Mission: Possible

by Gary D. Snyder

Chapter 4:

Kim had scarcely finished speaking when a score of uniformed muscular men began rappelling from the hovering craft into the storeroom. All appeared to be armed with rifles of some sort and Jimmy and Cindy, unaccustomed to such armed confrontations, froze. Kim, on the other hand, had expected this sort of thing from Drakken. She did a forward flip over the two younger people to place herself between them and the advancing henchmen. "Stay down!" she ordered as she assumed a fighting stance.

If anything could snap Cindy out of her daze it was the implication that she couldn't take care of herself. "If you think I'm staying out of this…" she began, only to be interrupted by an energy blast from a rifle that barely missed her. "…it actually might not be a bad idea," she finished meekly.

"Don't worry, Kim!" Ron called as he moved to a supporting position. "We've got your back!"

Despite the odds, however, Kim seemed to be in no serious trouble as she bounced, flipped, and sprang among Drakken's wildly firing men with an easy agility. As she moved among them she reduced their numbers by either attacking them directly or manipulating their movements so that they blasted each other. After a few short minutes they were all down and she stood there, breathing hard and looking about her suspiciously.

"That was easy," said Jimmy.

"Too easy," Kim replied. "I wonder what happened to –"

Kim's next words were lost as a lithe figure in black struck her from behind, completely surprising her and knocking her to the floor. She recovered instantly and rolled back to her feet, ready to confront her new adversary. Her green eyes hardened as she took in the unfamiliar figure.

"So you're Kim Possible," the stranger almost purred. She was a young woman in her early twenties, quite attractive and particularly shapely in the skintight black outfit she wore. "You're good. Very good."

"And you are…?" Kim asked.

"Beautiful Gorgeous," Jimmy answered for her in a voice dripping with contempt.

"She sure is," Ron agreed, his mouth hanging open.

Boys, thought Cindy with disgust. She had developed an instant dislike for the newcomer and wondered how anyone could possible miss the obvious malevolence that clung about her as tightly as the supple leather outfit. She wondered with some disdain as to whether Jimmy had acted like that the first time he had met the woman.

"Ron, I think they've already mopped the floor in here," Kim said dryly. "Reel in your tongue and close your mouth."

"What? I wasn't –" Ron started to protest.

"Oh, yes you were," smiled Beautiful as she winked at Ron. "But I hope you won't mind if I take it as a compliment."

"Fine, you do that," retorted Kim. "And I hope you won't mind if I take you to jail." She assumed a fighting stance again.

Her antagonist smiled in reply, dropping into a martial arts position and beckoning with one hand. "Let's see what you've got."

As the two closed together Jimmy began digging into his backpack, extracting various devices and setting them aside. Finally he pulled what he had been searching for, his hypno-beam, and waited for a clear shot at Beautiful. It worked before, he thought, so it should work again.

Actually getting the clear shot was a problem. Kim and Beautiful were both intent on keeping up the pressure and took every opportunity to punch or kick at the other. Each time they found themselves thwarted as the other deftly dodged, blocked, or parried the attack. Despite her advantage in size and experience Beautiful found that Kim's speed and dexterity were superior to hers and put the two combatants on equal footing.

"You are good," Beautiful admitted with grudging admiration during a brief pause.

"Very good," Kim answered as the two warily circled each other.

As Kim and Beautiful sought an opening Jimmy thought he saw an opportunity approaching. As Beautiful moved around into his sights he raised the hypno-beam and yelled, "Duck, Kim!" even as he began squeezing the trigger. Before he could fire, however, a bolt of green energy blasted the device from his hand and left the hypno-beam a molten mass of metal and plastic on the floor. Another bolt knocked him backwards into a wall and left him lying stunned on the floor. A woman with a mane of black hair and dressed in a garishly pied green and black outfit dropped lightly down from somewhere above to land in front of him. In the light her complexion seemed to be a pale green.

"No, no, no," she said. "Let Kimmie and her new friend play."

"Shego!" yelled Ron.

It was a bad move on Ron's part. Hearing Ron's cry Kim's attention was shifted momentarily from her opponent to Ron and the others. In that moment Beautiful succeeded in landing a punch to Kim's midsection that knocked the breath out of the teenager. At the same time she pressed a button on her belt causing a hidden nozzle to expel a cloud of vapor in Kim's face, just as Kim sucked in to replace the air that had been forced from her lungs. As the gas filled her lungs Kim recognized the sweetish odor as an anaesthetic compound and she fought desperately to remain conscious and on her feet. She failed at both.

"You're good," Beautiful repeated to the senseless girl at her feet. "But I'm better."

Ron and Cindy were both torn as to what to do. Ron's first instinct was to rush to Kim's aid, but personal experience had conditioned him to recognize Shego as his primary foe. On the other hand, Cindy wanted to help Jimmy but had no idea how to combat someone who could fire green energy bolts from her hands, yet she was certain she was no match for the woman who had felled Kim. Their indecision sealed their fate as Shego and Beautiful moved in to trap the two young people between them. Thus cornered Ron and Cindy had no recourse but to fight. Neither of the women seemed intimidated by their defiant stance.

"Monkey kung fu," Beautiful commented as she studied Ron's movements. "Not a bad system to master." She assumed a menacing stance. "Of course, I know over a hundred others. This could be interesting."

"And what do you think you're doing, Blondie?" Shego sneered as Cindy prepared to fight. "Getting ready for a tai chi demonstration at school?" She smiled evilly as her hands appeared to burst into emerald flame. "I eat beginners like you for breakfast."

"You might consider switching to Atkins," Cindy shot back. "The calories are definitely showing."

Cindy had hoped that insulting Shego would anger her and make her careless. She achieved her first objective but Shego was too experienced to let emotions dictate her actions. She attacked with cold precision, forcing Cindy back as the young girl parried and dodged her vicious swipes. Cindy had no idea what the green energy was that Shego controlled but she knew it was dangerous and wanted no part of it.

Ron was also having a difficult time of it. Beautiful's claim was no idle boast and Ron found that his martial arts knowledge was not up to the task. His efforts quickly became purely defensive in nature. It wasn't long before Beautiful found an opening and landed several quick blows that left Ron in semiconscious pain on the floor. Almost immediately after that Shego breached Cindy's defenses and sent her sprawling beside him. As the Shego and Beautiful moved in on them to finish the job Drakken's voice boomed from the ship.

"Shego! Beautiful! Forget about the buffoon and the girl. Just collect Possible and Neutron and get back here."

Shego looked doubtful. "I don't think it's a good idea just to leave them here."

"Did you leave the surprise like I asked you to?"

"Well, yes, but –"

"No buts. Get back here. We have work to do."

Shego sighed. "Fine, okay, whatever. You sign the checks." She headed over to Jimmy, who was starting to come to himself again. "But I bet you're going to regret this later." Annoyed with Drakken's cavalier attitude she again blasted Jimmy, sending him back into the blackness from which he had been emerging.

"You too, daughter," Calamitous' voice came over the ship's speaker. "We have what we came for."

Beautiful looked around. "There's more of the beryllium alloy here."

"What we have should be adequate to strengthen the frame. The authorities are on the way."

"But –"

"This minute, young lady! Or it's to your room with no supper tonight."

"Okay, okay, I'm coming." She slung Kim, still unconscious, over her shoulder. "Like I'd really regret missing Spaghetti-O's and Tater Tots," she grumbled.

The two fired grappling lines up to the ship and activated the motors that pulled them and their helpless captives back into the craft. By this time most of the henchmen had recovered and were also returning to the ship by similar means. Once inside the ship Shego and Beautiful secured Jimmy and Kim in separate locked compartments and reported to the ship's main control room.

"Well done," Professor Calamitous congratulated them.

"Yeah, well, I think we should have taken care of the other two. Somehow or other these loose ends always come back to haunt us," Shego commented. "I'm not even sure why you wanted us to bring Possible and that Neutron kid back."

"Because they will make the perfect guinea pigs for our tests," explained Professor Calamitous. "And as a wise man said, 'Keep your friends close, and your enemies…'…um…um…"

"'…in a cool, dark place to keep them from spoiling'?" suggested Beautiful listlessly.

"'…closer'," finished Drakken. "Which is what we're doing."

Shego shrugged. "Okay, fine, we have Possible and Neutron on ice. But what about the other two?"

Drakken laughed. "The buffoon and Neutron's girlfriend? Hardly a threat there, I think. And besides, my surprise will take care of them."

"What is your surprise?" asked Beautiful.

"Just a box I stuck in the lab's magnesium stockpile," said Shego.

"It's hardly a box. It's an incendiary device that will ignite the magnesium stock," Drakken explained. "Do you know just how hot magnesium burns once it ignites?"

"No," Shego answered truthfully. "How hot?"

"It's more than…the combustion temperature is well over…I don't know," Drakken confessed. "You'd have to ask that boy genius Neutron about it. But I know it's pretty hot." He laughed again. "After it goes up they'll be lucky if they find anything left of the lab, much less those two kids or any sign we were ever there."

End of Chapter 4