KP One Oh One Chapter 29: Part XXIX – In the Ointment, a kim possible fanfic

KP – One Oh One: Part XXIX – In the Ointment

Sherry stood at the edge of the platform, watching her 'minions' going about their jobs below her. They all certainly looked busy, but she had been around hired goons enough to know there really wasn't that much going on. Her back twinged slightly and she wished she could rub it, or at least go back to the more sumptuous quarters Gemini had given her and take another long, hot shower. However, she was 'on duty' and doing either could be interpreted as a sign of weakness. If there was one thing she knew, it was to never let them see you sweat, even if your lower spine and feet were killing you and all you wanted to do was curl up on the couch and eat a whole box of frozen Chimiritos.

Her new employer looked genuinely surprised when she agreed to his proposal. Good pay, good bennies and a month off after giving birth were pretty good perks she told him after he made his pitch. It would also let her reach her full potential, something that would never happen with Doctor Drakken, even on his best days, which these certainly were not.

The outfit wasn't the most comfortable thing in the world, especially with her great mane of raven black hair stuffed down the back in order to wear the hood. There was also the fact the magenta outfit with its broad white stripe was about as fashionable as parachute pants and mullets. At least the style she chose to wear for the time being helped hide her growing middle. The sweats she had been wearing were comfortable, but only in the confines of her own home.

She caught herself putting her hand on the small of her back. She could lift several times what a woman of her build normally could, so why was the relatively small extra weight she was carrying making her feel that way? It would feel so good to have drew give her a back rub right about now. He might not have been much for taking over the world, but his small hands were actually good at something.

The thought made her frown. Was she actually missing Drakken? Just because he had shown a talent for working the kinks out of her muscles? Gah! Or was it the simple fact that all she had to do was ask and he would oblige. It wasn't so long ago he would have simply freaked out if she asked him to do that sort of thing.

A low growl announced the presence of Gemini and his tiny little monster, Pepe. In the first five minutes knowing the man she absolutely loathed the creature. At least Drakken's dog, Commodore Puddles, had warmed up to her after a time, though he ended up going to live with his mother after getting pasted by Furball. When it came down to her pet versus his, she won. She always won.

There was a little pang in her heart when she realized Furball had been left behind with Drew. That cat hated him and he only tolerated it because of her. Somehow or another she was going to have to go back and retrieve her. That might not even be possible or even safe, and she didn't want to consider 'catnapping' her own pet.

Another thought crossed her mind as she thought about her former employer (friend?)

"Hey, Patch, you know we need to be ready, don't you?"

"What on Earth for, and would you please call me by my proper name?"

She fought down the urge to call him by just that. Oh yeah, I know who you really are, Sheldon Director. "Whatever. It's only going to be so long before Global Justice or Kim Possible, most likely the latter, are going to come knocking on your door."

"I do not think so. This installation is perfectly well hidden."

"Won't matter. Besides, the Princess has that computer nerd of hers. I bet she's already on her way here."

"I seriously doubt that. She has been expressly forbidden from interfering with WWEE by the operational commander herself. Besides, if Global Justice…"

He was interrupted as that foul little rat disguised as an actual canine suddenly started yapping in his arms. "I'm sorry, Daddy won't say those horrid words again." He stroked it's shivering head a couple times, causing her to quiver slightly as well.

And she thought Stoppable's pet rat thing was disgusting.

"As I was saying, if they were to make any move against us, we would know long before they even arrived. Observe." He touched a control and a large monitor rose out of his console. She stepped around behind him to watch. A map of North America was displayed, with a series of tiny dots, some of them moving around. Most of them were concentrated in Colorado.

"These are our enemy's aircraft. We can track every single one of them constantly. So far none of them have made any move toward us at all."

She was slightly perplexed. Not long after GJ learned Drakken was tracking them himself, they instituted special electronic countermeasures to obscure them from most forms of radar and other means of detection. "So, how are you managing that, chief?"

"Each one of their aircraft has an encrypted transponder. What they do no know is that we have defeated the encryption, revealing them as plain as day. So, we have your old friend out of the picture where we are concerned and our old friends are completely unaware of our presence."

"Yeah, cool beans, but you're forgetting one thing." She crossed her arms, instantly regretting doing so as it put pressure on her abdomen.

"Oh, and what is that?"

"Well, when you grabbed me, for all intents and purposes, you made it look like I was kidnapped."

"Yes, of course. We did not want to leave any kind of trail that would lead the authorities to us. Besides, I would think Drew Lipsky would put his own hide first in this matter. He is not going to be going to the police to report you missing."

"Yeah, but what if he went to someone else? Somebody who he knows can get the job done, even if her despises them?"

"What are you saying?"

Sherry rolled her eyes upward. "What I'm saying is, Drakken is just dumb enough that he might call Kim Possible for help."

Gemini laughed, setting Pepe off yapping again. Once he had the creature calmed he spoke again. "Why would he do a thing like that. After all, Miss Possible and her lack-wit sidekick are now the lap-dogs of…" He clamped his hands over the dog's ears. "…Global Justice. If he were to call them, he might as well turn himself in. As I said, he will value his own hide above yours."

She pursed her lips, considering. That may have been true in the past, but Drakken had changed over the last few months. The man who took her in after escaping prison wasn't the same one who once left her in their enemy's hands while he fled with the XFB-2452 Valkyrie. She had gone from his own sidekick and henchwoman to an important figure in his life. There was no way of knowing why that had happened, but she suspected his odd role as self-appointed protector was going to override his usual desire for self-preservation.

She noticed something on the screen. It wasn't one of the white dots indicating a Global Justice hoverjet, but a smaller, blue dot. It held her attention as it seemed to be coming right at them. "Okay, Patch, what's that?" She pointed directly at it.

He tapped a few keys on his control panel. "Nothing. It is simply a commercial cargo flight destined for a city in North Carolina. There is no cause for alarm. The computers have already passed that particular flight over as they are following the flight plan they filed with the FAA."

Sherry started to say something, then thought the better of it. "Uh, listen, I've got to go…powder my nose. You know, being in this condition kinda presses on the old bladder."

Gemini looked irritated, but she glared right back at him. Hey, he was the one who just recruited a pregnant woman! He made a dismissive gesture with his free hand and he hastily made her way down the stairway to the main floor. Without looking back, she headed down the corridor that would lead to her quarters.

The bathrooms, however, were not her destination. Her gut was talking to her again, and it wasn't Amethyst kicking either. How many times had WWEE dealt with Kimmie? Their whole operation seemed to be built around protecting themselves from Global Justice, as if the two rival organizations were part of a sixties spy sitcom. What about local law enforcement? What about the FBI?

At first she had agreed to Gemini's proposal because of something he said. He had information that, to her knowledge, was only supposed to be in the hands of two people, one of them being Drakken. Most of what the chubby, one-eyed, one-handed leader knew about her was indeed available from most law enforcement agencies around the world, but only a handful of people knew she was pregnant and of those, the only other one who was supposed to know she was having a girl was the princess' mother.

When Gemini mentioned that fact, she almost went into a rage thinking the elder Possible had somehow betrayed her, but logic quickly took over. If that were the case, then it would have been the aforementioned Global Justice or the FBI knocking at her door, not an international criminal organization. That meant they must have learned about it through some other means.

Seeing it as an opportunity to bide her time, she agreed to become his 'Agent Alpha.' She was certain she was going to be watched closely for some time to come, but she could be patient when the situation called for it. Normally, she would have wiped the floor with that arrogant jackass, but her condition was just a bit too precarious for that.

Then, as one of his other subordinates showed her the ropes, he let something slip. He showed her the console they used to monitor their 'Fly-on-the-wall cams.' Tiny robotic flies could hover around a target, gathering audio/visual data while very little real attention was paid to them. Then it hit her. There always seemed to be one little fly in her house, no matter how much bug spray she used. Sometimes she would swat it and throw away the carcass, only to have another reappear shortly. It didn't take her long to figure out they had her under surveillance for some time.

When she thought they might even have video of her in the shower, she almost heaved up her insides.

She stalked past her quarters, instead entering a maintenance room at the far end of the corridor. Her standard operating procedure of learning all the possible exits from bases such as this was paying off. She knew about the access passage leading up towards the surface.

Fortunately for her, she did not have to climb very much. Since it was built into the rugged terrain of the Smoky Mountains, the shaft did not have to go directly up. Even with her enhanced strength, she knew that climbing very far would tax her system too greatly. She smiled wryly, thinking once more how she would have already been on her way home if she was her usual self.

Home? Yes, that's what she was thinking of it as. She probably couldn't go back there now, but one way or another she wanted to return to a situation like that. She talked a good game with Gemini, but this was the very thing she was trying to put behind her. She wasn't Shego any more. She wasn't Agent Alpha. She wasn't even Sheila Ogehs or any one of the false names she had used in the past. She simply wanted to be Sherry Godfrey and she wanted Amethyst to know her as that as she grew up. She wasn't running away from phantoms, both imagined and real, any more. There was too much at stake now.

Strangely enough, she was really wanting that backrub from Drew.

At the end of the darkened passage, she found a heavy door. A simple padlock protected it, but that was simple enough to defeat. She had already purloined enough of the proper tools and she made short work of the lock.

Once outside in the bright, cold morning light of the Eastern mountains, she tried getting her bearings. She recalled the layout of the base and figured she was looking in the right direction. Sure enough, she could see a jet high overhead. If it had been just a commercial flight, as Gemini said, it would have been at a much greater altitude. It was still a couple hundred miles from its eventual destination and was a long way from making its final approach.

That meant she was right. Drakken had called for help, in perhaps the one quarter where he would actually get it. If she got out of this, she was going to hug that man. The thought of her hugging Doctor Drakken in gratitude almost made her laugh out loud.

It wasn't long before her extremely sharp eyes began picking out movement. First one, then two and finally a surprising third chute opened up. She watched for a moment, thinking there might be a fourth to open. Sometimes the two young brothers she met several years earlier in Drakken's Peruvian hideout worked with the princess, but this time it seemed there was only one other person with them.

Sherry scratched where the power-dampening collar had been on her neck. Once upon a time, she would have considered firing up her glow power and picking the three figures slowly descending on her position off one by one. They thought they had the element of surprise and it was only her experience that let her recognize what was actually going on the moment she saw that bogie on Gemini's screen. No, this time she was actually glad to see them.

Turning, she ducked back inside the door, quickly heading back toward the center of the base. For a moment she realized her expanding innards really were pushing on her bladder, but she put that out of her mind. All hell was about to break loose here and she wanted a ring-side seat.

This was going to be fun!

a/n – I recently was invited to participate in GWA's The Darkness Within – a rollicking Kim Possible adventure featuring just about every major villain you can think of! My part, Chapter 8 went up the other day. There is some major talent at work on this story, so check it out.