Yet Another KiGo Fic – Chapter 16
By Ken-Zero
Disclaimer: All the characters mentioned herein are not my property, with the sole exception of the new villain. Disney owns most of them; StarvingLunatic owns Kane and Isabel.
--
The area was dark, save for the six of them.
Shego could only watch as Kim Possible, her one-time arch-nemesis and current love interest, landed on the back of a gigantic, mutated, cybernetically-enhanced lab rat, her gloved hands scrambling for purchase. The rats were immensely tall, which meant Shego couldn't leap to Kim's location to help. There were also four of them, each one staring straight at her, their giant glares pinning her in place with a malevolence usually seen only in humans. As she watched, Kim began to slide.
Panic gripped Shego. It was an unfamiliar sensation. She'd been afraid before, but the sheer terror and inability to operate was wholly new to her being. She wanted to do something, anything. She wanted to fly in and sweep Kim off the rat's back. She wanted to blast the thing to smithereens. She wanted to jump and catch Kim in her arms, planting the teen hero safely somewhere before filleting the giant science-fiction-monster rejects. Anything would have been better than standing stock-still in a stultifying stupor.
Sadly, it wouldn't come to be.
Kim plummeted down the rat's side, screaming as she went. She only picked up more and more speed the more she scrabbled. Shego watched helplessly, with a growing sense of absolute dread, as her lover finally slipped off the rat itself, hurtling toward the unforgiving concrete at just shy of terminal velocity.
Kim's legs hit first, and Shego thought she could hear the impact as her boots hit the concrete. The shock snapped almost every bone in her legs, and must have broken the ball joints in her hips, as Shego watched her legs bend in wholly wrong directions and fold up against her side. Kim's head struck the concrete, and this time Shego knew she heard the gut-twisting, sickening sound of her skull thunking and cracking on the hard surface. As she watched, blood poured out, and some of the gray matter of Kim's brain was visible through the egg shell-style crack.
Shego's own knees gave out at the utter destruction wrought on her beloved. She could feel her gorge rising as the scene assaulted her senses, and didn't even try to stop it as her stomach pumped itself. She vomited repeatedly, but still couldn't tear her eyes away from Kim's corpse. As she watched, a rat backed up to step on it—and, with a sadistic gleam in its eye, stepped again, and again, and again. Shego was nearly numb now, so the sound of more cracking bones didn't cause her to vomit again, and the crater its foot left behind was stained bright red.
Of Kim, there was nothing left.
Everything supporting Shego's world collapsed at just that second. She actually welcomed the feeling of doom as she saw another shadow looming over her, and when another rat's foot came down atop her she had only one thought:
I'll be seeing you soon, Kimmie…
--
"KIMMIE!" Shego shrieked, bolting straight upright, breathing like she'd just run several miles. The same panic was in her system, freezing her in place as she tried to figure out just where she was.
The darkness didn't help set her mind at ease. Her eyes, taking their sweet time to adjust to the setting, roved around the room, seeking something to latch onto and provide some sense of familiarity. She saw, to her slight disbelief, that they were in her bedroom, in her parents' house. That detail didn't have time to raise any questions, though.
"Shego?" a sleepy voice next to her asked.
The panicked woman turned quickly, her eyes settling on the room's other occupant. She felt the panic recede, to be replaced only by a deep sense of appreciation and longing. She could also feel her eyes start to prickle with tears. They wouldn't stay away; the nightmare had been simply too real.
Kim Possible watched as her favoritest person in the universe began to break down into tears right in front of her. Shego's shriek had woken her up rather suddenly, and seeing the pale woman breathing as hard as she was, could assume one of two things had happened. One, her brothers or parents had goosed her or something, or two, she just had a really, really bad nightmare.
From Shego's actions—and the lack of anyone else in the room—Kim was reasonably assured it was number two.
She sat up in bed as well and wrapped her arms around Shego's shoulders, pulling the other woman against her as she wept. She felt Shego's arms go around her waist, and they cinched tightly as Shego kept her face at her favorite spot between Kim's neck and shoulder. Kim rubbed her back as she rocked gently, hoping to calm Shego down. "It's okay, I'm right here," she said. It felt…out of place for her to be treating Shego like a little kid. "I'm not going anywhere."
Shego delivered one final squeeze to Kim's waist before she sniffed mightily and sat back. She kept her hands on Kim's knee, almost like she was afraid Kim would vanish. "Sorry," she said, wiping her eyes with one hand. "I just…it…just…"
"Shh," Kim replied, leaning forward herself to kiss the slightly taller girl on the forehead. "You don't have to explain yourself to me. Even if that was a bit out of character," she added, half-smiling in spite of the dark.
A ghost of Shego's usual smirk formed on her lips. "Don't I know it," she said, a bit of sarcasm fighting the watery quality of her voice.
"I'm all ears if you want, but I'd rather you not feel pressured."
Shego shook her head. "How can you be so damn mature? Isn't that a bit 'out of character' for you?"
Kim's smile turned to a grin. "Shego, it's"—she looked over her shoulder—"four in the morning. Anyone's allowed to be weird at this time."
With a final sniff, Shego shrugged. "If I don't say anything now, it's gonna haunt me." She took a deep breath, steeling herself to relive the godawful nightmare. "It was a bad dream," she said, and could feel her eyes starting to water again. This time, though, she squeezed them shut and waited until she felt safe enough to open them again. "We were fighting the rats again, the same time as when we found they were all greased up. You…it was just like it should have happened. You landed on the back of one, but instead of grabbing its fur you started to slide."
She sniffed again, and couldn't stop the tears this time as they welled up in her eyes. "I couldn't act. I was so afraid of what was going on. You couldn't be falling, Kimmie! You could do anything, even get a grip on some stupid rat furs…but you couldn't, and I couldn't, and I wanted to save you but I couldn't move and I couldn't shoot it down and I couldn't fly and catch you and…!" She paused as a heaving sob forced its way out, and Kim grabbed Shego's free hand and squeezed it, proving she really was still there. Shego squeezed back before continuing. "I couldn't move, Kimmie. Couldn't even try to save you. And then you hit the ground going so fast you practically split in two…And the rat you were on decided to step on you. Over and over and over again. And I gave up right there, just in time for another one to step on me, and I was only relieved 'cause I thought I'd be coming with you, but I wasn't sure…and that's when I woke up."
Kim was almost speechless. "I…don't know what to say."
Shego sniffed again. "You don't have to say anything," she told Kim, her voice finally back under some semblance of control. "Just stay with me…"
Kim nodded and sidled up against Shego. "I told you, I'm not going anywhere. I love you, Shego, and nothing will take me away from you."
She kept her arms around Shego as the slightly older woman cried herself back to sleep. Kim laid her back down, glanced at the clock again, and decided Shego's well-being trumped waking up early enough to make it back to her own dorm for her stuff for class. She quickly followed her lover back to dreamland.
--
Shego awoke the next morning to find her right arm mostly numb and her waist held hostage by an adorably cute red-haired vixen. Kim's head was resting on Shego's bicep, so the greenish woman moved her arm enough to get it out. Immediately the pins and needles set in, so she draped it across Kim's shoulder while the sensation faded away.
The extra pressure apparently woke the slender hero, because she shifted under the arm, making little sleepy groaning noises that Shego found absolutely adorable. Her eyes blinked open slowly.
"Morning, Princess," Shego said with a smile.
"Is it really morning?" Kim responded, stretching out a little bit. The motion reminded Shego strongly of a cat.
Glancing at the clock, she answered, "Meh."
"Meh?"
"It's after eleven. That still counts as morning, since it's before lunch."
"Eleven?" Kim echoed dumbly. Then she blinked again and tried to sit up, but her arms around Shego, and Shego's arm around her, quite effectively prevented that. Kim groaned. "Guess I miss a whole day, then."
"You don't want to spend a day with me?" Shego asked, faking the hurt in her voice very convincingly, she thought.
"What? No! Yes! Wait, that's not it!"
Shego laughed at Kim's panic revving up and slowing down twice in ten seconds. "Easy, Cupcake. Look, you're enough of a nerd already; how's missing one day of classes going to hurt?"
"Shego!" Kim said, using her free hand to smack the pale stomach in front of her. "I'm not a nerd!"
"Sure you're not. Everyone in the world can figure out the geometry for running up a wall and jumping onto a moving target." When Kim only grumbled in response, Shego giggled. "Anyway…aren't we a bit far from the school anyway? This is my house."
"That's why I was afraid of waking up so late," Kim answered. She yawned.
"Meh," Shego repeated. "Like I said: skipping a day's not going to hurt."
"I guess you're right," Kim replied, snuggling close again.
Shego smiled. "Of course I'm right. Aren't I always?"
"I'm still too tired to think of one of the many examples where you weren't."
"And thus I win." She had a nasty grin ready for when Kim turned to look up at her, annoyed.
"You are going down," Kim growled.
Shego's grin increased. "You forgot to ask nicely, Princess…unless you want to play 'Mistress and her love slave.'"
She threw her head back on the pillow and laughed when Kim's eyes went wide, and she laughed even harder when Kim turned bright red. Shego's arm tightened around her shoulder, helping the cheerleader hide her face in Shego's midsection. When Shego finally calmed down, she sat up, taking Kim's head and placing it in her lap. "So, Kimmie," she said, idly stroking her hair, "what would you like to do today?"
Snuggling closer, Kim turned to look up at Shego again. "Make you feel better," she answered simply.
"Been there, done that." Shego waved the comment off. She gestured at her slightly-tear-stained collar. "Even got the t-shirt."
Kim giggled. "Still, if I'm skipping the day, then I want to make it a 'you' day."
"Isn't that a bit…off?" Shego asked. "Shouldn't you want to spend it how you want?"
"And what makes you think this isn't what I want?"
"Awww." She ruffled Kim's hair. "You are too cute sometimes. But you gotta think of yourself, too, you know."
"I am," Kim replied, with an entirely too-innocent expression.
It took Shego a second to get the implication. "Oh ho," she said, an evil smile returning to her face. "Little Kimmie's hoping to get laid later after showing her girlfriend a good time today." It was a statement, not a guess.
Kim looked up and away, that cherubic look still gracing her features. "Maybe," she said playfully, drawing the word out.
A low chuckle was her only answer before Shego kissed the top of her head. "Alright, you scamp. I, for one, am looking forward to this 'pamper Shego' day, so let's get to it."
With that, Kim practically leapt off the bed, Shego following right behind at only a fractionally slower pace. The red-haired hero scampered off to find the shower first; she promised herself to make it extra-quick, too, so Shego could have all the hot water she wanted. Shego herself spent a few minutes just stretching, using the nearly mindless activity to finish waking up and push the unwanted remembrances of that godawful nightmare to the back of her mind.
Soon enough it was her turn for the shower; Kim' mischievous side was showing, and she brandished her still-wet towel to try and snap Shego with it; the pale woman simply ignited one of her hands while raising an eyebrow. The expression and gesture combined made Kim think twice, maybe even three times, about the move, so she lowered the towel and let go with one hand so it wasn't rigid anymore. Shego put her hand out and sauntered past, but just before she closed the door Kim's towel whipped out and, with a healthy-sounding SMACK!, nailed her right on the left butt-cheek.
The outraged howl that followed was nearly equaled by the shriek of laughter from Kim, who took off running as quickly as she could.
--
A short while later, the two ladies were idling their time away with a simple walk through a local park. It was actually something of a shortcut to get to their real destination, but it was a nice day outside, and given Shego's troubles during the night, something as relaxing as this was just what the doctor ordered.
Well, just what Mommy ordered, Shego reminded herself with a bit of a mental smirk. Isabel Go had come in at just the right time to save Kim's life, as when Shego came out of the shower she had put the littler girl into the most inescapable headlock Kim had ever had. Nothing she did loosened the grip, and she wasn't about to try to hurt Shego to get out of it; hey, she was far from panicking over it. She just wanted out so they could horse around some more.
When Isabel had walked in, she'd stopped in her tracks at the somewhat surprising sight; after all, there was Kim Possible, world-famous teen hero and martial artist extraordinaire, being held in a headlock by Isabel's own still-naked daughter. The headlock didn't bother her, nor did the nudity; to Isabel, they were quite obviously playing around, and were also obviously involved, given what she knew from when her little firefly had last come home. She was just mildly surprised that they were so blatant about their choice of location. She figured Shego would have attacked Kim in the relative safety of her bedroom, instead of here in the hallway.
It had been about three seconds after Kim noticed Isabel that she had felt the back of her shirt warming and getting damp in two very obvious locations. With one hand she reached behind herself and probed a bit…and turned a very bright shade of red when she realized Shego wasn't wearing a towel.
Shego, of course, had been having a ball, even with her Mommy standing right there. The other woman's presence did dampen her enjoyment a bit, but that was resolved when Isabel waved a hand in a "carry on" gesture and walked away, saying not a word. The green-skinned girl had wrapped one of her legs around Kim's waist, pulling the slender hero into herself, and leaned down to Kim's ear. "Say 'Shego,'" she purred, tracing her tongue along the outer edge of the ear.
Kim had shivered almost violently, moaning the other woman's name. Shego released her and spun her around, giving her a quick kiss before the slightly-disoriented girl could do anything about it, and then she trotted off to get dressed.
A little while after that, Isabel had "suggested" they go and do some shopping. Actually, she'd practically all-out ordered Shego to take the girl to a clothier. They had originally dropped in on the house somewhat unannounced, but after the big showdown at Drakken's lair they just wanted a place to be away from the world for a day or three. The only problem with that plan was that Kim didn't have any clothing beyond what was on her back…and while she certainly knew that Shego was highly fashionable—she actually still had that green coat from Club Banana that Kim had wanted all those years ago—the greenish woman was still slightly larger than Kim in all dimensions except around the waist.
All of that led to their current location—namely, strolling through Go Stoppen Park on a wonderfully nice day. It was almost like the weather was granting them special consideration because of the difficulty they'd just been through…not that either of them was going to complain about it. In fact, the scene was so idyllic that Kim, walking close enough to Shego that their shoulders touched, easily grabbed the other girl's hand and gave it a light squeeze.
Shego looked over at the contact, but didn't say anything; in fact, she squeezed right back, settling for a simple smile on her face. It was so weird, in her mind; here she was, this righteously badass woman who could throw plasma around and put her fist through metal, not to mention tie somebody into a pretzel from her hand-to-hand prowess, and yet she was drawing such pleasure and contentment from a simple gesture like holding Kim's hand. Such is life, I suppose, she decided.
"You know," Kim said, breaking into Shego's thoughts, "I meant what I said this morning."
That usual eyebrow went back up. "What's that?"
"That I love you," Kim answered, delivering another squeeze to Shego's hand, "and that, as long as we last, I won't leave you."
Shego shook her head. Such simple words…and yet when she says them, they sound so ironclad. She freed her hand from Kim's, but before the adventurer could protest she put it across Kim's shoulders instead, pulling her closer. "You have no idea how much I appreciate hearing that, Kimmie," she said quietly. "I just…wish we'd had our little heart-to-heart a bit sooner than we really did."
"No big," Kim said, shrugging under Shego's arm. "After all, it's not like we ever really hurt each other before, right?"
Shego cast a doubting eye on her smaller companion. "I suppose not, physically speaking…but you can't tell me you liked it when I insulted you or your screwball buddy, or when I locked you into Drakken's death-traps, or a bunch of the other shit we did."
Kim was silent for a moment while they walked. By now they were nearing the edge of the park, and the noise level from the seven-lane city streets was beginning to grow. When she spoke again she needed to raise her voice slightly to be heard.
"You're right," she half-shouted. "I mean, I didn't like it. After all, you just wouldn't go away and you were always just good enough to keep me from winning easily—not that you were bad, but that it was almost like you couldn't be bothered to fight—and then there was always the dissing of my fashion sense." She shook her head. "I like to think I'm on top of things, especially with Monique around. I guess the only thing that really got injured in our fights was my pride."
"That's half the point, Princess," Shego said idly as they reached the street. She leaned down a bit to talk into Kim's ear. "What I said? Utter bullshit. Why I said it? Keep you off-balance, get you angry and not thinking clearly, all that. It's what I was supposed to do, anyway."
"I know," Kim sighed. "I just wish I didn't buy it so easily."
The conversation fell to a bit of a lull then, but Shego didn't take her arm from Kim's shoulders. A couple of miles later they arrived at the entrance to the Go Fourward Fashion Boutique, a collection of the four trendiest clothing stores centered in one convenient location. To Kim's mild surprise, Club Banana was actually one of the featured establishments.
Shego used the arm from Kim's shoulder to open the door, allowing the hero to precede her in. Once inside, though, Shego took over again, directing her passenger to the first door in the place. "You'll love it, Princess," she said to a protesting Kim, just before the door shut, sealing them in.
--
Victoria Jennessy, investment banker par excellence, was accustomed to some strange things from her life in Go City. At five-foot ten, with gray eyes, platinum-blonde hair, and skin pale enough it almost looked white, she herself looked to be nearly bleached out of existence. And besides, it wasn't every city in the country that had a costumed group of super-heroes showing up every few hours to stop some crime or catastrophe or something. Even the one member of that group who'd gone rogue wasn't much of an issue there, since Victoria knew enough time spent doing one thing in this city would drive anyone nuts. Hell, even the giant rats of a week ago, while a surprise, didn't scare anyone they didn't directly threaten. Go City just seemed to be a magnet for weirdness.
In fact, right this moment was a perfect example. Victoria was being held, at gunpoint…by an upright, walking, two-legged…alligator. Or crocodile, she mused. I never could tell them apart.
The reptile had simply been walking along the sidewalk on all fours like it normally should, when she happened past it…and the thing instantly turned to one side, climbed partway up a building wall, and pushed off to stand upright, revealing the…odd sight of a pocket along its underbelly, kind of like what she expected to see on a kangaroo. It reached a hand—one, she noted with an odd sense of detachment, with five fingers—into the pocket and produced a handgun. The sight of a four-foot-tall gun-toting escapee from the zoo was simply too absurd for her to feel any real fear, though the sound of the gun cocking was real enough.
The gator/croc thingy reached back into its pocket and produced a note, gesturing with the handgun for her to take it and, presumably, read it. The toothy grin all reptiles of its kind sported did little to reinforce the seriousness of the situation, but she took it anyway, if only to humor the thing. After all, it did have a gun. Unfolding the paper, she read:
Madam Jennessy,
I do so apologize for the manner of this note's conveyance,
but I simply must have it delivered to you at any cost. I need
your help. You see, it has come to my attention that you are a
rather successful woman in your field, and I have found that I
have a rather severe need of your talents. My little venture is
proving quite unprofitable at this moment, and to continue I
require the very services you provide. I pray you find it within
yourself to assist me in this endeavour, for my sake as well
as your own safety. You see, my lady, I must have the numbers
used to access your various client accounts. If you would write
them on this note and pass it back to my man standing there
with you, then you will maintain your vitality. Should you try
to play the hero, he will not hesitate to pull that trigger; my
instructions are very specific. I do hope you choose well.
Cheers,
Yours in all things,
The Int.
Victoria wasn't quite sure what to think at the moment; several things flowed through her mind as she stared quite sightlessly at the little note. She'd never even heard of this "The Int." character, for one thing; how he'd singled her out was beyond her. How he even knew what she did was something of a shock.
Then there was his "man." That grinning gator was still just standing there, one humaniform hand held out to accept the note, the other holding the gun in a rock-steady grip. It was even pointed at her.
Deciding that discretion was quite possibly the better part of valor, Victoria took a pen out of her purse and scribbled some of the numbers she could remember on the note before handing it back to the waiting gun-gator. The beast put both items back in the pouch before dropping back to all fours and waddling away like it was right at home in the swamps.
Victoria couldn't decide if she should be frightened out of her mind or rolling on the sidewalk, laughing her head off. A third part of her brain thus took over, and she pulled her cellphone from her purse, tossing the pen aside as she dialed up the Go City Police Department. Her work for the investment company meant she had ties to as many law-enforcement agencies as she could get, which is how she got a direct line to the detective's offices instead of having to wait through insufferably long phone menus or dialing 911.
--
At a desk, a phone rang.
It rang again.
It rang again, and yet again, before a hand slammed down on the old-fashioned handset and lifted it from the cradle. The hand lifted it to an ear, and a voice spoke.
"Nick Danger, Third Eye." The voice belonged to a trim man in his early thirties, dark brown hair in a thick, unruly, yet short mop on his head, resting above a pair of equally dark brown eyes.
"Nick, it's Vicky."
"Heya, Vicks. What're you up to, robbing some more poor suckers blind?"
"If you count me as a poor sucker, then sure." Her voice was a tad less than amused…but not angry.
Nicholas Gerard Danger, III, sat forward in his chair as this bit of unexpectedly personal news came in. "What happened?" he asked, suddenly the very model of professionalism.
"The strangest thing I think anyone's ever seen," was his answer.
"Specifics, Vicks."
"I just got held up by a gun-toting alligator. Or maybe it was a crocodile. I never could tell them apart."
"No one can," he answered automatically. Fuck. She's the third one today, and eighteenth this week. "Are you hurt?"
"No…it was weird. He stood up, pulled a gun, and gave me this note, signed by some guy calling himself 'The Int.'"
"The Int?" he echoed, just to make sure.
"That's what it said on the note." She paused. "It was also written in really cheesy English, like something you'd expect some stuffy English guy or something to write."
Dammit! he screamed mentally. "What did the note say?"
"He wanted my client's account numbers for the money," she replied.
"Did you give them out?"
"Yeah…but I can close them really quickly, too. He had a gun," she reminded him.
"I know. I'm glad you're okay. Listen, I'm gonna report this to the boss guys. You go home, okay?"
"I'm almost there anyway. Thanks, Nick."
"Any time, doll." Nick hung up on his best female friend before rubbing his hands over his face. Victoria made the eighteenth "mugging," if he could call it that, of the week, and it was only Monday…and he'd received reports of similar attacks for the last two. Something screwy was going down. Damned if I'm gonna let it go on.
Nick grabbed the case folder he had open on his desk, closed it with a snap, and strode briskly toward the lieutenant's office. He knocked on the door twice before going in anyway.
The lieutenant was simply sitting back in his chair, feet up and crossed on his desk, throwing pencils at the ceiling tiles. He filled his uniform comfortably, almost straining the buttons in places. His dirty-blonde hair was buzzed short.
"Lieutenant Bradshaw," Nick said, coming to attention.
Bradshaw looked over at Nick, demonstrating his awesome pencil-flinging skills by tossing another one and having it completely fail to stick in the ceiling. "What do you want, Danger?" he drawled.
"Another reported mugging," he said, dropping the file on Bradshaw's desk.
The lieutenant took his feet off so he could lean back forward. He took one three-second glance through the folder's contents, grunting once before closing it again and sliding it back. "Too bad," he said, the mockingly apologetic tone in his voice quite evident. "Looks like your little girly didn't have the sense to stay off the side streets."
Nick just kept staring ahead. He wasn't sure why, but Bradshaw hated Nick's guts…and Nick was only too inclined to return the feeling. In the detective's mind, the lieutenant was a sorry excuse of a man, accustomed to having lackeys do the work while he sat on his ass in his comfy office and flung fucking pencils at the fucking ceiling and…
Nick stopped that line of thought before he got really worked up; instead, he said, "Sir, that makes seventy-two cases in the last eleven days."
"Lemme know when it hits, oh, five hundred," Bradshaw sneered. "Then maybe I'll start to care about drinking the water around here, since it's obviously making all those people crazy."
Nick felt his temper slipping. Victoria was one of the saner people he knew; she seemed to have an eerie ability to read and predict Wall Street's movements days in advance, which is why so many people came to her to play with their money. Sure, she had the occasional bust, but that was mostly when the corporations unveiled their previously-crooked actions and their stocks died. She was also usually the voice of reason when the two of them hung around their other work acquaintances at places like bars.
All that was why he trusted her when she said she was held up by an alligator at gunpoint. If Bradshaw wasn't going to do anything about it, well, then maybe it was time Nick Danger, Third Eye, took matters into his own hands.
Back to his desk he went, dropping the folder atop as he pulled open a drawer and rummaged through the papers, business cards, and discarded candy wrappers, looking for one specific post-it note that was so old the sticky on the back was completely worn away. He found it more quickly than he expected, but wasted no time questioning his good fortune; he picked the handset of his phone back up and dialed the number; the antique's rotary spinner helped him stay calm and focused.
When the voice came on the other end, he said, "Therese, it's Nick. Can you patch me through to your boss?"
--
Meanwhile, back at the Go residence, Kim and Shego had just recently returned from their semi-impromptu shopping trip. Kim was carrying three extra bags of goodies purchased quite legitimately from all four of the vendors they'd visited. She'd actually been a bit surprised that Shego offered to pay, but accepted it easily.
The day before, she'd actually washed all her clothing while in the shower, and thus got to endure running away with Shego trying to snatch her towel away, all while waiting for her clothes to dry. The green woman had eventually won, which led to a pretty intense make-out session, followed by sex on the laundry machines. Kim had been mortifyingly embarrassed about it, until Shego assured her no one else was home; then it was the green woman's turn to be shocked when Kim took over so zealously it was like a switch had been flipped.
For now, though, they just brought Kim's stuff in; she actually wanted to change in front of Shego, since she kind of enjoyed it when the other girl complimented her physique. The most annoying noise in the universe, though, shot that idea to pieces.
A familiar happy-minor-third beeping issued from Kim's wrist device on the nightstand next to their table.
"Don't answer it," Shego ordered. Kim frowned, clearly torn between obeying—she really really wanted to obey that command—and answering.
Finally her goody-goody nature won out, and she grabbed the device, flicking it on. "Go, Wade," she said.
Shego gave up on any plans she might have had for the night right then, and instead came around to look over Kim's shoulder at the offending device.
"Hey, Kim," the young super-genius said as he saw the two of them come into view. "We've got a priority message from Doctor Director."
"Priority message?" Shego echoed. "What, she's getting all military on us now?"
"Uh, yeah," Wade answered. Shego just shook her head after a second; she wasn't ready for her wisecracks to be the truth quite yet. "Hang on a second," the hacker added; true to his word, about a second later a smaller window popped into existence in the corner, featuring Ron and his ninja partner, Yori.
"Hi Ron!" Kim chirped.
"Hey Kim!" came the equally peppy reply.
"Hi Yori!" Kim greeted her next.
"Greetings, Possible-san," Yori answered, even going so far as to bow.
"Hey, uh, Shego," Ron called timidly. The former thief simply grunted, settling for a hand wave.
Yori blinked, at a bit of a loss for why Shego was there and not attacking or being attacked, so she didn't say anything else.
Wade finally cut in the round of introductions. "Hey guys, I can't really keep Doctor Director waiting here, so I'm going to patch her in."
"Okay, Wade," Kim soothed him. The boy genius nodded before pressing a button, and the one-eyed visage of their favorite enforcer of law in the world at large took the place of Wade's.
"Greetings, all of you," she said, and Kim could tell by the semi-grave tone in her voice that things weren't exactly copacetic.
"Yo, Dr. D," Shego called.
Betty Director simply rolled her eye. "I apologize for breaking into the time I told you to take, but a new threat has come up. According to a source in the Go City Police, a recent, sizable rash of muggings has been taking place at various locations in the downtown Go City area. The victims, who all have been returned unharmed; the perpetrators have, to a man, been described as bipedal, gun-toting alligators. Or maybe crocodiles. The witnesses all were entirely unsure as to which species their attackers were."
"And we need to get to the bottom of this," Kim said. She hated losing her unofficial 'vacation' time, hated it a lot; but she understood it was necessary.
"Yes," Betty answered. "All that has been stolen so far is bank account information of various sorts. The latest crime was also the highest-profile, targeting one Miss Victoria Jennessy."
All eyes turned to Shego. "What?" she growled. "Look. Just because I live here doesn't mean I know who that is. Just because I'm a thief doesn't mean I ever robbed her, either."
"Just checking," Betty stated. She nodded at the two teams. "I want you all to meet Downtown in an hour. Given that the perpetrators are described as…whichever reptile, there are only a handful of destinations possible. Find where this is going and report back for further instructions. Understood?"
A chorus of "Yes"es and one plasma-fied middle finger answered her, and Betty Director signed off with a sigh.
--
Kim and Shego strode onto the scene, having left Shego's motorcycle safely stashed in a parking garage several blocks away, only to find Ron and Yori waiting for them there.
"So, Ron," Kim began slyly. "Care to share where you're hiding out for now?"
The blonde former sidekick looked confused. "What do you mean?"
Making a great show of looking at the Kimmunicator strapped to her wrist, Kim said, "You two got here awfully early, given that Shego and I are six minutes early ourselves."
"Wade-san procured a ride for us as soon as the communication from Doctor Director ended," Yori explained. "It arrived shortly after and was very fast."
"Uh huh," Kim said. "And you just happened to be in a convenient location for such a fast ride?"
"Yeah," Ron said enthusiastically. "That place is bon-diggity. Central location, great view, and a Bueno Nacho kiosk in the food court!" He sighed, almost dreamily, and Kim couldn't help but chuckle. Even Shego cracked a bit of a smile; as irritating to her as Ron could be, sometimes his enthusiasm was contagious.
Besides, she knew now where they were staying. Time to take over the spotlight…
"Oh, really?" she asked. Kim looked over at her, but Shego tossed her girlfriend a wink and the hero shrugged. "Must've been right on the water, for such a great view."
"Pretty close," Ron agreed. "It's just right over—oh damn," he finished in a small voice while Yori shook her head.
"It's just right over there, a mile away, at the Go-Away Escapist Resort," Shego finished for him, a healthy smirk in place. "Which explains the twelve-speed tandem bicycle," she continued, indicating the vehicle leaning against a building across the street. "Some fancy 'ride,' that is," she finished.
Ron laughed weakly. "Um, it's provided free of charge?"
Kim shook her head, smiling. Leave it to Ron to give it up. Of course, I did ask Wade where they were coming from, but watching him blow it was more amusing.
"Ron-sama," Yori chided gently, "you know we weren't supposed to give that away."
"Old habit," Shego explained, still smirking. "It's too easy to get him to spill."
"Only for you," Ron retorted, gesturing between the three women with him. "I never told anybody else nothin'."
"So why weren't you supposed to give it away?" Kim asked curiously.
Yori put a hand on Ron's shoulder as the blond boy was about to answer, causing him to stop trying to speak. Instead, she answered, "Director-sensei flew us in to cover for the two of you. She knew the quiet would not stay quiet for long, and yet insisted on allowing you your rest."
"Uh huh," Kim agreed—her tone suggested she didn't believe it, but she let it slide. "Anyway, enough chit-chat. We've got a sitch to fix."
Shego rolled her eyes. "And the bossiness rears its commanding head."
"Shego?"
"Yes?"
"Shut up before I gag you with your own hair."
Ron and Yori hid smiles behind their hands at Shego's shocked expression. Kim hadn't even turned to look at her before issuing the zinger. Instead, she appeared in thought, chin in her left hand, her right tapping on the Kimmunicator's casing.
The slightly taller woman recovered from her shock quickly, but Kim was already thinking out loud, a habit which slightly creeped Shego out…especially because Kim thought very quickly out loud. The words tended to string themselves together. And yet, the conclusions she sometimes managed to reach were impeccable.
"Sewers," Kim said finally, decisively.
"Sewers?" the other two ladies echoed.
"Sewers," Ron agreed. Experience taught him that once Kim got into mission mode, she was not only right far more often than not, she also tended to get…cranky if he didn't agree. So, to save everyone else that, he began herding them along, following the hero as she set off to find the nearest manhole cover.
--
Find the entrance was easy. Getting down was similarly easy. Figuring out where to go next…that was the hard part. So, with Shego lighting the way with a hand and Ron and Yori using powerful little glowstick-style lanters that lent a yellowish tint to the surrounding stonework…and to the small river of sewage flowing next to their path, Kim led the way, using the map provided by Wade over her Kimmunicator to keep them from taking too many wrong turns. She'd had him work out the best place for a lair down here, and that's where they were headed.
It was nice and quiet, save for the near-constant sounds of small waterfalls as pipes from the surface poked through and dumped their contents into the sewage line.
Then Ron couldn't take it anymore. "This mission stinks!" he whined, though he was walking along the "water" side to make sure Yori wouldn't end up in it.
Kim looked at Shego, who returned the look; as one they turned around and looked behind them, bringing their doubly-green and doubly-withering glare to rest on their followers.
Ron and Yori stared back, though it was mostly Ron. "What?" he asked. When they still didn't speak, he held his hands up. "Stop with the making of the creepy!"
The front pair of fighters, again at the same time, brought a gloved finger to their lips. Finally they broke their copycat routine when Shego turned back to stare in front of them, willing her eyes to pierce the darkness in front of them. Memories of her nightmare from that morning rose unbidden, but she shoved them away as best she could. Can't think of that right now.
Kim whispered. "Did you hear that?"
Yori blinked. She hadn't heard anything at all, not even themselves, as they progressed. Part of her was privately impressed that all four of them could be that stealthy. "I have heard nothing, Possible-san."
"Exactly." Kim frowned. "It's too quiet, and I don't like it."
"Perhaps you should trust her judgement?" a cultured voice asked out of the darkness. All four of them jumped, the extra voice seeming to come from everywhere thanks to the sewer's acoustical nature.
The glow of their small lanterns did little to illuminate the sewer system they were trudging through, shining just far enough to allow them to see their immediate vicinity. Beyond that was utter darkness...until a sense of movement, of blacker black shifting against plain black--drew their attention.
A large shape walked--no, Shego decided, that's not a walk, that's a trundle--to the very edge of their lighted area. The yellowish glare of the portable lanterns revealed the figure to be slightly taller than Kim, yet still shorter than Shego; it was dressed in what appeared to be a lab coat, with an Oxford-style shirt underneath and, apparently, ripped slacks that ended at the knee. The thing was almost as wide as it was tall, especially at its shoulders. What really caught their eyes, though, was the dull gleam that came from all areas not covered by clothing. It looked as if the light were reflected by something smooth, like...scales.
"Surprised?" it asked. The voice was almost timid, though the creature was large enough to be anything but.
"No," said Shego. "Relieved." Her hands flared to life.
"Could you put those away, please?" it requested.
Kim snorted in Shego's stead. "And why should she? Ambushes are so unpopular."
"Perhaps these will convince you?"
The figure waved one of its arms, and the sounds of several things breaking the surface of water reached their ears a second before scores of shapes crawled to the edge of their lighted space.
"Minions?" Ron asked. "Henchmen?"
"Do you really think I would refer to my brethren as mere minions?" the figure asked.
"Are we done asking questions?" Shego asked. She hadn't put her hands out yet, obviously still waiting for a fight. Maybe even itching for one.
"Have you never heard of the Interro-gater?" For whatever reason, the creature sounded like it pained him to speak the name.
"The who?"
"That was a band, Ron," Kim said, and Shego snorted. Kimmie's on a roll today. I wonder why…
"My notoriety may be small, but surely when word spreads, my reputation alone will give even the greatest pause…don't you think?"
"That questions crap is getting really annoying…" Shego growled. She was itching to go, to knock some heads around and come out on top, but there were a lot of his "brethren" hanging around…and she doubted that they were going to be the kind of pushovers the thugs from a couple of days ago had been. Their animal natures saw to that.
She looked over at Kim, whose wrist-mounted toy was indicating they were actually fairly close to their destination. The redhead looked just as ready to fight, but then visibly calmed herself. "What do you want?"
"I can only assume, from your appearance, you came to try and stop me?" All he got from any of them was a nod from Kim, but he continued. "Walk with me, and perhaps you shall find that you wish you had never crossed paths with the Interro-gator, yes?"
--
A/N: This took FOREVER. I know. Way too much time between updates…but it's not dead! See? And it's kind of a cliffhanger. Well, it's more of the old Adam West Batman, pre-commercial break problem…which means next chapter will open with all four of them tied up, in a death trap of sorts, with no means of escape…which guarantees that they'll get out somehow. After all, Batman always did!
Anyway, I'm a bit swarmed at work right now; lots and lots of manual labor which is eating into my precious writing time! With only 5 weeks in the school year left, though, it ought to be over soon enough. And that does not mean I'll be waiting that long to do another chapter. So there.
Oh, and 'cause I should, even though I doubt any of youse readers need it:
-san: usual Japanese honorific, meaning "Mr.," "Mrs.," "Miss," "Ms.," etc.
-sama: conveys more respect upon the person; lowers the speaker and elevates the receiver in social standing.
-sensei: a respectful term for someone in a learned capacity. Could mean teacher, doctor, master, boss/supervisor, etc.