New day, new chapter
As always, thanks for the favs and the reviews.
So, we're finally leaving the trailer! Action, drama, violence! At least for now. I think everyone will enjoy where we're headed in the next few chapters.
The "explicit" version of this story is on Archive of Our Own, under Sulla of Rome. I tried posting the link last chapter, but at some point FF.N decided FUCK YOU AND YOUR LINKS WE ARE NEVER LETTING ANYONE LEAVE THIS SITE EVER! I have no idea why, and I'm sorry the link didn't go through last time. This is the best I seem to be able to manage. It's getting posted, eventually.
Chapter 24
Then, one day, about four months since they arrived at the trailer, Blackwolf exploded through the door of the trailer. He blinked. Ron and Shego blinked back.
No one had been expected and the alarm hadn't gone off, so Ron and Shego had been in the middle of trying desperately to entertain themselves. Shego, in full puppy gear and completely nude, was standing on her knees, her hands pawed up and framing her breasts, arched with a pair of balls balanced vertically on her nose. Ron had been trying to balance a third one on the stack. The balls fell with a clatter.
"Woof," Shego said, blinking.
"Hmm," Blackwolf said.
"Fuck," Ron said.
Then she crashed out of puppy space and turned bright green. In a flash she leaped across the trailer back into their bedroom. The door slammed behind her.
"We have to go," Blackwolf barked as he recovered. There was the sound of whack from the living room. "MOVE! Get your stuff, we have to go now!"
As used as she'd gotten to the tail after wearing it several days a week, taking it out was still a delicate exercise. Ron burst into their room and started throwing everything he could into their backpacks, double checking everything as she cleaned up and packed their toys safely. They heard the sound of helicopters in the distance, which only grew louder.
After a quick, desperate look around, they followed Blackwolf out the door. Waiting for them was the black van again, though it looked like it had been modified with gun portals on the door. They found more of them inside, on the back doors and on the opposite wall. There was even netting for them to hang onto. Blackwolf tossed them a pair of assault rifles and a bag of magazines before slamming the door shut. A moment later he was in and they were racing down the driveway.
"I don't know how they found out about this place," He called back, "But I found out they were coming two days ago and by Hela's grace I made it in time." The van bounced wildly over the uneven path. "I know that Kim girl is part of the task force coming in though, so they knew you were there."
"Fuck," Shego said. The change of pace, the rush of adrenaline, the familiar pre-battle anxiety. She felt her puppyself retreat as years of experience pushed her back into being Shego. She gave her Master a wolfish grin. "I guess we're going to try all your training, Master."
Ron gave her a weak smile. She prayed he would hold up okay. At one point, she forgot when because days didn't matter when she was deep into being Ron's puppy, he'd opened up about his fears, and the fear that he wouldn't be able to fight and protect her anymore. They raced down the driveway for over an hour. Helicopters sounded all around the distance, getting closer, fading away, getting closer again.
The choppers roared past them over head with deafening wind. "How far to the road?" Shego yelled.
"Quarter mile," Blackwolf yelled back. "We're almost there. But then we're on open ground and I don't know what ground forces they may have on the roads. I don't care if you use the guns or your plasma, but get ready."
Half a minute later they exploded onto a two lane back country road and Blackwolf nearly rolled the van as he tried to turn it. Then they were screaming down the road as fast as he dared on the twisty, narrow pavement. An explosion roared behind them and Shego knew their little home was gone forever. She found it incredibly sad, which surprised her.
Suddenly there was a roar of wind and one of the choppers was above them. Heavy boots thunked down on the roof, followed by another heavy set, and then much lighter one. Sparks flew from the roof as someone started cutting their way in. She shoved a rife in Ron's hands, then clutching the netting with her left, she called plasma to her right.
The roof dropped in, followed by a grenade. She lashed out a kick, spiking the thing straight up the hole and followed it up with a bolt of plasma. There was an explosion, screams, and something rolled off the back of the roof.
Then Kim Possible came through the hole, part of her uniform on fire, like an avenging angel. She slammed feet first into Shego, throwing the older woman back and into the rear of the driver's seat. "Time to go bye bye, Shego you bitch!" Kim said, pulling out something that looked like a gun.
It was the wrong thing to do. Shego had worried about Ron over the last months, not because of his frayed temper, nightmares, or unfocused moving through their day. She was unsure that he would be able to fight like he needed to when the time came.
Her fears were allayed when his fist slammed into the side of Kim's head like a freight train. The redhead slammed into the side of the van so hard it nearly lifted off its wheels, and then she bounced off the wall to stagger right into Ron's brutal kick. "You leave my wife alone!" Ron snarled.
Shego's heart skipped a beat. Yes, Ron had proposed with her collar and she had virtually never taken it off since then, but she'd sunk so deep into being his puppy she'd only focused on being his, not what of his she was. So focused on being there for him in the least threatening way she could, on tending to his mental and spiritual wounds, she didn't think about what he thought of her.
Kim slammed into the back of the van and nearly fell out as the doors popped open. She staggered, then gathered her wits and took a defensive stance. "Ron," she ordered, "Surrender this instant."
Ron stepped in between the red head and Shego. "Why?" he snarled, "so you can lock me up and kill my wife? Fuck that." He took a low monkey stance.
Shego hurled a bolt of plasma over her Master's head as he swept in for a low kick. They'd practice the move dozens of times, mostly with Astrid. Kim, trapped between getting her legs swept out from under her, or a blast of plasma that would send her flying, tried to dive forwards between the two attacks. She was only partially successful, and her long hair was burned off down the middle past her shoulders, and then she slammed shoulder first into the passenger seat.
Shego didn't give her a moment to recover, and snapped several vicious kicks at the young woman. Kim blocked most, but two got through and drove the air from her lungs. Shego glanced over for Ron, and found him grappling with a giant black man who was snarling in rage as he failed to instantly overcome the young blonde.
The tires screamed as Blackwolf skidded them around on the road. The Chopper was trying to block them, but Luke was more willing to play chicken than they were and they were constantly forced to back off or risk having the rotors smashed.
Kim attempted to roll away, but the inside of the van wasn't very conducive to such things normally, and not with four people inside it. Shego kept up the pressure on her foe. Her hands blazed with plasma fueled by the rage she felt at the woman who had ruined their lives and forced them to live on the run for months.
"I could really use some gunfire out front!" Blackwolf yelled back at them, swerving as Will Du appeared at the side door of the chopper with a rather large gun.
"Bit busy back here!" Shego yelled back, locking Kim into a wrestling guard and doing her best to dodge the young woman's furious blows. Ron wasn't doing much better. His smaller size and more nimble movements were assets in the tight place, but it was like trying to dodge and block a bolder in a small tunnel. "Swap!" Shego yelled.
Ron's foot lashed out and slammed into Kim's head. In the gap opened up, Shego fired a bolt of plasma right into the black man's face. The red head fell back, and the black man staggered and screamed, clawing at his face. Ron spun, delivering a roundhouse knee into Kim's blocking arms. Shego curled her body, rolled backwards to her hands and knees, and then donkey kicked the man. Her enhanced strength lashed out, and she drove him out the back to land and roll heavily on the road with a bone shattering crunch.
The couple turned their attention on Kim. The redhead resisted valiantly, her guard was impressive, but everyone has limits and those limits get found quick when fighting a mystical warrior and a super human.
"Ron, please!" Kim yelled as she desperately tried to block their blows, "Just surrender! We can fix this!"
"Kids, we haven't got time for this!" Blackwolf roared back at then, desperately juking the van as Will fired from the chopper. "Fire support, now!"
"If you want to fix this, princess," Shego snarled, "Then you drop the charges and give Ron and I our life back!" She and Ron grabbed Kim and together they threw her bodily out the back of the van. Ron watched in horror as the van juked and instead of hitting the road, discovered they were on a bridge and Kim went sailing over the side. Shego grabbed him before he accidentally fell out himself. She couldn't see Kim, but she did see there was a river under the bridge.
Part of her hoped the damn woman who had ruined their lives didn't make it. Something hit the open door with a bang and they dove back in. Shego looked up and spotted Will and his giant gun through the window just in time to drag Ron back down to the floor as the front window shattered. Blackwolf was roaring curses at everyone.
She grabbed one of the rifles and set herself up behind Blackwolf, using the shoulder of his seat as a brace, and returned fire. Shego wasn't an expert with guns, but anyone who was on the wrong side of the law learned out they worked eventually, so she wasn't complete shit either. Will dove back into the chopper as the bullets tracked towards him, the airborne vehicle arcing away.
Still, she knew, they were screwed. There was no way they could out run a helicopter, and no doubt more were on the way. GJ had probably already put a tracker on the vehicle as well. Ron appeared at her side and gave her her backpack, she saw he was already wearing his. Smart.
"What's the plan, Blackwolf?" She shouted over the roaring wind and blade.
"Don't get killed," he yelled back, racing the van as hard as he could.
"Good plan," Ron said, "Is there more too it?"
"Don't get Ron killed."
"What?" Ron yelped, "What about Shego?"
"She's part of the first plan!"
"Why wasn't I part of the first plan?" Ron yelled. "Why are we separate plans?"
"Because if you croak she needs a new owner!" Blackwolf yelled back. The van threw them around and she got sight of the dark haired man trying to hold back a smile in the rear view mirror, "And I always wanted a dog!"
"You son of a bitch!" Ron yelled. The van jostled again and she was thrown against her Master.
"Easy Master!" she shouted over the wind, clutching him, "I'm pretty sure he's messing with you!"
An explosion rocked the van from somewhere in front of them. Shego twisted and saw the chopper coming up behind them, so she twisted as best she could and fired out the back of the van. The chopper drifted out of sight.
"I mean, it would be nice to have a dog," Blackwolf's yell had a note of wistfulness to it that Shego was pretty sure Ron missed. "And yours is a really beautiful animal. I bet you could win all kinds of awards at shows and shit like that."
Shego started to feel offended at Blackwolf's objectification of her, then she realized what he was doing. He felt they were fucked. He knew how bad a situation they were in. Any moment now more choppers and a fuck ton of police would be on them. Their odds of escape as a group were non-existent, their odds of escape as individuals little better. He was trying to get them angry so they wouldn't panic and break.
She was thrown around and saw a sign for a town coming up. "Do you think we can make it too the town?" She yelled. "If we can get inside a building we can at least fight them better than in the open!"
"Worth a shot!" Blackwolf yelled back, "Keep that chopper off us if you can."
She and Ron did what they could, firing out the apertures and back of the van. The town turned out to be only a couple miles away and they screamed into it, a startled cop car joining their pursuit as a second, then third GJ chopper appeared. The van almost flipped as Blackwolf spun them into the parking lot of an Ace Hardware and then almost crashed as he brought them to a stop inches from the doors.
"Go, go, go!" he yelled, grabbing his saber and hauling ass out the van. Shego and Ron bolted after him into the building.
A clerk at the register, a middle aged woman wearing a blue apron, yelped as they burst in. Blackwolf pointed to the door. "Lady, you might wanna get out of here, shit's about to get real nasty." he grabbed a phone at one of the registers and turned on the speaker. "Attention ladies and gentlemen. At this time we are asking that you please leave the store immediately as this building is about to come under fire from Global Justice. We are sorry for the inconvenience and thank you for your patronage." When he saw the woman standing there in shock he roared," OUT!"
Ron and Shego checked the ammo in their guns as he came back over to them, buckling on his saber and drawing it. A few people raced out of the store and they could see the choppers landing. "Go and secure any other entrances, then get out of sight," Blackwolf said quietly. "Stay hidden, stay safe. I'll do what I can."
"Come out with your hands up in the air," Will Du said via a bullhorn outside. "We have you surrounded!"
Blackwolf shook, and Shego realized he was laughing. "What's so funny," she asked.
"Oh, just remembering something I read once about a marine whose company was surrounded." Blackwolf said, his voice merry with suppressed, hungry laughter. "They're in front of us, behind us, and on each side, boys! There's no way they can get away from us now!"
Shego felt a hysterical giggle bubble in her throat. Then she ushered Ron way to do as Blackwolf bid.
"I repeat, come out with your hands up." Will shouted. She spotted Blackwolf go over to the phone and do something. As she lost sight of the dark haired man, she heard outside speakers start up.
"William!" Blackwolf said cheerfully, "How's the hands?"
"You!" Du screamed into his bullhorn.
"Yep, me, the one and only." Blackwolf said. "What's it been, two, three months?"
"You're gonna pay for what you've fucking done!" Will roared, "Do you know how many of my friends and fellow agents you've killed?"
"Given that you're still going around the world perverting the name of justice and fucking over people as you please, I'm gonna go with not nearly enough. But I do want to thank you for bringing so many fresh offerings to me." Blackwolf taunted.
They found the doors to the back and then quickly realized that between the loading docks, and two other regular doors, they weren't going to be able to secure things in any meaningful manner. They retreated back in the main store and used their respective abilities to pile as much shit as they could before the swinging plastic double doors.
"Where are we going to hide?" Ron asked. Shego looked around. There weren't any real options. She pointed up at the ceiling.
"We're gonna have to be careful," she said, climbing up on some shelves and pushing one of the tiles out of the way. She looked around inside. It was gross, and the tiles wouldn't support their weight, but they were hanging from wires attached to large steal beams they could hang on too, and use to move around to hopefully find something better. "Come on, and stay close." She pulled herself up and hung like a sloth, moving out of the way so her Master could follow , then moved the tile back into place.
Will was basically incoherent in rage from whatever taunts Blackwolf had been throwing at him. There was a crackle, and Kim's voice sounded over the bullhorn. "Ron, please, turn yourself in!" she said, and Shego could tell she was in a fair bit of pain. She grinned wolfishly then sputtered as she got a cobweb in her mouth as a reward.
"Ah, the great Kim Possible!" Blackwolf said, "Mighty are your deeds and far is your name known as a great warrior! It is a shame to see one once hailed as a noble hero to have fallen to such dishonor!"
"Listen, I don't give a shit about you Blackwolf," Kim said, "And I'm pretty sure I kicked your ass last time we fought. All I care about is Ron safely turning himself in."
"My, my, Ms. Possible, it isn't nice to lie." Blackwolf teased. "That's not all you care about. You also want to murder the love of his life. Tell me, did you lay in bed dreaming of him taking you before he found his lovely pet, or was it only after you had lost any chance at him that you realized you longed to be his woman?"
Shego could practically see Kim seething. They crawled along the bar till they got to the wall and crouch on a support beam that ran the length of the wall. She adjusted her rifle to be a bit more comfortable.
"Enough!" Kim practically screamed in her rage. "Put down your weapons and come out now and you will not be harmed!"
"Please, if we come out I know Shego is dead, and you guys will do your best to kill me, and I don't know what you're gonna do that Ron kid but I'm sure it will end with him trapped in your cunt and he'll envy the dead."
"NOW!" Kim screamed.
"Molan Labe," Blackwolf shot back, and hung up. "I hope you kids are ready. May the Gods protect you."
The glass front of the store exploded. First there was a hail of gunfire and Shego ushered her Master back, trying to find something they could hide behind. Then there was the sound of dozens of boots charging in. More gun fire.
Then the screams started.
Part of Shego wished she could watch. She'd always enjoyed a good fight, and she wanted to see the GJ agents suffer for having destroyed her life. But then she noticed that the screams weren't just screams of pain, like that first time she'd nearly pissed herself watching Blackwolf fight. That had been about sending a message. No, there were screams of abject, existential terror. Like the ones Ron had let out as he collapsed. She held her Master as he shook, the screams no doubt linking themselves to his terrors. She couldn't see his face, but she heard him whisper.
"Oh Archleone! Oh roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour! Roam the abyssal lands! The world is your prey! Slake thy thirst in wells of blood made by your own fangs!" He repeated as he shook. She felt tears on his face and tried to hold them secure. Whatever was happening down there, it was undoing everything Heather had done over the course of her visits.
The screams got worse and she heard something else. No, heard wasn't the right word. You didn't hear it, you felt it the way you can feel thunder or other loud sounds. But in the feeling you could hear. A great, terrible roar, as issued by dozens of mouths that were single mouth that were a hundred mouths. Gunfire was constant, but erratic, and bullets trailed through the ceiling twenty feet from them.
'It's not from our reality,' Heather's voice sounded in her head as it seemed as if the very light itself was vanishing from their darkened hiding spot, 'or from our reality before it was this reality.'
'It eats everything.' the girl had said one afternoon, 'I think that's purpose. I don't know if it's a predator, or some sort of cosmic disposal system.' The girl absently waved the book she was reading, a little novella, The Colour Out of Space. 'I have no idea how much he controls it. He never lets anyone see him really use it, either. Not when he cuts lose. It's only happened once when I was around him, and he made me hide and made me swear the strongest oath I could that I wouldn't look.'
The air felt thin, the screams had fallen to silence, and the light seemed almost gone. There was the crackling of the PA system again. "More," an inhuman voice purred, "Send me more. Little morsels, I hunger for you. Come to me, little treats."
The line hung open, and nothing happened. "Oh Archleone! Oh roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour! Roam the abyssal lands! The world is your prey! Slake thy thirst in wells of blood made by your own fangs!" Ron whispered over and over and over.
"If you won't come to me, little morsels," the voice purred from a thousand throats, "Then I will come to you."
There was a moment of silence and then the voice purred again. "When hope is gone, undo this lock, and send me forth, on a moonlit walk. Release restraint level...zero."
Shego blacked out.
She came to on the floor of the hardware store. Ron was curled up beside her, tear tracks staining his face. It was night.
There was a scraping sound and she turned to see Blackwolf sitting on a lawn mower a few feet away, sharpening his saber. He didn't look up as she shifted to be kneeling beside her master, in between the two men, partially blocking Ron from the other man.
Fearfully, she turned to look out at the store, but all she could see were normal shelves and isles. "Why are we still here?" She asked. "Shouldn't we be running?"
"No point," Blackwolf said, "Van's fucked, so are any vehicles GJ brought, and I'm not a thief to steal some poor bastard's car and ruin their life. Besides, GJ should leave us alone till our ride gets here."
"How long have I been out?" She asked, stroking Ron's hair.
"Couple hours." Blackwolf said absently, focusing on his blade. "Time enough for GJ to send in a second wave of agents."
"What happened?" She asked tentatively. "I remember gunfire, and screams, and then everything went black."
"Me." the man said. Shego thought he sounded incredibly sad. "That's all you need to know."
They sat in silence for a while. Blackwolf tossed her a couple candy bars and sodas. She got the impression that even if he could have just taken them, he'd actually left money on the counter. She tore into a butterfinger and chewed slowly.
"Were you serious earlier?" she asked.
"Bout what?" He asked.
"About letting Ron die and keeping me?" She asked.
"Nah," Luke said, inspecting his blade. "Don't get me wrong, if something happens and you want me to, I will, or I'll try and find you a safe place. No one deserves to get put down like an animal. But I've no intention of letting your Master die so I can have you. No good comes from taking another man's woman." His face took on a look of long distant pain.
Shego took him at his word. Her Master was in no danger of Blackwolf deliberately letting him die. She looked down at the young man. "Where do we go from here?" she asked.
"No idea," Blackwolf said, "If they found about the trailer, then I can only assume our entire safe house network is compromised, at least in the States. We could try Canada, maybe. Mexico could also work, but frankly going that way with me would only double our problems."
"Why?" Shego asked.
"Let's just say that the Narcos do not like me," Blackwolf said, "and I am no friend to them."
Shego thought, then remembered the plain letter. "Do you think you could get us to Japan?" she asked.
Luke look surprised, then thoughtful. He slid his saber away with a practiced motion, and then stroked his beard in thought. "Maybe," he said, "Maybe."
An hour later a horn sounded outside. Ron woke up and they went out. In the darkness, Shego couldn't see things very clearly, but she thought she made out twisted and broken bodies scattered around the store. She could hear whimpers of pain and fear though. The moon was the only light, and she gazed at the ruined hulks of choppers, cars, an armored car, and more bodies.
Waiting for them was a white panel van with Astrid in the driver's seat and Heather practically bouncing in the passenger seat. The goth girl had cut her hair into a more tomboyish style that partially covered her face and flared out in the back. It made her think of a vampire police girl.
"Fucking Hel, Luke," Astrid said as they climbed in the van.
"I didn't have a choice," He said softly. Shego and Ron settled themselves in the back seat, while he sat in the middle seat and shut the door. Heather practically twisted in her seat to gaze adoringly at the dark haired man.
The van set off, country music playing softly on the radio. It took them an hour on the back roads to find an interstate. "Head north," Blackwolf said, "we can head for Canada, then decide if we want to go there or head for a coast."
"You think everything is compromised?" Astrid asked.
"Assuming makes an ass of you and me," Luke said tiredly, "But at this point I think I'd rather be an ass than gamble on anything being safe."
"You've kinda screwed the pooch this time," Astrid said, without heat or malice. "And you are an ass."
Luke jerked his thumb at the couple in the back. "No, he screwed the pooch," the man said, making Heather giggle, "I merely decided to fuck with an international police organization dedicated to unquestioningly following shit laws that rain injustice down upon the heads of mortal men."
He fell asleep after that, and they drove in silence. It turned out they'd been in Arkansas, south of Little Rock, so the drive to Canada took roughly twenty-four hours counting the stops for food and bathrooms, with Astrid, Heather, and then Luke taking turns driving. It was really boring sitting in the back of a windowless van, so Shego and Ron spent much of the trip taking naps, holding each other close.
GJ didn't attack them. Shego wasn't sure if that meant they'd gotten away untraced, something she doubted. More likely they were waiting for a chance to strike away from prying eyes, and trying to figure out counters for whatever had taken their agents. She hadn't asked if Kim had died, not wanting to know for Ron's sake.
They spent the first night in Canada at a campground with cabins for rent. The cabin was tiny, but it had a queen bed and a bunk bed. She and Ron took the top bunk. Luke took the bottom one. Heather looked like she was going to crawl in with the dark haired man, but Astrid dragged her to the queen bed instead. The two Jarls and Luke took turns at watch, but the night was quiet and no one came for them.
The next morning, Ron found a payphone and made a call, then they set out for the west coast, about 1,500 miles away. Even switching drivers and pushing the edge of the speed limit, it still took them a day and a half to make the coast and Vancouver.
It turned out to be a densely packed city, and they easily became just another car and group in the crowd. Shego wasn't sure who Ron had called, but he promised that transport was going to be ready for them. Astrid drove them to the waterfront, then to a run down building by the docks.
There was a knock on the passenger window as a young Japanese man appeared seemingly out of nowhere. Heather let out a squeak of surprise, because she'd actively been looking for anyone since before they drove up
"Is Stoppable-San with you?" he asked politely when the young woman rolled down the window.
"Yeah, I'm here," Ron called from the back of the van.
"Very good. It shall be my honor to escort you to the ship, Stoppable-san. How many will be coming with you?"
The Jarls exchanged a look, then looked at Luke. "I'm not going," said the dark haired man. "I can provide a better distraction than I can a bodyguard."
"I've got a mission to get to," Astrid said, "I can already feel the threads tightening more than I like. My time is short to get there."
Heather looked uncertain. "Same, but will they be safe?" She asked.
"Ron Stoppable-san is a most honored guest," the Japanese man said, "No harm will come to him, upon the honor of Yamanouchi." The holy warriors seemed to accept this.
Ron and Shego bid good bye to their protectors and thanked them deeply, before following the young Japanese man to a boat and securing themselves inside.