I do NOT own Kim Possible
Review questions/comments:
Using Drakken's Brain Switcher - Something I didn't think of. I have seen it used in a few stories though. Once where Ron was dying from cancer. It's not the path this story will take. Let's assume Drakken got hit too many times in the head with Shego's plasma and forgot how to make another one.
William Johnson in Stopping the Unstoppable - Looking back I might have messed up. I claimed the process he underwent replaced each cell in his body. Which would lead one to believe he had the same metabolism and would still need air. Then later I claimed his body used thorium as an energy source. A contradiction. Sorry. On the vacuum part. The guy could survive a nuclear explosion. The vacuum of space wouldn't be a big deal to him.
Time: Just a few hours after the last chapter.
Kim's Dilemma,...
Kim turned over in her bed. Sleep refused to come. Her mind was focused on those words, 'We'll talk then.' Her heart was beating so fast. 'We'll talk then.' She turned over again. Hope wasn't gone. He still loved her. She knew she still loved him. Would love him forever. And that was where the problem lay. Confusion reigned in her heart. Her desire to respond to his love versus her desire to do what was best for him.
She thought of Monique. Intelligent and kind as well as beautiful. And she was normal. She could live to a ripe old age. She could have children. And she had feelings for Ron. Not as strong as Kim's own. Not yet. But the seeds were there. And the two of them got along so well together. They had a lot in common and were comfortable around each other. Her and Ron would make a good couple.
She thought of those words again. 'We'll talk then.' She knew she loved him with all her heart and all her soul. But the last few months had humbled her. She knew that sometimes the best thing to do was to step aside. Once she would have laughed at that. No more. Maybe when they had that talk she should lie. Say she wanted to be best friends and nothing more. She might not have Ron but there would other compensations. She might live long enough to see him have children. Children she could, for a short time, hold and watch. She wondered what it would be like. To hold something so precious. She thought maybe it would be like the first time she had held one of the tweebs. She could clearly recall that moment. She had held Jim first. Her father had had his arms around her to make sure she was careful. It was a moment she would never forget. Even if the child wasn't hers she thought holding one of Ron's children would be like that. A moment etched forever in her memory.
Shego and the Baton,...
Shego watched the two leave. She could have left too but she didn't feel like it. This was the first clue she'd had in nearly two decades of what had happened to Mia and Tia. She could recall them so clearly. The way they'd teased her. Not maliciously, just out of fun. Drawing her away from whatever book she had in her hand to play with them. A game of hide-and-seek. Or hopscotch. There hadn't been much at the orphanage but the three of them had always had fun together. She hadn't had comet powers back then. She'd been just a normal girl doing normal girl things with her friends.
She set the hovercraft to maintain a position fifteen feet above the warehouse doors and settled back to take a short nap. It was still a few hours before daylight and the sensors would tell her if anyone approached the hovercraft. And hence the doors.
The girl wondered if she would see the redheaded woman again. The one who looked so much like her. Or the boy. She wanted to talk to both. Of course the voice wouldn't allow it. She hated that. Just talking wouldn't hurt anything. They'd told her they would cut her vocal cords if she talked to anyone. She didn't want that. It sounded like it would hurt. But then a lot of what they did hurt. She approached the warehouse. The way seemed clear but then a woman jumped down in front of her. Maybe from the top of the warehouse? The girl wasn't sure. It looked like the woman had appeared out of nowhere. Her hair was beautiful. Long and black.
The girl sighed. The way to the warehouse was blocked again. She would have to fight. She knew that from the stance the woman had taken. She reached into the container she wore around her neck and pulled out a pill. A red one. She hoped this one wouldn't hurt. Maybe if she could ask the woman would move out of the way. It would be so much easier. Why wouldn't the voice allow that? She wanted to talk.
Shego eyes opened immediately at the sound of the alarm. Her hand moved automatically to silence it as her eyes looked at the sensor display. A black clad figure was around thirty feet away and slowly approaching. She pulled out a cellphone much like the one she'd given the Buffoon. She typed in the simple message, 'girl is here,' and hit send. She set the priority to ten so the phone would keep buzzing until he looked at the message. She opened the hovercraft door and dropped to the ground.
Shego watched the girl take a pill. The Buffoon had warned against that. But the movement had been so swift that Shego had had no time to react. Now it looked like the girl was waiting for something.
"What's your name?" Shego asked. The girl remained quiet. She lit her hands and the girl's eyes went wide. There was fear in them. Even as a villain Shego hated doing that to a little girl. "What's wrong with just telling me your name?" She asked. "At least then I would know what to call you."
She could feel the pill starting to affect her. She hoped there was no pain. The woman asked her name and she wanted to answer. Maybe if she did they wouldn't need to fight. Maybe the woman would even help her. She didn't seem bad. Then the woman's hands seemed to burst into fire. She gulped. She really hoped she didn't have to take two red pills. She could die if she did. But the voice had told her to get the gene sequencer no matter what. She didn't know what death was like. She had seen the animals the voice worked on though. When they died it just meant they didn't move any more. She didn't want to be like that. She liked moving. She wondered if there was pain when you were dead.
The woman asked her name again. The girl sighed. She had to fight. But those hands frightened her. She couldn't go back without the gene sequencer. The woman's voice sounded so nice. Not at all like the one in her head. If only she was allowed to talk.
"I don't want to hurt you." Shego told the girl. It was true. The girl moved with a burst of speed that took Shego by surprise. She only had time for two bursts of plasma before the girl was on her and kicked her in the stomach. For a kick from a twelve year old it hurt. Still comet powers kept her on her feet and she grabbed for the girl.
The woman claimed she didn't want to hurt her. The girl believed her. She didn't want to hurt the woman either. But the pill had taken affect and she needed to get past the woman before it faded. She didn't want to die. She moved as fast as she could, hoping the flames wouldn't hurt. The woman shot two balls of it at her and she slipped between them, barely. She felt her skin tingle. Then she was close enough to kick and she did so. She expected the woman to go down. The green and black suit she wore didn't look like a battle suit. Not like the one the redheaded girl had had on. The kick should have knocked her down. Instead she reach out for her. She flipped backwards, out of range.
Shego rubbed her stomach. Then she lifted her hands and started throwing out plasma. She tuned it down a little. Enough to stun the girl if it hit but not enough to harm her. It was futile. It was like trying to hit Princess, only worse. The target was smaller and faster. How someone could be faster than Princess Shego didn't know. Princess was bad enough. At least the girl didn't hit as hard as Princess.
The girl dodged. Sometimes she felt the fire come close enough to tingle but it never hit her. She was glad of that. She knew fire hurt. The voice had used it on her a few times to test her pain threshold. That procedure, as the voice had called it, had hurt. A lot of their procedures hurt.
She dodged more plasma. If she kept this up the red pill would wear off and ... She gulped. She raced in for another attack and felt the fire graze her. It hurt. But not like the voice's fire had. Maybe the woman wasn't really trying to hurt her? Then she was in close. She kicked at the woman again who winced, but remained on her feet. The girl twisted around and punched at her opponent's kidneys. The first blow landed but she was forced to dodge backwards as the woman turned and grabbed for her. The plasma followed her and she dodged.
Shego rubbed the spot the girl had hit. It hurt. She had taken note of the glove the girl wore. It would add to the damage. She threw out more plasma. Useless. But maybe it would delay things until the Buffoon or Princess got here.
The girl dodged. She couldn't delay. She rushed in and launched another kick before leaping out of the way. Then another. The woman was stronger and more durable than the redhead, but she was also a bit slower. She launched two more kicks in quick succession. The woman remained standing. What was she made of, the girl wondered. This was getting her nowhere.
She recalled what the voice had told her to do in this situation. Reluctantly she pulled out the baton she'd been given. She didn't want to do this. Why couldn't the woman just move out of the way. Why wouldn't the voice just let her talk? To ask the woman to move out of the way. She set the switch on the baton to ten. Maximum charge. The voice had told her to use that level. It would kill, she'd been told. She looked up at the woman. She was staring at the baton.
Shego watched the girl pull a baton out of the kit she carried around her waist. Watched as she set the charge level on it. This, Shego knew, was going to hurt. Even from this distance she could tell the charge had been set to max. It would kill someone. She wondered if the girl knew that. Then she saw the girl was crying. Yeah. She knew.
The girl felt the affects of the red pill wearing off. She had no time to lose. She looked at the woman and wondered if she knew what was going to happen. From the way she looked at the baton she thought she did. Yet she still didn't move out of the way. Still didn't run. Why? She drove herself to move as fast as possible. Fire came at her and she dodged. Then she was in close and the baton crashed against the woman's head. In the split second before it hit she felt her fingers, of their own will, moved the switch down twice, setting the device to eight. Nonlethal. In her mind she saw the unmoving animals the voice had finished playing with. The ones that were dead. She thought maybe the woman liked moving too.
Shego watched the girl's charge. She threw out all the plasma she could, still keeping its intensity low. Then the girl was in close and she felt the blow land. The impact of the blow along with the electric charge dropped her to her knees. Then she fell over, stunned.
The girl looked at the woman. She was still. Unmoving. But her eyes were open and the girl could tell she was alive. She want to say sorry but there was no time. And the voice wouldn't allow it. She wiped the tears from her eyes as she turned to the doors. Several kicks broke the lock and she was inside. She grabbed two of the machines. She switched them on for a second, just long enough to see the readout and make sure they were working. Then she slipped them into the two bags she'd brought with her. She'd heard the voice talking about the bags with the other voices. She wondered why the bags had a lead coating and just what that meant. There had been some talk about a tracking device. She didn't know what that meant either.
The whole process took less than twenty seconds. Then she was outside running. The woman on the ground was moving. Still stunned but alive. That made the girl feel good. She'd got what the voice had asked for and the woman was still alive. She had made it to the safety of the shadows when the pain struck and she fell to the ground. She gasped for breath and struggled to reach the container around her neck. She took three of the white pills. She forced herself to her feet and kept moving. A second red pill would have killed her for sure. She was glad she hadn't had to take one. But then, everything the voice played with died eventually. She would be no different.
Shego struggled to her knees and then fell back on the ground. She'd seen the girl's eyes as she swung the baton. That last second decision. The girl was no killer. Not that such a blow would have killed her. But she would have been stunned for longer. And with repeated blows rendered unconscious. Then the Buffoon was there. She waved, pointing in the direction the girl had took. He gave her one last glance and then vanished back into his own hovercraft. She forced herself to stand and called her own hovercraft to her. She staggered inside. She needed a minute to regain her full senses before she too gave chase.
The Chase,...
The buzzing sound brought Ron out of his deep sleep. He and Kim had been up late keeping an eye on the warehouse. He had only just managed to get to sleep. He blinked his eyes and wondered what the sound was. It wasn't coming from the phone downstairs, and it wasn't the Kimmunicator. He came fully awake as he realized it was the phone Shego had given him. He flipped it open and read the text message, 'girl is here.'
He leapt out of bed grabbing for the Kimmunicator. Wade appeared immediately. "Get Kim to the warehouse now." Ron ordered
Wade started typing. Obeying orders even as he asked. "Why?"
"The girl is there." Ron told him. He hoped Wade wasn't video taping their conversation. He had been sleeping in the buff since even his boxers hurt. Sometimes being a guy was a pain. Literally. He pulled on his clothes as fast as he could.
"How do you know?" Wade asked. "Wish that place had a security system I could have kept an eye on." He added.
"I left someone to keep watch on the place." Ron told him.
"Who?"
"Never mind that. Get Kim there. That girl is fast. They will need her help to catch her."
"What about you?"
"I got my own ride. Besides can't afford to waste the time having a ride pick me up."
"I'm on it. " Wade told him.
Ron signed off and stumbled down the stairs. He'd left his own hovercraft in the backyard, cloaked. He pressed the key that came with it and it uncloaked. He rushed aboard as fast as his condition allowed. Soon he lifted in the air and headed for the warehouse. He wondered how Shego was doing. The girl had more speed than Kim. But Shego was tougher. She would be able to hold out until he got there. Not that he would be of much help. Kim was the one who was needed. And the girl. If he was right about those pills... He gulped. He hoped she didn't die. If she did he would kill the woman himself. She had caused enough misery.
The trip to the warehouse only took a few minutes. He was surprised to see Shego on the ground. He was out of the hovercraft and trying to run to her when she waved her hand pointing. He got the message. Seconds later he was back in the air scanning for heat signatures.
He moved slowly. At maybe twice the speed Kim could run. He kept his eyes on the scanners. Especially the infrared one. He set it to show someone the size of the twelve year old girl in a different color. There were a lot of people, and animals, within scanning range. He kept heading in the direction Shego had pointed. After a minute he began to lose hope. If the girl had been picked up by a nearby vehicle she would be lost in all the heat sources the scanner was picking up. And if she was in a building they wouldn't be able to distinguish her from any other kid who was at home.
He kept moving. And got lucky. He spotted a heat source that was the right size, was still outside, and was moving fast. At a slow run. He was over it within five seconds. It was the girl. She was jogging, maintaining a steady pace.
"Buffoon. Spot her yet?" It was Shego on the radio.
"Yeah. I'm right above her. Can't pick up anything from those tracking devices though."
"Did you expect to?" Shego asked.
"Not really." He admitted. Anyone capable of rewriting someone's DNA would be smart enough to know about tracking devices. In finding the woman they'd had only two hopes. To capture the girl and get her to tell them. Or to follow her if she managed to escape. They'd hoped to get a tracking device on her during the fight, but this would do.
"She's got good endurance." Shego's voice came over the radio again.
"So it seems. You okay?" He asked.
"Yeah. She used a baton. One with an electric charge. It just stunned me for a few minutes."
Ron thought for a few seconds. "Know what the setting was?"
"Don't worry Buffoon. It wasn't set to kill. I think she was ordered to though. But she's no killer and couldn't go through with it."
Ron breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm glad to hear that." He admitted.
Then they ran into a problem. They left the rather open area the warehouse had been in and entered a residential district. There the girl began to use alleyways. When she did they lost visual sight of her and, at times, even the infrared scanners were baffled. Many of the buildings had children in them. Some who were, at this hour, rushing around to get ready for school. Plus in a few cases the scanners couldn't even penetrate the buildings to detect the girl.
It became a game where they would dart around the buildings and try to guess where she would come out. Most times they guessed right. She was maintaining a pretty straight line. Other times they guessed wrong. Once they lost track of her for over two minutes. Ron plotted a line in the direction she had been heading. Then he and Shego got in front of where she should be. They picked an open area. He was relieved when she appeared, still maintaining her pace, a minute later. She was barely within range of Shego's sensors. If he had been alone he would have lost her.
They were both relieved when she left the built up section of the residential area and entered a more open section. Shego flew over her and took a closer look. The girl had taken off her hood and seemed like nothing more than a young jogger out for a morning run.
"Ron?" Shego's voice came over the radio.
"I know Shego. She looks like Kim."
"A clone?"
"Yeah. At least we think so."
"Great first I had Princess beating up on me and now I got her clone beating up on me." Shego muttered. "Is she a real human or something like Drakken would cook up?"
"She's as human as you and I are." Ron told her.
"So no hurting her." Shego repeated the order Ron had given when they'd formed a contract. It wasn't really a question. She now understood why he had been so insistent on that clause.
"Definitely not. She's just a kid. Around twelve."
"She grew up under that woman's care?"
"We think so." Ron answered.
"Poor kid." Shego watched the figure jogging beneath her.
She maintained the pace for a long time. It was six kilometers before she slowed. She paused and looked off into the distance.
"Wherever she's going, she doesn't want to go there." Shego commented.
"Yeah." Came the reply. Ron zoomed in on the girl's face the same as Shego had done. He could see where she'd been crying. She looked ... broken. That was the word that came to mind.
The girl resumed jogging at a slower pace. Soon she entered what seemed to be an industrial area. She entered one of the buildings.
Ron took position at one corner of the building, Shego took another. From those two view points they could see all entrances. Their scanners showed the girl inside along with one other person.
The Kimmunicator had long ago let out its three usual beeps and a light had lit up indicating a call trying to come through. Ron had ignored it, focusing on not losing the girl. Now he picked it up and hoped he hadn't worried Kim too much.
"Ron? Where are you?" Wade immediately asked. He'd tried the tracking chip and then tried to locate the Kimmunicator. Both attempts had failed.
Ron flipped a button on the hovercraft's dashboard. Normally the hovercraft would try and prevent all tracking attempts. "Try and locate me now." He told the genius.
Wade's fingers flew over the keyboard in front of him. "Found you." He said.
"The girl is in a nearby building along with, I think, one other person."
"You managed to track her? That's a relief. I will get Kim over there right away. She's freaking out Ron. When I couldn't find you she started searching around the area."
"Let her know I'm okay. Is Global Justice getting in on the action?"
"Yeah. They're forming a team. Seems they've been trying to find that woman for over ten years."
"Put me through on a private channel to Dr. Betty Director."
"Okay. Give me a second."
The screen flickered and he was looking at Dr. Betty Director. Head of Global Justice. "Hello Ron. What can I do for you?"
Ron looked at the woman. She looked busy. "You know the person Wade has been trying to locate?" He asked.
"We know of her. Ten years ago she did some human experiments that we became aware of. Thanks to the information Wade provided we've now learned just how she's moving around and have tracked her steps back to twenty years."
"How many lives has she been responsible for?"
"Over twenty children that we know of so far. Make that closer to sixty if you include the fetuses she's experimented on. Why?"
"I have a favor to ask."
"Oh?" Dr. Betty Director sounded curious.
"You want that woman? Right? It tops capturing someone like Shego who has yet to kill anyone? Or even seriously hurt someone?"
"Shego is involved in this?"
"She's the source where Wade got some of his information on that woman. Without Shego you would still be looking for her."
"What do you want?"
"While this situation is going on for Global Justice to lay off Shego. She will be here and we owe her for helping us find the woman."
Dr. Betty Director seemed to think for a bit. "Agreed. But only for this situation."
Ron nodded. "Just for this situation." He agreed.
"I better get back to forming that team. I assume you and Kim, along with Shego, will be entering the building before we get there?"
"That's up to Kim."
"Okay. I'll get back to Wade then." She disappeared from the screen.
"You hear that Shego?" Ron asked.
"Yeah. Thanks. I would still have stuck around but at least now I won't have to burst out of prison again."
Kim and Shego, Allies?,...
Ron stepped out of the hovercraft and set it to hover around twenty feet above the ground. He saw a car approach and Kim came flying out of it. Her arms closed around him.
"Ron." She cried and then she stood back to look him over for injuries. "You're okay?" She asked.
"I'm fine, KP." He smiled at her. He groaned at he tried to move. "Well except for you know what. That still hurts. I won't be doing much fighting this time around."
"That's okay."
"No it isn't. She would have beat you last time and probably will this time."
"Not much we can do about that." She told him. She couldn't even try the glue trick again. The tube was empty and there was no more. It had been experimental.
"Well. I sort of went and hired some muscle for the job." He took a deep breath.
"Muscle?" Kim asked. Looking around.
"Morning Princess." Came a voice from above.
Kim looked up. She blinked. Shego was there looking out through the door of a hovercraft. She looked at Ron. "Don't tell me..."
"She's the best person for the job KP." He explain.
"But..." Kim sighed. Who was she to complain. That was her sister in there. Any deal, even one with a devil, to make sure she was safe. She trusted Ron. If he claimed Shego was the best for the job then so be it. "Just how did you go about hiring her?" She asked. The reluctance in her voice was obvious.
"She has a private matter to settle with that woman too."
"How much did you tell her about my situation?" Kim looked up again knowing Shego could hear them.
"Nothing. She knows the girl doing the stealing is a clone of you though."
"So she doesn't know about the ..." Kim thought about her messed up DNA.
"No." Ron guessed what she was thinking.
"Or about ..." She thought about her conquests.
"Just the one." Ron admitted. He recalled he'd told Shego about Josh back during the William Johnson situation.
Kim's eyebrows rose. Her face went red.
Ron gulped. "Sorry."
Shego looked at the dashboard. The figures inside where moving around. "Hate to break this up." She told the two. "But it seems like they're getting ready to move out."
"How do you know?" Kim asked.
"Infrared scanners." Shego kept looking at the scanner.
"I wanted to wait until Global Justice got here." Kim sighed.
"Since when do you wait for Global Justice?" Shego asked.
"This is way too important to mess up." She replied. "No hurting the kid." She added.
"Not my style Princess."
"I can guess how the woman is going to react." Ron told them. "She's going to tell the kid to handle us and then take off. And with the kid's speed she has a good chance of succeeding."
"So how would you handle it?" Shego asked.
"Kim and I will go in. The woman will tell the girl to stop us. Meanwhile Shego will wait outside for the woman and grab her as she leaves." He looked up at Shego. "Be sure to get inside as quick as possible after you stop her. Kim will need your help. Hit the girl with plasma if you need to."
"Ron..." Kim started to disagree.
"Kim. Those pills the girl is taking is probably killing her. I want her stopped as fast as possible and in a hospital where she can be looked after."
"And for that plasma might be best. It will keep her from taking more if Shego hits her with it." Kim reluctantly agreed.
Ron nodded. "Sorry KP."
"I just want her to be okay." Kim looked at the door they were near as though she could see her sister through it.
"Better hurry." Shego told them. Looking at the sensors.
The Battle,...
Ron looked at the door. They could have Shego burn through it but then they would know she was outside waiting. Best to just pick the lock. He knelt down, slowly, trying to avoid the pain, and went to work. It was a simple lock and it opened in less than fifteen seconds. He stood up. He opened the door and he and Kim entered.
The girl was busy loading a truck while the woman was sitting down eating.
The woman looked up. She looked surprised. "Kill them." She ordered.
The girl dropped what she was carry and it smashed on the floor.
The woman screamed. "Careful with that."
The girl wondered how they had found them. She hadn't seen anyone following her. There had been a lot of warnings about that. She knew she would be punished later. And she was going to have to kill. She felt something inside her break. She didn't want to kill. She pulled out a pill and took it. She rushed the redhead, launching a punch. It hit but the redhead didn't seem to feel it as much as she had before. The pill hadn't kicked in yet and she wasn't wearing her gloves. She danced backwards but the redhead followed her.
Kim absorbed the girl's first punch and rushed her as she tried to back away. She launched her own punch and it landed. The girl make a small cry and Kim flinched. She didn't let up on her attack. She wanted to try and stop her before that pill took affect. She launched another punch which the girl avoided. Then the girl seemed to be moving faster. Kim tried to grab her but she danced out of the way. A return punch made her winch in return.
Ron watched the woman run for the truck. She was inside and moving before Ron could make it halfway across the floor. He was forced to dive to one side. The tracking device her threw at it missed. The pain had messed up his aim. He hoped Shego was ready.
Shego waited. She heard a truck coming and lit up her hands. It appeared. moving fast. She tossed plasma at it and it started to slow. She threw more plasma and the door of the truck vanished. She was beside the woman in a second, pulling her out. She lit her hands again and threw plasma down at her. The woman screamed. Shego threw more and the woman went unconscious.
Shego looked down at the woman. She had changed over the years but it was her. She saw something in the woman's hand. She picked it up. It was a complicated transmitter/receiver. Whatever it was it was important. The woman had been reaching for it when Shego had pulled her from the truck. On it, one button, with a plastic cover, was marked the word terminate. Shego shuddered. She had a feeling what the device was for. The woman was going to call for help. That help was the girl inside. And the terminate button meant just that. It was something to terminate the girl should the need ever arise. Shego looked down and poured more plasma into the woman. She grabbed the woman and marched into the building.
Kim was in trouble. The girl was faster. And she was no longer aiming where the battle suit protected her. She was aiming for Kim's throat and head. Kim was barely managing to block the blows. She was throwing a few punches of her own but not as many. And none were landing. She was actually glad when Shego came in.
Shego took a survey of the situation and immediately tried throwing plasma at the girl who was forced to stop her attack to dodge out of the way. Some of the plasma came close to Kim.
"At her. Not me." Kim screamed.
"Sorry Princess. Guess it's a habit by now."
She had been winning. She just couldn't bring herself to kill. The voice would kill her for that. Maybe if she just beat up the redhead it would satisfy the voice. Then the woman with the black hair was there and she was throwing fire again. That was bad. She would have to take another pill. Two pills hurt more than one. And it could kill her. She didn't want to die. And the two were talking. She wished she could too. No time even if the voice allowed it. She looked at the door. The voice was unconscious. She would be angry when she came too. She had failed to protect her. She would be punished for that. She wept.
She rushed at the redhead again. This time she turned to keep her between the fire throwing woman with the black hair and herself. She threw punch after punch, forcing the woman to go on the defensive. Finally after several attacks she got in a clear hit. The redhead went down. She turned on the black haired woman but was forced to dance out of the way of the fire again.
"Damn. Princess didn't last long." Shego muttered. She kept up the barrage of plasma, forcing the girl to back away but not hitting her.
The girl wondered if that was the name of the redhead she had just knocked out. Princess. A plan came to her. If she could knock out the other woman and save the voice maybe she would be happy. Maybe the voice would not tell her to kill any more. She leapt in close and kicked. The black haired woman stumbled back but remained on her feet. Plasma followed her as she leapt away again. Some of it came close enough to tingle. She wondered why it tingled instead of burning.
Ron watched, knowing he had vanished from the attention of the two fighters. He looked at Kim and hoped she was okay. The girl was so fast. Shego wasn't going to hit her with plasma. Not unless the pill wore off and then the girl would just take another. And then perhaps another. Something inside him told him that would be the death of the girl. And perhaps of Kim. She wouldn't be able to face the fact she hadn't saved her sister.
He didn't have the speed or the strength to face the girl. However... He watched the fight a few seconds more. Then, unnoticed, he dropped down behind the desk the woman had been sitting at, eating, when they had first arrived.
Shego wondered how long she could keep up the plasma. It wasn't as though the supply was unlimited. The girl was jumping in to launch a kick and then jumping back. It was hurting, but it wasn't anything major. She saw the girl reach up to take another pill. The Buffoon had warned her those pills might be hurting the girl. Shego upped the plasma level and the girl was forced to jump backwards. "Don't. They're hurting you. So why take any more?" She asked.
The girl wondered why the black haired woman cared if the pills hurt her. That was strange. The voice never cared. Still she needed the pill if she was to win the fight. Dodging the massive increase in plasma had made her drop the one she had already taken out. She reached in for another.
Ron silently cursed. He had had a plan. The girl was moving all over the place trying to use her speed to overwhelm Shego. He had planned to make a trap. A simple loop from the computer equipment on the desk with one end tied to the desk. When the girl came near he would have simply used the loop to snare her for a few seconds. Long enough for Shego to finish the job. But he hadn't been given time and from Shego's words he knew the girl was going to take another pill. It would have worked. The girl had lost track of him. She wouldn't have seen the trap until it was too late. Her attention was fully on Shego.
He had no time to think. No time to prepare. She was too strong for him to hold on to. If he tried she would just twist away from him. He searched his mind for a solution and it came up with one. A simple one. He reach out from under the desk, grabbed the girl's pants, and pulled.
The girl had the pill ready. She was watching the fire throwing woman closely, knowing she would try to stop her. That she had to jump and take the pill at the same time. Then she felt something tugging at her leg. She jumped. Or tried to. She went rolling across the floor, tangled in her pants. She wondered how they had fallen down. The pill was still in her hand. She tried to take it and roll at the same time. The fire hit her.
Shego was preparing to try and stop the girl from taking the pill when she saw the her try to jump and fail. She went rolling on the ground, her pants around her knees. Shego fired. The plasma connected and the girl went still. She wondered how the girl's pants had fallen down. It was the sort of thing that happened to the Buffoon.
"Tie her up." Ron crawled out from under the desk.
"You depants her?" Shego asked.
"It worked didn't it? And she deserved it for the kick she gave me." Ron muttered the last part.
"Kick? So that's what's causing you so much pain." Shego tried not to laugh.
Ron sighed. "Just make sure she won't get loose like Kim and I do all the time okay?"
Shego went to tie the girl up. Ron went to check on Kim.
A moan came from the doorway. "Blast her again." Ron ordered.
Shego gladly did so. She fired three more bursts of plasma just for the fun of it. Then she tied up the girl, taking great care not to hurt her. The girl already looked broken.
Ron checked Kim's pulse. It seemed normal. From the bruises on her face it seemed she had taken quite a beating. But nothing too serious. Mrs. Dr. P would probably keep her in the hospital for a few days though. He would have done the same if it had been his choice. Perhaps for even longer than Mrs. Dr. P would.
"Look at this." Shego was holding out the object she'd took from the woman. She explained her thoughts on it.
"Damn." Ron cursed. He pulled out the Kimmunicator. "Get them in your hovercraft Shego."
"Did you get her?" Wade was asking immediately.
"Yes." Ron replied. "But right now Wade I want you to call Dr. Betty Director and have her prepare an operating room in their Middleton base. Have them bring Mrs. Dr. P there. Make sure the room is secured from outside transmissions."
"Is Kim..."
"No. But the girl probably has a device implanted that someone could detonate remotely. I want it out now. I'm guessing it's in her head and Mrs. Dr. P is the best surgeon in the world for that."
Wade gulped and nodded. "On it." He started typing.
"We will also need a bed there for Kim. She got knocked out and I'm betting Mrs. Dr. P will recommend bed rest."
Wade nodded again and kept typing.
"We're coming in one of Drakken's hovercrafts. Make sure we don't get shot down."
Wade nodded once more and kept typing. Ron close the Kimmunicator.
Shego had called the hovercraft to the door. She grabbed Kim by one hand and the woman by the other. She pulled them both along the ground to the hovercraft. She figured Kim's suit would keep her from getting hurt. As for the woman. Well... Shego hoped she did get hurt.
Ron stood up and grabbed the girl. It hurt like nothing he had ever felt before to carry her but he wanted her in that operating room now. And that device out.
Shego saw the Buffoon was bringing the girl and took the pilot's seat. Soon as the door was closed she cloaked the craft and took off.
Ron studied the container the girl had around her neck. It contained two sections. One with red pills, the other with white.. Each had simple instructions. The red side said 'take 1 before fight' while the white said 'take 1 to 3 after fight.'
The girl woke up during the trip. She said nothing but she was gasping and seemed to be in a lot of pain. On instinct Ron put three of the white pills in her mouth. The girl swallowed and she stopped gasping. A few minutes later the she started struggling and Shego was forced to use plasma again. She nearly cried as she did so. But it wouldn't do to let the Buffoon see that.
The Girl,...
The operation took eight hours. There had been several devices implanted in the girl. A device connected to her right ear. A receiver/transmitter so she could hear commands transmitted to her. And so someone could hear everything she heard. The girl would have had no privacy. A device connected to her vocal cords. The girl would not have had to speak out loud for the woman to hear her. A third major device was implanted in her brain. That was the one that took the longest to remove. It was designed to kill should the right signal be received. There were others but they seemed to do nothing more than monitor the girl's vitals. Whatever they were, at the end of the operation, Mrs. Dr. P and a skilled team of surgeons had removed them all. They even used ultrasound to scan the girl incase there were devices designed to escape x-rays.
Kim came around soon after they got to the base. She sat outside the operating room where her sister was and waited. Shego sat across from her and Ron sat beside her. She thought about Shego who she saw as her arch-foe. They would fight again, but Kim would never hate her again. How could she hate someone who had helped save her sister. The very concept was ludicrous. She looked up as her mother came out of the operating room.
When her mother explained all the devices she had taken from the girl the rage inside her grew. '"When can I see her?" She asked. A few seconds later she was inside the room, waiting for her sister to wake up.
Mrs. Dr. P observed Kim as her she watched the girl. The girl who was in a way, just like Kim, her daughter. Ron was sitting beside her. "We removed all the device." She told them. The two of them looked at her.
"We did a very thorough physical in the process." She paused wondering how to explain. "Her body's been pushed to its limit a number of times. Her heart contains scar tissue. There's signs that her arteries and veins have had problems in the past. Given enough time she should be okay. Her body, like yours Kim, is pretty good at healing."
"But her heart?" Kim asked.
"It will be okay. I think." She looked at the girl. "But she will have lost a year. Maybe two. She will be around twenty-eight or twenty-nine before her body starts to break down. Not thirty."
Kim looked at her sister. A year, maybe two, had been taken from her already short life. "I wish Shego had killed that woman." She said.
"There's more than just her out there. She's needed alive to track the others in her organization." Ron said.
Kim muttered.
"We got a lead now." A voice came from the doorway. "This is the end for them. That woman will lead to others and those others will lead to the rest. Global Justice will round them up."
They all turned to see Dr. Betty Director walk into the room.
"Why do you think we got so little manpower to deal with villains?" She asked. "It's because there are groups of people like her out there. We spend over thirty percent of our manpower tracking them down. When you add in the forty percent for settling regional disputes..." She shrugged. "Add in a few other things and we only got one percent of our manpower to handle people like Shego and Drakken."
"Just one?" Kim asked. She sounded shock.
Dr. Betty Director nodded. "We need surgeons for when our agents get hurt, prison guards, mechanics, scientists, even janitors,..." She shrugged. "The list goes on and on. People like Shego and Drakken might threaten to take over the world but they draw attention to themselves. That makes finding them easy. So we don't put much effort in it. We wait and when they make themselves known we go in after them. At least that's what we do with the ones who don't kill people."
"Oh." Kim saw the point. She looked down at her sister. She was strapped to the bed. There was no way of knowing how she would react when she woke up. Given her strength and speed she could be dangerous..
"I will update you on any progress." Dr. Betty Director promised. She left them to watch over the girl.
The girl became aware. Slowly struggling up from the drugs that had kept her under during the operation. She felt weird. The pressure she usually felt on her throat was gone. The steady sound of static in her ear wasn't there anymore. And even the tingling sensation from the device in her brain was absent. The voice had told her about the one in her brain. It was made to send out a small electrical charge, to make it tingle, so she would always know it was there. She couldn't feel it any more.
She opened her eyes and saw the redheaded woman peering down at her. The blond haired boy was beside her. He was the one who had given her the white pills when they were flying. At least she thought they had been flying. There was another older woman who looked liked the redheaded woman. Her hair was red too. She was confused. How could she think of the redheaded woman as the redheaded woman if there were two of them. She thought for a few moments and the solution came to her. The black haired woman had called the younger redheaded woman Princess. That must be her name. So she could think of her as Princess and the older one as the older woman. That made sense. Or she thought it did anyway.
She tried to move. She was tied down. That made sense too. She'd tried to kill them. Sort of.
"How are you feeling?" This came from the woman she called Princess. She was holding her hand. It was strange. But nice. At least she thought it was nice. She'd heard the word before but never really knew what it meant.
"Are you in any pain?" This came from the older woman.
She wondered if she should answer. But the voice had told her to never speak. She only had to subvocalize and the voice could hear her. She had never needed to speak. She didn't know what to do. She was confused. She couldn't feel the voice anymore. But what if it came back? She decided to remain quiet.
Ron watched the two talk to the girl. Asking question after question. She didn't respond and from the looks of it she was just getting more and more confused. He took it as a good sign she wasn't struggling though. Finally he spoke. "You're not getting anywhere." He pointed out. They turned to look at him. "Bring in the devices you took out of her." He asked Mrs. Dr. P.
Ron sat down beside the girl. He pointed to each device and told Mrs. Dr. P to give a brief explanation of what each one did.
The girl watched, and listened. When the boy pointed to the one that had been in her brain and the older woman explained what it was she felt strange again. She didn't know what to call the sensation. She thought it might be happy. But she wasn't sure. It was sort of like feeling good. Like when she was hungry and she got fed. That was good. She felt good now. The voice couldn't just kill her anymore. Not with just pressing the button at least.
Kim started to speak again but Ron motioned for her to be quiet. He wondered what to do next. "You got any questions?" He asked the girl. She didn't respond. He shrugged and smiled at her.
The girl thought maybe the others had been getting angry at her like the voice did when she didn't obey. Their voices had been so loud. And she hadn't been obeying them. But the boy had just shrugged and smiled. He wasn't angry. She wondered why her heart was beating faster. She focused her attention on the boy. He seemed to be thinking.
"I know it's pointless to ask if you're hungry." He told her. "You won't answer. But given how long it's been since you ate I'm pretty sure you are."
The girl was hungry. More than hungry. She hadn't been fed this morning. It was punishment for not getting the device the voice had wanted last night. Or maybe that had been yesterday morning. She wasn't sure how much time had passed."
Ron asked Mrs. Dr. P to bring in something the girl could eat. Meanwhile he took a bar out of the mission kit he and Kim carried. It always had bars for an energy boost when needed. He broke it into squares and held one of the pieces to the girl's mouth. She studied it for a few seconds and then she opened her mouth. He put it in and her eyes went wide.
The girl studied what he was holding out. From his words she figured it was food. But she had never seen food like it before. She thought for a second and decided to trust him. She opened her mouth. She went to swallow it quickly but stopped. It was melting in her mouth. It was good. She had never tasted anything like it before. All too soon it was gone. But the boy was holding out another piece. She opened her mouth again.
The hospital food arrived. Ron looked at it. "Not too bad for hospital food." He finally said. "But once you get out of here we will find out what you really like and I will cook it for you." He held out a forkful of mashed potatoes to the girl.
The girl opened her mouth and took the offered food. She wondered what he meant when he said it wasn't too bad. Other than the bar he had just given her it was better than anything she had ever had before. And what did he mean by cook for her? She wondered what she really liked. Bars? Maybe he would cook a bar for her. It had been good. Much better than the cans of food the voice gave her. The ones with the pictures of dogs on them.
Ron fed the girl and she unhesitatingly opened her mouth for each bite. He gave her drinks of juice and water using a straw. He had to explain the straw to her.
The food was good. She felt good now. She had been so hungry. She looked at the boy wondering what he would do next. She wished she could move her arms.
"I'm guessing that woman told you not to speak." Ron told the girl. "Did she say you couldn't shake or nod your head?"
The girl thought for a long time. She wonder if by woman he meant the voice. She thought he did. She had only been told not to speak. Nothing had been said about moving her head. Finally she shook her head. The boy smiled at her. She felt warm inside. She wondered why.
'"Are you in any pain?" The boy asked.
The girl remained quiet.
"You don't need to speak." He reminded her. "Just nod your head if you are. Or shake it for no."
The girl thought on it again. In a way this seemed a lot like speaking. But she decided to risk it. She shook her head. The boy smiled again. She decided she would nod or shake her head to his questions again.
"Did you have enough to eat?"
The girl was confused. Enough? The voice decided when enough was enough. Not her. She didn't know how to answer.
"The question confuses you?"
She nodded her head. It did. She was glad the boy understood.
Kim sat and watched. She wanted to rush over and hug her sister. To speak to her. But Ron was better at this than she was. She would, she knew, just get in the way.
"Do you know what a sister is?" Ron asked.
The girl thought on it for a long time. She thought she did. The voice had taught her to read. It had been, the voice claimed, to measure her intelligence. Some of the books on biology had explained siblings. She nodded. The boy turned and pointed at the woman she called Princess.
"She's your sister." Ron told the girl.
The girl looked over at Princess. She was smiling. She wondered why the woman was so happy? She vaguely recalled that sister meant more than what the biology books had explained siblings to be. Thought she wasn't sure on the difference. She looked back to the boy.
"What a sister is confuses you?"
The girl nodded.
"Oh well. We will talk about it later." He smiled again.
The girl thought her face felt strange. She wish she could reach up and touch it. It didn't hurt. It just felt weird.
Ron looked down at the girl. She had, briefly, smiled back at him. He reached down and stroked her hair.
She settled down on the bed. It was so comfortable. She had never felt anything like this. The voice only allowed her a blanket to sleep on. Never a pillow. She flexed her arms. They were still tied down.
"The woman can't speak to you any more. She can't hear you. You don't have to listen to her orders any more." Ron pointed at the devices.
The girl thought by woman he meant the voice again. She had been wondering about that. With the devices gone could the voice hear her? Could she kill her? She thought not. But she also thought it was better safe than sorry. That was an expression the voice had used a lot. She had learned it well. It was better to be safe and not anger the voice. At least until she was sure.
Ron studied the girl in detail. If we were to release your arms would you attack us?" He asked.
She thought about it. The voice had told her to kill them. But the voice might now be gone. She wasn't sure what to do. Should she attack them and try to rescue the voice. She didn't want to do that. She hated the voice. But the voice might hurt her if she didn't. She wondered if she should lie. Tell the boy no. But he was studying her closely. She didn't think a lie would get past him.
"You're not sure what you would do." Ron asked.
The girl nodded. That was true. She rarely had to decide things. The voice had done that for her.
"How about we add a new gesture? A shrug for when you don't know how to answer." He smiled down at her.
The girl nodded. She could do that.
"You've been through a lot today. Are you tired."
The girl nodded. she was.
"Do you want us to leave you alone to sleep."
The girl thought about it. What if the boy didn't come back. She liked talking to him. At least she thought she did. She thought this was like. Like was something like good. Something she only had the barest understanding of. She sighed. She didn't know how to answer. So she shrugged.
"Okay. We'll talk some more."
The girl decided that was good. She wondered what they would talk about. She had waited so long to talk. She decided she was happy.
Her Name,... Lilith
It would be five days before she spoke. Her name was Lilith.
End of Chapter.
One might ask why the girl wasn't just trying to kill whoever was guarding the equipment in the first place. Murder would stick out more than simple stealing would. It would draw more attention. The woman didn't mind killing. But she wanted as little attention as possible.
One chapter left. Kim and Ron. What will they decide on?