Chapter 3

Shego's eyes kept roving, from the road to the occupants of oncoming cars illuminated in her headlights, to the rear-view mirror of the stolen car. The radio was on, tuned to a local channel with news programming. She was mildly insulted her escape hadn't been mentioned yet. She was on the most wanted list, after all. It did mean the civilians would be unlikely to pay enough attention to recognize her, though.

She kept to the speed limits, as she didn't want to draw unwanted attention. She wished the car had a CB radio; the truckers gave the best information on police presence. The police wouldn't be able to stop her, but she needed some freedom of movement to go after Adrena Lynn and so didn't want to be noticed at all.

Her mind turned to the problem of intercepting the woman. On one hand, she had a couple of days' head start and, being on parole, didn't need to lay low all day. On the other hand, Shego knew where she was headed. The most obvious solution was to beat Lynn to her target and wait for her there. The most obvious problem with that approach was that it was possible she'd already gotten what she was looking for and was holed up somewhere planning her next move.

Shego almost wished she hadn't succumbed to the temptation to sleep with Kim, but couldn't really bring herself to regret it. She had needed to lay low anyway, and there were definitely worse ways to pass the time than in bed with a flexible and adventurous cheerleader with a hidden wild side. Or, Shego reflected, not quite so hidden, given her hobby. A smile spread on Shego's face, and she made no attempt to banish it since there was no-one to see it.

"Who knew little Miss Perfect had the hots for the big, bad Shego?" Shego said. The car didn't answer. Shego wondered what the world would think if anybody found out that the world famous teen hero was a lesbian who delighted in sneaking out to seduce notorious criminals. Oh, how deliciously scandalous.

Not that Shego was going to advertise it; she didn't kiss and tell. Kim really was rather a good kisser for a teen. Shego wondered who she'd practiced with. That cute guy she'd seen her on a date with? Other high school girls? Girls, probably, since guys only had the one pair of lips. Kim was quite good at many things, and delightfully eager to show off her skills. Shego suspected that might just be the most orgasms she'd had in a day. Well, she'd always known Kim had stamina.

Shego wrested her thoughts away from the cute redhead and tried to focus on the problem at hand. Thinking about it, Shego became more confident that Lynn hadn't yet hit the location. She might know the layout, she might know the security setup, but she was not a burglar. She'd almost certainly need to enlist some help, and since that definitely violated her parole, she'd need to be careful about it. Perhaps she'd be better advised to try to locate Lynn before she got to Hench's facility. She'd need to hit the lab herself afterward, but, unlike Lynn, she was quite capable of doing that by herself.

Maybe she shouldn't have kissed Kim quite as much as she had. It was obvious—well, it was obvious to her, now—that the girl had a bit of a crush on her. She probably wanted more than just a hook-up, and all that kissing had likely just encouraged her. Shego didn't think she could really be blamed for it, though. Kim was just too darn kissable.

Lynn would need someone to disable the security, at least, and probably some muscle since Hench's facilities tended to be well guarded. She'd need a discreet location to meet and store equipment. She almost certainly didn't have the sort of underworld contacts she'd need to get all that together straight away, so she'd need to ask around, and the word would spread. Shego didn't have a lot of local contacts, but she had some, and a whole lot of reputation. She should be able to learn about her plans easily enough.

Shego didn't think Kim loved her, really. She suspected it was mostly young lust, but it seemed to her Kim might be the kind of nice girl who had to rationalize her desire by dressing it up as love. She wondered how long Kim had planned this little rendezvous. It wasn't a spur of the moment thing; it had taken considerable planning and preparation.

And how had Kim known she'd be breaking out that night? She hadn't known that until Lynn forced her hand. Was she so predictable with her escapes, or had Kim just gotten lucky? Shego grinned. Well, she'd definitely gotten lucky. Kim was more experienced than she'd have expected from such a goody-goody, but she'd shown her some knew things. She felt confident Kim would be smiling for a week.

Shego wondered how she'd got to thinking about Kim, again. She instructed her brain to drop it. She would be facing off against her soon enough, and she didn't need distractions then. It was just a one-time thing. No need to go soft on the girl just because they had some fun together.


Shego got off the highway and headed for the industrial area on the outskirts of the small town of Springfield. She navigated the staging yards and wholesalers in search of a small self-storage business. It was one of the safe houses Shego had set up. Drakken's money had paid for it, which Shego thought was fair, since the stated purpose of it was to form a temporary base for Shego as she worked to spring Drakken out of prison.

She left the stolen car a block away and approached the warehouse on foot. She almost wished she knew a chop shop in the neighborhood, but with all the stuff stashed in the hideout she really didn't want the police to have any extra reason to snoop around here. Of course, chances were she wasn't the only one using a lot around here for shady purposes.

She also couldn't help being a little conspicuous. There was some activity even at this hour, deliveries mostly and a couple of workshops working into the night, but not a lot of lone women walking around. She was pretty sure no-one was observing her as she entered the storage unit.

It wasn't a large space. Partitioned off from a larger warehouse, it was more like an oversized garage. Near the double doors rested the tarpaulin-covered shape of one of Drakken's hover cars. Shego barely glanced at it. It was handy for many things, but too conspicuous for this job.

There were some crates full of supplies against a wall, and some locked cabinets for more useful and valuable items. There was another room with a cot, a fridge, a microwave oven, and a shower stall: all the comforts of home. Having them installed here was quite illegal, of course, but it wasn't like it was the only way she was breaking the law. Shego was tempted to call it a night and just go to sleep, but she needed to get things rolling. She did grab a cold beer from the fridge, however, and cracked it open.

She opened up one of the cabinets, and collected a laptop and some surveillance equipment: cameras, a directional microphone, good old binoculars. She carefully packed them into a messenger bag. She shoved a sleeping bag and a pad into a duffel bag, in case she found somewhere better to sleep than a car. She added some rations from one of the crates, just in case, but she hoped she didn't have to actually eat them.

She opened another cabinet and pulled out a spare suit. She considered changing into it, but decided to stick with the clothes Kim had given her for the time being. She packed the suit into the duffel bag, along with her standard tools. She locked the cabinets and cast one last look around. She didn't thing she needed any other equipment for the time being.

Shego entered the living area and moved the cot to get at a hidden floor safe. She opened it up and extracted a few thousand in ready cash. She closed the safe and moved the cot back in place. She shouldered the bags and made to leave, then thought better of it. She got another beer and sat down on the cot.

She slowly sipped the beer as she thought the problem over. She'd done little else over the trip here, but it was wonderful how a cold drink and a little breather cleared the mind. A few minutes weren't going to make any difference. If Lynn was ready to hit Hench's R&D center in Upperton tonight, then she would be done before Shego got there. On the other hand, even she wouldn't be dumb enough to try to burglarize the place in broad daylight, so Shego would have plenty of time to set up before her next opportunity.

She'd need a set of wheels to get there. She had a stolen car, and although her first instinct was to get rid of it and get a new one, there were logistical difficulties. She didn't want to leave it anywhere it would be discovered. It wasn't obvious that a car theft hundreds of miles from the prison would be connected to her, but it was at a motel parking lot off a highway that passed the prison. If she had some smart cookies on her tail—and surely she rated some—they might make that connection. And if that car turned up here, it would draw a neat arrow to her general location. She could dump it in the middle of the woods, somewhere, but then she'd have to hike back to civilization and secure a new ride. That would only increase the chances of her being spotted.

Shego drove the car in through the double doors. It was not an easy operation with the safe house lights turned off. She'd had to move the hover car and quite a few of the crates to make room for the car, and it still wasn't a very generous fit. She turned off the engine and wormed her way out of the car. She closed the warehouse doors before turning on the lights again.

Shego congratulated herself on her preparedness as she set to changing the plates on the stolen vehicle. She considered spray-painting the car, but decided that an obviously improvised paint job would make it more likely to stick out than the fairly common stock color. Once she was finished she was sweaty and grimy, and she decided to have a shower after all. She'd earned one.

The falling water caressing her body reminded her of her last shower, earlier in the day. The one she'd had after waking up naked next to Kim Possible. Suddenly the thought seemed surreal to her. She'd had sex with Kim Possible. She'd actually slept with her teenaged nemesis. Once again, the memories of their love-making came pouring into her mind and this time she didn't attempt to immediately banish them. Her hands started to stray lower, but the thoughts didn't bring with them the arousal she expected; she was still quite thoroughly sated. Instead, the memories filled her with deep contentment.

If someone had asked her to guess, Shego would have said Kim would be a bashful and passive lover, someone who needed to be coaxed to enjoy herself. Now Shego wondered why she'd ever thought that; it didn't really fit the active, confident, and aggressive young woman she'd faced more than once. She had been much the same in bed, eager to please and to be pleased, ever ready to try new things.

Shego exited the shower and grabbed a towel, yawning. She hadn't been awake for that long, but then again she hadn't slept much the past few days, with her rushed escape. She quickly toweled off. The room had no heating and was cold at nights. The bare floor was positively freezing.

She hunted around for an alarm clock and set it to wake her at noon, which should give her plenty of time to get to Upperton in time. She pulled back the covers on the cot, thankful that she'd put in fresh sheets the last time she'd inspected the place. She dropped the towel on a chair, and crawled into bed. For a moment she thought there was something missing, but couldn't figure out what it was. Her tired mind soon lost the thread of thought, and she fell asleep in a couple of minutes.


Shego observed the HenchCo R&D facility through her binoculars. It didn't really look like a high-tech operation. Rather than a gleaming building of glass and steel, it occupied an old factory made of red brick, one of several left over from Upperton's industrial past. There was still some light industry left on the outskirts of the city, but most of the warehouses and factories were torn down or converted to other uses. The lots on either side of the facility were empty, strewn with debris from demolished buildings. Behind the red brick building was an old warehouse, still in some use.

Shego wondered why the facility was set up here. True, the proximity to Middleton and its surprising concentration of scientists and engineers probably helped with recruiting, but it would make more sense to locate the place in Middleton itself. Shego was glad it wasn't, since it made it less likely she'd run into inconvenient redheads, but it was a little puzzling.

Shego turned her gaze to the buildings surrounding the factory. Her interest was mostly drawn to a multistory building with a good view of the factory over a vacant lot. The building was also of red brick, but newly built. The signs showed the building was occupied by a number of small businesses, no doubt attracted by rents lower than in downtown Upperton. Many windows had no signs in them, suggesting they were unoccupied. Shego put away her binoculars and made her way towards the building.

Shego stopped the car near the building entrance and looked around. There were no lights in the lobby and no signs of activity. There was a cheap security camera sticking from the wall, pointed to cover the area in front of the doors. It would probably pick up cars parked by the curb, but Shego had parked outside its coverage.

She aimed the binoculars at the doors and adjusted them until she could distinguish the security provider's sticker. She couldn't hold the binoculars steady enough to read the text, but she could recognize the company from the general outline and colors. It gave her an idea of what the alarm would be like. She had the tools to bypass it, but there was likely an easier way in. She pulled away.

On the side of the building was a simple wooden door, with an equally simple lock. There was no camera in sight. Shego pulled a probe from her pocket and examined the edges of the door for signs of an alarm system. She found no trace of one, as she'd expected. Any security setup was only as good as its weakest link, but it was not uncommon to find locations with blatant security holes. Whoever was responsible for the physical security for the building was clearly not serious about it. She was morally certain the setup at the main entrance was strictly to meet the requirements of the insurance company.

Shego put away the probe and looked around to check she was still unobserved. There was no movement on the streets. The small parking lot next to the building was empty. She pulled out her good lockpick, which was almost certainly overkill with the laughably simple lock. She had it open in a matter of seconds. She put her tools away, pulled out a flashlight and slipped inside.

She found herself in a small storage room. The floor was bare concrete, there were stalls formed from wooden planks and chicken wire lining two walls, and crates, barrels and various boxes in loose piles arranged on the floor. It had a surprisingly temporary air compared to the rest of the building. She quickly made her way trough the room to a metal fire door on the opposite wall. It seemed a little incongruous that the space appeared better protected from those inside the building than from those outside. The door was locked, but didn't require a key to open from the inside. Shego cautiously stepped through.

The door opened to a short corridor. On one side it ended in a door Shego guessed led to the loading yard at the back of the building. It was one possible entrance, but the yard probably had cameras, if only to keep the deliverymen honest. The other end of the corridor opened to the side of the lobby. Shego carefully peered around the corner, but didn't see anyone, or any cameras.

The lobby had a few low benches along the walls, some standing signs, and little else. There didn't appear to even be a desk for a receptionist or a security guard. A long and wide corridor led away from the lobby. On the side facing the front of the building, according to the signs, was a lunch cafeteria, the other had two elevators for people and, further along the corridor, two cargo elevators. She couldn't see the stairwell, but guessed it was next to the elevators in the corner she couldn't see from her position. Not seeing any reason for further stealth, she stepped fully into the lobby and found out she was right. She headed for the stairs.

She exited the stairwell at the highest floor, and emerged near the end of a long corridor running nearly the length of the building. She walked to the further end, noting that only one of the doors she passed had any markings on it. It was a company logo that said nothing to her. None of the other spaces on the floor appeared to be in use, and the locks were flimsy. She picked a lock to a door at the end of the corridor, on the side facing the HenchCo facility. She slipped in unobserved.

The space consisted of a large open area along the side of the building towards the redbrick factory, and five small rooms opening onto it, on the short sides. The two rooms facing the outer wall were small offices, the rooms on the other end seemed to be a bathroom, a cleaning closet and a small kitchen. There was a cheap table and a couple of chairs in one of the offices, and some metal shelves piled along the wall in the large room. The bathroom was almost empty. There was a mostly-full roll of toilet paper hanging from the holder, but no soap or towels. The cleaning supplies closet held some cleaning fluids on a shelf, two mops and a bucket.

Shego decided the place would do well. She expected Adrena Lynn to make her move in the next few days, and didn't think it likely her borrowing the rooms would be discovered in the meanwhile. The place looked tolerably dustless, so it was presumably cleaned occasionally, but it would be just bad luck if somebody had business in there over the next couple of days.

Now the question was, was it smartest to set up here and sit tight until Lynn made her move, or attempt to find her base of operations? The problem was that once she set up the surveillance gear here, she couldn't really leave it unattended. If somebody walked in on her, it was not a disaster; she could overpower and restrain them and make a clean getaway. If somebody discovered her gear while she was out, they would call the cops and she might walk into an ambush coming back, which would be much more inconvenient. Well, she didn't need to decide that until she placed the cameras to cover the HenchCo building.

Shego walked up to her car, pulled out the bag that held the cameras and slung it on her shoulder. She took a leisurely stroll around the converted factory. She didn't make any effort to stay out of sight, as that would only make her look more suspicious if anyone were to see her. She set up wireless cameras to cover all of the entrances to the building, of which there were more than she would have thought.

The area was largely dead, but she saw one person searching through the vacant lots, apparently collecting empty bottles, and passed a shirtless, tattooed man walking a dog, who gave her an appreciative glance. He wasn't bad looking, really, but she had work to do. Besides, she preferred her men with more muscle and less hair. She'd never really gone for pretty boys; in her mind, pretty belonged on girls. She nearly managed to not think of Kim.

Shego decided to watch the building. Sunset was nearing, and given how little activity there was, Lynn could move in practically any time she wanted. Tonight was probably the best time for the burglary. Shego parked her stolen car in the middle of the parking lot next to her chosen base of operations. It was unlikely anyone would give it another thought. She slung the messenger bag with her surveillance equipment over her shoulder, picked up the duffel bag with her other gear and made her way to her chosen rooms.

She set up in the corner office. She moved the desk to the middle of the room and placed the laptop on it, dumping the rest of her things in the corner. She set the custom surveillance program to alert her if it detected movement in any of the camera feeds. She placed one chair in front of the desk, pulled out a trashy romance novel she'd picked up at a gas station, and sat down to wait for Lynn to show up.

Several hours later she was done with the novel and the remains of a Chinese takeaway she'd picked up earlier in the day. It wasn't the most appetizing meal eaten cold, but it still beat out the MREs in her duffel bag.

There had been no sign of Lynn. There had been no sign of anyone. She'd thought downtown Upperton was dull, but it was nothing compared to the remnants of the industrial section. Shego walked around the office to limber up, glancing at the HenchCo building. She could have looted the entire facility five times over by now. There were no witnesses anywhere, there was no reason to wait until the small hours of the morning. Maybe Lynn didn't realize that.

Luckily she had picked up more than one novel. She was done with the uncomfortable chair, though. She dug out her roll mat and sleeping bag, and arranged them in the corner of the room, out of sight from the windows and the door. She moved the laptop on the chair so she could still keep an eye on it, then stretched herself on top of the sleeping bag and moved on to the next novel. When Lynn finally showed up, she'd give her an extra kick for making her wait.

Two novels later there was still no sign of Lynn. It was nearly morning and Shego could barely keep her eyes open. She gave up for the night and went to sleep.


Shego woke up after noon. She blinked the sleep from her eyes and got up, though she didn't feel very well-rested. She'd slept in her catsuit to be ready for an emergency, and she felt sweaty and uncomfortable. She didn't particularly enjoy roughing it out, and resolved to make Lynn pay for that, too. She pulled down the zipper on her costume and rolled it down to her waist; it didn't help very much. She fished out a towel from her bag, went to the bathroom to wet it and wiped herself down. It made her feel a little better. Her hair was a mess, but there was little she could do about it.

She sat down on the toilet and stared aimlessly in front of her. Despite several hours of sleep, her mind felt tired and sluggish. She needed to decide what to do next, but it was hard to concentrate. She wanted to go back to sleep, but her stomach voted otherwise. Reluctantly she got up and zippered up her suit again. She almost caved in and went for her military rations, until she remembered the lunch cafeteria downstairs.

She emerged into the corridor wearing jeans and a hooded sweatshirt over her suit. She blinked her eyes under the glare of the fluorescent lights and made her way towards the stairs. She noticed one door along the corridor was propped open with a dump bin filled with hats and caps.

She peered through the door as she passed. Stands and racks holding various articles of clothing were placed around a large, mostly empty room. A bored-looking young woman was sitting at a desk that held a cash register and a card reader, playing with her phone. Another woman stood at one of the racks, looking at coats. It was a bizarre location for a second-hand clothing store, but that was none of her business.

Shego decided against the stairs. She called the elevator and pulled her hood up. The elevator had a camera, but it was very unlikely that anyone was looking at the footage, and even if they were, there was a valid reason for a customer to be on that floor. She made sure to keep her face hidden, anyway.

Shego walked in to the cafe, not attracting any undue attention. Two men passing her by checked her out, but that was to be expected. They didn't seem to recognize her as a wanted fugitive. The cafeteria food wasn't any worse than at the prison. The middle-aged man at the counter tried to chat her up, but she let him know she wasn't interested. She picked a table at the corner, facing away from the door and the counter. The lunch hour was mostly over, and there were only three people in addition to her. All three happened to be men, sitting by themselves. All paused to look at her as she passed.

As she sat down to eat her meal she pondered her next course of action. She had at least until sunset before Lynn's next window of opportunity at the HenchCo lab. This was the perfect time to try to track her down. The only question was whether to remove her things from the space she'd appropriated. She decided to trust her luck and leave them there, as trying to remove them with the building occupied might catch somebody's attention. She finished her meal, left the tray at the table, and walked out of the building.


"Joe's" was the fifth seedy bar on the cheap side of Upperton Shego visited. She'd had no luck in the previous ones. Really, with how down on their luck the working class people still clinging to Upperton's dying manufacturing industry were, she'd have expected to run into more shady types. All she had gotten for her troubles so far were unwelcome advances from objectionable losers. She hoped her luck was about to change as she spotted a familiar face at a corner booth.

"Rachel," Shego said as she sat across from a shabbily dressed woman with a red-dyed hair.

"Shego," the woman said, with little emotion on her weary face. "Wouldn't have expected to run into you here. And aren't you supposed to be in jail?"

"Just got out."

"Uh-huh. Did you want something?"

"Straight to the point, huh? Yeah, is there any work going on?"

"Nothing in your league," Rachel said and took a swig out of her mug.

"I'm kind of in between big jobs. I could do with some old-fashioned burglary, just to keep myself in shape."

"Sure."

"Come on, is there anything going on?"

"You're serious about slumming with us poor folks?"

"Sometimes a girl needs a vacation from take-over-the-world schemes and high-profile crime fighters."

"Well, okay. But really, city's where the money is."

"White-collar crime isn't my thing. I want something more hands-on."

"Well, there's a crew trying to put together a bank job."

"Then they're idiots. Anything else?"

"There's a new player recruiting. You might want to steer clear of her if you're looking to lay low, though. She's an honest-to-goodness celebrity."

"No shit?"

"Yeah, had herself a TV-show some years back. Not doing so hot now. Done some time."

"What's the job?"

"She wants to hit Hench's place. Payment on success. You'd have to be an idiot to go with that, and only idiots have. She'll be back inside in a week."

"Sounds like she could use a helping hand."

Rachel gave Shego a searching look. "Well, I suppose she's pretty."

"I didn't mean it like that. Haven't you heard I have a sideline in private tutoring? I managed to turn Senor Senior, Junior into a competent burglar."

"Well, he's pretty, too. But I hear he's not into girls."

"I don't think he's into anyone. Too much in love with himself." Shego felt confident in making that call; after all, the man hadn't given any attention to even her.

"Well, if you honestly want to give it a shot, I know where she's setting up."

"Tell me. I might sign on just to rub Jack's face in it."


The place was, predictably, a disused warehouse. Shego waited until sunset before she approached it. She cautiously entered through a skylight, dressed for work. She worked her way along the roof supports. There were no lights inside the warehouse, and once away from the windows she was completely hidden in the shadows. She listened intently and strained to see into the murk. She didn't perceive any indication of activity. That wasn't very surprising; the lack of lights already pointed to the place being empty. She traversed the length of the warehouse along the beams just in case.

The next question was whether she had the right place or not. She didn't think Rachel had any reason to lie to her, even if she suspected Shego had other reasons for seeking Lynn out than joining her merry band, but her information might not be correct. If this was the right place, the question became whether Lynn and her group had already vacated the premises, or were merely absent at the moment.

While Shego sat pondering, she detected motion on the floor below. A figure was cautiously moving along a row of boxes—and Shego had to wonder why warehouses not in use had so much stuff lying around—making very little noise and using no light. Shego cursed her stupidity: one reason for the lack of lights was that somebody had seen her approaching. She didn't think it was likely, but she couldn't think of another reason for somebody other than her skulking around than an attempted ambush.

Shego inched closer to the figure, still hidden in the shadowed ceiling. She tried to get a better look at the sneaking figure. It appeared to be short and slight. It wasn't conclusive, but it fit Lynn's figure. Shego stopped her progress as both she and the unknown person approached the lighter area below the skylights. Shego took a hard look at the figure and with a shock realized she recognized her.

It was Kim Possible. What the hell was she doing here?