I do not own Kim Possible, any of the other characters in that series, or those from other media I may reference.
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The Wild West had looked worse. Though in this case it was merely a fairly cheap barroom set minus most of it's props, fortunately including the mirror! There had been a few intact chairs, there now being only one survivor tucked in one corner, and a pair of tables, now there was a litter of shattered wood liberally distributed across the floor.
There was a large gap in the bar, from which protruded the boots of a very unconscious EWWE agent. Four of his companions were lying equally unconscious around the perimeter of the room, their finish having been accomplished by a violent collision with one wall or another, at least two of which had been knocked out of alignment in the process. If there had been a chandelier overhead at least one would probably be on top of it, swinging back and forth in imposed repose, but that item was in storage anyway.
In the center of the room, dusting his clothes off roughly while keeping a wary eye out for any more of the black-and-teal clad minions who might still feel feisty was the instigator of the damage, Josh Killigan. His battledress blouse, plaid trews and Tam O'Shanter showed not the slightest disarray from his exertions. And the towering Scot had not even broken a sweat! Then a creak from the set's batwing doors caused him to turn and fix a stern gaze on them before shifting to a disapproving frown. "Och, Lass, that's no outfit to be running about in, yet alone getting into a minor debate!"
Taking in the contents of the room even as she shrugged, Shego nodded approvingly at the situation. Her two-piece outfit was a bit worse for wear, no longer being very white, though the two rents in the material were not threatening to reveal anything she cared about. On the other hand she had worked up a bit of a sweat, so she now looked like a patron involved in a much more modern bar activity then would have been acceptable in the Old West.
"Made one of our keepers bring mine and Bernie's clothes back to our cell, but these guys gave me no time to dress, so decided just to spare my clothes the damage!" As she said this, she looked behind the bar and winced at what she saw. In addition to the EWWE agent who had taken the 'shortcut' to the back, there were at least six more piled back there. "See you got in a good bit of exercise here, Jock, even Duff would be impressed!"
"T'Hell, this was nowhere near enough to work off my rage at such a wanton violation of my hospitality! I'll have to go toss a few cabers to get it out of my system! I still intend to take the world record for most tosses in three minutes away from that Canadian someday!" He then placed his hands on his hips and regarded Shego with a no-nonsense glare. "Now where's the fellow who's actually responsible for spoiling my pleasant afternoon hiding? I'd like a word with the...can't say anything appropriate in front of a lady, so can ye tell me?"
A very self-satisfied grin appeared on the woman's face. "Well, first, you'd need a prybar..." She looked around the room, "...or just your bare hands! Anyway, he's embedded in an actual solid wall in the prison set, which is that way" She made a vague gesture. "That special undersuit he wore protected him from getting burned by my plasma, but he forgot it packs quite a wallop all on it's own!" Then she shook her head ruefully. "All right, I have to admit, you took care of more of them then I did!"
Jock just shrugged. "Well, if you think this is something, you should see their jungle set, I decorated the trees in a grand fashion there, as well!" As he said this, the sounds of loud voices suddenly emanated from several directions. But a momentary tensing on both their parts ended when many of said voices spoke some variant on "Federal Officers...!" Jock shrugged again. "Guess I'll have to find a way ta settle with him another time, then!"
Shego was nudging a shattered stun gun with her foot. Alpha didn't like his agents carrying anything lethal in their own base, minor disagreements having frequently resulted in expensive property damage to such places. "Didn't they use these on you? I mean, I know you look like you're carved from the stone of the Ben Nevis itself, but these pack a wallop!"
Jock just regarded her wearily. "Lass, I've told you before, I was struck by lightning in my younger days, these wee toys canna even tickle me!"
Shego blinked in shock, she'd always assumed that Jock had made that up! Then her thoughts were interrupted as several armed men and women burst into the room. Though they all wore dark blue jackets with legends on the back proclaiming them to be agents from several Federal Agencies, she recognized a few faces as Global Justice agents. She crossed her arms over her bosom, this time to cover rather then unintentionally emphasize her assets. "Well, it's about time!" she stated accusingly.
She was recognized as well, and was the focus of at least half of the agents' attention. The others scanned the room incredulously, especially the pair who looked behind the bar. Then the lead agent relaxed. "We were delayed trying to net all the EWWE agents fleeing this place before we could move in, so don't blame us!" He holstered his weapon as he looked around. "Any chance we'll find any of these guys still standing?"
Shego grinned wickedly. "Well, you'll find at least one standing guard outside the cell, err, prison set we were held in, making sure none of her colleagues hurts my friend Bernie, if she knows what's good for her!"
A concerned look appeared on the man's face. "Is Miss Barr injured? We have paramedics outside."
The grin vanished from Shego's face. "Well, she should be all right, and I don't think letting the paramedics near her would be a good idea right now! You see, she received a rather unconventional 'treatment' from a recent acquaintance, and the medics wouldn't know how to read the signs. Which reminds me, I have to find a couple of bottled waters for her, she's lost a lot of fluids!" Seeing the concern on the agent's face growing, she winced. "Just sweat, not blood!" Which calmed several of her audience.
The lead Agent then turned to Jock, who stood there with hands on hips waiting expectantly for whatever scolding or threats the man intended to make. But after another quick glance around the place, said agent sighed, then addressed the Scot formally. "Thanks for your assistance in apprehending these criminals, citizen! You wouldn't happen to know why this building is missing it's entire entryway, door, doorframe, and a substantial amount of the surrounding brickwork?" He scored major points with Shego for delivering that with a straight face.
But a flicker of a shocked expression had crossed Shego's face. She'd felt the blast, but the whole entryway? Jock on the other hand took the offered olive branch, or whatever it was, blithely enough. "I'm afraid I have no pertinent information on that subject to give ye, Agent...?"
"N. T. Bright, at your service, and please don't make the obvious joke, I've heard it far too many times!"
That actually caused Jock to smile slightly. "Pleasure to make yur acquaintance, Agent Bright! And if you're ever looking for a nice place to down a dram or two, come to my pub! If anyone makes that joke there, I'll consider it an abuse of my hospitality!"
The Agent's eyebrows rose. "Well, that's very kind! I'll certainly consider it! By the way, what happens to people who abuse your hospitality?" Then his eyes switched to Shego as she made a sweeping gesture to encompass the room they were standing in. His gaze then swept their surroundings, widening considerably as they did. "Oh...I see..."
At that moment Shego caught sight of Betty Director moving through the studio, heading towards the rear of the small complex. She excused herself to the two men and hurried after the woman, overtaking her quickly enough. Doctor Director was so preoccupied she didn't notice the woman until Shego actually spoke, startling her.
"Hey, Betts! What the hell is going on with Doctor D, as if I couldn't guess?" Shego stepped ahead of her target as she spoke, then spun to face her, hands on hips and presenting quite a sight.
Caught off guard, and somewhat distracted by Shego's appearance, Betty Director took an inordinately long moment to recover, which made her angry. She drew herself up to respond, then caught a slight hint of a grimace on Shego's face which quickly vanished. Realizing the woman was regretting her outburst, and since Betty knew why Shego was so wound up, she reined in her temper.
"Drew Lipsky is quite safe, he's currently being relocated with others to a safehouse away from our local base, since a possible vulnerability in our security that WWEE would know how to exploit was discovered...by Drew himself, in fact!" That last bit had a satisfactory result on Shego. Her eyes widened, and some of the tension drained out of her expression. So Betty tried a gambit to change the subject. "Where is Miss Barr? I understand she was injured?" At least one of the agents in the bar set had apparently passed that on without Shego noticing.
Shego had apparently been trying to process what she'd just heard, and blinked uncertainly for a moment. "Uh...she's going to be all right, I'm almost certain of that...I think I'll head back there..." She looked down at herself and made a face, "Definitely need to upgrade my look, here!" Then she looked around, "I don't suppose there's a working shower in this place?"
"Actually, there appear to be quite a few." A nearby GJ Agent replied, "Some in the dressing rooms, and there's a large locker room for each sex, all in the Northeast part of the complex."
Shego looked at him suspiciously for a moment, then nodded. "Thanks, I'll go look one up as soon as I have my clothes." She then gave Betty a searching look. "Unless I'm going to be charged with something?"
Betty responded with a stern look. "Why didn't you give us the address of this place when you called? You may have done all right without us, but how could you know that in advance?"
A flash of guilt passed over Shego's face to leave a sullen look behind. "I didn't want to be left out, that's why! Any threat to the Doc...well, I still consider it my business, okay?" She spun on her heels without waiting for a reply and strode off.
Doctor Director shook her head but remained silent as she followed the woman. After a couple of turns, Shego slowed and began to look around. "Damn, forgot the bottled water!" she exclaimed.
The previously helpful GJ Agent, trailing behind Betty, pointed down a corridor that led at right angles to the one Shego had entered. "There's some kind of break room just down there with a fridge and microwave, might look there."
After a momentary hesitation, Shego nodded gratefully, if grudgingly, and headed in the indicated direction. Betty chose to remain where she was, expecting the thief to return by the same route. Which she did, now bearing three plastic bottles.
Betty regarded them askance, but Shego passed her without a word and continued on her previous path, causing Betty to bite off the question on her lips and just follow, shaking her head yet again.
They soon reached the fake cell where the two women had been held, and observed a confrontation between the 'guard' Shego had posted, the female EWWE agent who had showed concern for Bernie, and three GJ Agents.
"Listen! I'm perfectly willing to surrender to you guys, but not until Shego comes back! She told me to keep anyone from going in here before she returns, and what she'd do to me if I failed! And frankly, I'm far more afraid of her then I am of you guys!" The woman declared with considerable vehemence. While one of the GJ agents looked offended by this declaration, the other two showed sympathy for the woman's predicament.
"Making your usual impression on people, are we?" Betty commented sarcastically. But Shego ignored her, and Betty's attention was suddenly drawn to several of her agents down a side corridor, who were studying a large hole in one wall, from which protruded a pair of boots consistent with an EWWE uniform. Frowning, she went to have a closer look.
Shego addressed her appointed sentry. "Okay, you should probably start cooperating with these guys, I'm here now." The relieved woman nodded, turned her back to the agents and offered her hands for their handcuffs. As that was attended to, Shego slipped past and into the room, wagging a finger in the face of one GJ agent who tried to follow her. "Uh, uh! Not sure my friend is decent, buster!" She then closed the door firmly in the man's face before turning around and stopping short as she studied the myriad changes that had occurred in her absence.
Firstly, Bernie was now laying on the bed Shego had woken on. Shego looked at the other and saw that the sheets appeared to be quite damp. And the 'prison' clothes Bernie had been wearing were lying on the floor, clearly sodden as well. The nurse was now covered by the sheet from Shego's bed, and didn't appear to be perspiring quite as much as when Shego had last seen her, though that had obviously increased in magnitude after her departure, judging by appearances.
Right now, Bernie's gaze had locked onto the bottled water in Shego's hands. She ran her tongue across obviously dried lips with little apparent effect, then held out her hand. Shego stepped forward but Bernie suddenly lunged forward to grab one bottle with both hands, neglecting her covering as she quickly twisted the top off and almost seemed to be on the verge of gulping it down in one pull before restraining herself and sipping it instead.
The door behind Shego opened again, and she spun to cover Bernie before seeing that it was just Doctor Director, a massive frown on her face. Which dimmed considerably when she spotted Bernie, who returned her gaze steadily and made no attempt to cover herself. Blushing slightly, Betty turned her eyes to Shego. "That's some predicament you left Alpha in, we may have to remove a whole section of wall to insure there's no spinal damage!"
Shego rolled her eyes. "In that corset-from-hell he was wearing as protection from my plasma? I wonder what the idiot who made it for him told him about it's effectiveness? Anyway, it's rigid enough to have protected his spine, I'm almost sure!"
The brow over her good eye rising querulously, Betty scoffed slightly before turning her attention to Bernie. Shego also turned to see that her friend was still only halfway through the first bottle. "Are you all right? Is that all you really need, Miss Barr?" Betty asked the nurse solicitously. As she did, a thought struck Shego and she looked around the room, spotting the disguised alien in a new location and scowling slightly.
"I'm all right, but I think I should get dressed before they haul me away." Bernie replied to Betty, "Our little alien benefactor says the stuff in my system will lower my recovery time to 8 hours, so this headache isn't going away any too soon!" She sat up and cast aside the sheet, and began to sort through one of two piles of clothing at the end of the bed, retrieving her underwear and beginning to don it.
"Benefactor? What exactly happened with these so-called aliens?" Doctor Director demanded. Shego rolled her eyes as she reached past the woman to collect her own clothes. She then told Betty how they had been caught, and who was responsible. And about the latest arrival, though she didn't point the being out.
Then she frowned. "Speaking of that tin-plat...oww...That turncoat, has anyone seen him?"
Betty looked a bit uncomfortable at that. "I didn't tell all of our agents about the 'alien' involvement, just Du and Core from my own staff, and the LA office told a few of theirs's, so maybe those who know should have a look around ourselves and see if we can spot it?"
Shego grimaced and dropped her clothes back on the bed. "Shower will have to wait..." she then began to divest herself of her soiled clothing. And Betty actually backed up to lean her weight against the door. And then a new shock occurred.
"Actually..." Shego and Bernie froze, eyes going straight to the disguised alien. After a moment's frantic search for the source of the voice, Betty took her cue from them and frowned at the object of their attention. Only to have it then grow limbs and turn white before her eyes. It took a severely clenched jaw on Betty's part to prevent gaping.
"At this moment, one of Doctor Director's agents is trying to find the means of depositing some litter in him. At least he refers to it by the term litter." That announcement by the alien caused Bernie to roll her eyes as she began to drag her jeans on.
Shego gave Betty an arch look even though she directed her question at the alien. "An Agent concerned about litter? Is he by any chance Asian?" Betty responded with a reproving look which bounced clean off.
"Actually, Yes!" The Alien replied, and Shego's smirk widened. But Betty had a different concern. "Is my Agent in any danger?" She brought her comm from one of her pockets(She was in civilian clothes for the raid) and brought it close to her mouth, ready to activate.
"One moment..." was the reply. Then the buzz of conversation emanated from the alien and he somehow began to convey a smug attitude. "Not any more! My shipmate has just been transported back to our base to be dealt with, all that's left is his shell, which...uh...might be about to self-destruct?" It shrugged even as Betty opened her mouth to speak into her comm. "A ten-foot distance is all you need to remain safe!"
"Agent Du! Respond at once!" Betty used her best command voice to insure a prompt response.
"Yes, Ma'am!" The response was indeed prompt, causing Shego to blink in surprise. She'd have taken at least ten seconds to express her irritation at receiving such a command from anyone she'd ever worked for. Maybe twenty.
"Agent Du, the object you have mistaken for a trash receptacle is not! I want you to clear at least a ten-yard radius around it, immediately!" After her Agent's prompt acknowledgment, Betty turned to glare at the alien.
Who crossed his arms and began to tap his foot. "I told you ten feet was sufficient!"
"Kim Possible told me a few things about you people, so I decided to extend that distance as a safety precaution!" Betty responded coolly.
"Miss Possible? And what would motivate her...well, admittedly she may have seen us at less then our best..." Dual scoffs from Shego and Bernie caused him to pause, "...but she has no grounds to slander all of us in such a manner!"
"Doctor Director!" Came Will Du's voice over her comm, "That was a very timely warning! The object just vanished in some form of combustion I have never witnessed before! Everything within twenty feet of it was either incinerated or ignited! There have, however, been no injuries due to my prompt response to your orders!"
Relief was very brief on Betty's face. "Well done, Agent Du! I'll be there myself shortly, do what you can about the fire, but be careful to preserve any residue from the device for analysis." She disconnected after Du's acknowledgment and renewed her stern glare at the alien, who remained silent.
Then Bernie spoke up, directing her question to the alien. "Hey, if that guy who was helping search for your missing shipmate is now back at your base, who's taking his place?"
That caused him to pivot slightly towards her. "Why..." He trailed off and a lengthy silence followed before being broken by a string of possible words, again consisting of consonants and whistles.
Just finished pulling on her tank top, Shego grinned maliciously at their disgruntled visitor. "Just figured out you've been stuck with the job, huh?"
More of what they presumed to be profanity issued from the alien, then abruptly cut off. "It would seem so. I suppose I am either the most experienced crewmember remaining, or the most expendable from the Captain's viewpoint!"
"My sympathies." Betty responded curtly. "But if that is the case, you'll be doing it in cooperation with my Organization, is that clear?"
The alien drew itself up. "If you do not expect to gain any scientific knowledge from me in exchange, then it is agreed!"
Betty grudgingly nodded. "I'm only speaking for myself, of course, there are other agencies who may get wind of this, and I may not be able to stand by that agreement!"
The alien bowed. "I understand...BOY do I understand! But for the moment, it is worth the risk!"
"IN the meantime..." Shego spoke up, addressing Betty, "Let's get Bernie to wherever you've got the Doc and Kim, where she's supposed to be!"
Betty frowned, there was something about that suggestion setting off alarm bells in the back of her mind..."What about the hospital to have her checked out?"
"Unnecessary!" The alien declared, "Provided she remains awake until the treatment is complete, and avoids any further blows to her head, she should be completely fine!"
"You mean I have to stay up past midnight? Whatever would my mother say?" Bernie quipped mildly, then spoke to Betty, "I think Shego should come as well, since she'd never do anything to endanger Drew, she should be trustworthy." As Shego shot her a mock aggrieved look, her friend added "Well behaved, I can't promise!"
"Who Could?" Betty replied reasonably, then her expression froze as the alert in the back of her mind resolved itself. "But there could be a slight problem with that..."
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At that moment, a limousine with heavily tinted windows around the rear compartment was driving through Beverly Hills in one of the more exclusive neighborhoods. In said rear compartment sat Kim Possible, Drew Lipsky and his Uncle, and GJ Agent Brenda Core. The chauffeur in front was also of course from Global Justice, and an obviously awestruck Max Smarty rode shotgun, eyes taking in the clear signs of extreme wealth.
Unsure whether the men up front could hear what was said in the back, Drakken refrained from mentioning his reservations about the last-named being part of their security detail. Hardly all of it, of course, there were at least a dozen agents in various vehicles keeping an eye on them, but having this particular agent as part of the close detail could mean so many things to the truly paranoid...which Drakken admitted was certainly part of his past.
Kim was also gazing at the estates they were passing with great interest. She had been to Beverly Hills before, but those times did not include any time to sight-see. She was still worried about Bernie...and Shego, to be honest, but was trying not to think about it to avoid any build-up of resentment for being excluded from the rescue force.
"I take it we will be staying in some luxury, if our surroundings are anything to go by?" Drakken asked Brenda Core.
A hint of mischief briefly appeared in the woman's eyes. "Well, if you consider a gardener's hut luxurious..." She trailed off with a grin and a questioning look at Frederick Lipsky. At his nod, she smiled apologetically. "Actually, we will be staying at a rather nice estate who's owner has done us a few favors in the past, and is quite excited to have guests!"
Kim's curiosity was immediately piqued. "Really? Anyone I might recognize?"
Brenda smiled. "Well, I should hope so, you've met him several times! The estate belongs to Timothy North."
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No posts on this since June? Ouch!
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