Green Silk, Black Satin

Chapter 4: Enlisted

Disclaimer: I do not own Kim Possible or any of the characters there within, excepting the ones I created who are not present in this chapter. Kim Possible is property of Disney!

Kim strongly believed her shoulder was dislocated.

As she and Ron pulled their ripcords in free-fall, the snap of the full chute jarred her aching limb and she cried out in pain. She couldn't properly reach the toggle on the steering line with her left arm, leaving only her right to operate her entire spiraling descent.

After an eternity, Kim landed hard just up the street from her house. She cut the line. The rough flight seemed to have inflamed her already angry arm. She'd worry about the chute later; she needed medical attention now.

Ron, who had landed before Kim for once, rushed up to her.

"KP, are you all right?" His eyes searched her face. Kim tried her best to put on a smile.

"I need to see my mom. Can you get my parachute? Please and thank you." She walked on without pause, cradling her left arm to her.

The crisp morning air kept Kim's head level as she tramped over the dew-tipped grass before her house. It was early yet; her mother should still be whipping up eggs and bacon for the family.

Kim went straight inside and immediately dodged a rocket that hurtled out of the front door. The automatic movement sent white-hot pain into Kim's arm and shoulder.

"TWEEBS!" she screamed as they rushed giggling past her. "Not now!"

"What's your problem?" Jim and Tim said together, not waiting around for an answer. Kim tottered her way to the kitchen and found her parents poring over the paper; her father the news section, her mother the lifestyle.

"Did you read about the bomber in London?" Mr. Possible said.

"Nineteen dead," Mrs. Possible sighed. "What a terrible waste of life."

"Mom?" Kim groaned.

"Good Morning, Ki— " Doctor Ann Possible looked up from the table, surveyed her daughter for an instant and jumped to her feet. "Honey, what happened? What's wrong with your arm?"

"I think it's popped out." Kim bit her lower lip, fighting the pulsing waves of pain. Mr. Possible put his paper down. Ann swept over to her daughter's side and examined the shoulder. Gentle, experienced fingers probed the soreness.

"Partial anterior dislocation," the doctor mumbled, "how long has it been like this?"

"For the plane ride back?" Kim said. At her mother's concerned look, she continued. "It didn't really start hurting until about an hour ago."

"On the table." Ann led Kim to the dining table as Mr. Possible quickly cleared it. Kim lay on her back as her mother clasped above Kim's bad shoulder and wrist. The doctor directed her husband to hold their daughter's other shoulder down.

"What happened, Kimberly?" Her father demanded; his tone laced with anxiety as he pressed her shoulder to the table. Kim's face twisted up in pain as her mother firmly pulled on her left arm. A shock of agony rebounded up and down her arm.

"Shego." Kim said, grinding her teeth. "She went craz—AHH!"

"I'm so sorry, sweetheart!" Ann let Kim's arm go slack as her daughter panted.

"Shego? Haven't you clashed with that woman before? You never came home like this." A knit formed between Mr. Possible's eyebrows. Ann readjusted her grip on Kim's arm and began to pull again. Kim shut her tearing eyes, a muted scream filling her throat.

"Whoa, what happened to Kim?" Tim said as he and his twin brother entered the kitchen.

"Kim's arm is broken!" Jim shouted and the pair swarmed the table.

The twins hovered over their sister more delighted than distressed by the unusual circumstances befalling their invincible sister.

"TWEEBS!"

"Boys, out!" Ann snapped. The twins, too startled by their mother's curt dismissal to understand the gravity of the situation, quietly went to stand on the far end of the kitchen just as Ron entered. He gasped and dropped Kim's tangled parachute.

"Kim!"

"Ronald, please," Mr. Possible warned, when the girl jerked at the sound of her friend's voice. The stony reception left Ron speechless as he stood watching the Doctor Possibles labor over their rigid daughter. Rufus rushed up onto Ron's shoulder, whiskers trembling. All of them intent the kitchen table. Mr. Possible continued to adhere to the brisk directions his wife gave him.

A squeak, a sudden jolt and Ron tensed. Even the twins flinched at Kim's agonized cry.

After several excruciating attempts, Kim's arm popped in. The girl heaved a sigh and went lax. Everyone around her let out relieved sighs. Ron rushed forward, shocked and confused as Ann helped her daughter sit up. She and her mother glistened with sweat from straining to right the dislocation. They exchanged glances, worry for reassurance. Ann affectionately brushed a lock of red hair from Kim's eyes.

"Kim, I—I didn't know Shego—" Ron began, but Kim shook her head.

"I didn't know she could either," Kim admitted.

"How does this feel?" Her mother gently rotated Kim's arm. "Is there numbness? Pain? Tightness? Should I stay home?"

"No, it's much better, thanks Mom." To prove it, Kim slid off the kitchen table and tested the arm herself. It was a bit stiff, but felt right again.

"Show's over." Jim said to Tim.

"Too bad. We could have given her a cyber-robotic arm."

"Yeah! One that shoots missiles out of the fingertips."

"Or grenades!"

The twins went off spouting ideas on how they could have improved upon their sister if she'd given them the chance. Kim rolled her eyes and grabbed an apple.

"I have to get to school."

"Are you serious, KP?" Ron asked.

"Ronald's right, are you sure you're up to it, Kimmie Cub?" Mr. Possible cautiously placed a hand on his daughter's shoulder.

"I'm fine, Dad."

"Ann?"

"Only the patient knows best." She said.

"I'm fine," Kim insisted.

The three studied her and exchanged glances. Her father frowned as he went upstairs to freshen up for work, Ron ran home to get his homework, but her mother hung back. Dr. Possible and Kim stared at each other.

"That's never happened to you, Kim," she said softly. "Why this time?"

Kim didn't want to explain about accepting jewelry from a strange man and the violent reaction it caused in her arch-nemesis. She shrugged.

"One insult too many, I guess." Her mother did not seem convinced.

"Maybe you should take a…a break from saving the world?" She picked up the paper and held it up for Kim to see. An image of a blackened, rubble-strewn train tunnel took up half the page; its headline read London Tube pipe bombed. "There have been reports of robberies in Silicon Valley, a jailbreak in Scotland, thefts from a temple in India—"

"And burglaries in Zhongguancun, I know, Mom. Wade's got me up to date. They'll call if they need me."

Mrs. Possible set down the paper, her words caught in her throat.

"There seems to be a lot of unrest these days. The world is not as safe as it used to be." She met her daughter's eyes again. "I worry."

"It's no big, I can handle myself and anything those villains can throw at me. I gotta go, Mom. Thank you for fixing me up."

Kim pressed a kiss to her mother's cheek and stepped back to go but her mother's hand caught hers.

"Be careful, Kim." Ann squeezed her hand and left. Kim watched her mother go and stared at the apple in her hand. She put the fruit back in the basket and headed out the door.

Shego's vicious attack haunted Kim's thoughts all day.

The fight replayed over and over in her mind; she threw a punch, jumped one of the villainess' sweep-kicks and Shego responded as she always did. But what unsettled Kim was Shego's expression when those catlike eyes locked on the locket around Kim's neck. The shock and fury on that green face was palpable. A horror mixed with a deep, dark wrath that carried into Shego's terrifying ironclad hold. Kim could still feel the plasma burning her wrist.

But underneath all of Shego's anger, there was a note of desperation underpinning her words. The dripping venom gave way to urgency.

And Kim's still stiff arm left her with a certain disquiet. She gently gave her shoulder a roll as Mr. Barkin droned on about trigonometry equations and her muscles clenched. Kim nibbled the eraser on her pencil.

It was as if, for the first time, Shego engaged Kim in real combat. It made every previous fight seem like a friendly sparring match between friends; every brawl a playact where Shego did not give her all. Kim encountered the hidden villain in Shego: A being with no mercy. And Shego departed the instant she got what she wanted.

What did it all mean?

After an unproductive day of school, Ron met Kim at her locker, still shaken by the events of that morning.

"So Kim, uh, up for Bueno Nacho?" He fidgeted.

Kim put a couple books in her locker and shut it, shouldering her backpack on her good arm.

"My arm is still a bit stiff. I think I'm just going to head home."

"Want me to walk you?" Ron offered.

"Nah, you go on ahead." Kim touched his shoulder when Ron frowned. "Bring me back something, 'kay?"

Ron watched her go.

Kim got a block from the school when the sidewalk opened beneath her and she went tumbling into a tube that sealed and shot through a dark, underground tunnel. Her stiff arm jarred by the abduction, Kim lay awkwardly on her backpack as the pod accelerated in a horizontal fashion, bracing the glass with her hands for support. Her left shoulder socket gnawed at her during the turbulent ride, but she stubbornly weathered the ache. This had Global Justice's signature all over it.

An instant later, the cylinder slowed and landed on a transporter pad where it locked in and its glass door hissed open in time with a thick metal plate revealing the antechamber of Global Justice. Standing on the other side was a woman in boots, a blue jumpsuit, and a patch over her right eye. She smiled.

"Kim Possible."

"Dr. Director," Kim said, stepping out of the cylinder, "to what do I owe this honor?"

"I'm so glad you asked." The commander of Global Justice turned smartly and headed into the heart of the top secret spy organization. Kim followed past the central information bureau lined with agents typing at computers, the laboratory and technology wings, and finally into the war room.

Agents poring over maps and databases paused in their work to salute Dr. Director who returned the gesture. Several operatives moved to the main module and opened a holographic, three-dimensional map of the globe that slowly rotated on its axis. Flickering red lights highlighted major cities on every continent but Antarctica. One indistinct agent swept to the fore and urgently whispered something to Dr. Director. The leader nodded and murmured back.

"The compliance serum didn't work? Sedatives?" A mutter. "Keep her contained, I'll be there in twenty."

Kim leaned back from the conversation with a sheepish smile when Dr. Director turned to her. The woman's hard expression lasted a second longer than it should have before softening as she addressed Kim and gestured to the holographic image.

"You may or may not be aware of the troubling times, Kim. There have been cases of stolen technology in Silicon Valley, inmates broken out of Scotland Yard, Virupaksha temple raids—"

"And burglaries in Zhongguancun," Kim finished, "I know. If they need me they'll call."

Dr. Director's eyebrows raised a fraction as she stared at Kim.

"Oh," Kim said.

"Global Justice has been following the criminal activity of villains the world over for more than thirty years. We've discovered a troubling trend in our reconnaissance and the recent outbreak of felonies."

"Like what?" Kim asked. Dr. Director took a deep, steadying breath.

"There is a war going on, Kim." One of the agents on a computer module below opened several recorded feeds of what Kim determined were undercover spy investigations. An irate police officer stood beside a blown out wall of Scotland Yard and on the ground behind him sat a golf ball. The Virupaksha was a temple dedicated to monkeys in India. And familiar claw marks marred the walls of a secured technology facility. Kim frowned. "Villains all over the world are running amok and wreaking havoc in major cities, with assaults peaking in the last few weeks. Every blinking light you see are cities that have been struck."

Dr. Director pressed a button on the navigation board and four very familiar faces appeared on screen.

"Though our data has yet to be officially confirmed, we believe Dr. Drakken, Duff Killigan, Lord Montgomery Fiske, and Professor Rudolph Demenz are behind each of these offenses."

"All these villains committing crimes at the same time?" Kim mused. "I don't get it, they all seem to be after something totally different."

"We have reason to believe that these criminal acts are separate—but connected."

"How?" Kim asked. Dr. Director studied the faces on the screen with a glazed eye and clasped her hands behind her back.

"Nothing has been confirmed," the director stressed again, "but I have a hunch."

Kim waited. And she had the distinct impression that every agent within earshot was listening on tenterhooks too. When Dr. Director spoke, her voice was low.

"The Worldwide Evil Empire." Kim was certain there wasn't a single keystroke to be heard in the war room.

"But doesn't WEE usually do more…silly crimes?" Kim suggested as tactfully as she could, but Dr. Director's stony expression did not change.

"It's not his usual puerile approach. This is something new, organized and focused. Something dangerous. But I'm almost certain Gemini is pulling the strings—flying under the radar, obscuring his movements. He's trying to get his hands on our projects." Dr. Director came back to herself and glanced about the room. The subtle clack of typing resumed and underscored the tension in the chamber. Kim looked at the images of the annoyed villains and thought of a half dozen reasons they would launch strikes nearly simultaneously, but none of the notions held. She pursed her lips. WEE, huh? It wasn't terribly unlikely the crime syndicate was involved.

Kim filed the information away to ask Wade later.

"What's your plan?" Kim asked.

"If we can contain the villains causing the disturbances, things should settle and return to order." Dr. Director gestured to the agent manning the computer modules and the screens went black.

"And how do we contain the villains?" A subtle hint of uncertainty laced Kim's tone and Dr. Director seemed to pick up on it. She smiled reassuringly at the teenage heroine.

"I assure you, we have the means to apprehend the world's villains in a precisely coordinated and systematic approach. However…"

"Here we go." Kim grimaced. The director's expression confirmed the girl's preemptive declaration.

"The plan has encountered an isolated anomaly. A hiccup if you will."

"And you need my help fixing it." Kim crossed her arms over her chest.

"Not quite. We want you to capture this convicted felon." Dr. Director smartly shuffled through a database and opened an image of a grinning black-haired, green-skinned woman. Kim's arm ached and she clasped it with her opposite hand.

"Shego? What does she have to do with this?"

"Unfortunately, the campaign is top secret but I will go so far as to say her capture is absolutely essential to the success of the plan. We received word from our scouts that Shego was alerted to our arrest operations team and has eluded us since. If you can capture her, signal us and we will collect her as quickly as possible." The woman handed Kim a beacon which the girl turned over in her hands. A single green light winked at her over a glass-encased button. She dropped the gadget in her pocket. Dr. Director began to walk back to the transportation pods. "You may also contact us if there are any…incidents."

"Incidents? Like what?" Kim readjusted her backpack, her shoulder reminding her once again it was not happy with her. Dr. Director punched a code into one of the transporters and the bay doors opened. She gestured for Kim to enter.

"You'll know."

A small frown pressed Kim's lips as she stepped into the tube.

"Remind me why you want Shego again?"

The director glanced over her shoulder and turned to Kim. She placed a hand on the teen's shoulder and spoke softly.

"I know the mission parameters are vague, but I want you to know, Kim, that Shego is the key to saving the world."

Kim's mouth opened as Dr. Director stepped back with a buoyant smile.

"We have the utmost confidence in you, Kim Possible. Good luck."

Kim popped up street-side out of a false manhole a moment later, not far from her house. Her head buzzing and sore arm still tingling a bit, she called Wade as she walked up the street. He answered an instant later.

"What's up, Kim?"

"Wade, can you hack GJ's system and see if Shego pops up anywhere?" she asked.

"Global Justice?" Wade's eyebrows rose. "Their encryptions are top notch. Give me awhile and I'll see what I can drudge up."

"Please and thank you." Kim dropped the transmitter back into her pocket and turned the corner.

She spotted Ron sitting on her front porch with what looked like a takeout bag from Bueno Nacho. A smile tugged at her lips. Ron perked up at her approach, grabbed the food and ran down to meet her.

"Hey Kim, where were you? Your folks said you never came home and I was starting to worry. I brought you some nacos." He handed her the bag and she took it; the bottom was soaking with meat sauce and grease. Apparently, Ron had been waiting awhile.

"Long story." Kim ran a hand through her hair and explained all that had happened to Ron since she'd left school, the global turmoil, GJ's odd mission; she even flashed Ron the beacon they'd issued her. Ron's jaw steadily dropped. He began pacing until Kim reiterated Dr. Director's final statement about Shego and he stopped dead.

"…WHAT?" Ron clenched his hair in both hands. Even Rufus popped up from his pocket in surprise.

"Shego?" The mole rat squeaked.

"Shego? Shego, who destroys, steals and fights us every other day—Shego, the villain—save the world? Wha—how—That doesn't even make sense! What is GJ thinking?"

Kim tucked a loose tendril of hair behind one ear as an image of a sneering Shego cropped up in her mind. The woman's brothers appeared around her.

"Maybe it's not so weird. I mean, Shego used to be a good guy," Kim reasoned aloud.

"Yeah well, not anymore! Shego's bad news any way you cut it." Ron and Rufus threw her a skeptical look. "And GJ wants to make her good? What, are they like, paying Shego to take down all the villains of the world? Is that even possible? Villains taking out villains?"

"I don't know what they're planning, but this is GJ we're talking about. If any super-secret spy agency could turn Shego good again, it's them." Kim fished out her Kimmunicator and dialed Wade.

"You're really on board with this then?" Ron said, uncertain. He exchanged glances with an anxious Rufus. "Capturing Shego? Especially after she almost—"

Ron's words caught at Kim's expression and he cleared his throat.

"We'll get to the bottom of this." Determination etched the teen heroine's face as Wade appeared on the Kimmunicator. "Wade, got anything on Shego?"

He shook his head.

"GJ's security is as tight as ever."

"So you couldn't get in?" Kim asked as Ron peered over her shoulder.

"I didn't say that. I hacked the encryptions just fine, but their information is gone. Total system blackout. The top secret folders can be opened but most of the raw data files are obscured or digitally scrambled. I did a lot of digging and only found one item with Shego's name mentioned once under something called 'The Elite Project.'"

"'The Elite Project?'" Kim's brow knit while behind her Ron mumbled something about GJ and the folly of trusting villains. "GJ and Shego. What are they planning?"

Wade shrugged, put off by the shut out.

"You got me. Look." Wade pressed a key and her Kimmunicator screen mirrored his. A boldfaced The Elite Project banner sat over a blackened-out document with only a few sparse visible headers like "mission parameters," "concept of employment," "logistic capabilities," and "SHEGO" littered on the page.

"This is some heavy stuff." Ron mumbled.

The three stood silent for a moment. Kim recovered first.

"Where is Shego now?"

The boy genius sipped a soda and typed with his free hand.

"A police report was just filed in California of a robbery from a technology lab in Silicon Valley that has Shego's signature all over it."

"What was stolen?"

"The lab classified it as a 'molecular analyzer.'"

"Thanks for the tip, Wade. Keep me posted." Kim turned off the Kimmunicator and motioned Ron to follow her. "Time to pay Drakken a visit."


Author's Note: EEE! I didn't mean to take this long posting this chapter. I apologize dear readers. Life happens and it happens hard sometimes. But hey, at least this update is shorter than several years later. I'm hoping to update a little more regularly in the future, time allowing. Once a month? I'll shoot for it.

I'd like to thank imitateslife again for her help with this chapter-she's saved me a lot of future headache I might have run into otherwise. God is in the details they say. Thank you for the read-over and comments, my dear beta! This chapter is where it should be.

Shego dislocated Kim's shoulder, whoa! And what the heck is WEE planning? Or GJ for that matter? This chapter may not be quite as punchy as the third, but it does lay some important groundwork and I hope it still whets the appetite for what is to come. Which is a lot. A LOT, a lot. You buckled in yet?

As always, I hope you all have enjoyed and will please leave a review!

Blackfire 18