Mission: Possible

by Gary D. Snyder

Chapter 8:

While Jimmy stood frozen in indecision Kim saw an opportunity. In a soft voice just loud enough to carry byeond the confines of the cell she said, "No, Jimmy! If it were Shego you might have a chance, but…" She let her voice trail off as Jimmy stared at her in bewilderment. In a much quieter tone she whispered, "Just play along."

Outside the cell Shego had been entering the code to drop the force field but had stopped at hearing Kim's comment. "What did you say?" she demanded.

Kim feigned ignorance. "I didn't say anything."

Shego left the keypad and stalked over to the cell entrance to confront Kim. "Repeat it."

"But I didn't –"

"Repeat it!" Shego snapped, her eyes blazing.

Kim sighed and her shoulders slumped in resignation. "Fine. Jimmy was going to try escaping from Beautiful. I told him that if you were escorting him he might have a chance, but…"

Shego planted her fists on her hips, anger coloring her face. "Whoa, wait, hold on there. Just what is that supposed to mean?"

Kim shrugged easily. "Hey, you and I have tangled a couple dozen times now and every time I've kicked your butt. Beautiful goes up against me and takes me down on her first try. You do the math."

"I'd call it dumb luck," Shego scoffed.

Beautiful, who had appeared amused by the exchange thus far, seemed to be annoyed by Shego's remark. "I'm not surprised you'd say that. I didn't think you'd recognize real talent when you saw it."

Shego was about to reply when Jimmy, who had caught on, spoke up. "I don't know, Kim. I didn't have much trouble with Beautiful when we tangled before. I'd have to say that Shego and her laser blasts are a lot more formidable. They give her the advantages of both power and reach."

"See?" Shego cried in triumph, pointing a finger at Beautiful. "What do you say to that?"

"Who are you going to believe?" Beautiful sneered. "A world-saving teen heroine with a proven track record or some twelve-year-old kid?"

"A twelve-year-old kid with an I.Q. over 200," Shego shot back.

"And what is that supposed to prove?"

"That he's at least twice as smart as an average person," Shego responded smugly. "Which makes him at least three times as smart as anyone in your family."

Beautiful assumed a threatening stance. "You sound like someone just asking for a butt-kicking."

Shego's hands burst into green flame. "And you think you're the one to do it?'

"Anytime, anywhere, Greenie!"

"Here and now is fine with me, Precious!"

With a snarl both women sprang at each other. As they did so Kim whispered to Jimmy, "Now's your chance! Wait for my signal to open the field!" Then, in a loud voice, she called out, "Take it to her, Beautiful!"

Jimmy hurried to a far corner of the cell and got to work. Calling the device on his wrist a watch was an injustice, much as calling an ocean liner a raft would be a vast understatement. In addition to keeping time Jimmy's wristcomp also provided the functions of a PDA, GPS, videophone, and several other userful devices. One of those devices was a laser, although Jimmy had been understandably reluctant to use it in an escape attempt while Shego had been on guard. Besides, it was a terrible drain on the power cell.

At the moment Jimmy was not interested with any of the functions of his wristcomp. Instead, he was feverishly modifying its intricate circuitry using the set of tiny tools that he kept inside the case for the many times he felt the temptation to tinker. The task at hand was simple but time-consuming. Jimmy would make a minute adjustment to the tuning circuit of the wristcomp's main oscillator, check for the change in power level indicating a reaction from the force field, and then repeat the process when there was no response. It was nerve-wracking work, and he hoped that Shego and Beautiful would be kept busy until he found the frequency needed to damp out the force field. Fortunately both women were determined to prove themselves the better competitor and the battle was still going strong when he finally isolated the frequency.

"Got it!" he whispered to Kim, who was watching the fight.

"Not yet," she whispered back. "But when I give the signal, follow me out and stay out of the way." She raised her hand, watching for the right moment. Now that Jimmy no longer needed to concentrate on the circuitry of his wristcomp he found himself watching the contest between Shego and Beautiful with growing interest. In addition to skillful lunges, punches, and kicks he noted that both women were not above attempting to scratch or pull the other's hair if the opportunity arose. Their obvious fighting skills worried him.

"Are you sure you can take them both?" he whispered anxiously to Kim.

"No," she replied, but sounded unconcerned. "I only intend to take on one." She suddenly stiffened as the two combatants maneuvered towards the front of the cell. "Get ready…Now!" she said, dropping her hand and crouching down to leap forward. At Kim's signal Jimmy activated the wristcomp and the hum of the force field ceased. Instantly Kim launched herself forward, vaulting in a graceful somersault over Shego and Beautiful before they noticed or understood what was going on. Jimmy also dove through the opening and rolled to one side just as Kim landed lightly in a handstand and kicked backwards, striking Shego in the small of the back. Caught completely unawares by the surprise attack Shego lurched forward into the vacant holding cell just seconds before the wristcomp's power cell gave out and the force field again closed over the opening. Shego frantically blasted the walls and field with no apparent effect in a futile attempt to get free.

"Nice move," Beautiful conceded as she ignored Shego's plight and prepared to face her new adversary. "I guess that maybe you really can do anything."

"You don't know the half of it," Kim replied grimly, also adopting a fighting stance. "You ready for a rematch?"

Beautiful smiled and gestured for her young opponent to come closer. "Anytime, anywhere." Not waiting for a response she leaped forward, her leg swinging forward in a savage kick at Kim's head. Kim responded by slipping under the attack and throwing a reverse punch at her attacker as she flew past, but Beautiful easily parried the blow and used the energy to land easily beyond the reach of any immediate follow-up attack by Kim. Beautiful relaxed her stance somewhat and shook her head with a sly smile. "You're good, Kim," she said. "But frankly, you're just not in my league."

"Sewing or bowling?" Kim answered without a smile. She attempted to vault over her foe but Beautiful grabbed one her legs and threw her viciously to the floor, sending Kim sprawling.

Beautiful moved slowly, almost indifferently, towards her. "Let's face it. I'm bigger, stronger, and better trained. You don't have a chance."

Kim got to her feet and circled cautiously, keeping her distance while waiting for an advantage to appear. "So you say."

Jimmy watched helplessly, wishing that there were something he could do to help. He spotted his and Kim's equipment lying on a table at one end of the room, and while Kim and Beautiful sought for an opening he moved over to see if there was anything among his gear that might help. He wished now that he had repaired his hypno-beam and brought it along, as it had worked on Beautiful once before, but after several moments of rummaging he concluded that none of his items would be of any help. Having exhausted the possibilities with his equipment he turned to Kim's things and began searching through them. There was not much there, but a gun with a grappling hook caught his eye. He looked around the room, figuring trajectories and calculating angles in his head.

Beautiful was slowly herding Kim into one corner of the room. "Looking for some place to run, Possible?"

"So not my style." Kim replied, crouching down. Behind Beautiful she could see Jimmy moving, carefully counting paces from one corner of the wall. Inside the cell Shego had given up trying to blast her way out and had assumed the role of a disgruntled spectator. She saw Jimmy but seemed almost bored by his actions.

"Hey, Precious. You might want to think about Kimmie's partner," she called out.

"Neutron?" Beautiful, intent on taking down Kim, didn't even bother to look around. "He's smart, but like he's really a threat without his gadgets. He even thought that you were actually better than me."

Shego scowled at the rebuff, showing her clenched teeth . "Don't say I didn't warn you," she finally said, but in a voice so low that only Jimmy heard it.

Kim was now backed almost fully into the corner and Beautiful pressed forward, sensing victory. "Looks like it's the big wrap-up, Possible."

"Good choice of words," Jimmy commented behind her. Aiming carefully to one side he fired the gun, sending the grappling hook speeding towards one of bordering walls. In less than a second it struck the wall, ricocheted between Kim and Beautiful towards the other corner wall, and then ricocheted again back towards Jimmy. Before reaching him the length of line was exhausted and the hook fell back on the rope, forming a loop around Beautiful. Bracing himself, Jimmy pressed the button to retract the hook, tightening the loop around the startled woman, pinning her arms to her side, and dragging her back towards him.

Kim wasted no time in taking advantage of situation. She dove forward onto the astonished Beautiful, seized the nozzle that had deployed the sleep gas, pointed it towards Beautiful's face, and snapped the tip off. Beautiful received a stream of gas in her face just as she was sucking in a lungful of air to replace the air that Kim's impact had knocked out of her. As the gas took effect she grew limp and looked at Kim almost apologetically. "I never wanted…to be a…villainess…" she whimpered. "All I really wanted was…to be a…be a…" And with that she slumped to the floor, unconscious.

Shego let out a little noise of disgust. "Told you," she sneered at the sleeping figure. "Amateur."

Kim stepped back from Beautiful and gave Jimmy a smile. "Great work, Jimmy. You most definitely rock."

"Thanks," Jimmy said. "And now to find Calamitous and Drakken."

"And when we find them?" Kim asked, retrieving her things.

Jimmy looked grim as he shouldered his backpack. "We take them down, too. And they'd just better hope for their own sakes that their plan for Cindy and Ron didn't work."

End of Chapter 8