Chapter 20
Kim Possible saw Electronique aim the Reverse Polarizer at her and knew it was the moment of decision. She played the one card she had left. The beam met a glowing yellow spheroid around her hand and shot back at the villain. Kim could hear Shego calling her name, but there was no time to focus on that. This might be her last chance to get loose, and she wasn't going to waste it.
The arm around her loosened a little, but not enough for her to get free. She jammed her thumb into Hego's eye. Whether it hurt him or not, it was enough to make him let go. Kim was aware the move was somewhat on the nasty side, and she briefly wondered if the beam might have affected her. She decided it hadn't; she had been planning to try that if a better option didn't appear.
The next order of business was getting Shego free. Kim believed the old Shego would have managed it on her own, but this nicer Shego probably didn't want to use the force it would have required. In some situations the change was a real drawback. This was not a moment to hold back. Wego were still looking at the catwalk. Kim was curious herself, but didn't have time to check what effect the beam had had on Electronique. A few well-placed strikes forced the Wego to let go of Shego.
"Shego, don't just stand around. This is our chance."
"Right. Don't hurt my brothers too bad."
"I won't hurt them any worse than I need to."
"Dodge!"
Kim threw herself back, and just avoided a bolt of electricity that hit Wego instead. She wasn't sure which one of them had been the target, and looked towards Electronique. She looked back with an expression of glee.
"You didn't really think I'd be unprotected from my own weapons, did you?"
"Hey, I might get lucky one day."
"You really are a lot like my Adrena. It's a shame the Reverse Polarizer didn't take, but we can try again." Kim noted that, despite her words, she'd laid the device down. "Right now, though, I'm more intrigued by your Glow. Did you get it at the same time as Adrena? You must have."
"Or did you catch it from your girlfriend?"
"Shush, dear. Let's see it in action again. It's a shield of some kind, no?"
Electronique thrust both arms towards Kim and unleashed more lightning. Kim did her best to get out of the way. Team Go, who had stood respectfully still while Electronique talked, scrambled to get away from her. At least that gave her more room to operate.
Kim reflected one bolt back towards Electronique, but it had no effect on her, her suit appearing to absorb it without trouble. Well, she'd already said she was protected from her own weapons. Kim wished her glow didn't always send the attacks back to the sender, but would let her redirect Electronique's attacks towards Team Go or Adrena. She'd just have to do it the hard way. She dove towards the nearest concentration of Wego. The Wego scattered before they would be hit by Electronique, but at least it disrupted their attack on Shego.
"Shego, target Electronique." She was the one with the ranged attacks, after all.
Shego, momentarily clear, took the opportunity to fling a few green bolts at Electronique. They were deflected by a shimmering force field, but at least Electronique had to stop her attacks while it kicked in. It gave Kim an idea.
Unfortunately the pause in Electronique's fire also gave Hego a chance to come barreling in. Kim dove out of the way, then had to fight off more copies of Wego, which gave Hego enough time to round up on her again. She risked a glance at Electronique just in time to spot her firing again, and reflected the bolt back while avoiding a wild swing from Hego. Fighting on the floor was not a winning tactic. There were just too many threats to keep track of, and she wasn't making any headway on reducing the number.
"Shego, hit her again."
Kim jumped at Hego while drawing her trusty hairdryer grapple. She hit Hego square on the chest with both feet and pushed off while firing the grapple at the railing of the catwalk. Hego was barely staggered, but she activated the retraction mechanism and was pulled towards Adrena and Electronique before he could grab her. Shego had obeyed her command and Electronique was busy with her attack. Adrena's eyes widened in sudden alarm.
Then Monique came diving over the railing, straight towards Kim. Kim let go of the grapple to brace herself for impact. She grabbed hold of Monique as her momentum carried them forward, under the catwalk. She kicked off the wall as they fell. Her combat instincts told her to twist so she would land on top of Monique, but her better sense prevailed. This was her friend, who was in harm's way because of her. She turned so she would land on her back, cradling Monique.
She landed hard on her back, with Monique's weight on her squeezing her ribs and driving the breath out of her. The kick off the wall had added enough sideways momentum that she managed to turn the fall into a roll to bleed off some of the force of the impact, even holding Monique. Kim landed on top, and Monique recovered enough to start fighting her. She didn't have much experience, but she did have spirit; it was like wrestling with a wild cat.
Kim didn't have time to subdue Monique with Team Go looking to cash in on the opportunity. Several copies of Wego were rushing towards her, and she couldn't afford to let them get to her. If they pinned her down, she might not get up again. She disengaged from Monique in one sinuous move, flowing straight into an attack on the closest Wego.
Kim wasn't sure how damage to the copies affected the original Wego, but she didn't have the luxury of pulling her punches when this outnumbered. She could just hope they wouldn't get too hurt, and apologize afterward. The Wego were trying to drag her down with sheer numbers rather than through any sophisticated tactics, but quantity had a quality all its own. Kim stayed in motion, avoiding the attempts to grab her, and striking back hard. Every move ended in a punch or a kick.
Monique got up on her feet and her orange eyes focused on Kim. Kim rolled under a grab from Wego and gave Monique a quick shove in the direction of Shego, who was holding off her share of Wego copies and Hego. Her powered punches appeared to be giving Hego more pause than Kim's. She couldn't really push the advantage while harassed by Wego, though, and she seemed reluctant to hit them hard enough to put them out of the fight.
"Shego, stun Monique." Preferably before she regained her balance and did something dangerous.
"Kim, I told you, it's a risky move."
Shego hadn't hesitated to use the technique on Ron when they faced Adrena the first time around. It had never occurred to Kim that excessive niceness could be such a drawback.
"The sooner she's down, the less chance she'll have to get herself hurt. Do it!"
"If you're sure..."
Shego disengaged from Hego and reached a hand towards Monique's head. Monique tried to avoid it, but was hindered by the press of bodies around them. Shego's glow flared for a brief moment and Monique slumped to the ground. Why wasn't she using the move on Wego?
Perhaps it took more concentration than she could muster in the melee. Her focus on Monique gave Wego a chance to get a hold on her. Kim rushed to her aid, hoping to avoid Wego attacking her in turn with sheer speed. Mego popped up in front of her, and Kim aimed an elbow at him, but he shrunk down to avoid it. She'd almost forgotten about him.
Kim hit the Wego hard, and managed to clear herself and Shego some breathing room. Mego appeared in front of her again. She fainted with a punch, and he shrunk down just in time to catch her kick. His power did strange things to his mass as he changed size. He definitely weighed more than an action figure, but less than he did when full-sized. Her kick sent him flying across the room. She didn't have time to see if he got up or not, as Hego rushed her.
Kim retreated towards the back wall, baiting Hego for an attack. He came forwards in a crouch with arms extended, clearly intending to grab her again. He probably expected her to try to duck under his arms, but Kim jumped over him as he lunged. She planted her feet on the back of his head and pushed off with all her might. Hego was off-balance enough that she actually managed to stagger him. She felt his face being driven into the wall. Maybe that would slow him down for a moment.
More importantly, using him as a springboard she managed to grab the edge of the catwalk above her. She had to take down Adrena and Electronique to have any chance of victory. She swung herself over the railing in one acrobatic move, landing in front of Adrena Lynn. Shego had fortunately picked up on her plan and launched a barrage of glowing projectiles to distract the villains, allowing her to reach the position unopposed.
"Give it up, Adrena."
Adrena brandished a stick in each hand and set herself against Kim. "Not a chance, Kim Possible." One of the sticks crackled with electricity. "This time, I'll come out on top."
"How many times is this, now? You aren't in my league."
"We'll see about that."
Adrena lunged at Kim, striking with a stick. Kim evaded to the side, the catwalk having just enough space for the move. Electronique took the opportunity to send a bolt her way, and Kim quickly scrambled to put Adrena between them again. She needed to be done fast, before Wego could attack her from behind. Shego couldn't keep all of them pinned. She activated her glow.
"So that's why my power doesn't work on you. How can you possibly get that lucky?"
Kim received the next strike on her shield, and Adrena's arm was thrown back when the stick made contact. She barely managed to keep hold of her weapon.
"Anything is possible for a Possible." Kim kicked Adrena just above her knee while she was off balance. "Or maybe you're just unlucky, to give your enemy the perfect defense to your power right when you got it."
"I will destroy you!"
Adrena charged forward with a high strike, favoring one leg. Kim stepped back out of the way and Adrena overbalanced. Kim capitalized by punching her in the face. She pulled back a little, not wanting her glow to take her head off. She needn't have worried; her punch connected with all the effectiveness of a balloon. She wondered if it was yet another power interaction, or if she and her glow just had drastically different views on the sanctity of conservation laws.
Adrena blinked, equally surprised. Before she could recover, Kim extinguished her glow and hit her in the solar plexus. Adrena took a step forwards, then dropped on her knee, sticks falling from her hands. Kim knew she was futilely trying to draw a breath, panicking as she found she couldn't. She would need a few seconds to recover. Kim kneed her in the chin, remembering her glass jaw. Adrena went down and didn't get up. Kim bent to pick up one of the sticks and stepped over her prone body, eyes on Electronique.
"You know, I've grown quite fond of that face."
"It'll heal." It wasn't such a bad face, really.
"I don't generally like to get my hands dirty, but I think I'm going to enjoy taking you down."
Kim considered banter an essential part of freak fighting, but in this case she suspected Electronique was stalling while copies of Wego rushed to her aid. She could hear their feet pounding the metal stairs. Letting Electronique get the last word for now, she rushed forwards, fainting to her right. Electronique attacked with an electric discharge again, as she'd expected. She dodged to the left and brought the stick down, her thumb finding the activation button as she struck. The hit rebounded from crackling shield that came into being around Electronique.
"Shield for every occasion, huh?" Electricity didn't seem to bother her, but adding a physical attack made her resort to a shield.
"I'm very versatile. Now: fry."
Kim evaded Electronique's attack by jumping to the railing, then used it as a springboard to jump to the wall above Electronique. "Shego, hit her now!"
As Kim went sailing over the villain, she saw Shego obey her from the corner of her eye. The effort left her visibly spent, and the Wego copies around her took advantage of the opportunity. The other copies had reached the catwalk and were rushing towards her. This gambit had to work; she was running out of time. Kim landed behind Electronique and threw the stick at her head.
"It is futile, heroes. My defenses are impregnable..." Electronique's sentence was cut short and her body went rigid, the shield not stopping the beam from the Reverse Polarizer this time.
Kim let her thumb off the activation stud of the device she had scooped up while Electronique was distracted. "I figured maybe you had different shields for different threats, rather than one that could handle everything."
"Yes, yes, quite brilliant; and I'm grateful you have shown me the light. But could you perhaps revert these fine young gentlemen back to their heroic selves before they do us violence? I'd hate to hurt them unnecessarily."
"How do I do that?"
"Simply use the Reverse Polarizer on them. I configured it so that a second strike removes any alterations done by the device. It was not an easy thing to accomplish, but the added elegance of design was well worth the trouble, don't you agree?"
Kim beamed down the Wego copies on the catwalk. "Yes. Very handy." She turned towards the floor. Hego was an easy target, and she wasted no time in turning him back, then picked off the Wego bodies surrounding Shego. Mego was lying in a heap in a corner, in his full size, making him easy to deal with. Kim surveyed the now quiet battlefield. Shego was being helped up by Wego while Hego looked confusedly around. It was over.
Kim scanned the studio one last time, but everything seemed to be in order. Team Go was back to their old selves, as far as she could tell. She didn't think they'd be subtle enough to fake being restored, but it would be verified in time. Electronique had confirmed that the Reverse Polarizer left a distinct mark on the brain that could be detected.
The good Electronique seemed genuinely repentant for her past self's misdeeds and hadn't protested against being restrained. She had even been good enough to give Kim the controller for the cuffs that could suppress Adrena's glow, which was very handy. The pair of them were currently being watched by Team Go, though Adrena had yet to regain consciousness.
Monique was up, however. Apparently Shego had tried to use the smallest possible amount of power in rendering her unconscious, though she certainly seemed like she might have a concussion. At least she was free from mind control. Kim had urged her to rest for the moment. She still felt bad about having dragged her into this mess, but glad she had come through mostly unharmed.
Kim walked up to Shego, who was a little worse for the wear. Kim suspected her body would be covered in bruises after tangling with Wego and Hego, but frazzled as she was, she still looked relieved. The sight of her reminded Kim that she would likely be hurting herself, once the adrenaline wore out. They had both been through a wringer. But the crisis wasn't quite over yet.
"You did it. I almost didn't believe it, but you did it."
"We did it. We saved your brothers, and caught the bad guys. Well, girls."
"It's finally over."
"It's almost over."
"Yeah, we still need to get Electronique and Adrena Lynn into custody, and make sure my brothers are in the clear, but I'm sure it'll work out."
"With Electronique's testimony and me to vouch for them, I'm sure their name will be cleared. That wasn't what I meant."
"Then what did you mean?"
"Shego..." Kim played with the modified Attitudinator helmet in her hands. "There's something I've struggled with lately, and I wish I could ask for your advice, but I can't. It has to be on me." Kim looked at Shego, her expression determined.
"Kimmie?" Shego's eyes strayed to the device, then back at Kim's face, filling with panic. "No, Kim, don't—"
Kim's finger touched the activation stud. "I'm sorry."
Bright flash surrounded Shego. Her body went rigid, then slumped forward, disheveled hair falling to obscure her face. Kim waited, holding her breath while her heart raced in her chest.
Shego looked back up at her, face contorted with fury. Kim flinched as green glow lit around her clawed fingers. She slashed, and her claws cut right through the Reverse Polarizer.
Kim dropped the sparking and smoking remains. "Shego, I hadn't turned Electronique back yet."
Shego glanced towards the ex-villainess, then back at Kim. "Poetic justice, Kimmie. Serves her right." Her expression was neutral, but Kim hoped she glimpsed some guilt in it.
"How do you feel?"
"Like crap, Kimmie. I was beat up by Wego of all people, and I exhausted myself pretty bad using my Glow so much." Shego grimaced.
"That's not what I meant."
"You've been mind-controlled before, Kimmie. You know how it feels."
"It wasn't mind-control, though, it was a shift in personality."
"All the same, for the past few days it wasn't me in charge." Shego looked around. "I'd rather not be here when the law gets here. Catch you later, Kimmie." She started walking for the side exit.
"Wait!" Kim took a step towards retreating Shego. "I just need to know: was it... was it the right thing to do?"
Shego turned back to look at Kim from the doorway. "Why are you asking me, Kimmie? I'm not exactly an authority on ethics." She looked away for a second, then back at Kim. "But for what it's worth... thank you." Then she was gone.
Kim, staring at the door, heard someone walk up to her. She turned her head enough to see it was Monique.
"Why did you do it, Kim?"
"It was the right thing to do. We turned everyone else back, she deserved the same."
"Even if she's back to being a villain?"
"That's her choice."
"You know she's going to commit crimes again, hurt people. It could be said that's on you, now."
Kim turned to face Monique. "Then I'll be sure to stop her. Just like always."
"Kim, did you really turn her back because you thought it was the right thing to do?" Monique took a deep breath. "Or did you do it because you prefer her this way."
"Monique..." Kim turned away once more. "I undid everything Electronique did. That's good enough, right?"
"Kim, I just..."
"Yes?"
"Never mind. Let's go home."