Triaxx2: I remember that show, though I don't think I watched more than a few episodes of it.
Visigoth29527: Sequels? Anything is possible.
Thanks to: campy, GargoyleSama, mattb3671, Spyke the Hedgehog, daywalkr82, eckles, Darkcloud1, Wanderer3, ron-sama, Alan Wilkinson, Lydia King, lady-of-tormentdeath, and The Fourthman.
Recommended reading: Not Quite Heroes, by MatthewC. An extremely interesting look at Drakken, Shego and the dynamics of their relationship, and a good lesson in the art of characterization.
Kim was leaning against a wall, trying to look and sound relaxed, at least more so than she felt. Standing a very short distance away was none other than Josh Mankey, eleventh grade dreamboat and longtime object of Kim's desire. A few weeks earlier, after two years of pining, Kim had finally worked up the nerve to talk to him, and managed to get a date out of it. Two more dates had followed and today, right now, the two of them were making arrangements for a fourth.
Despite the familiarity that was developing between them, Kim still felt nervous and awkward around Josh. If he noticed, he gave no sign, for which Kim was thankful.
"So, Kim," Josh said in that soft, smooth voice of his, the one that sent shivers down Kim's spine every time she heard it. "How about, instead of grabbing a bite and taking in a movie, we have my Mom make up a picnic dinner and drive up to Lake Middleton?"
Kim fought to keep from blinking. Lake Middleton? Josh was inviting her to join him for a trip to one of the Tri-City Area's most popular make-out spots? Quite suddenly her heart began to pound, and she felt her cheeks heat.
"Wow. Uh, I," she stammered, hating herself for it, "uh, sure! That sounds great, Josh. When, uh..." Kim trailed off as a familiar tightness made itself felt at the back of her head. Running footsteps rang in her ears. She knew those feet, and in the back of her mind wondered what could be so urgent.
Ron came around a nearby corner, sprinting almost, and slid to a stop in front of Kim and Josh.
"K.P!" he exclaimed breathlessly.
"What is it, Ron?" came out a bit more harshly than Kim intended, but Ron didn't seem to notice.
"Wade said you left your Kimmunicator in your locker," Ron gasped.
"Yeah, because I didn't want to be interrupted," Kim said, her eyes flicking meaningfully toward Josh.
Ron blinked, looked back and forth between Kim and Josh. His eyes widened slightly. "Oh, right, I get it," he said finally.
Kim rolled her eyes in frustration.
"Hey, Stoppable," Mankey said casually. His expression and tone of voice suggested that he was amused by what was going on, but not in a bad way.
"Mankey," Ron acknowledged politely.
"Anyway," Kim said, "My leaving my Kimmunicator in my locker is an issue why?"
Ron held up his own Kimmunicator and keyed it. Wade's face popped up on the screen.
"Because Shego just broke into a corporate lab in California," Wade explained without preamble, "And that Drakken person she works for seems to be with her."
Kim turned to Josh. "I have to take this," she said apologetically.
"No big," Josh said with an easy, understanding smile. "Call me later," he added.
"I will," Kim blushed. Then turning to the business at hand, "Wade, how about a ride?"
"What is it they make here anyway?" Kim asked, her voice a whisper, as she and Ron moved along a corridor. The sensitive microphone of her headset picked up every word, though, and Wade heard her just fine.
"They don't make anything, per se," Wade answered. "This is a research facility. The scientists who work here experiment with new kinds and ways of making plastic."
"What do Shego and Drakken want with experimental plastics?" Ron asked, frowning in thought. "All their earlier robberies were of medical equipment."
Wade shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine."
"We'll just have to ask them," Kim resolved. She moved off, Ron following closely. Eventually she halted.
"Henchmen coming," she warned, indicating a set of double doors ahead. Ron nodded silently. He'd long since stopped asking how she knew these things: if it wasn't her ears it was her eyes.
"Wish I had x-ray vision," he muttered. He'd been immensely jealous when Kim had revealed her most recently discovered ability (she didn't like the term 'power').
"Only so you could peek into the girls locker room," Kim whispered, repeating what she'd said the first time Ron had expressed his desire.
"You keep saying that like it's bad," Ron retorted. "Besides, it's not like you haven't done the same thing."
"I so have not," Kim denied firmly. At Ron's steady gaze she grinned slightly. "Well, maybe once or twice," she admitted. "But I know it's rude, so I stopped doing it."
Ron's expression became one of amused doubtfulness, but before he could say anything else, the doors rattled and began to open. Quickly stepping to either side of the hallway, Kim and Ron dropped into battle stances. Kim didn't really need to. It was more a habit than a necessity: unless the henchmen were armed with something on the order of a bazooka, she was in little danger. For his part, Ron produced a police truncheon. Kim was a little surprised at how expertly he wielded it, but decided that she shouldn't have been. He'd spent six more weeks at Yamanouchi in the summer, working on his mastery of the mystical monkey power and his martial arts skills. Apparently he'd learned a lot. He was far more confident, at any rate. Kim hid a smile. Mission confidence was only one aspect of Ron that had changed. He wasn't exactly a 'ladies man' or a 'babe magnet', but he'd managed to get a few dates since school had started, and Kim was almost certain it was because of someone he'd met in Japan. Just who that someone was, Kim didn't know. She hadn't pressed for details, and Ron hadn't offered any. Part of her was thrilled for him, but an other part was admittedly jealous. She had long regarded Ron as hers, even if he wasn't boyfriend material, and the idea of his being interested in another girl was...painful. But Kim had decided she was just being silly, and put those thoughts be hind her. Now...
"Space out much?" Ron jibed as he cracked his truncheon across the jaw of one of the two henchmen who had come through the doors. Kim blinked, shook herself, then slammed a balled fist into the face of the second. He joined his partner on the floor.
"Sorry," Kim apologized. "I went off on a tangent."
Ron's brief ire vanished instantly, a goofy grin lighting his face.
"No big," he said. "It's not like we lost or anything."
Shego cast a brief glance at Dr. Lipsky...er, Dr. Drakken as he supervised the loading of drums of chemicals and various bits of computer hardware onto the hover car. Drakken hadn't been satisfied with the synthodrones they'd created using Jack Hench's formula, and was researching various improvements. That was why they were in California, to steal some advanced mimetic polymer to add to the mix. They probably could have gotten a hold of the stuff legally without much effort: Andrew Lipsky's reputation remained as yet untarnished, and Shego couldn't imagine the lab turning down a Nobel Prize winner's request for a sample. But stealing was more fun, as Drakken had put it, and Shego had to agree. Plus, if things went as planned they would kill two birds with one stone tonight.
Not that actual killing would be involved. The planned events were tests, really, designed to gauge the apparently considerable abilities of Kim Possible and, to a lesser extent, her sidekick. Possible had thwarted, or hindered, or simply made herself a nuisance in enough of Shego and Drakken's schemes that they had decided Possible needed to be neutralized, if not outright eliminated. Preliminary research, however, had suggested that Possible was going to be far more difficult to deal with than any normal teenager should have been, and for reasons that weren't obvious.
They had started by gathering as much information as they could on Possible, both that available to the general public, and a great deal that wasn't. Her medical records, for example, where quite interesting. Kim had suffered the usual gamut of childhood ailments, but as she approached and entered her teen years her illness rate had fallen to zero. At least she had never been sick enough to need to see a doctor. Nor had she missed so much as a day of school because of health reasons. There were no injuries of any kind, either, even though Possible was an active participant in cheerleading and was a fairly aggressive participant in gym classes. A check of dental records revealed a similar dearth of problems: Possible had apparently not had a single cavity after her adult teeth came in. In fact, she hadn't even been to see a dentist in several years. Of course, she might simply have been lucky to avoid illness or injury, but Shego was skeptical. One other puzzle were the records from Possible's orthodontist. She'd had braces in early adolescence, and had taken (in the orthodontist's opinion) an abnormally long time to perform what amounted to minor straightening.
Interviews with various other villains who had gone up against Possible and her sidekick revealed more tantalizing clues. Professor Dementor had related dropping Kim to what he was sure would be her death, but she had survived (he later discovered) apparently none the worse for wear. Add Senor Senor Senior's tale of attempting to shoot Kim in the back with high powered weapons at short range to Shego's own burial of Kim under a mountain of debris, and it seemed that Kim was either much more durable than a normal person, or fantastically lucky. Other information suggested that Possible was gifted with remarkably acute eyesight and hearing, as well as strength that far surpassed the norms for a girl her age.
Unfortunately there was no hard data. They could guess Kim was stronger, but couldn't put a number on it. They thought she could hear better, but had no idea how much better. Shego and Drakken knew they needed to find those things out, and had devised means they hoped would get them the information they needed.
Her attention was drawn to a pair of blinking icons on the data pad she was holding.
"Henderson and Vickers are down," Shego announced softly, the throat mike she was wearing carrying her words to henchman and employer alike. "By their vitals they're unconscious, and I have movement in the east corridor, heading this way."
Shego found herself grinning. No doubt Possible's techno-nerd had provided full schematics of the building's various security and alarm systems. Unfortunately, Shego had installed her own as well. Better yet, they were completely passive, detecting nothing more than the slight air currents caused by someone walking past them, and so small as be all but invisible. It would take an expert who suspected their presence to find them, and Shego doubted Possible or Stoppable possessed such expertise.
"Very well," Dr. Drakken acknowledged from his place in the hover car, "Proceed as planned."
Shego nodded, even though Drakken couldn't see her from his position. "Section One," she ordered, "Continue loading. Section Two, places, now!"
Shego watched as the tell-tales showed Possible's progress. She raised her hand, preparing to signal the attack. A final glance showed all henchmen in their assigned positions, weapons ready.
The plan began to come apart almost immediately.
Possible and her sidekick came through the door, not cautiously, but in a full on charge. They split up as they did so, Stoppable inclining to the right, Possible making a bee-line toward a surprised Shego.
Most of the henchmen in Section Two were armed with what you might call stun guns. Like a Tazer they used electricity to shock their targets. Unlike a Tazer there were no wires trailing back to the launcher: each projectile was self-contained, and each gun carried a half dozen. Getting over their initial surprise the henchmen began firing, even as Shego ignited her fists.
Possible didn't even try to dodge. She came straight on, and was hit five or six times, without noticeable effect. Shego leapt forward, swinging and blasting. Possible ducked and twisted out of the way, instinctively Shego thought, as flame seemed to lick across Possible's bare abdomen. Shego let go a series of full power blasts, two of which at least seemed to wash over the red head, making her clothes smolder but without otherwise seeming to harm her.
Getting Possible's attention focused on her allowed another test to be performed. A henchman was able to attack from behind with a gadget that put a constrictive strap around Possible's arms and upper torso. The strap snugged itself up to a certain point. A normal person's arms would have been pinned to their sides. As Shego watched, Kim strained her arms a bit and tore through the strap.
"Gonna have to do better than that, Sheila," Kim crooned mockingly, resuming her advance.
"Can and will, Princess," Shego assured her enemy.
Ron watched helplessly as the hover car carrying Shego and her mysterious companion climbed away at high speed. While Kim had dealt with Shego (or tried to, anyway) Ron and Rufus had circled around, hoping to get at and disable the hover car. The approach had been easy enough, with most eyes on Kim. His ninja skills, feeble as they were, helped too, as did the mystical monkey power. He still had very little idea what he might ultimately be able to do with the power, but he had been able to use it to make at least one henchman forget he was there. The man had surprised him, getting the drop on him with a nasty looking weapon. Ron had said, simply and calmly, "You lost track of me." The henchman had blinked, and began looking to and fro in a frantic search, completely ignoring the young man standing in plain sight in front of him.
It hadn't worked nearly so well on the next one (hadn't worked at all, really) but Ron was pleased with himself anyway. He and Rufus had reached the hover car, and with theatrical leaps had landed on it's upper surface in classic attack postures. They had taken the occupants completely by surprise. One was a hideous looking fellow with blue tinted skin, clad in a blue lab coat, with deep bags under his eyes, as if he hadn't slept in days. He was kind of weird to look at, Ron admitted, but not especially scary. Still, Rufus had taken one look at the guy and had fled, screaming. That surprised Ron, and one of the henchmen in the vehicle had tagged him with a stun staff, sending him falling to the floor, paralyzed. The hover car then began to rise. A dozen henchmen gang tackled Kim while Shego sent a line up to the ascending car and let it pull her to safety.
"Ron!" Kim exclaimed, throwing off the henchmen and leaping across the room to him. "Are you okay?"
"Except for not being able to move, yeah," Ron grunted. "It seems to be wearing off, though," he reassured a concerned looking Kim.
"Where's Rufus?" Kim asked.
"Dunno. He took one look at that Drakken guy and ran for his life."
Kim turned, listening, ignoring fleeing henchmen, her ears straining. A not often heard but recognizable whimpering reached her. Following it, she found Rufus huddled under some debris, trembling. Scooping him gently up, Kim returned the naked mole rat to Ron, who cradled him soothingly.
Rufus calmed slightly at Ron's touch. "What's the matter little buddy?" Ron asked gently.
"Bad man, bad man, hurt me," Rufus blubbered.
"Drakken hurt you?" Ron repeated, checking his friend for injuries. "When?" he demanded, anger coloring the word.
"'fore Smarty Mart," Rufus sobbed.
"I've run a complete scan," Wade said from the monitor in Kim's locker. Rufus was standing in a miniature C.A.T. scanner than had unfolded itself from inside the box the monitor sat on.
"I have to admit," Wade said, "that I never believed Rufus could talk, Ron. I thought he was just well trained."
Rufus, now almost completely recovered from his fright, chittered angrily and shook his forepaws at the image of Wade's face. Wade chuckled.
"Sorry, Rufus," he apologized.
"So what did you find out?" Kim asked.
"Rufus isn't a typical naked mole rat," Wade explained. "His brain is radically different - more like a human's than a rodent's."
"How?" Ron wondered.
"There's evidence of genetic engineering, both by selective breeding, and direct manipulation. I ran a test on that blood sample I took, and it turns out Rufus actually has some human DNA."
Kim and Ron exchanged looks.
"That would explain a lot," Ron said quietly.
Kim nodded. Naked mole rats only lived three or four years in the wild. Ron had had Rufus for just over four years now, and Rufus showed no signs of slowing down yet. Moreover, naked mole rats had a hive-like social structure, which meant Rufus shouldn't have been able to survive, let alone function normally, by himself. But he could, and now they knew why. They also knew the mysterious Dr. Drakken was involved somehow. Kim frowned. Shego's background in biochemistry meant she could have made the changes, but Rufus hadn't freaked out when he'd seen her. Maybe Shego and Drakken had been working together longer than they had thought?
"What about Dr. Drakken, Wade?" Kim said, changing the subject slightly. Ron had managed to get two semi-decent images of the man with his Kimmunicator before he'd been paralyzed. They were smeared and blurry, but Wade had thought he'd be able to work with them.
"Well, given the poor quality of the source imagery, I can't give you a definitive answer," Wade answered with his characteristic bluntness.
"How about an estimate then?" Kim grinned.
"I calculate an eighty-five percent probability that Dr. Drakken," Wade said, one of the blurry photos popping up on the screen. The photo shrank, then a copy of it slid off to one side, sharpening and morphing into a picture of a normal looking person. "Is actually Dr. Andrew Lipsky," Wade finished.
"The Nobel Prize winner?" Kim asked incredulously. Wade nodded silently.
Kim chewed her lower lip. What were the odds a famous scientist would take up crime? If Lipsky was Drakken, when had he recruited Shego? An idea as to how to find out came to her.
"Wade, set us up a ride to Gogh City."
"Is it possible the darts malfunctioned?" Lipsky asked. The question was more for form's sake than anything else, Shego knew. She shook her head.
"We tested them thoroughly," she reminded him. "The dud rate is about one in two hundred. Plus, I've reviewed the video. You can see the discharge from one of the darts as it struck." She gestured to a screen on the wall. It showed a close up of Kim Possible's torso. A dart was plainly visible at her right shoulder, a faint spider web of blue electrical discharges radiating away from it.
"That one hit should have taken her down," Shego said. "She didn't even notice it."
"Are we sure her clothing isn't insulated somehow?"
"Not sure, no," Shego admitted, "But she was hit on bare skin as well, with similar results."
Lipsky frowned, turning the problem over in his mind. "Clearly she isn't a normal teenager," he said eventually. "That leaves the question, just what is she?" Shego didn't answer, just looked at him expectantly. Drakken answered his own question.
"She may be a mutant," he proposed, "or perhaps she's the product of genetic engineering. A less likely possibility is that she has cybernetic enhancements."
Shego nodded. The cyborg idea was pretty far fetched in her opinion, but it made sense to cover all the bases. A familiar flicker of worry passed through her mind. Sometimes she and Drew were too analytical for their own good. It came from their scientific training, she supposed: leave as little as possible to chance, check every hypothesis against experimental data, and eliminate only that which you have proved to be untrue. Such methods yielded good results in the long run, but they were slow, and Shego often fretted that they were giving their enemies too much time in which to figure out what was going on.
"Well I know how to find out," Shego said, shaking her head to sweep away her doubts. "I see if I can get my hands on some of her DNA."