I don't own these characters; Disney does.
19: Marked For Dead
The Possible Company of pirates was a menace to all of the seven seas, and since they started moving east they had become a menace to more than just the Empire. The Empire got complaints and very dangerous accusations from other countries thanks to the pirates. They had to do something about the outlaws or there could actually be a war… between them and several other nations. As powerful as the Empire was, taking on several countries bent on their destruction would not be very wise.
It did not help matters that Jack Hench continuously made noise because his trading company suffered worse than any of the countries. He screamed, hollered, and foamed at the mouth for something to get done before his company and much of the Empire's trading business was crippled beyond repair. He could not believe the bounty he placed on the pirates' heads had not gotten him anywhere. Who did these people think they were?
The Navy was put on high alert for the Anything's Possible. Hell, they were actually on high alert for anything that might resemble the Anything's Possible. A promotion was promised to any unit that brought the pirates in. Everyone in the unit would move up in rank. Along with rank in the military, the commander in charge would get status as a noble. This got the Imperial Navy moving much better than any other rewards would have and motivated all of the sailors.
There was a monetary reward for any other ships that might come across the pirates and managed to capture them. That mobilized a lot of people, but still, the Company Possible moved on. The pirates did not seem pressed about all of the heat that was on them and they were very aware that most of the world was hunting for them now.
"How are we doing on time?" Shego asked from her position at the helm.
"We're doing good. Coming into the Pacific now. We might want to be careful of Eastern pirates. I hear they're much worse than the ones in the Indian Ocean," Kim announced. They had gotten into a few "spots" of trouble in the Indian Ocean, but nothing they could not handle. Still, they needed to keep moving.
"They're not that bad. We could take them," Shego stated proudly. She had dealt with enough pirates point blank to feel confident they could take any ship that happened upon them. They found out about that quickly.
Taking prizes in the East was just as easy in the West. Pirates in those waters tried to test the crew only to find out they were feisty and skilled despite their small numbers. Several pirate ships lost their own prizes for trying the Company Possible. The crew felt pretty good about themselves, especially since their hull was weighed down with crowns and other baubles.
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"Do we really need to get to the end of the map? I mean, can it really be more money than what we have already?" Bonnie wondered aloud. The crew was out on the deck, just enjoying the good weather for the most part. Ron, Wade, and Rufus were fishing over the side while the ladies lounged around in a few lounge chairs.
"Are you kidding? We've been operating for a few months and we've taken just over a dozen prizes, most of which were just slavers. Betty Blackheart sailed these seas for years and took everything! Imagine how much treasure that would be," Shego said, her arm around Kim, whose nose was buried in a book.
"Besides, we need to quit while we're ahead. I've seen what happens to pirates who continue on and it doesn't end well," Kim commented, showing her attention was not completely on the literature in front of her.
"She's right about that," Shego agreed. She had seen more than her fair share of pirates taken to the Imperial prison and end up doing a jig in the air while a crowd watched them swing.
"Then what are we going to do after we get to the end of the map?" Monique asked.
"A wise woman once told me I should use my shares to find honest work, so I think we should all use our shares to achieve our dreams. I always assumed the map for those chasing their dreams," Kim answered.
The crew went silent at that. Amazingly enough, none of them had taken the time to realize what their dreams were. They had not thought of their lives beyond being pirates. They all decided to give it some thought at that moment. The moment of consideration did not last long.
"We got company!" Ron called out as he and Wade yanked up their fishing lines.
The ladies all turned to see what Ron was talking about. Spyglasses came out next when they saw the dot on the horizon, which quickly turned into several dots, all flying Imperial flags. Kim got up and the crew followed suit. Shego and Bonnie stretched nonchalantly, like lazy cats. Monique was not sure how, but she managed to hold in a snicker, surprised the pair never noticed they had a few similarities.
"What do you want to do, Captain?" Shego inquired.
"Well, I think we can just stay here and wait it out. The Imperial Navy can't be out searching every ship they come across, after all. They don't know what any of you look like and I can just stay out of sight. It might be a good way to find out what they're up to," Kim replied.
"You don't think they'll be a little suspicious of a ship with six crew members and four of those women?" Monique asked.
Kim dramatically gasped as if she was in total shock, going so far as to put her hand to her chest. "You mean to tell me my fast talking crew could not find a way to explain that?"
"Shut up," Shego snorted. "It's quite simple. We were attacked by pirates. They took most of the crew with them. We throw in some crying, some hysterics, and those Navy idiots won't think anything of it. The buffoon here can be the manly-man and ask questions since it's likely the fucking Navy isn't going to respect Wade."
"That's good," Monique conceded, nodding in favor of that plan. It was a bit impressive Shego could come up with such a lie so quickly.
"Fucking shame about the Empire. Willing to listen to this idiot over Wade," the emerald-eyed warrior remarked, pointing her thumb at Ron.
"Hey!" Ron huffed.
"Shego, that's quite enough. Now, you've got a good story, but why would the pirates take the crew and obviously leave slaves behind?" the redhead asked.
"Easy enough. We've all already owned by nice masters at the Capital, noblemen or some bullshit that won't make them ask a lot of questions. We freaked at the idea of getting sold again and none of us cooperated. They didn't want to waste their time with hysterical women. They didn't take the buffoon because he wouldn't even make a good deckhand," Shego explained.
"HEY!" Ron shook his fist at the pale woman.
"Sounds like you have this one all worked out. Okay, so, I'm going to go hide out below deck," Kim informed them. As much as she hated the fact that she needed to hide, it was the easiest way to get away from the Navy without getting into a fight.
The captain disappeared below deck while the rest went to make it look like the ship had been ransacked. No one wanted to move too much, being fully aware they would later have to clean up the mess. They also knew they were going to hear countless arguments of "I didn't do move that, so why should I clean it up?" As the Naval ship drew closer, Bonnie and Monique were able to force tears out of their eyes. It took a lot more effort for Shego and Yori to do it. In fact, Shego only managed it after Bonnie pointed out that Shego was worthless because she could not follow along with her own plan.
"Ahoy!" someone from the Naval ship called as the vessel pulled up close to the Anything's Possible.
"Ahoy!" Ron called back.
The ship pulled up closer and a burly man pushed his way to the front of the sailors. Ron gulped as soon as he locked eyes with the thick fellow. He took in the way the man's uniform was immaculate and his stance was beyond strong.
"Ahoy, son. I'm Lieutenant Commander Barkin. What's this vessel doing here?" the barrel-chested brunette Naval officer demanded. His eyes drifted to the women in the corner, who poured on the hysterics. Shego tried not to throw up and Yori was seriously contemplating suicide later on for having to act like such a baby, but they did not let up on the act.
"Uh… we're just having a bit of trouble," Ron answered, sounding a cross between nervous and relieved. It was not done on purpose. He was relieved the Navy had not opened fire automatically and just asked questions after obliterating the ship.
"What sort of trouble?" Barkin inquired, subtly glancing at the crew again. "You got an odd cargo here, son," he commented, noting all of the passengers were foreigners, even though the ship flew an Imperial flag.
Ron gulped again and hoped he was not sweating as much as it felt like. It's no big deal. Keep it together. It was only one Imperial Naval ship. Nothing too serious. He could make it through this.
"We got attacked by pirates. They took the crew…" Ron tried his best to sound distressed over it. He was not coming close to the theatrics of the ladies, though. He felt like he was selling enough, especially since Rufus did not hit him or something to let him know he needed to do more.
"Pirates?" Barkin's face lit up. "Did the pirates say who they were? We're searching for the Red Devil and her crew."
"Red Devil?" Ron echoed and pulled a face, as if he did not know who that was.
"She's more than likely a woman known as Kim Possible. She's wanted for murder and numerous counts of piracy. Supposedly her evil crew is full of demon women who do her bidding as if she was the Devil himself." Hard eyes drifted over to the ladies again, who continued to pour on the fact that they were nothing more than shaken females, unable to stand the shock of being attacked.
Ron nodded. "No, there weren't any women with the pirates that attacked us. They looked Eastern. Perhaps they were some of the Empire's enemies," he offered, hoping to throw the crew off their trail.
Barkin made a noise to show that he was thinking. "Why'd these pirates take most of the crew, but leave you and those foreigners behind?" he inquired, but it sounded like a demand.
Ron frowned for a moment because he did not like the way the lieutenant said the word "foreigner." He made it sound like an insult, some sort of slur against the women onboard. He noticed the glint in Barkin's eyes changed when he glanced over at the ladies, too, as if he was looking at insects. Ron almost wished Shego noticed, so she could teach the bastard a lesson. As it stood, they were still trying to avoid getting into a battle with a Naval ship since there were three others not too far behind.
"The ladies just wouldn't calm down and the pirates said they didn't have the time to mess around. They didn't take me because they thought I was too scrawny to conscript," Ron explained, scowling as he told the story, like he was genuinely insulted.
Barkin was quiet for a moment, openly inspecting the blond. He then nodded to himself, undoubtedly agreeing with Shego and "the pirates" that Ron was scrawny. Ron wanted to sigh, but maintained his act.
"All right. Were the pirates here long ago? We might still be able to catch them," Barkin decided. "Find out if it's the Red Devil or not."
"It wasn't that long ago, sir. They sailed leeward," Ron replied, pointing out in the direction the wind blew. He was pretty sure they were not going in that direction.
"All right. Try to sail your ship to port. I'm sure those slaves need to get back to their masters," Barkin remarked, nodding toward the ladies.
Ron growled, upset the Naval officer automatically assumed all of the ladies to be slaves just because of their looks. He had never been happier to see a ship sail off than he was when Barkin's naval brig floated away. Ron heaved a huge sigh of relief while the ladies straightened out immediately.
"I guess the reward the Emperor put out on Kimmie is working," Shego remarked, shaking her head.
"Oh, what clued you into that? The small fleet following Lieutenant Intolerant-Prick?" Bonnie huffed.
"We need to get out of here," Monique pointed out.
Everyone was in agreement there. They waited for the other ships to pass them; those ships did not even bother to question them. They were obvious just following the Lieutenant Commander. Kim was brought out of the hull as soon as the ships were by and brought up to speed as to what was going on.
"Guys, we've got other problems," Wade announced.
"What?" Kim inquired.
"Those ships just turned around. We could be in trouble. What should we do?" Wade inquired. All eyes went to the captain. She had not steered them wrong yet, after all.
Kim thought on it for a moment. "I wouldn't turn around if I were them. Seems like a waste of time. Did the commanding officer seem like a nice guy? As if he was the type to help out stranded women?"
"No. In fact, I'm pretty sure he had a problem with all of them for being 'foreigners.' Assumed right off that they were slaves, too, and he kinda looked down his nose at me while talking to me," Ron reported.
"Then it's definitely not good that they're turning around. He's probably suspicious. While most people don't know what we all look like, they know we're a small crew made up of mostly women and foreigners. He might have put two and two together," Kim figured.
"Then what do we do, Cap'n?" Bonnie folded her arms across her chest. "Four Naval ships could eat us for lunch."
"Not necessarily. Wade, I know this is way short notice, but do you think you could build a catapult? I need something that will launch a human body," Kim said.
"Uh… why?" Wade asked with a furrowed brow while already calculating what he would need and how quickly he could fashion such a thing. It would not be too hard.
"We're going to throw Shego at one of those ships," Kim answered as if it was the most logical thing in the world. Shego grinned, all for that idea apparently. It brought back the good old days.
"You fling me low enough and I can burn right through the hull. Way better than any cannonball we can throw at them," Shego informed them. She blazed hot enough to easily go through wood with no damage to herself.
"But, then you'll be in the middle of the ocean and no good to us. No, I want you to land on deck because I need you to go through another ship if necessary. Just do as much damage as you can as quickly as you can when you land. They need to be seriously incapacitated before they can actually touch us. Ron, you and Yori can take one ship, right?" Kim asked, turning to the pair.
"Uh…" Ron hesitated. He had never done that before and he was not too sure if it could be done, despite what Kim and Shego seemed to think.
"It would be our honor, Captain. Ron is much more powerful than he pretends to be," Yori assured the redhead.
"Good. Bonnie, Monique, you guys can cover me. I'm going to try my best to take the first ship. After that, provide whatever cover fire you can to all of us," Kim announced. She was not sure if it could be done, but as long as everyone else was willing to try, she was ready to go down fighting with them.
"Shouldn't we attack as one unit?" Wade asked.
"No, it'll give them a chance to surround us. We can't win fighting one-on-one, especially since there's four of them and not one. We don't have the resources for that. We just have to keep them all in front of us and do our best. Remember guys, anything's possible," Kim stated and those simple words were enough for her crew to get up and ready for battle. They could not help wondering if it was the Company Possible's last stand, but they were all ready to defend each other and their freedom.
The time it took the first ship to get to the Anything's Possible seemed to last less than a second, but also an eternity. In that time, the crew did not speak to each other beyond what they needed to say to prepare for the fight. Even though they all wondered if this was it, they refused to act like it.
Kim fell out of sight as Barkin's frowning face drew closer and the crew could tell Kim had made the right decision about preparing for battle. The navy sailors with him all had their own guns drawn, which made Bonnie's and Monique's fingers itch to draw their pistols.
"Hey, boy," Barkin called to Ron in a condescending manner.
"Sir?" Ron growled out.
"I think it would serve us all best if you came along with us. Answer a few more questions, like what this brig was hauling, and provide the crew manifest," Barkin said.
"You wanna know what this brig is hauling?" Bonnie replied.
Barkin glared at her. "Nobody addressed you, slave. Learn your place or you'll end up on the wrong end of a whip!"
"You learn yours or you'll end up on the wrong end of a gun," Bonnie declared, pulling out her pistol as Monique also drew hers, aiming it at the Lieutenant Commander. They had been freewomen for too long to let some muscle-head idiot threaten them with a whip.
"I knew it! You're the Red Devil's motley, mongrel crew!" Barkin hollered.
"I wouldn't consider them motley and you're one to talk about mongrels!" Kim remarked, standing behind the Lieutenant. She was soaking wet after having swam to the ship from her own. As Barkin turned, she whipped her leg across his face, knocking him back.
"Fire!" Shego called to Bonnie and Monique, who did not need to be told to do that, shooting at the sailors across from them. The pale woman then lit her hands and threw a plasma beam down at the hull of Barkin's ship. She blasted a couple of holes into it before turning to Wade. "Launch me, man! Those other ships are getting too close!" The three Navy ships were not too far off and could undoubtedly see that Barkin's vessel was under attack.
"Okay, but you do realize, I didn't have time to check all of the calculations—" Wade tried to explain, but he was cut off.
Shego growled. "Wade, I don't care! I used to do this all the time with a guy I trust far less than you and I know how to swim if you miss!"
The young man shrugged and decided to go through with the plan. His catapult was more of a slingshot made out of rubber they had liberated from one of their earlier prizes. They had never been quite sure what to do with it, but it was coming in handy now. He had to use some rope to connect the rubber and Shego had to be the one to pull it taut because she was the only one strong enough. She ended up launching herself by losing her footing. She swore all the way through the air, but had the presence of mind to ignite her hands. She looked like a blazing, emerald comet descending from heaven.
Shego crashed through the last ship in the line. She did not have any choice in the matter; it was not like she had brakes. The Imperial sailors never knew what hit them, not to mention Shego never knew what she hit to create such an explosive entrance. The Possible crew actually paused for a second when they saw the explosion light up the sky thanks to their helmsman. Shego hated she could not make her introduction speech about being the Dragon of the Sea, but at least they did not have to worry about that ship. As she swam off to get the next ship that was close, she figured they would get to know who it was that was going to destroy them. She hoped Ron and Yori were able to get the final ship on their own.
Ron and Yori had to get to the final ship — actually the second ship in the line — first. In order to do that, they joined with Kim's battle aboard Barkin's ship. Kim had quickly dispatched the Lieutenant Commander. He was conscious and roaring out commands, but he could not even stand up anymore thanks to the fiery redhead. Stubborn fellow that he was, he continued to try to stand, only to cause himself even more agony.
"How's it going, Kim?" Ron inquired, fighting his way through the lines.
"Not bad. I always prefer this than fighting from our ship. Despite being pirates, I think we're all still land-based creatures," Kim remarked. They fought best with their hands, even Bonnie and Monique were better shots when they had solid ground underneath their feet.
Ron nodded in agreement and then moved on to make sure he did his part. Yori was the first one onto the second ship, swinging over from a rope and launching several throwing knives before she even landed. Ron was able to leap from ship to ship because they were so close. When Monique saw that Ron and Yori were on the other ship, she decided to lend a hand.
Monique went to her cannons, firing her guns at the second ship. They were close enough for her to easily hit the sides of the vessel. She decided to give the first ship a little taste of it, too. Wade went to fend of any return fire, the little that there was, with his own specialized cannons, managing to hold off getting their hull torn apart. Before long, both Naval ships were taking on water fast. Ron and Yori had barely established their presence on the second ship before they were retreating back to the Anything's Possible, having to fend off Naval sailors trying to board the ship. Kim joined them.
"Let's move out!" Kim called, blood oozing down her face from a gash on her head.
"I've got it! I'll bring 'er about for Shego!" Monique replied.
"Good. Everybody else on the guns!" Kim ordered.
The crew scrambled to their cannons. The Navy continued to fight, firing back even as their ships went down. Shrapnel flew everywhere as shells bombarded them and exploded around them. Smoke choked the hot air and there seemed to be chaos all around. The Company could only imagine how the battle would have gone if they had stayed onboard rather than taking the fight to the Navy.
"Shego, get your ass over here, so we can get moving!" Monique hollered as she maneuvered the Anything's Possible as closely as she could to the battling warrior.
"I'm coming!" Shego barked, flinging sailors off of her and dodging bullets. She dived overboard as quickly as possible, leaving a parting gift of blasting another hole in the already battered hull.
A rope was lowered into the ocean for Shego to latch onto as the Company Possible fled the scene. Shego climbed aboard to see the crew, all still alive, but looking worse for wear. Even though they had clearly won the fight, that victory was not as easy as it seemed.
"Everybody still got all their body parts?" Shego asked as she flung herself into the nearest seat. Guns were still being fired as they drew further and further away from the sinking ships.
"We're all pretty much still intact. Things just a little more open than they used to be," Kim replied with a laugh as blood continued to pour down her face. She was not the only gusher amongst them either, but no one brought up the cuts yet.
Once they were safely out of the range of the cannons, the crew started assessing the damages to themselves and to the ship. Bandages were used all around, as no one escaped the battle unmarked. The ship had to be patched up rapidly, but they would need to dock in order to make serious repairs.
"That went better than expected," Shego quipped as they settled down for dinner.
"It's only going to get worse. That lieutenant kept screaming at me that everyone in the Empire was coming after me and my 'mongrel' crew, what with the promise of nobility driving the Naval officers and money driving any other sailors. Everybody is looking for us, wanting to see us all dangling from the gallows," Kim stated, sipping the stew that was their evening meal. For a moment, they were all silent because it dawned on them that they could really be hanged if a big enough fleet came after them.
"So, what're we going to do?" Monique asked.
Kim went into her pocket and pulled out the map. "No more stalling. We go to the end of this now. It's in territory of the Empire's greatest enemy. They won't touch us there unless they're looking for a serious war. Thankfully, we haven't hit any of their ships, either, mostly because they're not allowed in Imperial waters," Kim answered.
"Then let's get there quick and live to retire," Ron stated. There was silence in agreement with him. They had done a lot as pirates, now they wanted to do a lot in life. So, they needed to make it to the end of that map. To the end of dreams.
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Next time: to the end of road.