Chapter Five

It had been three long and confusing days for the long teen hero know as Kim Possible. It had taken a full two days to work out which of the many rent-a-lairs that Dr. Drakken may have been using and another day to reach it.

And Kim could honestly say that it didn't look like a lair at all… it looked like a toy factory, right down to the giant teddy bear mascot on the roof. The disguise was so perfect that Kim wondered why Drakken hadn't used this lair before; trucks carrying large crates of supposed toy parts went in at all hours of the day and no one would ever question why a factory made the sounds that could be heard, sounds that if you'd heard them before you could identify them as the production of weapons and synthodrones. Lots of synthodrones.

Kim had never hesitated to enter one of Drakken's lairs before and this wasn't going to be the first time but she was scared. Kim was scared because Shego still hadn't woken up from when she had lost consciousness in the parking structure and the thief had worn on her face an expression of agony for the whole trip.

Kim was scared because she thought Shego might die.

So with thoughts of death in her mind Kim drove Shego's car straight towards the gates with no plan besides getting Shego somewhere safe. As she drove up the very, very long drive way to the factory it finally struck Kim how odd this whole situation was; Kim Possible the world's biggest hero was taking the world's most wanted criminal to safety.

It didn't surprised Kim when the gates of the 'factory' opened wide as she drove up to them, it didn't surprised Kim when the blue skinned doctor came running out of the factory to greet his beloved sidekick but it did surprise Drakken when his mortal enemy came out of the driver's seat instead of his sidekick. It didn't surprise Kim when he pulled some sort of ray gun on her. It also didn't surprise Kim when he dropped it upon seeing Shego in the back seat of the car.

"You monster!" screamed Dr. Drakken, "So it was you that sent those damn ninjas after us and now you've brought the body of my dearest Shego to taunt me before you finish me too!"

"Um Earth to Drakken, I'm a good guy, I'd never try and have you two killed," replied Kim who was more then a little disturbed by Drakken's sudden outburst. "And Shego isn't dead, she came to me for help and we BOTH got attacked by another ninja so now I've come to you for help."

Now it was Dr. Drakken's turn to be disturbed. Kim Possible was asking him for help or more precisely Kim Possible was asking for his help to help Shego. Drakken would never turn away anyone that was trying to help a member of his 'evil family' as he liked to put it.

Dozens of henchmen scrambled about as Drakken started issuing orders in his best I'm-a-scary-super-villain voice; three nameless goons came towards the car and gently lifted Shego between them and as Drakken barked at them, sped off for the medical center with all the speed they could muster. Another four goons slowly made there way up to Kim and offered her a pair of handcuffs.

"Dr. D do you really think that these would hold me?" asked Kim as she slipped them on in a movement that Drakken could have sworn he'd seen before.

"Just a precaution Possible," grunted Drakken as he motioned for her to follow him and Kim quickly did for where else could the villain be heading but to see Shego?

As Kim and Drakken walked through the 'factory' the teen hero was shocked by the sheer simplicity of Drakken's operation. Normally Dr. Drakken's lair would have many elements that you would expect to find in a cartoon super villain's lair; long corridors lit by dim lights and big impressive, high roofed rooms and huge steel doors. But not this time, this time the lair was nothing but a huge synthodrone and weapon production facility, nothing more, nothing less.

"Expecting to go to war Drakken?" asked Kim in a half sarcastic tone that again struck Drakken as familiar.

"Yes," answered Drakken in a cold and empty voice. "Someone has thrown down the gauntlet and I have decided to crush them, they will regret the day they wounded me and Shego."

It was just then that Kim noticed that Drakken was walking ever so slightly differently then he normally did and the hero wondered what wound had been dealt to the villain. And it was also then that Kim decided to postpone telling Drakken the whole story of her and Shego's flight.

Five minutes later and five levels below ground Kim and Drakken watched as several machines scanned Shego from head to toe. The news was not good.

"Seven broken bones, a punctured lung and enough internal bleeding to drop a horse… how is she still alive?" questioned Kim as she stared at the screens in disbelief.

"Her powers are keeping her alive and healing her at a pace beyond anything you could ever imagine Possible, she's been injured worse then this before and come out alive, I once saw her fall eight stories and walk away from it," answered Drakken in a tone that left no doubt in Kim's mind that the thief she had saved would live to see another day.

Several times over the next hour Drakken offered Kim a place to rest and even took the handcuffs off as the pair became more accustomed to each other's presence. And during that same hour Kim saw what could only be described as amazing. The first thing was that Shego's bleeding stopped, followed by her lung healing fully and then finally her bones setting back into place. When Kim saw all of this she had to wonder what kind of horrible injuries Shego had that had kept her unconscious for three days. When all of this was done and Shego was sleeping peacefully Kim finally accepted Drakken's offer of rest.

The Doctor showed Kim into the room he had set aside for Shego when she had finally arrived at the new lair and the very instant Kim set foot inside it she was overcome by not only Shego's traditional black and green color scheme but also by the fact that in this room were dozens of Shego's things, a photo of her brother's, old trophies for gymnastics and martial arts and even a key to Go City. When Kim asked how Drakken had gotten these things here he told Kim that it was always his highest priority during an evacuation of a lair to rescue Shego's things. It struck Kim as strangely fatherly that Drakken would put the safety of his equipment and himself after Shego's happiness.

And with the knowledge that she had done what she set out to do; bring Shego to safety, Kim laid down upon the black bed and rested her head on a green pillow that smelt of danger and excitement.