V

Shego approached Kim, breathing hard, but her hands were no longer glowing. Given as much energy as she just used, she wondered if Shego was tapped out.

"So you know the sitch, Shego?"

"I heard it all," answered Shego through gritted teeth. "Find your anger, Kimmie, because it helps fight it." Then she slapped Kim, hard.

Kim blinked and then focused on Shego in a fighting stance. She realized that her vision was noticeably sharper, and wondered how much more sharper it might become over the next 2 days. She was more aware of her adrenaline than she had been and had the odd feeling that she might be able to cause it to put more out by willing it to. But she held back. She lowered her guard, and said through her own gritted teeth, "Thanks."

"My pleasure, Kimmie," replied Shego, with just the ghost of a smile.

"So what do we do now?"

"Now? We get as far away from that facility as we can! You heard him. Because I destroyed their body snatcher gizmo, they have to get us back or our cures 'won't take'. So I say 'Let's go.' We have another secret base in the South Pacific and we can hole up there for awhile."

Kim held up a hand as she said, "Wait: Will didn't say it wouldn't take, he implied there would be problems. Maybe going away would make our infection lethal, killing us so there are no witnesses."

"That's a chance I'm more than willing to take."

A drowsy-sounding Drakken, now upright although leaning against the wall, interrupted them with, "Aid our archfoe? Shego, are you sure you aren't suffering systems failure?" As Shego roared and her fists began glowing green, he quickly added, "Working together it is! I'll just go get the jet ready."

"Oh, brother," said Shego, more to Kim. "I better go make sure Dr. D does it right or he'll eject the fuel again." Then looking at Kim and Ron, she barked, "Let's move already." Without looking to see if they were following her, she walked out behind Drakken at a fast, agitated pace.

Kim and Ron followed, but from a distance.

"KP," whispered Ron tensely, "are you sure this is a good idea? Trusting our archfoes?"

"Shhh," said Kim.

"Don't 'shhh' me, KP. I'm whispering as low as I can."

"Oh, so you are. Guess my hearing is better, too." She slowed a bit more to put a little more distance between Shego and them. Then she said, "This is bigger than all of us. Drakken wants to rule the world, not be a cog in the machine. They need us to save the world so that there's something worth taking over. And we can't trust Wade."

"Can't trust Wade!"

"Ron, shhhh!" Kim reprimanded him.

"But without Wade, we're alone! No rides, no toys, we've got nothing!"

"We've got enough."

"Kim," said Ron in his more serious voice, "I'm not sure what's going on, but I do know it's big. Way big. And weird. But we've always came out on top, and I'm sure we will again." He sighed before adding, "But don't you think that Drakken will just try to use whatever this is to take over the world himself? He can't be trusted!"

"He can be trusted to mess up when he tries," said Kim with grim certainty. "Him, I'm not worried about."

"What about Shego? What if she decides to make a play for it?"

"No, this really turns her off for some reason. She likes fighting the power, being her own person, but she just doesn't seem to have her heart set on being a world dominator. Maybe world domination is more of a guy thing, but whatever."

"I know, but this entire experience is so weird, it could get even weirder, like with time traveling monkeys or something."

"Time traveling monkeys?" asked Kim, raising a brow. His obsession with monkeys was disturbing…and yet also normal, and so ironically comforting.

"I don't know where that came from," replied Ron. "I just mean it's weird, and we should be ready for anything."

"Definitely."

Then Kim bit her lip a moment and added, "We have to get my family out of harm's way. The bad guys interested in getting, or at least neutralizing, them." She didn't add in Ron's family. She hoped that they would overlook the sidekick as others did and not go after them, too. But her family's help would be invaluable in cracking the invaders' technology, so Kim was sure she could get Shego to agree to it. Drakken would throw a fit, but it looked more like Shego was actually in charge.

"Which bad guys?" asked Ron. "The one Will was working for, Global Justice?"

"I'll explain later," said Kim.

"How are we going to spring your family anyway? Won't that be the first place everyone looks for you?"

"I don't know yet."

"Hey, what about Team Go? They would be good to have on our side!"

Though Ron was whispering, Shego answered loudly, "No on Team Go!"

Kim sighed. Apparently it was pointless to whisper. In a more normal voice, Kim said, "I'm going to have to go with Shego on this one: Team Go is a no go."

"Right, I suppose you'd prefer DNAmy!" shouted Ron.

"DNAmy might not be a bad idea," said Kim. "These nanites do affect the DNA. She might be key in separating the nanites from the people they infect."

"But KP," responded Ron, still whispering, "Team Go are GOOD guys, not mad doctors! And they have all those cool powers that rock, and they can make sure Shego doesn't get the upper hand!"

"Team Go is more likely to try to face the problem head on," answered Kim grimly, "and then get assimilated and suddenly they're on the other side."

Shego laughed nastily up ahead. "That's pretty much it. Too much testosterone, too little intelligence."

"Hey, do you mind?" shouted Ron peevishly, "private conversation here!" Then in a whisper again, "So who CAN we go to for help with getting your family, making sure Shego doesn't have the deck stacked against us, and all that?"

Kim thought for a few moments. As they entered the hangar and Shego went up the ramp into the black and green jet, Kim asked, "Doesn't that ninja school owe you big?"

Ron smiled, showing some pride. "Big time, Kim! I'm like a legend there!"

"Good. They have stealth, subtlety, intelligence, and are hard, if not impossible, to find. That makes them extremely unlikely to infected, they have all the skills we need, and they can get my family, and yours too, if you want, out of harm's way."

"And they can help against Shego, too!" said Ron a little too loudly, though there was enough noise from the jet that Shego probably didn't hear. "Boo-yah! Mad monkey skills pay off! Hey, does this mean you've really stopped jelling over Yori?"

Kim sighed, and recalled with some pain that it would be dangerous to kiss Ron herself. "Eyes on the prize, Ron. As soon as we can, you'll use whatever means Drakken uses to communicate to get in touch with Yori."

"Boo-yah!" shouted Ron. "Sounds like we got a plan!"

"It's a start," replied Kim nervously. She'd been on many missions, some even weirder than this, but this is the first time where she wondered if she was way in over her head.