Mall food court
While Ron and Rufus skulked through the hall, they heard an amplified pop. "What the hell was that?"
"I'm detecting large amounts of helium in the west wing of the mall, Ron." Wade said over the radio.
"What does that mean, Einstein?"
"The noise we heard was a detonating helium tank. It's inflammable. "
"And what does that mean?!"
"It means Kim should be safe."
Ron Stoppable had two guides: Rufus, a naked mole rat with a sense of smell attuned to Bueno Nacho, and Wade, a boy-genius who talked Ron through with a radio. Ron pushed through doors and right off the bat there was a food court. Ron and Rufus had to resist aromatic distraction of their delicacies. Ron shimmied between tables toward the unoccupied restaurants. In the rafters, dozens more female forms acrobatically meandered.
"What floor are we on? Food courts aren't usually on the ground floor!" Ron asked.
"It is the east wing first floor. What's the relevance?" was the distorted radio voice of Wade.
"None, none," Ron realized he digressed. "Where are the hostages?"
"Go right. I'm picking up powerful energy signals; also reading a fluctuation." Wade added.
"I just wanna find the people, Wade!"
"Just keep walking."
"I see something," Ron said.
Ron advanced on a Beuno Nacho stand. The front of it flickered. Within the store were approximately sixty people cramped together. When they saw Ron they hollered and pleaded.
An old lady: "Help us!"
Another elderly woman: "Please, get us out of here!"
A thirty-something mother of two: "Please, save my baby! "
"Where 's Shego?" Ron never really witnessed anyone this fearful for their lives. But he discovered an inner strength for them and for Kim.
Ahmed, the Bueno Nacho manager, answered, "They stuck us in here and we can't even touch this thing!"
"They? What do you mean 'they' stuck you in there?"
"Ron, the cage conformed to the size of the store like the lining of a coat!" Wade analyzed.
"Stop fucking analyzing! These people are scared! How the hell do we turn it off?" Ron angrily asked.
"Okay, you've got to..." Wade paused. "Ron, that separate fluctuation is incoming!"
"What?" Ron was dumbfounded.
"Look out!" Most of the hostages shouted.
Humanoid, female shapes descended and landed in front of Ron and Rufus. Ron spun around and saw them poised to attack.
"Where did you ladies come from?" Ron smoothly asked.
"Ron! Remember the Liberty Island incident?" Wade recounted.
"Oh my God, no wonder they're all perfect! They're mannequins!"
Filene's
Kim sprawled in the underwear section of the store. She eluded the explosion once she activated her rocket-blades to escape. Her thoughts were in disarray.
"I can't see. Where am I? What did she do to me?"
Her boots were incapable of more than one thrust per use, which left her straddled in the entrance. Her senses were shattered, so she was fortunate enough to have even crawled, let alone steer herself there. A path of her blood was smeared through the store.
"Where am I? Jersey? This state sucks ass. 'Miller's Crossing' is a great movie. My back isn't solid anymore. It hurts."
She pulled underwear off a shelf and dabbed her eyes. Even a few slight wipes drenched the cloth.
"I didn't think I had that much in me. Why am I not dead? No, that's negative way to think. I need to decapitate that sick bitch; sick's too small a word. Where's my thumb? It's not there; not there! No panic. I can't be that hurt if I'm still breathing. I think."
She deeply inhaled but then roughly coughed.
"Okay, so I'm barely breathing. I kissed Ronald today. I kissed him. He has soft lips. I can't feel my face."
Kim pursed her lips and touched them to be certain. She lifted her head and noticed the wide trail of blood and skin, then passed by mirrors.
"Is that me? Is that all me? If he cloned that blood. Ears ringing now. Someone help me."
Having crept through most of the establishment, she bumped into a far end wall. Kim stared upward and saw red, but not the kind of red that she identified with this morning. It was a red fire extinguisher.
"I could use more pressurized shit. Can't hide forever, lives are at stake. Shego is dead and Bonnie's fake tan sucks."
She slapped her thumbless, blood-coated right hand on the wall to push herself to her feet. As if she were a drunken vagrant, Kim wavered and groaned.
"Shut up, Kimberly! You want her to hear you? You want her to fry you like a corn dog? I've gotta extinguish her fire! Mom, I'm sorry. Ronald, when I get out of intensive care, you're gonna get lucky. Did I leave the iron on?"
Kim yanked the extinguisher off the mooring and then faced her trail of blood-crumbs.
"My butt's damp. Something's sliding into my pants. Oh, yeah, my back is gelatinous. That a Christmas tree?"
Shego was relatively far away and her trajectory was off, for a projected flame crashed into the wall to Kim's left.
"Holy shit!" Kim summoned her legs to dart her behind a ceiling support. Kim kept the fire extinguisher, and then stared at the watch worn on her left wrist. She exposed herself to Shego, who arched an eyebrow at this surrender. In the walking aisle of the big store, Kim marched with her object towards the bad-girl. They viciously stared each other down.
"Had enough?" Kim mumbled.
"Drop the extinguisher."
"You suck," Kim uttered. Kim tossed it toward her feet, but not far enough for Shego to reach.
"I adore seeing you bloody and broken," she chuckled. "You make The Passion of the Christ G-rated."
"I'm your basic, average girl," Kim had a bout of lucidity. "And I'm here to save the hostages."
"You and what army's gonna stop me?" Shego challenged.
"That's for me to know, and you to die."
"Doubt it."
Kim leaned her left wrist forward, tapped her watch which shot a laser at the canister. It was too sudden a motion for Shego when the container perforated, exploded and the foamed contents splattered onto her cuts. Shego screamed in pain and staggered, yet again.
"I'm sick of chemicals hitting my face!" She bellowed, then incinerated the entire clothing store with a furious flame-power.
The sprinkler system was instantly triggered and quenched the flames. The water also cleared the fire retardant from Shego's eyes. But at the instant she regained sight, Kim Possible swung a clothing rack across her skull. Kim then jumped atop the felled woman, grabbed her head and repeatedly slammed it into the floor.
But Shego punched Kim at the base of her jaw, which launched her away. Kim fell down into the puddles of water but was not out. As the artificial tundra continued, Kim staggered up again while her enemy also stood. She left punched Shego's larynx, whose subsequent gasp for air was prominent.
Shego took advantage of Kim's close proximity, sinking the tips of her claws into her left breast. Kim's reaction time was far too off to elude this attack and she screamed and panicked. Shego pushed deeper.
Kim's recourse was aim the laser watch at her abuser. The murderess had been so engrossed in the torture that she had not noticed Kim move. The beam emitted from the watch and struck the left ear of Shego, severing it off.
Shego removed her claw from Kim, but pieces of breast tissue were stuck to it. Their screams were spine chilling.
Kim footnoted her own scream with, "I barely have boobs! You cut one of mine off?"
Kim clutched her breast, but still spun kicked the spot where Shego's ear cartilage used to be. This contact caused her to flail back towards the mall walkway. Shego's convulsions were jarring. It was not only due to pain, but also due to that it was Kim who sliced off her ear.
The cold shower cleaned up and reinvigorated Kim. She limped and followed the backtracking Shego, then said several words that stepped up their battle.
"I just lost a thumb and a breast! Get over it, Vincent Van SheGogh!"
END OF ROUND 8
