A Glitch in Time

by Gary D. Snyder

Chapter 17:

Although Shego had not known exactly what she'd find when she arrived at the hospital, the news of Drew Lipsky's primitive Bebes had led her to expect a bad situation. Even so, finding Kim virtually incapacitated was far worse than anything she could have imagined. She had personally battled the teen heroine time and again and knew that anything that could take down her arch-nemesis had to be a serious threat. Her abrupt arrival startled the young James Possible, but Kim hardly reacted to her presence.

"All right, sitch me," Shego greeted them tersely.

"I beg your pardon?" was all the young man could reply. He had had a number of shocks already this evening, but the sight of Shego in her garish green and black outfit was still enough to unnerve him.

"What happened?" Shego rephrased slowly.

James Possible thought carefully and tried to reconstruct precisely what had happened. "I was meeting someone here tonight for a first date when these three…things…came out of nowhere and abducted her. This young lady tried to help, but unfortunately was injured." He looked worried. "I really think she needs a doctor."

Kim managed to shake her head. "Doctor…won't help," she got out between gritted teeth. "Have to…save…her."

"Save her? His date?" Shego asked.

Kim nodded weakly. "No past…no future…no Kim."

This is so not fair, Shego thought fiercely. I finally have what I've always wanted within my grasp and now I have to stop it. "We need Brainiac, Jr.," was all she said. "He might know what to do."

"No…no time," Kim gasped. "Only…a few minutes…"

"She sounds delirious," Kim's father commented.

"It's not the first time," Shego replied. She made a snap decision. "Okay. Which way did they go?"

The young man looked around in some confusion. "I think they went that way…no, wait a minute. It was between those two trees there…or maybe it was that tree there and that lamppost…" He turned slowly around, considering his surroundings and indicating the possible avenues of flight.

Shego snorted. "Great. You can't remember which way they went?" Getting only a helpless look from James Possible, Shego looked expectantly at Kim, who shook her head weakly. "Well, that pretty much sinks it, doesn't it?"

Kim slumped back. "I…guess so." Despite her distress she also made her decision. "Get Jimmy and…"

A pained shriek in the distance cut off Kim's words. Shego whirled, instantly getting the bearing of the cry. "That's Drakken," she announced. "I'd know that girly scream anywhere. Stay here!"

As Shego darted off into the darkness Kim used the young man as a support to fight her way to her feet, feeling the sweat beading on her forehead. "I'm…in this…too…" she panted. "Count…on it."

James Possible tried gently but firmly to hold her back and keep her still, but in vain. "You're in no shape to go anywhere. And there's nothing you or I can possibly do to help."

"Nothing's impossible…for a…Possible," she returned. She took a faltering step forward and nearly fell, but managed to take another step. James Possible hurried forward to support her just before she collapsed again. As she fell into the man's arms a feeling that he couldn't quite place came over him. He had never seen the girl before, but as he looked at her it was as though the past and future came together. Against his better judgment he straightened, lifting Kim easily in his arms.

"All right," he said. "I don't know why, but if it's so important for you to try this hard, I suppose can't do any less." He half-ran, half-jogged forward in the direction that Shego had taken, wondering what they would find and what they would do when they got to wherever they were going.

As he hurried through the dark he heard another shriek of pain and anger ahead, followed by what sounded like high-intensity energy discharges. Somewhere in the gloom ahead flickers of green light winked at him from out of the darkness. In the intermittent glow he could see dim silhouettes moving and weaving together, and as he drew closer he saw that the oddly-dressed woman had located the figures that had attacked earlier. She moved with a practiced skill that made each motion seem almost like a dance, but this was a dance in deadly earnest, in which neither side asked nor expected quarter. To James Possible's amazement the green lights he had seen before appeared to emanate from her hands. As he watched, one of the emerald bolts struck one of the robotic adversaries and sent a mechanical arm whirling through the air to land at his feet. It lay there smoldering on the grass.

"Come on!" the woman yelled. "You want some of this? You want a piece of me? You worthless rejects from a Radio Hut bargain bin! Show me what you got!" She whirled and knocked another of the Bebes back with a roundhouse kick before turning to tackle another.

Off to the side James Possible saw his would-be date struggling in the grip of a man who, in the dim light, appeared to be blue. Although he was much larger than his captive the man appeared to be having some sort of attack, slapping at himself with one hand while he struggled to keep his unwilling companions under control with the other. "Will you do something to help me?" he snapped to a younger man at his side. With a start James Possible recognized the younger man as none other than Drew Lipsky. It was then that he realized that the mechanical creatures the woman was fighting were Lipsky's prototype Bebes.

Drew ignored the other man, concentrating instead on coordinating the attacks of the Bebes against the elusive and deadly Shego. James Possible saw that Lipsky's strategy might actually succeed, as the robots were constantly evaluating Shego's moves and becoming much more effective in their own offensive and defensive maneuvers against her. It was also clear that Shego was beginning to tire and that her movements were becoming more sluggish. James Possible made his own decision and, gently laying the semi-conscious Kim on the grass, crept forward as stealthily as he knew how.

The Bebes had apparently finalized their tactics and carefully circled Shego who turned warily, sensing the trap. On one accord the robots leapt towards Shego with carefully timed and computed trajectories calculated to leave Shego open to at least one attack. Shego dispatched one Bebe handily and barely managed to disable the second through a superhuman effort, but knew that she could not possibly stop the third. She steeled herself against the third Bebe, hoping that she would be in a condition to launch a counter-offensive of her own following the robot's attack.

It never came. To Shego's surprise the Bebe stopped abruptly with its head tilted at a very odd angle and fizzling sparks coming form the joint at its neck. Then it pitched forward on the ground, revealing James Possible standing behind it holding one of the Bebes' mechanical arms like a baseball bat. "A little out of character for a scientist, isn't that?" Shego commented breathlessly.

The young man shrugged. "Sometimes," he deadpanned, "even a man of science will take up arms for a good cause."

The attack had been just as much a surprise to Drakken and Drew as it had been to Shego. In that brief moment of indecision the captive woman twisted around and launched an attack of her own. The straight right to Drakken's jaw had little effect, but the knee that came up at him from below was far more effective. He folded to his knees like in slow motion, like a snowman melting in the afternoon sun, and flopped over to lie helplessly on the ground. "Eep," was all he was able to squeak out.

Drew Lipsky, seeing his ally disabled, his Bebes out of action, and himself outnumbered three to one took the most sensible course of action he could. Turning without a word, he ran off, disappearing into the night like a passing shadow. Possible! he thought savagely. It was all Possible's fault this happened to me. But I'll get my revenge on him some day. If it's the last thing I do, I will make him pa…both him, and then, someday, his heirs! Be afraid, Possibles. Be very afraid…

As Shego took Drakken in charge, James Possible walked over to his intended date. "Nice moves," he commented.

The young woman brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes. "One of the advantages of being a doctor. You get to know the strengths and weaknesses of human anatomy pretty well," she replied.

"I'm sorry this happened. I never expected that Drew Lipsky would pull something like this just because we laughed at his Bebe robots."

The woman looked surprised. "But that wasn't your fault."

"Maybe not, but still…I guess that this was probably the worst first date you've ever had."

The woman considered it. "Truthfully, yes. This has to have been the worst first date ever."

James Possible nodded. "I thought so. Well, I really can't blame you for thinking that." He sighed. "I guess you can't expect too much from a would-be rocket scientist. Maybe this whole dating thing isn't for me. A lot of famous scientists never got married, you know."

In the darkness not far away Kim stirred in a half-dream of pain and confusion as the threads of her existence continued to unravel.

The young woman considered the young man standing before her. Despite his words he had come to her assistance when she had needed it most. Without having to be told she knew that this was someone who would be at her side whenever she really needed someone. "Well, you did come after me. That was very sweet. Not many people would have." She suddenly looked concerned. "You're bleeding."

"What?" James Possible touched his forehead, which had started to bleed again. "Oh, that. That's just a scratch from before. It's nothing."

"Let me be the doctor." She gently brushed an unruly lock of hair off his forehead to briefly study the scrape before looking into his eyes. Her eyes, he noticed, were rather large and a fascinating shade of blue, and she in turn was careful to note his look. "You know," she said tentatively, "there is one good thing about having the worst date in the world."

"And what's that?"

She smiled. "They can only get better."

James Possible thought about it. "Does that mean you'd consider another date?"

She pretended to consider it. "Maybe. Let's see how this first one works out and we'll discuss it."

"That sounds fair." He smiled and offered her his arm. "The dance is about to start. Shall we?"

"Why not? I'm all dressed for it. And you wouldn't believe how rarely someone in residency has the chance to go to a dance." With a small laugh the two headed towards the student union, already oblivious to the others around them.

Shego, who had witnessed the proceedings with a mixture of wonder, revulsion, and scorn, pulled Drakken to his feet. "Okay, Doc. Let's get going."

"It's not fair," he whimpered, in a slightly higher tone of voice than normal. "It was all so perfect. It couldn't fail. It's not possible!"

"Haven't I ever told you," a voice Drakken had learned to despise, "that anything is possible for a Possible?"

Shego eyed Kim, who was standing before them and appeared perfectly normal. "You okay? Last time I saw you, you looked like you were at the eight count."

"Never better. I guess things worked out the way they were supposed to. I mean, Mom did say that the date started out terribly and turned out all right. It was actually the most memorable date of her life. I guess this was all meant to happen."

Drakken suddenly looked as though he were going to be sick. "You mean…your parents…I was the one who…?"

Kim's face was unusually thoughtful. "Apparently so. I guess your plot was what made this night one to remember and really brought them together. Without you, they might never have married and the whole Possible clan might never have been."

Drakken looked ready to cry. Shego looked at him. "Just one thing, Doc. What made you start shrieking like that? If not for that we probably would never have found you."

"How should I know?" was Drakken's bitter answer. "All I know is that something began poking and stabbing me. It was everywhere. I couldn't stop it."

"Poking and stabbing?" Kim repeated. "I wonder what that was all about?"

At that a small pink form scurried out of the darkness and up onto Kim's shoulder to spread its forelegs. "Tada!" it chirped.

"Rufus!" Kim cried. "Was all that you?"

The rodent nodded vigorously. "Uh-huh."

Kim squinted one eye at the naked mole rat. "Did Ron sneak you into my pocket when he wished he could send a part of him with me?" Rufus nodded. "I guess I really owe him one," was all she could say.

"If the Warm and Fuzzy Feel-Good Hour is over," Shego interjected, "we've foiled the bad guys and have a singularity about twenty years from now to fix. What say we round up the genius and get back to the future where we belong?"

"Good idea. Let me give Ron and Cindy a buzz." Kim pulled out her Kim-municator and activated the transceiver circuits. "Ron and Cindy, Kim here. We have Drakken and should be on our way back in a few minutes. Stand by to bring us back on our signal."

There was no answer and Kim gave Shego a worried look. "Maybe they stepped away for a minute to stretch their legs of something," Shego suggested. "Try again."

Kim did, with no success. "Nothing," she announced. "I've got a bad feeling about this. I don't think that Ron or Cindy would not answer unless something was keeping them from answering." She shook her head. "Something's wrong."

"Do you mean." Shego asked, "that we're stuck here in the '80s?"

"Not exactly," Kim replied absently. "It'll just take use twenty years to get back…if we're lucky."

Drakken asked the obvious question. "And if we aren't lucky?"
Kim looked him squarely in the eye. "Then you, and I, and everyone and everything else we know will be sucked into a temporal singularity and have the rest of eternity to think about the dangers of time travel."

End of Chapter 17