Chapter 19: Search and Rescue

Shego searched for no more than an hour through the massive camp, when she found the tent she had been looking for. Two guards stood watch outside, Shego had done well to stay hidden amongst the tents and shadows. But now it seemed her luck was about to run out. As she was about to make her rescue she saw a hooded figure make their way into the tent. She grimaced and shrank back to the side of the tent. She crouched down and cut a hole in the canvas to see what would happen next.

She could see Kim tied to a post in the center of the tent, she looked in bad shape. Blood dripped down to the dirt from versus wounds. To make matters worse, the queen was nowhere in sight. The figure pulled back their hood kneeled down to her eye level. Shego nearly growled in anger when she saw the figure was Bana, staring happily at Kim while she pulled her slumped head back and pushed it against the post.

"I have to say I missed you General." Bana said with a wicked smile. "I didn't want you to miss this." Before letting Kim's head fall she took the time to spit in her face. Shego made a mental note as she struggled to sit still. Kim gave no reaction to the insult and instead let her head droop for a moment before lifting it to face her new enemy. Shego could see the cuts and bruises on Kim's face, as she addressed her.

"I have to say Bana; I'm surprised you could do such a thing to your own country. But I'm even more surprised you forgot one important thing."

Bana scowled at her for a moment. "And what is that?"

Kim spit a mouth full of blood onto the dirt under her. "You've managed to piss off the entire Amazon nation. What makes you think they won't come to get their queen back?"

Bana gave a long hard laugh before balling her hand into a tight fist and striking Kim across the cheek. "You should worry more about yourself than the queen. We need her for negotiation. You, however, are expendable." She lifted Kim's head to look her in the eyes. "No one is coming to save you. I've killed your precious Shego."

Kim seemed to crumble inward with shock. Bana smiled and climbed to her feet, satisfied with her work. She turned on as heel and exited the tent.

Shego took this time to stand and move along the side of the tent. Watching as Bana ordered the two men standing guard not to let anyone in or out of the tent and stormed off, she took a deep breath before she leapt out and took hold of the nearest guard. She made quick work of breaking his neck and jumping to the next guard. She wrapped an arm around his neck and pinned his arms to his sides with the other. She let him drop to his knees fighting for air before she was sure his heart had stopped and he was through struggling. She dragged the lifeless men out of sight and returned to the tent. Everything seemed to be quiet inside; she slipped into the tent and rushed to Kim's aid.

She fell to her knees and lifted Kim's head to examine her. "Kimmie can you hear me?" She asked lifting her eye lids to check her eyes. The olive green of her eyes were now surrounded by blood. Her hair was now a deep crimson and her lip was split from the final blow. She stared blankly up at Shego who was now cutting the ropes that bond her to the pole. "Okay Kimmie you gotta focus."

Kim slumped over and onto Shego's shoulder. She wasn't going to get much out of Kim now. Shego pulled Kim onto her back and slipped out of the tent. She hid Kim under a near by cart and covered her with a fur. She broke the wheel of the cart to be sure no one would move it and began her search for the queen. It seemed pointless to search blindly around the massive enemy camp but that's what she had resorted to. She darted between shadows following Bana's path in hopes she could find the queen but lost her trial in a sea of footprints. She took a moment to think of her next move when she heard a faint voice a few yards away. She moved closer pressing herself to the shadows as she peered into the opening of a tent.

She tried hard to hold her composure when she saw the queen sitting at the feet of a large man; insult was added to injury when she noticed the queen was chained to the man's thrown. He leaned over and grinned down at her. The queen turned away in disgust.

"You may be all fight now, but my father always said you amazons we're like lambs once a real man broke you." He continued to smile at her before letting out a heavy laugh. Shego slipped deeper into the shadows she heard the faint sound of someone approaching.

She leashed her anger when she saw Bana enter the tent. "Well Dion, I have given you what you wanted. Now if you will give me what we bargained for I will be on my way."

The man raised his head to glare at Bana for a moment. The queen looked at Bana with betrayal and haltered but said nothing. "Our deal is not complete. You promised me the nation, this is only the queen. Until I have the nation in my hands our deal is still incomplete. Now leave me." He said dismissively. Bana hesitated. "Leave me!" He barked. Bana huffed and turned on a heel storming out of the tent. Shego watch her storm off into the dark and turned her attention back to Dion and the queen.

"Seems your captain is becoming impatient. Tell me, how does it feel to be betrayed by your own?"

The queen shook her head and glared up at Dion. Her stare was so cold it seemed to deaden Dion's grin. "The penalty for tension in the nation is worse than death. As of now, she is not one of my own. And you will pay dearly for this." With that she turned away. Without warning Dion stood and grabbed the queen. He lifted her to his eye level.

"I will not have any woman disrespect me in such a way." He hissed. Shego quickly looked around her to see if there was anything to help make a distraction. She sent a plasma blast hurling toward a nearby cart. A massive fire broke out and spread quickly, men rushed out to fight the fire. Dion raced out of his tent to find the source of the chaos. Shego slipped in behind him, the queen sat in the dirt with a dazed look in her eyes.

"I thought you were…" She began.

Shego cut her off. "Yeah this ring does more than I thought. But there's no time for that. It's a matter of time before they notice you're gone." Shego broke the shackles. "Can you run?" The queen nodded and Shego led her out of the tent. The fire had spread quickly through the camp; men threw buckets of water on the blaze. Shego led the way back to the broken cart and uncovered Kim, who made no move to stop Shego from picking her up. They ran to the edge of the camp where Shego's horse waited in the dark.

They wasted no time mounting the horse and racing away from the scene. Shego looked back to see the blaze she had stared, smoke towered high above the camp and far up into the darkened sky. She tore herself from the scene and focused on bigger plans.