A/N: Just a heads-up, this chapter is HELLA long...
Kim growled to herself as she drove the Sloth as fast as she could control. Her mind was practically overheating with outrage.
Those two… Ugh! They couldn't just stay out of the playing field, could they? Had to go and wreck everything! Couldn't leave everyone at peace! And their timing couldn't have been worse!
"Ah, KP, aren't you going, I dunno… A bit fast?" the voice of her partner asked nervously from the passenger seat.
Kim snapped out of her internal rant to favor him with a chagrined smile. "Sorry Ron. Just… I can't believe these two!"
"Yeah, I kinda get what you mean," the blond said with a nod. "They're out of the villain game for four years, then BAM! They go and steal the double metal heaty things and the Centurion Project."
"Bi-metal superheat material," Kim corrected. "Yeah. They couldn't have gone for something less rare or versatile, could they? Just had to go for stuff that would need us to handle it."
"During finals week!" Ron blurted.
Kim snarled, "I know. I'm missing three finals just to deal with this!"
"It's okay, KP," Ron soothed. "It's probably just coincidence. And hey, your professors'll totally let you redo them!"
"Yeah…" The redhead sighed, hoping he was right. Two of them were pretty understanding, but the third one, Professor Wrigley… Kim was already on thin ice with her for all the practicals she missed over the semester. There was only so much flexibility to things before they finally snapped.
"So what's the plan?" her partner asked.
"It's just Drakken and Shego. Should be no big," Kim said with a wave of a hand. She flexed a fist as she laughed, "They couldn't even handle us before. Now? I don't think so. Just barge in and break whatever they're making. We don't even have to worry about not having Rufus! Shame he had to go in for his shots."
"You've got a point…" Ron said. "You have the new super suit-.."
"In my old mission outfit design," she noted with a light chuckle. "They definitely won't be expecting the barrier and the built-in grappling hook when they see me."
"And I've got the MMP at my disposal!" he gesticulated brightly with an exaggerated wave at his more gi-like mission outfit in the same black and beige of his old mission clothes. A cringe was followed by a nervous, "Well, kinda."
"You have your monkey ninja mastery to draw on," Kim reassured him. "Just because you can't sustain the MMP for long doesn't make you any less. I mean, you are an expert at monkey kung-fu and general ninja stuff."
"Gotta be more conservative!" Ron said with a nod. "Save the MMP for if Drakken's vine thingies try and tie us up."
"If I don't bust us out first," she chuckled in a teasing tone. "It's not like they're that big of a deal. Probably the only thing he'll even have!"
"Slapfight Ron is a thing of the past!" he proudly stated. "I'll knock him out with a chokehold or something."
"Good plan. By then I should have Shego wrapped up too." Kim checked the car's GPS and smirked. "Looks like we're almost there."
"Yeah! I can… See… It…?" Ron said, staring off into the distance. Confused, he asked while pointing ahead, "Hey, ah, KP… Is it just me or is it a little more… Green?"
"Hm?" Kim looked to where Ron was pointing. Sure enough, there was a cloud of green on the horizon. She double-checked the navigational system just to make sure it was right. Surprised, she murmured, "I guess Drakken was serious about going green after all…"
As they flew closer the details began to stick out. Palm trees of varying sizes stood out among the various lower-hanging foliage, their fronds waving gently in the wind. Small shrubs and the beginnings of what looked like tropical trees were scattered about with a variety of colorful flowers interspersed between them. Vines, thick and heavy-looking, hung from the occasional branch.
All in all, it looked like the start to a tropical paradise.
"This is so weird," Kim said with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah… Like, what happened to the rocky shores and the 'haunted' signs?" Ron asked as he scratched his head. "Drakken isn't exactly known for change."
"It has been four years," she reminded her partner. "He probably fell into the gimmick and overplayed it. It is one of the few things he's done right."
"That's true…"
The redhead shrugged, noting as they began to fly over the flora, "Well, it's not like it changes anything. Just gotta find somewhere a little farther away and flatter to land the Slo-.."
Suddenly the car jerked violently. Forcefully, it was dragged down closer and closer to the ground. Kim stomped on the gas as she yelled, "Ron! Figure out what's-.."
"Already on it, KP!" He unbuckled and hopped up to a standing position. Kim was glad they had done the journey with the top down. Bending over the side of the car, he called out, "The vines are attacking us! Got some starting to curl up around the back!"
"What?" Kim spared a quick glance behind her. Sure enough, tendrils of plants were beginning to latch on to the back of the Sloth. They swiftly made their way up towards the seats. The car was slowly being brought to tree level.
"Do you happen to have anything sharp?" Ron asked, trying to swat the incoming plants away.
"Here, let me try…" Kim flexed her arm in a specific way, calling her barrier into action. She adjusted it to try and form it around the Sloth. The blue translucent shield formed around them, cutting the vines off at the edge of the bubble. The vehicle shuddered slightly as it zoomed back into the sky. Wincing at the new chugging noise her car was making, she tentatively queried, "Uhm, Ron? What's the sitch?"
"It, ah, looks like…" He cringed as he sat back down. "Yeah, it's gonna need some work now. It's all crumpled up back there."
Kim sighed, then growled. Stupid Drakken and Shego… Actually booby-trapping the island! She probably should've seen it coming. But… Nothing to be done about it now.
Eventually they came to a more barren edge of the island. Carefully Kim set the Sloth down and deactivated the barrier. A few tense moments later saw the redhead letting out a sigh of relief. She'd been worried that it was like that across the entire island. It was good to know there were some safe places around.
"Okay. So…" Ron got out of her car and looked at her. "What's do we do now, KP?"
Kim thought for a second. "We can't go through the trees. Those vines will trip us up. But maybe…" She pointed towards where the lair was against the rocky cliff edge of the shore. "If we stick to the beach area and climb up, we should be able to make it there okay."
"Gotcha!" Ron checked his gloves over before saying, "I think I'm good to go. How about you?"
Kim did a once-over of her equipment. "I should be good." She waved at her partner. "Let's go!"
Ron skipped ahead of her along some of the rocks. The redhead took a moment to look at her car.
The entire back end was crumpled up. There wasn't a chance of getting the trunk open, and good luck with trying to pop the top back from where it was withdrawn into the car. Even the wheels looked slightly lopsided.
Kim's eyes narrowed. Oh, she was going to punch Drakken super hard for this one.
DSDSDSDSDS
It was nearly a half-hour later that the two of them finally broke into the lair. It was no big; the air ducts were the same as normal. No boobytraps or anything! So much for thinking Drakken had gotten his act together…
The two heroes silently crawled through the oversized ducts, taking the familiar path to the main laboratory of the lair. It was almost nostalgic, in a way. Thinking back to her high school days of stopping silly supervillain plots… Not that she didn't still do that. There was just something almost like a lost frenemy feeling to thwarting one of Drakken's plots.
Eventually the two came to the specific vent that was just above the large lab. Kim peeked through to get a read on the situation and try to plan the best way to take the two down.
The two villains were at one of the large tables against the wall, Shego propped up against the edge standing while Drakken sat hunched over the desk working on something or another. They were strangely quiet, though Shego looked rather impatient. The only noise was a soft hum that came from the blue villain. There were small vines lining the walls, worrying Kim for a moment, before noticing they were burred into the stone. It made sense; it wasn't like they could tell friend from foe. They would be just as likely to attack Shego and Drakken as they would Kim and Ron. Probably just an aesthetic choice.
Kim's eyebrows raised as she took in the two villains, trying to catch every detail she could in case they had added a gadget trick or two to their arsenal.
Their outfits were way different than their old style.
Drakken was wearing what looked like a double-breasted overcoat that flared out at the top and bottom, the collar laying loosely along his collarbone and the bottom stopping mid-thigh. It buttoned up down the middle and had sleeves that tightly trailed down to tuck into his gloves. To her surprise, there were no shoulder pads, the coat laying flat against his shoulders. Very reminiscent of a classic lab coat. It was in his usual colors, dark blue with a black belt, gloves, and boots. The boots looked more heavy-duty and there was something… Weird about the gloves. She couldn't tell what it was from this distance. It was rounded out with pants that, from what she could see, also laid tight on his frame.
Drakken himself… Well, he mostly looked the same. Same light blue skin, same dark hair in a ponytail, same scar on the left side of his face… There was one glaringly big difference: an eyepatch over the right side of his face. Not a small one like Doctor Director or Gemini had. It spanned from the middle of his forehead across and diagonally from the dip of his brow and ending near the edge of his jaw. The other side formed a triangle, pulling up at an angle along his hairline. It was kept in place by three straps, two on the top and bottom right edges of the patch and a third one stretching from the corner along his hairline back behind his head. Strangely there was flowery light blue filigree all along the edges of the patch.
Shego looked about the same physically too, though there was something off about her mouth. Kim couldn't tell what was weird about it. Just that it was different.
The villainess was wearing her usual color scheme. She had on green thigh-high boots that covered up what look like black latex leggings. A long-sleeved latex blouse that buttoned up in a similar manner to her old catsuit fit annoyingly nicely on her frame, with the same color pattern to boot. She had on the same old gloves and belt. Strangely it felt like something was… Missing. Like some kind of forgotten memory. Maybe a cape? Impractical, but it seemed to be like a piece of the puzzle.
All in all, the change looked like it fit the two. Even if Drakken's stuff seemed feminine even for him and the patch looked stupid as all get out.
"You ready, Ron?" Kim quietly asked her partner.
"Yup! The Ronman is ready for ac-.." He suddenly cut himself off. Then, sheepishly, corrected, "Yeah, uh, nix that. Totally have my pants caught on the vent thingy back here."
"Go ahead and get it off," the redhead whispered, sparing a quick glance behind her. "We can take a moment to watch and listen in and figure out their plan."
"Gotcha!" Ron began wiggling his hand around on the snagged chunk of pants in an attempt to get it free. Somehow even with the erratic movement the blond was able to stay silent enough for them to not be noticed.
A minute or so passed with nothing happening. Then…
"A-HA!" Drakken raised up a small round-looking object. "I've finished!"
"Took you long enough!" Shego snatched whatever it was out of his hands and looked it over. "Size 5.5, right?"
"Of course!" Drakken sounded offended. "Otherwise how would it fit?"
"Poorly," the green woman snickered before slipping the item onto her finger. She seemed to admire it as she noted, "Yeah, gotta admit it fits really well. The etching is nice too. Surprised you managed-.."
Her words cut off as the item seemed to shift form, appearing to grow up against her finger.
"...so, why did it just clamp onto my finger?" Shego asked with a tinge of anger.
"That's the Centurion part of it!" Drakken exclaimed excitedly, clearly preening. "It's now latched onto your finger based on your emotions. As long as you're not feeling very happy or vulnerable it won't come off."
"Uh huh. And what purpose does that serve?" The skepticism was loud and clear in her question.
"Well, you'll have a lot of trouble losing it," he said plainly. After an awkward pause, Drakken reluctantly added, "And I wanted to make sure if you took it off it was for a good reason. One that didn't involve you clearly being taken romantically. I mean…" Nervousness leaked into his voice, "I do make you happy and let you feel like you can let your hair down, right?"
"It isn't that." Kim could hear the eye roll. "It's just inconvenient. What if I wanted to take my gloves off? This thing's kinda blocking that."
"Oh. Right," Drakken said disappointedly. "I guess I'll have to modify it some…"
"Okay, KP," Ron whispered from behind her. "Got my pants free! Glad I noticed that before we tried busting 'em…"
"Your situational awareness is getting better," she quietly noted with a smile.
"Thank you ninja training!" the blond crowed a little too loudly.
The villains below them paused. Then Drakken asked, "Shego, did you hear something?"
"Yeah…" The green woman looked around and took on a loose defensive posture. "Sounded like do-gooders to me."
"You heard right!" Kim said as she busted through the air duct grate to land several feet away from the two. Ron followed just behind her, taking one of his monkey kung-fu poses, clearly ready for a fight. The redhead felt pride swell in her at how alert and ready he was even if it was just Drakken and Shego.
"We're here to stop whatever you plan on doing with the metal thingy and the Centurion Project!" Ron declared, sparing a moment to point a finger at the two villains.
"Ha! You're too late!" Drakken boomed, following it up with an evil laugh. "I've already finished what I was going to use them for! Behold!" He waved his hands grandly in Shego's direction. More specifically, her hand. "I have crafted a ring which can withstand Shego's plasma powers! When the bi-metal superheat material heats up from her plasma, instead of melting it changes molecular structure to be even harder! She'll never have to worry about melting it off! And the Centurion Project-.."
"We, uh, heard that part…" Kim interrupted. The two heroes looked at each other, confused. What…?
"So let me get this straight…" Ron said slowly as he turned his gaze back to the two villains, putting a hand up. Then, in sync with his words, he waved it up and down. "You two… Stole the double metal whoseawhatsits… And the Centurion thing… To make jewelry…? When they're both totally dangerous enough… To make superweapons?"
"A wedding band!" Drakken corrected peevishly.
"Right…" Kim and Ron shared another look. Then, smirking, the heroine turned to Shego and said, "And here I thought you had better taste! Hooking up with Drakken like that? I mean, there was something going on, but I figured it was all on Drakken's end!"
"Excuse me?!" The blue villain puffed up in offense. "What exactly does that mean?!"
"Now now, Doctor D. Don't hold her stupidity against her," Shego tsked. She then sneered at Kim. "And you expect me to believe that you picking that dork over there is much better?"
"Drakken has nothing on Ron!" Kim growled in reply. "Ron is charming in a goofy way, wonderfully weird, boyishly cute, dependable, and nice! What does Drakken have? Huh? Nothing! Nothing worthwhile, anyway. Look at him!" The redhead waved a hand at him as if he were exhibit A. "He's ugly, inside and out! Whiny! Needy! Don't even mention that stupid eyepatch… What kind of attempt to look more menacing is that? Gemini and Doctor Director pull it off much better."
Shego's face twisted in an ugly way at the last comment. "Those two-bit hacks don't even need their stupid eyepatches! Doc-.." To both Kim and Shego's surprise, Drakken put a calming hand on Shego's arm. Shego snapped her head over to glare at her boss who was now looking up at her. "What are you-.."
"Now now, Shego, we shouldn't hold her stupidity against her," he parroted back at her. Somehow that seemed to calm the villainess down. His eye went from giving her a soft look to suddenly staring at Kim studiously. Smirking as he stood from his stool, he asked, "So, Kim Possible… You think my patch is stupid?"
"Well duh!" Ron blurted. "Like, it doesn't even fit your theme!"
Drakken's head tilted in mocking curiosity. Slowly he took a step towards the heroes. "Would you like to see what's under it?"
Kim frowned. It seemed pretty straightforward. But at the same time it felt like some kind of trap. Why did he look so amused? Was there something they were missing?
Heedless of her thoughts, Ron said, "What, do you have a scratch on your face of something?"
"Not exactly." Drakken took another step. Then another step. His feet took him to just a few steps away from Kim and Ron. He reached up and slipped a thumb under the bottom of the eyepatch. "Are you ready?"
Ron rolled his eyes at the dramatics while Kim… Well, she wasn't sure what to expect. The way Drakken was acting… The redhead spared a glance at Shego. The green woman was intently watching her and Ron, apparently interested in their reactions.
He lifted up the patch-..
Kim has been expecting a cut. Maybe even a scarred-up abrasion. Certainly nothing of much value. But what was there…
A hole. Where there should have been an eyeball was empty. Nothing. Not even eyelids were present. To her queasy relief, she couldn't see all the way into the opening, the shadows preventing it. Around the socket bone was clearly visible, shining in the light. The skin that had been hidden by the large patch was wrinkled and twisted around the hole, looking almost like an ugly light blue whirlpool. His eyebrow had patchy little bits of hair that stuck out but was otherwise also burned off.
"OH MY GOD!" Ron began to choke, grabbing at his mouth. He dry heaved a few times, bending over and shuddering each time.
Kim was also having trouble with a rebelling stomach. It took a few swallows and averting her gaze from Drakken to get it under control.
"Oh? Nothing sarcastic to quip?" the villain asked in a confident satisfied tone. Out of the corner of her eye she could see him replace and adjust the eyepatch, centering it back over the hole that once held his eye. "And here I thought you were made of harder stuff than that!"
Ron wiped at his mouth as he blurted out, "Dude, how do you LIVE with that?! That's so nasty!"
"It's not as bad as you'd think," Drakken said evenly. "Shego helps me clean it out every other day and I've gotten used to the lack of depth perception."
"Like, how did that even happen? Did one of your inventions blow up in your face super hard when you were staring at it? The owie looks all burn-y!"
Kim was wondering that as well. What in the world could've hurt Drakken like that? The man could take explosions to the face and hitting a mountain head-on. It would've had to be something pretty nasty to manage to even hurt him, let alone leave a gruesome mark like that.
"I don't like to talk about it," Drakken said flatly as he walked back over to Shego. "It was a bad point in my life that only had one good thing come of it."
His back was to them, but the last few words had an unmistakable smile to them. Gently, almost shyly, he took one of Shego's hands in his own and squeezed. Shego, who had been watching on with a satisfied smirk, turned her gaze to Drakken, her mouth shifting to a soft barely-mocking smile. But… There was something there… Almost… Sadness? Guilt, maybe?
A wild thought jumped into her head.
"...Shego did that, didn't she?" The question froze the two villains where they were. The expression on Shego's face was all that was needed to answer her question.
"What?" Ron looked between Drakken and Shego, his face twisting in disgust as he realized the same thing. "Dude, that's messed up."
Drakken then turned to Ron, fury etched into every corner of his face. "Don't you DARE take that tone! You don't know why she had to-.."
"Doc." The word made Drakken whip his head back over to Shego. An amused smile was on her face, one that didn't quite reach her eyes. "Don't worry about it. Poor lil' Kimmie just wouldn't understand. Her and her trained monkey's opinions don't matter."
"Drakken…" Kim instantly regretted her earlier words. "I… I know you don't have much going for you. But putting up with violence like that isn't ri-.."
She was cut off by laughter. Actual genuine laughter with none of the bombastic nature from Drakken. The fact that he was laughing at being so thoroughly permanently damaged from an abusive partner made Kim nauseous all over again.
"Shego's right! Your little pea brains wouldn't be able to handle the explanation," Drakken agreed with a nod. "I'll just say that it's a lot more complicated than a simple burned-out eyeball."
"Yeah, uh, ew?" Ron shuddered. "Just hearing you say that is gross."
"Whatever." Shego rolled her eyes and asked, "So, can you two kids go away now? We have reservations at my favorite resort for an early honeymoon."
That roused Kim from her pitying thoughts for Drakken. His situation was horrible, but that didn't change why they were there. She shot back, "Not without what you stole! Give it up."
"Oh please." Drakken waved a hand. "There's no point. I reworked it so it can't change shape beyond what I programmed into it. It's worthless to them now!"
"Hm…" Ron thought for a second. "Y'know, I don't see the point either. Well…" he scratched his head "...maybe if they try to use it as a really weird gasket sorta thing?"
"It's the principle of the thing," Kim said, taking a step towards the villains. "Let us have it… Unless you want us to beat you just like we always do?"
Drakken and Shego shared an amused grin. With an evil smile, Drakken said, "Oh please, do try. It would be a delightful beginning to our honeymoon and return to villainy to best our old foes!"
The confidence was annoying. Once again Team Possible was being underestimated. ...it was okay. That just meant this wouldn't take long.
"So, how're we gonna do this?" Ron asked. "I mean, there's no doomsday weapon to stop… No countdown… Like, it's been a while since we've even seen each other. What do we do?"
"Pair off. Me and Kimmie on one side, you and Doc on the other," Shego said, pointing across the large room. "No holds barred knock-down drag-out fight. Just like old times! Right, Princess?"
"As if Drakken would last long enough to do anything but flail around!" Kim said with a roll of her eyes. "But yeah, if you want to play it like that I guess it'll work out."
"Good." Drakken nodded to the other side of the room. "Let's go, Buffoon!" Suddenly rushing, he blurted, "Dibs on the side closest to the door!"
"Hey, that's not fair!" Ron called out as he quickly followed. "You already have home team advantage!"
"Too bad!"
Kim shifted her gaze from the retreating backs of the boys to Shego. The green woman was propped up on one leg, hip cocked and a confident smile on her lips. She stretched her arms out before shifting her form to a more combat-ready one.
"You about ready, Cupcake?" Shego asked, flexing her fingers.
"I'm always ready." Kim took her own pose and wondered… Why wasn't Shego lighting up?
"Good."
They stood for a few moments sizing each other up.
"OH MY GOD THERE'RE SO MANY OF THEM!" Ron screamed from the other side of the room. Kim spared a glance in their direction to see her partner dodging and dancing between at least a half-dozen vines swiping and grabbing at him. They were all coming out from the loose collar, Drakken looking amused as he waved his hands in a strange manner, apparently controlling them based on his arm movements.
"Pay attention, Kimmie!" Shego called out. Kim looked back over at the green woman and raised an eyebrow. She had lit up… But it was just her fingertips. Strange… Why did she wait to do that?
Then, even stranger, the flames began to gather at the ends of her fingers before almost magically falling off and softly flying around aimlessly. Shego let out a villainous laugh as orb after orb formed from her fingertips and floated into the air. They wavered and pulsed randomly as they spread out from her.
Kim was wary of the seemingly harmless balls of plasma. They couldn't be harmless with Shego laughing like she was. But what could they-..
"Bye-bye, Princess," the green woman purred. She then flexed her fingers.
The words were all the warning Kim needed. She threw up her shield.
It wasn't a second too soon.
Suddenly every single ball flew at the redhead. They struck the shield solidly, each making a strange fizzling sound as they did so. The shield rippled in those spots but otherwise held up against the onslaught. It was almost a solid minute later when the last of the plasma balls failed to penetrate the barrier.
"Nice try, Shego," Kim said with a smirk as she deactivated the barrier. "Looks like you have a nice new trick. I guess even old dogs can learn."
"Eh, it's true. I can be a real bitch sometimes, can't I?" the other woman shot back, letting the barb Kim threw out roll off her back.
"Is that all you've got?" the redhead asked. "Done playing around?"
"I was just testing something is all…" Shego noted. "Was wondering if you had anything for me to worry about. That little shield of yours is plenty annoying…" her hands lit up all the way, covering them in shifting plasma "...but nothing I can't handle."
"Oh please Shego," Kim said with an eye roll. "Don't flatter yourself."
"Go ahead and doubt me. I don't care. Actions speak louder than words, after all." With that, Shego did a sort of double-hop that turned into a flying roundhouse kick.
Kim blocked it with a forearm and lashed out, activating the concussive gauntlet around her wrist to increase the impact of her punch. It landed solidly into Shego's side, sending her skidding across the ground. By some miracle the villainess stayed standing. She brushed off her side and let out a short breath.
"Oof, Kimmie; I actually felt that!" Shego cocked her head to the side. "Looks like I'm not the only one with new tricks."
"Of course I upgraded. Not being prepped for fights like this was so last season," Kim quipped. Smirking, she said, "Now do you see how you can't win? You might as well give up now."
"Not a chance!" Shego spent a second concentrating before firing off a quick volley of plasma balls. Each looked larger than the little ones she had produced earlier and seemed to make the air waver and bend around them.
Kim shifted her hand in a certain way to bring out the cesta function of her suit. It swiftly formed around her fist. She used it to scoop up the various balls as they came at her. To Kim's surprise, the suit began to burn where the plasma came in contact with it. Instead of tossing it back at Shego like she had planned, she tossed it to the side.
It exploded against the wall next the where the two boys were fighting. Strangely neither of them reacted, both being too busy exchanging blows to notice. Ron was on the offensive, tossing out punches and kicks like a pro. Unfortunately, somehow, Drakken was dodging just as expertly, taking odd poses that should have sent him crashing to the floor from being off-balance. In addition, he was throwing his own jabs and feints. It made Kim think of a boxer.
She turned back to Shego and was surprised to find that she had also taken a quick glance at the other two fighters. A confident proud smirk came to her lips.
"I bet you weren't expecting that, were you?" she said, pointing her thumb towards them. "Figured Doc would fall like a house of cards, right?"
"It's still no big," Kim said with a shrug. "Ron hasn't even brought out the big guns."
Shego gave Kim an evil smile. "What a coincidence! Neither has Doctor D!"
Kim rolled her eyes. Like Drakken had anything better than his plants!
"You doubt, but I fully expect Drakken to come out on top." The green woman resumed a combat pose. "Now that that little intermission is done, you ready to keep going?"
"Always." Kim gave Shego a 'come hither' motion.
"Okay, Princess. You want me to come to you. You got it!" Shego charged, claws out and at the ready to swiped at Kim.
The redhead dodged to the side of her outstretched hand. To Kim's surprise and consternation, Shego pivoted on her left leg and knocked the heroine off-balance with a knee. Then, a vicious grin on her face, she struck her palm out, aiming for Kim's exposed chest. Shego's plasma was again causing the air to waver. All of Kim's instincts screamed at her to get out of the way of the strike. The redhead tried to duck back away from the hit. She partially succeeded; instead of hitting her full in the chest, it grazed her belly. It didn't stop the searing pain of the plasma from eating clean through the supersuit. Kim was certain that she would suffer at least first degree burns from the glancing blow.
Kim shot out a sweeping kick, hoping to force the villainess back. Sure enough, Shego flipped backwards and out of Kim's striking range. Settling back onto her feet, the green woman laughed.
"Like my new and improved control?" Shego asked, flaring her plasma with a flex of her fist. "I gotta admit, before I was pretty careful about how strong my flames were. Hate the smell of burning flesh. But…" she let out a snippet of a laugh "...I realized that I was holding myself back for no reason. It wasn't like I'd be forced to burn that strong. I can control myself if need be! And it's true! I can burn anywhere from only enough to produce some light…" the flames died down to barely a flicker "...to sun hot."
Kim ended up flinching back from the heat as green plasma burst to life all along Shego's arm. The air shimmered and wavered in a halo around the villainess and the redhead swore she could smell ozone.
The battlesuit regenerated over the burn, again ready to protect her. It didn't stop the pain. Just made it harder for Shego to hurt her. Kim was certain that without the suit protecting her she would've easily gotten second degree burns.
Kim backed up a few steps, running through her various options in her mind. It was a tricky situation she was in. It was clear that Shego had the advantage in close combat. If need be, the villainess could simply turn the heat up and continue to strike glancing blows. Even one solid hit would result in a debilitating injury.
Long distance… Shego could shoot those plasma balls around as much as she liked. Keep up her own offense. But… That way, Kim had room to breathe. She could catch and return those blasts if she was careful enough, and what she couldn't catch she could stop with her force field.
It was the best way Kim saw to victory.
Shego tensed up, clearly ready to close the distance, when a blue blur flew between the two women and hit the wall with a resounding boom. Both of them stopped to gape at who it was.
Drakken was implanted straight into the wall next to a set of shelves and cabinets. It was with so much force that the rock was cracked and caved in around him. The cracks criss-crossed like a spider web. Kim could see his lip was bleeding profusely and a black eye was forming on his only eye. He also looked to be bleeding from a gaping wound in his shoulder.
They then simultaneously turned to look at Ron.
The blond was glowing with a blue aura, one fist sticking out like he had just delivered the blow while the other held a jerking vine, bloody at the end closest to him. His face was pinched in concentration. To Kim's surprise, it looked like he'd taken some pretty solid hits; his gi was torn in several spots, blood leaking through, while the left side of his face was clearly beginning to swell
Nevertheless, Kim smirked. Now that Drakken was taken care of, Ron could help her with She-..
Her thoughts cut off as she heard a snarl from the other direction. Shocked that he was still conscious, she turned to look at the blue villain.
He looked enraged. Positively frothing at the mouth. Drakken tore himself free of the wall and began stomping back over towards Ron, yelling as he did so.
"I have a 38 inch waist! These are men's clothes! My patch is not stupid; Mother sewed it special just for me! And I will NOT stand for you running your mouth like that about Shego!" Under his breath Kim heard him mutter, "He wants it brought… Ohhhh I'll bring it all right…!"
Kim blinked, nonplussed as he passed without acknowledging either woman. Shego watched Drakken's back with some concern while Kim looked to where Drakken had shot into the wall.
Looking at all the damage caused by the villain's impact made Kim feel uneasy. This was supposed to be easy. It was Drakken and Shego for crying out loud! Yeah, it was true that Shego was pretty vicious in hand-to-hand. But overall? Professor Dementor was more competent on his bad days! Yet…
Kim's eyes moved to resume watching Shego when she did a double-take at one of the shelves Drakken's impact had almost knocked over. Suddenly Kim knew how to even the hand-to-hand combat.
Without warning, she shot her grappling hook from her wrist into the wall over the shelves and cabinets. As she zipped to just above them, she heard Shego call out, "Oh, running away now, Princess? That's so unlike you!"
"You wish!" Kim positioned herself just so above the various types of shelving and pushed at them with her feet.
If she had been relying on her own strength, it would have been questionable if the redhead could have managed to push them over. With the enhancement from the supersuit, though, it was easy enough.
With a loud crash and the sounds of various glassware and plastics breaking the shelving and cabinets gave way. They were a good several feet short of the villainess.
"I think your aim was a little off there," Shego snickered, heedless of the pool of various liquids starting to spread out from the mess. The green woman shrugged and noted, "If you were trying to give Doctor D a headache, you've probably succeeded. Otherwise? No point."
"Oh, there was most definitely a point," Kim said confidently as she let herself drop onto the wreckage of the shelving. A smug smile on her face, she pointed out, "What do you think those chemicals are?"
"What? This stuff?" Shego dipped a toe into the spreading pool and laughed. "If you thought those were Doc's dangerous chemicals, think again! I stopped letting that idiot store his sodium hydroxide and such in the main lab years ago!"
"Looks like you should've invested in a fire cabinet," Kim said, trying to keep from getting too excited over changing the scales to favor her again.
"A fire-.." A light lit up in the villainess's eyes. "Ohh, I get it." She spared a moment to bend over and take a quick sniff of the liquid. "Yeah, this is the doc's stock of flammables alright…" Shego almost looked proud as she murmured, "Clever girl."
"Good luck trying to beat me without your plasma," the redhead snickered. "I'll just wrap you up and then go help Ron out with Drakken."
"Oh my, aren't we cocky today!" Shego tilted her head and tsked at Kim. "You seem to forget that while I can burn hot enough to set anything and everything in here on fire…" her hands lit up, the air around them barely shifting "...I can also burn low enough to not worry too much about setting things ablaze."
"And you think I should be worried about that?" Kim chuckled. "My supersuit can take temps up to 250 degrees!"
"I'm guessing Fahrenheit? 'cause that would be quite the hat trick if it were Celsius! And I doubt you snatched any of the material for my suit…" A smirk danced across the green woman's face.
"Let's get this going." The heroine hopped down, then propelled herself to land just beyond the pooling liquid. She landed lightly, just a few feet from Shego, before closing the distance in the blink of an eye. Her fist lashed out, intent on knocking the lights out for the villainess.
Shego let herself lean backwards and out of the way of Kim's fist, the pull of gravity bending her back onto her hands. The villainess's feet lashed out as she flipped over. Kim took a quick hop back and out of the way before she charged back in.
It went on like that for a good few minutes. Back and forth, each causing small bruises and cuts with each exchange of blows. Neither giving or taking any ground. Fists flew, axe-kicks fell, haymakers flashed. It was an unfortunately even fight.
Until it happened.
Shego sent a flaming slice of her claws at Kim's face, leaving a trail of burned skin and blood in its wake. The redhead twisted her body and managed to position herself so she had a clear shot at Shego. Mocking green eyes suddenly widened in panic as Shego realized too late she had overextended herself. Kim unleashed a one-two set of punches with her gauntlet and was certain she heard something in the villainess's collarbone crack.
Kim saw the flash of anger and desperation in Shego's face before anything happened. It was a good read on Kim's part that saw her activate her forcefield.
The shield burst to life as Shego risked setting the chemicals alight with a full-fisted ball of shifting plasma. Just as suddenly, to Kim's shock, the intense heat from Shego's fist popped it. Shego's fist was slowed but didn't stop as she found her target.
It wasn't Kim's face. Not her chest. Not even a shoulder. It was her right forearm. The main controls for the supersuit.
In a bright flash and sudden horrible burning pain Kim felt the extra senses and power she got from the suit short out. The burning was so intense that everything flashed white for a few moments. The redhead clung onto consciousness, screaming in her own head about how she couldn't leave Ron alone with those two.
She came back to reality as quickly as she left. Kim caught herself from falling, stumbling slightly from the shock of the blow. Shego was standing several feet away now, gingerly poking her collar area.
"You got me pretty good! I won't be able to go for much longer. But you…" Shego sneered. "Looks like I gave better than I took, eh? Can you even use that arm anymore?"
Kim fumed, secretly trying and failing to flex her fist. She spared a glance at it and felt her stomach flop. It was a smashed charred pile of circuits and blood. At least, she assumed it was blood. It was black and burning, with little wisps of smoke still rising from it. It was twisted and melted enough that she couldn't tell where the suit ended and her arm began. A feeling of panic took her as she realized her hand was numb.
Instead of giving in to the brief unworthy feeling, she changed her pose to favor her other side and began mentally running through the various forms and such that she could use to try and compensate for the new handicap.
"This is nothing." Kim shook her head. "If you think this is going to stop me, think again!"
"Aw, is someone grumpy that they're getting their butt kicked? Shame about your arm! Hope you're ambidextrous!" Shego have an evil chuckle. "Anyway, Kimmie, I think it's close to time to wrap this up, don't you? The boys are getting close to running on empty."
Kim spared a glance at the other two to find that she was right. Ron and Drakken were still fighting, but there was something… Sluggish about it. Ron has lost his glow and was favoring one of his legs while Drakken's left arm hung limply against his side as his right arm and two vines continued to assault Kim's partner.
"I think you're right." Kim spread her legs out into a more kick-heavy style. "Let's get this done."
They both stood there, watching each other. Kim was determined to not make the first move. She needed the extra few seconds to gauge and react to whatever Shego was planning.
Shego seemed to realize Kim's plan after a minute. "Scared? That's okay. I'll go first. Save your poor frayed nerves. Well, what's left of them, anyway!"
The villainess charged, claws alight. The temperature was again lower, but Kim wasn't sure the suit's thermal coating worked if the controls were fried. So Kim decided to stick to dodging.
Or at least she would have.
Suddenly, with a split-second of warning in her peripheral vision, she found herself flying sideways as Drakken was rammed into her. They tumbled to the ground in a pile. Dazedly the redhead noted that Ron had employed a classic football tackle in taking Drakken and, by accident, Kim to the floor. Ron was laying on them, trying to scramble to his feet.
The blond looked at Kim as she laid squashed under the blue villain, then did a double-take. "KP?! What are you doing under Dra-.."
A flash of green against the side of Ron's head cut him off. A split-second later saw him fall to the floor in a rag doll pile. Above him Shego stood, her finger smoking slightly and victory on her face.
"That's one down!" she crowed. She gave Ron's body a kick. "What'll you do without your buffoon, Kimmie?"
"Shego…!" Kim tried to force herself to her feet, balancing on her only working hand, when she was suddenly unceremoniously lifted into the air. To her frustration it was one of Drakken's vines that had wrapped around her and left her feet dangling in the air. She fought as best she could, but with one hand disabled she was fighting a losing battle.
"The sidekick broke my arm!" Drakken exclaimed while wincing and dramatically holding his left forearm.
"Oh, I'm sure you're fine, you baby!" Shego said, swatting at his supposedly broken arm.
There was a sound like something grinding and Drakken let out a sharp cry of pain.
The villainess blinked. "...huh. Okay, maybe he did break your arm."
"I need to go to the hospital!" the blue man whined.
"The resort has on-site medical staff. They'll heal you right up."
"But it's broken!"
"A simple break! You just need to have it aligned and immobilized." Shego turned to Drakken and grabbed his chin. Pulling his face down to her level, she asked dangerously, "Are you gonna ruin a bride's honeymoon? My honeymoon? Over something as stupid as a broken arm?" She let go of his chin and lightly rubbed her clavicle. "Princess busted my collarbone and you don't see me whining!"
"You have super healing! It's probably healed up already!" He shifted uncomfortably under her stern gaze and growled, "Nnnnngh…" Stomping his foot, he shouted, "Fine! Let's go on the stupid honeymoon! But you owe me one!"
Shego mockingly waved a hand. "Yeah yeah…"
The entire time the two were chatting Kim was taking stock of what little she had available to her to get out of the sitch. To her disappointment, it was as she feared; all but the most rudimentary of systems in her battlesuit were down. It was little better than padded armor at this point. She couldn't count on any of those gadgets to get her out of this.
But…
She kept some of the smaller spy gear she had on her person still. If she could get her laser lipstick out of her pocket, she could use it to cut herself free of the vine!
It was then that she remembered it was in her right side pocket. Growling in frustration, she started to wiggle her good hand over to her right side to get it. If she could just-..
"So, what about Kim Possible?" Kim momentarily froze as Drakken thumbed at her.
"Same treatment as the buffoon!" A snippet of laughter leapt from Shego's throat as she walked over to Kim. Drakken's vine lowered Kim to the ground but kept her wrapped up. One of Shego's fingers lit up. With a wicked smile Shego put it against Kim's forehead. "Nighty-night, Cupcake!"
The light flashed and heat flooded Kim's head-..
A/N: I know, I KNOW I said one more chapter... But... Frankly, this bastard is HUGE ENOUGH without the next chunk... I think this is the longest chapter I've ever written!