Chapter 2
Shego maintained an outward appearance of calm as Dr. Drakken whirled to face the heroic pair of Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable, astonishment on his face.
"Kim Possible! How can you be here?"
"Your earthquake machine wasn't exactly hard to find, Drakken."
Shego took a moment to study Kim. She appeared to be all business, and her attention was strictly focused on Dr. Drakken. That was unusual, and certainly deliberate. Previously, Kim had at least kept one eye on her, when she wasn't entirely focused on her. It wasn't until now that Shego realized it hadn't necessarily been entirely because Kim considered her the greatest threat in the room, but possibly partly because Kim had just plain liked looking at her. She probably wasn't too fond of her right now. At least it seemed like her little speech had had the intended effect. It didn't make Shego feel as good as one might have thought.
"You mean my Intercontinental Electromagnetisizer."
"Whatever. We're here to shut it down."
"Never. Shego, stop them."
Everybody turned to look at her, Kim included. Her face was a carefully held mask, and Shego couldn't read anything but determination in it, which in itself told her plenty. Kim tensed for combat, but Shego made no immediate moves.
"I don't know, Dr. D. I'm kinda with them on that one. The ceiling looks like it's about to come down."
Shego ran her eyes up and down Kim, who blushed a little at the attention. It was nice to know she could still have such an effect on her. Instead of her usual cargo pants and turtleneck crop top, Kim was dressed in a tight, short-sleeved purple shirt and black flared pants.
"I like the new look, by the way." Shego mentally slapped her forehead. This was not the approach she had meant to take.
"The ceiling? Bah, I have no time for such trivial concerns when I'm about to bring the world to its knees."
"Sorry to burst your bubble, but I really don't think one little earthquake is going to bring the world to its knees any time soon."
"One little earthquake? You fool. My machine will shift the very continents themselves."
Kim brought her wrist to her mouth, and spoke to a device attached to it. "Uhh... Wade?"
"He's delusional, Kim," said the voice from the wrist communicator. "It's preposterous to even suggest one machine could do that."
"Delusional? I'll show you delusional."
Dr. Drakken leaped to the display screen set in one wall of the room and punched a number of buttons on the attached control panel. The screen filled with formulas and schematics. Kim looked at Shego, appearing perplexed. Shego shrugged her shoulders. Apparently the fight was delayed until her boss got a chance to demonstrate his brilliance.
"There: does that look preposterous to you, Mister Smarty-pants?"
Kim angled what had to be a compact, updated version of her communicator at the screen. There was a pause as the boy at the other end of the connection presumably studied the screen via a camera feed.
"That's... the mechanism actually seems solid. In fact, it's downright brilliant."
Dr. Drakken preened. "I told you. Once all the continents have been brought together in one super-continent..."
"Of course, it won't work, because he doesn't have nearly enough power, by some orders of magnitude. He misplaced a decimal point."
"What?" Dr. Drakken wheeled to stare at the equations on the screen. "Oh, snap; it's always that one thing. Stupid metric system..."
"And even if he did," the voice from the Kimmunicator went on, "it wouldn't work on the kind of timescale he seems to think."
"Oh, yeah, Dr. D. This was definitely worth waiting a year for. Definitely one of your more spectacular failures."
"Quiet, Shego. Hmph. No matter, I will at least give this paltry state the biggest earthquake in its history. They will know my name!"
"Dude, big deal. This is Colorado."
"Actually, Ron, the biggest recorded earthquake in Colorado was over six and a half on Richter scale. That can do considerable damage, especially in a state not prepared for big ones."
"Got it, Wade. Ron, let's go shut that thing down."
"No you won't. Shego, stop them."
"Yeah, yeah, keep your pants on. Please." Shego finally charged to intercept Kim, her hands igniting with her green Glow. An unrepentant part of her mind noted that Kim could take her pants off, if she wanted to.
"Ron, I've got Shego. Go find that machine."
"Got it, KP." Ron ran out of the room. Dr. Drakken ran after him. "Come back here, sidekick."
Shego attacked, opening with a vicious slash of her clawed fingers. Kim barely evaded the strike by throwing herself backwards.
"You really want to do this now, with the roof coming down on us?"
"What's the matter, Princess? Scared?" The attitude came easily, and Shego cursed herself. She wasn't sure how she could transition from that to an apology. The fight she didn't see as a problem; they always fought, and by now it was rather routine.
"You seemed to be fine with shutting the machine down two minutes ago."
"Just to irritate him. I'm on board with giving the locals a little shake up."
"Shego, if the earthquake builds up, a lot of people could be hurt, even killed."
"Evil, Kimmie. I'm evil, remember." Well, at least she was reinforcing the fact that they were not going to be together. She pressed her attack, and Kim kept dodging.
"I don't believe you. I can't believe you are that callous."
"Well, Kimmie, I'll be happy to demonstrate it once again. Just stand still for a second."
"How about no?"
"See, you don't trust me not to hurt you. Because you know I'm evil. It's not my fault you think evil is sexy." Goddammit, what was wrong with her? She was hitting all the wrong notes.
"I don't."
"Then why did you..."
"Shego! You promised."
Shego stopped her attacks, and the women eyed each other warily for a moment before relaxing.
"I did, didn't I? Yeah, maybe that was pushing it."
"If you really were evil, you wouldn't care."
"Drop it, Kimmie. Just because I have some standards doesn't mean I'm all warm and cuddly."
"Well, you seemed pretty warm when we cuddled."
"Kimmie, it's got to be a two way street." That was still a little unexpected rejoinder from Kim. Shego had expected more bitterness, or even downright hostility.
"But I wasn't... oh, yeah, I see."
"It's tempting, isn't it?"
"You're tempting." There was a twinkle in her eye. Had she come to terms with their fling, or was she still looking for more?
"And yet it was you who tempted me."
"You didn't really work very hard to resist."
"Hey, I'm the bad girl. I don't really make an effort to."
The fight had come to an awkward pause, with neither woman quite knowing how to proceed after the unscheduled flirting. Shego solved the problem in her usual fashion: with sudden and unrestrained violence. Her quick strike surprised Kim, and her non-powered punch connected with her stomach. Kim had to scramble back to reestablish her guard.
"That... that was a... cheap shot."
"Evil." Shego covertly shook her hand. Hitting Kim had hurt more than it should have. Was her new outfit reinforced somehow? Shego advanced on Kim again.
"Aren't you forgetting something?"
"Like what? The shaking?"
"Your glow. I might start to think you were going easy on me."
"Just getting warmed up, Kimmie."
She was also trying to determine what was going on. Without her Glow active, Kim was willing to get up close and personal. They exchanged blows, blocking and deflecting each other's attacks. Every time Shego landed even a glancing blow, it felt like she struck something more solid than flesh. It wasn't the costume; it happened when she hit a bare arm, too. Fighting Kim had never felt like this. It was almost like her body rebelled against hitting her.
What had changed and when? This was the first time she'd fought Kim since—since the affair with Lynn. Shego's eyes widened as a realization dawned on her. She remembered Lynn's orbs bouncing off Kim; the way she'd been caught in the flash that had given Lynn her power. What if the fragment had contained more than one Glow? Her entire family had been empowered by the larger part that had hit their house.
As they continued to grapple, Shego tried to study Kim. Her family had gone through changes, the Glow altering the color of their skin, their hair, their eyes. She couldn't tell if Kim's skin tone had changed. She peered deep into her eyes as they locked up. They were still green. But were there yellow flecks in them? She wasn't sure. Kim slipped out of her hold.
No, there was only one way to be sure. Shego finally lit up her hands as they faced off again.
"Okay, Kimmie. Let's get serious."
Shego pressed the attack, her hands slashing the air inches from Kim. Smell of ozone filled the air as the power of her Glow cut the very air itself. She wasn't holding back now. Kim couldn't afford to get into close quarters anymore, and concentrated on dodging as she tried to look for an opening.
"I promised you a beat-down, Kimmie. Now be a good girl and take your punishment."
"Punishment for what?"
Kim's evasions became wilder as Shego escalated, but she was still just fast enough to avoid the dangerous slashes. Shego shivered internally; if Kim missed just one beat, she could be seriously injured. Shego didn't want to maul the younger woman, she just wanted to press her hard enough for her to pull out all the stops.
"Shego, we don't have time for this. This place is shaking apart. We need to deactivate that machine."
"Wouldn't really be a good look for me to sabotage my employer."
"How about we shift the fight that way and accidentally destroy it?"
Shego wasn't sure if Kim was being practical, or trying to find common ground for them. She did know that she wasn't pressuring her hard enough if she could still focus on the big picture while warding her off.
"Stop talking and show me what you've got!"
Shego pushed herself as much as she ever had in a fight. No more allowing room for error; perhaps Kim had sensed that and taken advantage of it. Shego attacked her with everything she got: punches that could pulverize concrete, slashes that cut through steel, bone-breaking kicks, and glowing projectiles that hit like haymakers. Somehow Kim evaded or deflected all of them, but the margins were narrowing. Kim's outfit was torn in places, her skin showed cuts and bruises. She couldn't keep this up indefinitely, and one false move would see her hit.
"Show me, Kim!"
"Shego..."
Screaming from the effort Shego launched a veritable volley of glowing spheres at Kim, far too many to evade. Kim tried her best, but she was forced to block a number of the missiles. She grunted in pain as she was thrown back against a wall. Reeling, and out of room to maneuver, there was no way for her to dodge Shego's finishing blow.
Shego drove towards her, aiming to put her clawed fingers wreathed in her power right through her face. She wasn't sure just how bad a hit it would be: her Glow's effect on flesh wasn't as devastating as on materials like concrete or steel, but it was not a hit anyone would willingly take. Kim raised her arms to protect her face, and Shego waited for her to activate her Glow.
That never happened. Shego shifted her strike at the last second, shattering the wall beside Kim's head and showering her hair with concrete dust. Exhausted as she was, her Glow deactivated without a conscious decision. Kim lowered her hands and looked at Shego, her glistening face too close. Both women were panting.
"You pulled back."
"I could have killed you."
"Shego..."
"Don't read too much into it. I told you: I'm not a murderer. I was trying to make a point."
"I get it. You won't go easy on me."
Shego didn't answer, her attention drawn by the crack that extended up from the dent she'd made as the lair continued to shake. The crack snaked up to the ceiling, then extended along it. Dr. Drakken had built his lair into a cavern, then smoothed out the walls and ceiling of his command center with concrete. Now the shaking was separating it from the rock face. As Shego watched, a section came loose and fell towards them. It wasn't a large chunk, but plenty big enough to crush both of them.
Time seemed to slow down as Shego decided what to do. Her legs felt leaden, so she brought her hands up and called on her Glow to try to shred the falling piece. Her Glow didn't answer; she had utterly exhausted her reserves with her final onslaught. She didn't have time to warn Kim, let alone grab her and move them from the harm's way. All she could do was stare as the falling piece of masonry hurtled towards them.