Mall, Bueno Nacho

Hostages trapped inside this fast food kiosk took notice of something.

Ahmed: "You hear that?"

Old lady: "I don't hear a thing."

Old lady's friend: "Of course you don't, Agnes! You haven't heard a damn thing in fifteen years."

Single mother: "No, he's right! I hear a humming!"

The yellow energy cage crept inward closer and closer.

Ahmed: "Fuck! This thing is collapsing in on us!"

Business man who was on lunch break: "We're gonna get fucking toasted!"

Naked Mole Rat: heterocephalus glaber, mammal, Order Rodentia, Special Adaptations, strongest jaw muscle for a mammal its size.

Garden State Plaza, back corridors (and a little bit of "the tunnel")

All morning, Kim Possible fought for the lives of others against the murderess known as Shego. Both battled to the point where they regressed to being the primordial ooze of human ancestry.

The bludgeoned cheerleader laid face down on the cool, marble floor, with Shego digging her flamed claws into Kim's athletic thighs. Kim stopped shrieking from this new torture. After all the countless traumas to her body, she figured it was the final one. Someone or something was summoning her to let go, anyway. Kim had not seen tangible surroundings at the moment, but said, " I can't break free. Shego is enjoying this too much."

"You skirted death really well. We almost had this conversation several times, but you've endured enough pain," the voice answered.

"It can't be over, whatever you are. I've got a full life to live." The white light at the end of the tunnel plus the breathy, enigmatic voice gave Kim a respite.

"This isn't a trick. You chose this life where, as much I hate to quote Shego, there are consequences." The light form stated. For the second time, Kim reached out to the shape, ready to leave behind the endless pain.

Suddenly, Shego felt an excessive degree of pain. Rufus, the mole rat and beloved pet of Ron Stoppable, skittered across her face and deeply sank his buck teeth in her left eye. She screamed upon the penetration, having not understood what caused it, and let go of Kim's legs. Shego stood and yanked him out. His teeth also yanked out strands of eye flesh. She threw Rufus against the wall and as a result he was dazed. Shego, with her right eye also damaged by Kim, finally discerned her attacker. "You fucking vermin!"

Kim laid on the floor and saw a tiny pink blob through her clouded vision. She gurgled while saying, "Rufus."

"Shego, leave my friends alone!" Ron Stoppable held a swelled up fire hose within the corridor.

"Fuck you, buffoon!" Shego shouted and flamed her hands toward Rufus.

Ron aimed, shot a powerful water stream, extinguished her flames and propelled her through the doors going back toward the mall. He dropped it and ran toward Kim.

"Kimberly Ann Possible, wake the fuck up!" Ron saw how she was bludgeoned, but still jarred her. Rufus gently tapped her battered, bruised and cut face.

"Ron." Kim groaned out.

"We've got to move. That wont hold her off for long." Ron placed her arm around his shoulder and dragged her away.

"Shego can't be killed while the chip is activated. But high voltage will short it out instantaneously before her brain death," Wade said on the radio.

"Is there a circuit breaker nearby?" Kim inquired.

"Yeah, in the loading dock; I exposed its wires, I just couldn't yank them out." Ron assured her.

Kim wheezed and coughed up the remainder of her blood. Ron lugged her through swinging doors towards where the circuit breaker was.

"Stand me up straight, Ron. I have to do this alone!" Kim found lucidity once again.

"Wrong. As your partner and best friend I'm obligated to back you up," Ron retorted.

"Kim, your vitals are spiking! You need major medical care! Back out while you still can!" Wade begged.

"You guys..." She began to argue.

They heard stomping from the corridor which they fled. In the arena-shaped docking area, a green explosion blasted apart doors leading to it. The demolished Shego clutched her abdomen but was ready to pounce. Ron and Kim were yards away from their assailant. Kim saw only green but had no amnesia. She knew it was Shego. The circuit breaker was in plain sight but the exposed wires were too far away for Shego to touch.

"What now, K.P?" Ron whispered in her ear.

Kim's legs barely kept her up, but this had to end. To Ron's shock, Kim quickly limped toward her. Shego's vision was worse than Kim's, and only heard the steps. She fired up her claws but their flames were diminished. With every last ounce of strength, Kim uppercut her jaw. Ron and Rufus stared in amazement.

"Ron, those hostages have two minutes left before they're victims of the cage!" Wade said.

"Shit, Wade, they're not even close to the wires!" Ron announced.

"I know that! But somehow you've gotta get Shego to touch them!"

Ron inhaled deeply and jogged forward into the fray. Kim felt a slight breeze at her side, then saw him beside her poised to fight.

"For fuck's sake!" She protested.

"Problem?" Ron answered and then leapt in with a kick straight to Shego's face. Blood spattered from her nose onto his sneakers. She staggered back more towards the trap. Ron three-point landed, impressed by his prowess, then realized that Kim did all of the work. "Kim! Come on!"

Kim Possible pushed off her damaged legs towards Shego. Ron tried following but slipped on blood and motor oil and fell down.

Kim heard Shego's labored breathing and repeatedly punched where Shego's ribs were once intact. Shego swiped her deep-fried fist and roughly contacted a cheekbone. Kim's head twisted before she fell over. Shego loomed over her for a finishing strike.

"No!" Ron tackled her from behind, until she windmilled her arm and struck his head. Ron fell back in a heap.

"What's your fucking problem?" The evil girl said, now facing him.

Then Kim Possible smashed a small loading palette over her head.

"You fucking bitch," Shego murmured and dropped to her knees, enveloped by splintered wood.

"Do you ever shut up?" Kim grabbed her jumpsuit's collar and slid her to the circuit breaker to end a very long morning.

Shego, while also in unsatisfactory condition, was still a superhuman. She fired up her incendiary hands to incinerate Kim, but not paying attention to the less injured Ron Stoppable. From a leap, he stomped on her shot stomach. While atop her belly, he booted her in the face.

"Ron?" Kim slumped down to the ground. The toll was completely stolen from her.

"Oh my God! K.P!" Ron cried out.

They were close enough to the exposed wires, but Shego still needed to be lifted up to contact them.

"Ron, hurry, sixty seconds! " Wade announced

"Shego's dead weight! I can't lift her over my head," Ron answered and searched the loading dock for and assist. A front-loading forklift was parked next to other palettes.

"Forty five seconds, do something, Ron!" Wade ordered.

"Forgive me, Kim!" He said while rolling her away from danger.

Shego, while on her side, instinctively flamed her claws. Then gunshots rang out with several bullets hitting her back.

"Stop shooting her, moron!'" Ron yelled at Agent Phillips who stood in the doorway on one foot, a backup weapon smoking in his hand.

"But she was gonna kill you both!" Phillips quizzically stated.

"Thirty seconds!" Wade counted down.

Shego's life slipped away as she gurgled up the last of her blood.

"Hey, asshole, get my friend out of here!" Ron said to Phillips, while jumping in the the forklift.

Philips hobbled quickly to where Ron rolled Kim and picked her up. Ron drove the forklift towards the definitely dying Shego.

"Twenty!" Wade said.

He positioned the mast under her limp body, but it raised too slowly to reach the level of the wires. Ron had no choice but to drive and raise it simultaneously.

"Ten"

Ron steered and accelerated the forklift straight to the circuit breaker.

"Nine."

Shego barely balanced on its fork.

"Eight."

Agent Phillips watched in concern while cradling Kim in his arms.

"Seven, six."

The lift almost reached the proper height.

"Five, four."

"Ma! I made it! Top of the world!" Ron shouted.

"Three, two."

Ron leapt completely out of the conductive forklift and rolled away.

"One."

The fork crashed into the wall. Momentum sent Shego flying into the exposed circuitry. Her body convulsed, smoked and caught fire.

The hostages of the Bueno Nacho huddled tightly together. The cage lightly singed their clothes and skin. Then nothing happened. Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable saved their lives as the cage dissipated.

The stench of burned flesh made Ron gag. His ankle broke from his jump and he was barely conscious. He limped over to Agent Phillips and Kim.

"Kim? Please, stay awake. Kim, you did it. You saved the hostages." Ron knelt beside them.

"We did it." Kim managed a wry smile.

"No, I just walked waist deep through sewage," Ron disagreed.

"She needs a hospital, now." Phillips said.

"Agent Phillips, wait," Kim weakly said. "Ron, I'm not going to make it. There's something I've been meaning to tell you."

"You're gonna be just fine," Ron denied.

Kim's eyes turned upward. Her head tilted back.

"Kim! Kim!" Phillips listened to her breathing and felt her pulse.

"Help her, God damn it!" Ron screamed.

Ron was right. Phillips went thru the CPR motions with her.

"The tunnel"

"Hey again," the voice said.

"You're fucking annoying. It's not my time to die," the seemingly healthy Kim Possible said.

"Sorry about this. But you're injured far more than any human should ever be."

"Bullshit."

"It will take a miracle to keep you alive. Tangibly, that pretty much means machines."

"I have a loving family and caring friends. Everyone depends on me. I have a full, prosperous life ahead of me. And you, whatever you are, are in my way."

"All right, Kim. If that's what you want," the voice sighed. "Give it your best shot."

Mall

Reinforcements finally stormed in to witness the nightmare. Officers who saw the severely injured trio of Kim, Ron and Agent Philips momentarily stopped everyone in their tracks. But then an intravenous drip and oxygen mask were attached to Kim. She was strapped to a gurney that was wheeled outside to a chopper. The same police who stared at her with disdain stood at attention and saluted, an honor bestowed on fallen officers only.

"I'm going with her," Ron shouted to the chopper EMTs.

"No Ron, stay with us." Phillips rested a hand on his shoulder.

Rufus sadly stared at Kim being hauled into the chopper. Ron said nothing. Wade watched the footage on CNN.

CNN Special Report:

Anchor: "The hostage crisis in Paramus is finally over. The assailant known as Shego is presumed dead, but no official confirmation has been given to CNN. Hostages poured out of the mall, and later the teenage protagonist was helicoptered to Paramus Medical. Her condition will not be released according to Special Agent Nicholas Phillips."

Agent Phillips interviewed via Satellite: "The situation is controlled. We're grateful to Kim Possible, a true hero."

END OF ROUND 13