I don't own these characters; Disney does.
17: Round Shot
After careening the Anything's Possible and dropping Gill off at the nearest port, the Company Possible was on their way again. They did not wonder about Gill, especially since Shego had taken charge of being rid of him. When she had returned, she did not bother to explain what she did with him, but the look on her face let them all know he would never bother anyone, especially the New Islanders or their company ever again. She was not counting money, so they were at least confident she had not sold him to someone, but what happened to be him would become a mystery among them after that.
While they were at the port, the crew learned they were growing in infamy, more so than most other pirate companies because they were such an anomaly. They did not kill sailors when they took a prize, even when they took the whole ship, which was often because they had to get the human cargo to the New Islands. The sailors were often dumped some place they would be spotted by other ships or at close ports or even just in the ocean where they would be able to swim to land. Related to that was the fact that much of the time, the Company Possible hit slavers and this hurt the slave business, which hurt the Empire's business.
Slavers wanted everyone in the Possible crew dangling from a rope and then drawn and quartered. The uproar caused even the Emperor to get involved. Now, there were rumors going around that the Emperor was already after the Possible crew because they hurt trade and business within the colonies worse than any other pirate company. This impressed the Company Possible, considering they had taken about ten ships, which was not bad for pirates with full crews. There were only eight of them, if they counted Rufus and he pulled his weight, so he counted. Companies feared the waters they sailed in, though, and opted to avoid them whenever possible.
There were Naval forces specifically out just for them. Of course, the pirates took this as a huge compliment, as not many pirates ever got Naval forces that were charged with just finding them. In fact, they toasted themselves at the nearest tavern when they found out.
Another thing they toasted was finding out that Jack Hench, the owner of Hench Company, took a huge hit to the pocketbook thanks to them. They had liberated over three thousand slaves from his ships, which was no small lose in capital. He had hired out mercenaries to find and do unspeakable things to them. They were not worried about that. They just looked at it as a job well done, and it made them want to work harder on taking prizes.
There was only one side effect to pirating and Shego was the only one in the company who knew. The more ships they took, the worse Kim's nightmares seem to get. Holding her at night did not work as well as it did when Shego first found the redhead tossing in her bed. Now, Kim would thrash against her, sometimes going as far as punching and kicking her, as if trying to get away. Nights on land were better than those at sea, so Shego often found herself looking forward toward docking just for a good night's sleep.
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"Shego, you okay?" Monique inquired as she noticed the helmsman nodding off while guiding the ship. She was up with the rigging, checking everything out. There were dark clouds roaming close to them, so she wanted to make sure everything was secure.
"I'm fine," Shego lied. She rubbed her eyes, trying her best to stay awake. Her ribs hurt from where Kim had hit her last night. For some reason, she could not let the redhead go, no matter how painful it was to hold onto her. She hoped eventually her embrace would be all Kim would need to calm down and make it through the night.
Monique did not argue, even though it was clear that was not the truth. She just knew the pale warrior would not explain and Shego would only get annoyed if pushed to talk. Unfortunately for Shego, at that moment Bonnie wandered close enough to hear the conversation and to see the expression in the helmsman exhausted emerald eyes. Bonnie grinned, knowing she had something to use against Shego.
"You look worn out, Shego. I didn't know Captain Kimmie had it in her," Bonnie remarked, evil smirk covering her face and causing a devilish glint in her eyes.
Shego snarled, but did not say anything. She preferred Bonnie think Kim was a tiger in the bed than for her to know Kim suffered night terrors because she was very aware that the gunner would use that knowledge for evil. Bonnie did not let up about things either, even when Kim came out to talk to the crew.
"Hey, Possible, don't you think you need to lay off Shego before she lands us on some rocks?" Bonnie taunted as the whole crew gathered around the captain.
Kim's brow furrowed. "What are you talking about?"
"Nothing!" Monique insisted, glaring at the tanned female, silently demanding her to shut her mouth. Blue eyes rolled.
"Shego can barely keep her eyes open. I'm surprised we don't hear her screaming at night," Bonnie continued on.
"Screaming?" Kim echoed in a confused tone and she turned her attention to Shego. The dark circles around her eyes stood out in her pale skin, which actually seemed peaked. Shame rushed through Kim for not noticing sooner. Instead, she had been worrying about the next prize they would take and the end of the map.
"I'm fine, Kimmie. Don't listen to Bonnie. You know she's full of it," Shego pointed out. Her voice did not even have the same impact, Kim noted. The captain decided to speak with Shego in private because she knew it would just embarrass Shego if she showed concern over the older woman right now.
Kim nodded, even though she planed to confront Shego about her appearance later on. She then turned her attention to the rest of the crew. "Okay, I wanted to talk to you guys because I think we all can see those thick, black clouds ahead. I don't think we want to sail into that storm."
"Not if we can help it," Wade agreed. While he was proud of his work on the Anything's Possible, he was not looking to tempt fate by having the ship sail through what looked like a major thunderstorm.
"There is an island nearby we should be able to get to before the storm gets to us or before we get to the storm," Kim continued.
"I sense a 'but' coming," Ron said, getting a nod from Rufus, who was on his shoulder as usual.
"You sense right. A viceroy for the Empire holds the island. From what I gathered at our last port and from the library I have growing, he's not the nicest person on the planet either," Kim stated.
"Lemme guess, oppressing the natives?" Shego said. If she had a crown for every viceroy who abused his power in a colony, she would never have to take a prize again in her life. She sometimes wondered where the Emperor found all of these wretched curs who worked for him. She could only wonder what type of filthy bastard the Emperor was.
"Using them as slave labor, but no one is quite sure on what. He's also known for firing on ships from his castle when they approach. And, yes, I said castle," the redhead replied.
"Great, another little man with delusions of grandeur." They all felt that way.
Knowing what would happen, they all manned their stations and pressed on for the island, hoping to beat the storm that crept closer. They actually saw the stone castle before they saw anything else on the island. A little after seeing the castle, they heard a shot fired. Several splashes sounded a little ahead of them.
"Was that grapeshot?" Bonnie wondered aloud. She suspected it because they had only heard one shot, but a lot of splashes. They rarely experienced grapeshot (1) fire, but then again, they were not often fired upon because they could sneak up close to their enemies. No one else really cared about what type of ammo was fired, but the distance the shots traveled.
"He's got guns that reach this far?" Monique shouted in disbelief. She thought the Anything's Possible had the best long-range guns thanks to Wade, but it would seem she was wrong.
"How?" Wade wondered with his mouth dangling open.
"It doesn't matter. Let's show him the best guns on the sea!" Bonnie declared with a confident grin, rushing to her cannons. She wasted no time arming her guns and returning fire. As expected, Bonnie's shots were spot on, hitting the broadside of the castle.
"That's all she needs — a gun fight," Monique sighed, shaking her head while going to her own weapons.
Everyone went to their guns; Yori even had a cannon specialized for her. Shego continued at the helm, avoiding the shots she could and doing a very good job of it. There were not that many shots coming at them, so it was not too difficult to get out of the way of the few cannonballs that came near them.
"Princess, is there a dock or something on this island that I should be aiming for?" Shego asked as they drew closer to the spot of land.
"There should be one, but it's possible he removed it. He fires on any ship that comes near here, friend or foe, so I doubt anybody's docked here for a while," Kim answered.
"Friend or foe?" Shego echoed. She could only wonder what they were getting themselves into now. But, as a light rain started to fall and thunder sounded in the distance, she stopped caring.
The Anything's Possible crept closer to land, despite the cannon fire. Shego kept her eyes peeled for some place to dock, but found there was none. Her sharp eyes were able to make out what looked like a pier, but upon slightly closer inspection found out it was not suitable for the ship. It was broken up and close to being nothing more than a pile of wood. The only thing that made her confident they would at least be able to tie the ship down there was the fact that there was a small boat already tied down.
"Kimmie, I think we're going to have to anchor and then just tie the ship to that dock over there," Shego announced, pointing off to the left.
"Sounds good, if you can get us there without beaching us," Kim replied.
Shego rolled her eyes and snorted. "I'm not new to this."
"Never said you were!" Kim replied in a sickeningly sweet tone with an equally saccharine smile.
The pale warrior snorted again, but did not say anything. Cannon fire roared over the thunder in the distance and Shego maneuvered the Anything's Possible as close to the beach as she could without running the ship ashore. Best of all, she found some mangrove trees to hide the ship behind, keeping the ship out of sight of the cannon fire from the castle. Ron went to drop the anchor and the crew got off to tie the Anything's Possible to the trees to make sure it did not get washed away in the upcoming storm.
After securing their ship, they rowed their lifeboat to the beach and dragged the boat into the jungle, not wanting it to be seen either. From there, they needed to decide if they wanted to go to the castle or just look for shelter from the storm.
"I don't like being shot at, so I say we go take that castle," Bonnie declared. Not to mention, she was willing to bet the castle had all sorts of luxuries that they would not find in the jungle, like large beds and warm food.
"For once, I'm with the loud mouth," Shego remarked, pointing her thumb at the tanned woman. "That bastard almost put holes in the ship, too!" Since she spent most of her time steering the ship, she felt pretty close to it because she knew a lot of its quirks. If it got as much as scratched by some temperamental viceroy, she would have marched up to that castle and cut the man's tongue out, so she would not have to deal with his begging when she started really cutting into him.
"I think that storm is looking pretty bad. We probably should just try to get out of the rain while it's just rain we're worrying about," Monique reasoned.
"Sounds logical," Wade agreed.
Ron glanced at the distance between the castle and them. A growl escaped his stomach, loud enough for the rest of the crew to look at him. He gave them a sheepish grin. "Uh… unless we run into some fruit trees, I vote we go to the castle because I'm sure there'll be plenty of food there."
"I would just like to get out of the rain," Yori finally chimed in. She was still getting accustomed to having a say in what they all did, so she tended to speak up after Ron did because his having in opinion reminded her that she could have one, too.
"Food!" Rufus voted.
No one even bothered to ask Kim because they knew what her vote was. Castle won, so they started marching toward the stone fortress. The rain grew heavier as they walked, but they did not stray from their march. The wind picked up, so they started to rethink things because the castle was still a bit of a distance away. It was not until movement caught their eyes did they stop.
"Guys, do you see that?" Monique asked in a whisper. She knew if she saw it, then the fighters in the group probably saw even more.
"We're being stalked," Shego sneered. "Well, might as well go see what they want." A dangerous smile curled on to her face. She would teach whoever it was a lesson for delaying them.
Kim shrugged, sounded like a good idea to her. Shego and Kim led the way as the group made their way deeper into the brush. They were not surprised when a small band of ten came at them. As soon as the group appeared, they were pretty much on their backs with the Company Possible standing over them.
"That was boring," Shego sighed, blowing on her nails. Her tone earned her a glance from the captain, but nothing further.
Kim turned her attention to crew that they dropped. They were a motley-looking, mixed crew, not just Natives as she expected. She was not the only one to notice this oddity either.
"Uh… are you guys from the Empire?" Ron asked. They certainly looked like they were from the Empire, but why would they be hanging out with Natives? Usually Empire people looked down on any natives in the colonies.
"Yeah. We were supposed to open a trade post here," one of them floored men answered.
"And…?" Kim pressed them to continue.
"Duff Killigan was supposed to be the viceroy. Unfortunately, as soon as we landed here, he decided on a change of plans…"
"How so?" Kim glared down at them, silently ordering someone to let them in on what the hell was going on.
"He had all these explosives and just took over. Threatened us and the Natives," the man paused to give a nod toward a brown-skinned man also on his back. "Made us build that damned castle and construct a golf course for him."
"A golf course?" Kim echoed in a puzzled tone and then she turned back to look at her crew. They all shrugged collectively.
"I don't even know what the hell a golf is, let along why it would need a course," Shego commented.
"I never heard of it either," Ron admitted.
Kim scratched her head. "I think it's a new game a lot of nobles in the Empire play. I'm not too sure how it works, though. Should I even ask why he wants you to build a golf course?"
"Obviously the man likes to play golf," Bonnie pointed out.
"How about we all get out of the rain and we can explain it to you?" one of the grounded men proposed.
It seemed like a good idea, so the pirates went off with them to dryer accommodations. A settlement was not too far and they were indeed much dryer than outside. They also were warmer with enough food to keep Ron and Rufus from complaining. A couple of the men brought the pirates up to speed as to what was going on around the island since Killigan decided to make the island his own private golf course.
Apparently, he really did fire at any ship that came near the island. He had modified both his cannons and the ammunition loaded into the cannons. He was able to keep away ships from the Imperial Navy with explosive shells. It was pretty obvious the Emperor was not too concerned with Killigan or the island because the Navy rarely approached the island and if they did, it was usually only one or two ships. Nothing imposing, just testing the waters apparently. It would seem the island was just abandoned by the Emperor, as were the people trapped there with the insane viceroy.
"As soon as the rain lightens up, we'll go to the castle and try to talk some sense into Killigan," Kim decided.
"I doubt that'll work," the man argued. They had tried all sorts of things with the viceroy and nothing worked. He was sure the man would only destroy these young people like he did the Navy ships.
"You haven't seen the captain talk," Shego remarked.
"She can be quite persuasive if given the chance," Monique added in.
The man shrugged, not taking too much stock in the group's words, despite the fact that they had dropped him earlier. He provided them with places to sleep and everything. The sound of the pouring rain and the comfort of being on stable land put most of the crew to sleep as soon as their heads hit the pillows. But, one remained awake and eased out of the cabin as soon as the rain stopped.
"Princess, you need to get some sleep," Shego said as she stepped outside into the pitch black of midnight. She could see the captain walking off, not even stopping when Shego had addressed her.
"I can't sleep anymore. You know that," Kim replied. The footsteps behind her let her know that the pale woman was following her.
"Why is it that the nightmares have gotten worse?" Shego asked, even though she knew Kim did not have the answer to the question. She would like to hear the redhead's thoughts on the issue.
"I don't know. I figured with time they would get better. Plus…" Kim sighed and trailed off. She glanced at her companion. For a moment, she wondered if she should continue. "…having you hold me was really working for a while. I felt really safe and sound with you, like nothing could ever touch me. I figured with you and time, it really should have gotten better…"
Shego nodded, feeling some pride, but she decided against expressing that right now. "Do you think it might be a sign?" Maybe that was just her being hopeful.
"A sign?" Kim echoed. She then shrugged. "I don't know. I doubt it. Things like that usually don't happen to me."
"Do you feel like you're under stress?"
"No more than usual and, honestly, I tend to thrive under stress. None of this makes sense, Shego. I just don't know."
The helmsman nodded again and decided to drop the subject. Instead, she focused on the fact that they were still moving and going further from the settlement toward the beach. "We're going to the castle, aren't we?" she said it like a question, but it was easily a statement.
"I might as well do something since I can't sleep. I'm guessing you're coming with me, even though you need your sleep."
"I did say we, I do believe."
Kim nodded. "That you did." After a brief moment of silence, she added a quiet, "Thank you."
Shego smirked. "Come on, Princess, you know there is no other place I would rather be than by your side and saving your butt."
The redhead glanced at Shego, but decided to just let the joke go for once. They moved quickly on their own and made it to the castle before the rain started again. The fortress was dimly lit with candles everywhere. Stepping silently, the women searched the area for the master of the castle. They expected him to be in the bed since it was the middle of the night. As they got to the roof, they found out that they were wrong if the noise meant anything.
"I get the feeling he's going to be up playing golf," Shego commented. Whatever the hell golf was.
"What makes you think that?" Kim inquired.
"The man kidnapped a whole colony to make a golf course. That screams obsession."
Kim conceded that point. As they got to the top of the castle, they saw a thick man wearing a kilt. He swung a thin stick that seemed to have a club on the end; the two women did not know what to make of that. Looking close, they were able to see he used the club to hit a tiny white ball. They were able to make this out because he had the rooftop lit with torches.
"Excuse me," Kim called, causing the man to turn.
"Who are you and what are you doing in my course?" the man demanded with a heavy accent.
"What the hell type of way is that to talk?" Shego wondered aloud. "I barely understood that."
"That's a Northern accent. I have family from there. It gets worse," Kim commented before turning her attention back to the angry man. "Are you Duff Killigan?"
"Aye, what's it to you?" he countered in a heated tone.
"I can't let you continue on oppressing the natives and citizens of the Empire," Kim declared. Shego glanced at the captain, thinking that sounded almost naval of the redhead.
"You're with the Empire? Ach, the Emperor must be getting pretty desperate to send a wee lass after me," Killigan stated.
"A wee lass? What the hell is that?" Shego asked with a baffled expression on her face. She was starting to get annoyed with everything about this man and this place. It did not help she would rather be holding Kim and sleeping right now.
"Well, I won't be going gently into that good night!" Killigan proclaimed and he hit a small golf ball toward the ladies.
Instinctively, Kim dodged while Shego slapped at the ball. The pale woman was certainly in for a surprise as the ball exploded and blew her into the cold, stone wall behind her. A grunt escaped her as her back impacted the hard surface.
"Shego!" Kim called.
"I'm fine, Pumpkin," Shego growled. "I'm also pissed!" She peeled herself off of the wall and charged the viceroy with blazing hands.
Killigan actually yelped when Shego came at him. He never saw a person move so fast. He tried to launch another golf ball at her, but he just was not quick enough. She cut through his club like it was made of papier-mâché. She was about to slash him, but he managed to throw one of his exploding golf balls at her. She was knocked back again.
"Shego!" Kim cried and then she leaped onto action.
Duff was even more surprised by the way Kim moved than the way Shego moved. The redhead was a spitfire, to be sure, and had him on his back from pure shock at her ability. Shego stood back and watched with a smirk on her face, as if to say, "that's my girl."
"Now, Duff, how about we talk again?" Kim proposed as Killigan tried to get back on his feet.
"I don't talk to Imperial dogs, lass!" he declared, throwing a golf ball at her. She easily dodged it and put her foot in his gut. He gasped and fell over.
"Watch your mouth. We're not from the Empire," Shego huffed, sounding quite insulted by the accusations.
"Then why are you doing this?" Duff growled.
"Because you don't have a right to force these people to make your stupid golf course. This isn't your land and they aren't your slaves!" Kim informed him.
"It is my land! The Emperor gave it to me and I'll use it anyway that I see fit!" he stated, as if he was in control of the situation.
"Oh yeah?" Kim arched an eyebrow and crouched down into her fighting stance again.
Duff Killigan tried to stand up to Kim, but she easily overpowered him. Each time he tried to get back up, she put him back on his back. It started to drizzle and he slipped on his last attempt to stand. Shego bound him when it was clear that he had had enough. The rain got worse as the pair made their way back into the castle.
They spent the night there, wandering mostly. They would check on Killigan every few minutes, but the night was long. Shego fell asleep for a while, but Kim stayed up. As morning broke, the duo exited the castle, walking into the pouring rain. Taking a roundabout route, they dragged Killigan through his golf course, seeing the chopped down trees and mowed land. They were both stunned by the size of the thing.
"Whoa, do you really need all this land to hit around such a little ball?" Shego inquired in disbelief.
"Are ya daft? Of course I do!" Duff answered as if Shego was an idiot.
She frowned and twisted his arm a little. He hollered in pain and begged her to stop. Only a scolding word from Kim got her to quit it, though.
They turned Duff Killigan over to his workers as soon as they got to the settlement. The duo was treated as heroes and the Company Possible were given everything they could want or need while they stayed on island. For three days, they were treated like royalty, but when the clouds finally parted and the sun came out, they were ready to move on. They had a goal to achieve, after all.
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Next time: Nightmares continue to plague Kim.
1: Grapeshot — canon balls put into a cloth bag and scatter when they are fired, improving the odds of hitting the enemy ship.