Chapter 2 - Not So Good for Visitors
(...the kitchen...five minutes later...)
Kim opens the refrigerator door. She gets a look at the various items within: pre-tossed salad, tomato juice, leftover brain loaf (why her mother likes making it, she'll never understand), applesauce... nothing looks good to her. Her eyes find the produce bin. It's filled with apples.
The redhead grabs one and closes the bin. She takes a bite and savors its sweetness. Just because her life is in danger doesn't mean she has to starve. A slight noise from the living room. Without releasing the fruit, Kim moves carefully toward the source of the ruckus.
(...the living room...)
She looks around. There's no one there. As she moves closer, she stubs her toe on the bookcase. This causes a book to fall from the shelf. It opens on a page of pictures...baby pictures.
Kim sees the curtains rustling in the breeze. She must've forgotten to close the window. Lousy tweebs and their stupid, stinking experiment.
She closes the window. Out of the corner of her eye, she notices that the refrigerator door is still open. 'How could I forget that, too?', she thought to herself. 'I'm just on edge. Ron will find the flower and bring it back. No big.' A few raindrops dot the window as she walks away from it.
Kim walks past the offending bookcase, but the picture book is no longer there.
(...the kitchen...)
She closes the refrigerator door and takes another bite from her apple. She sighs to herself and heads for the stairs.
The redhead makes it two steps before she spots a photograph resting on the couch. She walks over to it.
The picture is of Kim. She's but a year old in the picture, holding a rubber duck. She's also naked; it was her first bath. Kim becomes wistful at the memory, and a bit thankful that Mom and Dad didn't film it; how contrived...er, um, silly would that have been? She puts the snapshot on the couch.
"Oh, Kimberly..."
Kim is brought out of her comfort zone by a voice...a strangely familiar male voice.
"...staying in tonight?"
No! It couldn't be!
"I can't imagine why." The voice starts laughing diabolically. How in the world...!
As Kim turns around, a figure slowly rises from beside the couch. "You!"
"Yes, me." The doctor is in...sane.
Kim stands in total shock. A knowing look crosses her features; if Drakken is here, then...
Before she can complete her thoughts, Shego appears from behind and grabs Kim's hands, keeping them behind the redhead's back.
The blue man takes the picture book from his back and opens it. "My, weren't you a cute little dickens? Not at all the nuisance you are today."
Kim tries to struggle her way free, but the pale woman puts the squeeze on her arms. The girl lets out a groan.
"Wasn't she adorable, Shego?"
"Yeah. Cute like a stomach pump." The henchwoman's trademark non-enthusiasm is, as always, on display.
Drakken flips through a few more pages. "And look here. Your first day with braces. A momentous occasion to be sure, captured forever. A little like you."
As the mad scientist resumes laughing, Kim lets out a groan. The vortex expands by another inch in diameter. Her knees buckle a bit. Shego can't help but join in the laughing. This is some kind of fun.
Kim exhales and raises her foot. She stomps it down on Shego's. The pain causes the woman to let go and yell. The redhead high-kicks the book from Drakken's hands. She closes the book and picks it up. He skitters away.
The redhead's eyes find him. "You like this book?" She frisbees it at him. "Here!" He ducks before it strikes.
Kim glances over at Shego on the floor, then the phone. Kim races for it, but the woman tosses a ball of green fire at it. The girl rears back at the charred remains of the device. The rain outside increases in intensity.
She looks around for Drakken, but she can't see him around.
Kim assumes a fighting stance. Her green-clad nemesis does the same.
"What do you think you're doing here?"
Shego shrugs a little. "You know Drakken; Mr. 'finish-what-I-start'."
The women circle each other. "Well, it looks like I have you both on trespassing and breaking and entering."
"We may have entered, but we didn't exactly break." The woman jerks a thumb toward the once-open window.
Kim's carelessness allowed them safe passage. She can feel the diameter increase further. The girl sinks to her knees.
"It's not really my style, but I have to hand it to Drakken..." Kim perks up at this. "...this is much more fun than some stupid deathtrap." Shego gets a look at the ear-to-ear grin on Kim's face. "What?"
The redhead slowly rises to her feet. Kim reaches her hand under, placing a death grip on Shego's wrist. She looks down, then back to Kim. She tries to break free, but can't.
Kim looks from her stomach to Shego and pulls her hand to the vortex. "Don't worry. You can always hand it to me."
The girl sticks the woman's hand inside. Shego cries out as she tries to pull herself free. The more she tugs, the harder it becomes to get loose. Kim smiles at her futility.
After a minute, Shego pulls her hand out. The force of her tug sends her crashing into the wall behind her. She checks her hand for completion. Everything is where it should be. Shego cradles her hand and glares at Kim. "You're sick!"
"I guess that's because you're contagious."
With a roar, Shego charges at Kim, who leaps out of her way.
"You can't win."
"And why is that?"
Kim jumps onto the couch. "'Cause I've got home-field advantage." She takes a step sideways and slips on the picture of her in the bath. She hits the floor.
Shego walks over to where she fell. "Oh, diddums fall down?"
Kim starts to groan again. That last bit took a lot out of her. Cheerleading is mainly for the graceful, the agile, the coordinated, and losing your footing because of a picture is not something to be particularly proud of.
She looks down at herself. Her arms? Check. Her bust? Check. Her abdomen? Check. Her legs? Missing. The thunder rumbles outside.
Shego puts her blazing hands together. Kim covers herself. This was not going to be pleasant.
A streak of light illuminates the sky outside, like the Gods are picking a target to hit. The lights go out. The sound of crackling electricity can be heard.
Shego looks around as best as she can, then provides a natural light source, courtesy of her fists of fury. Kim is no longer in front of her.
The woman yells out. Another strike of lightning. In the flash, the double doors to the living room are open.
(...the hall closet...)
Kim rests on the floor among the shoes and umbrellas. Her breathing is very labored, befitting someone running for their life.
She looks up at the coats and shirts hanging up. She leans against the wall. She is safe.
"Well, she can't have gone far. She's just a torso."
...at least, for a few moments.
"She's got to be around here somewhere!"
"Did you leave the living room doors open?"
Kim puts her hand to her mouth.
"No. I closed them. I can't believe she has a living room with doors!"
"The Life of Riley."
She again looks up at the coats. A look of inspiration hits her face. She grabs onto the hem of a fuzzy winter coat and starts to climb. For someone who's scaled mountains and the rope in gym class, a mere coat was nothing.
"Who's he?"
"Never mind. Hey, maybe she went into that closet."
Kim gasps. She's only halfway up the garment. No doubt about it; her end is nigh.
The door flies open. Shego and Drakken look about the closet. Nothing but shoes and coats and...
"Hatboxes!", Shego yells.
"Unbelievable! She could spend all her time in this castle, but no! She has to wreck my plans!" He slams the door.
"Maybe she went to her room."
"On the second floor? Shego, that's just foolish."
"Watch it."
The winter coat shakes a little. From the neck hole rises Kim. She raises her arms, which allows her to slip out of the garment. She grabs the inner lining and slowly lowers herself to the floor.
Kim sighs in defeat. This may not be the worst night of her life, but it definitely makes the list.
(...the jungle...)
Tigers and tigers and tigers. Oh, man. This was not a safe spot to land. Ron runs away from the vicious beasts, Rufus in his pocket and the Wade-bot at his side. The young man stops short of running off a cliff.
The mechanized member of the team sprouts hydraulic arms and leaps off the edge.
The team plunges through the air. Ron is looking very worried. On the monitor, Wade types onto his keyboard. A door on the Wade-bot opens, offering a solution to the gravity problem...or not.
A parachute was supposed to fly out, but, apparently, Wade had never gotten around to installing it. In the back of his mind, Ron can't help but think to himself, 'Wade's supposed to be the smart one!'.
With a scream, Ron prepares for the worst. Suddenly, Ron bounces onto a giant leaf. And another. And one more before hitting the ground. Who knew that this part of the rainforest had such bountiful foliage? The blonde boy made a mental note: when he gets back, donate money to help save the rainforests...as a means of returning the favor.
He turns around a bit and sees an exotic looking purple flower. Could it be? He remembers back to when he was being briefed. The resemblance is uncanny.
Ron pads himself down. It might've been a good idea to bring some digging tools, but with today's security measures on planes, a trowel or a spade would not have been viable options. Lucky for him he owns a Rufus.
The boy opens his pocket and brings out his naked mole rat. The animal goes to work on the plant, digging it out with his teeth.
Ron grabs the plant, but, for the first time since landing, notices the Wade-bot. The machine is crumpled in a heap not far from the flower.
"No. It was his first mission", Ron solemnly states as he picks up the pieces of his associate.
Rufus tugs at his pant leg. "Leave him!"
"No. No one gets left behind." Ron couldn't help it. In spite of the mishaps, the Wade-bot was a vital part of the team and the success of the mission. So what if it was the remains of a machine that Ron cradled in his arms; in his mindset, he may as well have been holding the real Wade.
The Kimmunicator beeps on. It's Wade. "Ron. I'm fine. Get back to the plant."
So much for that touching moment.
(...the hall closet...)
Kim continues to rest and huff. She thinks about her current problem.
(...the upstairs hallway...)
The lights seem to flicker back on. Of course, the back-up generator. Drakken looks toward some steps, while Shego heads down in the other direction.
A door opens. "Yeah, it must be the generator..." Jim looks up at the green-suited woman blocking his path.
"Evening, little man."
Before he can do anything else, Jim is scooped up by the female intruder. His squirming around does nothing to deter her. She clamps her hand over his mouth and rushes back to his room.
The door slams.
(...Kim's room...moments later...)
Drakken looks around at his arch-foe's sanctum. He groans at seeing how nice it looks, much nicer than any place he's been.
He hunches over on her computer desk. The screen, which was blank due to non-usage, burst back to life. The blue individual looks at the icon labeled 'Diary' and smiles wickedly.
He clicks on the icon. He groans. 'Password required'. He types in 'Possible'. 'Password rejected'. Of course, it wouldn't be so obvious.
'Drakken'. 'Password rejected'. She didn't think enough of him to make him the password. How very rude.
'Buffoon'. 'Password rejected'. This was gonna take some time.
(...the hallway...)
The door of the closet opens. Kim peeks her head out. The coast seems to be clear. She plants her hands firmly on the floor. She 'walks' through the corridor...on her hands.
She hasn't heard from the tweebs in quite a while. Maybe... she had to get to a phone. Call the police. The one in the living room didn't fare so well. The kitchen!
(...the kitchen...moments later...)
Kim continues her 'walk'. She looks up at the phone on the wall, out of her reach. She grunts in anger.
The redhead sidles over to the table and pushes a chair next to the phone. She climbs onto the chair. She reaches up to the phone, but it rings before she can grab it.
"Hello?"
"Hey, K. B. I still can't believe you at the mall. I mean, that's just pathetic."
Kim can feel herself weakening, but she steels herself. "Bonnie, how is it you can waste time to call?"
"My own cell. Can't think of a better way to eat up my free minutes."
"You wanna talk pathetic? How about that time in ninth grade when you were practicing and you did a split that ripped your skirt? And wasn't that also the day you decided to go without underwear?" A squeak from the other end. "How would you like the whole school to find out about that day?"
"You-you wouldn't."
"But you would."
Kim hears another squeak and a beep.
(...Jim & Tim's room...)
"The phone stopped ringing." Shego heads for the door. "She's downstairs. I'll get her."
Drakken puts his hand on his assistant's shoulder. "I have a better idea."
(...the kitchen...)
Kim sits (or stands, at this point) on the chair. She reaches up and dials. Her fingers press '9-1'.
"Oh, Kimberly? These boys and I like a word with you." There's a confident, taunting edge to the mad doctor's words. Her eyes widen.
(...the stairs...five minutes later...)
Holding onto the railing, Kim heads up. She reaches the landing and falls.
She notices that the door to Jim & Tim's room is ajar. She 'walks' to the door.
(...Jim & Tim's room...)
Kim glances at her brothers. They are tied up back to back in two chairs, a balled-up sock in each mouth. They whine as best as they can. The sound seems to resemble the words 'look out'.
The door slams. Kim turns around; Shego is behind it. Drakken steps out of the closet. In his hands, he holds fifty fresh pages.
"I'm so glad you could join us. We wouldn't want you to miss your own funeral, would we?"
The redhead stares at the blue man; what could he be talking about?
Drakken straightens the pages. "'September 8th: Josh Mankey said 'Hi.' to me, and I didn't even have to say anything first. He is so hot.' Juicy."
The color drains from Kim's face. She groans as two inches fade away from her torso. Drakken tosses the papers to his henchwoman. She flips over a page.
"'September 9th: I don't know if I should tell you this, but I caught a glance at Bonnie changing after practice, and it felt kind of...good. If only she wasn't such a witch with a capital 'B'.' Wow."
Two more inches depart from Kim's torso. Tears escape her eyes. She sticks her fingers in her ears.
"Oh, no, no, no", Shego sing-songs as she tosses the diary to Drakken. She grabs Kim's arms, which leaves her hearing unobstructed.
Never before has the teenager felt so helpless.