Oops, I forgot my disclaimer last time. Well, blah, blah, blah, I don't
own any of these guys. . . be flattered than I'm using them in my stories.
Welcome back. I just finished a major exam on Friday and got a big break from my studies this weekend, so I've had a breakthrough with this story - Chapter 6 is now at the ready for you all to read to your heart's content. Thanks to all dedicated readers who've been reading patiently from the start - I hope that things are now starting to pick up a fair bit more. Finally, we're getting to the good bits! Don't forget to review it afterwards, even if you've already left a review for a previous chapter - I'd love to hear from you again. Just be sure keep em coming. So far I don't have nearly enough! I WANT MORE!!! (Coughs) Okay, back to Shego:
***
Drew Lipsky's note wasn't the only one I took the trouble to write that morning. Straining my brain to its greatest potential, I returned to my cardboard box-desk and formulated another light letter, this time addressed to none other than George McFly.
"To puny earthling George McFly," I penned. "Please do not be alarmed. Instead feel honoured that you have been called upon as a representative of your planet for this purpose. The human baby that was abducted earlier is still safely in my possession, and will be returned to your kind at long last IF you are able to follow these strictest of instructions. Make your way to the alley next to Good Burger at precisely 7:45 pm tonight, unarmed and alone. In fact, if you want this helpless little baby and your entire planet to remain safe at all, you won't inform another soul of this letter or of your mission tonight. Any disregard toward these rules will be seen as a great lack of respect and trust, with some really nasty consequences. If you care at all, you'll do exactly what has been asked of you. Thanks, George, you have been warned."
Having tracked George McFly's place of residence at the same time I'd handled that of Loraine Baines, I was easily able to slip over unseen in the early hours of the morning and leave the note prominently at his bedside, before returning to Drew's much more impoverished living conditions. It took another two or three hours before he was up and finishing off the final touches to the 626. I just hoped that he wouldn't disregard my note when he finally found it.
"Now all we have to do is get this thing and all the necessary appliances down to the town centre this evening, in enough time to get it all connected up for your journey," he proclaimed. "Remember, we only have until 10:04 pm to get this done - miss that chance, and you've lost it for good! Did you manage to sort out all your temporal problems out in the meantime?"
"Not as such, but I've got it all figured for tonight. Well, most of it. I still don't think I'm gonna be able to live down this whole alien thing for tonight. I'm just gonna have to leave that one up to the course of time and the CIA to sort out for me. But I can get that baby back to where she came from, still together in one piece. And I can save Club Banana before I head back tonight. That I'll have no trouble with. Provided that drip Loraine gets her role right."
"That's good news," replied Drew. "Because so far things clearly aren't solving themselves. I mean, just examine that jacket you're wearing right now."
I looked at it. And I glanced at the photo. The Club Banna 2000 jacket had completely disappeared, and now, much to my horror, the jacket I was currently wearing was starting to fade too. Literally. The top of one of the sleeves had almost vanished from existence. Things weren't looking too good the way they were going.
"One more thing," I asked. "Do you think it's safe for us to be going out and doing this tonight? I mean, obviously we have to, but the people around this town still seem pretty paranoid. We can't afford to draw attention to this whole deal."
"Of course not," he replied. "But we'll be perfectly safe, provided we keep the 626 covered up before the time actually comes. By the time it comes, you forget, this whole town is set to be gripped by a formidable storm - and storms have a habit, remember, of keeping people indoors! It couldn't be more perfect!"
-
"Okay, Kimmy, you know what you're job is this time!" I informed my gurgling little foe as I snuck her discreetly behind the back of the alley. "Just keep yourself shut up and don't burst out crying at any point, no matter what happens. If all goes to plan, you'll get to go back to your real family and I'll get to go back to my real day and age. We'll meet up again in the future, and sure you'll give me grievances, but just be warned - it hasn't yet been decided which of us will ultimately live happily ever after in the end! I'm sure I'll beat you one day in the future, even if it won't be for at least another fifteen years. For now, though - just keep on smiling!"
And that's just what she did as I placed her in the same cardboard box I'd been using as a desk back in Drew's house, and concealed her behind the trash can at the back of the alley. Then, I glanced down at my watch. 7:40 pm. Right, let's do this thing. George McFly was due any minute. And so too was Loraine. If we could get this over with in less than ten minutes, I could get back to Drew Lipsky by 8 o'clock, in plenty of time to prepare for my temporal odyssey.
I slipped back over the fence at the back and waited. Quietly enough to hear my watch in action, as the second hand jolted hastily around its constant loop. Tick, tick, tick. 7:43 pm. I peered over the fence, but still no sign of him. Tick, tick, tick. 43 became 44 before I knew it. Still no sign. I glanced down. The spindly little hands were still at work, looming closer and closer to the distinguished time. I looked up, I glanced down, but it got no result. By now that audible ticking might just as well have been the sound of my own rapid heartbeat.
Up, down - still no sign. Up down, up down, up down. . .then something seized me from behind and shoved a screwed up ball of rags into my mouth.
I almost choked. For a few micro-seconds I felt like my tongue was on fire and tasting searing hot acid. I spun round, too late, to find myself staring face to face, once again, with the 1988 DNAmy. Or, just plain Amy. Plain 1988 Amy with her hands gripped firmly round my neck and a grin of pure malice on her face.
"Hey, ET, you wanna know just how many bucks worth of damage you cost me on the tyres of my car?" she growled, suddenly losing that grin.
I wanted to act fast. I wanted to reach out and claw her, to activate the rays in my gloves and give her a taste of green barbecue. But I couldn't. It's hard to explain. It's not like earlier, with young Kimmy, when a feeling inside stopped me fast in my tracks. This time, I wanted to fight back but my body physically couldn't. My own body was defying me. Instead of displaying the lightning fast reflexes that I'd prided myself on so much over time, it was just shrinking up. My limbs were becoming stiff and heavy, my spine going rigid. Before I knew it, I was barely able to stand up. In fact I wasn't able to stand. My legs keeled over and I fell, smacking myself back against the side of the fence. I wanted to cry out, but the muscles in my mouth and voice had suddenly all stiffened up too, enabling me at first only to emit pitiful little groans, but growing stiffer and stiffer all the while, until, barely a few moments later, I was no longer able to make any noise at all.
My body was left completely immobile, like I no longer had any control over it at all. But my mind never faded. It was still there. And I was left conscious of it all. Above all, that foul taste still lingered in my mouth.
Amy grinned and tossed the ball of rags playfully into the air, fielding it again like a light game of catch. "It's amazing the sort of stuff you have access to when you're a science student, of any kind. I found the chemicals you've just sampled lying around on the shelves of the college science lab, would you believe it? Pretty impressive results, wouldn't you agree? Doesn't quite knock you out, but it'll stun your body for a good two hours, leaving you conscious and fully aware of everything that goes on around you, but at the same time completely immobile! Dazzling stuff, if you ask me!"
No, I thought, my heart pounding. Please no. I had to move. I *had* to fight back, for the sake of everything. But I still couldn't move. I was completely powerless. I couldn't even turn to see my watch and check the time. I had no idea if George McFly was standing there, waiting for me. Or if he'd simply root around and find Kim, pick her up and head off before Loraine Baines could even show up and act the hero. Worse still, if this thing didn't wear off in time, then. . .I'd never get back. I'd never see 2003 again. I couldn't even scream for help.
"Oh yeah, claw-girl, I suppose you're wondering how exactly I knew you'd be here at this time," Amy laughed, prodding me roughly with her foot. "Well, that smooth but nonetheless very careless business student George McFly left his note lying around on a table at Good Burger very briefly this morning. Oh sure, he returned in a haste and pocketed it as soon as he could, but not before I'd had a chance to look at it and see for myself what was happening. 7:45 pm. And I just knew you'd be hiding round the back of the alley, ET, the same way you escaped last time. . .
I gotta tell you though, ET, I'm really impressed with the slick way you were able to con all the mugs in this town into thinking you were from another planet! Don't think I don't see through you. You're no ET, just because you're capable of shooting green rays from your gloves! The people in this town, no offence to them or anything, but they're all idiots with dull lives! For all I know, those are just some pretty impressive gloves you've got there! I'll have to check them out myself later! For now, though, I have other business to attend to. It was you, was it not, my dear claw-girl, who made the suggestion to me that I should aim for world domination?"
I managed to spit a minute speck of saliva in her direction, but it fell way short of her foot.
She laughed. "Yes, indeed it was, on our very first meeting back on Sunday morning! Well, since then, as I also had you know, before you went ahead and DAMAGED THE WHEELS ON MY CAR, I've been thinking long and hard about what you said, and I've decided that, the way I was going until I met you, indeed my targets would have been too low. Settling merely for obsessive genetic slicing - it wouldn't be enough. I want more! And I'm gonna get more! I'm gonna be sure that I get it! And I have you to thank for it, claw-girl! As a reward, you now get to hear the simply *beautiful* sounds of the first step in my masterplan for total world domination reach completion! After which of course, I turn you over to the police for kidnapping that little kid and collect the reward money - I'm gonna need it to finance my overall master-scheme!"
My eyes widened in horror. Maybe I had underestimated DNAmy. This was yet another thing which I'd interfered on, without realising it, and one which I hadn't expected to get as out of hand as this. No, it wasn't fair, it wasn't right - I had to get back to the future, above all things! I couldn't be busted now, in this time zone. And, I had this terrible little feeling inside over just what DNAmy wanted to do to complete that first step in her scheme. . .this nasty little notion that it had something to do with George McFly.
"I've also gotta thank you for luring McFly to this secluded alley in the first place. You couldn't have found me a more perfect hostage! McFly is the top business student in the entire college, and I just know he has all the inside information I need to aid me in gaining control over this delightful little planet!" She took out a small bottle from a pocket, and added a small drizzle of liquid to the ball of rags. "There, that's topped it off! I only need apply the same to George McFly over there, then. . . he's mine!"
I *had* underestimated her. For sure. Too bad it was too late.
"Well, just sit back and enjoy the sounds!" Amy laughed as she scrambled, with some difficulty, over the wooden fence and leapt down onto the trashcan below, leaving me lying there, down but not out.
I heard it all. A slight thud as she bounded all the way down to the ground, then the soft meek voice of George McFly calling out into the shadows ahead. I could tell from his voice that he was nervous, and he had good reason to be too. He couldn't have known what now awaited him, something much worse than a girl from the future masquerading as a dangerous visitor from out of space, who only intended to stage a fight with him for the sake of some line of designer fashion. . .boy, was he in for a shock.
"Hey, good of you to have come, George McFly!"
"AMY! It's you! I. . .I. . ."
"Oh, were you expecting someone else?"
"Well, yeah. . .I kinda am. . .listen, Amy, you really should get out of here. Something's gonna happen tonight around here, and I've got to be here at this exact time to do something really, really urgent, and for your own sake and for the sake of others, I'd advise you to get out now!"
"Is that a threat, McFly?"
"No, but I can't talk about it - just get out of here before it's too late!"
"Too bad you don't have time to heed your own warning, McFly!"
That was it. The cry of pure malice. I've been a villain for long enough myself to recognise that cry --the exact prosody of when one stops talking and just dives in for the kill. I heard sounds of a struggle, George McFly wailing; wailing that soon turned into petrified screams as the struggle intensified. Unlike me, McFly had been attacked from the front, as opposed to a sneak attack, so he had better grounds on which to struggle. But DNAmy was clearly a tough fighter, much tougher than I'd thought she could be. She was taking on a well-grown young man, and, from the sounds of it, she was winning! I heard his piercingly masculine screams. I wanted to get up, get over and stand his ground, but I was still entirely paralysed. All I could do was lie there and wince with every discouraging sound that I heard. I thought, no, don't scream! You can't afford to open your mouth! Not now - not when she could shove that ball of rags into your mouth, same as she did not me. But he didn't. He continued to wail out, screaming for help. And then -
"Hey you, get your damn hands off. . .AMY??!!!"
Loraine Baines. Right on cue. My eyelids sank downwards, along with my heart.
"Beat it, Baines! Can't you see I'm busy here?"
I heard George once again. "LORAINE!" he gasped, frantically. "HELP ME! HELP ME, LORAINE!"
Why even waste your breath, I groaned inside my head. This is Loraine Baines you're appealing to. I heard the sounds of the struggle continue. I heard Loraine stammering alongside it, no doubt just coming to grips with the fact that something in our arrangement had gone spectacularly wrong, and that now would be good time to leg it.
"Didn't you hear me, Baines?" Amy growled. "I said beat it!"
And then something incredible happened.
"No, Amy! You leave him alone!"
Aside from George's desperate gasping, the whole world suddenly seemed to stand completely still. There was a brief moment of silence. Too brief, if you ask me.
"Alright, Baines, I warned you!" I heard Amy snarl. I heard the unmistakable sound of a worn-out George being kicked viciously in the groin and then to one side, left mildly stunned and helpless (though probably not as bad as I currently had it). Then, the sounds of her turning her attention to a victim anew - I heard more struggle, of a much less intense nature, before Loraine suddenly crying and wailing, emitting the sounds of tremendous pain.
"Amy, no!" George gasped, loud but weakly. "You're gonna break her arm!"
"You think I don't know that?" Amy retorted, half-laughing. "I'm just gonna bend her arm, like so, and snap it right in two! That'll teach her to mess with the wrong sort of girl!"
I felt physically sick by this stage, and it wasn't because of that foul taste still lingering on my tongue. I couldn't help but feel very protective of Loraine, and to have no choice but to lie back and hear her have the stuffing knocked out of her was just agonising. I winced. I could no longer turn and check it visually, but all around me I could feel my Club Banana jacket fading. Fading all the more, very gradually from existence. . .
Loraine carried on wailing, Amy carried on laughing. I heard George make one more protest, then the sounds of another heavy thud and a male cry as Amy no doubt took the chance to knock back by slugging him in the face. I heard her now, laughing much harder than before, merging into one of those evil, megalomanic laughs that we supervillains are only too renowned for. It rang hard into the night, piercing deep into my eardrums and biting down hard. I thought, here we go, this is it - I could feel my arm getting colder and colder and. . .
"HEY! You can't just slug George McFly like that!" POW! I heard another pounding blow of fist against raw skin, and Amy suddenly fell silent, hitting the ground with another thud.
I could scarcely believe what I was hearing. A brief silence, followed by Loraine's heavy gasping. Not gasps of pain and agony, as George had been producing, but gasps of pure astonishment, as though she too couldn't believe her own actions, finally merging into one short sharp cheer of victory.
"YES!!!" There was a pause. "Erm. . . are you alright, George?"
"Yeah. . . I guess so, Loraine. . .thanks."
"No problem. Hey, what the heck was happening just now?"
"I don't know, Loraine. . .it's kinda weird. . .I was called out to do something tonight and. . .I don't know. . .she just came out of nowhere and. . .tried to shove something into my mouth! It's hard to explain. . ."
"Well, don't feel you have to then. Erm. . .may I help you to your feet?"
"Yeah, sure. . .just go easy on me, okay? It's still. . .pretty painful. . .in areas."
My heart must have skipped two beats at once. My arm was suddenly feeling warmer and warmer. I still had no way of seeing for myself, but somehow I got the feeling that Club Banana had just been spared.
Then, the easing silence was suddenly interrupted by the baby Kim Possible, still concealed there behind the trash can at the back, who had managed to remain silent throughout one seriously intense student scuffle, and now suddenly decided to let herself be heard.
"Hey, that cry at the back. . ." said Loraine. "You don't think it's. . ."
I heard her come scuttling over in my direction, still unable to see me by way of the wooden fence in between. But, there was nothing to stop her from finding KP.
"Dr Possible's kid! It is, George, it is! She's back here, safe and sound!"
He gasped, managing to drag himself over, with some difficulty, or so it sounded. "It's her? Wow, that's amazing. . .you know, I was called over here to. . .well, it's hard to explain, but I guess that that. . .creature, if indeed it was from them, was as good as their word. . ."
Then, more voices. "Hey, is everything alright round here?"
"Yeah," replied Loraine. "Everything's just great."
"We heard noises," said one man. "It sounded like some pretty rough fighting was going on. . ."
"Well, it's kinda hard to explain," said George. "Stuff did happen, but, at the end of it all. . ."
"We found Dr Possible's kid!" cheered Loraine. "Right over here, at the back of this alley!"
"Really?" someone cried. "The one who was abducted by that. . .visitor?"
"Was that. . . visitor around? Did you see it, did you see it?"
"Nah, that thing's nowhere to be seen," sniffed George. "But, we found the missing kid. . .and that's what's important."
"Hey, are either of the Possibles around?" asked Loraine.
"No, but I know where I saw em last. . ." piped up the unmistakable voice of the future Pop Pop Porter. "I'll go get the . .hey, what's been going on round here? Why is that girl lying unconscious in the alley?"
"It's a long story. . ." replied Loraine. "Just get the Possibles. . .and we can return them their kid."
I'll never forget the pure joy their reaction was flowing with when they finally arrived. Everyone was still flocking round George and Loraine and demanding more answers in the meantime, but the second that (Mrs) Dr Possible came charging through, their pressing all fell to a reverent halt.
"KIMBERLY! Is it really you? Oh, Kimberly, I thought I'd never see you again. . .you were gone for so long. . .and. . ." Her relieved outburst was shortly followed by a break down into tears.
"Your mother and I were very worried about you, Kimberly," I heard her husband say, struggling not to lapse into an outburst himself. "We thought we'd lost you for good. . .we couldn't function while you were gone. . .we missed you so much. . .but now. . .you're here. You're here with us again, and we're never gonna let you go. We're never gonna put you through any risks again. Our little girl. . .Kimberly Ann Possible!"
Listening to it all, it didn't exactly ease my nausea, but I have to admit that I felt kinda touched. Not that it would change my attitude to Kim Possible when I got back to 2003. . .if indeed I could get back at all by this rate. As a baby, she was much too helpless and blameless to begrudge. As a teen on the other hand, who always interfered with our plans. . .well, things were gonna be pretty different.
"Thanks, McFly," said Mr Dr Possible. "We really owe you one."
"Hey, it wasn't down to me in the end," he replied, being Mr Modest. "It was Loraine. She's the real hero. She found your kid and. . .she saved me too. . .it's kinda weird how it all happened, but I gotta say - Loraine Baines is not the girl I always thought she was - she's a real star!"
Loraine didn't say much, but the entire crowd suddenly started flocking round her, as the Possibles poured out their gratitude again and again. Eventually, the voices began to fade, as I assumed, correctly, that the crowd was taking its celebration elsewhere. People were leaving, including George and Loraine - their voices and movements drawing fainter and fainter, until only two voices, belonging to a pair of young adults probably not much older than the Possibles, remained.
"Wow, who was that girl?" asked one, the female of the pair.
"Loraine Baines, I think," replied her male companion. "She's an art student at the local college - she tends to hang around the tables at Good Burger every morning, but I never knew that much about her until now. Wow, I always knew that art classes did wonders for a child's personal growth. I mean, look what it did to her. Man, we've gotta start saving to send our kid to an art tuition class from now on. . .if we want him to grow up to be as cool as her!"
"Aw, sweetie, you know we can't do that. We were already saving up to send him to summer camp when he's older, remember? Surely you don't want him to miss out on all the wonders that time spent in summer camp can do for a child's personal growth too?"
"Nah, forget summer camp. So he never gets to go. . .big deal. Art tuition for years would be a heck of a lot more beneficial than one measly summer spent at camp. We've got ourselves a new target from now on, dear - art tuition it is!"
And at that they too departed and I was left there, still immobilised and unable to get up and go. On the one hand, I was relieved. My work with Loraine Baines and the baby Kim Possible was finally done, or at least I could assume it was. Club Banana was saved, Kim had been reunited with her folks without bringing me down, and I at last had a future to go to. All well and good, but it was a blinking shame that I might never get back at all!
My heart was continuing to beat, running faster and faster all the while. My breathing too was quick but heavy - I had no idea how fast time was ticking by, leaving me still completely futile and with that awful taste on my tongue, but I just hoped that it wouldn't run out. I had to get back - this was my only chance. If I missed this chance, then there was no going back. . .and I couldn't bear the thought of being stuck here in Middleton of 1988! I thought of Drew. He must have been starting to panic by now, that I hadn't turned up. I thought of all the wiring and applications that he had to hang around the town centre in order to make my journey possible, and only hoped that he'd be able to handle that all by himself. I remembered what Amy had said - that this stuff would take effect for a good two hours. Two hours I had, but it was a really close call.
During my long and agonising wait, I thought I could hear the scuttling sounds of her coming to and crawling, dejected from the alley. I'm sure glad she didn't decide to come back to me and vent her anger. I just hoped that whatever it had been that had made her such a marshmallow in the future would have a really incredible effect when it finally came.
Time continued to pass, so slowly that it was practically taunting me, eager to get even for the temporal damage that I had done.
And then, I heard the crack of thunder in the sky, and felt the cool, stinging drizzle of rain fall down upon my helpless body. The storm - it was hear! Whatever the time was, I couldn't have much of it left. Please, I thought, please just let me move again. It was a plea. A plea to my own body. But nothing was happening, nothing. . .and then I suddenly found myself able to groan.
The effects were wearing off.
It took a while before it made any major difference. My limbs, joints and muscles were growing less and less stiff all the while, until I could jolt and shift them, quite clumsily at first, but remained quite rigid themselves. Eventually, I found myself able to sit up. I found my voice returning - soon I could move the muscles in my mouth and voice box and form entire words. To stand up, though, I had to dig my nails into the fence and actually pull myself up. Even then I had to lean against it for balance.
When my body was finally articulate enough, I took the chance to examine my jacket. All there, in one entire piece. Fishing furiously into my pocket, I pulled out the photo and stared. And there, quite clearly was the Club Banana 2000 jacket once again. I breathed a sigh of relief. Tonight's bout with the future DNAmy had brought George and Loraine together at long last, and Club Banana had been reborn into time. All's well that ends well, I guess.
Then I checked my watch. 9:47 pm. I swallowed hard, still finding it difficult to actually scream. 9 -blinking 47!!!! I only had 17 minutes left to get back to 2003!
In my haste, I tried to bound away and almost keeled over again. My body still wasn't ready for bounding. So I had to crawl at first. I crawled as rapidly as I could, all the way behind the back of Good Burger and out toward the town centre, struggling hard just to get my legs back in lucid action. I kicked and kicked with them as best as I could, just trying to knock the strength back into them. Finally, I found I could move tem much more freely, so much so that I could even stand up and begin walking the rest of my route. And, five seconds later, run. I ran down all the way to the town centre as quickly as I could, rain beating down hard against my already drenched body, my eyes poised, ready to check the clock the second I arrived. When I finally got there, the time was already 9:55 pm. . .
***
Okay, end of Chapter 6. Thanks for reading. I'd appreciate a review (what do I have to do to get more of em?). Tell me what you think of this chapter and the story so far, cos I really want to know!
Chapter 7 will becoming soon, and I really look forward to writing this one. Here's a short preview:
In Chapter 7, Shego's only chance of getting back to 2003 has finally arrived! Can she pull it off successfully? And, even more crucially, will she have been able to save Dr Drakken from being killed by the Knights of Rodeghan? All will be revealed.
Just another note - if you didn't guess this, the sequence of this chapter in which DNAmy disables Shego by stuffing some sort of paralysing chemical into her mouth was inspired by a scene in 'What Lies Beneath', a movie from the same director as 'Back to the Future', Robert Zemeckis. Only I couldn't remember the name of the chemical! Out of interest, if you know, please include it in your review. Thanks.
See you soon with Chapter 7!
Welcome back. I just finished a major exam on Friday and got a big break from my studies this weekend, so I've had a breakthrough with this story - Chapter 6 is now at the ready for you all to read to your heart's content. Thanks to all dedicated readers who've been reading patiently from the start - I hope that things are now starting to pick up a fair bit more. Finally, we're getting to the good bits! Don't forget to review it afterwards, even if you've already left a review for a previous chapter - I'd love to hear from you again. Just be sure keep em coming. So far I don't have nearly enough! I WANT MORE!!! (Coughs) Okay, back to Shego:
***
Drew Lipsky's note wasn't the only one I took the trouble to write that morning. Straining my brain to its greatest potential, I returned to my cardboard box-desk and formulated another light letter, this time addressed to none other than George McFly.
"To puny earthling George McFly," I penned. "Please do not be alarmed. Instead feel honoured that you have been called upon as a representative of your planet for this purpose. The human baby that was abducted earlier is still safely in my possession, and will be returned to your kind at long last IF you are able to follow these strictest of instructions. Make your way to the alley next to Good Burger at precisely 7:45 pm tonight, unarmed and alone. In fact, if you want this helpless little baby and your entire planet to remain safe at all, you won't inform another soul of this letter or of your mission tonight. Any disregard toward these rules will be seen as a great lack of respect and trust, with some really nasty consequences. If you care at all, you'll do exactly what has been asked of you. Thanks, George, you have been warned."
Having tracked George McFly's place of residence at the same time I'd handled that of Loraine Baines, I was easily able to slip over unseen in the early hours of the morning and leave the note prominently at his bedside, before returning to Drew's much more impoverished living conditions. It took another two or three hours before he was up and finishing off the final touches to the 626. I just hoped that he wouldn't disregard my note when he finally found it.
"Now all we have to do is get this thing and all the necessary appliances down to the town centre this evening, in enough time to get it all connected up for your journey," he proclaimed. "Remember, we only have until 10:04 pm to get this done - miss that chance, and you've lost it for good! Did you manage to sort out all your temporal problems out in the meantime?"
"Not as such, but I've got it all figured for tonight. Well, most of it. I still don't think I'm gonna be able to live down this whole alien thing for tonight. I'm just gonna have to leave that one up to the course of time and the CIA to sort out for me. But I can get that baby back to where she came from, still together in one piece. And I can save Club Banana before I head back tonight. That I'll have no trouble with. Provided that drip Loraine gets her role right."
"That's good news," replied Drew. "Because so far things clearly aren't solving themselves. I mean, just examine that jacket you're wearing right now."
I looked at it. And I glanced at the photo. The Club Banna 2000 jacket had completely disappeared, and now, much to my horror, the jacket I was currently wearing was starting to fade too. Literally. The top of one of the sleeves had almost vanished from existence. Things weren't looking too good the way they were going.
"One more thing," I asked. "Do you think it's safe for us to be going out and doing this tonight? I mean, obviously we have to, but the people around this town still seem pretty paranoid. We can't afford to draw attention to this whole deal."
"Of course not," he replied. "But we'll be perfectly safe, provided we keep the 626 covered up before the time actually comes. By the time it comes, you forget, this whole town is set to be gripped by a formidable storm - and storms have a habit, remember, of keeping people indoors! It couldn't be more perfect!"
-
"Okay, Kimmy, you know what you're job is this time!" I informed my gurgling little foe as I snuck her discreetly behind the back of the alley. "Just keep yourself shut up and don't burst out crying at any point, no matter what happens. If all goes to plan, you'll get to go back to your real family and I'll get to go back to my real day and age. We'll meet up again in the future, and sure you'll give me grievances, but just be warned - it hasn't yet been decided which of us will ultimately live happily ever after in the end! I'm sure I'll beat you one day in the future, even if it won't be for at least another fifteen years. For now, though - just keep on smiling!"
And that's just what she did as I placed her in the same cardboard box I'd been using as a desk back in Drew's house, and concealed her behind the trash can at the back of the alley. Then, I glanced down at my watch. 7:40 pm. Right, let's do this thing. George McFly was due any minute. And so too was Loraine. If we could get this over with in less than ten minutes, I could get back to Drew Lipsky by 8 o'clock, in plenty of time to prepare for my temporal odyssey.
I slipped back over the fence at the back and waited. Quietly enough to hear my watch in action, as the second hand jolted hastily around its constant loop. Tick, tick, tick. 7:43 pm. I peered over the fence, but still no sign of him. Tick, tick, tick. 43 became 44 before I knew it. Still no sign. I glanced down. The spindly little hands were still at work, looming closer and closer to the distinguished time. I looked up, I glanced down, but it got no result. By now that audible ticking might just as well have been the sound of my own rapid heartbeat.
Up, down - still no sign. Up down, up down, up down. . .then something seized me from behind and shoved a screwed up ball of rags into my mouth.
I almost choked. For a few micro-seconds I felt like my tongue was on fire and tasting searing hot acid. I spun round, too late, to find myself staring face to face, once again, with the 1988 DNAmy. Or, just plain Amy. Plain 1988 Amy with her hands gripped firmly round my neck and a grin of pure malice on her face.
"Hey, ET, you wanna know just how many bucks worth of damage you cost me on the tyres of my car?" she growled, suddenly losing that grin.
I wanted to act fast. I wanted to reach out and claw her, to activate the rays in my gloves and give her a taste of green barbecue. But I couldn't. It's hard to explain. It's not like earlier, with young Kimmy, when a feeling inside stopped me fast in my tracks. This time, I wanted to fight back but my body physically couldn't. My own body was defying me. Instead of displaying the lightning fast reflexes that I'd prided myself on so much over time, it was just shrinking up. My limbs were becoming stiff and heavy, my spine going rigid. Before I knew it, I was barely able to stand up. In fact I wasn't able to stand. My legs keeled over and I fell, smacking myself back against the side of the fence. I wanted to cry out, but the muscles in my mouth and voice had suddenly all stiffened up too, enabling me at first only to emit pitiful little groans, but growing stiffer and stiffer all the while, until, barely a few moments later, I was no longer able to make any noise at all.
My body was left completely immobile, like I no longer had any control over it at all. But my mind never faded. It was still there. And I was left conscious of it all. Above all, that foul taste still lingered in my mouth.
Amy grinned and tossed the ball of rags playfully into the air, fielding it again like a light game of catch. "It's amazing the sort of stuff you have access to when you're a science student, of any kind. I found the chemicals you've just sampled lying around on the shelves of the college science lab, would you believe it? Pretty impressive results, wouldn't you agree? Doesn't quite knock you out, but it'll stun your body for a good two hours, leaving you conscious and fully aware of everything that goes on around you, but at the same time completely immobile! Dazzling stuff, if you ask me!"
No, I thought, my heart pounding. Please no. I had to move. I *had* to fight back, for the sake of everything. But I still couldn't move. I was completely powerless. I couldn't even turn to see my watch and check the time. I had no idea if George McFly was standing there, waiting for me. Or if he'd simply root around and find Kim, pick her up and head off before Loraine Baines could even show up and act the hero. Worse still, if this thing didn't wear off in time, then. . .I'd never get back. I'd never see 2003 again. I couldn't even scream for help.
"Oh yeah, claw-girl, I suppose you're wondering how exactly I knew you'd be here at this time," Amy laughed, prodding me roughly with her foot. "Well, that smooth but nonetheless very careless business student George McFly left his note lying around on a table at Good Burger very briefly this morning. Oh sure, he returned in a haste and pocketed it as soon as he could, but not before I'd had a chance to look at it and see for myself what was happening. 7:45 pm. And I just knew you'd be hiding round the back of the alley, ET, the same way you escaped last time. . .
I gotta tell you though, ET, I'm really impressed with the slick way you were able to con all the mugs in this town into thinking you were from another planet! Don't think I don't see through you. You're no ET, just because you're capable of shooting green rays from your gloves! The people in this town, no offence to them or anything, but they're all idiots with dull lives! For all I know, those are just some pretty impressive gloves you've got there! I'll have to check them out myself later! For now, though, I have other business to attend to. It was you, was it not, my dear claw-girl, who made the suggestion to me that I should aim for world domination?"
I managed to spit a minute speck of saliva in her direction, but it fell way short of her foot.
She laughed. "Yes, indeed it was, on our very first meeting back on Sunday morning! Well, since then, as I also had you know, before you went ahead and DAMAGED THE WHEELS ON MY CAR, I've been thinking long and hard about what you said, and I've decided that, the way I was going until I met you, indeed my targets would have been too low. Settling merely for obsessive genetic slicing - it wouldn't be enough. I want more! And I'm gonna get more! I'm gonna be sure that I get it! And I have you to thank for it, claw-girl! As a reward, you now get to hear the simply *beautiful* sounds of the first step in my masterplan for total world domination reach completion! After which of course, I turn you over to the police for kidnapping that little kid and collect the reward money - I'm gonna need it to finance my overall master-scheme!"
My eyes widened in horror. Maybe I had underestimated DNAmy. This was yet another thing which I'd interfered on, without realising it, and one which I hadn't expected to get as out of hand as this. No, it wasn't fair, it wasn't right - I had to get back to the future, above all things! I couldn't be busted now, in this time zone. And, I had this terrible little feeling inside over just what DNAmy wanted to do to complete that first step in her scheme. . .this nasty little notion that it had something to do with George McFly.
"I've also gotta thank you for luring McFly to this secluded alley in the first place. You couldn't have found me a more perfect hostage! McFly is the top business student in the entire college, and I just know he has all the inside information I need to aid me in gaining control over this delightful little planet!" She took out a small bottle from a pocket, and added a small drizzle of liquid to the ball of rags. "There, that's topped it off! I only need apply the same to George McFly over there, then. . . he's mine!"
I *had* underestimated her. For sure. Too bad it was too late.
"Well, just sit back and enjoy the sounds!" Amy laughed as she scrambled, with some difficulty, over the wooden fence and leapt down onto the trashcan below, leaving me lying there, down but not out.
I heard it all. A slight thud as she bounded all the way down to the ground, then the soft meek voice of George McFly calling out into the shadows ahead. I could tell from his voice that he was nervous, and he had good reason to be too. He couldn't have known what now awaited him, something much worse than a girl from the future masquerading as a dangerous visitor from out of space, who only intended to stage a fight with him for the sake of some line of designer fashion. . .boy, was he in for a shock.
"Hey, good of you to have come, George McFly!"
"AMY! It's you! I. . .I. . ."
"Oh, were you expecting someone else?"
"Well, yeah. . .I kinda am. . .listen, Amy, you really should get out of here. Something's gonna happen tonight around here, and I've got to be here at this exact time to do something really, really urgent, and for your own sake and for the sake of others, I'd advise you to get out now!"
"Is that a threat, McFly?"
"No, but I can't talk about it - just get out of here before it's too late!"
"Too bad you don't have time to heed your own warning, McFly!"
That was it. The cry of pure malice. I've been a villain for long enough myself to recognise that cry --the exact prosody of when one stops talking and just dives in for the kill. I heard sounds of a struggle, George McFly wailing; wailing that soon turned into petrified screams as the struggle intensified. Unlike me, McFly had been attacked from the front, as opposed to a sneak attack, so he had better grounds on which to struggle. But DNAmy was clearly a tough fighter, much tougher than I'd thought she could be. She was taking on a well-grown young man, and, from the sounds of it, she was winning! I heard his piercingly masculine screams. I wanted to get up, get over and stand his ground, but I was still entirely paralysed. All I could do was lie there and wince with every discouraging sound that I heard. I thought, no, don't scream! You can't afford to open your mouth! Not now - not when she could shove that ball of rags into your mouth, same as she did not me. But he didn't. He continued to wail out, screaming for help. And then -
"Hey you, get your damn hands off. . .AMY??!!!"
Loraine Baines. Right on cue. My eyelids sank downwards, along with my heart.
"Beat it, Baines! Can't you see I'm busy here?"
I heard George once again. "LORAINE!" he gasped, frantically. "HELP ME! HELP ME, LORAINE!"
Why even waste your breath, I groaned inside my head. This is Loraine Baines you're appealing to. I heard the sounds of the struggle continue. I heard Loraine stammering alongside it, no doubt just coming to grips with the fact that something in our arrangement had gone spectacularly wrong, and that now would be good time to leg it.
"Didn't you hear me, Baines?" Amy growled. "I said beat it!"
And then something incredible happened.
"No, Amy! You leave him alone!"
Aside from George's desperate gasping, the whole world suddenly seemed to stand completely still. There was a brief moment of silence. Too brief, if you ask me.
"Alright, Baines, I warned you!" I heard Amy snarl. I heard the unmistakable sound of a worn-out George being kicked viciously in the groin and then to one side, left mildly stunned and helpless (though probably not as bad as I currently had it). Then, the sounds of her turning her attention to a victim anew - I heard more struggle, of a much less intense nature, before Loraine suddenly crying and wailing, emitting the sounds of tremendous pain.
"Amy, no!" George gasped, loud but weakly. "You're gonna break her arm!"
"You think I don't know that?" Amy retorted, half-laughing. "I'm just gonna bend her arm, like so, and snap it right in two! That'll teach her to mess with the wrong sort of girl!"
I felt physically sick by this stage, and it wasn't because of that foul taste still lingering on my tongue. I couldn't help but feel very protective of Loraine, and to have no choice but to lie back and hear her have the stuffing knocked out of her was just agonising. I winced. I could no longer turn and check it visually, but all around me I could feel my Club Banana jacket fading. Fading all the more, very gradually from existence. . .
Loraine carried on wailing, Amy carried on laughing. I heard George make one more protest, then the sounds of another heavy thud and a male cry as Amy no doubt took the chance to knock back by slugging him in the face. I heard her now, laughing much harder than before, merging into one of those evil, megalomanic laughs that we supervillains are only too renowned for. It rang hard into the night, piercing deep into my eardrums and biting down hard. I thought, here we go, this is it - I could feel my arm getting colder and colder and. . .
"HEY! You can't just slug George McFly like that!" POW! I heard another pounding blow of fist against raw skin, and Amy suddenly fell silent, hitting the ground with another thud.
I could scarcely believe what I was hearing. A brief silence, followed by Loraine's heavy gasping. Not gasps of pain and agony, as George had been producing, but gasps of pure astonishment, as though she too couldn't believe her own actions, finally merging into one short sharp cheer of victory.
"YES!!!" There was a pause. "Erm. . . are you alright, George?"
"Yeah. . . I guess so, Loraine. . .thanks."
"No problem. Hey, what the heck was happening just now?"
"I don't know, Loraine. . .it's kinda weird. . .I was called out to do something tonight and. . .I don't know. . .she just came out of nowhere and. . .tried to shove something into my mouth! It's hard to explain. . ."
"Well, don't feel you have to then. Erm. . .may I help you to your feet?"
"Yeah, sure. . .just go easy on me, okay? It's still. . .pretty painful. . .in areas."
My heart must have skipped two beats at once. My arm was suddenly feeling warmer and warmer. I still had no way of seeing for myself, but somehow I got the feeling that Club Banana had just been spared.
Then, the easing silence was suddenly interrupted by the baby Kim Possible, still concealed there behind the trash can at the back, who had managed to remain silent throughout one seriously intense student scuffle, and now suddenly decided to let herself be heard.
"Hey, that cry at the back. . ." said Loraine. "You don't think it's. . ."
I heard her come scuttling over in my direction, still unable to see me by way of the wooden fence in between. But, there was nothing to stop her from finding KP.
"Dr Possible's kid! It is, George, it is! She's back here, safe and sound!"
He gasped, managing to drag himself over, with some difficulty, or so it sounded. "It's her? Wow, that's amazing. . .you know, I was called over here to. . .well, it's hard to explain, but I guess that that. . .creature, if indeed it was from them, was as good as their word. . ."
Then, more voices. "Hey, is everything alright round here?"
"Yeah," replied Loraine. "Everything's just great."
"We heard noises," said one man. "It sounded like some pretty rough fighting was going on. . ."
"Well, it's kinda hard to explain," said George. "Stuff did happen, but, at the end of it all. . ."
"We found Dr Possible's kid!" cheered Loraine. "Right over here, at the back of this alley!"
"Really?" someone cried. "The one who was abducted by that. . .visitor?"
"Was that. . . visitor around? Did you see it, did you see it?"
"Nah, that thing's nowhere to be seen," sniffed George. "But, we found the missing kid. . .and that's what's important."
"Hey, are either of the Possibles around?" asked Loraine.
"No, but I know where I saw em last. . ." piped up the unmistakable voice of the future Pop Pop Porter. "I'll go get the . .hey, what's been going on round here? Why is that girl lying unconscious in the alley?"
"It's a long story. . ." replied Loraine. "Just get the Possibles. . .and we can return them their kid."
I'll never forget the pure joy their reaction was flowing with when they finally arrived. Everyone was still flocking round George and Loraine and demanding more answers in the meantime, but the second that (Mrs) Dr Possible came charging through, their pressing all fell to a reverent halt.
"KIMBERLY! Is it really you? Oh, Kimberly, I thought I'd never see you again. . .you were gone for so long. . .and. . ." Her relieved outburst was shortly followed by a break down into tears.
"Your mother and I were very worried about you, Kimberly," I heard her husband say, struggling not to lapse into an outburst himself. "We thought we'd lost you for good. . .we couldn't function while you were gone. . .we missed you so much. . .but now. . .you're here. You're here with us again, and we're never gonna let you go. We're never gonna put you through any risks again. Our little girl. . .Kimberly Ann Possible!"
Listening to it all, it didn't exactly ease my nausea, but I have to admit that I felt kinda touched. Not that it would change my attitude to Kim Possible when I got back to 2003. . .if indeed I could get back at all by this rate. As a baby, she was much too helpless and blameless to begrudge. As a teen on the other hand, who always interfered with our plans. . .well, things were gonna be pretty different.
"Thanks, McFly," said Mr Dr Possible. "We really owe you one."
"Hey, it wasn't down to me in the end," he replied, being Mr Modest. "It was Loraine. She's the real hero. She found your kid and. . .she saved me too. . .it's kinda weird how it all happened, but I gotta say - Loraine Baines is not the girl I always thought she was - she's a real star!"
Loraine didn't say much, but the entire crowd suddenly started flocking round her, as the Possibles poured out their gratitude again and again. Eventually, the voices began to fade, as I assumed, correctly, that the crowd was taking its celebration elsewhere. People were leaving, including George and Loraine - their voices and movements drawing fainter and fainter, until only two voices, belonging to a pair of young adults probably not much older than the Possibles, remained.
"Wow, who was that girl?" asked one, the female of the pair.
"Loraine Baines, I think," replied her male companion. "She's an art student at the local college - she tends to hang around the tables at Good Burger every morning, but I never knew that much about her until now. Wow, I always knew that art classes did wonders for a child's personal growth. I mean, look what it did to her. Man, we've gotta start saving to send our kid to an art tuition class from now on. . .if we want him to grow up to be as cool as her!"
"Aw, sweetie, you know we can't do that. We were already saving up to send him to summer camp when he's older, remember? Surely you don't want him to miss out on all the wonders that time spent in summer camp can do for a child's personal growth too?"
"Nah, forget summer camp. So he never gets to go. . .big deal. Art tuition for years would be a heck of a lot more beneficial than one measly summer spent at camp. We've got ourselves a new target from now on, dear - art tuition it is!"
And at that they too departed and I was left there, still immobilised and unable to get up and go. On the one hand, I was relieved. My work with Loraine Baines and the baby Kim Possible was finally done, or at least I could assume it was. Club Banana was saved, Kim had been reunited with her folks without bringing me down, and I at last had a future to go to. All well and good, but it was a blinking shame that I might never get back at all!
My heart was continuing to beat, running faster and faster all the while. My breathing too was quick but heavy - I had no idea how fast time was ticking by, leaving me still completely futile and with that awful taste on my tongue, but I just hoped that it wouldn't run out. I had to get back - this was my only chance. If I missed this chance, then there was no going back. . .and I couldn't bear the thought of being stuck here in Middleton of 1988! I thought of Drew. He must have been starting to panic by now, that I hadn't turned up. I thought of all the wiring and applications that he had to hang around the town centre in order to make my journey possible, and only hoped that he'd be able to handle that all by himself. I remembered what Amy had said - that this stuff would take effect for a good two hours. Two hours I had, but it was a really close call.
During my long and agonising wait, I thought I could hear the scuttling sounds of her coming to and crawling, dejected from the alley. I'm sure glad she didn't decide to come back to me and vent her anger. I just hoped that whatever it had been that had made her such a marshmallow in the future would have a really incredible effect when it finally came.
Time continued to pass, so slowly that it was practically taunting me, eager to get even for the temporal damage that I had done.
And then, I heard the crack of thunder in the sky, and felt the cool, stinging drizzle of rain fall down upon my helpless body. The storm - it was hear! Whatever the time was, I couldn't have much of it left. Please, I thought, please just let me move again. It was a plea. A plea to my own body. But nothing was happening, nothing. . .and then I suddenly found myself able to groan.
The effects were wearing off.
It took a while before it made any major difference. My limbs, joints and muscles were growing less and less stiff all the while, until I could jolt and shift them, quite clumsily at first, but remained quite rigid themselves. Eventually, I found myself able to sit up. I found my voice returning - soon I could move the muscles in my mouth and voice box and form entire words. To stand up, though, I had to dig my nails into the fence and actually pull myself up. Even then I had to lean against it for balance.
When my body was finally articulate enough, I took the chance to examine my jacket. All there, in one entire piece. Fishing furiously into my pocket, I pulled out the photo and stared. And there, quite clearly was the Club Banana 2000 jacket once again. I breathed a sigh of relief. Tonight's bout with the future DNAmy had brought George and Loraine together at long last, and Club Banana had been reborn into time. All's well that ends well, I guess.
Then I checked my watch. 9:47 pm. I swallowed hard, still finding it difficult to actually scream. 9 -blinking 47!!!! I only had 17 minutes left to get back to 2003!
In my haste, I tried to bound away and almost keeled over again. My body still wasn't ready for bounding. So I had to crawl at first. I crawled as rapidly as I could, all the way behind the back of Good Burger and out toward the town centre, struggling hard just to get my legs back in lucid action. I kicked and kicked with them as best as I could, just trying to knock the strength back into them. Finally, I found I could move tem much more freely, so much so that I could even stand up and begin walking the rest of my route. And, five seconds later, run. I ran down all the way to the town centre as quickly as I could, rain beating down hard against my already drenched body, my eyes poised, ready to check the clock the second I arrived. When I finally got there, the time was already 9:55 pm. . .
***
Okay, end of Chapter 6. Thanks for reading. I'd appreciate a review (what do I have to do to get more of em?). Tell me what you think of this chapter and the story so far, cos I really want to know!
Chapter 7 will becoming soon, and I really look forward to writing this one. Here's a short preview:
In Chapter 7, Shego's only chance of getting back to 2003 has finally arrived! Can she pull it off successfully? And, even more crucially, will she have been able to save Dr Drakken from being killed by the Knights of Rodeghan? All will be revealed.
Just another note - if you didn't guess this, the sequence of this chapter in which DNAmy disables Shego by stuffing some sort of paralysing chemical into her mouth was inspired by a scene in 'What Lies Beneath', a movie from the same director as 'Back to the Future', Robert Zemeckis. Only I couldn't remember the name of the chemical! Out of interest, if you know, please include it in your review. Thanks.
See you soon with Chapter 7!