Author's Notes:
Thanks again for the comments.
Sorry about the delay. I thought I was going to be able to get this chapter finished up last week, but various commitments took more of my time than I anticipated. I hope its worth the wait!
As a technical note, I'm trying to use hyphens instead of asterisks to separate sections of the story, because it appears thet FF.net doesn't always support a string of asterisks. Hopefully this will make the story a bit easier to follow from now on.
Enjoy!
-------------------------------------------------------------
"Thanks for the lift, Mr. Oligany!"
"It's the least I could do," the stout cab driver replied. "I never would have been able to keep my apartment if you hadn't helped me out with those tax returns."
"So not the drama... you had over $2,000 of deductions, someone just had to find them."
"Maybe nothing to you... but you made sure my little boy has somewhere to grow up... whenever you're in Baltimore, don't hesitate to give me a call."
"I will, Mr. Oligany. Take care."
The bright yellow cab accelerated rapidly away from the curb, leaving Kim and Ron alone somewhere in the middle of Delaware.
"Ok, Ron... we are where you said we needed to be... now what's the plan?"
Ron perked up when asked what the plan was. He took it as a vote of confidence from Kim, even though, to her, it was more of an act of desperation.
"Well... If I'm right," Ron said, furrowing his brow as he studied the small, crumpled map in his hand, "we go six blocks that way." He held out his arm and indicated they walk down a road towards the northwest.
"If you're right," Kim mumbled to herself.
"What was that?" Ron asked, turning around to face Kim.
"Oh, nothing."
The road dead-ended after only four blocks, and Kim shot Ron an irritated glance.
"Come on, what's that mean?"
"You know what it means," Kim said angrily. "We went the wrong way, didn't we?"
Ron frowned. "Fine. I'm lost." Ron leaned against a tall, mesh fence and lowered his head in disappointment. Rufus crawled onto his shoulder to comfort him, but then started chirping excitedly and pointing at a small sign on the chain-link fence.
"U.S. Government Storage," Ron read slowly, "Keep out." He spun around, almost flinging Rufus off his shoulder with the abrupt move. "KIM! This is it."
"All right," Kim responded, already on her way up the fence which she estimated was over ten feet in height. "Come on Ron!"
"Can't we just use the gate," her sidekick asked, standing back a few feet from the fence.
"If you want to get caught."
Ron groaned and jumped towards the fence, pulling himself slowly up towards the top. By the time he reached it, Kim was already on the ground on the far side.
"Hurry up Ron!"
"I'm coming," he replied angrily, clumsily swinging his leg over the top of the fence and silently praying he wouldn't rip his pants. Luckily, he managed to get both legs over without incident and climbed down the opposite side of the fence, jumping the final three feet to the ground.
"Where to now?" Kim asked, again disturbed by the fact she was relying on Ron.
"Uh... well... I don't really know."
Rufus murmured in disapproval, and Kim gave him a hard stare. "You drag us to some no-name town in Delaware, have us run around the streets in the pre- dawn hours, jump a fence into a military installation-- and now you're clueless?"
"I was clueless a long time ago, Kim," Ron said loudly before realizing his comment did not make the intended point.
Kim shushed him. "There could be guards around here," she whispered."
"Call Wade," Ron whispered in reply. "He's got to have a satellite over this place."
Kim rolled her eyes. Ron did have a good idea, one that she had thought of herself, but she was still irritated he didn't know where they were going. She grabbed the communicator out of her pocket and Wade's image materialized on the screen.
"What up, Kim?" Wade asked.
"We're at the Marine base, but Mr. 'I know the way' is a bit lost."
"OK, give me a minute to pull up some satellite images. There really are not too many looking at that place... basically it's just helicopter junkyard."
"As long as it has helicopters somewhere," Kim said, glancing at Ron and then returning her attention to Wade. "I haven't seen any."
"OK, I got images, but some bad news. Like I said, this place is a junkyard for old helicopters... a lot of them aren't in one piece, let alone able to fly." Wade reached for a drink and then began typing furiously. "I'll keep looking Kim, but it's going to take a while."
"Let me know as soon as you have something."
"You'll be the first." The screen went black. Kim turned to Ron, furrowing her brow.
"Ron, did you hear that?" she asked angrily.
"Hear what?" Ron responded, "and you're getting a little loud there."
Kim groaned. "That all the helicopters here are scrap metal," Kim said in rasping voice, using all her will power to keep from strangling Ron.
"Whoa, Kim, who tweaked you," Ron asked.
"Do you really have to ask?"
"Obviously, yes."
"Well, in case you haven't put two and two together, brain boy, you just dragged us over one hundred miles, have us trespassing on government property, and made me call in a favor just to visit a junkyard full of old helicopter parts... which, I might add... we haven't even found yet!" Kim paused and took a deep breath.
"Relax, KP. We'll get there."
"Are you sure, Ron. We don't have much time. And I'm still not cool with you flying a helicopter."
"Oh, so Kim Possible can fly an experimental space plane, but there is no way Ron Stoppable could handle a simple, little helicopter. That's what you're saying, isn't it?"
"Actually, yes. And that is the most sense you've made all day."
"Well, we don't have much of a choice."
"You're right," Kim answered harshly, "we don't have a choice because even if we could find them, none of these helicopters work! Where did you find this place, anyway?"
"I did a web search for 'lots of helicopters near Baltimore'"
"I thought you said you knew where we could find the helicopters."
"Well... knew might not have been the best word, but I knew how to find out."
"Evidently not." Kim shook her head. "I figured your instructor had told you."
"Nope, I figured this out all by myself," Ron said proudly.
"I should of known." Kim felt her muscles tense as she thought about how long it was going to take her to get some real transportation lined up.
"Kim, calm down. It's not like the first time I've flown you or anything... I piloted the little rocket-pack thing, remember?"
"Ron: one, this is a junkyard, not a heliport like you said; and two, last time I flew with you, you hit a building!"
"I'd forgotten about that..."
Kim shuddered. If he could forget that experience, she couldn't begin to imagine how much of his life he must not remember. Her thoughts were interrupted by a beep from her communicator.
"Kim, I got what you wanted. I got into the Marine's records and found out that two of the helicopters here are still in air worthy. They're old Sea Kings, but either one should work."
"You rock Wade!" Kim said with a smile.
"Hey," Ron interrupted, "I helped too."
Kim looked at her friend, studying his big brown eyes, messy blonde hair, and freckled cheeks. As frustrated as he made her, she couldn't stay angry at him for too long. He was trying, and he was her friend.
"Yeah, Ron," she said quietly, her lips curling into the smallest of smiles, "you rock too."
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"How long, Shego?" Drakken asked as he paced back and forth across the slick deck of his submarine.
"Dr. D, I told you five minutes ago... about one more day. And you better be careful, that deck looks awfully slippery," Shego called down to him from the submarine's tiny surface bridge.
"Shego! If we are going to be on the surface, I am going to take advantage of it," Drakken said angrily, adding, in a more pleasant tone, "The sea air is quite refreshing."
"I needed some fresh air myself, but I'm fine standing where I'm not going to fall off the sub."
"Nonsense, Shego. It is perfectly safe down here." No sooner than he had finished his reply he lost traction under his right foot. He suppressed the urge to scream, focusing on keeping his balance. Unfortunately, as he shifted his weight he misjudged the rolling motion of the submarine and found himself even more off balance.
The blue villain landed on his side, sliding towards the churning waters surrounding the submarine. He yelled out for help. Seconds later, he was in the water, struggling to stay afloat in the white foam the black vessel churned up around itself.
"SHEGO!" He yelled, his scream partially cut off as a torrent of water flowed over his blue face. He struggled back to the surface, emitting another cry. "SHEEEEEGOOOOOOOOO!"
Drakken's heart was already racing, but when he looked behind himself, he experienced a horrible new sense of terror. The six massive blades of the submarine's single propeller loomed only thirty yards away. The giant propeller violently churned the water around it, the blades crashing down with incredible force. Drakken felt himself be sucked towards the monstrosity. He tried desperately to locate a hand hold on the submarine's hull, but couldn't find anything suitable to grab onto.
Shego had jumped down off the bridge and sprinted to the rear of the submarine. Surrounding her right hand with green energy, she plowed it into the submarines smooth hull, effectively creating a handhold. Now firmly anchored, she leaned down towards the water, quickly realizing she was too far away to reach into the submarine's frothy wake.
She immediately repeated the process, creating another hole several feet lower and sliding down closer to the water. She snatched a struggling Drakken from the violent surf, tossing him over her shoulder up and onto the center of the deck. As soon as she managed to regain her own balance, she leapt towards the center of the deck as well.
Drakken was coughing violently as his lungs tried to expel the salt water he had swallowed. His eyes were red from exposure to the water, and his blue garment was clearly ruined. But, at least for the moment, he didn't care. He looked admiringly into Shego's eyes, and opened his mouth to speak, but the green-clad woman cut him off.
"You better not get all mushy with me, or I'll throw you back in."
"Alright," Drakken said, his voice a strange mix of anger and frustration, yet carrying an almost subliminal twinge of disappointment and hurt. "It's dangerous up here, get everyone back downstairs."
Sorry about the delay. I thought I was going to be able to get this chapter finished up last week, but various commitments took more of my time than I anticipated. I hope its worth the wait!
As a technical note, I'm trying to use hyphens instead of asterisks to separate sections of the story, because it appears thet FF.net doesn't always support a string of asterisks. Hopefully this will make the story a bit easier to follow from now on.
Enjoy!
-------------------------------------------------------------
"Thanks for the lift, Mr. Oligany!"
"It's the least I could do," the stout cab driver replied. "I never would have been able to keep my apartment if you hadn't helped me out with those tax returns."
"So not the drama... you had over $2,000 of deductions, someone just had to find them."
"Maybe nothing to you... but you made sure my little boy has somewhere to grow up... whenever you're in Baltimore, don't hesitate to give me a call."
"I will, Mr. Oligany. Take care."
The bright yellow cab accelerated rapidly away from the curb, leaving Kim and Ron alone somewhere in the middle of Delaware.
"Ok, Ron... we are where you said we needed to be... now what's the plan?"
Ron perked up when asked what the plan was. He took it as a vote of confidence from Kim, even though, to her, it was more of an act of desperation.
"Well... If I'm right," Ron said, furrowing his brow as he studied the small, crumpled map in his hand, "we go six blocks that way." He held out his arm and indicated they walk down a road towards the northwest.
"If you're right," Kim mumbled to herself.
"What was that?" Ron asked, turning around to face Kim.
"Oh, nothing."
The road dead-ended after only four blocks, and Kim shot Ron an irritated glance.
"Come on, what's that mean?"
"You know what it means," Kim said angrily. "We went the wrong way, didn't we?"
Ron frowned. "Fine. I'm lost." Ron leaned against a tall, mesh fence and lowered his head in disappointment. Rufus crawled onto his shoulder to comfort him, but then started chirping excitedly and pointing at a small sign on the chain-link fence.
"U.S. Government Storage," Ron read slowly, "Keep out." He spun around, almost flinging Rufus off his shoulder with the abrupt move. "KIM! This is it."
"All right," Kim responded, already on her way up the fence which she estimated was over ten feet in height. "Come on Ron!"
"Can't we just use the gate," her sidekick asked, standing back a few feet from the fence.
"If you want to get caught."
Ron groaned and jumped towards the fence, pulling himself slowly up towards the top. By the time he reached it, Kim was already on the ground on the far side.
"Hurry up Ron!"
"I'm coming," he replied angrily, clumsily swinging his leg over the top of the fence and silently praying he wouldn't rip his pants. Luckily, he managed to get both legs over without incident and climbed down the opposite side of the fence, jumping the final three feet to the ground.
"Where to now?" Kim asked, again disturbed by the fact she was relying on Ron.
"Uh... well... I don't really know."
Rufus murmured in disapproval, and Kim gave him a hard stare. "You drag us to some no-name town in Delaware, have us run around the streets in the pre- dawn hours, jump a fence into a military installation-- and now you're clueless?"
"I was clueless a long time ago, Kim," Ron said loudly before realizing his comment did not make the intended point.
Kim shushed him. "There could be guards around here," she whispered."
"Call Wade," Ron whispered in reply. "He's got to have a satellite over this place."
Kim rolled her eyes. Ron did have a good idea, one that she had thought of herself, but she was still irritated he didn't know where they were going. She grabbed the communicator out of her pocket and Wade's image materialized on the screen.
"What up, Kim?" Wade asked.
"We're at the Marine base, but Mr. 'I know the way' is a bit lost."
"OK, give me a minute to pull up some satellite images. There really are not too many looking at that place... basically it's just helicopter junkyard."
"As long as it has helicopters somewhere," Kim said, glancing at Ron and then returning her attention to Wade. "I haven't seen any."
"OK, I got images, but some bad news. Like I said, this place is a junkyard for old helicopters... a lot of them aren't in one piece, let alone able to fly." Wade reached for a drink and then began typing furiously. "I'll keep looking Kim, but it's going to take a while."
"Let me know as soon as you have something."
"You'll be the first." The screen went black. Kim turned to Ron, furrowing her brow.
"Ron, did you hear that?" she asked angrily.
"Hear what?" Ron responded, "and you're getting a little loud there."
Kim groaned. "That all the helicopters here are scrap metal," Kim said in rasping voice, using all her will power to keep from strangling Ron.
"Whoa, Kim, who tweaked you," Ron asked.
"Do you really have to ask?"
"Obviously, yes."
"Well, in case you haven't put two and two together, brain boy, you just dragged us over one hundred miles, have us trespassing on government property, and made me call in a favor just to visit a junkyard full of old helicopter parts... which, I might add... we haven't even found yet!" Kim paused and took a deep breath.
"Relax, KP. We'll get there."
"Are you sure, Ron. We don't have much time. And I'm still not cool with you flying a helicopter."
"Oh, so Kim Possible can fly an experimental space plane, but there is no way Ron Stoppable could handle a simple, little helicopter. That's what you're saying, isn't it?"
"Actually, yes. And that is the most sense you've made all day."
"Well, we don't have much of a choice."
"You're right," Kim answered harshly, "we don't have a choice because even if we could find them, none of these helicopters work! Where did you find this place, anyway?"
"I did a web search for 'lots of helicopters near Baltimore'"
"I thought you said you knew where we could find the helicopters."
"Well... knew might not have been the best word, but I knew how to find out."
"Evidently not." Kim shook her head. "I figured your instructor had told you."
"Nope, I figured this out all by myself," Ron said proudly.
"I should of known." Kim felt her muscles tense as she thought about how long it was going to take her to get some real transportation lined up.
"Kim, calm down. It's not like the first time I've flown you or anything... I piloted the little rocket-pack thing, remember?"
"Ron: one, this is a junkyard, not a heliport like you said; and two, last time I flew with you, you hit a building!"
"I'd forgotten about that..."
Kim shuddered. If he could forget that experience, she couldn't begin to imagine how much of his life he must not remember. Her thoughts were interrupted by a beep from her communicator.
"Kim, I got what you wanted. I got into the Marine's records and found out that two of the helicopters here are still in air worthy. They're old Sea Kings, but either one should work."
"You rock Wade!" Kim said with a smile.
"Hey," Ron interrupted, "I helped too."
Kim looked at her friend, studying his big brown eyes, messy blonde hair, and freckled cheeks. As frustrated as he made her, she couldn't stay angry at him for too long. He was trying, and he was her friend.
"Yeah, Ron," she said quietly, her lips curling into the smallest of smiles, "you rock too."
------------------------------------------------------
"How long, Shego?" Drakken asked as he paced back and forth across the slick deck of his submarine.
"Dr. D, I told you five minutes ago... about one more day. And you better be careful, that deck looks awfully slippery," Shego called down to him from the submarine's tiny surface bridge.
"Shego! If we are going to be on the surface, I am going to take advantage of it," Drakken said angrily, adding, in a more pleasant tone, "The sea air is quite refreshing."
"I needed some fresh air myself, but I'm fine standing where I'm not going to fall off the sub."
"Nonsense, Shego. It is perfectly safe down here." No sooner than he had finished his reply he lost traction under his right foot. He suppressed the urge to scream, focusing on keeping his balance. Unfortunately, as he shifted his weight he misjudged the rolling motion of the submarine and found himself even more off balance.
The blue villain landed on his side, sliding towards the churning waters surrounding the submarine. He yelled out for help. Seconds later, he was in the water, struggling to stay afloat in the white foam the black vessel churned up around itself.
"SHEGO!" He yelled, his scream partially cut off as a torrent of water flowed over his blue face. He struggled back to the surface, emitting another cry. "SHEEEEEGOOOOOOOOO!"
Drakken's heart was already racing, but when he looked behind himself, he experienced a horrible new sense of terror. The six massive blades of the submarine's single propeller loomed only thirty yards away. The giant propeller violently churned the water around it, the blades crashing down with incredible force. Drakken felt himself be sucked towards the monstrosity. He tried desperately to locate a hand hold on the submarine's hull, but couldn't find anything suitable to grab onto.
Shego had jumped down off the bridge and sprinted to the rear of the submarine. Surrounding her right hand with green energy, she plowed it into the submarines smooth hull, effectively creating a handhold. Now firmly anchored, she leaned down towards the water, quickly realizing she was too far away to reach into the submarine's frothy wake.
She immediately repeated the process, creating another hole several feet lower and sliding down closer to the water. She snatched a struggling Drakken from the violent surf, tossing him over her shoulder up and onto the center of the deck. As soon as she managed to regain her own balance, she leapt towards the center of the deck as well.
Drakken was coughing violently as his lungs tried to expel the salt water he had swallowed. His eyes were red from exposure to the water, and his blue garment was clearly ruined. But, at least for the moment, he didn't care. He looked admiringly into Shego's eyes, and opened his mouth to speak, but the green-clad woman cut him off.
"You better not get all mushy with me, or I'll throw you back in."
"Alright," Drakken said, his voice a strange mix of anger and frustration, yet carrying an almost subliminal twinge of disappointment and hurt. "It's dangerous up here, get everyone back downstairs."