Mission: Possible

by Gary D. Snyder

Chapter 7:

Jimmy slowly came to himself and became aware of a warm and somehow pleasant pressure against his right side. As he stirred sluggishly he realized that something soft and silky was touching the skin of his right arm, and it gradually dawned on him that it was someone's hair brushing against him. He slowly opened his eyes and saw that Kim was leaning against him with her head resting on his right shoulder. She was not yet awake and in her unconscious state seemed younger and more vulnerable than Jimmy remembered. As he watched, not certain what to do, she stirred and slowly opened her eyes, looking into his in puzzlement. Jimmy was suddenly and uncomfortably aware of just how pretty and close she was to him.

"I wasn't doing anything!" he stammered in protest, backing away from her. "Honest!"

Kim seemed puzzled at his outburst. "Chill, Jimmy. No need to panic." She stood and stretched, working the stiffness out of her joints. "Where are we?"

Jimmy stood up also and shrugged. "I'm not sure. I just woke up myself."

"How long have we been out?"

Jimmy glanced at his watch. "About two hours, near as I can tell." He looked around to discover that they were in some sort of cell, bare except for a bench they had been sitting on. His backpack was gone and he didn't doubt that any special equipment Kim had been carrying had also been taken. Walls of some dark grey metal made up three sides of their quarters, while the fourth side appeared to be an opening leading to a larger area beyond. Jimmy and Kim moved cautiously towards the opening, suspecting a trap. When they were within a foot or two of the opening Kim's quick ears picked up a faint, throbbing hum and she threw her arm protectively in front of Jimmy.

"Force field," she explained grimly when Jimmy gave her a questioning look. "Probably not lethal, but no sense in risking it."

Jimmy carefully leaned a little closer until he could also hear the faint hum coming from the invisible field. "Good call," he said. He looked around at the other walls. "Any chance of getting out another way?"

Kim busied herself with rapping against the other walls before shaking her head. "I doubt it. I'd say these walls were at least four inches thick." She stamped on the floor and surveyed the fluorescent light panels in the ceiling some twelve feet above them. "And I don't think that the floor or ceiling are an option at this point. And I'd bet that this place is shielded to prevent radio communications."

"Oh, what a shame," a familiar yet irritating voice said. "What's the problem, Kimmie? Aren't you the person who can do anything?"

"Shego," Kim answered through gritted teeth.

Shego appeared from one side of the opening, giving the two captives a wicked smirk. "Seriously, Princess, how does it feel to be taken down so easily?"

Kim dropped into a martial arts stance. "Step inside and I'll show you."

"Oh, hey, love to," Shego replied with mock amiability, "but Drakken and Calamitous are going to be running some tests soon and they wanted a test subject. Personally I hope they save Kimmie for last, but it's not my call."

"What kind of tests?" Jimmy wanted to know.

"Multiple-choice, essay, true/false." Shego shrugged. "Don't know, don't care. Once Calamitous' daughter shows up to get one of you two losers I expect you'll find out pretty soon." She gave edges of the force field an appraising look. "Sure you don't want to give the force field a try? Just to make sure it really can stop you and isn't just, you know, Christmas lights?"

"If anything stops anyone, it will be us stopping you," Jimmy retorted.

Shego looked bored. "Yeah, yeah. Been there, heard that. Just like your two lame friends were able to stop us."

"What about them?" Kim demanded. Both she and Jimmy had forgotten all about Ron and Cindy and Shego's comment worried both of them.

"Oh, that's right. You were out already, weren't you?" Shego assumed an attitude of indifference. "Not much to tell, actually."

Kim's voice took on a dangerous edge. "Spill it, Shego."

Shego shrugged. "Well, if it had been up to me, I'd have taken care of both of them then and there. But not Dr. D. Oh, no. He has to concoct some ridiculously overblown plan to get rid of them and the plant all at the same time."

"What did you do?" Jimmy nearly shouted, torn between anger and fear.

"Hey, first off, it wasn't my idea. Drakken had me put some kind of bomb in the magnesium to get rid of both your friends along with any evidence that we had been there." Shego paused and looked thoughtful. "Too bad about your girlfriend, Neutron. But I always thought that the buffoon was making an ash of himself."

If Jimmy remembered about the force field he didn't seem to care. With a snarl of anger he lunged at Shego before Kim could stop him, his hands outstretched and twisted into claws by unadulterated primal fury. Scant inches from Shego he was stopped and hurled back, his body twisting as electrical energy coursed through him. He fell heavily to the floor, gasping from pain and raw emotion. Kim hurried over to kneel next to him.

Shego seemed almost impressed. "Hey, that's the spirit. You want to quit while you're ahead or go for total electrocution?"

Kim shot her a venomous look. "Back off, Shego."

"Okay, fine, whatever." She disappeared beyond the field of view of the cell. "Just call me over when you feel like putting on another show. I wouldn't want to miss it."

"Are you okay, Jimmy?" Kim asked gently.

"I'll be okay." He clenched his fist in anger. "If I could just get to that witch –"

"Hey, I heard that," Shego's voice called out in mild protest.

"Good," Jimmy called back loudly. "Then I won't have to repeat it." More quietly he said, "If anything's happened to Cindy…"

"Relax, Jimmy," Kim said, although she two was concerned. "They're tough. They'll be all right."

"It's more than that. She shouldn't have come along. I should have stopped her but I didn't. If anything happened to her it'll be all my fault."

"Don't think that way. I know Ron and he's…well…despite what Drakken and Shego say he always comes through. I'd bet him against Drakken and Shego any day."

Jimmy looked unconvinced. "We didn't do too well, did we?"

Kim shook her head. "It doesn't look too good, does it?" she said softly. "It seems like maybe they did beat us this time."

A funny look came over Jimmy's face. "Beat?" he repeated. As Kim looked on in bewilderment Jimmy climbed to his feet and walked closer to the force field. As he stood there, saying nothing, Kim began to worry.

"Are you all right, Jimmy?" she asked, moving next to him.

"Fine," Jimmy replied in an odd voice.

"What are you doing?"

"Listening."

"To what?"

Jimmy looked at her with a strange light in his eyes. "If I can get us out," he whispered, "do you think you could take on Shego?"

"In a minute," Kim replied without hesitating. Then she looked puzzled. "How?"

In answer Jimmy walked to the back of the cell and motioned her over. "Do you know how that hum from that force field seems to throb?" he asked quietly.

"Yes," Kim answered softly. "So?"

"So, I think that it's a beat frequency." Seeing her blank stare he continued. "When two signals of different frequencies interact they create additional frequencies, called beat frequencies. The hum we hear is the frequency of the force field. The throbbing is one of the beat frequencies."

"Okay, got that," Kim said in a low voice. "But where's the other frequency coming from? And…so what?"

Jimmy pointed at the fluorescent lights. "The other frequency is coming from the power lines. And that means that the force field circuitry isn't very well shielded."

"Chalk another one up for Drakken."

"Actually, I'd bet that Calamitous is the culprit here. He never could finish anything. Anyway, I think that I can find the frequency of the force field and cancel it out."

A ray of hope suddenly dissipated Kim's bleak outlook. "You think so? How?"

Jimmy showed her his watch. "I can tune the oscillator in my watch to find the frequency of the force field."

Kim looked amazed. Everything Jimmy had told her seemed so simple that she found herself wondering why she hadn't thought of it herself. Wade wasn't kidding about this kid, she thought to herself. "And once you find it you can bring the field down?"

"Yes." He frowned and began pacing up and down. "But it will take me a while to find the right frequency. And," he continued turning to face Kim, "I won't be able to keep it down for long. We'll have a few seconds at best to get through."

Now that there was a plan of action Kim rose to the occasion. "It'll be enough. Once we're through, just leave Shego to me."

Jimmy looked worried. "Can you really take her? Those green energy bolts looked pretty dangerous."

Kim looked almost blasé. "Trust me. No big." She looked thoughtful. "It's distracting her so that you can get the force field down that will be the problem. She's sure to get suspicious while you're trying to find the right frequency."

"I know." Jimmy thought about it. "Maybe we could create a distraction."

"Any distraction we make would have to be in here and would bring her over," Kim pointed out. "We want to keep her away from here."

"Good point. Maybe we could wait until she falls asleep?"

"Good luck. Shego's had ninja training. She won't sleep until she wants to sleep and she'll be awake in no time if anything suspicious is up."

"Maybe she'll take a coffee break?" Jimmy was grasping at straws now.

Kim shook her head. "Never heard of Drakken giving one."

The situation was nearly maddening. Now that they had a clear plan for escape the lack of an opportunity to execute it seemed like a cruel joke. Nothing, Jimmy was sure, could possibly make the situation any worse. And then fate seemed to deliver the final punch line.

"It's about time," he heard Shego say.

"Hey, it's not my fault that Drakken and Daddy Dearest can't stick to a timeline. But just try to get either of them to use a Day Planner." As Kim and Jimmy watched with sinking hearts Beautiful Gorgeous came into view. "Okay, Neutron, it's show time. You have an appointment with the big boys upstairs. Oh, and Kim?"

Kim looked wordlessly at her.

"Don't wait up. He won't be back anytime soon…" Beautiful paused to let the meaning of the words sink in. "…if at all."

End of Chapter 7