Author's note:
Ok everyone, welcome back. After much sweat, blood and tears on my part and a lot of (im)patient waiting on your part, here it is at last; the conclusion to the jailbreak. Seriously, I've been up since 7:30 this morning reading and editing these chapters for you. After three single chapter updates, it feels good to get back to a proper sized update, in this instance four chapters worth!
Before we get started, I want to thank you all for the great response to the last chapter. I really hope this conclusion lives up to your expectations.
Right, let's get started. As you are probably all eager to get to the actual chapter or have already skipped this author's note, I'll be brief. This chapter is titled after the Paul McCartney and wings song Band on the run, from the album of the same name (remember chapter eight of this season used a lyric from it). As I'm a fan of the song and album, it wouldn't have felt right not to use it as a title for a jailbreak chapter. So, without further ado, enjoy.
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Chapter Twelve: Band on the run
It was a quiet night, with only a light summer breeze wafting through the cool air. The sky was a clear sheet of dark navy and sprinkled with specks of light from the twinkling collection of stars. Down below on the dry, dusty, compacted dirt, which in daylight was a terracotta colour, a coyote slinked in search of its dinner. A dinner that was, unknown to the canine at the time, about to scamper into its hole and not come out again for the rest of the night. For a few hundred yards away, a tremendous racket sounded as sirens began to wail and the entire area was suddenly bathed in a white light that would trump Las Vegas when it came to brightness.
Between the inner and outer walls of the penitentiary, Kim Possible, pro-hero and world saviour and Shego, supervillain and global menace, were currently hurtling down towards a literal minefield of concussive charges, which the prison's Lieutenant had boasted could take down an elephant. For once, as (K)impossible as it may have been, the pair were actually on the same side; the former having just broken the latter out of her cell. Unfortunately, luck had not been on their side. At about the same time the pair had been perched atop the inner wall; one of the prison guards had looked into the green-skinned woman's cell and noticed the window bars had been missing. Naturally, he had hurriedly gone inside, discovered one of the cell's inmates was missing and promptly sounded the alarm. Kim had just pulled up onto the top of the outer wall when the alarm had blared in her ears and the voltage across the razor wire in which her legs had been entangled had shot up ten-fold. The resultant shock had blasted her backwards and caused Shego to lose her grip from around her neck; sending the pair plummeting towards the minefield below.
The sound of the sirens seemed muffled as Kim's brain tried to cut through the wall of pain and tell her that she was now hurtling towards the ground. Her vision was blurry and had it not been for her battle suit, she would unquestionably have been unconscious... or worse. For a few very brief moments, during which she rapidly descended, she was utterly helpless. Then everything happened at once.
It did not matter that Shego, who had received less of a shock than Kimmie, managed to get her brain into gear a few seconds earlier than her rival. For she had absolutely no means by which to escape her impending encounter with the hard ground and its buried explosives. Arms flailing, she made a grab for any part of Kimmie that she could get her hands on. Unfortunately, given that the hero's stealth-camo was still active, she could not see a single one of girl's flaming-red hairs, let alone a limb to grab hold of. Unsurprisingly, the thought that filled her mind was a very loud, SHIT!
The second Kim's brain managed to inform her of the situation, the adrenaline kicked in and her body immediately reacted. Her gaze blurred by tears and the pain that still coursed through her, she forced herself to do two things simultaneously. With her right hand, she fired the grapple at the top of the wall, while her left grabbed at the almost impossible to detect heat signature that was Shego.
Shego felt the cool touch of Kimmie's gloved hand seize her wrist, but before she could exhale a relived, "phew," a sharp jerk shot through her arm and instead of hurtling towards the ground, she found herself soaring towards the outer wall. "Fuck!" she exclaimed when her body crashed against the cold concrete. It took her a second, but she managed to focus her gaze on the empty space above her that she knew Kimmie must be occupying. "Nice save, Princess, now get us out of here!"
Kim, who's brain had not yet got beyond the reflex save she had just made, hurriedly tried to figure out how on earth they were going to get out of this mess. "Working on it," she yelled back, trying to ensure her voice was only just audible over the wailing sirens. She dare not shout any louder, just in case there was a microphone anywhere that might pick up her words.
"Would you mind working on it faster?" Shego spat. "There's a buttload of landmines beneath my ass and in case you've forgotten, that bit of Nerdlinger tech is on a time limit. If it gives out, I'll probably end up holier than a bit of Swiss cheese."
The hero ignored her rival as she frantically came up with a plan. I can't simply grapple back up as the second I touch that wire I'm toast again. She glanced down at Shego. Only one thing for it and she's not going to like it one bit. "Shego, you're going to have to trust me… I'm going to launch you over the wall, then catch you."
"Yeah, cos that doesn't sound insane!" Shego replied incredulously. Unfortunately, despite how much she might dislike the notion of trusting Kimmie or the hero's mad plan, she wasn't even in a position to stop her from enacting it."
"Just trust me," Kim yelled. Tightening her grip on the green-skinned woman's wrist, she activated the grapples boost-reel mode and sent the two of them rocketing upwards. With her heart in her mouth and the wind rushing through her hair, she used all of her might to launch Shego up into the air.
Like a human bullet, the villainess shot upwards above the wall and could see that the entire area surrounding the prison was bathed in a light bright enough that the terracotta dirt looked like it was basking in the sunlight. However, if Kimmie failed to catch her, it would be the last thing that she would ever see, as even if her glow were at full strength, she doubted she'd survive the fall. Rapidly she began to slow and for the briefest moment, when the forces on her body were in perfect balance, she hung in the air… then swiftly started to plummet towards the ground. "KI…"
Willing the grapple to eat up the last meter of line faster, Kim locked her eyepiece on the faint heat signature that was Shego. If she lost track of her, she would have broken the woman out of jail simply to kill her. I won't lose you, Shego! When her fingers gripped the top of the wall the hero used the momentum from the grapple to propel herself into the air and like a heat-seeking missile, launched herself on an intercept course. Activating the battle suit's hood, she felt the material grow out of the collar and encase her head like some sort of high-tech balaclava; a feature Wade had copied over from her old stealth suit. She had just heard the green-skinned woman begin to yell, "Kimmie!" when she cannoned into her and wrapped her arms around her tight. "Got you!"
Shego felt the force of Kimmie colliding with her and a pair of strong arms wrapping themselves around her. As one the pair sailed clear of the wall but were soon hurtling downwards towards the terracotta dirt and certain death. "You'd better hurry up with the rest of that plan of yours or we break our necks!" she yelled, her voice laced with an almost frantic tone; not that she'd ever admit it… assuming she survived the plummet.
"This is the plan," Kim replied as she tightened her grip around her rival and twisted them around so that her own back became the point of impact.
"WHAT!" Shego virtually screamed. "Your going to Thelma and Louise us, rather than be caught!"
"Just trust me!" Kim replied, a part of her living on hope that the two of them would not end up like the classic film duo. With the ground now rushing up to meet them, the hero activated the battle suit's impact mode and braced herself. Even if she succeeded, this would probably still hurt. Eyes involuntarily closing, Kim felt a sharp pain shoot through her entire body the instant she crashed into the compacted dirt. And for a moment, not even she knew if she had survived the impact.
Her own eyes screwed up tight, for she could see the ground rushing up to meet them through the invisible form of Kimmie, Shego felt a violent shock rip through her body as the hero crashed into the ground. At the exact same moment, the hero's vice-like grip snapped open from around her torso. Winded, she struggled to gulp down air. All the while her brain not daring to believe that her rival's crazy plan had actually worked… or had it. "Kimmie?" she cried out the second she had enough air to utter the girl's name, unable to keep the worry from her tone.
Kim lay motionless on the dirt; not breathing. Her eyes had rolled into the back of her head and instead of a red mist of pain, she saw a multitude of swirling colours. Oooh, pretty colours, she thought, as she allowed her mind to slip into unconsciousness.
Shego could not see her rival and with prison sirens still blaring all around them, nor could she hear her. However, she could feel Kimmie's limp body beneath her and instantly knew that the girl had stopped breathing. "Shit!" she cursed and finding the hero's shoulders, seized them and gave her a hard shake. No response. "Dammit, Kimmie, you are not dying on me!" With her open hand, she then slapped the girl across the face.
The sharp shock of the blow striking her across the cheek wrenched Kim from the icy grip of unconsciousness and her body took a loud gasping breath. At the same time, her eyes snapped open and were greeted with the sight of... well, nothing, owing to Shego's own stealth-camo, but her brain filled in the blanks and provided her with a very pissed off expression on her rival's face.
Beneath her, Shego felt Kimmie's body lurch violently and could just make out the sharp sound of the girl's gasp. She fixed the ground where the hero's head resided with a stern expression. "Don't you ever do something that stupid again!"
Even though her rival could not see her, a wide grin formed on Kim's face. And despite the severity of their current situation, she could not help but feel a sense of renewed optimism about their relationship. Heh, she was genuinely worried about me. However, the moment was short-lived, as her brain quickly started to process the barrage of information coming to her via her eyepiece. Not only was the battle suit reporting serious damage to itself and blunt-force trauma to the entire back of her body, but also two things of more immediate concern; Shego's stealth-camo band had less than a minute left before its power source would likely give out and she became visible and hostiles were rapidly closing in on their position.
"Shego, guards are closing in on us fast and your stealth-camo is going to give out at any moment," Kim said firmly, her game face now well and truly back on. "We need to get out of here."
"You don't need to tell me twice, Kimmie," Shego replied and scrambled to her feet. "I've seen enough of this place to last me a lifetime." Even though she could not see the hero, she instinctively held out a hand to help her up. She didn't have time to form the thought, 'well, that's moronic,' before she felt a hand take her own and the girl pull herself to her feet.
"This way," Kim said and immediately set off in the direction of the Sloth; keeping a firm grip on Shego's hand. Her body ached all over, despite the battle suit's attempts to lessen the strain, but she knew she had no choice. I can rest once we're out of here, she told herself and forced herself to increase her pace.
Like before, Shego reluctantly allowed Kimmie to lead her by the hand and soon found herself moving at a sprint. From behind them and over the top of the sirens, she could hear the sound of Lieutenant Boyle bark, "fan out and search the area. She does not escape. Is that understood?" If there were any replies, they were drowned out by the loud revving of engines and the screeching of tires on the dirt. She turned her head and in the bright light of the searchlights, she could see the small army of vehicles spreading out to try and locate her. Then she saw her. Standing up in the passenger seat of an open-topped jeep, one hand gripping the top of the windscreen for support; the other directing her underlings, was Captain Brooks.
"I want both the inmate and her accomplices found and brought in alive!" Brooks Barked, her dominating voice rising about the wail of the sirens, roar of engines and screeching of tires.
Kim turned her head at the distinctive sound of the Captain barking her orders and could not deny that she felt an urge to turn and take the hateful woman down. While the battle suit had suffered heavy damage from the impact, she was still cloaked and could easily drag Brooks out of her jeep and give her the beatdown she well and truly deserved. That would be justice. However, to do so would be to risk Shego's and potentially her own freedom. It's not worth it, she told herself and turned her head back in the direction of the Sloth, sending it the signal to drive towards her. All the while her left eye watching the seconds on the clock rapidly approach zero.
On hearing Captain Brook's voice, Shego felt a strong surge of anger and the memories of the multiple humiliations she had suffered at the woman's hands flashed through her mind. Never during an escape had the opportunity to exact vengeance on her tormentor presented itself. And even without her glow, she could take that bitch down. Only it would undoubtedly mean giving up her freedom to do so. Except it was not this notion that stayed her hand. Instead, with one last glance at the woman, she had the thought, I might be the villain, but unlike you, I'm not a bad person.
The clock on Kim's display hit zero with the Sloth still one-hundred yards away. She glanced at her rival but dared not say anything for fear that her voice would give away their position; which the guards had yet to discern. Come on Wade tech, don't fail me now. In front of her, the car skidded to a stop and the passenger and driver doors sprung open. Come on… just a few more seconds…
Unable to see Kimmie's car, which she assumed must be cloaked, Shego kept her gaze fixed upon her own arm. While she had lost track of how long the stealth-camo band had been active when they had been thrown from atop the wall, she knew she must now be on borrowed time. I swear if this piece of Nerdlinger junk gives out on me, he's getting a plasma ball shoved where the sun don't shine. Her eyes widened in horror as for a fraction of a second, she saw a flash of orange that she knew belonged to her prison jumpsuit, shit! A few seconds past as Shego metaphorically held her breath and she remained invisible. Then she flickered again…
"THERE SHE IS!" Captain Brook's bellowed. "All units, converge on my position immediately!"
Kim was mere feet from the Sloth when she heard the Captain's roar. SHIT! she cursed internally and knew that her rival had just had the same thought. Frantically, she grabbed Shego's head and bodily shoved the woman inside the car, closed the door and leapt over the bonnet to the driver's side. Diving inside, Kim's foot had hit the gas pedal before her butt had even settled in the seat or the door had slammed shut.
Unable to see the outside or inside of Kimmie's car, Shego felt more than a little disconcerted when her rival grabbed the back of her head and shoved her, like she was being arrested, inside the vehicle. Indeed, she couldn't stop herself from beginning to yell, "what the f…" before the car's upholstery suddenly popped into view and the door slammed shut behind her. Less than a second later, she heard a noise that could only be associated with something powering down and her body flickered back into view. At the same moment, she felt the car shoot forward and the driver's side door close.
Out of the corner of her eye, Kim was vaguely aware that she could now see Shego, however, her gaze was fixed on the expanse of terracotta dirt that lay in front of her. Shit, I need to get us out of here. Her gaze took in the rear-view mirror and she could see Captain Brooks' jeep; along with a hoard of others that were fanning out over the area in pursuit. What, if anything, they might be tracking, she did not know.
"Kimmie, I know you call this thing the Sloth, but in case you haven't noticed, we've got a crazy captain and a small army in pursuit of us. Shift this thing into high gear," Shego said as she stared out the rear window at the figure of Captain Brooks, her mind filling in the murderous expression she imagined the woman's facial features were contorted in to.
"The Sloth's top speed is limited while we're cloaked," Kim snapped, not even bothering to turn and look at her rival. "If I try to go any faster it'll break and they'll be able to see us… see me."
"Yeah, well it's not going to matter if they overtake us," Shego fired back. "If Brooks figures out a way to pinpoint where we are, she'll have her goons encircle us and then we're screwed."
"There's no way she can track us," Kim said defensively. "The Sloth runs completely silent when in stealth mode. It even masks the sound of the tires on the dirt and covers its own tracks… just don't ask me how." She paused for a moment, then hurriedly added, "is there any way they can track you? A tracking device or something?"
"Not as far as I'm aware. GJ has never come down atop me after I've broken out before and I've never found any trace of one when I've scanned myself after an escape. However, that was then, before Brooks returned and ramped up security," Shego answered. "To be honest, I've never been too bothered about it. If there was anything like that inside me, my glow would see it as a foreign object and obliterate it the moment it returned."
"Fuck," Kim cursed, having not considered the possibility that Shego may have been injected with some sort of tracker. One eye trained on the rear-view mirror, she wracked her brain for a solution. Ok, Possible, think, think, think. The answer came to her and she thrust her hand into the belt pouch on her battle suit. "Here, take this," she said quickly and held out her personal jamming device. "If there's a tracker somewhere inside you, this will jam the signal until we can find and disable it."
A look of derision formed on Shego's face. "Nice idea, Kimmie," she replied, her tone dripping with sarcasm, "except I can't see your frigging hand."
"Oh!" Kim exclaimed and her cheeks turned pink; she'd forgotten to disengage the battle suit's stealth-camo. Making herself visible once more and retracting the hood, she handed the small device to her rival, then turned her attention back to the road.
Shego took the offered metallic disc and turned it over in her hand. "What's this? Another bit of Nerdlinger tech?"
"No. I had the Tweebs cook this one up for me. It creates a personal jamming field that blocks the signal from any electronic device you might be holding; including my Kimmunicator."
"So, you don't want Nerdlinger spying on you," Shego replied, her gaze returning to the rear-view mirror. "They're gaining on us. If you don't change course, Brooks will be up our ass in a minute or two."
"On it," Kim said and she veered the Sloth to cut a path across the line of oncoming jeeps. While not anywhere near the car's top speed, they were still travelling at a good one-hundred and twenty miles-per-hour. Eyes fixed on the final jeep; she willed her purple missile on. Come on, come on, she urged. This was going to be close.
Shego's gaze split between the jeep at the end of the column and the lead vehicle of Captain Brooks, which had stayed its present course. "You're not going to clear that last jeep," she then declared, her brain having eyeballed its speed and the distance they still had to cover.
"I know," Kim replied as she flashed her rival a grin. "Just hang on, I've got this." Her expression then morphed into one of steely determination. Come on you bastard. The second she cleared the penultimate jeep, the hero seized the handbrake and threw the sloth into a skid. Just managing to catch the car's rear-end before it spiralled out of her control, she hit the gas pedal and shot through the narrow gap between the two jeeps; the Sloth's wing-mirrors coming within inches of both vehicles, such was the tightness of their formation. A second, albeit unnecessary handbrake turn later and she guided the vehicle away from the column.
While the situation had been deadly serious, Shego could not help but grin as she felt the adrenaline rush that came with Kimmie's risky manoeuvre. "Not bad, Possible. You've been practising, but I bet you're still not in my league when it comes to driving."
"Is that a challenge?" Kim asked before she could stop herself, the moment recapturing how she had felt about her rival prior to the flashpoint of their second night in Spritzers. She gave the green-skinned woman a grin and took in a steadying breath when a quick check of her mirror showed they were not being followed. I guess at some point I must have forgiven her for what happened that night. However, where does that leave us? Because I think I still want to be her friend… Kim forced herself to leave the thought at that, not wanting, or at that moment in time able, to deal with any other feelings she may or may not have for the woman.
Shego heard Kimmie's response at the same time it became apparent to her that they were now in the clear. And the twin feelings of lust and hate roused themselves inside her once more. Urgh, she sounds just like she did that night back in Spritzers and worse yet, part of me wants to fall for it again. The good memories from that night quickly filled her mind but were soon joined with those of when she was arrested and of watching the hero saunter of with Dr Director. She's the reason I ended up in jail… Her features formed a sour expression, in part due to her own mixed feelings, as she replied in the same frosty tone she had used back in her cell, "no. Just get us out of here."
"Oh… ok," Kim said, feeling somewhat deflated and turned her attention back to the road. Well, what did you expect? She asked herself. She already made it clear that she blames you for getting her arrested in the first place. Her brain immediately protested, but I didn't, only for it to remind her that, you have no way of proving that. Glumly, she began plotting a course that would get them to a proper road and from there, onto the interstate that would take them back to Middleton. She may have succeeded it saving her rival from torment at the hands of Captain Brooks, but it seemed their messed-up hero/villain relationship wouldn't be repaired so easily.
An awkward silence filled the Sloth, as overhead, helicopters swept the area in search of the car, but had no more luck than Captain Brooks and her entourage of jeeps in finding it; regardless of what different methods of scanning they tried. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to both Kim and Shego, back in cellblock D, a still incarcerated prisoner could be heard grumbling bitterly to his budget-conscious cellmate, "mrgh, who on earth broke Shego out this time?"
