Author's Notes: Finally, another chapter makes it's way onto . I would like to thank Ghostwhiter for betaing, it's helped alot. As usual, italicized text is active thought. I don't own Kim Possible or any characters associated, they are owned by Disney.
Kim and Monique sat at a table in the food court at the mall
Kim and Monique sat at a table in the food court at the mall. Monique had a small vanilla cone while Kim was eating a large banana split. "You better never stop going on missions or you are going to have to buy a new wardrobe with the way you eat girl," Monique stated, pointing the ice cream cone at Kim.
"I have to have them when Ron isn't around, he even freaks about bananas. You aren't going to change the subject that easy on me though Monique," Kim said with a grin, scooping up a chunk of banana. "How did you like your date with Ron?"
"It was nice," Monique admitted. "It's not like you could lose, taking us to a wrestling match. Not to mention it is Ron, how comfortable are you around him?"
"Completely comfortable, what does that have to do with anything?" Kim asked.
"Why are you comfortable around him?" Monique asked in reply.
"'Cause we've been best friends since forever. He's, well, Ron," Kim replied. "That really doesn't answer my question."
Monique smiled. "Trust Kim, you trust him. Well maybe not around your food, but still, you know he's a good person," Monique stated. "I'm comfortable around him too, so I wasn't nervous or anything. I could just be myself and have fun."
"I can understand that," Kim said, a little envious that Monique was also so relaxed around her best friend. "So you gonna date him again?"
Monique ate a little of her ice cream as she studied Kim's face. "Not right now, maybe someday though," she stated. "He has a lot of things to sort out right now."
"I can't believe he's crushing on Shego," Kim growled, angrily scooping up some ice cream.
"Kinda makes you wonder, why is he crushing on her?" Monique asked.
"I don't know. He has a big heart and she definitely has some baggage," Kim said, waving the spoon.
"Is that all it is?" Monique asked. "I mean the Queen B has a lot of baggage and could use someone like Ron, but he isn't trying to woo her is he?"
"No, but why then?" Kim asked.
"His list, remember?" Monique stated.
"Yeah, you fit on it perfectly," Kim said.
Monique blushed. "I don't know about that, but either way he's already crushing the two of you so I'm not getting involved," she stated.
"What do you mean 'two of us'?" Kim asked, feigning ignorance.
"You know that he likes you don't you?" Monique asked, raising an eyebrow.
"He should, we're best friends," Kim replied, starting to blush a little.
"Girl, you know that's not what I mean," Monique stated flatly. "You've known it since the modulator incident, and until Erik showed up you were starting to feel the same way."
Kim blushed bright red. "Things change Monique," she said softly, looking into her banana split.
"They do Kim, just make sure while they're changing that you're being a good friend or you might lose him," Monique said. She finished up her cone, brushing the crumbs off of her fingers before standing.
"I'm trying Monique," Kim said, looking up with teary eyes. "I just don't want him getting hurt. Shego's dangerous."
"I'm not saying to try to set them up or anything. Just quit trying to set him up with people and be there for him when he needs you," Monique stated.
Kim looked down at her food, suddenly not hungry. "What do I do then?" she asked.
"Chin up girlfriend," Monique stated, putting a hand on Kim's shoulder. "Just be his friend." She straightened up. "I hate to run right now, but I have to start my shift. We'll talk at school tomorrow."
Kim looked up at Monique as she waved to her and left for work. Kim picked up the tray with her food on it and dumped the remainder in the trash before leaving.
"You had better be paying me double time for starting a scheme on a Saturday," Shego groused at Dr. Drakken.
"Ummm…not to worry Shego. You'll have all the money you want when we finally take over the world," Dr. Drakken stated nervously. He finished putting together the handheld remote, constructed mainly from a GPS unit, and held it in the air triumphantly. "In just a few hours we will launch the satellite and use it to bend the world to our whim!"
Shego rolled her eyes before spotting a stack papers sitting on the workbench, the glossy cover of a 'Villianess' Digest' sticking out amongst them. She walked over and sorted through the pile of mail, taking her magazine and a manila envelope out. "Just how long were you going to wait before you decided to tell me that I have mail?" she growled at Drakken.
"Umm eh heh…oops. Sorry about that, I must've forgotten. So busy with the project you see," Dr. Drakken stated, picking up a wrench and turning on a bolt. "Damn it, I wanted to see what was in that envelope," he thought, grimacing slightly.
Shego shot him a look that could freeze water. "I wonder what this could be?" she pondered aloud as she picked up the manila envelope.
"I was a bit curious about that myself," Drakken muttered as Shego walked away and began opening it. Drakken turned around and began typing away at the computer, to turn the cameras to focus on Shego.
"Nu uh," Shego muttered as she shot a bolt of plasma down near Drakken's feet. He took the hint and went back to double-checking the satellite. Shego opened the envelope and pulled the contents out. A smile came over her face as she flipped through the pictures that Ron sent her. She pulled out the note and read it.
Shego,
Thanks for the bed. I think that I got the better end of the deal though; it sure is nice. I thought that you might like to have copies of these from the prom. Thanks for sticking around after we weren't stuck anymore. Anyways, I'm sure I'll see you soon. Drakken hasn't launched a plan in a while so we're probably due.
See you soon!
Ron
Drakken looked up to see her ignite the note and tuck something away in her pocket on her ankle. He growled slightly as he went over to the lunchroom where the henchmen were seated, folding what appeared to be aluminum foil. Every once and a while one of them would put the folded foil on their heads, checking the fit. Drakken was watching the henchmen's progress while muttering under his breath to himself, "This time. Yes…yes, this time for sure." Shego walked up and tapped him on the shoulder, causing him to jump and scream. "What did we say about sneaking up on people?" he groused.
Shego ignored his question. "What are they doing?" she whispered, watching what looked like monkeys trying to figure out a crossword puzzle.
"Ah, I forgot to tell you," Dr. Drakken stated with a hint of a strange smile. He handed Shego a roll of aluminum foil. "I printed out directions on a wonderful web page for parents, start folding one up for yourself."
Shego looked at the aluminum foil skeptically. "Have you completely lost it?" she asked. Drakken let out a loose cackle in response before walking away wringing his hands and muttering once more. Shego watched him go. "Maybe he really has lost it," she thought with mild concern.
Wade sat at his terminal playing Everlot while a few of the subroutines he had written worked in the background monitoring the greater Middleton area. He had his fingers into everything, monitoring open transmissions from cell phones, police band radios, weather stations, seismographs, and more. He looked up as an icon flashed in the upper right hand corner, denoting unusual phenomenon. The weather station near the Middleton Dam had registered a few moments of intense wind and temperatures well above normal before returning to previous readings. He checked systems around the area, pinging the nearby cell phone tower. The signal was higher than normal; something was amplifying the signal. "What could do that?" He thought for a second, "A large hunk of metal? Maybe the hoverlair?" He quickly hacked into the hydroelectric dam's main computer and noticed fluxuations in the output of the generators. "Something is definitely wrong there. Better tell Kim to be on standby." He hit the call button dedicated to Kim and Ron's Kimmunicators.
"What's the sitch Wade?" Kim said as she grabbed her Kimmunicator out of her purse. Erik and her were on their way to the YMCA to swim, Erik's idea to see Kim in her swimsuit.
"Just a second Kim, I'm waiting for Ron to pick up so I don't have to say this twice," Wade replied. Ron picked up a few seconds later.
"Hey guys, what's up?" Ron asked, as the split screen popped up showing Wade on one side, Kim and Erik on the other.
"I noticed something odd going on at the Middleton hydroelectric dam. I think it might be Drakken's hoverlair," Wade stated. "I'm going to send out a drone I've been working on and see if I can confirm it."
"Alright Wade. What do we have for a ride?" Kim asked.
Wade typed at the computer for a few seconds. "Take Ron's truck, I've downloaded a map to the location into the GPS and it has a magnetic grapple that my come in handy."
Ron nodded. "Where should I pick you guys up from?" he asked.
"Meet us at my house Ron, we should be there in five minutes," Kim said before breaking the connection so she could drive.
"Thanks Wade," Ron stated before hanging up and getting up from Felix's couch. "You're lucky I have to go, I was about to lay the smack down on you!" Ron stated to Felix enthusiastically.
"What?!" Felix exclaimed. "You need to look at the screen again, I was kicking your can!"
"That's when the Ron-man shines!" Ron said with a grin.
"Well don't get beat up too much before you decide to shine on this mission OK?" Felix chided.
"Alright, I'll be careful," Ron stated as he slipped on his shoes and headed out the door.
Ron had just finished changing in the spare bathroom at Kim's just as Erik and her were getting out of her Ford. Kim popped the trunk and they raced into the house to change.
"Get our packs into your truck will ya?" Kim asked quickly as she ran up the steps.
"Sure thing KP!" Ron hollered as he jogged to the car and quickly loaded their gear. A few minutes later Kim and Erik ran out of the house and the jumped into the truck. Ron pulled away after they buckled up.
Kim hit the button on the in-dash Kimmunicator to page Wade. "Wade, do we have an update yet?" Kim asked.
Wade's face flashed up on the screen. "Yeah, my drone just crashed into something. It hit an invisible wall, it must be Drakken's hoverlair," Wade stated.
"So how are we going to get inside of a lair we can't see?" Erik asked.
"I'll figure something out by the time you guys get there," Wade stated, figiting a little. "In the meantime, I'll contact GJ."
"Alright Wade," Kim said. "Any idea what Drakken is up to?"
"No, I checked on the Pan-Dimensional Vortex Inducer and they said it is in a secure location. That's the only thing that Drakken has tried to steal lately," Wade responded.
"Shego did grab Dementor's mask as we got Bondo balled," Ron added.
"I wonder what that's about." Erik stated.
"I don't really know," Wade replied. "If Drakken wanted it then it probably wasn't just a part of the costume. Perhaps it has circuitry in it like the silly hats Drakken made."
"Maybe that's what makes him talk so loud!" Ron exclaimed.
"I doubt it Ron," Kim sighed, rolling her eyes. "Whatever it is we'll find out when we get there."
"Right," Wade replied. "I'll get to work on a solution to the invisibility problem."
The screen in the truck turned back into a map leading them toward the Middleton Dam. After several miles of driving along back roads the GPS flashed an arrow telling them to turn down an old logging road through the woods. Ron put the truck in four-wheel drive and drove down the trail. A few turns later the woods on either side of them began to thin before opening up to blue sky in front of them. Ron jammed on the brakes skidding to a stop a few feet before the gorge opened up in front of them providing a gorgeous view of the river flowing rapidly below. The water from the dam a little to the right of them cascaded down some 80 feet to crash into the river below.
"It's a great view, though I wish the Wade would have warned us about the cliff," Ron stated with a slightly shaky voice.
"Yeah," Erik added, removing his hands from the dash, his face a little pale.
"We'll have to mark this spot on the map," Kim stated with a sigh, laying a hand on Erik's arm. "It'd be a nice place for a picnic." Erik and Ron's heads swiveled towards her, surprised by her Kimposure.
"Umm, head in the game Kim?" Ron said, reaching forward and hitting the call button for Wade.
"Hey guys, I see you're there," Wade stated.
"Do you have a solution to the cloaking problem?" Kim asked.
"Well, the best I can come up with is an estimate on the distance to the hover lair based on the fluctuations of the power output from the lair's presence using the drone's crash as a baseline," Wade stated. "Ron's truck is equipped with a larger version of your grapple gun, with interchangeable grapples."
"OK, how do I make it go-go," Ron asked with his finger up to his chin, looking over all of the buttons under the dash cover.
"I can activate it remotely, we'll use a magnetic grapple," Wade stated, typing furiously. "You might want to set the parking brake Ron."
"This isn't going to pull my truck over the cliff if the hoverlair moves is it?" Ron asked nervously as he set the brake.
"It shouldn't, I have the drum set for a two thousand pound breakaway, and your truck weighs a lot more than that," Wade replied. The hood opened a small device looking like a heavily modified harpoon gun rose up and fired at seemingly thin air. The harpoon shot out and hit an object about 50 feet out over the gorge, sticking to the side with a loud clang.
"Alright, let's go," Kim said seriously, her mission face on. They got out of the truck and put on harnesses before latching onto the rope. She looked at the two before swinging out over the gorge. "Be careful you two, it's a long way down."
Erik gulped and nodded, looking over the edge of the cliff before clipping on and following Kim out. Ron checked to make sure his pocket was securely closed. "You ready Rufus?" he asked. Rufus stuck out a paw and gave him a thumbs-up before retreating deep into the pocket for the ride. Ron swung out and shimmed out to the grapple waiting a little behind them.
Kim turned to face them and yelled in the wind whipping through the gorge. "They'll probably figure out we're here once we breach the hull. Ron, you know what to do. Erik, stick with Ron. I'll keep Shego busy."
Ron nodded his head; Erik looked a little annoyed, but nodded his head in agreement as well. Kim smiled and turned back to the hull, cutting through it below the grapple with her laser lipstick. A piece of steel became visible as it fell away from the hull, revealing a room beyond the hole.
"This is all sorts of weird," Ron yelled up at the strange sight. Kim nodded as she disconnected the harness and swung into the hole. She scanned the room and helped Erik and Ron in.
Kim grabbed her Kimmunicator and hit the call button. "Wade what can you tell me about this hoverlair, please and thank you?" she asked.
"I'm getting a lot of interference, so stay near the opening while I run a remote scan," Wade told her. Kim nodded at the screen and crouched near the hole while he started typing away furiously on his computer.
After a minute the Kimmunicator beeped and Kim brought the screen up to her face, "The interference limited what I could pick up on the scan," Wade told her. "But I can give you a rough layout of the hoverlair. It's a large disk with two large chambers in the center, one over the other. Each of the chambers seems to have several levels of satellite rooms running along the outer walls. Except for the power core, which is almost directly across from your current location, I can't tell what's in any of them. But, I am picking up weird energy reading close to the center of the upper chamber, so that's probably where you'll find Drakken."
Kim nodded at the screen again. "That will have to do. Thanks, Wade" she replied as she thumbed the device off.
Dr. Drakken chuckled madly in the main lair as he finished entering the launch vectors into the computer. The doors on the floor to the bay beneath them were open, the top of the rocket containing the snoozulator peeking up from below. In a few moments the atmospheric launch window would be at it's fullest and his satellite would be on it's way to assisting him in his goal of world domination.
"Oy, do you have to keep up that annoying chuckling?" Shego asked.
"It's my moment of triumph, allow me to bask in it Shego!" Dr. Drakken raved. "In a few moments my snoozulator will be on it's way to space and I will be one step closer to ruling the world!"
"Yeah, but why do we need to wear the stupid hats?" The henchmen and Drakken were wearing the triangular hats that children make from paper, only made from aluminum foil. Shego had fashioned a round-brimmed cowboy hat held on by a leather cord, there was no way she was sporting one of those other ones.
"To stop the snoozulator from affecting us Shego! And I'll have you know that that hat does not conform to regulations!" Drakken ranted.
"You mean that's all that was in Dementor's mask was tin foil? Like some alien abductee wackjob?" Shego asked.
"You can't argue with results Shego," Dr. Drakken stated, raising a finger into the air. An alarm on the main control console began to sound. "What is it now?! Dr. Drakken exclaimed, clenching and unclenching his fists at his side.
"It's saying we have a hull breach boss," flat-nose said.
"Naaahg," Drakken growled as he brought up security cameras for the area the alarm was sounding in. He saw a flash of red hair and then the bottom of a tennis shoe before the screen turned to static. "Kim Possible is here!" he screamed, wild-eyed. "Open the bay doors and prepare to launch! Shego, hold her off while I launch the snoozulator!"
Shego lit up her plasma as the doors to floor above the main lab burst open, admitting Team Possible to the balcony. Shego launched a few plasma bolts at them as Erik and Ron ran left towards the stairs down and Kim went right over the railing onto the crates. Shego blasted away at her, shattering crates and sending their contents flying. Kim dodged and closed with her and they began fighting hand to hand.
Ron and Erik raced down the steps to the lab floor as the launch doors began to open. Henchmen were flooding the area and Erik and Ron were forced into hand-to-hand fighting as well. The henchmen grinned as they rushed in but their grins turned quickly as the two young men started tearing through them.
Drakken looked up at the doors calmly as they inched their way open. He began wringing his hands together and paused before he suddenly yelled at the top of his voice to no one in particular, "Just a little while longer, we'll be launching in a moment!". Startled by his sudden outburst behavior, Kim looked towards Drakken and Shego used the distraction to strike, knocking Kim off of her feet.
"KP!" Ron yelled as she skidded to a halt. A particularly strong henchman used this moment to kick Ron in the chest, knocking him back into a stack of crates that were damaged from Shego's plasma blast. The crates tipped and began slide.
"Crap!" Shego muttered as she reached out her hands and blasted Ron full in the chest with a plasma bolt, launching him out from under the falling crates and into the henchmen. Kim kicked out and swept Shego's feet knocking her to the floor.
Drakken began cackling madly as the rumble of the rockets boosters filled the lab. The doors had opened fully and he had started the launch sequence. "At last! Not this time Kim Possible!" he gloated.
Kim looked up at the launch doors. "Erik, your grapple gun, hurry!" Kim yelled. Erik lobbed his grapple gun over to her as she pulled out her own. She fired at one of the beams overhead with both of them and tied off the gun ends to one of the balcony support beams. The rocket began lifting off and hit the grapple lines, throwing it off course just enough to clip the side of the launch doors. The rocket screeched through the metal, ripping out the grapple lines anchor points as it tore through. One of the rocket's boosters broke free and began to tumble through the air past them and into the bottom bay. Everyone ran screaming for cover as pieces of the ceiling fell to the floor. The booster hit bottom and exploded, sending up a plume of heat and smoke, as well as rocking the lair as it blew out the floor in the bay below.
Dr. Drakken picked himself off of the floor and howled in mad fury. Alarms sounded all around, warning of different system failures as the control boards threw up sparks and smoke. The cloaking mechanism was down and all remaining power was being diverted to maintaining altitude. Escape pods were launching in droves as his henchmen abandoned him in the face of another botched plan. "Another plan foiled by that cheerleader!" he fumed. Kim and Shego had picked themselves up and began fighting again. Ron, Erik and the remaining henchmen were picking themselves off of the floor, still a bit shell-shocked. Drakken growled as he slammed his hand down on the lair's self-destruct mechanism, only to have it fail to activate. It was damaged during the explosion. He began laughing wildly at the irony.
"Stop Drakken from getting away!" Kim yelled between blocking Shego's blows.
Erik was closer and began running towards Dr. Drakken, skirting the edge of the doors leading down in to the bay below. Drakken's laughter faded as he pulled out a ray gun, aimed it at Erik, and pulled the trigger. Erik felt his vision swim as the ray hit him. He teetered on the edge as the snoozulator ray took effect and he fell asleep, tumbling down the hole.
"Erik!" Kim screamed as Shego watched dumbfounded. They both ran to the edge of the floor as Drakken raced out of the lab cackling.
"I got him KP!" Ron yelled as he activated his blaster briefs and jumped through the doors. Erik tumbled end over end through the hole in the floor of the bay below. Ron caught up with him quickly and grabbed a hold of him, flying over to the truck and dropping him off before heading back towards the hoverlair.
"Come on Princess!" Shego exclaimed, grabbing a hold of the shocked woman. "We have to get off this thing and all the escape pods have launched." She dragged Kim towards the stairs. Kim trembled slightly as they ran down the steps to the hovercrafts in the bay below.
"Drakken," Kim stated as reached the bottom. He was trying to pull a piece of steel off of the hovercraft so he could launch.
"You weren't going to leave me here were you?" Shego asked in genuine surprise.
Dr. Drakken looked up and drew out his ray gun firing it at them both. Shego's hat, while crumpled from fighting, had managed to stay on, protecting her from the effects of the snoozulator ray that Dr. Drakken had made. "Let's go Shego," he said coldly as the Kim slumped to the floor. An explosion rocked the lair and it began to list. Kim's body slid towards the hole in the floor. Shego leapt at her as she slid out of the hover lair and managed to grab onto her. The ship rocked again and Shego found herself pulled out of the lair.
Ron was flying up towards the hole in the bottom of the ship when an explosion rocked it. A few seconds later Kim and Shego came tumbling out into him. He drew his grapple gun and fired up into the wreckage above him, hooking onto a pipe as he grabbed Shego's free wrist with his other hand. They dangled from the lair, 60 feet above the swirling rapids below.
"Reel us up Ron!" Shego yelled over the sound of the wind and cascading water.
Ron depressed the retract button on the grapple only to hear the clutches inside slipping. "We're too heavy!" he yelled back. The pipe above them began to bend a little under the combined weight of the three people. Ron focused his power into himself, his eyes filling with blue light. He grunted as he pulled Shego and Kim up higher. "Grab onto me and hold on!" Shego grabbed onto Ron's harness and he let go of her wrist, grabbing the rope above him and pulling them up a little. He held the rope and let go of the grapple gun and grabbed hold of Shego again. "Grab the grapple gun!" he yelled as the pipe bent a little more.
Shego grabbed the grapple gun and looked up at the bending pipe, ready to buckle. "We're not going to make it," she thought. She looked down past Kim's unconscious form to the swirling waters below.
"I'm sorry," Ron said softly as he looked at Shego. She looked back at him, seeing the sadness in his eyes. He leaned in close to her. "Close your eyes," he whispered.
Shego closed her eyes, and pursed her lips slightly, waiting for their first and, most likely, last kiss. They sprung open in surprise as the rope jostled and sprung up a little bit. "Ron!" she screamed as she watched him tumble toward the water. He activated the remaining boost out of his blaster briefs to slow his descent as he hit the water but he still hit hard and disappeared into the swirling rapids. Tears streamed down Shego's face as she activated the retractor on the grapple gun and pulled them back into the slowly sinking lair.
Dr. Drakken heard a scraping noise as Shego pulled herself and Kim back into the lair. "Ah, I see you made it Shego. Come over here and help me with the hover car, quickly!" he exclaimed frantically trying to pry off the metal it was stuck under with a pipe.
Shego carried Kim over and lay her down by the side of the hover car before heaving the piece of metal off of it. "Alright, let's go Dr. D." she said glumly, bending down to pick Kim up.
"Just a moment Shego. It's time to take care of a thorn that's been in my side for far too long." He stood over Kim and looked down at her for a second.
"Dr. D.?" Shego asked, her face screwed up in confusion.
He responded with a grunt, raising the pipe over his head in preparation for a viscous downward strike. The last thing he remembered was seeing a green light moving rapidly towards his face.
Author's Footnote: Can't say for sure when the next chapter will be ready, but I will try to keep the lag time down a bit better this time!