Chapter Four
Both villains made sure everything that would fall had done so before cautiously approaching the wreaked piping. Drakken picked through the smaller pieces while Shego attacked the main section, lifting up massive pieces of sheet metal with her bare hands and throwing them to the side. Underneath one of the chunks she noticed a blue gloved hand poking out from beneath the largest single section of the duct. She lit her gloves; the clawed fingers pulsing green, and began to slash at the duct to reveal an unconscious adolescent girl underneath.
"Well, well, well - if it isn't Ms. Little Teen Hero herself," Shego snickered. "And you thought she wouldn't show," she called over to Drakken.
"Well, its Christmas for Christ's sake!" he exclaimed, walking over to where the fiery haired teen lay. "I didn't expect the police to be heartless enough to draw her into this. That's just evil."
"And kidnapping two dozen innocent people and holding them hostage isn't?" Shego countered sarcastically. She slashed away at the metal near the girl to uncover a similarly comatose, fair haired boy.
"Just tie them up," Drakken ordered wearily, not wanting to start another argument. Shego did as ordered; grumbling as she grabbed a roll of masking tape from the airline desk and used it to bind the girl's hands and feet together. A large, square, concrete pillar supporting the ceiling proved to be the perfect place from which to suspend the new captives. Shego used an entire roll of tape to hook Kim's handcuffs onto a conveniently placed light fixture protruding from the wall. Returning to where Ron lay, she had finished tying him up when she glanced over her shoulder to see Drakken once again eyeing the girl. But this time there was a hungering gleam in his gaze that had not been there before.
"How 'bout no Doc." Drakken spun around, trying to hide the guilty look plastered across his face.
"What do you mean?" he asked innocently
"Just because you're a dirty pervert doesn't mean you can feel up your prisoners," Shego said, pushing him out of the way to begin binding Ron to the pillar.
"Shego, I'm insulted!" he cried out, an injured tone in his voice,
"Good for you," she congratulated him while putting the finishing touches on Ron's restraints, just as he began to wake up:
"Huh, whu? Ahh. whe amei?" he mumbled, unable to get his jaw muscles to work properly.
"Ah, the goofy one lives!" Drakken joked, smiling with glee. "So, how does it feel to be captured so easily?"
"You think I care if I'm captured or not?" Ron countered, knowing where the good doctor was going with this one.
"Well. You should be," advised Drakken, disappointed he couldn't begin a nice long villain's rant. They just never were the same with Shego - especially since she always had the nerve to interrupt him right at the good part.
"Dude, I've been captured so many times I don't even bother running away any more," Ron said, motioning with his head to the bonds holding him against the support.
"Fine, whatever," Drakken replied, returning to a seat by the window to rest. At least until the other teen - the one who bothered to listen most of the time - awoke.
"Shego, any word on the plane yet?" he called over as she picked up her New Yorker again.
"Nothing yet. But they've still got ten minutes - I think we should wait and see before we call again," she recommended, not even bothering to look up.
"Aren't they supposed to call us?"
"Yeah, if you want to sit here for the next week arguing with them over where the plane is," she agreed dryly.
"Right."
So they sat in silence, waiting for the cell phone by Shego's seat to ring. Neither of the two noticed when Kim began to come around, her head lolling from side to side. The hostages, still huddled against a wall and frightened out of their minds now that their rescuers were captives like they, noticed that she was regaining consciousness. They tried to keep it quiet; keep their captors in the dark, but Shego was too good. Too well trained to miss the nudges and nods in the direction of the pillar, she quickly realized what was causing all the excitement. Poking Drakken - who was beginning to nod off - she pointed at Kim. After a moment's observation, he nodded and got up.
Kim, on the other hand, needed more than a few moments to realize where she was. What felt like a jackhammer against her head, coupled with soreness in a number of appendages didn't help her powers of deductive reasoning very much. Shaking her head to clear it, she felt the bonds tight against her wrists and ankles, pressing her against a wall of some sort. It didn't take much else for her to conclude that they'd been captured after the duct fell. Not that it was the end of the world, that escaping - and dealing with the mad doctor's equally deranged assistant while she was at it - was a problem. Almost weekly repeats of the usual 'take over the world' scheme by Drakken had given Kim enough practice so that she could practically do the entire thing in her sleep. But the fact that it was Christmas Eve was getting her pretty tweaked. She decided, as Drakken approached (probably to gloat), that he would receive a few extra knocks on the head as repayment for ruining her evening.
"Has he already done the villain's rant yet?" she asked Ron hopefully.
"Nah, I managed to stall him for a while," he replied quietly.
"Thanks,"
"Well Ms. Possible," Drakken sneered, "it seems all your teen hero tricks had failed you, haven't they?"
"Yes, I'll bet they have," Kim replied halfheartedly, rolling her eyes at the villain's apparent lack of a clue. Like anyone even cared what he said - even Shego, his supposedly 'loyal' assistant never listened to him. But that had never stopped him before, and probably wasn't about to now either.
"And you're probably wondering what I'll do next, hmm?" he asked excitedly, clearly enjoying himself.
"No, actually I'm wondering when the hell you're going to buy a pack of Altoids," she retorted coolly. "Bad breath ain't exactly the best way to impress the ladies."
"Finally, someone else noticed!" Shego called from her seat.
"I wouldn't be making any witty comments right now Kimberly," threatened Drakken. "Otherwise I might have to -."
"Have to what?" Kim cut him off. "Stare at my breasts some more?"
Drakken blushed - which was a sight to see with blue skin - at her question. She had seen his eyes trail down below her collar from the moment he'd walked up, not that he had tried to hide it. By now, Kim was really getting tired of dirty old men 'mind-fucking' her while she stood by powerless to stop it. Even Ron didn't do it this much - though he did try to cop the odd feel on missions - and she knew he had a pretty imaginative mind when it came to sex.
Now she knew that deciding not to change her lingerie before leaving for the Space Center was a bad idea. All of this trouble was being caused by a single piece of clothing - a little something from Victoria's Secret to be precise - that she'd bought as an early Christmas present for herself the day before. She'd wanted to wear something attention grabbing, something that would get her crush to notice her a little more at any big party she would attend on Christmas Eve. The garment had done what it was designed to do and, she noticed when she donned it, made her much more well-endowed in the bust area. It had worked great at the party, had just the effect she'd wanted it to - then the mission came up. And now she was stuck in a virtually deserted airport terminal on Christmas Eve (technically Christmas Day by now) with an infamous criminal - who probably hadn't gotten any since the seventies - staring at her tits. Kim made a mental note to never wear skimpy or enhancing undergarments on a mission again - ever.
Fortunately, she realized that Drakken's unsated libido could be used against him in any escape plan. If she tried to simply break her bonds and make a run for it, Shego would have her on the floor in seconds. But if she somehow got Shego to leave the room, and then used Drakken to get her handcuffs off, everything would be (to quote Ron) hakuna. Only problem was, Shego was too smart to leave the room and leave 'blue boy' with Kim for a few minutes.
And then; as if by telepathy, Shego rose from her seat, yawned loudly and said to Drakken: "I'm going to get a Coke. You want anything?"
"No thanks Shego," he said uninterestedly.
"Then try to tone down the pedophilia while I'm gone, kay?"
"Yes. right," Drakken called back, not even bothering to listen. Though he did have the sinking feeling that he'd missed something important in the conversation. And after a brief pause, he yelled at Shego's receding back: "Hey, shut up!"
Shego chuckled at her boss' stupidity as she walked around the corner, leaving Kim open to put her plan into action:
"Hey Drakken. Come over here for a second, will you?" she called in the sexiest possible voice.
"What is it Kimmie?" he said, teasing Kim by using the nickname she utterly despised.
"My bra strap came un-done. It really chafes and I can't reach the clasp. Can you get it for me?" she asked sweetly, adopting the innocent schoolgirl voice that every pervert loves to hear.
"Sure," he replied instantly, as she'd anticipated. And sure enough, as he reached around her chest his hands 'accidentally' brushed against her breasts.
"Oops," he apologized, trying to hide his delight. But then his hands found the bra-strap still clasped tightly shut, and he froze in puzzlement for a moment.
"Hey, there's nothing wrong with thi -," was all he had time to say. Kim brought her legs up swiftly, ramming them into his crotch. As he crumpled onto the floor groaning in pain, she ripped her hands from the hook holding her up against the wall and brought them down in a sweeping motion onto his skull. The impact was enough to daze him, giving Kim the time she needed to use her wristwatch laser to melt her makeshift cuffs in two. Bending down, she used the wristwatch to free her legs from their sticky prison, leaving her free to move about. She then grabbed Drakken from the floor and brought him to his feet; holding him in front of her as a human shield. The onrushing henchman stopped short when she placed one hand on his chin - with which she could snap his neck in one quick, fatal thrust.
"Don't move, or you're gonna be suddenly unemployed" she threatened. "So throw your weapons over here and untie my friend."
The henchmen, fearing for their paychecks, tossed their handguns over and proceeded to untie Ron.
"Now lie on the floor face-first and stay there," Kim commanded before turning to Ron: "Get the masking tape quick, before Shego gets back."
He gave her a quick thumbs up before jogging over to where Shego had laid the roll down.
"And you - stop trying to cop a feel or I might just remove your nuts," she growled in Drakken's ear as his hand tried to reach around and pat her ass. Grabbing his crotch with her free hand, she squeezed hard to make her point.
"Ngh," was all the villain said, trying to keep his scrotum intact.
"I leave you for one minute and you're back to touching teenagers," Shego said as she walked around the corner, expecting to see Drakken pawing at Kim. Her eyes widened in astonishment when she saw him now held captive, and all of his thugs lying on the floor unarmed.
"Every single time I leave the room." she mumbled to herself before lighting her claws and preparing to strike.
"Ron! Deal with Drakken!" Kim called to him as she let go of her shield and charged at Shego.
Ron tackled the blue-skinned doctor as he tried to make a run for it, and wrestled him to the ground - which wasn't difficult since Drakken seldom exercised. Within seconds he was bound with tape and immobile, leaving Ron to radio the SWAT team waiting at the end of the jet-bridge. He picked up the walkie-talkie from the pile of stuff that had been taken from them and switched it on.
"You're good to go, repeat, you're good to go," he told the captain. A quiet "Roger" came back seconds later, followed by silence. Ron thought he could hear the sound of running footsteps up the jet-bridge as he unlocked the door, but it was probably his imagination.
Meanwhile, Kim launched herself at Shego, who blocked her opponent's first swing with a stiff forearm. She swiped at the teen with her right arm, which barely missed Kim's abdomen as she back flipped away from her attacker. Shego rushed forward, reaching out at Kim's face, as if to peel her skin back. Kim leant back, as if playing limbo, and stepped away to avoid the lethal claws. Then, pivoting onto one foot, she kicked out with the other, hitting Shego in her stomach. The blow sent the raven-haired woman flying, but her innate sense of balance landed her on her feet. Moments later she dropped to one knee to avoid Kim's roundhouse kick aimed at her face.
Grabbing Kim's leg, Shego flipped it counterclockwise to throw Kim off her feet and onto the blue carpet. Backpedaling furiously; Kim missed Shego's renewed onslaught by inches, saving her legs from amputation at the hip. She bunched her legs beneath her before springing upright, flipping over Shego and kicking her in the back once she landed. Again the woman was sent flying, but deftly cart wheeled to her feet. She ran at Kim, slashing at the air with her claws before raining blows down on her troublingly swift opponent. Kim blocked the punches adroitly, and stepped back to gain some room to maneuver. Pretending she was losing, Kim glanced around in desperation for an escape route. The trick worked, and gave the teen just enough of an advantage over her opponent to defeat her. It was all over very quickly when Kim flicked her foot out and caught Shego hard on the shin. Now on the floor, Shego never got the chance to rise, since the SWAT team burst through the jet-bridge door and quickly fanned out to cover the criminals. With team members covering the henchmen and a trio surrounding Drakken; the rest formed a loose circle around Kim and Shego.
Knowing she had been defeated, Shego switched off her claws and raised her hands above her head in surrender. She was intelligent enough to realize that dying honorably in battle was a whole lot worse that spending a month in jail before escaping. So she allowed them to cuff her without a fight and carry her off to a waiting police van. Kim straightened her hair and walked over to where Ron stood next to a now properly handcuffed Drakken.
"Did you really think you could have gotten away with something like this?" she asked him sourly.
"I had my hopes," he replied sadly before being hauled off by a posse of policemen. "Well, that was an interesting evening," Ron commented, removing the last tatters of masking tape from his arms.
"You call almost being killed interesting?
"Well. No, not really, no," he admitted. Kim stood there in silence for a moment, thinking about something.
"Damn!" she slapped the palm of her hand against her head in frustration.
"Problems?" asked a concerned Ron.
"I forgot to kick the crap out of Drakken," she confided in him.
"Why'd you need to do that?"
"Ron," she gave him a stern look. "He pretty much destroyed our Christmas Eve party session."
"True," the sidekick agreed after a moment's contemplation. "Hold on a moment," he told her, and began to run after the retreating congregation of policemen, yelling for them to stop:
"Hey, hold up! I still need to beat the shit out of Drakken!" he yelled down the length of the terminal as he sprinted past confused looking policemen helping the hostages up. "Wait for me!"
Kim just smiled, and walked after him slowly. Strolling past the rows of chairs and airline desks, she found herself stuck on the image from the party of Ron inches from kissing her. That; and the entire charade about the 'moment' with Josh had simply been planned to gauge Ron's reaction. Ever since. well, for a long time at least, she'd had strong feelings for her, at times, clumsy best friend. Somehow, his caring heart and general likeability had drawn Kim close to him - much closer than was usual for friends. It had never been a 'strike of lightning' kind of affection, more of a gradual buildup of day by day occurrences. Like the jacket he bought her with his 'Naco' bonus money - something that she was sure had cost him upwards of one hundred dollars. But he had done it, and many other things that had made Kim wonder why the girls in their school weren't coming at him in flocks. But they weren't, and she was the only one who saw him for what he was - one of the nicest guys she'd ever met.
Yet, while she had begun to realize this, Ron never seemed to feel the same way. Kim had no idea whether or not he felt as strongly for her as she did for him; but the party had changed all that. When she saw him walk back in from outside the house, his face flushed and his manner quiet, she knew what had happened. After seeing Josh and her together, he'd gone outside for a nice long think, one where he tried with all his might to see what Josh was doing right that he wasn't. But it was just the opposite - Josh could do nothing right, Kim had learned a few days after the Spirit Week dance, and it was Ron whom she was infatuated with.
And now she had an entire plane ride home from Teterboro in a private government jet to explain her feelings to Ron. All she had to hope for was that the feelings of infatuation were shared by them both.
Author's Note: Well, there it is folks, the big ending. Tune in tomorrow, December the 25th, for a little something extra.
Both villains made sure everything that would fall had done so before cautiously approaching the wreaked piping. Drakken picked through the smaller pieces while Shego attacked the main section, lifting up massive pieces of sheet metal with her bare hands and throwing them to the side. Underneath one of the chunks she noticed a blue gloved hand poking out from beneath the largest single section of the duct. She lit her gloves; the clawed fingers pulsing green, and began to slash at the duct to reveal an unconscious adolescent girl underneath.
"Well, well, well - if it isn't Ms. Little Teen Hero herself," Shego snickered. "And you thought she wouldn't show," she called over to Drakken.
"Well, its Christmas for Christ's sake!" he exclaimed, walking over to where the fiery haired teen lay. "I didn't expect the police to be heartless enough to draw her into this. That's just evil."
"And kidnapping two dozen innocent people and holding them hostage isn't?" Shego countered sarcastically. She slashed away at the metal near the girl to uncover a similarly comatose, fair haired boy.
"Just tie them up," Drakken ordered wearily, not wanting to start another argument. Shego did as ordered; grumbling as she grabbed a roll of masking tape from the airline desk and used it to bind the girl's hands and feet together. A large, square, concrete pillar supporting the ceiling proved to be the perfect place from which to suspend the new captives. Shego used an entire roll of tape to hook Kim's handcuffs onto a conveniently placed light fixture protruding from the wall. Returning to where Ron lay, she had finished tying him up when she glanced over her shoulder to see Drakken once again eyeing the girl. But this time there was a hungering gleam in his gaze that had not been there before.
"How 'bout no Doc." Drakken spun around, trying to hide the guilty look plastered across his face.
"What do you mean?" he asked innocently
"Just because you're a dirty pervert doesn't mean you can feel up your prisoners," Shego said, pushing him out of the way to begin binding Ron to the pillar.
"Shego, I'm insulted!" he cried out, an injured tone in his voice,
"Good for you," she congratulated him while putting the finishing touches on Ron's restraints, just as he began to wake up:
"Huh, whu? Ahh. whe amei?" he mumbled, unable to get his jaw muscles to work properly.
"Ah, the goofy one lives!" Drakken joked, smiling with glee. "So, how does it feel to be captured so easily?"
"You think I care if I'm captured or not?" Ron countered, knowing where the good doctor was going with this one.
"Well. You should be," advised Drakken, disappointed he couldn't begin a nice long villain's rant. They just never were the same with Shego - especially since she always had the nerve to interrupt him right at the good part.
"Dude, I've been captured so many times I don't even bother running away any more," Ron said, motioning with his head to the bonds holding him against the support.
"Fine, whatever," Drakken replied, returning to a seat by the window to rest. At least until the other teen - the one who bothered to listen most of the time - awoke.
"Shego, any word on the plane yet?" he called over as she picked up her New Yorker again.
"Nothing yet. But they've still got ten minutes - I think we should wait and see before we call again," she recommended, not even bothering to look up.
"Aren't they supposed to call us?"
"Yeah, if you want to sit here for the next week arguing with them over where the plane is," she agreed dryly.
"Right."
So they sat in silence, waiting for the cell phone by Shego's seat to ring. Neither of the two noticed when Kim began to come around, her head lolling from side to side. The hostages, still huddled against a wall and frightened out of their minds now that their rescuers were captives like they, noticed that she was regaining consciousness. They tried to keep it quiet; keep their captors in the dark, but Shego was too good. Too well trained to miss the nudges and nods in the direction of the pillar, she quickly realized what was causing all the excitement. Poking Drakken - who was beginning to nod off - she pointed at Kim. After a moment's observation, he nodded and got up.
Kim, on the other hand, needed more than a few moments to realize where she was. What felt like a jackhammer against her head, coupled with soreness in a number of appendages didn't help her powers of deductive reasoning very much. Shaking her head to clear it, she felt the bonds tight against her wrists and ankles, pressing her against a wall of some sort. It didn't take much else for her to conclude that they'd been captured after the duct fell. Not that it was the end of the world, that escaping - and dealing with the mad doctor's equally deranged assistant while she was at it - was a problem. Almost weekly repeats of the usual 'take over the world' scheme by Drakken had given Kim enough practice so that she could practically do the entire thing in her sleep. But the fact that it was Christmas Eve was getting her pretty tweaked. She decided, as Drakken approached (probably to gloat), that he would receive a few extra knocks on the head as repayment for ruining her evening.
"Has he already done the villain's rant yet?" she asked Ron hopefully.
"Nah, I managed to stall him for a while," he replied quietly.
"Thanks,"
"Well Ms. Possible," Drakken sneered, "it seems all your teen hero tricks had failed you, haven't they?"
"Yes, I'll bet they have," Kim replied halfheartedly, rolling her eyes at the villain's apparent lack of a clue. Like anyone even cared what he said - even Shego, his supposedly 'loyal' assistant never listened to him. But that had never stopped him before, and probably wasn't about to now either.
"And you're probably wondering what I'll do next, hmm?" he asked excitedly, clearly enjoying himself.
"No, actually I'm wondering when the hell you're going to buy a pack of Altoids," she retorted coolly. "Bad breath ain't exactly the best way to impress the ladies."
"Finally, someone else noticed!" Shego called from her seat.
"I wouldn't be making any witty comments right now Kimberly," threatened Drakken. "Otherwise I might have to -."
"Have to what?" Kim cut him off. "Stare at my breasts some more?"
Drakken blushed - which was a sight to see with blue skin - at her question. She had seen his eyes trail down below her collar from the moment he'd walked up, not that he had tried to hide it. By now, Kim was really getting tired of dirty old men 'mind-fucking' her while she stood by powerless to stop it. Even Ron didn't do it this much - though he did try to cop the odd feel on missions - and she knew he had a pretty imaginative mind when it came to sex.
Now she knew that deciding not to change her lingerie before leaving for the Space Center was a bad idea. All of this trouble was being caused by a single piece of clothing - a little something from Victoria's Secret to be precise - that she'd bought as an early Christmas present for herself the day before. She'd wanted to wear something attention grabbing, something that would get her crush to notice her a little more at any big party she would attend on Christmas Eve. The garment had done what it was designed to do and, she noticed when she donned it, made her much more well-endowed in the bust area. It had worked great at the party, had just the effect she'd wanted it to - then the mission came up. And now she was stuck in a virtually deserted airport terminal on Christmas Eve (technically Christmas Day by now) with an infamous criminal - who probably hadn't gotten any since the seventies - staring at her tits. Kim made a mental note to never wear skimpy or enhancing undergarments on a mission again - ever.
Fortunately, she realized that Drakken's unsated libido could be used against him in any escape plan. If she tried to simply break her bonds and make a run for it, Shego would have her on the floor in seconds. But if she somehow got Shego to leave the room, and then used Drakken to get her handcuffs off, everything would be (to quote Ron) hakuna. Only problem was, Shego was too smart to leave the room and leave 'blue boy' with Kim for a few minutes.
And then; as if by telepathy, Shego rose from her seat, yawned loudly and said to Drakken: "I'm going to get a Coke. You want anything?"
"No thanks Shego," he said uninterestedly.
"Then try to tone down the pedophilia while I'm gone, kay?"
"Yes. right," Drakken called back, not even bothering to listen. Though he did have the sinking feeling that he'd missed something important in the conversation. And after a brief pause, he yelled at Shego's receding back: "Hey, shut up!"
Shego chuckled at her boss' stupidity as she walked around the corner, leaving Kim open to put her plan into action:
"Hey Drakken. Come over here for a second, will you?" she called in the sexiest possible voice.
"What is it Kimmie?" he said, teasing Kim by using the nickname she utterly despised.
"My bra strap came un-done. It really chafes and I can't reach the clasp. Can you get it for me?" she asked sweetly, adopting the innocent schoolgirl voice that every pervert loves to hear.
"Sure," he replied instantly, as she'd anticipated. And sure enough, as he reached around her chest his hands 'accidentally' brushed against her breasts.
"Oops," he apologized, trying to hide his delight. But then his hands found the bra-strap still clasped tightly shut, and he froze in puzzlement for a moment.
"Hey, there's nothing wrong with thi -," was all he had time to say. Kim brought her legs up swiftly, ramming them into his crotch. As he crumpled onto the floor groaning in pain, she ripped her hands from the hook holding her up against the wall and brought them down in a sweeping motion onto his skull. The impact was enough to daze him, giving Kim the time she needed to use her wristwatch laser to melt her makeshift cuffs in two. Bending down, she used the wristwatch to free her legs from their sticky prison, leaving her free to move about. She then grabbed Drakken from the floor and brought him to his feet; holding him in front of her as a human shield. The onrushing henchman stopped short when she placed one hand on his chin - with which she could snap his neck in one quick, fatal thrust.
"Don't move, or you're gonna be suddenly unemployed" she threatened. "So throw your weapons over here and untie my friend."
The henchmen, fearing for their paychecks, tossed their handguns over and proceeded to untie Ron.
"Now lie on the floor face-first and stay there," Kim commanded before turning to Ron: "Get the masking tape quick, before Shego gets back."
He gave her a quick thumbs up before jogging over to where Shego had laid the roll down.
"And you - stop trying to cop a feel or I might just remove your nuts," she growled in Drakken's ear as his hand tried to reach around and pat her ass. Grabbing his crotch with her free hand, she squeezed hard to make her point.
"Ngh," was all the villain said, trying to keep his scrotum intact.
"I leave you for one minute and you're back to touching teenagers," Shego said as she walked around the corner, expecting to see Drakken pawing at Kim. Her eyes widened in astonishment when she saw him now held captive, and all of his thugs lying on the floor unarmed.
"Every single time I leave the room." she mumbled to herself before lighting her claws and preparing to strike.
"Ron! Deal with Drakken!" Kim called to him as she let go of her shield and charged at Shego.
Ron tackled the blue-skinned doctor as he tried to make a run for it, and wrestled him to the ground - which wasn't difficult since Drakken seldom exercised. Within seconds he was bound with tape and immobile, leaving Ron to radio the SWAT team waiting at the end of the jet-bridge. He picked up the walkie-talkie from the pile of stuff that had been taken from them and switched it on.
"You're good to go, repeat, you're good to go," he told the captain. A quiet "Roger" came back seconds later, followed by silence. Ron thought he could hear the sound of running footsteps up the jet-bridge as he unlocked the door, but it was probably his imagination.
Meanwhile, Kim launched herself at Shego, who blocked her opponent's first swing with a stiff forearm. She swiped at the teen with her right arm, which barely missed Kim's abdomen as she back flipped away from her attacker. Shego rushed forward, reaching out at Kim's face, as if to peel her skin back. Kim leant back, as if playing limbo, and stepped away to avoid the lethal claws. Then, pivoting onto one foot, she kicked out with the other, hitting Shego in her stomach. The blow sent the raven-haired woman flying, but her innate sense of balance landed her on her feet. Moments later she dropped to one knee to avoid Kim's roundhouse kick aimed at her face.
Grabbing Kim's leg, Shego flipped it counterclockwise to throw Kim off her feet and onto the blue carpet. Backpedaling furiously; Kim missed Shego's renewed onslaught by inches, saving her legs from amputation at the hip. She bunched her legs beneath her before springing upright, flipping over Shego and kicking her in the back once she landed. Again the woman was sent flying, but deftly cart wheeled to her feet. She ran at Kim, slashing at the air with her claws before raining blows down on her troublingly swift opponent. Kim blocked the punches adroitly, and stepped back to gain some room to maneuver. Pretending she was losing, Kim glanced around in desperation for an escape route. The trick worked, and gave the teen just enough of an advantage over her opponent to defeat her. It was all over very quickly when Kim flicked her foot out and caught Shego hard on the shin. Now on the floor, Shego never got the chance to rise, since the SWAT team burst through the jet-bridge door and quickly fanned out to cover the criminals. With team members covering the henchmen and a trio surrounding Drakken; the rest formed a loose circle around Kim and Shego.
Knowing she had been defeated, Shego switched off her claws and raised her hands above her head in surrender. She was intelligent enough to realize that dying honorably in battle was a whole lot worse that spending a month in jail before escaping. So she allowed them to cuff her without a fight and carry her off to a waiting police van. Kim straightened her hair and walked over to where Ron stood next to a now properly handcuffed Drakken.
"Did you really think you could have gotten away with something like this?" she asked him sourly.
"I had my hopes," he replied sadly before being hauled off by a posse of policemen. "Well, that was an interesting evening," Ron commented, removing the last tatters of masking tape from his arms.
"You call almost being killed interesting?
"Well. No, not really, no," he admitted. Kim stood there in silence for a moment, thinking about something.
"Damn!" she slapped the palm of her hand against her head in frustration.
"Problems?" asked a concerned Ron.
"I forgot to kick the crap out of Drakken," she confided in him.
"Why'd you need to do that?"
"Ron," she gave him a stern look. "He pretty much destroyed our Christmas Eve party session."
"True," the sidekick agreed after a moment's contemplation. "Hold on a moment," he told her, and began to run after the retreating congregation of policemen, yelling for them to stop:
"Hey, hold up! I still need to beat the shit out of Drakken!" he yelled down the length of the terminal as he sprinted past confused looking policemen helping the hostages up. "Wait for me!"
Kim just smiled, and walked after him slowly. Strolling past the rows of chairs and airline desks, she found herself stuck on the image from the party of Ron inches from kissing her. That; and the entire charade about the 'moment' with Josh had simply been planned to gauge Ron's reaction. Ever since. well, for a long time at least, she'd had strong feelings for her, at times, clumsy best friend. Somehow, his caring heart and general likeability had drawn Kim close to him - much closer than was usual for friends. It had never been a 'strike of lightning' kind of affection, more of a gradual buildup of day by day occurrences. Like the jacket he bought her with his 'Naco' bonus money - something that she was sure had cost him upwards of one hundred dollars. But he had done it, and many other things that had made Kim wonder why the girls in their school weren't coming at him in flocks. But they weren't, and she was the only one who saw him for what he was - one of the nicest guys she'd ever met.
Yet, while she had begun to realize this, Ron never seemed to feel the same way. Kim had no idea whether or not he felt as strongly for her as she did for him; but the party had changed all that. When she saw him walk back in from outside the house, his face flushed and his manner quiet, she knew what had happened. After seeing Josh and her together, he'd gone outside for a nice long think, one where he tried with all his might to see what Josh was doing right that he wasn't. But it was just the opposite - Josh could do nothing right, Kim had learned a few days after the Spirit Week dance, and it was Ron whom she was infatuated with.
And now she had an entire plane ride home from Teterboro in a private government jet to explain her feelings to Ron. All she had to hope for was that the feelings of infatuation were shared by them both.
Author's Note: Well, there it is folks, the big ending. Tune in tomorrow, December the 25th, for a little something extra.