Did I ever mention my undying question, Why do they always call Kim Possible by her full name?
It's almost as if there was a "Kim" before...
That's my excuse anyway.
Read, enjoy, and maybe review if you're feeling kind.
38. Whose Side – 1
Shego sat on one end of the couch, nearest the exit and braced to cut off Priscilla, who now slouched at the far end. Meanwhile Drakken wore a deep scowl of displeasure as he paced anxiously with his hands behind his back, as he had been for several minutes now.
"You're positive she is not a spy?" he snapped for the umpteenth time, shooting a quick glare back at Shego. She wasn't particularly fond of the trace of distrust in his gaze.
She rolled her eyes. "If she was, backup would be here by now." There wasn't much she could do to convince him when she could barely convince herself.
"You'll vouch for her?" asked Drakken, sounding almost incredulous.
She really didn't want to. "Yeah," she muttered. It was all she could do to reassure him.
The blue man was back to pacing, practically stomping. He grumbled something about a memory modifier that was still only theoretical, but she was sure he whipped out his notebook to jot something down because he only now thought of it on the spot.
When he snapped the notebook shut and tucked it away in his coat pocket, his scowl settled on the bored intruder with her foot bouncing and a cheek rested on her fist. His face flushed and he looked away from the prankster who'd given him quite the scare the past two days, and he frowned instead to Shego. "You're positive—?"
Shego stood and took a long step over the coffee table to grab him by the sleeve and tow him toward the door. "Let's just get her out of here already, alright?"
He mulishly planted his feet, but inevitably stumbled after her. "Shego," he hissed, prying her fingers away. "I know she's your friend and all, but—"
"She is not my friend," she tersely corrected.
Drakken stopped dead in his tracks again, studying both Shego and the intruder. After a pause he harrumphed and lowered his voice. "Then you wouldn't mind if I…?" He gestured to his throat in no subtle manner.
She cringed but shook a finger in his face. Ghost or no ghost, she had to wonder again if someone had been killed in the lair. Murder was a wicked deed and he claimed to be evil after all, but that was a concern to confront him about some other time. "Yes, I do mind, actually. If she goes missing, someone might actually come looking for her," she reminded in a whisper.
"That's a risk I'm willing to take," Drakken grumbled darkly.
Attempting again to tug him toward the door, she sunk her nails into the back of his hand until he whimpered just slightly. "If she is with them, then they will bust us," she warned, and tried to be optimistic. "Even if she is, I don't think she has any evidence yet or they would've stormed the place. I don't think she even knows where we are." Priscilla had already filled them in, admitting to stowing away in the van yesterday and being stuck in the lair ever since – supposedly. Not that she could be trusted. The idea of being spied on for two days was an unsettling one, though not one Shego was unfamiliar with. It still gave her the heebie-jeebies.
Drakken took a couple clumsy steps after her, frowning back unhappily at the intruder. It was a relief – briefly – when he yielded to Shego's persistence and stepped forward on his own accord, leaning close as he passed by to hiss through his teeth, "If she blows it for me…"
Shego scoffed after him. "Are you threatening me?" she shot. It wasn't a threat. Was it?
The startled look in his eye reassured her it wasn't. He curled his lip and shook his head. "I'll explain Plan B later. When we're alone," he said above a whisper, and added even louder as he headed for the door, "Come, Shego. And…guest."
She was almost frozen in place at the bitterness in his tone, but Priscilla jabbing a finger into her back then made her jerk away and start moving again. "So, what are you?" wondered Prissy, following her uncomfortably close and lowering her voice. "His chick or his sidekick?"
Shego's face heated and her hands crackled. She clenched her fists and forced back the urge to take another swing at the girl, though the temptation to outright blast the smirk off her face instead took more effort to resist than she was proud of. "Accomplice," she ground out dryly.
"So you're the sidekick," said Prissy with an understanding nod. When Shego's scowl deepened, she guessed again. "Henchlady?"
It felt like an insult. She wasn't on the level of the average henchman, though technically she was still obligated to take orders and follow like one. "If you don't zip it, you're going to need that nose job you always wanted," she warned.
Priscilla didn't stay quiet long enough. As they stepped out into the garage, she opened her big mouth again. "Oh, so that's where that went!" she piped up. The finger pointing practically over Shego's shoulder made it hard to mistake the object in question. "Did those clowns give it to you as a parting gift? Sheesh, Shi, I thought you knew how to fly. Looks like you crashed it."
There was no denying the stolen Go Jet was looking more like scrap metal every day. "It's undergoing some remodeling," she bluffed, knowing full well the intruder could see through it.
"Think you could take me for a joyride sometime?"
Shego was inclined to deny her on the spot, but instead her eyes narrowed on the back of Drakken's head. "Yeah, maybe," she said bitterly, loud enough for him to hear. "When it's finished." The rogue doctor's confident stride was hitched with a wince.
As Drakken gestured to the van for them to climb in, he flashed a phony crooked smile at Shego. "It'll be done before you know it," he promised with a wink.
"You can keep talking, but I wanna see results," Shego hissed back in passing.
He sidestepped around her, patting her shoulder and adding confidently, "We'll get there."
From shotgun, Shego kept watch on the intruder settling in for the ride behind Drakken's seat. Priscilla didn't have to be told to keep her head down as they left the lair to prevent her from knowing its exact whereabouts, but Drakken reminded Shego several times to keep a sharp eye on the sneaky girl. It wasn't until they were in town did Priscilla move from her spot to lean between the seats and survey the surroundings, against Shego's order no less.
"Hey, Mr. Dragon. You guys got a Bueno Nacho around here?"
Drakken's already-creased brow furrowed deeper. "It's Doctor. Drakken," he enunciated crossly. "And no, there isn't. Sit down."
The intruder dropped back down and folded her legs. Ignoring Dr. Drakken within earshot, she leaned over toward Shego and wondered, "Does this guy always have a stick up his ass?"
A small laugh escaped. She wasn't sure if she was nervous or actually found it funny, but one glance to Drakken's frown, and Shego silenced the chuckle. "Yeah. You get used to it."
"I do not," objected Drakken in a grumpy little grumble. He sank down a tiny bit, his scowl at risk of turning into a pout.
Priscilla blew a raspberry and leaned an elbow on Shego's knee. "You sure know how to pick 'em."
Drakken hit the brakes hard enough for Priscilla to fall over. "Alright, she can get out now."
"But we're in the middle of traffic," Shego blurted, taken aback by the spur-of-the-moment decision.
A horn beeped impatiently behind them. Drakken rubbed his temple. "I am aware."
"Alright, I get it," said Priscilla in exasperation, throwing her hands up and rising to her feet. "You two wanna be alone. I'm out. See ya, Shi."
Shego couldn't duck away fast enough before sticky lips pressed to her cheek with a wet smack, and she wiped the cherry lip gloss away as Priscilla hopped out the side door before she could utter a word of disgust. She settled for flipping her the bird as they drove away, but the girl only beamed and raised both middle fingers right back as if it were merely a show of affection between them.
"Who is she? What is she?" pressed Drakken, his hands tightening around the wheel as they started off again. "I don't like this, Shego. Your friends—"
"Ex-friends."
"Ex-friends are too…suspicious."
Shego sighed miserably and crossed her arms. "Hey, this is new to me too." Sort of. Mickey had always had a knack for calming her down, particularly in recent years, and Prissy had always been good at giving people the slip. A grunt from Drakken prompted her to give a brief explanation, "They're just old neighbors. We drifted apart. I really don't think they're working for anyone—"
"Yes, the best spies give that impression."
She couldn't help snorting on a laugh. Had he forgotten she'd worked alongside a spy organization? Of course she knew that. "Trust me, if they were on my brothers' side, they'd be on us like flies on shit. We wouldn't have known what hit us." Her effort to reassure him must have had little effect, because he was still tense and frowning. "Relax, Doc. You took me in and you knew I actually was a hero."
"Exactly!" he practically shouted, almost throwing his hands up from the wheel. "And I had reason to believe you'd given it up and I had something to gain. Who couldn't use a superhuman on their side? But this woman I know nothing about!"
She was an asset at his disposal – that was nothing new – but somehow being reminded still stung like Priscilla's henchlady comment. "You'll just have to take my word for it," she said carefully. "You trust me, right?"
Drakken opened his mouth as if to fire off some retort but closed it again. He was practically huffing and puffing for a minute before calming down flicking a glance in her direction. "I do trust you," he said somberly. "But I've been tricked before."
"I'm not gonna—"
"I'm not worried about you tricking me," he clarified. He was frowning back out the windshield again. "Right. Plan B. If things go south, I vacate the lair and go north. Ship everything to Alaska and start over there." The notion clearly didn't thrill him.
She almost opened her mouth, almost informed the man that her younger brother already knew he had a backup hideout in the northernmost state. She kept her silence instead, unsure if it was any better than risking another act of treason from the friend who'd disowned her years ago. Priscilla had been looking out for herself back then, so choosing to work for big brother to rat her out now was simply too hard to believe.
Hopeful to divert the conversation and forget about the possibility of resorting to a Plan B, she managed a wry smile. "I thought you were joking about the Alaskan lair thing?" she said in jest.
"No," he grunted. "It's not much of a lair, but it's somewhere to go in case I need to skip town."
"What about me?" she ventured.
Drakken's glance was almost nervous. "What about you?" His second glance lingered, and he bit his lip. A faint purple hue spread across his face. "You'll have to stay. Keep up the charades with your brothers."
"If you have to skip town because they bust us, there will be no charades to keep up," she noted.
"Then we'll – I'll – arrangements will have to be made," he sputtered. "We'll worry about it if the time comes."
"It's some crappy little cabin, isn't it?" she teased. She knew by his deepening blush that she couldn't be far off the mark. It wouldn't surprise her if the Alaskan hideout was on the cheapest parcel of land he could get.
Drakken grunted irritably. "Enough," he carped. "I have a job for you."
Interest piqued, she arched an eyebrow his way. "I'm listening."
++X++
Drakken cut the wheel, turning a corner and pulling haphazardly to the curb. "Follow her," he ground out. "Make sure she's not running off to rat us out." If the strange interloper was a rat, the contingency plan would have to be set in motion immediately, as much as he hated to consider it. It took all his resolve not to panic – but he took a deep breath and reminded himself that he'd survived his accomplice's superhero family coming to town just last week. Still, it was too soon to be dealing with suspicious superhumans again.
Apprehension played across Shego's face for a fleeting moment as she tugged at her specialized gloves. Drakken had the sneaking suspicion she was hesitant to step out in public in her trademark uniform, but before he could ask if she had a problem following his order, she was popping open her door. The look in her eyes had hardened in an instant, and just like that, she looked more like the mercenary he'd hoped he'd hired and not just some girl in a costume who hung around to give him headache after headache. He hoped those headaches – and this one too – wouldn't be for nothing.
"I'll phone you if there's anything fishy," she assured before climbing out.
Drakken didn't have a chance to wish her luck. She turned on her heel and in the blink of an eye she bolted toward the nearest building and took a running leap at the wall like a panther – half jumping, half climbing up it – and vanished onto the roof. Drakken leaned as far over as his seatbelt allowed, eyes wide as he gawped out the passenger window in time to catch a glimpse of the shadowy green figure leap from one rooftop to another, backtracking to locate her target.
He sat back and scratched at his scalp, muttering to himself that he could have driven her back to the dropoff location. "Showoff," he grunted, and turned back for the lair to let his accomplice track down the suspect as discreetly as possible.
The temptation to try to keep up with her definitely had him itching to turn the van around, but he had more important business to attend to than trying to compete with her and consequently getting in the way. It just wasn't in his best interest.
Back at the lair, he practically paced a rut in the earthen floor, wringing his hands to rub away the itch he had to jump the gun and pack up the place. He tried deep breaths to calm himself – he even tried tea for his nerves – but the fear still lingered. Someone had snuck in, someone with the gift of invisibility. There was truly no telling how long the woman had been creeping around his lair, how much intel she'd gathered, who she could be running back to. Though the ghostly occurrences and appearance of Shego's old friends aligned, he was hesitant to trust the strange young lady from Go City with connections to superheroes. How could Shego be so sure the girl wasn't a threat? She couldn't possibly be that naive. He wished it was just a ghost haunting his lair.
Delving into the coding of the Bebes' hivemind did little to take his thoughts off the potential of being busted. Busted for what though? For having destructive ideas he hadn't yet acted on? For having devices capable of vaporizing a man? As long as the spy hadn't made it beyond the henchmens' level, he was in the clear – unless the woman recognized any of the odds and ends that had been stolen here and there. Shego was an adult, and a few nights ago she'd happily shared her recent experience reminding her family so and standing up to them. If she wanted to be with him – work for him – whatever – that was her choice. He hadn't kidnapped her, and he wasn't the one who'd stolen the jet from Team Go's bay base. He'd made a few shady deals and his ethics were questionable at best, but he hadn't done anything wrong. Nothing that could be proven, anyway.
He still wasn't any good at convincing himself he could get off scot-free. In fact, he was worse at it than he was at revising and improving the scrawling expanse of coding that stung his eyes just looking at.
By the time he was finally absorbed in the task he'd given himself, the distant trill of a telephone fell on deaf ears until he at last recognized the sound cutting into his concentration.
He nearly fell out of the chair in his rush to sprint across the tech lab and into his quarters, gasping for air as he yanked the phone off the hook.
He was met with an apathetic, "I'm bored."
Drawing one more gulp of air into his lungs, Drakken slumped over the counter and let it out in a huge huff. "Report?"
"Well, I'm freezing my ass off," Shego informed with a lilt. "It drizzled for a bit. I followed them around town all day, but all they did was touristy bullcrap. As if this town is even worth touring." Her frustrated groan right in his ear shouldn't have sent a shiver down his spine. "Mostly they windowshopped all afternoon. Now I'm in a tree across the street from their motel room watching her do some gentle stretching over here near the Westinger. I can hear the karaoke from here."
His brow furrowed. "Karaoke? What time is it?" he muttered.
"I'unno. Why don't you tell me?"
A glance to the clock and he bit his cheek. It had been barely noon when he'd sent Shego off to keep an eye on the suspicious woman. It was nearly nine o'clock now. "Stay put. I'll come get you." He tried to sound more commanding than guilty, but he wasn't sure he'd pulled it off.
"Sure thing, Doc," droned Shego in lieu of a goodbye before hanging up.
He grabbed his coat off the back of the couch and within minutes was coasting into town in a van sputtering and threatening to die on him. Beating the dash, berating the automobile, and cursing the henchmen from afar for mechanic skills that left something to be desired certainly didn't help anything, but he had to let out steam somehow before he faced the accomplice he'd given a task he'd nearly forgotten about. Would she have staked out the interloper all night if she hadn't called?
He flicked off the headlights as he approached the sole motel just in sight of the Westinger, searching the barren trees for anything perching in them that didn't belong there. Pulling over, he waited a moment for his accomplice to jump in out of nowhere, but impatience had him cutting the engine and stepping out to take a short walk across a lawn toward the row of elms.
She was better at hiding than he'd expected, because it took something striking the back of his head for him to whirl around and scan the branches above him for a long moment before he caught a glimpse of her. It helped that she moved, popping another milk dud in her mouth. Either she'd gone for a snack or she'd been prepared to wait a while in that tree. She didn't look like she was ready to come down just yet.
Drakken eyeballed the branches, and after a long moment of squinting into the darkness and shadows, considered he might be able to reach one if he jumped as high as he could.
He probably should have thought twice about trying. He probably shouldn't have thought of trying at all. He didn't even stop to consider the point. If copying Shego's maneuver from earlier was the idea, his execution of mimicry failed – he realized that much the moment his feet left the ground. He did not possess the agility nor the feline grace she did, though he wanted to believe his fingertips at least grazed the branch he aimed for before he crashed back to earth on his back.
He bit back the yelp with a choked, "Gak!" At least he wasn't winded and wheezing this time. A bruised ego and a little dazed maybe, but not so much so to not notice the soft thump beside him as Shego landed lightly in the wet grass soaking his entire backside now.
When he didn't take her offered hand, she pulled him forcefully to his feet by the arm before he could get up himself.
Back in the privacy of the van, she let out a long groan and kicked her feet up on the dashboard. "They were thinking about finding a place to rent out here. Here! She even got Mickey to apply for a job at a few places," she groused. "I think they're serious. They're talking about checking out a trailer park tomorrow – the one where Gail and Chester live. This blows."
Drakken's lip curled. The idea of someone who could infiltrate so effortlessly living in his oasis didn't sit well with him, but by the distraught frown his companion wore, she was taking it worse. Her friendships had gone sour and here they were, rearing their heads and brandishing promises of reconciliation while posing an imminent threat. He only suffered the imminent threat part this Priscilla Kimbley woman brought to the oasis.
