Thanks everyone for reviewing, I hope you keep enjoying the story.
The people you least expect it from can turn out to be quite nice around cats.
Disclaimer: Kim Possible and related are the property of Disney which, contrary to common belief, I do not own.
Chapter 3: Cat person?
When Ron, Jim and Tim arrived at the Global Justice facility, they found it to be in a state of panic. And people didn't seem too happy to see them at the moment.
"What are you doing here?" Dr. Director asked when she passed by at a quick pace and noticed them, "And where is Kim?"
"We were hoping you would know," Ron said, "but we think KP is captured by Drakken."
"He wants to use the changeling machine on her," Jim told as if it were already a fact.
"You must keep the parts you have of it under the best security you have," Tim added.
Dr. Director's shocked look, combined with the high alert GJ seemed to be on told the twins enough, "They already got it, right?"
"Just ten minutes ago," the leader of Global Justice sighed, "Shego blasted her way through our agents and took the part."
"Did she or Drakken mention anything about Kim?" Ron asked worried.
"We have not seen Drakken, but Shego's actions did not indicate that they already caught Miss. Possible," Will Du, who had walked up to them, told.
"And where were you when it happened?" Ron frowned.
"Returning from a mission," Will looked a bit uncomfortable, "Shego ran me over when I entered the facility."
"Great," Ron muttered, "now what?"
"Let's go to Drakken's lair…" Jim offered.
"...And take the device back," Tim added, "if Kim could do it herself alone, we can do it too."
Ron was still unsure, but he had to agree that if Kim was captured, they were probably pressed for time, "Okay, let's do that. Remember though, I'm the team leader now that KP is not here."
"As if," Jim and Tim laughed as they headed towards one of the GJ crafts, Will followed close behind, ordering them to stop and to stay away from the controls.
Betty sighed, "Better go with them quickly before they leave without you, I hope you find Kim in good health."
"Me too," Ron said as he turned away and ran after Jim, Tim and Will Du, "Wait up."
Kim was very pleased with herself; she had managed to jump on a pickup truck that was headed for the mountain area while it was waiting for a red light. In the open truck bed she easily found a spot between a few crates that were strapped to the vehicle, and even though she could only look at the road behind her, she had a pretty good idea where she was.
Her good fortune lasted until she got close to the foot of the mountain, the driver apparently wasn't inclined on going up the mountain road and slowed down to make a turn towards the interstate that wasn't too far ahead.
Kim quickly jumped off the vehicle when it was going at its slowest and she watched it disappear before she headed down the small road leading up the mountain.
"If I just follow this road, I should be able to see the caves with Drakken's lair in a couple of hours… I hope," deciding not to dwell on that too much, Kim picked a pace she could keep for a long time and went further up the mountain.
"We did it Shego," Drakken gloated, "we got the changeling machine back, Kim Possible thinks she is so smart, but she's not."
"We?" Shego inquired, "I did all the work, you didn't even leave the passengers' seat of the hover car to get ready for a quick escape."
"It was my brilliant mind that worked out the plan," Drakken scowled.
"Shego! We have to get the changeling machine back, you must steal it back," Shego said with a bad imitation of Drakken's voice.
"Well… I…" Drakken growled, unable to find a retort, "Hmpf… at least I got the machine fixed, I wouldn't expect you to do such a thing anytime soon."
"Imagine why," Shego shrugged as Drakken switched on the device, it sputtered a few times and then all the lights on the display went off again.
"Great fix Dr. D," Shego smirked, "truly a real genius at work."
"Don't mock me Shego," Drakken growled as he shook the machine, "maybe there is a loose wire or something."
"Or, you know, the part you put in is broken," Shego suggested in a sarcastic voice.
"That cannot be," Drakken opened up the device again and took the internal part out and opened that as well, "Shego! There is a chip missing."
"Not only there," the green-skinned villainess muttered low enough so her employer didn't hear, "Maybe Kimmie still has it."
"Then we have to capture her," Drakken said, "and then we can use the device immediately as well."
As the blue villain got into his evil laugh, Shego sighed and turned her attention back to filing her nails.
"And what does this one do?"
Will Du glared angrily at the Possible twins as he tried to pilot the GJ jet without them pressing the buttons that would make it go crash, "That's the air conditioning control, could you please remain seated?" And here he had thought that Kim was annoying, he already regretted ever meeting her brothers.
"Duh, why does it have a subzero setting?"
Angry because he actually didn't know the answer to that, Will said nothing and just stared ahead."
"How long before we get there?" Ron asked, "KP might be in deep trouble."
"Two minutes if you want to barge in and get captured as well," the Global Justice agent said with a clearly annoyed tone, "fifteen if we want to sneak in, I suggest the latter."
Approximately sixteen minutes later:
"Breaking in through the cave system? Really?" Shego smirked as she closed the door to the cell that locked Ron, Will, Jim and Tim up, "Even after Kimmie used the exact same entrance?"
"What did you do to KP?" Ron demanded, but the green skinned woman already walked off, carrying the group's equipment; the Kimmunicator, several of Will's gadgets and the silicone phase disruptor that Jim and Tim had taken with them for some reason.
"I thought you were better than this," Jim said, but it wasn't clear whether he was talking to Will Du or to Ron.
"Yeah, you could have put up some fight," Tim added, mainly looking at Ron who, even though he lasted the longest before being captured, had not contributed much to the brief fight, mainly having spent his time running away from Shego's plasma blasts.
Will Du angrily muttered something the others couldn't make up while he carefully touched the black eye he had obtained when he had tried to take Shego head on.
Jim and Tim themselves hadn't been able to do much either though; after Will had been knocked out they had tried to confuse the villainess by running around her, but a volley of plasma had quickly stopped their tactic.
"Well, I didn't know Shego would be working on closing off the caves," Ron told, then he walked to the cell door that consisted of vertical bars, "Rufus, are you okay buddy?"
The third member of Team Possible nodded from inside the transparent ball he was put in, Rufus had been the only one who had put up a real fight and managed to bite Shego's hand. His effort had been rewarded by a mouthful of plasma and a smack against the wall. And even though he recovered quickly, Shego had already caught him and put him in his own little cell.
The molerat had tried to gnaw his way out of the ball, but his teeth couldn't penetrate the rubbery material, and since the ball hung suspended from the ceiling by a rope, he couldn't go anywhere either.
"So what do we do now? Jim asked.
"We wait," Will said, "Dr. Director will no doubt soon hear from our situation and send a relief team."
"So they can get caught too," Tim muttered, "that'll work."
"But what did they do to KP?" Ron wondered out loud.
"Just captured the buffoon, that obnoxious GJ agent and Kimmie's twin brothers that you thought were clones," Shego said as she unceremoniously dropped their items in the corner of the lair, "No sign of princess though, and they don't seem to know where she is either."
"Okay, good…" Drakken mumbled distracted, "GHAAH, without that last part this stupid machine can't do anything, it can only shoot a stupid weak beam of light."
"Great," Shego muttered as she sat down in the couch, "So we have four prisoners we don't want and a machine that doesn't work, what more problems do we have?"
"We're still out of food," Drakken said, not noting the sarcasm in Shego's voice, "Could you get some?"
Shego was about to rudely respond when she figured that going to the supermarket was actually preferable to sitting here, doing nothing, "Fine, why not, it beats dying of boredom here."
"Good," Drakken was still completely focused on trying to fix the changeling machine, "You can use my new credit card, I haven't used it yet so it shouldn't bounce right away."
Shego grinned; this shopping trip might just have turned for the better. Even though there wouldn't be a staggering amount she could spend, it would be another great thing to annoy Drakken with.
Kim was bored, the walk up the mountain road was not really interesting and she constantly had to keep herself from chasing whatever hid behind the rocks, and she was starting to get hungry again.
Just when she contemplated hunting down something, Kim came face to face with a large male bobcat.
She could feel the hairs on her back stand up as she flattened herself to the ground, ear flat against her head.
The much larger feline looked down at her, seemingly thinking whether to chase her off or not wasting the energy to bother. Kim hoped for the last; even though her fighting skill could give her an advantage, the sheer size and strength difference would make it real difficult for her, not to mention that most of her fighting skills relied on her human form.
Unfortunately, the other cat deemed her an invader in his territory and charged. Kim jumped backwards and bolted up some rocks, hoping to shake off the bigger cat.
The bobcat kept chasing, however, and even managed to get a hit in. And even though the damage was limited to a bruise and the loss of a plum of hair, Kim felt more scared than when facing Shego and an army of henchmen; even Boran didn't match up to this. And the worst part was, she didn't even know whether it was her human side or her cat side being the most scared.
Finally, Kim managed to jump onto a higher rock that gave her a good position to ward off any more attacks by the bobcat. Not recognizing this tactical advantage, the bigger cat also jumped towards that rock, but got hit by Kim hard enough to lose his balance and fall down almost nine feet.
Growling, the beast circled Kim's position several times while she carefully followed him with her eyes. Eventually, seeing that there was no way he could attack the smaller cat again, the bobcat gave up and walked off, much to Kim's relief.
This time fortune seemed to be on her side again as she suddenly recognized the rock formation she had gone to a few days earlier when she had broken into Drakken's lair.
Internally smiling – cat's weren't that good at actually smiling – Kim climbed up the last part to Drakken's lair.
"Do you think GJ will come and help us?" Ron asked; they had been in their cell for a few hours now and besides Drakken passing by once to gloat, nothing had happened.
"They will come," Will Du insisted, "I managed to send a distress signal just before we were captured."
"How do you know it was actually sent out inside the cave?" Jim asked.
"Even Wade didn't try to send a Wadebot," Tim added.
"But at least we know they haven't got KP," Ron said; Drakken had been very confused when Ron had accused him of capturing Kim, although afterwards he did lay out his complete plan to use the changeling machine on Kim and turn her into a cat… once he managed to repair the device.
"But where would she be then?" Will questioned, "She's been gone from the grid for almost a full day now."
Even Rufus was losing hope; they were captured with no way of escaping, Kim was still gone and Drakken got closer and closer to his victory, they really needed a miracle to get out of this one.
"Mew," everyone looked up at the unexpected sound and noticed the familiar tortoiseshell cat walk into the cave where their cell was housed.
"How? What? When…" Ron stammered, "Where? Why?"
"Are you done yet?" Jim smirked, "So she followed us, this still doesn't help us much."
"Yeah, if she can't get the cell open, we're still stuck," Tim pointed out.
"Do you know this cat?" Will asked confused.
"She's been following us around," Ron told, "First I thought she was after Rufus… Rufus!"
The molerat looked uncertain at the cat that stood below his prison ball, ready to jump up the six feet to his height, suddenly he wasn't too sure she had meant it when she apologized.
Kim's jump took her barely high enough to Rufus' prison, but her claws found grip in the rubbery material and she managed to climb up until she faced the rope holding the ball up.
"Gotta work on improving those jumps," Kim thought to herself, "Well, time to find out how bad Rufus has it every time he frees us."
Holding on to the ball with her front and back claws, Kim began to gnaw through the rope. And even though not designed for it, her sharp teeth quickly made their way through the line.
They fell down, and Kim deftly landed on her feet while Rufus bounced around a couple of times before he too came to a – dizzy – standstill.
"Watch out Rufus!" Ron called again, "She could still try to eat you."
Even Rufus didn't belief that anymore and he gladly accepted the cat's help when she pushed him over to the cell where Jim opened the ball.
"Great, now we just need to key for our cell," Tim smiled.
"Are you up for that buddy?" Ron asked.
Before Rufus could answer, Kim walked up to them and signaled Rufus that he could ride on her back.
As the two ran off, Will Du sighed, "We're putting our chances in the hands of a molerat and a cat, how deep have I sunk?"
Ron, Jim and Tim decided not to answer to that; they still had to live with him in the same cell at least for a little while.
During the run towards the main part of Drakken's lair, Rufus could get a good whiff of the cat's scent, "Kim?"
"Finally," Kim came to a stop and turned to look at the molerat and gave him a small nod.
Rufus had an 'Oooh' moment and a grin appeared on his face; how could Ron not have seen this… how could he not have seen this. Chuckling, the molerat shook his head.
Shortly after, they arrived in the main part of the lair where Drakken was busy working on the changeling machine.
"GRAAH, why won't this work," Drakken cried out, stretching his painful neck after he'd been sitting bent over the device for too long. Unfortunately for Kim and Rufus, he caught their movement from the corner of his eyes, "It's the weasel thing… and a cat, Shego!"
Remembering that Shego was still out shopping – who could shop for that long? – Drakken called for his next helper, "Commodore Puddles, take care of that cat."
With a ferocious growl, the pink poodle fearlessly charged at the tortoiseshell cat and the molerat that was just jumping off her back. Initially, Kim was so surprised that her usual cat reaction to dogs kicked in and she made a run for it.
Meanwhile, Rufus managed to stay below the radar and he quickly located the key to the cells. Hoping Kim would be able to fend for herself, the naked molerat quickly brought the key back to Ron.
Kim dashed into the kitchen and jumped on top of the kitchen table before realization hit her, "What am I doing? That dog is almost smaller than me."
Commodore Puddles was standing against the counter, barking for all he was worth when suddenly a loud hiss announced a turn of the tables.
Even though the poodle was pretty tough due to a failed experiment Drakken had performed, he was no match against the ball of claws and teeth that hit him.
Hairs on her back and tail standing up, Kim attacked. And before Commodore Puddles could react, pieces of previously neatly trimmed pink fur were flying all around.
Drakken was about to see if his pet poodle had already captured and eaten the cat, when said dog came running back out of the kitchen, yipping in fear and chased by a black and red furry demon who had every intention of shredding his fur.
Drakken wanted to protect his dog, but he was also a bit afraid of the cat that somehow had grown twice the size when he had last seen it.
Picking up a broom, the villain ran towards the cat, "Leave Commodore Puddles alone!"
Instead of being chased away though, the cat turned its attention to Drakken and charged, claws extended.
"No, down, down!" Drakken yelled frantically when the cat dodged the broom and went for his face, "GHAAH! SHEGO!"
To his surprise, he got an answer, "I can't even let you alone for a few hours," Shego stood in the door opening, hold way too many shopping bags to justify a supermarket trip, "Hey, a kitty."
Ignoring Drakken, who had finally managed to pull the cat off him and was now caressing the claw marks on his face, Shego crouched down and held out her hand, "Here, Kitty Kitty, you're a cutie."
Kim had safely landed after Drakken had thrown her away from him and could just see Ron, Will and her brothers sneak into the main lair, on the way to the exit. Deciding to give them a chance to get away, she looked curiously at Shego, as if debating whether to approach.
The villainess took that as an incentive to close the distance to the cat while she voiced soothing words to not scare the cat away.
After Rufus had brought the key to the cell, he had wanted to tell Ron the good news, but Will Du had cut him off before he could say something, "Quick, open the door so we can get away before Shego gets back."
Of course, they were too late; Shego just entered before they could get away, but then the whole situation changed when the cat that helped them before decided to take on Drakken.
"This is our chance," Will said, "Shego is distracted, we can get out and call for reinforcements."
"Not without our stuff," Jim said.
"And the changeling machine," Tim added and the boys quickly sneaked over to the table where all their equipment was. Ron agreed and used the cover of some machinery to get to the changeling machine.
Before Will could even voice his complains, Jim and Tim had returned with their and his equipment. And before he could scold at them for being so careless, Ron returned with the changeling machine.
All he could do was let out a low growl, "Now can we get out of here?"
Meanwhile, Shego was still attempting to lure the cat towards her, and even Drakken was giving her a curious, almost slightly disturbed look."
"Come on kitty, do you like fish? I can buy you some fish," Shego coed, "Still got half a credit card to work through."
"Shego!" Drakken snapped, "That card was brand new, you can't limit it out all at once."
Shego stood up, ready to give a retort, when she noticed the previous prisoners gaping at her. Suddenly embarrassed, her aggressive nature took over again, "Yeah, so I like cats… wait a minute, Dr. D, when did the prisoners get out?"
"What?" now Drakken looked too, "Hey, you're supposed to be in your cell."
"As if," Jim taunted.
"You couldn't even keep a rock locked up," Tim laughed before the group ran out of the door."
"Shego, catch them!" Drakken ordered, but the roar of the Global Justice jet made that order pretty much obsolete.
"Didn't even took the keys of their vehicle?" Shego shook her head, "Seriously, I really can't leave you alone for more than an hour."
Before Drakken could come up with a reply, Shego's attention turned back to the cat that was about to walk out of the door, "Did the mean doctor scare you?" Then she quickly closed the door to prevent the cat from running out as well.
"That cat mauled Commodore Puddles and ruined my face," Drakken yelled, "I have his skin."
"Her, it's a she," Shego pointed out, "And you're leaving her alone, what did she do to you?"
"Didn't you hear me?" Drakken snapped, "She shredded Commodore Puddles' fur I had spent so much time trimming and she clawed all over me. And all because I told Commodore Puddles to chase her off."
Shego's look told him he should have better not told that last part.
"Wait a minute…" Shego thought back to an earlier conversation, "Didn't you say you wanted to have some cat eaten?"
"NO! No, you don't get it," Drakken backed away as Shego came at him, hands glowing, "I wanted to…"
"No more," Shego growled, "if I see you hurt that cat again, you're in for it."
Kim was enjoying the conversation a bit more than she should, and even though she still had to figure out a way out of here she was having a good time. She certainly had not expected Shego to react this way, but it was fun to see Drakken squirm.
Content with the situation, the tortoiseshell cat began to groom herself; standing up all hairs on your back did tend to make your fur messy.
Soon she was so caught up in smoothing out her fur and removing loose hairs that she didn't notice Shego walking up to her.
Kim let out a surprised meow when the green-skinned villainess picked her up, "There, now don't be afraid… I bet you're hungry."
Kim tried to squirm out of the woman's grip, but then Shego began to scratch between her ears, and that felt sooo good. It took Kim a moment to notice she had begun purring.
"You like that, don't you," Finally Kim knew where she knew that voice from; it sounded just like Miss. Go, "Do you like fish?"
"Shego sure is a different person around cats," Kim pondered as Shego carried her with her to the hover car, "Well, maybe I can get away when Shego leaves the lair… after I've gotten something to eat."
"We should have taken the cat with us as well," Ron contemplated as the group of four – five including Rufus – flew away from Drakken's lair, "She helped us so much."
"Shego seems able to protect her," Jim said.
"Yeah, and if she managed to get there, then she must be able to find her way home as well," Tim added.
"But that still leaves Miss. Possible," Will pondered while he piloted the craft, "Where could she be."
"What is it buddy?" Ron asked when Rufus frantically jumped up and down on his shoulder.
"Kim… cat…" Rufus chittered, and while the others couldn't really understand the molerat, Ron got a good idea, "What do you mean? Does KP know a cat…" realization struck, "KP is the cat!"
Rufus nodded, glad that he had finally been able to get it through to them.
"We have to turn around!" Ron pulled so hard on Will's shoulder that he almost made the agent lose control of the plane.
A/N: I hope you enjoyed, there should be one or two more chapters to go.