Double Entendre
Chapter 4
Vienna, Austria
David Bruckner, a spy working with a mysterious international agency headed by someone only known as Mother stood alone at a street corner in the Viennese night, smoking a cigarette as he warily kept constant watch of his surroundings. Glancing down at his watch, he grimaced, "Where the hell is Franz? He should be here by now." Hearing the sound of footsteps, the trained agent quickly turned about to see his contact, a thin man with a receding hairline and wearing a business suit slowly approaching.
"Franz? Do you have it?" David called out in a gruff voice as his contact stumbled forward carrying a computer disk in his hand. "What the…" The Israeli agent exclaimed as he rushed towards the man, catching him in his arms as he fell to the ground. Glancing down, David at once saw the blood stain on the back of the other man's jacket. Taking the disk from Franz, David leaned closer as the other man whispered with his dying breaths.
"MALUS about to strike…danger…Middleton. Mother wants…warn her…before it's too…" Then, he gasped his last, "…late." Hearing more footsteps, David spied out of the corner of his eye the shadow of a man carrying a pistol cast on a building wall. Reacting instinctively as he saw the pistol raised to fire, the secret agent drew his own weapon as he rolled on the ground, firing a single silenced shot. Exhaling as he saw the shadow slowly collapse to the ground, David quickly rose to his feet and dashed off, the sound of pursuing footsteps following him. Dodging behind a corner, the experienced agent waited until the pursuer had passed by his hiding place. Striking quickly, he pistol whipped the pursuer, watching as the other man crumpled unconscious to the ground.
Quickly rifling through the fallen assassin's pockets, David found another computer disk. Pocketing the disk, the spy quickly fled the dark alley, flagging down the first cab that he saw. "Vienna International Airport." He commanded as he handed the driver a hefty tip, "Schnell!"
Middleton High School
"That ought to keep Mr. Barkin off our backs!" Hope exclaimed as she collected her completed term paper from the library printer. "One history paper properly cited and with complete bibliography!"
"And here's my paper." Tara grinned as the sheets slid out on to the tray. Then, as the last sheet was printed out and dropped down to the tray, the red light on the machine began to blink. "Looks like the great god Xerox heard my prayers and allowed my paper to be finished before the machine crapped out." The lovely blonde chuckled as she gathered her paper and stapled the upper left hand corner as per their teacher's directions.
"Timed it just right." Hope laughed, "You know what would be hilarious?"
"What?" Tara chuckled as the pair walked down the hall, barely dodging a frantic Kim Possible dashing down the hallway followed close behind by her best friend and sidekick, Ron Stoppable and his pet mole-rat, Rufus.
"Wouldn't it be funny if the reason why Kim was running like her ass was on fire was because Miss Perfect was goofing off and needed to print out her term paper at the last minute?" Moments later, the two girls heard a loud cry of anguish coming out of the library. "No…" Hope shook her head laughing. "She didn't!"
"Oh yes!" Tara, now bending over, guffawed. "She did!"
"What's so funny?" Bonnie Rockwaller, approaching her two fellow cheerleaders who were now laughing so hard that tears were coming out of their eyes.
"Yeah." Marcella, one of the brown-haired popular cheerleader's court demanded as Liz, the other member of the court looked on stupefied. "What's got you two laughing now."
"Kim…" Tara gasped, trying to catch her breath. "Printer…not working…busted…"
"The printer…" Hope, vainly trying to recover, managed to get out, "…broke down after me and Tara printed out our papers."
"You mean…" Bonnie chuckled, "Little Kimmie might get a failing grade on her term paper because you busted the printer? That is funny!" The class queen laughed, her two companions dutifully joining her in laughter. "Thank you…you two made this whole day worth it."
Watching as their fellow cheerleaders departed, Tara, recovered now, shook her head, "You know…Kim getting a bad grade isn't funny."
"Yeah." Hope nodded her head, "You're right. We've got a few minutes before class starts. Let's go back to the library and see if we can find somebody to fix it."
"Okay." Tara smiled at her friend as the two girls turned about to return to the library only to hear Kim's triumphant cry as a blond blur wearing an oversized hockey jersey whizzed by them. "Well…looks like they got it fixed. Come on…I don't want to be late." Reaching the classroom moments before the bell rang, they passed by a sneering Mr. Barkin.
"Cutting it close, girls...Stoppable. Thought you three were going to join me again in detention." The teacher growled menacingly as he nodded his head towards their seats. "Turn in your papers and sit down."
"Where's Kim?" Tara whispered to Ron, "I thought she'd printed out her paper."
"Rufus got caught in the machine." The blond sidekick reluctantly confessed, "She had to reprint her last page." On hearing his name, the naked mole-rat peeked out of Ron's pocket and let out a mournful sigh.
As the bell tolled, Tara murmured, "This is her third time this month isn't it?"
"That means it's the Big House for our girl." Hope remarked. "Well…look at it this way…it'll give her a chance to branch out…meet new friends."
"Yeah. I'm a regular there. It's not so bad." Ron nodded his head in agreement.
"We've put in our time too." Tara agreed, adding, "Hell. I've seen worse—a lot worse."
The tardy bell ringing, Mr. Barkin, after doing a quick headcount and finding one student missing, let out a low rumble as he stood in the hallway, awaiting his prey.
"Dun…dun…dun…dun…" Tara sang in a low voice, soon accompanied by her partner in crime.
"Dun…dun…dun…dun…dun…dun…DUN."
Watching as Kim entered the classroom head held low, followed closely behind by a growling Mr. Barkin, Tara whispered to her cohorts, "You'd think she'd been sentenced to death."
"Really." Hope sighed in a mixture of exasperation and amusement, "It's just detention for crying out loud."
"For Kim this is a big deal." Ron declared in a whisper, automatically coming to the defense of his best friend. "She's never had to do detention before."
As she took her seat with Ron and her fellow cheerleaders, Tara attempted to cheer the redhead up, "It's not the end of the world, Kim. You do a few days and you're out. Easy—peasy."
"But cheerleaders aren't supposed to do detention!" Kim protested in a low voice as Mr. Barkin began writing on the blackboard.
"I beg your pardon." Tara huffed, "Me and Hope are cheerleaders and we've done it and we're still alive to talk about it. Besides…it's easy and fun to drive Barkin utterly bonkers."
"Yeah." Hope chimed in, "It's no big deal. You'll get through it. Big Mike's cool and the others aren't that bad."
"Attention, class!" Mr. Barkin growled, ending all conversation. "Today we're going to talk about the American Revolution. Now…can anyone…other than our resident comedy team Tara and Hope…tell me what the Boston Tea Party was and when did it happen?"
As the pair walked down the hallway after class, they overheard their captain moaning to her best friend as Josh Mankey, the object of the redhead's crush, hung out in front of his locker talking to two of his friends. "What if Josh doesn't want to be seen with someone who does detention?"
"He's not going to care about you doing a couple of days of afterschool detention, Kim." Ron consoled. "It's not a big deal."
"It's the lifetime loser's club, Ron!" The redhead sobbed.
"That little brat." Tara growled in a low voice that only the raven-haired cheerleader next to her could hear. "I ought to go over there and bop her one upside her prissy little head. Might knock some sense into her."
"Stand in line." Hope growled, "I've got first dibs." But before the two girls could do anything, they heard Ron exclaim in an edged voice.
"Hey! I've been in detention. Does that make me a lifetime loser too? Is that what I am to you?"
Suddenly realizing that she'd crossed a line, the teen hero quickly backpedaled. "No Ron, of course not!" Sighing, she confessed, "It's just that I've never been in trouble in school before and I'm kinda..."
Placing his hands on the young teen's shoulders, Ron gazed into her eyes, "It's going to be okay, Kim. It's no big. Now, you better get to class. You don't want to be late and add to your detention."
"Okay." Kim's lips turned up in a slight smile. "Thank you, Ron. You don't know how much it means to me knowing that you've always got my back."
Waiting until Kim had passed them by, the two cheerleaders walked up to Stoppable who was currently at his locker exchanging books. "I don't know how you do it, Ron." Tara remarked in a low voice. "I was about ready to slug her after hearing that crack she made."
"Ditto." Hope agreed, "Where does Ms. High and Mighty get off thinking she's better than everyone else?"
"She didn't mean anything bad by it." Ron replied as he now shifted to calming the tempers of the two cheerleaders standing before him while at the same time defending his long-time friend. "It's just that she's afraid of disappointing her parents and…"
"And she's worried about how it'll affect her popularity." Tara finished with a snort, "Let's be honest, here, Ron. She's like anyone else. She's concerned about what people will think about her. But…It's okay. It just means that even our princess is capable of fucking up the same as the rest of us mere mortals."
"Oh…she's made her share of screw ups." Ron chuckled as he walked in between the two girls, temporarily basking in the attention he was getting from the other students who eyed him with surprise because of his close proximity to the two attractive cheerleaders.
Hope chuckled, "Her shit stinks just like anyone else's. Don't believe me? Use the same stall she used after she's done taking a crap."
"That was her?" Tara exclaimed with a laugh, "I thought something had died in there!"
"Too Much Information, girls!" A crimson faced Ron cried out as he turned towards the classroom where his next class was being held. "Way Too Much Information!"
Later that evening—Tara's house in Middleton
Hearing her phone buzz, Tara answered in a posh English accented voice, "Hullo."
"Hey, Tara. It's Scott." The blonde adventuress's cover foster father from Global Justice said with a slight chuckle.
"What's up." Tara inquired as she lit a cigarette.
"Just wanted to give you a heads-up." The Global Justice agent reported, "Possible's off on a mission to the Amazon. She got called in by Professor Acari, I think he's some sort of bug scientist. It seems that a robotic tick he was working on was just stolen."
"Robotic tick?" Tara exclaimed with a snort as she exhaled a stream of smoke.
"Hey…Don't look at me…" Scott chuckled, "I just work here. Could be useful for scientific observation, I guess."
"Not to mention reconnaissance and surveillance." Tara replied as ideas began racing through her head. "Something like that would have come in handy on the last couple of jobs I pulled."
"Analysis is going through the security stream right now." Scott reported, "We've id'ed the thief."
"Who?" Tara inquired, "Other than me, I can think of several colleagues who could have pulled this off. The environment would have been the big problem here—not security. Lots of critters and bugs out there that can poison, infect, or eat you in any number of not so delightful ways."
"Correct." Scott affirmed, "Tara…The thief's Shego."
"Looks like our girl's about to move up to the next level whether she's ready or not." Tara noted with concern. "Shego's not someone you want to take lightly—even if she is taking it easy on you—not if you want to continue living or living with all your parts intact. You want me to go down there to back her, Stoppable, and the little rodent up?"
"No." Scott answered back. "Not yet. The boss sees no need for you to have to blow your cover right now. We've got a team down there prepped if needed to back her up and/or extract her and her friend. The Director wants to see how Possible performs here before deciding whether to let her continue or put her foot down and postpone our girl's hero career until she at least graduates high school."
"All right." Tara sighed, "But do me a favor, Scott? Keep me updated. If it looks like the two of them are in too deep—I want to be there to help pull them out."
"Will do, Tara." The Global Justice agent responded, "But between you and me—I hope she's up for the challenge."
"For her sake, I hope so too." Tara replied.
The Amazon
As their pilot's plane came in for a landing on the water near the shore, Kim's Kimmunicator beeped. "Kim?" The image of Team Possible's techie, Wade Lode, appeared on the tiny screen of the communicator. "I can stream the security footage of the break in whenever you're ready."
"Please and thank you, Wade." Kim replied as images of the burglary of Professor Acari's lab played on the device. Seeing an image of a green-skinned woman wearing a skin tight green and black suit, Kim asked Wade to freeze the transmission, remarking, "Whoever that woman is—she's good. Do you have an id on her?"
"Sorry, Kim." Wade responded, "Nothing yet."
"If you can find out for me, I'd appreciate it." Kim requested, adding, "While I've got you online, any info on our cat-burglar?"
"Nothing on that front either." Wade answered back, "But I haven't given up searching. There are a couple of other databases I'm gonna check out, but it's going to take me some time to crack into them—their security's pretty tight and I don't want to trip any alarms."
"Don't take any chances, Wade." Kim cautioned, "Talk to you later."
On seeing the flying and crawling insects in Professor Acari's lab as he and Kim entered, Ron felt a cold chill that turned into a cry of alarm when the professor opened the disc tray and, finding it empty cried out, "My tick! It's gone!"
"It's okay, Ron…" Kim, seeing the look of panic on her best friend's face, said in a soothing voice as long repressed memories of Camp Wannaweep returned with a vengeance.
FLASH!
In cabin thirteen, a ten year old Ron Stoppable cringed in fear as insects flew all around him. Mosquitos bit him, caterpillars crawled between his toes, spiders lurked in the corners, cockroaches scurried along the floor, a tick burrowed itself into his arm, engorging itself on his blood. All the while, the little boy screamed for help that never came.
FLASH!
"Camp Wannaweep. It all came back." Ron sobbed as Kim held him close, whispering that everything was all right now and that he was safe while Professor Acari looked on, not sure what to make of the scene playing out before him.
Turning to the Professor, Kim explained, "Ron had a very bad experience with insects when he was a child. It was so long ago that I thought he'd gotten over it, but…"
"It's all right, Ms. Possible." The professor replied in a sympathetic, yet reproving tone. "Our six-legged fellow creatures are often misunderstood and some of them can, in fact, be quite hazardous. It might not have been a good idea to have brought your friend here though as the ecology is abundant in arthropod life—much of it dangerous."
"He's my friend and partner." Kim simply replied, "I can't leave him behind. I have to take him with me." He anchors me.
Drakken's Caribbean Lair
"Dammit, Dr. D! Why can't you just have a door like anyone else!" Shego growled as she fell from the tube that she had slid down after Drakken had opened a trap door beneath her to a waiting chair.
Ignoring his assistant's protest, Dr. Drakken growled, "Did you get it?"
"Yeah." Shego replied as she handed the mad scientist the computer disk she had been ordered to retrieve. "Now, are you going to tell me what you're planning on doing with it?"
"I'll tell you when it's time, Shego." Drakken responded before bursting into song, "Who wants to build a robot tick? I do! I do!"
Letting out a snort of derision as she shook her head in disbelief, Shego quipped, "You realize you just told me exactly what you're planning on doing, don't you?"
Middleton High—the next day
As they walked down the hall, Tara and Hope spied Kim, with Ron standing next to her, Rufus perched on his shoulder speaking to her communicator.
"Can you hurry it, Wade? I don't have much time.
"Cheerleading practice?
"No." Kim sighed, "Detention."
The two girls listening in barely repressed their giggles as they heard the strange voice coming from the communications device, "Cheerleaders don't get detention."
"Well…" Kim growled, "This one did. Now…what do you have for me?"
"Okay." Wade replied, "Here's the brief on the woman I caught on the freeze frame. "Her name is Shego and she's…"
"Wanted in eleven countries." Tara whispered in a very low voice.
"What was that Tara?" Hope inquired; her eyebrows raised at what she thought her friend had said.
"Nothing." Tara quickly replied, giving her friend a smile.
"Okay…" Hope whispered back.
Hearing Ron's comment about making that twelve countries, Tara barely repressed a snort. Don't even think about it, Stoppable. You're nowhere near ready for her. Not by a long shot. More pensively, she thought to herself, I hope you are ready, Kimmie.
"You okay, girl?" Hope asked with a look of worry and concern on her face as Mr. Barkin appeared and, after threatening Ron with the same punishment, pointed Kim to the detention room. "You look worried. What's up?"
"It's okay, Hope. Honest." Tara replied, "Nothing we need to worry about."
"You girls want to join your fellow cheerleader in detention?" Mr. Barkin growled as he shifted his attention to Hope and Tara. "There's plenty of room."
"No, Sir." Both girls answered back in unison, "We'll just be off now."
"Then get going."
As the pair walked down the hall towards the gym and cheerleading practice, Hope, her expression still one of concern, pleaded, "You're my best friend, Tara. Please…talk to me. Ever since we overheard Kimmie talking in that thing you've been brooding. Please tell me…What's bothering you."
After several moments of careful thought, Tara decided to confide at least a little in her best friend, "I can't tell you everything yet, Hope. I will soon—I promise. But what I can talk to you about right now is what's bothering me—will that do?"
"Yeah." Hope replied with a warm smile, "That's all I'm asking. I figure when you're ready and you want to, you'll tell me the rest."
"Thank you." The blonde adventuress smiled back at her friend. "You heard that name Shego?"
"Yeah." Hope nodded her head, "She sounded kinda scary. I heard that guy talking to Kim mentioning that she was wanted in eleven countries. Is that right?"
"Yeah." Tara affirmed with a slight nod of her head.
"Do you know her?" Hope asked.
After several moments, Tara responded slowly and carefully, "This stays between us, Hope. You can't tell anyone else this. Not your parents. Not anyone else on the team. And especially not Kim and Ron."
"You know it does." The raven-haired cheerleader responded. "You know the old saying, A good friend will help you move…"
"While a best friend will help you move the body." Tara smiled warmly at Hope. "Yeah. And thank you for being my best friend, Hope. Believe it or not…I don't think I've ever had one. Friends…yeah. Acquaintances…plenty. Lovers…well…get me drunk sometime and we'll talk about that."
"You better believe we will." Hope smirked. Her smile vanishing, she prompted, "Well…go on. We were talking about this Shego character."
"Yes, I know Shego. Please understand, I can't tell you everything I know about her right now." Tara pleaded.
"I understand." Hope replied, "Just tell me what you want to."
"I can tell you that she's very dangerous." Tara said, "You've heard of Team Go, right?"
"Yeah." Hope nodded her head, "Who hasn't?"
"Well…she's kind of the black sheep of the family." Tara's lips turned up in a slight grin. "You see, she used to be part of Team Go."
"She did?" Hope exclaimed in surprise. "Why haven't I heard of her? My brothers are big fans of them—they have all their posters and their licensed comics, action figures…everything."
"She's their dirty little secret." Tara explained. "You see, she switched sides a while back."
"How you know all this is one of the things you can't talk to me about right now—right?" Hope remarked as the pair neared the gym's entrance.
"Yeah." Tara nodded her head slowly, "I'm sorry, Hope."
"That's okay." Hope smiled back to her friend, "Like I said, you'll tell me more when you're ready. So…this Shego is a bad guy, right?"
"Pretty much so." Tara nodded her head in agreement. "She also has superpowers. You see…" The blonde explained to her friend, "She can throw superhot plasma at anyone or anything and she's got really sharp claws that she's not afraid to use and a bad temper that often gets the better of her."
"You've tangled with her before—haven't you?" Hope exclaimed in a hushed whisper.
"Yeah." Tara confessed, "A couple of times. We're even. She beat me once and I beat her once. I don't think either of us is really in a hurry to have another go at each other yet."
"But Kim's never taken her on, and you're afraid Kim might get hurt." Hope concluded as the pair reached the gym entrance. "So…what are you going to do if Kim runs into her here?"
"If Kim can't handle her." Tara promised, "Then I'll pitch in and help out. After school. We'll go to my place and I'll tell you everything. But…I warn you…you might not like what I have to tell you and what you hear might put you in the crosshairs of some pretty bad people. Still want to know the truth?"
After several moments of thought, Hope took a deep breath and exhaled, "You're the first real friend I've had here." She declared, "Yeah…I know most of the girls and most of them are sorta kinda friends. But…some of 'em…like Bonnie and Marcella…I wouldn't trust as far as I could throw them—and I can throw pretty far. So…whatever you have to tell me…I can handle it."
"We'll see about that." Tara responded as she held out her hand, "Okay…after school…we go to my place and it's true confessions time, deal?" She said as she held out her hand.
"Deal." Hope responded as she shook her best friend's hand, sealing the deal. "And…bestie…thank you for trusting me."
"You know what you gotta do, Rufus?" Ron murmured to his naked mole-rat companion beneath the detention room's window. "Now go do that thing you do best."
"Yah!" Rufus chittered as he leaped from his master's hand to the open window sill and then down to the detention room floor. Once there, chittering loudly, he made noises like a gun being fired as he pointed his fingers at Barkin causing pandemonium to break out in the room. Big Mike, panicking on seeing the little rodent, leaped up on one of the desk, nearly collapsing it from his weight as Barkin, fearing that Rufus was a genetic mutation that had escaped the science lab, brandished a giant board in his hand.
Seeing her opportunity, Kim quickly suggested, "Maybe we better get outta here."
"Right." Mr. Barkin quickly decided, "Evacuation protocol. Go…Go…Go!"
Taking advantage of the opening made for her by her best friend's rodent companion, Kim darted out of the detention room, meeting up with Ron at Bueno Nachos. "Thanks, Ron." The young redhead smiled warmly at her best friend.
"Give credit where credit's due." Ron replied, gesturing at his rodent companion who was currently doing kung-fu moves on the table.
"Thank you, Rufus." Kim smiled down at the rodent who smiled back. Just then, Kim's Kimmunicator beeped, "Got something for me, Wade?"
"Yeah." The African-American techie replied, "I tracked a small private plane to a small island in the Caribbean."
"Sounds so much like a villain's hangout." Kim quipped.
"Yeah." Wade teased back, "Legend says that the island's haunted."
"Perfect place for our mystery thief." The redheaded hero responded.
"Yep." The techie agreed, adding, "Check out your backpack, I got you some new toys."
"Oh yeah!" Ron exclaimed as he began pawing through his friend's backpack, much to her irritation. "Lipstick!" The blond sidekick moaned in disgust.
"That's not ordinary lipstick." Wade explained as Ron, after carelessly taking off the lipstick lid, found his face covered by a pink goo. "It's a special elastic-constrictive chemical compound I came up with."
"It works." Ron muttered as he pulled at the now hardened lipstick, only to have it, like rubber, snap back on his face as his rodent companion laughed. "Is there any way to get this stuff off me?" He mumbled; his voice barely audible thanks to the goo covering his face.
"You should find an atomizer in your purse, Kim." Wade directed, "It's a solvent. Just spray it at the goo and you should be able to remove it immediately and painlessly."
"Thanks, Wade." Kim replied as she took the atomizer and sprayed it on to the goo covering her friend's face, then helped him as he removed the elastic-constrictive compound.
After the goo had been removed, Kim once again began rifling through her backpack, smiling in delight as she retrieved a pink compact. "All right! My compact! I thought I'd lost it."
"What's that do?" Ron asked.
"It's a small mirror that I use to help me touch up my makeup." Kim sarcastically responded. She then commanded with a wave of her arm, "Come on, Ron! Let's go."
Drakken's Caribbean Lair
Unaware that Drakken's security systems had already detected them, Kim and Ron swam toward the hidden underwater entrance to the villain's lair. Unfortunately for them, the mad scientist had activated his defense systems, a high powered suction device that drew them into it, no matter how hard they tried to swim against the current carrying them towards the tube.
Arriving, the pair found themselves standing on a small pedestal with a large and apparently hungry shark circling them. They then met, for the first time, their opposition, a blue-skinned man with a shock of uncombed black hair and a scar on his cheek with an attractive, dark-haired, green-skinned woman wearing a skin-tight green and black cat suit standing next to him.
"I've heard of you, Kim Possible." The man stated with a predatory smile on his face.
"Sorry…" Kim responded, "But I haven't heard of you."
"Don't worry, Possible. Soon you'll learn to fear me—for the brief amount of time you have left, that is." The villain sneered as he pulled a lever, dropping the two teens into the water with the hungry shark. Then, with an evil cackle, he and his assistant left the two heroes to their fate.
Acting swiftly, Kim, taking out her lipstick, dived underwater. Timing it just right, she aimed and fired, hitting the rapidly swimming predator with Wade's compound, binding its jaws shut just before it reached her and her sidekick.
Escaping the death trap, the pair carefully made their way to the mad scientist's lab where they overheard his plans to construct an explosive nano-tick. "Imagine the possibilities…" The mad scientist cackled, "This little bug will be able to go anywhere. Affix itself to any object—any person. With enough of these little creatures I can…"
"Rule the world." Shego finished. The idiot might actually be able to pull this off. The supervillainess thought to herself. With Possible now fish food, that only leaves Tara as a possible loose end. Looks like we're gonna have round three a little earlier than I'd planned, Cutie. Too bad…I was hoping we could have a repeat of Munich first, but oh well…business is business. Glancing out of the corner of her eye, the green-skinned villain spied movement in the shadows. Dammit… She sighed as she charged her plasma, If you want something done…
As the pair overheard the blue-skinned villain's masterplan, she whispered to her companion, "We're definitely putting this one in the mad scientist category."
"Mad as in crazy?" Ron jokingly whispered back, "Or mad as in angry."
"What do you think?" Shego growled as she launched a green plasma-charged fist at the blond sidekick.
Barely dodging Shego's punch, Ron and Kim leaped up only to see that Drakken had activated a pair of laser turrets.
"Remote controlled lasers." A brash Ron declared, only to suddenly realize that he was in way over his head, "Kim?"
"Got it, Ron!" The teen hero replied as she used the mirror of her compact to deflect the oncoming laser beams back, in the process setting off a chain reaction causing the lab to explode as both heroes and villains made their escape just in time.
Later on at Tara's house
"So that's everything, Hope…" Tara confessed as she leaned back on one of the backed stools of her snack bar, wearing a t-shirt and panties and with her feet propped on the bar, smoking a cigarette as she swirled the gin and tonic in her other hand, "I know it's a lot for you to take in…so…if you have any questions…"
"Wow!" Hope, sitting at the snack bar with her best friend, sipped her coke as she took in the long tale that Tara had just told her. "You're saying that you're really a jewel thief and secret agent."
"I prefer adventuress." Tara said with a sly grin as she took a drag from her cigarette and exhaled a plume of smoke, "So…anything else?"
"No…" Hope shook her head, "I think that covers it."
"I hope this doesn't change things between us." Tara remarked in a pleading voice.
"Of course it doesn't." Hope smiled back, "We're still best friends and we're not that far apart in age. In a way, you're sorta like my older British sister. I kinda like that. One thing though…" Hope said, her voice taking on a pleading tone, "I'd like to help you in what you do…"
"Hope…" Tara sighed, "What I do is very dangerous and I'm used to working alone."
"I know that." Hope replied, persisting in her entreaties, "But I get the feeling that there were a few times you'd have liked to have someone watch your back. I mean…from a couple of the stories you told me, I get the impression you were very lucky you got out. If you'd have had someone watching out for you…"
"It would have helped." Tara nodded her head in agreement. "And…" She conceded, "Uncle John did work with Dr. Gale, Auntie Emma and my grandmother and they worked well together, and they all have been nagging me to get a partner I can trust. But…they also had a lot of training—as have I. You haven't."
"Neither has Kim or Ron." Hope pointed out, "And you've seen me at practice and in the gym and I've competed in track and field. I'm a good high jumper and pole vaulter. A pretty good hurdler, and I placed in last year's decathlon. Yeah…I'm gonna need to learn how to fight…but you can teach me. I'm a quick learner. Just give me a chance" She explained, "My parents…they want me to date and marry some dumb football player or other jock and settle down and be a normal housewife with a bunch of screaming brats so that they can have grandchildren. I don't want that. I want to see the world. I want to learn how to fly and skydive and just live life. Please! Give me a chance. If it doesn't work out…then it doesn't work out. But please…give me a chance to help."
"All right." Tara reluctantly agreed, "But here are the ground rules. You do what I say when we're training—and I'm gonna train you hard. And you don't go out in the field until I think you're ready. And don't forget—this is our secret. Agreed?"
"Agreed to everything." Hope grinned as she and her best friend shook hands. "And not a word to anyone. I promise."
"Right, then." Tara smiled and then heaved a dejected sigh as she put out her cigarette, "What do you wanna do first? Math or science?
"Math." Hope groaned as she reached into her backpack and took out her textbook. "I'm having trouble with those damned quadratic equations. Can you help?"
"Yeah." Tara responded with a grin as she went over to the stool next to where her best friend was sitting and took out her textbook. "I think I can help. Then you can help me with biology. I hate that fucking photosynthesis process."
"Not a problem." Hope grinned, "I'm all over that. Come on…let's get started."
.
Middleton High—the next day, after school
"And our word for today…" Hope whispered to her partner in crime as they observed Mr. Barkin standing near the door ready to pounce upon his unsuspecting prey, "…is ambush."
Almost as if on cue, Kim walked through the gym doors, not even spotting the hulking teacher standing near her. After speaking briefly with Professor Acari on her Kimmunicator, the redhead took out her pom-poms as she called out to her team, "Are you ready? All right…bring it on…"
"Ummm…Kim…" A very smug Bonnie flashed an evil grin as she pointed behind the cheerleader captain.
Turning about, Kim's heart skipped a beat as she saw Mr. Barkin standing before her with a book opened to a picture of a naked-mole rat. "I know about the naked mole rat." The teacher growled in a low voice. "Junior, Vinnie, and Big Mike are looking forward to seeing you in detention."
"Detention?" Bonnie smirked, "Cheerleaders don't do detention."
Watching as a dejected Kim, head and pom-poms drooping, shambled out of the gym to meet her fate, Tara smirked as Barkin followed closely behind his wayward inmate out the door, "Oh well…I guess Barkin didn't get that particular memo."
"I've tracked the nano-tick." Shego told her employer. "It's at a high school in Middleton."
"Kim Possible." Drakken grinned evilly. "Get the hovercar. We're going to Middleton. I'm going to get my nano-tick back even if I have to pry it from Possible's dead body."
Feeling self-conscious at her three fellow detention inmates staring at her, Kim exclaimed, "Okay…guys…why are you staring at my nose?"
"You got a zit on your nose, cheerleader." Joey said as he pointed to the redheaded cheerleader's nose.
"Cheerleaders don't get zits." Vinnie responded.
"Oh…then it has to be a tiny explosive device." Joey concluded.
Alarmed, Kim took out her compact and opened it. Looking at the reflection of her nose in the mirror, she cried out in alarm, "Drakken's nano-tick!" Leaping from her seat, she pleaded in vain for Mr. Barkin to let her go, but the teacher, unmoved by her pleas, refused to free her.
Deciding that her only option was a jailbreak, Kim leaped up on a desk and then vaulted over Barkin's head, sticking her landing near the door. "Sorry, Mr. Barkin." She apologized, "But I have to go."
"Nobody escapes detention!" Barkin growled as he took off in pursuit of Kim, followed closely behind by the other inmates.
Outrunning her teacher, Kim escaped the school and leaped on behind Ron on his scooter.
"We're in trouble, Kim!" Ron exclaimed, "Wade found out that Drakken's tracing the nanotech on you."
Just then, the sky darkened as Drakken showed up on his hovercar. "I want my nanotech, Kim Possible!" The mad scientist cried out as Kim urged Ron to go while simultaneously Mr. Barkin burst out the front door.
"You're busted, Possible."
"Go, Ron! Now!"
Watching the scene from the gym window, Tara turned to Hope, "Let's move!"
"How're we going to keep up with them?"
"My car." Tara replied.
"Right behind you, T!" Hope exclaimed, looking forward to riding in the passenger seat of her best friend's sports car.
"Damn! Ron's scooter's slow!" Tara cursed as she followed close behind Barkin with Drakken's flier hovering above them all.
"Oh shit!' Tara exclaimed as she saw a door at the bottom of the hovercar slide open and a cannon deploy. "He's got a gun."
"He's got some sort of ray gun!" Kim cried out.
"What kind of ray gun?" Ron shouted.
"Gravitomic." Drakken answered as he fired, barely missing the scooter.
"Ray gun!" Tara cursed as she turned the wheel, barely dodging a yellow beam of light, "Of course it had to be a sodding ray gun, he's a sodding mad scientist!" She growled, now turning the wheel the other direction, causing the beam to again just miss them. "What else was he going to have?"
Adrenaline flowing through her system, Hope exclaimed, "Part of me wants to shit my pants, but the other part of me's having a blast. Is it like that for you?"
"Yeah, luv! All the time!" Tara answered back with a laugh as she dodged yet another beam.
"Shit!" Hope cursed, pointing, "Barkin got sucked up in the beam and Possible's going for the car."
"Gutsy move." Tara remarked approvingly. She then chuckled as the redhead used a license plate that she had taken off the car as a frisbee to damage, but not completely knock out, the ray cannon. "Not bad!"
"They're ducking into the Bueno Nacho." Hope pointed as Kim and Ron entered the fast food restaurant, closing the door behind them.
Parking the car, the two girls exited the vehicle. Spying Drakken's flier hovering over the roof of the Bueno Nacho, Tara directed her companion, "Get the civilians out of the way, Hope. I got a feeling things are about to get interesting."
"On it, T!" Hope replied as she promptly began to urge and push the innocent bystanders out of danger.
"Shego's running the show now." Tara observed as her best friend returned to her side, pointing to the dark-haired supervillainess who had activated the gravitomic beam, pulling the roof off and then leaping off the flier and into the diner. "This is where we make our entrance." She said as she entered the restaurant with her friend following close behind.
"Kim Possible!" Shego cried out as she took a combat stance, "You've got something that belongs to us."
"I don't want it." Kim countered as she leaped down, ready for battle.
"You mean that thing's on you." Shego smirked.
"Hello!" Kim retorted sarcastically, "It's not a nose ring."
"Take her damned nose off if you have to!" Drakken commanded.
"Works for me." Shego grinned evilly as she lunged at the young redhead.
Watching as Kim and Shego punched, kicked, dodged, and parried each other's moves, Tara said to her friend, "It's diamond cut diamond. They're evenly matched."
"You getting involved?" Hope asked as the fighters came closer to them.
"Yeah…" Shego, hearing Hope's question, called out to Tara as Kim was distracted by Ron and Wade talking on the Kimmunicator, "You looking to get into this party, Cutie? Make it a threesome like Munich."
"Nah…" Tara responded with a crooked grin, "Looks like Possible's holding her own against you. I'll just sit back and watch for now."
"Suit yourself. I know how much you like to watch." Shego quipped as the brawl recommenced.
Kim, landing a lucky kick, propelled Shego out of the door and on to Mr. Barkin.
"Nice landing, Cheeky!" Tara called out as Kim and Ron were again distracted by Wade giving them directions on how to deactivate the nano-tick.
"Eat me, Cutie!" Shego responded as she held up her middle finger to the blonde cheerleader.
"It's your turn, Cheeky!" Tara riposted with a laugh, "I did you in Munich—remember when we were with Antonio? Didn't hear you complaining at the time either."
Overhearing Vinnie's comment about Kim's nose being about to blow, Hope called out to her friend, "Problem here—that thing on Kimmie's nose is about to go off."
"Right." Tara exclaimed, "Let's get everyone the hell outta here—now!"
"Ummm…bestie…" Hope murmured to her friend as they shooed the last few civilians out of the restaurant, "Was there something between you and…" Her eyes then fell on the green-skinned supervillainess.
"Long story." Tara replied, "I'll tell you over drinks when we get back to my house. Short version—I swing both ways, but prefer men. Does that bother you?"
"No. It doesn't bother me. Different strokes and all that stuff." Hope replied, shaking her head, "Besides, I don't think you're gonna jump my or any of the other girls' bones in the shower after practice."
"No, you don't have to worry about that." Tara replied with a crooked grin, "I'm more than happy with you being my best friend, and I'm not looking for you or anyone else to be my girlfriend."
"Works for me. I guess that means awkward moment settled." Hope smiled back at her friend. "Wanna get back to seeing how Kim and Ron are doing?"
"Yeah." Tara nodded her head, "We better. Just be ready to bugger off if things go tits up."
Entering the restaurant, both girls saw Ned, standing behind the counter, toss a packet of Diablo sauce in the direction of Ron who smoothly caught it and peeling off a corner, got ready to squeeze off a drop on to the nano-tick only to be interrupted by Shego standing in the middle holding the two teenagers apart.
"Stand away from the nose." The green-skinned villainess warned.
"Looks like I'm gonna have to get into it." Tara sighed as she made ready to tackle the supervillainess only to have Big Mike strike first, planting himself squarely on top of Shego. "Thanks, Big Mike!" The lovely blonde called out as the big guy waved back and then smiling down at Kim told her that the detention gang sticks together.
Watching with approval as Ron applied the Diablo sauce to Kim's nose, landing the droplet squarely on the nano-tick, Tara whispered to her friend as Kim took the straw with the nano-tick from her best friend's mouth and blew it on to Drakken's hovercar, sending it crashing down on to the ground, "Looks like it's crisis averted."
The pair approached Big Mike and the woman pinioned beneath him only after making sure that everyone else except for those two and the three other members of the Detention Gang remained in the ruined restaurant. Kneeling down in front of the dark-haired villainess, Tara flashed a wicked grin, "Looks like you're having a rough day, Cheeky. I'd offer you a smoke, but I don't have any on hand right now."
"That's okay. You owe me one next time we're at the club—not to mention that round of drinks I won off you in our last bet." Shego replied with a quirky grin of her own, and then begged, "Can you get this big hulk off me? He's smashing my tits."
"Your word that you're not going to have another go at Possible and Stoppable at least until the end of the week?" Tara requested.
"I promise. I'll leave the princess alone."
"And Stoppable." Tara repeated.
"Him too." Shego agreed.
"Mike, luv?" Tara called to the big student.
"Yeah, Tara?"
"Can you be a dear and get off this nice lady now. She promises she won't start anything with Kim." Tara implored, giving Shego a cheeky grin. "Right, Nice Lady?"
Shego grumbled, "I promise I won't do anything to little Kimmie."
"Good enough, Mike?" Tara asked.
"Yeah. If you say so." The husky student responded as he got up, releasing his prisoner.
"Cops are coming." Hope warned her friend.
"Hear that, Cheeky?" Tara nudged the villainess, "Better scarper off. I'll see you at the Kitty-Kat Club tomorrow night—I'm buying. That should settle our bet and pay for today's entertainment."
"Tomorrow night, Cutie." Shego agreed, "I'm outta here." With that, she blew the blonde girl a kiss and made her escape.
"We better bugger off too." Tara advised her friend. "I don't want Mr. Barkin to catch us here."
"Yeah." Hope readily agreed, "Good idea."
Turning to Big Mike and the other detention inmates, the lovely blonde adventuress requested, "You didn't see us."
"Didn't see who?" Vinnie replied with a smirk.
"Yeah." Joey declared, "Detention Room Code. We don't snitch on each other."
"See you at Kitty-Kat Club, Tara. Later, Hope." Big Mike said as the two girls made their own escape.
Tara's House that Evening
"Baby's first mad scientist." Tara laughed as she talked to her uncle on the phone. "Very funny, Uncle John. How did Possible and Stoppable do? I think Mother will be pleased. Possible did a good job and Stoppable wasn't bad either. I admit…he is…awkward…but he's very quick witted. His idea of using the Diablo sauce to disable that nano-tick's timer was a very creative and ingenious solution and shows a talent for thinking outside the box and improvising. He was scared, but when the chips were down, he kept his wits about him. He just needs more confidence in himself is all. Yes, I filed my report with Betty and said much the same thing. My recommendations? I think Possible should be given as wide a latitude as possible…no pun intended…to operate independently. The worst thing Betty could do would be to try to tie her down—it probably wouldn't work anyway as she'd just go rogue at the first opportunity. Her parents keep her grounded—as, believe it or not—does school."
As her best friend talked to her uncle and the topic came to her, Hope took a sip of the wine that Tara had poured for her and glanced at the photos on the wall behind the bar. The first, that of a dapper and debonair man wearing a suit and tie and bowler hat on his head and carrying an umbrella standing before an antique car. The second, that of an elegant and attractive auburn haired woman wearing a black leather catsuit leaning up against a Lotus Elan sports car. And the third, that of a dark haired woman wearing a miniskirt and with a broad smile on her face. While Tara spoke on the phone, the lovely dark-haired cheerleader imagined what it must have been like living back when those three people in the photographs were younger and active. Miss Rossi…She imagined the man in the bowler hat telling her, We're needed.
Glancing at Hope who was currently seated at the bar enjoying a glass of wine, Tara declared with a smile on her face, "Yes. I think she'll do nicely, Uncle. All right…" She huffed, "I admit it. You were right. I do need a partner and I think she'll work out perfectly after a bit of training. We'll be careful. Give my love to Auntie Emma and Grandmama. Bye!"
"So…your uncle says it's okay for me to be your partner?" Hope asked with a lump in her throat.
"Yeah." Tara replied as she joined her friend at the bar and after fixing herself a gin and tonic, lit a cigarette as she glanced at the pictures on the wall. "Welcome to the family business."