CHAPTER 21 - Tuesday, 3 days before Prom Night
Author's note: I am publishing this a few days earlier than scheduled. Currently working on Chapters 23 and 24. To purplegirl761, Drumboy100 and CajunBear73, thank you for your insightful reviews of the previous chapter.
Tibet
Manfred finished his morning round of the security team. He was deeply troubled by the continuing lack of news about Shego's whereabouts. But whereas Drakken appeared to be concerned about her welfare, he Manfred was concerned about her loyalty.
Drakken is too trusting.
Shego's lack of contact screamed betrayal to him.
Manfred was an efficient security officer. Something was off and he was determined to get to the bottom of it. Was Shego a mole? For GJ? Had she been interfering with something before she left? Had she taken something? Or, worse, sabotaged something?
The synthodrones!
If you've done anything to jeopardize the project it won't be Drakken's wrath you'll have to fear.
It'll be mine.
He just had time to go and check out Dementor's lab before Drakken's daily mission briefing was due to start.
If you're not back today, Shego, all bets are off.
ooOooOoo
The security chief looked around the lab, seeing nothing out of the ordinary. He was familiar with the set-up, having spent numerous sessions training the synthodrones to fight. All seemed peaceful.
A gleam caught his eye. A long-bladed knife was sitting on the bench.
I don't remember seeing that there. This is supposed to be a knife-free zone to protect the synthodrones.
He picked up the knife and placed it behind him.
Let's test these guys, he thought.
"Synthodrones one and two, come here!"
Two of the creatures approached him.
And kept on coming until he yelled stop in panic.
Why did they invade my space? Something is very wrong here!
He was reminded of the knife. He turned to picked it up and hefted it in his right hand.
I am about to sacrifice one synthodrone, or…
He thrust forward with the knife at the nearest synthodrone.
The blade snapped with the impact. The creature was unblemished.
There was no doubt. Someone had reprogrammed the synthodrones to ignore Manfred's friend status. And, contrary to everyone's belief, they were no longer vulnerable to knives.
The only people capable of doing both these things were Professor Dementor and Cyrus Bortel.
Both had means and opportunity, but motive? That pointed squarely toward Dementor. Bortel was too keen on perfecting his moodulator to interfere with the synthodrones. Whereas Dementor clearly bore a grudge against Drakken for taking over his lair.
So Dementor was almost certainly the culprit.
But he needed proof.
And where did Shego fit into this? Were there two traitors?
Right now he needed to shut down the synthodrones before someone – himself! – got hurt.
He picked up the Moodulator remote control and removed the batteries. The synthodrones would now respond neither to voice messages nor emotional signals. In effect they were dead until reactivated.
The traitor would give themselves away, he knew. He just had to keep watch.
Toronto
The spring sun was rising over the Toronto cityscape but there remained a decided chill in the air as Shego shivered, her depowered body responding in an unfamiliar way to the drop in temperature, a reminder of how comprehensively she had been defeated on her last visit to the building she now knew housed Global Justice's black operations office.
While she despised GJ – an organization that weaponized a cheerleader for heaven's sake – she knew that they largely kept within the law even when it gave the villains an edge. Shego doubted that Betty would have sanctioned a potentially lethal injection or the naked threat to her brothers and she was certain that GJ brass were unaware that the operation had been subverted by, of all people, Jack Hench, head of HenchCo - the provider of villainous kit and villainous henchmen.
The memory of her mistreatment caused her to growl quietly as, toting the EMA in a backpack, she approached the rear of the nondescript structure. She knew that she had to be exceedingly cautious. Anyone she encountered, be they genuine GJ operatives or henches, would see her as the enemy.
She had arrived on site five hours before the deadline for delivery of the EMA and was currently crouched out of sight in the long shadows cast by the adjacent building. A parking lot with a few scattered vehicles lay between her and a dingy-looking rear door, with paint peeling off the face. Only the gleam of metal underneath the paint and the security touchpad beside the door gave any hint that within was more than appeared at face value.
No doubt Hench would have surveillance in anticipation of her arrival, including a spotter at the airport, but given that there was only a single overnight flight arriving from Kathmandu that morning, she hoped they would assume that she would not arrive at Lester Pearson for another three hours. And if they had checked the manifest for that flight before it took off they would have found a false trail identifying a Sheila Goh as the sole female passenger. The plan was risky though as it depended on Hench not realizing that she had access to Dementor's much-speedier hoverplane.
Shego had a secondary mission, to understand the connection between Bourne (now known to be the subverted GJ operation) and the Phoebus device. With the advantage of surprise gained by arriving ahead of time, she was hoping to gain the information she sought, find the antidote to the poison circulating in her system and return with the EMA before Drew noticed its absence.
This was the best-case scenario. While Shego had no great desire to give up a working Electron Magneto Accelerator to a scumbag like Jack Hench, if her plan went pear-shaped she was prepared to exchange the device for the antitoxin. After all, if Drew's plans were successful, it would hardly matter that Hench or GJ had the EMA.
She expected Hench to try to double-cross her and she had taken some precautions against that eventuality. Without her comet powers she would have to rely on her wits. Plus the semi-automatic pistol she had borrowed from the lair's armory before leaving.
Shego waited out of sight of the GJ building as she cast her eyes around for surveillance. She noted the position of two CCTV cameras swinging left to right and back. She timed three cycles, then launched herself across the parking lot, reaching cover behind a parked car just before the second camera spotted her. She took a moment to catch her breath: she was still unfamiliar with the feeling of fatigue that came from exertion.
A day or so and I'll be back to full strength and power. But until then I can't take too many risks.
The thief held out a mirror, satisfying herself that there was no-one in sight, before she slid out of cover and pinned herself to the wall beside the rear door. The door would obviously be alarmed but the security so far generally appeared to be closer to that of a jewelers shop than of a law enforcement agency. For someone with her talents and equipment, that meant no effective security.
GJ's surveillance was set up with help from Nerdlinger. The laxity here suggests even more strongly that Betty doesn't know what this operation has been up to.
Shego listened intently at the door before she was satisfied that there was no-one on the other side. Her Personal Force Field made short work of the obstruction and she found herself in a lobby with rooms off both sides and a descending flight of stairs directly in front of her. It was likely that the heart of the operation lay below ground and she was unsurprised to see the telltale glow of a McHenry laser grid protecting the staircase.
I don't think the PFF will get through lasers undetected if I understood Doctor D correctly.
An alternative was required. And Shego had just the thing in her backpack.
With a mirror in either hand, Shego carefully redirected two of the beams to create a gap in the grid just sufficient for her to ease her lithe body over the threshold without breaking any of the beams.
Mentally preparing herself for the possibility of detection, she descended to the corridor below. Low voices were coming from one of the two doors nearest her.
Shego phased through the first door that sounded silent. Her heart skipped a beat as she saw two GJ-liveried henches sitting at a desk, back turned to her. She reversed her direction of travel and reemerged in the passage, heart pounding. Had they been facing the other way…
One further pair of doors, with the ever-present risk that someone would emerge from a doorway and challenge her.
She looked across the corridor. This door had a sign on it.
Filing.
Bingo. Now please let the room be empty!
Heart in mouth she phased through the door.
Middleton
"Hello Ron," the techie genius answered.
He could not see the face of his caller, as Ron was ringing from his cell phone which was several generations out of date but which was all his parents would provide him with.
"Wade, have you heard from Kim today? I can't get her to respond to my calls!"
Unseen by Ron, Wade pulled a face. He had received a surprising call from Kim the previous night, asking him not to give her any missions until after Prom Night. She had seemed reluctant to explain, but she eventually admitted that she wanted to spend uninterrupted time with Eric before the dance. The unprecedented request had left him feeling uncomfortable and he hadn't yet passed on the message to Global Justice.
The long pause spoke volumes to Ron. Not for the first time, he regretted that he was not deemed worthy to be given a Kimmunicator where he could actually see his interlocutor.
"She's with the new guy isn't she," he said resignedly.
Wade nodded, before realizing that Ron couldn't see him. "Yes, she asked me to hold off on missions for a couple of days, just until the Prom is over."
Ron sighed. Kim holding off on missions was whack. She was going to be no help with the mystery he had uncovered last night. He started to tell Wade what had happened but stopped.
What's the point? It's probably just my imagination.
"If you hear from her Wade, tell her I really want to speak to her will you? There's something weird going on at Bueno Nacho."
Wade was used to Ron's paranoia about changes at BN but wisely kept silent.
"Will do, Ron."
Tibet
The daily briefing was not going well.
"What do you mean, a moodulator remote control is missing?" Drakken demanded.
Cyrus Bortel, summoned to the meeting when he reported his suspicions, looked nervous.
"I counted them up. I'm one short. I think it might have been left in my lab when Shego blew it up," he stammered. "It was probably destroyed in the blast."
Drakken looked thunder at the hapless scientist.
"Probably isn't good enough. You'd better hope that Global Justice didn't find it or you can start saying your prayers!"
"And where is Shego!" Drakken raged at Manfred. "You said she would be back yesterday!"
"I thought she would be," he replied uncomfortably. "I'm making enquiries."
Drakken slammed his fist on the table.
"You're supposed to be in charge of security. How could you not keep tabs on her? We're moving out of here tomorrow and you don't know where Shego is!"
Manfred decided that it was time to share his suspicions of treachery.
"Sir, have you considered the possibility that Shego has betrayed us?"
Drakken looked thunderstruck.
"Shego? She'd never do that!"
"So why has she gone missing for three days with no word?" Manfred pointed out.
Drakken hesitated. Could Manfred be right?
"I don't know, she's bound to have a good reason. Perhaps she went to top up her tan or something." He was not convincing himself.
But Shego has been with me from the start. She'd never betray me.
Would she?
Drakken grimaced and raised a hand to his forehead.
"Are you all right, sir," Manfred asked solicitously.
Drakken looked blank. His head throbbed.
Has something happened to Shego?
He heard a voice. "You know you can't trust that green-skinned vixen! She's betrayed you to your enemies!"
"No mother, it's not true," he shouted.
Manfred, Bortel and Dementor stared at him.
Dementor thought: Shego's away and Drakken is losing it. I'm never going to get another opportunity like this.
Taking advantage of the distraction, Professor Dementor slipped silently out of the room.
Unaware that Manfred had seen him leave and had a shrewd suspicion as to the reason.
Keeping the pint-sized villain in his sight, Manfred followed silently as Dementor headed back to his lab.
Toronto
Shego relaxed slightly as she considered the filing cabinets lining the walls of the empty room. She turned around and locked the door from within.
It was clear that Hench was preparing for a rapid departure after he had dealt with Shego, as it quickly became apparent that the cabinets were empty.
Her eye was drawn to a large sealed cardboard box on the floor beneath the single table in the corner of the room. Marked Shred before leaving.
Now that sounded promising.
Her finger claws made short work of the tape binding the box closed. As expected, it was filled with files.
There was no rhyme or reason to the order of the files, and it was a nervous few minutes before she pulled out a file marked Phoebus. Shego stuffed it into her backpack and was about to stand up when she heard the door-handle being turned, then shaken as the door refused to open.
She quickly closed the box and shoved it under the table. Closer inspection would reveal its disturbed nature but it would not be obvious to a casual glance.
"Whoever you are, open the door," came an irate voice.
Shego moved away from the table and phased into the wall. Just before her head entered the wall, she heard the jingling of keys.
The door swung open and two henchmen barged in, handguns raised. Then looked at each other and at the empty room.
"The lock must have jammed," one muttered.
Fortunately for Shego, the room she had phased into was also empty. It looked like most of the GJ/HenchCo staff had already moved out.
On the other hand she had no idea where to locate the antidote she so desperately needed.
She opened the door a crack and held a mirror out. To the right she could see the stairwell. To the left the corridor continued endlessly. With doors on both sides.
One of these rooms had to contain a lab. But even if she could figure out which one, she could hardly expect to find a bottle labelled Shego's Antidote resting on the bench.
She shut the door and lay back against the wall.
Maybe I didn't think this through enough.
She closed her eyes in thought.
Looks like I'm going to have to revert to Plan B. Sorry Doctor D, you'll have to find another EMA.
She would go through with the exchange but concealing the fact that she had already purloined the Phoebus file. This meant leaving the building unnoticed and returning later while going through the charade of having arrived on the commercial flight.
Leaving was slightly quicker than coming as she was now familiar with the route, except when she had to duck into a side-room – which turned out to be the men's room – when footsteps echoed down the corridor. The only other difficulty came with negotiating the laser grid from the reverse side, which proved to be challenging as she almost stumbled on the top step.
Getting past the exterior surveillance proved relatively straightforward as the CCTV cameras were all facing outwards.
Fifteen minutes later she was sitting in a coffee shop, preparing to while away a couple of hours until she was expected. The spotter at the airport would not see her of course, but she would explain that away as incompetence on his or her part. And by the time Hench had hacked into the airport arrivals computer and realized that Shego had never taken that flight, she would be gone.
She started to remove the Phoebus file from her backpack before stopping herself.
There are too many people around. I'll read it on the way back to the lair tonight.
Shego opened a copy of Beach Boy Bodies and started to rank the physiques on show.
Tibet
Dementor walked quickly through the lair towards the lab which housed the synthodrones, waiting in their storage pods in readiness for transport to BN HQ the following day. He glanced back over his shoulder as he reached the lab but no-one seemed to be following.
You thought you could outsmart me, Drakken, he cackled to himself. I am the one who should be in charge of this operation! I am the one who has developed the synthodrones. All you have done is made some idiocy with kinder toys and a fast food restaurant! But now it is my turn! And you will pay for humiliating me in front of my people!
Dementor paused to savor the sight of nine hundred synthodrones awaiting only his order to attack their enemies in GJ in just three days. The sight of these inhuman-looking creatures would strike terror into their foes and their resistance to bullets and knives would allow them to overwhelm any defense GJ might put up.
Best of all, Drakken did not realize that these synthodrones were loyal only to him. And he had plans for their use right now.
Dementor picked up the remote control that was sitting on his bench. He pressed a white button that powered the device and activated the synthodrones.
"Synthodrones one to ten, follow me," he ordered.
There was silence. Nothing moved.
"Synthodrones one to ten, follow me," he repeated, with more urgency in his voice.
The result was the same.
Dementor looked nervously at the rows of inanimate creatures. They were programmed to respond to his voice. He had carried out the programming himself. Why were they not responding now?
He spun round at the sound of a cough. Manfred was standing in the doorway, looking coolly at the pint-sized villain, a pair of batteries in his palm.
"Having problems," he smiled maliciously. He reached out and took the remote from the stunned villain. Reinserting the batteries, he turned to the synthodrones.
"Synthodrones one to three, arrest Professor Dementor," he instructed.
As three of the intimidating creatures approached him, Wolfgang Demenz realized he was in very serious trouble.
ooOooOoo
Doctor Drakken looked up as Manfred entered his office. His face darkened.
"How many times have I told you to knock first," he demanded.
Manfred was unabashed. "You told me to let you know the moment we heard anything from Shego," he explained. "We've just had an encrypted message from her. She's on her way to the lair. Expects to be back tonight after a long flight. She says she's sorry to have worried you."
Drakken regarded his security chief with a look of relief. "Did she say where she'd been?" he asked.
"No but she did say she'd tell us everything at tomorrow's briefing."
The blue-skinned villain looked appraisingly at his security chief. "You still don't trust her do you," he challenged.
"Not until she gives a good explanation for her absence," Manfred acknowledged.
"We'll see what she has to say for herself tomorrow morning," he said with finality.
I've never known her to do anything like that before.
No that's not true, Shego has been known to go off on her own without warning before.
But she has never actually let me down.
But then to do it so close to our deadline?!
Manfred cleared his throat. "That's not all."
Drakken regarded Manfred with surprise. "What else?"
Manfred explained his earlier actions, ending with Dementor's incarceration.
"You did what?" the blue-skinned villain turned puce with anger.
Manfred was unintimidated. Catching traitors was one of the tasks he had been hired for by Dementor. Ironically, the same villain was now languishing in the lair's prison cell, the very cell indeed where he had been held on the first night his lair had been taken by Drakken and Shego.
"Sir, I caught the Professor subverting the synthodrones for his own ends. I believe that he was intending to retake the lair with their help. I prevented this by deactivating the moodulator remote control."
"And you are sure it was Dementor? Not Bortel? Or anyone else?"
"Only Dementor has a motive, sir. And I caught him red-handed."
"Okay, we'll let him cool his heels overnight and I'll decide how to deal with him tomorrow. Any other traitors you think you've found?"
Toronto
"I'm glad you decided to be sensible, Shego," Jack Hench smirked as he looked at the woman sitting opposite him.
Shego shrugged. "You didn't give me much choice, Jack."
He smiled. "You have my EMA I take it?"
She pulled the device half out of her backpack enough for him to see. "You have my antidote, I take it?"
"No."
Her face filled with anger. "No is not an acceptable answer, Hench. We had a deal, and I kept my side of it. Now it's your turn."
She pulled out a gun.
"Now there's no need for threats, Shego. Besides, I am wearing body armor. And two rifles are trained on you right now." He gestured to an open hatch on the far wall.
With her other hand she whipped out the EMA and placed it on the table. She turned the gun towards the device.
"The antidote. Now. Or I blow this thing apart."
Hench looked expressionless as he pushed a button in front of him. A few moments later, a subordinate came into the room with a glass of clear liquid which he put down in front of Shego.
She stared at the glass, gun still pointed at the EMA. "What is this?" she hissed.
"It's your antidote."
She took a sniff. "That's nothing but plain water. One last chance Hench or I take you down."
The man began to laugh, tears rolling down his cheeks.
"Oh, Shego you didn't really think we'd poisoned you did you?" he guffawed.
The look on her face was priceless.
He reached over for the EMA, ignoring the gun.
"Tell me, have you had the slightest symptom of poisoning since you left here nearly three days ago?"
She sat stunned.
"Did you think we'd be so stupid as to risk your non-return with our EMA in case you were delayed? We were quite satisfied that the threat to your brothers – which was quite real by the way – would be enough to keep you on side."
He stood, clutching the EMA.
"Looks like your lack of power hasn't done your mind any good either," he grinned. "But you'll be back to normal by tomorrow. Not that that will help you. We'll be long gone by then."
He glanced at his watch.
"And now it's time for you and I to leave this place. Have a good journey home. The Kathmandu flight leaves in a couple of hours. If you rush you should catch it. Oh and give my regards to Professor Dementor."
Shego allowed herself to be led to the door.
"Till our paths cross again, Shego. Just a friendly warning – you may not survive the next encounter."
I will. You won't, she swore to herself as she turned to leave.
ooOooOoo
Halfway across the Atlantic, satisfied that she wasn't being tracked, Shego put the hoverplane into autopilot.
Doctor D will be going frantic by now. It's time to let him know I'll be back this evening.
She sent an encrypted message, acknowledged by Manfred.
So you think you put one over on me Jack?
Shego smiled as she retrieved from her backpack the Phoebus file.
Pity I switched the EMA transmission cables over before I arrived. The first time you try and use the device it'll short, frying all the electrics!
Chuckling to herself she opened the file and started reading.
And as morning turned into afternoon and afternoon into evening, Shego read on.
Until a look of horror filled her face.
My god, Doctor D. What have you done?
Author's note: For those of you who have forgotten what the EMA (Electron Magneto Accelerator) was/did, it appeared in the "Emotion Sickness" episode as a device invented by Cyrus Bortel to boost power output. In this story, Drakken subsequently used it to provide power to the second Phoebus device.