard a series of agreements, then Dementor addressed her.

"Vhy don't you have der bat locate us vit echolocation?" The man's voice asked.

"He's not a bat, he's a disguised, naked mole rat."

"Vhat do you accomplish by disguising der rodent as der bat?" Dementor's curiosity seemed to have squashed his panic.

"It's a long story, and highly secret."

"Okay," Dementor sounded dubious, obviously still contemplating the advantages of disguising a rodent. "Vhy are you using flour to vind everybody? Vhy not just feel around until you locate everyone?"

"We don't want to take the chance of bumping into someone and falling into this equipment," Kim replied, disguising the fact that doing as Dementor suggested would give his guards the chance to grapple them.

"Den vhy don't you just shut off der zignal?"

"We don't know your systems, professor. What kind of damage could we do if we start hitting controls at random?"

"Good point."

By this time, Ron had returned with a bag of flour. He sprinkled it around and the six henchmen were soon dusted with the white powder.

"Okay, everybody," Ron announced. "We can see you. We are going to use our handcuffs to link you all together, so we don't lose anybody. Everybody just stay still and let us get you."

In a few minutes, Kim and Ron led all of the henchmen, and Dementor, to one wall. They lined everybody up and linked their wrists with the handcuffs, forming the group into a long chain. They put Dementor at the front of the line.

"Okay," Ron told them. "Now we're going to lead you out of the mine. Professor, are you transmitting your invisibility signal outside of the mine?"

"Nein," the short scientist answered. "Dis procedure vaz juzt a tezt. I vasn't going to tranzmit above ground until I vas ready to make uze of der invizability."

"Okay, take your time, everybody." Ron instructed them. "Once we get outside, the blindness should wear off. Won't it, professor?"

"Ja, but it may take zome time."

"How much time?"

"It depends on der body mass of der zubject. Der largest guardz may take up to tventy minutes."

"Okay, but it will wear off," Ron informed the nervous guards. "Professor, when we get close to the mine entrance, I want you to tell the guards there to surrender. Unless you want us fighting them while all of you are in the middle of it, blind and invisible."

"Good point."

It took almost a half-hour to get Dementor and the guards to the entrance. Leading a group of blind, invisible (except for some flour) and nervous guards through a rough-hewn tunnel is more difficult than it may sound. When they approached the entrance, Team Possible enlisted the only two visible, seeing guards to assist them. Outside the mine, the henchmen's clothing began to fade back into view almost immediately, but the guards themselves took longer. Wade had called Global Justice as soon as Kim and Ron had confirmed Dementor's presence, and a prisoner transportation team arrived as the guards began to fade into view.

The Global Justice crew loaded Dementor and his henchmen up and hauled them off to a holding facility, and eventual extradition to Europe. The crew informed Kim that they had another vehicle in route, to transport Team Possible back to Middleton. Kim and Ron were exhausted, they had put in a strenuous day and it was now close to 3:00 AM. The two teens had just enough time to recover their equipment before their ride, a self-guided hoverdisc, arrived. The teens climbed aboard and the disc took off, just as a Global Justice investigative team arrived to study the now deserted lair.

Kim called Wade and updated him as to Team Possible's status. The boy genius informed her that he would make sure that their parents knew that they were safe and on their way home. With that taken care of, Kim signed off, looked at Ron, and breathed a heavy sigh. Her boyfriend had pulled a towelette out of his mission gear and was using it to clean Rufus, avoiding eye contact with her. Once the bad guys had been loaded up, he had become sullen, distant. Something was bothering him and she had to deal with it, no matter how tired he was.

"So Ron," she said, trying to break the ice. "Why did you save the empty flour bag?"

"I'll wait until this action shows up on the news, then I'll give the bag to the Flour Company. Companies like to have memorabilia, like it, to show on their walls. They'll probably frame it and hang it up with a label that says something like 'truly ALL PURPOSE flour.'"

Kim smiled at the joke despite her tension, but she was still troubled. Ron hadn't looked up while he was talking. She smiled again as Rufus indicated that he wanted Ron to scrub his back some more.

"When did you get the wrist-grapple?" She asked him. He looked up at her, a question on his face. "I saw you use it when we went down the ventilation shaft. I didn't realize that Wade made one for you."

"It's not from Wade, it's from Yamanouchi," Ron informed her, gently scrubbing at a smiling Rufus's back. "Sensei wanted me to have something from the school with me and it…showed up earlier this week."

"Why did you link the guards together with handcuffs?" She asked, still trying to get him to open up. "Wouldn't it have been easier to have them hold hands, or something like that?"

"Yeah," he agreed. "But then they might have gotten some ideas about fighting once we got them out of the mine. This way, they were confined for Global Justice."

"That was good thinking," She complimented him.

"Thanks, Kim."

Kim flinched when she heard her name. That confirmed that he was upset with her. He never used her name, only her initials, unless he was upset. She sighed again. She didn't want to deal with this right now; she wanted to go to sleep, like Rufus was crawling into Ron's pocket to do. She wanted Ron to lay down on the bench seat so that she could lay down on top of him, pillow her head on his chest, feel his arms wrap around her back, and nap all the way home. She thought about just cuddling up to him and counting on his hormones to override his bad mood, but decided against it. First of all, it probably wouldn't work and secondly; even if it did work, he would realize it later and resent her for it. Despite her fatigue, she had to deal with this now.

"What's wrong, Ron?" She asked, getting straight to the point.

"What makes you think something's wrong?" He asked, evasively.

"C'mon Ron, I know when you're upset, just like when you know I am. You're mad at me and I want to know why."

"It's nothing," he muttered, still not meeting her eyes. "I'll get over it."

"NO!" Her sharp retort snapped Ron's head up. "We're not going to let you just get over it," she insisted. "Remember when I locked you in the closet? You didn't say anything to me, you just let it fester inside you and it almost cost us…US! We can't work that way, Ron; not anymore!"

"I'm still your best friend," she pleaded, tears starting to form in her eyes. "But we're more than that now. I don't want us to break up over something I do, but you have to let me know when I do something! I'm taking us seriously, aren't you serious about us?"

"Of course I am! You're the best thing that ever happened to me!"

"Then tell me why you're upset!"

Ron took several deep breaths, calming himself and considering what he was about to say. Finally, "Kim, do you remember the lessons you learned at Yamanouchi?"

"Of course, they were good for both of us."

"What did you learn about dealing with me?"

"That you're better at some things than I am, and I have to make use of that."

"And one of the things that I'm good at is dealing with frightened people," Ron pointed out.

Kim nodded her agreement.

"Why didn't you trust me to do that?" Ron's voice was quavering as he asked the question. Kim couldn't remember him ever looking so hurt. "In the mine, I told you that I had a plan, but the first thing you could say was to quit fooling around."

Kim lowered her head, realizing what hearing that must have been like for him. She had been making comments like that, to him, for years and for years he had just shrugged them off. What had changed?

For one thing, he's stepped up, for me, she realized. He isn't the silly, random misfit that comes along just because he's my friend. He's now my partner, even if he insists that he's my assistant. He's giving me his all and he deserves, he knows that he deserves, my respect. More than that, he's my boyfriend now. He's opened himself to me, completely, and these comments are going to hurt him more than ever before.

Kim frowned; did he really shrug off the comments over the years? How many times, after a mission, did he go completely silent and I was too busy with homework, or something else, to notice? How many times did he just go home after a mission, without saying anything? Just how much has he put up with, over the years?

Kim took a few more minutes to compose herself, realizing that her next words and actions were going to be very important. Ron was slumped forward on his seat, his elbows on his knees and his hands hanging limply in front of him. His face was down, looking unseeingly at the deck. Kim stepped forward and knelt in front of him.

"Ron," she said. "Let's get something straight between us, right now. I'm not very considerate of the people I love the most. I'm a perfectionist and I'm impulsive; add the two together and you have someone who can really run over everyone else, even someone whom she loves."

Ron looked up a little, not quite meeting her eyes. She reached forward and took his hands in hers.

"So before I say anything else," she continued. "I have to say how terribly, terribly sorry I am for just…dismissing you without even considering that you have something to offer. Everyone at Yamanouchi tried to hammer that into my head, but it's just going to take some time. So I have to ask you to let me know when I do something like this, so that I can learn from it."

Ron had actually managed to look her in the face again. He was still hurt, but he was feeling better about it. She leaned forward and touched her forehead to his.

"But at the same time, you have to change to," Kim informed him, staring straight into his eyes. "Ron, this might hurt, but you did have a few…random moments back there."

His eyes widened slightly and he finally met her gaze. She could see that he was reviewing the mission in his mind.

"Like when I asked Wade if we would even be in there if it couldn't be dangerous?" He finally asked her.

"And when you asked about the language Dementor uses to talk to himself," she confirmed. "Ron, it was dangerous in there, and it just wasn't the place to start…speculating like that."

"So if I keep my head in the game, you'll listen to me more?"

"I'm going to listen to you no matter what," Kim told him, flinching at his plaintive question. "But if you keep your head in the game, it will be a lot easier for me."

"I guess I should quit with the random comments." Ron stated.

"Not all the time!" Kim insisted. "Ron, if you had made those comments now, on the trip out, or maybe when we discuss the mission with Wade, it would be hilarious." She reached forward and took her face in her hands. "I never want you to quit being you! I'm absolutely nuts over my goofy, sometimes random boyfriend. Just…be goofy and random when we aren't in danger."

"I'll try," he said, with a nod. "But I'm going to be just like you. I need you to let me know when I get…random when I shouldn't."

"It's a deal."

Ron nodded again, "Thanks KP, and I'm sorry."

"You're welcome," Kim replied, thrilling to hear her initials again. "And you're forgiven."

Ron reached up and pulled her into a tight embrace, which she eagerly returned. They sealed their apologies and reconciliation with a kiss, then Kim pushed Ron down until he was lying on the seat. She bundled up one their jackets, which Ron used as a pillow. Kim, just as she had wanted, settled herself down on top of him, resting her head on his chest. She sighed in contentment as she felt his arms wrap around her. After a relatively quick, goodnight kiss the two teens settled in to sleep for a couple of hours on the trip home. Kim was content; they had faced another crises, as a couple, and had come out of it stronger.


Shego didn't know whom, other than her lawyer, would even want to visit her. First of all, prospective visitors had to go through a lengthy and unpleasant, security inspection. Secondly, visiting hours were not set; they were held at varying hours during the day. The only constant for them was that they were always when most people were asleep. Thus, someone really had to want to visit her. She couldn't keep from feeling a certain excitement as she approached the appointed room.

That excitement quickly vanished and she repressed an urge to turn around and return to her cell when a familiar, huge man, on the other side of the Plexiglas, stood up. Then she shrugged; she might as well meet with him. If nothing else, it would be something different than just sitting around her cell.

"Shelly," the big man greeted her as she approached her chair.

"Hego," she said, rolling her eyes in disgust. "Do you really think we need to use our code names in here? The guards know who you are and they sure as heck know who I am."

"It's our standard procedure," the big man protested.

"And you always follow procedure, even when it's asinine," she retorted, taking her seat. Once she had sat down, Hego returned to his own chair.

"Always the proper gentleman," she snorted. "You don't have to act like that here. We're family and even without that, I'm not exactly what you could call a lady."

"Do you have to belittle everyone around you?" Her brother asked.

"Well, lets say that if I ever find anyone who doesn't irritate me 24/7, I'll curb my tongue."

"I'm at the top of your list of people who irritate you, aren't I?"

"Yes, you are!" Shego snarled at him. "And you know why!"

"My attitude," Hego's voice was as calm as ever.

"Yes, your attitude! You've always had your 'holier than thou,' self-sacrificing, 'all for the common good,' eagle-scout attitude! Everything's always been good versus evil, cut and dried for you. You've always done your duty, even when nobody wanted you to and that includes right now!"

"What do you think I'm doing, sister?"

"You're trying to rehabilitate me," Shego snarled the words. "You're trying to show me that you'll always be my brother, no matter how evil I've become. You're thinking that just that little demonstration of family love and support will bring me back to the light, or some other nonsense."

Shego rose to her feet, prompting her gentlemanly older brother to follow suit. In retrospect, Shego had to admit that what she did next was rather silly. The combination of six inches of exotic polymer separating her from her brother, the plasma-resistant mittens on her hands and the fact that her brother towered a good two feet taller than she did combined to detract from the threatening posture she had assumed.

"I don't want to return to your team," she grated at her brother. "I am what I've made myself and I have no intention of changing."

"And where has that gotten you, Shego?" Hego's calm, quiet question silenced her.

Shego shoulders slumped in defeat and she returned to her chair. She flopped down and hung her head. Contrary to one of the rules of proper etiquette, when Shego didn't have something sarcastic to say, she usually didn't say anything.

"I'm not here to rehabilitate you, or to try to make you feel guilty," Hego informed her, after it became obvious that she wasn't going to speak unless prompted.

"So why are you here?" Shego didn't even bother raising her head to look at him.

"Because you're my sister," he answered.

"Great," she snorted. "Now I'm either a pity case or a family responsibility."

"If you choose to feel that way, so be it. The fact is, you're family and a former teammate. It's both my responsibility and my pleasure to be of any help to you that I can."

"Help me?" Shego looked up at him with an incredulous stare. "How are you going to help me? I can't see you breaking me out of here!"

"Of course not," Hego's tone was indignant. "But if there is anything that you can use, and I can obtain for you, just ask-"

"Hego, they're going to kill me!" She roared at the big man, springing to her feet again. Again, as etiquette demanded, he rose to his feet, as well.

"I don't understand," he confessed. "I haven't heard anything about the prosecution pushing for the death penal-"

"Have all those muscles pushed your brains out of your ears?" She demanded. "Haven't you figured out that not all of the so-called good guys have your anally retentive goody-goody attitude? One of these days, one of these guards is going to decide to do the public a favor and pump me full of lead. He'll claim that I was attacking him and who'll question him?"

"Can you really blame them…NO!" He shook his head. After a moment had passed, Hego spoke again, with sadness in his voice; "I promised myself that I wouldn't turn this into a morality lecture."

"Why not, you've got a captive audience," she shook her head at her own pun and returned to her chair. "And to answer your question, no I can't blame them. If the roles were reversed, well, let's just say that if I had anybody I cared enough about to take revenge for, I'd do the same."

She dropped her head again and struggled with the tears that threatened to spill. Finally, more out of a desire to distract herself, rather than real curiosity, she spoke again.

"Did Mego and the Wego come through the Diablo Attack okay? I can't quite see you guys just sitting around and waiting it out."

"We fought,' Hego recalled, returning to his own chair. "Even though we didn't have much effect on the outcome. I destroyed several of the robots and Mego was even more effective. He was able to shrink down, crawl inside the giant robots, and wreck havoc with the circuitry. The Wego kept most of the robots busy chasing them, so the damage to Go City was minimal. We are all uninjured, although we would have certainly been crushed if Team Possible hadn't removed the antenna when the did."

"Yeah, that's another score I have to settle with the princess and the dork."

"A score to settle?" Hego looked genuinely concerned for his sister. "Shego, when are you just going to let go of your hate? This…vendetta against Kim Possible isn't gaining you anything."

"It's all I have!" She snapped, leaping to her feet again, and again, Hego rose to his own feet. "Listen, you lummox; I'm not the forgive and forget type, that's another reason I left the team. I'm not like you! I don't think the way you do. You thrive on an adoring public; all those mindless idiots singing your praises. I don't! That's not what I want."

"What do you want, Shell…Shego?" Hego was as intent as always.

"I want what I had with Doctor D," she informed him. "I had money, respect, and authority. Doctor D gave me the jobs to do, I did them, and he paid me well. If his latest scheme had worked out, I would have had it all."

"You want to dominate the world?"

"Of course not!" She snorted. "Ruling the world means making it work right. Could you picture me in a meeting, trying to balance wheat production from the north China plain against bread consumption in the Middle East? Or listening to reports on cotton production from Alabama and matching that with textile mill capacity in India and clothing needs in Saudi Arabia? No, Drakken would have thrived on that and I would have had the benefits. I would have had a luxury house, a stable of fine studs to take care of everything I wanted, and the occasional job of busting a would-be hero, just to keep myself in shape. That's what I want."

"It seems like a shallow life to me," Hego commented. "But since it's beyond your reach, are you going to use your trial to embarrass Kim Possible?"

"What makes you think I'll do that?" Shego asked, defensively.

"You say that I'm stupid," Hego explained. "That's not exactly correct. I'm impractical and ignorant but I'm not stupid. Your best chance of lightening your sentence is to destroy the credibility of Kim and Ron's testimony. The best way to do that is to play on their emotions."

Shego nodded and returned to her chair. (Hego sat down again.) Her brother was right, he wasn't the idiot she pretended he was, he was just, intentionally naïve. While he couldn't come to grips with her mindset, he could figure out her most logical course of action. I he could figure it out…

"So, I suppose Global Justice has a couple of legal experts getting the princes and the dork ready for it." Her statement was part question, part conversation.

"I would guess so," he mused. "Global Justice keeps it's…affiliated teams appraised of each other's situations. Both Team Go and Team Impossible know that Team Possible is undergoing some legal council." He paused, "so, knowing that they are preparing themselves for your…verbal assault, are you still going to go through with it?"

She nodded.

"But why?" His question was almost pleading.

"Evil works for its own ends," she explained. "And it's my best chance. Besides," and here her voice became bitter, "when all you have left are revenge and anger, you make use of them."


A/N

Again, I thank all of you who have been reading this story. I honestly can't express my thanks to those of you who have taken the time to leave reviews and/or send me a PM. The feedback, both positive and negative, is a great help.

Finally, thanks again to Joe Stoppinghem, my beta reader.

Until next chapter, best wishes

daccu65