I do NOT own Kim Possible
Remember Ron, in Stopping the Unstoppable, did gain possession of a hovercraft. Why he didn't tell anyone about it? Your guess is as good as mine. Ron is Ron. Also recall a lot of his activities there were illegal.
A Talk With Shego,... A Talk With Kim
Kim stood in front of the hospital with her mother. Once the situation had been explained to her it only seemed logical to let her do more tests. They were needed to show just what her body, and mind, were doing. At least now she knew what the sitch was. It was bad but she wasn't alone. Her parents were there to support here. Ron and Monique, she knew, were also with her a hundred percent. That helped. And she had to be strong. She had a sister out there somewhere. A sister who was in the hands of those monsters.
Kim shuddered. She had opened the possibility of reverse engineering the changes that had been made to her. Both her mother and Ron had shook their heads at that. It wouldn't work. In the womb her body had yet to fully express its genes. Now that she was nearly full grown changing those genes would probably kill her. Her body had reach a sort of equilibrium and throwing that equilibrium off would be bad. They had given examples. None of them good. They could, her mother had explained, replace ones of the genes that gave her her strength with a normal gene but since her body had already built up the muscle required for that strength there would be no immediate changes. Then Ron had pointed out that if that same gene affected her ability for fast healing then she wouldn't heal the damage that extra strength was doing to her body. Her veins and arteries could weaken and she could have a heart attack or stroke. It was too dangerous.
It was then that Ron had suggested another possibility. It made her shudder even more. Have DNAmy cross her with some lizard that had good regeneration. Her body would be able to regenerate any damage done and she would still be mostly Kim Possible. The keyword was 'mostly.' With the mutation created by crossing her with a lizard she would be part lizard. She hoped he was joking about that. Still if she reached thirty and death scared her too much it was an option. Just not one she wanted to contemplate.
Whatever, she thought to herself. There were tests to be done and then she had to find her sister. While that sister might, like her, have only thirty years to live Kim wanted them to be good years. Years of living a life, not years of being a test subject to monsters.
They had spent hours last night creating a detailed description of the woman, Cindy Caltron, who had set up the procedure for her mother. Everything from what she liked to what she disliked. Not to mention a very detailed portrait of her. Still it had been eighteen years. The way she looked would have changed. They couldn't even be sure of her hair color as her mother thought it had been dyed. Kim knew they didn't have a hope of finding her that way.
That left the second way. Whatever organization the woman belonged to needed equipment. That was made obvious by the thefts. She would met her sister again and that would lead back to the organization. Kim planned to give them a personal demonstration of what their creation was capable off. She flexed her hand and imagined what it would feel like. And who knew. They might even have some data in their records that could help her. From the talk between her mother and Ron she knew that was just about her only real hope. It was a pretty slim one.
She looked around. She wish Ron had come with her for the tests. But that, she knew, was too much to ask. Whatever the circumstances she had done what she had done. It was enough that he had her back. She hoped he wasn't in too much pain. He tried to hid it but that kick in the groin was still hurting him.
Ron was thinking. Shego would have recognized the deadly serious expression on his face better than Kim would have. He considered the last fight Kim had had with her clone. Or, in Kim's words, with her sister. Kim had been outclassed. He wondered why. Kim had the same genes with the same extra strength and speed. Being older she had been larger and stronger than the girl. She also had years more experience in fighting along with a battle suit. So why had she been losing? The only thing he could come up with was the pill the girl had taken. It had seemed like a ritual the way she had took it. The way she had silently stood still until its effects took hold.
If that was the case then what would be the affect of the pill on the girl's body? It couldn't be good. Kim was going to die at thirty. If that pill increased the girl's strength or speed, as he thought it did, then the affects on her body must be devastating. She wouldn't live to thirty.
He moved carefully and looked out across the street from the Bueno Nacho restaurant he was at. He had to move carefully to avoid the pain. That kick in the groin still hurt. In a fight he might try his best but he wouldn't be of much help. Not against someone like that girl. He needed muscle. And he knew where to get it.
Ron pulled out his Kimmunicator and called Wade.
"What's up Ron? Still no luck finding Cindy. All I know is it's not her real name." The genius was talking as soon as his image appeared on the screen.
"Didn't think you would Wade. I just wanted to know if you knew where Drakken's latest lair was."
"Hrm. Still a bit early. Global Justice freed them from that glue and had them in a cell but Shego got out less than two hours later. She broke Drakken out yesterday. He wouldn't have had time to do much yet."
"No clue at all?" Ron insisted.
"Well. There's some indication of a villain setting up a lair just two hundred kilometers south of Middleton. It might be something else though. Like a government base being built or a private company setting something up."
"Okay. Thanks Wade." Ron signed off. He stood up and stretched as much as his damage vitals would allow.
He sat in the hovercraft and studied its sensors. Definitely a lair. He landed the craft beside the door, still cloaked. The sensors around the door didn't see the craft and so gave no warning to those inside.
Ron opened the door and stepped out. The sensors left just enough room for that. He wondered who had set the system up. He figured it was Drakken. Shego was more competent. He walked into the lair, unopposed and unnoticed.
"What's up Dr. D?" Ron asked, using Shego's term for the man.
"Kim Possible!" Drakken yelled and looked around.
"Really? Now do I look like a girl?" Ron asked. The greeting had startled him. The man was obsessed with Kim.
"But..." Drakken looked around. "She's always here when you are. Who are you by the way? I can't seem to recall your name."
Shego remained sitting. She would get up when Princess arrived. Still, something seemed off about this visit. For one thing the Buffoon had used the door, not the vents. And Princess usually entered the lair first.
"So what's the latest plan?" Ron asked, taking a seat just a few meters from the mad scientist.
"My plan? You hear that Shego? He wants to know my plan. You could take some pointers from the Buffoon."
"You don't even have the machine built yet Dr. D." Shego pointed out.
"No I will get it built though. Then I will be the ruler of the world. Everyone will bow to me or I will fossilize all the jello in the world." Drakken let loose with a crazed laugh.
"Fossilized jello?" Ron asked, eyebrows raised.
"Yes, my Jello-Fossilizer will turn all the jello in the world to nothing more than brightly colored stones unless the world bows to me, Dr. Drakken." He turned and waved at a partially completed machine.
"Sorry to say Dr. D, but I can see a few holes in that plan." Ron looked at Shego.
She shrugged. "I told him it wouldn't work." She went back to her magazine.
"What are the flaws?" Drakken demanded.
Shego blinked. "What? You ignored my points but you're going to listen to the Buffoon?" She roared at the suddenly terrified mad genius.
"Now now, Shego." He tried to placate her. "I was just asking for a second opinion. Nothing more."
She went back to reading her magazine. Her fingers flashed plasma for a second and one of the page got burnt. "Damn. I hadn't looked at that page yet." She muttered to herself.
Drakken looked at the Buffoon. "So, the Buffoon thinks the great Dr. Drakken would come up with a flawed plan?" He puffed out his chest and tried to look threatening.
"Yes." Ron answered. "When has one of your plans ever worked?"
"Well." Drakken struggled to think. "This one will." He insisted.
"No it won't." Ron insisted back.
"Why not?" Drakken asked.
"Because rich people don't eat jello. They're rich. They eat imported chocolates or something. And they rule the world. Why would they care if all the jello in the world gets fossilized?"
"But some of them must eat jello." The mad scientist insisted.
"Maybe, but not enough to surrender to you over it. Would be easier to just start eating something else. Chocolate cake maybe."
Drakken frowned. He knew his plan was perfect. It had to be.
"Besides." Ron said. "You got two wires crossed there. It would just blow up if you turned it on." He pointed at the machine.
"No it wouldn't." Drakken insisted.
"Will too." Ron retorted.
"Will not. Drakken replied.
"Will too." Ron said.
"Will not." Drakken shouted. He turned and flipped a switch. "See." Sparks erupted from the machine. Drakken remembered it wasn't finished yet and that some of the circuits weren't completed. That he knew was bad. The energy pouring into the machine had nowhere to go. He dove behind a console.
Ron took cover behind a desk.
Shego seeing the rest run for cover joined Dr. D behind the console.
The explosion was pretty small. It was mostly sparks as the machine melted down.
Ron rose from behind the desk and took his place in the chair again. "You know. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe those wires weren't crossed after all."
"Great." Shego muttered. "You melted down your own doomsday device. Not that it would have worked. But still..." She shook her head and went back to her magazine.
Drakken stood and stared at the melted remains. He turned to look at the Buffoon. "Shego. Tied him up."
"About time he realized you shouldn't be just sitting there chatting." Shego said to Ron.
Ron held up his hands. "Please Shego. No rough stuff okay. I sort of got... ah... let's just say I got a little injury during my last fight."
"You look okay to me." Shego said, looking him over.
"You wouldn't be saying that if you were a guy." Ron muttered half to himself?
"Oh?" Shego asked, curious. "Anyway I still got to obey Drakken's orders." She lit her hands.
"What about the self-destruct?" Ron asked.
"Not letting you near it." Shego stated.
Warning: Self Destruct in thirty seconds, twenty-nine, twenty-eight, ...
Shego stared at the Buffon. "How?" She demanded, preparing to run.
"Don't hurt me and I'll stop it." Ron offered.
"It can't be stopped once started." Shego said. She paused. "But okay if you stop it I won't hurt you."
The countdown stopped at twenty-one seconds.
Shego stared and sighed. She really wished he was evil. "How?" She asked.
Ron shook his head. He moved in the chair and let out a small groan of pain.
"You really are hurt?"
"Yeah." Ron admitted.
"Shego." Drakken shouted. "Don't just let him sit there."
"What do you want me to do, Dr. D? He can set off the self-destruct."
"Well." Drakken didn't know how to answer.
Ron looked at him. "Sorry about the Jello-Fossilizer Dr. D. I really did get those wires confused. Why don't you just get on with your next plan. Not like I can stop you."
Drakken muttered and left the room.
Ron sighed and tried to get comfortable in the seat. It was futile. He took out a bottle of Advil and took two. Chewing them dry.
"So. How did you get past the security system like that." Shego asked.
Ron looked at her.
She sighed. "Okay. Classified information."
Beep! Beep! Beep!
The two of them jumped.
"Not now." Ron muttered. "Just a few seconds Shego." He pulled the device out.
"Hiya Wade. What's up?" He asked.
"I just ran some numbers. Assuming they need a gene sequencer then there are only two options. The one at Middleton Hospital. Or those at the warehouse. I predict there's a seventy percent chance they will try again tonight."
"Again? They just failed."
"Yeah. But those are the two options and if they need one they don't have a choice. They will try the warehouse again. There's a ninety-eight percent probability they will try between now and the end of the month. I figure it will be sooner rather than later."
"Okay. That's good to know. Means the wait won't be long."
"By the way Ron where are you?"
"I got to go Wade." He turned the device off. He turned back to Shego. "Want to bargain? Some information in return for your help."
"We teamed up once. What makes you think that will ever happen again?" She was interested.
"I will tell you how I'm setting off the self-destruct." Ron told her.
Shego's eyes widened at that. That would be pretty nice to know, she admitted to herself. "The catch?" She asked.
"You got to work for me until a problem Kim and I ran into is solved."
"How long?"
"Not sure. Not too long I hope." He pulled out a hardcopy of Cindy Caltron that Wade had made up for them. He showed it to Shego.
Shego grabbed the picture. "Where did you get this?" She demanded. The picture erupted into flames as plasma flowed around her hands. Fury burned in her eyes. She lifted her lit hands towards Ron. "Where?"
Ron gulped. "I take it you know her?" He asked.
Shego stared back at him. "How do you know her?" She demanded.
"From a mission. From what we know so far she's a monster who doesn't care if she kills people. That's why I wanted your help." Ron didn't take his eyes off Shego's.
Shego turned and threw plasma at the melted machine on the floor. It melted even more.
"I take it you know her." Ron asked. He kept his voice calm.
"You could say that. Sort of." Shego admitted. "So she's not a friend of yours?" She asked.
"Right now she's our worst enemy. Bad enough to make me want to recruit you to help against her."
"Oh." Shego went quiet. "I'll help. No payment necessary." She wanted to know how that self-destruct was being set off. But even as a villain she had morals. She had her pride. Revenge took priority.
"Shego?" Ron reached out and touched the villainess on the shoulder.
She looked at the hand. He didn't remove it. She recalled how they had talked back when Willian Johnson was the problem. How they had worked together. How they had talked. She let the hand remain. "I know her. Sort of." She started. "You know we grew up in an orphanage right? Me and my brothers."
"Yeah."
"Well I had friends there. Some of them got adopted. As for me and my brothers, whenever anyone came to see us we acted bad so they wouldn't take us. We wanted to stay together. But we made friends with some of the other kids. And after they left we kept in contact. Two of the girls were Mia and Tia, identical twins. Smart, pretty, nice. For a while they were my best friends. They were there for eight months. During that time we did everything together." She went quiet recalling the past.
Ron remained silent. He kept his hand on her shoulder, offering what support he could.
"It was strange they remained there that long. Like I said. Pretty. Smart. Nice. Anyone would have jumped at the chance to adopt them. I think they were like my brothers and I, acting bad when anyone came so they could stay together. But that woman came one day. The next day they were gone. They didn't keep in contact or anything. Then six weeks later we were told they'd died." She went silent for a long time.
"They were young and healthy." She started speaking again. "The orphanage did physicals whenever any children came in. They were in perfect health. The autopsy said massive stroke. For both of them. Twins or not the odds of that is just plain crazy. Their remains were cremated. The medical examiner who did the autopsy died three months later in a car accident. The woman disappeared."
"She's in Middleton somewhere now." Ron told her. "And we got a way to find her. It might take some time though."
"I don't care. I just want her to ..." She knew the Buffoon wouldn't agree to burning her.
"She's doing human experiments Shego. She will be in jail for a long time. For the rest of her life."
Shego nodded. It would have to do. If she could control herself at the time. If not then she would have no regrets.
Ron took out his Kimmunicator. Wade appeared immediately.
"Ron?" He asked. He was trying to look around to see where the other member of Team Possible was at. He could have used the tracking chip, or the Kimmunicator, but he and Ron had had a long talk about privacy.
"Wade, another piece of info for you on Cindy. She adopted two girls, identical twins called Mia and Tia, from Go City orphanage. Not sure if she used the same name."
"Give me a second Ron." The genius began typing. "Strange." He finally said. "They aren't in the orphanage's database."
"They were there. Keep checking. Give me a second." He turned the device off and turned to Shego who was still lost in thought. "What was the woman's name at the time, the name of the medical examiner, the person in charge of the orphanage, and were there any people who might remember the two of them?
Shego gave him as much information as she could.
Ron turned the Kimmunicator back on and relayed the information to Wade. "That should help some." He told the genius. "They might be able to erase some information but not all of it."
"That's enough to help the search." Wade agreed. "And identical twins? I could see why they would want those. One to test on and the other as a control subject."
Shego growled. How could the nerdling speak so calmly about them. She could recall the way they'd smiled, had laughed.
"What was that?" Wade asked at the sound of the growl.
"Remember Wade, just because they were in an orphanage doesn't mean there weren't people who didn't care about them."
"I know that Ron." The genius was suddenly more serious. "That's another two lives to add to the six fetuses they caused to miscarry. And what they did to..."
"I better go." Ron cut him off. He didn't want Wade talking about Kim's situation where Shego could hear. He put the Kimmunicator back in his pocket.
"Six fetuses?" Shego asked.
"Seems like the group that woman belongs to likes experimenting on pregnant women."
"Oh."
"And Shego. When we catch her. Burn her if you want but leave her alive. We need information from her."
Shego's eyes went wide at that. The Buffoon was saying burning was okay.
"Now for the contract." Ron said.
The two sat together for an hour before all the details were settled. Then Shego went to ask for vacation time from her boss. Ron stared at the ceiling of the lair. He'd learned the two girls had been nine years old. They'd had their whole lives ahead of them. The woman wasn't a villain. She was a monster.
"I wonder if DNAmy knows anything." Ron asked when Shego returned.
"I considered that myself since she is one of the world's leading scientists in genetics. Turns out she doesn't."
"Oh." Ron sighed.
"You really mean it. You won't try to stop me if I burn her some?"
"So long as she can talk afterwards."
"Wow. So this is really personal?"
"It is." Ron answered.
Shego handed the Buffoon a device. "It's a modified cellphone. You can use it to keep in contact. But I want it back afterwards. No letting the nerdling look at it."
Ron nodded. "We'll be standing watch at a warehouse at nine tonight. The woman, or at least the organization she works for, needs what's in there."
"I'll be there." Shego assured him. "In a hovercraft, cloaked."
"Try not to burn the thief though. She's just a twelve year old kid who the woman uses."
Shego blinked. "Wait. A twelve year old and you and Kim can't handle her?"
"Long story, that." Ron said. "You'll probably find it all out soon enough."
He tried to get up and groaned. He took two more Advil. He stood up and hobbled to the door. "See you later Shego." He called back.
Back in the hovercraft he pulled the Kimmunicator out. He reset the record he had on it. The one of the self-destruct activating. It was simply. When needed he would play the tape. The sound of the countdown meant everyone fled. With everyone gone it was easy to get to the button and set it off. Even if deactivated it only took seconds to reconnect the wires.
Later that night he and Kim stood guard at the warehouse. He was sitting down. It was less painful that way. Kim was pacing around. He hadn't told Kim about Shego yet. He wasn't sure how to go about it. Working with her arch-foe was going to be a blow to her pride. He wasn't sure she was up to that sort of shock given all she'd been through. She would find out if the girl showed up. It would be necessary then.
The girl didn't show.
"I don't think they will try it in broad daylight." Wade told them. "I put the odds at seventy-four percent tomorrow night."
"Change the warehouse shipping orders." Ron told him. "Make it appear like the sequencers are going to be shipped to another country in a day or two. That will force their hand."
Wade ran the calculations. "That will work. If I set the shipping date to two days time there's a ninety-eight percent chance they will try tomorrow night."
Ron nodded. "Good. Want to find them as soon as possible." He looked over at Kim. "And I want that girl out of their hands too." He hadn't told her about Shego but he had given her the rest of the information. She knew about Mia and Tia. He wondered if Shego would even have a chance to burn the woman. Kim might kill the monster before Shego had the chance.
He turned back to the Kimmunicator. "And Wade. Make sure there's a tracking device in every one of those machines."
"Already done. And I got one placed on the Middleton Hospital gene sequencer too."
"Good. Thanks Wade. Night." He closed the device.
"Guess it's time to head home." Kim said.
"Yeah. Some help KP?"
Kim helped him stand up. "You sure you shouldn't have a doctor look at it?" She asked.
"Already did. Had a few errands to run earlier today but then came back and saw the doctor. It should be okay." He grinned at her. "Trust me KP, that's one part of my body I'm going to take extra care off. I'm not quite ready to lose it yet."
Kim found herself smirking back at him. "I bet." She grinned.
"What did Mrs. Dr. P say about your tests?"
"They came back pretty good. Seems things are settling down. In a week or two my hormones should be back to where they were before. At least that's what we're hoping."
"We'll talk then." He told her.
"Talk?"
"Yeah. You know. About us. About the prom. About Josh. Before when we talked about it it wasn't really you. It was you under the influence of all those changes. When you're you again we'll talk. I want to settle things once and for all."
"You mean if we will still be friends?" Fear spiked through her whole body.
"No KP. We'll always be friends. I know how I feel about you. I still feel the same way. I understand what you did and, now that I know why you did it, I accept it. It wasn't your fault."
Kim heart soared as she realized what he meant. That there was still a chance for them.
"But." He continued. "I need to be sure of how you feel. For that we need to wait until you're back to normal. I can accept your decision either way."
Kim smiled at him. Despite the sitch, for the first time in ages and ages, she felt happy. "So. We'll talk then. But Ron, even if I do go back to what's normal for me I'm going to die young. And there won't be any kids."
"I know." He answered. Looking at her.
"And I can't promise I won't go crazy again. Though my mother can keep a close tab on me. A test every week or so."
"I know." He told her.
"And there are other girls out there. Ones you could grow old with. Have children with."
"I know, KP."
"Some really amazing girls." She thought of Yori and Monique.
"I know, KP."
"We'll talk then." This was too important to mess up.
End of Chapter.
Fossilized Jello? You know I'm running out of take over the world ideas. Wait. I just thought of another. Whew!
Not much action this chapter. More next one.
Ron says they'll talk. He still loves her. But he's not going to risk anything until she's back to normal. Until she can be sure of her feelings. She still loves him, but is that an affect of her altered hormones (like it was with Josh) or is it something that will remain after she gets back to normal. Perhaps the hormones explains the prom, why she saw him as something other than a childhood friend. And if it happened once then what's to stop her altered state from messing things up again.
Forgiveness can be either a strength or a flaw.