Chapter 2: Speed Greed

"Science is very dangerous, my dear. Especially in the hands of the unscrupulous and amoral." Dr. Cyrus Bortel left his chair, walked over to a computer. "Excuse me a moment, I need to check something here. Online auction."

"Sure thing, Doctor." Even this brief discussion had convinced Suzanne that Bortel didn't have any megalomaniacal plans or homicidal tendencies. The experience in Dementor's lair had persuaded her to steer clear of that sort of lunatic.

Bortel was also as unscrupulous and amoral as those he warned against.

"Ah," muttered the scientist, mainly to himself, "Portugal is high bidder, but Germany is coming up fast! Well, someone will own a Hyperglymic Lectrovator tonight! What they do with it…" He shrugged. "Lots of applications," he told Suzanne, returning to his chair. "Governments will bid on many strange items. But, you know, it is a good thing. Science for science's sake doesn't pay the bills."

"Absolutely. Everything comes with a price." No scruples, no conscience, and mercenary as well. Bortel was the man for the job. "Honey, I need a favor. A scientific favor. It's worth a lot to me."

"You have come to the right place! What sort of conundrum does a racer find herself in? Maybe you need a hypersonic quantum drive? Very dodgy, yes, but very, very speedy. And I suppose there is already a personal injury waiver on the back of every race ticket. 'You pays your money, you takes your chance,' as they say. "

"No, I'm way beyond that, sugar. What I need is someone who can stabilize the effects of –"

A red light began flashing on the wall; a klaxon's harsh voice blared from down the hallway. Bortel pulled a pistol from the desk drawer.

"Someon after the HL. Call the police, if you will, please. I will deal with this." He headed for the main lab, surprisingly agile for one his age and weight.

Call the police. Yeah, right. This is all I need. She followed Bortel down the hall.

Standing in the laboratory door, Bortel brandished the gun. "Whoever you are, you come out, and no one gets hurt. Otherwise – "

A bolt of green fire blasted the gun from his hand. He yelped with pain as a woman stepped forward out of the shadows, cradling a strange device under her left arm, her right hand afire with green energy. A green and black harlequin. Personich recognized her immediately; Shego's criminal exploits had made world news quite a few times in the past.

"You again?" snarled Bortel. "Is there no end to it?"

"Can I help it if you invent good stuff?"

Standing slightly behind the scientist, Sue closed her eyes. A moment of vertigo swept over her; her senses began to intensify as the power jumped from cell by cell. It usually took several minutes to reach maximum acceleration; the longest she'd ever sustained it was about an hour. Sometimes it disengaged within minutes of its apogee.

She felt sure Cyrus Bortel could remedy that. If she could subdue Shego and recover that device undamaged, he might even do it gratis. But she didn't dare try it yet. As soon as the process reached its peak, but not yet.

"Here are the rules of the game, doc." Shego smiled, her green eyes gleaming wickedly. " I take this hyperglymey whatsit and you and your girlfriend watch me leave. Final score, me 1, you zilch. Or we can do things this way." She slung a bolt of seething plasma at their feet, blasting a hole in the floor. "And the score will be the same. Your move. And please do something about that klaxon; it's giving me a headache."

A voice came from behind and above the criminal: "Can anybody play this game?"

Up on the catwalk was the girl Suzanne had seen in Dementor's lab; with a start she realized who she was. Why she hadn't recognized her earlier, she didn't know; practically everyone on the planet was aware of her incredible adventures, saving the world on a regular basis. Her friend and sidekick Ron Stoppable was dangling just above the catwalk, his foot apparently caught in a loop of rope.

Shego spun around with a snarl, flinging a bolt of energy as she did. "I don't remember sending you an invitation."

Kim leaped to the floor as the bolt blew a huge gap in the catwalk. Without pause she did a cartwheel, spun in the air and caught Shego with a kick that sent her flying across the room, the machine spinning through the air. "How's that headache now?"

Growling like a cornered animal, the harlequin shook her head, black mane lashing, and sprang at Kim, both hands blazing with emerald energy. "You won't have a head when I'm done with you."

The teen grappled with her older opponent, hands locked around Shego's wrists, keeping the plasma blasts at bay. Just then Ron, untangled at last, dropped to the catwalk; the weakened structure collapsed beneath him. "Look out, KP!" As it fell, he jumped for a fluorescent fixture hanging from the ceiling, hanging on for dear life. With threatening creaks the light fixture swung back and forth, as the metal catwalk fell forward, snagging and severing electrical cables as it fell, becoming a high-voltage deathtrap. Below it, both Kim Possible and her adversary were still too intent on their fight to be aware of the danger.

In a second they would both be electrocuted.

A second was all Sue Personich needed.

The……………………catwalk……………

Kim and Shego were seemingly frozen in midair, struggling with each other, their faces ridiculously contorted. Sue pulled the teenager out from under the slowly toppling walkway first, taking her all the way to the other side of the lab.

Was…………………falling………………

Then she came back for Shego, whose features were beginning to register surprise. The thickly bubbling plasma around her hands made it clear that merely tying her up or locking her in a closet would not subdue her. She would simply burn her way free, angrier than ever. That definitely would not do.

……………………to………………………

Sue looked around for an answer. Her power might fail her at any moment; there was no time to lose. She saw cables, nylon straps, all manner of wires. And on the workbench, among many other tools, there was a large monkey wrench. Sue hated the idea that popped into her head. She also hated the fact that it would work. She'd never been a violent person. Extremely competitive, but never violent.

There was always a first time for everything.

The…………………ground………………

Any second, the light fixture would pull free from the ceiling, dropping Ron squarely into the electrified debris. But Bortel was no longer standing in the doorway. Her hearing intensified by acceleration, she overheard him in the next room, his voice slowed to a clotted muttering:

"….surrre…sheeeeee's….theee….onnne….whooo….stollle….theee….accccellllerrrrannniummmm….frrrromm…"

The scientist was mercenary, all right. No doubt the minute he saw her blur and vanish, he had realized exactly what she'd done, and probably why she needed his services. The acceleranium project had been top secret, but Bortel must have connections in high places. People like him usually did.

The reward, she imagined, was larger than anything she had to offer. It was time to go, before the acceleration began winding down. Another fruitless effort.

She bolted down the hallway.

One moment Kim was struggling with Shego, the next second she was across the room, her ears still ringing from the crash of the ruined catwalk. Ron was dangling from a light fixture overhead; there was no sign of Shego, Dr. Bortel, or the oddly familiar woman she'd seen standing beside Bortel right before the fight began.

Sparks crackled through the metal debris; the smell of ozone filled the lab.

"Ron, look out! Swing for it!"

"Ok…" Sometimes you just have to take things on faith, he thought, as he swung out, flinging himself through the air as the light fixture fell into the wreckage below.

Kim produced a tube of something claiming to be hair gel, squirted it at the floor; upon contact with air the substance immediately expanded into a spongy mass, just in time for Ron to land on it, softly and safely. "Nice!" he cried, bouncing to the floor, and then just as quickly went pale, pointing at the far wall. "K-Kim – over there –"

A prostrate figure in green and black lay there, tied up neatly, hands behind her back. Kim placed a finger on the unconscious woman's neck; her pulse was strong.

"What'd you do to her?" Ron's voice held a note of fear.

"Don't weird out, Ron. I didn't do a thing. We were fighting, and then we weren't. Now this." As strange as that Dementor business the month before. "Anyone who gets the drop on Shego gets my respect."

Bortel's voice came from behind them: "Kim Possible!" The rotund scientist approached them, followed by half a dozen Global Justice agents. Seeing Shego sprawled on the floor, Bortel smiled coldly. "Dead?"

"No. Unconscious."

"Excellent. Good enough for her, then. Where's the other one?"

"I don't know who you're talking about, Dr. Bortel." She'd dealt with the scientist before; he wasn't a foe, but neither was he to be completely trusted. "The woman who was with you earlier?"

"Ah. Yes. That woman. "

"We saw her there in the door. That's it."

GJ men carried the still unconscious criminal from the lab; another muttered something to Bortel. "Don't worry," replied the scientist, "you'll find her. She can't have gone far." That was a lie; he knew very well that she might have gone quite far indeed.

He would bide his time. She'd be back. He'd reacted too quickly, calling GJ in; it always paid to step back from a problem and think. There was a reward for her capture, but acceleranium itself was worth far more. To the right people, of course. And Cyrus Bortel knew the right people.