Whoo Hoo! I'm updating! Anyways… Thanks so much to everyone who left a review for the previous chapter: Invader Johnny, CajunBear73, daccu65, TexasDad, and Sentinel103. As always, y'all ROCK!
Disclaimer… Any references to either Disney or MARVEL characters are just that… references. I had no input for their original creation.
Chapter 5
Quick Re-cap: Kim has had Tara make a training run at a pawn shop smash and grab to see how well she does in the field alone as Tarable. She quickly took out a couple goons, but then discovered Shego had seen her from a hover-car.
Now the tale continues …
…x x x x…
Shego woke the next morning with what felt like the worse headache ever. "What the… who… where…" Her eyes finally focused and she immediately knew where she was, as she had been in the place before. Middleton Police Temporary Lock-up.
"Well now…" said Officer Hobble. "Looks like tha' green lass as finally woke up."
"Yeah, yeah. How'd I end up here this time Officer H, and can I get a couple aspirin or four?"
"We're not rightly sure. You were basically dropped off at our front stoop trussed up like a little green piggy."
Shego's response was more of a statement than a question. "You're just enjoying this a little too much, aren't you."
"Yup." Was the simple answer.
"So when am I getting out?" She asked as Officer Hobble handed her a glass of water and four aspirin through the cell bars.
"I'd say in about fifteen minutes. Yer blue boyfriend is posting bail right now."
Shego gave s bit of a growl and wanted to blast this dufus, but didn't, as she wanted to take the offered medicine. "How many times do I have to tell you. He's not my boyfriend."
…x x x x…
The previous night in Wades's basement after the pawn shop incident…
"You're sure she didn't see you?" Kim asked.
"I'm positive she didn't see me when I grabbed her, but I don't know what she saw before I knocked her silly."
Wade then piped up. "I should have been watching the skies for any surveillance Kim, so that was my fault. We didn't expect anyone… especially Shego… flying around in a hover car. Next time I will be more diligent."
"Don't beat yourself up too much Wade, we should probably make that a standard procedure whenever any of us are on a response call, and even when training, such as this time. It would probably be best to use those new drones you developed that have cloaking tech."
"Noted Kim, I'll have about half a dozen more in a few days. After that, we'll have ten of the ID's."
"ID's?" Ron said with a quizzical look.
"Invisible Drone, Ron." Kim quickly answered before her boyfriend could say anything else, and then continued. "I think we're pretty much done here now. You did real good Tara, I just think we need to work on your anger a little bit. Remember? I've seen your strength. You could have seriously hurt that guy in the pawn shop."
Tara's response was a light blush at her admonishment, and she didn't say anything else, as she didn't want Kim to know she was still using her feeling of jealousy towards Kim and Ron's relationship to cause the change.
Kim then continued. "Tomorrow morning I'm making my final decision on the offer given to me by Dr. Director and the serum. I want to sleep on it one more night."
With that said, their meeting was over, and it was almost midnight. They all went to there respective beds, and the next morning Kim woke earlier than Ron, as she wanted to get over to GJ and tell Dr. Director her decision. She arrived at the front doors at approximately the same time Drakken was picking Shego up from jail.
…x x x x…
Kim walked up to the main Reception Desk and was about to announce that she was there to see Dr. Director, when the woman with an eye-patch stepped around the corner.
"Kim! It's good to see you this early. I take it you have made your decision."
"Yes, Betty, I have." Kim didn't call the director of GJ by her first name very often, so Dr. Director knew that she had made a final decision.
As Kim and Dr. Director started down the same hall that the head of GJ had come from, Kim immediately asked a question that had been chewing the back of her brain. "I need to ask though, this won't change my mind at all, will it? As in, will I still be… me?"
"Of course Kim." Was the quick response. "We actually procured the notes of Dr. Erskin, the man who created the original serum for Steve Rogers. He says in his notes that the serum takes what a person already is, and makes it… better. Amplifies it. So if you are good at heart, that goodness is made better. If you are evil at heart, it of course would then be made worse. And Kim… I know you are good." She then placed a hand on Kim's shoulder and gave her a warm smile.
Kim responded with her own smile, and had one last question. "So, about how long is the process?"
"Twenty, maybe thirty minutes… at the most."
The two then walked around another corner and stopped in front of a set of heavy steel doors marked 'SECURE PERSONNEL ONLY'. Betty swiped a card in the locking mechanism, and placed a thumb on the small screen. A red light turned green and a heavy 'thunk' was heard as the doors unlocked and swung inward. Kim took a deep breath, and she walked inside with Dr. Director.
…x x x x…
Meanwhile…
"SHEGO!" Drakken barked, making the green woman jump up from her massage chair. She was just starting to relax after being locked up in Middleton's pokey, and she was getting into the heated portion of the automated massage.
"What!?"
"I have a hit on the tracking mechanism again! The blonde girl is on the move! She must be awake and left her home. Let's go find her, grab her, and find out just what makes her change into that… beast."
This time Shego flew the drone much higher so as not to be seen by those on the ground, and it also helped that it was an overcast day, so she could stay just inside the clouds to give them more cover. Or so she thought.
"You did bring the knock-out gas, right Shego?" Drakken asked his green cohort, whose only response was a roll of her eyes and pat on the portable canister sitting between their seats and leaning on the rear bulkhead of the two-seater drone.
…x x x x…
It was late in the morning as Tara was walking back home after buying a new jogging suit, and then getting a frozen yogurt. She was just about to enter Middleton Park, when suddenly an odd cloud of something formed around her, and before she knew it, the young blonde was lying unconscious. It was only a few seconds later that she was whisked up into the hover car of a green woman and a blue man. There was no one else in the park to see anything, and the odd cloud quickly dispersed into nothingness.
…x x x x…
After entering the room, Kim was whisked into a side room, where she was given a pair of spandex running shorts and a sports bra, leaving her arms, legs and midriff bare. She didn't even have any shoes on.
After changing, Kim was then led to the center of the larger room in front of what looked like a vertical cylinder with heavy wiring and tubes attached to it, sitting up on a raised round pedestal.
"Wow Kim, been hitting the weights a little bit more?" Dr Director asked as they were now left alone.
The young red head blushed a bit at the compliment. "Yeah, I was just trying to bulk up a little, but not too much."
"Well after this, you may never have to exercise again." Dr. Director offered the young girl a hand to help her step into the tube, of which the front was now split into two halves, creating a hinged double door.
After leaning into the mechanism, heart monitors were placed on Kim, as well as pads on her head to read brain activity. A shot of penicillin was put into her arm, and then a type of padded clamp was strapped around each thigh and her upper arms.
"Well?" Dr. Director asked, while the young heroine stood in the tube with everything attached to her, "How do you feel?"
"Is it too late to go to the bathroom?" She asked with a smile.
Betty patted a bare shoulder. "Sorry for all this, but we replicated everything how it was originally done, then we will try streamlining the process later. We know it worked this way with your Great, Great Grandfather, so we stayed with what we know works first." Kim nodded, as she understood.
"As Betty stepped back, she spoke the order. "Begin the process."
The doors then swung shut, blocking the view of Kim, except for a window, of which through you could see her face.
Wade was sitting at a large console, from where he barked his own orders. "Commence serum injection." The serum was then injected into Kim's arms and legs through the clamps, making her wince. "Start cooling system." A system meant to keep the tube cool kicked on, and started to circulate. "Turning on Vita radiation." Wade himself then turned a large dial that controlled the level of radiation.
A glow of energy then started to envelop the tube, and a green light could be seen through the window. Suddenly Kim screamed out in pain. "AAHHH!"
"Stop the process! Shut it down!" Dr. Director said, making everyone pause for a second, then Kim's voice could be heard. "Sorry! It's OK! I'm OK! Keep going!"
Wade continued to turn up the radiation. "Forty Percent! Sixty Percent! Eighty Percent!" He paused, looking at two medical doctors who were monitoring Kim's vitals, of which both raised a thumbs up. He then turned the dial a little bit more. "One hundred percent!"
Sparks then flew from a single power converter, and Wade immediately turned off the radiation. "Power down!"
Generators could be heard spinning down, and the seal of the cylinder doors popped as they slowly swung open. As the steam from cooling system cleared, Kim stepped down and out as a group of scientists, including Wade, stepped up on the platform.
Dr. Director stepped up on the same level of the pedestal that Kim was on. She actually had to look up a bit to look into her eyes, as Kim had increased in height from 5'4" to about 5'11". She had larger well-defined shoulders, biceps and thighs, and she also had defined, but yet still feminine, six pack abs.
Wade was almost mesmerized at the perfect transformation, and he started to reach towards Kim's a… and his hand was immediately swatted away by Dr. Director. "Eyes down, Mr. Load."
Kim smiled at the interaction, and Betty then spoke. "I hate to sound like a broken record here, but how do you feel?"
The young heroine then realized she had to look down a bit to meet the concerned look of Dr. Director. "You know what Betty? I never actually told you that I agreed to this, so I guess it's too late now. But as for how I feel? I feel… tall."
Suddenly an alarm went off, and everyone started to look around, wondering where it was coming from. Wade then fished his mobile phone from his pocket while mumbling "Sorry."
He pressed a link for a video recording that was made by one of his ID's. (Invisible Drone) His eyes went wide, and looked at both Kim and Dr. Director. "Guys… Tara has been kidnapped."
…x x x x…
Tara started to slowly come to, and immediately wondered why she couldn't move her arms and legs. She was strapped down on a bed, which was sitting at a sharp angle, which put her to an almost standing position.
She then saw two people that she immediately recognized. That blue guy and green lady that Kim would always fight. She shook her head a little bit, and her memory started to come back to her.
"Sh… Shy… go? Doc… Doctor… Drunken?"
"That's Shego and Dr. … well, I actually kinda like Dr. Drunken." The green woman gave a sly smile to the blue man, who was now scowling.
"Nrrgghh… That's Dr. Drakken. Drak-ken." The green woman couldn't help but snicker.
The blue man then stepped up into Tara's face. "Now what is your name, blondie?"
"Tara, and I'm gonna kick… your… A…"
"Oh SHUSH!" Dr Drakken barked, making her go quiet. "We know what you can do, and what you become. What I want to know is… how?"
Tara struggled against her restraints. "Oh those won't break my dear. Those are made of a special metal I created myself that is a mix of Titanium, Gold, and Vibranium. I'm sure you've never heard of that last one, because it's one of the rarest metals on Earth. So if you do change into your… alter ego… I doubt it very much that you would be able to break them."
As Drakken quickly looked over the young girl, his eyes were drawn to a ring on her finger. "What's this? This looks somehow familiar. You don't happen to know of a weapons dealer by the name of Jack Hench… do you?"
This started to make Tara very nervous, as she knew two very important things about that ring. One, it was a large part of why she could change into Tarable… and two, she could die if it was removed.
Drakken started to look at it closer with a magnifying glass that was strapped to his head. "I'm sorry my dear, in order for me to get a closer look at this, I'm going to have to take it for closer inspection."
Tara was now getting quite nervous, and she balled her hand into a fist to try and keep him from taking the ring off. "No… Please… don't remove it."
"This won't hurt, I just need the ring for a little…"
"I said… NO!" Her last word had an almost guttural growl as she tightened her fist.
Drakken started to pry her hand apart, but was having trouble, as Tara had quite a strong grip. "Shego, help me here."
"C'mon Blondie." Shego said as she reached for the girl's hand. "We just want to look closer at this pretty ring." She then started to pry open the girl's hand.
Suddenly Tara felt something she hadn't felt in a long time. Fear. Most people respond to fear with fight or flight, Tara's fear turned into… fight. And she was… angry. Very… angry.
Without either of the villains noticing, as they were trying too hard to remove the ring, Tara's eyes suddenly went… green! She had never felt this much anger before, because she was always sweet little Tara. When she would become jealous about Kim and Ron and change into Tarable, she was never angry. Just… very jealous.
Now Tara had to fight for her life, and it made her angry that these two didn't realize they were endangering her life. This made anger flow through her entire body, and her adrenaline was now pumping quickly through her veins.
Before either Drakken or Shego knew what happened, both suddenly flew back away from their prisoner, and the braces that held her forearms and shins went flying as well, unbroken. What couldn't stand the strain were the bolts holding the clamps to the bed.
Tara immediately dropped to the floor with a resounding thud. She was now over six feet tall, and definitely beefier than Tarable… looking not unlike a female version of a NFL linebacker. Her skin now had a green hue, and instead of streaks of blue in her hair, it was green. This was because of her fear and anger triggering the transformation this time instead of jealousy, and Tara had gone past changing to Tarable. She was now a full-fledged HULK.
Tara had now become… a She-Hulk! And she was very confused… and pissed off!
To be continued…
Yup, once again this took longer than I was planning to update, so I hope y'all are still interested in this little tale.