* Welcome back. Chapter Five is now at the ready.
This story is now dedicated to Michael J Fox, who played Marty McFly in the 'Back to the Future' trilogy. Although one of the most talented actors this world has ever known, he sadly suffers from Parkinson's Disease. But he is still loved very much by his fans, and I want to let the world know by writing this story in his honour.
This chapter is probably the most emotional I have written yet. Once you've read it, please review. It's the best way I can possibly improve this story. *
"Hey, guess what girl!" Drew Lipsky said on Tuesday 12th July 1988. "You made it all the way to the front page!"
I snatched up the morning paper and read.
"Hey, they got this all totally wrong! I never so much as touched anyone in that greasy joint!"
"Well, Shego, they're right about you running off with that baby! I mean, what were you thinking? Are you determined to wreck your own future?"
"Hey, back off, chief! What do you know about the future? I'm the one who's seen it! The one who's been there, done that and got the t-shirt! You. . . you don't even know exactly what'll happen next week, let alone in fifteen years!"
"And sadly, Shego, neither do you!" he retorted. "You've just blown that advantage, I'm afraid to say! I'll tell you - interfering with one line of designer fashion is one thing, perhaps not perfect, but still, in the grand scheme of things. . .this, on the other hand. . ."
"Yeah, I know, but do you actually think I wanted to be mistaken for an extra terrestrial and have the whole town at my throat? I gotta tell you, pal, I'm not exactly flattered!"
He sighed and retired to his tattered sofa, while his scruffy ginger cat, Oliver, lay purring at his side, picking the broken lining with his claws.
"Where's the baby right now?" he finally asked.
"I left her in my room. Don't worry - she's secure. She won't be going nowhere fast!"
"I see. And just how long are you intending to keep her here?"
I sighed. I wasn't really that sure anymore *what* I was going to do with Kim Possible in the end. "I don't know. Just give me more time - I'll figure out what to do."
He sighed. "I just don't understand you, Shego. I mean, if you're representative of the future population, then may God help us in the future! I mean, why the heck would you do such a thoughtless and careless thing? Didn't you even consider what effects your actions would have?"
"On the future?"
"Yes, but on the present as well. I mean, what about the parents of this child?" He leapt up and stabbed the paper with his forefinger. "Read for me, Shego, what does it say about *them*?"
I glanced down at the blurry shot of the young Dr Possibles, their faces red and tearful, with the accompanying caption, "Parents of child abducted by extra terrestrial at large are left devastated." I read it aloud to him.
"RIGHT!" snapped Drew. "This is exactly what I mean. . ." He froze, took the paper, and began squinting down at the picture himself. "Hey. . .wait. . .I know that guy! He's. . . Possible! I went to college with that guy - I don't believe it!" He looked back at me. "And you kidnapped *his* child? But why?"
"Listen, Drew - it's for the best, okay? Take it from me - I'm doing you a serious favour here!"
"A favour? How could kidnapping my old college mate's offspring be doing me a favour? How could disrupting the course of time be in any way beneficial to me? You're the one who's responsible for this half-baked frivolity, Shego - don't start trying to wash it off on me! You're on your own with this one! All I need to do is obtain my future glory by getting you back to your time, if indeed you have a time to get back to! You came here with your unenlightened future mind, imposed on our present and completely obliterated my temporal infinity - I don't know if it's something to do with nuclear fall-out or food grown on the planet Mars or what, but I gotta tell you; something about your day and age has really affected your mental cognition!"
That did it. "You. . .you're just the same as you're gonna be in fifteen years time deep down! I always put myself through the pits just for your lousy benefit, and you never seem to understand! All you ever think about is your stupid self!"
"Hey, don't talk to me like that, Shego! If it weren't for me and my long hard slaving away at that infernal machine, you wouldn't even have a chance of getting back at all! You'd be stuck here! Then what would you have done? Dialled up and phoned the temporal accident and breakdown rescue service? You know, I hear they give you a free desktop alarm clock if you become a lifetime member!"
I growled, hackles raised high. "Yeah, I admit I need your help on this one, Drew! But I gotta tell you - you'd be pretty lost yourself if you didn't have me, chief! I've always stood up for you and stood by you, even when you treated me like dirt! You never seem to get how much I've done for you! You always act like you're so much better, whereas if I just decided to get up and walk out you wouldn't even last for ten minutes on your own! That's the way it'll be - you'll see! I'm sure no temporal disruption would change that. You may think you're a genius, but in truth, you'll always be lousy at doing what you do best! Sometimes I wonder whether or not I should feel glad that you. . ."
"SHUT UP! SHUT UP! FOR CRYING OUT LOUD, FUTURE-GIRL!!!!!" His hands shot up to his ears, as he made for his back door. "What the hell are you trying to do? I don't want to hear about my future! You want to put my future in jeopardy, just like you did to yours? Is that what you want? I don't care what you say, I know that, if I can create something as wonderful as a time machine in a mere vehicle, then I have a great future to look forward to! I won't let you ruin it for me! And you do seem pretty good at ruining things, Shego!"
I glared after him for a few moments, then ran straight back up to my room and slammed the door. Hard. Not a smart move. I suddenly heard the daunting sound of splintering wood. I sighed, growled, and activating the green rays in my gloves, punched a hole the size of a perfect soccer ball in the door. Then I fell back. It was Drew's door. Why the heck should I care if it was broken? I was getting clean out of here on Saturday night.
I hated him for making me yell at him like that. Another thing that hadn't changed in taking a fifteen year step back in time. Whether Dr Drakken or Drew Lipsky, he had a knack of driving me nuts. Kim and her goofy chum I could always handle. You expect to a get raw deal from your enemies. It's different with allies. It hurts when you have to fight with a friend. But it's not like he never drove me to it. Oh, no. He was mean. He was egotistical. He was selfish. A lot of the time he'd act like I was just his fighting minion, existing only to make life easier for him, without any need for gratitude or sensitivity. Well, I've no objection to being an assistant, but I refuse to be a slave!
Doesn't he ever get just how many levels I've had to go to just to help him?
I always end up wondering just why I even bother. I mean, I could walk out any time I want. Drakken couldn't stop me. In fact, it was pretty much true what I'd been telling Drew Lipsky - he wouldn't last for two seconds on his own, let alone ten minutes. Just to prove my point, I *had* walked out on one occasion, chilled for a brief while at a sunny resort, came back and saw what a disastrous time he'd been having in my absence. No surprises there then. Sure, we're no closer to ruling the world now than we were when we first started our partnership, about two hundred schemes later, but it's thanks to me that we haven't taken a step backward! Drakken's weak. If I ever walked out and, this time, *never* came back, Kim Possible and the FBI would eat him up in micro-seconds. Provided he hadn't already eaten himself up in his confusion. I guess I'm just not that mean. Deep down I kinda feel sorry for the guy.
And besides, he's my friend, and I guess that somehow I care enough about him to override his faults. We may not always get on, but we get by.
I just wished that he wouldn't do this to me right now, of all times. Oh sure, in 1988 we were still both here together, allies with warring hearts, to bout with each other and screw everything up. But I knew something he didn't. Something I didn't know quite how I was gonna face up to myself in the end. When I returned to 2003 on Saturday night, he would be. . .dead. And I would be the one left out on my own.
I decided, wisely, not to go out that day. People armed with weapons all over, everyone poised to take a stab at me, CIA helicopters and vans moving as discreetly as they could around the neighbourhood. . .it just wouldn't mix. Whenever I summed up the guts to glance out the window for a brief second, the streets all over seemed pretty drained of their population. I guess the whole of Middleton was on the same wavelength as me. Because of me, mind. That was still bothering me - could it be possible that I'd done anything really devastating to the future I'd known? I still hadn't come close to solving that Club Banana crisis, and now this? I know I don't always give him credit in 2003, but in 1988 my companion was probably onto something there. . . that I had done something incredibly devastating. Just how devastating, I didn't know. I didn't like to think. Not because it was Kim that I'd taken, but because of everything - the whole damn situation just couldn't have been any worse.
I kept thinking things over and glancing at that photo. Already the Club Banana 2000 jacket had faded into little more than a single stylish-looking sleeve on one arm.
And then, looking to one side, there was still Kim, my future arch-nemesis, lying there in a crudely constructed enclosure only inches from me, as sweet and helpless as they can get. Technically, I should have been in one of the greatest positions of my life - if I didn't act quickly and finish the job I knew I'd never get another chance like this again - but, somehow, it just wasn't working out. When I finally approached her, bracing my rays and claws for the kill, something on the inside kicked me hard and wouldn't let me go on. Don't ask me what it was. I ain't exactly proud of it.
Looking up, she just smiled at me, too young to care or understand that I'd come *this* close to frying her puny little body to dust.
"Hey, quit smiling at me, Kimmy! I'm not gonna smile back, if that's what you're hoping! You know, I've been good to keep you alive for as long as I have! If I just went ahead and killed you right now on the spot, you have no idea just how much I'd be liberating myself from in the years to come. See this bruise on my arm?" I began rolling back my sleeve. "Right here - you see it? You wanna know who did that to me?"
She just smiled.
"That's right - you did it! And that's just a mere inkling of the pain you'll be causing both me *and* Drew, who seems so, so worried about you, in the future! Listen, Kimmy, I hate you! And I always will! But. . .I guess I can hardly blame you for this trouble I'm in now. You're just a dumb little kid, after all. And me, I'm. . ." I sighed. "I don't have a clue what I'm going to do now. I just hope that this paranoia dies down before Saturday night. I only have one chance of getting away, and it's got to be safe to go outside. The sooner I can get back, the better. I don't wanna be hunted down here like a dog just because the people round here can't tell a visitor from the future from a visitor from outer space! But. . .that's not the only trouble. . .I don't even know where I'm going back to now, and as for Drakken, well. . .I tried to tell Drew, but he wouldn't listen. He has this real aversion to hearing about his destiny, even if it could save his life. . ."
I snapped out of it real quickly. Oh sure, the problems were genuine, but I was NOT going to sit around and let a baby arch-nemesis become my psychoanalyst. I had more sense than that. Still, there was one thing I had to admit.
"You know something, Kimmy? You and I were never really all that different. Oh sure, we're different enough to be mortal foes, but, still. . . why is it that we both end up allied to some guy who can't tell his leg from his liver?"
-
13th July 1988. 9:15 pm. Wednesday evening. Loraine screaming, as she opened her bedroom door to find me standing there, right beside the window I'd just forced open.
"You! You. . . how did you get in here? What do you want from me now?!" She flinched back against the wall as I moved in closer.
"Easy, Loraine. I guess I just never had a chance to tell you the other day along with everything else - when it comes to tracking and infiltration, I'm the queen! You need me to find out where a particular person resides, no problem! Need me to break into a building without being seen, then I'm your girl yet again!"
Her face red, she reached over and seized a discarded tennis racket, then waved in threateningly at me. "You'd better leave me alone, Shego of Starbucks! You took Dr Possible's kid. . .and now you've come back for me. . .well, I won't let you take me! Come any closer and. . .and. . ."
"Hey, that's great! You think you can keep that stuff up?" Walking over, I snatched the racket in one swift swipe and tossed it to one side. "Listen, Loraine, I come in total peace on this one, okay? I'll assure you that you're beloved little Kimmy Possible is in good hands." By that, I meant Drew Lipsky. I'd decided to leave briefly and scarper out on this mission just when she was starting to look, sound and smell her worst. Maybe I wasn't going to kill her any more, but I wasn't exactly *that* into caring for her. "She'll be returned to her parents in time; I've got it all mapped out. Like I said, it's just part of my overall mission of destiny. Something that involves you too, Loraine. Didn't I tell you it was your destiny to be with George McFly? Well, guess what - nothing's changed! It's still as important as ever that you two come together, and I'm here to be sure that it happens. So, here's what we'll do. This Saturday, I'll use that abducted tot to lure him out into an open space on his own. Then, being the dangerous and destructive extra terrestrial that I am, I'll just sneak up on darling Georgie and, you know, 'attack' him. Then. . .that's where you come in! You're gonna prove yourself a heroine, Loraine!"
"I am? How?"
"Just come over and act the part - you know, 'rescue' him from me. . ."
"Gee, I wouldn't know how. . ."
"What's there to know?" I exclaimed. "It couldn't be simpler! He'll be scared out of his skin, screaming for help, you walk over, and, with a cry of "Hey you, get your damn hands off him!" we'll stage a short bout, in which we just have to act like you're beating the stuffing outta me, I bolt, run back to my companion elsewhere and fly clean away back to my home planet, and you two become a pair matchmade in Heaven, going on to achieve great things! Got that?"
"Hmmm."
"Okay! Be sure to memorise that line!"
"Erm. . . hey you, get your damn. . . aww, Shego, do you really think I should swear?"
"Yeah! Damn it, you should swear, Loraine! And let's get it straight - this Saturday, at 7:45 pm, I want you hanging round near that alley close to Good Burger, okay? The one where I first ambushed you. . .you'll know the signal when you hear it - right when George McFly starts to scream, that's when you walk in and prove your worth! Be sure to get that right, Loraine, the penalty for failure will be high, and I ain't talking about what *I* could do to you!"
"Erm, okay. . .I guess. 7:45pm. . .Saturday night. . ."
"Be sure to be there," I told her, as I slipped back out the way I'd come.
-
Thursday went by, and most of Friday. And I stayed in, while Drew continued his work, and I continued to think. I had half of the plan sussed out. Now I had to work out how exactly to get George McFly lured out to this place without attracting the attention of anyone else. I knew exactly how I was going to use Kim.
Drew and I hadn't been speaking much for the past four days, but, by the time that we knew, if all went to plan, I'd only have 24 hours in 1988 left, animosity between us seemed more or less resolved. I for one couldn't take much more argument with him, as the daunting minute I'd been waiting for all week ticked nearer. I sat out there with him in his garage while he made the last few adjustments to the 626, and assembled together all other necessary appliances, and, in the background, the cheerful sounds of the voice on the radio read out her prophesy for tomorrow.
"Are you sure about this storm, Shego?" asked Drew.
"Hey, since when could a weather-girl predict the *weather*, let alone the future, Drew?"
He nodded, and began stroking the 626 with undisguised affection. "Wow. You know, I still can't believe that all this is happening. It's been such a great experience for me, these past few days - you don't know how much this past week has meant to me! To think, I'm destined to be the one to create the world's first working time machine! That I'm *actually* going to have a chance to travel through time, just like I've always wanted, and see the wonders of the distant future for myself! To think, that I really *am* a genius - a genius with a real future ahead of him! It's going to be really hard waiting for a full fifteen years before I can talk to you about this again, Shego."
Oh man, if only he knew. . .
"I've got to tell you though, I'm actually gonna be kind of sad tomorrow night, when you return to your own time. I think that, deep down, I'm really going to miss you, Shego."
"I. . .I'm gonna miss you too, Drew. . ."
A small tear began to materialise in my left eye, so I wiped it away quickly, before he could see.
"Listen, Drew, about the future. . ."
"No, Shego, no. I don't want to hear any more about my future! I thought I'd made that clear by now!"
"Yeah, but Drew. . ."
"Shego, I'm sure your intentions on this one are good. I'm sure that your intentions all week long have been good. But all the same, anything you say could end up having major repercussions on the entire temporal continuum. Whatever it is you've got to tell me, I'll find out it in the natural course of time."
-
It was 3:03 am on Saturday 16th 1988. My big day. I couldn't sleep. I couldn't yet allow myself to do so. I was up at a crudely-constructed desk in the form of an old discarded cardboard box, with that irritating Kimmy gurgling away nearby, pen and paper at the ready.
"Dear Drew Lipsky/Dr Drakken," I wrote. "On the night that I go back in time, you will be shot by terrorist knights. Please take whatever precautions are necessary to prevent this horrible tragedy from happening. Your friend, Shego."
Sealing it firmly in an envelope, upon which I had penned, "Do not open until 2003", I used my infiltration skills once again to sneak into Drew's room unnoticed and slip my note into the pocket of his coat, hanging from a hook in the ceiling (as you may have already guessed, the impoverished guy had no proper wardrobe). Heat beating fast, I slipped away once more, the ball now in his court.
***
Thanks for reading. Having done so, please review - your opinion really does matter.
Chapter Six will be coming soon, just give me time. To boost your anticipation, I'll now be ending each chapter with a short preview of the next chapter, and, every so often, an event to come slightly later in the story. Here goes:
Chapter Six - With the help of Loraine Baines and baby KP, Shego now has a chance to repair the temporal damage she has done once and for all. However, DNAmy may make things very difficult for her.
And, later to come - The seeds of a romantic relationship between *another* unlikely pair of villains.
Stay tuned!
This story is now dedicated to Michael J Fox, who played Marty McFly in the 'Back to the Future' trilogy. Although one of the most talented actors this world has ever known, he sadly suffers from Parkinson's Disease. But he is still loved very much by his fans, and I want to let the world know by writing this story in his honour.
This chapter is probably the most emotional I have written yet. Once you've read it, please review. It's the best way I can possibly improve this story. *
"Hey, guess what girl!" Drew Lipsky said on Tuesday 12th July 1988. "You made it all the way to the front page!"
I snatched up the morning paper and read.
"Hey, they got this all totally wrong! I never so much as touched anyone in that greasy joint!"
"Well, Shego, they're right about you running off with that baby! I mean, what were you thinking? Are you determined to wreck your own future?"
"Hey, back off, chief! What do you know about the future? I'm the one who's seen it! The one who's been there, done that and got the t-shirt! You. . . you don't even know exactly what'll happen next week, let alone in fifteen years!"
"And sadly, Shego, neither do you!" he retorted. "You've just blown that advantage, I'm afraid to say! I'll tell you - interfering with one line of designer fashion is one thing, perhaps not perfect, but still, in the grand scheme of things. . .this, on the other hand. . ."
"Yeah, I know, but do you actually think I wanted to be mistaken for an extra terrestrial and have the whole town at my throat? I gotta tell you, pal, I'm not exactly flattered!"
He sighed and retired to his tattered sofa, while his scruffy ginger cat, Oliver, lay purring at his side, picking the broken lining with his claws.
"Where's the baby right now?" he finally asked.
"I left her in my room. Don't worry - she's secure. She won't be going nowhere fast!"
"I see. And just how long are you intending to keep her here?"
I sighed. I wasn't really that sure anymore *what* I was going to do with Kim Possible in the end. "I don't know. Just give me more time - I'll figure out what to do."
He sighed. "I just don't understand you, Shego. I mean, if you're representative of the future population, then may God help us in the future! I mean, why the heck would you do such a thoughtless and careless thing? Didn't you even consider what effects your actions would have?"
"On the future?"
"Yes, but on the present as well. I mean, what about the parents of this child?" He leapt up and stabbed the paper with his forefinger. "Read for me, Shego, what does it say about *them*?"
I glanced down at the blurry shot of the young Dr Possibles, their faces red and tearful, with the accompanying caption, "Parents of child abducted by extra terrestrial at large are left devastated." I read it aloud to him.
"RIGHT!" snapped Drew. "This is exactly what I mean. . ." He froze, took the paper, and began squinting down at the picture himself. "Hey. . .wait. . .I know that guy! He's. . . Possible! I went to college with that guy - I don't believe it!" He looked back at me. "And you kidnapped *his* child? But why?"
"Listen, Drew - it's for the best, okay? Take it from me - I'm doing you a serious favour here!"
"A favour? How could kidnapping my old college mate's offspring be doing me a favour? How could disrupting the course of time be in any way beneficial to me? You're the one who's responsible for this half-baked frivolity, Shego - don't start trying to wash it off on me! You're on your own with this one! All I need to do is obtain my future glory by getting you back to your time, if indeed you have a time to get back to! You came here with your unenlightened future mind, imposed on our present and completely obliterated my temporal infinity - I don't know if it's something to do with nuclear fall-out or food grown on the planet Mars or what, but I gotta tell you; something about your day and age has really affected your mental cognition!"
That did it. "You. . .you're just the same as you're gonna be in fifteen years time deep down! I always put myself through the pits just for your lousy benefit, and you never seem to understand! All you ever think about is your stupid self!"
"Hey, don't talk to me like that, Shego! If it weren't for me and my long hard slaving away at that infernal machine, you wouldn't even have a chance of getting back at all! You'd be stuck here! Then what would you have done? Dialled up and phoned the temporal accident and breakdown rescue service? You know, I hear they give you a free desktop alarm clock if you become a lifetime member!"
I growled, hackles raised high. "Yeah, I admit I need your help on this one, Drew! But I gotta tell you - you'd be pretty lost yourself if you didn't have me, chief! I've always stood up for you and stood by you, even when you treated me like dirt! You never seem to get how much I've done for you! You always act like you're so much better, whereas if I just decided to get up and walk out you wouldn't even last for ten minutes on your own! That's the way it'll be - you'll see! I'm sure no temporal disruption would change that. You may think you're a genius, but in truth, you'll always be lousy at doing what you do best! Sometimes I wonder whether or not I should feel glad that you. . ."
"SHUT UP! SHUT UP! FOR CRYING OUT LOUD, FUTURE-GIRL!!!!!" His hands shot up to his ears, as he made for his back door. "What the hell are you trying to do? I don't want to hear about my future! You want to put my future in jeopardy, just like you did to yours? Is that what you want? I don't care what you say, I know that, if I can create something as wonderful as a time machine in a mere vehicle, then I have a great future to look forward to! I won't let you ruin it for me! And you do seem pretty good at ruining things, Shego!"
I glared after him for a few moments, then ran straight back up to my room and slammed the door. Hard. Not a smart move. I suddenly heard the daunting sound of splintering wood. I sighed, growled, and activating the green rays in my gloves, punched a hole the size of a perfect soccer ball in the door. Then I fell back. It was Drew's door. Why the heck should I care if it was broken? I was getting clean out of here on Saturday night.
I hated him for making me yell at him like that. Another thing that hadn't changed in taking a fifteen year step back in time. Whether Dr Drakken or Drew Lipsky, he had a knack of driving me nuts. Kim and her goofy chum I could always handle. You expect to a get raw deal from your enemies. It's different with allies. It hurts when you have to fight with a friend. But it's not like he never drove me to it. Oh, no. He was mean. He was egotistical. He was selfish. A lot of the time he'd act like I was just his fighting minion, existing only to make life easier for him, without any need for gratitude or sensitivity. Well, I've no objection to being an assistant, but I refuse to be a slave!
Doesn't he ever get just how many levels I've had to go to just to help him?
I always end up wondering just why I even bother. I mean, I could walk out any time I want. Drakken couldn't stop me. In fact, it was pretty much true what I'd been telling Drew Lipsky - he wouldn't last for two seconds on his own, let alone ten minutes. Just to prove my point, I *had* walked out on one occasion, chilled for a brief while at a sunny resort, came back and saw what a disastrous time he'd been having in my absence. No surprises there then. Sure, we're no closer to ruling the world now than we were when we first started our partnership, about two hundred schemes later, but it's thanks to me that we haven't taken a step backward! Drakken's weak. If I ever walked out and, this time, *never* came back, Kim Possible and the FBI would eat him up in micro-seconds. Provided he hadn't already eaten himself up in his confusion. I guess I'm just not that mean. Deep down I kinda feel sorry for the guy.
And besides, he's my friend, and I guess that somehow I care enough about him to override his faults. We may not always get on, but we get by.
I just wished that he wouldn't do this to me right now, of all times. Oh sure, in 1988 we were still both here together, allies with warring hearts, to bout with each other and screw everything up. But I knew something he didn't. Something I didn't know quite how I was gonna face up to myself in the end. When I returned to 2003 on Saturday night, he would be. . .dead. And I would be the one left out on my own.
I decided, wisely, not to go out that day. People armed with weapons all over, everyone poised to take a stab at me, CIA helicopters and vans moving as discreetly as they could around the neighbourhood. . .it just wouldn't mix. Whenever I summed up the guts to glance out the window for a brief second, the streets all over seemed pretty drained of their population. I guess the whole of Middleton was on the same wavelength as me. Because of me, mind. That was still bothering me - could it be possible that I'd done anything really devastating to the future I'd known? I still hadn't come close to solving that Club Banana crisis, and now this? I know I don't always give him credit in 2003, but in 1988 my companion was probably onto something there. . . that I had done something incredibly devastating. Just how devastating, I didn't know. I didn't like to think. Not because it was Kim that I'd taken, but because of everything - the whole damn situation just couldn't have been any worse.
I kept thinking things over and glancing at that photo. Already the Club Banana 2000 jacket had faded into little more than a single stylish-looking sleeve on one arm.
And then, looking to one side, there was still Kim, my future arch-nemesis, lying there in a crudely constructed enclosure only inches from me, as sweet and helpless as they can get. Technically, I should have been in one of the greatest positions of my life - if I didn't act quickly and finish the job I knew I'd never get another chance like this again - but, somehow, it just wasn't working out. When I finally approached her, bracing my rays and claws for the kill, something on the inside kicked me hard and wouldn't let me go on. Don't ask me what it was. I ain't exactly proud of it.
Looking up, she just smiled at me, too young to care or understand that I'd come *this* close to frying her puny little body to dust.
"Hey, quit smiling at me, Kimmy! I'm not gonna smile back, if that's what you're hoping! You know, I've been good to keep you alive for as long as I have! If I just went ahead and killed you right now on the spot, you have no idea just how much I'd be liberating myself from in the years to come. See this bruise on my arm?" I began rolling back my sleeve. "Right here - you see it? You wanna know who did that to me?"
She just smiled.
"That's right - you did it! And that's just a mere inkling of the pain you'll be causing both me *and* Drew, who seems so, so worried about you, in the future! Listen, Kimmy, I hate you! And I always will! But. . .I guess I can hardly blame you for this trouble I'm in now. You're just a dumb little kid, after all. And me, I'm. . ." I sighed. "I don't have a clue what I'm going to do now. I just hope that this paranoia dies down before Saturday night. I only have one chance of getting away, and it's got to be safe to go outside. The sooner I can get back, the better. I don't wanna be hunted down here like a dog just because the people round here can't tell a visitor from the future from a visitor from outer space! But. . .that's not the only trouble. . .I don't even know where I'm going back to now, and as for Drakken, well. . .I tried to tell Drew, but he wouldn't listen. He has this real aversion to hearing about his destiny, even if it could save his life. . ."
I snapped out of it real quickly. Oh sure, the problems were genuine, but I was NOT going to sit around and let a baby arch-nemesis become my psychoanalyst. I had more sense than that. Still, there was one thing I had to admit.
"You know something, Kimmy? You and I were never really all that different. Oh sure, we're different enough to be mortal foes, but, still. . . why is it that we both end up allied to some guy who can't tell his leg from his liver?"
-
13th July 1988. 9:15 pm. Wednesday evening. Loraine screaming, as she opened her bedroom door to find me standing there, right beside the window I'd just forced open.
"You! You. . . how did you get in here? What do you want from me now?!" She flinched back against the wall as I moved in closer.
"Easy, Loraine. I guess I just never had a chance to tell you the other day along with everything else - when it comes to tracking and infiltration, I'm the queen! You need me to find out where a particular person resides, no problem! Need me to break into a building without being seen, then I'm your girl yet again!"
Her face red, she reached over and seized a discarded tennis racket, then waved in threateningly at me. "You'd better leave me alone, Shego of Starbucks! You took Dr Possible's kid. . .and now you've come back for me. . .well, I won't let you take me! Come any closer and. . .and. . ."
"Hey, that's great! You think you can keep that stuff up?" Walking over, I snatched the racket in one swift swipe and tossed it to one side. "Listen, Loraine, I come in total peace on this one, okay? I'll assure you that you're beloved little Kimmy Possible is in good hands." By that, I meant Drew Lipsky. I'd decided to leave briefly and scarper out on this mission just when she was starting to look, sound and smell her worst. Maybe I wasn't going to kill her any more, but I wasn't exactly *that* into caring for her. "She'll be returned to her parents in time; I've got it all mapped out. Like I said, it's just part of my overall mission of destiny. Something that involves you too, Loraine. Didn't I tell you it was your destiny to be with George McFly? Well, guess what - nothing's changed! It's still as important as ever that you two come together, and I'm here to be sure that it happens. So, here's what we'll do. This Saturday, I'll use that abducted tot to lure him out into an open space on his own. Then, being the dangerous and destructive extra terrestrial that I am, I'll just sneak up on darling Georgie and, you know, 'attack' him. Then. . .that's where you come in! You're gonna prove yourself a heroine, Loraine!"
"I am? How?"
"Just come over and act the part - you know, 'rescue' him from me. . ."
"Gee, I wouldn't know how. . ."
"What's there to know?" I exclaimed. "It couldn't be simpler! He'll be scared out of his skin, screaming for help, you walk over, and, with a cry of "Hey you, get your damn hands off him!" we'll stage a short bout, in which we just have to act like you're beating the stuffing outta me, I bolt, run back to my companion elsewhere and fly clean away back to my home planet, and you two become a pair matchmade in Heaven, going on to achieve great things! Got that?"
"Hmmm."
"Okay! Be sure to memorise that line!"
"Erm. . . hey you, get your damn. . . aww, Shego, do you really think I should swear?"
"Yeah! Damn it, you should swear, Loraine! And let's get it straight - this Saturday, at 7:45 pm, I want you hanging round near that alley close to Good Burger, okay? The one where I first ambushed you. . .you'll know the signal when you hear it - right when George McFly starts to scream, that's when you walk in and prove your worth! Be sure to get that right, Loraine, the penalty for failure will be high, and I ain't talking about what *I* could do to you!"
"Erm, okay. . .I guess. 7:45pm. . .Saturday night. . ."
"Be sure to be there," I told her, as I slipped back out the way I'd come.
-
Thursday went by, and most of Friday. And I stayed in, while Drew continued his work, and I continued to think. I had half of the plan sussed out. Now I had to work out how exactly to get George McFly lured out to this place without attracting the attention of anyone else. I knew exactly how I was going to use Kim.
Drew and I hadn't been speaking much for the past four days, but, by the time that we knew, if all went to plan, I'd only have 24 hours in 1988 left, animosity between us seemed more or less resolved. I for one couldn't take much more argument with him, as the daunting minute I'd been waiting for all week ticked nearer. I sat out there with him in his garage while he made the last few adjustments to the 626, and assembled together all other necessary appliances, and, in the background, the cheerful sounds of the voice on the radio read out her prophesy for tomorrow.
"Are you sure about this storm, Shego?" asked Drew.
"Hey, since when could a weather-girl predict the *weather*, let alone the future, Drew?"
He nodded, and began stroking the 626 with undisguised affection. "Wow. You know, I still can't believe that all this is happening. It's been such a great experience for me, these past few days - you don't know how much this past week has meant to me! To think, I'm destined to be the one to create the world's first working time machine! That I'm *actually* going to have a chance to travel through time, just like I've always wanted, and see the wonders of the distant future for myself! To think, that I really *am* a genius - a genius with a real future ahead of him! It's going to be really hard waiting for a full fifteen years before I can talk to you about this again, Shego."
Oh man, if only he knew. . .
"I've got to tell you though, I'm actually gonna be kind of sad tomorrow night, when you return to your own time. I think that, deep down, I'm really going to miss you, Shego."
"I. . .I'm gonna miss you too, Drew. . ."
A small tear began to materialise in my left eye, so I wiped it away quickly, before he could see.
"Listen, Drew, about the future. . ."
"No, Shego, no. I don't want to hear any more about my future! I thought I'd made that clear by now!"
"Yeah, but Drew. . ."
"Shego, I'm sure your intentions on this one are good. I'm sure that your intentions all week long have been good. But all the same, anything you say could end up having major repercussions on the entire temporal continuum. Whatever it is you've got to tell me, I'll find out it in the natural course of time."
-
It was 3:03 am on Saturday 16th 1988. My big day. I couldn't sleep. I couldn't yet allow myself to do so. I was up at a crudely-constructed desk in the form of an old discarded cardboard box, with that irritating Kimmy gurgling away nearby, pen and paper at the ready.
"Dear Drew Lipsky/Dr Drakken," I wrote. "On the night that I go back in time, you will be shot by terrorist knights. Please take whatever precautions are necessary to prevent this horrible tragedy from happening. Your friend, Shego."
Sealing it firmly in an envelope, upon which I had penned, "Do not open until 2003", I used my infiltration skills once again to sneak into Drew's room unnoticed and slip my note into the pocket of his coat, hanging from a hook in the ceiling (as you may have already guessed, the impoverished guy had no proper wardrobe). Heat beating fast, I slipped away once more, the ball now in his court.
***
Thanks for reading. Having done so, please review - your opinion really does matter.
Chapter Six will be coming soon, just give me time. To boost your anticipation, I'll now be ending each chapter with a short preview of the next chapter, and, every so often, an event to come slightly later in the story. Here goes:
Chapter Six - With the help of Loraine Baines and baby KP, Shego now has a chance to repair the temporal damage she has done once and for all. However, DNAmy may make things very difficult for her.
And, later to come - The seeds of a romantic relationship between *another* unlikely pair of villains.
Stay tuned!