Chapter 2

Ron's motorcycle raced through the North Carolina woods. The snowfall that tapered off hadn't affected the roadway enough to stop Ron. Only one thought pressed at the forefront of his mind, Shego.

When Sergeant Bryer called earlier, Ron dropped everything, almost leaving Kim behind. But as if it were second nature, Kim followed fast and by the time he kicked off, he could feel her pressing into him, her arms wrapped around him.

"What's the rush, Ron?" Kim spoke for the first time since he dropped his phone and darted out of his house.

"I don't know how to explain it to you…" Ron said. The words lingered at the tip of his tongue, but uncertainty held him back, unsure of how Kim would react to the news of Shego being a sister-in-arms. "Shego… Shego is in trouble."

"In trouble, how?" Kim asked.

"I don't know all the details. My sergeant called and said she needed my help. It's bad. That's what I know."

Kim stayed quiet, a reaction that Ron didn't expect from her. Shego, after all, was Kim's evil opposite in many ways.

"You're not mad?" Ron asked.

"Why would I be mad?" Kim asked. "You mean about Shego? Oh…" Kim trailed off.

"Yes, about Shego. What is it?" Ron asked.

"Uh, I kind of already know, Ron. I've known about Shego and you for a while now."

Ron heard the nervous laugh in Kim's voice. He slapped himself mentally. Of course she knows. Shego just set me up. She had to have known. How else would Kim be there and, ugh.

Ron shook his head, frustrated he didn't figure out two and two sooner.

"Hold on!" Ron said. He pressed his bike harder than ever before, zipping and zooming around the curves and bends in the roads. Before long, they arrived in the small town of Liberty.

Ron turned off the main road toward the church. What he spotted astounded him. Global Justice agents surrounded the church, armed to the teeth, weapons aimed at men on the church's front steps. Ramos and Ryker flanked Bryer, guns drawn on the Global Justice agents. But in order to make it to them, Ron needed to bypass an armed roadblock.

"Hold on, KP!"

Kim fastened herself to him.

Ron revved the engine, much to the chagrin and shock of the GJ agents. Their shouts and threats didn't dissuade Ron from climbing his bike up one of their vehicles and over the barricade. His bike landed close to the front of the church.

"Put your hands in the air!" A GJ agent shouted at Ron and Kim.

Ron threw his helmet to the side and stepped toward the agent, whose gun aimed at Ron. "What are you going to do about it? Are you going to sho—"

"Stoppable!"

Ron snapped around. He looked at Bryer, whose face remained expressionless and calm. Kim, who seemed more understanding than Ron thought she would, rested her hand on his shoulder, tilting her head toward the church.

"Get inside, Stoppable."

Bryer was right. Ron was here for Shego, not to join his team in confronting the Global Justice agents.

Ron tilted his head down and turned toward the church.

"Stop!"

Ron turned his glare to the Global Justice agent.

"Ron, go!" Kim pressed her hand against his chest. "I'll take care of this. Trust me." Kim reassured him.

"Miss Possible." Both Kim and Ron recognized the voice of Betty, the Director of Global Justice. "I advise you both cross the line back to this side, unless you want to be branded an enemy of the new coalition you've helped form."

"What do you want, Director?" Kim asked.

"Shego. Congress might dissolve the United States Military, including the U.S. Army as early as next week. So we arranged for Shego to be detained before that happened. We didn't want her loose without her leash."

Ron narrowed his eyes.

"I wasn't aware that the army was her leash." Kim cocked an eyebrow.

The Director crossed her arms. "Shego's deal was to serve her time in the U.S. Army with pay, of course. However, time served would have to have been for twenty-eight years. She isn't even close to fulfilling that term."

"Then why not let her serve out the term with Global Justice?" Kim asked.

"I can answer that." Bryer spoke. "The United States Army paid for her sentence. It owned the rights to her prison term with Global Justice. However, if that contract isn't fulfilled by either side—"

"Then Global Justice gets full rights back to its property."

"Property!" Ron turned back around.

"Yes, Stoppable. Property. The U.S. Army bought her outright, but had to accept our terms. Global Justice would have never accepted the deal without our terms being met. In any event, the U.S. Army might not exist by next year, and we won't risk Shego running around freely."

"If you want Sergeant Go, then you'll have to get through us first," Sergeant Ryker raised his rifle at the Director.

"Threatening my life won't help Shego. It'll will put you in prison though," the Director replied.

Ron's hands glowed a delicate blue, his power surging in him. "Threatening my team is making a threat against me. I hope you know that, Director."

"Stoppable. You have one goal here. Leave the rest to us," Bryer said.

Ron took a breath and relaxed his shoulders, releasing the air. He turned away from the Global Justice agents and smiled at Kim before heading up the church stairs. He turned back one last time before heading through the church doors.

Inside, Ron noted Shego took the time to redecorate some of the church. Pews sported her claw marks where her green fire torched the soft wood. Holes marked the ceiling and scorch marks dotted the once pure white walls. Shego sat slumped against the lectern, head hung below shoulders.

"What do you want?" Shego asked. Her words a mumble among the wreckage.

Ron reclined against the podium next to her. "Bryer called. He said something about GJ coming to get you. I'm not going to let that happen. There's no reason to get mad."

"I appreciate it. But I don't care if they take me. Maybe it's better this way."

"Seriously?" Ron asked.

"Yea. Seriously."

"Just like that. You're gonna play the pity fiesta card?"

Her gaze lifted and he could see the dark despair hanging over, a shadow casting its darkness, her cheeks stained red from a steady stream of tears.

"He's gone."

"Who—"

Her head dipped back down, burying her head into her arms. "Drakken."

"Drakken. What do you mean he's…"

"He's gone. Drakken's gone."

Her arms muffled her faint voice, but Ron understood what she meant. His jaw dropped as he leaned his head back against the podium.

First Collins.

Now Drakken.

Who was next?

Ron's arms sank down to the ground, exhausted from all the carnage dealt to their emotions. The wounds inflicted on their bodies. Scars etched into their souls, culminating to some unknown point in time.

Their bodies weakened by the wrath of war, death, and loss, sneaking through the halls of their lives temples, ransacking and looting them.

With Global Justice encircled around the church, running away wouldn't work. This might be the end of the line for both of them. The U.S. Army verged on the edge of nonexistence, meaning his and Shego's life together, their comaraderie, was over.

"H — he was killed in the bombing. The Vladivostok bombing right at the outbreak of the war."

"You mean the car bombing at the embassy?"

"Yea."

Ron sifted his index finger through some of the ash created by Shego's fury. "They… they didn't find anything?"

"No. Not a trace."

Ron turned back to the floor.

"You know. I was supposed to meet him next week in Vladivostok. I asked how he would get me in. The authorities in that country hate me." She let out a grisly breath, one that Ron thought only someone on their deathbed could muster. "I guess, I'll never find out."

"So what's next?"

"What do you mean?"

"It's not a hard question. Where do we go from here?"

"We?"

Ron glanced over. "I mean… yea."

"You should know where you're going? You better Stoppable."

"But… what about you?"

Her expression hardened, the blood of resolve rushing back into her face, before retreating again, a light bulb flickering against a faulty filament. "I don't know. I think… I think this is it for me. I've reached the end of my line. There's nothing else out there for me."

Ron raked the carpet under his nails. "What's that mean?"

"I'm done. The Director's right. I'm not looking to go back to the life I had before. But, if I can't have this life and the only person who sorta understood me is gone. What's the point?"

"What about everyone else? What about your brothers?" Ron asked.

Shego snorted. "My brothers. Like they care." She lit her green flame. "They're not even brothers by blood. Just… just our powers."

Ron paused, processing the information Shego just revealed. "You mean, Hego and the others aren't… your brothers?"

"Nope. They might not know, but I do." Ron could see the damns in her eyes begin to fail. "I… I don't remember my family, Ron. It's all a blur. The only thing that ever connected my brothers and I were our powers, and that really never stuck with me anyway."

"Now that you mention it, you don't really look like your brothers."

Shego sniffled, lifting her head above her arms. "I… I don't remember my parents. I don't know if I have any brothers and sisters out there. All I remember was that when we were kids, some kind of comet or meteor crashed into some yard, and we were the only survivors."

"That explains your name."

Shego glanced over. "My name?"

"All I've ever known you as is Shego. No first name. No last. Just Shego."

"Oh…" Shego let out a sigh. "I don't remember that. My brothers made up their own identities. I never did."

"So, you don't remember all that?"

"No. For the longest time, I knew no one, until I connected with Drakken by chance. After that, I just stuck around." Shego scribbled on the floor. "Now, there's nothing really left."

"Stop it." Ron forced out. Shego talked as if nothing else mattered anymore.

Shego's eyes shifted. "What?"

"You have a family right now." Ron pushed himself off the floor.

Shego lifted her gaze, still weighed down by the news. "What family?"

"Out there." Ron pointed to the church's front doors. "Sergeant Bryer. Ryker. Ramos. Our entire team is out there, ready to get you out of this mess."

"Yea. And in a month they won't exist. Why are they gonna defend me? I'm a former criminal."

"Do you really think they care?"

Shego stayed silent.

"If they didn't care, they would have handed you off to GJ in your sleep."

"I never asked them to," Shego mumbled.

"You never had to. Isn't it obvious, Shego? They aren't letting you leave here in cuffs unless you do it yourself."

"Then tell them to." Shego stood up. "Tell them to stand down and I'm turning myself in."

"No."

"Why?"

"Because. You have a family outside."

"They don't—"

"That's bull and you know it, Shego. Are you going to let his define you?"

"It's my choice. If I—"

Ron stepped toward Shego. "Is that what Collins would have wanted from you? Would Drakken want you to just throw your chance at life away?"

"Don't you dare." Shego snarled, her lip curving up. "You leave them out of this."

"It's the truth. Collins wanted you to be happy."

"He didn't know the army was gonna be replaced. You think GJ wants me in their army? You think they want me in the new order? They want to pack me up and bury me underground and toss the key. That's what they want, and that's what they'll get. There's no point."

"But—"

"They don't give a damn about Bryer's opinion and they sure don't give a damn about your opinion."

"They're gonna…" Ron's hand ignited in hot blue power.

"Stop it. I told you. I don't want to be the bad guy anymore. I'm done with it." Shego's pleas fell on Ron's ears. "What's it worth anymore? What's the point of it all, if I'm just going to keep on losing. Losing everything I care about."

"You fought me the entire morning to reconnect with KP. And you set it all up. I know you did. But now, one thing changes and you want to give up, just like I did."

"Princess is still alive, Stoppable." Shego muttered, turning away. "You have your soulmate. Your best friend. I…"

"I'm not losing one more best friend. Not now. Collins was my line."

Shego glanced back at Ron, water welling up in her fragile eyes. "He was my line too. You know that was supposed to be my, lying in his arms."

Ron's shoulders softened. "I know. So did he."

"I shouldn't even be here. I thought that meant something."

"It does."

"How?"

Ron clenched his fists. "You're just going to take Collins bullet for granted. I'm telling you, Shego. You won't know that meaning unless you give it a chance."

"I don't see it, Ron."

Ron stepped toward her, resting his hand on her shoulder. "You're not going to if you don't give it a chance. We won't know what happens unless we give it a chance. Right?"

Shego lowered her gaze to the floor, trying to drown out the shouts outside. Bryer and the others were shouting insults and slurs at the Global Justice agents outside. Tensions were rising. If she didn't give up soon, then something would break, and she would lose more friends.

That's what Ron didn't understand. He was afraid of not being good enough for Kim. Stuck between that and losing her forever.

Shego. Shego feared the prospect of losing another friend. Her circle only held so many bonds, and two of those left, one without a goodbye.

Ron's hand lightly clamped down on her shoulder, pulling her out of her crashing world. His outstretched hand came into view, waiting for hers to land in his.

"Trust me, Shego. You showed me there was a way. I'm not gonna give up on you. I'm telling you, we'll be here… I'll be here for however long you need."

TBC...